The worm Rexanna tried to grab was both wriggly and wet with mud and its own slime, making it difficult to grasp. Still, her knife proved sharp enough to make her point and the small worm twisted and then flopped helplessly to the ground as she severed it in half.
Perhaps she should have been paying attention to where she was stepping rather than to the fox, however. Her foot stepped true, crushing - or rather, squashing - the head of the other small worm into the earth, but the spurt of blood and slime cost her her footing, and she would find herself falling if she couldn't do something to stop her slip.
The fox had wasted no time once he felt his current prey begin bleeding out. It's companion had ended up close enough to Rexanna to threaten his friend and he snarled before he leapt upon it, stepping once more on its thorax and setting his jaws into what might have been its neck or its head so that he could tear upwards with a fierce jerk of strong neck muscles, tearing the rubbery flesh - and trying not to gag.
Unfortunately, of the two worms left one was quite large - and quite angry.
Fortunately, it seemed disoriented from striking the earth so hard and as it rose up and lashed out again it did so at the space between the dead worm and Rexanna, causing nothing worse than a spatter of mud towards the magically-clean woman as a subsonic rumble rippled through the top layer of earth around it - something akin to a groan of frustration.
Jigano was less lucky, as the remaining mid-sized worm zeroed in on the vibrations of its dying brethren and lunged for the tall fox. Had he not been soaking wet his fluffy fur might have been slimed, but with his glorious coat plastered tight to his body the worm - barely - missed him, coiling around the empty space where his paws had been moments before and becoming entangled with its freshly-dead companion.
Perhaps she should have been paying attention to where she was stepping rather than to the fox, however. Her foot stepped true, crushing - or rather, squashing - the head of the other small worm into the earth, but the spurt of blood and slime cost her her footing, and she would find herself falling if she couldn't do something to stop her slip.
The fox had wasted no time once he felt his current prey begin bleeding out. It's companion had ended up close enough to Rexanna to threaten his friend and he snarled before he leapt upon it, stepping once more on its thorax and setting his jaws into what might have been its neck or its head so that he could tear upwards with a fierce jerk of strong neck muscles, tearing the rubbery flesh - and trying not to gag.
Unfortunately, of the two worms left one was quite large - and quite angry.
Fortunately, it seemed disoriented from striking the earth so hard and as it rose up and lashed out again it did so at the space between the dead worm and Rexanna, causing nothing worse than a spatter of mud towards the magically-clean woman as a subsonic rumble rippled through the top layer of earth around it - something akin to a groan of frustration.
Jigano was less lucky, as the remaining mid-sized worm zeroed in on the vibrations of its dying brethren and lunged for the tall fox. Had he not been soaking wet his fluffy fur might have been slimed, but with his glorious coat plastered tight to his body the worm - barely - missed him, coiling around the empty space where his paws had been moments before and becoming entangled with its freshly-dead companion.
