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It was music indeed.

It flowed with haunting detail in the wind, sometimes accompanied by a low singing voice, and sometimes simply on it's own. The string instrument never stopped, and the boil playing it never once looked up; at least not until Ren shouted at the Lepus. The shout effectively halted the music and Gabrian snapped his head up just in time see the minipet run straight towards him; mostly out of instinct, the nix let go of his instrument, allowing it to drop into his lap before spreading his arms slightly, as it waiting for the rabbit to jump into them.

He'd later kick himself for this reaction, but hadn't been able to help himself at the time. After all, Gabrian owned some Lepus minipets, and the sight of one running towards him was not an uncommon one to the nix. The awkwardness came when the demon turned his head to look up; the fact that the voice should distinctly NOT be there only just registering in his mind.

As he caught the runaway lepus and brought it up to his chest with practiced ease, Gabrian blinked, looking for a moment much like a deer caught in headlights. The Black pelted Prism scareon that had been quietly resting wrapped around his shoulders finally peeked her head up, turning to glance lazily at Ren and then turning a scowl upon the lepus in her master's arms. Gabrian for his part, had no idea what the Jacking hell to say, and only just barely managed to school his features into what he hoped resembled indifference, "Are you just going to stand there?"

Yep. He was going to smack his head on his door later today. There was no doubt about that, seeing as how Gabrian doubted that turning around to do so against the tree he was currently reclining against was a very bad idea at the moment. He couldn't help reacting on instinct though; he could put up as much of a front as he wanted to, but the demon knew that the moment someone turned and tossed a cute minipet in the air, he'd probably had tried to catch it, even if it meant fall skidding on the ground to make the save.

He found himself frowning slightly at the notion, his hand working to pet the lepus unconsciously, almost as if it were some sort of defense mechanism. But then... the other boil was talking, and the nix snapped out of whatever reverie he'd sunk into, "What?" he blinked, apparently still out of his depth if the fact he faltered yet again was any indication, "Nix, actually. I'm a serpent nix, not a snake," there was no venom in his voice though; it was said mechanically. It was apparent this was something he had to explain more often than not.

Shaking himself slightly, he finally turned to scowl up at Ren, "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name?" a beat, during which he gave the lepus one last stroke before slowly uncurling his arms from around it's body, lifting it up to offer it back to it's owner, "I have a pirate lepus," this was the only explanation Gabrian could think of to offer for his er... probably unexpected behavior. But then again, the prism scareon that was now eying Ren through critical eyes was more than a dead give away that the nix apparently did enjoy minipets. The other boil's question made him frown in confusion, "Playing music?" the answer was offered as a question, as if he were unsure if Ren was presenting some sort of trick question, "Why? Is my playing music out here by the river such a strange thing?"

"There is, actually. A serpent can eat a snake," he drawled out, "And is water based, usually," he figured serpents had more in common with dragons than they did with snakes, really, but he wasn't going to get into that. Why bother? This other boil was probably going to pluck his pet out of his grasp, turn right around and leave him the jacking-hell alone again. Right?

Wrong, apparently.

The other boil approached, but rather than lean in to take his lepus, he let it dangle there for a few beats, prompting a rather flat look from Gabrian, "I believe this is yours?" he prompted before Ren finally saw it fit to grab the minipet out of his grasp. Kuro, the scareon, apparently decided that enough was enough, and moved from her place on the nix's neck in order to jump down on his lap, making a small, but still rather demanding sound. Despite the fact the demon wasn't even looking at his pet, his hand moved instantly and expertly to scratch her under her chin and behind her ears; it was almost second nature. Rather than focus on the pet, he was looking up at Ren with an arched brow, "I'm a nix demon," he said suddenly, entirely unsure of why he was even choosing to share this information, "We like water. Rivers, lagoons... we sing and play near them," he chose to leave out the fact his race charmed their 'victims' through music though.

He instantly stiffened when the gryphon began to eye him critically, the hand he'd been using to scratch the scareon stilling instantly. In fact, if anything, rather than elegant, the demon looked rather awkward. He even paused to look to his right briefly, almost as if evaluating some sort of escape route before deciding he had little chance of escaping, "Actually," his voice turned acidic then, "I was more hoping on NOT attracting anyone over," he eyed the gryphon critically, almost with a sneer, "It appears I've failed," sadly, his whole image was ruined by the prims scareon that was currenly pressing against his chest like a content kitten.

It was right about then that Gabrian seemed to notice this, because he turned to offer the creature a suffering look. The scareon, in turn, blinked up at him and then licked his nose, prompting a sigh from the nix.

Gabrian offered the other boil a suffering look, "Serpents eat snakes for breakfast..." it was hard to tell if it was a threat, and honestly, if it was... it wasn't a very good one. Specially taking into account he was still holding onto that prismatic scareon, which still made him look relatively harmless. In fact, on a scale of one to ten, Gabrian was probably barely a two as far as threatening, scary beings went. He let out a sigh, obviously coming to the conclusion he was doing a rather bad job at driving the other boil away, "Also, Serpents have eyelids. Snakes don't," there were other differences, and he would have gladly listed them, but swiftly decided that was probably what this boil wanted.

His gaze followed the lepus as his owner grabbed him, a brow arching, "Oh?" a snort, "I know a ghoul that would have probably smacked you for that comment," he shook his head and motioned at the lepus, "Doesn't look like the little guy agrees with 'just in name' thing," as soon as he said this, he got up from his sitting position, one hand curling around the scareon while the other one dipped down to grab his violin and bow. He placed the pet on his shoulder and then used his newly freed hand to smack at his clothes, as if to clean them. It was obvious that he was preparing himself to leave; if he couldn't be alone here then he'd just go find somewhere else to be alone at.

He was still trying to recover from all the socializing he'd done during the Christmas Raid after all. He'd never wanted to get close to that many people; hadn't the point of coming to school been to keep away from people? He was doing a relatively poor job at it though. Gabrian blamed his... almost need to be near others. He figured it had something to do with his species and the fact they were naturally sociable, charismatic creatures. It might've also had to do with him being a demon; he wasn't sure and didn't really want to find out.

It was the gryphon's next words that stopped him, a brow arching again as he inspected the other boil, "What would you know about failure, gryphon?" damn his curiosity. How did that saying go anyhow? Curiosity killed the cat? Did it say anything about serpents or snakes? Maybe it should, "You... don't look like the type that's closely aquaintanced with failure to me," it was a compliment wrapped up in an insult; he couldn't help it. There was something about this boil that ruffled his metaphorical feathers to no end, and he just had no idea WHAT it was.

Now, he was standing up, looking like he'd been planning on leaving and had rethought this course of action, "You mean Kuro?" he blinked and looked at the scareon whom was primly watching both boils and lepus, "She's a scareon. I got her in Creature Feature. At the end of the maze," no, Gabrian had little to no idea HOW he'd made it to the end of the maze in one piece.

"Oh, he does, does he?" the demon watched the lepus as it chose to sticks his tongue out as the gryphon, "I believe I like him already. Sure seems to know whose in charge in this relationship. Alas, you have good taste in minipets," apparently, the strange mixture of thinly veiled insults and compliments was the norm when handling Gabrian. Either that, of Ren simply managed to hit buttons that others didn't quite manage to; it was hard to tell. If there'd been any doubt left that the scareon was, in fact, owned by the demon, it was probably quickly dispelled when the dark creature decided her owner had been ignoring her quite enough for one day and mewled softly, pressing her cheek against his insistently. It was almost as if she were trying, by all means possible, to get her owner's attention fixed back on her instead of the two males in front of them.

Her plan only half worked, because while it was true that Gabrian's hand raised up to scratch the scareon's neck and head, his eyes remain on Ren, "No, no you don't" he paused when the gryphon continued talking and the look he shot Ren seemed to say that he was probably about ready to grab a branch and smack him with it if he called him snake one more time. The nix couldn't quite even recall ever feeling so utterly frustrated for little to no reason at all, "Care to elaborate? I don't think I quite follow," he turned around and away from the other boil, as if about ready to walk away, and yet... rather than leave, the demon paused a few steps ahead, arching a brow. It was a silent invitation to continue the conversation; just on the move, "What would YOU know about failure then? Do enlighten me," a pause followed as he eyed the other boil, "Gabrian," he drawled out again, "Gabe would be fine too. If you call me snake one more time, I swear.... I'm going to force a rock down your throat."

The threat was probably almost hilarious rather than, well, threatening, actually. Specially seeing as how he still had that scareon rubbing and purring against his neck and cheek, betraying the fact he was probably unable to pull off such a feat as he'd described, "Cute but demanding," he let out a sigh as he walked, "She's more demanding than the floresce and the wishing crystal put together," why yes, he'd just admitted to having a rather... strange repertoire of cute little pets. Not that he seemed to notice; either that, or he didn't mind admitting to that fact. His gaze slid over to Ren as the gryphon er... what was that exactly? Was he... "Are you baiting me?" a brow arched up into his hair as he eyed the other boil. Alas, the fact he'd picked up to what Ren was doing probably gave the gryphon his answer.

"Well, it is a lepus," he drawled out softly, a hand reaching up in an attempt to stop the scareon from ravishing his cheek, to various... degrees of success. It was true he'd stopped the scareon from reaching his cheek, but the small creature was hardly deterred from her original intent, seeing as how she simply deflected her attention over to her owner's hand, giving it a lick for good measure, "Doesn't he like FEAR candy? Mine like that a lot - I purchase them in the maul," at this point, he couldn't continue ignoring his pet and he finally turned his attention over to her, placing his violin under his arm pit to grab the small creature in both arms.

As Ren began to snicker under his breath, the nix turned a suffering look on the other boil, "Yes well, she's quite attached to me, and is a demanding little thing," despite having grabbed the scareon in both arms, stroking her, she still mewled every so often, as if to point out that yes, she was indeed the most important soul here today and everyone would do good paying her the attention she so rightfully deserved! "She's a lovely companion when there's homework to do though, so she gets away with it. Besides..." he lowered his gaze to the creature in his arms, which had finally settled down and closed her eyes; had she been able to, it's probable she'd have been purring away, "I find these creatures' company to far surpass that of most other students. They don't judge."

He turned away from his pet and looked towards the path he was walking. The fact he was no longer at Ren could have been either because the nix was trying to ignore him or... because he'd just said something important and thus, did not wish to see the look on the other boil's face. It wasn't until Ren spoke up again, that Gabrian turned to him, "Oh, really now?" something about the way he narrowed his eyes betrayed he was deep in though; there was something about this gryphon that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Something told him they weren't all that different at all; it was that same sentiment that seemed to tell him that it was best not to press for further explanations where the other boil's failures were concerned, "Hmmmm... if you say so," something about the way he said that seemed to voice that he knew were Ren was coming from.

At the words 'Sir Snake', Gabrian eyes narrowed again; it was the only warning Ren got before his tail lashed out, whip like in speed, breaking a branch that was relatively near the gryphon's leg. Apparently, no, he had not followed through with the threat, but that didn't mean he couldn't, at some point, "What, you get threatened enough that you can categorize said threats into what is interesting and what isn't, bird brain?" a pause, and then a snort before he lifted the minipet up to eye level, allowing his nose to fall against the scareon's, whom took the opportunity to lick him again, "I find cute to be deeply endearing. We all have our weaknesses..." maybe he shouldn't have said that, but he was starting to realize there was... something here that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

An arched brow was all the response Ren got at first, the nix stopping mid nuzzle to stare at the other boil, "Uuuh..." a pause followed, almost as if he'd been caught off guard; for some reason he felt this boil was giving him more information than he needed. At the same time, he honestly couldn't help but feel curious, "You don't respond in the ways I'm used to," he told the gryphon, his eyes still narrowed a touch, as if he were trying to discern something that he couldn't quite grasp. Interesting; that's the first word that came to mind.

He wasn't used to not being able to put his finger on... what was up with others. He could usually always categorize people neatly into the self made slots inside his mind; potential ally, nuisance, enemy, not worth his time, etc, and yet he couldn't place this boil. That was interesting, in an off itself, because he frustrated him greatly, and yet at the same time, he wasn't actually upset or angry with him, "What we say and what we think isn't always the same," he replied as Ren moved to land on a nearby tree.

The demon dorms were just up ahead, and Jack knows he should have turned his head away from the gryphon... ignore him and leave. Yet, Gabrian found himself stopping just beside the tree, now looking up at the other boil in his perch. His gaze had relaxed down, his lids hooding calmly over his eyes as he regarded the other boy; he ignored the bait, and rather than comment on why he thought 'bird brain' was quite appropriate, decided to focus on what he'd found most interesting, "I'm wrong, you say?" he lowered the small scareon from his face, so that he could offer Ren most of his attention, "Hhhhmmm... not in my experience," this was said in a lower voice, "They usually see what they want to see and act acordingly. Tell me; what did you see, when you saw me, before your lepus jumped into my arms. Before you noticed Kuro," a tilt of his head seemed to indicate he wasn't particularly fussed, but he was indeed curious, "Did you see anything other than just another demon?"

He lifted a hand and waved it in the air dismissively, much in the same way Ren had done so himself just a while earlier, "It's a weakness, yes. But it's only a weakness because others dictate it is," he turned his head and looked at the dorm rooms up ahead, then back at Ren, apparently torn, "You're interesting," he conceded after a moment, "Deeply frustrating, but very interesting."