Uxia snorted at the man's comment. It was stupid on so many levels. First off, the demons would outrun them eventually. And by running fast, they wouldn't be as careful and would run into other demons. And more importantly,
"I do not run from demons little boy. I slay them." Some warrior. He cowered in the face of monsters. Unarmed or not, Uxia would have fought the demons, though she sometimes forgot that not everyone was her.
Power still pulsed through her sword blades and she suddenly surged forward, kicking on demon in the face as she slashed at another one. There was a blur of movement and demonic screeches as Uxia made her way through the creatures. In moments there were three more corpses at the demon slayers feet.
Turning, she lifted one sword, covered in dark demon blood that sizzled on contact with the sword, "Now. You. What are you doing here? Who are you?"
Little boy? Another time, and Hatame may have been baffled by the comment, but at the moment his bafflement lasted all of one second before his mind shifted right back to, oh dear gods, demons! But if she wasn't running, he wasn't running; he didn't want to be on his own again, so he was content to stay right where he was.
And let her deal.
Which she did, with seemingly effortless ease.
But before he really had time to be impressed, she'd turned on him, and Hatame jolted and stepped back instinctively when she lifted that sizzling sword. "Uh, wha? Me? Er, I'm...Hatame?" He blinked and looked around, then looked back at the sword and held up his hands, though he couldn't quite lift his one arm very high.
"I...don't really know what's going on. See, I was just trying to get back to Ketra and then, BOOM, weirdness everywhere and I'm getting jumped by those things and then you're rushing to my aid and pulling off a daring rescue and now you're my hero and I'm really, really appreciative and by the way your eyes are lovely." He flashed her a pained smile.
Uxia had been prepared to interrogate the hell out the moron who had managed to stumble into her hunt. He was a liability and now she was stuck protecting him. But it all came to a halt in the face of his rapid chatter and Uxia actually took a step back, not sure what to make of his professions of her heroics.
Then he complimented her eyes and Uxia stared at him, her cheeks darkening in a blush, which she tired to pretend wasn't happening. No one really complimented her looks like that and that it just came out of nowhere left the warrior slightly shaken, "I-what? My eyes? Where did-"
With a small sound of annoyance, Uxia shook her head, making her long braid sway, "Never mind. Hatama? Give me your hand, I will test you for demon taint." Snagging his hand, Uxia muttered a short spell. Her hand felt a pleasant tingle, signaling a lack of demonic taint inside him. Good. He was clean.
"Alright. I have bad news for you. We are trapped here by a demon. A powerful one. I am going to have to destroy it to get us out of here. But I will protect you, don't worry."
Success! When in doubt, compliment like hell and throw 'em off, and it looked like it had worked well enough here. Y'know, show that you were just a harmless moron and not a threat—which was the truth! That he was harmless, not a moron, though some begged to differ and that was fair enough.
When she recovered again, Hatame blinked when she asked for his hand. "Er, it's Hah-tah-may and I'm not a--" he started to say, raising a finger, but then she snatched his hand away, muttered some mumbo-jumbo, and that seemed to satisfy her. Whatever it was. Hey, if it'd keep her fighting demons and him from getting stabbed, it was fine by him!
He took his hand back when she was done and rubbed away the tingle, then frowned at her 'bad news'. "You don't say..." All that and she had to go and add a 'don't worry'? "So, uh, where is 'here', anyway? And any clue where the demon is, love? 'Cause I'm guessing you don't mean one of those little ones but like...the big king granddaddy mother of all demons. Or something."
He rolled his shoulder to try and loosen the tension, wincing at the pain. "I might be able to help if I can get a few minutes uninterrupted..."
"Don't call me love." Uxia's cheeks were still flushed from his compliment, though she narrowed her eyes at the white haired man. Pet names were not acceptable in her book, "Here is the Thunderbacks. Just, slightly to the side." She gave a shrug, not bothering to explain much more. It wasn't really important anyway, "And yes. There is a big demon, that is a very real threat."
She frowned slightly as he winced, wiping her blades free of the demon blood, "Are you injured? I am a healer if you need help."
"Yeah, demon jumped me and took a chunk outta me," Hatame said, turning to show off his shoulder, where four parallel gashes—obviously from a demon's claws—opened his shirt and flesh. His sleeve was stained dark with blood, and the flesh beneath was red not only with dried blood but with budding infection.
"So if you know any healing stuff, that'd be wonderful, 'cause this is sorta uncomfortable."
Uxia made a small hissing sound, shaking her head, "You should have said something." She finished cleaning her swords and slid them back into her sheaths. The spear would have to wait until his wound was clean unfortunately.
She closed the distance between them and gripped Hatame's shoulder between her hands, letting her magic flow into him, seeing exactly was wrong. Closing her eyes, she focused on the wound and spoke the spell, a warm, pleasant feeling spreading into Hatame, easing the pain from the wound.
It didn't take long until his flesh was whole again, though still caked with blood. The infection was gone as well and the skin was the same healthy dark shade as the rest of him.
"There. You are healed now. Maybe you wont run now." Uxia dropped her hands away and turned, tugging her spear out of the demon and started wiping it clean. The demon blood could ruin a weapon if you weren't careful.
When Uxia told him that he should have said something, Hatame only smiled sheepishly and gave a gentle shrug. Well, how was he supposed to know that she was a healer? But he kept his mouth shut in case she changed her mind and let her handle his shoulder, a sigh of relief escaping him as she healed him because oh, man, did that feel nice.
And then she was done, and Hatame probed at his shoulder tentatively but found only dried blood, smooth skin, and no pain. He started to open his mouth to thank her, but she spoke first and he shot her a dry look.
"Aw, c'mon, what was I supposed to do? Stand there and let 'em chew me up? I ran 'cause it jumped me! And not in the fun way! I mean, I like nails and all, I've gotten scraped up good and I liked it, but it's not the same thing!" he said, throwing up his hands both show they were empty and that he had no weapons hidden in his clothes or anything.
"I didn't exactly wanna go toe to toe unarmed, right? 'Cause it sure wouldn't be me that came out on top."
Uxia just shrugged. Because being unarmed wouldn't have stopped her from fighting those demons and her body language somehow made that very clear. She finished cleaning off her spear and found the blade was free of blemishes.
"Well, are you comfortable with a spear?" She liked spears better, but it was easier to have Hatame keep out of trouble when he had the spear. He could keep his distance better.
The comments on enjoying scrapes was lost on Uxia, not really understanding what he meant. She just raised an eyebrow at Hatame, "Are you done making excuses now?"
"Comfortable...how?" Hatame asked, raising an eyebrow. "Comfortable being in a spear's presence? Yup! Comfortable watching you poke demons with it? Certainly! Comfortable touching one? Oh, baby yes! Comfortable...using one? Er...no. Never used one. Y'see, I've never used weapons or anything, not really. Sometimes I've used a knife or something, but other than that...nope. My body's a weapon all on its own, see."
He realized how that must sound. But he also realized how saying, 'yeah, I'm really a gryphon!' sounded, too. It was one of those things that most people had to see to believe.
"I'm not making excuses, dear. I'm just saying, if you can buy me a couple minutes uninterrupted, I can help."
Why did he have to talk so much, just to get to a simple point? He could have just said that no, he couldn't use a spear. Instead the man went on and on and on. He seemed to love the sound of his own voice, though Uxia found it irritating. And why was he so excited at the idea of touching a spear?
"Don't call me dear, either. What do you plan on doing with the minutes?" Uxia did not like surprises, especially not on the battlefield. She had he doubts this man could do anything useful.
She started to scan the area around them, debating where to go next. She needed to find the main demon, and fast, or all these little ones would wear her down.
Oi, why couldn't she just say 'yes'? Oh, well. Hopefully she would believe him.
"Well, first I'm gonna get naked," Hatame said, grinning and waggling his eyebrows at her before another distant, demonic cackle sobered him up again. "And then I'm gonna shift. See, I'm really a gryphon, but I can't really shift when I'm being gnawed on. So like I said, if you can buy me some time, I can do it, and then I can help."
The naked comment got no reaction from Uxia, as she just looked at him, waiting for him to go on. As a warrior and a healer, she was used to people being naked and didn't really consider it all that sexual. The demonic cackle did cause her eyes to flicker in the direction of the demon, but it was too far away to be much concern.
"A gryphon? Interesting. I have never seen a live one before. Well, since you are so slow, I suppose I will have to buy you the time." If she had a gift like that, there was no way she wouldn't have learned to fight in both forms. Useless man.
She kept her spear ready as she started walking deeper into the mountains. She would see if following her nose would lead her to the demon. Find the biggest concentration of demonic energy and hope it was him.
Hatame blinked. Never seen a live one? So was she saying she'd seen dead ones? The thought made him shudder, for he knew that some places hunted gryphons for sport, but he pushed it out of his mind and focused back onto the present.
"Thanks, doll!" he called as she started to head away, and after another glance around the area, ears straining for signs of life, he was quick to shed his clothes. They were the one pair he had with him and he didn't want to get stuck wandering around naked again, as often seemed to happen between he and Sakkata.
He pushed that thought out of his head, because now was not the time to be worrying or thinking about her. She would be fine, and he had to make it through this if he wanted to see her again.
While Uxia went off, Hatame closed his eyes and focused, concentrating hard as he willed his body to remember its true shape, imagining how his wings felt, his fur and feathers, his talons and claws gripping the ground. It required all of his attention.
It took a few minutes of concentration, the lengthening of bones and muscle and growing of fur and feather and claw and beak, but before long a man was no longer standing there, but a fully grown gryphon, built larger than a male lion and closer in size to a small horse. It was black all over, save for some streaks of white in its mane—just as Hatame had black hair with white bangs. The beaded strand of hair was still there, the beads dangling from a strip of mane, and there were several places where the fur was thin, the flesh beneath scarred from old fights.
Hatame took a moment to stretch his spine and unfurl his wings, fanning them to loosen up the unused muscles, and when he was satisfied he launched himself into the air and took off in the direction that Uxia had gone.
And it was a good thing he got there when he did.
Several demons were trailing behind her, stalking her through the underbrush. It was a good thing he had an eagle's eyes, because they were moving soundlessly, while ahead of her, hidden from view, another demon chattered noisily in a strange way that made it sound like there were more of them, trying to draw her attention there while the others ambushed her.
Not happening.
Tucking in his wings, Hatame pulled himself into a dive and fell, wicked talons extended, and he sank those talons deep into one of the trailing demons before it even realized what hit it. A quick slash of his beak, and its throat was shredded, leaving it twitching and bleeding in its death throes.
The other demon reacted, though, and leaped onto his back just as he finished the first one, and with a snarl Hatame wheeled around and threw it off so it smashed head first against a tree. "Watch out!" he called, the faint hissing, trilling accent he had as a human sounding much thicker in this form.
Uxia had been stalking the demon ahead of her, completely unaware of the demons behind her. She was focused on the demon "pack" in front of her. When there was the sudden sound of combat and the acidic scent of the demons blood, the warrior quickly spun around, spear at ready.
And was confronted by her first ever real life gryphon. Tearing into the demons. Well, he seemed to be actually useful in this form, as two were already down. But there were more. A quick sprint and then Uxia had reached them, spear twirling and dancing through them, chanting spells that caused the demons to shriek and writhe, a few of them began to vomit up their insides.
It didn't take her long to reach the gryphon, but the pack was still around, though in much worse shape. A few stumbled around, their guts hanging from their mouths, but while most of the demons were injured, not many had been outright slain.
"Maybe you aren't as useless as I feared." The woman actually smiled at Hatame before suddenly twisting, spear thrusting into the throat of another demon, the burning blood spraying over them.
Hatame was staring in a mixture of awe and horror as the demons started to throw up their intestines when he felt the pain.
It was all over, a horrible burning sensation stinging his tongue and mouth and claws, and he let out a hiss of pain and rubbed his beak on the ground to try and scrape off the blood. That had to be it; their blood was bad and he'd just sprayed it all over himself. Fantastic!
But there was no time, and he would just have to deal. As Uxia came over and actually complimented him—at least, it sounded like a compliment, sort of—he gave her the biggest grin he could muster with a beak instead of lips, which wasn't much of a grin at all.
"Told ya," he said, before whipping around and tearing another demon open from throat to groin and snarling again as more of that burning blood got on him, both from the one he killed and the one the woman stabbed. "Any sign of the leader? Their blood hurts! My tongue's gonna fall out," he whined, and then stuck it out for her to see. And the blood had, indeed, caused several cankers to form on the sensitive flesh.
