Happy Mother's Day(Ozaki/One other)

The Nightmare was quiet for a moment as the other gave him an answer that wasn’t exactly satisfying to the curiosity within; however, there was another part of the Nightmare that reined him in a bit. The darker side that had a much different form of curiosity. The inward check, simply caused the Nightmare to huff a bit. “Not exactly. I would like to know what said people were; however, I will not push you…for now.” Well at least the answer was honest. Anyway…

Oho? What was this?

As the vampire’s eyes went to the bird resting on the Nightmare’s head, the skull headed crow would tilt its head one way and then the other before puffing itself up a bit, trying to make itself look impressive since it had someone eyeing it no doubt. Taking note of the vampire more so than the bird on his head, the Nightmare would raise an eyebrow.

“Do I have to perform a mind dive to get you to speak what is on your mind? You know you are as free to poke me for information as I do you, don’t you?” the Nightmare would say, leaving an invitation of a kind for the other who seemed to have curiosities of his own he left unspoken.

The Dreamweaver was indeed simply picking up on signs. While it was true that he did pick up on negative emotions, he didn't use them to determine all things. He did like to use his own mind after all. Would be a waste not to use it.

In any case, whether the vampire wanted Rika involved or not in his personal affairs, the Nightmare would probably continue to dig and poke, but for the moment it seemed he was giving the guy a breather. How long would that last? Who knew, but for now he was opening the door to allow the other to poke at him now if he wished.

He would catch the way the other responded to the mind dive thing and smirked as he nodded. “Good. Then I expect you to open your mouth more.” A simple statement with a lot of truth behind it. The Nightmare could handle a bit of vagueness, but being difficult made the curious Nightmare a bit of an issue at times. While he was respectful enough, he could be pushed to do things not exactly kind to get what he wanted. Though he tried his best to keep that side of him in check. That aside when it came to the question of the bird, the Nightmare would hum.

“Memy is not a pet. She is a friend that comes around often. She followed me from the other side and likes to use my head as a nest. There are other birds of black feathers that like to gather around me at times, but she is a constant. Though what is a talent in this sense?” If the other was asking if this was some sort of trick he practiced then that answer was no. He wasn’t quite sure why birds were drawn to him. They just were.

What exactly the skull headed birds were was something that the Nightmare couldn’t answer. While they did indeed come from that strange other side, at the same time they seemed as if they didn’t belong there. They seemed like some sort of visitor grounded in a different reality that did not play by the shifting dreamscape's rules. They were quite odd. Perhaps an invading species. He wasn’t sure without digging further. An adventure for another day. Now then what about these talent things?

Rika would furrow his eyebrows in thought. “Ah, so you are referring to a skill or power. Well,” he would fold his arms as he thought a bit. “I do have some powers, but I am not sure if my abilities call things like animals to me. Though…it would make sense why I got along with them so well if it was power based.” Either that or he and animals just had an unspoken connection. Another mystery he would peck at later. Right now he was highly distracted by what the other was doing.

As he saw the bat, the Nightmare would smile naturally and easily. The cuteness of the animal and having it to focus on for a bit caused him to release a bit of the agitation from earlier. He’d watch the little bat amused before a question came to his mind.

“Hmm, I’ve met another that could talk them. Not sure if it was power or his species. Though can you talk to them too?” he would ask taking a step closer to get a better look at the bat itself. The bird on his head would fluff a bit at that, but stayed quiet as it watched. Well for the moment, the topic had his attention, but would that keep the Nightmare from coming back to the vague things? Well time and mood would tell.

The bird would fluff a bit more before taking note of the other’s action and let out a caw around the same time the Nightmare would chuckle slightly. “Don’t crush the poor thing,” he would tease before the smile became softer. “In any case, if you are concerned about my bird eating it, it won’t. It eats the dead not the living.” Was that comforting or disturbing? The Nightmare didn’t know or worry about it as he laid out a simple fact about this particular bird. They did strange things yes, but hardly hurt the living unless the living did something dumb to provoke them.

That aside, the Nightmare would find himself focusing on what the other was saying and doing, the emotions floating around shifting to something more lighter as this one seemed to get excited about the topic they were currently diving into.

“Let the little one sleep. Though may I hold it?” He would hold out his hand just to see if the other would let him. He just couldn’t help it really. He loved animals and baby ones were even more hard to resist than an adult. Well whether he got the bat or not, Rika would eventually find a question crossing his mind as the other described the language. “A projection of images to themselves alone? Is it a natural or something that can be learned?” the Nightmare would ask quite interested in the matter as he shifted from his spot to follow the other after a while. It seemed the Nightmare welcomed this change of chatter from the other.

The Nightmare would simply give the other an amused smile as the bird on his head tilted its head one way then another at the vampire who looked up at it. Then with a fluttering of feathers, it moved from the Nightmare’s head to his shoulder leaning forward slightly to look at the other better, showing it was not even remotely interested in bothering the bat.

Speaking of odd behaviors, have you ever seen a kid at the candy store or toy store? Have you ever seen how their face lights up like a firework on the 4th of July when they get their favorite toy or are allowed to roam such a paradise freely? Well that is pretty much what Rika’s face did when Ozaki actually let him hold the baby bat. Do not ask why such a simple thing made the Nightmare so happy it just did. Now that he thought on it, it was one of those rare things in life where he and the other him actually lined up completely about something. Strange. Anyway…

The Nightmare would allow the other to come close and do what he had to do to transfer the bat, not seeming to mind touch or closeness as he watched the transfer with a pleased smile. “I won’t drop the baby,” he said as the transfer was finish and he used his other hand to give it more support. He would look down at the baby and hum happily almost look like he would jump up and down, but thankfully had more restraint than that.

As he held the bat, his bird would shift in its spot and fly from his shoulder over to Ozaki. It would circle above him a bit before deciding to flutter down and land on his head, the bird’s weight extremely light as it settled on an even fluffier nest of hair than Rika’s. Yassss! thought the bird. This is awesome. Well whatever happened from that would happen, the Nightmare was unphased by the event seeing as quite normal as he looked from the bat to Ozaki as he continued to follow.

As he listened, he would find that the bat language itself caught his attention fully for some reason. His other side reacting strongly to it as he tilted his head trying to understand why it sounded so familiar even though he couldn’t understand it. What was that saying about the other side of him? Despite how strange it was, he would manage to hide the questions about himself deep within as he nodded at the part about sound.

“I’ve tried mimicking animals before, but can only mimic birds and cats perfectly so far. Never gave bats a try though. It might be difficult considering the pitches, but perhaps not impossible. I would have to experiment and see if such pitches can be replicated.” Yes he could change form to get the pitches down, but what was the fun of that? It took all the challenge away. As for seeing sound...

“I don’t think that would be difficult for me. To see color, I mean,” he would say. “I’ve been able to see pictures due to sound so I would think adding just seeing color and no shape would take a bit of conditioning, but probably could be done.” It was odd, but if he closed his eyes and just let his other senses take over, he could see the world clearly as if his eyes were open. Just based on sound. His other senses added slight flavor. Granted…the way sound was used by bats was a bit different. He wondered if he replicated bouncing sound off of things could he navigate something without bumping into anything. Hmm the test he wanted to try….

The Dreamweaver would hold the bat gently yet firmly enough not to drop it. If the other had any reaction to his behavior the Nightmare would’ve missed it for the time being, his attention much too focus on the little creature he had. He was calm and comfortable, a complete 360 from when they first met both the first time and this time around. Yet that was one of the odd things about the Dreamweaver -- his emotional moods. They flowed like waves and just like waves he didn’t do anything to hide or excuse sudden changes in said moods either. The flipping and flopping could make him a bit stressful deal with for some, but the Nightmare didn’t care. If someone had a problem with his behavior they should speak up. Plain and simple. Anyway…

He would look over at the vampire when he mentioned speaking with bats and understanding them. “No that takes a bit of time. Sometimes a lot of time. You have to learn the language and then the culture so to speak of the creature or thing you wish to speak with. You have to spend time and put in the effort to understand nature’s languages effectively, but it is a fun challenge.” He loved learning new things and nature always had something to teach or show.

“Hear color?” the Nightmare would hum in thought at that. “Perhaps hearing and seeing are both correct considering how the process works,” the Nightmare would say as he contemplated the process a bit. You had to hear a sound yes, but then the mind went through a series of processes to form a picture translating sound into mental sight. So did that make it both a hearing and seeing exercise in the end? Perhaps and then again perhaps not. The Nightmare wasn’t going deep into that one right now as he had more immediate things to keep him interested.

“More like I have learned to see without seeing. I would have to do some more experiments to see if I can use echolocation like a bat. Never tried bouncing sound off of things so I am not sure if that works for me or not yet. That aside, I believe anything is possible if you just try hard enough to get what you want.” Whether or not you could do it, creatures of the world at their intelligence level always found things to assist to accomplish a goal, no? So impossible or out of bound things were always reachable…at least for the Nightmare they were. He wasn’t too sure how many went the extra mile to satisfy their curiosities.

Speaking of curiosity, the Nightmare wouldn’t have cared too much if the other poked him for answers to certain things or even took notes. Sure they could go over things, but honestly what did that really tell anyone outside of general information about a thing? Maybe….or maybe not. It would depend on how honest the one answering was being. Though in the end words could only do so much. Wanted to learn something fully? You had to do more than ask about it that is for sure. Either way, the Nightmare would’ve probably found the matter amusing because he also took notes and did research himself so having someone similar to him in that field would’ve been nice indeed. Alas he wouldn’t find out the other's desires today unless the vampire decided to simply not care like he did and poke anyway.

Moving past that, the other gave the Nightmare a rather delicious offer in the end. Hearing the offer the Nightmare would consider it before nodding a bit as he looked down at the baby bat sleeping in his hands. “That would be appreciated.” For more than one reason. He probably was going to bump into the vampire here and there so why not use that time to get to know him and his ways better and maybe even bond with him through these activities. It would be nice after all these years. And would be nice not to want to murder the guy after a few minutes of interaction. Yes, yes. This could be a good thing in the end. He would have to simply wait and see.