Night walk in the city (open)

XiFeng winced as a beer bottle was thrown past her head. Her foster father was just about as disgustingly stereotypical as a foster parent could get in terms of bad behavior. Drunkard, violent, dimwitted, his checklist met the perfect criteria for scum bag. This was why she had stayed out late. And staying out late was the reason that her father had been laying the smack down on her for about half an hour now.

“Didya think I would just let you disappear you stupid bi(r)ch? You were supposed to be my fu(dg)ing retirement fund! Instead I just got a retarded Asian!” He kicked her in the ribs.

If she could get to the door, XiFeng could probably make a break from this ratty a(zz) apartment complex and find somewhere in the city to sleep for the night. Though her father had come close to beating her within an inch of her life before, XiFeng had never had anything like this happen. This was…too much.

When her father went to grab her hair and drag her up to his eye level, XiFeng unfurled a tight ball of rage that held her powers in check. It fizzled, blooming in her chest like bruises had bloomed on her arms and legs. The tingling sensation raced up her arms and burst out in brilliant flames, engulfing her father’s hand in a miniature fire ball.

He shrieked bloody murder, clutching his flaming hand, and stumbled over his own beer bottles. His hit the floor and XiFeng bolted for the door. She flung it open, raced down the steps, and ran as far from the apartment complex as she could. She had no idea where to go, but at this point, XiFeng could care less about where she ended up. One point in time, she would have killed for a father figure. Now she would kill to get rid of the one she had.

When the adrenaline from fear wore off and XiFeng felt she was far away enough to be safe, her sprint slowed to a walk. She flipped up her hoodie, hoping to hide the cuts and bruises on her face and stuffed her frigid hands into its pockets. The chilly night wind nipped at her bare legs, and XiFeng desperately wished she could have managed to change out of her short school skirt before her father had found her. She would have pants on and the cold wouldn’t accentuate her pain. Each step was accompanied by a dull throb or a sharp pinch of agony. Yet she kept walking the streets. An alley was too dangerous, and XiFeng had a feeling that with the shape she was in, if she stopped she wasn’t going to able to get back up again.

Yami was doing late night patrols from the roof tops, when he spots a girl walking along the street alone. Risky and foolish...He glances a short distance behind her, and yes, there was your typical night roach.He jumps silently, his hood and cloth strips fluttering in the wind as he lands on the scum.muffling the protests with a knee to the mouth, he traps a arm, wrenching and shattering it. Before the thug has time to really scream, he knocks him put, throwing away the cheap blade that the would be mugger/kidnapper/whatever had clasped in his now useless hand, throwing him into a dumpster.

(yes, I was inspired by assasins creed for this take down!+_+ and batman, as well)

Those couldn't be...footsteps following her right? XiFeng's little common sense voice sneered at her naivete. Of course this would be her luck. It was probably that creep she noticed pull out of an alley in her direction earlier. She couldn't outrun him in this state. Nor could she fight. The only answer was...

No, anything but that! XiFeng pleaded to her common sense. Using her powers twice in one night? Usually she pretended that they never even existed. That was what landed her in foster care in the first place. That and-

She stopped that memory train before it had a chance to go anywhere.

Then a series of quick sounding movements went off behind her and XiFeng whipped around slashing a flaming hand in an arc across the space in front of her to warn her attacker off. It proved useless anyways because the suspicious guy XiFeng had glimpsed earlier was taken down, disarmed, and then pitched mercilessly into a dumpster by a complete stranger. Before she could stop it, a laugh escaped XiFeng. Who gets thrown into a dumpster? Seriously. Actually, who had the creativity to do that? Her thoughts quickly turned serious again when she realized she may have just traded one predator for an even more dangerous one.

XiFeng kept her rage simmering close under the surface, her skin lit with warmth, her powers sorely underused and ready to burst. She would try diplomacy, but her powers were already primed for battle just in case.

"Who are you?" she questioned.

Yami looks up, his golden eyes widening slightly at the flaming hand. A flame user...Brilliant. Here was hoping she wasn't a villain.The cloth mage blinks as the girl briefly laughs.Shrugging, he answers her question." I am Yami Seigi, cloth mage."

XiFeng narrowed her eyes. "A cloth what?"

On a second instinct, or possibly nerves, she stuck her hands inside the front pocket of her hoodie.

Yami sighs. Of course..Demon? Sure, everyone knew about those. Necromancers? Nods of recognition. Werewolves? Yep, and we got plenty of silver. But, no one ever seemed to know what a cloth mage was." A cloth Mage. I use my Breath to control cloth and form weapons." He demonstrates,concentrating his Breath as he grabs a medium strip, then breaths on it  with the white mistlike substance, making a Baton and holding it to the girl.

XiFeng blinked a couple times. She had heard there were other people in this city that could do strange things, but this was...cooler than what she had expected. Gingerly, she took the baton from his hand and slashed it like a knife in the air a few times.

Then she grinned and extended a hand for a handshake. "This is really cool Yami. I'm XiFeng. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, I was afraid you might be an axe murderer or something."

Yami nods, taking the hand and gently shaking it." It is well. You should be careful upon these streets, or scum like that" he points at the occupied dumpster" will take advantage....But..I suppose it is a pleasure to meet you as well, XiFeng." He bigins to turn, about to leave, but catches signs of injury.".....Who harmed you?"

XiFeng immediately cast her eyes towards the ground and the knee jerk answer slipped out. "Nothing. I fell."

Oh yeah like he's really going to believe that, her conscious sneered. XiFeng mentally sighed and told her conscious to shut up.

Yami raised an eyebrow at her response, responding drly." One wonders what exactly you did to make the ground itself hate you this much." He snorts." I do not enjoy the thought of letting whoever hurt you get away with it...but I won't force you. Know this though, I will take care of it if you wish...Do you need a safe place?"

XiFeng sighed in relief. Thank the stars this guy wasn't going to push the answers out of her. If she lost that home it was back to tumbling through the system. That wasn't pretty. At least she could stay out all day an avoid most of the chaos in this place.

"Yeah. Just for the night. Tomorrow I'll try again to, uh, battle the ground I guess." She actually did contemplate telling him her problems but...she had nowhere to go. And such a thing could cause a huge retaliation.

Yami nods." Very well..Come with me."He turns around, and begins walking. He had to figure out a way to convince her to leave the scvum that was beating her...No-one should suffer like that...he snorts at himself.=You've gotten soft, Fate Weaver..Tch, something about this city,.= Still walking, he asks the girl." So...how can you control flame?"

The boy started walking and with a start of surprise first XiFeng followed. A part of her really hadn't expected this kindness. Then he seemed to have a small conversation with himself. He could be asking himself why he was picking up strays...or theorizing how best to kill her. XiFeng really hoped it was the first. She hoped hard enough she almost missed the question. The one thing she really didn't want to have to answer.

"I, uh," XiFeng gulped and tried to think how exactly to go about this, "I turn into a bird. And the bird is on fire. So when I'm not the bird, sometimes I'm on fire too...if I wanna be...usually."

That was vague enough right? He wouldn't be able to tell she was a phoenix with just that. Phoenix's did far more than just fire. It would be really bad if he found out and started asking to see things she couldn't control yet.

Yami nods." I see.." Hmmm...sounded supernatural. He runs through the list of creatures he'd encountered inside his head. Nope, nothing like that..It didn't matter, he guessed. She was a non threat. They eventually reach his 'home'.

https://ttrpg.forumotion.com/t5136-sigh-home-sweet-home-solo

As they enter the room he'd made his own, he nods at the mattress he'd lowered cloth strips on, softening it." When you wish to sleep, there is the bed." He points at a small roll of books and surprisingly, considering his evident personality, comedy manga." And there is entertainment."

XiFeng should have been squeamish, but being smuggled through the opium trades had really lowered her standards as to living conditions. Being a human corpse was way worse than this moldy apartment. Besides, there were no blood stains or weapons lying around. There was...comedy manga as entertainment. She laughed at that. Yami didn't really seem like the comedy manga type.

"Do you have a bed too?"