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 Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:20 pm
Slowly, as Kouskous revealed herself to not have as much of a hairtrigger temper as she had in the beginning of the conversation, Almos began to relax. His eyelids slid to halfmast, and the halfhearted smile he'd shot her before smoothed itself into the vague semblance of a real one. That's not to say that his attention lagged, though- if she looked, the harpy would notice his eyes were as glitteringly alert as they had been a moment ago, when Almos had resigned himself to sunning while awake, and not That being said, he did not miss her not-quite unobtrusive retreat, but did not comment on it. It was one of the (few) wise moves she'd made all morning. Well... wise, if he was going to attack her.
Speaking of sunning.. Almos rearranged himself, allowing the sun to hit upon the maximum amount of his body possible, while still remaining comfortably reclined. Ah....
Fighting? Ah, fighting with nagas was much different than fighting with harpies, most definitely. While the birds concentrated on kicking gauges with their wicked claws and buffeting blows with their strong wings, Nagas relied on speed. Striking quickly, with perhaps a good squeeze or three from their powerfully muscled tails. Almos mentioned none of this, either too lazy or too tired to go into the details of naga fighting style, but he did reply to the comment. "Naturally. I don't suppose many of them have done much fighting outside of their own breed for a while. They only seem to hate nagas enough for that."
"Of course. We're hated by your race, with reason." Languidly, Almos shrugged. The harpy was getting more pleasant to talk to now that she wasn't shrieking his ears off. But it wouldn't do if she became too at ease. After all.. "But don't relax around nagas. I'm laid back, but more than a few are as bad as I'm sure your stories describe. Never assume anything."
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:39 pm
Staring, Kous became progressively more baffled as the snake seems to melt closer to the ground every couple of minutes. It really looked like he kept trying to fall asleep! The nerve of him! Was she really so non-threatening that he felt he could ignore her? But no, his eyes were still open, and locked on her. She wasn't so little of a threat that he would entirely disregard her. Hopefully. She might have to attack him and damn the consequences if he really did nod off.
She frowned at his statement concerning fighting other species. The most recent war was generations ago. There were skirmishes still, mostly over land, but those tended to be between other species. Harpies lived too high in the mountains for anyone to really bother them except each other, and the only times they came down from their mountainous roosts was to hunt, like the flock she was with was supposed to be...
Oh no! THE HUNT! She should be scouting for food, not talking to this snake! But, she couldn't just turn her back on him to leave either... She'd have to play the patience game, and hope something worked out. ...At this point if he fell asleep -regardless of the insults severety, she'd go and find a way to get back off the ground, aching wings and all.
Having already forgotten anything else having to do with fighting techniques, Kous eyed the snake in bafflement. Did he actually just give her a warning? ...Or was that a veiled threat? ...Great nesting mother, talking to snakes - or this one at the very least - was confusing! "If you lay back any further, you're going to vanish into the ground," She commented on his relaxed posture. Honestly, how close to the ground could this creature go before sinking in?
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:53 pm
"Old wives tale." Almos rebuffed Kouskous' accusation, carelessly. "I'm only sunning. It's quite the enjoyable pasttime...You should try it. I'm sure even your feathers will allow the sun's warmth to seep through to your skin."
As lazy as he was, and as tired as he was, Almos still did not miss the distracted look suddenly overtake her face and vanish in an instant. So, something was on the little harpy's mind.. Vaguely, the naga hoped that she would simply leave and let him sleep again, but even as he thought of the wish, he dismissed it as futile. That particular female didn't strike him as the type to leave first.
He blinked then, looking lost for a moment before his face smoothed out again. All this time they'd been talking, and they didn't even know each other's name. Shameful. Even if they were never to meet again after this clearing (please, please. Especially in the morning..), they should at least know that much. Then, at least, he could find a name to blame tonight when he was even more exhausted than he was last night. All thanks to a noisy, but surprisingly tolerable to speak with, overgrown bird.
"I'm Almos, by the way."
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:18 pm
Well, actually, now that he mentioned it. The sun was awfully warm beating on her feathers like it was. She ruffled her feathers slightly to allow some unneeded heat to escape. But, while sunning was nice on a chilly fall morning, it was a fairly warm day, so why would… Oh. Right. Eggstealers were coldblooded. How could she have forgotten that knowledge? It was the main reason that harpies in these forests were usually safe during the nighttime, as the serpents were cold, and slow moving during those times. She smirked, “Feathers are insulation. They keep out the heat, while keeping out the cold too. Something scales can’t do.”
Looking thoughtful, Kous examined the body language of the snake in front of her. While he definitely didn’t look tense, he wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared at first glance either. Her feathers fluffed further, embarrassed at her complete foolishness at only seeing what he wanted her to see. But… He didn’t look threatening. No, he looked more like he just wanted to take a nap. …Maybe she could leave without having to worry about having her back to him…?
Wait, what was… On her mother’s egg, why would he…? It couldn’t be a good idea to give one’s name to a member of a species well known for their magical ability. But, he’d given his, and common curtsey dictated that she return the favor. As long as she didn’t give her full name, so, it was okay, right? …Hopefully. “…Kous,” She muttered unwillingly, after a moment of intense internal debate, “Nice to meet you.” …What was she doing exactly? She would have kicked herself in the tail feathers for that, but her mother had made it a point to teach her manners. Probably not to be used in situations like this however. …Too late now.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:46 pm
He offered a halfhearted shrug to Kous instead of a verbal response. So what if scales could not keep out the cold naturally... it was merely another thing for the Nagafolk to be careful of, and another thing for them to be creative with- keeping sufficiently warm in a place like this, and to keep from overheating in places closer to the sauna-like areas of the world.
Quietly, Almos continued to watch KousKous through half-lidded eyes. He observed her sudden flustered and fluffy body language and, while he could make guesses as to why she'd suddenly felt the need to do those things, the lazy naga couldn't claim to really know. He was just satisfied that she didn't seem to be as relaxed as he made himself out to be. Relaxation indicated a decision to stay, and....
Well.
Almos' expression shifted towards the more curious, after Kous' display of reluctance in the act of merely giving him a name to call her. That was certainly odd... "Nice to meet you as well." Well, not exactly, but it hadn't been as horrible as it could have been. After all, the she-harpy could have flown at his neck first thing.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:16 pm
Just how did nagas remain warm when it got cold out anyway? Maybe she’d ask someone how – Carefully, of course – When she got back to the flock. Assuming she ever actually got herself back into the sky where she wanted to be more then she ever had before in her admittedly short life.
Surprising. Even the snake could be polite. Well, he’d been pretty polite the entire time really, even though he didn’t really have a reason to. Not with how stupid she’d been from the effective start of this entire mess. What exactly did that say about her manners? It was understandable though, here she was, staring an eggstealer in the face, and she was supposed to remember her manners first and foremost...?
She tilted her head and eyed the sky as fondly as the snake seemed to be thinking about having a nap in the bight sunlight. …With things going the way they were, it wasn’t looking likely that she’d ever get back to her flock without taking some kind of risk, and really, he looked as eager for her to disappear as she was to go. But she couldn’t leave with no information to show for how long she’d stuck around… She cocked her head at Almos curiously. “…You wouldn’t happen to know where there is a herd of [][insert name of a terrestrial species here!][] around here would you?”
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