Ashmedai had thought, at least for a second, that he had smelled a very familiar scent. First one, then another. Sadly the scents were faded on the beach and before Ash could confirm or deny his suspicions, he smelled something else. Something... wrong.

Ashmedai wasn't sure if Kanja was still following him or not- they were supposed to be adventuring before he got sidetracked. He tossed a concerned look in her direction.

"Hey, Kan? Do you know what kind of, uh, animal- I guess- smells like this?"

His curiosity go the better of him and before he got an answer, he put his nose to the ground (though not too close to the ground) and started following the trail.

It didn't smell like anything Ash had smelled before. It smelled out of place, but not like a sickness or at least not like an infection or the plague. It didn't stink like a skunk. The scent almost burned Ash's nose and made his eyes water. It bore resemblance to something that was long dead... but not.

It felt... off.

It made his hackles stand on end, though he didn't notice how fluffy he had become.

Ashmedai cast another look at Kanja, stopping completely this time.

"I don't... like this," he admitted.

Kanja's nose twitched and she huffed a few times as she searched for the scent Ashmedai was talking about. After a few huffs she located the scent and lifted her head, her eyes briefly rolling heavenward, as she tried to place it. It smelled fishy, that was for sure, but instead of reminding her of the sea it simply smelled oily and unpleasant. She frowned. "A dirty alligator?" That seemed like a decent guess. Whatever it was, its scent was mixed with the smell of decay. "I don't know what it is, but it definitely needs a bath." Whatever it was, it smelled interesting enough that she wanted to poke it with a stick. In front of her Ashmedai hesitated and cast an uneasy glance in her direction. Oh, this made him uncomfortable, huh? He could toss himself at a tree all day and waltz into a pack of wolves on a whim but here - here - his sense of self-preservation stopped him? Please. This was right up Kanja's alley. She aimed to bump her shoulder against Ashmedai's before breezing by him. "Come on, pussy cat. Last one to the dirty gator is a tacky Ashole." Without another word she was off like a shot in a spray of sand that may or may not have been directed at Ashmedai's face. The giantess raced across the beach with her nose pointed towards the breeze. Somewhere around here was a dirty gator and she intended to find it first. And she would be the first even if she had to tackle Ashmedai to beat him to it. She raced over logs and around tangles of weeds as she made her way towards what looked like a small river that connected to the sea. It had to be around here somewhere.... Ah HA! There it was and lo and behold, it was an alligator. ...Or was it? She skidded to a halt so suddenly that her hind paws buried her forepaws in sand. That thing was unlike any alligator she'd ever seen. Granted, she hadn't seen very many of them, but surely that creature wasn't normal, was it? Its skin was weirdly translucent and she could see veins and the dark outlines of organs beneath its knobby skin. Along its back was what looked like fur, the strands just as pale white and translucent as its scaly skin. Hearing the commotion, the creature stood up (revealing legs that were easily double the length they should have been) and turned to lock red eyes on her. Its hackles (it had hackles!!) raised and it hissed a low warning that Kanja could feel in her chest. Uh oh. The creature's tail lashed aggressively from side to side as it turned to face her. She couldn't help it. Kanja growled back. "Speaking" - "Thinking" - "You"

Kanja mocked him then kicked off before him. Ash growled lightly, one side of his lip rising just enough to reveal his canine.

"Yeah, well, when you end up resurrecting the plague, don't come crying blood to me!" he called after her, though he continued to follow. He remembered how the plague smelled. He remembered how his mother had said she had caught the first plague when a woman with bleeding eyes attacked her. Kanja didn't know, but Ash did.

When she (finally) stopped, she stopped suddenly, causing Ashmedai to do an odd, twisty flip to avoid plowing into her back. Instead of crushing her, he toppled onto the ground, sliding in the sand. After he somewhat successfully avoided murdering Kanja, he looked up to see a.... whatever the hell that was.

It growled at them and Kanja growled back. Ashmedai stood up, his hackles rising along his back. She slowly, slowly put himself sideways in front of Kanja and between her and that thing.

"Kanja," he said, his voice a low growl. "I can probably hold this dude off for a while if you just go the way we came slowly, he probably won't go after you."

She shot a look back to Kanja, a smirk on his face.

"If I don't make it back, just promise me you won't cry too much."

He had always thought about dying in a battle all valiantly. If this thing didn't have the plague, he was sure it was some kind of other poison. Ashmedai wasn't totally sure he was going to make it out alive.

Not that the thing gave him much time to think about it. As soon as Ashmedai finished speaking to Kanja, he heard the loud stomps of the creature approaching. He swore they shook the ground. He growled, a smile rising on his lips and kicked off towards the creature.

Running in the sand was oddly difficult, but Ashmedai worked harder to keep grounded. As the creature got within range, Ashmedai jumped (yes, jumped) upwards and to his left to land a bite on the creature's shoulder, hoping its forward momentum would help to tear into its skin. Only a second before the two collided did ash realize that he REALLY did not wanna have a chunk of this thing in his mouth.

Oh well. Too late.

His teeth sunk into the creature and it screamed (Screamed? Screeched?) as the flesh on its shoulder tore away. It tore... too easily. Ashmedai was almost at the ground when he felt a needle sharp pain in his back right hip. He landed, twisting his head back to see the thing baring its teeth at him. It seemed to have only struck him, leaving moderate puncture wounds, but he was sure those weren't normal teeth. They felt too long and sharp. Ashmedai felt a shiver run down his spine. Yeah, he didn't wanna think about that thing's teeth piercing into him.

Ashmedai turned and readied himself for another attack.

Kanja's snarl turned to a sneer as Ashmedai spoke. If not for the freaky critter eying her like a coyote eyed a rabbit, she'd have turned around and bitten the tacky giant on the nose. Her, run away? Fat chance. She wanted this fight. As Ashmedai moved to get in front of her, Kanja aggressively shoved her way forward so that the pair were standing shoulder to shoulder. Sexist asshole. "Oh, please. I'm not your dainty Sparrow. I'm not going to fawn over you so you might as well save your shtick for someone who gives a shit." The mutant alligator rumbled a hiss and drew Kanja's attention back to it. She narrowed her eyes at it before snapping, "Wait your turn, asshole." Back to Ashmedai... "Don't worry, I'll be too busy laughing my ass off to cry," she snarked back. The alligator was already moving before she finished speaking, so Kanja was a few seconds behind Ashmedai in reacting. She too kicked forward and upon seeing where Ashmedai was aiming, moved around to the opposite side of the creature. As soon as Ashmedai bit it and she was sure he had its attention, she darted forward and tore into the alligator's left bicep. The scales and fur gave way far too easily beneath her jaws, but Kanja didn't pause to think about it. The moment she tasted blood she retreated knowing that the odds of it lashing at her with its tail were pretty good. It looked like it could pack one hell of a punch and she had no desire to test that assumption. "Speaking" - "Thinking" - "You"

Kanja snapped back at Ash and all ash could think was damn that was kinda hot.

She said she wasn't his Sparrow and Ash chuckled, "Don't I know it."

"You really should try fawning over me sometime- might be fun."

As the two attacked the thing made a terrible noise. Hissing seemed to almost be its default state.

With Kanja on the thing's other side, Ashmedai's confidence was boosted. As soon as she had it distracted, Ashmedai turned to lunge on its side. He coiled and jumped, seeing if maybe he could tip it towards him.

Yeah, that was a no go. As he latched on, the skin tore away again. Chunks fell off in his mouth and his nails sliced through with ease. What was this thing and how the hell was it moving?

Ashmedai spring-boarded off of the creature as it curled around to attack him. When he landed, he couldn't help retching in response to the loose chunks of flesh in his mouth.

Ugh.

Never again.

A wicked cackle left Kanja's lips as the alligator lashed its side with its own tail. It struck at the spot where she'd just been in the hopes of getting her, but she'd been too fast for it. She grinned and shot a giddy glance in Ashmedai's direction. This was fun, wasn't it? Kanja's gaze found him just in time to see his retch. Well, she was enjoying herself. "What's wrong, ya big sissy? You know, I can probably hold him off for awhile if you wanna go back the way we came. He probably won't go after you." She wanted to parrot more of what he'd said to her, but all that talking had drawn the gator's attention. Kanja jumped back as it turned on her with a hiss, its jaws flinging wide in a threat. The freaky lizard was limping now, so that was a plus. It snapped its jaws at her and limped closer, its body moving in a side to side, serpentine slink. She grinned at it, the expression quickly turning into a sneer. Bring it. She didn't know why it was so hateful, but if it wanted a fight she'd oblige it. The gator charge her suddenly and it took everything Kanja had to force herself to stay where she was. When it felt like it was almost too late, she moved. The giantess darted to her right and barely managed to squeak passed the gator's opening jaws as she ran down its left side. She could see its tail coming towards her as it tried to intercept her, so she jumped, long legs carrying her up and over the alligator, and out of reach of its heavy tail. Whew. In a shower of sand she spun on her heels and made a mad grab at the gator's right hind leg. Her teeth had barely sunk in when out of the corner of her eye she saw its tail swinging around towards her. There was no escaping it. She ducked and just as her chin hit the ground, the alligator's tail grazed her back. The blow was glancing, but powerful enough to send her reeling to the side. Okay, yep. Time to retreat. Still far too cheery, Kanja scuttled backwards. She retreated several yards before stopping and spitting out a chunk of rotting gator. Her back may have been burning fiercely, but at least she hadn't slunk away empty-mouthed. "Speaking" - "Thinking" - "You"

Great, now Kanja was getting all cocky. She skittered and danced with he gator for a moment while Ashmedai regained his composure.

"Don't come crying to me when your body seizes up from all the poison you're ingesting!"

Ugh. She wouldn't listen to him.

He debated for a solid moment whether or not he could walk away and leave Kanja to best this thing on her own. On one paw, she may die and that would suck because Ash actually LIKED hanging around her. On the other paw, she might live which was honestly worse because she would never stop teasing him about this for as long as they lived.

Grunting, Ashmedai hauled his ass into gear. The gator was facing directly away from him now and Ashmedai bet he could get a good handle on that tail- definitely one of the biggest threats. He also bet it was gonna end up with him getting flung comically into the air.

He just hoped he'd land in the water.

Ashmedai kicked off the ground and sprung up. The gator's head turned sharply with an audible crackling noise.

Okay, that was kind of cool.

Also kind of gross.

Ash landed near the base of the creature's tail. As soon as he landed, he wrapped his paws in a big bear hug. Maybe he could saw his way through the tail with his teeth. The creature immediately started squirming and twisting, unable to completely bend to bite Ash.

As it moved, Ash could feel its skin and muscle rotating freely against each other underneath him. Well, time to get tearing.

Ashmedai latched on for dear life and began to gnaw at the skin and muscle, sloughing it off between gasps of breath.

My, my, wasn't he awfully whiny today? Couldn't he simply enjoy the fight? They weren't fighting a wolf or a cougar or anything mundane like that. No, they were fighting a mutant alligator. How many chances were they going to get to do something like that? The manky critter was quite literally falling apart. If there were any others out there, how long would it be before they completely rotted away? This may have been a one of a kind...whatever it was. He needed to just shut up and have a little fun. "Whine, whine whine. Come on you sourpuss. Live a little and stop being such a sissy." There. Maybe that would goad him into at least trying to have fun. An awful crack sounded - from the gator's neck? - as Ashmedai launched another attack. From the sidelines Kanja watched coolly for several moments as he tore into the mutant's tail. Suddenly she had an idea. With the alligator's attention firmly captured by Ashmedai, Kanja was free to be sneaky. And sneaky she was going to be. In an frenzied attempt to stop the attack, the alligator curled in on itself and lunged at its tail. Its attempt failed; it couldn't curl around far enough to reach him. It readied itself to try again and Kanja saw her opportunity. She moved as it moved, racing towards its neck as it lunged towards its tail. She seized it by the base of its skull, her teeth sliding through its rotting flesh with alarming ease. That was a good thing, though. It gave her hope that her task would be easier. Aggressively she thrashed her head from side to side. At first the alligator resisted, but the more it resisted the more it aided in its own destruction. Each pull in the tug o' war caused a series of pops and crackles to emanate from deep inside the mutant's neck. Sensing its resistance wasn't going to work, the long-legged mutant stood up suddenly in the hopes of wresting itself free - a move that backfired. Quite suddenly Kanja found herself half hanging, half standing underneath the alligator. The alligator's skin was so loose that her weight had caused it to rip and twist, and drastically change her positioning. She readjusted her bite -tightening it further in the process - and pressed on. Able to throw more of her upper body into it, Kanja thrashed around like a fish out of water. Skin and muscle now hung from the mutant's neck in tatters and each time it hissed the sound grew less and less threatening. She chewed and chewed, ignoring the build up of rotting meat the collected in her mouth and was forced through her teeth as the small space filled. With one final, belligerent hiss the mutant crumpled to the ground. With a sudden burst of pep - take that, Ashmedai, victory was hers! -Kanja seized the gator by the bridge of its snout and drug its head backwards. Wet pops and squelches could be heard as meat tore free and cartilage slipped out of place. In seconds the alligator went limp. Hehehehe. She twisted some more and the head came free completely. What a trophy! Quite pleased with herself, Kanja seized the head by the end of its nose and then stood up straight, her chin tucked to her chest and her neck arched proudly. She fixed smug eyes on Ashmedai and then wagged the decapitated head from side to side so that the dangly bits flapped around. She quirked a brow at him, her expression suggesting praise was in order. "Speaking" - "Thinking" - "You"

Whatever Kanja seemed to do, it worked.

It was dead.

Thank the gods.

Thank the mother fucking gods it was dead.

Ashmedai stood slowly. Ah- yup, he was gonna be feeling all the muscles in his body come the next morning.

Oh- Kanja severed its head. Great. Just great.

"Wow Kan, that's gr-" He couldn't do it.

"That's fucking disgusting," he said flatly.

He spat out some loose globules of flesh, using his tongue to scrape out the particles packed under his lips.

"Next time you wanna take me out for dinner- I expect a better meal."

Gross. Just... so... SO gross.

Ashemdai shook himself.

"If that's your idea of a date, you'll have to let me take you on a REAL one some day. Y'know, one where we can actually ENJOY our kill."

Oh no- wait. How long was she planning on keeping that head.

"Kanja, Ashmedai said, his voice low and filled with warning, "Just what're ya plannin' on doing with that head you got there?"

Her expression dejected, Kanja dropped the head so she could pout better. "God, are you still whining?" She sniffed. "I think what you meant to say was 'thanks, Kanja, for saving me from the scary mutant. I couldn't have done it without you because I'm such a man baby' amiright?" She quirked a brow at him and then grinned devilishly as he caught onto her plans. That's right, she was keeping this bad boy! She just had to. Her gaze dropped to the mutant's head and her expression grew fond. "Just look at him," she simpered like a proud parent. "He's so precious. It would be a shame to let such a handsome face sit here and rot when I could take him with me and torment you with him." Ashmedai seemed so disturbed by the whole thing that Kanja couldn't help but mess with him. She rolled the head around so that its dull eyes were more or less pointed at Ashmedai and then laid her head down beside it and stared innocently up at him. "How would you feel about waking up nose to snout with this lovely fella? Or, I dunno, cuddled up to him in your den?" "Speaking" - "Thinking" - "You"