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The day before had been utterly exhausted in so many ways, both physically and mentally, and Oullixes had done nothing for some time after but lay around, resting. After a time of stewing in his own smell he had finally abandoned his perch in the tree, scaling down it, and made his way toward the sound of moving water. He knew of a stream not far from where he was resting, one where he would be able to wade in up to his chest, and he could see about scrubbing off all the filth that he'd accumulated yesterday. He was covered in soot, dried blood, sweat, and dirt amongst other things and all added up he knew he looked and smelled absolute dreadful. The very last thing he wanted to do was go back to where he'd been staying all mucked up as he was, they might not wanting to take him back in.

Sighing a little as he reached the water's edge the halfbreed starred across it, looked back and forth in a careful and somewhat paranoid manner, before he set to work shedding his clothing. His weapons were rested on the ground at the edge of the water along with some of what he was wearing, the rest of it was carried into the water with him. He'd need to scrub his clothing clean, as well as the rest of him, if he was wanting to get rid of the burnt smell that was clinging to him at the moment, "Bah... such a bother." He muttered to himself as he headed into the cool waters up to his waist and set about scrubbing at his clothing first. It was a slow going process of scrub, rinse, repeat until he finally got his clothing look as good as ever... which wasn't really saying much. Everything he owned was scuffed up, had holes in it, and was a bit on the tight side.

No matter, it served its purpose and it wasn't as though he had anyone to impress now did he? Sighing a little he held up his pants to look them over, making a face at them, before he set to work on the shirt. Only once both were done did he moved to lay them out over some of the warm, flat rocks that were sitting along the river's edge. Once they were laid out to dry he went back into the water to deal with his own filth. He had some fresh wounds that also needed cleaned out, ones he got in his battle with that strange bug mage, which would lead to more scars... but who would notice? What was one more amongst the many others that he had after all he thought to himself. When it all came down to it the new scars were worth it, he'd helped someone, had fended off a grave robber, and had seen a man buried properly. Not to mention that he'd gotten himself some swords to use against his father one day. All in all it was worth it.

Oulixes jerked his head up as he heard something crashing around in the wood near to the river, something that made him go still. The crash was followed by cursing, then silence... and he was instantly moving toward the shore, grabbing up his own weapons before he slipped into the shadows. He didn't know who was out there, perhaps someone sent by his father... he didn't know, didn't care, he just wanted to see about dealing with them so that they wouldn't be able to cause him anymore harm. This was getting frustrating, he just wanted some time to rest damn it! Whoever was out there interrupting his peaceful bathing was going to pay for it he thought to himself as he reached over the rock, grabbing his sopping wet pants, and dragged them on.

Once that was dealt with he was then sliding through the shadows toward where he'd heard all the commotion. He'd do what he could about catching the potential threat off guard and if needs be he would take them out... not as though he couldn't always dig another grave as he did yesterday or perhaps toss the fool's corpse in the river. It would carried far enough away that it would no longer be his problem he thought to himself in a morbid manner as he continued creeping along, pulling himself up into the the branches of the massive tree that his quarry was hiding behind, wanting to be able to get the drop on him. He was never happier to have a weapon in his life, it meant that he would be able to better defend himself. He'd had more then enough of being the punching bag, now he could at least see about trying to keep himself safe from such things...

Of course as he found himself hovering in the branches over the one that he was preparing to strike down he froze in place, recognizing who was down there. Giving a bit of a sighing sound he reached over to pluck one of the low hanging fruits from nearby, took aim, and dropped it on Yaholo.

The reaction from the other halfbreed was one that he felt to be priceless, the way that he reacted, flailing about in such a fashion over a bit of fruit. He starred down at him quietly, waiting for the guy to look up and see who it was dropping fruit before he made his way down, landing on his feet before he shook himself off, water flying in all directions from his hair. As it all fell back into place, as messy as ever, he starred at Yaholo through it, "You really shouldn't sneak up on people while they are bathing, they might get the wrong idea." He said, pointing one of his two swords at the other guy before he lowered both of them to his sides. He didn't like being spied upon, it made him feel so uneasy and paranoid... but at least in this instance it turned out that it wasn't someone trying to kill him, just someone he was familiar with trying to peep on him. He wasn't quite sure what he thought of that but decided not to think too hard on it for the moment.

Drifting back toward where he'd left the read of his things he laid the swords back down on the rock, glancing over at Yaholo, "Same old, same old, things trying to kill me and failing to succeed." He said, making it sound so simple, as if he were used to things trying to off him. Sadly it was the truth, how else would one end up with so many scars after all? Drifting forward toward Yaholo he found himself starring at him closely, taking in everything about him, before he lifted a hand up to poke him in his remaining antennae, something he'd done to Yaholo a few times in the past, and said, "Something seems to be missing?" Did these strange Alkidike shed their antennae? Or was he off doing something foolish and lost one of them that way? He wasn't sure but he found that he didn't much like the idea. As with Natsu he felt that it should be him taking the beatings and collecting the scars, not those he actually liked. He couldn't help but to wonder what had happened to him and if he needed to point his swords at whatever had done it.

"Cut... off?" He asked, head tilting to one side, his eyes going a little wide. He couldn't help but to find himself a bit on the shocked side as he spoke of 'rogue Shifters' before he shook his head, "Those bastards don't represent all of the Shifters, I've met good ones." He said, feeling his temper rise at the mere fact that there were darker Shifters out there, those that would try to take a child, it would paint the good ones in a bad light and given that they had kind of saved him he really didn't like the idea even in the least bit. He felt the overwhelming urge to find those people and strangle them... but it wasn't a thought that he could focus on for long given that he soon found himself getting assaulted by Yaholo's overly enthusiastic antennae. It seemed that it was wanting to get revenge and poke Oulixes back.

Lifting a hand he did his best to defend himself without harming the antennae. If it was the only one that Yaholo had left it was best that he made sure not to harm it he thought to himself. He did give it a couple more pokes though in retaliation, just not hard ones before he said, "I don't much care for the fact that you got hurt but I can understand why you did it to a degree." Sure, he had no family of his own that he'd go out of his way for to such a degree but he'd met a few people along the way who weren't so bad, those he might do the same thing for. Not to mention that when it came down to it he didn't mind taking on a few more scars if it meant protecting those very few that he actually cared for.

His expression hardened a little though as he pointed at Yaholo and said, "Next time you need to be more careful!" How was he supposed to not worry about Yaholo when he went tromping around making so much noise? If Oulixes, who had little in the way of formal training just the training one got from being raised like he had, could sneak up on Yaholo then he worried for the guy a bit. Maybe he should see about keeping him safe? A thought that caused his body to go stock still before he turned away, setting in inspecting him, making sure he was clean enough after yesterday's 'adventures'.

A jolt when through Oulixes's body and a gasp escaped from him as Yaholo caught hold of his shoulder, making him turn quickly toward him... relaxing only when he saw that there was nothing threatening about his stance. Bah, he had to get better at dealing with people and their touchy-feely actions. Dragging in a deep breath he held it a moment, let it out slowly, then said, "Good, you need to be more careful." He said when he had himself under better control once more. He hated that he let that startle him, had to get better, and maybe spending more time with people instead of skulking about Jauhar alone might help with such a thing? No promises but he could at least try, right?

"Hrm? Sit and chat... yeah, I suppose so." He said, motioning to the flat rocks that were warming in the sun near the river, he had to keep an eye on his shirt anyway since it was drying and sitting in the sun would help his pants and his hair. Giving a nod he led the way over there, sitting to one side of his shirt, getting comfortable before he glanced over at Yaholo, "I... find that a little odd, to think you would miss me but... I guess that sounds... nice, too." He doubted there were many out there that would miss him if he vanished, he could count them on his hands alone, but to know that Yaholo was one of them... for some reason he actually kind of like the sound of that for some reason.

Turning to look over at him through his damp, messing hair he said, "So... what did you want to chat about?" He wasn't all that great at conversing but for a handful of individuals he'd try his best.

There was a long, drawn out moment where there was silence between the two of them, with Yaholo sort of starring at him. It was something that caused Oulixes to feel more then a little uncomfortable, wanting nothing more then to duck his head to better hide himself behind his hair. What was it that he was starring at? Did he notice the new scars? Did he still have soot stuck to him that he hadn't noticed? Was the smell from his earlier exertion still present? So many thing that he could worry on, none of which that he wanted to think about... but couldn't help thinking about. It was only when Yaholo seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in and started to speak that he started to feel a little bit better and less on edge. He seemed curious about where he was staying? A part of him wondered why... though he supposed given the fact that Oulixes was far from home and without many allies it was only right that he might worry about where Oulixes was staying.

"Oh... well... some Shifters, a family of them, took me in when I... sort of... needed it." He said, starring straight away for a moment. It was obvious that he didn't really do well with the idea of needing help from others, mostly because he didn't understand it. Not to mention that he always worried that those offering help were going to expect something from him in return... but at the moment he didn't quite think that Yaholo was after anything. He seemed the nice sort... like Chal's family, it was a shame he didn't know what to do with nice. He turned to glance over at him once more, "Stay with you? I would only be a bother. All my problems... I don't want to drag others into them." He murmured quietly, clasping his hands together tightly in his lap. He didn't want Yaholo to deal with him, with his mood swings, his nightmares, his paranoia... there were so many things wrong with him, he felt he was better off alone. The only reason he was staying with the Shifter was because one of them found him a moment before he'd passed out... he owed them, if not for the oldest son, Chalcedony, he would have eaten by that Menzuri he was certain.

"I... huh? No, no reason to stop you... I don't mind listening to you talk." He said quickly, not wanting for Yaholo to think he didn't want to hear what he had to say or something. In fact listening to him was easier then trying to figure out the right thing to say.

Oulixes dropped his gaze to stare down at the hand that was touching his, not quite sure what to think of the light touch. It wasn't painful so it was alright, right? A shiver went through him before her jerked his head up, starring at Yaholo through his bangs as the other set to scolding him about how he wasn't a bother to anyone. Not true, but the words were nice to hear. As he was told that if he wanted to get stronger that he would have to have pride in himself he dropped his gaze once more. Pride in himself? He gave a bit a snort, "That is... a tall order, Yaholo. He murmured, how could he have pride in himself when he knew exactly what he was... still... he kind of liked the fact that Yaholo was so oblivious. It made him want to keep him around, so that he could hear nice words more often... but at the same time he feared it.

Turning to glance at him once more he couldn't help but to look utterly confused when Yaholo said that he 'appreciated' Oulixes. They were words that didn't quite seem to translate, as though he were speaking a foreign language or something. No matter what Oulixes thought of himself it seemed that Yaholo wouldn't agree with him, he thought strong and resilient with potential to 'become more' which was just... odd... why did he think so highly of him when his father thought him to be trash? It was just so... weird. There was no way else to describe it other then weird he thought to himself as he pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them tightly to himself as though to protecting himself. Yaholo was... dangerous he thought to himself. He said far too many nice things, actually made Oulixes want to believe him, but even now he could hear his father's voice whispering in his ears...

The other started to stammer about something else but seemed to only get out the 'And I' part before seeming to choke on the words. It made him wonder what it was that he was trying to say... before dismissing the curiosity. If Yaholo couldn't get the words out then it must be something terrible that he didn't want to hear he figured, "You are... strange..." He murmured, resting his head against his knees, peeking over at Yaholo as he did so.