He didn't want to wander away from the den. Being close to his family tugged at what emotions he had. It was the flicker of a shadow scurrying across a den that had caught his attention. While there was no division between night and day, not that he even knew what day was, the hours grew long and moon full overhead. Everyone around him was asleep as he peered out at the slopes of the volcano. Ghoul's small size lowered slightly as his red eyes latched onto the creature that scuttled away from the den. Quietly as his large paws could carry him, he followed the thing down the side of the volcano and into Redbud Nook. Tallgrass and flowering vegetation glowed neon as he tracked the animal with a twitch of his nose. There was no way he was going to let this thing getaway after trying to take something from the den. While he stumbled a few times over wobbly legs, the pup came upon the raccoon before it could make its escape. What he thought was a menacing growl rumbled up his throat as he leaned back on his haunches, lurched into a bow. Cornered against a thin tree, the masked mammal hissed back with swiping claws. With nowhere to go, Ghoul swiped back and aimed for its face. It glowed slightly as he noticed small fungi growing from its ears and around the corners of its mouth. The beady eyes that stared at him seemed hungry and in pain. Not that he cared. It had taken something from his home and he wasn't going to let it get away. word count: 273/1500

ooc//I don't remember if Medusa got sick around this time but I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot for the prompt >.>; also set before her punishment thread

She was doing her usual thing, which was often decapitating small animals and sticking their heads on sticks for fun. She had a wide array of them in front of her den and there was definitely no shortage of them at all. Squirrels, rabbits, lizards, birds...any small creature she could get her paws on. The only thing she didn't have though, was one that glowed. She'd been spotting them here and there, but she hadn't had the opportunity to catch one because every time she spotted one, it ran far past the border and she wasn't too keen on testing her luck more than she already had. Not that that bothered her much, but she didn't know if there were more dangerous monsters lurking out there with the sickness that had been spreading. She was definitely worried about that more than getting caught going across the borders.

When she finished "decorating", she got up and stretched her legs, and opted to go and see if she could find anything else interesting to do. She didn't have friends, that was a given. The pack practically acted like she didn't exist, and she was used to it by now. It sucked because she felt incredibly lonely, but she wasn't going to go around begging for friends. Not here.

As she sauntered through the territory, she heard the familiar sound of a smaller, snarling creature. Ears perked up and her dual-toned gaze was pulled in the direction that sound was coming from, and she didn't even have to think twice before her paws started carrying her that way. It wasn't long before she found them. A pinkish pup and an ornery raccoon, only this raccoon was acting mean and it seemed different than normal raccoons she'd seen. Upon getting a better look at it, she noticed there was a few glowing fungi growing from its head and her excitement grew! "A monster-prey! A monster-prey! Medusa wants to add it to her collection!" She exclaimed, fur bristling in excitement.

WC: 608/1,500

Insistent that the raccoon would feel his wrath, Ghoul lowered his body closer to the ground. His hind end raised slightly as he wiggled it with paws kneading at the dirt beneath him. In front of him, the raccoon stood with its back to the tree trunk, and lips peeled back in a full sneer. The guttural noises emitted from the whiskered mammal were loud and drowned out their surroundings. Peeling back his own lips to show his teeth and folding his ears back to lay upon his crown, Ghoul's red eyes flashed excitedly. Ready to pounce, he nearly sprang forward when a voice interrupted him. Freezing all of his muscles, he flicked one ear in her direction as she exclaimed excitedly over the raccoon. "You can have it when I'm done with it," he hissed, chin barely turning to peer over at her. There wasn't any time for him to continue interacting with her as a set of oozy claws came swiping at his face. A loud yowl leaves his lip as he pulls back in pain. Unexpecting the sudden attack, Ghoul's attention turned back to his prey. "Or help me kill it," his growling voice split the tension between him and the raccoon as his own clawed paw swung out toward the animal. He could feel it connect to soft fur and the raccoon responded with a spitting hiss. They were perhaps equal in size at this point in his life so taking down the raccoon would be a bit of a struggle without her help. word count: 866/1500

The little pink boy was focused on trying to get at the mushroom-coon. But Medusa was eager to have it for herself. He responded to her, and Medusa stood there with eyes zoned in on the glowing, mushroom raccoon and she desperately wanted to catch it, kill it, and dissect it like everything else. She wondered if the mushrooms would continue to grow even after she decapitated it and stuck it on a makeshift pike in her little head garden...the thought of it excited her even more, and she could barely contain her excitement. "You can have it when I'm done with it," Oh no. Oh no, that wouldn't do at all! She wanted it for herself! She had to have it! She was about to say something, but before she could, the mushroomed raccoon had swiped at the little pink boy and she practically yelped with him, but the whole scene only got her more excited.

Although there was nothing really holding her back, she practically acted like a dog at the end of the leash, eager to go after the squirrel that taunted her. She didn't want to get into any more trouble though, but it was so, so, so hard to not go after this thing. Would she even get in trouble for doing that? Wouldn't she be doing the pack a service by killing a glowy raccoon that she could then take to her den to dissect and conduct a taste test for? She mostly just wanted to add it to her smelly, decaying collection outside of her den...nobody had come around to stop her, after all. So what was one more head?

And then to her excitement, she heard the words! "Or help me kill it," Her head snapped to the pair as he swiped out with his own claws at the little beast, earning him a spitting hiss from the little beast. That was all the prompting she needed! With a delighted yip, Medusa lunged towards the animal in what would be considered ungraceful as she practically tried to dive-bomb the thing. It squealed as she did so, but in the moment she had to try and grab it with snapping teeth, the mushroom raccoon had managed to evade her.

Medusa practically slammed headfirst into the tree, but it did little to deter her. Only slightly dazed, she shook it off for no more than a heartbeat before scrambling back to her paws and racing after the animal. She was determined to get it, and everything else around her was pretty much forgotten as she zeroed in on the little oozy beast. The skeleton marked girl even forgot the little pink boy was there as she chased the raccoon around the tree, around him, and then as it tried to scramble up the tree, she managed to lunge for its tail and grab the tip of it in her teeth. A gurgling hiss and squeal combo sound came from the sick little beast, and it let go of the tree trunk to drop on Medusa's face. It hissed and spit and clawed at her muzzle, causing her to stumble back as she tossed her head every which way, though her jaws still snapped at it as she tried to get it off and into waiting jaws.

The raccoon almost seemed to hold on for dear life as Medusa practically bucked like a wild horse, the little sharp claws of the masked beast digging into her skin and causing her to start getting frustrated, but still, she kept on. In a last-ditch effort, Medusa shook her head as hard as she could, finally shaking the creature against the tree trunk. It hit with a dull thud before it slipped to the ground, and is it sat dazed, Medusa lunged once more before it could recover. She grabbed onto it, shook her head vigorously, and even after the creature went limp, she continued to shake it around like a rag doll, causing ooze and blood to splatter every which way.

When she was done, she was breathing hard as she sat down, tail wagging before looking at the pink pup. "Ha! Got eem!"

WC: 1,563/1,500

"Speech"