Closed Aah, Snakes! [Voodoo, Xen]

[Engghaen]

This state was soft, comforting her. It seemed to be able to take all of her worries away. She was sitting on a boat, the sea calm, touching the horizon in all directions. She could be here forever, looking at the clouds, that occasionally drifted by, or the beautiful palette of colours smashed on the sky, splattered, blurred, with only the knowledge an artist could have. As she stared at the different shades of blue, purple and orange she felt the boat rock. It was terrifying, as if some mean monster wanted to get her. "That's not going to happen, " she thought. "I'm not going to leave this place! " But the boat kept rocking, harder and harder, left, then right, and left again. She groaned. "No, no, no..." The boat was about to scoop water up now and she could see it flowing over the sides of the boat, creating waves. Hastily she tried to scoop the water out again, first left, then right, then left again. In her hopeless tries to stop the rocking she contributed to it herself.

And then the boat made water, flipping over. Engghaen fell, and started sinking. She couldn't swim. She wasn't going to try. It was over. The water felt terribly cold against her skin, while before it had been so warm, comforting. "Liar..." she thought.

Panting heavily, she woke up, opening her eyes to escape from the dream. They were immense, as if she was a deer in the headlights. As soon as she had taken in her surroundings - the snake, seemably exhausted, just like her, the room she was in, his hand on her shoulder (what was that doing there? Had he woken her up?), the darkness - she used her precious energy to hiss at Xen, getting herself together, and bring her body to the closest wall. He was new. She hadn't seen him yet. He could do harm.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" she said with her slightly different accent.

[Xen]

Aah, Snakes!

¨Whoa! A bit antsy there—the constrictors took you to the dungeons, and I'm Xen. I was attempting to save you from the constrictors; they would have eaten you, or worse,¨ Xen explained. He did not want to appear as some creep trying to get a feel of a sleeping maidens body—He ain't got for that! Xen raises his hands, and backs away from the startled young woman in front of him, and makes his way to the cell door. ¨The doors open, you can escape now," he said, while trying to not appear suspicious, or aggressive.

Xen almost falls as he walks through the door, but luckily, regains his balance on time to avoid falling onto his face. The sickness was still affecting him—worsening with each chime he spent within the walls of Zinrah. Xen wanted out of the nest, and was leaving until he remembers the possibility that Eng did not know her way through the nest. ¨ Follow me, if you wish to leave these dreadful dungeons,¨ he continued. Eng probably distrusted him, and with good reason. He was a complete stranger within a nest filled with large, meat-eating serpents—the dhani. Xen was a dhani, but one of the select few that would actually eat someone—animal were his preferred choice of food, as humanoids tend to taste weird.

¨I wonder if this person is a human like Yuki? Though, Yuki is short while this person is tall... tall...tall¨ Xen drowsily thought . He was liking humans more, and more; they were beautiful, and petite beings. Xen knew he would someday venture from Zinrah, and away from Falyndar to see the world; however, that would only be when he was strong enough to stand his own within the walls of Zinrah. Becoming a successful predator, and learning a series of skills would also benefit him in his life. And when feels hes reached an turning point within his powers, he would travel like his parents—he become a true adventurer.

Xen stood outside the cell, waiting for Eng to follow him—staying in that cell only meant that she wished to either be eaten, or enslaved by the constrictors. That would be rather odd, but Xen wasn't one to question peoples tastes much. He continued to wait, growing ever so tired from the phantom sickness influence—his eyes felt heavy; however, he refused to close them. Xen was spending too much energy on trying to stay away; endurance in all were being spent, but he would not last.

[Engghaen]

Engghaen froze, and slowly she started to take Xen in. He didn't look scary and he hadn't tried to kill her yet. He was also her only option. But she wasn't supposed to trust strangers.. And maybe he had bad intentions, maybe he wanted to take advantage of her and failed? He was a snake, after all. Not a human. Or Kelvic. Of those species she knew they were generally okay and didn't have any bad intentions though humans could be hateful too. She sighed and averted her eyes, overthinking her answers. When she looked up again, the snake had moved to the door. It wasn't really walking, nor crawling, nor slithering.. "No, wait! " The cat scratched her head and, still looking down, she tried to get her feet to respond to her tries at getting up. "grrgh..~" Finally, exhausted because of the strange ill blanket that had covered the snake house, she got onto her feet, stumbled towards the snake.. barely balancing, carefully trying to fulfill the difficult task of walking, but her legs seemed to form a knot, and yes, she fell forward. "aaahhh!!~" The cat bumped into the snake, most likely pushing anyone as unstable as he was over.

"s..sorry.. I want to get out of here.. "

[Xen]

Aah, Snakes!

Eng decided to go with him, that was good, but another problem had presented itself. How were they going to reach the surface? Their bodies were in no condition to traverse the tunnels carelessly, and Xen did not like the idea of wandering about Zinrah with his mind as it is now. The constrictors, sensing the weakness—and like the predators they were—would take advantage of him, plus Eng. Xen was about to advice that they be careful. However, Eng falls onto him, sending him tumbling down.

Xen was quick enough to grab Eng by the shoulders, thanks to the viper quickness his dhani genes blessed him with. Yet he discovers that his legs were not strong enough to withstand Eng's additional body weight, and he loses his balance. Xen turns his body to avoid hitting his skull on the stone cavern floor—allowing only his back to feel the impact of his fall. Xen winces at the pain, but his mind was slightly awakened by it. He then sits up, thankful for the small clarity he was blessed with at the moment. Now with a somewhat clear mind, he felt as though he remembered the path the constrictors took.

¨You okay?¨ Xen asked Eng before he chose to take them both from the dungeon. The fall wasn't particularly bad or hard—Engghaen just did not appear to be an individual of the jungle. Xen did not want to assume that she was frail; it was probably just his heroism talking. He had a habit of going to peoples aid; especially, young damsels—they'd see him running to their side all the time, if Zinrah had any. All the females in Zinrah were capable of handling themselves, which was no fun for the intrepid Xen.

¨ I'll get you out of here, but first you have to stand,¨ Xen would have gently taken Eng by the hand—helped her up—then they both would have walk out of the dungeon. However, it seemed as though that would not be happening, seeing as they both were nigh incapacitated by the unseen affliction of Zinrah. This would require a cooperation on their part, if they sought to escape together.

[Engghaen]

OOCSorry. Difficult reply.The cat groaned. "Aah..." Her back didn't complain as much as she had anticipated on, so that was at least an advantage of falling on top of the snake. This was clearly a rather awkward position to be in, especially since the both of them had just met-- and Engghaen had misplaced him for being someone to take advantage of her. Immediately she tried to hoist herself up all alone, but as Xen had predicted-- She fell down again, hard, even though Xen was there to function as her pillow.

"Sorry... " she gritted her teeth. "This isn't going to work.. "

She tried to get onto her knees, facing Xen, her leg muscles screaming and complaining by now. She was tired. She just wanted to let go and sit there. And sleep. With a sigh, she ordered her body to respond to her tries and pulled up and leaned forward, landing on her knees. Then she slowly turned around, spinning in his direction.

"Now you. "

Her plan was to make him get on his knees too, as the walls were way too slippery for her to hold onto. Then she could hold onto his shoulders, getting up so that he could hold onto her and they would both get up.

[Xen]

Aah, Snakes!

The option to shift into his dhani form was tempting; however, Xen chose not to undergo the transformation. He instead chooses to maintain his human form, and avoid consuming his vital energy. Then sitting up, Xen forces his body upwards. The cool, moist stone beneath him provided zero comfort the moment his body fell on its solid surface. The pain wasn't much, but it hurt to fall down, nonetheless. Xen waits for Engghaen to regain her composure, and when she succeeds in doing so, he'd get up also. The stranger in front of him wobbles and falls, but manages to stand again and regain her footing once more.

“ This person's a stubborn one,” Xen thought as he pulls his body off the ground. He places his feet closely together, and tries to maintain his balance. Xen never knew how unbalanced he was, until now. Upon seeing his wobbling legs, he wanted to avoid falling onto the hard, unforgiving cavern floor again, and extends his hand. Xen's palm fell onto his companions shoulder, which then he uses to support himself. And to his surprise the small frame Engghaen possessed; seemingly fragile, held him up and supports him.

Xen did not feel okay with a young maiden holding his body weight; though, he was only slightly taller than she was, Engghaen also was suffering from the same mysterious sickness. So, as he uses his companion as a support, he leans closer to her, showing less reluctance than before.“ We'll be out in no time,” Xen said reassuringly. With their combined strength Xen was certain they could escape from this dark and drowsiness inducing abyss. He'd become her support, as she was his.

[Matthew]

Xen

Experience Points:

• +2 Endurance
• +2 Leadership
• +1 Planning
• +1 Rhetoric
• +1 Stealth

Lores:

• Endurance: Fighting Disease
• Endurance: Fighting through Fatigue
• Leadership: Supporting a Wounded Comrade
• Leadership: Taking Charge

If you have any questions or concerns relevant to your grade, don't be afraid to send me a private message so that we can work it all out! Please remember to mark your Grading Request as Graded.

A shout-out to Ollic Rimesage, who was kind enough to make this template for me.