V was fairly long now, and had gained quite a few pounds since she was last on screen. Her hunting tactics had gained an merciful efficiency to them, and she managed to graduate to full-grown quillmice as long as she minded the pointy ends. The rattlesnake's scales had started to lose their youthful smoothness now, too. Their edges seemed to grow more angular and ridged with each shed.
These few hours had stretched long.
She felt like a sickness was starting to settle in, like a poison clenching around her gut and fixing rigor mortis throughout her spine. Her movements were sluggish - delayed, almost. Basking in the light - it'd been warm, right? - didn't help. The stone felt cool (wrong!) beneath her ventral scales.
Her spade-shaped head turned to the air, as the tumultuous clouds began to spit the first few fat, white snowflakes. They melted in the air, at first, but started to dance and spin and be all but beautiful. Something - deeply-rooted instinct, perhaps - nagged at the back of V's mind, producing a feeling of dread and disdain.
By one of the Crucible's high walls, the rattlesnake lay coiled in on herself, half-asleep. V was unresponsive to the scattering of Lessers and seemingly forgot the energy that often captured her own mannerisms.
Anyone's welcome as long as they're in Hydra (obviously!)
Don't expect to get much out of her. :(
Nothing stirs in the cold. Yet...
Danakil looked up at the sky in time for a large snowflake to land on her nose. It melted at the touch. She licked it off. Huh, water?
Hydra grew colder by the hour. At first, it was a welcome change, a pleasant cool compared to the arid heat, but then the air began to bite. Danakil had never experienced anything this cold before, and now the clouds were falling and turning into water. In some places it began to cluster on the ground. As she plotted towards the snake's basking stone, she stopped to eat one.
It was very cold. It made her insides shiver. Danakil grunted in dissatisfaction. The snowflakes on her back melted and absorbed into her hump. That's better. Sometimes, magic was a nicer alternative.
She spyed the legless creature lying motionless on a rock. Danakil mosied up to it, eyeing it carefully. It looked like none of the dangerous creatures she encountered so far. Danakil shoved her nose towards it, sniffing its scales; her breaths deep and warm.
Is it dead? Theres no blood but...
She noted its lack of legs and wondered how it got around, if even did.
@Vee