[B] Well-Met (Abyss & Real Big Fish)

[Anhelisk]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Abyss was, as was usual for her, rather unconcerned when her hunger began to grow. Late summer was a good time for an appetite, with a bounty of straggling earlier crops and tender, nearly-ripe plants and deliciously fattened animals easy to come by. She'd get something good to eat, and either have her fill or bring it back to share, depending on her needs-- she'd found use in this Lovecraft and his progeny when she'd brought back a carcass, getting to enjoy the fruits of her hunt carefully butchered without having to do the work herself.

She had taken quite nicely to that strange kimeti buck, but a doe needed her space sometimes, especially when the doe in question hardly ever talked and had spent more company with the buck's family in the last season than she had ever recalled doing before coming to the swamp.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ncert3.png[/imgleft] Fish was good at knowing where she was needed, but even if she hadn’t been drawn here it’s likely she would have met the doe. She was, after all, between Fish and a stretch of water she wanted to work.

Now that was a fish out of water. The doe had tentacles, like the little octopuses that you could find in tide pools around the shore. She was a Zikwa- that might be very handy down in the caves, having grasping appendages. That could be extremely useful above ground, too. Being able to grab something and hold it without having to use your mouth… hell, fancier kin than she, who used lemurs and songbirds to craft elaborate coiffure, would kill for the ability to braid their own hair. She imagined for a moment how easy it would be to weave nets and bait lines with that sort of agility, and she felt a sense of admiration for the doe, and for the Motherfather for coming up with such a useful mutation.

Not that she’d call the doe a mutant or anything. That’d be rude.

“Well-met, stranger!” she called, still fairly far away. Despite clearly having twice the requisite number of eyes, Zikwa always had better hearing than they had vision, and she didn’t want to startle the stranger– especially not in her condition. “Headed down to the water?”

[Anhelisk]

If Abyss hadn't long-since gotten used to how easily a single sound could blend into the auditory hellscape that was the swamp, she might have been startled when a kin called out to her. Now, the omni-present choir of life was just a thrumming heartbeat to her, and it made it... much easier, in a way, to interact with other kin. Maybe it was because she couldn't hear them coming from so far off, and make the choice to turn away. Maybe it was because she was letting these swamp-folk rub off on her. They were so gregarious with strangers.

She simply nodded when the larger doe asked her question, using the pinprick glow of a pair of eyes and their sure tone of voice as an indication that they were at least partially sighted.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Not a talker? That was fine. They could walk along in companionable- or awkward- silence while Fish sussed her out. “It’s a fine day for fishing, stranger. Fish can tell when it’s going to rain, you know- they’re real sensitive to pressure changes in the air, and they always get hungry right before a storm. Which, from the look of the clouds, we’ll be getting soon. So no time like the present to get down there and get dinner. You much of one for fishing, or are you after the water plants?”

She hoped it was the fish. Pregnant does needed protein.

[Anhelisk]

This big doe-- this totoma, by the look of her-- was clearly intent on talking. Abyss breathed in, thinking out the shape of her words before parting her beak with her response, as she started to ease her way into the water, taking a pace slow enough it hardly rippled around her

"Pʟᴀɴᴛs ᴀʀᴇ ғᴏʀ ɪғ I ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴀɴ ᴀɴɪᴍᴀʟ, ᴏʀ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ I'ᴠᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ᴍʏ ғɪʟʟ ᴏғ ғʟᴇsʜ." She thought of recent days, a sweetness making her mouth water unbidden as the thought of berries flicked through her mind.

Water weeds-- or any ground-lying plant, really, made for poorer forage than roots, nuts, or fruits as it was.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

“Excellent! Someone like you needs all the protein you can get.” Fish watched her technique. She moved with grace, and that grace was accompanied by a lethality. She waited to see what those fabulous tentacles could do- would she use them as a lure? As a biological fish trap? Could she hold a smaller fish underwater to attract a bigger one? The doe brimmed with possibility, in more ways than one. What would her children need most? There was, again, much possibility there.

[Anhelisk]

The biggest problem with having tentacles attached to one's neck was that one had to be neck-deep in order to really use them. Waters like this often had delicious creatures hiding in the mud, so she settled down into a kneeling position in the water, letting the sounds of the world fall away to the lap of water around her, the shrill buzz of nearby midges, and the steady rhythm of her breathing. Once she had a better idea of where nearby fish and animals were, she could make her move. Until then, it was a matter of simply becoming part of the scenery... and hoping the totoma near her would stay quiet and patient while she found her mark.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

She was right. Lethality, grace, and a predator’s determination. No sense blessing these children for poise on the hunt- they’d get it from their mother, whether she blessed them or not. She stood silently, watching, waiting. She held her breath to watch the Zikwa in action. Her stealth reminded her of how water snakes hunted, the coiled tentacles ready to strike.

The water rippled in front of the doe. What was that, a stickleback? Something bigger? Would it be her target, or would she wait for something else to come by? Time wasn’t of the essence, so she could afford to be picky. But if it was something of sufficient size, would she strike now, disrupting the quiet but acquiring her prize? So many choices.

Fish was getting an idea. She’d need to see what happened next to know if it was a good one.

[Anhelisk]

The ripple of something close-- something small-- was the promise of a few mouthfuls. Abyss let one of her tentacles twitch, sending a tiny ripple of currents through the water near that fish to promise something like prey around her. It was joined by one, then another few, of whatever small fish this was called... something that helped her pass herself off as just scenery.

She was thankful as ever for the thick mucus coating her appendages when something tried to nibble, letting it twitch back away from the offending bite with hardly a pinch.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Fish watched and waited. She didn’t mind. This was watching an artist at work, and her technique was so different from Fish’s own. She wondered how she’d handle a salmon run, where the big fish were jumping. Was she dextrous enough to snatch them out of the air? Probably.

She’d have to ask what the father was like. Would the tentacles pass down? Would all of her children inherit them? That much she couldn’t tell, even with assistance from the Motherfather.

[Anhelisk]

She was lucky that the snake struck at a fish first. she lunged at it expertly, grabbing at it with tentacles and beak in one go. Water snakes were blessedly usually rear-fanged, she had learned, and that meant that fangs were unlikely to strike their way into one of her appendages by accident. She held onto it grimly as it thrashed, kneeling down a little deeper as she tucked the tentacles she usually had wrapped around her neck atop her back, letting her prey writhe against the mud. If she'd chosen a good place, then... there!

She reared back up as the catfish got purchase of the snake. The fact that it had also grabbed part of her face was irrelevant. Once it was on land, she could kill it. For now, she just needed to keep her eyes closed, and flip the thing towards land, where she could easily take care of it.

Abyss moved with a decisive snap.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Fish stomped her hooves in delight as the Zikwa landed two for the price of one. A snake and a catfish! Such excellent luring technique, and then the landing! What an incredible talent, what excellent skill. “Oh well done!! That was a beautiful landing if ever I’ve seen one, and using that snake like that was brilliant! Those tentacles are simply fabulously useful. I wish I had the power to bless every single one of your offspring with them!” She beamed, not realizing how abrupt of a way that was to inform someone of their pregnancy.

[Anhelisk]

The watersnake was clearly already dying-- spine probably severed in one place, struggling starting to fade already. A quick hoof to the skull of the catfish was enough to make it stop flailing about.

The doe that had been watching her was moving, excitedly crowing something-or-another in response to the hunt. A tendril poked at an ear, letting a little bubble of water pop loose, just in time for the strange, glowing totoma to wish her the blessing of only be-tentacled children.

She spoke before she had the words thought out. "Yᴏᴜ... ʙʟᴇss?"

[Scaramouche Fandango]

“I sure do! I’m one of the… they call us legendaries, but that’s never made sense to me, because I’m walking around now. I’m not a legend, I’m real. And for some reason, I’m a conduit of the Motherfather’s power to protect families and ensure some gift for the ensuing clutch. Some bless for beauty or strength, but me, I like to watch what the parents do and bless more specifically from there for something that’ll help the kids survive whatever the Swamp throws at them.” Fish was still not really sure how or why the blessings worked. All she knew was that they did.

“That’s what drew me to you in the first place. Sometimes I can sense things, like when someone’s pregnant. Which you are. If you didn’t, uh. Didn’t know.”

[Anhelisk]

Abyss shrugged. "Bᴇᴇɴ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ʙᴜᴄᴋ," she said, with some reluctance, "Bᴜᴛ ɴᴏ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀʀʏɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇᴅ." Whether that change would have been to make the clutch a certainty, or to not have happened at all, didn't really matter. Besides, Lovecraft had clearly relished the idea of more little thems running around-- it was hardly unexpected.

Besides, he'd be pleased. Even with how contrary she was, something about that pleased her. She picked up the snake, then tossed it gently in the mare's direction, making a gesture at it before tearing into her fish. One this big would be enough to feed her well, and sharing food was something she'd become accustomed to in recent moons.