The snakelet slithered over the strange pieces of material littering the tunnel. He was hot on the trail of a mouse. He had to catch this one, otherwise he would likely starve. He had yet to make his first kill and it was starting to show in his form. The slender rattlesnake was small for his age, and a little underweight. He felt himself grow weaker with each movement of his muscles. Famished, Kovares' mouth tingled with the urge to bite something, anything! He was so hungry he though his growling stomach might eat him instead. With each flick of his black tongue he followed the rodent's scent.

Kovares could sense it's heat near by. He was close, so close. Slipping under a plate of rusted armor, he hid in the shadows, waiting for the mouse to scurry by. He could feel the rodent's tiny paw steps draw closer and closer. Impatience began to prod at his scales as the hunger pains twisted his belly. This mouse was sure taking its sweet time. Brown fur finally came into view. The lesser Gembound's nose twitched as it sniffed its surroundings. It was looking for something to eat too, much like the little snake behind it. His eyes locked on the mouse as he edged closer, shielded by the inky shadows, he snuck his tongue out to catch its location. The mouse spun around and began foolishly sniffing inside the armor, blissfully unaware of the starving predator a whisker length away. Kovares knew it was now or never and he gathered up his energy. Without warning the little rattler launched his head at the mouse his long fangs reaching out from the darkness to strike the rodent.

He was quick, but the mouse of quicker. The rodent shrieked as it dodged his fangs and fled down the tunnel. Nooo! His mind hissed. He slipped his out of his hole and watched his last hope run off out of sight. Crestfallen, and exhausted the starving snakelet rested his head on the rim of the armor. His stomach growled once again and he curled his body in an effort to ease the pain. What was he gong to do now? The little rattlesnake was a loss.

@Rinaotei

Somewhere else in this part of the Caves is a lupine with their own mouse in their jaws, but there's no blood on the wolf's teeth since the blood on the cave mouse has pretty much dried up. The slashed cut on it, that was probably the killing blow has closed up somewhat naturally from time, may tear open again, which will make more blood spill if Rinaotei really clamps down on it with her jaw, doesn’t need to though it was already dead when she got it. It goes without saying by now that she wasn't the one that did the kill, no she found it dead along her way here, it seems utterly wasteful in her eyes.

She does hunt when needed, but this pacifism she has even extends to the Lessers sometimes, so she rarely does which is reflected upon on how she is a little underweight for her kind, with the exception of hunting fish, somewhat anyway seeing how she wishes to research in what is the quickest and painless way to kill a fish. But that does not mean she's pescatarian, just because she has some conscience & morals she can't deny the fact that she's a creature that's a carnivore and that's a fact, she just really does not like it when a Lesser gets killed then not even used to feed, like a meaningless death, unless it was some ademption or something, still a pretty horrible thing though.

Rinaotei proceeded trot over this smooth and rocky path herself, she may have food to eat right now but adventure still calls! While she didn't see anything out of the ordinary in Orion that was connected as to what happened to her the first time she went there with Kin-Kin, well she came out fine this time and so she'll take a look at the new location at the end of this Tunnel. She'll be casually & calmly strolling along here and the rattlesnake that's suffering from starvation will easily see the catch the wolf has with her.

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words| 343
tagged| @Kovares
ooc| ---
muse| 8/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

.

Kovares stirred as he felt paw steps tred across the tunnel, but it wasn't the Gembound that caught his attention, it was the thing she carried. He lapped up the inviting scent of the dead mouse hanging from her jaws, it was not as fresh as mouse he would have hunted, but he was so hungry any post mortem rodent seemed delicious. He slid his spade-like head out of the hide and flicked his tongue as he watched the wolf draw near him. Hope began to rise in his chest. he knew that Gembound, he met her shortly after emerging from his chrysalis. If he could get her let him have that mouse, or at least split, it would replenish his energy. Surely, she was charitable soul, at least he hoped she was. He would hate to waste his venom on something he could not eat. There was only one problem, grabbing her attention. Speech wasn't his strong suit at the moment. He could try to rattle, but it could give the wrong idea. However, he decided it was worth a shot.

The snakelet, eased his slender, cave colored body half way out of the rusted armor. He gave his tail a rattle to notify his presence. It was weak and soft buzz, but it was all his cold-blooded body could muster up. He opened his mouth to try his hand at speaking again. At first, all that came out was a hiss, but it soon gave way to actual words.

"Missssss." He pleaded softly within an airy hiss. "Hungry, miss, please." The snakelet stopped to catch his breath, his sides heaved as he turned his big eyes up to her, trying to look cute for extra measure. He was kind of getting the hang of this talking. "Need mouse."

@Rinaotei

The serpent was fairly silent and scales actually blend in well with rusted armour, more so than fur anyway, and Rinaotei is so relaxed right now, that she for once isn't too cautious of her surroundings right now. So she didn't quite detect him, which is surprising from how observant she is usually, notably since she knows others can track the scent of blood fairly easily, not the smartest of times to be so lax. She hasn't gone with food for a while and since she doesn't like to hunt so often she really isn't picky of her food in a way, so it being dead doesn't bother her much personally.

Casually walking on still towards where the snake is even now they are still undetected by Rina from how small and young they are too, it was only until when she partially walked past the armour they are hiding in that she hears the rattling sound, it may be weak but still easy to hear for her good hearing. Which immediately makes her go to a stop and she just adjusts her head to the side where the serpent is just a little bit, so she's giving a small side glance to see where they made the noise. She may be lax earlier but she is a little bit on alert now in response especially with the hissing sound too, which somewhat shows on how she's swaying her tail side to side a little bit in cautiousness, that’s all though.

With his calling out to her, she also recognizes this young one, which makes her turn around fully in wonder as to what they wish from her. 'Miss'?... Well for one so young this one is pretty polite it's quite nice, calling her 'miss' wouldn't really boost the chances of him getting what he wishes but it is nice to hear anyway, it's more on whether they rudely demand in foul temper will the lessen the chance of getting what they wish from her. Hearing their claim that they are suffering from starvation, the reactions their body has to things such as just speaking and appearance does indicate that their body is terribly malnourished, lacking the nutrients needed to recover...

...She may not have had food for a while, bit her body in fully developed now and since she has constant adventures going without food means she has pretty good endurance, even if fatigue is catching up to her now. This young one's body is still developing so it'll need some more nutrients to grow, not to add they haven't been alive for long so they wouldn't have had time to gain a similar endurance yet.

Luckily for this one, she is a benevolent soul, the aloofness may not show it so easily though. Rinaotei steadily approaches them and when she is right in front of them, where that only her taller height is being the only thing that is keeping their distance from each other, she practically towers and looms over this young one now. But they need not worry about that, gently, ever so gently, she lowers her head next to their head and deposits the mouse she has in her jaws onto the ground, next to the weakened snake to feed on. Afterwards she calmly steps back in reverse to keep a safe distance from the snake and let them have their fill.

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words| 567
tagged| @Kovares
ooc| ---
muse| 7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

.