Glowstick ( ͡ಥ ︵ ͡ಥ)

Max couldn't help but scream as she found herself flying once more through the air. Bright side, this time she landed after about oh, ten seconds. Not so bright side? Landing hurt. A lot. In fact, Max's normally chaotic mind was completely blank due to pain for what felt like an eternity. Maybe this is what childbirth felt like she pondered as the pain abated enough for her to think. After that Max internally cursed Sage out so foully that even the most seasoned of sailors would have blushed. The black snake stared up at the sky from her upside-down position.

Max had collided with a large tree, thankfully she had only fallen a meter or so, but collision and then landing on her back had not been fun. She idly tapped her tail against the tree as she mentally tallied up the black marks against Sage- erm, took inventory of what hurt. Thankfully there were no broken bones. Downsides? Aside from her obvious position, Max did not know where she was, everything was green, and by everything, she meant even the bark of the trees themselves! In other words, she was black but this forest was literally all green but she was not. Oh, and she was starving!

Max lifted her tail and shook it like a fist at the heavens while she made a promise to herself to wreak chaos to the best of her abilities wherever she went! That from this day forth she would make it a point to ruin any and all of Sage's plans! That would be her vengeance and that the only way Sage would be able to handle it as if they descended!

On the bright side though, the sun was setting so it wouldn't matter that Sage had apparently gone through a monochrome phase when they created this forest, because!!!!! Max would be able to blend, if not completely disappear in the bush. There were plenty of places here for her to ambush prey. Max flicked her tongue out, took stock of what scents were nearby, and rolled over. Time to find food! Max's stomach rumbled in agreement.

Max slithered causally, her head bopping side to side as if to some inane blueberry song stuck for all eternity in her head. ba ba-ba-ba.~ On and on. The forest floor grew dark as the sun set, but that didn't mean that it was completely dark. Rays of moonlight slipped through the rustling branches dappling the forest floor.

At one point Max hit in a cluster of rocks as a dog-size beast trotted by. It was covered in scales with small jagged spikes sticking out of its elbows, sharp teeth, and a clubbed tail. Definitely a predator or a dinosaur but it still looked kinda' like a dog. Heh, a Dogasaur. Max snickered out a hiss to herself but stopped suddenly as her brain processed that thought again. Dinosaur?

Sage had taken her from a world where humans were at the top of the food chain and stuffed her in a world where there were humanoid beings, but dinosaurs?! So now not only did Max have to deal with humanoid beings but dinosaurs! Max's azure eyes narrowed as displeasure radiated from the tiny black snake, but then something caught her eye.

What was that? Max leaned closer to the ground and the azure light became clearer but when she backed away it grew dimmer. Max could feel her stomach begin to roll. Sage wouldn't. Would they? That was mean, surely they wouldn't. Would they?

Max reviewed their previous interactions and slumped in. Yes, they would. Some part of Max glowed in the dark. From her twisting and turning, it had to be somewhere on the front of her head, but until she got somewhere, probably a water source, she wouldn't know for sure which part it was that glowed.

A thought occurred to her though. How is she supposed to hunt if she was the organic equivalent of a glowstick? As a matter of fact, wasn't that why she had been caught in the first place? Max realized then and there that she could have gotten away from the vegetable if she had known that she glowed in the dark.

Unbeknownst to Max and her light-fueled crisis. The dogasaur had stealthily moved closer to her hideout, drawn by the azure light flashing from under the rocks. It was hard to miss given how dark it had become. The light while dim was eye-catching and the dogasaur would have had to have been dead not to notice it. The dogasaur had lived in this forest its entire life. It knew every rock, every tree. Though some things may change, it had never seen such an occurrence before.

The dogasaur made a loop around earlier and belly-crawled its way slowly so as not to alert its prey, the green scales, flecked with grey and black helped it to hide and give the illusion of shifting plants shifting in and out of the shadows. Once it was range, the dogasaur waited watchfully. As soon as the fluttering light settled down, the dogasaur attacked.

Meanwhile, Max blinked slowly, then exploded. Wasn't it enough that she was here? That she had been incarnated into a previously-loathed snake? Max mentally patted herself on the back for being able to get past her previously flawed prejudice, but that did not account for her being a damn'd glowstick! Dammit. Stupid Sage. Stupid world Stu- eh? Max's went wide and she threw herself back further under the rock away from the opening.

The dogasaur's scraped across the stone and as Max coiled herself at the back as tightly as she could in an effort to stay out of reach. The dogasaur not getting anything leaned down, it's large brown eyes quickly locating the azure light in the darkened recesses of the rock. The dogasaur disappeared and Max could hear a scratching sound coming from the side.

Dirt started to fall in between the crevices, but it didn't go on long before the sound of the dogasaur digging stopped altogether. Max strained to hear any other potential sounds. Nothing. However, she wasn't taking any chances. It would be best to wait for the predator out here where it couldn't get to her. Most likely it would drift off to find other, more easily accessible prey.

BOOM!

The rock surrounding Max shuddered. The little black snake coiled even tighter. The dogasaur slammed its club tail into the rock over and over, causing cracks to form. Max knew that she was running out of time and options. The little black snake knew that if the dogasaur managed to get her out into the open without a plan, chances were that she would be its midnight snack.

Options options. Max mentally ran through several scenarios ranging from hiding and ambushing, making a run for it since the dogasaur was no longer at the entrance, to burying herself deeper under the rocks. There were plenty of snakes that dug holes.

Each option had its own pros and cons. The first one was more geared towards how she was built, but waiting for trouble to say hello was not her style, plus given her recent adventure. Plus Max had no desire to test if Sage had really meant that they would only save her that one time.

The second option fit Max's personality more so but she didn't think that she would be fast enough. For this one to work, Max would need to make sure she got a good look, spot a regroup point, cycle repeat. This way, Max would be able to fend off the dogasaur until it grew tired of the fruitless chase.

The last option to dig and bury herself was reasonable as well. Nothing quite said fuck you when you went to eat your food and it was gone. Disappeared. Zip. Hasta la vista! The problem with this option was that that damn thing looked like a dog and dogs were stupidly persistent when hunting. There was a possibility that if she successfully dug a hole to hide, that the dogasaur would simply dig a bigger who and voila! Snake Tartare!

Argh! Max could feel her brain begin to steam as she tried to figure out everything that could possibly go wrong. Urgh fine. She'd do it! It's not like plotting was her strong point anyways. Arin had always likened her to a bull in a tea shop. Just because she was a snake didn't mean that she needed to be a snake. Max just had to take advantage of her snakiness. As soon as Max made her decision, she darted out from her rocky sanctuary.