A Winged Masquerade [one x one]

[Rivkah]

Kane dropped his pencil, sighing, and placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned in, forcing her to meet his gaze as he told her in a soft, firm tone, "We are all imperfect. Especially my kind. Look at me, with my ugly wings, or at the anorexic girls shoving me away for a better pretty boy to flirt with. Just because you don't excel in something is no reason to beat yourself up about it." He smiled warmly, though there was a flicker of sadness in those amber eyes of his. He meant every word of what he said to her, though thoughts of this may pain him.

He hesitated, drawing back, as he was afraid he had invaded her personal space. Avoiding her gaze, he muttered an apology under his breath. Kane had always been emotional in all his closed-off ways, and he had often been reprimanded and shunned because he wasn't as cool, calm, and collected as some of the other Winged of his community. So he was fully expecting anything from a slap to a scolding from this girl, even if she was a servant. He tended to forget that, as he viewed humans as his equals.

Feathery wings rustling, their ugly, dark span so unlike the delicate wings you saw upon his species counterparts. They were elegant and mysterious, but in comparison to those other wings, they were like the ugly duckling wings of these humanoids. He distracted himself by continuing, and watched her write, as he found it comforted him. "'B' is a consonant that thankfully only makes the 'buh' sound, but when attached to other vowels it doesn't just sound like the staccato 'buh'."

[rose;]

Rose looked up in surprise, only able to hold his gaze for a few moments before she had to look down again, blinking quickly. She shifted uncomfortably with him so close, swallowing hard at the proximity. She had never experienced it, thankfully, but she'd heard the horror stories of girls and their masters and really didn't like the sound of it. "But they're not..." she whispered sadly, reaching out almost unconsciously to brush her hand just lightly against the feathers, drawing her hand back swiftly with a blush when she realized what she had done. Exactly what she wasn't supposed to.

"I-I'm sorry," she said quickly, nervously turning back to her paper and hoping she wouldn't be scowled. "As in bee?" she asked, the first word that came to mind that sort of had that sound, and she was pretty confident that it was right. At least connecting the sound to words with that sound would be easier for her, since she knew quite a few words. "Next is... C?" she asked, pausing only a few moments to have to think as she wrote the letter out, a bit shaky still with the utensil.

[Rivkah]

He felt heat rise to his face in a blush at the feeling of his wings being stroked. "I-I," he stammered, drawing back a bit, mouth agape. "No, no, it's honestly alright, no need to apologize," he said hurriedly, not wanting her to think he was angry at her. He then looked away, leaning back in case she thought he had invaded her personal space. "If anything I should be the one apologizing. I'm being distracting and rude." He took a deep breath.

A weak smile came onto her features. "Exactly, you're doing wonderfully. Yes, C is next. It makes two sounds," he replied, proud of her quick learning. "The kih sound an the ss sound." He felt sheepish explaining this, but she deserved the education. She was a sweet girl and he enjoyed teaching her. He bit his lip, watching her carefully. "And the next one is D, right?" he prodded gently, waiting for a reaction.

[rose;]

A small sigh did escape the girl's mouth as he moved back a step or two, relieved to find him not so close. Her cheeks flamed with blush to realize she'd made such a bold move, very aware that her mistake was large and with any other master she would have received severe punishment. Instead, he was shocking her with apologetic words of his own. "n-no, you have no need to apologize," she mumbled, resolved to keep things strictly to the lesson from then on. She couldn't shake the utterly embarrassed feeling she had in her gut though.

Although she knew she'd never manage to concentrate again on the lesson for the day, Rose lowered her gaze to the paper. She nodded slowly, now almost even a little frightened at the prospect of speaking and making a fool of herself. Now that would have been what she would do. When he spoke again, she simply nodded once more. "Yes," she mumbled. "And then E... a vowel. It says it's name or eh, or is silent at the end of the word to.." Her eyebrows drew together as she tried to remember the reason it would be silent at the end of a word.