The Naga's Lair

[Rin]

In the spring, The Amaya river is the last palce a human or maybe even alot of other demons, would want to bath in at this time of year... But nto so for a certain water naga, who loved cool and clear waters.

A young woman, sat by the river bank near a cave, humming a gently tune as she combed her white, silver hair with a brush she had found washed up on the bank.

[Aiko]

The clean smells of spring made Tsubasa’s nose twitch, and not in a pleasant way.

The crow demon sat with his one leg bent on a patch of damp, flattened-down grass, surrounded by taller blades, that soaked through his gray pants, the one leg of which was empty. His bared spine showed clearly against the pale skin of his back as he hunched forward, bony arms working furiously. An oily strand of hair escaped from its tie, ending up in one of his slit-pupiled eyes. He brushed it away, irritated as the feathers that formed the wings that extended from his arms brushed his skin. Better to brush his skin, though, and not his precious painting, on which he worked so animatedly.

Inspired as he was by the unpleasant aroma of springtime, the tip of his brush formed swirling marks of water rushing along the bottom of the scroll. Above, he had the image of the sun being eclipsed by a black cloud. From the black cloud, he issued lashes of rain and a fork of lightning. Ahead of the cloud floated a slim form, and he was just then making the details that were the feathers on the bird’s wings. The feathers required much concentration on Tsubasa’s part, and he threw himself eagerly into the task.

Just as he was beginning to apply the strokes for the flight feathers, Tsubasa heard a wavering, quavering note over the quiet rush of the nearby river. He tried to ignore the note, painting faster and faster, but the melody was insistent, buzzing in his ears like some annoying little insect. And then the splatter happened.

Tsubasa’s hand slipped, striking a dark line across the bird’s body. Even after the mark was made, he kept trying to paint, making more and more feathers, before he noticed. When he saw that the bird, his carefully-crafted bird, was ruined, a scowl pulled at the edges of his mouth, and his eyebrows shoved themselves deep down over his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he set down his ink and brush with exaggerated care, took the edges of his scroll in his two hands, and ripped it down the center. And then he ripped again, and again, his fury spilling out over the paper as he completely obliterated the paper. He tossed it up in the air, but it floated back down, as if to torment him.

Mouth locking in a snarl, Tsubasa hopped up, his anger unspent. Somebody out there was humming, and had ruined his painting because of it! He tried to look around, but was too short to see above the tall grass. Extending his arms, he flapped his black-feathered wings and hopped into the air, his crude talons on his remaining foot pulling up bits of earth as he took off. He flapped above the level of the grass, where he could see the bluish line of the river. Continuing his flapping, Tsubasa headed off in pursuit of the sound of humming, his talons raking at the air in furious anticipation.

He sensed that he was rapidly approaching a demonic aura, and paused in his frantic flight, hovering over the rushing river for a moment, and wished that he had remembered his walking cane. But he had not, so he continued on, flapping madly.

He came into view of a gray-blue shape sitting at the river’s edge, looking all calm and prim about it. And the shape was the one who was humming! Letting out a crow-like screech of fury, Tsubasa dipped his wings and dove toward the humming figure, his one foot of talons outstretched.

[Rin]

Willow heard the crow dmeon beofre it even trie dattacking. HS elooke dup to see a humanoid body, but kenw at onc eit was nothing but a shel. Her eyes narrowed and resisted the urg eto le ther spikes cut the creature's eha doff, instea,d she hissed at ti and dove deep into the water, Spikes at reayd if the bird dmeon should give chase. She would come bakc up a mintue later, but for now, she stayed under water to see what the stupid crow would do.

[Aiko]

The snake-ish creature—for now Tsubasa could see the bluish form more clearly through his sunken ruby eyes—dove in the water, avoiding the crow demon’s attack. Uttering another screech, the demon felt his talons snatch at the earth where, heartbeats before, the other demon had been sitting. Clumps of dirt were pulled from the ground and fell into the rushing water as Tsubasa struggled back into the air, wheeling around again to scan the water with his recessed eyes. He could not see the snake beneath the rippling currents, and he let out a last screech of frustration, and he dove down to strike at the water, several feet away from what the other demon’s position actually was. [black]“Damn you!”[/black] he shrieked at the now-hidden creature, straining his arms as he tried to gain altitude. [black]“Damn you for ruining it! Your fault! Your fault!”[/black]

[Rin]

Willow glared at the creature as it dove at the water. HS ethen coiled, and struck. She leaped out of the water, tail spikes resting against her spine, and wrapped the huge tail around the humanoid bird. She squeezed him just enough to warn him she could kill him, boyd, bird and all, if he didn't shut his stupid trap.

She crawled ashore, tail still coiled around the raven and glared. "Now, calm down, and tell me what your problem." She stated to the stupid bird.

[Aiko]

There was an explosion of water, and Tsubasa let out a strangled squawk that was silenced as the other demon’s thick, powerful body wrapped around his smaller, bonier one. His arm-wings were crushed against his side, and he gasped in pain as his feathers were rumpled and his bones jarred together. His one leg flailed uselessly in the air, and he twisted his shoulders, vainly trying to free himself from the other demon’s grip. His attempts were futile, though, for the other demon slithered out of the river, still holding Tsubasa tightly in her grasp. Then she whipped around and made her demands.

Tsubasa gave the other demon a poisonous glare, still twisting his shoulders as he tried to squirm out of the demoness’s damp grasp. [black]“You ruined it!”[/black] he rasped, the pressure applied to his lungs making an already croaky voice into a hiss. [black]“You… you tone-deaf, legless lizard! How could you? How could you ruin it?”[/black] The crow demon continued to wriggle, kicking out blindly with his talons. [black]“Release me!”[/black] he gasped, infuriated. [black]“Release me, or I’ll kill you, you wretched thing! Release me and let me be!”[/black] Tsubasa's demands ended in a choked sob as he suddenly went limp, and then he resumed kicking and squirming with even more ferocity.

[Rin]

WIllow rolle dehr eyes. "What did I ruin?" she asked. She let some pressur eoff the other, so eh could speak easier, but that was it, she kept him in a firm grip to keep him from escaping.
"And clam down, I'm not gonna kill you unless you actully try attacking again, then I'm afriad I'll have to end your pitiful life right then and there."

[Aiko]

As the other demon’s grip loosened, Tsubasa stopped struggling again, and sagged against her powerful coils. Breath wheezed up from his throat as he stared balefully at the demoness through his recessed ruby eyes. That wheezing cracked into laughter, a harsh cackling sound that completely lacked humor. [black]“What did I ruin, she asks,”[/black] he hissed mockingly. He shook his head in despair; the skull rocked limply on his thin neck. His eyes never left the female demon, though, and he suddenly stopped wagging his woeful head.

[black]“The crow, the crow!”[/black] he gasped. [black]“You ruined the crow! Oh, I was so close to finishing! Her feathers were turning out lovely, they were, as lovely as the once-upon-a-time…”[/black] Tsubasa’s voice trailed off for a moment, then cracked as he coughed. He hadn’t done so much speaking for a while. Finally, he resumed control of his words. [black]“Feathers almost finished, and then your humming tickles my ear like the little midge-fly. I try to ignore, I do, but she doesn’t stop her sing-songing. And it splatters!”[/black] The last word became a defiant cry, and Tsubasa resumed his struggle to free himself.

[Rin]

Willow frowned. "So I ruined a crow?... were you painting orsomething?' Sh elet him go. "Can I see?' She asked, alittle curiosu to see what he had drawn.

[Aiko]

As soon as the demoness released the pressure on Tsubasa’s body, the crow demon crumpled to the ground. He landed awkwardly on his leg, and though his talons scrabbled at the damp earth, he flopped onto his hands. The demon groaned as his wings twisted awkwardly, but he knew nothing was broken, so he awkwardly stood up, holding out his wings for balance. When he was steady on his foot, he used his clawed fingers to smooth out his rumpled feathers. The crow demon sneered at the female’s questions.

[black]“See? See?”[/black] he crowed harshly. [black]“There’s nothing left to see! I tore it all to bits! I slashed the crow straight through the heart. She was dead, so I killed the whole scroll!”[/black] This followed a perfectly logical order, see? Tsubasa stared at the demoness. Wasn’t it obvious that he would rid himself of the picture if it was already ruined? He turned his back on the female, raising his wings to take off again.

He hesitated, though, and without turning around, he muttered, [black]“I have other scrolls. Yes, other scrolls. You want to see? Follow me.”[/black] Tsubasa leapt into the air at that, flapping his black wings mightily. The stray strand of oily hair flipped in the air as the crow demon took off, struggling against gravity as he angled for the river. Pumping his arms, the demon flapped into the cold air above the water and flew upstream, heading back to his place of flattened down grass.

He landed amid the taller grasses, wobbling on his one foot. He scowled as he saw the scraps of paper that was his ruined scroll, and he flapped his wings again to scatter the pieces. Then he bent and slid his ink and his brush into the small deer-hide pack that carried his other, completed scrolls. Next he picked up his walking stick, and leaned heavily on the crude crutch, supporting his entire right side on the branch. Tsubasa didn’t expect the demoness to come, no, so he was readying himself to leave and find a quieter spot to continue his work.

[Rin]

Willow did follow, she swam upstream, and found the crow demon. "So where are the scrolls?" She asked.

[Aiko]

Tsubasa had just thrown his pack over his shoulder so that he could reach into it with his good hand when the female demon’s voice made him hobble around to face her. He was surprised for a moment that he had, in fact, come from her place by the river, and it showed for a brief second in a widening of his sunken eyes. And then the crow demon lowered his gaze, his pale hand darting into his pack and rooting around for his scrolls. He pulled two small rolls of paper out at random and shoved them at the serpentine demoness, his eyes still downcast.

Undoubtedly, his scrolls depicted some dark scene, like most of his paintings. Some of his favorite themes of late were mountains being broken down into pebbles by giant demons, villages being ransacked by mounted bandits that breathed fire at the fleeing peasants, of great storms casting down torrential rains, of farmers being strangled by the plants they tried to cultivate, and, as usual, general scenes of death and destruction. After all, when he tried to paint something beautiful and nonviolent, he failed miserably, and ended up just being violent because of it. Tsubasa had no doubts that the demoness would hate his scrolls; he hated them himself, sick reminders they were of the wretched beast he’d become.

[Rin]

Willow blinked and looked at them. She frowned alittle and looked up at the other after awhile. "The style is very good... but the theme's abit dark." She gently gave them back. "Have you ever tried drawing anything, I don't know, lighter mooded things?"

[Aiko]

Tsubasa found himself fidgeting, waiting for the she-demon to be finished looking at his paintings. He picked at the dirt on the undersides of his fingernails, tried to tease his last strand of hair back into the tie at the base of his skull, fiddled with the strap of his pack. When the female was finished and began making her comments, Tsubasa’s head snapped up, the lines in his face deepening as he frowned. Despite how she was gentle in handing them back, his hand flashed forward and he snatched the two scrolls. Leaning heavily on his cane, he shoved the scrolls back into his bag.

At the demoness’s question, Tsubasa answered curtly, [black]“Yes.”[/black] In fact, he’d been trying to just a little earlier, with the flying crow… but then the humming… and the splattering… The crow demon’s free hand darted up to grab his head as a fierce scowl settled on his features. Fingers bent, and nails filed into claws dug into the scalp. For a moment, the demon stood trembling. Then the fit passed, and he dropped his hand, revealing tips of scarlet on the tips of his nails. Without another word, he hobbled around, intending to head off into the tall grass a ways before taking off in flight.

[Rin]

Willow watched him, lonliness forming in her eyes. "I guess your leaving now..." She murmured. 'Strange, I was begining to enjoy his company... it's been so long..' She shook her head. 'He's got other things to do.'