Completed An Education In Jungle Life I

[Tazrae]

Timestamp: 46th of Fall, 520 A.V.

It was the day following the snakebite and Tazrae's Inn was empty for once. She had the last guest check out yesterday, before the whole incident at Kihala's Shrine. It was still a habit for her to rise with the sun and set some scones to baking. It was what she made when she suspected she wouldn't have to feed the masses and she was too lazy to make yogurt the evening before. This time, though, it hadn't been laziness but illness. Her ordeal with the eyelash viper had left her feeling exhausted even though she'd lived. Even this morning she was still feeling off food and though she baked in case anyone dropped by, she opted for only tea out on the deck to see how the night had fared for the Ixam.

"How was hunting this morning?" She asked the jungle Ixam. Bree was wet and had a slightly briny smell to her so Tazrae suspected the answer before the creature replied.

"Fish... two fat groupers. I was going to stick with one, but the other one was so slow and stupid, I figured I ought to eat it too. They are easy targets if I jump on them from off the dock. Syna's light shines on their scales when they lounge in the shadows though they think they can't be seen." She said proudly and leaned over to lick at her stomach which Tazrae could see was still extended. The Innkeeper was still learning about Bree, but the lazy overstuffed atttitude was definitly shining through.

"That's good. We won't have to go forage close to the jungle for you to find something big enough to fill that belly. Are you going to stop growing soon?" The Innkeeper asked.

The Ixam snorted and said proudly. "I am young. I will grow for a while yet. And why can't we go into the jungle anyhow? It would be nice to see different scenery for a while. I'd like to climb a few trees and maybe play in the cool river. The ocean is so warm here." She said, a note of complaint in her voice.

Taz shook her head and started to say that she should stick close when Randal's voice cut in. "That's just what I had in mind for her, Bree. Maybe you could come along too. I heard what happened yesterday and its time we do some training about snakes. Both of you could use it." He said, nodding to Tazrae and then tossing a cloth bag up on one of the tables on the deck. He walked past the Innkeeper, passed through the open arch into the gathering area and kitchen, then returned with a still-warm set of scones from the kitchen and a steaming mug of tea.

"Jansen told me what happened. How are you feeling?" He asked, moving around to take a seat at the table opposite of Tazrae. He offered her a smile and set another bag down next to her. This one thumped like something hard was in it.

Tazrae raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Word travels fast." Tazrae commented dryly, leaning back and looking thoughtful. "Yesterday wasn't easy. It happened so fast, out of nowhere. I know reasonably that snakes can be anywhere, but I expected something like that out in the jungle... not at Kihala's Shrine." She said quietly, dropping her eyes to the bag.

"What's in the bags?" She asked, gesturing both at the one he put beside her and the one on the other table.

"Jansen sent me to give you some instructions. This.... " Randal tapped the bag next to her. It was more of a burlap sack than anything. "... is one of the blank jourals that Juli stocks at the Mercantile if your interested. The bag over there... has two dead snakes in it." He admitted openly.

Tazrae glanced sharply at the bag behind him on the other table. And the Ixam that was still overstuffed lifted her head and sniffed, interested. The young Innkeeper just wondered how the two were related. "What do the two have to do with each other... and instructions? So Jansen wasn't kidding when he said I needed to talk to you about snakes to learn a little more about them." She guessed, lifting an eyebrow.


"No, he wasn't. And unfortunately for you.... your education starts now." He said firmly, reaching behind him for the sack of dead snakes.

Word count: 739

[Tazrae]

After Tazrae's experience, she should have been terrified when Randal upended the bag of snakes on the table between them. But the truth of it was not enough time had passed for her to process the event. Fear hadn't yet begun to rule her. She was cautious of the limp forms between them, but not yet fearful.

They were obviously dead.

One was a brilliant emerald green much like the one that struck her though it was several times and years - she assumed - older than the mere baby that had bitten. The second snake was bright gold with rough scales Tazrae recognized from the smaller green snake that she'd taken the bite from at Kihala's Shrine. The golden color was still vivid, telling Tazrae it hadn't been dead long, and it still had the eyelash that she could now see were scales above its golden orbs. Unmoving, unthreatening, the snakes were almost beautiful.

And since there were only two of them, both obviously dead, she studied them carefully. Randal interrupted her study, giving her quiet instructions. "Go fetch pen and ink, then come back here and take the journal from the sack. I'd like you to take some extensive notes before we leave for the jungle.

Bree lifted her head from where she was still sprawled out in the sand beyond the deck. She snorted in interest at the sound of the word jungle. Randal simply grinned at her, the motion of the Ixam catching his eye.

Tazrae nodded, rose, and did as Randal asked... fetching a small inkwell and a couple of quills already equipped with nibs. She laid out the items then pulled out the journal, folding the burlap sack neatly. Randal tucked it into his back - much as he'd done for the snake back - and looked satisfied when she opened the journal, titled the first-page 'snakes' after losing the ink well lid and dipping her pen.

Then she turned to Randal expectantly.

"What do you get out of this? Am I going to owe you something like coin or a favor? People in Riverfall never do things for free. I can't imagine these sorts of things are any different here." She said quietly, wanting this to be all out in the open. She already owed his man - his triad - a good portion of money. And though she was paying off her debt steadily, she still didn't want to be deeper in his debt.

Randal shook his head. "You are not the first young lady I've taught snakecraft to. The only thing I want is for my people here to be wiser about the wilds and more able to navigate this section of the world. You are part of my people, Tazrae; part of this new family here. And if you can pass some of the knowledge on, please do so. I can help you to try to prevent what happened yesterday. Though honestly, accidents happen all the time and I'm fairly sure you didn't mean to bother a snake. I'm fairly sure you didn't even know you were doing so." He added, then gestured to the two snakes laid out on the table.

"How are your drawing skills? I suggest you draw each of these, paying close attention to the shape of their heads. While you sketch, I'll talk." He said, rising to briefly move off the deck to break off a twig from one of Tazrae's many flowering bushes and bringing it back to the table. He used it as a pointer as she drew.

"My drawing skills aren't much, but I'll see what I can do to get this right." She said, feeling a whole lot better about him coming over out of the blue and offering her lessons. So as he gathered his twig to use as a pointer, Tazrae dipped her pen in the ink and began to sketch out the snake. It wasn't a super great drawing.... but she did pay attention to detail - namely shape - and try to capture the snakes as best she could.

"One of these is non-venomous and one is extremely toxic." Randal went on to explain. "And you can tell from a glance if you have educated yourself about snakes." He added, causing Tazrae to glance up.

"Is it because of the color?" She asked, giving the green one a poke with the back of her pen. It was the same color as the one that nearly killed her though many many times bigger.

Randal shook his head. "All things in the jungle can be bright or not. Snakes, sure some of them can be identified by color, but many many more can be mistaken for something else because of their color. I purposely brought an Emerald Tree Boa.... a non-venomous snake... to demonstrate this because Jansen told me you'd been bitten by a juvenile eyelash viper. This gold one? That's another eyelash viper, only this one's an eyelash palm viper... yellow and one you probably won't see up against the new growth of palm trees where they like to linger." He said confidently.

"So if its not the color, how do you tell?" Tazrae asked.

Word Count: 861

[Tazrae]

Randal smiled. "Out here in the jungle, you can always tell if a snake is venomous or nonvenomous by the shape of their head. They are vastly different. Just give them a close look as you are drawing them. Most nonvenomous snakes have a rounder snout while the venomous snakes have an upturned nose." He said, using the twig to trace the shape of each snake's snout. "Extremely blunt. They are amazingly different once I point it out aren't they?" He said gently.

"Nonvenomous snakes have a very narrow head, one that has no distinguishing shape from their bodies. Their bodies are thin or narrow and their tails are long, thin, and taper to a point with never anything like rattles which always indicates venomous snakes. Venomous snakes, on the other hand, have a broad triangular shape that's very distinguished from the body. They usually have a heavy body or appear fat, though some of the vipers are extremely thin. The tails can end in modified scales that can be 'rattled' or they are extremely blunt... not ending in a point." He added, then nodded as she sketched all this out and added notes.

"This boa is one of a group of snakes that live in trees. Tree snakes, especially common ones, are bright green, slender, with blunt noses and aren't poisonous. But they still have a nasty bite and it's fairly easy as you are hiking along to reach out and grab a tree for stability and get bitten. They won't kill you but then you do run the risk of infection. They have incredibly dirty mouths. I think it is because they eat dead things, then regurgitate out the parts that they can't digest. It's all fairly disgusting." He added with a grin at Tazrae's wrinkled nose.

"Gross." She offered, wrinkling her nose.

Randal just laughed. "I've seen really big anacondas and boas spit up tapir carcasses after a few days to leave the bones laying around. Snakes eat huge meals then often lounge around digesting for a while. It's a really good time to hunt and kill them." He said thoughtfully. "And, all snakes, even the poisonous ones, are good eating. Though, I prefer the boas and anacondas. They have a lot more meat for your work." He injected.

Tazrae smiled. She wasn't quite done with her sketch. She put on some finishing touches, labeled a few parts, and started on the heads. She wanted to capture detailed drawings of the side of each of the snake's heads.

Randal picked up the dead boa, pried its mouth open, and used his stick to flex its jaw and show Tazrae its teeth. For not being poisonous, it had enormous teeth and a whole mouth full of them to boot. It looked... like something from a horror story, Tazrae thought.

"Gods... the teeth! I would have never thought it had teeth like that!" She exclaimed, loosing a bit of color.

Randal laughed, set down the green snake and picked up the yellow one. He was careful as he did the same thing, using the pointer twig to unfold the yellow carcasses' needle sharp fangs and far less teeth.

"I see the difference. I've even felt it first hand. No wonder it doesn't have more teeth than the boa. It doesn't need them with that venom." She added, doing a quick doodle of each snake's fangs next to the sketch of their head she was drawing.

"What are all these unusual features? These pits and weird scales?" Tazrae asked, nudging the dead emerald tree boa bravely with her finger.

"Those are nostrils and their pit strucutres. Boas don't have the pits that pit vipers have. I'm not sure what they are for, but I suspect it has to do with smell. Snakes smell things really really well. They can smell other snakes, dead things, blood... a lot like sharks can smell in the ocean." He added, smiling.

"Are there any more differences?" She asked cautiously, watching Randal set down the second snake. He nodded to her and first one snake over then the other. He pointed at their belly scales and showed her the differences.

"Venomous snakes have..... no you tell me." He said, pointing at their bellies.

Tazrae leaned closer, really studying the two snakes. "They are really different aren't they? The venomous ones have continuous straight scales that seem to go all the way across their belly like a band. This other snake, the boa, has staggered scales in pairs." She said, then gestured to the hole each had towards its tail. "An anus?" She asked.

Randal nodded. "They are called Vents in snakes. They use them to void waist and to reproduce." He waited patiently as Tazrae made more notes and added belly sketches next to her head sketches. For a good measure she added in a tail above each set of belly scales. The tail differences were less noticable, but she still wanted to add in to her notes.

Then she peered closer, going back to the eyes. "Venomous snakes have.... pupils that are slit vertically. They have a curve to their shape." She said, then reached out to touch the dead boa, looking closer. "Non-venomous snakes have round pupils. So... nose shape, eye shape, belly scale shape, pit or no pit... teeth. Teeth are the last thing you want to look at." She said with a smile, then studied Randal a moment.

"I think you have it." He said thoughtfully, then reached over and turned her journal around to check her notes and not approvingly. "You are a good student. Smart. It's nice to have people here that want to learn." He said thoughtfully, then glanced back at Tazrae.

She was grateful, in that moment, he said people and not women. He'd built her Inn, was now teaching her about snakes, and she wondered what was next. And she also felt a burden growing inside of her... like she owed him. Like what he did there would be a consequence too... a payback demanded. Randal had never given a sign that there would be, but then again he was mostly business and good humor.

"Do you know more about snakes in general? I know almost nothing about them... like how to tell the sex of a snake or how long they live?" She asked, trying to cover the silence and what she took as introspection on his face.

Word Count: 1087

Continued In: An Education In Jungle Life II

[Tazrae]

Tazrae-

Socialization +3, Interrogation +4, Animal Husbandry +5 (Snake), Research +3, Drawing +2, Observation +5, Wilderness Survival +2, Medicine +1

Randal: Teaches To Spread Knowledge, WS: Color Mimicry – Def/Meaning, WS: Shape Of Snakes Head Determines Venomous/Non-Venomous, WS: Non-venomous Snake Heads Have No Clear Definition From Body, WS: Venomous Snakes Have Clear Head Definition, WS: Venomous Snakes Are Heavy Bodied, WS: Venomous Snake Tails End In Cluster Of Modified Scales, WS: Non-Venomous Snakes Have Thin Narrow Body & Tails That End In A Point, Animal Husbandry: Boa Snake Appearance/Behavior, Animal Husbandry: Eyelash Viper Snake Appearance/Behavior, Medicine: Snake Bites Often Infect Due To Their Eating Habits, Animal Husbandry: Mouth Structures Of Venomous/Non-Venomous Snakes, Animal Husbandry: Pit Structures On Vipers, Animal Husbandry: Difference in Venomous/Non-Venomous Scale Patterns, Animal Husbandry: Difference In Venomous/Non-Venomous Eye Shapes/Pupil Structure