ORIGIN

The beaches of the new room were a sight to behold, even in the dimness of dusk. The air is alive with a cacophony of boiling noise, hot and humid and alive. The ocean breathed salty, spreading briny scents that tickled her nose.

In the distant gloom, she caught glimpse of twinkling.

Mossie had heard whispers of the monsters of Lacerta, in particular nasty rat-lizards with a bite that made you see too many colors. But that made her feel no fear. Only burning curiousity. She'll start with this one, see if she can work her way up to mightier prey.

She stalks closer and closer, mulling over her options--she can't charge in without a plan. That was how that rocky beast had nearly squished her and her compatriots to death.

In the end, she settled for a simple one, grabbing a bit of debris and chucking it in a manner that imitated the bounce and scurry of mice, hoping to catch it off guard as she readied a pounce...

@Callum


Hook, line, sinker.

The poor bastard didn't even know what hit it as its head jerked towards the noise just long enough for Mossie to spring, sinking her fangs into the back of its neck. It jerks once, twice, thrice, before going still. The spurt of sweet blood under her fangs is intoxicating, a heady thrill as the adrenaline still coursed through her.

Hunting was addictive .

She'd heard the poisons came from the head, and she tore it off with one clean stroke before tucking it into her near-bottomless chest fluff.

What to do with the rest?

Perhaps...she could hunt bigger things, with the aid of a larger Gembound...or multiple larger Gembound?

This would be a good gift to start an alliance, and then they could totally kick overgrown lizard tail together.

Callum had left the larger group of gembounds to go exploring this area on his own. Lacerta contained a climate and biome completely different from any other that he had seen in these caves, and that meant the lessers here were also of a variety he had never seen before. No, they weren't just a slightly different kind of rabbit, or mouse.
They were a different species altogether. Dinosaurs. Not that he knew that terminology for them.
The dragon flew across the treetops, occasionally dipping down to snag a branch off a tree and snacking on fruits, or doing loops in the sky for the sake of it. The humidity in the air made him feel like he was almost flying through water. Callum was enjoying himself very much until he came upon a fellow gembound. It looked sorta wimp- his eyes widened as he witnessed Mossie murk a dinosaur. Well. That happened.
"YO!" with loud thumping wingbeats, he landed beside the cat. That was bigger than a cat. But close enough. To someone of his size he didn't think it was a huge distinction really. "What's up?" Mossie looked like someone who knew how to have fun. Or kill dinosaurs. Same thing. "Killing lessers I see?"

@Mossie

Mossie's eyes lit up with delight at the sight of the...cat? fish? whatever the heck Manticore was?

...The large, presumably friendly entity. That's what she'll go with, for now.

"Indeed I Am," she said, puffing out her chest. "I'm gonna catch So Many Lessers, but I'll need help and Friends to catch the bigger ones, tragically." She glanced around coyly. "As you can see, I have no murder-lizard killing buddies around, unless..." she trotted up and offered Callum the dead lizard with a dip of her head. "You could help out maybe???"

@Callum

He liked the personality of this one. Going around killing lessers? That was totally his jam! The dragon bent down, sniffing the deceased dinosaur. It smelled strange. Callum took a smile bite out of it, feeling the taste run through his mouth. Funky. But not bad. "Well I'm the perfect gembound for that. Name's Callum by the way." His eyes glowed like flames, and he hoped that made him seem hella cool. He had to impressive okay? "I've killed plenty of things. You can count on me." He puffed out his chest, "Where to first?" This was totally not because he sucked at tracking... and he didn't want to admit that his colors also meant that he stood out in this area. Either way, he had to leave it to the cat to find the lessers they would be hunting.

@Mossie

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit," Mossie whispered. He was on FIRE. But Wasn't Burning. "That's sooooo fucking cool!"

"You've killed lots of things? That's reassuring! I've only been able to nab a few smaller things...I wanna be a great hunter someday like you seem to be! Maybe we should go towards the jungle's center? Nothing too huge and life ending should be hiding in there, but it's large enough for some decent prey...and hmm, maybe we'll find some cool secrets in there, too!"

Mossie gallops off, nose low to the ground, searching for scent trails.

@Callum

Callum was feeling pretty darn full of himself right now. But he couldn't be be all talk. He needed to prove his skill by taking down as many of these strange Lacerta lessers as he could. And there was definitely some pressure to do well now that Mossie was hyping him up... He was far from being that amazing! Too late now. "Yeah, let's go!"
The dragon followed behind, waiting for the signal from his new hunting buddy that she had spotted something. He tried his best to be quiet, but it was a bit harder considering his size. Nothing he could do about that.

@Mossie

Excitement thrilled through her veins as she caught a rough, earthy scent, something that made a primal corner of her brain screech prey.

The hunt was officially on, and it'd be a successful one if she had anything to say about it.

Mossie turned briefly back to her compatriot, signalling with a rightwards flick of her plumy tail that her tracking had been successful.

@Callum

Callum nodded at her signal, moving in the direction that she indicated with the flick of her tail. He eventually came upon the herd, or at least, within range to see them. He didn't dare approach too close for fear of alerting them to their presence, or startling them away. Be sneaky now. He got this. Bright orange cheeto dragons were perfectly normal in Lacerta! He blended in SO well with the foliage! Totally! HE WAS ONE WITH THE TREES. HE WAS NORMAL. YES. THEY WOULD NOT NOTICE HIM. HE WAS THE ULTIMATE HUNTER. SNEAK.

@Mossie

Mossie's mouth fell open. That wasn't even an exaggeration. He'd just fucking melted into the trees. Bam. Big orange on-fire dragon monstrosity gone.

"Holy fucking shit," she whispered, before darting forward, assuming the now-invisible (?!) creature was following her. The scent of the Sailfins grows thicker and thicker, though she couldn't exactly spot them.

Then, suddenly, she spots them--way too close. Panicked, she spits dream-dust..

And nothing comes out.

She scrambles backward, undignified.