Flashback [Verlyna's Emerald Pool]Magic Falls and Flesh Flies[Tyler]

[Ssafirsotibones]

8 Summer 507AV It was likely a sign, at least in Bones mind, that when he opened his front door on this summer day, he was faced with the outskirts and mountainous land around Alvadas. He was quite near the edge, barely a block away. So of course, what could he do but go outside and enjoy said summer day? Perhaps do a bit of hunting. Perhaps not. But whatever he did, he would enjoy the luxuriant warmth on his skin, which was so rare in this region. It had been a long time since he had let his scales bask in the sun, laid out to enjoy it. Of course, that had been rare to do even back home, were most days were spent either underground, or under the wet canopy of trees and leaves that blocked most sun. He headed out with his fathers gladius strapped to his back, and after gaining his bearings headed for the outside of Alvadas, right out into the wilds. But before he could reach it, he ran into a familiar enough landmark, The Emerald Pool of some human or other. Something with a E... Or a Ve? He shook his head, the name did not matter. He had been here before, and he tried to recall its story. Did it involve a mage, or a woman, or something else entirely? It was supposedly magical, that he did recall. As he gazed into its depth, he saw his reflection, his face, his hair, perhaps a bit less familiar to him as he had only bore this human face for a few decades. Then he recalled back to the season before, when outside of Alvadas he had met a human mage, and been instructed in morphing. Perhaps it was on a whim, or a sudden desire to test this magic, or maybe it was the magic of the pool, but Bones decided to practice his morphing while gazing into the water. He pondered for a few moments, and then decided what to change. His hair. Yes, perhaps he would look better as a blonde? Maybe? Only testing it would tell. He began to kneed at his head, focusing on the small burs of black hair across the top of his head. He kept his hair short, almost nonexistent, after all why would a snake need hair? He kept looking into the water, focusing on the hair, on the color yellow, mentally picturing his hair growing paler and paler, till it was the color that suited him. Bones frowned, as he gazed into the water after a quarter of a bell, to see nothing had happened. He tried to run his mind back to the morphers lesson... One used ones djed to shift ones form... Using it to make oneself malleable, then to reshape their body, and then to hold it like that. He focused inside himself, trying to grasp at this elusive "djed", picturing the reflection as is it was not himself, but a doll he was looking at and wanted different. It was much simpler that way. Yes, he was not altering, just a picture was, like coloring. He breathed in, brushing his hands through his hair, picturing the picture as a bit lighter, a bit lighter, and after a few chimes noticed his hair was not black, but brown... With a few more chimes of focus on changing it, it grew paler, till it was a dirty blonde, and finally bright yellow blonde. He screwed up his face, concentrating on the color, not letting it fade, focusing on exerting his will to keep the hair that color, as he slowly pulled his hands away to see it better in the waters reflection.

[Tyler]

Waking up quite early in the morning, even before the sunrays were able to kiss his sleeping face, he let out a soft rumbling groan before acting like an amateur contortionist and trying to continue his sleep in the most ridiculous positions. All to no avail, mainly because pretty much his entire bed and cushion were annoyingly drenched in sweat because of the heatwave the summer had brought to Alvadas this week. It didn't take long for him to give up rolling around in sweat...Which isn't all that surprising now if you think about it.

Anyway, after groggily waking up and stumbling about the room slowly, occasionally stopping in his tracks to stretch and let out a groan, he washed himself with water since soap was generally an unnecessary luxury for normal days. But the cold water was an enjoyable treat in this dry heat. After splashing himself and enjoying the cold touch of the water and the sliding drops over his face, he put on his clothes. On this rare occassion where he couldn't care less about looking 'fancy', he decided to put on a white vest made of hennep or something similar. As undergarnments he decided to put on a very smooth and light, kakki pants that have little to no class to them. But they're light and comfortable, which was all he wanted during this blazing heat.

Once he shuffled his feet in the sandals, he opened the door of his building and was about to step out when a songbird flew in all chirpy and flappy, distracting him long enough not to see that the door lead him outside the city wall and into the wilds. Once he did so though, he sighed and was about to close the door again to stay inside and wait a few bells for the location to shift again. But when the songbird started chirping vividly and all exited, he couldn't help but feel the desire to step out into the wild. Naively he was under the impression there was only beauty and serenity in nature ... Silly fool that he was.

Stepping out in his tourist attire, as if he was going on a sight-seeing trip, he walked around the immediate surroundings that kept his door and building in eyesight. It was strange, and maybe just a thought, but he felt as if the bird that entered through his door earlier was an omen for good things to come. Which caused him to feel braver and falsely assured of his safety. Eventually he lost track of his building but with the, stupid, idea that still knowing the general direction of where he came from, would suffice to backtrack his steps to Alvadas.

After cheerfully skipping over flat rocks and crawling over a big boulder, the smile on his face turned to an inquisitive and puzzled look on his face. A bit down a small slope he saw a man kneeling over a small pool. At first he thought it was someone searching for refreshment in this heat and wilderness, but then it occured to him that he wasn't bathing his head at all, he was simply staring and massaging his scalp.

Still under the false sense of security from the singing 'omen', he climbed back down the side of the boulder and carefully stepped down the grassy hillside of the slope, approaching the unknown man from behind. Once he was close enough, yet still at a safe distance, he was about to make his presence known; When he saw the short hairs on the man's head shift colours from dark to light... At first he was stumped about what was going on;

' Some sort of being that's able to transf---A morpher? '

He tried recalling the sparcely shared information about morphers given to him at his studies in Zeltiva. All he knew about them is that it was a type of personal magic and that it granted them the ability to morph their bodies in unbelievable ways. It was the first time he had ever met one though, if it was actually a morpher.

" H-hi there... " He mumbled out awkwardly as he raised his hand in a greeting manner.

[Ssafirsotibones]

It was only a small bit of morphing, but Bones was still proud of it. After all, he had worked hard to do it, and now he had to work hard to keep it intact as his flesh, or in this case hair, tried to alter back to normal. He looked at his newly blonde hair, still concentrating on keeping it that way, a small trickle of his djed going to his hair to keep it morphed as it was. But before he could stand, Bones heard a sound behind him, of someone saying hello. He darted his head around to look, to see someone had crept up on him. He had been so focused on his flesh magic, that he had not kept vigilant, and had not noticed being sneaked up on. The human had greeted him, saying hello, and was giving him a quiet raise of the hand. His first time doing magic, practicing, and a human had walked in on him right away. But he had lived in Alvadas long enough to know it was no accident. Perhaps it was a test... He thought quickly, trying to think of an excuse, and his eyes dropped on the pool of water. The reportedly magical pool of water. "Weird isssn't it? I had heard ssessse watersss were magical, but I did not know ssey could change your hair color. I wonder if it will change back... Or maybe it isss jussst an illusssion. Doesss it look blonde to you alssso?" Bones looked back at the water, and then back to the human. "Or if it can do anyssing elssse besssides hair... What do you ssink?" speech : "Weird isn't it? I had heard these waters were magical, but I did not know they could change your hair color. I wonder if it will change back... Or maybe it is just an illusion. Does it look blonde to you also?" "Or if it can do anything else besides hair... What do you think?"

[Elira]

XP Award!

Ssafirsotibones

XP Award:

• Morphing +2
• Persuasion +1

Lore:

• Snakes Like It Bald
• Alvadas: Illusive Magic of the Emerald Pond
• Morphing Hair Color Means You’ll Never Need Bleach

Notes:
It was very cool to be introduced to morphing this way. I got to read up on it to grade this thread, so a fun learning experience for me as well. Too bad it didn't get finished, it would have been fun to see where you guys went with this!

PM me if you see something you'd like me to explain or tweak. Otherwise, please mark your thread as graded so Fallacy can delete it from the queue. Thanks!

Tyler

XP Award:

• Observation +1

Lore:

• Morpher in Sight

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