Dragon lay quiet in the swamp, staring at his problem.

And what a problem it was. It was not his usual problem, that was for sure. His usual problem was that he had to constantly hunt to bring offerings to Aquarian's food pile.

Now he had too much to carry, and he wasn't sure how to handle this. A single cave deer--rubbery-skinned and striped with bioluminescence--had come to the glowing mushroom ring that the visiting white wolf had left beside the offering pile. It had fled, but not before he had injured it, and he'd spent a good few hours tracking it into the deep black water that threaded between the tall trees of the Groves.

Then, as he'd taken it down, a number of large black cave rats--ravenous, apparently--had attacked him.

Now he had this big, juicy pile of meat, and no way to get it all back to the Heart of Cetus. He was loathe to simply leave pieces behind. He could... drag each piece bit by bit, but that would go very, very slowly. He could abandon half the pile, but what self-respecting alligator would do that?

No, this was a problem he just could not fathom.

Too much meat! What do I do?

((ooc - there aren't enough AW threads out there! Hop on in!))

Bounding through the room she had hatched in, Layla was only identified by the blob of light bouncing from her neck. She happily found a cricket and was following it, right up until she bumped into Dragon.

"Oh hello Dragon! How're you?" She asked, bright blue eyes having hardly any trouble to see him with her eyes and her light that hung from her neck.

@Dragon

Felina had wandered very far from the Marrowbound Kingdom. That certainly wasn't her intention. Her intended destination was the outermost fringes of Canis. She was chasing a cave rat out of King Carni's domain.

At first, the rodent was running in a straight direction. It must have tried to evade her, because it entered Tunnel H. She should've just let it go, but she was determined to bring Carni a gift. Of course, he could obviously bring down a rat by himself, but she wanted to offer him something she caught herself.

Now she was in Cetus...and two very different scents led her to The Grove. There was a lot of murky water, so she tried using the nearest tall trees. She was interested in the source of the two very different scents, so she tried to leap from tree to tree. Hoping to get as close as she could---not too close, of course---she finally landed on a tree closest to the two Gembounds her nose led her to.

She padded to a branch about two feet above them, but her attention was caught by a light (Layla). She walked right to the end of that overhanging branch...and...

((OOC: Layla and Dragon *might* be able to catch Felina's scent.))

Tags:@dragon, @layla

Dragon watched, motionless, as the tiny light came bobbing straight for him. At first he was very confused, but when the thing nearly bounced off him, and spoke--well, after a moment of peering, he recognized it.

His bellowing voice echoed out into Cetus, tone as surprised as a relatively emotionless reptile's could be.

"Little one! You yet live. This is good!" he huffed. He hadn't noticed the scent of Felina above, what with the stench of the swamp and the strong reek of blood and meat all around him.

Regardless, if Layla was hungry, that was as good a use for the meat as any, no?

"I have been hunting, for meat to bring my father," Dragon declared in a loud rumble. "Yet there is too much to carry. If you hunger, you may consume some," he added, dignified and generous. Or so it seemed to him, at least. He then turned, ripping off a hunk of bloodied cave rat, flopping it to the ground in his broad jaws.

Maybe she wasn't even hungry, but what the hell else was he meant to do with all of this?

@Layla

Smiling at Dragon, the cub happily accepted his offer of food. She wasn't particularly hungry, but she wouldn't turn down a meal. Gobbling down the food, Layla caught a scent. Faint, but there. Looking around herself, she didn't see anyone but the Dragon, the meat, and the swampy marshes of Cetus. Maybe the smell was above her! Looking up, Layla saw another creature.

"Hello there!"

@Felina