Bruises: Chapter 5

Kellen stared up at the house as the incubus inside continued to rage. Opium really didn't like the dark at all did he? He turned to start towards the house instead, watching curiously before he got up to the steps, "excuse me...." He voiced to try and get the attention of the man that had been locked outside- amazed by the vivid green hair.

Absinthe turned and locked eyes with the shorter human. The irises of his own orbs were as green as his hair, but surrounded by a sea of black where there should have been white. There was a tiny black hat with a green ribbon tied around it resting to one side on his head, a black and green frog tattooed on his left shoulder, and around his neck was a thick green scarf with black spots all over it.

He blinked at Kellen once, as though surprised to see him, and stepped over a piece of interestingly twisted driftwood to get to him. His black and green striped shirt slid up just enough to reveal the `DRINK ME' tattooed in sharp letters on his left hip. The only thing that wasn't black in his outfit were his pants, which were clean and white, but the left pant leg was a black and green stripe patterned stocking instead of denim, making him look slightly lopsided.

A cheerful grin twitched across the demon's lip, revealing his pointed teeth, "Well hello hello...." he greeted as Nehebu-kau slithered up the steps behind Kellen.

"Hello..." He greeted both fascinated and wary- the man looked extremely interesting, it was a sort of outfit that he had never really seen. And he had seen a lot of outfits... "We were looking for you." He explained glancing up towards Nehebu-kau with a faint smile to explain whom he meant by 'we'.

"The Bounty Hunter and a bite sized human... what can we do for you? I'd invite you in for.. snacks.. or something... but uh... I'm kind of locked out right now." Absinthe said apologetically.

"Actually, we're looking for information on Muse and Cerulean, or about what happened to their lab." Nehebu-kau said to get the cubi's attention... already it was easy to tell that Absinthe had a difficult time staying focused.

"June and November? I thought you might come by wondering about them." he agreed with a speculative noise, touching his fingertips together so his long green claws clicked, "We've been hearing... unsettling things."

Kellen stayed quite for a moment, waiting for him to continue but when he continued to stare at them with the same expression... he had to frown a little bit, "What sort of things?" he urged with a slow motions of his hands.

"Spoooky things~" Absinthe wiggled his fingers towards Kellen's face, then made a wounded expression when Nehebu-kau lightly slapped one of his hands.

"I'm not asking again Absinthe... what do you know?"

"Supposedly one of the old experiments of theirs came back and took them... a creature rumored to be on your level, Nehebu-kau." he finally elaborated.

"What's it called?"

"Xiuhcoatl." The very word itself contained a heavy weight to it, conjuring mental images of dark things in ancient times- a name rarely spoken in this age, "As you were fused with the personality of Nehebu-kau, Egyptian God of Protection, Xiuhcoatl was their first attempt at fusions, and they combined him with the Aztec Serpent God of Destruction."

"That doesn't seem like a very smart thing to do...." Kellen trailed as he furrowed his brow a little bit and wrapped his arms around himself. He didn't like the sound of that name... His name brought back bad memories and he felt briefly trapped.

Trying to clear himself of this feeling he took a few deep breaths, "Do you have any idea where he is...?" he wondered.

"Opium and I may have pegged down his current location, but he keeps moving... he's a hard Naga to find." Absinthe admitted as Nehebu-kau pressed his shoulder against Kellen's to reassure him, "course I'd be more helpful if SOMEONE DIDN'T LOCK ME OUT OF THE HOUSE....but you know how it is."

He didn't, but the naga decided to just accept that, "Why did he take them?"

"If I had to guess.. its because he wants to tear you apart and wear your scales as a necklace."

"I thought it was something as ridiculous as that."

Kellen looked briefly horrified before he turned his head to look up at Nehebu-kau, "You're not going to fight him are you?" He asked furrowing his brow in concern, "I dont want you to get hurt..." He trailed as Opium hissed inside of the house- curling up in his room instead and locked up his own door even more extensively than the others.

The Raven looked down at Kellen curiously... fighting was a part of Naga life. They were born and raised battling to the death just for the right to exist, until they were big enough and old enough to move out on their own... the prospect of facing this Xiuhcoatl wasn't exactly appealing, but in his heart he'd already accepted it as an inevitability.

"I don't see any other choice... He has what I consider to be my parents,” he pointed out, "I must face him to get them back."

"I suppose..." He trailed, biting the corner of his lip, "Then you promise you wont get hurt.... too much.....?" he asked as he stared up at him hopefully and pushed his fingers together in an almost self-conscious fashion.

"I'll do my best... I doubt I'll lose, but I'm as equally certain it isn't going to be an easy fight. Absinthe, what's his snake breed?"

"Red Phase Bush Viper."

"He's a venomous type like myself then, which makes things a little bit easier. If he was a constrictor, I already know he's about three times my size and could crush me.... Vipers are always bigger than Royals.." He furrowed his brow to think, "anticoagulant venom though could be an issue, and I'll have to get him before he wounds me too badly."

Kellen didn't like the sound of this fight one bit- regardless of if he had more of a chance with the other venomous thing.... "Is there any other information that you have...weaknesses... anything?" he asked as he looked back over at Absinthe.

"Xiuhcoatl doesn't intentionally hide himself, but he leaves behind fiery destruction in his wake that obliterates most of our usual ways of gathering information about a subject. The only other bit we know is that he's got a small moth creature with him of some sort... an assistant maybe... though why he'd assist that Aztec is beyond me." Absinthe snorted, while Nehebu-kau memorized the information and tried to formulate some kind of beginning strategy.

"What does he do when he rests.... does he ever stay in once place? Or is he constantly moving and destroying...?" Kellen wondered as he tilted his head a bit, "He has to be keeping the two of them somewhere."

"They seem to be content staying outside of a village in the human world... we don't know how they got through the Barrier yet, but they're just chillin in Africa near Lusala's territory."

"Lusala?" Nehebu-kau glanced at Kellen, "Lusala is a Gaboon Viper who protects a tribe of humans, and in return they revere him as a God. He's on the side of the King though, so he'll make a good ally for us if we can stir him."

"Hmmm...." Kellen trailed then hesitated, "then... that means we have to go back to the human world..." He frowned- and then Narcissus would be able to find him "Ne-ne...."

"Narcissus has no hold in the wild tribe lands of Africa. So long as I put us where we need to go the first time, he'll never know we were there." the naga promised, winding his tail around Kellen's legs protectively while Absinthe checked to see if the window was locked.

"Narcissus hates the tribe lands of Africa." he supplied, only helpful by a small amount, "not enough money generated from it. Too much sweat."

Kellen pursed his lips a little bit, leaning slightly against the Naga next to him as he tried to reassure himself before he turned his eyes to look up at the window, "Why do you not simply break in?" he wondered instead. It was getting sort of cold outside, as nice as the sea breeze was...

"Last time I broke a window, Opium attacked me with a mop." Absinthe sighed back, but Nehebu-kau had noticed the chill on Kellen's skin, so he unfurled and lightly shoved the incubus aside.

The naga bent to look at the lock on the door, deciding it was a lost cause so went to the window, pressing one hand against it and leaning in close. He hooked the lip of the lock with his teeth and wrenched hard, forcing it open from the outside and swung the glass inwards for Absinthe to cheerfully hop through into the warm house.

Kellen smiled brightly, climbing in carefully-he could hear the scuffling from the other room where Opium was beginning to panic at the sound of the burglars in his house. "Is he going to be alright...?" He wondered as he stared at the door when a small window was opened in it so the man could peer one red poppy colored eye through at them- then shut it just as quickly.

"Opium bro... its me..." Absinthe called out through the door, "see- open the window again, you can see me through it, its me."

"It'll be fine." Nehebu-kau shut the window behind them and curled around Kellen again, "just relax here for a bit and watch... Absinthe will either figure it out, or we'll all just hang out in the living room tonight."

"No." Opium said as he opened it and peered at him again, "You are a doppelganger!" He announced, "You're a copy of my real brother- where is he? What did you do with him!" He demanded as Kellen slowly relaxed against Nehebu-kau to watch the interaction.

"I AM your brother- okay you know what? Yes. I'm your brother, and I hide him from you." Absinthe slapped a hand over his face and put the other on his hip, "Opium babe it really is me... come on... ask me our secret questions, I know the answers. Your remember the secret questions we came up with for these occasions when I came home late?"

"You probably tortured him for all of the possible answers! Nothing I can ask would be true." He snapped back and narrowed his eyes a little bit. "My brother knows to be inside when the sunsets! Otherwise things like you will get him!"

"And isn't your brother- I mean me...- Aren't I ALWAYS late?" confusing himself now, the flustered demon wiggled his arms, "Opium.....! Nehebu-kau is here with an adorable little bite sized human boy and they want to know about Xiuhcoatl.. come on now...."

"No." He responded simply as he shut the little peep hole and there was rustling inside of him burying himself in his multitude of blankets as further protection from the outside world. The bed really like a circular next- it was even carved out of the floor itself because he didn't like the thought of monsters reaching out from under the bed to grab him.

"........Can I at least have a pillow?"

Nehebu-kau shook his head with a snort at the apparent failure and nuzzled Kellen to get his attention, "I'll have Absinthe get you more clothes, so you don't have to sleep in those and you'll have new, clean ones to change into."

"New clothes?" he wondered then seemed rather excited, hopefully ones that would fit him a bit better. They had found these ones more or less after all, so they fit well enough but they still weren't perfect. He paused to look over- staring as the pillow was slowly being squished through the peep hole and opium got it through about halfway before he left it there for Absinthe to deal with.

Absinthe stared at it as well, then slowly leaned forward with his face in the pillow, arms hanging in the gap between the door and his slightly angled forward body, letting out a long, sobbing sort of plea.

"Absinthe is a collector of clothes, I'm certain he'll have something." the naga raised an eyebrow at the cubi's behavior, but shook it off.

"He collects them for himself... or just...collects them?" he asked- he wouldn't be surprised, they already seemed odd enough as it was, staring as the pillow was slowly pushed more through the gap until it was finally out and the window was closed again.

"Just in general. It doesn't seem intentional, it just accumulates from all the drunken nights wandering home in other people's clothes I would imagine." Nehebu-kau answered as Absinthe watched the pillow fall to the floor with a whine, then sullenly kicked it towards the couch.

".....So where are we sleeping then..." Kellen wondered as he watched the incubus curl up onto the couch- not seeming like he was going to be of any more use for the night, "here?" He wondered, as much as he loved sleeping in the coils he sort of missed sleeping in a bed...

"There's a guest room in the back." Nehebu-kau told him, picking the boy up with an arm around his back and the other under his knees, slithering easily around the coffee table and armchair towards a heavy oak door, which opened up into a simple black and red guest room, the window of which was decorated with more shells and starfish.

Kellen slumped onto the bed, rolling to the other side as he picked up a starfish from the bed side table so he could inspect it and nestle down into the bed at the same time, "Are these things real creatures..."

"Yes. Trea and the Human World share an ocean, so we also share many ocean creatures... though our larger, more predatory and far more savage ocean beasts cant cross the Barrier, so the humans don't see those. Still not sure how those small sharks ended up over there... they must have been there before the Barrier went up, so never got a chance to evolve and become their larger cousins we have here." the Naga picked himself up onto the bed, coiling around a body pillow tightly enough to constrict it and set his face against it.

"So you've actually seen a shark?" He wondered curiously as he sat up, "How small do you mean when you say small sharks?" he asked, "as big as this?" he asked as he held his arms out as far as they could go.

"No, but those are small too. Your Great Whites in the human world are about 20 feet in length on average... those are about a third of the size of the ones here. Meglodon roam freely too, but in the human world they died out. They must have been too big to be confined to such a small patch of ocean in comparison to usual." Nehebu-kau mused as he took in a deep breath and sighed comfortably.

"Twenty feet.... is small...." Kellen trailed then narrowed his eyes warily; Nehebu-kau in his mind was huge... so he tilted his head as he stared at the snake, "How big are you...." He questioned slowly, not even realizing the implications that could be put under- the obvious innuendo was shadowed with his actual curiosity.

"Wh..." the naga blinked owlishly at the human boy, trying to figure out if he'd meant it the way he thought he had... when Kellen continued to look curious without any under traces, he shrugged it off, "13 feet from nose to tail tip, last time I was measured. I'm actually one of the shorter naga in length because of my Royal Python body... however I'm also one of the thickest as far as tail girth."

Kellen- despite his genuine desire for knowledge, couldn't help but finally sputter out a giggle at the word 'girth' and put the back of his hand over his mouth to calm down and think that over. "So you aren't even as big as a shark... a normal human world shark..." He trailed then looked off to the side with wide eyes as if to try and imagine something of that size.

"Not a Great White Shark anyway, no." the raven flashed him a smirk for the earlier laugh and laid his head on his folded arms over the pillow he was squeezing, "if there were.. ohhhh... probably about four of me, lying one after another in a straight line, that would be about as long as a Meglodon."

Kellen looked down and smiled at him softly as he leaned back on the headboard, "but then you would just look silly..." He mused as he tilted his head. In this light it was more obvious... How normal Kellen probably would have been if he had been allowed to live a regular life.
He probably would have gone to school. He probably would have been quirky enough... but he was still a human... a young boy.

But one that had no childhood...

Even so, he searched for knowledge- soon they would be settled enough that he'd be able to read things and learn on his own- but for now he preferred the stories.

Nehebu-kau didn't mind. He liked the questions, after so many years of traveling alone and in silence, taking on jobs from clients only to track and to kill. It was a nice change in pace to be able to have a conversation with someone both innocent and corrupted, a weird kind of balance between the two.

"Yes, I most likely would. That's just an example though to give you some idea." The naga yawned widely, stretching his jaw and revealing the inside of his mouth. His retractable fangs folded down from the roof of his mouth behind his normal, pointed teeth, then folded again safely above the small hole on the bottom of his mouth that housed his forked tongue. When he closed his maw again, he also closed his eyes the rest of the way, "we should get some sleep."

"Mhm..." He agreed as he watched him for a moment, reaching out to smooth at a bit of his hair and then curled up in his spot, snuggling under the covers and buried his face into them. It was safe here...

He fell asleep quickly, within minutes of the ensuing silence, but as much as the bed was comfortable it made his body remember... and the night was plagued with the violet haired man leering over him- Narcissus sneering as he grabbed him and tore away the covers.

He hadn't realized that the dream was translating into the actual real world- his hands and feet twitching sharply as he started to whine, but for the most part his body remained rigid and frozen in sleep.

Nehebu-kau's silvery eyes flicked open, watching the boy as he slept. Naga themselves rarely had dreams more complex than maybe hunting something, so the concept of nightmares was beyond him. Regardless, he did recognize it for what it was, and slightly uncurled from the pillow he'd had in a death grip.

The serpent laid down the rest of the way on his side, facing Kellen, and reached out to hug the child to himself gently, sharing his warmth and stroking at his light blond hair. From his chest came a deep humming sound, which resonated up into his throat, and by the time it reached his lips had morphed into a very quiet song. Nehebu-kau's voice was a quiet, deeply toned thing that would have put an audience in mind of rich earth and soft darkness, and required no words to form a meaning.

Kellen's mouth parted to take in a couple sharp gasps; tears leaking helplessly down his cheeks as he nestled closer. The phantom in his dream seemed to twist- distorted and distressed by the song before it started to fade away in a twist of smoke and his body slowly relaxed.

After a few minutes he slowly nestled into his chest- taking another deep breath before his mind twisted into the thoughts of the song.

Pleased by the result, Nehebu-kau wiped away the tears with a careful brush of his thumb. He shut his eyes again and wound his tail around them both protectively to sleep, keeping up the song even through his doze, since it didn't take much conscious thought on his part. As long as Kellen was sleeping well, he didn't really care if part of his own brain stayed active.
Some time around dawn though, the song did taper off for the naga to completely fall asleep, his body cooling down just enough for his mind to hibernate until it got warmer again.

Kellen wasn't the sort to wake around dawn... But Opium was.

The sun was out so this was the time that Opium slowly unlatched all the locks on his door and wandered slowly out into the living room, staring at Absinthe on the couch and sighed.

"You should really learn to be on time..." He told him as he rubbed at his eyes. The man's fluffed out jet black hair falling messily around his shoulders and the bangs fell almost entirely into the bright red eyes.

His lips were slightly pouted and pink compared to the pale skin that was accented by the 'Drink Me' tattoo on the hip opposite of his brothers and a Poppy tattoo that ran along his shoulder.

"Nyyyeeeehhhh" Whined the green demon back as he sat up, the remnants of his now destroyed pillow hanging off one of his horns, while the feathery contents were settled in snow like clusters on the couch and floor, "My horns popped my pillow again... maybe I should steal a memory foam one from the Human World. I love memory foam- before I forget, Nehebu-kau and Kellen are in the guest room."

"Oh? When did they get here?" He wondered raising his eyebrows a little bit, he was like an entirely different person without the night time paranoia, he seemed oddly soft spoken and very...relaxed somehow. "Hm.... I suppose I will have to make dinner then." He decided turning to walk to the kitchen with the black jeans clinging to his hips.

"And I have a memory foam pillow in my room, by the way, got one on our last trip to the human world. Guess I forgot to give it to you."

"Breakfast." Absinthe corrected instinctively as he got up to follow him, but couldn't resist scattering the feathers everywhere first, so it looked like it had snowed in the living room, "they got here last night when I did, asking about June and November's disappearance. Totally stealing that memory foam first chance I get."

"Then you might want to steal it now BEFORE you forget. Or I forget." Memory wasn't his greatest thing when it came to small meaningless things like that- he was too focused on retaining the information that they sold to people. "Dinner...breakfast...same difference." He decided as he opened the fridge.

"Sure why not" Absinthe veered around to go back to the room and find the pillow, tossing it on his own side of the bed and came back just as Nehebu-kau slithered free of the doorway opposite to him.

"Morning." greeted Absinthe cheerfully, as the raven ran his fingers slowly through his thick black hair to straighten it out.

"Morning.."

Opium lifted his head as he closed the fridge- food gathered in his arms to prepare- a lot of food, it was actually a bit alarming how much the incubus could consume. "Morning Nehebu-kau... did you sleep alright? I apologize for not greeting you myself yesterday."

"Understandable... an event at the lake prevented us from getting here before dark, so it was our bad." assured the hunter, picking a path through the feathers so he could see Opium more easily, "glad to see you in your right mind again."

"You're tellin' us." Absinthe scoffed as he went in to pester Opium and just generally get in the way of his cooking.

Opium vaguely tried to bat him away but didn't actually ever get angry with him, "where is the boy, anyway?" He wondered as he looked up at him, "he is human is he not? He will need to eat..."

"He's resting for now, his dreams were unpleasant." Said the naga, "before he was with me, he was an employee at the Cottontail Club, so I imagine sleep was something of a rarity for him."

"Cotton... the boy is a prostitute?" Absinthe asked tactlessly.

"WAS." corrected the other, "its not his wish to continue that life, so I'm taking him with me."

"Generous of you." He mused, "though I have realized that regardless of their desire for change, boys like that can't help but carry habits with them. Those sort of things don't die very easily..." he explained.

"I know this, but those traits have yet to reveal themselves to me and that's fine. Once he's old enough, or at least better informed, he can make whatever decisions he wants." Nehebu-kau shrugged lightly, "I'm a bounty hunter, there are a lot of social necessities I cannot teach him, but I can give him the basics."

"And hopefully that will be enough, he'll need to learn when that sort of behavior is acceptable. And if you chose to take his physical desires onto yourself then that's your business." He mused as he put the eggs in the pan.

"I hadn't thought about that option." the naga admitted, "not in-depth anyway... he's far too small and fragile. I'd be terrified of breaking him or squeezing too tightly just once."

"Certainly freak ME out." Absinthe allowed, "Granted after a few drinks I probably wouldn't care."

Opium glanced at his brother, pursing his lips a little bit, when he was high for the most part he was too relaxed to have the urge to do such things... "So are you going to keep him until he is old and gray?" he wondered.

"I'll keep him until he wants to leave me." said the serpent, "human lives are rather short... even if I kept him until he died of old age, it would hardly be much of my time, unfortunately."

"Fair." He mused, he decided not to pester farther since he knew Kellen hadn't been around long- it wouldn't be reasonable to ask if the Naga had any alternative plans besides his selfless 'whatever he wants' attitude. "Would you go wake him? Breakfast is ready."

"Hm" answered Nehebu-kau, but he turned and moved off back towards the room anyway, easing himself through the door, "...Kellen?" he asked softly.

The boy reacted by opening his eyes almost instantly at the sound of his voice, but the rest of the response was a slow lull of his head as he looked over at him, "....Morning..." he said softly as he slowly stretched- pushing his arms up above his head.

"Good morning... Opium has breakfast ready." the naga told him, wandering around closer, but on second though, stuck his head out through the door again, "Absinthe, do you have any clothes for Kellen?"

"Hells yeah I have clothes for Kellen..." the cubi scoffed, happily shuffling to his room to sort through the enormous closet.

Kellen smiled, slowly sitting up to look at him- listening to the man rummage around in the other room, "I slept really well." he answered contently, obviously having forgotten his dream and the apparent fit that he had had in the middle of the night.

Nehebu-kau tilted his head, but part of him was pleased he couldn't remember, "I'm glad to hear it. Come, you'll actually be able to meet Opium now without his nonsense getting in the way."

"Oh?" he wondered as he got to his feet and wandered into the kitchen where opium had already sat down to eat- and he was more or less shoveling the food in... but he was calm. "Nice to meet you." he trailed as he stared at him before Opium raised his head from his food trance.

"Hm?...Oh, hello." He allowed as he motioned for the both of them to choose their spots.

Nehebu-kau brushed a few stray feathers off the table, winding up to sit on his tail but actually had no intention of eating. He did drink water though... but he preferred his food live, and much larger.

Absinthe came back out with several bags of clothes and plopped them on the couch, sending up a cloud of down, and then joined them at the table, "Good morning. "

When Opium saw that he wasn't eating he scoffed quietly and pulled the plate to himself- he'd eat it then, he had no problem with that.
Kellen brightened when the 'gifts' arrived and he turned to lightly search through the pile.
"Which ones am I allowed to borrow...?" Kellen wondered.

"Borrow whatever you want, none of them fit me."

"...Do I dare wonder why you have so much children's clothing?" Nehebu-kau asked Absinthe flatly, and the demon grinned.

"I go to some pretty wild parties... don't worry, no one underage is actually there, its usually just some questionable themes that result in me bringing home odd things."

"Parties that involve child's clothes..." Opium trailed and Kellen paused in his search, wondering if it was okay for him to be wearing these and if they were clean... then again... did he really care?

"Thank you!" he said brightly as he pulled out a shirt that he liked and a pair of pants he hoped would fit, he had never actually known what size he was... he just knew that he was small.

"No problem. Coincidentally, you yourself would look great in-"

"I'm cutting you off there." Nehebu-kau interrupted, "you're not mentally dressing Kellen in anything... mentally dress Opium instead, at least he's legal."

"Buzzkill Naga."

"Legal?" Kellen wondered as he rejoined the table and nibbled on a piece of bacon with a thoughtfully surprised tone- it was better than he had expected, he had never been given something fattening like this before. Meat yes but...was this even really meat? "How am I not legal? I'm not a virgin..." He blinked- was that what it meant?

Absinthe snorted and tried very hard not to choke on his food, while the naga contemplated his response, "No... the legal age for a human to engage in sexual activities while within the boundaries of Trea is 15. Unless I miss my guess you have... what.. a year? Whether you are a virgin or not makes no difference now that I've taken you away from that place."

Kellen's eyelids fluttered and he looked very confused- glancing to the side then around the room as if he would come up with the answer easier then finally stared at him. "Is that why you wont sleep with me?" He asked him seriously and Opium took that turn to choke on his food in Nehebu-kau's place.

Nehebu-kau blinked once.. sort of slowly... and probably would have blushed if he were human. Absinthe's jaw opened and hung there for a few seconds, before closing and his eyes flicked back to the Naga to wait for an answer.

"We already discussed that before, Kellen... " He reminded patiently, "You don't owe me anything for what's happened, and I've no intention of collecting for that sort of reason. If you and I became Mates, it would be because we both wanted to, and you would be at least 15."

"I don't really see why age has anything to do with it if I consent... and it is not as if you are taking anything from me that I have not already given. I didn't say anything about owing you this time." the boy pointed out mildly, though still seemed extremely perplexed at the Naga's sense of morals.

"The age is for your protection... Humans are given that age of consent because their bodies aren't developed enough to deal with a nonhuman's sexual influence. The age for being with a naga in my opinion should be much higher."

"Its true, Naga get rough."

"Thank you, Absinthe, stay out of it."

Opium glanced between the two of them then over to Kellen again as the teenager contemplated what he was being told. For once he seemed oddly... frustrated. The bright curiosity in his eyes was darkened by what he was being to told and he pushed at his half finished food a while longer.

"Thank you for breakfast." He said as he stood to leave the room and Opium perked up- reaching out to take the remaining food for himself as if he had just been waiting for Kellen to leave.

"Vulture." Absinthe accused, but wasn't actually making fun of him, just a little tease as he pulled a flask from his pants pocket.

Nehebu-kau watched Kellen go with a slightly concerned expression, unwinding from his place and following the scent of the human boy, "...Kellen?" he asked softly.

Kellen had gone outside, sitting on the sand with his knees pulled up to his chest and was inspecting the feel of sand in his palm, watching it with a slight fascination as it slipped through his fingers. "Yes?" He responded with out turning his head to look up at him- instead grabbing another hand full of sand to sift.

"What's wrong?" Nehebu-kau asked as he slowly made a circle around the boy and settled. No part of him was actually touching the boy, but he'd put him on a sort of island in the sand.

"Nothing." He responded at first, in a rather childish tone, shaking his head a few times as he pawed at the sand before he finally gritted his teeth and smacked it instead. "I'm not a child!" He finally snapped, his eyes watery as he turned them to look at the Naga- the blue highlighted bangs sliding into his face.

"I know- I know I don't know many things about the rest of the world- so I know... I'm not very smart when it comes to that but..." He grit his teeth, "But I know more than I'm sure most kids my age would know about this- I know what to do with my own body if nothing else!"

The raven's expression softened a little, his human torso resting on the sand, propped on his elbows. He thought about what Kellen had said, giving it honest consideration before he replied, "I know that, Kellen. You've experienced a hundred things that never should be forced onto someone as young as you... I'm not saying that I do not desire you, I'm not saying you wont know what to do or that you're just too young to handle it.. its nothing like that. I'm saying your body is frail from malnutrition. Your body is physically too young and too breakable for us to be together without causing you serious injury."

Kellen's attempt to look angry just quickly distorted into a pout, closing his eyes for a moment before he flopped down onto the sand, curling up on his side with his back to the Naga. "It's all I'm good at..." he murmured as he raised his hand enough to draw designs in the sand, "It's the only thing I've ever been told how to do... so now I'm too weak for a person I actually want to be with..."

"I will teach you new things, and you'll find something you want to do and that you're good at." Nehebu-kau assured, leaning forward slightly and set his head against Kellen's leg, "by the time you turn of age, I'll have you stronger and more filled out in your own body.. if you still want to be with me, We'll discuss it again... deal?"

Kellen was quiet for a while, "Deal...." he finally sighed before he lifted his head slowly to look down at him, "so this means I'll have to get used to eating a lot more hm..." he guessed, so that way he could become less skinny- which apparently in this case was a problem for some reason.

"Just enough so I cannot count your bones through your skin... the rest will come with time." the naga reached out and very lightly poked Kellen in the rib with his nail, "Please understand, Kellen... Naga are predators. We often naturally prey on humans, and though some of them do indeed Mate with the occasional human, it is rarely with the intent to keep them alive, healthy and in one piece. I know of a small handful of Naga that do live alongside humans, but I can count the number on one hand."

"I understand..." He allowed, "its more a matter of if I care...." He trailed then smiled and shrugged innocently, "I can think of other things we can do in the meantime anyway..." He laughed reaching up to push his bangs out of his face.

Nehebu-kau's tongue danced from between his lips a few times, catching some of the sand and the little grains stuck to it... but even after his tongue had retracted into his mouth, the snake didn't seem to notice it, "Excellent... now.. We'll be leaving soon for Africa... are you ready?"

"I am ready..." he agreed with a slow shrug of his shoulders, he wasn't excited for any sort of incoming battle at all... but he had to accept that it was something Nehebu-kau had to do. He nodded and shifted to get up to his knees and then pushed the rest of the way to his feet, "I will go where you go."

"And I'll protect you for as long as you do." the snake sat up and coiled his tail under himself, "I'm going back inside to discuss some formalities with the boys, feel free to explore the beach a bit if you want, but be careful of the water."

"I will." He promised smiling at him as he turned to wander down the beach and was inspecting the shells- making a very curious sound when he found a large conch shell and he picked it up, studying it as intently as he possibly could and turning it around repeatedly in his hands.

He didn't quite understand what the purpose of it was, but it was beautiful nonetheless...

"Conch shell." said a small voice near Kellen's head. The owner was a man... a small man, barely six inches tall, and sporting a pair of red, black and gray moth wings. His hair was thick and ruby red, with matching fluffed up fur topped with pure white around his throat, ankles and wrists. On his head were two fuzzy, twitching antennas. He put his hands behind his back, fluttering towards the side and smiled, "that's what they call them, you know."

"Conch shell..." He repeated with a blink and stared at the creature- it had the proportions of a man but was still so tiny, like a photograph that had come to life... "What are you called then?" He wondered as he smiled a bit at the fluttering wings.

"Merrick." Responded the creature, the white and red fluff around his neck rising a little to make him look even more fuzzy, and bits of soft dust would fall from his wings whenever he twitched them, "and you?"

"Kellen." he replied smiling more as he reached out his hands to catch some of the dust and stare at it- it wasn't glittery like his mind told him pixie dust was supposed to be- which he'd obviously decided that Merrick was. "Where did you come from...?" he asked, he didn't appear to be a creature that would lounge on the beach.

"My Master sent me." said Merrick proudly, puffing up his chest and flying around Kellen's head to hover in front of him again, "he wants to meet you... says you're super cute and he wants to be your friend. Do you want to be friends with us?"

"Your master...?" He trailed; he didn't have a very good history with 'masters' so that term made him a little bit suspicious, "Who is your master?" He wondered as he tilted his head slightly.

"He's a naga just like Kau." said Merrick with a giggle, covering his mouth with his tiny hands, "he's really neat.. and he's pretty nice too. He doesn't want to be your master or anything; he just wants to meet you. If we hurry, we can go and come back before your naga is ready to leave... then you wont lose any time."

Kellen pulled his knees up to his chest a little bit and wrapped his arms around them, "I don't know...." he trailed, "Ne-ne told me to wait here for him." He lied- those words hadn't been specifically said but he was pretty sure that Nehebu-kau wouldn't want him wandering off too far.

"Oh... well I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your Master." Merrick sighed slightly, disappointed, and his antenna drooped back, "I know I'd have to obey MY master if he told me to wait somewhere."

"... Don't be sad..." He offered as he reached up with one finger to lightly touch the creature's hair as if to be reassuring, "Maybe some other time...." He offered as he drew his hand back and shrugged his shoulders up a little.

"Maybe when he comes back... we can all go see your master together?"

"Naga don't much like each other.... Kau probably wont want to meet my master." Merrick said sadly, "Surely if it was just for a minute, and you came right back, he wouldn't even know?"

"Well...How far away is he....?" He asked him, pouting a little bit as he continued to debate... The little pixie thing was cute and he obviously wasn't that much harm.

"Not terribly far." Said Merrick hopefully, raising up a few inches in the air and did a neat little back flip in his excitement, "Like I said, it would only be for a minute or two.”

Kellen bit his lip then slowly nodded, "only for a minute..." he decided as he pushed himself to his feet and brushed the sand off, motioning for him to lead the way and crossed his arms over his stomach. Was he feeling wary because Nehebu-kau might be mad... or because something might be wrong? He didn't know the difference.

"Yay!" The little moth boy declared, flying in a few more circles and then fluttered off towards the trees, pausing from time to time to make sure he was following, as he should.

This went one for a lot longer than one or two minutes, and only Kellen's intrigue kept him moving after the little critter at all. Finally, after what felt like far too long, the tiny boy motioned for Kellen to stop.

"Okay, he's just up here around this tree... ready to meet him?"

"I guess...." Kellen agreed, the bright blue eyes apprehensive as he searched for any sign of the other Naga... he expected to see it- how was it that creatures so large could hide so easily?

"Master!" chimed Merrick as he flew forward.

The creature was actually above them, and suddenly dropped from the canopy to land on the ground so hard it shook a little beneath his heavy body. The Naga was absolutely massive... when he rose up; it was obvious even from there that he was several feet taller than Nehebu-kau was. His scales were blends of purples and oranges, and each scale looked razor sharp, sticking out like saw blades wherever the tail curved. A moth was tattooed on his hip in the same place that Kau had his Koi, and a group of black, knitted Celtic like patterns had inked the skin of his left arm from elbow to shoulder. His hair was thick and a reddish purple in color, his horns gray, his eyes outlined in black with a small black band across the bridge of his nose, but the orbs themselves were a startling aquamarine. He wore a matching necklace of rectangles in an Aztec style of jewelry around his throat, a golden pendant like a sun's face hanging by jeweled aqua and gold beaded bands around his waist, with a patterned wrap of fabric wrapping around the back and to the front again. From one side hung a beaded chain, with two brilliant red and yellow feathers, a matching set attached to one horn where more of the rectangular gems shone. There were four wicked horns total, two of them curving forward like a bull's, and the other two sticking backwards from underneath the first pair, splitting halfway along to coil under in one direction while the first branch continued back a few inches, each point razor sharp. His gaze was fierce, predatory, and his nails that curved backwards before they taloned forward were gleaming a bit against the contrast of his lightly tanned and muscle stretched skin. He flicked out his purple forked tongue and then grinned, revealing all his sharp, pointed fangs.

"You must be the human boy that Kau is dragging around." His voice was dark, deeply resonated in his chest and more like the roll of thunder than a true voice.

Kellen inhaled sharply, He... he didn't look friendly at all, "I... I am..." He agreed as he took a couple steps back before he could stop himself, "Who are you...." he questioned holding his arms up a little bit as if his fragile bones would be any use if the creature decided to attack.

"Xiuhcoatl." and with that, the Naga coiled and snapped his body forward. Despite his mass, he was still a snake, and his movement was absolutely blinding in his speed, striking out and smothering the boy into heated, cruel darkness.