Thirsty paws, her mother had called them. It was difficult to keep still. Almost impossible to stay in one place for long. And so the giant woman found herself exploring a land that neighbored the Armada's territory. She wasn't terribly far away, but it was enough of a change in scenery that it would keep her attention. The land was rolling and green despite autumn taking hold of the land. There were holes and hollows, holding a plethora of plants. None of them meant anything to her, but they were there.

Coming upon a small pond surrounded by rocks and overhanging trees, the maned woman stopped to wet her parched throat. Lowering scarred, blackened lips to the water, she drank, dusty blue tongue dipping within the cool liquid. She barely saw the coiled form beneath the water before it lunged. Its face, mouth open wide, just broke the surface as the woman sprang backwards. It just barely missed her, but miss it did. The ash and onyx fae stumbled as she landed, but regained her footing quickly. The snake was already slithering out of the pond where it had been laying in wait. It was big. The biggest snake that Resin had ever seen. It was a mossy, yellowish green with darker markings upon it. A giant anaconda. Though it had missed her on its first try, it was intent on trying again.

She could turn and run, but the adrenaline thrumming through her veins dulled her senses and told her to stay. The reptile had frightened her with its sneak attack and that just couldn't be forgiven. It would be difficult, but she could kill it. She would just have to be quicker than the snake.

"World-breaker..."

Coding|Alice. Art|Resin.

He hadn’t gone this far from the Armada before. Not unless Sirius or momma were right beside him. He had a thrilling, worrying feeling shooting up his spine. He didn’t want to get into trouble… but he wasn’t alone. He was with Resin, she just didn’t know it yet.

She had seen her leave the territory, and was excited to go after her. He had liked Resin, she was gruff and strange, and caring, and gave him interesting advice to hold close to his heart. In some ways, she was like a female, slightly gruffer version of his father, only less likely to be disappointed in him.

When he finally caught up to Resin, he would find her tangling with a giant huge stick... no, slimy creature, a snake? Yes, a snake! It took him a moment to realise what it was, but once he did, he went running it. He would help her! Somehow. He ran at the back of the snake, digging in with his teeth, and biting into its funny flesh. He just needed to help Resin by distracting it…

She had been formulating a game plan in her head when Mortis showed up. The boy wasted no time in leaping forward to bite the tail of the snake. He effectively caught the reptiles attention, for it hissed and turned towards him, neck curled in an S shape. It prepared to lunge for the boy. Ice flared in her stomach and she acted quickly. Just as he had, teeth bit into the flesh of the snake, tearing out a large chunk. Blood flowed into her maw, but she couldn't appreciate it. Releasing, she had to move backwards as the giant, slithering beast turned its attention back to her. It struck, biting into the scarred side of her face. It hurt. Constrictors had many little razorlike teeth that pointed backwards. Thankfully those teeth just ripped through scar tissue and the snake didn't get a firm hold. Blood welled, but pain was nothing. As long as she kept Mort out of the creatures coils, pain would be nothing.

Mortis dug in for life, eyes widening in surprise as it hissed and turned its attention towards him. He made growling noises through his mouthful, trying to dig his elongated fangs further in. Not for a moment did he consider letting go and jumping back, he was an all-in sort of wolf. Resin did something, and he saw the snakes head turn back towards her. He shook his head back and forth violently, trying to sever the snake in two, if he could manage it.

His forepaws scraped against it on either side. Cat-like appendages ripping it, as he snarled and growled and made a racket, trying to be a scary monster-like wolf. His wings flared out on either side of him, a measure of protection from its head should it try and strike him.

Mort pulled the snakes attention yet again, bringing more worry to the big woman. If he kept doing that, the reptile was going to strike and coil around him. It was incredibly difficult to get a snake of that size to uncoil once its big muscles set in place. With each breath it squeezed tighter until your lungs could no longer expand to draw in air. That was now they killed you. It wasn't their bite.

The winged lad flared his odd appendages and the snake hissed. It knew birds. It knew that it liked to eat birds. While still struggling to release itself from the wolf birds beak, it struck, intent on biting and constricting. Resin was there though. The anaconda's wide mouth wrapped around one thick, grey foreleg. Like a whip, it began to coil around her, its immense power enough to drag the boy along with it. As it coiled, Resin bit down on a portion of its spine, her teeth worrying back and forth to tear out big chunks of the snake. It would be a race to see if the snake would squeeze the life out of her or if she would sever its spine first.

Mortis knew nothing about snakes, and nothing about Grandma Resin’s thoughts. He only knew that it had attacked his family, and he was going to rip it to shreds with the tools he had available to him. He had no idea of the interference the older wolf was running to keep him alive.

When it struck, he saw the powerful form of Resin moving, and knew she was fighting, too. When its coil moved far enough to drag him with it, he yelped in surprise, and his paws were sweeped out from under him, and he was dragged a few steps by the snake before he let go.

He would see Resin’s predicament then, and wondered how she had managed to get the snake wrapped about her. Shaking his head, he jumped forward, closer to Resin, and attempted to grab at its head, and keep it from coiling more around her.

With the anacondas mouth wrapped around her, there would be no chance of it biting Mortis, which was exactly what she wanted. Coil after coil wrapped around the scarred woman, but she tried to pay it no mind. Serrated teeth ground together, slicing through flesh and muscle. Now and again she could feel the grind of bone against her teeth. That was what she wanted. Seeking out this bone, Resin put power into her jaws. She bit and bit, muscles in her neck and cheeks flexing. Harder and harder she bit and eventually that bone gave way.

With Mort biting behind the head and the severing of the snakes spine a little ways down, life soon faded from the snake's eyes. Its hold upon her was released as its coils fell slack. She had only to shake the bite off of her leg and she was free. Casting her one eye towards Mort, she said nothing. Her only concern now was regaining her breath.

Mort growling, shaking his head, trying to increase his damage as much as possible. When the creature fell still, he finally let go, spitting snake-blood from his mouth.he was panting a little, and his jaw hurt from the effort, but his tail was wagging behind him. “That was so cool Grandma!” he said, moving to help her unwrap the snake, only to find she had done so.

“I saw it attacking you, and I swooped in, and we showed it to whos boss. We make an awesome team!’ he said with excitement and naivety. He had no idea what Resin had done for him, he was too inexperienced to get it. Nonetheless, he still leaned over, and kissed the old woman on the cheek “Are you hurt?”

She had been about to chastise him over his brash behavior but he called her grandma and he was just so excited. Resin wrinkled her nose for a moment against the blood that was running onto it from the wounds to her injured face. Explaining things to a child was more than difficult sometimes. It was downright impossible.

Mort gave his play by play and then kissed her cheek, asking if she was hurt. The giantess sighed and licked the top of the boys head. "I will be fine." Now to give some criticism. "In the future, think before you act. Your mind needs to be quick to think of the outcome before you act in an attack." Azure had the same problem. He didn't think before he acted. "Had I not been fast enough to step in when the snake was striking, it would have bitten you, curled around you, possibly broken your wings. You would have died if I wasn't able to get it off of you quickly enough."

Sliding down to lay on her stomach, she reached out with one big paw and pulled the boy close. "You did well, you just need to think before you act, okay?" The normally gruff woman nuzzled between Mort's ears. "I don't want anything to happen to you." Would he understand? Could he take constructive criticism?

She gave him a friendly lick back, and he beamed up at her, all but vibrating from the excitement of taking on something new. He was tempted to also poke at the snake and take a bite, but he was politely giving his grandma his attention first. He paused when she started to speak, and his ears and tail would visibly drope. He hadn’t seen it striking at him, but it was Resin, and he knew if she said it then it must be so. His father had drilled into him how much he needed to pay attention to his surroundings. If he missed something as big as this so easily, then he clearly hadn’t been paying attention. He didn’t protest when she lay down, and pulled him close. Instead, he sat in the crook of her arms, as he could with very few wolves now. He was just too big. Even with Resin, a giant of a woman, he didn’t fit easily. He folded his wings in tightly, and let her nuzzle against his ears. “I’m sorry Grandma Resin, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to help.” he explained. "Mortis"

The big boy worked to fit himself in the crook of her elbow. She grinned slightly and was glad that he was humoring her. Mort took the criticism well. and explained that he had just wanted to help. "You did help, darling." Ooh, was that a term of endearment? Mortis was her favorite of the children by far. Perhaps she wasn't supposed to have favorites, but there it was and she couldn't deny it. "You helped tremendously. I just need you to be safe. Winning a battle means nothing if you die or come away grievously injured." The big woman lightly thumped her forehead against his own. "Just think before you act." She released him from her hold, allowing him to go an inspect the snake if he wished. The reptile was massive at around 25 feet long. It must have weighed close to 500 pounds. "Snake is good eating. We should take it back with us."

Curled up in his grandmother's arms, the boy wiggled until he was on his back, and looking up at the other woman. She looked back at him with one eye, and he saw no judgment in the yellow orb. “I will, Grammy” he said quietly, glad she wasn’t saying she would keep him from fights, only that she wanted him to pay more attention. When she thunked her head against his, he took the opportunity to raise up a paw, and swipe at it gently. When she brought their attention back to the dead snake, the pup got to his paws with a bounce, and walked over to it, hitting it gently with his nose. “Hmm” he mused. “How do we drag it back?” "Mortis"

He really was a sweet boy. He didn't sulk or get whiny like his brother. Mort simply took her words, accepted them, and continued on. When he playfully batted at her face, the once eyed woman grinned, scarred lips pulling back to flash wickedly sharp teeth. She wondered if her sons would have been as sweet as Mort had they lived.

The moment that she redirected his attention, Mort was on his paws and inspecting the dead reptile once more. He asked how they would transport the snake. Pity that they didn't have Iolaire's fancy little cart. "We'll have to drag it."

Lifting herself, she moved a few feet to position herself in the center of the snakes length. With sharp teeth, she began chewing through meat, innards and bone. Once that was accomplished, she bit one half in half again. "Do you think you're strong enough to carry this smaller piece?" Lifting it up in her jaws, she looped around the winged boys shoulders and neck, slowly letting it go so that he could feel the weight.

To be totally frank, the pup was going to say yes, no matter what. Resin has sawn through the snake with a few expert motions, and he watched with a light wag of his tail, and a great deal of curiosity.

He ducked his head to help the older woman place the snake over his shoulders. He almost staggered at the weight of it, and his wings felt pinned to his side where the snake touched his shoulders where they lay. Grief, but it was heavy. He stumbled a step forward, and regained his balance. His muzzle pinched in concentration. There was no way he was turning back now. "Yeah, I got it Grammy Ressy!" He promised, prancing a step forward to prove his point, and he managed its without tripping or falling on his face.

As she knew he would, the boy refused to falter under the weight of the snake. Once he found his footing, he smiled and she nodded. The large portion lay on the ground and the big woman worked top wrap it around her own neck and shoulders. The snake had been massive. The weight of half its body sat hard on the older wolf, but, just like the boy, she would barrel through.

Resin cast her singular gaze towards the pair of jackals that followed her everywhere. "You can have the rest." Normally she ignored their existence, but the female was pregnant. It was the first time that they'd tried for a litter. Resin chalked it up to her joining the Armada and settlng in one place. Now they had a den, regular food and safety. It seemed that this was all that was needed.

"Come. If it begins to be too much, we can stop and take a rest." She wouldn't have the boy push himself to injury. They would go slow. Eventually they would get home.

The boy waddled u der the weight of the snake, but his head was held high, and there was a grin on his maw. He was having the time of his life, and he felt very achieved, coming back home with such a large trophy around his shoulders. He knew Resin had done most of the work, but he didnt think she would mind sharing the credit. He kept close to the older woman, occasionally knocking against her, partly as through to cheer them both on, and partly because he often wobbled.

It was about half way there that Bast and the bear found them. Marshal leading the way. It was clear the bird had seen their perdiciment and brought some help. Mort was panting readly by then, but knew down to his soul that he didnt want to be the first to call a stop.

He did when the bear stopped in front of him. Waddling on two feet, she gave him a friendly pat on the head, before grabbing the snake from his shoulders with a paw, and gently plopping it down on Bast. The leopard wobbled a little herself, but held steady. The bead then moved to Resin, giving her a friendly pat on the shoulder, and motioning to her load.

Through the edge of her vision, she watch Mort struggle. Just as he wouldn't quit, she wouldn't mention his slowly fading stamina. This would be a lesson for him as well. He would need to know when to quit to preserve his own body. Luckily for him, a moment later his father's minions arrived. A shadow passing over her made the dame glance up to see the large vulture circling over them. Mortis transferred his catch to the leopard with a little help from the bear.

The bear then came and patted her to ask for the snake to be transferred to her and the giantess shook her head. She was considerably larger than the small, dark bear. She motioned for the ursine to help the cat. They would continue on their course back to the Armada where she would give the meat up to the stores. The wound in her shoulder and the side of her face were crusted with blood and it was beginning to itch, but she wouldn't stop now. Rarely did she stop for anything.