Shadows Upon Shadows in the Garden (Aislyn, Ruzekiel)

[Yisanareysin]

(Continued from here) Reysin the Bold? The bard was far drunker than Rey had initially thought. Humans really couldn't hold their liquor. Of course, this one was rather slight for his race (Rey stubbornly ignored the fact that he himself was a little shorter than the bard. He was a dhani, after all, and he had three forms to absorb alcohol for him (Actually, he had no idea if that was how it worked, but no matter)) Still, it was better than Nise of the Fancy Fabrics. They were very fancy looking. And apparently not quite what they appeared to be. Just what was she under there? A Dhani could hide in plain sight, as could a Kelvic. An Eypharian would never deign to hide, and besides, she hadn't reacted when he'd mentioned them earlier. Nuit? Maybe, but Kuvarakh went around telling everyone. Zith? That was laughable. The Zith were more animal than Kelvics, and that was saying something. Symnestra? That was a thought. Or was she a criminal of some sort, or someone well known? He grimaced. It was all well and good to theorise, but until he could sense her, he had nothing to go on. Where could they pause so he could find out? At the entrance to the garden seemed logical. After all, if he was going to go to a place that had "no return" in the name, he wanted to know the truth about who would be at his back, or in this case, at his front. Speaking of which, the little mystery had stopped. Turning to look at where she was looking, Rey let out a low whistle. The garden turned out to be a large maze, grown out of the bush. Wonderful. Yes, this seemed like the perfect meeting place for Dhani, he thought dryly. Why, the ever twisting and branching routes would be perfect for a race accustomed to open, expansive desert. Sunberth's streets had been enough to get him lost, and this was likely going to be a grassy version of the winding streets of that city combined with the maddeningly entertaining nature of Alvadas. He stepped past the other two, coming to a stop just in front of the maze. "I don't suppose either of you have a plan to find this congregation of Dhani?"

[Ruzekiel Soren]

Plan? Heh. Zeke didn’t have a plan. “I don’t make plans,” he said aloud, continuing past Rey and Nise and into the garden. His coat swished behind him as he turned to face the two and pointed to the sky with both hands. “The universe has plans. We roll the dice by exploring this maze of wonder and possible violent demise, and she makes it happen! Whatever will happen, of course. The important thing is to stay together, in case one of us gets eaten by a giant hedge or humongous python.” At that, he looked up at the imposing hedges, rustling in the wind, and shuffled closer to Nise in the middle of the path. As they all made their way into the muddy garden, suddenly there was a loud rustling behind them. Zeke jumped a foot in the air and spun around, grabbing Nise by the shoulders and hiding behind her reflexively. When he realized it was just the garden, sealing them in, he quickly let go of her, cleared his throat awkwardly and turned again. “Well, the only way is--” He regarded the different paths before them and took a right. “--that way!” And he soldiered on. After a minute or so of walking in silence, Zeke trailed behind the two others at a more casual stroll, observing the flora and humming a little tune to himself. He really did enjoy a good evening walk, especially in this fascinating new place. There were some plants here that he’d never seen before in his life, and he’d travelled extensively before coming to Alvadas. If he had brought an apple or three with him he could stay here for a while, just wandering along the winding, slick grassy paths, but it was getting dark. Even though something must have been lighting the garden from the inside, since it was probably later than sunset, it was still growing dimmer. Eventually his humming ceased and he just listened to the shuffle and wet squelches of boots in mud. At one point they came across a straight pathway with a little opening in the brush to the right. Zeke passed it, but something made him pause. “Hold up, Shortie. Fancyboots.” He backed up and peered into the slight gap in the branches. Something was...glowing. Deeper in the maze. It emitted quite a bit of light, whatever it was, and at the same time glittered like a sunset on a lake, filtering through the branches and leaves of the hedge and piercing his wide eyes. It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. “Are you two seeing this?” He called to his two companions, his eyes still affixed on the shiny, glowy...sparkly...thing. Zeke couldn’t resist a shiny glowy sparkly thing. He had to find out where it was coming from. Tentatively he ducked underneath the branches and clambered upright, watching as the light..flickered. It was like...a pearlescent orb, floating in one of the tall trees. Zeke had never seen anything like it. The Garden must be full of them, he thought, to cast a bit of light for whoever comes upon it. Curiously he crept up to the tiny floaty sparkly thing, but before he could observe it more closely it suddenly started moving straight towards him. “What the--” Was all he had time to say before the tiny moving light hit him square in the face and he slipped backward into the thick, sloppy mud. Everything went dark. Zeke blinked, white spots dancing before his eyes, lying there with the wind knocked out of him and the dampness seeping into his coat. He sat up, shaking the spots away and looking, futilely, for the dancy sparkly glowy thing, but it had dissipated, leaving him in the darkness. He carefully stood up, and upon listening for the footfalls of his friends, checking for the break in the hedge he had entered from and finding a thick, impenetrable wall of leaves, he realized that he was alone. Really alone. With a start, he realized that he had never been alone before. All his life Zeke had lived in the midst of close family and close spaces. The theatre troupe, the smugglers, and now Korin and Micah and his horse. He’d never truly been by himself. There was always someone in the next room or the next bunk making some sort of racket. There was always someone he could look to when he got himself into trouble. Now, Zeke was standing in the middle of a huge maze, in the dark, covered in mud and surrounded by oppressive quiet. Even his lute wasn’t here to break the silence. Completely alone. Petch.

[Aislyn Leavold]

The Garden of No Return.
What a lovely name for a lovely place. Or at least, lovely in Aislyn’s opinion. She could practically feel Ionu’s presence here, more so than the rest of the city. The feeling of being so close to her favoured god made her relax more, letting her mood lighten from the earlier panic that almost being found out had sent her into. Even as the hedges moved and shaped behind the group, Aislyn felt no fear as to getting lost in the maze.

Ruzekiel rambled on, spouting “wisdom” about the universe, and, all in all, about how he didn’t have a plan. It was surprising how proud he seemed to be of the fact, not that Aislyn was complaining. Now that her fear of being found out was gone, it was much easier to find a little bit of fun in this adventure, especially since the rain seemed to be letting up a bit. A smile- filled with mixed emotions- creeped across the woman’s face as she looked around the humongous hedges. Ideas popped into her head about the possibilities of using her gnosis to manipulate the hedges, about experimenting with other senses, like sound or touch, instead of sight. Though, with her current disguise, she would have to be away from the others to play with the illusions. No matter. She would get her chance, eventually.

Ideas and random thoughts swarmed around inside Aislyn’s head, tuning out the pair of men that joined her in this ‘Adventure’ they had set out on. Unfortunately, it seemed the world had decided Aislyn’s small moment of happiness had gone on for far too long, and therefore interrupted it, in the form of Ruzekiel jumping on top of the woman.

It seemed Zeke was, though the most cheery in the group, the most scared of venturing into the maze. A weak rustle of branches behind the group sent him jumping into the air, landing practically on top of Aislyn. She would have made fun of him should he not have knocked her off-balance, sending them both almost careening into the ground. Luckily for the pair, however, Aislyn regained her balance quickly, gently pushing the fully-grown man that had just tackled her away from her, in a way of saying Don’t do that again.

Brushing herself off and looking back the way they had come, Aislyn found that the garden’s entrance no longer existed, replaced quickly with a wall of brush. The imposing hedge was quite worrying in a way, as it proved that the maze was quite capable of cutting them off and forcing them in. A pang of worry flew through Aislyn for a moment, though she quickly brushed it away. Her deity wouldn’t desert her, would they? She would get out of this easily, the woman was sure.

In any light, the adventure was beginning, and Aislyn didn’t want to be left behind. They were walking again soon, breathing in the moist night air as the rain ran out. Once the rain had cleared, Aislyn had a much better view of what was ahead, despite the almost complete darkness of the night. Only the moon and stars lit up their path, though even that light was dampened by clouds. For the first time in a very long time, Aislyn was thankful for her Zith heritage. Her vision and hearing were much more acute, allowing her to see quite well despite what conditions had been thrown at her. Looking around, Aislyn kept track of how many sets of footfalls she could hear, and how many shadows she could see. For a while, she lost track of the sights and sounds, only coming back to her senses when she heard Zeke call out. Shorty? Fancyboots? For a minute, Aislyn believed him to be referring to her as “Shorty”, and Rey as “Fancyboots”, because of the fact that she was, unfortunately, the shortest in the group by several inches. With a quick glance at Rey’s footwear, however, this theory was soon crushed. Reysin’s boots were covered in mud, as were Zeke’s. Aislyn’s, however, appeared clean.

Momentarily panicking over the state of her feet, Aislyn thought of throwing an illusion over it, though she was soon interrupted by, yet again, Zeke. The man’s head was illuminated, though by what, Aislyn couldn’t tell. Curiosity fueled her excitement, though she knew straight-up running towards Ruzekiel wasn’t the best plan of action. Instead, she looked away from the man, instead checking on Reysin, who was several paces farther down the path.

Jogging up to Rey with the purpose of informing him about Ruzekiel’s discovery, Aislyn barely made it five paces towards him before she heard a loud thump from behind her. It sounded like someone falling. Zeke. Whipping around, Aislyn found that, not only was Ruzekiel gone, but in his place was a giant hedge, blocking the way back to the fallen companion. With a sharp intake of air, Aislyn reached out behind her, grasping onto Reysin’s shoulder. In any other circumstance, she would have rejected physical interaction, but for once, she really, really didn’t want to be alone, especially since she had just seen that the Garden of No Return had just eaten a third of her group.

After several seconds of simple staring at the sudden hedge, Aislyn coughed awkwardly and releasing her death grip on her companion.
”Ah… I suppose that’s why it’s called the Garden of No Return. We may not be leaving anytime soon.”

[Yisanareysin]

Unfortunately, his cunning plan to make his companions stop so he could investigate had not taken into account the impulsive nature of the only sincere person in the group. Not that Rey could blame him. If the short little mystery hadn't already caught his attention, he would have been just as eager to dive right into the maze. Still, it did mean that Rey was going to have to do this the exhausting way. As Zeke turned around to make yet another speech, Rey stepped aside to let Nise come to a stop in front of him yet again, and closed his eyes. Taking in a deep breath, he focused, looking past the world. His eyes opened, and hazy shapes filled his vison. He focused first on Zeke, just as a precaution, but superficially, the bard appeared to be nothing but what he was. Nise, on the other hand... It would take focus to scent just what she really was, but he could tell at first sniff that she was different, very different from what she appeared to be. Oh, this was going to be interesting. He released his sense reluctantly as he stepped into the hedge. Tiredness crept into him, only to be startled out of him by a loud noise just behind him. A half turn showed him the entrance had closed, which he really should have expected. Turning back to his companions showed him that Ruzekiel had reacted badly, hiding behind the shorter woman, and Rey unthinkingly seized his chance. His companions' auras faded into view, and grinned, taking in a deep breath. He immediately focused in on Nise. Specifically, her clothes. And sure enough, they were nothing like the skirts and blouse they appeared to be. They were, in fact, white, and rather plain clothes, at least compared to what she appeared to be wearing, and were, indeed, waterlogged. Well, that was one part of the mystery solved. But the rest of her was transformed as well. Her hair was longer than it seemed, and a different shade. He itched to see more of her, but Zeke panicking was in his way. Reluctantly, he released his sight again, leaning against a tree. He felt out of breath, like he had just run hard, and sagged slightly, before composing himself. When his companions righted themselves, he followed them, watching out for another opportunity. Somewhere along the way, the other two got behind him. Rey was careful to keep track of them even from the front, not wanting to be separated from them until he wanted to. The tiredness was beginning to fade when Zeke called out to them. Distracted as he was, it took Rey a moment to register the call of "shorty", and he almost didn't have enough energy to be indignant about the nickname. Almost. He began to pad back towards them, and had almost reached Nise when the bard fell with a whump. Rey's head snapped up, but saw only a hedge. Shocked, he breathed in, and sensed, trying to find Zeke past the hedge. Nothing. The bard's aura was gone. A hand grabbed his shoulder, and his eyes flickered back to Nise. Yes, lighter, longer hair, the shape of the face different. Too human looking to be a spider, but there was something about her. Something that made his hypothetical hackles rise. Danger, danger, but from what? She was a tiny little human, so why was his nose telling him to run or fight? A shimmer on her aura caught his attention, and he took a closer look while she was distracted. There, on her right shoulder, was an azure triangle inked into her skin. How odd. It reminded him of something... Mother. Rey paused. Mother? What on earth about a tattoo would make him think of his mother? Yet another mystery for later, it seemed. Nise (or whoever. He doubted anyone would be that thorough about changing their appearance and keep their real name) released him, and he sighed heavily, toning down his sense. No use burning himself out now. "I suppose. Still, I doubt we'll be here for a dangerously long time. Ionu seems to only hurt the stupid, and I'd like to think we are far from that." He glanced around. "I'd say we wait. For all we know, he could be just around the bend." A lie, but she didn't need to know that. Rey was certain that he would be able to find Zeke later, when his senses weren't so dull and he could slither under bushes. For now, he wanted time alone with her. What to do with that time was the question. Rey was not sure of his ability to delve deeper into the woman's aura, and auristics was only one of many tools he could use, but that would require a little more honesty. Confront her now, then. No point in delaying, now that the bard was gone. He took one more glance at her to be certain, and then nodded, certain she had no weapons with her, invisible or otherwise. "Actually, our companion's disappearance is at a rather perfect time." Reaching behind her, he touched just below where her hair appeared to be cut short, only to encounter, sure enough, more hair. "How, exactly, are you doing this?" Rey was prepared for her to try to escape. He might not have the strength of a rattler, but a viper was faster than any creature Rey had ever seen. Whichever way she tried to run, he would catch her.

[Aislyn Leavold]

A simple hand on her back. That was all it took.
Aislyn had been so wrapped up in Ruzekiel’s disappearance, along with her far lowered guard, the thought to protect her identity hadn’t processed through her mind. She had literally backed right into the one person who somehow knew about her lies. Aislyn might as well had said it, I’m not who I appear to be.
Five words utterly defeated her. How are you doing this?

The woman had come so close to being found out before, yet her mind at that time was calm compared to what her thoughts were now. A practical tsunami of panic, all aimed at one singular being. Motherpetching Reysin Ekans.
Even as her heart raced and her throat felt as if it was choking her, Aislyn managed to somehow feel angry at the man. She had hidden so well for so many years, how come he had to find out about her? Him! What made him think he had the right?

It seemed as if the woman’s mind was divided. Fight or flight, her natural instincts. That didn’t, however, mean they were her only choices. Fight or flight… But why not both?

And so, out of sheer reflex, Aislyn full-on slapped Rey, while also dropping her visual illusions. It was a weight off her shoulders, both from the slap and from letting go of her illusions. It felt like so long since she had been outside without a disguise. She felt exposed, different. Wrong. Luckily, though, with the illusions gone, she could focus her concentration on other things. Like, for example, what the petch she was going to do when Reysin reacted to her hitting him. She had to be ready for whatever he threw at her.

Hopefully, however, he didn’t throw anything at her. She had a few theories about whether or not she could alter the perception of pain from other people, along with whether or not she could actually use her illusionism for combat, but if those failed and she ended up trying to stab the man with a stick whilst wishing it felt like a sword, she was as good as dead. And as good as dead was not the way she wanted to end the night. Her body might never be found if it was dumped here, whether Ionu favoured her or not.

Hoping the slap and visual change was enough to distract the man, Aislyn took no chances, immediately turning and running as fast as she could. Somehow, though she knew he would catch her, and therefore took methods to stop it. She threw up illusions everywhere, using her gnosis to the extent of her ability. It took all of her concentration and then so to not fall over as she ran, along with throwing up visual interferences to hinder the chase. A hedge suddenly appearing in the man’s way, various pathways leading to nowhere appearing on the side of the maze. Even, at one point, a poorly constructed phantom Aislyn running down a separate path to the one the real Aislyn took.

Petch, after this, she was going to keel over from the mental capacity that the concentration had taken. If there was such thing as overgiving with gnosises, Aislyn would have been very, very dead by now.
She was running for only ticks, a chime at best, yet as she prayed to every deity she knew a sense of strong déjà vu overcame her. The same chase. The same fear. The same thoughts, the same prayers. It was like Markis all over again, except this time Markis’s name was Reysin Ekans. Motherpetching Reysin Ekans.

[Yisanareysin]

Rey heard the crack a moment before he felt the pain. His head snapped to the side, and his hand instinctively went to his burning cheek, letting out a hiss of pain and anger. He probably should have expected that. Of course, the women in the nest were more likely to bite than slap, but that was a thought for later. Rey shook the dark spots from his vision, and focused on the running human. She'd dropped her disguise, it seemed. Well, however fast she was, he was faster. He took off running after her, certain he would have her in no time at all. He had underestimated her illusions. A hedge popped up before him, and he nearly skidded to a stop before realizing there had been none of the rustle there had been when hedges had popped up before. He still cringed as he ran through it, half expecting to get a branch in the eye. The false paths were quickly detected with his sense, but he did nearly chase after the fake Aislyn, before realizing that its arms were unnaturally stiff. He nearly lost her there, but he could still sense her aura, and the scent of rage and fear guided him. Rage and fear. He had been expecting lemony sour shock, or maybe tangy amusement. Certainly not this bitter curdled flavor of terror settling on the back of his tongue, or this sharp, spicy anger. He had expected a rational or possibly playful reason for the disguise, but this felt suspiciously like paranoia. And there was always a fascinating story behind paranoia. How to get to her? She was afraid, that was plain, but afraid of what? He could try to assuage her fears generally, but that was far from effective. Appeal to her... something? Play the good old I'm just like you card? It was worth a shot, he supposed. He'd have to probe more, once he got her to actually talk. Now to catch her. He waited until they were in the middle of a longish stretch of maze, with no other paths around to strike. He wasn't strong enough to keep a hold of her, but he could trap her. Sort of. He darted past her, skidding to a stop just out of arms reach. "Whatever it isss you're afraid of, I'm not it." He held up his hands, a sly smile playing on his face. "You're not the only one with sssecretss."

[Aislyn Leavold]

Just like Markis.
Aislyn was practically re-living that night again, five years before, with the same chase bringing back so much unwanted Déjà vu. Except she wasn’t running now, as this time she hadn’t been fast enough to escape. It was one thing to run away from a fifteen year old boy with an arrow embedded in his hand, it was another thing to run away from a fully grown man hell-bent on catching her.

Of course, she knew he would catch her. He had a certain air about him, like he was hiding something, though it was as if he didn’t care as much if Aislyn found out about whatever it was. He could obviously see through her illusions somehow, albeit with great concentration, it seemed. Whatever sense was allowing him to do that, though, definitely wasn’t perfect. Aislyn had heard his footfalls stall when he passed the dummy Aislyn she had left. She had almost gotten him. Almost. At least she knew her illusions affected him, and Aislyn swore, if he tried to hurt her, she’d make her skin feel like burning coals. It would most likely hurt both of them, as Aislyn didn’t really understand whether or not her own illusions affected her, but you win some, you lose some. There was nothing she could really do.

Even as Rey caught up with her, blocking her path, he didn’t attack. Confusion spread throughout Aislyn’s mind. What was he doing? Playing the nice-guy card in order to get something from her? It wasn’t as if there was much left to take, though she knew he must be wondering about the illusions. He had asked, after all, though Aislyn didn’t exactly feel inclined to tell him, especially now that he had asserted himself as a threat.

”You’re not the only one with secrets.”

Again with the simple sentence, causing Aislyn's undoing, though she still didn’t trust him. He was definitely playing the nice-guy card, though to get what, she still wasn’t sure on. Rey stood in front of her now, just far enough away so that she couldn’t hit him again. He had planned his attack out well, with Aislyn now practically trapped by a two-way path of the maze, where, on one side, Rey stood, while on the other stood the promise of his speed. Aislyn was a fast runner, but she knew by now Rey was faster.

Running definitely wasn’t an option, though fighting didn’t seem like a very promising one either. Though he hadn’t hurt her yet, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t, and with the new mystery he had spouted, from the lisp to the encrypted speech, he obviously had something else up his sleeve. Aislyn just had to figure out what it was before he decided she wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping her alive.

”What do you want, then? You didn’t chase me out here for nothing, you obviously went through some trouble to find out what was going on. And what about Zeke? Your first concern was not the fact that he was eaten by the maze, but the fact that I was lying to you.” With the mention of the missing man, Aislyn felt a pang of guilt. While she and Rey were chasing each other around, Ruzekiel was probably lost somewhere in the maze, cold, wet, and very, very alone. For all they knew he was dead. Scowling at the ground and refusing to admit his disappearance was also partially her fault, Aislyn muttered a curse and returned her eyes to Reysin. ”...We probably could have found him by now if not for this...”

Mentioning Zeke was really just a distraction from the utter terror that her failing illusions had caused Aislyn, though she wouldn’t admit it. She really had become quite fond of the drunken bard, though. Sure, she wouldn’t go risking her life for him, but she didn’t want him to end up dead, either. He was nice to have around, and it seemed like the second he left, everything went downhill. It was sort of comforting to have the optimistic soul bouncing around, especially when they were “Adventuring” through such a place as the Garden of No Return.

[Yisanareysin]

What did he want? Well, that was laughably simple. "I want to know." Truth time it was, he supposed. Rey slipped back into his generic accent. No use revealing all his cards yet, and the hissing, and the only recent mention of dhani might give it away. "I had planned on simply going along with this little adventure of Zeke's, but," he shrugged here. "I saw a mystery, and I pursued it." A little too hard. He felt a little woozy, though he tried his best to hide it. He wouldn't be using his sense again today unless he needed to, and probably not for a few days yet. Ah, but how he longed to sense her as he spoke, to watch her emotions twist and turn so he could play her like a fiddle. "I'll admit, I may have been a little rude, but you didn't need to slap me."He let a little whine slip into his voice here as he rubbed his cheek. It was still flaming red, and Korin would laugh his ass off if he saw it. "But wouldn't you be just as excited, if you discovered something like this? Someone with power you had never imagined?" Like how he had discovered her, hint hint. Maybe he was playing up the mysterious factor a little thick. Oh well. If it worked, a club was as good as a dagger. And as for the bard... well, the real reason Rey wasn't particularly concerned about Zeke was because the little human was simply not that interesting. Amusing yes, but nowhere near as fascinating as this one. Now that her illusion was down, he could see her clearly, or as clearly as one could see someone standing out of arms reach in the pouring rain. But her hair was now visibly longer, her face more angular and sharply defined, and her eyes... Oh my. Not a human after all. Little wonder she hid. Rey grinned widely. Such a pity, to have such a distinctive marker of difference. Not like his kind, near perfect simulacra of humans in this form. So that was what had raised his hackles. He itched to see more, to use his sense once more, just once, find out just what she was. No, no. No more magic, not for a few days. He had rules, had been given rules about this. Nise, or whatever her name was, was waiting for an answer, he realized. "As I said. If he doesn't do anything too stupid, he should be fine. Besidess." He shrugged once more. "There was nothing we could do. Once the hedge closed, he disappeared to somewhere else in the maze. Believe me, he wasn't on the other side of that hedge. We have as much chance of finding him here as we did over there." Mysteryyyyy. "Believe me when I say that if I wished to harm you, we would not be talking like this. And you're the one who attacked me, if you'll recall." He touched his cheek again grumpily. "I've never seen anything like what you did before. You'd be just as curious about something you saw that you didn't understand." Oh, he was definitely laying it on too thick. But in a game like this, information was currency, and he had a lot to trade. She'd never have to know he had been planning on showing the two of them anyways. And this way, she was far less likely to run in pantshyking terror.

[Aislyn Leavold]

I want to know.

Of course he wanted to know. Aislyn almost laughed at his response, he thought he was being so menacing, scaring her off. She was almost inclined to respond sarcastically. Know what? She could tell him her favourite colour and yet still answer his question. Then again, he was still talking, so more conditions might apply.
Reysin drowned on, about mysteries, about Zeke, and about how rude he had been. At least he had that part right.

Something still bothered Aislyn, though, some air about Rey that tipped her off. From the speech, to the accusations, to whatever magical power had allowed him to see through her illusions. Reysin Ekans, what is with you?
Wait a moment. Ekans..
Snake.

It had been literally in front of her the entire time. The hissing, the way the man held himself, the slurred speech. Rey had never been drunk, he just had a lisp. Like a snake. Like a Dhani.
Aislyn had heard of the snake people before, though mostly from her mother. Amusingly, the sanity-challenged woman had described their reputation as ”Just as bad as the Zith, with more poison & more personality.”

Everything fit into place with the new development. He may have figured her out, but she had found him out too. She still felt bested, however, as it seemed Reysin had made much less of an effort to hide his nature. The feeling was not one that Aislyn enjoyed, and so, and the man rambled on, she decided to fix it. After Rey finished ranting about how unfair it was that she had hit him, Aislyn found her tongue and returned the snake-man’s accusations back onto him.

”Yes, I’m very sure that’s how I would react when I found something interesting. Chasing them around a garden and completely spitting in the face of decency.” Aislyn stepped towards him for emphasis. She had long since realized that her earlier fear had not been of him, but rather an extreme case of Déjà vu. She had been reliving the events that had happened on the scariest night of her life, and therefore felt the fear from the night as well. She was not afraid of him. She was afraid of her past.

Pushing the memory away, Aislyn returned to the scene at hand. Reysin delievered excuse after excuse for not helping Ruzekiel, though she had expected as much. One couldn't expect empathy from a snake, could they?
Rey ended his little rant with a downright threat. "Believe me when I say that if I wished to harm you, we would not be talking like this. And you're the one who attacked me, if you'll recall.

”You're fast, but you're far from smart. You know my face, good, fine. You still know nothing about me. You say you want to ‘Know’, but know what? My favourite colour?"
Aislyn was really pushing her boundaries here, but the insults were just another part of her plan. She wanted him to hate her. He had no right to treat her as an interesting specimen, just another curiosity down a line of things that had peaked his interest. He might as well have said it, If you weren't interesting, I would have killed you by now.

”What do you want? Would it make you happy if we sat around in this mess sharing secrets? A story for a story, is that what you want?” Sighing loudly, Aislyn kicked the mud at her feet. Even though the rain had let up a bit, it was still miserable.

"Anyways... I'm sure you know by now that secrets and fear can be just as decent weapons as poison and fangs."

[Yisanareysin]

Wow, rude. Not only did she have the audacity to be completely unfazed by what had definitely been a very intimidating speech, she was the one implying that Rey was the rude one. Spitting in the face of decency indeed. He held his ground as she stepped closer to him. Aww, so she did have a backbone after all. It seemed like her anger was drowning out her terror. "No, you wouldn't have reacted like that, because whoever it was you found interesting would have done the decent thing, and not hit you and run off. You weren't even afraid of me were you? You're just a coward." He snapped back, almost petulantly. And far from smart? Far from smart? Far from smart was running off like a lunatic at the most innocent question. Far from smart was... heh. Far from smart was revealing a secret you knew too soon. Of course, Rey had to admit, he had done the same thing, so maybe he wasn't too smart. At least sometimes. Maybe just when he was excited. So she knew then. He was not very good at hiding it, since at least three people had found out before he had told them. But one of them was a bizarrely intelligent nuit who had known dhani so that didn't count. "Perhaps I would want that. It would mean you were sharing. You know exactly what I want to know, although knowing your favorite color couldn't hurt. I want to know how you disguised yourself. I want to know how you managed to conjure up petching illusions like you're Ionu themself. And now that you mention poison and fangs, I'm curious to know about this." He tapped just under his eyes. "You might only think of secrets as weapons." Well, so did he, but he at least, knew they were so much more. "Secrets are just hidden knowledge, and like I said before. I only want to know." He stepped off to the side, into a shadow cast by the hedge, and began to strip. "A story for a story, hmm? I doubt you want to begin, so I'll give you this." He began to transform, his body slowly beginning to mold into the shape of a dhani. "A sstory for your children, or theirsss. Or a ssstory to tell at tavernsss for drinkss, it hardly matterss to me." Even in the shadows, what was happening to his body was obvious. Bones shifted under the skin, features readjusted, scales formed over his skin. His silvery hair receded, and a hood flared behind his face. He slithered out to her as the last details shifted into place, and blue eyes faded into a deep yellow. "Don't worry, I'm not the ssnacking type." It was harder to fake the generic accent with a forked tongue, so he didn't bother. He hoped she didn't run. Another chase was the last thing he wanted to do. "Sso. There you have it. You now know my ssecret." Well, one of them, anyways. "Sshould I hit you and run away now? Or would that also be, what wass it you ssaid? Sspitting in the facce of deccenccy."