Something lurks underneath the warm waters of the bay.

Terror pulls itself ever so slowly forward by its front legs as it slips along the shore, tentacles laid back against itself instead of upright in its collar formation. Gills breathe as subtly and as shallowly as it can manage; hunting small fish in the past has taught it the importance of going unnoticed, moving as little as possible.

Magicka hums just slightly beneath its skin. Its focus is mostly on other things, and the magic wells forward in an untrained way, but its flesh still darkens a shade to better conceal itself against the riverbed below it.

Its progress is slow, very slow, but it brings itself closer to its goal. Ever-so-carefully, the creature brings itself up towards the edge of the water, where land and bay meet. Ever-so-carefully, it begins to settle down against the riverbed; front and back paws digging into the sand to prevent it from floating upward.

It is in this position, concealed as best it can beneath the surface of the water, it waits. Two sets of ears lie pricked for the sound of movement; thirteen eyes stare upwards, waiting for the outline of prey to come its way. It'll take whatever is lucky enough to come its way.

It's not picky. Just hungry.

stare in the darkness; is there air? will you drown?

@Somnus

Somnus was exploring more, he found himself straying further and further away from where he initially hatched for longer and longer times. He still did go back to where he hatched, the place was too pretty to not, but this place was nice too. Walking along the sandy beach, Somnus wasn't particularly paying attention to all of his surroundings. But why would he? He had no reason to, and as a child it wasn't entirely on the mind.

Not noticing the other child, Somnus simply kept moving, maybe a little too close for comfort.

@Terror

The distorted sound of sand crunching beneath soft paws reaches them through the water. Ears prick, then swivel towards the source. For a single moment, the creature stills, eyes swiveling to watch. Waiting for this prey to come closer.

It's a cat, they deduce to the best of their knowledge. Fluffy and unsuspecting, walking along the shoreline without a care in the world.

Something approaching anticipation grows within their chest. Excitement, a certain thrill they savor all too well. Both sets of paws press flat against the sand and deformed mouths bare canine teeth, expecting blood.

A beat passes. Wound taut like a spring, it waits for the cub to come within reach.

It lunges.

The peaceful surface of the water is broken by the form of something not quite mammalian, not quite aquatic. The lips of its mouths peel back in a silent snarl, many teeth stark against its fleshy pinks and cyans, water rolling off its back in a spray as it leaps from the warmth of the bay and towards the cub in its sight, seeking blood—seeking meat, to snap and tear beneath its fangs.

With predatory intent, it attempts to come down quick and harsh upon the cub, intending to pin it against the sands.

@Somnus

Round 1/5
Attempt - Pin Somnus down
Defense - N/A
Injuries - N/A

Somnus didn't see it coming, the splash along with a disgusting looking creature coming at him. Whatever the thing was trying to do didn't work, and Somnus wasn't sure what this thing even was. It had... multiple mouths, among other things. The only word Somnus could use to describe it was ugly.

"You're an ugly one aint'cha?" He voiced out, just before realizing the thing was most likely trying to eat him.

Picking up a paw, Somnus moved to swipe at one of the jaws on the things face.

Round 1/5
Attack: Bruise one of the jaws
Defense: None
Injuries: None

@Terror

A miss. Paws crash hard into the sand, sending up a spray of particles as the canid beast lands heavy on its from two legs.

It whips around to look over at its prey, expecting to see it fleeing. Expecting it to run, perhaps, because that's what prey did. It fled.

But this cat seems too arrogant to run. Too insolent, even—it dares to stoop down to insulting them.

The swipe at them is a little more expected. Terror dances back from the blow, snarling as claws swipe through air. "And you're a little runt, aren't you?" it growls back at him with one mouth, the others baring teeth at the not-quite cub. It can't even swipe at them right, can it?

Pathetic.

Its eyes flick downwards to the cat's shoulder in a moment of brief consideration before it charges forward, trying to slam its head into its leg and damage it.

@Somnus

Round 2/5
Attempt - Bruise Somnus' leg
Defense - None
Injuries - None

Somnus ignored the fluttering of sand around him to instead focus on the weird ass thing that was attacking him. What in the world even was that? He wasn't even sure he could even call that a gembound. Somnus, however, was not prey so he would not flee unless death did him part. The strange thing in front of him would have to deal with him until it stopped attacking to find something else to eat. Why would it even want to eat a lion of all things? There certainly were better tasting things out there.

The strange thing rammed into his leg and sent Somnu's toppling over, in which he scrambled to get back up to attack back, ignoring the searing pain in his leg for now. He was fine. This was fine. He would win! The lion obviously could never lose! Seeing those.... too many eyes. Somnus went to chomp at them.

Round 2/5
Attack: Chomp some eyes
Defense: None
Injuries: Leg is bruised,,, very ouchie

@Terror

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

Mild Eye Gore

The lion's counterattack is swift, fierce, and brutal.

With a mouth full of sharp teeth, the cat lunges forward, mouth opening—and the last thing one of its eyes sees is an ivory fang, full of piercing intent, before it sinks deep into a retina.

Terror screams. The sound is something wordless, feral, and angry—a sound that echoes across the bay without recourse. It burns with pain, the sensation like nothing it's ever felt; the sensation wrong, its mind screaming that there is not something meant to be stuck in the socket like that.

In an instant, the fight becomes not predator against prey, but a fight borne out of hate.

The beast will make it pay for that.

Lunging forward, it snaps at the lion's neck, trying to tear at vulnerable flesh with teeth.

@Somnus


Round 3/5
Attack | Bite neck
Defense | None
Injuries | Down an eye—also ouch

The scream is chilling, giving pause to even such an arrogant thing as this cub. Violent jaws snapped angrily at the cub's throat, just barley missing as the cub released it's bite, catching sight of the damage he had done.

Well, it certainly seemed to be effective.

He lunged again at the monstrosity, aiming for another one of it's countless eyes. Maybe, if he bit all of them, the thing wouldn't be able to fight back? It was worth a shot. This second bite wasn't nearly as effective, the lion's sharp teeth managing to avoid puncturing any of the beast's other eyes. Still, he could taste blood, which surely meant he had done some damage to the monster, right?

@Terror
Round 3/5
Attack | Chomp at it's face!
Defense | None
Injuries | Bruised leg