Difference between revisions of "Log:Blood in the Water"

1 January, 1964

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Arcadia

Some time has passed since Nadja's new life was forced upon here. Time is hard to tell. Could be days. Months. Even years or more. No way to tell since the sun above the water never sets, and even then that isn't her place anymore. It's well below the waves in the darkest corners of this vast ocean. She went from being middle of the pack to an apex predator that swam these seas as her territory. However, she could since that she was nearing land soon. The taletell scents of things far away always just out of reach. Fresh, welcoming meat for her to tear asunder and consume.

Time passes, it always does, but it doesn't mean much of anything to Nadja anymore. All that matters is the current, the hunt, the battle, the kill, and feeding. Nadja bears her own scars, taken more than her fair share of hard hits, she's been wounded to the point she wasn't sure she would survive, but she always fought her way back. Very little of the girl she was is left, swept away on bloody tides, torn away by claws, and teeth, and she's almost forgotten her past life...almost. Following her instinct, her nature, and her longing for another sweet victory and bloody meal, she swims, the waters growing warmer, closer to land. What she might find there she isn't sure, but she's curious, that at least has not died.

There's more than one thing at the coast, that she can vaguely make out through the surface. One, two, three. Maybe more. Furry, large things roaming around on all fours. A group. A pack. A pride. They jostle and fight, but she doesn't smell blood in the air. At least nothign fresh. Some of them smell of the ocean, likely having taken a dip to cool off from the constantly burning sun high above.

When she can see movement, Nadja pauses, she breaches the surface, her eyes bobbing just above the waterline as she watches the pride of creatures. Taking in their size, the way they move, her blue eyes dart among them looking for the weak or young. Dipping beneath the surface again she begins swimming toward the shore, but knows better than to try and take any of these creatures on the land. Stopping just before it gets too shallow, she pops her head out and lets out a shriek.

The beasts look to be some odd mix of felines with long tongues that hang limply from their mouths. At the end of each tongue is a snake's head that moves independant of the tongue and mouth its attached to. Then Nadja lets out that hellacious sound and it sends them all into a fright. They jump, they step back, they turn to take a look at the Beast. They growl. They hiss. They stand on the tips of their toes while staring at her. She's outnumbered five to one, but she's feasted on bigger now. Stronger and faster things than the group of felines.

Nadja smiles, or as close she can come to a smile, her fangy maw spreads as she watches them startle. To taunt them further she leans back as if lounging, her tail breaks the surface and splashes at them before she lets out another piercing shriek. A snort from her muzzle, a challenge, even if they all come for her, the water is her domain and they are at a disadvantage. Fear doesn't factor into it, just cold calculation.

They wait for a moment. Predators facing another of their ilk. They hiss and scowl as they approach the water. Never getting too close. Then one of them literally and figuratively tests the waters. The smallest of the lot. The runt of the litter. It moves into the water on her left side, slowly getting closer and closer.

Periphereal vision is literally a necessity as a predator, which is precisely what Nadja has become, so she sees that smaller creature as it moves closer. Meanwhile, hissing and growling is tossed right back at the others too spineless to face her in her element. Only when the creature on her left is close enough does she use the power of that scaled tail to sruge through the water at it. Her intent is to gore it on a horn and drag it deeper where the rest of the pack cannot follow.

She doesn't quite gore it on her horns as she does break several of its ribs and maul its face in the process. Those brackish horns pack a punch, and some of the kelp tangled in it end up strewn over the body of the now limping Beast. It tries to get a way, but when her fanged maw is around its leg it has nowhere else to go.

The limping creature can't get far and with the wild lash of her tail she jets forward wrapping her mouth around the creatures back leg. With a growl she pulls it back into the water, hooves digging into the sandy bottom, tail whipping and frothing the water until she can drag it deep enough to dive down. Once deep enough she rolls, like a crocodile would spinning to break bones and rend flesh.

The water turns as she twists the other Beast. Whoever this might be, might have been, is gone now. Lost as much to primal instincts as she. Whatever life they may have had before or after is gone now. Another dead to sate someone stronger. Prey to a larger predator. Her meal doesn't have that much fight left in them, and soon enough it has nothing left to give other than meat and bones.

Nadja doesn't eat the creature, in fact, she's enraged that it died so easily. Dragging the dead corpse she swims back toward the shore and into the shallows where she takes a bite out of it and then shoves it toward the shore simply to piss off the rest of the pride. A more shrill cry and she dives back down toward the depths where she'll go contemplate the strange stir of feelings she is having.

The others are gone save one that's looking around at the edges of the water for the one that was gone. When returns its carcass to the shores teh lone beast hisses and scowls until Nadja departs to the world below the surface. She's alone now, at least for several miles. What few beast might be near are more than aware of who and what controls the waters.