Those With Feathers Flock Togethe [Joint Training / NDE / R]

[Deleted]

Thread Title: Lakeside Brawl
Participants: Umaroth & Nesr
World: Soul Society
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: R
Location:
Special Conditions:
Circumstances:

[Deleted]

Training for TTP

How long had it been? How long had it been since the sound of water pushed gently by the breeze, of leaves rustling in the wind, had found there ways into his ears? How long had it been since the heat of that sun bombarded him, but the coolness of the lake offset that heat to create a perfect balance of comfort? How long had it been since that damn otter had spirited him off to that hellish desert with no water? Long enough that he came to crave what he had left behind and come to hate what he'd been introduced to. But now that length of time away from what he did love was over. He'd been able to escape and find his way back.

That damn otter had dragged him off to a land that he hated near immediately. It wasn't long until Umaroth had vanished from her crew, and found himself wandering the moon drenched desert in search of something. He wasn't sure what he was trying to find, but after running into a white haired woman...Umaroth came to realize he still had lots of searching to do. Finding a wandering Hollow and, through the use of force, having it bring him back to the Rukongai Wilderness, Umaroth began his wandering. He was searching for the lake he'd lived in for years. For weeks he wandered, following the invisible path set before him by his instincts. He wasn't sure how to describe it or explain it, all he knew was to follow those instincts that had kept him alive for years.

It was similar to how a sea turtle could find its way back to the very same beach they were born on. Not that Umaroth was a turtle by any means, but the concept was still the same. But now...this was where he was. He was back at his lake. The only thing he had in this world. This lake that was his and his alone. Well, there was also the resident Rukongai spirits that lived on the eastern shore, but Umaroth didn't really mind them too much. Granted, when he first moved into the body of water the people were, initially, afraid and paranoid about him. Granted Umaroth did literally nothing to them, but his outward appearance must have been enough to frighten them.

Things gradually changed though. Shortly after, a Rukongai town that rarely ever saw Shinigami and would often be the target of Hollows found itself protected by something that wasn't garbed in black. The Hollows that came crawling through the wilderness towards the town would be distracted by Umaroths reiatsu, drawn to him and subsequently dealt with. The towns people began viewing Umaroth as something not harmful, but beneficial. Hell, it seems that they even revered him to a point. Upon moving back into his lake and taking his first swim in weeks, he happened on a interesting sight. A wooden totem, built into the shore of the Rukongai town. Carved wood in the reptiles shape, adorned with real feathers from captured birds. Umaroth was curious about it, but instead found himself enjoying swimming much more than investigating the odd behavior of humans.

It had been days now since Umaroth had returned. He found himself lying on a sizeable rock that rested on the shore of the one island in his lake. A island too small for a human to build anything on, but just large enough for Umaroth to take three minutes to walk a circle around if he decided to clear the damn underbrush that had sprouted up while he was gone. But why do that when the heat of the rock and sun, and coolness of the lake experienced by him dipping his tail in was just much more enjoyable? The dark scaled reptile snorted suddenly, as if he was snoring, before his eyes slowly opened themselves up. Napping. He loved napping in the heat. It was so nice being back. Umaroth hadn't even realized how much he missed this.

The reptiles eyelids lowered themselves to a state of barely opened, his eyes settled on the small waves breaking on the shore. Even though he was ecstatic to be back home, the experiences of that hell were still with him. The questions he sought answers for still gnawed at his mind. Who was he? What was he? What was his purpose? Why did Umaroth want power? He had become painfully aware of his own weaknesses when he met both that otter and woman. He wanted to get stronger. But why did he want to get stronger? His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden movement, his gaze darting over to see a small black lizard having crawled up onto the rock. It stared at him as he stared at it, before it closed its own eyes to enjoy the heat Umaroth was enjoying.

What made him different from this small creature? Why was he different? Umaroth had questions about himself he wanted to answer, but had no idea where to start looking. But right now...was it a bad thing to not have them answered? Umaroth had only recently returned home, and wanted to enjoy it to the max. Lounging in the sun, watching the humans, swimming in the depths, and eating all the fish he could eat. So long as that damn otter didn't come back, Umaroth didn't see any problems arising for some time.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}


Strength - 215 = 322 Points

Speed - 200 = 300 Points

Spiritual Pressure - 150 = 113 Points

Reiatsu Strength - 50 Points

Light Aura - 60 Points

Dark Aura - 40 Points

Instinct - 150 Points

Senses - 150 Points

Energy sensory - 0 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points

Total SP: 915 Points


[Martial Arts: Street-Fighting] {1}

[Battle Analysis] {1}

[Pain Tolerance] {1}

[Stealth] {1}

[Strength of Will] {1}

[Anti-Stealth] {1}

Skill Points: 6 / 15

Skill Points: 6 / 15

[Nesr]

Nesr had been out of real contact with all the people that lived in the Rukongai for awhile now. She hadn't been bothering them too much right now, because she actually thought about something. She was so busy with the actual people that she never really took the time to look at her new surroundings. Now that she was a bird, it seemed the time to explore.

Now, she was still collecting all the shiny gold things she could find. She would never stop doing that. But, after collecting so much of it, she looked around her nesting area and looked at herself. She was still adorned with her golden trinkets and staff, but all the rest of the gold seemed....off. It was almost like too much gold. But then again, she loved all the gold she collected.

But, it almost seemed pointless. She looked around and tried to figure out this new life. She had ran into many different kinds of things and people. Though, in this new life, she hadn't really thought about Horus much, too concerned with what was going around her. Thinking on that, it gave her great shame. It was not how she wanted to live this new second life.

She was gifted with the form of Horus, that of a bird. She was wasting it by getting stupid things like gold and such, even though she enjoyed it so much. She felt like she had lost some of the meaning of what she did while she was alive. The only way she could think to reach him again was to fly over this new place and see what she could find out about this new place.

So, starting on that day, she started to fly. She would fly as high as she could and set off in a random direction to see what she could find. She would feel the sun on her back and feel exactly like Horus, flying in the sky while his father, Ra, would watch him from the sun, protecting his back. This flying gave her a new lease on life for her. This was her way, she knew it now.

Today was a day like all her days had been for at least a week, she started flying. Flying a random direction that she hadn't went before. She watched all the land run by under her until she saw something. There was a little part of the Rukongai that she hadn't been over before. But, there was something weird near this part of the Rukongai, a reptile statue. Reptile?!

Did these people have some kind of reptile god here? It was all really weird. Then, she saw a small body of water. She was getting rather thirsty, since she had flown a fairly good distance. She was starting to spiral down slowly to land easier when she saw a black thing on a rock. She abruptly stopped in the air and stared at it. What in the heck was that thing? She hadn't seen anything like it before.

Was it dangerous? Was it trying to guard its lake? She remembered back towards the weird wooden statue of the reptile that she had passed by. Was this the same thing? With her staff at the ready, she would continue to spiral down, slower than before and then would stop right in front of the thing, hanging in the air in front of it. She would cock her head to the side before saying, "What be you?!"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}
Strength - 250 (313) Points
Speed - 150 (225) Points
Spiritual Pressure - 50 (25) Points
Reiatsu Strength - 50 (25) Points
Instinct - 100 Points
Senses - 100 Points
Energy sensory - 50 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points

[Weapon: Staff] 1
[Street Fighting] 1
[Acrobatics] 1
[Pain Tolerance] 1
[Strength of Will] 1
[Focused Eye] 1

[Deleted]

A slow inhale followed by an equal exhale, Umaroth was relaxed. The sun bearing down on him both heated his body and the rock he laid on, further warming him up. Umaroth was not, by any means, a cold blooded creature but it would seem that his reptilian heritage pushed some behavioral traits onto him. Basking out in the sun was something you often saw alligators and other reptiles doing, and Umaroth was no different. But for him it was comfort, not out of necessity. Being warm blooded meant that Umaroth didn't need an external source of heat to get his blood flowing like other cold blooded reptiles did. It was comfort. Simply comfort. And he loved it.

His tail gently swayed in the water. He was on the verge of going to sleep. The feathers adorning his head had been pushed back against his scales, a sign of his relaxation. Umaroth didn't have his guard up. He didn't need to. His hearing was good enough he could hear anything splash in the water around him. Hollows weren't exactly sneaky either. So Umaroth foresaw no problems with him going to sleep out in the open. Normally he would do that beneath the surface, submerging himself slightly in the mud to keep from drifting away. If he wasn't active or stressed, the reptile could hold his breath for a whooping two hours before he needed to surface. When he slept underwater his brain would remain partly active, waking the rest of itself up and pushing Umaroth to go to the surface when it was time to refresh his breath.

Wouldn't need to worry about that on the surface though. But even so he would still only be, like, half asleep. But it seemed that his relaxation was just not going to happen. Confusion. He heard a sound that was oddly familiar to him. The sound of feathers pushing themselves through the air. His eyes opened lazily, scanning around for the water fowl that were either landing or taking off. A duck or goose would be a nice dinner treat. But something didn't seem right. Normally when he heard something landing in his lake or taking off there was an accompanying sound of the water's surface being disturbed. Umaroths eyes opened fully.

When he lifted his head was when his new visitor decided to reveal herself. Well, whatever it was certainly wasn't a duck. The reptiles beautiful blue eyes locked onto Nesr as he slowly got to his feet, but cautiously remained crouched. Looking at the creature hovering above him, he was immediately reminded of the darting-screeching-fish stealers that lived in the trees around his lake. But this one was...much much larger than they were. The feathers that rested on his head had begun to rise themselves up a little, but not all up like they would if he was threatened or angry.

His gaze noted the staff she held in her hands...claws? Was it a weapon of some sort? Regardless, Umaroths relaxing nap had been interrupted. But what did this thing want? Its head tilted before it directed a question towards him. It spoke? Wait, why was that surprising...both himself and Ajraka could speak. Maybe he just wasn't expecting a bird to talk. Umaroth didn't think birds as being very smart. He'd seen male ducks trying to mate with the corpses of the females they'd just killed. Also geese were so stupid they often tried to fight him for territory. Maybe that's where the villagers had gotten the feathers for that totem thing...from the corpses of geese that Umaroth bested. Heh.

But this oversized bird wanted to know what Umaroth was? Funny. So did he. But maybe that wasn't the point of that question. A low rumble escaped from his throat, reaching for that voice he had not touched for so long. "I am me. What are you? This lake mine." Umaroth replied, his voice carrying a almost prehistoric weight behind it. Having spent the time he did amongst Ajraka and her desert dwelling crew, he had picked up on how to better speak in the tongue of man. Granted, he wasn't going to be debating or holding deep conversations any time soon but it was passable.

[Nesr]

Nesr watched the lizard/reptile thing get up off of his rock. It wasn't until he stood up that she noticed his tail was in the water. It seemed that this creature was resting rather comfortably. She felt a little bad that she had interrupted him, but that feeling passed. She hadn't met another Beast Clan, so this was a first for her. She really hadn't met another like her before, or at least, one that looked like him.

His eyes were a pretty blue color, which Nesr stared at. They reminded her of a nice, clean pool to swim in, though she didn't really swim anymore. All that water would mess up her feathers and then her flight wouldn't work the same. So, she just preened herself to keep clean and that was about it, besides drinking water when she was thirsty. She looked this reptile over while he crouched.

It was obviously from his body language that he didn't completely trust her, and he shouldn't. She just happened to wander over here because she was curious. It seemed fairly obvious that he lived in the lake, or if he didn't live in it, he lived close by to it. He would have to live close enough that he could easily walk here and just relax here. She thought lightly about it, but it didn't peak her interest as much as the feathers.

He had feathers. She had seen several lizards and reptiles in her travels, and where she had lived at before, but she had NEVER seen one with feathers. Once she noticed the black feathers, she focused in on them. They weren't as big as hers, but it was still weird for a lizard to have feathers. Then, she noticed them rise a little from the top of his head in somewhat of an alarm.

She slightly ruffled her feathers in more of a calming motion for her than anything else. She raked her right clawed hand through her feathers while the left held her staff. She was smoothing out her feathers so she would look good for this new encounter. Once she was satisfied with that hand's work, she would switch, moving the staff to her right hand and let her left hand rake through her feathers again.

Once she looked herself over, she looked back towards the lizard, which still seemed to be confused about her appearance. He answered with he was him, the lake was his and what she was. She cocked her head to the side at that one. Of course he was him! She wanted to know a name. Maybe this lizard was stupid. She knew she could talk, but maybe this one was still like a child?

She looked to him and lowered enough to just be about two inches from touching down on his island. She didn't want to land on his little island and possibly make him angry. She cleared her throat and started to talk. "Me Nesr. Can Nesr land? What you name? Why have feathers?" She would then cock her head to the side and wait for his answers. Her wings were getting a little tired from flying all this way and wanted to take a break.

[Deleted]

Well this was a ...surprise. Umaroth, in all his years, had never once experienced a situation quite like this before. Birds always just came and landed on his lake. Birds always just came and stole his fish. Birds always just dive bombed his head when he was resting against one of the trees on the lakes island. Birds would just take a crap right on him if given the chance. Birds were annoying. But for the first time ever, a bird was asking his permission to land. It went without saying that that stern, serious, expression on the reptiles face was painted over by genuine surprise. He couldn't help but blink, followed by him tilting his head a little bit and looking her up and down.

As to why Umaroth hadn't given her his name. It was because the reptile had a tendency to be a tad bit difficult. He had a funny belief actually. He viewed names as being special, as well as speech itself. He held value in words, and especially when it came to names. Nesr offering her name so easily stood out to him, but it wasn't something that bothered him. It just wasn't something he was going to return so freely. For whatever reason she decided to groom herself and he chose to use that moment to push himself upright to his full height. The imposing reptile was tall, standing a bit over seven feet in height. He could tell he was still growing as well. He was taller than her though.

A low grumble from his throat before he opened his mouth again. "Birds do not ask. They take. You are first bird to ask." He conversed, his voice satisfyingly deep and carrying a prehistoric weight behind it. What seemed to be a entertained smirk painted itself on the tips of his lips as he waved his hand across the island. "Yes. Land, rest." Umaroth commented, his tail moving and causing some disturbance in the water. While normally territorial and grumpy, Umaroth did find this opportunity rather interesting. Like it was said earlier, Nesr was the first bird to ever ask permission of him for anything.

The last time he met another Beast Clansmen was when Ajraka came and disturbed his life. He'd be careful with this one. A lot more careful than he had been with that otter. "Name me Naga." Umaroth replied, using the name given to him by the villagers on the shore. It was not his true name, it was simply the title given to him by another. His real name was something he would only share with those close and trusted. She wanted to know about his feathers? Thinking about it, it certainly DID seem strange that he had feathers despite his reptilian form. It wasn't something he had ever thought of, seeing them simply as a part of himself. "Naga has had feathers. Birds and Naga have feathers, but Naga is not bird. Naga is more, as is you." He explained, finding himself sitting now with one leg crossed and the other with knee up so he could rest his arm on it.

"From where is Nesr? Why is she here? Why does she have stick?"

[Nesr]

She was answered with birds just take and she was the first bird to ask. The first bird? She cocked her head to the side to think on that. He must be thinking of the normal, wild birds that must come by here. She glanced at the lake and saw the fish swimming around. It seemed that there were plenty of fish in this lake, so it would naturally garner the interest of some of the smarter birds that love to eat fish, like other birds of prey.

Nesr stared at them for a bit, starting to get slightly hungry, but the lizard talked again and snapped her out of staring at them. If she would've stared at them much longer, she would've grabbed one and started eating it in front of him. Thinking on that, he might not appreciate that too much since birds only 'take' with him. Was he smirking? He then waved his hand around the little island he was on.

He told her that she could land on his island and rest. She had been following his hand around, thinking that there was something to do with it. Obviously, there wasn't. She nodded and then landed lightly on his island. She immediately stared at the water when his tail moved in it. She couldn't help it, movement attracted her attention. She snapped herself out of it and then shook herself a bit to ruffle her feathers lightly so she could lightly clean herself.

Tapping her staff lightly on the ground, she took a brief glance around the island. It wasn't that big, but really just big enough for the two of them to stand there, maybe one more. He then said to call him Naga. She cocked her head towards him and rolled the name around in her mouth. "Nnnnnaaaaggggaaa..... Interesting name." It was definitely weird, but she wouldn't judge his name. She had heard a lot weirder names.

While slightly fiddling with her staff, Naga started to speak. It seemed that he didn't know why he had feathers like a bird has, but he did realize that they were both 'more.' More as in they weren't normal animals that walked on four feet, or two feet for birds. They could talk, had arms and they seemed to all walk on two legs. Others could actually understand them, between species, which was definitely something.

Then, she heard questions being asked of her. Where did she come from? Why was she here? Why did she have a stick? She looked over towards Naga and thought for a minute. The answers seemed pretty obvious to her, but she guessed she should let the lizard know, since this was 'his' lake. "Nesr from her nest, of course. Nesr here cause looked interesting. Nesr has stick cause nice and shiny. Also, stick help with fighting. How Naga find lake?"

[Deleted]

He felt the brow above one of his eyes rise slightly when Nesr rolled his word around in her mouth. Rolling words was something Umaroth had never found himself doing since the suggestion of doing so never came to mind. Granted the name he gave her wasn't his real name, but even so it felt weird hearing it said like that. The reptiles brow lowered itself shortly after as his tail gently swished back and forth in the water creating gentle waves. She began to answer her questions, but the first few answers weren't really things that Umaroth felt were good enough answers. But, since she was a walking beast like he was, he couldn't expect words like a human could speak.

She came from nest. She was here because it looked interesting. That word sounded familiar to Umaroth. Interesting. When he thought about the word, other words popped up in his head. She carried her stick not just because she thought it looked nice, but because she fought with it. He tilted his head slightly, deciding to keep that last little bit in mind. A question was directed at him, prompting him to turn his head away and look across his lake as he pondered the answer. His jaws clicked together a few times as he tried to find the best words to use. "Naga find lake time ago. Naga walked and walked, hunted by black dressed humans for scaring humans for looks." Umaroth explained, his eyelids lowering themselves gently as memories of those trying times began to bubble to the surface of his thoughts.

Days and nights spend on the run. The feeling of dirt, grass, mud and all sorts of other surfaces still felt so strongly on the bottom of his feet. He remembered the feeling of branches of foliage slapping against his scales, the sting of cuts when wood cut too deep. The sensations of burning in his lungs from all the running, the instincts of survival pushing him forward. He knew if he waited too long, slept too heavily, they would catch up to him. Umaroth never expected the Shinigami that were hunting him to pursue him through numerous districts of the Rukongai. Seemed he drew the short straw and was pursued by spirits who actually were good at their job.

The worst part was when he confronted them. Twice that happened, and twice he got away. He would injure one or two, but he never escaped unscathed. It wasn't until the scent of water hit his nostrils did Umaroth find this place. What he had first found was a swamp and was surprised to discover just how developed for a life beneath the surface he was. Once Umaroth hit the water, the Shinigami no longer stalked him. The maze of trees, long swamp grass, spike like roots, and algae covered proved too much for the Shinigami. He remained there for a few days until following the waterways until they led to this lake. "Naga found lake and hunting stop."

This lake was his home. Something he regularly fought to protect from the masked monsters that appeared from time to time. He once left his lake to follow after another beast that walked like man, but that situation was just about as bad as being hunted. He saw no reason to leave his lake again. The reptile grew quiet for what could have felt like a few minutes before turning his head and looking at Nesr. "Nesr says stick helps with fights. Does Nesr fight not for food often?" Umaroth asked, curious about whether or not she was strong.

[Nesr]

Nesr stood on the island and watched the lizard man in front of her. The weird expression on his face was curious. She had never actually made a look like that, so while he was raising an 'eyebrow,' she tried the same thing. Since it was only one of them, she tried fairly hard to do the same thing. If she would have had a human's face, he would've seen her face contort and grimace into weird different positions.

Since she was a bird, however, he would just see her eyes move weirdly and her beak lightly open and close while she concentrated. He swished his tail slightly. She would glance over that way and see how long and sleek his tail looked. She would glance behind her and lightly ruffle her tail. Hers wasn't like that at all, though it did help her while she was flying to stay straight and keep in the air.

Thinking on that, she was lucky that her tail was the way it was. She was the only other Beast Clan that she had ever met that could fly. She was, what she would consider to be, pretty lucky. Though, she had wanted to try to swim in this lake. It seemed to be a fairly special place for this lizard man, Naga, to stay for a long time. Maybe there was something buried under the surface? What could be in there......

She heard him breathe in to start talking and she snapped out of her thinking. It seemed that he had found this lake a long time ago after getting away from black dressed humans for scaring others. Scaring others? This lizard seemed way too laid back to actually scare someone. The black dressed humans had to be shinigami. So, he got to close to a village in the Rukongai, freaked out the people and they called the shinigami after him.

Wow, that sucks, she thought. She had never really had a run in with them, besides that one time. Though, after sqwaking back at him, he just stood there being weird. So, she decided to leave him there in the forest. Were all shinigami like that guy or was he just one of the odd ones? Then, she was curious as to how many would be hunting him if he scared people? Was it a whole village or just a few people?

Then again, most of the people in the Rukongai stayed in their villages. Well, from what she had seen they stayed together, at least. It had to be rough to run away from them. He couldn't easily get away from them like she could by flying away fairly quickly. So, he found the lake and the shinigami finally gave up chasing him. He must've been running for awhile for the shinigami to give up the chase.

But then, if he scared humans before, why was there a weird totem near the lake now? So many questions but before she could ask, he asked her what she uses her stick for. "Nesr gets food like normal birds, using talons to grab and go." She would then tap her golden stick towards her feet, where he would be able to see the sharp talons on her feet. "If grab and go not work, Nesr then use stick. Nesr use stick to fight human before, though. That interesting day. How long you run from black humans for? Why this lake? If Naga scare humans, why totem wood thing now?"

[Deleted]

The hell? Umaroth blinked, recoiling a little bit at the nightmare fuel face that Nesr was suddenly making at him. It looked like she was having a stroke. Did she need to poop? A cramp? Umaroth wasn't sure, but he didn't focus on it for too long. Nesr began talking again, explaining how she caught food. Perhaps he worded it wrongly. What he had meant, despite not knowing the word, was fighting for entertainment. Territorial disputes. Just fighting in general. But it seemed by chance or luck he got the answer he was looking for out of her. She did, in fact, use the stick to fight. According to her she used it once before. But the conversation took another turn. She was asking more about him now. The reptile let out a low grumble, fidgeting a little as he pondered over her words and his own vocabulary.

"Naga run many days many nights. Ate when could, slept when could, never much time. Black dressed humans hunt. Believe Naga to bring harm to spirits. Naga only hurt, fight, when Naga needs." He explained, shaking his head a little as he remembered that time some more. "Naga find lake by chance. Not much water like this in wilds. Never enough to hide Naga from hunters. Not till Naga found lake." He blinked when Nesr suddenly asked about the wooden construct on the village shore. Turning his head in the towns direction, he pointed at the faint object resting on the shoreline. "That?" He asked.

"Humans afraid of Naga for how he looks. Naga never did scary things to humans. Humans on shore...not like other humans." Umaroth was having difficulty explaining, his vocabulary being stretched to its limits. "Monsters unlike Naga and Nesr come for humans, but also come for Naga. He fights them off, or shows them the bottom of his lake." Umaroth explained, his tail pulling itself from the water for a moment, constricting around a rock before plunging it back down beneath the surface with a low growl. "Humans safe from monsters because Naga fights them off. Humans think Naga more than he really is. Naga save humans, yes, but not for why they think. Humans no longer fear Naga, and Naga spends time hearing humans to learn words. They different, so Naga does not hate them." The reptile explained, hoping that his words got through to Nesr.

Turning his head to look over towards the village, Umaroth decided to present her with a question. "How does Nesr think about humans? Does she hate them?"

[Nesr]

Nesr waited patiently. Well, she tried to wait patiently for him to speak but she gets antsy rather quickly. Her attention span isn't that long, but she was trying her best for this, possibly, new friend. She didn't have many of those, or any at all. So, this could be a turning point for the eagle. She hoped that it would be a good turning point instead of a bad turning point.

The lizard in front of her started to grumble, catching the bird's attention. Was he thinking of telling her something? Did he have some sort of indigestion from what he most recently ate? Did she annoy him and he was grumbling in annoyance? She quickly looked him over and there was nothing that she could visibly see that would make her think she annoyed him.

Then, he spoke. He started to detail what had happened to him through the running that he had described earlier. It seemed that he had been running for quite some time, never really getting enough time to eat, drink or sleep. It seemed that the black dressed humans, or shinigami, hunted down this poor guy just because they thought he would hurt the others that lived here. Though, most animals don't torment for fun.

It was exactly as she thought. He only did that when he it was needed. But, it seemed he lucked out in finding this pond and this was enough water for him to hide away from the shinigami. He then talked about monsters roaming around that weren't like them coming for the people that lived here and himself. Monsters? She had no idea what in the world he was talking about. She had never met a monster that didn't look like them before.

Could this lizard be kidding? She cocked her head to the side as she heard him mention the monsters and how he protected the citizens by defeating the monsters. He obviously was defeating the monsters because they were coming after him, but it seemed that the citizens had other ideas. They no longer feared him and it makes sense now for that totem. It's like they revere him as some kind of protector.

So, it seemed because they didn't fear him, he was able to move around more freely and learn how to speak from them. He doesn't hate them because they're different, which is a good thing. He then asked her if she hated them. She raised a clawed hand and tapped a claw to her beak. "Nesr have no opinion. They no bother Nesr, Nesr no bother them. Though, what monsters you talk of?"

[Deleted]

Umaroth was surprised. He looked at her, blinking a few times as he went over her words. She did not mind humans same as he did. So long as they did not bother him, he did not bother them. Peaceful coexistance. That's what Umaroth wanted. But her question had caught him off guard. Had she really never seen them? "Nesr joke? Has Nesr never seen them? The monsters with white faces." Perhaps it was because she was a bird that she didn't see them. Birds didn't stay in one place for too long if they could help it. Perhaps because she traveled she did not come across them. That explanation made complete sense, but even so Umaroth found it preposterous that she'd never seen what humans called a Hollow.

"Hmm.." Umaroth grumbled, pondering over the words he would need to speak. "White faced monsters. No two have same looks. Monsters come to eat humans and Naga, but Naga defeat them before they do. Sometimes Naga too late, sometimes he isn't." Umaroth explained, his eyes softening and casting themselves downwards as he thought about that. He remembered the sounds of those screams when he was too late to stop a Hollow. On top of that, some in the village held animosity towards him at this time. Umaroth had...been away from the lake for sometime recently. It seemed that Hollows attacked the village during that period, resulting in quite a few deaths. With his return the village was seeing peace again, but there were still some right now that viewed him negatively. "If Nesr wishes to see one of these monsters, she is free to remain here. Naga has no trouble sharing his lake. Rest for as long as Nesr wants." Umaroth offered, raising one of his arms up above his head and stretching.

[Nesr]

Nesr looked at him seriously, but the expression on his face was odd. Did he think that she was telling a falsehood? She wasn't too good at reading moods on anyone, so she decided to wait to see what he would say. When he asked if she was joking, she just cocked her head to the side. Joking? Why would she be joking about something like this? He then asked if she was serious in not seeing the monsters with the white faces.

White faces? On the mention of white faces, she lifted her right hand to her face and lightly tapped her clawed right index finger on her beak. She started to think back on everything that she had seen since coming here. Thinking back like that, gazed up towards the sky slightly. The only things that she remembered running into were her prey animals, black and white humans, then during the trip to that 'other world', people that couldn't see her and one that freaked out.

She had never seen anything with just a 'white face' before. It now seems odd that she had never seen one when they seemed to be fairly common place. "Nesr never see white face monster before. Maybe Nesr fly too much?" She then put her hands back to her side and looked back towards Naga. Then, he started to grumble. She stared at his mouth and how it could move like that. He didn't know how lucky he was to be able to do that. She could only dream of being able to do something like that...

So....these monsters don't look similar, with all of them having different faces. They come to attack the humans here and even him. Though, Naga will go and fight them off and sometimes, when he's lucky, save some humans in the process. It makes sense now why the villagers don't really fear him much anymore if he does that. He then welcomed her to stay here as long as she wanted, if she wanted to see a monster. "Nesr stay to see monster." She then laid down on the ground, relaxing.

[Deleted]

Hmm. Color Umaroth surprised. Despite living out in the Wilderness Nesr had never seen one of the White Faced monsters? Then again, being a bird, it made sense when Umaroth thought about it. As a bird her life was spent on the move, in the clouds, unlike him who remained in the same place for years. If she was always on the move then the monsters wouldn't ever get a bead on her. They came hunting for the spirits living in the village on the shore, but when they got close enough they'd come hunting for Umaroth. So Umaroth had no reason to doubt her claim, as it made sense when he took a few moments to think about it. He nodded to Nesr when she made her decision. "Nesr take what she needs. What's Nagas is hers." He commented. He had no idea how long it would be until they saw one of the monsters.

Well, it would seem that Umaroth got what he wanted. Because the very next day was when it happened. Umaroth had taken the free time to try and learn what he could from Nesr. An exchange of information. He wanted to know more about her, the things she saw, what words she knew, and in exchange Umaroth would do the same for her and teach her a thing or two. He was sitting with her on the little island, with a variety of fish laid out before him. Various kinds in fact. "These are fast. But not very good. But plenty of them." Umaroth explained, pointing to what an expert fisherman could identity as a bass. "Naga likes these ones though." Pointing this time to a trout. He was trying his best to teach her about the fish in his lake, and had collected a few examples of the different species to do so. Bass, trout, catfish, and even an eel were laid out between Nesr and Umaroth.

But the education was ended when the calmness of the lake was broken by a hollowed howl. Umaroths head snapped in its direction, those blue eyes immediately locking onto the location and growing intense. His feathers even began to rise up. "Hmmph. Nesr wanted to see one." He commented, getting to his feet with a growl. He was looking towards the eastern side of the shore, noticing the tree tops shaking and birds fleeing the scene. He frowned, his tail flicking itself back and forth in irritation. It wasn't long before the Hollow broke through the treeline and revealed itself, stomping into the shallows of the lake. Humanoid in body design, it walked using two humongous, thick, arms supported by two dinkly smaller back legs. A second set of arms were even growing out of its back. Covered in green fur, the only part of it that was truly white was the mask on its face.

It raised up onto those back legs and let out another howl, beating its chest in the direction of the lake. Umaroth snarled, recognizing the challenge, before he turned back towards Nesr. He was curious to see what she could do. "Go on. Fight it." He said to her, turning towards the eagle. "Monsters are threat. Soon or later you have to fight them. Better now than later." He was trying to get Nesr to experience what fighting a Hollow would be like, or else she might get caught off guard and eaten if she wasn't prepared.

[Nesr]

Naga still seemed somewhat surprised with her, but it didn't bother her too much. What really surprised her was what Naga said next. She could take whatever she wanted, what Naga had was hers. She just stared at him for a minute. No one had ever talked with her like that before. She was used to just finding things to get what she wanted or needed. This was the first time that someone actually told her that she could have what she wanted.

Well, when it turned into night and it turned out that she would be staying, she needed to make a choice. Was she going to sleep on the hard, rough ground or move to a nearby tree. So, after they were done talking for the day, she pointed towards a nearby tree and told him that's where she would be sleeping and then took off towards the tree to sleep in some of the higher branches.

While falling asleep, she thought on what had happened that day. It seemed that she finally met another like her and he was actually rather nice! It was a nice surprise and they seemed to get along great! She was also learning a lot of new words that she could use to her advantage, while she taught him what she knew, which was less than what he knew. But, he had an advantage to living near people that actually spoke instead of her living in the wilds not really close to anyone.

The next day, she woke early, stretched and caught a rabbit for her breakfast. After catching it, she flew back to Naga's island and landed, eating her breakfast and waiting for Naga to show up. When he did, they would keep talking and he brought her fish from his lake. She had never really eaten a lot of fish and the different types of fish in this lake were interesting.

He would mention the different types and she would quickly take a section of meat from each fish he talked about to compare how he thought they tasted to what she would like between them. She definitely liked the one he liked better than the other, making a mental note about the differences so she knew which tasty fish to eat from this lake. But, something was different.

She felt a weirdness in the air and then heard a howl from something. She immediately cocked her head that way and saw the trees moving and the birds leaving. She knew immediately it had to be something big for the birds to act that way. Naga growled and she narrowed her eyes to try to see better. They got up and Naga said she wanted to see one. So, this was how they came into an area.

What she saw was nothing that she had ever seen before. It walked into the shallows with a humaniod shape, like them but not like them. It had two small legs but four huge arms, two that it used to move around with. She hadn't seen anything like it before and it caused her to grimace somewhat. But, she saw the white that Naga had told her about. The pure white mask that it wore.

It was the weirdest thing that she had ever seen! She was glad that she hadn't met one before. It roared again, Naga growled and Nesr cawed at it. It seemed that it was coming this way. It was then that Naga told her to fight it, since it was a threat and she might as well face one now. She looked towards him and nodded in agreement. She might as well do it while she had backup then alone.

So, she grabbed the tasty fish that Naga pointed out and ate it quickly for energy. Once she was done, she threw the bones on the ground and flapped her wings hard, trying to get a good distance up the in the air. The extra two arms would probably be an issue, but there was only one thing she could think of doing now. She flew as fast she could towards the Hollow and aimed a smack from her staff right at the white mask it wore.