ORIGIN

The idea of a spar--against Dragon--had him brightening up at once. Toxic eyes shifted over the alligator's thick, scarred hide, and he at once tensed, imagining places that would be best to bite, ways to twist his jaws to inflict damage, and how he could best dart away to avoid being bitten in turn.

But before he could think to hard on that, Dragon had taken flight--and Nidhogg, being a simple creature, at once gave chase. "WAIT!" he demanded, then scrambled to stuff the jasper piece into his jaws. He had to keep that safe--and he tucked it into a corner of his mind, too, as he struggled to catch up.

Limbs scratched and shoved at tree roots as he clambered hastily over. His long, oily body splashed through water channels, head ever tilted upward as he tracked Dragon's red-winged flight through the trees. He crashed past beds of reeds, tumbling over banks of shoreline, falling with a wince now and then as the dark swamp unexpectedly gave way into mud pits and water channels.

He caught up a few moments in, his scrambling giving way to more graceful leaps, bounds and even slithers as he got the hang of it. It was even... fun, in its own way, a sense of competitive determination taking him.

Soon he was ahead of Dragon, glaring back and up now and then, daring him to try and outpace Nidhogg again.

He shot a glance up, resentful at even being mildly instructed... but food was enough of a draw, combat enough of a promise, that he kept it to himself to better focus on the hunt.

He tucked the jasper, with a flick of serpentine tongue, deeper against his cheek--and crept lower. He stayed fast, even as Dragon lowered down behind him--and kept low, moving as quickly but quietly as he could. He turned his senses forward, eagerness driving him.

Nidhogg scrambled forward, darting for the direction Dragon had indicated to him. There--ahead--were the deer; all he had to do was kill one, now. He dropped low, almost cat-like--or more accurately, ferret-like--and bolted for the herd.

Belatedly, he realized they were glowing: spotted and striped, with colors rippling like lights across rubbery hides. This nearly startled him enough to stop him--but no; he plowed on, leaping in a graceful arc from the foliage of the swamp and careening into one of them.

The rest bolted--but Nidhogg was coiled around one in seconds, jaws clamping around its neck, thrashing until he'd snapped it. He glanced up to growl, hissing, at Dragon--this was his prey--but even he realized that was probably rude.

"...You can have some. A little," he added, in sullen warning.

And then he checked to ensure the jasper was still in his now-bloodied teeth.

It was.

"Then I get to fight," he added, hopeful.

Surely the alligator would keep his word.

He ate greedily, tearing bits from the carcass, shaking that hide (its bright glow fading) out of his way. He paused to study Dragon, jealousy nearly sending him flying at the alligator's face again but he had told him he could have some... even if he regretted it, now. But Dragon's method of eating at once interested him. The alligator didn't take small bites, tearing and gulping them down; instead, he just grabbed a whole piece of deer and rolled his entire body to rip it off!

Nidhogg attempted to imitate this, a hiss of pure intensity escaping his jaws. He snagged a forelimb, then flipped his entire long, spindly body around and around--and felt the weight of his chest, neck and jaws snap the leg from the body, tearing it away. He spat it out at once. "COOL!" he cried, and then went to work eating it.

He did not actually answer Dragon until he'd finished eating, and then he worked the jasper chunk from his cheek with some effort, using glowing tongue to spit it out. And for a moment his jaws gaped, and he studied Dragon from his seventh eye--a glowing green spot in the back of his throat, one that stared there. He said a Nox had an eye like this. But anyway... "I didn't lose it. Now I get to bite you," he reasoned, and scrambled a step or two closer... though he felt a little groggy, now, from all this eating.

Let it be known that Nidhogg had exactly zero sense of fair play.

In fact, one might be correct in phrasing it a little differently: his sense of 'fair play' was, in fact, reversed from the norm. He was smart about his engagements--or, one might say, a coward--and the moment a potential foe or prey or whatever one might call them was vulnerable, he went straight for the throat.

So it was with Dragon now, though at least some measure of 'hey, we aren't going to kill each other' did break through. But the instant the alligator whipped his head the other way, those jaws no longer facing Nidhogg, his attention distracted, Nidhogg's instincts sent him flying for Dragon full-tilt.

BITE! said those instincts, and Nidhogg, with zero reason not to immediately pursue his impulses, at once obeyed.

He launched himself for the rough-scuted back of the alligator's neck, aiming to fasten his own jagged-toothed jaws there and hold.

The sudden burst of flame in his face had him letting go, leaping back. He knew, from experience, that his Oily skin was very flammable--and the alligator being on fire out of nowhere struck him as distinctly unfair. He gaped his jaws, hissing, then froze and stared with his throat-eye as the giant reptile thrashed and rushed for the water.

He's on fire, Nidhogg thought, blankly.

For a moment, his instinct to rush in and bite and attack and finish the alligator off fought with his actual, sapient personality, which had the vague impression that this was somehow Very Bad. But he didn't have an option for action either way: the alligator was VERY on fire, and Nidhogg could not get close even if he wanted to, either to help or to hinder.

As a result all he could really do was chase along, keeping just enough of a distance not to burn. The instant Dragon dropped into the nearest water channel, however--steam roaring upward--Nidhogg darted in, aiming for the right hind leg in an attempt to simply savage it.

He found the steam hot and blinding, however--and could not find a grip in the chaos of thrashing, boiling water. He retreated, briefly, snapping and hissing, though he kept looking for an opening.