Closed Snakes in the Grass [Sahassvanikol]

[Tinnok]

Snakes in the Grass
35th of Spring, 513 A.V.

It was a wet and rainy day. The humidity was high, and the insects and frogs sang in the tree tops like their was no tomorrow. A bright eyed tree frog sought a mate, and a pair of lovebirds cuddled up next to one another under a massive umbrella leaf. The jungle was quieter than normal, and yet so much louder: A strange drum beat that heralded the passage of time through the wilds.

Of course this was only a light sample of the Summer Monsoons, but all life needed water, and the witch who sat amidst the roots of the great jungle trees did not mind as water drenched her hair and dribbled down her neck.

Her hands rested atop two great buttresses that supported the massive plant she sat between. Her fingers slid along slippery bark and her yellow eyes were closed. The essence of this plant was slow and serene. Somewhere deep within the bowels of its roots she could feel it eeking in water in absence of Syna's rays, taking the H2O up and up into the canopy, bit by bit. The half breed was a volatile and angry creature, filled with regret and sadness, but her life was minute and her emotions meaningless when put up against this great entity. So she used the strange connection Nura afforded her to take a deep cleansing breath and relax. She cleared her mind of worry and thought, focused in upon her breathing and attempted to think only of that.

Of course meditation happened to be a mite harder than the simple idea of it. The potential of ambush so close to the basin worried the half breed, and thoughts of her need to hunt and bring pelts to market slid into her consciousness. She wondered if the dog was alright back home, and how much Nissila enjoyed the rain. The more she tried to shove these thoughts away the more aggressively new and other ones resurfaced, pushing against her mind until the half breed cursed, standing up abruptly and shaking rain water off of her hands. She turned slowly and placed a palm upon the tree. "It's not you, friend, its me."

She assessed the rain ridden area. The place where she stood was a small copse upon the edge of the basin. Retrieving her long bow from against the tree she slung it and her quiver over her back, and wandered to the edge of the water, gazing out upon the infinitely rippling pool. Tracking in the rain was abominably difficult, and she didn't relish trying to find her quarry in this mess, even if she enjoyed the warm water and humid climate.

She began around the edge, eyes trained on the ground, looking for muddy imprints or breakages in the brush that could denote a moving creatures. Slitted yellow eyes attempted to find something in the quagmire, and her focus became all upon the ground, and very little on the rest of her surroundings.

So when she heard the crackling of twigs, and the snapping of branches, her neck snapped so hard it hurt, and grasping it with one hand she jumped into the undergrowth, breath in her throat. Whatever moved was too big to be something she was looking to hunt...at least not that she had planned.

[Sahassvanikol]

Sahassvanikol concentrated, breathing in deep, breathing out slowly. It was raining, but he did not mind that. The rain helped him to concentrate. It was focused concentration, meditation with a purpose. He breathed in and out, trying to center himself, trying to clear everything out of his mind but his task. The rain was good because it blocked out the other sounds of the jungle. Nikol delved deep into himself, reaching for his center, calling to it. It was a slow process, tapping into his djed. He was not incredibly skilled in it, but he could still do it. It took a lot of concentration, however, and left him exposed to the world around him. But he had to practice some time, and so he continued his breathing exercise as he called to the power that was locked away inside him, waiting to be used. Eventually he felt it come to life and he latched onto it, pulling it up through his body and to his extremities. He was in his dhani form. His human form was more dexterous, but he did not need much dexterity for the task he was trying to perform, and he felt safer in the much more powerful dhani form. Slowly, res began to seep out of the palm of his hands, and he willed it out in front of him. He knew he could not maintain it for long, so he wasted no time focusing all his concentration on the next part of his task. It began with only a few grains of dirt, but as the force of attraction grew with his effort, he began to pull soil from the ground, forming a ball around the res at the center. He sensed something was wrong with the soil in his area. He did not know exactly what, but it was preventing the plants from flourishing there. He knew he could not replace all the soil around the swamp, that would be impossible, but he wanted to compare it with soil from a place he knew was healthy and vibrant. That was why he was at the Kandukta Basin. He wanted to take a sample. He could have gathered it with his hands, of course, but it was also an excuse to practice his reimancy. And so he continued to suck dirt up out of the ground. Once the dhani had a considerable amount of the earth, as much as he could hold without risking losing control, he slowly willed the ball to move towards him as he reached for his pack and opened it up. Moving the ball over the opening of the pack, he let go of the last bit of res, allowing the dirt to fall in. Some of it spilled over, but it didn't really matter. He had enough of the stuff to take back to his swamp, and that was all he cared about. With that task out of the way he was ready to move. He quickly shouldered the pack, then grabbed his club from the ground. A quick taste of the air revealed.. rain. Not much help to him, considering the rain saturated everything. Still, if there were any immediate threats he probably would have noticed, and with that he moved on. It was incredibly difficult to move through the jungle in silence, especially in his large and bulky dhani form, but neither was Nikol trying particularly hard to be stealthy. He was more just in a hurry to get away from the basin, so he did not notice as he shoved his way through the underbrush, making far more noise than he should. He also did not notice the myrian hiding in the undergrowth as he passed by... OOCBlek, the first post with a new PC is always so hard.

[Tinnok]

oocAll downhill from here!

She put her fist into her mouth as the massive beast moved past her. To her knowledge Tinnok had never seen a Dhani with such bright yellow coloring upon their hide, and she couldn't help but admire how it glistened in the rain with such vibrancy. Then of course reality struck her full in the face. Her body crouched low to the ground, bow in hand, golden eyes wide with hate and wonder in nearly equal measure.

Despite the proximity of the massive creature to her, it did not seem particularly observant or wary. A creature that size might not need it, but it still off put the half-breed. To think that she was half spawn of one of those creatures was an extremely alarming realization.

Part of her desperately wanted to notch her bow and shoot, to cause the monster pain in the name of her Queen, while the more tempered and intelligent part of her urged caution. She stood not a chance before that great mutated beast, and a single strike from its snake form could probably swallow her in a couple gulps. So she waited, seething as the coils slid by her and the beast began to move on. She had no other option, but it still galled her that she couldn't take the creature in a fair fight.

Just as the snake's tail whipped by her hiding spot, Tinnok rose, turned and took a step- Right onto a curved and broken branch.

CRACK

Not even the pounding rain could dampen such a loud and obvious sound. Her anger at herself came in the form of quick and wrathful thoughts of how she had only needed to wait just a couple more chimes before movement of any kind would have been safe, but even as these thoughts flooded her mind the half breed had pivoted on a dime, her bow up and notched, an arrow pointed at slowly rotated yellow splotched coils turned back to investigate the sound.

[Sahassvanikol]

OOCJust a note, Nikol actually is in his half-human, half-snake form. The lore calls it the dhani form, which I mentioned in the past post. An easy fix, but just wanted to let you know. Curse the rain, flooding his senses with the smell and taste of water, preventing him from accurately detecting predator or prey. Nikol had to rely on his eyes and ears alone to keep himself safe, and he was not the best at spotting hidden Myrians. Neither did the forest around him seem to be aware of the hidden threat, or if it was, it did not consider the Myrian a threat. If it weren't for the loud snap of the breaking branch, Sahassvanikol would have been caught completely unawares. Nikol was not a fighter. He was a hunter, and a predator, but he was severely limited in his ability to defend himself against a skilled opponent. His reimancy was far from lethal without many chimes of focused concentration, during which any myrian would easily make short work of him. He carried a massive club, but he knew almost nothing of how to use it. And of course he had his hands, and his coils, but his knowledge of using those related mostly to hunting prey. Myrian's were far from prey, they were predators, and they knew how to fight back. As soon as Nikol heard the branch snap he stop and gripped his club tightly, turning his upper body around in search of what made the sound. He tasted the air with his tongue and this time he picked up the scent of the Myrian, just as he turned to see her. She had a bow pointed right at him, and while his scales might protect him a little from an arrow, at such close range and with the rumors of Myrian marksmanship he'd heard about, Nikol knew to be extremely wary of such a weapon. The first thing he did was whip his tail away, bringing his upper body around to the front to fully face the woman. Then he hurled his pack of dirt at the Myrian hoping it would cause her to drop her bow, or at least lower it away from him. Nikol knew there was no sense in running, not when they were this close to one another, as she would simply give chase. He needed to take her down quickly, before she had a chance to call on any allies she might have around. She was foolish if she was out in the jungle alone. Even the dhani did not do that.. save for Nikol himself. But he did not fear the junlge, most of the creatures in it would not harm him. But not Myrians. They had to be fought. As soon as the pack of dirt was in the air Nikol slithered after it, raising his club and swinging it at the woman. There was something strange about her, he noted. Something.. familiar. His gnosis mark burned with familiarity, but at that moment Nikol was too concerned with survival to pay attention to what his gift was trying to tell him.

[Tinnok]

oocEdited accordingly, thanks for clearing up my confusion!

Dirt was thrown into her face. She had no choice but to coil and bend her body out of the way, losing the advantage she had over the massive Dhani as he brandished his club. Regardless of Tinnok's own skill with her weaponry, she had no idea the skill of her opponent. She hadn't known Dhani to travel alone when Myrian attention could so easily be turned their way, and with such small numbers already. Of course...it wasn't wise for Myrians to travel alone either, yet here she was.

Of course Dhani were the only real threat she had in the jungle proper. And of course she had found one.

The half breed spluttered and coughed up the heaved soil, eyes turning up to face the massive club that was coming square for her. She dropped and rolled out of the way of the massive blow and the power behind it, tumbling awkwardly and rising shaking with the exertion to her feet. Her arrow had fallen into the muddy ground, and rather than waste any time trying to retrieve it, she drew and notched another arrow, having it in her sights and aimed hopefully towards the beast's neck, the only weak spot she could really think of.

The creature came at her again and the arrow flew wide. Tinnok cursed and leapt backward, then winced as she felt a strange burning sensation in her Gnosis. It had only happened once in her history of carrying the mark, near the corrupt Dhani cave that had poisoned the land around it. Strange and twisted creatures even by Dhani measures those things were though. It did not feel the same, at least not as painful, almost...familiar.

Tinnok's eyes widened in disbelief as her mind slowly fit the circumstances of a lone Dhani and a lone Myrian out near the Kandukta basin in a torrential downpour together, feet still taking her back step by step.

"You...servant of Caiyha?" It came out as broken common, a dialect the half breed was none too familiar with if she was being honest, yet hoped the snake could identify. She couldn't kill another Phylonurist, even her sworn enemy....but if the strange sensation was true....what exactly did it mean for the two of them? To show her own identity she slowly rotated her left arm, revealing the intricate tattoo of a strangler fig crawling up her skin, interspersed with various forms of wildlife. Her proof of being Caiyha's servant.

[Sahassvanikol]

Nikol ducked to the side as another arrow zipped past him, narrowly avoiding taking it in his neck. The little Myrian was quick, and he knew his only advantage was to keep attacking and not let her get time to come up with a plan. Sahassvanikol had little experience when it came to fighting, especially a one on one battle like the one he suddenly found himself in, but he hoped that he could win out by sheer strength alone. If he could get his hands on her, he could crush the life out of her, and have a tasty meal while he was at it. But that required not dying himself, first. After she missed the shot, Nikol knew it was probably the last chance he would get. He couldn't hesitate, and he couldn't over think, he just had to act. The massive Dhani lunged forward, raising his club high, and prepared to smash it down onto the Myrian, but then she did something that surprised him and stopped him mid swing. In broken common she asked about the goddess Caiyha, if he served her, and then showed her his arm. Nikol had never before seen another Phylonurist, but the mark she showed him was unmistakable, and coupled with the burning feeling of familiarity, there was no doubting what she was. It explained why she was out in the jungle alone. Like himself, she had nothing to fear from nature. Of course this opened a new host of questions. Myrian and Dhani were natural enemies. Siku demanded that he kill her, or be killed himself.. but Siku had not chosen him, Caiyha had. He served the mother of Siku, and grandmother of all the Dhani, and so too did this Myrian. The fact that she was in fact a crossbreed between both races never crossed Nikol's mind. It was not something he could tell just by looking at her. "Yes," he responded, hesitantly backing away and lowering his club. He was still unsure of what to do, but he knew that he could not kill her. Not if she had given up the fight. But what could he do? It occurred to him that she might want proof as well, and so even though it was a huge risk, the Dhani slowly coiled around and turned his back to her, revealing the mosaic-like gnosis mark on the scales of his back. He quickly turned back to face her, not trusting to keep his back to her for more than a few ticks. Awkward silence stretched between the two of them before Nikol finally decided to break it with a rather obvious, though weighted, question. "What do we do now?"

[Tinnok]

Her bow was still drawn, arrow pointed at him. She knew she should lower it. Even if she shot him in the chest and the attack stuck, he would kill her before she got any farther, and...though the very thought pained her as it swept through her mind...he wasn't her enemy.

Her eyes widened with shock when he turned his back to her, a risky move indeed. The Gnosis mark was strange in his Dhani form, but no less beautiful than her own she realized. Part of her wanted to see it as it was without the scales, yet she crushed the thought as soon as it appeared. After the display she slowly lowered her bow, slinging it over her shoulder and returning her arrow to its quiver. Her whole body was tensed, the entire situation alien to her. Dhani were to be gutted and killed like the monsters they were...like the monster she was. She vaguely wondered if this is what all of her fang mates felt like in her term in the Taloban military. Had they seen this monster before her in human form, knowing they couldn't kill her, yet not liking it one bit? It put a few things into strange perspective for the half breed then.

"Tskaana balls, I don't know what to do." She said slipping into Myrian, then held up her hand as a sort of apology, trying again in common.

"It be bad...if Myrians found me with Dhani." She slid a finger around her throat to drive home the point just in case her horrendous common didn't quite bring the picture across. "Same for you, Dhani find you with Myrian?"

Just to think of the satisfaction her people would have learning that Tinnok was consorting with Dhani made her brow crease in consternation. Then she realized she had no idea over what area the Dhani ruled. She couldn't make out the location because his mark was made of scales. Biting her lip as she tried to find the words, the half breed made a dome shape with her arms. "What place...Caiyha give you?"

She rubbed her arm, then gestured to the entirety of the jungle. "I was give....this." She finished lamely. She had no idea what the word for Tropical Forest was in common, and it was true that in theory all the land around them lay in her domain...it just wasn't very....specific.

"Maybe you stay in you's land, I stay in mys?" Tinnok cursed again, swapping the Myrian. "Dammit Dhani, just go back to whatever hole you crawled out of! This is my jungle!"

She knew the pride behind the words weren't true, but she still felt them in that moment, golden slitted eyes still shaded by the darkness. The sooner this was over the better, she needn't have the Dhani learn of her mixed heritage, they could simply acknowledge each other's presence and be done with it...right?

[Sahassvanikol]

Nikol understood bits and pieces of the Myrian, and all of the common, that the woman said. She was just as confused about their situation as he was. They were both servants of the same goddess, but also servants of another. It was.. it was an impossible situation. "Yess," he finally responded, "It would be bad. Dhani would.. kill me, eat you." What she asked next was a bit more confusing, at least until she made herself more clear by motioning to the jungle around her. He didn't understand much of the spat in Myrian, but he got the gist of it. She didn't want him on her turf. He could understand that, he didn't want her anywhere near his either. But, in all of the jungle, they had somehow still met one another. Had Caiyha brought them together? Nikol had no idea. If she had, she could have at least come to translate for them. As to answering he question, that was another bit of difficulty. His gnosis provided him the most power in swamps, of which there were plenty throughout the jungle. But he had also been given a specific swamp to tend to. He wasn't about to tell her where that was, however. Then there was also the fact that he had no idea how to say swamp in Common or Myrian. "I.. uh. Place where water is sstill. Not lake. Uh.. muddy. Lots of ssnakes. Not deep as lake." He had no idea if she would understand his words, which were spoken in both a mixture of Common and Myrian both, or even if she did understand them all if she would realize what he actually meant. Maybe it would be a good idea to learn the word for his domain in other languages?

[Tinnok]

"Eat me, after they torture me." Tinnok thought grimly. She had been there before, and would not be going back alive. And then began the game of 'guess the word' for the two Phylonurists, neither of which were fluent in the other one's language.

"Still water...muddy...snakes..." She said thoughtfully, trying to discern where he meant. Well this was good at least, what he was describing was a different and perhaps more specific biome than her own, which meant they might not necessarily have to encounter each other...well hopefully ever again.

Something in her mind clicked and she held up a hand. "Rushes? algae on water? Swamps?" She said the word 'swamp' in Myrian, but then said it again in common. Swampland?" Fitting for a snake to be lurking in swamps...no? She thought bitterly to herself, then stopped. If Caiyha had given him such a domain, one that could be found in virtually any other biome...it was for a reason.

"I am jungle around swamps." She explained, it was the easiest way to sum it up for him.

She stood there a little awkwardly int he silence that followed. "I know you not just stay in swamps whole time, but...I try to avoid your places." She said. She couldn't demand that the Dhani stay out of the jungle, that was ridiculous, but now she knew to avoid his domains.

She glanced around, supremely paranoid that one of their races would pop through the undergrowth at any moment, interrupting the clandestine meeting. Her eyes flicked back to him. "So goodbye then?"

No reason to stay...not unless...she shook the thought from her mind. If Caiyha had purposefully led her to two Dhani within the span of ten days each involved with Caiyha...well she was going to ignore the signs. Why she kept getting driven in with her half blood relatives she just couldn't understand, and the underlying implications of these interactions were starting to bother her. At least this one wasn't rude...

[Sahassvanikol]

"Swamps? Yess." The word did sound right to him. And he understood what she said about the jungle. He also understood when she said she would avoid his areas. He didn't really know how to respond properly, so the Dhani just nodded his understanding. It was true, staying out of the jungle itself was impossible. The jungle encompassed everything, including the swampland areas. Nikol wasn't really sure what else to say, so when she said goodbye, the Dhani was relieved. "Yess, goodbye.." Unfortunately, fate was not on his side, however. He would have hoped to just leave, but his keen sense of smell picked up something that he could not ignore. The Dhani's eyes widened and suddenly he spun around and vanished into the trees, only moments before a patrol walked right into the area they had been standing in. What he didn't realize was that he'd left his club behind, a weapon that was far too large for any Myrian to consider wielding efficiently. There wasn't really anywhere he could hide either, especially in his current form, and Nikol prayed to Siku and Caiyha that they simply wouldn't notice him. The Myrians did notice Tinnok, however, and the patrol came to a halt. There were five of them in total, some whom Tinnok might recognize, and some she might not. "What are you doing all the way out here?" the lead among them asked. Nikol began to shift to his human form in an attempt to make himself smaller, hoping they wouldn't notice during the process.