Effluvium had found its' way back to Cetus. It did not think of the land of its home--it was doubtful Effluvium had or would ever make a link to a place as home. No, Effluvium did what it did best. Follow the scents. It paused in its tromp. A sharp intake a breath, heavier than any natural creature. Scenting. Water, its' mind supplied. It had scented food earlier, rotten things. Though the smell eluded it now. But Effluvium was sure where water was, there was food. Its eyes blinked, wet. It would find it. It began the difficult task of forcing its' body to move again. Even as a young monster, it was difficult to carry its growing bulk. Had it a mind for introspection, it might've thought its' body a nuisance to move around in. But it was a simple minded creature.

It scented again. Water, again, but Effluvium was closer. With renewed energy, the creature charged, barely moving out of the way of trees. It didn't stop until it was aware of the splash of water at its' arms. Nearly head deep, the surrounding water tinged red. Effluvium had long since scared anything swimming away, although it wasn't smart or experienced enough to realize this. Head turned down, it stood and watched the water closely. It blinked. A movement beneath. Effluvium launched its' jaws at the waters surface, a snap echoing. It lifted its mouth, jaws closed in on--nothing. It had snapped at its own reflection. Effluvium growled, and swatted at its' reflection with an arm. Punishment for deceiving it. "Eat," It said sternly.

@Hunger

It was the scent that drew it--red, meaty, flesh. The strong, mouthwatering odor of food. It had never encountered anything like this, before, and at the accompanying vibrations it at once launched itself forward: a slow, sleek swim into the swamp.

Hunger was an ambush predator, and it was unsure, as yet, how far Effluvium was--and how large. And so it began to follow the ripples, slipping through the black channels as quietly as it could.

It was not unerring, but it was close to it: a few false starts did not take it far before the soft sludging movements reoriented it to the right path. And slowly its slick, oily body crept closer: the hunter closing in for the prey. Only briefly did its jaws open, a crack: a single red eye, slit-pupilled, examining what it was hunting.

Lurching. Red. Tainting the water with its essence. Formless and multi-limbed.

Hunger did not wonder that it was a thing it had never seen before. It did not imagine that perhaps this was not a Lesser. That it might be diseased, or dangerous. It had but one thought, one that drove its jaws to slip back shut, that drove its body to drop gently back beneath the surface of the swamp, that sent it slowly drifting closer to Effluvium.

That thought was simple: Food.

@Effluvium

Effluvium was unaware of Hunger's presence. It was likely it would stay unaware. Effluvium did not consider itself a top predator. Had no concept of that. But it did not think of itself as one to to be eaten. Effluvium was the eater. No, its' thoughts were with the water. With what lay below, or at least what they thought lay below. They saw no fish. But they would not get tricked by their reflection again. Effluvium went farther into the swamp. Deeper. Its' hands made soft thuds against the bottom as it walked. Swirling up the mud, and knocking over driftwood indiscriminately. It growled, what would be a hum for any other creature.

Effluvium saw nothing. Perhaps it'd have better luck looking beneath than above. It dunked its head underwater. But it had forgotten to close its nostrils--wherever those where. Instinctually going to sniff, to scent out the prey, Effluvium instead caught a lung-full of water. It shot its head out of the water. Sneezing and coughing up the murky water. Effluvium let out a half growl half whine, that ended in another coughing fit. Effluvium decided pretty quickly it hated this swamp. If it could not find fish, it would maim and mangle the land itself. The three foot horror roared, and began assaulting the water with teeth and claws.

@Hunger

It made sounds--Hunger could hear it, feel it vibrating, just waiting to be eaten. It slipped closer, closer... And then lunged: jaws exploding from the water, the single red eye locating and locking on its prize mid-lunge.

It aimed to grab the meat, to drag it back into the water with it...

Hunger fed on larger prey regularly. Deer that strayed too close were its favorites: large meals that could take a day to eat. It hunted by bursting forth, grabbing in its jaws, and retreating, using its bulk to drag its prey swiftly beneath the waters. Most simply drowned, rapidly succumbing, but for some, Hunger twisted, tearing body parts away.

It wondered, vaguely, which this would be.

@Effluvium

Effluvium had been fighting the water one moment. And then a shape launched itself at Effluvium. It was dark as the water itself, with teeth aplenty and a single, glowing red eye. Effluvium's brain came to one logical conclusion. It was the swamp itself given form, come to attack it. The deception from the reflection and the attempted choking wasn't enough for it.

It wanted to attack Effluvium itself. Hunger misjudged, and where a well placed bite might have grasped Effluvium's limbs or sides, pulling it or sizable chunks of it into the depths, Hunger's jaws snapped on the mucus it left on the water. Effluvium shifted away from the bite, more reactionary than anything. It was too lumbering of a creature to truly react in a timely fashion. Effluvium snarled, a gurgling, tearing noise.

Effluvium would not be food. Effluvium was the fooder. "EAT," the baby screamed, its attempt at combining all the thoughts and concepts running through its' mind into words. The swamp would not conquer it. Effluvium would eat the swamp before the swamp could eat it. Once it was finished with the avatar of Cetus, it would move on to eat the rest of the swamp. Teach Cetus not to mess with it. Effluvium's jaws darted out, aiming to close on some part of Hunger.

@Hunger

The rats had, on occasion, fought back. It was used to scrabbling claws and gnashing teeth, but nothing so large as this. A bizarre, horizontal set of jaws clamped over Hunger's hide, and a guttural hiss escaped it.

There was oil, there; perhaps this thing would find it unpalatable or perhaps it would consume it as if it were anything else in its path. Hunger did not know. Hunger heard the word 'eat,' and for a moment this gave it pause; it was not meant to eat sentient things... was it? It could only dimly remember its creator's words.

But this thing was biting, and it would not allow itself to be eaten. Air escaped it, a vibrating chest-deep hiss without the grace of vocal cords: "I... EAT..." Hunger spun, a whip-fast movement--and it could feel jaws carving deeper into flesh, which was unexpected pain--and attempted to sink jaws into Effluvium's meat.

@Effluvium

The taste of the creature's body was not palatable--but Effluvium did not care about the taste, other than a slight narrowing of eyes. It was living flesh, and Effluvium was supposed to eat flesh. It tightened its' grip on the crocodian's hide. The other spoke, the avatar of the swamp and Effluvium was surprised to hear its' words parroted back. Its grip slipped as it puzzled this out. Could swamp talk? Did that mean swamp was not-food? But swamp wanted to eat Effluvium. It was wrong. Effluvium was not for eating. Effluvium was the only one allowed to eat. Effluvium did not have much longer to puzzle this, as Hunger's jaws closed in on it.

Effluvium did not normally have a reaction to pain. It did not, for the most part, care about minor bites and bits of matter torn off. But this was different, The bite cut through its many layers of muscle, and hit the nerves buried within, surrounding its' core. And this time, it screamed in pain. Somewhere in there, Effluvium had let go of Hunger. Hunger had cut deep into Effluvium's body, and the grip was more painful than the gembound had experienced in its cycle. Rage gathered within it at being forced to experience such pain.

"EFFLUVIUM," came the burbling, screaming voice. "EAT."

And with that, Effluvium aimed to close its jaws on Hunger again, grasping at whatever it could reach.

@Hunger

Its jaws clamped shut.

And Effluvium's jaws, in turn. The pain was unfamiliar, intense, and Hunger disliked this, but more than that it tasted meat in its jaws and wanted more.

Still... speaking? Thoughts gurgled up through the mud of its mind; wasn't it meant to not eat these things-? It could not risk, it calculated, stopping for a chat whilst the other creature was trying to eat it.

It came to a simple enough decision; it could pull Effluvium down into the swamp-water, and then, if the thing was drowning, then try and have a chat. Once it was half-drowned, and weakened, and all that. Hunger didn't dare risk opening its own jaws to talk beforehand; the sentient meat-pile was already biting it again.

With a twist of its bulk, then, it tried to maneuver Effluvium with a lurch into deeper water--and to sink, pulling it down, if it could.

@Effluvium

Effluvium felt the vice of Hunger's jaws tighten on them. It was slow to react--still in pain, off guard. Partially even curious of Hunger's actions. It did not take long for Effluvium to find out. It yelped, reeling at Hunger's attempt to drag it even deeper. Effluvium did not yet associated water with danger, nor swamp, despite its previous run ins. But Hunger was doing a good job of making it reconsider.

Its' cry morphed into a screech, and it flung its claws
and writhed wildly, limbs grasping at anything. As it turns out, the only thing Effluvium had any luck hitting was the bottom of the swamp. Its frantic swipes and bulk only seemed to succeed in helping Hunger drag it deeper, faster. It looked much like a swimmers back stroke, if the swimmer didnt stop screaming, and also sunk like a rock.

@Hunger

It drew down, and held, and held... The meat thrashed and screamed. Hunger attempted to hold it awhile longer, to weaken it. And at length, Hunger released its grasp and sunk a little lower, hopefully beyond its reach.

When it spoke--beneath the water, through gurgles and the bubbling of air passing through its throat--its voice was a guttural hiss, one not formed of vocal cords. Likely, it was hardly audible, barely recognizable as words, and each came with slow pauses between.

"Is it... sssentient... Can it... ssspeak..." it slowly demanded, or perhaps mused aloud.

And then it waited, settling back and down at the muddy bottom of the swamp, jaws slowly gaping for the single red eye to watch Effluvium from the darkness.

@Effluvium