of hunger and morning hunts

Soft rumbling echoed around the dark alleyway, emanating from a small fort of boxes tucked away in the corner. The boxes rustled a bit, a child squeezing out of a small space between boxes. She stretched her thin limbs, dual-colored eyes squinting against the morning sun that streamed into the alleyway. Another rumble, and she patted her stomach, whining to herself in hunger. Reaching up to rub blearily at her still sleepy eyes, Anita shuffled out of the alley, absently picking at the frayed sleeves of the gray, overly large sweatshirt she wore.

She darted in and out of the busy morning crowds, slowly but surely wandering towards the shadier streets. It was there she hoped to find breakfast, so she found an empty alley to camp out in, sharp eyes watching out for the different types of people that would pass by. She had been waiting for a while and was about to give up and find another spot when she caught sight of a particular stranger. With a grin of innocent hunger, she shot out of the alley, pretending to trip in the stranger's path as he walked by. Anita caught the stranger's gaze, and thirty seconds later, knew that he would be the perfect morning meal.

With a bright, excited smile, she allowed the man to help her up, docilely following him and his promises of candy- of course, once they were out of sight from the main street, she would overpower the unwitting human and dig into his entrails, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Yet.​

She was led into a different alley than the one she'd been keeping watch from, the unlikely pair continuing until they were half-way in. The man turned to her, but before he could even open his mouth to speak, Anita was upon him, putting all of her small body into tackling him to the ground. Much too surprised to balance himself against the child ramming herself into him, the man went down easily, but Anita placed her hands on either side of his face before he could move to fight back. The man's neck was snapped decisively, barely a sound made throughout the whole take down.

Settling beside what was now a corpse, Anita lifted the man's shirt up and began the process of breaking into the skin of his stomach with the single-mindedness of a child driven by hunger. It was a messy affair, and Anita made an absentminded mental note to find another overly large sweatshirt- the dark gray one she was currently wearing had already gotten blood splattered onto the sleeves, and while she didn't particularly mind it now, it would get smelly if she left it as it was. After a few minutes of careful digging, however, she finally got to his soft organs, and with a triumphant squeak, she fished out the man's liver first and took as large a bite as she could manage. She continued to make happy sounds of contentment as she all but devoured the still warm organ, going for the pancreas next. She would leave the man's eyeballs until last- she absolutely eyeballs and tried savoring them as best as a child with as short an attention span as she could.​

For all that she was ravenously eating, Anita quickly noticed the other human. She immediately dropped the dead man's pancreas, half bitten into, and scuttled away from both the corpse and the girl that had found her, either not understanding Hazel's words or too frightened to take heed. Since the girl was blocking the way out of the alley, Anita moved deeper into the alley until her back hit a wall. Wide, dual-colored eyes watched Hazel with open fear, the cowering making Anita look every inch the child she physically and mentally was.

Her mother- the few memories she could recall of the pretty woman with mischievous, if somber, spring green eyes- had warned her of what the humans would do if they caught her; it wouldn't even matter that she was but a child. And so, Anita tried squeezing herself as much as she could into the corner of the alley's end, absolutely terrified of the human girl even as her small stomach gave a demanding rumble and eliciting a conflicted whine from the small waif.

Sure, she could probably plow through her with her superior strength and run away, but she had little advantage in speed and agility. Once, not if, the girl called the authorities, little Anita would be hunted down. She didn't understand it, but her mother had seen fit to warn her of the humans before leaving Anita to her own devices, so surely it must be true- but Anita tried being a good girl, really she did. She was just so hungry all the time.​

She held her breath and waited for the angry yelling and frantic calls for help, maybe even a few blows to be thrown to her head. None of it seemed forthcoming, but Anita didn't want to take the chance and look. As such, she didn't notice when Hazel came to the decision to help her. She merely continued to shake in her little corner, flinching as Hazel's voice sounded once more. She didn't quite understand it through her fright, like before, but the scent of food even closer to her face had her blinking in bemused surprise. The conflict over whether to look up or not was visible on her delicate features, though her hunger and childishly voracious curiosity quickly won out.

Uncurling just enough to look around, her dual-colored eyes widened at the sight of the ice owl and its offering. She glanced between Hazel and the owl several times before her hand darted out to grab the organ the owl was holding. She cradled it to her chest, as if she were expecting it to be taken away from her at any moment, one hand bringing it to her mouth so she could nibble on it while the other hand tentatively reached out to poke at the ice owl's stomach. For all that she'd been absolutely terrified mere moments before, her attention span was at its limit, her focus now taken up by the owl. She giggled in surprise as her finger encountered ice, slowly shuffling up to the little thing and watching it with a bright smile. If it weren't for the dead man's organ she was already half-way done with and the blood splattered on her sweatshirt, she would look for all the world like any other child encountering something new and utterly amusing.​

Ravenously finishing off the proffered meal, Anita continued with her poking of the ice owl. Her eyes were filled with wonder all the while, and it took her a few moments to actually notice Hazel inching ever closer. She regarded Hazel with not nearly as much terror as before, but was still visibly guarded around the girl that could have other humans swarming around Anita with just a call or shout. The people that had brought her to Manta Carlos had done that, catching her by surprise and overwhelming her supernatural strength with numbers.

Even so, the wary hesitance was slowly but surely disappearing, the tension lessening within her small frame. The way she thought about it, if Hazel had gone through so much trouble not to startle her, then surely she meant well, right? The human girl looked pretty and nice, so she had to be like that, right? With that decided upon, Anita offered Hazel a small smile- not as bright as the one she'd offered the owl itself, but also sweet in her willingness to try and accept Hazel as non-threatening. She didn't shy away from the other girl, settling on the ground with a squeak and raising a hand slightly to wave at Hazel.​