The large, dragon-like Hollow shuffled his way calmly through the Fourth District of the Rukongai, a small frog-like Hollow attached to his back. "Auuuuurky, I'm huuuuunnnggrrrryyy. Will you get me some food, pleaaaaaaaase? Ribbit", Erial whined to the large dragon. He huffed slightly at her and craned his head slightly to look toward her, "Don't worry, Little one, we will eat soon enough." And feed they would! There was a small pond near where they were standing and the large dragon pranced over to it.

There was some luck on the Hollows' side as the pond was filled wonderfully with fish! Aurkus swung his claws into the pond, swinging up a smaller fish to the surface. Without skipping a beat, Erial hopped off of his back and landed near the fish, devouring it in seconds, "Yaaaaaay, Fishy fishy! So yummy! Ribbit", The small frog hopped around as her small body was suddenly full from the small fish.

Citizen

He had heard the shuffling of muted voices as they passed him by. He slept in one rubble pile or another, wherever he was sheltered from sight, and the voices -- carefree and oblivious -- had roused him from his light, wary period of rest. He followed the voices quietly, his frame light and stealthy. He'd been in this business for far too long to afford any careless mistakes, and if he didn't follow up on his gut, he'd be in deep trouble.

The pond was a wonderful thing -- the water was clean and pure, and those of his ilk who had found before him had revered it and left it mostly undamaged. The foliage that had sprouted was rare in this part of his homeland, and the fact that it was growing unmolested brought immense pride and joy into his stone-cold heart. That was was fueled him to protect the border of life from death, this little pond of life. A voice snapped him from his reverie, and though he was hidden in a rocky outcropping some distance away under his dusty cloak, he checked his clock, ensuring that he hadn't been seen.

He hadn't, but he nearly broke his cover when the dragon reared it's head as it swung a fish from the pond. The man nearly gasped in outrage, gripping the hilt of his dagger as firmly as his molars ground the sensitive tissue of his left cheek; the foul beast had desecrated the altar of life, befouled its pure waters with tainted claw. Quietly, he disentangled himself from the rocks, incensed but taking care to not call immediate attention to himself, and crept forward. He relinquished the grip on his blade in order to encase a smallish rock in his callused hand, and paused; he took a slow, steady breath to remove the quaking rage from his throwing arm, and used the displaced emotion as fuel for the fling that followed. It didn't matter if his trajectory was off, the rock would either hit the beast in the back of his head or disturb the pond beyond it, and either way, attention would be on to him.

Aurkus sat back on his haunches and watched as Erial ate her fill of the single fish before cheering that she was already full. She made life so easy for the large dragon who ate, at least, twice his own weight several times in a day. He had to as he was extremely large and didn't prey on other hollows.. mainly because he never saw other hollows around, not that he actually looked for any outside of one in particular: Kurai. Aurkus sighed, the longing feeling of being reunited with his long lost twin burning his insides.

Erial had noticed the sigh coming from Aurkus and looked up at him with a worried glance, "What's a'matter, Aurky? Do you miss Kai-kai still?", she questioned. At heart, despite her age being multiples of Aurkus', Erial was a child and, as such, had issues grasping how to say names right. It was why Aurkus was often called "Aurky" by her and why she called his sister he spoke of "Kai-Kai". She really couldn't get "kurai" all the way out without fumbling around her name and butchering it like a large man with a clever, so Kai-kai did fine.

Aurkus nodded his large head toward her, only to have it twapped with some kind of object, said rock hitting the ground moments later. The dragon-like hollow swung his large head around and stared at the man who had apparently throw it at him, "Is there any particular reason you'd pick a fight with a Hollow that clearly is much larger than you?"

Tiny, beady bird eyes watched the hollow pair from his perch upon the dead twisted tree. Uddo Pekka, the boisterous little woodpecker, had found himself upon this draconic hollow, thinking it was the Great Kurai-sama. But after closer inspection, Uddo was utterly wrong. This one was too big, its voice too rough to be the sweet melody of Kurai-sama. And its eyes were even the wrong color! Not to mention, Kurai-sama was now an arrancar. The small hollow, being a huge drama queen as it is, had let out a small trill of woe when he had realized his mistake. But no matter. This new dragon had caught his interest, as well as the little froggy too. Not that he wanted to eat the frog. Far from it. Uddo only liked the little bugs he found on his scavenging excursions. Oh, how tasty and yummy the bugs were. So juicy and crunchy, the beetles, and how deliciously slurpy the grubs were. Though, watching Aurkus easily hook a fish in his claws had entranced the little hollow. It would almost appear as if his eyes sparkled in awe, his wings coming up to his breast as he let out a small gasp, rendering the bird speechless for once. Inside his chest, his tiny little heart beat frantically, his insides squirming in delight. Oooooooh~ It's just like Kurai-sama~~ So beautiful in his technique, I think I may faint!

Through his flamboyant actions, Uddo's eye would be captured by the strange fleshy thing, it moving as it lobbed the sizable rock at Aurkus' head. Upon the rock's contact, Uddo let out a cackling for all to hear, his feathery wings holding onto his round belly as he laughed himself silly. "And here this one thought dragon was similar to Kurai-sama. Oh, how this one was wrong. Kurai-sama would be able to avoid that rock with no problem. I guess this one should return to Kurai-sama and tell her of this silly event."

Citizen

He moved slowly than usual -- whether it was due to his exhaustion or malnutrition or a sick perverted need to stay and watch (admittedly, he was a thrill-seeker), he had not vacated the area promptly, and was now reaping the consequences. It didn't matter, this was his pond, and he would not allow these creatures to defile it further.

Before he could reply to the creature's inquiry, the shrill trilling of a third befouled creature assailed his sensitive ears, and before he could stop himself -- he had always prided himself on his quick reflexes -- a second rock flew from his hand, obtained while scrambling to his feet from the rocky outcropping, toward the trilling monster. It wasn't meant in the same fashion as the rock for the draconic hollow, which had been to take its attention from the pond and onto the man himself, but rather as the farmer to the crow picking at his wasted crops: to scare it away, perhaps do some damage and ensure that the particular nuisance never returned.

Perhaps it was wishful thinking on the man's part -- if he could remove the twattle, if he could entice the other one to eat it....Regardless, the less he had to use his dagger, which had recently reentered his grip, the better for him. Blood always sullied the freshness of water, and the blood from these monsters was infinitely worse...the beauty of this hallowed ground was threatened, and he was going to protect it.

Aurkus rose up onto his feet and spun his rather large body around before dropping back onto his haunches, tail curling at his side to avoid being wet. Erial then hopped away from the bones of the yummy fishy she just finished with and sat her small self on Aurkus' front left paw. She liked sitting there when Aurkus got stern with folks, Hollow and Rukon alike, as it was a good seat for the "show". Aurkus cleared his throat as he straightened himself up to look as big as he possibly could, "I'll ask you again. Why would you throw a rock at me? I am clearly larger than you and could kill you if I really wanted."

It was then that Erial began to have giggling fits from her seat on the dragon's paw, "Oooooo. Aurky's mad. You won't like Aurky when he gets angwy. Ribbit." And it was pretty true, Aurkus was pretty pissed. He wasn't thrilled with the whole "Rock colliding on the back of my skull" thing nor the random cackling that echoed through the place, "A-aurky. What's dat cweepy laughing noise? Ribbit." But Aurkus ignored the Frog, unsure of the noise himself.

Citizen

The stone's throw must have been successful in it's intent -- the obnoxious bird flew the coup, so to speak, and left the dragon hollow alone with the citizen. The man was sort of sad to see it leave, as now it meant that he didn't have the added bonus of a distraction to assist him in his granted task; on that same token, he was also elated, as now it was back to one on one -- the Frog he hadn't considered a threat.

He brought himself up to his full height, just under six feet, and positioned himself in an intimidating posture: Chin up, shoulders back, chest flared, hips square, knees slightly bent, feet sliding as though he intended to dart forward. He didn't, not yet, instead opting to answer the beast: "This is my home! You have no right trespassing on my land, beast. Leave now!"

As he spoke, the man wound his arm back behind his cloak and into a hidden pouch, seeking a tool he found useful for such situations; his other hand still clenched the hilt of his weapon, which he did not want to use immediately, but would if he had to - to his shame, he was well aware of his inability to take on something that size by himself, and knew that the best chance he had here was to, unfortunately, address the beast himself and...appeal...to it.

Note: Pekka exited in accordance with the activity rules. Ordinarily, once a mod has posted in a normal thread with the intent to facilitate action (ie, not exiting another player), that thread is then closed to new participants per the Field Event description. 1/2 = 0 RP gained

If the Dragon had eyebrows, now would be the time where he would raise them at the strange Rukon. He shook his large head as he continued to address the man, "You, a single man, own this whole area? Well then, pardon us for disturbing your home. My partner here, it was then that his paw raised to gesture at the small frog-like Hollow, was hungry. Even we need to eat food, you know. If you'd like, we'll go.", he said, but stayed seated until the man replied.

---

Erial rested comfortably upon Aurkus' noggin while he continued to speak with the man who seemed very mad at the two hollow, "Aurky, what did we do wrong? Ribbit. That man seems like he's mad? Ribbit. Her eyes then tried to focus on the man who yelled at them, "Hey, ugwy! Why you so mad at us for? Ribbit.", she called out. Ever curious, Erial had to know why before she could leave. For all the little frog knew, they had caught a fish so she could eat. What was the harm in that?

Citizen

The man's chest puffed with an indignant pride, outweighing the shame he felt in lowering himself to parlay with the race that had sent his family packing ages ago. His strong hand twisted and regripped the dagger, as though searching for some king of assistance or emotional support. None was to be had, however, as the man knew full well -- here he was, alone in the wilderness, facing down a massive beast with no hope...only shame.

Pride ever was his downfall, his mother had always said.

Still, the man wet his lips, squared his shoulders, and tightened his grip on the throwing stars in his back pouch -- he would not be going down without a fight, if it came to that. "Your kind belong in Wastelands!" he cried emphatically, head jerking in the direction the beast had to leave by. "This was our land for generations, until you came and slaughtered us. That pond you defiled fed my forefathers. The stone upon which your scaly hide rests was laid from the backs of my ancestors, when the world was still young.

"And you, emboldened by your stat're and yer race, doin as ye please, think'n it a fine idear ta corrupt mine hallowed spaces...." He heaved a great breath then, fighting to control the anger building within before he antagonized the beast further. The man shook his head sadly, sinking back onto his heels slightly. "Me Da planted yon bush when I was jus' small...and ye jus' trample it like it were a flea...."

The man threw his hands up in despair, and with the motion the dagger he gripped flew into the sky; before it struck the earth with a hollow, metallic thunk, it began emitting a blinding light all around. The light radiated outward, blinding all in its path for several long, painful seconds before extinguishing itself.

In the aftermath, the citizen threw the kunai he had fished from his pocket, and with practiced skill, threw it toward the feet of the hollow before him; it was a warning shot, not intending to do any damage, and as the man scrambled back whence he came, recalling the dagger to him as he passed it, the sharp, startled cry of the hollow chased him along -- it would seem that poor little Aurkus had received an unwelcome manicure.

[exit]

Aurkus exited due in accordance with activity rules. 4/2 = 2 RP each to Aurkus and Erial