Keyholder Demoness Ch. 02

After a moment, the woman's hand snaked a bit further out of the sleeve of the hoodie. The metal finger coverings extended up to the first joint of each finger. Basically, she had no fingernails. Some fingers also had a ring or multiple rings - each appeared too tight to slide past the girth of the metal fingertip coverings. Some of the rings were also anchors for tiny, jewelry chains that extended back towards the woman's wrist.

The few places where the skin of her hand was not tattooed were a deep olive color. The designs that covered her hand were as intricate as the busiest henna tattoos, but decidedly more permanent.

Even with the candy cupped in Charity's hand, the woman had some difficulty grasping it. Once she had it she tipped it up underneath her hood. Charity heard the woman sniff the candy - just as she had. Then with a flick of her wrist, the woman apparently popped the candy in her mouth. Charity heard a lot of clicking from the woman's mouth like the hard candy bouncing off of teeth (perhaps?) as the woman sucked. After a second, though, the clicking stopped completely and the woman froze.

Charity held her breath, hoping that the flavor was ok.

"Mmmm!!" The woman began rocking her head from side to side just as Charity had with even more enthusiasm. "Mmmm!!"

"You like it?" Charity smiled. The woman had begun crunching on the candy.

Once the woman had calmed down and Charity felt she had her attention, she pointed to herself and said, "Charity. That's my name. Charity."

"Charity," she said again.

The woman sat quietly for a moment... "Chai - ree," she whispered.

"Yes! Charity!" Charity smiled. Then she pointed at the woman. "You. What's your name?"

The woman pointed to herself. "Oh (pop) ee ay o tok (click) oh thu hye-th (pop) (click) ee an yo eh heat eh (click) un thorhina." She pointed to herself enthusiastically - nodding her head.

"Wow!" Charity laughed. "That's long. Let me try it. Oh.." She tried to make a popping sound with her lips like the woman had. "Oh (pop)..."

The woman nodded enthusiastically. "Oh (pop) ee ay o tok (click) oh thu hye-th (pop) (click) ee an yo eh heat eh (click) un thorhina." She recited it a little slower this time.

"It's going to take me a little while to learn that. Oh (pop)... What's next?" Charity used her fingers to indicate something shorter. "Oh (pop)? Shorter." She pointed at the woman. "Uh... Hope? Hope?"

The woman sat still for a second, then nodded and pointed to herself. "Hh-oe." She pointed at Charity and said, "Chai ree," then to herself, "Hh-oe."

"Yes!" Charity raised her arms in victory. They knew each other's names!

"Can I see your face?" Charity asked. She imitated folding back the hoodie and pointed to Hope.

Hope froze for a moment, then slowly raised her arms up and pushed back her hood.

Charity gasped and sat back in her chair. "Hooooly shit!"