Nel, left alone at the entrance with that strange being made of bones to her side, put her entire being in resisting the urge to scream. The spider woman was right, Kettle had summoned them all there for a reason, if she hadn't summoned [i]her[/i] specifically, she should still try to honor some secrecy to some degree. As if the spider woman had never left, Nel brought her own hands to her mouth.

Off to the side, the cameldragon gave another yawn.

The beast was right. She was being childish-- the skeleton thing-- [i]skeleton man[/i] was only that; a man! Tales in her village of men who dressed in the bones of their enemies aside, Kettle surely wouldn't have summoned him here if he meant to suck out all of their bones through their eye holes!

Slowly, still shaking from where she stood, Nel brought her hands down from her mouth, "[color=palegoldenrod]S-so...[/color]" she began, eyes wide as she turned to look down at the face... [i]face?[/i] of the spooky... skeleton... being... "[color=palegoldenrod]Umm... Nice weather...?[/color]"

During the period in which the human standing next to him decided she was going to have a minor mental breakdown, Clavic decided that he was going to hum quietly under his breath to a random tune he composed during his roll through the Desert of Glass.

He tilted his head upwards, and his skull-mask by extention, to look into Nel's eyes. "Weather? Hm. I suppose it could be considered nice. It's more of a lukewarm 'eh', to me." The skeleton clad creature turned his head downwards to the ground then back up to Nel after a good period of time.

"I hope I don't sound too rude in assuming that you're frightened of my appearance." Clav fiddled with a shard of bone in his hands. "You can tell me if you are. I'd be lying if I said I weren't used to it."

"[color=palegoldenrod]Wh-wh-wh-wh-whhaaaat??[/color]" She stuttered, "[color=palegoldenrod]Me? Frightened? Haha, Noooooo...[/color]" She fidgeted uncomfortably at the sight of the shard of bone, "[color=palegoldenrod]I mean, sure maybe I'm a little unsettled, I guess, but [i]frieghtened?[/i][/color]" She said, putting extra emphasis on the word 'frightened,' "[color=palegoldenrod]Nahhhhhh,[/color]" She said, attempting to force some reassuing half smile, "[color=palegoldenrod]It's just, y'know, a lot to take in after you've pretty much been on the same farm your whole life...[/color]"

Clavic very easily traced her sight to the fragment of bone, and he tucked it away in his "clothing" as an attempt to possibly seem less threatening. Most likely to no avail. "Mm. Well, just know that I'm no threat." He looked straight in front of him, instead of looking into Nel's eyes. "Couldn't be if I wanted to, really."

"[color=palegoldenrod]Oh?[/color]" Nel followed his gaze into the seemingly meaningless swampy horizon-- he had her intrigued, which was infinitely preferable to the abject horror she had been feeling several moments prior.

"Does this really look like it's the best for being a deadly predator?" Clav gestured to his clothing and the bones attached to it.

"[color=palegoldenrod]Um... Yes? Where I come from, wearing bones generally screams [i]'I'm deadly'[/i][/color]"

"Where I'm from, it's a sign that you're competent. You can take instructions. And, to be honest, they're kind of like company." A light tapping arose from Clav rapping his finger against the head of his skull mask. "When you live in a tiny nook and only really get out to steal books from a library, these guys are the closest to companionship you can get."

Nel tilted her head, "[color=palegoldenrod]Instructions?[/color]"

He looked up to Nel, then back down at the skeleton on his chest. "The urge to collect bones and other things in the "osteo" category is conditioned into the infants of my species by the parents." Clav began tapping his chest skull again.

[i]Osteo.[/i] The word drew a blank stare from Nel, even though the man explained that it basically meant all things bone. Apparently his kind just... collected bones for company. The more she thought about it, the more tragic it all seemed-- worse yet, he apparently had to deal with people like her, thinking he was some kind of boogey man all the time. With a sigh, Nel brought herself to slowly, move closer to the being, sitting just a few feet away from him.

This was progress! He was still spooky as hell, and despite herself, she couldn't just erase the tales she had heard in her village of the more sinister bone men. Still, she didn't have any bone to pick with this guy in particular, on the contrary, he seemed nice.

"[color=palegoldenrod]So it's just... You collect bones for company?[/color]" Nel gazed forward from where she sat on the steps, she chuckled under her breath, "[color=palegoldenrod]Is it culturally insensitive for me to say that that's kind of macabre?[/color]"