Vjira does not travel a lot, the beast preferring to stay close to sources of corruption to easily stabilize. Having no danger of corruption getting out of control, Vjira's behavior can mostly be monitored with a lot of "playtime" consisting of chasing around herds of lessers to pick them off one by one. Here, though, the beast has a piece of glowing coral within her exposed maw.

Shards of the same broken coral are scattered around the ground outside the lake - it's clear she's been throwing this chunk around for some time. Initially, Vjira thought the shining corals were FOOD. Now though, it has simply become a toy.

With another toss, the coral is thrown back into the lake. There's a splash, and then another as Vjira throws her front-end into the waters, claws scraping at another. Instead this one drags along the rock underfoot, leaving a puddle of water in its wake.

If anyone were nearby, they'd hear the sound of her mixed growl-hissing Vjira vocalizes often.

@Arcturus

The splashing was what initially alerted Arcturus to some kind of happening nearby and his head raised from where he was resting, the rest of his body quickly following suit. Not out of any worry that there were enemies, but simply curiosity. Little happened of interest in Andromeda, but it wasn't a point of discontent - it was nice and peaceful here, but any excitement or change was still quite welcome.

It wasn't far, so he chose to walk, taking a swift but leisurely pace to the edge of the coral lake. He was a little alarmed by the vocalizations, unsure of their meaning without any point of reference. He hurried a little faster until he was approaching the edge of the lake, where he spotted the creature making all the noises - splashes and growls both. He paused, some distance away, marvelling at a couple thing. First of all, the sheer size of this creature was both alarming and amazing. He had never seen a creature of this size. Well...maybe he had. He couldn't remember, but he certainly had never been this close to one. Second, he found her to be quite beautiful. At least from this angle - he had yet to see the face, but the deep purple of her body and the shimmering iridescence of wings that reminded him of leaves was quite pleasing to the eye.

With the initial observations out of the way, he wrapped around to the side, staying a little ways out of her range (out of fear of the, you know, massive size), and called out. "Excuse me, are you okay? I heard...growls and stuff. Are you in pain?"

@Vjira

The Valkhound does not notice the feline at first, too focused on watching the glittering corals' lights pitter out with the lack of water to keep them alive. It's a slow process - maybe thirty minutes or so - but the fading lights remind Vjira of her own skin. Colors flashing, changing - mostly when she fights.

And then the words hit her ears. In a flash Vjira is turning to face the stranger, pointed teeth bared in Arcturus' direction. The Valkhound is poised to strike like a snake, all sets of eyes on the mysterious feline. When she sees the cat is smaller, her hackles calm.

She lets out a deep breath of air, a curious noise coming out of her throat. FOOD? This one is not the Big Purple or the Small Thing that got in a fight with her when she was young. She flicks the water away from her front claws, moving closer to the strange little space kitty.

PAIN?

Vjira understands pain - It is BLOOD it is HUNGER

She sniffs at her fur, PAIN? Vjira feels no pain. Does she look HURT? or DAMAGED?

Vjira has not fought someone in some cycles, there is no DAMAGE. She knows she should respond, visions of the Big Purple come to mind, him trying to get her to speak. She opens her maw, rumbles at the stranger - it snaps shut. Teeth clicking with an audible snap.

SPEAK?

"Pa-a-i-i-n?" There it is. The sounds twist and turn into each other, as if the Valkhound has not spoken for a long time. Her voice is deep and rumbly, used mostly for shrieking and hissing. "No-o-o"

@Arcturus

The sudden whip around was wholly unexpected and both alarmed and terrified the poor cat. He yelped as he hopped back, fur puffing in fear and eyes widening as he stared into the very alien and very monstrous face of the valkhound. Ah. Perhaps he had gotten into something a little over his head here.

At first, he thought this was about to be the end. His relatively short and relatively uneventful life was going to end in a very violent and brutal end. His eyes squeezed shut, awaiting the inevitable teeth, but then...nothing. The sound of sniffing and deep vocal rumblings. One eye peeked open a little bit, curious and confused, and then both blinked as he watched the monster check over herself.

Why is she doing that? But the answer came a second later when the hissing turned to actual words. Oh, right. He'd asked her if she was in pain. He glanced over her instinctively, as if he almost didn't believe her, but saw no wounds, no cause for any kind of pain to be happening.

He nodded, shaking just a little. "Oh, okay, good. Um. Sorry to bother you, then. I was just. A little worried." He glanced past her, towards the water. "Were you...looking for something in there?"

@Vjira

Vjira's first reaction at seeing the scared kitty is to do her best interpretation of a cackle. A strange mix of sounds coming out in short bursts, but close enough. Instincts inside demand to GIVE CHASE. HUNT. KILL. EAT. Eating someone who can speak has never been an issue for the Valkhound, but she does her best to down the instinct away.

Vjira looks back to the water, whole body turning to face it. She reaches in with her talons, scraping out another medium-sized coral. The water splashes with the force of her tearing it, and the brightly colored organism goes sliding across the rockface to Arcturus.

That's about as much of an answer as she can give him, really. Her eyes all focus on the corals on the ground, some of which have lost their light by now. She's lost track of time - KILL Though that's directed at the corals instead.

And then Vjira remembers that she has to SPEAK for others to understand. Stupid, really.

"No-o" Her words are long drawn out syllables, even the simple ones are hard to get out. She's been practicing over the cycles, but has found it to be too hard. Not hard enough to give up, but her vocal cords probably just aren't good enough.

She really was just playing with the corals. Vjira would never admit it. "Yo-o-u?"

@Arcturus

This poor boy was horribly confused - the thing was making weird noises at him and turning back to the water. He leaned forward a bit to try and see what she was doing without getting any closer, but it seemed to be unnecessary. He leaped back a few inches as the coral went clattering across the stone towards him, the beautiful glow quickly fading as the coral died. He watched it, feeling a mote of sadness for a second, before looking up in confusion.

He was so innocent. He was so untested. He had never met someone that would destroy so wantonly and so he didn't understand. Why destroy the corals? They had done nothing and they were a thing of beauty. He tried to get a read on the monster, but she was so...different. She didn't seem to understand.

He frowned, feeling a bit of his fear melt away in place of a streak of disappointment. "Oh...why are you destroying them? Why would you do that?"

@Vjira

Truthfully, Vjira has no reason. How do you explain that to a feline in so little words? Vjira just does things to do them - and sometimes that includes destruction for no reason. She eyes the space cat's fur made of gas and wills her colors to change. A gentle swath of colors overtakes her purple in spots in her attempt to mimic Arcturus' fur.

It's not the same, but with the distraction already finished, Vjira can focus again on Arcturus' question. If she were more clever she would say something like 'why does the greater hunt the lesser' or something but she's not so eloquent.

"Wh-y-y n-o-ot?"

@Arcturus

He frowned, reaching forward to grab at one of the corals. He held it in his paw, watching the last of the glow fading from the now lifeless thing. "Because its...pointless?" Carefully, he stepped up closer to the valkhound and the edge of the pool, holding up the coral. "It's alive, when its in the water and glowing. But now its dead. Is there...a reason to it?" He was tense - he didn't want her to attack, and he did have a healthy amount of fear to her, but for some reason he just....he wanted to explain this. He wanted her to understand. "Why destroy it, when there isn't a reason? Do you not find the coral beautiful?"

@Vjira