The Witch Among Humans

Chapter 36: The Grave

"Stop right there, kid!" A local waiter ran down the road at full speed.

Hunter decided to keep running, since he had the upper hand. His chaser was a bit on the bigger side, which didn't compare to the training of Belos' right hand man. He rounded the corner to a building.

Eventually, he found a smaller building where the roof's edge wasn't too high off the ground. As the waiter came to the last corner where the thief had gone, he found nothing left. With a scratch of his head, he decided to go back to his job.

Hunter laid on his back and sighed. "Finally, a break."

He pulled the wrapping off of a small sandwich, and immediately began eating it. There was some kind of yellow condiment that only made it taste better. The best food he had eaten in a while. "Ah."

Chirp.

He looked up, spotting a red bird gliding nearby. It was staring right at him- no, his food.

Hunter held it back, glaring at the small earth creature. It simply tilted its head, before proceeding to land on the roof a few feet away.

They simply stared at each other. Hunter with the eyes of... well, a hunter latched onto their prey. The bird simply watched him with unclear emotions. Envy, desire, happiness. It could have felt anything.

After a solid twenty seconds (maybe more) or staring, Hunter sighed. He tore off a small piece of the sandwich, and held it out to the red creature.

It slowly approached. The bird kept an eye on the witch, but the snack did seem nice. The bird snatched up the food, barely leaving a scratch on Hunter's hand.

"Woah." Hunter watched the bird as it ate. He soon decided to finish his meal.

After swallowing the last bread crumbs, Hunter let out a sigh of relief. He was feeling better now, even if this world was making living honestly pretty difficult.

Chirp. The bird watched Hunter at first. It watched his movements, making sure of something. Then, it flew onto his shoulder.

Hunter turned to see the bird sitting on him. His first instinct was to swat at it, but the earth creature seemed friendly.

He hadn't seem friendly since getting stranded on Earth.

When he lifted his hand to the little rascal, it welcomed his hand. He spent the next few seconds simply petting it with his fingers. For some reason, the bird's wings had a rough texture, almost like the bark of a tree.

"So." Hunter began. "You alone out here?"

The little guy chirped as a response. In the same exact tone. Hunter chuckled at the coincidence. He leaned back, but the tiny creature didn't change position.

This little red rascal seemed to... smile, for some reason. That was the impression Hunter got. So he smiled back. "Well, if you want..."

We can be alone together.

Present

"So you just decided that a random bird trying to get food from you was fine, but talking to people is a no-go?" Luz asked. She didn't really care, but it was good entertainment for her. She had been wondering what happened to her adversary since his last attack.

Hunter tugged at the vine holding his upper half captive. It was a poorly thought out effort on the witch's part. "Oh yes. I totally haven't tried asking about working to obtain currency, or if I could live rent free, or if I could get a helping hand? People aren't naturally trusting, witch. You just got lucky with that any-job woman."