Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

So the other rooms had water, as well. Less than this room, then, but still there were water. Although, it seemed that this Monoceros had a lack of water. "Monoceros." he echoed. "You think this room has no water, why."

His tongue darted out, tasting the air. "A race. Why. You are larger than I am, and would cover more land than me. However, you have answered my questions so, if you insist."

@Pelt

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Pelt waved a flipper dismissively, although it couldn't really be seen in Cetus' murky water - the snake would likely only see ripples. "Windy. Dry. Not a single puddle in sight, although I could be wrong. I did not bother staying long enough to see."

The snake made a good point, and although Pelt couldn't care less if she had an unfair advantage in a real hunt, this was practice and so should be reasonably challenging, right? "The water gets deeper near the center. I am slower on land than on water, and I would like to improve my land speed. We can go where the water is shallow and I would not be able to swim. And you can have a head start, and the choice of whether you want to travel in the water or on the mud." That was fine too. It wasn't as if others would start at the same point she would all the time. A head start would make this practice more realistic.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

Naja flicked out his tongue, tasting the air. The air seemed wet and muggy, here, and he wondered dully what dry felt like. He would have to go to Monoceros some day. See the difference. Perhaps he could find out why the air was different.

The Leopard Seal explained that she was slower on land, and that they could go somewhere with shallower water. And he did not yet know if he could swim, so he said. "I would like to travel in the water. Lead the way."

@Pelt

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Pelt wanted to laugh. Surely a snake couldn't swim? How would it? By repeatedly and awkwardly throwing itself forward in the hopes that it actually got somewhere? But then, it seemed equally ridiculous that a thing with no legs could travel on land, so perhaps it was possible after all.

She turned away from the land the snake rested on and dipped a little beneath the water's surface to swim for the edges of the cave. She did her best to travel slowly so that Naja could keep up - after all, he was only a hatchling. Surely there could be no way he could match her speed in the water. "Here we are," she called as the water became shallow enough that her flippers hit the mud beneath. It felt disgusting, but she dragged herself fully onto land anyway. "Are you ready?"

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

Naja flicked out his tongue, slithering down to follow the leopard seal into the water. He hesitated at the edge of the water only for a moment, before slithering in.

And, he discovered, that he was rather fast in the water. It was just like traveling on the ground, but without any friction. So long as he held his head above the water, moving was effortless.

Before long, they had arrived where they were to race. Testing the air, he nodded, "Of course." following her onto land.

@Pelt

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

So the snake was actually good at swimming. Well, it would simply be an additional challenge. Pelt felt confident she could overcome it. Perhaps not easily - believing that might be overconfident, and she knew that was bad - but surely this hatchling couldn't win, even with a head start and her on land. He was less than a day out of his chrysalis.

"Go ahead, then. You can have a head start." What distance would be realistic for later hunts? A Gembound leaning over water to drink would be easiest, of course. But most of the time she assumed they would be farther away. A few meters, then, before she'd start moving.

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

The snake followed the leopard seal, interested in testing his theory. The other was larger, dure, but that meant she was slower. Naja, on the other hand, was small, but fast and agile.

When she told him he could go ahead, he rose up and began to move. It was a bit more difficult than in water, but the traction made him move more quickly.

@Pelt

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Carefully, agonizingly slowly, Pelt counted to exactly six seconds in her head before she couldn't stand waiting anymore and started chasing after the snake. He was good, she supposed. For a hatchling, at least. But she was older and bigger and even if she wasn't as suited to moving on land (or mud, in this case), she'd had cycles to practice. And she thought she was pretty good. Good enough to beat this hatchling even if he had a head start and she was on land.

As it turned out, she was doing as good as she'd expected. Satisfaction and pride welled up inside her - all that practice had finally paid off. As she started catching up, Pelt briefly considered snapping at the snake's tail (and maybe actually biting off just the teensiest bit) to make him go faster, but quickly decided that it was a terrible idea. The snake had venom, after all. Who knew how dangerous or painful it was?

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

Naja slithered along the mud, listening behind him until the leopard seal began to race as well. He didn't speed up - it made no sense to waste his energy by going quickly, when he could conserve his energy until the final stretch.

When Pelt began to catch up to him, however. He began to speed up. It wasn't much, but enough to give him a bit of a lead.

@Pelt

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

If the puny hatchling thought he could beat her, than he was wrong! Wrong, wrong, WRONG! Pelt felt an inexplicable urge to cackle as she worked furiously to close the distance between them. Oh boy was this going well! Some part of her knew that the snake was barely a hatchling and of course it wouldn't stand a chance, but the other part, the predator in her, didn't care how old it was. It was slow and she was fast and that was all that mattered.

Even with the head start, she was close enough now that she thought she could probably snap at the snake and catch it in her jaws. And she would have done it if not for the venom the snake possessed: she still needed to figure out away to avoid being bitten. So she held back for now. Maybe when the snake tired itself out there would be a better opportunity.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

@Naja