The third remained silent in the mud.

It still did not move; it also did not at all react when Nox opened her jaws. This was because it could not see this. It could only feel the vibrations of the others as they moved, as they fought; it could sense their general size, if not shape.

It had not even yet discovered its own throat-eye, so similar to that of its parent. It had not yet had reason to open its jaws.

That was bound to be a shock to it.

And so it lay, silent, listening closely to the exchange. Listening to the words, to the gurgling, to the movement. Some instinct told it that these creatures were the same as it--cut, somehow, from the same strange, black cloth.

Yet for the time being, it still had no reason to engage. There was no rush; the others were clearly going nowhere. And so far, the others might still prove to be a danger--or prey. There was no point in making itself known just yet.

@Nox

Nox turned her head once again towards the smaller creature, the surface of her skin knotting and writhing to the sounds it made. The high-pitched warble was a stark contrast to her deep throbbing rumbles, and yet they filled her with curiosity. She withdrew, but only slightly, in apparent shock, as her own words were trilled back at her. She blew out a few droplets of pitch-black slime, and, apparently unaware that it was only parroting, responded with a quiet, rasping "yesssss."

She turned back towards the other, a soft greeting rumbling trembling throughout her jelly-like consistency, rippling and throbbing around her chest. She drew back further at the sound of the larger child's low song and echoed the call with a low purring intonation. Jaws still wide, she stared at him, the slit pupil of her eye trembling.

Finally, she drew back. She remembered what she'd seen- the larger one trying to eat the smaller one. They were hungry. They all must be. Nox knew where there was food to be found. She remembered Dragon's warning starkly, suddenly, vividly- but she did not want these little slimers to end up eating each other. Now was as good a time as any to eat from the carrion pile.

"Follow," she throbbed low, backing away, and turning. She waded past the unseen hatchling- perhaps too close for comfort- the little one would likely be thrown off balance by her wake. As she went, she closed her jaws, red eye disappearing into the dark. "I will bring you to food."

@Sekith

The bird-creature misunderstood the dragon-thing's motives. As she backed away and turned, speaking something unknown in its brain, it merely assumed that she was leaving now. Its head whipped around, staring for a moment at the larger ink-creature before letting out a strange gurgling noise. It wasn't a pleasant sound and it could be assumed that it was a noise of disdain or dislike.

So it turned away from its family, never noticing the creature in the mud, and hopped away into the forest, disappearing into the mist.

*exit

@Phlegethon
(sorry for holding up the thread)

Like its sibling --- still unbeknownst to it --- the voracious slime-beast entirely received the wrong signals. Its half-submissive vibrating and rumbling had ceased, posture relaxing visibly as the enormous thing lumbered away. Phlegethon peered about with its jaws agape for a moment before managing to shamble backwards into the cave's swamp.

With its prey escaped, Phlegethon figured it could hunt elsewhere. It assumed that the big thing didn't hunt in the water, and that there was food in the water. As it slunk into the depths on deeply-rooted instinct, the waters began to run black with slime in its trail.

;exit unless stopped?
@Hunger

When Nox lurched past, the wake of the swamp's black water lifted him and pushed him back almost a full foot. His jaws opened to hiss, and suddenly, he could see. He froze, that way, jaws open, single red eye staring out--and then turned to listen after Nox.

He could see her, he realized--a great, black shape lumbering (with surprising grace) into the mist. He did not know much of this world, but the word "food" sounded clear enough. Had this one eaten the other ones already..? No, he could hear them, squelching away into the wet.

No. He wanted food. He was hungry.

Quickly, he turned to follow, his spiderlike forelegs unfolding to unevenly propel him along in jerking thrusts, hind legs scrabbling in the muck. His tail waved behind him for balance, the long scales at its tip splayed.

He kept his tiny jaws open, black oil not unlike Nox's dripping from him as he pursued--eye on Nox.

Should she turn around, she might have a surprise to find two children gone, and a new one at her tail.

@Nox

Nox was some distance away from the small pond before she finally turned back to look. The reek of carrion had begun to draw her on, and she knew that the children would begin to smell it too. The being remembered Dragon's warning- to not take food from his pile too often... but only vaguely. And surely, it was a necessary step to stop these hungry newborns eating each other?

She finally turned and looked back, to find that she was, quite suddenly, alone- the three newborns had gone, disappearing off somewhere into the mist. Nox felt surprise, and rumbled a call- but they were long gone.

Finally, she realized that she wasn't, in fact, alone. She stooped down low as a flash of red in the dark caught her eye- and she saw something squirming after her in the muck- a tiny creature, dripping black slime. She rumbled, a curious sound. The others mustn't have understood her offer, but this one had. And as she saw this one- the eye buried in the back of its throat- something clicked. "Hello," she rumbled, after a long and stunned silence. This child, was dripping slime and looking out from its throat like her. And its movements, unmistakably, were like Dragon.

This was her child.

After another moment of examining it, she continued on. the carrion pile wasn't far. Soon she waded chest-deep in the bog, the stench eye-wateringly powerful.

"Speech"

@Hunger

Hunger stopped dead the moment Nox turned back, one spidery forelimb only slowly lowering into the muck, as if he was afraid to draw attention to himself. His jaws remained wide, his single eye staring at her unblinkingly.

When she spoke, he stared, and then made a quiet gurgling followed by a series of incoherent clicks. He had no idea, yet, how to voice a damn thing, considering he had no voice; he'd have to learn over time. When Nox set off again, though, he followed suit.

The smell was strong--overpowering, in the sense that it drew him onward ever faster. He wasn't sure what it was, but whatever it was, he wanted it. The black ooze dripped more thickly from his jaws.

@Nox

Nox carried on- and soon, she was hauling her slimy bulk from the marsh, shedding stagnant water and rivulets of pitch-black goop streaming from her in tendrils. The carrion pile towered before her, the corpses at its base descending into a mess of black mush- bones sticking out at odd angles, and the occasional dead-eyed skull of a cave deer or rat. As when Dragon had brought her here, very few of the corpses were even remotely fresh.

After she had extended her neck to pick at a protruding fish tail, she turned back to peer at the newborn following after, making sure that it had made it safely. Although her own hunger was mounting in close proximity to the carrion, the great draconian creature dragged a disintegrating cave rat onto the ground and nudged it towards the newborn.

A moment later, she drew her jaws open and watched. But hunger was getting the better of her. Soon, she turned back towards the carrion pile and dragged out the remains of a cave deer. With grotesque squelching sounds, she drew it near and began to swallow it whole, engulfing and enveloping it in a slimy cover of darkness.

@Hunger

It ate.

There was little more to say than that; it watched with open jaws as Nox brought it the piece of food (and then it froze, with instinct telling it that if this was an attack, freezing might help him hide). But the food was laid there, and the tantalizing odor of rotting carrion drew him.

He took several steps forward, and tried to swallow it whole, pulling at it, tilting his head back and trying to gulp.

This did not work.

So he tore at it, managing to twist a limb off--the carcass was putrescent enough that it came free easily. Then he tilted his head back, watching with his throat-eye as all went dark, tasting its rank deliciousness as its slime slid down his throat. The aftertaste was that of chemicals, the rotten touch of decay, but he didn't mind.

He kept on eating, visibly ravenous, and likely taking far longer than Nox.

He was not a talkative Gembound, at least, not at mealtime, it would seem.

@Nox

It didn't take long for Nox to finish, heedless of the aftertaste. Soon the decaying cave-deer was no more than a bulge at the base of her neck, soon to be digested, and reduced to nothing. With the edge of her own hunger satiated, she turned, parting slime-dripping jaws to peer at the newborn, quietly eliciting a throbbing, rumbling sound, throaty and deep.

She watched it eat for a while, tipping her head to one side- now that it was out of the marsh, she had the chance to look at it. She drew her head closer. From its spidery limbs to the slick black colour of its hide, it was, indeed, like her. And she recognised the slick black oil that coated it, too. But it was strange, an, in its shape and plated scales, she saw Dragon. She was curious as to what the dragon would think; but overall, she was content to be enamoured with the prospect of it being like her.

She watched it eat; although the going was slow, it gave her plenty of opportunity to admire the little creature, and marvel, and wonder how this could possibly be with slow and circling thoughts.

@Hunger