Closed The Tiger, the Familiar and the Snake (Aka)

[Evalin]

76th of Fall, 513 AV
Early Evening

Another day was slipping by, the light of blue giving way to streaks of orange and red. Still the nuit girl sat as she had the entire day, back against the tree high above the ground, one eye always on the orange and black striped beast that held her captive. One hand gently stroked the smooth surface of her familiar that floated over her right shoulder. The cool surface a source of comfort, somewhat, to the nuit in this time between the changing of day to night. She still felt heavy, her body did not quite respond as she wished it, and the whispers still nagged at the back of her mind, uttering sweet temptations to cast, to curse, to bring forth the flames of hate upon the foolish creature that felt itself so superior. Evalin sighed and pushed aside the temptations she was all too familiar with, shifting her position once more.

"The darkness envelops the world once more... My home returns to me." She mused softly to herself, not really paying attention to what words slipped from her tongue. Looking down Evalin thought of where she found herself now, trapped among the full life and green of this jungle. She was light a blight, a spot of darkness among the living, breathing world that surrounded her. So it was that in the day, when light reigned upon the world, that she stood out for what she was, but now with the falling of Syna's domain and the coming of Leth's, Evalin felt herself hidden once more. Her brow furrowed and she rested her forehead against her knee, closing her eyes as she did so, "Tsenrika, do you love me...?"

That familiar question which was broached upon not long ago brought with it similar pangs within Evalin's chest, feelings she thought long since buried beneath the passing ages. The Irylid hesitated only a tick, "Yes my master. I love you." It was a lie of course, but even so it made Evalin smile, "If such delusions were to persist, perhaps I might find purpose in this world once more. We cannot love Tsenrika. Such things are not for us... Not for me."

Raising her head Evalin cast her gaze down at the beast. It stirred, standing and stretching, maw opening wide in a yawn that brought to bear fierce fangs that announced its diet clear to all. Shaking out its fur it looked up at Evalin, beginning to pace once more.

"A creature born to live in the darkness as well... More and more I see myself reflected in this pitiful beast. We are alike, both hungry but for different things. Though, I wonder if it questions its existence as I do...?"

"To a beast, such things matter not. It does little good to question the logic and thoughts of something so simple minded..."

"You're right of course, but forgive the musings of a mind grown tired of the centuries passing tick by tick." She waved a hand, dismissing the conversation. Such as it had been for many bells now. Idle chatter, nothing more than something to pass the time. Something to fill the silence, thought, Evalin suspected it was only she that wished for a break in the quiet. She glanced at Tsenrika, "If I were to give you a chance to leave, to be unbound from me, would you choose to do so...?"

"That is impossible. We are bound by contract. We cannot be separated. We share one life, one existence."

Evalin rolled her eyes, resting her chin on her knee pulled up to her chest, "I know of this my dear Tsenrika, but if it WERE possible, would you leave me?"

"Thoughts of what may or may not be are pointless. They cloud the judgement of the present. Banish them from your mind."

It was to be expected. This is as he always was. Cold, distant... but then what did it matter? It shouldn't matter really. That was what she asked for. A companion to follow her through the years. Someone who could walk beside her while the world turned to ash. It did not matter if he was pleasant conversation, just that he was useful. That is what she thought at least.

Evalin frowned, "When did it change for me. When did I become something that I am not?"

To this, the Irylid had no answer.

OOCI described her body a couple solos back, but really quick she is in a younger girls body, hair brown bordering auburn. Red eyes, slight figure, probably close to aka's height, maybe a little shorter. She's about 12-13 years old and is currently not wearing her cloak. Just simple britches and shirt

[Soshakuakamamushi]

A crimson viper as big as a regular cobra was slithering through the thick vegetation of the Jungle Wilds. Her tongue lapping the air to take in scent and scanning for heat signatures of delicious warm-blooded creatures. Aka had not eaten in days and was hungry for another session of feast. Finding the elusive okapi or tapir would be nice, but if she didn't, a capybara or jungle deer would do fine indeed.

Life had taken an interesting turn for the Viper in the Fall season, her relationship with Mamoru, her Constrictor master, had taken an interesting turn after she found out that he had mated with a Myrian-Dhani half-breed named Tinnok who bore Caiyha's gnosis, she was utterly jealous at Mamoru and for the first time in her life, she felt she was truly in love. The appearance of the flaming God Ivak also drastically changed her being. She became one with fire, more than she was previously. If she was rather careful in handling her flaming children birthed through her res before, now she needn't to worry as Ivak's blessing allowed her to mingle with flames completely unharmed. She also could feel some emotions in others that were strong enough, roaring rage, extreme joy, crushing despair, and various others. Lastly, his blessing turned her body warm unlike her cold-blooded brethren. It fitted with her image of being a pyromancer.

After a few moments of searching, her keen senses picked up something. She could hear voices in the distance, the Viper immediately perked up and flared her hood in caution. Was it the Myrians? The bronze monkeys were good-for-nothing pests deserved to be eradicated. There wasn't a single positive thing in letting them live, they infested the jungle like plagues, slaughtered her giant cousins, and made life in Zinrah hard with their blockade. Aka would be glad to torch every single one of them with her fire, but she would not eat their meat, she deemed it too disgusting no matter how delicious her Constrictor cousins told her. She picked up some information from the voice, it was distinctly female, and... in Common. That was strange, Myrians always spoke in their foul guttural native language. Tinnok spoke in Common, but she was a half-breed and her Common was broken. It was unlikely for Myrians to speak in common among their own.

Interested, she turned her head to the direction of the voices and found... a heat signature in the shape of big cat, so big she immediately assumed it was a tiger. What the... She hissed in anger, one of those petching pet of Myrians. She had been dealing with the overgrown cats in the past and found that the 'oh-so-mighty' predators weren't all that mighty once they got a fireball exploding on their body or a lava spray on their face. Her mind geared into action as she formed a plan to eliminate this cat and made it her dinner. It looked smaller than the usual tiger rode by Myrians, maybe it was a wild tiger but no matter, wild or not, it would be food. She still haven't located the owner of the voice unless the tiger was a magical being capable of speaking. Last time she met a Kelvic, not a single one of them was capable of speech in their animal form. In truth, it was because the Nuit girl sitting on the tree branch didn't have heat signatures like the living.

Aka slithered closer to the tiger, her slit pupils completely focused on the animal. The tiger looked preoccupied by something, she didn't care what it was, only that its distraction was to her advantage. She opened her jaw and prepared her res, she would kill this tiger in a way that demonstrated her power as a reimancer. Reddish gas hissed out of her mouth and formed a tall, but thin, vertical crescent shape. The Viper relished in the pleasure of casting, the sweet whispers boosting her ego and she welcomed it. She was about twenty feet from the tiger's right side, she was ready.

Concentrating, Aka willed most of the crescent res to turn into stone, creating a stone crescent with the sharp end facing the tiger then she transmuted the side facing the tiger into lava. She kept some of her res inside the stone in pure form, allowing her to maintain control of her weapon. A floating stone crescent with a thin, but still potent, lava edge was ready to launch at the tiger. Without any moment of hesitation, the Viper hissed and sent it flying through the air at high speed. The tiger realized the strange large object flying towards it a tick too late and...

*SLIIIICE!*

With the satisfying sound of lava burning through flesh, muscle, and bone reinforced by the stone. The tiger roared in extreme pain as it felt the strange weapon destroying its body from the right side until it was sliced clean off in two, fatally separating it with hisses of smoldering flesh on the impact location. The tiger twitched for a tick or two before its soul left its body. The crescent kept flying and embedded itself into a large tree. Seeing her magic had done its work, the red snake slithered forward to clean up the mess. Once she gained enough distance to her crescent, Aka hissed to command her res to transform her crescent into puffs of harmless air. She then returned back to the mutilated tiger, stomach growling in hunger. It was then she noticed the small figure sitting on the branch above.

"Sss... what the petch?" A Dhani had average sense of sight in all forms so Aka could only make the general description of the sitting humanoid, she looked to be a small female with brown hair and... wore clothes not usual for a Myrian, she couldn't notice her eyes or the traits that reminded her of Galbern, her former Nuit mentor. What intrigued her most was the fact that this female had no heat-signature much like the cold-blooded Dhani, the thought that this girl was a Nuit didn't come to her, what were the odds of an undead coming to this jungle? She also didn't notice the orb-like creature that was the girl's familiar. The girl's small stature, almost as small as herself, and apparent cold-bloodedness made Aka think she was one her kin, a Viper Dhani, and the tiger was targeting her. If it was so, she just saved a sister and gained her a meal to boot. Hissing happily, Aka raised her head and looked up. "Heeey! Sissster, are you lossst? No worriesss! I took care of the tiger for you, now we can eat it together then maybe I can take you to Zinrah, a nessst of our Constrictor cousinsss, I live there too!" She fully expected the 'Dhani' to understand snake-tongue and replied to her in kind.

[Evalin]

"That which is and cannot be, that which was but is no longer. That which may but never will. That is what we are. Something both here and there, not quite certain but neither quite so distant from this reality. Adrift but not in ways that mortal seaming may ever understand. Lost though we know our way, trapped though we may move freely." soft whispers escaped the lips of immortality, deadens and long since forgotten the life they once held.

Evalin pulled her knees up closer to her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins as she leaned her head back to look up at sky as reds wont out against their war with the blue and yellow, "We are travelers without a destination Tsenrika..."

The Irylid drifted slowly to Evalin's other shoulder, moving closer to Evalins ear. "Poetry in such times seems pointless."

The girl smiled, closing her eyes, "It wasn't poetry my dear Tsenrika. It was a curse. The curse I live, and by our contract so do you now bear this burden as well. Such tragic irony if one thinks upon it for far too long." She chuckled, a grim smile waning upon her lips till naught remained, "Be damned all of it. This life, this world, the injustices that exist here. I just... I just want to rest. Just for a short time, I want to close my eyes and... dream."

The call of a beast brought Evalin's eyes back to the darkness of the world as she turned her head to where the creature made its stance. There she saw it, a beast of might and power, of dignity and strength, cut to halves which fell to bloody masses upon the ground, its fangs bared in one last fierce display. For a moment Evalin simply stared at the corpse, the eyes still locked upon her, a question there. For what purpose was I slain? By what right have you robbed me of my life? Evalin felt a hint of pity for the pitiful creature. Indeed it had been as she had been, uncertain of the world and simply living in ignorance of the cruelties in and of it. It was like a mirror of her own life which was cut short before it had truly ever begun. But what had done this? What power or might could have done such a thing to such a kingly figure, ruler of its own domain though that domain be only within its own mind.

Centuries of death brought to bare within Evalin's cold mind as she reached a hand to touch Tsenrika's smooth surface, "Seal." The order came quick, short and simple, and as his master commanded it Tsenrika did obey without a moments hesitation. Floating to over over her chest, the Irylid pressed against Evalin's cold skin. The girl's hand came up to cover her familiar as his body shaped and changed, condensing to take the form of a pendent made of ice that hung from a thin silver chain. The surface of icy gem was smooth, and cold to the touch, and absently Evalin stroked its surface as she surveyed the ground below.

What is this that has occurred, what has cut asunder the creature that would hold the Immortal Witch Evalin hostage?

The Familiar's cold voice echoed within Evalin's mind, filling her with a strange sense of comfort despite the chill it carried with it, A spell perhaps... There and gone within ticks. Origins unknown, but the magic resembled reimancy. Evalin thought on this for a moment, continuing to watch the ground below with eyes more alert than they had been since the night before. Then it was that the source of it all, the center of the world as she now knew it revealed itself to be... a snake...?

The nuit blinked in surprised, equally taken aback by its sudden appearance the bold way it hissed up to her in its strange tongue. For a tick or two Evalin was unsure how to act, both befuddled and amused in equal parts. Tilting her head to the side she mused, Will wonders never cease even in centuries long since past. Could it be that a simple minded creature might just call forth hails of magic at whim? Evailn could feel Tsenrika's distaste at her quoting his very words, but she shrugged, Be it not worth considering long, for despite the odd turn of events still we be now free to move about from our place of rest.

Shifting her weight slightly, Evalin grasped the branch with one hand, using the other to brace herself as she willed the legs of her vessel to slowly swing over the side. Their response to her commands was sluggish, still not fully recovered from the overexertion placed upon the body by the chase and the use of magic. Evalin's mind swam and she closed her eyes to steady herself. Softly the whispers called to her, pressing against her mind to do, to play, to cast any and every spell to make her trip to the ground easier. How simple it could be, how easy! Yet still she refused, knowing well what might occur if she should answer yes to the temptations.

Moving slowly Evalin turned her body, holding onto the branch with both of her arms as her legs dangled free. Easing down so that only her fingers held her up, Evalin glanced down below where the lowest branch was still a meter or so away. Groaning mentally Evalin steeled her mind, prepared her borrowed body, and then released her hold on the branch. Her feet first came into contact with the lower landing, her knees automatically buckling as the girl fell against the trunk, tired arms wrapping about the bark for balance and support, but to no avail as her fingers could not hold the rough wood any longer and she toppled sideways. With some effort Evalin made the vessel turn so that the larger portion of her back took the brunt of the fall, absorbing the impact and doing little that causing stiff protests from bones growing brittle. There she lay, at the foot of the tree for a moment, gathering her thoughts as she assessed her situation, then she slowly sat up, raising to her knees, and then her legs with one hand pressing against the bark of the wood for support.

Eyes of red gazed now upon the creature that might be a savior, or perhaps an even greater danger than the beast itself. Idly she wondered if it could feel it, that strange unease that seemed to plague those who came near her vessel. It was the curse of the Returned, that came along with the blood red eyes and the physical gifts. Forever more the living would feel uneasy when around a creature not of their understanding, undeath as it were. It was true for the mortal creatures that claimed some sentience of mind, but what for creatures such as this? Small and feeble minded surely, did they also feel it as the so called brave heated fools of men?

Evalin tilted her head, her eyes searching for an answer to the question, what was it? Was it a threat, or perhaps another traveler as she was? She wasn't sure, but no matter what it could have been if it did decide that she were best disposed of the nuit knew there was little she could do to prevent the end of her unlife. Somehow that did not bother her.

Patience was the pride of nuits, so Evlain remained silent, watching with eyes that held no life. No words spoken, still as the grave, the Witchling child simply stared, a mar upon the surroundings, a point of death in a sea of life.

OOCCommence awkward undead stare 0.0

[Soshakuakamamushi]

The girl didn't answer her verbally, but climbed down instead with more proficiency than the desert-dwelling Viper had. The pale girl's sluggishness didn't raise a suspicion from the Viper even though she had been spending years travelling with a Nuit, Aka took it as caution on the girl's part. Not want to fall and break her bones, right? Apparently even with all her efforts, the girl still fell down on her back. She stood up and stared at the Viper.

"Oh, the sssilent type, eh? Ssso~" Aka slithered closer, still thinking that she was a fellow Viper. With their close proximity, Aka could see the girl had auburn hair, very pale skin, and red eyes. She looked to be of Aka's height, but a slightly shorter. The glint of the pendant hanging from girl's neck caught the snake's slitted eyes. "Oh! That'sss a nice pendant. I have one like that, but it'sss red, a gift from a friend a long time ago." Aka remembered the snake-shaped silver pendant with the red Garnet gem given to her by a human girl named Taylani in the Fortress City faraway from Falyndar, she still kept it even until this day. For a few ticks, Aka wondered on Taylani's well-being, she hoped the human was alright. She lived a happy life in the safety of the Citadel so the Viper bet she had grown into the tall, curvy dancer she was meant to be.

Back to the situation at hand, the silent girl was still staring at her, not a word escaped her pale lips. The Viper was getting annoyed, she just saved her life, the least she could do was show some courtesy, especially to a kin. "Oh hey! Sssay sssomething will ya, Sissster?" The girl had pale skin and red eyes, surely she was a fellow Viper for Aka had similar physical traits.

The girl then tilted her head, a sign of confusion. "..." Now Aka was getting suspicious, what if this girl wasn't a Dhani at all? What if she was some other race? It was then she noticed the uneasy aura she got from the pale red-eyed girl. She didn't know why, but she felt her flaming gnosis flared at the strong passion of 'hatred' within the girl.

The Azenth immediately felt concern, what was the cause of her hatred? She wanted to know. Shaking her head, Aka broke herself out of her self-induced trance and asked one more question in Snake-tongue. "If you understand me, pleassse sssay sssomething." The girl didn't, she needed to switch into her human form. Her Dhani form might spook the pale girl. She needed to eat the tiger anyway and for that, she needed her arms. Her jaw was not big enough to swallow it unlike her giant Constrictor cousins.

Aka slithered towards a thick vegetation to hide herself as she began her transformation. Her form grew, limbs spawning from her sides and her tail separating into a pair of legs, her crimson scales receded into pale skin, long ebony hair flowed from her serpentine head as it turned humanoid. Thirty ticks later, a small humanoid girl replaced the snake.

Aka stepped out of her cover, covering her flat chest at first with her pale hand, but dropped it after a few ticks. This other person was a female after all. "Ssso, girl, you're not a Dhani? Ssstrange..." The human form Viper approached closer and knelt beside the mutilated cat as she continued. "I thought you were, you know, pale skin, red eyes, uuuh... ssshort kinda like me. I'm a Viper Dhani, do you know what a Dhani isss?" She held out her right hand and her gaseous res flowed out from her palm, it formed the rough shape of a dagger before turning solid then she willed it to gather earthen material around her, creating a crude - but still sharp - stone dagger. Aka stabbed her makeshift weapon into the tiger, cutting a strip of delicious meat, then ate it.

"Want sssome?" She offered the girl her kill, whether she accepted or not, Aka would continue. "I ssspoke in sssnake-tongue earlier, the language of the Dhani. Sssorry if you didn't underssstand it. I asssked about your identity, I thought you are a kin and I alssso said your pendant isss nice, I had one of thossse in my cave, but it'sss red, not blue." She cut another strip of meat, hissing in delight while consuming it. Some blood smeared around her mouth, but she didn't care, cleaning them would be very easy. Now there was the matter of the girl's safety, she was most likely lost like herself back in Summer.

"You know, it'sss dangerousss to be out here in the jungle. I bet you're not a Myrian, ssso, what'sss your plan now? You can alwaysss come with me..." Aka hesitated at first, she still got this uneasy feeling coming from the mysterious being, but she shrugged it off out of concern. "...but if you're not a Dhani, you have to come asss my ssslave, sssee? Or my giant cousinsss might eat you. What are you anyway? Human? Nuit?" Her offer was genuine, but her Dhani mind worked itself. Getting this cute girl as her slave might not be a bad thing, she could be Yuki's playmate. She could get a pair of cute slaves, one bright blue-eyed while the other one dark red-eyed. Her guesses about the girl's race also came with the most common races she had met, with 'Nuit' mostly derived from Galbern.

[Evalin]

Persistent serpent, a curiosity of no equal at such a moment as this. Evalin's eyes searched yet did not see, her mind worked but did not understand. What could it be? What possible explanation was there? A beast? A sentient life? When it moved her eyes followed it toward its leafy hiding place, yet still she did not move, remaining still as the stone. As it disappeared from sight Evalin let her thoughts wander to the one who shared life and breath with her, A savior or another beast? What think you Tsenrika?

The chilled voice filled her mind with its own mild toned observations, Of tales unknown you ask, for little seen from this state I am in. It acts as if it be of sound mind, despite its serpent skin. Perhaps an abomination as those on Sahova...

This gave Evalin pause. That great Citadel, the fortress apart from time, Sahova... THe last of Alahea's greatness. It was a distant memory, yet still she could not forget the monster's crafted there. What if this creature was like those found within the Testing Grounds? Some failure of life created by the wildest of magics? The rustling of leaves brought the immortals attention back to the present time, and with some surprise it was neither beast nor monster that emerged. No, a young girl, slightly taller than she. In an instant the pieces fell together, and Evalin's eyes narrowed, One of the shifters... Those serpentine races that feel such superiority over all. Foolish creatures that do not know the futility of their own existence... A bubbling hatred welled within Evalin's chest as she watched the girl move, something not quite rational yet drawn from someplace deep within. She hated this girl not because of her race, but because of her life... It was not fair that such creatures existed. This girl who looked slightly younger than when Evalin had cast aside her own life, yet surely she was far far older than she had been at that time. Why was it that some races held their life for so long, yet others did not? By what right did this beast have claim on such existence when Evalin did not... Why did she get both life and extended existence? What wretched JOKE was it that Fate decided for her that her life would end so soon?

Her eyes followed the girl, passion flickering behind red iris' as she held the hatred within her heart, clinging to it like she had not in some time. There it was then, that hatred that defined her, that filled her, that guided her. That was what she was, a creature of strife in the world, the bringer of destruction in the name of new life. Yet still there was something more, a confused voice of regret that plucked at dead heartstrings even as a piercing pain shot through Evalin's skull.

The nuit closed her eyes, pushing aside a hunger, a lust but not for the food offered. Lust for blood, the blood of this girl, this one she hated simply for being. In this respect Evalin was more fair than Fate, for she hated everything and everyone equally. All would perish... all would suffer for her unfair treatment.

Those eyes of red lingered over bare flesh, the curve of the neck, the bends of the limbs. She could almost see the life blood pouring through every vein, ever vessel, and it ignighted a thirst that the nuit had suppressed for days. It was boiling, fueled by so long unquenched. Quickly Evalin masked her thoughts letting the expression of peaceful death fall upon her expressions as she walked slowly around the carcass, bringing the girls face into view. She searched those eyes there, searching for something there, "Of this race of serpentine skin and high thoughts I know of, though not as well as some. Such creatures are not of which I partake often, for such rarity it is to see one venture forth from its next to the greater societies of the world..."

The formation of the dagger, magic as was previously suspected, brought little to Evalin's eyes, be it recognition or not. Impassive, death was the greatest mask of all. Evalin raised a hand to gently stroke the cold surface of her pendent, Be you ever right my dear Tsenrika. This be a beast of magic. Reimancy... What a nuisance.

Caution is advised...

Evalin looked at the proffered meat just briefly before brining her eyes to meet the girl's once more, "Ah... Such tongue I speak naught, for tis never necessary for what comes in the path of eternity. Be doubtful that I could speak it if even knowledge of its intricacies were known to me." Evalin stumbled slightly, her legs not responding as the should and she leaned her shoulder against another nearby tree. Her eyes looked off to the distance, searching until she found her staff still lodged in the tree. Absently she considered retrieving it, however, she stilled herself for now. No need to reveal it unless the time required it.

Those eyes fell distant, gazing now up to the sky darkening quickly, drifting back to musings of a time long since done and gone, "You are all slaves... though you know it not. Tis a shame, a pity that such ignorance exists in this world. Bound to something you feel you cannot control simply because you know not that you are collared and the leash held by an invisible hand." She blinked, and shook her head, look back at the girl. She winced slightly in pain, the mask cracking slightly as the hunger curled within her chest, begging her mind, curling her fingers with an urge to leap forward and rip the blood for the girls veins, yet looking away Evalin simply said, "I... am a traveler. I have no path now, no place of which I seek. Nothing in this world of which to hold me in place beyond something long since beyond my grasp. Things bind me to this world like chains I carry across time. Such chains of slavery could never be so heavy as what I bare now." Welling regret overshadowed the hatred, pressing it now into a small ball within her chest as Evalin closed her eyes. Sadness, uncertainty, and despair so deep it spanned the centuries. There it was then, that which the girl could not face. Was it better to continue on, was hate really enough? WHat purpose was she here? SHe hated herself, she hated her Fate, she hated the world... But was that enough to keep such a wretched life going?

Pressing a hand against her forehead, Evalin closed her eyes, furrowing her brows as she shook her head. Her eyes opened, hungry with lust for blood yet when she spoke her voice was calm, "Meat I care not for but... I require sustenance. Please... Before the lust takes me, I require blood. The blood that runs through your veins, something to drive back the urges that cripple my mind and direct by limbs to act on their own. Just a small portion would do, a thimble full to put down the worst temptations..."

[Soshakuakamamushi]

The hatred that kept flaring from the girl was starting to bother the Azenth, but her gnosis didn't allow her to detect why was the girl hating, was it to her? Was it to something else? Aka didn't know. Her scarlet slit pupils kept facing the girl, her mouth absent-mindedly chewing on tiger meat. "Ssso... gonna talk now?" She was too silent for her own good, the Viper mused that even in the face of danger, this mysterious girl would still keep silent, bringing death upon herself whereas a simple call for help would do.

Examining the girl's red eyes, they were red but their shape were not slits. That was already a sign that the girl was not a Dhani, sure some Dhani had round pupils instead of reptilian slits, but this pale girl's round pupils reduced the possibility of this girl being a Dhani from 'definitely' to 'maybe'. Combined with her lack of understanding of the Dhani's native language, the 'maybe' was reduced to 'very unlikely'. Aka noticed the shorter girl broke eye contact, her eyes lingering over her bare form. Feeling self-conscious, Aka instinctively shielded her chest with her left hand. "Heeey, where are you looking at?" There's nothing to see there anyway... Was the girl silently mocking her lack of chest? How dare she, as far as Aka could see, she wasn't that much endowed either. The Viper took solace in her superior height though, not often she could look down upon a person instead of up.

Then the girl finally spoke after a long time of one-sided conversation. The way her words flowed in Common brought Aka to a pause, she tilted her head in confusion. The girl's speech was too fancy for her understanding, Aka was not exactly fluent in Common and this girl was had one of those flowery speeches like those stuck-up nobles in Syliras. Aka brought her left hand to her head and scratched her head in a gesture of confusion. "Sssorry, uuuh... I can't underssstand you, talk more simple. More, simple, underssstand? I don't ssspeak Common very well." From her sentence, Aka could only get the general meaning, the red-eyed girl seemed to be saying that she knew of the Dhani but not in detail. The rest? She simply shrugged. "Ssso you know about Dhani? Good then, then you won't be ssscared of our Dhani form, yesss? Becaussse if you decide to come with me, a lot of my cousinsss will be in Dhani form."

"Uuuh... ssso..." There was it again, the speech with needlessly complicated vocabularies and sentences. This time, the girl seemed to be talking about snake-tongue and how she didn't understand it. "You don't undersstand Snake-tongue, right? That'sss okay, only Dhani can speak it anyway. Ssseriously, talk simpler... pleassse." If this kept up, Aka could see herself banging her head on the cavern wall of Zinrah to get these flowery words out of her head. The girl looked wounded, evident by her stumble, probably a strained leg because of the fall earlier. "Take it easssy there, that fall sssurely hurt. Good thing I found you, you will definitely die either by big cats, Myriansss, or other nassstiesss." Aka wasn't aware of the mysterious girl's magical abilities.

Now it was getting worse, not only flowery speech, but philosophical flowery speech. She was talking about how they were all 'slaves' and some tidbits that Aka couldn't - and didn't want - to comprehend. The Viper just stared in disbelief as her hand put another piece of meat to her mouth, chewing in auto-pilot. "Okay... whatever you sssay, girl. I think we got more pressing issuesss than trying to confussse me with your fancy wordsss, you look wounded and tired, it would be really bad if any of your bonesss are broken." Aka sighed and she shook her head again, some part of her mind contemplated to just leave the girl and her complicated speech alone. See how the savage jungle handled poets like her.

"Okay, you're a traveler, like I wasss, but you're aimlesss" She got that part, but the she didn't understand the rest. Something about 'chains' and 'time'. What was the connection between a chain and time? It was like asking if a raven was like a writing desk, no relevancy at all. Maybe the girl was an escaped slave and still on the run, but if she was, this was one very smart slave. When the girl closed her eyes, Aka could feel her gnosis flared as she felt deep sadness etched deep in the girl's soul. The Viper swallowed another meat and stared warily at the girl. "H-hey, you alright? Why are you sssad? Did I offend you?" This was ridiculous, a proud Dhani like her consoling a stranger. Well, she did save her life, might as well save her mind too. This must be one of the tasks Ivak put on her shoulders.

"...he?" As if the situation couldn't be more awkward, the girl requested something utterly ridiculous the Viper couldn't help but found it funny. "S...sss...ssehe...sssehehehehe! Hahahaha!" She held her stomach as her stone dagger dropped to the ground, she felt bad for laughing at the girl, but it was too ridiculous and nonsensical. The girl asked for her blood, she didn't want meat, but wanted blood. That was really, really strange. The tiger had just died recently, it still had plenty of blood inside its dead body. Aka felt a tear coming to her due to her laughter, she wiped it away as she calmed herself down. "Sssehehehe! Hehe... phew... he... okay. That wasss a good joke, you got me right there." The girl didn't look amused, don't tell her it was a real request? This pale one was strange enough and perhaps a tad bit insane, that explained the storm of strong emotions Aka sensed inside her. "Oh come on, you were seriousss? You have a diseassse or something ssso you can't eat meat, only suck blood? Well that sucksss. Eh, sssorry, just I never heard that kind of diseassse before."

"If you want blood, here!" Aka picked her dagger back up and cut a strip of meat, deliberately dipping them in the tiger's blood and offered it to the girl, still dripping with fresh crimson liquid. "Fresssh tiger blood, girl." Whether Evalin accepted or not, Aka would continue with her meal. "Oh yeah, we haven't introduced each other, right? I'm Aka, what'sss yoursss?" She didn't give this stranger her full name yet, not until she trusted her more.

[Evalin]

A Pang of irritation crossed Evalin's mind as she looked through her fingers at the girl who still gorged herself on the beasts meat. How she wished she could tear her assunder, slit the thin neck of her and let the blood flow forth like a fountain, to partake of it with the lust that urged her to simply do it. Kill her, take it from her. Take it all from her, that life that was rightfully Evalin's. That life stolen from her so long long ago. What right did this child have to live? Better it be that Evalin held that life, for her purpose in this world was far greater!

She paused, sliding down to sit on the ground, her back against the tree. Her eyes grew distant once more, and she shook her head at the offered dagger. Pulling her knees up to her chest Evalin rested her forehead against them, closing her eyes to block out the world around her. She fought the craving, the urge to rip and stab, to kill without sense, to deny that existence which she now found herself. Evalin shook her head slowly, hate giving way to deeper depression, filling with the centuries of hurt and pain, and lonliness she felt for what she was.

"No... I cannot drink the blood of beast, it is tainted with the ignorance of--" She paused, sighing softly, "It is my curse... It has to be the blood of higher life. The blood of a woman works the best, but at times the polluted blood of man may suffice..." Another twinge of pain shot through her body, and Evalin's nails dug into her shins. She did not look up as she continued, "If you can offer it not, then flee from me with haste. The curse pulls at my mind, this cursed gift of immortality. The wicked contract signed by the foolish... It will have blood, and I would rather it not be taken from you in such a way." Did she truly just say that? Did she really offer to let a mortal escape unharmed?

Emotional turmoil was not a strong enough word to describe the wave of mixed and confused feelings that flooded within Evalin. Hatred for all, yet compassion left over from some human part she thought long since died. She defied a part of herself, a fundamental part of herself that had, for the centuries, held her in place, kept her from falling to the insanity of her existence. She betrayed her own ideologies, and showed mercy, a wretched awful feeling of disgust washed over Evalin's ridged body as she felt sickness threaten to overcome her. Yet still that craving, that urge to take that blood, to kill and to curse this girl as she had been cursed, raged on within her. Somehow that more human half, Evangeline, struggled to awaken once more, fighting with humanity Evalin thought she had completely abandoned.

The nuit spoke softly, not hearing the Dhani's last question, "Is this how it has to be... Is this really what I am...? I do not see it anymore, that shining light I was meant to consume. I see it not that life, that purpose I was meant to fulfill. So long I have condemned them all as fools... but could it be... I am the greatest fool of all...?"

If Evalin could weep she would have, but her tears were stricken from her by the flames that killed Evangeline. Looking up with her hollow eyes Evailn narrowed her eyes, "My name... My name is..." Evalin or Evangeline? Her eyes closed and she rested her head once more, "My name is lost to the centuries..."

Evalin...

Speak not another lie Tsenrika... speak not that false identity...

[Soshakuakamamushi]

"Eh? You don't want kitty blood? Okay." She shrugged and continued to eat the meat. The girl went depressed instead. curling up in a pitiful position. It would be so easy to just form stone collar and restraints around the girl's neck and limbs, she would get another cute slave, the girl's shorter height and lack of energy also made her the perfect obedient slave material. Will I... or will not I? She was still in a dilemma, her Dhani nature wanted to utterly dominate and break this girl to become her living doll, but the deep pang of hatred and sadness she detected with her gnosis made her hesitate.

Then the girl explained - in simple words - that she needed to consume the blood of sentient beings, preferably female. "Ooooh, a curssse..." The Viper nodded as she plop another small chunk of meat to her mouth, she still found the curse to be rather funny and unique. She also explained she was immortal, combined with her physical traits, Aka immediately assumed she was a Nuit. Pale, dead-look on her eyes, and immortal, Nuit for sure. "Ssso you're a Nuit, I sssee. I have a Nuit mentor once, he didn't need to drink blood though, in fact, he didn't eat at all. Maybe he wasssn't cursssed?" Aka figured the girl's condition was not universal.

The girl's self-muttering brought Aka to a pause, she was truly a sad being, she couldn't even remember her name. I see, the hatred and sadness I feel... she hates herself and mourn for her cursed state... poor little girl. Perhaps... I can help her. A smirk curled up at the corner of her lips, she wanted to help the girl, but of course, not for free. Everything had a price, Mamoru saved her for a reason, Ivak marked for a reason, if there was one thing Aka learned by spending her time in the Jungle was that no favor was ever free. "Okay." She said simply and paused, letting her answer sank in to the girl's mind.

"I'll give you my blood... however." Shrugging off her bare form, Aka wiped the blood off her mouth and slowly crawled to the curled up girl. She was beginning to like this girl, she was perfect to be her doll, with all her brooding and cute face. Aka wasn't really aware of a Nuit's need to change bodies, she thought it was natural for Galbern's features to change once in a while, her mentor always picked for the middle-aged male human look. Aka extended her right hand to lift the girl's chin, smiling mischievously. "Promissse to me that you'll be my very own ssslave... don't worry, I'll take care of you and play with you everyday..." She then approached even closer and caressed the nape of the girl's neck. "I'll get you your very own collar and cage. What do you sssay?" The Viper then silently prepared her gaseous res, it hissed out from her feet and traveled under the ground, pooling just behind where the girl sat. "I'll even give you a new name, how about... 'Katherine'?" She heard that human name somewhere and it oddly suited the pale girl.

Whether the girl accepted or not, Aka would try to capture her. She was cornered by a tiger, Aka didn't expect much fight left in the depressed Nuit.

[Evalin]

Be not foolish in this matter. As their serpent tongue wags naught but lies escape their lips. Be not a slave to this thing...

Evalin's eyes beheld the girl's, Aka was her name. She searched them, finding there something very familiar, similar to herself perhaps... but in a way that she was not at the moment. She thought a moment, mind moving backwards in time to a moment long since past. A man upon the docks of Sahova, cloaked in shadows and wisdom, offering a hand to aid her, to help her if she would offer him something of equal value.

For just a moment Evalin felt as her normal self, and she smiled a slow smile that only just lifted the corners of her lips, "Youthful pride... Tis something so fragile. Perhaps some day you will learn to use that tongue of yours to ensnare the foolish, to twist the minds of those who call themselves superior to bind them to your will with chains of their own making. Perhaps... Perhaps there is something within you that truly shall be worth seeing." Evalin closed her eyes, seeming in deep thought for a tick or two.

My Master awakens...

Perhaps... but yet am I lost down some path I known not the end to. Perhaps this girl, this child, will show me the way to myself once more. She is so...

Her eyes opened once more, and she slowly raised one hand to touch the girl's, "Your kindness is beyond measure, and I am truly grateful to you for your aid..." Sweet whispers of a tongue well versed in rhetoric and twisting verse, "I... I am lost in this place. A place unknown to me." It was not the jungle she spoke of. Evalin thought of her loss of purpose, her uncertainty within herself. Who was she, and why did she continue to traverse the centuries... Why did she continue on? Was her hate truly strong enough? Such questions rolled within Evalin's mind as she continued, "To be a slave to you would be an honor, and a small price to pay to alleviate the cursed pain I feel now building within my soul." Each word was carefully chose, though spoken as meek as the girl could be, eyes not meeting Aka's as she spoke, looking down to the ground or at the girl's neck or shoulder instead.

She shifted, nodding slowly, "I promise to be your slave... J-just... Please do not be too harsh. This form is so fragile, and cannot take much in the way of harm. A curse within a curse, trapped forever in a vessel that was never meant to house my soul."

One hand touched her lips, moving to her forehead to cover her features, "Katherine... It is a beautiful name... not fitting one such as I."

Be mindful of overreach... It was a slightly mocking tone with which he spoke.

Evalin suppressed a smile, an inclining of her old self forming once more, Even now she brings to bear that which I had thought lost. To be a slave to this girl would be nothing compared to the slavery she exists in without even her knowledge.

An oath may not be broken, but a promise is a fragile thing. Tsenrika observed quietly.

Evalin looked up at Aka, eyes filled with the pain she truly felt, pain of an uncertain future, of a confused past, and an inner struggle that still waged, "I... I ask only a small favor, if you may grant it to me... Master?" She gently touched the pendent around her neck as she continued, "I have but two possessions in all of this world. One is but a walkingstick that has traveled the centuries with me. It has held me up when all the world would see me shattered on the ground, and if my master would allow, I would keep it to aid my feeble body still." She paused, features twisting into a slightly pained expression as she looked away. Her hand gently touched the pendent with a finger, running along its smooth surface, "And... this pendent. It... It was a gift, a last gift of my life when it truly was life. It is all I have. It is worthless to sale, and means nothing to any but me. I... I would forever hale you as the greatest of masters if I could keep this trinket." She looked desperately at Aka, a plead in her eyes that was not truly an act at all.

Pain flashed across Evalin's eyes as her body shuddered. A grimace touched her expression, "Please... The blood..."

[Soshakuakamamushi]

"Heh..." The Dhani wasn't sure if the mysterious girl complimented her or not, in her fancy words, Aka could only catch what she meant generally. She talked about her being a manipulator through words, much like Aka's own master, Kalesserimamoru the Trickster. "You ssspeak asss if I'm him, the Trickssster, the Dhani who sssaved me from the jungle when I wasss lossst much like you are now." If the girl insisted on speaking fancy, the Viper figured she should humor her. "Right now, I feel like I'm in hisss shoesss, with you being me." Aka sat down in front of the girl, the hand on her chin moved to lovingly caress her cheek, much like a girl to her favorite doll.

How she closed her eyes, how she displayed the despair plaguing her, and how she struggled with her curse; the female Dhani found it all to be adorable. Aka could be her mistress, giving a new goal in her unlife. It wouldn't be hard to be her slave, unlike most slavemasters who abused their slaves as if they were pigs, she treated her dolls with care, pampering them with food, clothes, and jewellery in the form of pretty collars and manacles. She looked more like a benevolent pet owner than a cruel mistress.

The Nuit accepted her offer of servitude willingly, no resistance, no protests, she just let her freewill be given up in exchange for protection. "Sssehehehe~ good~" Aka leaned in further and nuzzled her forehead with the girl's. If the would-be slave was familiar with a snake's cold-blooded physiology, she could notice Aka was unusual as in her body was warm like a normal human. It was the effect of Ivak's gnosis. The girl's words were surprising, even Yuki was not this willing to be a slave. It was as if the girl was specifically bred to serve. Her attitude was similar to 'Shajeb' slaves in Ahnatep. Slaves who took honor upon their position and actually loved to serve. This made the Viper pitied the girl even more, she would make sure to keep her to herself.

So, even an immortal had fears, she apparently didn't like physical abuse. This reinforced Aka's assumption of this girl being a runaway slave, her previous master must be a foul one. "Don't worry, my doll. Sssehehe~" Aka smiled at the girl, she kept caressing the girl's neck as the Viper leaned in to give a kiss on the girl's lips. It was just a short one to prove the girl her new mistress had no fondness of physical abuse. "I'm a loving Mistresss, I will never let you come to harm..."

By this point, Aka expected her slave to accept whatever she offered, even a new name. "Katherine it isss~ Hehe~ If you have any other name or you want me to call you sssomething elssse, do tell me. Until then, I'll call you that. It'sss cute, it fitsss you." The Viper became touchy, she was always touchy and often doted around the people she liked, including her first slave, Shirayuki. She kept caressing Katherine's cheeks and neck with both of her hands. She was beautiful, her red eyes and pale skin, the concern Aka felt for her was enough to dampen the uneasy aura emanating from her, Aka figured it was normal for beings like her, Kat was an undead after all.

"Oh, do ssspeak your mind." Now she felt fancy, talking like a noblewoman. Kat requested her to keep just two personal things, Aka didn't mind. Heck, she didn't even mind if her slave wanted more things or had her own money. That was how much of a 'slave owner' the Dhani was. "Sssehehe~ You're adorable, Katherine. If you want sssomething, jussst sssay, I'll try to get it for you~ Like..." She lightly hugged the girl and whispered into her left ear "...a new collar? New manaclesss? I'll gladly put them on for you." She hissed seductively and gently nibbled on her ear. She pulled back and nodded. "A ssstick and a pendant isss nothing. It'sss beautiful, your pendant. It would fit nicely with my red one and oh, do call me 'mistress' inssstead." Being called 'master' reminded her of Mamoru and Aka was rather obsessive towards him, there could be only one master and it was him.

The girl was visibly hungry for blood, her curse torturing her. Aka put a finger to Kat's small lips "Alright... jussst one more thing." The Viper suddenly leaned in and kissed the Nuit on her lips, a lot more passionate this time. She relished in the cold exotic feeling from her dead lips, for Kat, she would feel like being kissed by a normal warm human. Aka then intensified the kiss by inserting her tongue to Kat's mouth. It was so much different from kissing the living, she didn't feel repulsion, only odd pleasure. Then she pulled back, a trail of saliva connecting their lips.

"For your reward..." Aka then deliberately bit her tongue with her canine teeth, wincing at the pain. Katherine said she only needed a bit so some drops from her tongue should be enough. The Viper then used her left hand to hold the side of Kat's head while her right hand journeyed to her hair, grabbed a fistful and pulled it downwards so Kat's head reeled backwards. "Open your mouth..." The Viper then positioned her mouth just above Kat's pale one, she gathered the flowing blood inside her mouth before slightly parting her lips, sending a stream of blood mixed with saliva to Katherine, feeding the Nuit her blood.

While she did that, Aka's gaseous res began coating Katherine's neck then they transmuted themselves into a stone collar, marking the Nuit girl as hers. "Now, classsp your handsss behind your back..." If Evalin accepted, more of her res would cover Kat's wrists before gathering earthen material to create stone handcuffs to bind the girl's wrists together.