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| Snake by the Tail; Iraeni | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 12 2011, 09:28 PM (341 Views) | |
| Ladon | Oct 12 2011, 09:28 PM Post #1 |
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Water spread along the surface of the rock, running in tiny rivulets along the sloped face like tears and taking some of the uncomfortable heat with it. The edge pressed hard into the relative softness of his middle, but Ladon did not bother moving; the sun-baked stone felt good against his skin in an entirely different way from the droplets of water dripping down his sides. His braid, soaked to a darker shade of its normal color, hung thick and wet along his back and he might have pushed it away if he could have been bothered to lift his arm. Somewhere at his back, the sluggish current tugged at the length of his tail and with a lazy groan, he curled his fingers about the edge of the stone beneath his chest. The temperature of the jungle never truly bothered him in this shape, but it had been truly uncomfortable as a human and from the tip of his tail to the end of his nose he still ached from the unnatural effort of holding onto the human guise as long as he had. It had been something close to pure bliss to let the spell fall away and float lazily in the water for a few hours, and if the warm stone along his front didn't provide quite the same relief, well it was close enough for his aching muscles. Still, he could hardly lay limp and stupid for hours, and so with a truly put upon sigh Ladon pushed himself away from the rock and back into the water. It was deep enough even this close to the edge that a single, sinuous ripple of his tail sent him gliding along weightlessly toward the shore, bright skin and scales muted and dull in the murky water. The memory of the jungle's sticky heat as a human made his lip curl, but Ladon dragged himself out of the water and onto the muddy shore regardless, a feat made easier by the unusually gentle slope of the land beneath the water and the relatively clear space beyond the water's edge. It had been partly that which had led him to choose this spot in the first place, though mostly it had been the relatively still pool formed long ago by some overflow in the river. As he'd guessed, there had been fish aplenty, and more than enough of the right size to make a good meal. Boneless and sated, the naga twisted his tail up into great, looping coils to sprawl across them, drinking in the rich green scent of crushed vegetation and decay. It would be dangerous to sleep on the ground even for something of his size, but perhaps he could linger a while longer anyway... Ladon had just begun to drowse when the slow, deliberate rustle of some nearby undergrowth startled him from his rest. He was not terribly far from the edge of the jungle, and things tended to be somewhat calmer here, but that did not necessarily mean there weren't risks. He still bore the scars from one unlucky encounter with a panther somewhere along his left side, invisible now save for the faint irregularity of the scales there; the cat had laid his hide open to the thick muscle beneath and the pain that had followed was not something he would ever forget. Understandably wary to repeat the experience, Ladon tensed subtly, allowing his eyes to roam his surroundings as he prepared to flee for the water. Edited by Ladon, Oct 12 2011, 09:44 PM.
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| Ira | Oct 13 2011, 05:08 AM Post #2 |
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Young mage with an affinity for animals
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Ira had actually taken the form of a panther this time. It seemed suitable in a jungle. She had painstakingly tied her shirt and shorts around this form, as well as loped her belt with the weapons around it. It had been kind of difficult walking, but she'd made sure to do it after she was done hunting. This wasn't something she normally did, and damn was it hard only part of herself back into a human, but she didn't want to be kept behind by her valuable things. As she was walking through the undergrowth, distracted buy these thoughts, her side brushed against a bush. She stopped, saw through an opening that there was a clearing of sorts, with a river and some rocks, and...she had studied these beings in books. No one really had extensive knowledge, or she had yet to come upon a book written by another naga or someone who actually knew more than their appearance, small bits of anatomy and maybe some culture. Her golden panther eyes widened slightly. The prospect of meeting one left her excited. But certainly, meeting as a dangerous feline who couldn't talk was not going to get her anywhere. So with that, she retreated further in order to stay hidden, shifted out and dressed quickly. Weapons...she really didn't want this to be seen as aggressive. Assuming that he wouldn't BE aggressive in the first place. She knew pretty much nothing about their mentality. But she couldn't leave them behind again. With a sigh she kept both the katana and the dagger on her belt. Hopefully her hands far away and them being sheathed would be enough. She stepped out from the trees, one hand on a trunk and the other bent slightly at the elbow as she steadied herself to drop down a few feet. Her eyes caught the naga's and after a moment she smiled, friendly and curious. |
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| Ladon | Oct 13 2011, 01:20 PM Post #3 |
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It was...a human. A female human, if the soft, subtly rounded shape beneath the clothes was to be trusted, and he did not think his eyes had failed him so terribly as that. The long line of some heavy tool hung from her belt, distracting him for a moment as he attempted to puzzle out what it might be but no answer came and he abandoned the puzzle after a short while to resume his unhurried inspection. She, he'd been taught that they liked to be called that, was baring her teeth in the way that had alarmed him at first but had since meant friendliness and he curved his mouth awkwardly into the same shape. The expression felt odd on his lips, but he was not nearly so confident in his command of their language as to start talking and trust himself not to accidentally say something offensive. It had happened more than once and he'd learned that humans could produce metal claws fast enough to make him wary of further mistakes. Smoothing his hands along the sleek side of his tail, Ladon pushed himself upright to stretch, slow and harmless, before lifting his hand to wave. They always seemed to prefer that to a greeting hissed in his own tongue. |
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| Ira | Oct 14 2011, 05:59 AM Post #4 |
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Young mage with an affinity for animals
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Bemused, Ira watched him as he smiled strangely, then stretched and waved. She dropped down to the grass, lifting her hand and making the same gesture, a curt, single move at the wrist. Could he not talk? Probably had a different language, actually. That would make things difficult - hopefully he knew enough to atleast answer some questions. He must be curious about her too. If he couldn't even talk well enough to have to greet her with a wave, she wondered how many people he'd actually interacted with. The naga seemed harmless enough, though, so she opted to continue keeping her hands away from the katana's hilt. The mage walked slowly closer, realizing he'd stretched slowly too; obviously both didn't want to harm the other. She stopped several feet away, just standing for a moment before addressing him. "I haven't met a naga before...can you speak common?" "Well, that probably sounds kind of lame. But I've gotta get the question out before I put more effort and time into talking if he's not going to understand me. Oh...I wonder if I could learn their language. Might turn out to be completely useless, but still an interesting challenge." She scratched her arm as she thought about that and began to like the idea. But the question still remained if he could speak her's at all. What would be really interesting was if they both taught each other from scratch - pointing to things and saying them in their language in turn. Ira laughed at the picture it created. Edited by Ira, Oct 14 2011, 06:00 AM.
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| Ladon | Oct 14 2011, 11:57 PM Post #5 |
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Canting his head to the side, Ladon replied in the slow, careful tone of one considering a question==or in this case one mentally translating said question--with just the faintest hiss of amusement," Listen better than talk." They had been very adamant, after all, that he listen and spent a great deal of effort in ensuring that he be able to do so properly. "Is...," he paused, contorting his tongue around the strange, clumsy words instead of the subtle variations of his native tongue," easier? Yes, easier." It was a bit too much to hope that the human knew anything of his language so he didn't bother to entertain the thought any longer than it had taken for it to occur to him in the first place. After all, she'd admitted to never having met another naga. It was habit more than anything else that made Ladon lift both arms to press his hands together before his heart and dip his head as he offered the old, familiar greeting," Namaste." |
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| Ira | Oct 15 2011, 08:37 AM Post #6 |
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Young mage with an affinity for animals
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It didn't seem to matter much to the naga. Her laughter subsided as he talked, and she nodded. "Yes, I suppose that's true in most situations, but leaving the talking all up to someone else can be considered...rude, or just tiring." Ira figured giving him some sense of that sort of thing was not out of line, since he obviously had a hard time even speaking this language. There was no doubt he probably didn't know much of human culture. She glanced around, wondering if he got out of the jungle. That was something she could ask. When she looked back to him after a few seconds, he was greeting her. In some way familiar to the nagas, she was sure. She was quite tempted to return the greeting, but instead she clasped her hands together and looked between them, then unclasped them and whispered "Namaste" several times, trying to get a feel for the word and its pronunciation. That would come in handy if ever she came across another naga, or...she had an idea, suddenly. It might not be seen as very nice, but maybe she could - when she got the time - infiltrate a naga tribe or group and act as a naga raised by humans. That would be very interesting. She'd be able to really learn things that way. Probably wouldn't ever actually happen, but it was a very exciting thing to imagine, atleast. Returning to the present after those few seconds of thought, she dipped her head this time instead of smiling. "Do you mind me asking some more questions? And you can ask me any questions you like, if you want. " She realized that was a question in itself, and rarely did you have to ask to ask questions, but you never knew how people would respond. She wanted to make sure before she could ask plenty of questions without him feeling uncomfortable. |
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| Ladon | Oct 17 2011, 12:41 AM Post #7 |
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Brows drawing into a faintly puzzled frown, Ladon considered that. The humans he had met had been more than happy to simply talk, though there had been more than one that seemed perfectly content to pelt him with question after question until it seemed his head would spin with the effort of attempting to understand the babbled queries. "I will be trying not to being rude, then," he finally replied with a puzzled smile, hoping he hadn't already crossed that line. Only to find her muttering his greeting to herself over and over again. "Namaste," he corrected brightly, uncoiling lazily to bridge the distance between them and reach out to take her by the hands. They were smaller than his own, and softer with none of the callus at the tips of her fingers or across her palms, and he could have happily explored more of her, but Ladon contented himself with pressing her palms together and moving them before her heart. He had seen humans trying to puzzle out his behavior before and he had always found it somewhat amusing. Maybe they thought the same of him. "The god in me bows to the god in you," he murmured, drawing his hands back to mimic the gesture he'd made of hers and bend his head, struck as always by how very different and strange the greeting sounded in the humans' common. "Is Namaste," he explained with a shrug of his slight shoulders, dropping his hands to his sides as he swayed absently in place. He had never learned to like the human way of standing so very still. "Ask more questions," the naga prompted with a shrug, giving his head a little shake to toss a few stray, wet curls back from his face. |
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| Ira | Oct 22 2011, 02:29 PM Post #8 |
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Young mage with an affinity for animals
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(she's totally got some callouses - at the base of her fingers - lol >_>) When he moved closer and took her hands, she blinked and made a small noise, barely resisting the urge to jerk back and yell at him. He meant no harm, and she didn't really want to upset him. He moved her hands over her heart. That felt too violating (after all, his hands were getting awfully close to her...fairly large chest), but as she was about to protest, he let go and mimicked what he had just shown her, the greeting from moments before. After she had taken a few steps back to get out of arm's reach, his words finally registered in her brain. "The god in me bows to the god in you. Is Namaste." Then a few seconds later and he asked her to keep asking questions. "Ah, well," she said, thinking, trying to clear her head. "What's this whole thing with...gods? Inside of us? Part of your culture, I'm assuming, but what does it mean?" |
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| Ladon | Oct 23 2011, 02:18 PM Post #9 |
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(D: My bad.) She moved away rather hastily, but he'd found more than a few people reacted that way. Perhaps it was some peculiarity of humans, this reaction to being touched, he mused. By the time she had begun to speak again, he had already abandoned those thoughts. The questions were easy enough to piece together in his own tongue, though the words 'culshur' and 'assuming' escaped him, much to his own frustration. His limited grasp of the language, however, was an annoyance he was rapidly growing used to and there was little to gain by dwelling on it. Still, he had to stop and consider how best to frame the beliefs of his people in a way she might understand. He had tried to explain the concept to others, of course, but the reception had ranged from outright disbelief to laughter, and so Ladon could only conclude that his delivery had somehow been at fault. After all, it made perfect sense even to him and he was by no means a devout believer. "Is.. very hard to explain," the naga finally murmured, brows drawing inward in a frown. How could he condense thousands of years of belief into a few simple sentences? "God in me, since time started, looking for other...pieces of self," he muttered, gesturing at his own chest," Endless number of lives, always looking." "Is making sense?" he asked with an almost pathetically hopeful expression. |
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| Ira | Nov 4 2011, 06:03 PM Post #10 |
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Young mage with an affinity for animals
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(No it's fine, it's not like I put that in her bio so you couldn't know xD and sorry for the shortness and bleh, I just kinda wanted to get it done) Ira listened, trying to understand. She laughed internally at his expression, a smile making it's way to her lips in its place. Nodding, she said, "Sort of. So...everyone has...one god in them? Everyone has a piece of this...God? But if it's always looking, what is it looking for?" She wasn't sure whether to interpret it as one God, or everyone having individual gods. Or was everyone a version of each other? "I don't...What is it looking for?" she repeated. "And are there only..." She trailed off, shaking her head, confused. It didn't make sense. Maybe if he could really speak her language, or vice versa, he'd be able to explain it better. |
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