ORIGIN

Hunt. Sleep. Play. Sleep. Drink.

It was a good life.

The dingo was feral; Feral was a dingo. She was half-grown, rangy with that clumsy adolescence of not-quite-full-grown canines. She belonged to no group, she had never spoken a sentence in her life, and she was perfectly content--and entirely ignorant.

She was a dog, plain and simple.

Right now she was trotting down to one of Eridanus's many streams, content in her little cavern paradise. She waded in to just past her pasterns, lowering her tawny head to lap at the cool water. Her amber eyes stayed up, surveying the other shore, alert but calm. She was a twitchy thing, ready to spring away at the slightest strange sound, but for now at least nothing came.

The dingo flopped down to lay on her chest in the shallows, still idly drinking. It was nice and cool, and nothing could be better than just lounging here all day long. But then she saw it: a strange floating-thing, round and varicolored. It was bobbing toward her, about the size of her paw--no, larger; it shimmered with water, its green and orange and red and yellow hues reflecting like a rainbow.

Triangular ears pricked forward, and the dingo stood, moving over toward it. She ate meat. But to her, that meant that she ate things that moved. She wasn't above chewing on sticks and rocks, and this thing looked interesting, and therefore, she would try to eat it.

It took her awhile to manage to get her jaws around the fruit. It kept bobbing away, slipping with the stream's lubrication, and she began to see it as a game, pawing at it, pouncing, splashing, her tail slowly wagging. When finally she got it into her jaws she carried it to shore, flopping in the mud with her tail still dangling in the stream.

She began to chew on the mango. It was hard; she pinned it with one paw, claws digging in, then she peeled a piece away with a pinch of her incisors and tasted it. It was strange, different than meat, but she felt that it could be food nonetheless.

The dingo thumped her wet tail against the stream briefly, enjoying this new treat.

Eridanus was her haunt and especially after Dark had told her of his bat-friend eating a mango, she had been unable to dash the thought from her mind knowing that it was her verdant home that harbored this treat. It was like a curiosity that once piqued, would not relent until sated in full. As such, Delphine found herself homebound and set on discovering this so-called 'mango'. Though her companion had not necessarily described the food to her, a part of her felt that once she saw it, she would recognize it for what it was. An instinct, she called it. Just like where much of her inherent knowledge came from, surely she would know when she saw exactly what it was that she sought.

A splash sounded from the water source ahead and she was nothing if not a creature who believed wholly in coincidence. Delphine quickened her steps, rushing through the underbrush until her eyes caught sight of the plump, multi-colored fruit. Then everything clicked in place. This was what she wanted. This was the prized mango that Dark had spoken of. Eagerly, the young mare followed it with such ferocity, she had neither the sense nor thought to realize the presence of a familiar Gembound until she began to play with her prize.

Gape-jawed, she watched as the dingo toyed with the mango before successfully retrieving it from the waters. There was no juncture in which she thought to stop or rest, instead the dog bit, peeled and held the fruit, relentless in her attempts to eat what Delphine so desperately wanted. It was instincts that propelled her to yell as she did, her gentle voice rising above the currents with startling volume, "Wait! Stop!"

The dingo jerked her head up at the sound of a voice crying out, and froze, staring. Water still dripped from her coat; her tail stopped thumping.

She still had the mango pinned between her paws, and she recognized the black creature that was calling to her. Normally she might have waited, curious and not too worried, but the horse had been oddly unpredictable, and was large, and hoofed, and now shouting at her.

Still, she might have waited to see what Delphine would do, if not for the mango. She felt an instant surge of possessiveness.

MY mango!

The dingo let a wuff out of her nose as she snatched the mango up in her jaws, backing quickly into the water, eyeing the black horse warily.

Predictably and really, how else did she expect the dingo to react, the hound took the mango within her mouth and placed distance between them, daring even to step into the hateful waters. Her eyes grew wary in their scrutiny of the aquatic depths, peeved that it would prove an obstacle during such urgent times. She weighed her options, second guessing the mangos worth until she gazed toward them and found that indeed, there would be no compromise. "I-I just want to talk." Delphine asserted slowly while taking an experimental step forward. "I was wondering if you would share that mango."

The very minute that statement slipped past her lips, she realized then how ridiculous she must have seemed attempting to bargain for a piece of fruit that surely existed in abundance somewhere in Eridanus. But where logic should have hailed for an easy victory, the young mares sudden lack of it demanded otherwise. It very simply had to be that particular mango which just had to be with that particular dingo, the one who feared and refused to communicate for reasons entirely unbeknownst to her. She took another cautious step forward, "I don't want all of it, just a nibble maybe...?" Perhaps speaking wasn't her forte point, not today. The more her tongue wagged, the more ridiculous she felt.

It would be clear by now to most, from previous interactions and current behavior, that Feral didn't actually understand a word. When Delphine began to step forward, the dingo stepped back, amber eyes dropping to watch the horse's hooves, for a moment.

When she kept coming, Feral--up to her haunches in the stream water, by now--looked back up, her upper lip wrinkling back over her teeth to expose incisors, canines and a strip of glistening pink gumline. The softest, breathiest of growls rumbled from deep within her chest, probably barely audible to the horse.

She didn't know what Delphine was asking. She only knew that the horse was advancing on her when she was trying to eat, attention seeming on her food. Suddenly, instinct prompted motion, and she turned and sprang off over the stream, intending to simply bolt away with her prize clenched between her teeth.

Whenever the dingo was involved, her comprehension of the world seemed to flip upside down. She knew not why it was the creature never responded to her initially gentle inquiries and though she had entertained the notion that the dog very simply did not speak, she had not thought that she perhaps did not understand either. After all, the only ones who she'd met could not understand their spoken tongue were the cave deers, rabbits and all arounds preys. Yet it was clear that the one before her was very much a Gembound so the dots did not connect and her patience was again tested to frayed ends.

Her emerald eyes dimmed with the monumental task of creating a bridge of understanding between the two except it was all unnecessary when the beast brazenly growled at her and not soon after made a run for it. Baffled, Delphine could only react on instincts before the dingo was lost to the wilds with her mango. Because that was most certainly her mango. "Wait! I mean no harm!" Her long limbs diminished the space between them with ease, ignoring the fact that she was forced into the waters — her most hated nemesis — and all this for a piece of mango. "I just want to be friends." She whinnied, looking perhaps more intimidating in her mounting urgency than kind.

She splashed into the water, churning through the shallow stream and leaping out the other side. Off into the bushes she streaked, and she was a swift thing, but she realized abruptly that she could hear hoofbeats in pursuit.

She was CHASING her!

Ears laid back, the dingo sprinted into her top speed, bolting through the underbrush, but the horse was now just behind her. What could she do? She could zig and zag and try to hide, but truth be told she felt like a warning was due. She didn't think the horse would try to kill and eat her--only that she wanted her mango!

Feral opened her jaws and spun like a snake as Delphine caught up, launching herself with a guttural growl back toward the charging horse in a leap. The mango fell away, tumbling and rolling back into the stream, where it'd probably float away, but Feral didn't realize this. She was too busy aiming for Delphine's soft and sensitive nose, intending to latch on and thrash to and fro, to bite down and do some damage to the horse's black muzzle.

Her instincts dictated that she'd be safest this way, though the horse might simply fling her off to one side. It was better, though, than being run down and trampled to death.

In hindsight she really should have stopped chasing the dingo altogether but she was desperate to make her understand that she truly meant no harm. And she wanted at least a piece of the mango. It was exactly this greed that turned its ugly face toward her as the dingo dropped her precious cargo and very suddenly spun on her heels to snap at her muzzle. Delphine, who could not have foreseen this coming no matter how aggressive her approach, very suddenly jerked back just before teeth grazed the soft flesh of her muzzle. From then on, the onyx beast was all instincts as she reared upon her hind legs and kicked with wild ferocity, attempting then to trample the dingo in an act of what she would have called self-defense except a part of her was almost certain she had instigated this unwitting battle.

POST-ROLL EDIT:
Manic and unseeing, Delphine also forgot the reason any of this transpired but if she'd known she would have abandoned this whole nonsense to seek their lost relic. "Stop!" She shrieked with a high-pitched whinny before kicking her forelegs to and fro as if to bat away the dingo should she approach. This was not at all what she wanted. She was not a creature who reveled in violence unless it was truly for the better good as the battle against Raheerah had been. This though, this was a dingo misunderstood in her silence but a too eager, too impatient and impetuous adolescent who simply wanted a taste of her mango.

Round: 1/???
Attempt: I gon' stomp you real good you salami-dingo you.
Defense: THE GODDAMN MANGO (she's kicking her legs like a crazy ol' lady.)
Injuries: WHERE'S THE MANGO!? (ouchie, i have a boo-boo on my nose.)

Her lunge had been well-timed, but not very, the dingo's inexperience with anything outside of hunting smaller prey leaving her in the lurch. Her teeth barely scraped the velvety skin, and the next thing she knew, a pair of obsidian hooves were lashing out at her.

She jerked, turning, and the hooves grazed along her sides--they still hit with a painful thump, but she would bruise at the worst. They weren't broken, at least.

The dingo, smaller and quicker than the larger, more powerful equine, began to use her agility to her advantage. The mango was but a distant memory, half-forgotten in the flood of adrenaline and fury that filled her. How dare this thing just attack her for no reason?!

It was a dance, for a moment, the dingo feinting, snapping, dodging. She was unsure of where she could bite such a large animal--she felt sure that biting at the hind legs would get her skull cracked open, so she took some time as she snapped and snarled to quickly look Delphine over. Then she made her move.

She tried to lunge beneath the filly's legs, aiming to snap at Delphine's underbelly, trying to dash beneath and get a bite or two in. She'd have to be quick, or get crushed, and her ribs were already sore. She really didn't want them shattered, as well.

She felt the impact of her hooves graze the surface of the dog's side and a part of her, the smaller conscious part quailed in knowing she'd inflicted pain unto someone undeserving of it. Yet instincts would not be eclipsed as the dingo continuously snapped at her with the threat of piercing flesh. The last time someone had attacked her, they'd nearly torn through her spine. No matter the size difference, the innate fear and desire in wanting to avoid such a situation fueled Delphine's own rampage as she kicked again, to dodge the snapping teeth.

Then the dingo lunged for her weak spot and what little of her logical mind there was fled altogether. Rearing once more, the sable equine aimed to slam brutally against the hound with little regard to where she hit so long as there was impact. She soon followed with a downward sweep of her crown, horns jutted outward to maul the dog. Though curved and reaped of critical impact, the young mare hoped that sheer force alone would render her opponent inert, placing the momentum of her neck and shoulder into the headbutt directed toward the dog's side again. She did not think on where she aimed only that she did as much as she could in her blind pare.

Round: 2/???
Attempt: Mmm, dingo-kebab!
Defense: WHAT EVEN IS A MANGO ANYMORE!?
Injuries: Shallow scratches on her muzzle.