Oh, how the time had passed. It slipped away like a snail. It appeared slow until you looked away, then suddenly the moment was long gone. Cycles had come and gone and now she was a large and menacing adult. At least, maybe to those she might eat or be threatened by. As it was, she was no harm to most. Eyes were pale, scales dull. It was time to strip away the time gone and become new again. Slowly, steadily, Egahi rubbed her body between the rough, damp stones. Old skin peeled away, exposing a new shine over her black eyes and pearl skin. Left behind her as she climbed over the rocks was the aged layer of skin, long outgrown. Now free from the old, it was time to hunt for a meal. So, her long black tongue slid from between her lips, stretching out far and flicking up and down, tasting the air for smells that may appeal. To her delight, such was available. With much haste, she followed her tongue to a smaller snake; a favorite treat of her own species. It picked up on her too, turning to make a getaway, too little too late. With speed and expertise, she struck out, then followed the dying reptile as it crawled away, slowing it's escape as the venom ate away at it's innards, eventually leading to death. Such was the necessity of life. A necessity she had no second thoughts of, even as she swallowed up the other snake. —————— "Speech." Thoughts. OOC: out of character Tag: @

The bright eyes watching the show below blinked, slitted pupils contracting. Leathery wings brushed along scaled body, and the beast shook out his ruff of fur as he climbed nimbly down the rock face over the snakes.

He had been watching the pretty, sleek creature with her scales like pearl. Usually he wanted to kill things, to taunt them, torment them, trick them. Maybe he still would? But she was pretty. He could help her. Maybe she could coil on him and he could glide to the trees and watch her swim. Or maybe he could eat her? Or trick her. Should he trick her...?


"Do you speak?" he asked, talons scratching along the rock.

Maybe she was only a boring non-speaking Gembound, anyway. But he didn't think so; he'd seen snakes here, dark ones, but never bright white, never eating one another.

"I know a good place to hunt, if you do."

Trick... or treat? Would he help her, or hinder? Maybe she wouldn't listen, anyway. Maybe he could eat her. Would it be like eating two meals, if she'd just eaten one?

Mist beading over his leathery, armored skin like dew, he crawled closer to the pale cobra, nostrils working to catch her scent. He folded his batlike wings along his sides and crouched, only a few meters away now--attentive. Mischief danced in his eyes, and he waited to see just what sort of creature the ghostlike snake would turn out to be.

((ooc -- @Egahi ))

Vibrations caused the slithering creature to halt, tongue slowly sliding out and flicking. Something was present and seeing it was not at all immediate. It was quite odd, but quite interesting. Scales, but fur. Peculiar. Egahi lifted her head and watched it move around her, feeling it's voice as it came close enough. It had quite big claws. It reminded her of Azazel's feet, but this thing looked nothing like a bird. "Yes," she said, "I speak... quite well, actually." He soon spoke of food, her head swaying and bobbing as his voice, then tilting in curiosity while considering the thought. She knew of places, of course. Did they eat the same things, though? It had teeth and it had claws and wings. Did such different creatures eat such similar things? Tongue flicked out to sniff him now that he was close enough to get to know. Interesting. Peculiar. "I have had the best luck... in green places," she said. It was true. Although she found some prey in Canis, Cetus seemed to have more to hunt and Eridanus was like a haven of food, small creatures bountiful. Although, big things were too, and she once almost killed someone because of a wretched flower. For every pro, there is a con. —————— "Speech." Thoughts. OOC: out of character Tag: @Imp

Imp crawled down the rock, spreading translucent wing-arms and gliding down a level of stones. He peered the few yards over to Egahi, still remaining cautiously distant, lifting his snout to sniff her way.

"This way, if you want to see where I hunt. It is green, it HAS green, more than the rest of the swamp. Come, come."

He scrabbled down the rock faces, long jagged tail slithering after him, wings sometimes catching him when he leapt farther between the ledges, making his way down toward the swamp's ground level. He glanced back over his shoulder, at length, to see if the prett yLong White was following him.

"What are you, anyway? What are you called?"

His tone was curious and polite, that of an innocent, bright, young creature wondering about his new friend.

((ooc -- @Egahi ))

Such an interesting thing. So peculiar. Very peculiar. Very interesting. How he moved, how he spoke. She was inclined to follow him with minimal hesitation, tongue continuing to taste him as she trailed behind. His glance at her made her want to smile, but how a snake was to do so had continued to evade her, even after seeing Grassy accomplish it time and again. The invasive questions were not taken as such. Many were curious about what she was, exactly, even if they had an idea. This one seemed without a clue, which mattered not, either way. "I am... Egahi; a King Cobra... serpent," she said. Very simply put. Now, it seemed only fair to inquire, "What and who are you... Peculiar One?" Egahi dropped her head down and sped up enough to catch up to the other, so she could be more... face-to-face with him. Head rose up again, tilting a little at him before focusing ahead in effort to note where they were going. A greener place was laying in wait, with who-knew-what for food. Or perhaps this was disguised treachery. Something she should have taken into account first, perhaps. —————— "Speech." Thoughts. OOC: Sorry it's a bit bland x_x Tag: @Imp

The hybrid peered at the white snake as she caught up to him, face-to-face, and he offered her an impish, friendly grin. He liked her. He couldn't wait to see how she dealt with what lay ahead.

Maybe she would even survive.

"I'm Imp. I'm a Child of Rot," he answered, matter-of-factly.
"We live here and eat things. It's a good swamp," he added proudly. He wasn't lying, not at all, just-... omitting the part where he was going to try sending the snake into a deadly situation. Assuming she even fell for it. He'd have to act the part, cleverly--and more than that, he had to be careful he didn't tell her too much. He didn't tell her what the Children were, in case she got mad. He didn't want Tal'at-Dad getting hurt, after all, or Merrow.

Not that he really thought too hard about any of this.

What he did think about was the dark crevice yawning before them. It was shaped like a tent, of sorts--a vast black shadowed area framed by stone, a cave mouth, in a way, but the bottom remained mud--and if the snake managed to push all the way through, more swamp glimmered in the distance at the other end, after a curve in the stone.

Meanwhile, though.. there were spiders. Huge spiders, big spiders, spiders bigger than Imp, spiders several feet wide and full of venom and searing webs that they spat on anyone who got too close. The whole crevice was full of them and he'd seen them catch and kill the rubber-skinned cave deer that roamed Cetus with hardly any trouble at all.

"It's just up ahead--in there. I know it looks scary, but you're probably older than me. You're big. You're probably braver than I was at first. I dunno what you eat but I eat deer and mice and rats and there's all those things in there--and littler things, like you but small," he continued, remembering what she'd just swallowed down moments before, when he'd first seen her.

"You don't have to go in now, if you're afraid of the dark. But there's nothing in there that can hurt you. And anyway, you seem like you can take care of yourself."

A smoothly-delivered lie, an innocent gaze at his new "friend," as close to a smile as he could plaster onto his ever-grinning jaws.

Imp abruptly spread his wings and leapt, one beat of them giving him the additional air he needed in his jump to hit the edge of the rock and clamber, until he was perched over the boulders that hung over the cave. He peered down at Egahi, still grinning, long ridged tail looped over the edge and out of sight to keep him hooked in place. Below him yawned the cavern full of deadly cave spiders that lurked high up in its darkness, just waiting to pounce on any creatures that ventured inside.

He wasn't sure if he'd convinced her to try--and anyway, she probably wasn't hungry; but if she didn't, he was sure he could find something else to amuse himself with. Maybe he could trick her into pissing off the Divine.

Now that would be fun.

((ooc -- @Egahi ))

Very interesting. Child of Rot. "A very good swamp," she responded simply. Not much dwelled in her mind as the approached an unusual looking place, it's great stone mouth appearing less than inviting the the average creature. A taste told her the air was stale, humid and murky. A faint smell of death lingered, but so did the scent of damp fur. An honest appeal to the snake, even if something about this all came as suspicious. Why would any predator share it's eating place? It's prey? Very odd. Still, she wasn't afraid in the least bit and chose to take whatever risk might lie in such a place. Eyes cast up at him before sliding toward the opening, contemplating deeply of intentions that may exist. It didn't take much for her to find out, either. Her tail hadn't quite made it in with something with far too many legs dropped on top of her back. There was no time to think, only act. Her hood splayed out and a hiss roared out like a mad dog, head whipping around to sink fangs into the first thing they could grab. It turned out to be the torso of a rather large spider. She'd seen much matter ones before, not one like this. It was intimidating and - honestly - very bitter tasting. Thankfully, the toxins in her venom lead to it's swift death. She crawled over his body back out of the cave and rose herself up to stand three feet from the earth, dark eyes piercing at the flying beast. "Cowardly games, you play," she said, then began to crawl up his perch toward him. "I shall... provide benefit of doubt. Do something so stupid again... and you'll be the spider." —————— "Speech." Thoughts. OOC: out of character Tag: @Imp

Shit.

That hadn't been--that wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Those spiders hit from a distance! They attacked in... three and four, they were evil, and poison. But this long-white-snake, SHE must have been poison, too, because here she was, taking one down and--wait, why was she coming up here?

Thinking fast, Imp spread his wings and glided down, putting a good bit of distance between them. He was wary of whatever venom she must have--that was for sure.


I could just leave--but where's the fun in that?

Taking a deep breath, the hybrid cried out with a deep and triumphant tone, ignoring the cobra's warnings--for now.

"You have passed the test!? Why--it's been... Years! Since anyone survived the cave!"

Years? Was that too much? Never mind it now, it was said, best gloss over it--he puffed out his collar of fur, all the while scampering around through the trees, trying to keep a healthy distance between him and the snake.

"You have proven yourself worthy. And now you can be shown the--secret treasure! Of Cetus. The pride of the Children of Rot--err, do you eat fish?"

The alligator hybrid hopped to the edge of one of the channels of black water that led back to the Heart of Cetus. He fully intended to snatch up one of the albino cave fish--even cook it for Egahi, to "prove" his good intentions. But no sooner had he perched on the edge than his impish nature got ahold of him once again. He glanced back over his shoulder.

"There's cave fish here your color. They are white, and pinkish, and they are the best-tasting thing in the whole caves. I'll show you, just wait here."

With that he dove down, and away, plunging into the water and propelling himself deeper with his tail. The water wasn't all that deep--a few feet, maybe--but his intention was to just slip away up the water channel, pretending to hunt for a fish. Except he didn't plan to come back.

He wondered--if she didn't chase him--just how long she might wait, fruitlessly, for his return, and as the cold water engulfed him, he managed to stifle a giggle.

((ooc -- @Egahi and of course she is free to pursue if she wishes!))

doubtless was the level of interest Egahi had for the unusual creature. Never had she been quite so fascinated by anything, but he was so similar, yet so different. Scales and fur and wings with teeth and claws. Magnificent! The only thing more she could hope for is perfection, which she was starting to lose hope that she may find such in him. He was aloof and sent her straight into danger for sport, after all. As the creature slipped into the waters, she watched the ripples left behind, tongue searching for what she couldn't see. What was he up to? What trick did he have next? The serpent loomed over the surface he disappeared under, pondering whether or not he was worth a follow. Would he become friend or was he doomed to be a foe? With a sigh and mental shrug, she slipped all 35 pounds of snake into the water and began to follow. Never had the long, limbless reptile put any effort into her magic, but today was a very odd day, so something out of the ordinary wouldn't be too irrelevant. It was surprisingly easy to achieve what she wanted. The water was murky as it was and with a little play with the light, her bright pearl color faded away into the water. If he wanted to play tricks, she would as well. With effort, she pushed her body forth through the water to catch up with Imp before her spell wore off, hovering under his hybrid frame. —————— "Speech." Thoughts. OOC: out of character Tag: @Imp

The hybrid did not notice the snake pursue; in fact, his mind was already wandering.

Forward he went, slipping along the black water channels of the marsh. The albino fish did sound good, actually; he'd go hunting for himself, even if that silly snake had been left far, far behind. He dove down, thick tail propelling himself deep and swift, down into the depths of the Heart of Cetus. He could swear he'd bumped off of something--but it was probably just a stick.

Now for the fish!

Imp took some time to paddle this way and that, his tail moving him quite quickly. Now and again, when turning, he folded one forelimb out a bit, letting his webbed wing-arms bank him sharply in one direction or the other. In this way he soon found a few scattered albino cave-fish, their blind, slimy bodies far beneath the surface and its faint and misty light.

His jaws opened, grinning fangs bared, and his eyes widened in malicious delight as he gave a final thrust of his tail in pursuit.

The fish sensed him coming, however, sensed the shove and churn of water, and they darted away as his jaws snapped shut in a whorl of useless bubbles.

He could try again, but meanwhile, annoyance wracked the little hybrid--and if the snake was nearby, well, she was fully forgotten to his mind.

((ooc -- @Egahi ))