Flashback The Water Snake

[Ixzo]

81st of Summer, 511AV, YearAV
7th Bell, Morning
Kandukto Basin

"Here, Ixzo." Her mother handed her a fist-full of wet clay. "Put this over your face and shoulders." She instructed, taking some of her own clay and smearing it across her face. Ixzo followed the instruction, doing the same. The grainy sand stung on her bare skin, but the Kelvic didn't mind as she made sure to cover her dark skin in the light mud. They were standing just outside a particularly large bamboo forest just outside the Kandukto Basin. Her mother had been tasked to eliminate an intruder, of which Ixzo cheerily volunteered to help with.

"Remain human for this one, child." The elephant spoke low, taking a hand to add more clay to her forehead and over her hair. Irritated, Ixzo would have preferred to hunt as her lion form. Then she could climb trees easier, see better and generally do better with what limited skills she did possess. But silence was key at the moment as her mother placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. Quietly the pair melted into the bamboo. Ixzo was not as good at her mother with stealth. Even though the woman was an elephant, massive by nature, she had the quietest tread among her whole clan. The young lioness tried to match her mother's footsteps. Tlili would balance the balls of one foot on a rock sticking out of the moss, and while still balance on that foot, her mother would maneuver her torso around a cluster of bamboo to silently place the other foot in between two fallen bamboo stocks.

Not hoping to copy such an elaborate move, Ixzo carefully placed her entire foot on the same rock, wincing as the tough mineral dug into the sensitive pad of her foot. Her mother paused, waiting for Ixzo's move, but instead of attempting to go such a long distance, she eyed the step back down to the moss on the ground, sure it would be quiet. Carefully, she placed her weight on the moss, which gave way immediately cracking under foot. Panicked, Ixzo hopped off the moss. Tlili grinned reaching down to pick up the green patch of earth to reveal a nest of hatched eggs beneath.

[Ixzo]

Embarrassed, Ixzo formed an 'O' of realization with her mouth. Quietly, Tlili tapped the back of her knee, instructing her daughter to follow exactly.

It was an agonizing few chimes before Ixzo made it to the other side of the patch of bamboo, mostly silently. But as the two Kelvics crouched low on the edge of the bamboo, eyes scanning the shoreline before them, Ixzo realized her lack of silence would have made little difference. There was no supposes Dhani basking on the edge of the Basin. Carefully, Ixzo double-checked, watching the marks in the dirt on the shore. She could see the deep crevices in the dark brown soil where the snake had been, and the shuffling where he had likely transformed into one of his other forms. Ixzo moved closer to her mother, keeping her voice as low as possible as she whispered her realization in her ear.

"He is in the Basin." She noted, which earned her a nod of confirmation from her mother.

"He will come out soon." She answered, just as quietly. Ixzo nodded, reverting back to her crouch. Eyes on the mostly still basin. Small waves rippled through the dark morning water, a result of disturbances on the other shoreline, but not sign of movement beneath the waves.

It was chimes of waiting before Ixzo got aggravated. She knew she was more patient than the other teenagers at her maturity, but still, a girl could only wait so much.

"How long can he stay down there?" She leaned in to ask her mother once more.

"Long, stop moving," The elephant commanded in a shallow whisper. And they returned to watching. Almost half a bell later, Ixzo still watching as attentive as she thought possible through her impatience, slowly removed the long bow from her back. Careful not to disturb the bamboo around her, she positioned the bow towards the water. She pulled one of the nine arrows out of her quiver, and lined it up on the bow as she had been taught.

[Ixzo]

Her mother had turned her attention away from the basin for a moment to watch her daughter prepare her weapon, fixing her position when Ixzo ultimately did it wrong. With the bow positions, she continued to wait.

Finally, a bell passed, her fingers cramped on her bow, before there was a disturbance in the lake. Sure enough, the head of a Dhani broke the surface. Ixzo felt her mother moving beside her, probably readying her own weapon for when Ixzo missed her target. The Dhani's head and shoulders were above the surface as he glided back towards the shore, getting closer to them, unknowingly. A small grin parted her lips and Ixzo closed one eye, lining up the arrow on the moving figure.

"Wait." She heard the word in the breathe that her mother exhaled. Ixzo did as she was told, but kept following the figure with her bow, trying to determine how much force it would need to reach the snake, let alone impale him. The Dhani was half-way up the beach, only just realizing he was not alone when Tlili whistled the command.

Two arrows flew towards the Dhani, only one of which met its target. Her mother's arrow flew straight into the Dhani's arm, and Ixzo saw with giddy disgust as the tip broke off, but the shaft continued through his muscle. Her own arrow, even with a lot of force, flew wide, arcing into the Basin nowhere near her target. But Ixzo could only be allowed half-a-tick to watch this before she knew they had to grab the trespasser.


Her mother let out a shrill call of the hunt, spooking prey around them and warning any other Myrian's in the location that she had found her prey. Ixzo couldn't copy the shrill call, letting out an animal growl instead as she lept out of the bamboo with her mother. Her mother slipped a hatched from her belt, extending her arm to yank it horizontally across where the Dhani's head would be. Of course the snake dodged this attack, it wasn't very hard.

[Ixzo]

Teamwork, as her mother had taught her, was important. Ixzo, didn't bother with a weapon, lunging for the Dhani's torso where human flesh melted into scales. This, the Dhani didn't expect. The young teenager didn't have quite as much force as she would like, and only forced the Dhani back a few feet rather than knocking him down, but even if she had done so, her mouther was there in an instant. This time the hatchet hit home, and a spray of blood coated Ixzo's head as she ducked away. The Dhani clawed for her, his webbed fingers making a few hits on her skin, raking the flesh off. She whimpered at the pain, immediately distracted by the scratches down her arm.

Tlili didn't loose her focus however and Ixzo's eyes widened as her mother brought the hatched down once more. This time the result was not a squishy gush of blood, but an agonizing crack that made her wince as she realized what the sharp weapon had hit. Once more, and the Dhani's head rolled clean off.

But like any dead snake, his tail kept warping and twisting around. Hundreds of pounds of weight that Ixzo and her mother had to avoid as his muscles convulsed after death. Ixzo giggled at the eerie affair, ducking under the tip of his weirdly shaped tail to scoop the bloody head up in her arm.

"Careful!" Tlili shouted as Ixzo cradled the cheek of his head in her hands. Sharp Dhani teeth immediately sunk into her fingers and she growled in aggravation, digging her other hand into his eyes. But the head didn't let go.

"The muscles, spasm after death." Tlili hissed, snatching the head from Ixzo's hands, peeling his teeth off of her bloody fingers. Ixzo watched in awe when as soon as her fingers were released, the Dhani's jaw snapped down with such extreme force, she saw one of his teeth crack under the pressure.

"Myri almighty…" She gasped and the elephant when from serious to amused.


"Wash your hand. Time to skin in." Ixzo nodded, stepping over to the water, past his twitching torso and tail, and stuck her hand in, swishing it around the black liquid for a moment before bringing it back to examine it. Ixzo grimaced at the pain and the fact that it would not stop bleeding. Thinking quick, the kelvic unwrapped her bandeau, stuffing her bloody hand in the white cotton, which immediately turned red. Still grimacing at the stinging pain, Ixzo wrapped the clothe as tightly as she could with one hand.

[Ixzo]

"Ma!" She whined, a little panicked when she couldn't get the clothe to stay. The older Kelvic was at her side in an instant, not needing an explanation to see what she was doing.

"Well, now you know better," She scolded, unwrapping the cotton to readjust it before tightly wounding her hand up in her bandeau. "Snakes, most of them, will have muscle spasms after death. You give them a few chimes before you start messing with them, especially their heads." Ixzo turned her head down. So excited to had participated on a hunt with her mother but ultimately ashamed at the stupid action that ended with a bloody hand.

"You take this to Bantil when we get back. You won't skin until she makes sure you won't get sick. Those Dhani are nasty creatures, you don’t know what is in his mouth." Her mother tucked the end of the cloth in, patting her wrist gently before dropping it. She picked up the longbow, hooking it over Ixzo's shoulder.

After the silence, they heard the rustling of leaves on the edge of the canopy, and Ixzo looked over to see one of the Shorn Skull's patrols. He was mounted on his Ixam, which came to a halt on the edge of the branch where it had climbed up.

"Everything okay, you two?" The guard asked.

"Just fine-- " Ixzo prepared to answer, but her mother interrupted.

"Just some pest control. Help us carry the body back so she can skin her kill." Tlili patted Ixzo on the back. The Myrian grinned at the clean kill, knowing just as well as her that she might not have done much in aiding.


"Great one, girl. You're making Myri proud." He humored her and Ixzo rolled her eyes at the adult. She wasn't that young, she knew when she had actually helped with a hunt and when they were just setting her up. But the man had disappeared back into the Canopy, his Ixam appearing a few ticks later on the ground. The Myrian hoped off his mouth, coming over to evaluate the creature.

[Ixzo]

"A kid." He stated, looking sideways at her mother. Noticing this, Ixzo stepped closer, looking down at the Dhani as well and realizing how small it was.

"Wonder why he was this far out." Tlili added, glancing at her daughter. The two continued murmuring in confusion and Ixzo moved over to the tail of the Dhani, noticing the strange paddle-like structure and the rubbery looking scales.

"He isn't Dhani." She said outload, moving back towards the torso. She picked up his hand, showing the adults his webbed fingers. "Not completely." She murmured, eyeing the claws, which still had bits of her flesh lodged beneath them. "You think they can mate with those sea-things in the west?" She thought outload, which earned a chuckle from her mother.

"The Charodae? Can't be possible." Tlili dismissed the thought. "Perhaps we haven't seen this kind before. We know of the constrictors, the vipers and the rattlesnakes. Surely there are water-snakes as there are in animals." Her mother rationalizing, which only made Ixzo more excited as she thought about it.

"Can I have his scalp? Oh please, please can I have his scalp?" She pleaded with her mother realizing the rarity of the kill. If she could start her own Cloak of Fallen with a rare scalp, how cool would that be.

"Warriors don't beg!" Tlili snapped. "Help us take him home." She motioned towards his head, and Ixzo lowered hers, scooping up the now still skull. She didn't actually say no, so it was still a possibility, wasn't it?

[Dravite]

Ixzo

XP Award:

• Stealth: 2
• Camouflage: 1
• Hunting: 2
• Observation: 3
• Socialisation: 2
• Rhetoric: 1
• Wilderness Survival, Jungle: 2
• Weapon, Longbow: 1
• Unarmed Combat: 1
• Intimidation: 1
• Cleaning: 1
• Medicine: 1

Lore:

• Clay: Camouflage
• Stealth: Moving slowly
• Stealth: A waiting game
• Tlili: A good teacher
• Hunting: Teamwork
• Dhani: Snake people
• Snakes: Muscles spasm after death
• Medicine: Basics of slowing bleeding
• Jungle Ixam: Fit for riding
• Myri: Goddess of War

Notes: Beautiful little hunting thread. The relationship between mother and daughter seemed very natural which made the read very enjoyable, more please! Let me know if you think I have missed anything here and be sure to edit your grading request!

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