Sharing is Caring (Uleru)

[Looty]

Date: 80th of Winter, 513AV
Location: The Emerald Pool
Time: Afternoon

Not knowing how to share does not excuse not trying. - Unknown

The plants of Alvadas were a rainbow, a splash against the plain green of the buildings. The Streets of Alvadas were paved with water. The depth was not constant. The less careful feel in. They were not seen again. They would reappear in another street, much to their amusement or frustration. Looty the Kelvic had made a game of it. Along with many children. And even some adults. It went something like this:

Looty would run. Water would splash on unsuspecting victims. She would pounce. One of two things would happen, she would either be sprawled along the shallow water or she would sink and arise somewhere entirely new. Repeat the cycle. She would grunt and squeak as if to say, isn't this fun?. And one did not have to speak badger to agree.

The only true downside, which wasn't really a downside at all, was that most things smelled the same in the rain. It muddled the poor Kelvics senses. The game made it tolerable. Until she grew hungry. Her stomach growled when she did. It groaned and moaned until it nearly drove her starkers. Looty abandoned the game in favor of being pragmatic.

The Kelvic stood still. Her shoulders tensed. She raised her head and inhaled strongly. Nothing. Looty wiggled her nose. Still nothing. She waited for a beat more then moved on. Off she waddled wetly in search of a puddle. Looty blinked at the changed surroundings. No more buildings. Even less people. Better for hunting. She thought, and continued on. After a few steps she stopped. She raised her nose to the air, and sneezed. The Kelvic shook herself like a dog. She tried again. A faint musk roused all her senses. Her claws clenched at the water, her hair bristled, and her mouth watered.

Snake.

Something akin to the rat musk she was so familiar with at home but softer. Looty knew it to be a small snake from the lightness. It would be worth it. The Kelvic began her hunt.

While most hunters prized stealth, Looty was having none of it. She sloshed through the water. It alerted anything and everything to her presence. She cared not. Looty forged ahead, only stopping to sniff the air, a plant or even the shallow water to keep the scent alive. She followed it as if it were string. It wound her around and around. For chimes she walked. For chimes she traced. Again Looty sniffed but this time her ears caught a sound. A splash. Not her own, she was not moving.

The Kelvic was off. She pounced forward. Squealed in challenge, to which the startled snake zoomed away. Looty chased. Several times her legs failed her. She would be sent sprawling, and mostly rolled after the snake. Looty would have lost her delicious treat if it had not stopped to fight, quite tired of being harassed in such a manner.

It was likely just over a foot long. It reared back in an S shape Looty was familiar with. She made no move to dodge just opened her own jaws wide and--

snap! Her teeth clamped on nothing. She felt the pinch of teeth in her right paw. Again and again. The Kelvic shook her paw. She attempted to get the right angle to bite and end it all. Looty snapped her teeth again and--

sunk into flesh. It was the tail of the snake and the musk grew stronger. It filled her nose. The snake released her. It twisted violently. It latched onto her cheek. Looty released it and retaliated by butting around the midsection that tried to curl around her neck. The Kelvic clenched her teeth hard. Two halves fell at her front paws. They wriggled for a chime. Then, they were still.

Looty scooped them up gently took a stepped forward into new scenery. This time there was bright green shrubs. The low rumble of a small waterfall and a pond if some sort. It was quiet. It pleased the Kelvic but the sweet tang if blood touched her tongue and thoughts merged to one. Eat. Looty collapsed by the pond. Held tight to her food then began to tear into it with animal glee.

[Uleru]

What first caught Uleru's attention to the Emerald pool was, strangely, the lack of water. She could hear the waterfall. But there was no run off towards the sea. No little brook or delta to catch the overflow. And lakes dont exist this close to the sea, do they?

So sealing her courage against the green, enclosed forrest, the Otani rose from the salty waters and plunged into the perpetual twilight, looking for the waterfall that might not exist.

But eventually lucky guesswork and unconquerable curiosity pays off. Out from between the rustling trees and mossy boulders appears a strange, vibrant pool. Picking her way around the rocky bank Uleru approaches the water with a secret smile, her body unconsciously adopting the ponds strange colour. She crouches near the waters edge and passes her palm over the surface, scattering ripples across the stillness. Wait, there is something in there! The moulding peers deeper into the clear waters, nose almost touching the glassy surface. There it is again! A flickering deep inside. Like sombody elses reflection.

With a seized curiosity, and against all caution, the Otani tips forward and slips soundlessly into the emerald pool.

•••••••••••••

The sounds of snuffling and the weighty crackling of some small animal eventually reaches Uleru from where she floats in a stupor just underneath the pools surface. Rousing her from her strange cathartic nap enough to peer up from the green waters to see what the intruder could be.

Her limited knowledge of such exotic creatures tells her that it must be a skunk. Owing to it's black and white striped body and its sharp little claws. And in it's claws, is that-?

Uleru's body moans inwardly for the morsel of meat no farther than an arms reach away. She knows of the sea snake, and assumes that this green, scaly creature must be of the same family. She is not paticular to the taste of snake, but she hasn't eaten all day, and there is nothing in the pool but litchen and skittering bugs.

And so out of the still pool erupts a liquid hand. The hand seizes the punctured head of the snake and starts to drag it back towards the water, and towards Uleru's waiting mouth.

[Looty]

The Kelvic was not immediately aware of the missing food. Her lips continued to smack. Her teeth chopped at empty space. Looty blinked slowly, her head turned this way and that as if to ask, finished already? But she was not finished. Looty ultimately noticed the hand when she turned her head to drink. She could not smell it. Yet, there was a hand. Imagine something so relied on failing. Imagine food being stolen. The Kelvic did not need to imagine, she knew.

Looty lips pulled back in an angry growl. Whatever or whoever does not heed her warning. She gnashed her teeth. She shook out the lazy haze of eating, and braced herself against the side of the pool. The Kelvic barely reaches over the top. Her teeth managed to catch part of the snake. Looty tried to dig her claws into the stone. It did not work. She pulled with her head then shook to and fro to dislodge her meal. It accomplished a whole lot of nothing. However, Looty did spot something. It made her pause. There was a figure in the water. Her back legs scrambled uselessly in exertion; they could not push her over the edge without purchase. She hissed out in rage. The image faded. Looty refocused on her food.

Frustrated at her bodies inability to deal with the situation, the Kelvic shifted. She failed into the water. The morsel of snake still clench in her now human teeth. Her hands moved sluggishly underwater. She began to sink and--

slap! Her hand food purchase. There was a funny burning in her chest. Looty wiggled. She could not see. Her lips parted in a wordless bubble of rage. Her lungs filled. The Kelvic nearly lost purchase on the ledge. Her other hand gripped. Her feet kicked against the stone. Looty heaved and --

landed half over the pool. She smacked the water angrily. "Give me my snake, you stealer! I'll bite you!"

More tired. "I'm hungry. I did the catching. Give me." Now she was mumbling. Her body sagged. Tired. Her eyes gazed drizzly at the water seeing strange faces and shapes. They were all pink with snake blood.

[Uleru]

Uleru is not proficient in the game of tug-o'-war. Her physical prowess could embarrass a limp noodle, and without so much as a sturdy set of fingerprints -much less a bone- she will almost always lose. But this little game seems to be swinging differently as she yanks on the slippery snake with all her might. It might be that her angle of attack is more beneficial, or perhaps the animal cant find purchase on the slippery rocks. But whatever it is, she is winning, and it spurns her into another energetic wiggle as she edges the tasty morsel closer and closer.
 
And finally, just when she is sure thieving blood-stained victory is hers, something happens.
 
The bristly, pointed muzzle of the skunk-creature is below the surface. A stream of angry bubbles issues from its flaring nostrils, and its sharp little claws make a click-clack sound on the rocks. And then suddenly, unexpectedly, its not a skunk at all; but a little, feral girl.
 
The change happens with a flash of light and an explosion as the water accommodates this suddenly much bigger being. The Otani herself erupts into a shocked white and lets loose a soundless little shriek from her open mouth. The snarling little girl lets out one last thrash, falls deeper into the water, and is forced to let go. She retreats to the surface, but she looms over the water in a way that dares anything to come out and cross her.
 
"Give me my snake, you stealer! I'll bite you! I'm hungry. I did the catching. Give me."
 
One tick.

Two ticks.

Suddenly an spray of water hits the girl as the Otani all but leaps out of the water. Holding the sadly limp morsel of snake by its mangled head she points it at her like a weapon of smite.

"Kelvic!" she barks, her eyes alight with victory. "I know what you are! You are a Kelvic skunk!