A Wolf Meets A Lost Cub

[Bobbie]

It was only the beginning of Nina's adventures on Aityaia since her pod crash landed on the island and stirred up quite a huge commotion and a lot of panic among residents and holiday-goers alike not very long ago. The ginger girl herself was also in a state of panic as she awoke within her enclosure, the adrenaline giving her a temporary boost in strength to kick the already cracked window open. The shatterproof material twisted and gave way, allowing little Nina to crawl out and make a run for it into the jungle, away from prying eyes.

Since then, she had managed to keep herself alive by feeding on whatever she could find in the jungle, mainly fruit or smaller creatures that she risked eating raw, since she didn’t know how to cook much. Unfortunately, that often resulted in her being sick, but her stomach demanded some form of nutrition and so she had to feed it. Each day, she returned to the site of her crash in hopes of retrieving something from the pod, but there were always so many people about that she didn’t dare move close enough to nick anything. After a few days, these little visits came to an end one fine morning when she reached the crash site just in time to see it being carried away and she was forced to retreat into the jungle and find something else to do.

However, this did not remain a problem for very long, as Nina was nothing if not resourceful when it came to her own entertainment. The girl could spend hours chasing colourful butterflies, slithering snakes and quick darting lizards on the ground or in the trees. She was easily amused by anything eye-catching and curious enough to follow it.

Today, Nina donned a pair of blue denim shorts and a red and white striped t-shirt that she absolutely adored. They weren’t hers, of course, she found a bag behind a large boulder that must have been hidden there for safekeeping, but Nina found it! She had only recently discovered that some people on the island were trying to catch her, but rather than seeing the danger in her predicament, the young woman with the cognitive abilities -and mannerisms - of a young child took it all as a game. It was all like a test, one that she could pass with flying colours blindfolded.

The last game consisted of a quick snatch of some fish, followed by a reflex check to dodge the net that dropped from the sky, and then a slippery path through which she had to detect and avoid trip wires or very fast moving projectiles hurled her way. Ultimately, the games always ended in a round of hide and seek, which she would emerge from victorious and proud as nobody could ever find her. It was for this reason that she dubbed herself the Hide and Seek Champion. 

Holding a large fish in her mouth, the girl crawled out from among thick roots of an oak tree that provided the perfect little space for her to squeeze into, unseen. "I win again~" she sang, and with a giggle, she skipped away from the scene on her bare little feet, following the sound of a stream while biting into the fish and savagely ravaging its meat.

---

Nina: #ffa516

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #1

It was already several weeks since they left Sanagi on Silver Islands, when the Wolves learned from one of their informers, about a strange occurrence. A large, metallic object supposedly fell from the sky on the Aityaia Island releasing a strange human-like creature, that was ever since plaguing that place. Both the description of the object and of the creature within reminded him of Sanagi, which naturally picked Eric´s interest. As far as he was concerned, Sanagi was an exceptionally talented killer gifted with several natural adaptations that put her above most regular humans, sadly, her psyche didn´t match her physical gifts and so, after several adventures with them, she was judged unsuitable to become a full member of the pack. Back then, when they were giving her their goodbyes, the Wolf King thought she was the only one of her kind, well at least the only one that made her way to their world but as it seemed, it wasn´t the case. So, after hearing about this, the Wolves decided to postpone their plans and make haste towards Aityaia Island to make sure, no one will get to her before they will.

They arrived just a few days afterward, letting their ship anchor at the main port of the capital city.

“Alright, here is the deal!”

Eric called his Wolves to the main deck.

“Our goal here is clear, to find out what´s true about the rumours and if possible, to secure Sanagi II for us.”

Hearing the name Agnes twitched but said nothing on this matter.

“So, get in the city and ask around, I want to know about everything that happened since that metal thing fell from the sky. If possible, find some eyewitness who either knows where the thing is or saw her directly. Just…try to be discrete. We will probably need the help from the locals so no need to antagonize them yet, understood?”

Eight heads around him nodded in response.

“Alright, let´s go…Adam, you and Takeshi will guard the ship.”

The oversized monkey mink looked at him with a hint of contempt in his eyes.

“Why do I have to stay back with the shrimp?”

The short suit wearing blonde grinned.

“That shrimp would kick your hairy a** in no time Wu Kong!”

Eric rolled his eyes.

“Stop it both of you.”

Both men fell immediately silent but were shooting provocative and angry glares at each other, while the rest of their pack headed to the city.

[Bobbie]

Nina hummed to herself as her razor sharp teeth tore through the flesh and scales of her meal. She had grown quite used to the procedure of eating fish of this kind. First she opened her mouth wide and then chomped down onto the body of the fish. With a vigorous shake of her head, the serrated edges on her teeth could saw through the animal’s coating of scales as well as its bones, and so a large chunk of meat was torn off into the girl’s mouth.

While they didn’t hurt her tongue, the sharp edges of the scales were quite unpleasant, so each bite was always followed by her spitting out the inedible bits onto the soil, unknowingly leaving a trail wherever she went. “Bleh!” a large chunk of chewed skin, fish scales, bone and a bit of discoloured meat came out of her mouth and splatted onto the ground. “That is yuck…” she grumbled before carrying on.

Her primary goal of reaching the stream, however, was soon pushed aside and forgotten as Nina spotted a colourful lizard scurrying through the dried leaves on the ground. With a giggle, the girl’s attention fell entirely on the creature and she began to follow it through the shrubs. “Wait~”

---

Depending on which part of the city one would visit, a lot of things were going on. At the heart of the city, however, was where talk of the mysterious pod crash-landing onto the island had reached its peak. Here was the local museum - or a makeshift one - where the pod that Nina had arrived on the island in was on display for quite a hefty price, as advertised by many posters outside it. Workers around the museum were working on producing flyers, pamphlets, and brochures to send out across the seas in the hopes of making some quick and easy money. Other people were already shouting out claims that they knew the exact location where the creature was last seen, and were offering guides at a cost of 500 beli per person, half that price for children. Among this group were several armed hunters, cleaning or loading their rifles.

Other than this, life went on as usual for those who weren’t interested in such goings-on. The beaches were packed with sunbathers and swimmers, streets were bustling, and people went on with their daily lives.

---

Nina: #ffa516

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #2

When it came to finding someone, or something, Eric could be hardly considered an inexperienced novice. On the contrary, he was doing this for a living and was very good at it. So driven by his instinct and past experiences, he headed to the center of the city, listening to what the locals had to say about the strange occurrence that supposedly fell from the sky on their island. And while the talks sounded convincing, he needed more solid proof before committing his people to the searching in the local jungle. For that reason, he headed towards the local museum where her landing pod should be among the exhibits.

He still remembered the otherworldly look of the strange metallic capsule that delivered Sanagi and was sure, that if this second female was from the same species, he would recognize her landing pod. The only problem he encountered was the insane price the receptionist demanded for the entrance.

Hearing the number, the Wolf King tilted his head to the side fighting against the urge to grab her by the fat neck and ask again, but unfortunately, this wasn´t the time nor a place for it. While he was no stranger to violence, causing trouble and clashing with the local Bounty Hunters guild would cause way too many problems, especially when they planned a prolonged stay on the island.

“Are you sure?”

He asked, not even trying to hide that irritated tone of his voice.”

“If I am sure?”

She asked back.

“Honey, I am not making the prices, just selling the tickets and if I´ll sell it to you for a lower price, who do you think will have to pay the difference?”

Eric tilted his head to the other side as if he was thinking about something, before shrugging his mighty shoulders.

“Whatever, no one can say I didn´t try to help.”

He sighed, turning around. It was a trap, one successfully aimed at her curiosity.

“Warn us? What are you talking about?”

She asked cautiously, earning Eric´s vicious grin.

“Ah, you didn´t hear it? This isn´t the first of such strange occurrences. A few weeks ago very similar object fell from the sky on Dance Island, releasing a young, seemingly helpless girl into the wild. The locals give her chase, only to find out that the cute little thing is in fact a vicious monster, that killed dozens of locals, including one of the sword masters from their dojo.”

With a hint of satisfaction, he watched the colour disappearing from that woman´s face. What he told her was a lie…mostly. But that didn´t really matter.

“In the end me and my crew managed to eliminate the thread, only to hear that something similar happened to here. We came to help, but since you obviously…”

The woman shook her head.

“Wait…wait…is it…is it true? Is it really dangerous?”

Eric nodded.

“God in heaven, my husband is joining one of these parties!”

With that, she sprinted away from her post leaving the doors unguarded. Well, that wasn´t the result he expected, but since it worked, why should he question it?

[Bobbie]

At the museum, people gathered for their own selfish reasons. Some were there to observe out of curiosity alone, others were there to find out more about their target.

Eric proceeding beyond the doors got him a number of odd looks, though people steered clear for the most part. He didn't look very different from the other hunters who were present to get an idea of where to start looking, their eye on the hefty prize of the mysterious owner of this strange pod that was on display. 

However, while other visitors paid him little attention, security guards were eyeing the white-haired man closely in search for a ticket in his hand, as most of the others present kept theirs visible.

Around the pod, people formed clusters in their own trusted circles, where they chatted and speculated what piloted the pod and where the creature went.

"I'm tellin' ya, it returned back into the sea and is long gone by now." One person said, eliciting a scoff from their company.

"Don't be stupid. Why would it come here in this ugly thing if it can swim?"

"Okay, genius, where do you think it went then? Why have there been no sightings if it isn't long gone already?"

"Are you daft? People been reporting stuff missing on the beaches-"

"So it did return to the sea!" A quick slap to the back of their head quickly silenced the speaker.

"As I was saying... on the beaches further inland, and tracks clearly led into the forest, but they were always lost shortly after. Do you even listen? People are planning routes into the forest just outside the museum." 

What came next in the conversation was an indiscernible grumbling as one slap seemed to be more than enough to end their talk. A quick glance at Eric and they both went quiet to prevent revealing whatever information they had.

---

Barefoot, Nina continued to chase the lizard, her eyes wide and darting across the scene before her, trying to keep up with the little reptile’s quick movements. The girl still had energy in her as she hopped over a couple of rocks and large roots to chase after the terrified creature, taking an entirely different route and dropping the remains of the fish that she had already eaten most of by now.

With a hint of frustration, Nina let out a huff, before she started to run faster and she reached down to try and grasp the lizard. Her first attempt failed, and the second one came back with a handful of mud and nature’s debris, but the third attempt resulted in a big happy grin from the girl as her little fingers returned wrapped around its belly, its four legs flailing desperately while its tail whipped around.

“Gotcha!” she giggled and slowed down her pace, but didn’t stop walking now, though all of her attention was on the lizard. “Where were you going, huh? Is there something you want to show me here?” she asked, childishly, expecting no answer in return. “You’re a pretty thing, with so many colours just like my shirt! We are friends now, Sir Lizard.” While it seemed to go unnoticed by little Nina, the lizard continued to squirm for its life and wanted nothing more than to get away from this giant, in comparison, that had not only chased it relentlessly, but swiped it up from the ground and was now suspending the poor thing in mid-air. As distracted as she was, she didn’t realise that there was another person up ahead with their back turned to her.

With a little thud, Nina bumped into the man's back, and then fell back on her rear, sitting on the ground. “No, Sir Lizard, come back!” With a gasp, she tried to catch the lizard that hurriedly grabbed the opportunity to scurry away, successfully. The ginger girl hurried to her feet, hunched over to reach for the lizard, but her arm was suddenly seized and she was yanked back.

“Aye, Winston! We just hit the jackpot, look what just walked into our den!”

Another man, presumably Winston, popped his head out from a tent.

---

Nina: #ffa516

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #3

The white-haired veteran entered the museum, using his sharp elbows to make a room for himself so he could take a closer look at the steel egg that delivered the local peculiarly to this island. And honestly, he didn't even have to listen to the locals and their talks to confirm his suspicion. It was the same, while some minor details were present, the overall design was distinct enough to make him certain. Whatever was on this island was a member of the same species Sanagi was. The information he gained from these two was only a bonus.

"Thank you, gentlemen."

The Wolf King grinned, turning around to walk away, only to find two large security guards standing behind him.

"Yes?"

His growl sent a shiver down the spines of these men from whom the smaller one was a whole head taller than Eric.

"Your ticket please…"

The taller guard, a big and muscular man in a suit that looked a whole size smaller than he needed reached towards him, getting a mocking look from the white-haired veteran.

"Don't bother, I just got lost and wandered to his place. Already on my way out."

Unimpressed by these two, Eric walked right between them, bumping into them with enough strength to let them stumble several steps backward, making enough room for him to pass.

As he headed back to the city, the Wolf King was thinking about whether he should contact the rest of his crew, but in the end, decided otherwise. This was an opportunity to hunt worthy prey, one that as he remembered was a natural-born fighter. An opportunity to finally enjoy what he loved the most, that was something he couldn't pass on.

And so instead of gathering his crew, he headed straight out of the city and into the forest, starting close to the coast line, looking for any clues and tracks that could point him towards its current location.

[Bobbie]

“Well, well, well!” the new face of Winston spoke as he emerged upon being summoned. “If it isn’t our precious little ticket to fame and fortune. Bring her here, Gary.”

His hunter buddy chuckled and gripped Nina’s arm more tightly as the girl tried to pull away. “I don’t have any tickets, please let go of me, mister… I need to find my lizard…” she muttered, “I’m sure somebody is selling whatever tickets you want somewhere though. I don’t have money to help you, but I’m really good at hide and seek! I can-”

Before the girl could go on with her nonsensical ramblings, Gary pulled her roughly, causing Nina to nearly trip in the natural debris of the land as a soft little ‘oh’ escaped her.

“We’ve got your lizard right here, little girl.” Gary explained in the hope of getting more cooperation from Nina, though it didn’t really matter. She was so small in comparison that she was hardly a threat. The biggest challenge was locating and catching her. Once the first one was done for them, since she stumbled right into their camp by herself, the second task was made even easier thanks to the worthy contribution of Mr Lizard, keeping the girl distracted.

Nina’s eyes grew wider as they rapidly scanned the area - there was no sign of the lizard and she was sure it had run in the opposite direction. To make matters worse, she didn’t like where she was being pulled, toward a cage made of long branches with terrifyingly sharp tips and twine from the trees to bind them together.

“Are you sure he’s in there? I don’t seem moving about in there anywhere…” the innocent child muttered, growing more and more uncertain by the second, but all of the naïve girl’s worries seemed to be washed away with Winston’s clever response as Gary stopped pulling against her resistance, but didn't let go of her arm.

“That’s because he made a cozy little burrow!” the man gestured toward the ground, which was full of holes here and there from all sorts of creatures making their nests. “He loves it so much, he’s made a home in there, and he’s waiting for you to find him. You said you’re good at hide and seek, right?” Leaning closer to Nina, her lack of a response both worried the man and frustrated him. “Right?” Gently patting her arm, the girl hesitantly nodded, before a grin grew on her face and she nodded more vigorously. “Yes!”

“Alright then, but you can’t tell him that we told you he’s in there or we’ll all be disqualified from the game. Now, when you’re playing hide and seek and see the per- the lizard that you’re looking for, do you want to be sssssuper quick like snake?” he made a quick swiping motion with his hand, “or sloooooow, like a snaaaaaiiil?” he made a sad expression as he said that, lowering his pitch and speaking more slowly. Every gesture he made with Nina was exaggerated, displaying a level of experience with young children, enough to make the girl giggle as Gary released his grasp. Clearly amused by the performance he was putting on, she seemed to have forgotten all about the looming threat of her capture. “Quick! Like a snake!”

“Alright, so you know where he is…” Winston pointed to the cage that had one wall held open by some ivy to provide an opening that would release its hold with any movement of the wooden trap, catching whatever was inside it. “Now you know what to do… Okay? Three…” he held up three fingers, moving out of the way. “Two…” lowering one finger as well as his voice, as if to prevent the lizard from catching on to their master plan. “One…” He glanced at Gary and raised his eyebrows with a shameless grin, only one finger left.

“GO!”

With that, Nina innocently darted across their camp, her feet kicking up soil, dead foliage and other things that littered the forest floor, before she made a dive, right into the cage!

---

Nina: #ffa516
Gary: #720961
Winston: #29a800

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #4

It took him almost a whole hour but, in the end, the experienced hunter found the right footprints, small and light, that took him deeper into the forest and right to his prey. However, as it turned out, he wasn´t the first one who managed to do so as his prey was already in the hands of another group.

Not really keen to jump into confrontation straight away, at least not until he would be able to confirm whether he found the right person or not, the white-haired veteran hid among the vegetation watching the scene unfolding in front of him. And that there was a lot to look at…

As it turned out, this particular peculiarity was incredibly naïve and gullible as evident from the way she fell for completely obvious lies from her captors. And while her unusual look and the way they acted towards her were confirming her identity well enough, the Wolf King couldn´t decide whether he should act or not, because honestly, this was starting to look like the situation with Sanagi happening all over again. A natural-born killer, gifted with advantages normal humans could only dream about that were however wasted because of the mental aspects of their bearer.

Truth be told, he was thinking about leaving that girl to her fate as the last thing he needed was a promising fighter that couldn´t fight, but after trying to convince himself that it was the best thing to do, for several minutes straight he simply realized that it was a useless struggle. She was simply too innocent for him to let her suffer whatever fate these guys prepared for her.

“Why it has to be a ginger…”

Eric growled to himself as he walked out into the open.

“So this is the girl that fell from the sky…well, I have to say I am impressed that a bunch of amateurs like yourselves managed to capture her, but you know how it works, the one keeping the prey is always the biggest predator. So here is the deal, you will walk away and I won´t kill you. Deal?”

He offered them one of his worst bloodthirsty grins that were clearly saying that he won´t mind if they don´t listen to him.

[Bobbie]

As Nina made her leap through the air and plummeted into the ground to catch the lizard that was supposedly somewhere in the cage, the latch was sprung and the door to the cage swung shut. With a frown, the girl immediately sulked, digging rapidly in the soil within her enclosure.

“Sir Lizard isn’t here…” she muttered, turning around as she remained seated on her ankles, unable to go higher than a kneeling position. “You lied! That’s not nice. You’re liars!”

The men both laughed, “Yeah, but we’re about to be rich liars!” Gary exclaimed and the pair slapped hands, congratulating one another for their brilliance. Then a new face appeared and while their laughter was silenced, their grins were hardly suppressed.

“Look, pal, we found her first, alright? The reward is ours, fair and square.” Winston sighed, assuming Eric was here to snatch Nina for the same purposes that they wanted the girl.

“Yeah, buddy, respect the rules, first come first serve and all that.” Gary chimed in, though not as confidently as Winston.

It only took the pair a moment for their smiles to droop into looks of horror as they saw the bloodthirsty grin on the man's face that accompanied his words. They glanced at each other, each one moving closer to their partner, then turned back to Eric.

“We don’t mean any disrespect, it’s just that… we did catch her first.”

“Let me out, cheaters!” Nina yelled from her trap as she started tugging at some loose twine that was holding the cage together, but it would yield no results toward her goal of freeing herself. “This isn’t how you play catch… I can show you, but we have to find Sir Lizard first!" It was as if she had completely forgotten how she was tricked as Nina seemed to extend an invitation to play a game of tag with her two captors who clearly had no actual concern for her wellbeing and were now ignoring her and fully focussed on Eric.

---

Nina: #ffa516
Gary: #720961
Winston: #29a800

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #5

The white-haired veteran tilted his head to the side surprised by the insolence of these two men. Not only did they refuse to follow his order, but they were also talking back to him. Preposterous!

Filled with a sudden burst of rage, Eric lashed out against the nearest man, lunging forward, while swinging his right arm, fingers spread and bent like claws of a wild animal.

“Wolf Claw!”

The first man fell to the ground, with a slash wound across his neck, but that was hardly enough for the white-haired veteran, because he turned to the other one, faster than most people could react, striking against his chest with an open palm, only to clench his fingers in a fist at the last possible moment, crushing anything in their path.

“Wolf Bite!”

Watching as the second body fell to the ground, Eric shook his head in anger.

“Now, now, look what you did, I bet she is scared of me now…”

He muttered to himself, turning his head towards the ginger peculiarity locked in the wooden cage. Trying his best to replace his previous anger with a friendly smile.

“Hey, guess you are scared right?”

He asked with such a gentle tone, that anyone who knew him would never believe these words came from this crazed warmonger.

“But I won´t hurt you, promise. These two guys, I hurt them because they were evil. They wanted to keep you locked in a cage and to sell you into a circus or even worse place.”

As he was talking he slowly walked towards the cage, finally kneeling down in front of it, looking that girl in eyes.

“So what do you say, if you promise me not to run away, I can let you out of there, and together we can go to find your Sir Lizard, all right?”

[Bobbie]

Nina’s eyes were wide with fear and fixed on Eric, flinching with each of his attacks on Gary and Winston. It was all over in a second, and the ginger girl’s lip trembled, a soft whimper escaping her when the big scary man looked directly at her.

After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded in response to his first question about whether she was scared. She wasn’t before, as all of this was like a game to her, but things grew very serious extremely quickly and now a large man with terrifying claws was staring at her. As Eric moved closer to the cage, Nina’s breathing got faster as she looked like she was ready to burst into tears any second. She moved as far back as she could to get away from Eric, cramming herself into the corner of her cage as her little fingers, bright orange at their tips, wrapped around the wooden structure to desperately try and squeeze herself further and further into the tiny space. She then wrapped her arms around her knees, which were brought up to her chest to conceal half of her face and make herself as small as she possibly could.

“I don’t want to go to a circus…” she finally spoke after a long silence, her words muffled by her knees and arms.

“They said Sir Lizard is in here, but they lied… it’s not nice in here, nobody would come in here unless they’re tricked.” She muttered, displaying the cognitive ability to figure that out, even though it came quite a bit too late. However, that critical thinking skill seemed to disappear in an instant as her logic once more took a childish turn.

“Okay… but you promise you won’t take me to a circus or some other scary place? And that you’ll help me find Sir Lizard?” she asked, her eyes glistening and her words were clearer now that she raised her head slightly and was beginning to open up. “He’s a noble, you know.” A hint of a smile appeared on her face, “He is of royal colours and he has a crown.”

With that, Nina crawled to the front of the cage to push and pull against the door, but didn’t understand how the mechanism worked and was unsuccessful at lifting the gate that had closed the moment she entered this contraption. Her knees were scraped, but that didn’t stop the girl from grinning, revealing rows of dangerous serrated teeth, and then she giggled. “He was trying to show me something when we met these two ugly people and they scared him away.” As she mentioned the two men that Eric had brutally struck down, the innocent girl didn’t look at them - or what was left of them.

---

Nina: #ffa516

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #6

The white-haired veteran watched the little scared animal trapped in a cage as she was desperately trying to be as small as possible, avoiding all eye contact with him or his newest victims. He was feeling a hint of disappointment at the sight. As from the look of it she truly fit the description of the strange oddity that fell from the sky just like Sanagi did, however just like Sanagi she didn´t really have the proper character to be a warrior, let alone a member of his pack.

Because of that he really wanted to leave her there, to turn around and never come back to avoid even further disappointment, but he simply couldn´t force himself to do so. The woman in front of him was simply too innocent and precious even for a heartless b*stard like him to let locked in the cage.

“All right, let me show you a trick.”

He sighed as she was trying to open the door by herself, as he grabbed the cage as a whole and lifted it up, only to toss it away towards the trees.

“Excellent, you set her free, now turn around and walk away. There is no reason to waste your time on this.”

The rational and also rather cynical part of his brain advised him wisely, just to scream right afterward as instead of following its words he reached towards her, offering Nina his hand.

“Come on, get up, we have to find that Mr. Lizard of yours, no?”

That strangely kind voice that escaped his lips sounded completely strange even to him. What was going on? That woman in front of him was around twenty years old and quite attractive, yet for some reason, everything in him saw her as a little child, harmless, innocent, and precious, that needed his protection.

[Bobbie]

As Eric offered to show her a trick, Nina stared at him and moved away from the gate. Once he grabbed the cage and suddenly lifted it, the girl gasped and looked around her as if the cage had just magically disappeared. It was a neat trick, and as her gaze then went to the discarded stick trap, a grin appeared on her face once more.

“Super strong!” she giggled and immediately took his hand once it was held out to her. Rising to her feet, she let her little hand nestle in his larger one as she stood beside him.

“Yes! Mr Lizard! I think he went that way!” she pointed in the direction that she had originally come from, before moving her free hand to place it on Eric’s as well, now holding his hand in both of hers. It didn’t take her more than a few seconds of pondering before she skipped ahead of him, pulling him by his hand. “Come on, we have to be quick! He’s not called Sir Lizard for nothing, you know! He’s super fast and slippery…” As she described the lizard as 'slippery', Nina narrowed her eyes like a suspicious detective on a mission.

Nina’s orange tipped fingers wrapped around Eric’s hand, and she continued to pull him further into the forest as her head whipped around from one side to another. "What's your name, Mister?" She slowed down a bit now and appeared to be aimlessly wandering, her legs moving without thinking while her focus was on their conversation. With a sudden hop, she stood in front of Eric, demanding that they stop walking for a bit. "I'm Nina!"

Then she grabbed his hand again and whipped her head around once more to carry on with their mission. The girl was easily stimulated as her attention was clearly shifting from one item or another because of any sharp movements or bright colours that caught her eye so frequently, that it would be doubtful that she was even still looking for her lizard friend at all. It didn’t take very long for her to change course as she started following something else instead, a colourful bird with bright blue feathers on its wings. As the creature fluttered and seemed to hop from one tree to another, Nina let go of Eric’s hand and followed after it, her arms outstretched as if she too could fly.

---

Nina: #ffa516

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #7

The little girl…well she wasn't really a little girl but for Eric, it was hard to think about her in other terms… grabbed his hand and jumped back on her feet. For the white-haired veteran, it was a signal that he fulfilled his gentleman's duties, and it was time to pull off his hand, but that little ginger was clinging to it like she was glued.

Eric opened his mouth to say something, but when he saw the look in her eyes, he changed his mind…for now. After all a little hand-holding didn´t mean he had to adopt her or something right?

“Nice to meet you Nina, I am Eric.”

He answered just a second before she clung to him even stronger.

“Uuuurgh…what´s wrong with her?!”

The fighter growled for himself as the girl pulled him through the forest from one colourful leaf to a strange-looking bug and forward and forward seemingly without end. One didn´t have to be particularly smart to realize, that she had the attention span of a baby and probably already forgot about her quest to find Mr. Lizard if it wasn´t just an excuse to run around the forest in the first place.

She finally released his hand only to run after a butterfly.

“Wait, you´ll get lost!”

Eric yelled after her, pausing in pure shock as he realized what he just said.

“For god’s sake…am I becoming her dad or what?!”

He frowned for himself suddenly noticing as a forearm big purple coloured lizard that was watching him from a nearby branch.

“What the…could it be…? Ah, who cares, if it picks her interest and gets me out of the forest, let´s just hope it´s not poisonous or something…”

Eric swiftly lunged forward grabbing the reptile in his hands and calling at the quickly disappearing Nina.

“Hey, ginger is this that Mr. Lizard of yours?”

[Bobbie]

Nina was almost lost as she was completely drawn in by whatever colourful creature had her attention at that moment. Her arms flailed as she attempted to catch something, only moments before Eric called to her.

For a moment, the girl froze, her hands over her mouth as her back was turned to the man. Finally turning when Eric mentioned Mr Lizard, she looked at him with large eyes and her cheeks puffed out while her lips were pressed together. Hopping over toward him again, reeled in by her curiosity, she hummed softly. The air pockets in her cheeks making her resemble a squirrel, she moved closer to her saviour, a look of pure concentration on her face now.

As she approached, she watched the reptile squirming in his grasp - very much like Sir Lizard did in hers. Another hum came from Nina as she thought about what she was looking at, placing her little hands on both of Eric’s to force them lower so that she could get a better look.

As her eyes narrowed with scepticism, she glanced up at the Wolf King and then back at the creature once more. Finally, she looked up at her saviour yet again. Three consecutive hums were offered in some sort of coherent response, followed by a big smile and a stifled giggle from the girl’s throat, while her lips remained sealed and her cheeks filled with air to provide more space for whatever was trapped within them.

“HMM- Hmm-hmm,” she added, attempting to correct him without having to open her mouth and release her prize. “HMM! Hmm-hmm.”

Impatiently and wriggling on the spot, her grubby hands went to take the large reptile from him, if Eric would release it. Whether this was the same Sir Lizard or not seemed quite irrelevant... it now grasped all of Nina's attention anyway.

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Nina: #ffa516