Into the void~

He fluttered his wings, seeing her demeanor change to a more relaxed -- albeit embarrassed -- one. It was odd for him to acknowledge, but he believed that he had just made a friend. Most would judge him and leave, but he realized that maybe Abyss had thought he would do the same. Luca hadn't noticed that he had taken a few steps closer on his thin, birdlike legs.

He twirled the ring on his foot again, cocking his head to the side lightly. "Not to push my limits, but would you allow me to call you a friend?" the Murrow asked, his eyes sparkling. He too was remembering a simpler time, when he was younger. The body language between them was different, and perhaps a bit difficult for each other to understand, but he thought back to a Pidgeotto he had been friends with many years before.

Friend.

Abyss rolled over to her side, legs splaying out beneath her, peeking cautiously from her ruff. Friend? What was a friend, she wondered. She understood it to be a social relation between two people who liked each other. Was there, perhaps, something else, something deeper? After all, what was the difference between a friend and a stranger? Either may become the other. What made people form a protective circle of friends around them, and go to extents for them? Was it simply a need to be fulfilled?

Did she ever have a friend? Had it been a pleasant time, to fade into a pleasant memory? Abyss blinked, staring at Luca. "Friend..." She whispered, evidently out-loud. The sound of her own voice jolted her awake. She felt the need to babble incessantly as one did in times of confusion, but all that escaped her was a low breath. "...Am I your friend?" Even without realizing, Abyss had explored a new form of communication; answering a question with a question.

His feathers fluffled and the 'hat' on his head drooped a bit from the action. Luca stiffened the feathers on his head before answering her question. ".... Yeah. Yeah, you're my friend," the bird Pokemon smiled. This was rather new, and the position she was in was certainly at least a semi-trusting one.

(Question: I'm pretty much constantly on the site, only closing it occasionally to switch to another tab. So when exactly do you come and post?! xD I'm like, close, open again, voila, post! I never see anyone online either .w.')

Luca's positive reply caused a hesitant smile to appear on her face; the fact that she had made a friend made her happy. Happiness? Did she know happiness? She blinked, refusing to go back to reverie. It amused her, and yet it was not a dry amusement, but a pleasant lilting one, that persisted like a fragrance. Her tail wagged harder, thumping against the ground, and just for that moment, she looked as she ought to have; a young, happy Absol.

"Thank you. I am glad." She replied, awkwardly bowing her head. Was she meant to do something? Perhaps a nuzzle? She blinked again, seeming slightly confused before her face cleared again. She would allow nothing to blight her happiness, not anymore.

((I check it at least once a day but I reload every once in a while xDD))

Luca grabbed his slab of wood and hopped over to her, settling on the ground and turning it over to the clean side. "A new, unique friend
Much different from myself
But a friend, the same."

Abyss watched in silence as Luca began scribing anew. It was funny; neither had the literary style change, nor had the writer, yet it seemed vastly different than the piece she had heard upon their first meeting. Was it sentiment behind it? Or merely a case of acknowledgement? Almost without thinking, she reached over, and as her paw brushed the edge of the wood, it left grooves, courtesy of her claws. "Ah!" Abyss leapt to her feet. Again, yet again she had ruined something. "I-I'm sorry! I'll get you another!" Bitterly disappointed, she vent her fury and indignation at the nearest tree. Poor unoffending tree, who had done nothing, yet lay receptacle to her self-aimed anger.

With a running start, she scrambled up the vertical trunk, leaving deep cuts where her paws impacted the bark. Slamming her front claws into the bark, she slid down, making parallel cuts, cutting across horizontally with her scythe to form rectangular slabs of wood, not dissimilar to what Luca used. Albeit thicker, for her claws and scythe has cut deeply, and somewhat larger, but whittling it down would not be too difficult for someone who was nearly a walking blade. Abyss grabbed one of her new creations, still wet with sap, and brought it over, half prideful, half cringing. Her pace gradually dropped as she approached, and she dropped the bark at Luca's feet.

A strange mixture of feelings came over him. Partially, he was angry because it had been messed up, but he was also grateful that she had fixed her mistake. The new slab was a bit larger than he usually used, but normally it took him all day to carve out a pallet. Yet, this Pokemon had made one in seconds. "Thank you, Abyss," he smiled, taking it with one of his feet.

Abyss worriedly paced about, hovering about the Murkrow in what could be deemed an annoying demeanor. She paused as she was thanked, and anxiously hedged, "Could...could I get you anything else?" Appreciation was all well and good, but gratitude earned created a warmth in her chest. It had been a while since she could have been of service to anyone, and it greatly pleased her that she could help her new friend.

His feathers fluffed out again. "I don't need anything, no," he replied with a small smile. "But you're a lot better at carving these out than I am."

Abyss stood stock still, inspecting her claws as he gave her food for thought. True, it was simply because she had finally utilized these...weapons for a good cause. Well, neutral cause, but close enough. The other slabs that she had created lay close by, and she dragged her paw lightly across the surface of one. She noted the amount of wood that shaved off, and the depth of the grooves; they were surprisingly deep, though she had put no effort into it. For the first time she realized how easily she could hurt someone. Her paw clenched at the thought, driving her claws deep into the soft wood, almost as though they sank into yielding flesh...

With a gasp and a quick flick of her paw, Abyss backed off slightly, shaking her head in disbelief. The rapid flirt of her paw had dislodge the slab, and it lay a ways off, deeply gouged. Abyss could only stare at it in horror; the pristine, useful thing that she had created moments ago was no more. Only, it had been destroyed by none other than her.

((My computer is glitching, I think...))

He had seen this before, he remembered. This was something that wasn't new. A Pokemon discovering their true strength. "Don't be frightened of yourself. If you learn to utilize your strength for good, you won't have to worry about harming anyone."

(Really? Why? What's happening? o3o)

"...Frightened?" Abyss laughed, an echo of humor, a mirthless smile with all the mysterious terror of the Sphinx. "Of myself? Not at all. There is enough in the world to be afraid of without including the self." Since when had she been afraid to hurt someone? Wouldn't it have been second nature?

Yet, despite herself, she found tears welling in her crimson orbs, and dripping down onto her white fur.

((Nevernind xDD))

Luca jumped up, suddenly forgetting about his poem. He flew up and held himself at her eye level, being much smaller. "Don't cry, Abyss."

(Oh, okay...? .w.' Derp, if you say so~ x3)

Abyss suddenly sat down, her face moving further back in the process. "I-I'm not crying!" Her voice sounded suspiciously thick for someone who wasn't crying. She wiped away her incessant tears with her fluffy paws, but the darned tears wouldn't stop. "Th-There's a lot of dust here! Stupid dust..." With the excuse that only a child could make, the Absol sniffed somewhat loudly. It never struck her that moments of weakness were only natural for children like her, though it had been denied her for the past 15 years. Naturally strength was all she knew. What had she to fear what she understood as nature?

He didn't believe her, which was obvious. "You don't have to be so defensive," Luca murmured.

Abyss buried her face in her ruff again; the fur seemed to act as a portable comfort blanket. She stayed that way for a while, as her treacherous body quivered with the weight of her curious sadness. What was it that she was sad about?
While she pondered, she finally stilled. Cautiously peeking up with red eyes - which were red to begin with - she noted that Luca still stood there. She remained in sullen, embarrassed silence, as she stared up at the avian.

((*down

Absol is 3'11", Murkrow is 1'8"))

He looked back at her, fluffing his feathers out. Still, he smiled lightly. "Come sit with me again."

(Nope, she's lying down. How else would she bury her face in her ruff without breaking her neck? xP)
(Also, do me a favour and check this new character that I made? Pwease? :3)

Abyss contemplated Luca's offer, than got to her feet. She waited for him to lead where he wished to sit. Her fur still felt damp and stuck to her slightly, which felt somewhat uncomfortable; Abyss had this childish fear that if she fell into a waterbody, her fur would absorb enough water to weigh her down and she'd drown. Of course, its not like it would have happened, right? She'd swum when she was younger, but then, her pelt was downier and scarcer, with the down providing some amount of lift - Fluffy apparently floated.

((Right, sorry xDD

And sure!))

He settled into a sitting position with a slab of wood once more, smiling at her before beginning to scratch his Haiku into the wood. "I have a lot of these around this little cave thing I stay in sometimes."

(No worries! On reading back, I realize I never explicitly mentioned that she's lying down, so my bad xP But every time she buries her face in her fur, I imagine her crouching~)

Abyss leaned over Luca's head to watch as he began writing. He obviously had some skill in doing so, for he wrote smoothly and evenly. She had imagined bird talons to be used only for gripping or slashing, and so a fair amount of muscular movement must have gone into careful manipulation of the nimble claws tipping the feet. It was of sufficient surprise to Abyss that Luca lived in a cave; birds lived in caves? She thought they roosted out in the open; though of course not everyone lived the solitary, nomadic life like her.

He was writing in Human English, which he has taught himself to read and write. It occured to him that maybe she couldn't read it. "Do you know how to read this?"

Abyss looked closer; the dialect looked somewhat familiar, and yet disappeared back under the surface when she attempted to grasp it. After a moment of contemplation, she shook her head. "No."

(Argh, sorry it's so short >w<)

Luca flashed a grin. He liked trying to play teacher. "I could show you how to read it? Those claws of yours would be good for writing," he explained.

Abyss sneaked a glance at said claws; to use them for something other than burrowing them in objects; it did not matter what it was; earth, wood, other pokemon. To delve into fine arts and channeling creativity. This was a chance. She nodded, a slight smile appearing on her face; there was no concealing the gratitude she felt.

This made him much more exited and he began pointing out various letters. Sometimes he would ask her to try and write them on a different slab, and he also demonstrated the difference between uppercase and lowercase.