A trail of black followed behind the wandering valkhound, staining the pristine, glittering beaches of Leo a dead, dull brown-black. A stark contrast against the bright lights reflecting off the sand, a shadow, a strain, slowing its movements ever second that passed. Faltering - for what reason wasn't initially clear. It had been walking some time at a slow but steady pace, but now it slowed farther, steps uneven and unsteady.

And then it moaned and stopped completely, trembling in place. If it could blink, its eyes would be shut in their hollow pits, but among the many curses placed upon this wretched creature on its hatch day, one of them was that she could never truly look away. Even with her head lowered against the brilliant lights, the sand still seared the light into those eyes buried deep within the hollows of the face. She moaned again, sobbed a bit, wobbled in place, and then fell almost comically to the side, letting the legs on one side buckle and flopping right there into the sand.

The miserable creature cried from the agony, the exhaustion, as corruption trickled across the sand beneath her, as oil tears spilled from her eyes, collected into the hollows of her face, and dripped methodically onto the ground.

"No...more..." she moaned. Oh, oh she was exhausted. She was so tired. But the light - the light! - it burned and she could not look away.

@Howler

Howler is lost.

It had never been to Leo before -- and of all the caves it decided to 'discover' for the day, it had to be this one. Along with discovering this cave for the first time, Howler had learned that the sun in this section is.... A lot. Blistering on it's back, the brightness in it's eyes.

And thus he'd scrambled to the nearest visible shade. A rockface jutting outwards over the sands, just enough to cover most of the poor thing's body. Howler rumbles and hisses as his bony limbs kick up sand, claws raking through the particles to reach for the rockface. It does, talons finding their grip within the jutting peaks.

He waits there for some time, soaking in the comfortable shade. With protection, this area is quite nice. Howler thinks he'd like to wade in the sea, soak up the moisture in his battered skin. Only, his eyes flash upward - the sun would hurt.

He'd considered taking a nap, if it weren't for the sight of strange.... Goo? Lining the sandy floor. Black, ooey - it looks absolutely toxic. So Howler follows it, naturally. Like a dog, he uses his nose. Pointing straight forward, Howler eventually comes across the cause of it.

A strange... Thing? That smells absolutely abhorrent. It's shaped like.... A something. Howler has no idea what this strange creature is shaped like. All tendons and gooey something. And then the something makes a noise. Howler nearly jumps out of his skin, but stays put despite the blistering heat above.

"Are you... Okay?" he questions, but of course she isn't, idiot

Howler has no idea what to do here.

@Pickles

She did not care about the sound of feet approaching over the sand, she did not even try to look up because looking up meant more light more blinding more being unable to look away. So she laid there and moaned, her slick, shredded flank rising and falling quickly with the force of her pants. Perhaps death here would be a mercy. Perhaps if she laid here long enough she would eventually dissolve into the sun.

But then - are you okay? Eyes at last turned in their hollow pits and her teeth gnashed at the sight of the thing - white! White! White! Like the white thing that hurt her once. Like the white things that battled here once. Something akin to whining growl bubbled up her throat. "Youuuu..." but it trailed off as quickly as it came. She stared at it longer. Not Rena. Not the large Rena-bug things. She chuffed. "No...you are not...that."

Very illuminating.

A heavy breath choked by a sob wracked her body and another oily tear spilled from the veritable puddle that had collected in the hollow of her face. "Hurts," she moaned. "Too bright. So...tired." She had been wandering so much. Walking constantly. She was so...so tired of it, of all of it. Perhaps she should simply lay here and die, maybe that would be a mercy. Maybe this one would do it for her.

@Howler

Howler sits there silent for a few moments. The gembound - no? The Something - is clearly still alive, but it's definitely suffering... The sudden whine-growl snaps Howler back to attention and he moves away from the mouth full of needles.

'That looks scary.' It thinks to itself.

Howler watches the creature through red eyes, seeing in real-time as she decides Howler is not her enemy and leaks a substance down into the hot sand. The pile of... Oil? It looks like Oil, growing steadily by the minute. His tail made of mostly skin shuffles the sand around, moving in attempt to avoid the burn from the hotness underneath it.

"I can... Move you? Yeah, I can do that." He says out loud, mostly to himself.

Howler's eyes gaze to the rockface, shade still underneath it. Tantalizing, but he doesn't want to leave this one behind. Perhaps if it were a lesser, but if she speaks.... It's not a lesser.

Howler's hand-claws move to find a good purchase on Pickles' skin-muscle mass, attempting to sink in, in a non-harmful way.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, please don't bite me." The idea of those teeth going into skin, Howler shudders slightly. Yeah, please don't.

"There's some shade over there." His head tilts to the rockface. "You'll feel better."

Claws find their mark, but as Howler pulls... It does not go well. It's thin body is just not enough to pull a full sized equine even if it's mostly made of marred flesh.

"C'mon, help me out here... Push a little bit with your legs or something. We can get you moved." He says in an act of encouragement.

She sinks into her exhaustion as the thing speaks. Not a threat, not hurting her, not the white-thing bug-creature that she didn't like. He had a nice voice. She would not mind dying with that voice in her ears.

But then it was grabbing at her and her lipless mouth opened again, teeth threatening from the sudden tugging at her loose skin. Another unpleasant noise bubbled from her throat. It didn't hurt but she did not like grabbing. No grabbing. No pulling without asking.

Before she could properly try to bite down, though, she was being calmed. "I'm not trying to hurt you" was really all she needed to close that mouth and flop her head back in the sand. "Okaaaayyy" she mumbled. He could do what he wanted with her.

But the tugging was getting unpleasant as he scrabbled for purchase. No she didn't like that. Would she have to help? She didn't particularly want to, moving was hard when he bones were weary, but if he was promising shade then she would do anything ANYTHING to get out of this sun. She didn't want to die in the light.

Her legs began to kick and push at the sand beneath her, but they caught no purpose and, when they did, she trembled from the exertion. She'd already half-given up so her heart was not really in it. After a moment of fighting, she relaxed and gave up again.

"Noooo," she moaned. "Just leave meeee...cannot move..." She sobbed softly, dramatically, oh how miserable was she!!

@Howler

Howler starts sweating when the equine nearly bites at him - scary. He does not want those teeth anywhere near him. Howler doesn't think his flesh could handle it - already weak from the beating sun above them. Howler's eyes look back up to the sky, the painful, blasted thing. He growls at it before moving where his hands are located on Pickles' body.

When Pickles tries to push herself to the shade and fails, Howler doesn't think they'll make it. He looks to the shade and to Pickles again - the pitiful words she lets out makes him want to help all the more. He can't go rest in the shade and watch this poor thing die - from either the heat or dehydration. (Even though the water is right over there-)

"I'm going to try again." It says, keeping its hold on Pickles.

This time, as Howler starts pulling Pickles starts moving. It's slow going, but eventually Howler kicks enough sand away to pull Pickles over to the shady outcrop. The rocks above jutting out in an almost unsafe way, but it's the best spot for now.

Howler removes its claws and dusts the sand off of it's skin, doing the same to Pickles if she'll let him.

"There we go! Should be better here." He's grinning down at her.

@Pickles