How did he end up here?

His nose scrunched in distaste. Even the desert was colder than usual, his feet sinking in the sands below. Bhaskar was no ballerina, his heavy made it much more difficult to traverse this forsaken place. At least this time around he wasn't under the scorching mercy of the summer sun.

Step by step, he trod the land carefully. Who knows what was out there? For all the man knew, every plant around him could kill him. Ever since his encounter with the maroon woman and her poisonous rose, the gargantuan was extra careful around the desert and around plants. The days following his poisoning were the worst thing he had gone through. He was certain that it was the worst thing Aries had seen, too. Glancing around, he tried to direct himself out of the sands.

@Caligula_{BG — ART — CODE}

There was sand everywhere but Caligula was on the lookout for the water. Where there was sand there was always water waiting to attack him, or such had been his experience with it so far. So the bronze male's head remained on a swivel. There just had to be water but it seemed to be hiding from him.

Because he was too busy looking out for a non-existent ocean the bronze lion didn't notice the change in sand. At least not until he was being sucked in. "Hey!" He cried out and thrashed about, which only caused him to start to sink faster. "You are supposed to stay out where I can see you!" Because clearly this could only be the tricky water after him again.

@Bhaskar

Triple Exp
+30 Save a life

Exit, exit... where is the exit of this hellhole?!

His eyes scoured left to right, but all he could see was sand, sand, sand... wherever his iron0clad gaze turns, there was nothing but the awful sand dunes in sight! And then... If he hadn't heard the shout, his gaze would've glazed over the perfectly camouflaging bronze man that was... wait, was the ground devouring him?

With eyes wide, the red-haired paladin sprung into action and rushed over to the stranger in danger. He paused, realizing that if he made a single step closer to the maneless lion, he'd be joining him down in the depths of hell or wherever the dunes were taking him. Fuck, he muttered, his expression worried and dark as he looked around. What could he do? How was he going to drag the poor guy out of there? He needed a branch or something similar. Hold on, man, I'll be right back! Bhas' heart skipped wildly in his chest as he rushed towards a nearby dead tree.

The fallen tree had a lot of thick branches and Bhaskar used his size to his advantage to break one of them. Thankfully, all his practice on breaking trees in the bog was paying off and the branch broke with a loud creak. His rushed movements made him lose his grip on the bark, but he quickly regained it carried the large tree branch to where the sinking man was.

Once there, he positioned one end towards Caligula. Grab that! Quick! He yelled before his jaws bit down hard on the other end of the tree branch, while his front claws and feet gripped the branch. He sturdied his back feet in the unmoving sand, pressing his whole weight on the branch to make sure it doesn't move.


@Caligula_{BG — ART — CODE}

"You are saying that as if there is really something to hold onto." Caligula called back after the lion as he ran off. All there was to be found was sand but that didn't exactly hold up well when one went to grab it. At least every time Caligula reached out to get a grip on it the sand just slid away from beneath his paws.

The bronze lion didn't really expect the other to return. Really now, who would go out of one's way for someone that they didn't know? But it seemed like this lion would. Caligula scrabbled at the branch, trying to get a grip on it. His claws just raked against the end and slid away rather than hooking into the dead limb. Was it any wonder why he had never been good at that whole hunting thing?

Eventually Caligula was able to drag himself close enough to the branch to be able to sink his teeth into the limb and hooked his right foreleg over the branch. It was the best that the maneless male could manage for the moment. The sand was sucking at him still and moving was a very difficult thing to do.

@Bhaskar

Bhaskar frowned as his gaze peered down at the golden lion's grasp slipping on the branch the moment he attempted to hold on. There was nothing he could do now, it was all in @Caligula's paws. He must find a way to hold onto it, or he will die there. The giant of a man bit down and sank his talons deeper in the branch, watching as the sinking lion caught the limb of the tree with his jaws. Good! He hoped that the other would be able to maintain his grip. Bhaskar immediately began to pull back, using his back legs as an anchor, while his front half dragged back. Even if Caligula was small, the sand made it three times more difficult to pull the log out without slipping. He stumbled a few times but made good progress with moving the branch with hopefully the golden lion in toll. His muscles strained, hurting from the exertion but unwilling to stop now. Not until the lion was standing on solid ground._{BG — ART — CODE}

Caligula clamped his jaw down hard in order to keep a grip on the branch. He tried to help as much as he could as he was being pulled out but there really wasn't that much he could do. He kicked against the sucking sand with his back paws but it seemed to be doing very little to propel him forwards. Mostly it was the larger lion just pulling on the branch and eventually tugging him out of the pit.

The bronze lion was grateful once he was free and back on regular sand once more. "Thanks for that. I had no idea that water could hide underground." For he still fully believed that it was water mixed in with the sand that had caused him to get stuck. "I swear it really has it out for him." A glance was given back to the quicksand but still the assumed water was unable to be detected. But what other explanation was there for the sand to act like that.

"I'm Caligula." The maneless lion gave his name when he glanced back to the other again. "No idea what I would have done if you hadn't happened to be around."

@Bhaskar

After straining like crazy, the red-manned lion managed to pull out the golden man from the sinking sands and onto solid ground. Dropping back to his haunches, Bhaskar hunched over and panted heavily in an attempt to catch his breath. Steel gaze glanced down the rescued lion who was thanking him. No worries, man. He exhaled deeply, then tried to strengthen up a bit more. Water? What @Caligula had said was a strange idea. Water under the sand? How was that possible? The gargantuan male glanced back at the hole behind the sand-coated man. Bhas shrugged it off - he didn't understand the inner workings of this land and so he thought it was plausible. Bhaskar. He offered with a much steadier voice now. I've never seen anything like that sand. Didn't know it could do that. And now he was never coming back to the dunes._{BG — ART — CODE}

"What else would cause the sand to act like that. And where there is sand there is always water, or that has been my experience at least. Plus water is always out to attack me. It is why I stay away from it." And putting all of that together it only made sense to Caligula for water to be involved. And on a base level he was right for it was agitated saturated sand which caused the quicksand effect. So once again the water had struck.

"Neither have I. Usually water doesn't hide like that and so it is easy to steer clear of it. It is starting to get sneaky now. If only I knew what the water has against me maybe then I could talk to it and convince it to leave me alone." Likely a far fetched notion but what else could be done? It seemed that whenever the maneless lion got near to the water it always tried to drag him under. What could he have possibly done that was so offensive.

"So is that what you do? Wait around to save gentlemen in distress?"

@Bhaskar

Bhaskar couldn't discern if what @Caligula said was right or wrong, but the he seemed far more knowledgable and so the younger lion took his words and ran with them. The more you know. Although he couldn't really know if he should believe that water was out to get Caligula. It didn't make much sense because, in Bhas' mind, water wasn't a living, breathing creature with animosity towards anyone. A brow lifted to signify his mild confusion and disbelief. Really? Maybe you're just unlucky. Or cursed. Or both. It seemed like the guy has had more than one unpleasant encounter with water to think this way. Bhaskar has had them too. One time he had to rescue Asteria from the waves while in another he almost lost his best friend to the sea. He was about to disprove the maneless man's question, but saving others had become a part of his life even if he didn't ask for it. Don't need to wait, they just come to me. I don't discriminate - I save both gentlemen and ladies. He sighed, looking quite over it by now._{BG — ART — CODE}

"Perhaps that is so. It mostly seems in relation to water though. While walking across a sand bar to an island the tides changed and pulled me under. Unfortunate, yes, but nothing to denote a conspiracy. Same island and the water raises up to devour the whole island and chased me into the lands beyond to destroy everything in its path. This lead to everyone having to flee and find new places to settle. I learned to fear the water and keep away from it. Only trouble I had was rogues coming and taking over my home, everyone's home, and so another move. Now this, sneak attack by water. So I would most certainly say there is some circumstance involving water and a vendetta against me." Of course if it happened to anyone then it would be the bronze lion that would somehow drown in the desert.

"So clearly not as special as I thought I was." The bronze lion retorted with a laugh when the younger male stated being an equal opportunity rescuer. "So if you weren't waiting around just to be able to say you saved me then what were you doing out this way? Doesn't really seem to be much of interest out this way." Granted Caligula was only really here to say he had been here. He had this habit of exploring everywhere because he had this desire for knowledge of all things.

@Bhaskar