Curses

Cursed Boy of Hage

"Okay," Yuno breathes as he weaves his way through the crowd "Asta remember best behavior."

He's nervous, so very nervous.

He has never been around so many people before. The capital is immense in both size and population and it's only growing more crowded with the up coming magic knights exam.

Asta is hidden but he is not gone. Yuno can always feel his presence hanging in the air like a thick blanket, lurking and poised to strike. He circles the area around Yuno and said boy can feel his brothers wariness of the situation their in and the distrust he has for his surroundings.

As long as Yuno stays calm then they shouldn't have a problem.

His brain is racing a mild a minute as he keeps reminding himself.

Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

One wrong move can lead to death. He doesn't want that. He wants to make things better not worse.

"Asta," he hisses through grit teeth "remember the rules."

He's tried all his life to gain some sense of control over his brother and the past few months have been no different. He thinks he's finally managed to ingrain a set of rules into the demons thick skull.

"No scratching, no biting, no piercing, no crushing," he hunches his shoulders "no killing and no. eating. people."

He feels a breath of cold air against the back of his ear.

Asta is not pleased but for now he is compliant.

"Thank you," he smiles to himself "I promise I'll be okay."

He proceeds to sign up for the exam with out much issue.

There's nobles here who glare and whisper with harsh words falling from their tongues. He bristles at the insults but forces him to remain unfazed. The air feels denser, Asta looms on the sidelines. He can't see him but he knows he's glaring murderously at the others.

Stay focused. Stay calm.

A bird lands on his shoulder and it startles him enough to make him jump, sparking more snickers from those around him.

He grumbles under his breath about nerves and feels annoyed when he hears the whisper of a cackle behind him. He shakes his head and looks quizzically at the bird.

He's seen these sparrow like creatures before. They had them in Hage, what were they called again?

"Look that commoner has an anti bird on him," he hears someone laugh.

"Only one though? That's a bit surprising."

Oh yes.

Anti birds, drawn to people with low magic power.

Yuno shrugs his shoulders, willing the bird to leave him be.

It flutters about in the air for a moment before landing right back on his shoulder.

He blinks at it curiously.

It's slightly different then a normal bird. It's eyes look almost intelligent and two little horns peak up from it's head.

More so it isn't looking at him, it's looking behind him. 

At his shadow.

Can this bird see-

"Hey!" Yuno yelps on instinct as someone bumps into him.

"Watch it bean poll," a gruff voice barks back.

The air grows slightly colder.

Yuno takes a steadying breath and turns around.

A very well built man with tanned skin stands behind him looking more then a little unimpressed. He looks older then the rest of the group made primarily of fifteen year old's and clutched in his grip is a half smoked cigarette.