Nikki gaped at the winged creature sitting on her chest, her bright eyes meeting its colorful ones.  “Whoa~”  She hardly noticed Blin squeezing her hand, sparing just enough attention to squeeze back and say something about paying better attention.  She was busy looking at her new friend.  It still had a bit of the light from before, but now a lithe body covered in warm, fuzzy hide perched on her, its weight pressing four clawed feet into the fabric of her shirt, each structured like a bird’s.  Long, swept-back horns sprouted from the back of its wedge-shaped head, and its face ended in a slightly hooked beak.  The thing puffed itself up proudly, giving voice to a rough bugle as it fanned feathery wings, the spiky ridges running down its spine from the nape of its neck to the tip of its tail raising, along with various fanned frills on its head.  The beast was primarily green and golden and amber, with accents of black, blue, and red nestled in its feathers and ruffled fins.  “Ooh, you’re a cutie~” the woman cooed, going to rub the ridges that shadowed its eyes.  It responded happily to her touch, but tensed and turned away as a bony bird-thing entered the clearing.

The woman didn’t wait.  Her little friend was from the surface, and its reaction told her the new arrival was bad news.  She surged to her feet as the creature on her chest scurried aside, then leaped with a flap of wings to catch the fabric of her shorts and climb to her shoulder.  It was a good thing she’d gotten up, too, for suddenly that boulder was flying at her again, and both she and her new friend had to lunge away, Nikki going to the side and the feathered lizard launching skyward to avoid getting hit.  The girl from the ruins got Blin out of the way this time, challenging their attacker with a fierce roar, and Blank went to taunt the white bird-beast, hurling a rock at it, then try to lure it off.

Nikki herself wasn’t really a fighter, but she couldn’t let Blank run off alone.  They were better off working together to get this thing to leave them alone, weren’t they?  She dashed after him, tossing a few choice insults at the white avian over her shoulder.  “So...what’s the plan?” she asked him when she caught up, her eyes shining with wild excitement.