Welcome to Ms. Faerydae's Manners Class(Job/Solo)

DON'T TRUST ANYONE

A tilt of the head, ragged clumps of hair rippling with the movement. A twirl of the finger, wrapping a section of hair around the axis in a familiar movement. Falling backwards, she fell. As if in slow motion, the insignificant figure loosed herself from the constraint of the branch she had arrayed herself upon only moments ago, hair falling upwards. Paying no attention to that situation of the hair in her face, a silver boot smacked wood, and suddenly she jerked to a halt. The hair lowered itself once more, a mop of moonlight beneath the head of the semi-fey. Attached by only her toe, Yuzuki dangled. As if a giant bat had decided to spend it's night there, she simply remained and was.

A serene vision though this was, in a sense, the falling wonder silhouetted by the moon, if one were to gaze upon that pale face, the expression it contained would halt the beauty in its tracks. "Ka ka." A deep scowl, etched along familiar lines displayed itself prominently upon the paper surface. "Children... why such irritating happenings?" Following her gaze, we come to the scene of a rather disturbing event. Young children, armed with sticks and stones faced each other, one side adorned with red handkerchiefs, and another with rolled up sleeves. Gang wars.

No wonder Yuzuki was irritated. Having never been much a fan of these pesky little groups, she had avoided them whenever possible. However, as one of the few jobs that suited her had directed her to interfere with that dreaded thing, she would do it. Even if she was one who was a street rat for fun, it simply couldn't do to be completely penniless now, would it? No, a good street rat kept something on hand, and always. For if the opportune moment came up that required only a penny, you had more a chance than the truly fortuneless ones. But how to go about this now? Yuzuki had never been good with humans, especially children. Did she treat them like normal humans, or animals, or what? It was overall just a tiring, huge effort.

Considering this oddity of a prospect, Yuzuki tilted that toe ever so slightly, and plummeted. Ripping off the bandaid faster, you could say. And it was with such force it was ripped, that a large red welt was left, as sudden yells echoed about the falling figure. Pole extending out below her, she sighed softly, keeping herself adrift only a foot from the ground. Silence. Then came whispers, whimpers, even crying from an especially young gang member. Standing, chains clinked, and silver whizzed about their heads, shocked little eyes reflecting fear. Ha! Scaring children, Yuzuki? Inevitably, a small grin revealed itself upon the semi-fey's face, and she set Katsuki down with a powerful thud, he chains melting into a spear.

Silver eyes, narrowed in a signature elfin gaze let itself roam about the group. It was even more pathetic up close, in a way, with those pitiable little faces wrinkling up in fear or anger. And...yes. There was the one she had been waiting for all that time. As a knife was hurled towards this stranger among their midsts, silver flashes screaming out danger to the world splattered upon the scene, and a soft pinging sound sent it whirling away into the crowd. Exercising acting skills, Yuzuki let her eyes drop open in insanity, tilting her head back. "Aha! Ha! Ha! How utterly..." here, she stopped dropping her chin to her chest and letting a lopsided grin fill her lips, "pathetic." A powerful growl emanated from those lungs with the word, and silvery needles set their gaze upon the culprit.

One eyeful of silver was more than enough to do the job. Pathetic whimper escaping tender lips, stubby legs filled the remaining distance from here to his home. Watching with amusement evident upon her face, Yuzuki clapped pale hands together in a frighteningly powerful motion, pulling pale eyes to her. "That's right, darlings, I'm sure we'll get along just fine, aye?" Ignoring hateful glances cast her way, the semi-fey boosted the act. "Alright, from today on,you will all be nice and friendly together, yes? Great! I feel the love already!" Pediatric psychologist already, wasn't she?

She was greeted with a stony, uncomfortable silence. Frowning at the masses of children, Yuzuki was reminded once more about how annoying humans were. It was only natural they would have rude and annoying children. Of course she knew the real reason they were reacting in such a way now, but one could pretend, right? Ticking her tongue against pearly white teeth, it was decided the first lesson taught would have to be in manners. Frowning in distaste at the children, dirt-caked fingers flexed as palms met and snapped roughly against each other. As the sharp clap resonated throughout the alleyway the gangs had met. Gazing about with a predator's gaze, she flashed those teeth at the children, saying, "Lesson One: Manners."

And then more silence. Having hoped for a better reaction, a small frown dangled off of Yuzuki's lip. "What a shame, no interest here? I was hoping for at least a complaint so I could demonstrate consequences for misbehavior." At this, a murmur shivered through the crowd, and one bold child dared speak out. "What do you want from us?!? Are you trying to force us to learn something? Are you one of those community service people?" The sea of heads nodded along to the beat this one pounded out, too puzzled to fit it together themselves at the moment. But from experience, the semi-fey knew they would be upon her as soon as they got over their initial fright. Thus, she could only be strict and firm, constantly revealing how dangerous she was.

"Maybe I am, maybe I am not." Tapping a silver soled boot upon the dirty alley floor, Yuzuki grinned. "Do I look like one?" Spreading twig-like arms out, she displayed the torn and worn tunic she wore, stained with unmentionable liquids. Dirt seemed to cake her all over, smudging her face and clodding her mop of a head of hair with the stuff. Her nails, broken and dirtied, scratches all over her body. No. She was almost the perfect image of street rat. However, the pristine and sturdy silver boots and shimmering spear proved otherwise. Those were items only someone of much money or riches could possibly hold. And while Yuzuki had little money, she was someone special indeed. A rare combination of two species, she had thieved and burrowed about for such items.

DON'T TRUST ANYONE

Suddenly, another bold child stepped out from the alleyway behind Yuzuki, a tall girl who looked to be one of the oldest ones here. Her own fiery gaze swept over the children huddled before the fiercely scowling semi-fey. Obvious disapproval lined her features as those violet eyes scanned the other kids, slowly arriving to the only obvious conclusion: Yuzuki. With a deft, practiced moved, she whipped out a sharp switchblade, eyebrows crinkling down in anger. A slight smile carved a slit across her face, malice remaining the only intention that could be seen in her enraged expression. Not even a word of negotiation – this was the sort of opponent Yuzuki loved to fight. A sharp inhalation of air echoed about her throat, and Yuzuki spread her wings, leaping up high into the air in a magnificent display of her magehood. However, she had to give the kid credit. Even as the terrifying form of the fighter swirled about like a flash of lightning in the darkened sky above her, she spun right where Yuzuki would land, and just as the semi-fey whipped her spear about to end the child, she slid aside in a burst of astonishing speed, barely allowing Yuzuki time to find her footing before attacking with a vicious heartlessness.

Huh. This was interesting now, wasn’t it? Hitting the ground on all fours, Yuzuki dodged a sweep of the slender blade with the accuracy of an eagle’s dive for prey. Her response to the offense was a sudden release of the chains, the spear switching into nunchuck form again. Much to her immense satisfaction, the girl’s face contorted into one of surprise and fear as the blade came whistling over her head. However, she still managed to muster up just enough energy and strength to slide herself upon her stomach, easily slipping away from the reaches of the deadly pendulum now swinging above her head. This… this child. She may look like any average street kid, but her abilities were certainly impressive. An equally fierce smile appeared upon Yuzuki’s face now as well, her spear straightening once more to shoot towards the kid. She flipped quickly, kicking off upside down from a lamppost. Armed with only a switchblade, and wearing no protection besides her ragged gang symbol of a black armband. However, hers had been roughly stitched upon, a shaky line of red zig-zagging its way across the black. Ah, so that was what it was. She was a gang leader, after all.

With the briefest glance behind her, Yuzuki noticed the presence of similar armbands upon some of the gang children huddled together. So, she was their leader, huh? What did she want? In their next head-on clash, Yuzuki slammed her spear straight towards the leader, clashing the blades together. The switchblade bent, and the girl clenched her teeth at how it seemed about to break against the magically reinforced metal of Yuzuki’s spear. “Hey kid, I like your spunk just as much as you do, but breaking your little weapon would be a waste, wouldn’t it? No matter how fast you are, you can’t make a normal switchblade beat Katsuki.” This was a bluntly stated point, the semi-fey’s silver gaze holding minimum playfulness.

However, it worked. With one last grimace, the kid snapped the blade shut, both pausing in battle stance for a moment more, ensuring the other was actually genuinely agreeing to this temporary truce. Yuzuki nodded sharply. “You go first.”

Another glare was cast upon the scruffy creature, and the girl crossed thin arms upon her chest. She sent a commanding glare up at the children behind the mage, and snapped out a rough reply. “Isn’t it obvious what I’m doing? You appeared to be threatening my mates, and so I stepped up to defend them from you, you know? Logic. In case you couldn’t tell, mage, I’m just some gang leader out there, and we’re just some little gang out here. Nothing for a mage to deal with. We haven’t done anything illegal, ya know, only the basic shenanigans.” Her voice was coarse and rough to match her demeanor. Yuzuki smirked on back at her, showing that she wouldn’t take the girl seriously for a bit, then shrugged with a neutral suggestion to show it wasn’t a circumstance unique to her. Simple body language was something all street kids learned.

“Well, I don’t suppose I could get you to hear me out, then?” This casual, off-hand remark was shot straight as an arrow into the leader’s face, and she reeled from the abrupt surprise. That a mage would ask permission for a kid to hear an opinion? This was news… And definitely something interesting. A small smirk painted upon her face, she gestured causally for Yuzuki to continue. Yes, street rats were all the same, weren’t they? Easier a job for her then. The semi-fey sighed, leaning against the oversized spear with a bored expression on her face.

“So, ya know how thems rich people got people hired to watch their brats?” She lapsed easily from her former common slang into her native Talonian drawl, coaxing out a shocked response from the people standing before her. Even the leader raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in speech, wondering who exactly was this kid. Even so, she slowly, nodded, permission for her to continue. “Well, the big bosses found out that some brats down here in the alleys were roughhousing a bit too much for their royal likings, and decided to stick the tippy tips of their nebs in for a check. Unfortunately, those delicate little nebs are too precious for their greatnesses, so they decided the send in the least of the acceptable people down, ya know? In fact, I doubt any of them even know me, all they did was post up a quick job for those who are useless when it comes to just about anything else.

“In other words, I’m here to pack the lot of y’all up and send you whining to your mommies and poppies,” she declared dramatically, flinging an arm out to the side in a perfect demonstration of nonchalance. Letting the words sink in for a few moments, she crossed her arms, looping the length of silvery chain around them in case it would have to be used again. The girl looked feisty, and if the mini-gangs could have decent fights, the other group had to have somewhat strong a leader as well.

“Ha! That’s darn right, huh?” This sharp response rose up within the other girl’s throat, hatred having reappeared in her eyes if it had never disappeared, and she pointed the blade again. “You rich people never have any idea what these things mean to us!”

DON'T TRUST ANYONE

The semi-fey sighed in disappointment at the child’s behavior, resting her head upon her hands. What were the adult’s teaching them, huh? Or perhaps street life had miraculously gotten easier or different in some way since when the street rat herself had been a child. Or maybe, just maybe, these kids hadn’t really met any other street people outside their little sanctuary of a town, Yuzuki had taken a quick look around, and it was a much nicer place to live in instead of the dirtied alleyways of Talonia, or even worse – the darkened corners of the Neutral Grounds’ Central District. This child couldn’t tell that Yuzuki was likely even worse off than she was, that was it. However, it could slide for now. First, Yuzuki needed to have a bit of fun with these kids.

“Well, kid, maybe it’s because what you’re arguing about isn’t all that important, and only the big people can see how stupid y’all are, y’know?” Turning around, the semi-fey tilted her head back, flashing tiny sparks of radiant silver at the mere child who had dared to offend her. The reaction was immediate, Not only did the gang leader start, several other children released horrified hisses and gasps as well. “Y-you! How dare you say something like that?!? How dare you say such things only minutes after meeting us, without knowing a thing? How ignorant can y’all stupid filthy bourgeois be? I don’t believe it!” She raised the switchblade high in the air, a signal to her gang members. Almost instantly, the surged forward, anger and hatred in their eyes replacing the formerly found fear. This girl… She had stimulated emotions she herself would never have believed. Or perhaps she did, and this was a reaction that was expected all along? It was unknown, the truth behind it all.

The small group of kids fanned out before her, attacking in that stereotypically haphazard style all street kids seemed to attack in. At least Yuzuki was used to this style of fighting. A small sigh slipped from her lips, but one tinged with fervor and excitement, hyped for the fight up ahead. The child in front of her seemed like he would hit first, small wooden baton grasped tightly in whitened fists. Extremely scared, this one was. However, she heard the footsteps of one of the younger girls behind her, as according to gang style fighting. She slipped straight towards the boy like a fish in water, using the blunt end of her spear to shove him into the girl who had snuck up on her. As she chortled at their shocked expressions, Yuzuki turned to deal with the next wave of children, being careful not to seriously injure anyone. It wasn’t exactly hard of course, seeing as their blows were messy and clumsy, lacking the refined grace that the semi-fey’s movements held.

Her true challenge remained that one feisty girl from earlier, brilliant armband flapping in the wind. The girl moved with confidence, like any fighter would have to. Her blade was speedy, matching Yuzuki’s broad sweeps of her more long range weapon. Naturally, the semi-fey was prepared for a more close-ranged attack as well, but preferred to fight with space between herself and her opponent. The girl was smart, having realized that almost immediately, her blade slipped into places, trying to fit through the gaps in Yuzuki’s fighting. However, what Yuzuki had against her was experience. Her wild style of fighting was something she’d had plenty of time growing used to. She knew what gaps any fighter could seek out in it, and had learned to deal with it in casual tilts and swayings of her body. Her spear followed the gang leader, tracking her with complete and utter ease that she found her every move being controlled by the deadly shimmering silver of the moonlit spear.

DON'T TRUST ANYONE

After enjoying some of her struggling beneath the weight of the hefty weapon, Yuzuki finally twisted the edge of the blade behind her neck, forcing her down to the ground. She’d had enough. While the girl shivered in equal parts of rage and fear, the semi-fey sent her darkest glare over at the other children. “Any of y’all punks wanna join this li’l miss here?” The deadly silver gaze of a predator at the sight of prey swept over the group, and was satisfied with the blessed silence. Planting a heavy silver boot upon the girl’s back, Yuzuki looked around at them again, letting her face soften for only the slightest of moments at the sight of a girl who looked barely past six years of age, squeaking as those horrible eyes fell upon her own. Yuzuki could connect to these kids, at least. It was better than her typical jobs hanging out with rich people.

“Allow me,” here she paused for effect: “Allow me to tell you a story. It’s not like I’m giving you a choice though, anyways.” A grin curved up her face, and the woman allowed her voice to pull the children into a setting they knew all too well.

“Have any of you ever been to Talonia? If you haven’t, you’ve at least heard of it, am I correct? Well, whether you punks believe it or not, I was born and raised, if you could use such a vague word there. Of course y’all stupid punks would think I grew up in some rich ol’ Talonian ‘partment with fancy food and clothes all th’ time, amiright? Well, unfortunately, I’m about to prove all of you wrong. I was raised on the streets and alleyways of Taonlia’s worst districts, kids, even worse off than you are right now. At least your fam got ‘nuff cash to give y’all some food every day. At least y’all dun gotta fight gangs and other beggars for rotting scraps of rat, eh?”

Clearing her throat, Yuzuki charged on ahead. “So anyways, there was this one little boy. Only bout seven years ol’, not much less than y’all. He decided to join a gang, seeing as a li’l kid like him don’t survive for long. Well? Lessus just say that it was a bad decision.” She leaned in closer, heel of the fey-smithed boot digging deep into the child’s head. “One week into the job, and the other gang members used him as bait for the guards of a warehouse. He was hung a day later. And what about the other gang members?” With a laugh, the semi-fey clapped her hands together, as if it was enjoyable, “Well, of course they all got caught too, haha! For who works in a gang when it’s so easy to be found as a big group? Listen in real close kids, you don’t wanna end up like those kids back then, mmhm no way. So take my advice, cuz I ain’t gonna ever give it again, eh? Besides, I’m not havin’ some kidlies takin’ my money from me, so you’re gonna disband whether you like it or not.”

The crowd below her might as well have been filled with ice sculptures, for each child stared up at her in horror and something like respect. For this girl? This girl was someone like them. Someone like them, who had surpassed them. Someone like this was worth their respect, and know it or not, Yuzuki was a person deserving of quite a bit of respect. There were so many things she had done in her life of 33 years, and all of them made up who she was now.

Slowly, another girl came out, this one seeming to be only around ten years old. “We understand, Miss. The gang of the Blue Patches agrees to disband.”

In the end, that was all it took. Something like this surprised Yuzuki, who wasn’t used to being so respected. However, it continued to linger in her mind for a long, long time after that.