The run towards the mountains started out okay. Key words being "started" and "out". Coming across a bog wasn't exactly on her things to do today, but if it got her towards the mountains than she'd be all too willing to cross it, though, it'd do horrendous things to her spikes if she didn't immediately bathe after getting out. Spike rot leads to spine rot, spine rot leads to death, and too many of her kin, both sentient and non-sentient learned that the hard way, becoming bloatfly chow is extremely unbecoming of a Deathclaw of all things. Huh, she did have some pride in herself despite her horribly mutated body. Go figure.
As she pondered the implications of this, she was pretty violently flung across the bog by a large scaled tail, it made her go through a tree and a half before she gathered herself on the soggy ground and shook herself off, head whipping around to see what the-ever-loving-fuck decided to do that, only to shrink back a bit with a hiss and snarl as her eyes met a large triple-headed hydra. Internally she was glad she remembered the name of that thing. Externally however she didn't care about the name, but moreso the fact it was bringing it's heads closer and shifting closer to her. She backed up a bit, eyes narrowing, and tail thumping as she watched the heads nip and bite at each other before one pulled into the lead to try and ram her.
It was at this moment, she knew, her idiotic Deathclaw brain had a damned death wish, cause instead of running away or dodging the head, she roared at it, loudly, and decided to plant her feet and tail, square her shoulders, and ram it right back in the skull. She only got a bit pushed back to her and the Hydra's surprise, but this is when her brain decided to do something even dimmer, and she shifted her stance completely and then bit the damned things throat when it moved back the tiniest bit, tore a bloodied chunk out, and then finally started running like an absolute mad-woman. She ate the chunk as she ran, finding it to be a bit slimy, and somehow tasted like what bloating physically feels like, so, not the best, but not the worst, she'd eat it again at least. Texture was a different matter, she thinks it'd be better if the sliminess was somehow cooked away, that or enjoyed in raw super thin strips like how one could enjoy spaghetti noodles. She dodged a head attempting to bite her, and kept going, tail helping her slough through the muck a bit better by digging the harder upper layers under her feet before she could step on them, allowing for an extremely brief and very unstable platform of semi-solid dirt to form before it dispersed into the bog that would've loved nothing more than to suck her feet into itself.
She hissed and bellowed loudly as she ran, not necessarily a fear response, more like an instinctual "Fuck you! How dare you bother to be bigger than me you fuck!" type of noise. Goodness she was apparently feeling like tempting fate cause as she started to near what looked like the edges of the bog, all three heads snapped right by her, and to top it off as did some of those rocky crocodiles. Their attempts at feeding the hydra or themselves however, only resulted in them being hydra food, a panicked Deathclaw, and a only slightly appeased and confused Hydra. It was still chasing her, and she was still running. She roared when she reached solid land, stopped, span around on a dime, and rammed herself right into the rapidly approaching chest of the giant hydra, resulting in a pained sound and angry roar from the hydra, an ache in her horns, and her getting the hell out of dodge while it assessed it's sudden onset chest pain.
She huffed, adrenaline making her breath more rapid, unable to catch too much of a breath while she ran full tilt, from the bog, into swamp, and finally into fully fledged forest again. She looked around, rapidly, not exactly stopping her run, but she stopped hearing running, thumping, roaring, and the hiss of crocodiles and that hydra. She started hearing the forest regular sounds again as nature decided to pipe up since the hydra shut up, but she still ran. Ramming through trees, bushes, and tall grass alike, she did not stop, going full tilt until the scent of fires reached her and she finally, finally, skidded to a stop to take in her surroundings, finding a forest, bushes, vines, and white stone and boulders covered in moss, growing trees, and hiding woodland animals at her abrupt and noisy stop. She looked around rapidly, eyes still pinned somewhat and panting lightly. Deathclaws don't normally do fear, but at the moment she regrets leaving a trail.
She promptly went around, sniffed out a safe-ish enough spot behind a large cluster of boulders that smelled normal, and collapsed into a heap where she could let out a stressed whine and huff of epic proportions. It coming out more like a breathy wheeze, the kind that begged for a break for all eternity. Her tail thumped lightly and she let out another whine.
Now she was hungry, tired, and still on adrenaline from the normal run that turned into a bog slogging disaster... It could've been worse... Super mutants all equiped with fully loaded and armed fatboys could exist in the very spot she ran to. A warble left her, a very wobbly old sound that portrayed her utter lack of care for proper speech at the moment. She shifted on the ground, and looked up at the darkening sky, tongue flicking idly. This place wasn't all that moist. She wiggled in the dirt, letting her spikes dig into the dry earth, legs kicking slightly and a purr leaving her. Goodness did she need the rub there.
She let her eyes slowly close, and eventually rolled over onto her belly, protecting it at the moment. She sighed, going to sleep hungry was fine to her, so long as she got some sleep after such a large stressor. She dug her claws into the earth and carefully settled. She scented the air one last time, then promptly passed out.
She awoke to find herself... in the exact same position and spot as last night, only this time, with the sun's rays directly piercing her retina's. She cursed the fact that she decided to sleep in the exact direction the sun was going up in. She flailed slightly, scrambling up and snorting to clear kicked up dust and dirt out of her nose. She slowly got up, tongue flicking wildly, and the sound of her gut rumbling made her head tilt.
She supposed a highly active predator needs more food to sustain itself, that brahmin was supposed to last longer but she burned through it. She looked around a small bit before looking down at herself.
She gently stretched her fingers, claws extending the slightest bit, turned her hand and arm a bit, taking a moment to actually observe herself and make comparisons to when she was in the waste. Skinnier yet bigger was an understatement, looking at herself she could see just how much fat and muscle she had lost. Running miles would've been a breeze back then, thinking back on it. She was weighty, large, deadly, and still muscular, but the ill-fitting reptilian skin said otherwise. She was still all of those things but... less so. Much less so.
Doing reckless things should be kept at a minimum, stupid feral-brained reptile. She huffed at herself, looking off for a moment before getting up fully, stretching, and then scenting the air, the scent of foods and fires closer but still somewhat distant. She couldn't help looking at herself again, eyes trailing down and noticing for the first time, that when she inhaled, her ribs could just barely be seen through the shifting of scales and skin. She had wrinkles on her soft underbelly, the hunger hit her a bit harder. She huffed, upset by only noticing this now. She remembered how she looked in the wasteland, acted as if that was still her body's state, she huffed again. She needed to eat, rest, and repeat. The map showed a place called the dragon lands, and if that hydra was any indication, she was pretty sure dragons aside from that baby, Spike, definitely existed. She wasn't sure their size stopped at Spike's or her own level and she wasn't exactly keen on finding out while this... this weak. The word made her tail thump angrily against the ground and a snarl appear on her face, snorting and shaking her head a moment before she got a hold of herself and once again scented the air. She needed to follow the scent of food.
She started walking, now a bit more aware of her body, she could feel the ache in her muscles this time around. She kept herself on all fours and walked around, scenting the air closer to the ground, attempting to find a trail of some kind. She scented ponies and something else, neither of which were familiar to her thankfully. She bumped her horns against a few roots and along some bushes as she started picking up an actual consistent trail, snorting at her luck with bumping into things. Her muscles, and now especially the ones in her neck sang a song of pain and suffering with all that she had done yesterday, bumping things made them sing louder. She hissed lightly.
She peaked her head up, looking around and licking her teeth. She spotted a dirt path, and swiftly started following it towards and up the mountain. Her muscles told her no, while her stomach and brain said yes, with reluctant enthusiasm mind you.
She kept her eyes peeled and listened closely to the things around her. Not exactly too willing to run across a pony if they happen to be travelling, no idea how fast news spread but if it was anything like...
Like the world before it had been blown to bits. A flash of memories long thought gone briefly appeared in wisp in her head, before she was suddenly enveloped in them. An eco-styled modern apartment building, large windows, wide open space, plants everywhere, and a breathtaking view of the city. Her climbing up stairs, body still human, a gecko resting on her shoulder that she was taking home after a show. She heard music in the air faintly, a smile on her lips as she brushed back her hair, a blink and suddenly it was all gone.
She didn't feel or notice her body had moved, or how high up the trail it went, but when she was caught back in reality, she felt winded, and she stepped back a bit, eyes flitting about wildly to try and take in the sudden view in front of her. Not too high above the treetops, but it was still beautiful. No city, no lizard, no hair or lips, no soft skin.
Her eyes were just sweating, climbing up a mountain trail worked up a sweat, that's what was dripping down her face and muzzle. She sniffed, snorted, then promptly turned away from the view to sneeze on a boulder. The slightly blue and green irradiated goo looking... gross to say the least. Felt good to get out at least. She gently shook her head, tail fully limp and dragging as she turned about to see where her body had taken her. Hm. Not too far up the trail it seemed but still a significant distance. One that, at least, now let her smell the scent of fire with her nose instead of on her tongue.
She huffed to herself, looking up at the zigzagging mountain path that lead up to a crevice, she assumed; entrance, to the populated place full of food. She was most definitely gonna have to climb this... fuck. Might as well keep going up.
With that affirmation to herself, she started going along the path... at first. Soon enough she found out her hooked claws made for great climbing gear, and that her tail and head were great counterbalances in the right conditions. She scrambled up the mountain path quickly, almost missing a glint of light out of the corner of her eye. Her head moved towards it, which almost made her slip, until she scrambled up father and actually onto the path, that she now beheld a split in. She looked where she had seen the light, and there, in a cave, split off from the path was a campfire, along with a wagon and a... A hybrid, horse, thingies. Yeah that works.
She flicked her tongue, scenting them to be the only one around, and started going towards it on all fours. She heard their shout and met them with a huff as she purposely went sniffing around and whining, a low warbling tone. Her stomach even decided to chime in, which to her surprise got the creature to look at her in sympathy... or was it empathy? Either way she suddenly found a large fish coming out of the back of the wagon and in her direction. She promptly took it in her claws and brought it to her mouth, happily eating it. She warily eyed the creature, just as any animal would, and slightly pulled away from them and the fire, and kept eating, taking "small" bites. Deciding that voring an entire fish was not to be done in polite company.