And you Never Told Me? [Private]

That smile immediately spread wider across her features when she spotted Gage. It wasn't often she clicked so well with one of the patrons, but he certainly seemed to have a certain friendly charm about him. Once she spotted him she immediately waved in his direction, standing up and makingnote of the books he was returning. She did however falter a bit at the mention of the torn page, eyeing the volume for a moment as she noted the cereal number. After a brief moment she looked it up on the computer, taking only a few moments before nodding her head. "Ah don't worry. The damage has already been documented. We were actually going to send for a replacement copy." she noted softly, lightly patting her neck as she accepted the books, slipping them into the box before glancing at the sheet of paper, smiling just a little bit. She loved how into reading he was, and even moreso that he read so Often.
"More books on your shopping list? It's a little close to closing time." She pointed out, glancing up at the clock as she lightly tapped her foot. "It might be a little past closing by the time you actually find them. If you like I can take the slip and hunt them down for you tomorrow, then have them ready for you when you come by later in the day." She offered.

Ariu smiled brightly as he seemed to like her idea, slipping the paper into her desk drawer as she glanced again at the clock. It was about time to close up, a shame as it would have been nice to keep talking to the young man. A sudden spiritual pressure snared her attention. A hollow? She took a koment, not quite sure exactly how far away it was.... She looked to Gage and smiled. She didn't want him to get attacked if it was lurking around the library, hut how would she justify following him out? Sure they were friends but she imagined it might be a bit creepy if she just started following im for no reason....

"Hey, ummm, If you don't mind, how about I walk you home? You uhhhh, well its knda late and usually I iust head home on my own." Alight so she was mose shit at coming up with an excuse to escort him ou, but then again this had never actually happend before, she almost never found hollows around here with so few people. But she'd worry about that later, for now she just needed to make sure Gage made it home safe. The feel of her quincy cross around her wrist was some comfort, thankful that she made it a habbit to keep it on her person.

Ari smiled as he went along with the idea, glad that he was so reciprocative. "Ummm I mean......" Normally sh was all for the macho man deal, but.... He was just a human. Clearing her throat, she offered a sheepish smile, trying to think of how she could get him to let her take hik to his home (which was doubtlessly further away) instead of the other way around without immasculating him. She didn't want him getting attacked while she was doubling back...
"I um... was actually hoping I could see your place. I honestly don't live that far away, but I was just curious to see where you lived." she pointed out.

It seemed a fair compromise, in all honesty it would be fairly cool to see where he lived, and if anything she could probably see if she could take out the hollo on the way there, spend a fee minutes with him, then head on home right? Admittedly it was a bit of a bigger show of interest than she normally shower, but she had been getting along pretty well wth Gage. It was certainly a convenient excuse to hang out with him outside the library. A brief sense of the area and she couldnt help but lessen that smile of hers.... It was getting closer... Did it sense her!? Putting that smile back on she slipped around the desk, smiling as she took his hand in hers, tugging him toward the door. "It'll be fun! C'mon." she urged him, wishing if anything to avoid the thing attacking the library itself.

Ariu blinked as she watched him straight up run off. Her brows furrowing for a moment as she thought it over. They both seemed to be in equally increasing hurries to go...but....this was a bit too much of a coincidence. Surely.....surely he wasn't... No he couldn't be... she frowned and immediately raced outside after him, glancing around for a moment before she leapt up, a sudden burst of reiatsu through her legs as she hopped up onto the roof, looking around until at long last she spotted......them. She hadn't even been able to differentiate them from afar, but what was very clearly two hollows were overhead....and he was going right for them! Suddenly it became very apparent that something was up. Either he was spiritually aware or the hollows were using some kind of power to draw him in.

In either case she had to do something.

Inhaling deeply, she narrowed her eyes, reaching up and focusing as a brilliant burst of reishi crackled in her palm as she promptly summoned her 'bow', Grinsen. That large pendulum ace with the signature smile on it's blade. Taking careful aim, she promptly swung, lashing out arrows in the direction of the hollows, the arrows banding into crescent waves as they sliced out. Several of them listed, and managed to clip one of the hollows, the other taking them head-on, those arrows cutting deep into it's body before it's resiliance busted the rest of the arrows, blood splattering down to the ground as it suddenly turned with it's copanion, both hollows now completely concentrating on the quincy as she swallowed hard. At the very least she had managed to divert their attention away from Gage. But now she'd have to contend with the both of them. Raising her weapon, she prepared herself, that smile widening just a bit as even in combat she didn't let it falter.
She'd wait for them to come to her, hoping to draw them as far away from her friend as she could.

Ariu tensed immediately as she watched the two hollows closing in. Already they seemed a lot larger than they had from further away. The both of them seemed avian in appearance, one of them with red feathers, the other with green ones. The red having been the one suffering from her attacks. With loud screeches she could feel them getting ready for an attack, building up their reiatsu as she stood her ground, raising that weapon defensively as the green-feathered hollow suddenly soared up into the air, it's wings flaring for a moment before it unleashed a powerful flap of it's wings, feathers suddenly raining down, Ariu only just raising her weapon to block as those bladed things slammed down around her, some shattering against her weapon as the Red-feathered hollow flew in under the cover fire of the other, it's wings suddenly lighting up in brilliant orange flames, hissing as it flew straight at the quincy.

Glanding up, ariu unleashed a sudden burst of her own energy, reishi suddenly flaring along her weapon as the bird flew straight at her. LEaping up into the air, she twisted, a soft flicker of light slicing around her body as some sort of thread shone through the air, that bird hollow sweeping beneath her as she flipped before planting both feet firmly into it's back, yanking hard as that thin Silberdraht wire sliced into it's shoulders and neck, latching onto the hollow like reigns as she raised her weapon up, gritting her teeth as she curled her fingers, making that wire bite into the hollow's neck before that sudden aura of reishi around her weapon let out a screeching laugh as she sliced down, that cutting aura allowing her to sever clean through the hollow's left wing, a sudden flaying of blood spurting from it's left side as it suddenly veered, kicking off of it's back as she dropped, wincing as she slammed into the edge of a rooftop, scrabbling briefly before she slid down along dhe side of the building, landing on her back on a fire escape with an audible OOF.

The hollow kept flying, screeching as it spiraled out of control and crashed into another building, blood spraying about from both it's severed wing as well as the deep cuts along it's neck and shoulders.

grunting, Ariu slowly stood up, wincing as she felt a soreness in her side, no doubt having bruised her ribs, if not cracking some of them as she managed to stagger up to her feet, looking up just in time to see those feathers slicing down. With a yelp she brought her weapon up, just as one of those feathery darts sliced through her left thigh, cutting a solid inch into the muscle as she suddenly dropped, biting her lip and letting out a grunt as she rolled to the side as the one-winged hollow launghed itself from the side of the building, roaring angrily as it shredded the fire escape where she had been only a moment before. Of course she knew she ws in a bind, one of them was keeping it's annoying little ass away and firing. Normally not an issue as she could usually just return fire. But the other one was making thigns complicated, she'd likely have to deal with it before she could get the other one.

Ariu took a soft breath, relaxing slightly as it seemed one of the birds was slammed into by that sudden sould command from Gage. She was actually a bit surprised how he had managed to down the bird up in the air, a sheepish look on her face as she looked down at the wound. It ha cut her on the outter thigh, so there was no danger of bleeding out from one of the main arteries, but even so she was a bit rattler, not to mention that the wound was still bleeding some, gently holding a hand over the injury as she gritted her teeth, a soft grunt escaping her as she got to her feet, looking around. "I think I'm alright, but that was really impressive." She noted with a smile, using that pendulum axe, Grinsen, to support herself on her injured side, looking around until she saw the ranged hollow dead on the ground. It was only then that the other hollow, with it's none wing, and now even WORSE attitude. She watched with alarm as it bulled it's way through a corner, smashing brick in it's path as it rushed toward them, immediately Ariu backed off, wincing as she hefted her blade with both arms, and brought it up into a defensive barrier between them and it, a burst of reishi raising around the weapon to boost it's defense, her intention being to give Gage enough breathing room to take care of this one as he had the other.

When he finally moved into action, Ariu practically collapsed on the spot when that pressure left her own weapon, the reishi burst fading as she dropped to her knees, wincing as she watched that sudden shift of the building. She smiled to herself, grunting as she then launched herself off to the side, a wave of her arm as that thin wire curled through the air, ripping up the sides of the walls as it wound around the hollow, slicing into it's body as it was momentarily held in place, long enough for that building to slam down onto it's body, with Ariu dropping to the floor, panting softly as she felt a soft burning in her arms. Slowly, she managed to get to her feet, feeling her leg throb slightly as she took several long moments to scan the area, as if expecting another salvo of hollows to show up. But it seemed they were in the clear.

Immediately she smiled, a soft look of enjoyment crossing her features as she laid back against one of the buildings, the both of them still somewhat in an alley as she let her weapon dematerialize, lightly pulling off her jacket and binding it around her thigh. Immediately gage would be treated to the sight of more skin than he'd probably ever seen on the woman. Which wasn't much, but simply showing her neck as well as her forearms, he would see that that strange little burn mark on her cheek actually wound around the entirety of her body, at least to the point where it continued along her arms. In any case, with the bleeding somewhat stemmed, she took a moment to relax, looking up at Gage as a sheepish smile spread across her features.
"So uh.... I don't suppose you know what a quincy is?"

Ariu couldn't help but smile softly at that, shaking her head and slowly sitting up, grunting a bit as she looked herself over, shaking her head for just a moment as she sighed, rubbing gently at her eyes before her attention shifted back to the human, pondering his words and allowing him to continue. She smirked a bit at his calling them 'spiritually active people'. It was kindof cute. Sighing she gave rub to her eyes again and thought of a way to explain this as....eloquently as possible. "Well to put it simply, my family is sortof spiritually active. There's sortof a race of us. And for a while we were called quincy." She murmured softly, rubbing lightly at her cheek for a moment as she looked down at the ground.

"But things got out of hand a long time ago, and we were almost killed off. Those ghosts that you call poultrygeists are what we call hollows. They're.... a bit more common than you think." She noted, trying to think of a way to explain without terrifying the man. "And there.....is a lot about them that you should probably know. And for the moment I don't think this is the place to go explaining it to you." She noted, looking around before she gradually got up and onto her feet, a sigh escaping her as she leaned against the wall to support herself.
"We'll go to my place. It's not far from here. I can patch myself up and fill you in at the same time."