[C] Feeding A Small Army

Fawzi hummed softly to herself as she strolled through a large park in the outskirts of the city centre. This walk was so familiar to the woman that she moved with complete confidence, avoiding holes and large rocks in the dirt path without even needing her dark brown eyes to flicker downwards.

She swung an unopened loaf of bread idly as she approached her usual after-work haunt.

The duck pond.

As soon as she was in view of the pond, a sizeable army of ducks waddled towards her, quacking loudly and stumbling over each other to get the Necromancer's attention. The ducks knew who Fawzi was and what her presence meant.

"How is my little army today? Ready to take over the world one pond at a time?" she chuckled softly, a grin curling her lips as she settled down on one of the rickety old wooden benches that surrounded the large pond.

Her tongue laved over the scabbing wound on her lower lip as she opened up the bag of bread and began tearing chunks from the loaf within, tossing them into the gathering crowd of feathered creatures.

There was nothing she loved more than sitting on this bench and feeding her little army. The experience was almost always peaceful. Ducks couldn't cause any unwanted trouble or stress for her.

Sometimes she felt more comfortable around these ducks than she did around actual people. A sad realisation for the woman. She loved being around people most of the time. When not at Claudio's place or at work, she loved going out to bars or clubs or random house parties. There was always a new friend to be made or a new joke to be heard.

Not long after Fawzi began feeding the ducks, a man approached the pond as well. He was wearing a tweed coat, a scarf, and jeans. His hair was combed neatly, but he had a nice bit of scruff on his face.

He pulled out a bag containing chopped up tomatoes and tossed a few on the ground.

Only a couple of ducks noticed him and scampered over to eat up the snack he provided them.

He glanced over at the woman, the docks obviously preferred her. A small smile came to his face as he looked back down and kept feeding the few ducks that came to eat up his tomatoes.

The woman barely noticed the man that sat on one of the other benches around the pond.

It wasn't until she noticed a few of the ducks breaking away from the back of the gathering to mooch off the kindness of Tomaso. Anyone that gave them food was a friend to the ducks.

Fawzi's brown eyes turned up to the man and she gave a wide - if not slightly painful with the stretch of the scabbing wound - smile.

"Hi," she called out in a friendly manner.

Fawzi was a naturally friendly person. She liked trying to make friends with just about everyone she met.

Tomaso looked up when she called out the greeting. Normally he wasn't used to people being friendly like that. He spend most of his days with his nose in a book though, so he supposed it wasn't often people got the chance.

He gave her a warm smile, but couldn't help and notice the scab on her face.

"Hi." He said, his voice sounding softer then he intended. He was usually quite soft spoken.

"Sorry, I'm stealing some of your friends." He said as he tossed a few more tomatoes to the ducks at his feet.

The woman stood from her bench and manoeuvred not very gracefully through the throngs of birds attacking her legs in hopes of being fed.

Eventually, and only with a few mishaps involving an unfortunate duck under her foot, she dropped down onto the bench Tomaso was sat on, her lips stretching into a wider grin as the crowd of ducks stared up at both Fawzi and Tomaso expectantly.

"Now we share the stolen friends."

She tore another chunk of bread and tossed it into the crowd. It bounced off one ducks head and three others fought each other to swallow down the chunk.

"I'm Fawzi."

It took a lot for Tom to not let himself laugh at the sight of her trying to get through the army of birds. He couldn't help but smile big at the way it looked and at the occasional quack of disapproval.

When she sat beside him he looked down. He was shy around women, especially one's who were so social like this. He tossed a few more tomatoes to the now very big crowd of ducks.

"Tomaso." He responded, giving her a quick glance before bashfully looking back down at the ducks.

"Tomaso," she repeated softly, committing it to memory.

"Are you new around here? I haven't seen you around before." She'd been here every other day for the past seven years without fail and she hadn't once seen this man around.

And she knew she'd remember him if she had seen him.

He was a rather attractive man.

She continued tearing chunks of bread and tossing them for the ducks to devour.

Tom nodded his head. He was running out of tomatoes to feed the ducks. But he didn't want to run out just yet, he wanted to stay and keep talking to Fawzi.

He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but she had a certain feel about her that was very inviting.

"Yeah, I'm new. I mean, not to Italy. But to this area." He explained, trying his hardest not to stutter. That would be the worse.

"You chose a good place to set up camp."

She pulled the last of the loaf out of the bag, shoving the balled up plastic in the pocket of her work pants.

She tore the last of the bread into two pieces and handed one to Tomaso. "You can make friends with the ducks. They're some of the best creatures in the area."

The woman's posture was so loose; comfortable. She was perfectly happy sat here conversing with a complete stranger on a park bench with an army of ducks surrounding them.

Tom laughed softly and shook his head.

"I didn't really chose this place myself. Work sent me here." He admitted.

Once he saw that she had run out of bread, he threw the last of his tomatoes on the ground for the ducks to gobble up.

He noticed how relaxed she was, and he wished that he could be that mellow around new people. But in all honesty, he was an awkward bookworm who didn't get out much. That's how he'd been as long as he could remember.

"Travel around a lot with work?" she asked curiously.

She wanted to keep conversation going with this man.

He was nice; just slightly shy and awkward. If she could break through that shy awkwardness, then she could probably find the true him.

She always found that the quieter ones made the best company.

When all her bread was gone, she leant back against the bench.

"Not typically no. But right now I'm working on some important research that took me to Catania. I'm not sure how long I'll be here, but I like it so far." He said.

His voice was still soft, but he was warming up to the conversation and able to relax a little more.

"I see. Well, I hope you get all the information you need here. If you ever need any help, I'll fill that slot. Just need to drop me a line and I'll come to your aid."

Fawzi was a genuinely helpful person. If someone needed help and she could be helpful in any way whatsoever, she'd jump at the chance.

As the ducks continued to cry out for attention and food, she chuckled, holding her hands up to show them she had no more bread. "All gone. You ate it all."

Tom gave a soft laugh as Fawzi spoke to the ducks, though he was considering taking the woman up on her offer.

"I'm studying mythical creatures and the occult. I know, it's kind of a bizarre thing to be researching. Still, I'm interested in the history of it all. I heard there was a place in Catania that had a lot of information, but I'm having a hard time tracking it down now that I'm here. You wouldn't happen to know of any such place, would you?" He asked, turning his body more towards her.

Mythical creatures?

That...well, that was a subject that could get a little awkward if she took a wrong step.

Fawzi didn't have the heightened senses of most other supernatural creatures. She couldn't tell if a person was a supernatural or not from scent of aura. That made being table to find out if someone was a supernatural or not rather awkward.

"Mythical creatures...like Vampire and werewolves and elves and stuff?" She knew a lot about that particular subject. She'd been around it for her entire life.

"There are a lot of books on mythical creatures in the libraries."

She didn't want to lead a human into the heart of the local coven. That could lead to utter disaster.

Mythical creatures?

That...well, that was a subject that could get a little awkward if she took a wrong step.

Fawzi didn't have the heightened senses of most other supernatural creatures. She couldn't tell if a person was a supernatural or not from scent of aura. That made being table to find out if someone was a supernatural or not rather awkward.

"Mythical creatures...like Vampire and werewolves and elves and stuff?" She knew a lot about that particular subject. She'd been around it for her entire life.

"There are a lot of books on mythical creatures in the libraries."

She didn't want to lead a human into the heart of the local coven. That could lead to utter disaster.

Tom gave a soft chuckle and looked down. A lot of people felt that the topic of vampires and werewolves and the like was childish. But Tom was particularly interested in the history of it.

Of course he didn't believe they were real, that would be absurd. But he was curious about social and cultural aspects that would cause them to be feared throughout the ages. How did they come to pass? How did the legends start? How were they spread?

"I've searched the libraries, trust me. And in one of the books, it implied that there were... covens or safe havens that these creatures could come to for shelter. I know, it sounds silly, but in my further studies I've come to believe that one of those covens is here in Catania. Now of course I don't think I'll actually find vampires there, but maybe if I could just locate this building, I could find relics and more history there. Some unanswered questions..."

Topics of research and study loosened Tom's tongue quite a bit.

Fawzi quirked a brow in surprise.

A human had found information on Giacinto's coven. That was a spectacular feat in and of itself. Giacinto was usually so careful. Anyone that wasn't in the loop of supernaturals wouldn't be able to find the place.

"How old was the book? Say, hypothetically, the book was printed a century or a decade ago, the coven may have moved on to a different locate for one reason or another. Migratory covens are more common in this day and age, so I've read."

She had to remind herself to sound like she was talking about a mythical creature. She could only imagine what could happen if he picked up on how certain she was when speaking and chased that for answers.

"I can ask around and see if anyone I know knows anything about that coven."

She'd make it a point to just ask her friends that didn't know about the coven. Then she could get back to Tomaso and give him truths rather than lies. She'd feel slightly better giving him truths than outright lies.

It was certainty a feat. Tomaso had spent days on end, which turned into weeks, which melted into months... completely involved in his research.

And the information he did find was based off of hunches alone.

The man's eyes light up.

"You've read about it as well? So you also thing that they have covens... I mean, of course, if they existed... fascinating! What else have you read?"

Tom was as excited to hear what she had to say as a jr. high girl was to hear the latest gossip.

"I've read a lot about different supernatural creatures in my time."

She found supernatural creatures interesting, too. Not in the way Tomaso did. Tomaso saw supernatural's as creatures that didn't exist. He researched them like a Ringer would research Sindarin to learn about it. She researched it like a zoologist looking into information on the anatomy of giraffes. A creature that really did exist that she wanted to know more about.

"It just seems logical that Vampires, or any supernatural creature for that matter, would band together in covens or packs or herds. There are strength in numbers."

She gave a little half shrug. "I know quite a bit about quite a few supernatural creatures. I know the most on Necromancers."

Necromancers? Now that was something as equally fascinating, but Tomaso hadn't studied that as deeply.

"What do you know of necromancers?" He asked, still curious. A slight blush came to his cheeks. "Ah, sorry... I'm asking so many questions now..." He gave a soft chuckle.

She probably had places to go and things to do instead of talk about fantasy with a man she just met.

"I know a lot."

The woman smiled brightly as she began to explain the basics of Necromancy to the human.

"From what I've read, there are two types of Necromancers. Those that are born from Necromancer bloodlines and those that are awarded their powers through casting spells and such."

Her hands began moving as she talked, acting out what she was saying in a very animated way.

"In its loosest term, Necromancy is the act of raising the dead through spells; sometimes through giving the corpse part of your soul, or magic or just reuniting a body with its spirit. But Necromancy is so much more than that. It involves raising the dead sometimes, but it also involves communicating with spirits, curing ailments in all sorts of creatures. it can even be about killing creatures rather than bringing them back to life."

Necromancy was such a broad art. Necromancers could be very skilled in so many different things and still be considered Necromancers.

Tom could see that he and this woman had something in common. They were both very fascinated with things that were mythical. Necromancy was slightly different then vampires and lycans in the sense that many believed it was in fact real.

Some people swore that such power existed, while others thought it was all make believe.

He wondered what Fawzi thought about it, but decided not to ask her until he got to know her better.

"I find it absolutely fascinating that you know so much Fawzi." He said to her honestly.

The woman gave an embarrassed little smile as her hands paused in the middle of a demonstration of what she was explaining. One hand dropped into her lap while the other raised to run over the short shaved section of her hair.

She'd babbled a lot there, hadn't she?

She had to remind herself too not talk too much about this sort of thing. She got so passionate about the subject. She could quite easily let loose that this was all real in one of her little rants.

"I've done a lot of reading on the subject," she murmured softly with an awkward little half smile curling her pierced lips.

The more that Tom was around Fawzi, the more he liked her. He was never a "ladies-man", and was very awkward when he fancied a girl.

He cleared his throat.

"Well... if you would like, I would very much enjoy talking more about it say... over a cup of coffee?" He asked, his cheeks getting dusted with pink.

What if she said no... what if she said yes!?