Acquainting Lilly [[Aeyt, Pagan]]

[zozee9]

OOC: Takes place directly after Card Tricks (before Rufus leaves)

Zeina made her way to the main dorm room so she could give the new girl a formal tour. If Leuenaar had done her job correctly and sent the girl to the dorming area when she was recruited, the girl should have already met Meisie and some of the kids as well as have been sleeping in one of the few empty dorm rooms. The girl shouldn't have had to wait long, seeing as Meisie came and got her when the poker game was just finishing up (Meisie had gone to tell Zeina that Elijah had returned and complied to bringing the girl back to the dorms).

Preparing herself for the barrage of kids, Zeina opened the door and watched as the kids slowly turned their heads from their individual activities to herself. Then many of them came running towards her. Some of the older kids didn't care as much about seeing Zeina and some of the newer ones didn't quite trust her yet. But the kids who thought of her like a mother had their auras were all covered in bright yellow, the color of cheerfulness.

Zeina offered the kids a smile and rubbed some of them on top of their head. "Now kids," she started, getting to business. "I have to show the lovely new Scavenger Wolf around. I trust you've all treated her kindly so far? I have to get her acquainted with everything. Would you mind playing elsewhere until I'm done? Then I promise I'll spend time with you." Zeina glanced up at Meisie and motioned for her to keep watch of the kids who were slowly moving off to go do their own business.

With a kind smile directed to the new girl, Zeina walked towards her and explained, "I'm the Coyote, as you probably know. But call me Zeina. After all, you're one of us now."

[paganchick]

Lilly sat there with her arms crossed as she looked at the lady. She had been in there with the kids for a while, and if she wasn't expecting the brats to have sticky handing going into the room she probably wouldn't have been left with anything by the time Zeina came into the room.

Her senses were high, and being a thief herself she knew the tricks and was left with her things in tact, but it didn't mean she liked that fact that they tried stealing from her.
"They have really sticky hands, you wouldn't think that they would steal from their own, it seems rather counterproductive," Lilly stated with her arms crossed.

[zozee9]

Zeina laughed as Lilly questioned the productiveness of the stealing. The girl was older and probably smarter than most of the kids she got, meaning she would have to choose her words carefully. But in this situation, there was no harm in telling the truth.

"Counterproductive?" Zeina asked while looking at Lilly in the eyes. It would be good to know what this girl was thinking. "I respectfully disagree. Those that are the best thieves in here typically get the most respect, giving the kids motive to steal from each other. It also helps me make sure the kids have cashed everything into the treasury, as they're supposed to. Because if they don't, there's a chance they won't get the chance to." Zeina motioned towards Lilly's body and continued, "I also know that those who enter this room and lose nothing are typically more skilled in pickpocketing. Because if you know what they're doing, it's much easier to counter it."

Chances were, none of the kids used their more tactful skills of using distractions or the like. Because the girl was older and obviously skilled, they wouldn't risk it. They were smart like that, knowing who they could really fool and who they couldn't.

"I'm afraid I never caught your name?"

[paganchick]

"Counterproductive because I really don't like people touching me and I was a hairs width away from lessening some of those children a sticky finger or two," Lilly replied, her arms folded over her chest and her hip popped out slightly.
She didn't want to be in this group. Her goal was to be in the blood wolves before the year was up. She knew she had to start somewhere, still they treated her like she was some five years old. She was a grown woman.

[zozee9]

After Lilly spoke, Zeina's attitude completely changed from nice and helpful to cool and calculative. Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a fiercer look. It was obvious this girl wasn't taking her seriously and that would have to be changed. She wasn't going to scare the girl, like Zahi would have, but instead show the side of herself that demanded more respect.

"If you want to talk business, we can talk business. It's my job to teach you how to be a Scavenger Wolf and, more importantly, a Soot Wolf. First off, if anyone asks a question—especially someone of higher ranking—you are to answer it. Secondly, there is no violence as a Scavenger Wolf. And if you 'lessen those children a sticky finger or two', you'll not only get on my bad side but Rufus's as well." And if that girl wanted to go elsewhere in the pack, which it seemed she did, she would have to have one of them on her side. "Finally," Zeina added, "You have to obey all commands given by me and Rufus."

This was more talking that Zeina liked to do, but she continued on. "That being said, I'm not like the Red Jackal. You can ask me any questions you have and you will get a polite response." Though not necessarily from her. "And while you may not like my 'sticky finger' kids very much, you will find that you might have to work with them. It wouldn't hurt to get to know them a little and, as you can see, some of them are close to your age and some are even older. But no matter how old or young they are, none of them are children. They've all lived hard lives, harder than most adults." As Zeina said that last line, there might have been a hint of pain in her eyes... or it might have just been a reflection of light.

[paganchick]

Lilly sat there for a long moment in silence, unreadable.
Was the woman expecting her to break down with her whole sad sob story, to tell her she was an actual werewolf. The woman was crazy if that was what she was expecting. She wouldn't get it from Lilly, her lips were sealed shut.
"My name is Lilly," She finally spoke, figuring she would have to offer up that much information.

[zozee9]

Zeina sighed on the inside but remained silent and emotionless on the outside. Somehow Lilly had managed to not make eye contact with her the entire conversation. Normally she would have called her out for it—it was impolite—but she was tired of talking excessively. If the girl got to be any trouble, Zeina would deal with it then.

But she had done her job of teaching Lilly the basics of being a Scavenger. Somebody already would have talked to her about other basic things, such as where everything in the Den was and how the money system worked, so Zeina was ready to go fulfill her promise of playing with the kids. Playing meaning teaching them a new trick or two.

So Zeina shouted out, "Elijah!" That boy should be around somewhere. She swore she could smell his filth from here. "Come show Lilly around the dorm area, please. Maybe tell her about whatever you were doing that caused you to not come home last night?" Some kids didn't come back from their missions, and Zeina didn't question it. They either got kidnapped, killed, or decided to leave and wouldn't be a threat whatever the case was. But even when Elijah disappeared for a while, Zeina knew he'd be back. He was too smart to get kidnapped or killed and he had no ounce of desire to leave the pack. His overnight adventures were something she got used to long ago, especially since he always brought back a fair amount of valuables.

[Aeytrious]

Zeina was right, Elijah was nearby. In fact he was sitting on the floor, obscured from view by Lilly, as he thoroughly explored all her belongings. He got up, walked around her and dumped all her things into her lap. "You really should hang onto your things. You don't have anything I'd wanna steal from you though. Except maybe a kiss."

He performed a tumble into a perfect pirouette, swooping his cloak around in a flourish, just missing hitting Lily with it. "Elijah 'Fingers' Trebaol at your service madame. And might I say you look lovely in red," the filthy boy made a deep bow. "And Zeina lied, we have plenty of violence in the Scavengers. You just have to be a thug. You know, like a robber, mugger, or, Eli grinned,  "an accountant. Skipping payments can be bad for your health." He did another little twirl in place and then plopped down on the floor cross legged, and began picking his teeth with a little dagger that just seemed to materialize in his hand.

[paganchick]

Lilly looked at the kid, clearly not amused. She could feel the beast just beneath her skin, begging to eat the kids face. Of course with the layer of grime and filth she didn't think even her wolf would go through with it.
"Do you not think I knew you were going through my pockets, I could smell you before I walked in the room. If you can get the stuff out you can put it back where you got the stuff or you might just go missing on one of those nights you choose not to come straight back here. No one would miss you," Lilly nearly growled as her bright vivid eyes held something a bit more feral in them, something that wasn't exactly human.
Lilly laid her stuff back on the floor beside her chair, clearly expecting him to put the stuff back where he got it.
"And if I find anything missing, gods help your soul," She added with a sigh.

[zozee9]

Zeina laughed at Elijah's enthusiastic introduction and then went to go find Meisie. She would have to tell her to keep an eye on Lilly. Even if Lilly couldn't lift a finger against her children, her attitude would have to be settled. She could even hear the girl threatening the boy as she walked away, but didn't say anything.

She found Meisie in the corner of the room, surrounded by kids. Seemed like she was giving a puppet show. Standing at the back of the crowd, Zeina watched for a few seconds. It was a great story about a young boy who found the love of his life after being caught pickpocketing from her. When the story ended, Zeina walked up to Meisie and smiled. "That was a great show! I wasn't a huge fan of the love interest though, no offense." She knew Meisie would pick up on what she was saying.

"Perhaps I should make her a little more compliant next time?" Meisie responded.

"Strong still, but she was a little too rebellious. That never ends well." Then Zeina turned around to the kids who were still grouped around them and asked, "Does anybody have any interesting stories to tell? Or perhaps a new trick?" The kids always liked to show off when she was around.

[Aeytrious]

Eli continued picking his teeth with the little dagger, and eyed the new meat closely.

"You think you're tough. Well I've seen our boss, not Zeina but Canis Rufus, the Red Wolf, cut down twenty hardened criminals all by himself and not take a single wound. That's tough." He tongued the spot he had just been working on and gave the tooth a good suck.

"Me and the Rufus, we go way back. When Heinin brought me in, Rufus wasn't Rufus yet, and they taught me lotsa tricks. It doesn't matter if you're bigger than me, or stronger than me. If you can't catch me it doesn't much matter. I may only have twelve summers, but every kid in the Scavengers knows to give me respect." Eli spit out a little something that he managed to loosen from his teeth.

"Wolves are all about respecting strength. The strong devour the weak. For us humans strength isn't all about brawn, we're smart." Eli stood and took a few steps away. "Now before you stand, you'll want to disable the trap that I've interwoven into the ties of those boots and your corset. If you don't, the small bombs under you will go off and you'll be covered in extremely smelly and itchy resin." He sat back down now that he was out of range and grinned widely. "This is your first lesson. It's a really simple rig. Good luck!"

[paganchick]

Lilly was up and in front of Eli before he could take three steps away. When the bomb didn't go off it was clear that she had already disabled the trap. She leaned down very close to Eli's face.
"I think you have the terms tough and skilled mixed up. Just because I am new to the Soot wolves doesn't mean that I don't have both. Most people might fall for your little tricks, but not me. I don't care if you have it in with Canis Rufus, if so good for you. But as you said, it's all about strength and skill. And as you can see you little gutter snipe, I am not only bigger and stronger, I am just as fast."

[Aeytrious]

Eli did not try to run. He was not scared. At Lily's open hostility, three very large boys started to move forward, perhaps the three largest boys in the dorm. Eli smiled widely and waved them off. He remained sitting cross legged on the floor

"That's good. That was one of my mid difficulty rigs. The less I have to teach you the better for me," his smile remained but his seriousness could be seen in his eyes.

"The Coyote, your boss, gave you to me because I am, The Best, not second best, not third best. I am the number one earner of all the solo scavengers and I'm twelve. There are street thugs, and con men, and," he paused as he picked at his teeth more, "and bookies, and other scavengers that are part of groups that bring in more loot." He tongued something out of his teeth again and spit it to the side, "but not even the solo whores bring in more than me." He said whores with obvious derision. "I'm going to continue to test you until Zeina tells me not to, or until you leave the Scavengers," he pointed to one of the three large boys, "Trent is suprisingly deft for the size of his meaty hands. He set up a rather ingenious snare in my bed last week. Unfortunately for him, I recognized his work as I disabled it, and he ended up dangling from the ceiling the next morning when he got out of bed," the boys, even Trent, smiled at the story. "And as for your attitude, I'll keep treating you like a little wench until you earn my respect. Which you won't get by putting your face in mine. Get this close again and I'll kiss you," he raised a hand to stall the obvious objection she was likely to make. "And before you go saying you'll pound me, or some other threat of violence, realize you have to sleep at some point, and every other Wolf pup in here is loyal to ME." He gave her a dead pan stare, "Wolves aren't supposed to kill other Wolves, but there are lots of things you can live through."

[paganchick]

"My thoughts exactly you little bastard,"Lilly said, her gaze never wavering. She wasn't afraid of the boy, and though she had to sleep, she was not a heavy sleeper, and to wake her would be a mistake, especially this close to the full moon.




OOC: Sorry for super short post XD

[Aeytrious]

Eli sighed and shook his head. She clearly wasn't getting it. She had deplorable social skills, and her manners were quite lacking. He slipped on a glove, reached into a hidden pocket, and pulled out a vial. Then he took out a small pink sphere that appeared to have several strings hanging from it.

"Watch closely", he told her. He twirled the strings together and then shielded them with his gloved hand as he poured the vial over the pink ball. Vial empty he pulled out an identical one and poured it over the front of his and Lilly's shoes. Once empty he dropped that vial as well and pulled out a box of those new fangled striking sticks. He struck one and then lit the coiled strings, which were actually fuses. Finally, he reached out quickly grabbing Lilly's hand trapping the pink bomb between their two hands.

"The liquid I put on the bomb and our boots is a natural polymer made up of globular polypeptide casein protein molecules given a magical kick. In short, magic cheese glue," he grinned a wide toothy grin at Lilly, "I am wearing a glove so I can easily escape if you try anything foolish, or if you fail. That's a thirty second fuse and its magically protected from cutting. The only way to remove the glue is with a specially created microorganism that I have in one of my hidden pockets. The vial looks just like the glue. I'd say you have about twenty seconds left."

[zozee9]

The children spoke up, getting louder and louder, each one wanting to be picked by Zeina to show off their stuff. But glancing over towards Eli, and realizing what was happening, she knew she had to make this short. So she spoke and the kids got quiet again. "Ah, I'm afraid I'm actually going to have to show you lovely devils a trick today." She knew they wouldn't complain.

Pulling a small ball out of her lovely skirt, Zeina showed it to the gathered children. "A simple trick, today: I'm going to make this ball disappear!" Clapping her hands together so that the ball was in the middle, she closed her eyes and twirled her hands around three times, her loose sleeves falling down around her elbow. Then she suddenly opened both her eyes and her hands. The ball was gone. A couple of the kids gasped.

After holding up her hands for a couple of seconds so that the kids could see that they were, in fact, empty, Zeina pulled down her sleeves and let her arms rest back by her sides. Then, with a theatrical gasp, she lifted her hand up again, this time with the ball in it. She looked at it with wonder, as if she truly didn't know how it got there. Then a sly smile spread across her face, and it was clear that she did, in fact, know how it got there.

"Anybody know how I did this trick?" she asked the kids. The older and taller ones shook their heads. They couldn't figure it out.

But one of the shorter ones replied, "You slid the ball down your arm just before you clasped your hands, didn't you? So it fell in the crook of your elbow. And then you grabbed it again when you pretended to fix your sleeves!" He smiled proudly, happy he figured it out.

Zeina flicked a silver coin his way, and he caught it with ease. "Exactly!" she said. "You see, I need to make sure you guys don't forget that being short is an advantage in this business. Now only do you look more innocent and get away with the crying act more easily, you also have a good viewpoint for tricks like this." Directing her eyes to some of the older kids, she added, "However, there are also advantages to being taller. People more commonly accept you as adults and don't question that you're alone. You also seem more intimidating, and can catch a different set of tricks."

Even the kids that had seen the trick and heard the speech before still liked her performance. Leaving the kids to discuss among themselves, Zeina made her way over to Eli and Lilly. He had just sprayed his fancy glue stuff on her. With no intention of being discreet, she reached into the hidden pocket that was on his bottom left, compared to the hidden pocket that he had grabbed the previous vial out of on his top right, and pulled out the microorganism. She pulled the top off and scattered it over everything covered in glue.

"I'm sure you could have done that, Lilly. Don't take any offense on me stopping Eli's trick," Zeina said with a light smile. Then, turning to Eli, she asked, "Didn't I tell you not to waste that stuff? It's expensive." Not that price really mattered. She stopped him because she could tell that Lilly wasn't enjoying Eli's company. Or, in other words, Zeina got the feeling that the boy with make Lilly more rebellious instead of teaching her respect. "And showing off isn't a very good way to get attention. If you want people to fear you, Eli, you have to do it in a more subtle and less planned way. Right now you just seem like a desperate—lovely, but desperate—little boy fishing for attention." Normally she didn't mind this. Eli was still one of her favorite kids. But in situations like this, it wasn't very good.
_____________
OOC: Sorry for the mega-long post. But I don't want this thread to die out so I was hoping to stir it up a little... ?

[Aeytrious]

Eli made his most pouty face and stomped his feet. There were moments when he really acted his age.

"But she's not showing me any respect. How can I teach her ANYTHING," he shouted, "if she won't RESPECT me?" He was clearly upset, and it was probably a good move for Zeina to step in.

"She's acting like some mangy, untrained dog. She doesn't seem to understand hierarchy." Eli looked at Lily with a face like he smelled something awful. He turned away and stormed off to his bunk, sat, and crossed his arms. For the nearly the grimiest kid in the dorm, he had the nicest bed. Evidence that he really was a big earner.

"She makes me so MAD!!!" Some of the other children, seeing Eli throwing an epic tantrum, slid out of view. Nobody wanted to be around if he really exploded. He could be violently vindictive against those that saw him lose it. And as he said earlier, there was a lot you could survive.

[zozee9]

Zeina waited until Eli stormed off and stopped talking. Sometimes he got like that. And she was one of the few who could deal with his tantrums... Meisie was another one. But this time, Zeina decided she would talk to him herself.

"Sorry," she said unemotionally to Lilly. "I'll be right back." Normally she would have warned her about watching her pockets, but it was clear the girl could hold her own. She walked off towards Eli, leaving Lilly to do what she wanted.

Sitting down next to the tatrum thrower, Zeina spoke with a sweet yet stern voice. "Eli, darling, there are so many things I love about you. You're talented, witty, and quite a good actor. But you need to get that attitude of yours under control." She paused. "You spoke about respect and hierarchy. But have you forgotten that be complaining, you're showing disrespect for me? Someday you might be at the top of this food chain. Then the only person you'll have to listen to is Rufus, if you plan on staying a Scavenger. Or maybe you will be the Rufus. I believe you have the potential. Your cunningness is similar to mine was, at your age. In fact, I reckon it's even better! But a good leader needs to understand themselves and be able to move past their weaknesses. And your weakness it your hotheadedness. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

[Aeytrious]

"Of course I understand," Eli responded with a pout, and then mumbled, "I'm not stupid like her." Knowing Zeina probably heard him, he reflexively flinched back, an unconscious movement he acquired on the streets. Smaller kids get hit when they upset larger kids. But he relaxed when the blow did not fall. He always sensed a vicious edge to Zeina, but she never followed through. Being a child, he did not catch on to the perhaps deeper meaning to this.

"Why won't she listen? You told her to listen, and all she does is bully. I should have her tied down and beaten while she sleeps. Have her head shaved and her clothes torn to ribbons so she has to wear a coarse sack." His temper was clearly not abated.

[zozee9]

"Eli... you have to learn how to better handle situations. Anyway, you're being hypocritical again. I don't you to calm down, and you're not listening. I'll talk to you again once you've regained your senses. And until then, I expect you to listen to Meisie. If she says that you've been misbehaving, then you are going to get into trouble." Zeina paused. "And I will see that out personally—so don't think you can avoid it."

With a sigh, she patted him on the head before moving out. After a brief nod to Meisie, Zeina figured it was about due time for her to leave. Might as well get back to that game the others were playing. Some of the kids followed her to the door, but they all knew better than to try to follow her further.

Zeina headed down the hallway, wondering why such a prodigy had to have the attitude he did. If he couldn't tame it... well, she wouldn't be surprised it he became an enemy of the Pack someday. That's why she had to fix it while he still listened to her. Or at least mostly listened to her.