ORIGIN - gas powered shell hunting

It felt good to stretch his legs. Attikias hadn't meandered here before, but he did know that the adventure was probably worth it. He'd seen the cave before- just, never went down it.

It wasn't easy to walk through all that ice, though. It took some time (and definitely a bruised hip) to even get up here, but once he made it, hoo. That felt good. It was warm, humid, and sweaty, yes, but altogether it just felt right. Maybe he wouldn't stay long, but he could take his daughters here sometime if they wanted to swim about.

Was the water warm, he wondered? Reaching out from the shore, he placed his hand in the ocean, swirling it about as waves lapped at his sandaled feet. Yeah, that was warm, alright. Be nice to take a bath down here or something. It seemed more open, though- a downside for the water being so clear. Even if others weren't wearing clothes, something about him being naked in front of everyone felt... Wrong. Like he was shedding a protective skin for everyone to see.

He did stuff his coat into his bag, anyways, as he trailed along the shoreline and felt the water on his feet. His spear jostled over his bare back as its strap was too loose, dragging him to eventually hold the leather with a hand as he peered at everything.

What was that? A shell? Attikias squinted as he leaned down, picking it up and shaking the sand out of it. A nice shell, too- cracked, a little, but something to bring home for Vivilene. And another, there, and- ew, what is that? Swinging his spear around and off of himself, Attikias prodded at some green, wet lump and pushed it apart.

It looks like moss- so moss it must be. Huffing, Attikias moved on, prodding at the sand and turning over shells to find those more or less intact. Those went in his bag, including some sparkling blue ones that he found paired a ways down the beach.

Little did he know how close he was getting to a certain resident's den.

@Leviathan

The top three eighths of Leviathan's head were sticking out of the water -- just enough that his nostrils and the other necessary parts were above water. He'd been there for almost an hour now, his feet lightly touching the surf. Every time he got bigger, he had to go further and further into the water. Sometimes, he wondered if he might grow forever and touch the bottom.

But now he was watching a tall sort of thing, with fleshy parts and a sharp thing in his hand, as he picked up shells off the beach and drew closer and closer to Mama's den. Leviathan's eyes narrowed, and a low growl started to send ripples through the water. He tried to deescalate in his head -- the creature was just wandering. Just picking things up. Surely, he wasn't--

Nope, the biped was walking far too close now, and Leviathan started to drag himself out of the water, growling like a monster. His tail lashed as he prowled closer to Attikias -- "You trespass on land that is not yours, stranger." His sparse fur stood up, and his wings rose as the child -- about the size of an adult jaguar, now -- pushed himself up onto two legs, now easily rivaling Attikias's height.

He took a warning swipe at the stranger's abdomen. It would probably graze the skin if Attikias didn't move, but the strike was clumsy enough that it wouldn't be difficult in the slightest to move away.

@attikias

While distant rumblings seemed reminiscent of water moving, the sound of Leviathan emerging got Attikias's attention- if the red didn't grab it, first. Halfway through picking up another shell, Attikias flinched as he took a double-take, stiffening as the creature approached.

He dropped the shell in a panic and held up a hand, the other dragging the spear closer to his body. "I'm- sorry, I wasn't aware. Maybe you could put out some marr-hoh-" He wilted with his statement as Leviathan stood, removing all resemblance of Asteri that was starting to come to mind.

The elf jumped back at the swipe, instinctively bracing the spear in front of himself with both hands. "Hold on, we can talk about this," he rapidly rambled out. No need to fight over a simple misunderstanding, right? "I'm just exploring, I don't mean to hurt anything. I've- never been here, I didn't know." He continued to leverage the metal spear between them, tail lashing behind him as his nerves wound themselves up.

He wasn't sure if he could take a fight against something that could fly.

@Leviathan

Leviathan watched the creature startle away, and wave the spear at him. He squinted at the spear, pausing to to sniff at it. Weird. It was like a claw on a stick -- a flimsy stick. He almost reached out to take it so he could see how easily it broke, but decided otherwise. He grunted and dropped back down to fours (it was kind of tricky to walk upright and also look threatening) and paced around Attikias, eyeing the creature as he moved in a semicircle to put himself between the den and Attikias.

"Tell that to Mama," he grunted absentmindedly, grabbing a shell off the sand that Attikias would have picked up soon. He sniffed at it in his paw, balancing himself with his wings, to try and figure out if it was actually hers or not. It wasn't. He wavered -- Mama didn't like it when he harassed the neighbors. He sighed, and rose up to Attikias's height again. He squinted up at him and finally said, "I am Leviathan, the Lurker in the Deep." A beat. "... But most call me Levi."

@attikias

Attikias calmed, briefly, as the creature inspected his weapon. At least it wasn't being wrenched from his hands this time. The reassurance didn't calm his beating heart, though, and he pulled it back just slightly as Leviathan dropped back down.

It was pacing. Was it not going to fight? That would be good, Attikias thought, as he turned to keep the spear between Levi and him. Dual-toned eyes glanced to the shell that he picked up. Ah, it was a good one- wait, will Levi get mad if he tried to leave with the ones he'd already gathered?

The elf's tufted tail-tip flicked nervously as Levi stood on their rear legs again. It was intimidating, even if they weren't Alpha height, and Attikias took a cautious step back again. "Attikias," he responded breathily, still on edge and trying to think of apologetics in case some other grievance came up.

"You- live here with your mother?" That seemed obvious, with the mention of her, and he tilted just slightly to look past Levi to search for some sort of den. "I was going to take the shells back to my daughter. Uh- they aren't also claimed by you, are they?" One hand let go of the spear to gesture to the one Levi had picked up.

He had to give points to himself for trying to calm down the situation, at least.

@Leviathan