ORIGIN

Egahi spent another day hunting, eager to fill her belly up. Not that she really needed it; she'd been eating rather well since birth. Regardless, she found herself stalking after a young cave rat, watching and feeling it's every move. Unfortunately, when she struck out, she missed. As her prey scurried off, she laid in place, tongue flicking. Damn. Imperfection.

She turned to slither off, when something bright captured a spot in her eye. She froze, waiting for it to come back. The bright pink glow brightened again and she lifted her head, then moved toward it. Egahi hadn't expected a flower, but was not disappointed. It was pretty. She stood up to the flower's height, looking over it. It appealed to her, tongue flicking outward to capture a sent. Her tongue brushed against the soft pedals, unblinking eyes gazing upon it as she lowered herself toward the ground again. Interesting. Perfection.

Sweetness. Something that was very different from the iron flavor of blood that she was accustom to. The scent of it made the chemicals in her head swirl pleasantly. What else was special about this little plant? She slithered a little closer and peeked up into the hanging bell.

The serpent stared blankly, something within feeling unnatural. Anger bubbled up for a reason beyond her own mind. She scooted away from the flower, settling against the ground as she mentally attempted to grasp what exactly had just... happened. So lost in thought, she actually missed the approach of the canine, but definitely did not miss the vibrations as she came within mere feet of the snake.

Without a thought or miss of beat, Egahi swung herself around and stood a third of her two foot body upward. Her hood flared out instantly and she hissed out, the noise sounding more like an angered dog than a scaly snake. She flicked her tongue once, then opened her mouth to hiss again, letting her fangs stretch a little in warning, which was pointless, as she was uncontrollably enraged.

Coils wrapped around a little, stabilizing the upper body of the young king. More hissing and a false strike, followed by more hissing. The dog was too close. The dog was here at the wrong time. Her mouth began to open a little, then a real strike came, mouth swinging open and fangs extending with full intent to bite the mammal before her.

Egahi stared down the dog, hissing continuing as Nova tried to get out of her reach. More false strikes, just before her attention was diverted. She saw movement and leaned back a little, eyes falling upon an equally-black lemur. Her temper dissolved as long as her eyes remained on Cayenne, her hood sinking down and body lowering as she registered what exactly happened through memory. She looked back to the dog and felt her rage explode again, sending her back up and hood out.

Cayenne shouting helped, drawing her attention back away from the dog. She settled down, staring at the lemur without a single tongue flick as it all swirled within her. What has happened? What have I done? She shook her head, wishing she could squeeze her eyes shut as her prey did when being swallowed alive. Egahi retreated a little, adding space between herself and the mammals.

"I... I am sorry, I..." She glanced at Nova, trying to see the slowly rotting leg, hood coming back before she looked back to Cayenne. "This is not... me. I am not... this. I am too rational. Too reasonable." She looked at the flower and this time, gave a very purposeful and direct hiss. "One moment... I was gazing... the next, I was blinded by... rage."

Egahi looked back at Cayenne, then Nova, then Cayenne, feeling so disheartened by these waves of emotion. Imperfection. Such imperfection. What is wrong? Why? The snake flattened herself to the ground, trying to focus specifically on Cayenne so she would not lose her mind, for whatever reason.