Okay so the idea about using vehicles to block the tide was probably one of the best ones that they could come up with on the spot. Using a building wasn’t even on the table and that was fine; there was a wry grin on kings face as he saw that Sasaki not only froze the tide but slammed the bus into the large water elemental. Something that the large mutant couldn’t really do. The kid would probably be useful for whatever group he was a part of.

Probably would make a good hunter too if he could get water.

What he wasn’t expecting was for the water not only to get unfrozen, but for the golem to reform in a fashion that made it sentient. King stopped with his truck and blinked slowly. What? How did it do that? The jets of water that had shot down a little early drew the balefale gaze of the dragon. Demura wanted to handle that lady? Fine.

He’d turn about; gritting his teeth a little bit. Physically he wasn’t able to do much against water; or at least water in this variety. Hearing the lady say something, seeing the tide shoot out a blast of water, king wasn’t about to be able to dodge the attack. So three things happened in order.

The water hit him on the shoulder, or a little under it.

The sensation of burning; the water wasn’t immediately hot or at least to the point of where his regeneration couldn’t just help him shrug that sensation off.

The next was him feeling his weight on that end shift and his front leg was more or less detached from the rest of his body. The shift in his weight caused him to stumble and slam into the pavement. Pain lancing through his body and there was a growl of pain; hatred flowed into his eyes and his baleful green gaze shifted back to the elemental.

”Tch… Not again.”

Though rather than slip into a rage, or scream in pain the large dragon shifted as though this wasn’t something they were unused to. Huffing and adjusting his body went to work. One blink, then two, then three? First the bone, then the muscle, then the scales, this time around the front leg had five claws, a few dew claws here or there and by the looks of it the joint was a little off at first before it seemed to set into place.

Not to mention it was a little larger than the last instance of the limb. Though king would breathe out slowly, regenerating limbs quickly took a lot of energy and he wasn’t about to just rush the being that was able to slice off one of his legs.

—
Tldr
-King stops pushing his truck
-Thinks Sasaki is pretty useful
-IF demura wants to fight the water lady let him
-oh no he gets hit by boiling water and loses a front leg
-Wait this guy has regen and grows it back? :^]

King blinked slowly at the other, they spoke multiple languages? They were polite and they seemed to be well traveled if not a little chatty. King’s brows furrowed and he’d bring one of his front legs up to scratch at his head slowly. He disliked long conversations, long words. It sometimes hurt to think too much. But he didn’t feel like this person meant him any ill will. There was a semblence of wonder and he’d rumble softly.

”It’s. All right.”

King cocked his head to one side as she referred to him as ‘her liege’. Something clicked and he let out a bemused chuckle; he wasn’t the king so much here as his old name that his mother gave him ages ago had meant king. But some might take it as that was his title. He’d shake his head slowly.

”Name. Is. King. Not…. Title.”

There was no malice in his words, just a simple correction. Once she rose from her bow she’d be able to see that king was somewhat curious about her still. She wanted to travel? She brought food and a book when she took a break. Something that he understood. He generally kept away from students and the like because of what they decided to do in his area. A lot of students lately and he’d ease out a soft breath.

”There’s… a few… paths. That are… safe.”

He’d rumble out and flicked his ears; she was asking for permission? He’d slowly blink as he considered this. Polite. Honest. Forward. Normally he’d be a little more rash and brash about this sort of thing. But he felt no ill will from Olivia. He’d rumble in thought and eventually nod his head.

”...You may. Have.. my… per… miss…ion.”

He had to break up the longer words, some of them hurt to say. Some of them didn’t roll off the tongue. In this case it had probably been decades since he used such a long word honestly. He’d exhale softly and turn his head. Her scent was more like this forest the longer she’d stick around so… it’d be harder to track her which was fine he figured.

”Plenty… of places to go.”

Being lost in tokyo normally wasn’t usually a big problem, you’d eventually find a landmark you recognized and you’d be able to find your way home or to a place that you could use to get somewhere that you would be comfortable in. There were plenty of places to ask for directions and plenty more that would be willing to offer help of some kind. That was definitely not the case for king. In his absence from the big cities and society as a whole there was nothing in the city he recognized; things that he knew what they were but didn’t really know what to do with that information. A car was something that moved fast and got you from point a to point b. A bus carried a lot of people and was sizeable. Banks were where money went; a currency that didn’t matter to him.

People were scared of him from the get go, but he wasn’t causing problems. He was trying to actively avoid that. Problems called heroes; problems called vigilantes. Two groups he knew very little about other than being a thorn in his hide every time they showed up. Something he really wanted to avoid. He spent the better part of the day studying the motions of the street to understand what he had to do to cross safely. Red meant stop. Green meant go. People crossed on the striped lines after a hand turned to a man walking. Rudimentary knowledge many people had.

Rudimentary knowledge of society and the city, not knowledge he needed to retain what-so-ever. Diagonal was faster to cross, so that’s where he did. The pavement groaning under his feet. The beast blinked. Once. Twice. The groaning continued and he was gifted with a sense of weightlessness when the pavement underneath him crumbled. It was not something that he had expected and the moment of suspension let him see the sky briefly as his head arched upwards as his body fell down. A nice sky, a few clouds, sun starting it’s descent.

His landing in the pavement, concrete and abandoned kiosks underneath him was anything but comfortable, the dust billowing every which way and leaving him in a momentary stupor. Was he underground? The beast slowly blinked, trying to figure out what had happened. He had fell maybe about… a story? Two? There was some bits of concrete, road and pipes that were laying across him, some water draining nearby as he had broken some piping. Taking in his surroundings he wasn’t sure what to make of the crowd that had run or stood there in shock as a literal dragon fell into their laps.

Any injury of his quickly healed, he could already feel a few broken bones turn to fractures and upon movement he found that a pipe had found its way into his thigh. Grumbling he’d lean to grip it tendrily in his teeth… This was going to probably hurt. His eyes locked on a few individuals that had remained, either out of shock or trying to still process what was going on…

Coming anywhere near the city was a bad idea…

The soft rain had stopped maybe a few hours ago, it was a refreshing entrance to his day. Cracking an eye the behemoth let out a soft sigh. Rain was pleasant, the water especially when it ran down his scales. It was pure, it felt nice and tasted nice too. He’d slowly yawn as he stretched, looking to the sky as he did so. Not a cloud in the sky.

It’d mean less likely to find prey out in the open he figured, at least around here. They’d be hiding in the shade. Grumbling he’d pull himself out of his home, a gift from someone else that he hadn’t seen in a minute but that was fine. There were many different people that had stumbled across him at this point, ranging from outright fear to fascination. The rumbling of his steps started the second that he moved; he could hear the birds go immediately quiet.

It was frustrating as he moved along; much of the scents of the day were washed away by the earlier rain meaning tracking things was going to be difficult… Gritting his teeth as he stepped over a log the dragon blinked a bit as he felt a ‘snap’ and a sudden pressure on his forepaw. Looking down he’d blink slowly as he realized he had stepped right into…

A bear trap.

It was straining and was pinned into the ground. With a sigh he’d pull his leg up; easily taking it out of the ground but… He inspected it and frowned a bit. It was made out of some stern kind of stuff; he’d need to smash it against something harder than the trees around here. Which meant a hike towards the roadways where metal and pavement sat. Gods that was annoying but… The dragon rolled his shoulders and slowly started to move towards where he recalled the hiking trails.

They led to the roads and he’d find his way there from that.

Tokyo was the furthest you could get from his stomping grounds, Shinjuku or Koto-ku were even more remarkably further than where you could expect to see him normally. But today was anything but normal, he had taken a river that he was unfamiliar with to the ocean, not realizing that it had taken him to the ocean. Flustered and a little lost the massive sea dragon quirker ended up finding himself in the realm of the city.

But unlike the many years ago where he was constantly berated, attacked or beaten people here seemed to just look at him in a quizzical sort of way. Generally wanting to keep their distance from an understandably large individual such as himself there were more people hurrying away from him than… Well Snapping pictures or honking horns. A few folks in larger cars would have to wait for him to move to one side.

Understandably king was a little more muted, a little more quiet and a bit more prone to looking for wherever the forest was. Not being able to really get a bead on it the mutant let out a sigh. He just wanted to go home and away from all the noise, all the smell of… city. To his knowledge there were places he could ask for directions; but that was buried deep beneath the hatred of the city and he had no idea what those places looked like.

Letting out a soft grumble the behemoth of a mutant started to wander in one picked direction that would be something he’d likely reflect on later as a bad idea. The first thing that he realized was an issue was that of the sudden weight and heavy rain that poured from the sky. While it was causing people to scream or run for cover he just sort of stood there baffled by the sudden downpour; huffing to himself he’d hurry into the best cover an alley could provide, given it was an awful fit for someone of his nature he’d get to see the reason for the sudden downpour.

An even bigger creature made out of water. He’d blink slowly; trying to figure out why exactly this was here. It looked even more out of place as he was. Maybe it was friendly? Maybe it could talk? Maybe this was it’s turf? He doubted that. The city wasn’t a place for monsters.

Then what came next was something that he realized was… Probably a hero. Definitely a hero with the way that they commanded the situation. Shouting for people to clear the streets and immediately attacking the water monster. He’d flick his ears a few times from his cramped spot in the alley.

Wait.

Heroes helped people. Often they’d attack problem makers. But they often helped those that made themselves helpful. If he helped the heroes would they help him get back to where he was trying to go? Or would they attack him entirely? A moment of reflection and king made his decision.

Help out the hero in exchange for directions. He seemed to also forget that he was probably likely going to get attacked too. Pulling himself out of the alley with a growl the towering dragon decided to charge the golem with a roar. It was probably a bad idea, probably an awful idea. But somewhere in the back of his head told him that this was the correct course of action in the middle of the city. Not having directions, being lost and being trapped with some big old golem was not on the list of things he wanted to be a part of.

So just help out and he could go home. Easy. Right?

The reaction that he was given by the human in front of him was not what he expected. The excitement in their eyes took him aback and the general lack of fear was evident. His confusion was evident and he’d adjust slightly, tilting his head to one side ever so mildly. Stunning? He had never heard anyone call him that. A soft earflick and his innerthoughts turned towards confusion. She seemed to be honest about it and her scent didn’t seem to reek of the city as badly as the others before.

It was enough to really cause him some earnest moments of thought. Hearing her explain that his skin made her think of jewels or shiny beetles made him blink slowly. The baleful green eyes staggered out into more confused hues.

”Scales. Not Skin.”

He would rumble out softly; there was a cautious tone to his voice. All the compliments were… strange to him. It confused him greatly; no one acted like this. Always defensive or aggressive towards him. She was the first that responded like that. Flicking his ear at her introduction and reasoning for her behavior well…

”King.”

He’d sniff at the air, leaning forward to take in her scent properly. His head leveling with her body so he could inspect this strange human. He was very animalistic in his mannerisms. But he was certainly used to being the predator with the way his body moved. Slight angles, adjustments, his long tail helping him as he started to move to one side. Fully coming into view for the strange human.

”...What is… Olivia here for?”

Mother’s day was something that he often didn’t think about due to his somewhat frustrating past. But the day often when he found out about it brought a weirdness to his heart. The gentle face of his mother was something that made him ease into a depressive stupor. Something that caused him to mope around his territory and frequently during this week he’d go without eating. Not that his body couldn’t handle it and the preythings about his territory would enjoy peace from the slumbering giant.

But this week was different, upon the day of mother’s day a scent he didn’t recognize came with sounds from the city. The quietness was interrupted and he’d growl softly as it demanded his attention. Easing out of the humble den he had as a gift from another quirker the leviathan moved towards the rumbling sound. His ears twitching in annoyance as he neared it’s location.

He had no idea what Rui intended of him; or if the person that had this annoying sound even knew of him. But as time passed the both of them would find one another in a clearing. King’s body scraped against a tree; announcing his presence with the loud clicking of scales falling to the ground and his baleful eyes would meet that of the human’s body.

He didn’t recognize her as the many that had come before; but there was a semblance of peace in their stature that stayed his fangs. Instead the massive beast blinked a bit; he felt his body want to eat but he knew that he’d need to hunt for that. There was an easy solution to this. So he spoke; it had been getting easier speaking with how many visitors he had gotten in the last few months. His voice was incredibly deep and there was a hint of annoyance at the boombox which earned a baleful glare as the notes played throughout the forest. Music wasn’t bad, but this music didn’t resonate with him.

”...What is human doing here?”