Dragon studied him, for a moment.

He really was like a spoiled child: and a neglected one, at that. Left to his own devices, controlled but never encouraged, ignored yet never given real freedom.

"I offer you a deal, then! Keep the stone safe through a hunt, and you may fight me. We will spar. And you can try to bite me, then," Dragon said.

He'd see if biting really was the reward the serpent wanted--if violence really was his motivation. Either way, the sense of responsibility for the gemstone would need to be nurtured.

"Come," he said, turning away. "Let us see if you can keep up with me in a hunt--and not lose that piece of your livegiver!"

He left no more time to conversation, to patient thought. That would only bore the child further. The 'child,' Dragon thought--what a strange way to think of him. But, not entirely inaccurate.

Without a further word, he lifted off, magic swathing him again and carrying him away in a beat of ethereal black-and-red wings. He paid Nidhogg no further mind, bar to look back once or twice and ensure he hadn't lost him: instead, he swept ahead through the trees, searching with a scrutinizing gaze for any signs of Nidhogg's favored prey.

What was it, again-? Deer... rabbits, and birds.

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The idea of a spar--against Dragon--had him brightening up at once. Toxic eyes shifted over the alligator's thick, scarred hide, and he at once tensed, imagining places that would be best to bite, ways to twist his jaws to inflict damage, and how he could best dart away to avoid being bitten in turn.

But before he could think to hard on that, Dragon had taken flight--and Nidhogg, being a simple creature, at once gave chase. "WAIT!" he demanded, then scrambled to stuff the jasper piece into his jaws. He had to keep that safe--and he tucked it into a corner of his mind, too, as he struggled to catch up.

Limbs scratched and shoved at tree roots as he clambered hastily over. His long, oily body splashed through water channels, head ever tilted upward as he tracked Dragon's red-winged flight through the trees. He crashed past beds of reeds, tumbling over banks of shoreline, falling with a wince now and then as the dark swamp unexpectedly gave way into mud pits and water channels.

He caught up a few moments in, his scrambling giving way to more graceful leaps, bounds and even slithers as he got the hang of it. It was even... fun, in its own way, a sense of competitive determination taking him.

Soon he was ahead of Dragon, glaring back and up now and then, daring him to try and outpace Nidhogg again.

"GOOD!" he bellowed, in cheerful encouragement to the serpent charging along below. He'd seemed, to Dragon, to catch his stride; now he was in his element.

He should never have left, he thought, but it was not enormously invested. More a... wistful, distant thought.

He turned his attention ahead: the magic wings were faltering, and he wanted to pinpoint prey before they did so. That also required quiet, or else they'd scare off everything in range of hearing.

Dragon dipped lower, so much so that his tail was nearly sweeping the water's surface; it took care to angle himself to fly alongside Nidhogg, and just above. "Up ahead," he said, just loud enough to be heard over the creature's scrambling. "Deer! Go quick and quiet. Try to kill one--and do not lose your stone!"

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He shot a glance up, resentful at even being mildly instructed... but food was enough of a draw, combat enough of a promise, that he kept it to himself to better focus on the hunt.

He tucked the jasper, with a flick of serpentine tongue, deeper against his cheek--and crept lower. He stayed fast, even as Dragon lowered down behind him--and kept low, moving as quickly but quietly as he could. He turned his senses forward, eagerness driving him.

Nidhogg scrambled forward, darting for the direction Dragon had indicated to him. There--ahead--were the deer; all he had to do was kill one, now. He dropped low, almost cat-like--or more accurately, ferret-like--and bolted for the herd.

Belatedly, he realized they were glowing: spotted and striped, with colors rippling like lights across rubbery hides. This nearly startled him enough to stop him--but no; he plowed on, leaping in a graceful arc from the foliage of the swamp and careening into one of them.

The rest bolted--but Nidhogg was coiled around one in seconds, jaws clamping around its neck, thrashing until he'd snapped it. He glanced up to growl, hissing, at Dragon--this was his prey--but even he realized that was probably rude.

"...You can have some. A little," he added, in sullen warning.

And then he checked to ensure the jasper was still in his now-bloodied teeth.

It was.

"Then I get to fight," he added, hopeful.

Surely the alligator would keep his word.

@Dragon (to remind me for later)

Dragon set down beside him, and a little behind, studying the kill. It had been remarkably quick and clean--the hybrid's hunt had been first fast, and then quite stealthy. "Very well done. And thank you," he added, amusement in his tone.

He took a piece, then--a small and slender leg, gripping it in his jaws and rolling to twist it from the body. His jaws clapped loudly as he snapped it back and swallowed it whole. Then he pulled away, waiting, for Nidhogg to eat.

"Do you still have the stone?" he asked. He was curious as to whether Nidhogg had kept it safe--and if he'd even remembered it at all. It was, the alligator mused, more than possible that he'd simply dropped it immediately, out of sight and out of mind.

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He ate greedily, tearing bits from the carcass, shaking that hide (its bright glow fading) out of his way. He paused to study Dragon, jealousy nearly sending him flying at the alligator's face again but he had told him he could have some... even if he regretted it, now. But Dragon's method of eating at once interested him. The alligator didn't take small bites, tearing and gulping them down; instead, he just grabbed a whole piece of deer and rolled his entire body to rip it off!

Nidhogg attempted to imitate this, a hiss of pure intensity escaping his jaws. He snagged a forelimb, then flipped his entire long, spindly body around and around--and felt the weight of his chest, neck and jaws snap the leg from the body, tearing it away. He spat it out at once. "COOL!" he cried, and then went to work eating it.

He did not actually answer Dragon until he'd finished eating, and then he worked the jasper chunk from his cheek with some effort, using glowing tongue to spit it out. And for a moment his jaws gaped, and he studied Dragon from his seventh eye--a glowing green spot in the back of his throat, one that stared there. He said a Nox had an eye like this. But anyway... "I didn't lose it. Now I get to bite you," he reasoned, and scrambled a step or two closer... though he felt a little groggy, now, from all this eating.

Dragon snorted a short, good-natured laugh of amusement. "Now you get to try to bite me," he agreed. And now for rules--as much as the creature might hate them.

"Put the stone somewhere safe and let's begin! It will be a spar. Practice, training. That means we do not kill one another," he explained.

Just in case.

He focused briefly, magic calling on that power that Artio had imparted to he and her other helpers: a magic that would strengthen the bark-like skin already infusing parts of his skin.

Fate had other plans: the magic flashed out and backfired, and he could feel the thick keratin seem to soften, painfully--like it was being burned away. He hissed and swung about, snapping with a loud clap to bite the space over his back--WHAT IS THAT?!

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Round: 1/5
Attempt:
Defense: NEGATIVE DEFENSE OOPS
Injuries: None

Let it be known that Nidhogg had exactly zero sense of fair play.

In fact, one might be correct in phrasing it a little differently: his sense of 'fair play' was, in fact, reversed from the norm. He was smart about his engagements--or, one might say, a coward--and the moment a potential foe or prey or whatever one might call them was vulnerable, he went straight for the throat.

So it was with Dragon now, though at least some measure of 'hey, we aren't going to kill each other' did break through. But the instant the alligator whipped his head the other way, those jaws no longer facing Nidhogg, his attention distracted, Nidhogg's instincts sent him flying for Dragon full-tilt.

BITE! said those instincts, and Nidhogg, with zero reason not to immediately pursue his impulses, at once obeyed.

He launched himself for the rough-scuted back of the alligator's neck, aiming to fasten his own jagged-toothed jaws there and hold.

Round: 1/5
Attempt: ...BITE
Defense: None
Injuries: None

Dragon felt the jaws snap into the back of his neck, and winced, a huffing bellow of pain growling from his chest. It wasn't dangerous, really--the armor there, even weakened, was extraordinarily thick and beneath was only muscle. Had Nidhogg gone for the back of his skull, or even his throat, he might have been in danger but as it was, he thrashed only briefly before calling for his magic.

He noted, with reluctant admiration, that Nidhogg did not let go--the creature hung on, tenacious, whipping his long body this way and that. He wasn't strong enough to throw Dragon about but had Dragon been any smaller-? He'd have managed. The little shit is fearless, I'll give him that, he thought, though it was fleeting and vague at best. And also untrue, but he was in the middle of a fight, so he could be forgiven for such poetic license.

His magic came, late and distracted--and the searing heat he'd hoped for erupted into flame. Fire roared up over him, not just on his skin's surface but deep and charring, engulfing him in a ball of heat and light. This was--horrific. Startling. Dragon had never had his magic backfire like this, let alone consume him in agony.

Nidhogg may as well have been a fly on his back, for all the attention Dragon paid him now: instead he flipped away, thrashing for the water, unable even to find the breath to roar.

This is bad, he barely had time to (again) think, a sense of numb blankness quickly overtaking his mind.

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Round: 2/5
Attempt: Be on fire *
Defense: None
Injuries: Softened skin, bite wound


* i mean, he succeeded

The sudden burst of flame in his face had him letting go, leaping back. He knew, from experience, that his Oily skin was very flammable--and the alligator being on fire out of nowhere struck him as distinctly unfair. He gaped his jaws, hissing, then froze and stared with his throat-eye as the giant reptile thrashed and rushed for the water.

He's on fire, Nidhogg thought, blankly.

For a moment, his instinct to rush in and bite and attack and finish the alligator off fought with his actual, sapient personality, which had the vague impression that this was somehow Very Bad. But he didn't have an option for action either way: the alligator was VERY on fire, and Nidhogg could not get close even if he wanted to, either to help or to hinder.

As a result all he could really do was chase along, keeping just enough of a distance not to burn. The instant Dragon dropped into the nearest water channel, however--steam roaring upward--Nidhogg darted in, aiming for the right hind leg in an attempt to simply savage it.

He found the steam hot and blinding, however--and could not find a grip in the chaos of thrashing, boiling water. He retreated, briefly, snapping and hissing, though he kept looking for an opening.

Round: 2/5
Attempt: Further maul the charred alligator
Defense: None
Injuries: None