[The Nest] Fables of Kalinor

[Selena Kapok]

7 Winter 511 Another day in the nest for Selena, as she surveyed the woman within... It had been a quiet day, with little happening, a few outbursts, one woman bursting into tears, another started screaming, apparently half asleep and hallucinating... But Swyph had taken care of most of the woman who had issues... But know he had gone off to use the restroom, so Selena was alone for a bit, with the women of the nest... She had done a small bit of morphing a bit ago, to prepare for dealing with the woman, shrinking back her nails... For some reason the woman found the long black things intimidating... So she rubbed her hands and nails together, focusing her djed, feeling the material of her nails soften, and finally shrink back into her fingers... After the initial surge of djed to change the nails, she kept up a slow trickle of djed to them, to keep them as they were. It was not changed that much, so was not to hard to do alone. For a while nothing happened, but inevitably, one of the woman sitting on a large cushy lounge had started crying, her eyes welling up and fat tears creeping down her face... She was a small human woman, maybe five and a half foot, with long brown straight hair, with the usual baby bulge seen in the nest... Selena swept over to her, as the first sob came, and sat down next to her. Selena swept one hand over her hair, letting her lean over and rest her head in Selena's lap, were she continued to cry. She made a quiet shushing sound, trying to console her... After brushing her hand through her hair a few more times, Selena looked down at the woman, giving her an engendering look in her eyes. "Would you like to hear a tale of Kalinor? It is an old fable, The Tale of the Farmers Daughter..." As she said this, Selena planted a gentle hypnotic suggestion, that the story was going to help the woman to feel better, and would help to calm her down... It of course would not have an immediate effect, but would help down the line with the story. After a bit, she nodded her head to Selena, still crying in her lap, but willing to listen to the story as Selena continued to stroke her hair. Selena smiled, keeping sure to not reveal her teeth as she did so, as that was another thing off-putting to humans...

[Selena Kapok]

Selena sat, consolingly stroking the woman's hair... She worked her djed for a moment before starting, forcing it to her throat, before speaking. After several moments she was ready, and when she did speak, her words were thick with hypnotic djed, applying hypnosis to the woman to promote her enjoyment of the story, and to give her a feeling of happiness. "There once was a young woman who grew up near Syliras... She grew up on one of the many farms, the daughter of a farmer. She did not fit in, and was a burden on her family, and was left to do the most mundane tasks, as she had no skill with plants. In fact, it was almost like every plant she touched and worked with died. But she did not like it there, and wanted more for her life. " "So one day when she was old enough, she took what money they had saved, and left the farm, to go to Zeltiva. There she hoped to go and study magic. Surely if she could come home a powerful mage, she could prove herself to her parents, and become something of worth." Here Selena changed the hypnotic effect, instead of making it a happy content feeling, she charged the next bit with sadness, to reinforce the changes of the story. "But alas, it was not meant to be. She spent a good bit of her money taking classes, but found in one magical skill after another, that she failed at even the simplest magic... She had no magical skill... She had no hope of becoming a powerful mage, and so moved on, to another place, taking some of what money she had left." Changing the hypnotic effect again, she changed it to one of hope, as she moved on with the story. "So next she took a boat, and went to Mura. Surely she would find a place here in this city of woman, both healers and divinists, and woman of great strength and power. So she went to the school of medicine, to learn to heal others with medicine, herbs, and a caring hand." Once more she changed the effect, as the story took another sad dip, as it so often did. "But it came to be that this was another failure. She was forgetful with plants and procedures, resulting in poisoning one patient, and another getting the wrong operation. She could not care for people it seemed any better than plants, and so was forced to leave the island to continue on her journey for a place were she could prove her worth."

[Selena Kapok]

As the tale took another upturn, this one of hope as the farmers daughter went to another place, Selena changed the hypnotic effect to reflect it. Though by this point she was starting to get rather tired, the djed usage taking its toll... She would have to rest soon... But she was close to the end of the story, and so pushed on. "The next journey took a bit longer, as she trekked back across Sylira. Finally she made it to Syliras, and took another boat passage, this time to Alvadas. Here was a wondrous city of illusions, a place were anything was possible... Surely here the farmers daughter would find a way to make her dream come true, to make her life matter, and to find her worth." Once more the story took a downturn, for the final time, as a pain started in Selena's head, and a headache began to set on... "But it seemed she had no great skill to be used to make her way. She tried job after job, doing whatever she could to get by, doing any pitiful work she could... But it was not long before she found herself unemployed... Penniless... Destitute.... She was on the last night for the inn she was inn, and would be kicked out if she did not have any mizas to give to the owner." Now Selena took a final upturn, keeping it going, letting the words wind together with her magic so as to create a better effect. "Just as she was about to be kicked out onto the street... No Food... No money... She met a handsome man in the common room, a traveler passing through... He was so kind to her... Loving... He offered his room to her, to share his bed, took her out to wine and dine on the city, to see all of the things the city offered, which she could before not afford." "When his time came to an end, and his business was done, she came to find out that she was pregnant. The handsome man was ecstatic, and in great spirits over the news. He offered to take her home with him, to let her live in style."

[Selena Kapok]

"So it was with a great happiness that the farmers daughter moved on with him, going to his home of Kalinor, the great cavern-ed city. And here it was that the farmers daughter finally found her purpose. Here she had a use, and was greatly thanked for what she would be doing. Here she would be carrying on the blood of the Symenestra, helping to bring life into the world." "So in the end, the farmers daughter was useful, and able to prove her worth. It did not matter that she could not care for and grow plants... It did not matter that she had no ability in healing, and in making others better... It made no matter that she had no great skill with magic, and that she had no great skill with which to show the world what she could make or do. For in the end she did have great use, in bringing a symenestra life into the world. She could live happy, knowing that she had done what she set out to do... She had found her place in the world, and had found what she could do to be of use, and to make the world a better place." Here Selena finally paused, letting the hopeful and purposeful feeling that Selena was feeling flow into the woman... She cut off her djed usage, finally done, with the story, and having calmed the woman down... She was quite exhausted... She felt weak... Her throat ached, and her mouth had a odd metallic taste... Her headache had grown to a crescendo, and she was having trouble concentrating on the face of the woman before her... But she still felt proud for what she had done, and felt within her a warm feeling of honor for the great duty she was doing for Kalinor, and all Symenestra. As she slowly got to her feet, Selena looked up to see Swyph reenter the nest. He gave her a nod, and told her she was done for the day. She smiled and walked on, leaving the nest, knowing she would head straight home and take a good long sleep, followed by a nice big meal... She left the nest still feeling proud of her job, and proud of what she was doing.

[Macabre]

Thread Complete!
“Unbelievable. You, [subject name here], must be the pride of [subject hometown here].”

Selena

XP: Morphing 1, Hypnotism 2, Storytelling 2

Lore: The Tale of the Farmer’s Daughter, Using Hypnosis to Invoke Emotion, Spinning Stories with Hypnotic Suggestion

Overgiving Effects: Selena will find that her mouth is bleeding, despite not biting her tongue. There is no pain and the bleeding is not extreme, but this will persist as long as her headache. She also now believes that the tale of the farmer’s daughter is a true story.

Notes: Very nice fable! I enjoyed it. A couple things: when you speak of focusing to practice magic, please go into a little more detail than “she worked her djed” or “she focused her djed”; djed is a very loose term, you should try to delve into what exactly she’s doing to focus. Write about how she’s clearing her mind, go into detail. Detail gets you more! I could not give you meditation points because of this. Nor did I give you rhetoric, because you were telling a story that happened to be propaganda; you were not actually persuading the woman with your words, you were hypnotizing her.