Carja tilted her head and stood up, shaking herself off before waddling forward to sniff at the leftover fish. She'd already eaten, but she didn't want to seem rude or anything...

"Crooo... eat?" she said, mimicking the sound Effluvium had made. She didn't know what it meant, but she suspected it had to have something to do with the food in front of her.

Carja picked up the fish and flopped down, putting a paw on its tail before gnawing on the fish, bones cracking as she took big bites of the fish. When only the tail was left, she brought it back over, offering the tender meat at the end of the fish.

@Effluvium

Effluvium, was satisfied at first. "Eat," It said in agreement, and then downed its half with a single crunch. A black eye bubbled up on its' head from inside, like a bobber surfacing. It blinked open, looking dissimilar, and was quickly forgotten by Effluvium, if it even knew it was there at all. Then creature realized something. Since Carja ate the other half, they would not get that meat back. A lesson in sharing for the young gembound.

For the first time in its' life, Effluvium experienced the emotion dismay. And then, joy. Carja had brought it back the tail. It inhaled the tail, then began searching for any bones left, leaving drool and snorting as it went. A majestic sight to behold. Then, upon realizing it had nothing left to eat, turned its gaze to Carja. Expecting more. "Eat?" It repeated.

@Carja

Carja cocked her head, wondering what the other wanted. Oh! Food! She could do that.

"Eat!" she crowed, and bounded over to the water, peering into it.

Carja spotted a fish and shot her head into the water, snapping at it and grabbing a bit of tail, but losing the fish. She drew her head back and snorted, upset at failing to catch the fish. She turned to Effluvium and dropped the bit of fin in front of it, before turning back to the water to see if she could catch something else.

@Effluvium

"Eat," Effluvium agreed. It watched as Carja went over to the water. Was it catching fish for Effluvium? Effluvium writhed in excitement. "EAT." It said, louder than before, unaware how to express its' excitement but through that word. Carja's head dipped into the water, and it approached, eager for more food. The dragon tossed something back at Effluvium.

They sniffed. A torn bit of fin. They scowled, then sniffed at Carja to make sure they weren't hiding more food from it. No. Just this. It wanted bigger food, but considering Effluvium was a living garbage disposal, they still ate it.A dart of the tongue made quick work of it. But Effluvium wanted more.

Too impatient to wait for another, Effluvium crouched, and launched itself at the water. Like a canonball, but made of meat. By luck, somehow Effluvium's haphazard attack managed to snag a fish. Its' eyes drifted down, and between its claws was a wriggling redfang. Effluvium was sure they'd killed this one before. They'd eaten it. They felt a twinge of apprehension. "I EAT," it screamed at the redfang, as if that would explain the sudden presence of the fish.

@Carja

... Well that worked, at least.

Carja blinked at the other, a bit impressed that their haphazard lunge managed to work. They weren't complaining, though, and jumped forward, trying for the same thing as she darted forward to try and catch another fish for the creature, hoping to make friends.

She grabbed a fish and bit down hard, killing it easily, though it tensed and smacked her in the face, one last move of retaliation before falling limp. She shook it a few times for good measure before taking a bite and dropping the rest of the fish in front of Effluvium. She nudged it forward and licked her lips, hoping the fish appeased the eldritch horror.

"Eat," she chirped, tail wagging.

@Effluvium

The Redfang that Effluvium somehow managed to snag was a good four and a half feet long, weighing several hundred pounds. It flailed up, flopping to the shore.

These fish were quite rare in Cetus; only a handful of them survived, here, given the predatory Greaters and the enormous serpent lurking below. It was terrible luck, then, to pull one up. The beast thrashed, eyes rolling, shifting this way and that, its dark-scaled and massive bulk breaching entirely the water's surface, throwing itself from the shore, and splashing back down into the mud. It bit and tore at anything too close; this fish would take cunning, or incredible brute strength, to kill.

Posting by request!

Effluvium screamed at the fish again, not knowing how to react. It sensed the fish that Carja had tossed, and its' attention was torn between the dead fish and the redfang between its hands. Effluvium's multitude of eyes flicked between the redfang and the free fish just sitting there, waiting to be eaten.

It stuck its' head in the direction of the one Carja had nudged towards it, while continuing to hold down the redfang. Stretching its tongue Its attention diverted, Effluvium's grip slipped, and the Redfang wriggled on the mud, teeth snapping. Effluvium roared in anger. Paused. Snapped up the fish Carja had brought it. Then trudged closer to the fish.

"EAT." It screamed at the flopping, biting form. How dare the fish not want to be eaten. Unsure how to deal with food moving this much, Effluvium batted at it like a cat with a toy.

@Carja
@Game Master Dark

Carja blinked and stared at Effluvium for a moment before yawning and deciding to join in on the fun. She leaped forward and slapped her paws down, trying to hit the fish, too. And she hit!

She leaped backward the moment she did, because she really didn't want to get bitten, no thank you.

@Effluvium

The massive fish--small shark, really--thrashed, its immense bulk clearing the mud entirely. When Effluvium slapped at it, it twisted to grip its slappy-limb in hook-toothed jaws.

Their slapping, it seemed, wasn't doing a lot to kill it.

Effluvium continued batting the fish with a paw. It expected it to die soon--as the other had. Effluvium wanted to eat it already. Instead, on the downswing of Effluvium's paw, blade-like teeth sunk in. Effluvium watched. It was silent as the pain sunk in. And then it screamed. The fish was biting its bone. One of its big, important bones. Effluvium roared at the fish. Effluvium wanted it to stop biting them. Effluvium wanted to bite IT. Effluvium didn't understand why the fish was being so mean about it. Indiscriminate of its own flesh, Effluvium bit down on the fish and its own hand. If it bit hard enough, maybe the hurting would stop.

This was a decent plan in theory. For Effluvium, at least. In execution, however, it was anything but. Effluvium, blinded by its own pain, got a faceful of its own arm flesh. Lacking nerves in most of its...everything, Effluvium pulled, thinking it had grasped the Redfang. Unfortunately, Effluvium was real bad at biting. It jerked its jaws in the opposite direction. A section of arm flesh came off. It screamed again.

@Game Master Dark
@Carja