Comm: Willow and the Lost Temple (Part 4)

Summary: In her adult years, Willow's studying to be an archaeologist, and she's joining her first expedition! She navigates jungles, fords rivers, and meets a furry friend along the way.

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[Story Listing]

[FIRST PART] || [PREVIOUS PART]

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"Alright gents, gather 'round! I have an announcement!"

Just before the campsite's dinner would be served, Professor Richter gathered all the men to the clearing towards the centre. There was enough grumbling from the dirty, fatigued men who were antsy to get some food inside them, and the agitation wasn't especially helped by the repeat sightings of a much-rumoured giant snake monster. Not everyone had been privy to Willow's initial entry into the camp, and Willow, bless her heart, had busied herself too much with the preparation of tonight's dinner to pay much mind to it.

...Unfortunately, a suspicious murmur arose among the men gathered around, gawking at the sheer size of Willow and her intimidating, monstrous visage... even as she wore a polite smile, waving a scaly hand in an enthusiastic greeting as she swivelled back and forth.

"Gah, quit your grousing, you lot," Professor Richter scoffed. "You can save your incessant salivating for a few moments more. We got a new member on our team, and it's because of your ceaseless rumour-mongering that I have to assemble a pow-wow."

Richter massaged his forehead; Willow fidgeted slightly next to him, and then straightened up, figuring this was as good a time as any to introduce herself.

"Hiiii! I'm Willow! Um, Willow Connelly-Hutchins, for the full name, ummm... this is my first time working at an archeological site!" She explained with a cheery sunniness in her orange, slit eyes. "I majored in Linguistic Studies over at Kelin University, and I'm not fully graduated, this is kinda an internship deal, but I'm really excited to be working with everyone!"

The tip of her tail wagged as she enthusiastically introduced herself. Despite her enthusiastic earnestness, she seemed to attract more disbelieving, gawking looks than anything else.

"...Is... is everyone going to be okay?" Willow leaned over to whisper to Professor Rouseau.

"Well, after the initial panic, I'm sure everyone's getting to settle in just fine." He shrugged, turning to the crowd. "Anyway, with that hearty welcome out of the way, go fill up you slobs. There's a hearty chicken stew on the menu today. Then it's another busy day tomorrow..."

Willow's eyes lit up at the mention of chicken. If they were just using the meat for a stew, they probably had a lot of bones left over. An idea occurred to her as she made a beeline for the canteen; she was on the receiving end of some mumbling from the crowd of men, but not one of them was about to pick a fight with a nigh-impervious snake monster. Even if she hadn't finished her degree.

Willow, focused on her task, approached the serving table; she took a deep, satisfied breath, taking in the savory aroma that drifted from the lines of tin pots. She could pick out thyme, garlic, and the earthy tones of all sorts of hearty root veggies. There really was some good eating out here...

She licked her lips, her serpentine tongue zipping out, eliciting a look of terror from one of the cooks; she seemed to be looking through him in her little foodie trance.

"U-uh..." The cook went pale.

"...oh! Um, I'll have a bowl of the stew!" Willow nodded. "And, well, this is gonna sound strange, but what do you guys do with the chicken leftovers?"

"You... you mean the bones?" The cook tried to regain his composure, following along with Willow's rather sunny disposition. But he fell right out of it again, meeting her gaze with a squint. "You... you wanna eat that?"

"Oh! It's not for..." Willow trailed off, eyes widening as she clasped her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth. She mentally cursed herself, nearly letting her cat out of the bag... figuratively, not literally.

"Y-yes, actually, it's for me." She course-corrected with an embarrassed smile. "Growing girls need lots of food to maintain this figure, y'know? A-and it reduces waste!~"

She tried to casually play off the situation. The cook gulped, wondering if this towering specimen of a woman wouldn't try to eat him too if she didn't get what she wanted.

"I-in the back. Some bags of compost, next to the trash." He gestured to the back. "W-we ship it back to town in the morning..."

"Oh, thanks! I'll make good use of it!~" Willow bowed, enthusiastically clutching a tray the cook sheepishly plated and presented. "Thank you so much!"

"A-anytime..." The cook caught his breath as Willow slithered away. He winced as the tip of Willow's chair knocked a chair to the floor; he overheard her muttering to herself, something about how cramped it was in there...

Willow travelled around the canteen, following the scene of raw meat. She grinned, spotting a green, biodegradable bag. She could make out little bony protrusions pressing against the sides, and the rotund shapes of carved up chicken...

"There it is! Uh, gimme a hand here, guys?"

She bent her head forward close enough for one of her hair snakes to reach. He tried to slip through the straps, but struggled to lift it off the ground; he huffed, his tongue lolling, before a second hairsnake reinforced him.

"Alright, good," Willow nodded, rising up. She turned her back to the disposal station, heading over to the workers tents. It was emptier than usual, with all the workers flocking to get dinner... still, she snuck a few glances in all directions, before diving for her tent.

"Okay, coast is clear... c'mon out, lil guy~" Willow cooed, setting her tray of food aside to slip off her backpack, opening it up to reveal a furry little face within. Frisky sniffed the air, its eyes focused on the bag hoisted by Willow's hair snakes.

"Got a lil treat for you from the canteen! You don't get to eat chicken very often, huh?" Willow reached into the bag, pulling out a drumstick, mostly plucked of its dark meat. "Mmmmmm, meeeeeeat...~"

She waved it back and forth in a chiding manner, dangling in front of him; she smiled broadly as his irises widened, intently following the movement of the bone. Frisky lowered himself into a pouncing position and did a little hop forward, claws out to wrest the bone from Willow's grasp!

"Hehe!" She chuckled, watching Frisky tear into the bone with his teeth. She looked into the bag.

"Strong bite you got, huh? Wonder if there's a carcass in here with a bit more meat on it... ah, how's this?"

She lifted a whole ribcage, with specks of breast meat still clinging on in fatty chunks. Frisky yowled approvingly, rising up onto its hind legs, front paws rising skywards as he paced back and forth. It was an impressive little balancing act... until he flopped over, rolled back up, and began hungrily gnashing at the meaty bits leftover.

"Mm, I dunno if you can eat all this, though..." Willow eyed the bag with a hint of trepidation. There were a lot of chicken leftovers to feed the camp, though perhaps there really wasn't that much chicken to feed a whole camp of this size. She reached for another ribcage...

"Bottoms up!" She raised it in a toast, before unhinging her jaw and swallowing it whole. As the whole mass was pulled down to her gut in strange, throaty contractions, she smacked her lips. "Could use more seasoning..."

Willow much preferred the stew, at the end of the day. Cooking like that reminded her of home; she'd have to go back and give her compliments to the chef the next day. She made a mental note to do just that... but tonight was an early curfew, and she needed to keep a watchful eye on Frisky to avoid any problems.

Hopefully tonight would pass without any major complications... Willow had already made a bit of a sour impression with Richter.

---

Night had descended upon the camp. While most grown men didn't give much care to staying up late, the professor insisted on a decidedly stringent curfew; there were a lot of challenges throughout the day to face head on, and fatigue due to self-imposed lack of sleep was among the more insufferable excuses one could muster.

Torches around the site remained lit to ward off predators, but otherwise, apart from the ambient croaking of frogs and the medley of insect chittering, it was rather quiet.

Willow herself was exhausted, for good reason. Cutting her way through the dense jungle foliage and still being put to work as soon as she arrived at camp was a one-two punch she could've done without. Maybe just the one-punch.

It didn't help that the tents were cramped as all get-out. Maybe they were just big enough for the average full-grown man, but Willow was a couple times beyond that point. She tried to coil up her tail under just the one tent, but she kept popping the pegs out of the ground.

She eventually found a comfortable set-up, and it only took lining up five tents in a row so she could stretch herself out. She folded her arms as she sprawled out over the ground, resting her head as she snored quietly; her hair snakes coiled up in tiny little piles, flanking her torso.

Willow shifted her arm absentmindedly, reaching over to scritch Frisky. It was strange, then, that her fingers merely tensed as if grabbing for air. She stirred, her eyelids fluttering open as she patted around at the conspicuously empty space next to her arm.

"!"

She tensed up sharply, her claws digging into the dirt as anxiety gripped her. Her serpentine slits in her orange eyes narrowed as she glanced over. Frisky wasn't there.

"Oh... oh no...." She whispered to herself. She raised her hands to her hair, firmly shaking the ropey snakes to jostle them away; they hissed in dazed confusion, swivelling up slowly and glancing around.

"Frisky's missing, guys," Willow's voice was getting increasingly agitated, her whispering taking on a hissing raspiness. "We gotta find 'im, okay? Eyes open."

Willow slithered forward, rearing up to her full height. Her body moved silently as she rustled her pajamas; her hair snakes rose, scanning their surroundings, forked tongues zipping to smell any semblance of the little jaguar cub.

Willow focused as well. Her eyes didn't pick up on any irregular heat signatures, which was especially worrying. She focused inwards, her forked tongue zipping, flicking, tasting the air. Her eyes opened as her body turned towards the edge of camp that  bordered the jungle.

She tasted the air again, her powerful tail wrenching behind her as she slithered forward. She scanned the ground, eyes lighting up as she spotted tell-tale pawprints dotting the ground. Willow had picked up Frisky's scent, her tongue flicking repeatedly to narrow it down. Her body surged forward as if possessed.

Her eyes picked up on the subtlest clues. There were trampled patches of grass, a couple snapped branches, and where the mud was more pronounced, sunken pawprints and trails made themselves known.

"Frisky??" Willow called out, hardly above a whisper. They weren't so far from base camp that a round of shouting wouldn't attract unwanted attention. Willow frowned as she didn't hear a response right away; focusing on her hypertuned senses, she pressed forward, brushing aside vines with her palms. She didn't seem bothered by the mud collecting underneath her tail as she slithered forward.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a high-pitched roar deeper in the foliage; Willow froze up, her eyes wide like dinner plates as she assessed her surroundings, narrowing the source down to a particular direction.

"That must be Frisky!" She thought aloud to herself. He sounded off a little south-southeast; she hurried her pace along, her massive tail slamming against trees without much regard for the environment around her. She didn't notice a kapok tree snap in half against the force of her tail, teetering to the side as, in an almost maternal panic, Willow surged ahead with almost lightning speed!

A stranger sound rumbled forth from beyond the trees, and Willow tensed up, slowing her breakneck pace slightly as her hair snakes swivelled upwards. It sounded like an odd honking sound, very deep throated. She actually studied the biology of the Kiyala Jungles, and looked over some nature documentaries too, but that was a strange one to be sure. It unsettled her; it sounded familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it...

"I know I've heard that cry before..." Willow mused to herself. "But where? It can't be some strange bird cry, but..."

Whatever it was, it sounded like an argument between animals, and if Frisky had found someone else, there was no telling what could go wrong; animals were at their most defenceless at such a young age, and there were no shortages of danger in the jungle! Like the large heat signature that Willow's eyes could pick out just beyond the grasses...

"Gah! Frisky, just wait right there, I'm coming!" Willow called out, feeling assured that she had put enough distance between herself and the base camp. She practically leapt through the last barrier of foliage, cutting her way through to a clearing... and where the ground was even muddier than before.

The moonlight reflected upon a natural lake, with gnarled tree branches twisting from the water's surface. Dry leaves and rotten branches crunched underneath Willow's tail as she surged forward, kicking up mud. The smell of wet earth filled her nostrils as she trailed the trail of fresh pawprints. She reared up as she slowed to a stop, stumbling upon an encounter between two creatures of the jungle.

"Frisky!" Willow exclaimed, the relief palpable in her voice. But as she looked forward, she found the small cub squaring off against... a hippo? Willow paused to consider: they weren't endemic to this region, but they were imported over at some point by crime gang leaders. And there was that big stink about the hippos running free...

Willow tensed up as the hippo opened its gaping maw, revealing its nasty tusks as it let out a low, rumbling roar. It stomped its feet, kicking up mud as it sprinted forward directly for Frisky.

"Oh no you don't!" Willow was quicker, her body compressing like a spring as she leapt forward to place herself between Frisky and the angry hippo, stretching out her arms to hold the hippo back. Her scaly palms clasped around the tusks of the hippo, putting all her strength to keep the hippo from gnashing its mouth. The hippo let out several discontent grunts as it shook, trying to bite down on Willow.

Out of the corner of the hippo's vision, Willow's tail swished forward, ensnaring the hippo's rotund belly in its coils; with a quick tug, Willow's tail jerked the hippo further away, allowing her to release the grip on his teeth and hold the hippo at a safe distance. With several thousand pounds of force in her tail alone, the hippo was raised above the ground, struggling to slip free as it grunted and roared.

"Why don't you pick on something your own size, huh!?" Willow shouted, rather reflexively at that. The realisation dawned on her as she took in the sight of her enormous, trunk-like tail effortlessly ensnaring and lifting a hippo; her mouth flattened.

"W-well, I guess I'm not your size, but, well... you get it!" Willow explained in a huff. With a couple twists of her tail, it would be easy to squeeze the life out of the hippo... but the hippo wouldn't be a threat as long as she was around. And she couldn't imagine hippos being very tasty anyway, even if they roasted it back at the camp's canteen...

With a heave-ho, she lashed her tail forward, releasing her grip as the hippo tumbled through the air. Frisky squeaked as the hippo crashed into the lake with a massive splash that sent an explosion of water droplets in all directions. Willow covered her face to keep the water from getting in her eyes, shaking beads of sweat off of her scales.

Willow studied the shimmering water, squinting to make out the hippo in the water; its heat signature was muted by the cool water, but she could make out the brown-skinned creature breaching the surface, roaring indignantly back at Willow with its gaping jaw.

Willow blinked, before rearing up, baring her deadly fangs.

"GSHHHHHHAAA!" Willow hissed shrilly at the hippo, her hair snakes flaring out in unison. The hippo snorted in response, letting out a couple low honks, before slowly swimming away. Willow relaxed as the hippo disappeared from sight.

Through the eyes of one of her hair snakes, she spotted Frisky hiding in a capsized log. She turned around, lowering herself to the ground to get a better look.

"Heyyy, Frisky, lil buddy, you're okay now," Willow reassured him in a gentle coo. "I scared the big hippo off. You gotta be careful, those things are super territorial, y'know??"

Frisky seemed a touch hesitant to come out of the log, his wide eyes staring into Willow's. Willow stared back, a moment of confusion flashing in her expression. But then an unpleasant thought rose to mind; she did scare off that hippo, and she had made such a dreadful face and such an unpleasant sound doing so. She grimaced to herself, trying to wear a gentle smile.

"It's okay, I won't make any more scary faces. Now c'mere, c'mon out you little devil, you..." Willow reached in slowly to help the guy out; he yowled meekly, kicking at Willow's arm with his hind legs and trying to bite (though Willow barely felt it through the scales on her arms). She plopped him on the ground.

"Ah, I should be keeping a better eye on you... tch, c'mon guys, none of you guys noticed Frisky running off?" Willow scoffed, batting gently at her hairsnakes with an open palm. One of them hissed obstinately.

"I mean, yeah, I was asleep too, but there's seven of us, so one of us should've noticed..." Willow sighed. "Now whatever could possess you to run off like that, Frisky? It's dangerous to go out into the jungle alone..."

Frisky struggled in Willow's grip as he stared off, his paws reaching forward to bat at the air. He managed to wriggle free, and hurried into the leafage, pouncing at an array of floating lights with repeated pounces. Willow gawked silently as Frisky leaped over and over, swiping at the air.

"Oh... fireflies?" Willow's eyes followed the gently flickering lights, smiling to herself. "You wanted to catch one?"

Willow coiled up into a pile, watching Frisky playfully jumping at the flies, yowling obstinately with each swipe. His tail swayed as he trailed the floating lights, before he leapt again. Willow enjoyed the display from a distance, her hands settling in her lap.

"The lights at night are very pretty..." She mused quietly to herself, letting Frisky get some of that budding predatory instinct out of his system. Curfew be damned, it was a very pretty nighttime view... and now that Willow wasn't in so much of a rush, she could properly enjoy it. She took a deep breath, taking in that gentle earthy smell, surrounded by so many plants and flowers. The way the moonlight above reflected off the surface of the water in shimmering strands, and the flow of the fireflies.

She wanted to take a photo, but alas, she left the camera at camp. Darn.

"Okay, Frisky, we should head back, yeah?" Willow slithered over to Frisky as he finally calmed down, watching the fireflies drift away over the lake bed. Willow raised him up with both hands, looking him over.

"Hah, omigosh, lookit your paws, they're caked in mud!" She chuckled. "That won't do... let's wash them off in a stream."

With a little TLC and a quick bath, much to Frisky's squeaking objections, Willow and the jaguar cub she kept in tow were ready to return to base camp.

"Mm... tomorrow's gonna be rough on little sleep..." Willow mused with a frown. "Ah, well. That's a problem for Future Willow; Present Willow lives in the moment after all, hehe~"

She chuckled to herself, holding Frisky close as she made her way slowly back to base camp. The jungle really was something else at night; despite the circumstances, she was glad she could come out to enjoy it.

[NEXT PART]