Author: Aberration, Posted: Wed Mar 7, 2018 5:20 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Truly to what the aberration had learned of the Oni, she was perfectly willing to quench its thirst for knowledge.'Laakee…" - she could hear in her head yet again, as Genesis had extended its lengthy finger towards the impressive body of water that was just nearby. Its "speech" however, sounded significantly weaker than until then, and its movements were somewhat lethargic. The psychic energy it had accumulated over last night, one it were feeding off, were nearing depletion, which the change in its acts was in fact showing.

Its movements might have been weakened, but its perception was not. It was still able to see the portal that Myouga had conjured, and perfectly so. It could see her waving to it as well, even if it could not necessarily understand that it was a goodbye gesture. It had only come to realise that when she seemed to have sunk through, but not before it had returned the gesture, lethargically as a moment ago.

Soon enough, it had found itself by its lonesome once again, with only a miniscule bit of its energy reserves. It had managed to crawl beneath the underbrush before the sun had set, and once the moon had begun peeking out of the horizon, the stars went on to follow as well, their light eventually beginning to fuel the alien's frail body. After a while, Genesis had sprung back to its former shape. Just in time to let it steer clear from nocturnal predators' senses. Most of these, anyway. Others were met with a sample of its powers - not particularly generous, but definitely sufficient.

Sufficient for Genesis to remain as mysterious as it pleased, although for the large part, it was dependent on how much Myouga was willing to share about her strange encounter.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Wed Mar 7, 2018 3:38 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

From the looks of things the being was agreeing with her, or so she thought. Happy to have figured out something with her powers of observation, it made her beam with pride. Myouga wondered if this creature could do more than repeat what she said, as so far it had taken words that she used and utilized them to express its thoughts. Maybe it was due to a language barrier, which made sense. Most people would do the same thing too. "Jasumin Lake! Jasumin Lake!" Its voice repeated mentally again. It was close to the ground, patting it while looking up at her. "Yep! That's right! This is Jasumin Lake! There's the lake, see?" Pointing at the lake, its clear calm waters were contrasted against the fields and trees of golden yellow. 

There was a slight shaking in her bag where she had stuffed the snow globe in, and she figured her naughty corgi was getting too bored with the same environment. Realizing the shadows were getting long, the arcanist noted it was already late afternoon. Soon the sun would be setting for the day, and she needed to get back home. "Oh! Look at the time–I gotta head back home soon. It was fun meeting you, Mr. Pink-Skin! It'll be dark in a few hours when night comes, so stay safe! You should probably head back home too. It's nice and peaceful here, but it'll be cold. Kuroguro's probably hungry again." Shaking her head she sighed. All he did was eat and run around, and then eat again. But all dogs were like that weren't they? Preparing to take her leave, she waved to the mysterious entity one last time before casting a spell. A swirling portal opened up, and she stepped through. On the other side was the image of busy streets and crowds walking beneath tall buildings with curved roof edges. After she disappeared through, the portal shrunk into a speck and vanished.

"Let's see~ What should I buy today? Pork steamed buns or dumplings? Maybe I'll try to get Kuroguro to eat onions and cabbage again. Eating meat all the time can't be good right? If I get one of the ground pork ones he might not notice." Cheerily skipping down the streets of Nisshoki, she headed to the market square towards the fragrant aroma of street food sizzling on cast iron. 

Author: Aberration, Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2018 3:38 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Hearing so many new words had inspired quite a brainstorm in Genesis' crested head. It was quick to figure out that the large light that was up there at that moment is "Sun", but other concepts it found rather confusing. Best it could do, in order to learn, was to do its usual thing…

"Smell. Taste. Poison…" - once again, Myouga could hear certain keywords from her speech continuously booming in her head, before she went on to voice her hypothesis regarding its physiology. Genesis could not tell for certain, since it was only since meeting the Oni it had begun developing its linguistic faculties, but so far, what it heard sounded at least satisfactory

Eat. Light. Stars. - the aberration had spoken into her head once again, subconsciously nodding its head. "Digestive. Magical being!" - it had voiced yet again. While in fact Genesis was not so much magical as simply otherwordly, for the lack of better fitting word in its severely limited vocabulary, it was willing to agree with the label it was given. All in all, it had found the encounter as intriguing as Myouga did. Perhaps even more so, considering its young age and how much it was learning of the world it had found itself in.

Speaking of which, there was certainly at least a thing or two more it could learn about its current whereabouts. Any musings that could have be going on in the Oni's head had likely come to an abrupt halt when she heard "Jasumin Lake! Jasumin Lake!" repetitively resonating in her head, while Genesis had lowered to its all fours, while vigorously patting the ground beneath him with its elongated hand, pausing to look up in her eyes and see whether it had gotten a favourable reaction.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:33 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

"I eat… I breathe… Little lights in there." It then pointed up, to the sky. Myouga shaded her eyes as she tried to understand what this being meant. "Hmm? Little lights huh…" Racking her brain to figure out what those lights could be, she noticed its eyes were less sensitive than hers. Looking up to the sun…kinda hurt for most people. "Your eyes must be super strong! But I don't see any lights up there–only the sun. Hey, does that mean you don't need to eat food? If you don't need to 'eat', then it'd explain why a nose or mouth doesn't matter. No need to smell if food is safe, no need to taste for poison." Voicing her train of thought she began listing possible ideas. "Some animals don't need to have noses to breathe in air. Like…frogs! They live underwater and sometimes come up, but they don't have noses…I think. Hm. Never thought about that. Do frogs have noses? Anyway, let's see. The only little lights up there that aren't fireflies are the stars. But that doesn't make sense. You can't eat stars! Sooo…"

The little arcanist went 'hmm' and 'oooh' several times, with pauses in between. She made various faces as she thought things over, answering and refuting her own questions. Finally, she came to a conclusion: "AHA! I got it! You eat 'light', don't you? That's why you don't need to eat or smell–and you probably don't have a digestive system either too! Mr. Pink-Skin is a magical being!" Clapping her hands, she waited to see if the mysterious creature would confirm of deny her theory. Either way, she was excited! Learning about this unusual biped was proving more interesting by the minute. The strange being had not reacted to any of the locations shown from both continents, so she safely assumed that it was truly not of this world–an 'other-worlder'. And this was the most special other-worlder she had met in all of her travels. If she could figure out how to understand its native tongue, she'd learn a lot more! But she had to rein in her eager tendencies. Rushing led to hasty conclusions, and she wanted to make sure she knew what she was hearing.  

Author: Aberration, Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 1:59 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Genesis was somewhat startled, recoiling at the sight of the map changing rapidly before it. Once it finally took shape, however, the aberration eagerly inched in closer to have a better look Myouga's elaborate presentation of what it understood to be a foreign continent. Even if it did not fully understand what was that she was describing and all, its mind was absorbing the information as if it were a sponge. Having matured more and gained additional insight as it did, Genesis would eventually be able to put it all to good use.

The Oni could be certain that Genesis was listening intently, for it had carried on parroting after her as she was naming aloud the lands she was pointing at. Neither of which sounded nor looked like anything it remembered from home. The alien gave Myouga the same idle stare as before, as she carried on chewing the remainder of her cookie. From the looks of her, its anatomy had piqued her interest. The Oni had asked how does it function without organs vital for the other organisms' survival, such as…

"Mouth. Nose. Eat. Breathe" - it had parroted the keywords after her, again poking its long finger around her face to ensure it had understood her question. Having come to an understanding, it was quick to put together the words it had learned until then:

"I eat… I breathe…" - it proceeded to voice into Myouga's mind - "Little lights in there."

It had then pointed at the sky, atop which a sun still shone. Surely, if it meant exclusively the "little lights" it could do neither in the daylight. Which meant there was probably more to intricacies governing its strange body. Interestingly, the Oni could notice that the aberration had looked up towards the sky as it pointed upwards. It looked directly into the sun, its large eyes reflecting much of the bright sunlight, and it did not seem affected by it in any adverse manner.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 1:13 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Watching the being's reaction to her magical map drawing, she wondered what it was thinking. It did recognize the spot she pointed to, and had learned the name of her home pretty quick. But judging from how it was looking at the image of Parvpora, she guessed wherever it came from wasn't here. "Hmmm… So nothing on here ring a bell? Alright, let's try this one! Heeeere we go~" With a dramatic swish of her hand, the light-image of the Parvporan continent vanished and the color rearranged itself into a new shape. It was similar to the first, as it was another map–but this time there were islands in different places and mountains throughout the middle. "And now, I present to you–the continent of Canelux! Just across the sea over yonder, that-away. I have a friend who lives there, y'know? Anywaaay lemme show you the places!"

Pointing at the island east of Canelux, she explained proudly. "That's Yovaesh! It's a nice place, but kinda boring. A bunch of orcs live there, and most of them are craftsmen or artists." Moving to the island north of that, she directed the creature's attention to the northeastern landmass with four different colors on each quarter. "This is Horae Island! It's called that because one fourth of the island is stuck in one of the four seasons all year round. There's a reason why it's called Horae, but I'm not gonna bore you with a history lesson." Tapping the area just left of it on the mainland, she continued. "So if you sail right across you'll end up in Arri. It's pretty, and it's hot over there. Did you know it used to be a desert before people started living there? Bet you'd never guess with how green it is compared to the outside." Her next location to introduce was in the northwest. "Here's Endapano. It's full of elves, and they're one of the oldest kingdoms up north that didn't get wiped out by the south. But it's not a good place to visit anymore." She sighed as she said this, looking a bit disappointed. Her mood quickly returned as she moved onto the next place of interest.

Tapping the island with a volcano directly west of the continent, she excitedly said: "This is Apoy! It's one of my favorite places to go on vacation! It has a beach, nice people, tasty local food, and even a super secret hot spring hidden in there! Oh but don't go to the volcano. It's a popular date site for dragons." Finally, she pointed the last island near Canelux, this time directly south. "Here's Egjora! And off to the side here is Itjivut. Egjora's stuffy and boring, and Itjivut's freezing! It's super cold, and there's nothing to do there really." Putting her hands on her hips she beamed proudly. "And that's a quick and easy guide to the islands around there! Most of the mainland is just a bunch of villages or kingdoms. There's that pirate city in the south, but you wouldn't wanna go there. Arri's nice and some parts of Adeluna are too." She added, circling the areas with her wand as a pointer.

With a shorthand version of the world's geography completed, she stuffed the remaining butter cookie in her mouth and chewed, savoring its delicious flaky shortbread goodness. She'd give Mr. Pink-skin one but he didn't have a mouth to eat it with. Come to think of it…how did it eat? Did it even need to eat? And how could it smell? All it had were…eyes. It probably had some sort of hearing organs as it could understand when she spoke to it, but that was all it had. Chewing thoughtfully, she looked at the stranger being. "Hey, why don't you have a mouth? I mean…you don't really have a nose either, so how do you eat or breathe?"

Author: Aberration, Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:06 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

The Oni's frown, although small, did not go amiss on the diminutive alien being. As such, it figured that it would be for the best if it were to go with any nickname it would be given. Its musings had met an abrupt halt yet again when Myouga continued to speak.

"Ataiyo" - it had repeated after her before sitting down and watching the little spectacle of sorts she had made with what appeared to be a book. The Oni had used it to conjure a map, which she had used to show her place of origin, the place the two were in currently, as well as some other places, no less exciting than either of those Myouga had pointed at, judging from the fancy visualisations conjured by her wand.

However, regardless of whether it would succeed in asking her to part with said wand for a moment it would take to view the other places on the map, or ask her to wave it around herself, or, ultimately, having to rely on its own wit, it would not be able to see whatever would represent the towering buildings of metal so pristine, it could see its own reflection in, that it had remembered from its home planet. As such, having been asked whether it could see any place resembling home, it had only turned to face her, looking at her idly.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Thu Feb 8, 2018 1:28 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Myouga watched as her new friend was having fun looking at the snow globe. It looked at the glass dome intently, face pressed close–then its eyes and crest began to glow. Was it trying to see into the tiny world encapsulated inside? It also liked the music-box jingle that played when the key on the bottom was turned. The sprightly tinkling of little bells and turning parts had something magical about it; it was like a young child experiencing the yuletide festival for the first time. Gifts wrapped in bright colored paper and ribbons, toys and treats, boxes of surprises, family gatherings with delicious food…she could go on and on. Mr. Pink-skin then sent her another mind-message, telling the little arcanist that it liked the curio in its own way.

The strange being responded to her questions about itself by pointing to its chest and saying telepathically: "I'm @#_#&%&!" It said to her. Again, for some reason she couldn't make out what it was saying. Was it in a language so alien that she wasn't able to comprehend, or was it speaking on an entirely different wavelength? She frowned a little when she still wasn't able to decipher the being's name. "Hmm…." Her attention was quickly shifted when it asked her where she was from. Back to her smiling, cheery self–she happily replied. "Me? I'm from Ataiyo! It's a place waaaaay south of here! Here, lemme show you!" Rummaging through her bag, she tossed out various odds and ends. Wrapped puff pastries, candies on sticks, weird looking wooden dolls, a pointy hat, and some runes were just a few of the things she dumped out to find what she was searching for. Finally, a book fell out onto the grass. "AHA! There you are~" Gingerly picking the book up, she opened it and began to trace a symbol in the air with a glowing trail of light. 

From the book came a shimmering rainbow, which moved and changed shape until it became the outline of a world map. Waving a wand made from a twig, she circled an area on the map diagram. "See this here? This is 'Jasumin Lake'. That's where we are right now! Ataiyo is right here–" She pointed, highlighting a land by the sea south of the lake she mentioned. "-That's where I'm from! There's lots of other places between here and there, like the Haza Savanna and the Hanging Gardens." The map outline then began to fill in with color, making a painting of light. The area around the lake was full of golden yellow trees, while the savanna had a tawny color. The Hanging Gardens were a bright, clean white to show the stone that it was built from, and the dense green of bamboo emerged just north of Ataiyo's position. "Do you see where you're from on here?" She asked, enlarging the light-crafted image a bit more to make it easier to see the geography.

Author: Aberration, Posted: Tue Feb 6, 2018 4:48 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Having been given the snow globe to hold, Genesis was indeed captivated by the strange structures and the white flakes of fake snow that poured over them. It did not know yet that these are merely miniscule models of towering structures, capable of housing several lifeforms at once. And the sounds the device made were most intriguing to Genesis. Sounded like something between the language spoken by the Oni who stood nearby and the one it spoke itself. Having leaned in towards the snow globe, it concentrated for a moment, before lighting up, to no effect.

It had then looked at Myouga, before lighting up again, at which point she could hear in her head the distorted melody sounding from the device. It had then looked into the snow globe again, seemingly in effort to communicate with the tiny models of people the device contained. "It's cool. Other time" - yet again it had parroted her words as it continued to examine the device. His examination came to a pause, however, when the Oni went on to ask it questions, about its identity and origins. Genesis then poked its finger against its chest yet again, while its other hand still held onto the snow globe:

"I'm Genesis!" - it spoke, not unlike before, where a jarring sound took place of the word "Genesis". "Where are you from" - it had then parroted her question after her. From the tone of her voice, it could tell that she was asking for information, but of which sort? It observed her answer attentively, trying to learn from it much as it can before giving an answer of its own.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Tue Feb 6, 2018 11:33 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Mr. Pink-skin had been scared of krampus corgi, the little arcanist finally realized. As it inspected the magical snowglobe with amazement, she affirmed its repetition of her words. "Uh-huh! That's right, he's gotten a time-out. That's when doggies have been naughty and they need to be taught what they did is wrong." The being really liked the snowglobe, looking at it from every angle. Myouga could understand completely–she remembered the first time she had seen a snowglobe. A little world enclosed in glass, like a moment frozen in time. The little buildings and painted people, and best of all the fake snow that would rain down with a shake. Even better, this wasn't just your run-of-the-mill snowglobe! It was magical, and the little town inside it was almost real. It could shrink somebody down and hold them inside, letting them explore the miniature world within the glass. Beneath its base was a little key which played a music-box tune of some popular seasonal songs. What most didn't know, was that there was music playing inside too. Carols of the colder months played in the little town without end, making it a little Glaciem wonderland.

"It's cool, right? I'd bring both of us inside to go run around, but maybe some other time." The shrunken dog was dashing all over the place within the glass confines of the curio, kicking up fake snow everywhere. It rolled around on its back, then began yipping. With how small it was, it was barely audible. The little oni then handed the snowglobe over to it, seeing how intently it was looking at it. "Here! You can hold this if you wanna look! It's hard to see right now, but at night the little lights in there start glowing!" Giving the being time to inspect the glass globe a little more, she waited until it was done before sending another telepathic message. 'Hey, hey! I haven't seen something like you before! Who are you, and where are you from?' Her curiosity was taking the reins again, and she eagerly wanted to know more about this mysterious biped. Wanting something to snack on, she reached into her bag and pulled out a large tin of butter cookies. Immediately she began munching on one, taking a seat on the grass.

Author: Aberration, Posted: Tue Feb 6, 2018 2:01 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

It seemed that the aberration's efforts to communicate in its language with a sapient being had yielded about the same results as if it were to speak with anything else. That is, in either case the recipient was far from pleased. Despite that, the Oni still was willing to speak with it, thankfully. It listened on as she went on to speak. It was just about to correct her on her mispronunciation of its name, but thankfully for her, she carried on speaking fast enough, and Genesis was not willing to interrupt.

"Spotty? Amethyst? Purpley…" - it went on to speak into her head between her offers. Suddenly, much to its surprise, it heard her voice from inside its head, all while she kept her lips shut. The aberration stood straight up in excitement, before proceeding to repeat after Myouga each "Hello" she had uttered, while poking her forehead.

Perhaps that had drawn her monstrous mount's attention, which had proceeded to pace towards Genesis. The sight of a beast this large trotting towards the little creature had overwhelmed it with shock - so much, it could do little to defend itself, apart from clumsily falling onto its bottom. Thankfully for it, Myouga had kept her cool and produced a strange object and threw it into the enormous corgi, making it disappear before the aberration's eyes in a flash of light. Just in time.

It had lifted itself off the ground and walked over to assess the situation. Before his eyes the Oni held out the object she had thrown at her disobedient beast, which seemed to contain the said beast's miniature self. So miniature, Genesis no longer feared it.

"Time-out" - it said, having looked into the snow globe closely and poked its finger onto the smooth surface of the thing. It let the finger linger there for a moment, finding the sensation of the smooth texture of the glass fairly pleasant to touch. "Time-out!" - it exclaimed, having poked it again. The aberration had finally withdrawn its finger and went back to looking at the object, which seemed to have plenty of stuff going on. It went on to walk side to side and tilt its crested head both ways, intent on seeing it from every angle.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Tue Feb 6, 2018 1:18 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

"Hehehe~ That tickles!" She giggled as she was poked. Even though she anticipated it, the sensation still made her wriggle. Mr. Pink-Skin sure was smart; he was already picking up things she was saying and using them in the right situations. Watching closely, the being then pointed to itself and spoke to her in her mind again. "I'm @#%&#@#$_*-!" The first part sounded like an introduction, which was quickly followed by some sort of distorted signal that made the arcanist grab her ears and close her eyes, jumping from the unexpected shock. "Nice to meet yo–AGHHHH!!!" Clutching her head until it was over, she was pressing her hands against her temples as she tried to get the ringing out of her brain. "Ow ow ow ow owwwww!" Groaning until she felt better, the small oni held her breath and tried to equalize the pressure in her ears. Having more or less recovered from that psionic outburst, she turned to give the strange being the best smile she could muster afterwards.

"Ok…um well apparently I can't understand '@#%&#@#$_* ', so I'll have to give you a nickname. Hm…what about Spotty? Nah, that's no good. What about Amethyst? 'Cause your skin's purple-y and it's kinda see through!" The arcanist was quite pleased with herself and her naming abilities. Though quite frankly, she was a bit too literal when it came to choosing names. One look at what she called her pets and it was very obvious that she should not be allowed to name a child. Focusing her magic, she sent her first telepathic message in a long time to her new unusual friend. 'Hello? Testing, testing! Can you heaaar me? Hey, look! I'm talking to you inside your head too!' The way she mentally spoke was no different than her verbal communication, which meant that she naturally spoke her mind without a filter. A loud snuffle caught her attention, and she looked over just in time to see trails of smoke again. "Uh-oh." 

Kuroguro was done with his snack, and he was now bounding towards the little pink humanoid! With tongue flapping and snaggle teeth visible, Myouga knew she had to do something. She couldn't keep throwing food at him; sooner or later he'd get bored of eating and would want to play with something. And for the krampus corgi, that meant chewing on what he was playing with. "No! Bad dog! That's it–you're getting a time-out!" She shouted as the fiendish mutt was getting closer. Whipping out a small snowglobe, she pulled her arm back, then hurled it forward with all her might! Right before the snowglobe hit the krampus corgi square in the nose–there was a bright flash of light, forcing her to shield her eyes. The light faded, and the snowglobe fell onto the grass with a few wisps of smoke coming off of it. But what happened to the dog?

The small oni then marched up to the snowglobe, bending over to pick it up. Cleaning the glass with her sleeve, she pressed her face up against it until she spotted a small black four-legged thing running around inside. There was a miniature version of the same creature in the glass confines of the snowglobe! Shaking it up a few times, she then tucked it away into her bag. "Whew! That was a close one! I didn't think it would work, but it did!" Sighing in relief, she grinned at the little pink-skinned being. "Kuroguro's not gonna bother you anymore! He's been naughty, so he's getting a time-out until he calms down." She then showed the snowglobe to Genesis, which had a miniature city white like a snowy Glaciem day.

Author: Aberration, Posted: Mon Feb 5, 2018 8:02 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

The alien went on to poke its finger against her cheek and hair, reveling in the odd sensation of the latter, even though his featureless face was not showing it in an overt manner.

"Myouga. Oni!" - it went on to parrot her words in her head as it continued to poke her gently. Genesis was quick to realise that the Oni's introduction had called for that of its own, and it was willing to give it a try, despite its earlier experiences with the wildlife. Having poked its thin, elongated finger against his own, seemingly emaciated chest, it went on to "speak" into her head:

"I'm Genesis!" - it exclaimed. Except it did not actually pronounce its name in the local language, but in that of its own, that it had known from its home planet. The sound of it resembled, for the lack of a better descriptor, a high-pitched shriek of a microphone. Of course, with microphones and speakers being absent from these lands, Myouga could not describe it as such. She could tell, however, that it was a jarring, perhaps even a painful sound to hear, having been made even much more so by sounding from inside her head.

Not to mention it was most likely far from anything she could replicate by mouth. Some cute nickname had to suffice for now. Having been occupied with the exchange of words, the aberration paid little, if any attention to her mount, which was nearly finished with its snack. While it seemed passive now, who knew what it might be up to next?

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Mon Feb 5, 2018 7:45 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

The little pink-skinned being was just as curious about her as she was about it. The little oni wasn't very tall, and in fact she wouldn't get any taller from her current height. She had been born with a developmental disorder that meant slowed physical growth. Her underdeveloped horns were a tell-tale sign of that, despite her small but proportionate features. Mr. Pink-Skin, as Myouga chose to mentally refer to the mysterious thing, reaffirmed its understanding of what she said to it by pointing to her and repeating her self-introduction. Nodding her head in agreement, she gave a thumbs up. "That's right!" She then stood smiling as it studied her face with great interest, just like how she would when meeting a new person. Mr. Pink-Skin had very big, bright eyes but no pupils or irises. It didn't have eyelids either. She wondered how it saw the world around it. Did it see things the same way as she did, or not?

"That's really neat!" Came the telepathic voice of the being again. "Aww, thank you!" Myouga replied back verbally, happy to talk to this new life form. It then raised a finger, reaching out as if to touch her. Unlike most people, Myouga was very open-minded and didn't mind a poke or two. Waiting for the inevitable moment of contact, she saw Mr. Pink-Skin had a bunch of freckle-sized spots sprinkled all over his fingers. They were purple, and reminded her of those brightly-colored frogs in Apoy that came in call colors of the rainbow. Did that mean Mr. Pink-Skin was like a frog? Maybe the term 'amphibian' would be a more accurate description. Come to think of it, Mr. Pink-Skin did resemble a frog if it walked on two legs and had no mouth…

Her mind filled with 'what-ifs' and 'maybes', her focus shifted back to the clear skies above. She had so many questions she wanted to ask it, one of them being its name. She didn't use telepathy often, since people complained about her being noisy enough as is, but it should be ok this time. Now, all she had to do was remember how to work that spell again. Hopefully she wasn't to rusty. She'd been a bit lazy since Ryokuto already knew telepathy, and didn't know how to speak animal. The arcanist wasn't sure if this being understood other languages either, so it was best to stick to her first option. In the background, Kuroguro was rolling around while chomping on the remainder of his meat jerky. Puffs of smoke floated around the krampus corgi as it flattened the golden grass and sent various insects flying.

Author: Aberration, Posted: Mon Feb 5, 2018 3:56 AM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Seeing the Oni's mount speeding away towards a piece of meat she had thrown aside, it had answered her wave by descending carefully onto the thick underbrush underneath. The aberration's head was tilted to the side in an inquisitive manner as it slowly inched towards her. As it did, it was much apparent that even with its protruding crest, Genesis stood significantly shorter than Myouga. Given her small frame, it was indeed saying something.

"I'm Myouga and I'm an Oni!" - she heard blaring in her head as the aberration lit up once again, pointing its elongated finger at her. Having done that, it looked her over, distracted by the many distinctive features of her body. It seemed to be particularly intrigued by her face, which beared so many more features than its own. Since its eyes had no visible pupils, the Oni had hard time telling what in particular had drawn its attention. While her soon-to-be horns might have distinguished her from other humanoid beings of this realm, the aberrant being, a stranger to the sight of a humanoid from a foreign planet could have picked specific interest in pretty much anything. Be it her hair, nose, mouth, eyes…

Well, she could be sure that there was something about her that the aberration took notice of, and liked it. So much, she could hear a distorted voice in her head, exclaiming: "That's really neat![//i]"

Somewhat hesitantly, Genesis had extended its finger towards her cheek, intent on poking it, seeing what it feels like. Seeing its finger up close, Myouga could notice that its hand was peppered with dark, purplish spots, similar to a mark it still bore on the side of its protruding belly.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Sun Feb 4, 2018 10:56 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Hearing the strange voice in her head again, Myouga deduced that it was coming from this thing in the tree. Her eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of discovering a new kind of being, and she did a little dance to express her joy. As she studied the being's face more closely, she noted that it just had a pair of eyes. And when the thing 'spoke', its eyes and crest-shaped protrusion would glow. Clapping her hands, she answered back to the creature's parroted question. "I'm Myouga and I'm an oni! See?" The little arcanist pointed to herself when she mentioned her name, and flipped up her bangs to reveal two small pointed bumps on her forehead that were underdeveloped horns. Smoothing her hair back down, she continued. "I get it now! You don't have a mouth, so you used telepathy to talk to me in my head! That's really neat!"

It then looked at Kuroguro, which was giving a toothy smile to the thing. The krampus corgi's stubby knob of a tail was wiggling back and forth, and it tried to jump higher to get at the mysterious being with its short legs. Thankfully it didn't get very far, as Myouga tapped him on the nose with her wand. "Hey hey, no barking at the pink-glowy guy! Here, have this. You sure eat a lot for a dog." Taking out what looked to be a hand mirror, she stuck her hand inside of it and pulled out a strip of dried meat jerky from the mirror's surface. Tossing it a little ways from the tree, the hideous mongrel dashed off after it with a high-pitched chortling noise and snapped it up into his jaws. Gnawing on it contentedly, the corgi was distracted from the psionic-gifted being and gave them both some privacy. Watching her pet eat, Myouga shook her head. "Sheesh, you eat almost as much as I do. Well I guess we have something in common–snacking!" Looking back at the stranger, she waved to it with a smile.

Author: Aberration, Posted: Sun Feb 4, 2018 10:29 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Genesis was content to see that the stranger seemed more curious than hostile. Perhaps the same was true about her mount, but its fearsome appearance made the aberration hesitant to come down and examine said stranger more closely.

It tilted its head, as it listened to her words, the meaning of which it had yet to decipher. As it had assumed, however, it would not do anyone harm, if it were to repeat after her:

"What are yooooou?!" - Myouga could hear in her head as she saw the aberration's eyes and crest light up again. Having given it a closer look, the oni could notice that it had no mouth to speak with. Nor any other visible orifices.

"That's so coool!" - it added, yet again resonating within her head. It had then looked down at her canine companion, as attentive to it as Myouga was. The lack of distinct facial muscles, and even eyelids, had concealed what would be a worried expression.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Sun Feb 4, 2018 8:11 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Myouga skipped as she was right behind her krampus corgi, humming to herself while she kept a careful eye on what Kuroguro was doing. The black stubby-legged canine was now at the base of the tree where it had tracked down the strange smell, making odd chuckling noises with snorts. It began digging around as if looking for whatever that foreign scent had come from. Catching up with the corgi, the arcanist stood on her toes to see what he was doing. "Whatcha doing little buddy? Digging for treasure? Oooh, maybe it's a truffle! Do truffles grow all the way out here? Hmm…but if it is a truffle, how lucky would that be, huh? Buuut you'll probably try to eat it, 'cause that's what you did with the last three things you dug up on the way here."

It was then that she heard a voice inside her head. "I will find you! …Hey, spit that out!" Surprised, she straightened her back and looked around to see where it was coming from. A puzzled look was on her face and she scratched the back of her head in confusion. That was weird, like really weird. She could've sworn that it was like somebody had parroted her own words while mimicking her voice, but it sounded different somehow. "Huh? Who said that?" The arcanist said aloud. Narrowing her eyes, she began to carefully scan the nearby landscape. Was she hearing things? Nah, that wouldn't make sense. But why was she hearing what she said a few minutes ago in her own head? Taking her wand, she moved her hand slowly until she saw what she perceived as a rustle in the bushes. Thrusting her arm forward, she pointed at it and yelled: "AHA!" To her disappointment, what came out was a squirrel. 

Slumping her shoulders, her pouting was interrupted by the cackling yip of her pet. The large ugly dog was now up on its rear legs looking straight up the tree, doing a funny looking dance as it snuffled and barked at the thing above. "Hey, what gives?" Following the corgi's line of sight, her eyes soon found something absolutely extraordinary! Staring at the thing, the little arcanist took off her hat and held it in her hands as she feasted her eyes on a new and unusual sight. "…Whoaaaa. That's so coool!" A face broke into a cheeky smile as she grinned at the pinkish-skinned, glowing humanoid being in the tree's branches. Speaking directly to the mysterious creature, she yelled back: "What are yooooou?!"

Author: Aberration, Posted: Sun Feb 4, 2018 7:29 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

The spectacle the aberration witnessed came to an abrupt halt when loud sounds coming from someplace behind it scared away the boar. Curious, it navigated its way through the thick foliage, and climbed up to have a better view of the scene.

As Genesis had found out, the commotion took place where he earlier witnessed another boar being ravaged some time ago, and where it wounded itself on a thorned shrub. Although his thin, translucent skin had mended a while ago, a dark purplish mark still remained visible underneath. The blood he had spewed smelled rather foul, perhaps because its body was still tainted with the residue of his home planet's atmosphere.

As for the commotion itself, it had appeared that another pack of wolves had been helping themselves to an easy meal, before they were chased away by yet another creature, somewhat similar to them, yet still different. Further examination revealed that yet another being had been riding atop the canine creature. The aberration's interest was further sparked when the canine's rider, having been thrown off its back, stood on her feet and went on to trot around the scene, manipulating matter with her hands. Not unlike Genesis itself!

The aberrant creature made a bold decision to make contact. As it thought of the best way to do so, it decided on contacting her in her tongue. For all it knew, its efforts to commune in its language had proven to be unsettling to these woods' other inhabitants. Its crest protruding from its cranium and large eyes gave out a faint yellow glow, when Myouga could hear a distorted voice in her head:

"I will find you!"

Soon enough, she could hear the same voice speaking more:

"Hey, spit that out!"

She could tell that despite the voice being distorted as it was, it faithfully replicated her intonation as she spoke the same words earlier. Meanwhile, Genesis continued to observe, unaware that its glowing features were giving his position away… and that his scent had been picked up by her mount, until it leaned itself against the tree the aberration was holding onto.

Author: Hanaoni, Posted: Sun Feb 4, 2018 6:31 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

"I will find you, Mr. Snipe! You might have escaped me last time, and the time before that, and the time way before that too–but I will not give up! The great and magnificent Myouga never gives up on the trail of a discovery! Now–allons-y and away, Kuroguro!" A strange sight was on the grassy golden plains around the lake as someone mounted atop a large black dog with stubby legs was controlling the creature's direction with a dangling snack tied to a stick. A trail of low-lying smoke blew into wisps behind them as the girl steered the enormous corgi. The smell of a fresh kill piqued the krampus corgi's nose, and it began running in a completely different direction while letting out a cackling hyena-like laugh. The rider was soon yanking on a makeshift harness around its body constructed from a special kind of rope, flapping behind it like a flag in gale-force winds. "Wha–hey! What are you doing?! Stop! Bad corgi! No, you're gonna scare the snipe awaaaaay–" 

The small oni's voice trailed off as her yelling was drowned out by the barks and giddy laughter of the black, horned corgi as it ran head-on towards the smell of fresh meat. The wolves that had been eating the boar soon took notice of the hideous mutt bounding towards them, and began to snarl. However the krampus corgi was no coward, being born and bred by the ugly horned goat-fiends who had tried to kidnap children earlier in the colder months. Its maw full of nasty teeth and unsettling laughter drove the wolves off to flee. Stopping at the remains of the dead boar, Myouga came to a crashing halt when Kuroguro's momentum ended. She was flung forward, and losing her grip of the rope-harness she went careening into the tall golden grass. The stick with the piece of jerky she had been luring her corgi with fell to the ground unnoticed by the coal-black canine who was shoving its snout into the bloody mess.

A few minutes passed before the arcanist stood up, and shook the dust off her clothes. Grabbing her hat from the ground, she put it on after shaking dirt out of its folds. "Ugh…ow ow ow. I should've bought that saddle." Turning to look behind, she saw Kuroguro snuffling with his face in the ground, and ran over to her naughty pet. "Hey!!! Stop it Kuro, you don't know where that's been! Eww…well at least it's not like a few days old or anything. Hey, spit that out! What am I gonna do if you get fleas or parasites from that thing?"

Taking her wand, she rapped it on the backside of the krampus corgi until it let go of a bloody rib it had been chewing on. She puffed herself up and made the angriest face she could to show that she was not pleased. After she had absconded with him from the krampus hideout, Myouga had been working on training the beast to listen to her commands. Not being terribly creative, she named him after his appearance. The krampus corgi was almost as impish as she was, and for once she had to put her foot down repeatedly to keep it from doing as it pleased. None of her other pets were as fussy, so it was a long process of trial and error in finding what worked. Today she had brought him along as a bonding exercise, and since he could fly that meant she didn't have to walk on her own either. After being persuaded out of feeding on the carcass, Kuroguro began sniffing the air again, making a half-snorting sound like a dwarf with clogged up sinuses. It began trotting away as if followed the new scent it had picked up, with his owner not too far behind. 

It gradually was getting closer to where the hidden being was perched, with its snout firmly against the ground. The little arcanist was now in view as well, though she was not aware that they were not alone.

Author: Aberration, Posted: Sun Feb 4, 2018 4:06 PM, Post Subject: [O] Strange Sightings.

Weeks had passed since Genesis had found itself in these strange lands. Not that it had retained much of its memories of its mysterious origins, having been conjured not much sooner, and then cast away soon as it was. Despite its young age, however, the aberrant being had grasped plenty of knowledge about its surroundings, even though much of it the creature failed to understand.

As it sat atop a thick branch protruding from a nearby tree, obscured by its leaves, it cautiously observed yet another new and exciting ritual, where a robust, hairy creature leaned in towards a bright-green spherical body, which had then quickly disappeared below the beast's elongated head, the event of disappearance accompanied by munching and crunching.

Although Genesis could understand that its current whereabouts were relatively peaceful, it could also not help but see that it was out of place here, as evidenced by lack of other beings bearing even remote resemblance to it. Sure, a few past sightings and experiences showed that its body leaks stuff as its tissues are damaged, just like it was the case of a creature like the one it was seeing below him - being felled and ravaged by a pack of other fuzzy creatures, speedier and leaner in their appearance.

The aberration might not yet fully realise that, but it had learned a good share of the anatomy of these lands' creatures while watching the scene unfold before it. With all the events being recent as they were, it was most likely that the half-eaten boar carcass was still nearby, and that the thorny shrubs growing a fair distance away were still tainted by the aberrant being's own purplish blood.