#*enjoy

you see, it all started... some months ago, he thinks?

he was just minding his own business, going about finding berries to fill up his stomach, when he came across trouble.

and.. it’s not like he was unaware of the danger that lurks in the forest he calls his home — you’d have to be blind to ignore the claw marks that littered around various trees, marking out a territory.

but he never knew exactly what the predator was, nor had he ever had the displeasure of meeting it.

..at least, not until then.

..(it was as he was flying towards where a particular hawthorn bush was rooted — his favorite type of berry — when he saw it.

as soon as he registered the unfamiliar bright red color, he stopped in his tracks, quickly moving instead to hide in the branches of a nearby tree. as he hid, he looked back over to the red, and stilled.

there weren’t many large creatures that lived in this cold forest — he thinks the biggest thing he’s seen around were the few packs of wolves.

this... this thing- whatever it was- was way, way bigger than those. about.... seven feet tall, if he had to guess, and its body being way longer.

and, well, as a five-inch tall avian, that’s not really a good thing.

his eyes snap to the creature’s dark red scales, easily registering it as one of a snake. but.. then his eyes trail up, and he notices a lighter red fabric — the thing that brought his attention to the figure in the first place.

at this, he recoils slightly. not at the fabric itself, but at what’s under it.

because.... where the scales stop, there’s instead.. flesh. and as he takes in the rest of the creature, with its blonde.. fur? mane? hair? on top of its head, he finds it..

it looks a lot like him, almost. if he was bigger, and traded his brown feathers for red scales.

he unconsciously lets out a curious little twitter, finding himself slightly intrigued by this unfamiliar creature, when the thing perks up, its head swiveling around wildly. ranboo flinches back a bit, confused by this sudden change, before he realizes. it’s looking for him.

before he can fly away, though, it turns its head around, and immediately, its eyes land on him.

he freezes, heart stopping.

the two stare at each other, the creature looking up at him with an unreadable face. he can see it flex its sharpened claws, briefly, and as he looks into its slitted eyes, he realizes that this… this is the creature that dominates this forest.

and he just got its attention.

“hey there!” the creature yells up at him after a while, grinning up at him with an almost manic look, showing off its shining, sharp fangs.

he sucks in a breath as it talks — (it talks, he didn’t think it could talk, he hasn’t met anything that could talk like him before, not in a long while-) — but does nothing beyond that.

a moment passes, and he can see the creature’s grin turn into a frown.

“uh, hello?” the creature says again, sounding a bit more agitated. “i’m talking to you, dickhead.”

shit, is he making it more mad by not talking? will it hurt him if he stays quiet? but what will it do when he does talk?

too frightened by the idea of trying to talk, he instead chooses to stay silent, though not before a strangled chirp comes out of his throat.

more minutes pass as they stare at each other, as his heart beats fast, his breaths getting more and more shallow.

“....hello?” the creature asks, voice quieter than before, moving to go towards him-

as soon as the creature does, however, ranboo finally snaps back into himself, and pushes himself off of the branch he was on, taking off as fast as he could.

“wh- hey!” the creature yells out, sounding angry — (oh prime he made it angry-) — before he can hear sounds of grass being disturbed behind him.

oh, oh no, oh prime, he’s being chased-

“hey- HEY BITCH, STOP FUCKING- RUNNING!” the creature shouts at him, keeping up with him almost effortlessly, despite not having- you know, legs.

“uh, no- no thank you!” ranboo croaks out, his voice hoarse due to having been unused for a- a long time. “i think i’d rather not, actually!”

he hears the creature let out a laugh, before something behind him shifts, and-

he immediately ducks to the left just as something zooms past him — the creature, he finds, having tried to jump into the air, its claws having been stretched out, presumably in an attempt to grab him. instead, though, it falls onto the ground with a grunt, and he flies past it, going further and further away.

he laughs back at it, albeit a bit hysterically, with his eyes wide in panic. the creature growls at him, but doesn’t move to get up, allowing him to get away with his life.)..

if that was it, if that was his only encounter with the creature, then maybe everything would have been fine. he’d be a little traumatized, maybe, but fine.

but it wasn’t.

maybe if he never stepped foot back into the creature’s territory, he wouldn’t have to deal with all of this. it didn’t own the whole forest, just- a significant part of it. luckily, his home — a small nest in a quaint little sugar maple tree — didn’t reside inside of its territory, though it was a little too close for true comfort.

..but...... that area was the only place that had his hawthorn berries..

and.. maybe it’s a stupid idea to continue risking his life for some berries.

but.. he really, really likes those berries.

and, besides, he’s been to that area before- tons of times, in fact! and before then, he hadn’t seen the creature then. so, what are the chances he’d see it again?

..they were very high, as it turns out.

only a week had passed when he finally got the courage to tread back onto the creature’s territory, and for a while, it was looking good.

then he came across the creature again.

and then it chased him again.

he escaped, just like before, and didn’t go back for another week.

from then on, a tradition of sorts was formed — not one he really liked all that much, but it had formed nonetheless.

every so often, he ventured into the creature’s territory for one reason or another — the creature did inhabit a large portion of the forest, it was impossible to avoid it’s territory outright — he gets chased, they exchange banter(panicked on his part), he escapes and gets to live another day.

..(they were playing their little cat and mouse game when they first had a small conversation with each other.

“sooooo,” the creature drawled out, having just tried to pounce at him. “what exactly are you? i’ve never seen anything that looks like you before.”

“i,” ranboo panted out, trying to catch his breath, “could say the same to you.”

the creature hummed, moving itself into a hunched up position. if he weren’t so paranoid, he’d think it was just resting.

“well,” the creature said, grinning up at him with its sharp teeth, “i’m the biggest naga there ever is.”

“..a naga?” he repeated cautiously, hovering in the air a few feet away.

“yep! half snake, half human, full awesomeness.” the creature- or, the naga, laughed up at him, the end of its tail swaying back and forth. ranboo ignored the last part of the sentence.

“..uh-huh.” he murmured.

“what about you?” the naga shot back at him. “i told you what i am, now tell me what you are!”

he shouldn’t. he should just fly away, he shouldn’t even be talking to it in the first place.

but.... he decided to indulge it.

“i’m.. an avian,” ranboo said, “uh, part sparrow- or, bird, part.. human? and full- umm.”

“full pipsqueak?” the naga finished.

“wh- hey!” he crossed his arms, giving the naga a pout. “i’ll have you know that i’m actually taller than the rest of my species.” he paused. “i, uh. i think.”

before he could do anything else, though, something moved, and he gasped, shooting out of the way- just in time to see the naga try to jump at him once again.

he watched the naga fall onto the ground with an indignant cry once more, his heart beating in his chest.

(right. predator trying to kill him. he needs to stop feeling so comfortable talking to it.)

“wow,” he croaks out, laughing a bit hysterically, “i think you’re actually full, uh- jerk, actually.”

“yeah?” the naga calls out, moving to get up, “well you’re full of- wait, shit no come back here you prick!”

“nope!” ranboo yelled out, making his escape.)..

it was risky, toying with death so often. and it was especially dangerous riling up the naga so much. in reality, there was nothing really worth getting pursued by a predator — one day, ranboo’s luck was sure to run out, and he’d be left to face the consequences of his actions. in all honesty, he should just leave this forest all together.

..but.... he’d be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t lonely. he hasn’t seen anything like him in.. years. he hadn’t seen his parents since he was little, and after they disappeared, he had been living on his own ever since.

it.. it was sort of nice, in a way, to be able to talk to someone. even if that someone was trying to kill you.

and so, he kept venturing into the naga’s territory, practically flirting with death.

which.. led to now.

guess death finally picked up his calls, he thought bitterly.

it was funny. in the end, it wasn’t even the naga that brought his doom.

he had been attacked by a hawk, it landing a good hit on his wings, causing him to plummet to the ground.

so here ranboo laid on the floor of the forest, bleeding from the large cut on the back of his wing. every time he moves it, it hurts. maybe if he just grits his teeth, and pushes through the pain, he can- he doesn’t know. make it back home, he guesses?

but what about after that? his wing is still hurt — at this rate, he might not be able to go gathering for- for a whole week. and he needs to go gathering, he’s run out of food, that’s the whole reason he’s in-

he freezes.

he’s... in the naga’s territory.

he’s in the naga’s territory.

oh no, oh no no no no no no no no no no-

he needs- he needs to leave, yesterday. if- if the naga found him now, there’s no way he could escape it.

he’d be........

frantically, he tries to push himself up on the ground. warily, he shakes his wings- wincing when pain shoots up from his left. he can’t help but let out a strained twitter.

his heart stops when he hears grass being disturbed not too far away.

he tucks his wings back in, turning around so that he’s facing where he thinks he hears the noise.

please be some other creature. please be a bird- a squirrel. or a mouse, or- or a wolf, anything but-

his ears twitch when he hears a cruel laugh. his heart sinks.

no.. please, prime, no......

“well well well, what do we have here?” a voice calls out, before the naga comes into view.

he doesn’t move an inch. he just can’t bring himself to.

“what?” the naga says, “nothing to say? come onnn, it’s no fun if you don’t give me something to work off of!”

ranboo stays silent, though his heart feels like it’s beating loud enough to be heard by the both of them.

the naga stares at him, before pouting. “seriously? noth-nothing? cat got your tongue or what?”

he- he needs to do something, who knows how long he has until the naga grows bored and decides to just- but-but he can’t, he can’t find the energy to do- anything.

he croaks out a terrified little warble, shifting himself further away.

at that, the naga’s brow furrowed slightly, and seemed to give him a closer look.

shit, if it realizes he’s injured, he’s done for.

at that, he suddenly finds the motivation to do something.

“h-hey, are you-” before it can even finish, ranboo shoots up, pushing himself up off of the ground, and takes off into the sky. it’s a bad idea, trying to fly with an injured wing, but there’s no way he’d be able to outrun it on the ground.

he can hear the naga cry out, but he’s more focused on trying to push through the pain — each flap of his wings makes him grit his teeth, but he continues on.

usually, when he gets chased by the naga, he goes to take detours, various twists and turns that the naga can’t follow him through, but he knows if he tries that, he won’t have the energy to make it back home. even now, it takes effort to stay in the air.

so, instead he’s just booking it back to his nest. maybe if he gets there fast enough, he’ll- he’ll be fine.

he can’t hear if the naga is following over the fast thumping of his heart, over the wind blowing past his ears.

after what feels like way too long, he can finally see his nest in the distance.

he laughs in relief, and starts doubling his efforts — much to the chagrin of his own wings.

ranboo only barely stops himself from slamming into the hollow that holds his nest, and practically collapses into the mossy material, letting out a strained chirp.

for a minute, all he feels is relief, and exhaustion. his wing aches, both from the cut and having overexerted himself, and his foot still throbs, but he’s safe.

for a moment, he’s at rest.

then he registers the sound of something moving right outside his tree.

he shoots himself back up, and peeks out of the hollow.

the naga stares right back at him, only a few feet away from his tree.

he lets out a yell, slamming into the back of the hollow, gritting his teeth when pain shoots through his body from his wing.

what- what the hell is it doing here?!?

the naga never leaves its territory. never once, in all of times he’s been chased, has the naga ever even dared to step foot outside of its territory. once he makes it out, the sick little game they play is over until the next time he ventures there.

so why, why did it decide to break those unofficial rules now?

is it- is it tired of toying with me? is it taking advantage of the fact that i’m injured?

after what feels like years and a millisecond, suddenly, a face blocks the entrance of the hollow.

he lets out a startled warble, trying to push himself further into the wall.

for a minute they stare at each other, the naga looking at him with an unreadable expression.

he sees the naga’s mouth move, as if saying something(a taunt it’s taunting him it’s-), but he can’t hear it over the loud, rapid beating of his heart, through the blood rushing through his ears.

distantly, he’s aware that he’s hyperventilating, but it’s kind of hard to focus on that when death is literally right in front of you-

the naga looks like it’s trying to talk again, its brow furrowing, but he can’t hear oh god what is it saying to him what is it going to do to him why is it getting darker why is he feeling dizzy why is-

his vision blurs, and for a moment, everything is simply just- too much.

the last thing he registers is the faint sound of the naga’s voice — he can’t understand the words, but he thinks it almost sounds- panicked.

and then, everything goes dark.

——————————————

ah, shit. the avian passed out. that’s not good, tommy thinks.

for a moment, he just sits there, staring at them, before slowly, he reaches his hands inside the hole in the side of the tree, and gently scoops the little sparrow up.

and it's as tommy brings the avian close, seeing it in his hands, that he fully notices.

they.. they were so.... small.

like.. yeah, he always knew they were pretty tiny beforehand, it was hard not to notice. but.... it’s one thing to see them from a distance, it’s a whole other to see the poor guy in his grasp.

even with their wings extended, they were only just about bigger than his hands.

and.. now that he’s focusing on their wings.. is, is one of them injured?

he shifts the avian into one of his hands, and carefully touches their right wing. he stretches it out gently, and-

a large cut, right across. it isn’t too bad, all things considered — certainly not fatal — but it had to be painful to move.

and yet.. the avian still tried to fly away from him. surely, that couldn’t be good for their injury, yet they still did it.

they looked so.. so scared, too. not like all the other times he chased them.

or..

now that he’s really thinking about it.. was the avian just as scared as he chased them before? the sparrow always taunted him back — hell, sometimes they even started their fun little spats — but.. did the avian not see it the way he did? as a fun little game between friends?

did..

did the avian not think they were friends?

all this time, tommy thought they were on the same page — the avian kept coming back, after all — but.. if, if they thought that.. that he was gonna kill them, all this time..

fuck. he messed up.

and he didn’t know if he could fix this.

he was broken out of his thoughts as the avian shifted slightly. they had tucked the wing he had grabbed back in, letting out a quiet, pained warble as they upset their injury. after that, they went still once more.

tommy stared down at the avian, eyes still fixated on the wing.

..he may not be able to salvage whatever friendship he thought they had, but.. maybe he could still help. just this once.

and then, he’ll.. he’ll leave them alone, and they’ll never have to deal with him- never have to be afraid of him again.

not if he can help it.

——————————————

tommy ends up bringing the avian to his home.

or.. “home.” in actuality, it’s less of a home, and more of a place he resides in.

it’s in a cave, one incredibly hard to find if you don’t know the way. at least, no wild animals have made their way in here before.

or maybe they were just wise enough to stay away.

either way — typically, he doesn’t get many visitors.

and.. while he’s certainly wanted someone to hang out with for the longest time, this.. wasn’t the way he envisioned it happening.

once inside, he curls the end of his tail up, and carefully places the little sparrow inside. he tightens his grip slightly — nothing too tight, of course, just enough to make sure they don’t slip.

once tommy’s sure they’re secure, he turns towards where he hoards his possessions, and pulls out a bag — one that used to be owned by a stray camper, one who had run away at the mere sight of him, leaving behind all of their belongings.

it.. kind of sucks, being so feared all the time. it’s lonely. animals of all sorts try to stay clear of his path — which sucks when he wants to eat, or when he just wants a pal.

and he’s barely seen anything beyond animals — there tends to be very few humans that dare venture in the forest, let alone his territory inside. those that do are either unaware idiots, or think they could brave whatever lies in the shadows.

they both tend to run away with their tails between their legs soon after they enter.

and.. even if they were stupid, it.. still kind of hurts to see them run away.

but i suppose it can be good, sometimes, he muses, pulling out bandages from inside the bag, otherwise, i wouldn’t have this.

a first aid kit — granted, one for humans, not.. whatever the hell he and the bird are supposed to be. but, ehh, tah-may-toh tah-mah-toh, it’ll be good enough.

probably.

..hopefully.

tommy turns his attention back to the avian. slowly, he shifts his tail’s grip, releasing the injured wing from its grasp, while keeping the other one pinned; and examines the cut.

it wasn’t worse than before, but he can still see the red spreading around the surrounding feathers.

he unravels the bandage roll, tearing part of it off. he stares at the wide material for a second, before tearing it in half as well — it would be too big for the little bird’s wing, otherwise.

with the bandage obtained, he gently grasps the injured wing, stretching it out slightly.

he hesitates slightly, his eyes flicking back and forth from the wing and bandaged.

he.. doesn’t actually know how to take care of injuries. especially an injury on a wing.

wrapping it up in a bandage.. should help.... right?

welp, i fucking hope it does, ‘cause it’s the only thing i got.

he shifts his grip on the bandage, before carefully wrapping it around the wing.

it’s around the fifth or so wrap-around that the avian begins to move.

it’s subtle at first — a twitch here or there that could easily be explained as something else — until the little sparrow lets out a loud, frightened chirp.

that’s the only warning tommy has before the avian begins thrashing in his grip.

startled, he instinctively tightens his grip, tip of his tail wrapping slightly around the avians neck to keep them still.

that, however, seems to have done the opposite effect of what he wanted — the avian just began struggling even harder, flapping their injured wing in an attempt to get away — which hey wait no don’t do that-!

“wh- hey hey, no no no calm down!” tommy exclaims, turning the avian around to get a better look at them.

the first thing he notices is their expression — frightened, wide-eyes flickering everywhere, but seemingly unseeing. as he notes the panicked breathing, and the terrified peeps, tommy realizes — they’re not all here right now. they’re too busy being scared to fully realize why they’re scared.

“shit,” he mutters under his breath, eyes wide, while trying to think of what the fuck to do.

he’s- he’s barely been around other people normally, how the fuck is he meant to deal with this?!

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

tommy pulls the avian closer to him, and starts- petting their head.

look, he doesn’t know what the fuck else to do, okay?!

the bird flinches as soon as he touches them, but he rubs his hand through their hair anyway, all the while murmuring sweet nothings at them in an attempt to get them to calm down.

“shhh, you’re alright,” tommy whispers, “you’re okay, i’m not gonna hurt you, little sparrow. you hear me? i’m here to help, i promise.”

the avian can’t hear him, he knows that, and at first, they still struggled against him. but after a few minutes of murmuring and rubbing their head, the scared little chirps quiet, and their struggles die down.

and soon, they fall limp.

panicked, tommy snaps his hand away and quickly examines the avian.

after a moment, he relaxes. they’re fine, they just.. passed out.

again.

well, that was.. a thing. that happened, tommy thinks.

he relaxes his tail, and turns the avian away once more, looking again at the injured wing.

alright, tommy gives a tired smile, to no one in particular, let’s get back to this.

and then, we can..

his smile falters.

..and then, we never have to see each other again.

——————————————

it took a while for ranboo to wake up.

his mind had been awake for a bit, but he hadn’t bothered to actually.. get up. his body felt exhausted, and he just- wasn’t quite ready to deal with the day yet.

sadly, though, he felt his stomach growling at him, and he let out a quiet groan.

curse you, bodily needs, he pouted, before opening an eye.

he was in his hollow, he noted, which.. felt both right and... wrong, somehow. and- something was different, as well.

he wasn’t able to dwell on that for any longer, though, as his stomach ended up yelling at him once more, and he winced. damn, he felt really hungry right now.

with a sigh, he pushed himself up, before moving to stretch-

only to pause when one of his wings wouldn’t quite open up.

his brow furrowed, and he turned his head to check.

he- he couldn’t see it all that well, but-

one of his wings was wrapped up in a fabric.

“what the-?” ranboo muttered questioningly, blinking at the material.

his ear flicked absentmindedly as he registered something moving around, but he was too focused on his wing.

when.. when did this happen? did he, like.. wrap it up before? no, no he couldn’t have, surely he would remember?

..well, maybe not, he was never the best at remembering stuff, especially early in the morning.

......or, he thinks as he spares a glance outside, a bit before night..?

he doubletakes, and looks back out again. sure enough, the sky — or what little he could see of it through the trees — held an orange hue.

..okay, now he really needed to know what the hell happened, because he does not usually sleep in this late. hell, he doesn’t even take naps, there should be no reason for him to wake up at any time other than the morning.

think, ranboo, think — what happened?

he.. he had mistaken the amount of food he had left, and ended up running out this morning — he winced when the thought caused his stomach to churn, still yelling at him for not giving it an offering of sorts.

great, gotta deal with that for a while, i guess, he grimaces.

so, he went out today to go get food, and ended up going to the.. the naga’s territory.

and, as if the final puzzle piece clicked into place, everything flooded back.

holy shit, the hawk- his wing twitches, only now registering the dull sting of the cut underneath the fabric.

but, wait- the hawk wasn’t the only thing he encountered.

he gasps as he realized the last thing he remembered.

getting caught by the naga.

but- but if the naga got him, then- why is he in his hollow? was.. was it a dream- wait, no it couldn’t be, why else would his wing be injured. but then, then why is he-?

his ear flicks when he hears something outside again, and he freezes.

it.. it sounded like- like something was on his tree-

the naga was on his tree.

in a panic, his mind clouded, he darts towards the entrance of his hollow — he needs to get out, he needs to escape, he’s a sitting duck if he stays in there-

as he jumps out of the tree, though, he realizes something he forgot.

the fabric.

he tried to spread his wings, but- his injured wing is tied, he can’t fly, he can’t fly, he’s falling he’s-

something clasps around his body, and suddenly, he’s dragged onto the ground with a flop, and a grunt from somewhere behind him.

a moment passes, where he sits there wide-eyed, trying to register what happened.

and then it does.

ranboo whirls his head around in a panic- (as best as he can with how he’s trapped he’s trapped he’s-) and ends up staring the naga in the eyes.

the naga has half of its body on the ground, its arms outstretched in front from trying to grab him. the rest of its body trails up into his tree, the end of its tail curling around the branches in an attempt to keep it from falling. not that it did a great job, considering the fact that they’re still laying in the ground.

they stare at each other for a minute, ranboo’s heart beating fast the whole time, before the naga’s body scrunches up like a- a caterpillar. he’s confused, before realizing it’s simply trying to pick itself up.

it pushes its upper body off the ground, as the rest of its tail ends up slithering off of the tree.

soon, it’s standing(so to speak) normally, staring once more at him.

fuck, he thinks, wide-eyed as looks the naga in the eyes, this is it. i’m dead.

suddenly, the clawed-hands he’s in start to move, and he shuts his eyes tight with a terrified twitter, his breath halting.

he- he doesn’t want to see it. see what happens to him.

he can feel the claws around him twitch slightly as they move, carrying him- somewhere.

he jolts as he feels himself being placed on something soft, and before he can question it, the claws start to move away-

instantly, his eyes snap open as he throws himself away, his back slamming against the back of- something, and his wings scream at him in pain but it doesn’t matter he needs to get away get away get away-

his mind doubletakes when he realizes that he’s-

he’s back in his hollow.

he’s...... what..?

ranboo’s eyes snap back to the naga as its hands move out of the hollow, leaving its face in clear view.

he’s still breathing frantically, eyes still wide, staring right at the naga’s blue slitted eyes.

he’s- he’s never noticed they were blue before, actually. he’s usually too focused on, well.. staying alive, to pay attention to things like the color of his hunter’s eyes.

ranboo’s taken out of his thoughts when the naga speaks up.

“uh,” the naga says, and- he thinks he may be going crazy, because- the naga almost sounds like it's nervous, “i, uh- stay...here. you’re still hurt.”

it pauses, looking like it wants to say more, but, after giving him a once over, seems to decide against it.

instead, it.. slithers away out of sight.

for a few minutes, ranboo stays still, out of fear that it’ll come back. it- it has to, why wouldn’t it? it’s been after him for- for months...

but as time passes, he- he shakily walks towards the hollow’s entrance, looks around, and-

its.. it’s not nearby. not from what he could see, anyway. and- sure, it’s getting kind of dark, but- he’s.. he thinks it’s gone.

..why..? why did it leave? he- he’d been in its grasp.. twice, even, if the fabric on his wing had to say anything.

his eyes ended up trailing back to the material. now that he was closely examining it, he noticed.. it was a bit red, actually.

blood, he realizes. this.. was the fabric.. stopping the bleeding?

did.. did the naga.. help him....?

but- that doesn’t make any sense. ever since they met, the predator had been trying to kill him.

his thoughts were stopped when his stomach growled at him- shit, he’s.. he’s still hungry. but- he doesn’t have any food, and there’s no way he could go out to get more — even without the naga’s- threat? warning?- his wing is still hurt. the only reason he could fly on it before was the adrenaline.

he shook his head, looking back in his hollow- before freezing when he saw what was inside.

there was a roll of fabric, that looked similar to the material around his wing, but- that’s not what caught his attention.

no, what he had noticed was right beside it. it.. it was a whole pile of berries in his nest. one that could last him a whole week.

i.. how did i not see this before? he thinks numbly, staring at it. after a moment of deliberation, he walks up to it, cautiously picks one of them up, and inspects it. it.. didn’t seem to be any of the poisonous berries, at least not one he knows of.

hesitantly, he takes a bite into it- before freezing.

hawthorn berries, he realizes. his favorite.

who- he starts to think, but he stops himself. there’s only one thing that could have done this. the naga.

but.. why?!? why was it doing this?

his stomach growled at him once more- quieter, but much more needily, now that it knew there was something to satisfy it.

his eyes flicked between the entrance of his hollow, and the pile of berries, before he sighed, digging in once more. he.. he can think about it later. for now, he’ll just enjoy this while it lasts.

——————————————

it’s.. it’s been around a week since ranboo was injured, and found by the naga, and.. frankly, he’s still just as confused as he was before. maybe even more so.

it.. it hadn’t really come back. he was expecting it to —

why wouldn’t it? it had been chasing after him for- for months, why would it give up now?

he can only assume it’s the one who gave him the berries, as well as the fabric(which.. as much as he hated to admit it, especially if it was the naga who gave it to him, but.. it did help his wing, kept him from using it while it tried to heal), seeing as it was the only thing around, but.. the only question he has is.... why?

was it.. did it think it was unfair, to catch him while he was hurt? when he’s fully healed, will it.. will it immediately try to kill him again..?

oh prime, oh prime oh prime oh prime..

he let out a shuddering breath, before shaking his head.

it’s.. it’s no use thinking about that right now. it’s not like he could do much about it, anyway.

so instead, he dug into another berry, and tried to find something to distract himself.

he brings his attention to his wing — he thinks it might be about time to change out the fabric once again.

but, he realizes, as he takes a closer look, it doesn’t really look like he.. needs one? the fabric still looks pretty clean, even though he knows it’s been a while since it was first applied.

does.. does that mean......

carefully, he undoes the wrapping, and as he moves it away-

his.. his wing looks healed.

he flaps it experimentally, and- it doesn’t hurt.

his eyes widen, and immediately, he throws himself out of the hollow, and- and he takes flight.

ranboo lets out a laugh as he soars through the air, doing laps around his tree.

he- he can fly again!

prime, it’s been a whole week since he could fly- it doesn’t sound like too much, but the time had passed by slowly, between his injury and his fear.

he didn’t realize how much he missed flying — he guesses going without it for a week makes one forget how fun it can be.

ranboo lands on a branch, ignoring the small ache in his wing — maybe going all out with flying after not using his wings for a while wasn’t the best idea, but hey, he’ll live.

he sobers a bit.

he’s- he’s still alive. even after all he’s been through, even after that hawk, and getting caught by the naga, he’s.. still alive.

but for how long?

now that he’s better, will the naga.. go back to hunting him?

he.. he should probably leave. that would be the smartest thing to do. just- pack up(metaphorically speaking, he doesn’t have many belongings), and head out for a different forest.

he- he doesn’t know what the naga would do if he fell into its grasp again. it could- it could hurt him, could kill him, could-

could.. help him, he thinks, looking back at his wing.

ranboo.. still doesn’t know why exactly it helped him. his first thought was because it wanted to catch him fair and square, no outside forces, but..

if.. if that was the case, wouldn’t it have taken the chance to taunt him about it? it’s never passed that opportunity up before.

yet, beyond that first scare earlier in the week, the naga... hadn’t shown up since.

one would think that it would try to check up on him, see his progress, to know when he’s up for the taking again, but..

....but why else would the naga help him? it’s been incredibly adamant about hunting him — he would know, he’s been chased for months.

it just.. doesn’t make sense.

ranboo just wants an answer, at this point, but it’s not like he can get one.

..........unless, he......

....no.

no, he shouldn’t. he wouldn’t. he can’t, that’s- that would just be a death wish.

..but the other option was to just.. wait, and he thinks if he does that, his heart would just explode from anticipation.

if.. if he goes to the naga, at least then he’ll get an answer — it’s just.. that answer might end in his death.

is it.. really that better than just waiting..?

..well, if he keeps overthinking everything like this, he’ll scare his mind to death.

……if.. if he just stays out of reach, maybe he’ll be okay? just stay in the trees, in the air. he’ll.. he’ll be fine.

he’s gonna be fine.

he’s just.. potentially heading towards his demise. it’s fine.

just.. just take a deep breath, ranboo. you’re gonna be okay.

an answer. a reason, for why it helped him, for why he’s still alive. that’s all he wants.

as soon as he gets that, he’ll fly out of there. the naga won’t even get him.

you’re.. you’re gonna be okay.

an answer.

that’s it.

——————————————

it took a while for ranboo to find the naga.

in that time, he almost managed to talk himself out of this thirteen times, but- he’s still doing this.

it makes sense that the naga would be hard to find, he supposes — the naga’s territory was pretty large, taking up most of the forest. there was a lot of ground, and it could be anywhere inside it.

still, it’s a bit weird, seeing as any other time he’d encounter the naga not too long after stepping foot into its territory.

it’s as he’s flying around that he manages to catch sight of something red in the corner of his eye, and he nearly trips over himself in the air as he doubles back.

there, laying on a rock, staring at a lake, was the naga.

ranboo landed in a branch in a nearby tree, and stared at the naga for a second.

he opened his mouth to say something, but paused.

what.. was his plan here, exactly......?

..did he seriously not have a plan.

oh for- in all the time it took to find it, did he seriously not think of some way to at least start this conversation?

ranboo, you’re an idiot, he grumbled at himself.

okay- plan, plan he needs a plan.

how the hell does he start this? does he just- throw out the question right now? say hi?

he let out a quiet, frustrated twitter-

though, not quiet enough, he guesses, as he sees the naga’s ear flick.

and that’s the only warning he gets as he sees the naga whirl its head around, eyes darting around the area, before landing on him.

okay, mental note, ranboo? stop making chirps when you’re supposed to be hiding.

they stared at each other for a minute, ranboo not quite willing to make the first move, and neither was the naga, it seemed.

..oh, screw it, he’s getting nowhere with this.

“h.. hey there,” ranboo says hesitantly, his talons twitching slightly.

the naga’s ear flicks again, and for a moment, it says nothing.

“..ayup,” the naga replies. silence, for a moment, before it continues, “uh- how, uh.. how’re you doing?”

oh, great, he’s getting told icebreakers. this is nice.

“i’m- i’m fine. definitely better than before,” ranboo stiltily says, flaring his wings a bit to show it.

the naga hummed, nodding slightly. “good, that’s good,” it says.

the conversation trailed off again.

he’ll be the first to admit: this isn’t exactly what he pictured would happen. he thought he’d be- be immediately chased again, not.. awkward small talk.

prime, this isn’t going well, he grimaces, we’ve had better conversations while i was running for my life.

speaking of-

“why did you help me?” ranboo spoke up, deciding to give up and go right to the point.

the naga jolted slightly. “..what do you mean?”

“i mean- just.. why did you help me?” he repeats, “i thought- you’ve been hunting me this whole time, for months. why did that change?” and.. are you gonna do it again? he doesn’t add.

he doesn’t want the answer to that last one just yet, he doesn’t think he’d like it.

the naga’s eyes widened.

“i- i wasn’t trying to hunt you!” the naga said quickly, and despite himself, ranboo gave it an unimpressed look.

“ah, yeah, right. there was some other reason you kept chasing me down every time you saw me,” ranboo deadpanned.

the naga winced, ears flicking.

“okay, well- i was hunting you, yeah-” —ranboo tensed a bit— “but but!! i wasn’t going to kill you!”

ranboo blanched.

“well why else would you keep chasing after me?” ranboo asked incredulously.

“i just thought we were playing, like- a fucking game or something, like tag!!” the naga yelled, throwing its hands up, and-

huh??

“a- a game.” ranboo said numbly. “all these months. you were hunting me down. for a game.”

the naga paused, fidgeting with its claws.

“y..yeah?” the naga said hesitantly.

oh you have got to be kidding me.

“how in the world am i supposed to know that?!” ranboo shouted, waving his hands in the air, ignoring how the naga flinched, “what else was i supposed to think- ‘oh, hey look, this giant snake-thing keeps chasing me every time it sees me, guess it just wants to play tag!’. if i had that mindset, i’d be dead by now.”

the naga’s shoulders hunched, its eyes looking everywhere except for him.

“i- look, i’m sorry.” the naga said, causing ranboo to pause, “i-i didn’t realize- i thought you knew- i mean, you kept coming back! i just thought- ‘why would they keep coming back if they were scared’, you know? but- but i was wrong, i guess. and i’m sorry for that, big man.”

ranboo stayed quiet, thinking.

the.. the naga thought, this whole time, that this was a game. that’s- that’s fine, yeah no, just call the months of his life spent in terror of being caught a game, that’s fine.

he tries not to think about how he would have faired if the naga had tried to actually hunt him down.

but.. looking back, he.. has always engaged in the banter the naga threw at him. and.. well, sometimes he was the one who started it. and.. he did keep coming back. sure, it was because pretty much all of the good resources in the forest were in the naga’s territory, but..

he can see how the naga thought the way it did.

“so..” ranboo spoke up, causing the naga’s head to jerk up towards him, “this- this whole time- you.. weren’t going to kill me?”

“never,” the naga says immediately, shaking its head. “fuck, have- have you really been thinking that the entire time?”

ranboo hunched his shoulders, and nodded.

“shit, man, i’m- i’m so, so sorry. fuck, if i had known-” the naga cuts itself off, staring down at its hands, tail curling up anxiously, “shit, this.. this whole time, i thought- thought we were friends, but-” it clenched its claws, before knocking one of its fists against its head, “fuck, ‘course not, we’ve barely ever had a real conversation. i don’t even know your name, how could i-”

the naga kept yelling at itself, but ranboo tuned it out, instead just.. staring at it.

this.. really didn’t turn out the way he thought it would. he thought he’d be running away by now, not.. not listening to a predator berate itself.

the naga.. this is not how he’s used to seeing it act. usually they act a lot more sure of itself, more confident, less.. this..

it.. they seem really, genuinely sorry.

this isn’t how he thought this would turn out, no, but.. it’s certainly not the worst outcome.

after a moment of hesitation, he takes in a deep breath, and he jumps off the branch, fluttering down until he lands on the ground right in front of the rock the naga was laying on.

the naga only notices him right as he lands, recoiling as soon as they do.

ranboo looks up at them, ignoring how his mind is yelling at him for getting so close to a predator. they stare at each other for a moment, before he holds out a hand.

“my name is ranboo,” he says, giving the naga a gentle smile.

the naga’s eyes widen, as they stare down at him with a shocked look.

a moment passes as their claws twitch, before slowly, they lift up one of their hands, and, after a brief hesitation, they extend their hand towards him- before curling all but one finger as they realize that their hand is way too large.

he grabs at the finger, and they shake.

“tommy,” the naga- tommy- says, sharing a hesitant smile.

ranboo’s own smile grows bigger.

“nice to actually meet you,” ranboo says, giving tommy a cheeky grin.

tommy lets out a chuckle at that, and after that, all is calm.