Of Ants and Fish

Vivian slithered through the forest, her ukelele strapped upon her back and her bow in her hand, a quiver of twelve arrows fletched with crows feathers upon her waist. She paused, sniffing the air for any hint of rain. The first time she had been caught out in the rain had been horrible. She ended up with leeches upon her arms that she had to burn off in the morning by building a fire which was no simple task with everything soaking wet. No, rain was not in the forecast for the next few hours at least. She nodded and moved on, slithering farther till she came across a river blocking her path. It was not the Amazon River she had heard so much about, but was still quite wide and possibly very deep.

She paused, thinking about how would be best to cross it. She was not worried about her ukelele being made of andonized metal it would not rust, however her bow and arrows would become soaked and ruined. Also, there where rumors of the piranha. Well, she wasn't to worried about them. She had things up her sleeves she could pull out in a fashion but not literally that would protect her against them or most anything else in this forest. She sighed, deep in contemplation and finally decided to swim the river. She would have to find a way to dry her bow and arrows upon the other side or she would have to make new ones. Something that would be difficult with out a knife or blade of any kind upon her except the small steel arrowheads upon her arrows.

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig frowned. This map made no sense and his dark-skinned tour guide had refused to take him the rest of the way to the ruins. Now he was lost. There were no ways to figure out where he was in this rainforest. There were trees and trees and more trees and nothing else. They hardly put termite mounds on maps now days.

Dressed in a panama hat and a khaki outfit, Craig reminded himself of the famous saying, "Dr. Lovingston, I presume?" every time he thought about what he was wearing. It was appropriate, too. Mosquitoes were fierce here and massive, too. There were all kinds of noises that he couldn't assign to any animal he knew, which was hardly comforting. Yet, that was also why he was here. To further his studies and collect samples that perhaps were unavailable commercially. He grimaced as he swatted away another mosquito and a root grabbed his leg. With a solid whmph[/i], he hit the ground and found himself face to face with a line of fire-red ants. He groaned and blew at the marching line before pulling himself up from the ground and continuing his march to... wherever. He was far too lost and still no sign of anything but foilage. A river suddenly rose out of the midst of the trees and he rushed to it gratefully. He drank the remainder of his canteen and filled it to the brim from the bank. As he straightened to stand and screwed the lid back into place, he saw a figure on the other side that didn't seem to have legs but a tail. He stared in shock and disbelief. It appeared to be a Gorgon like in the tales of Medusa that he learned in history.

The first thought he had was a desire to collect a blood sample, but he didn't want to spook the creature or get killed in the process. Maybe it could speak English? "Hello there," he called. "I am Craig Jamerson. Can you understand me? No, don't be frightened, it's quite alright! Do you speak English?" He put to it.

Vivian gasped and jerked her head to look across the river. A male stood there, dressed in the most absurd get up that she had ever seen upon a male and she actually giggled loudly. He was kinda cute actually. She slithered to the very edge of the water, and stopped there, raising her hand and waving at him. "Oh, yes Mr. Jamerson. I speak English!" She did speak it, but she had an extremely thick hispanic accent as that is where she had learned to speak mostly. Though she could change her voice to sound like anything she pleased, she usually kept it as this. She glanced at the river and back up at him. "What are you doing this far out here in the jungle sir? It is not really safe to be out here alone."

She flash a adorable smile across the river at the male, but had not way to getting across to him as of yet for she had not made up her mind. Then she thought of something, as this male seemed at least mildly prepared. "Good sir, you wouldn't happen to have a knife upon sharp enough to carve would? Or perhaps a way to start a fire to dry something out with?" She waited, hopeful that this male might actually be able to help her out some.