Welcome to Gaia! ::

Novus was not aware there was a sky, let alone that something strange was happening in it. Whatever was above him was beyond his ability to care about: he could not hunt any higher than he could jump, and that was all he really needed to know. He kept his world limited, his scope narrow, and he found it a little easier not to get confused that way.

A little.

As a dinosaur-like youma, his ability to comprehend things was not profound. At the best of times, he could really only focus on one thing at a time. It made him an excellent predator, but maybe not great at many other things. Thankfully, the Negaverse really only needed him to gather energy and cause problems for the white moon. At those two very specific things, he excelled.

Figuring out how to get back to the forest? Always difficult. No matter how many times he came into town, tried to take the same path, he got lost. It made him angry. And hungry. Or maybe he had already been hungry, and that made him angry. Being lost helped neither state.

Growling, he spotted something moving ahead of him as he slinked through the shadows, swishing his tail behind him. He snarled, staying as hidden in the darkness as something his size could. As he drew closer, though, his reptilian snout and long clawed fingers came into view. He was walking on his hands and feet, long tail smashing into a fence behind him in irritation.

The massive youma, certainly bigger than a breadbox, snarled lowly at the human tones reaching the small orafices he called ears. He hated the sounds humans made, forgetting almost entirely that he used to be one. Or maybe something close to one. He was all beast now, whatever he had been before, and was driven by strong instincts.

Mostly violent instincts.

Still, this squishy, pink meat sack did not try to run or yell at him, and it had not yet picked up an item to try and hit him with. He liked when they did that, as it made him feel like he was defeating an enemy that might have been strong. Just not when compared to a dinosaur, most of the time. There were the cheaters, the ones he did not eat, but he tended to forget about them between encounters. They could use magic and could really hurt him, even send him home, and he did not like them at all. All he wanted to do was eat and hunt and have his simple brand of fun. Was that really so wrong?

The small human made itself smaller and held out its hand, presumably offering Novus a taste in an effort to convince him it was a flavor he would not like. That, or he had poisoned himself and it was some sort of trap. Growl slowing to a long rumble, the easily confused dinosaur canted his head and lowered his body in an echo of the move the human used, without realizing he was immitating it.

Novus clicked his teeth together, which produced a far less pleasant sound than the one the human was making to draw his attention.

"I hurt you," Novus dared informed the human reasonably, swinging his tail behind him. He'd never talked to his food before, though he knew they could communicate just like he could. But it was tiresome and he was really bad at coming up with enough words to make a full thought. So he tended to skip that whole process.

Novus growled lowly at the talkative dinner as it moved toward him, tilting his head to the side and then to the other in his efforts to keep his vision clear. He snarled and lifted his claws forward when he felt the touch, but since it did not immediately hurt, or feel like it was supposed to hurt and the human was just weak, he did not lash out.

Actually, that felt kind of nice. Oh, that was the word the dinner human had used.

"Nice."

Camelot, unfortunately, did not see a civilian attempting to bond with a dinosaur, but instead identified a threat. He would ask questions about why petting a monster was a good idea later, but for now he hurried to leap down from the roof tops and dart toward the two, calling his shield to his arm. He did not call out, not wanting to startle the youma into attacking what was in front of him, but instead made his presence known by slamming his shield down on the youma's long tail. Novus roared in pain and turned around, leaving his tail on the ground before it burst into dust.

"Get out of here!" Camelot yelled to the young man, holding his shield up. This was a big one, but likely nothing to worry about once the civilian was safely out of the way.

Camelot braced himself to fend off the giant dinosaur, standing valiantly in front of the civilian and holding his shield up. He heard the voice behind him yelling and something struck him as odd. Wait. Who was he telling to run?

Certainly not the knight. Which meant...

"Are you telling the youma to run?!" Camelot supposed he was not too surprised. Sometimes they could take on rather cute forms, and use that as an advantage to drain energy and eat star seeds. This one, however, was as far away from Camelot's definition of cute as could be.

It was a scaly mess of claws and teeth.

Novus snarled, but recognized a battle he could not win when he saw one. He turned to run and Camelot, for now, let him. It was a dangerous choice, but Camelot could hunt him down later tonight if he had to. And he would, as sad as it might seem to the civilian, who was confused and afraid. A part of the war he did not have to share, at least, not wanting to dust the thing where doing so might cause more harm than good. Sighing, Camelot turned to look down at the civilian curiously, offering him a hand.

"Are you alright?"

Camelot blinked.

"Well, yes, but it was... ah..." Poor thing? Camelot was doing his best to understand how someone, a civilian, could find a giant dinosaur attacking them to be a situation where the dinosaur deserved pity. Sure, he was used to not always being thanked for his good deeds, but he was not sure the last time he had been yelled at for them.

If he were a dog, his ears would have drooped. As it stood, his shoulders sagged a bit, and he looked sheepishly apologetic as he bowed his head forward.

"I have been kind to youma, yes. But not all of them can be saved. And I didn't use my power to destroy it: I almost never do, unless I absolutely have no choice. If I had dusted it, it would have reformed and returned later. Not that... I should probably be telling you this. Ah... I just feel rather guilty all of a sudden."

He scratched the back of his own neck, looking in the direction the youma had gone. It was just a small part in a much bigger picture, but one that was easy to just take for granted. A part of the process, dusting youma. He sighed, shaking his head to clear it.

"I'm sorry I upset you. I was just trying to make sure you were safe. They feed on parts of people that are... quite necessary for life."

Camelot perked up, looking a bit hopeful that his failed rescue attempt was not getting completely flushed away. Nodding his head, he put his hand to his chest and bowed, cape sagging forward around his shoulders. He was a knight, after all, and bowing had become a very natural way for him to show his sincerity.

Especially when it came to making promises.

"If I have the chance, and I meet that youma again, I will do what I can to help him. And if that ever happens, I will remember to let him know that he made a friend that guided me to him. Maybe you two can meet again that way... and there will be less teeth and claws and threat of maiming involved."

He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I will leave you to your night, and try not to ruin it further. I am sorry for ah... well. Jumping to conclusions. Still, it is safer to ere on the side of caution with those things: the next one you meet might not hesitate. If I promise to try to be a bit more understanding of them, will you try to not pet them while alone in the dead of night?"

It sounded like a fair deal to him.

Camelot laughed, lighting his hand and awkwardly getting his pinky to cooperate and hook with Ryan's. He had not had to pinky swear in a long time, as it turned out, and he was surprised by how much thought it required to get one finger to move of its own volition rather than as a unit with the rest of the hand.

Or maybe it was the thick leather gloves. Either way.

"I promise. With my pinky. Because that means something." He nodded seriously, shaking his hand with the gesture before chuckling and letting the younger man go. He was already wondering how he might find that dinosaur again, or how he would go about purifying a full youma. If such a thing were even possible. It took a lot more power than he had alone to purify a half-youma, after all.

But it was worth a thought. A lot of it.

Excusing himself, he made to head back to his patrols, at least knowing he did not have to worry about the civilian immediately running off to put another youma that night. They had promised, after all.