He was hungry. Very hungry, in fact; ten days since his last meal was pushing it, and heâ€™d like to eat something substantial within the next four. Heâ€™d gone through his store of food slowly enough, then through the food for the other carnivores.<br/><br/>Then he ate the other predators. He finished of the lions a month ago. Then the hyenas, then the other snakes, and after that two of the three tigers found their way into his maw.<br/><br/>He convinced the third one to throw itself onto an electric fence to see if it was still powered. Hisaka had not had cooked meat in far too long, and the flavor took getting used to again. And last week, he ate Steve, who had been so obediently under his control, providing him all that food. He hadnâ€™t even blinked when heâ€™d eaten the manâ€™s son three weeks prior. Come to think of it, neither had his son; prey knowing its place was always useful.<br/><br/>Now, though, the intelligent, massive serpent could only coil up and wait, his green eyes vibrant in the dull light. Someone would come soon enough; someone always did. Then he would be free, and he would eat.<br/><br/>And eat.<br/><br/>And eat.<br/><br/>And eat.<br/><br/>~~<br/><br/>Roxxie shifted Buyouâ€™s weight under her arm with a light huff, quite content to be bathed in the light of somewhere familiar. This hotel, the Golden Laurels, had been good to her. In its usefulness, it had also permitted her to help others. Thatâ€™s what he had wanted, she thought. Hold the Fort.<br/><br/>Her eyes looked up to the elegant marquee above the barâ€™s entrance, gorgeous, lavish woodwork engraved with those very words. The Fort was as much a splendid treasure she had found and her greatest accomplishment since sheâ€™d awoken. Now she had to help this little fellow before he finally collapsed. She eased him onto a couch and ruffled his hair gently. â€œNow you just lay here, Iâ€™ll get some soup for you.â€ she explained. He didnâ€™t really respond beyond a soft sigh and a weak smile.<br/><br/>This was too strange for her liking. Usually, people were left behind in much better shape than this. What was different this time? Roxxieâ€™s eyes swept over the stores of food she had as she ladled some soup into a bowl for the poor raccoon. She could feed another wave and sustain herself and the Dusty Scales, should they decide to stop in again, for a week without a restock. But if they were all in as poor health as Buyouâ€¦<br/><br/>Well, even if they all miraculously made it to her door, she didnâ€™t have the expertise or supplies to treat them all, and that made her anxious. Still, there was no reason to show her nervousness to the newcomer when he was in such a dire state.<br/><br/>It soon became apparent that water was probably going to be the only option for him, especially after he promptly threw up the two spoonfulls he managed to down. It did thankfully serve the purpose of wetting his mouth. He could swallow, and soon enough sheâ€™d propped him up in a bed back in the kitchen while she cooked for the evening, watching him sip away gingerly at a glass of water.<br/><br/>She let him drink up a bit before she spoke up. â€œWhat do you remember then, chico? Donâ€™t strain yourself if you donâ€™t think you can talk.â€<br/><br/>Buyou shakily placed the half-finished glass of water on a nearby counter and sank a bit into the bed. â€œI rememberâ€¦ screaming. Lots of yelling, peopleâ€¦ somewhere dark.â€ he responded, his brow furrowed. â€œThen I remember waking up to someone, da? Brown fur, clawed handâ€¦ checked my breathing and squeezed my shoulder.â€ Buyou continued. â€œI heard them say something, I think. I canâ€™t remember.â€ Buyou added, looking a bit troubled.<br/><br/>â€œThen I woke up again latter to some English speaking voices squabbling before I got hit in the head by something hard. They hit me in the back too. There was a bright light and a loud noise, and they ran away yelling, da?â€<br/><br/>Roxxie stirred a pot of sauce a bit more forcefully. â€œIâ€™m going to motherfucking kill Marlow.â€<br/><br/>â€œDid you say something, miss?â€Buyou asked, turning his head.<br/><br/>â€œJust call me Roxxie. And no, donâ€™t worry about it. Try to get some sleep, okay. Listen, this will sound sort of strange, but if you wake up and Iâ€™m gone, just make yourself comfortable. If I never come back, well, thereâ€™s a book under the bar with places to find more food and some directions, okay?â€ Roxxie asked, concern in her voice as she stepped over to check the raccoonâ€™s temperature with her hand. â€œYouâ€™ve cooled off a bit and youâ€™re talking better. Just try to finish that water before you sleep. Iâ€™ll be out front in the bar, okay? If you get hungry, help yourself.â€<br/><br/>Buyou nodded and yawned, weakly attempting to politely cover the bodily expression. Roxxie left and tugged the door closed, a smile on her muzzle. Even if they were all sick, she would make do.<br/><br/>She always did.<br/><br/>~~<br/><br/>Given his size, Maccus was not entirely keen on leaving the chance that he would remember how to fly up to simple instinct. But after he tried to squeeze into the stairwell, and an elevator, and was met with little luck, he soon realized there was little chance he would find another way down. But at that moment when he stared down into the quiet streets, he felt more calm than he had since heâ€™d woken up.<br/><br/>The air was clean, cool, and it filled his wings as he spread them and leaped from the building and plummeted like a ton of bricks.<br/><br/>After much frantic tumbling and roaring, he finally managed to level himself and settle into a clumsy glide, and with an experimental flap of his wings, he picked up speed and altitude. Perhaps he shouldnâ€™t write off instinct so easily. Still, turning was a bit difficult as of yet, and he was often kicking off the odd building here and there trying to adjust his heading in the dim, quickly fading light. He essentially ran on all fours as he tried to round one corner, trying to push off the smooth, clean glass of a skyscraper. As he passed, he could have sworn that heâ€™d seen someone, or something, staring out at him. Of course he couldnâ€™t quite slow down enough to get a good luck, and turning around wasnâ€™t an option.<br/><br/>So either he wasnâ€™t alone, or he was seeing things. Neither was necessarily comforting at this point. Still, he soared through the streets, content that most were more than wide enough for his large wingspan and equally large frame.<br/><br/>Maccus rounded another particularly tight corner with more ease this time, and spotted what was clearly a person in the street below him. A horse and rider, actuallyâ€¦ a rider that very calmly began shooting at him with terrifying accuracy, and he hissed as the bullets impacted his hide. He flapped harder under the hail of shots, and felt over his torso to find only a few abrasions, but nothing too deep or rough. Still, he wouldnâ€™t want to sit there like an idiot just to get shot. He picked up speed and flew towards one of the larger buildings in the city, just hoping to leave the gunman behind.<br/><br/>So he wasnâ€™t alone, and he couldnâ€™t be sure that whoever he ran across would be friendly. As he shot a gaze back at the slow, steady horse below him, he rumbled.<br/><br/>He also couldnâ€™t assume whoever he found to be properly alive. The horse was a skeleton, and the rider was too concealed to properly see, but Maccus was sure he didnâ€™t want to know what he looked like. He soared up over a nearby roof and clamped desperately onto some fencing on the buildingâ€™s top to stop himself rather clumsily.<br/><br/>Only know did he catch the tail end of an announcement of some sort like the one heâ€™d heard when he woke up, but definitely a womanâ€™s voice now. For the moment, he just huffed and sat back on the roof, rubbing the scrapes on the scales of his chest with his thumb. For the first time since he woke up, he was happy he was so big and tough.<br/><br/>Maccus was not happy, however, when he heard heavy, plodding footsteps behind him. â€œTick Tock, dragon.â€