Warrior rolled two oversized eyes upward, again.

"Black-? Cool--yes, my stone was black," he said, then squinted. "At least, I think it was." He stood quiet, short-haired foal tail swishing once or twice, as he listened to V.

Smelling and tasting? Bizarre; but maybe he could help? Warrior lowered his head again, plodding forward with his nose down, nostrils flared--careful for any sign of another spider about to leap out, but sniffing for anything... alive?

He hesitated, dropping his nose lower, sniffing with loud, warm huffs. There was a-... something, near, a-...

He followed the strange, small, warm scent, and came to a halt a few paces before a scrubby bush. "Um. In there?" he asked, uncertaintly--and then, in a sudden fit of heroism, stuck a hoof into the bush and jiggled it about.

No spiders launched out at him, at least.

@Vee

It seemed weird to her that a piece of stone was stuck to Warrior's forehead, but - oh well. Maybe she had some rock on her head, too, and her sister didn't seem to point it out. Weird thing not to, but V didn't have too much emotional investment. She hadn't had the proper time to inspect what she herself actually looked like. The snake was more about feeling than seeing.

And, as Warrior scuffled through a bush, she felt it was the perfect time to strike. Flexing and rattling her tail only once, V sprung towards a part not occupied by a little horse hoof - y'know, so she didn't bite him.

@Warrior

Warrior watched quizzically as the snake coiled her muscles and sprang, with little warning. Her fangs snapped out, and she lunged forward, biting--the bush?

The colt stared, quizzically. Have I been eating grass all wrong? he wondered, worriedly. Was he meant to sneak up on bushes-? Had he run the risk of being counter-attacked by the foliage at the river's edge?

...Had he escaped out of sheer dumb luck? Had the bushes just been... tired?

"Um," he offered, and then hesitated, uneasy at the idea of his own near-miss. "I thought. I mean-... Is grass dangerous?" he blurted, staring.

@Vee

V's thought process had gone something like this: if I attack this bush, then food will jump out into my mouth!

Clearly, it wasn't the case.

The snake hissed, rattle shaking lightly as she spat out the hunk of bush-bark that lodged itself on one of her teeth. It took a little working, of course, but it was out in a distasteful little lump. V huffed and puffed once, then lowered her rattle.

"I don't - think so! I thought there was... food in there and it was gonna be right where I went." She didn't aim at all. "Let's keep looking!"

Powering on through the sheer will of optimism (and not at all being a little embarrassed,) V continued to taste the air and slither around after whatever scent she deemed the most interesting.

@Warrior

The foal turned, peering down at the bush for a long moment.

Why-... He squinted at it, and then turned, following V onward.

Lucky nest of baby Quillmice, anyway; Warrior didn't think to sniff further, instead following the snake exactly the wrong way from her prey. It was probably for the best--to see a baby mouse swallowed whole would have been rather the moral dillemma for him.

"Oh," was all he said, though, somewhat confusedly. He trotted, for a moment, to catch back up--and fell in line beside V's slithering, peering around alertly as he did so.

And looking up, too, often--never again would Warrior forget to look up.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything you can eat. Have you tried grass? How do you know you don't eat it?" he asked, curiously. It didn't occur to him that anything didn't eat grass. He wasn't aware of just why the vulture and the spider had come after him.

The world, he thought, was just a rather strange place.

@Vee

Learning to hunt - especially by teaching herself and a big tall leggy-thing - was proving to be a little futile right now. V would give up, if she weren't so stubbornly insistent upon finding a bit of a meal to go with her drink. Water on an empty stomach was boring.

But, of course, the snake had thrown herself off of the trail of a nest, and slunk away. She was mostly following whatever weird smell came to her little tongue - and hoping, a little bit, that Warrior would spot something from his place in the sky. How's the weather up there?

She considered her sister's question for a moment, though, yawning widely and puffing again. Why did she not care for grass? The practical reason was, of course, the sharp fangs. How would she chew it? V lacked a, say, horse's broad flat teeth. "It's okay. It looks scratchy," she answered, mostly because that seemed to make the most sense. Rather than my stomach requires blood sacrifice once a month.

V continued on her little search, moving rather erratically as Warrior kept his eyes on... well, everything.

@Warrior

The foal plodded on, watching--everything, yes, but mostly because he didn't know what he should be looking for. He stayed, therefore, vaguely alert: watching for danger as they moved on.

"...It is scratchy, I guess," he agreed, after some consideration. "At least, most of it is. And pretty dry. And it has sharp edges. But the stuff by the water was nice--softer. Um. Bunchier?" he ventured, wondering how to explain the difference between soft, round clusters of water foliage and the long, sharp points of desert grass.

"You're different than anyone I've met," he told his sister, companionably. "Everyone else" (which, it should be noted, consisted of exactly two other sapient beings) "was bigger, with--four legs, and fur." He squinted, vaguely, as he recalled the camel he'd met--and then winced as the scabbing wounds around his eyes tore, a little, at the gesture. And managed to refrain from a second wince when the first one also hurt.

He took a moment to gather himself against the pain, which was, by now, a constant; and he plodded along dutifully beside V. "But then the spiders and things--the scor... scorpions. They have a lot of legs. But you don't have any?"

Prime observational skills again on display, the colt eyed V sidelong, curiously. "You have nice. Uh. Skin? Though. Scales? It's very... They're very... pretty." He scrunched up his face, trying to think of the words--and winced again. And then winced at his wince.

A moment again passed.

"Like-... little jewels. Hey, maybe your whole skin is rocks!" he exclaimed, with sudden inspiration. "You know, like my head? But your whole body! Tiny gemstones!" The foal swivelled, cantering and spinning so that he could walk backwards alongside V for a moment, peering down at her wide-eyed.

And then, in a phrase that would be devastatingly rude in other contexts unknown to the little foal, he blurted--"Are you hard?!" He half wanted to lean down, to nose velvet muzzle over scale and see if her body was like a thousand tiny emeralds, or if she was soft, like fur, or something else entirely.

Again he spun, now back to face the other way. He'd drunk, and eaten, where V had not; childish energy rippled through him, and he danced a little caper along the stone.

@Vee

Her attention, rather intelligently, was drawn back to the bush she had bitten. Maybe - just maybe… whatever food she was after was invisible. She'd have to just look for it and see where the sand moved! That seemed smart enough - "maybe water-grass is better? I can try it when we find some but… I think maybe I really did miss here. Do you think they're just - uh, clear?"

That was the word.

V coiled, staring into the bush, though her attention was currently elsewhere. "Well - do you get bigger? Maybe my legs and fur haven't grown in yet." Yes, little one… you were a mere larva.

She huffed, and would have blinked if she could. Maybe - maybe she was just a rock noodle. A whole bunch of little gem pieces, just all different colors and in pretty regular arrangement so she could slither and slink and do all that snakes can do. V chirped, "maybe! and set to rubbing her heat-pits along her middle. She didn't feel very hard, not to herself. "You try?" Briefly distracted from her hunt, the rattler uncoiled, lying flat in the sand, ready for hardness inspection.

Her tongue flicked out, though, eyes still raptly watching the bush for any sign of movement.

@Warrior

Warrior didn't know what she meant by "clear," and he didn't have time to ask; he couldn't puzzle out what "invisible" might be, or the concept of it, or the fact that she meant mice, in time for her next comment. His mind was still wondering how or why grass would have no color when she asked him to test her texture, and so he pushed it out of his thoughts and leaned down.

Arched neck curved, velvet muzzle brushing her scales, and he squinted in thought for a moment.

"You're, um..." Another pass, just to reiterate his first impressions... "...Scratchy? Like a little rough, but not hard. Soft maybe? But not completely. It's like... Grass, almost," he offered, with an epiphany of sorts. "Grass is kinda sharp and stiff," and had Warrior known anything bar rough, dry Hydra grass, he might've thought differently, but alas; "but it's not hard, and it's bendy, too. It's only scratchy if you poke it from the wrong angle. Your skin's like that," he explained. It was interesting, all told, and he found himself puzzling over his own fur, for a moment, leaning around to poke it with his muzzle.

"I dunno if I'll get bigger. Or if you will. I had my legs and fur already, though, when I came outta my rock," he explained. "I was already soft?"

With a shrug, Warrior turned back to V, blinking--ready to follow her onwards, again. He'd sort of lost track of where they were going, or why, aside from "V is hungry," but that was fine by him. He had nowhere else to be, and he hated being left alone.

@Vee

V puffed in thought, a quick little breath leaving her snout, more out of curiosity than anything. If she was scratchy like grass... and a bit green like grass... and didn't have legs like grass... "I must be grass, then! But moving." The snake wriggled on the spot for emphasis. As if she were just a blade of grass stirred into motion by the wind.

Her own head edged up, curious. First, the bottom of it rubbed against her scales - they felt like rocks. Then, she wiggled forward and ran her face a little up Warrior's leg. The sensation of the soft coat was wonderous! It was a bit like the sand beneath them, but somehow silkier.

"You're very soft," she cooed, eyes glittering.

Her attention, again, turned back to the bush, tongue flicking out and now slithering around it's base. A fairly large hole was dug around the trunk, narrow but somewhat deep. If she really squeezed, V thought she may be able to wiggle inside. Putting just her snout inside, she tasted the air for a long time. Birth-scent... almost like the one that had surrounded her upon hatching.

With a spring, she pushed herself deeper into the hole, jaws unhinging and fangs flying for whatever lived in this hole. There was quite a bit of scuffling and squealing. Her tail, just barely visible outside of divot, twisted a few times before starting the haul back up. V coiled backwards, adjusting her jaws around whatever lump was in her mouth and further poking them in with her teeth. Coming back into daylight, she spit it out to investigate her prize: a poor, barely-furred quillmouse (sans the quills, of course.)

It writhed on the spot, drawing an instinct to lunge at it again and swallow it as quickly as possible. This likely wasn't a pleasant sight for Warrior. But, V turned as if nothing had happened, calling, "there we go! Food!"

@Warrior