[Flashback] Bones and Snakescales (Bones)

by **Wrenmae** on April 5th, 2012, 8:02 am

While Bones wrestled with the first step to morphing, Wrenmae stared into the fire. He found himself more transfixed by it these evening than others, the way the flames moved was almost...special, strange? It was as if it was reacting to the Djed in the area. It moved and twisted in the ways he imagined the magic might. What he felt when he used Hypnotism, what he felt...when he morphed. This shapeless stream of energy was all that encompassed his understanding. Djed was the essence of everything, the reality around them and more. For some reason, the sentient races had a wealth of it within them and with enough manipulation...anything was possible, nearly anything.

He didn't notice the first parts of Bones transformation, only looking up as his pants slid away from him with shocked surprise. What he thought was some sort of accidental stripping was far more sinister. Bones had become something...serpentine, half human and half snake. Screaming, Wrenmae fell backwards, away from the fire, scrambling to put distance between them and yanked his dagger back to menace the monstrosity.

It was only when it spoke again that he realized it was Bones. Bones...the man had become something...else.

Instant guilt, overwhelming sorrow. What had he done?! He had not cautioned the trouble of morphing, how it can twist and mutate the form! What a fool! He had instructed with the best of intentions but never this! Gods! Never this!

"Oh gods, you can speak. Good...good," He approached the fire, sheathing his blade and holding both hands out. "What...what did you do? This shouldn't be possible! Gods I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Trying to think, he ruffled through his backpack, looking for ink and a quill. "I can try to reverse this! I can...erm...um, I think I know how...just...just remain calm. If you can, try to relax your Djed and let yourself change back naturally. Shyke...shyke..." He muttered, retrieving it at last. "I can try to use glyping and morphing to help you regain your shape...but erm...I mean, it should go back normally...I...Gods I'm so sorry!"

by **Ssafirsotibones** on April 13th, 2012, 2:20 am

As Wrenmae flipped out at Bones transformation, he could not help but find it funny. What had been a spur of the moment practical joke, had turned into something much better than he had envisaged. It was almost like Bones had become the embodiment of some fear Wren had in relation to morphing, which had made it all the more scary, and all the more funny.

Bones simply looked over at Wren, faking a confused look on his face. "Can talk? Of course I can talk... What do you mean? I..." But Bones could not keep it in any further, and started laughing, a odd deep throat-ed hissy laughter, which was slightly unnerving. He laughed so hard he fell down, and rolled around on the ground.

It took him a chime or so, but he finally managed to stop, and got back up. "I am sssorry... I could not help it... It wasss to opportune of a moment... I told you I would explain myssself, and ssisss isss my way... I could already do ssisss, it hasss nothing to do wiss your flesssh magic."

Bones simply looked at the man. He had wanted to know his tale... And he had agreed to do so... So here it was...

"I am not a human... I am a dhani... And able to ssshift my form asss you know sssee. I have been able to look like ssisss, for longer ssan I could look like a human."

by **Wrenmae** on April 14th, 2012, 1:10 am

His heart beat a ratat of confused rhythm, the implications of accidentally overgiving a newly taught human into such a confused hybridization of snake and man was a crushing affront to the teaching of magic and his own development. What if that happened to him? How could this man possibly survive now? How could he speak?

Wait...how could he speak?

The ghastly noise coming from the Dhani at first registered as choking, but with his elaboration, it was laughter. The goddamn snake person had pulled a trick on him! Gasping, hand to his heart, Wrenmae blinked solidly a few times, willing himself to calm down. It was normal, he was a Dhani. Like Vanet on the road to Alvadas...this was the third form. Human, Snake, and...this. It took a few moment for him to breathe normally again, willing himself to calm down in the face of this startling transformation. Muscles rippled under scaly skin and dangerous cold eyes regarded him over the leaping illumination of the fire.

It took several more moments before Wrenmae was able to stand again, rubbing his hands together as he approached the Dhani nervously. In this light, not presented by a grave sin of overgiving but rather an awesome transformation, he was quiet...almost reverent. Bones was huge, a beat certainly, but one in complete control of himself. Would that Wrenmae could approach morphing at that level, mimic the coiled muscles, that overwhelming power. Hesitantly he held out a hand, almost to Bones' arm and then withdrew it, nervous of the implications.

"This comes easily to you? Then why learn morphing from me? This is greater than my magics...certainly...I think." It gave him pause to think...could he mimic a similar transformation?

"I..." He paused, quieted again, "Would you find it insulting if I asked to try and mimic that shape with my own magic?" He stepped back as he said it, wary of the serpentine head, the movements of the powerful creature, "I've met one of your kind before, but she was much smaller...and from the desert of Ekytol." He sat back near the fire again, taking another roasting piece of bear meat and taking a hesitant bite. "Where do you come from?"

by **Ssafirsotibones** on April 14th, 2012, 2:29 am

Bones was finally able to calm himself completely, and was rather happy to see that the human was not to upset. Apparently he could take a joke. Which was a good quality in a human. One that was not as often found in dhani. He himself had mellowed in time, but was still pretty volatile, and not one to be trifled with.

Finally it seemed that Wrenmae had managed to also calm himself, and then the questions recommenced, as he knew they would. He watched as the man reached out a hand, fearing to touch him, and coming just short of actually doing it

He seemed to hold Bones transformation with a good deal of reverence, and a good bit of fear along with it, as he should. So many others underestimated him, at there own folly. Though he smiled to himself, if he thought this form was grand, just over 20 feet... He could not imagine what he would think of his snake form, which was easily twice as big and long.

Though he did have a question, why did Bones want to learn to morph, when he could do this? It was a good question, one he could not expect him to understand so easily by seeing him.

"True I can change to ssessse formsss at will... But only to ssessse formsss... Wiss your magicsss, I gain greater flexibility... And could you imagine if I wasss able to combine sse two? To use ssisss asss my bassse form, what I could end up asss? Much greater ssan anyssing your sssmall human form could... I sssuppose you can try... Ssough I do not ssink it isss asss sssimple asss you might ssink..."

As he mentioned the fact of meeting another dhani, one that was tiny, and from the land of sands and no water, or the desert, he knew right away what he spoke of... "Vipers..." he growled under his breath... Those Serxesnas... They were not fit to be called true dhani as he was... Better than humans, but only just.

"Were do I come from? From my mosser, ssat isss were! Don't ssey teach you humansss birssing?" Bones smiled, laughing once more at his comment. He was feeling playful today, and enjoyed teasing the human a bit.

" But I sssuppossse you mean from what land I come from... I wasss born and raisssed in Falyndar, to sse sssouth, in sse great junglesss. It isss wessst of ssat land of sssand and no water. And ssough you may have met what called itssself a dhani, it wasss not a true one asss I. Ssossse viper offssshoot are not true dhani, asss we conssstrictor are. Ssey are nossing but mutated little ssingsss... Altered by sse great ssstormsss of long ago... Ssey are no longer true dhani asss I am... No longer as big and ssstrong."

speech :

by **Wrenmae** on April 14th, 2012, 7:31 am

He shook his head lethargically, looking back to the fire with a vague smile, "I wouldn't think a full body transformation WOULD be easy, just that I'd like to try to emulate that form." Momentarily he thought about patting the ground next to him to indicate Bones should take a seat...but the impossability of doing it while he was in this form stopped the progress and instead he put both arms behind him to support learning back. "The jungles huh?" He whistled, "Pretty far from here...not somewhere I've been before, I heard it was dangerous...not the kind of place I'd do well in." He smiled again, faintly. Part of him wanted to go to the jungle, explore what there was to explore, see what there was to see...but he was still frail, as he was, and Falyndar was out of his travel area.

It would have to wait for another time, another day.

"Not Dhani, huh?" He murmured, thinking of Vanet and the caravan. He hadn't seen much of a difference, not really. Smaller maybe, but she spoke of having better venom. In the end, weren't they just like different species of each other? Did it matter? Bones seemed resolute on the fact, so Wrenmae thought it best not to bring it up...but still he thought. Maybe there were other kinds of Dhani as well. Did they all talk with vague hissing lisps? That might be helpful for identification.

He chuckled, pumping his shoulders up helplessly and getting to his feet, "Morphing is one of those skills that require a lot of work, a lot of practice, and a lot of trial and error. Sometimes things stick, things you have to tear out or do something with...there's always a danger with magic." He held both his hands together, bringing them apart slowly and focusing on nothingness, blackness, the purity of empty silence. There was nothing for the longest time, just his hands just a bit apart from each other.

He emptied his mind, tried to put the thoughts of shape shifting and Dhani's from it, his whole debacle in Alvadas, everything...set it aside for a moment to remember what Seidaku had taught him.

There was the Void.

That was what mattered.

And then, it was there, a tiny pinprick of absolute shadow, i absorbed the light of the fire and hovered there, between his hands. Gingerly, Wrenmae turned his right hand over, the tiny void hovering there above it, quiet and unassuming.

It was simply there.

"This is another discipline," he said quietly, holding it out toward Bones, "Voiding...calling the element of nothing into the world. I can only do a little, but I hear tell of masters that can swallow people whole." He shivered, replacing the emptieness with something, banishing the little portal.

"It's an addiction," he said at last, quietly, almost ashamed, "It gets under your skin, makes you want to do it more and more." Glancing up at Bones, Wrenmae removed his shirt and set it aside. "I want to try and grasp this shape, but apart from that and a bit of malediction, I can't use much more Djed tonight...I'll exhaust myself."

by **Ssafirsotibones** on April 14th, 2012, 2:51 pm

The jungles... He thought back... Yes, it was quite dangerous... Not a good place for the unskilled to visit... The food though... Meat on every corner... Much more than could be found in the mountains, which was only sparsely populated.

He could imagine though what would happen if this man were to visit... He doubted he would last long... Besides all of the threats of nature, perhaps the greatest of all was that of the Myrians, who hated the dhani with a vehemence... Even though there were so few of them left...

Then he heard his tone in reply, when he had mentioned the vipers not being true dhani... Well, he would just have to show him the difference.

"Trussst me... We are greatly differing... Perhapsss if you like, I will ssshow you my sssnake form... Ssen sse dissstinction between usss will be clear..."

He smiled, thinking of this, his monstrously huge dhani form, which seemed unnaturally big for any creature to get. It was almost impossible to use it in cities without being caught... But out in the wild, it was much easier.

He heard Wren speaking on magic, but what really got his attention was the nothingness he created. He flinched away when he saw it, he almost instinctively knew it was unnatural, and should not be touched...

He let out a pent up breath upon it vanishing, and his demeanor visibly relaxed. He was definitely glad it was gone...

"Well you can do asss you wisssh... And ssen if you like I will ssshow my sssnake form..."

by **Wrenmae** on April 14th, 2012, 10:32 pm

Approaching the Dhani gingerly, Wrenmae reached up and brushed a hand along the scales on his arm. The forearm bulged with dense musculature, barely restrained by the thick scales that ran along his body up to his head. Wrenmae could't reach the head, but studied the angle, the way the jaw protruded, how the snake head seemed around the size if not a bit larger than a human skull. Wide shoulders, thick muscles, and a powerful tale that seemed to begin somewhere around the bottom of the chest and then protrude out behind him. Dhani were literally moving muscles, everything in their body so densely packed that he wouldn't be surprised if their front line defense besides the interlocking scales was the thick layers of muscle that guarded the organs from damage.

He ran his thumb against the scales on Bones' arm again, indenting to feel the vigor of the muscles beneath. Morphing was less about mimicking the physical appearence as it was embracing the physical form. Novice morphers entertained themselves with vague mimicries, but the farther one got into the art of real morphing, the more the outside appearance was pointless compared to the stuff behind the skin.

Stepping back, Wrenmae brought Djed up into his body from where it resided within him, concentrating on just the arm at first. He had mimicked scales before, but always found them hard. One had to minutely interlock them piece by piece, like armor, if a useful application of them was to be respected. At the same time, he concentrated on his musculature, forcing the lines of power in his arm to grow thicker, to push outward, to surround his bones and veins like an impenetrable wall of sheer force. He held the arm out by the fire, letting the light play over the darkening of his skin, the pattern of scales hissing along the length of his arm, popping out and mimicking Bones' own scales. They bubbled at first, twisted with strange designs and poor worksmanship, but Wrenmae concentrated on it, forcing the scales into shape and order with a constant application of Djed and patience. His arm bulged disproportionately from the other, resembling Bones's natural toned shape than his own. The weight caused Wrenmae to kneel, his shoulder in agony at the sudden application of new force.

Immediately he let go of the morph, his arm shaping and dwindling back, skin whipping back smoothly and the arm shrinking back to its normal shape. Wrenmae breathed, taking a seat and putting a hand against his head. It was dizzying, working so hard, but he smiled at Bones and clenched the reformed hand.

"Shoulders first then, I think that's a good lesson to remember." he chuckled, "Body can't support the weight of your arm without the right safeguards in place...whew."

He put both arms over his knees and nodded, thoughtful, "Let me take a break for a moment and see your snake form...I mean, if you don't mind showing me."

by **Ssafirsotibones** on April 15th, 2012, 12:48 am

Bones simply stood there, feeling the human skin against his smooth interlocked scales. It kind of tickled, feeling him brush his hand across Bones, and he let out an involuntary shiver.

He simply watched, as Wrenmae inspected him, and appreciated his form. He smiled, about as much as he could with his snake head, as he clearly tried to figure out his underlying nature. He was evidently trying to ingrain it in his memory, his form and body.

Then Wren stepped back, focusing on something within. He watched as the man tried to work his arm up, and it grew waxy, smearing and bubbling like water in a pot. It moved from one form to another, as he tried to get the scales right, and eventually did. But he also saw as the mans arm bulged, trying to appear as his own much larger one. He watched as he dropped to a knee, pain clearly over his face as his shoulder and joint popped. he had forgotten to adjust it first.

He should have known, as any shape-shifter did, you always started at the base, and worked out to the extremities. It was like a tree and roots, you always had to prepare the roots, before the tree could grow larger.

He watched as Wrenmae released it, his skin restricting, shrinking back to its base form. Bones looked down at him as he huffed and puffed, trying to calm his breathing and rest. He might have done a bit to much there.

"Yesss, ssshouldersss firssst... Before a tree can grow larger, firssst itsss rootsss mussst accommodate sse growss. I would imagine flesssh magic isss sse sssame. And sssure I will ssshow my sssnake form... I will bet it isss different to sse one you previously sssaw.... A true dhani in sssnake form..."

Bones slithered a bit away, getting clear of Wren, before changing. Once he was safely away, he started his change, going to snake form. His body shifted again, as he lay down and his body shifted and stretched.

His human torso shrunk in, getting sleek and scaly, becoming a huge body of a snake. His head grew even larger, and his body stretched, getting far longer, even his tail stretching out. He just kept getting larger and larger, more than twice as long as he had been as his dhani form. He ended up at a massive 44 feet 2 inches long, from tail end to snout.

He shifted his body at the neck, swinging his large head over to look at Wrenmae. He let out a long hiss, just to show off, and be a bit more snaky.

He highly doubted Wren had ever seen such a thing, one that looked like it could send an entire cart flying with a lazy twitch of its tail, or smash a building to rubble with another.

by **Wrenmae** on April 16th, 2012, 12:09 pm

The snake was awe inspiring, huge beyond his calculations. The length of it stretched along the mountain and vanished between the stones, but as he rose, Wrenmae could well imagine a creature like this swallowing him whole. Bones was a beast beyond scope, a creature of three easily transitioning shapes that overwhelmed the human with the sheer amount of possibilities. These creatures, these Dhani, they were at once rare and strangely alluring while maintaining the terror of their possibility. He took a moment to absorb the snake form of his companion, comparing it to the much smaller viper Dhani he had met on the road. The difference in their size was readily apparent, an impossible distinction to confuse.

So, was it that they measured strength and purity of breed by size then? If so, could it be applied to the other races as well? Did taller Isur's rule the best? Or did humans relegate importance by height? Sometimes he felt they might, a subconcious distinction between the surviving and the soon-to-be-dead. Weakness was associated with being small, being downtrodden, being hidden.

Without saying a word to the snake, unsure if the creature could converse in human tongue any longer, Wrenmae pooled the Djed beneath his skin once more, shaping the muscles and bones of his shoulders this time first, before moving to the arms. Once more his skin distended, speckled with scales, and finally exploded outward. His arms followed next, blossoming from their thin, frail, appearance into trunks disproportionate to his body. Wrenmae knelt, his hair shading straining eyes as he hissed effort into his neck and head, feeling his bones shift and warp, melting and reforming like cartilage, to some other design.

His nose pushed out, melding with his jaws. It pushed forward, his skin receding, hair vanishing to become scales, and his eyes flattening, glimmering the same golden gleam of Bones' own. He should have stopped then, taken a break and let the morph revert, but something about the ease that his companion transformed motivated Wrenmae to try the same.

He pulled off his pants, discarding them as his legs thickened and warped together, forcing him onto the ground. Spitting, hissing, almost crying in effort, the boy warped the legs together, running bone and muscles along them, thickening them, pushing them out, becoming more and more like the vision of power and serpentine grace he'd seen before. His ribs warped, muscles reformed, a touch of bronze and copper spread across the scales with flashes and brilliant hues, his own design, as the tale forced more and more muscle into its shape to hold him up.

When he had finished, Wrenmae was in a hybrid Dhani form, his chest rising and falling harshly, sibilant hisses between the breaths, and although a bit smaller than Bones had been, he's increased his mass significantly, felt larger, taller, stronger than he ever did before.

Of course, he hadn't learned how to slither, and as soon as he went to take a step, he fell, hands driving against the rock to allow him to be upright again. He cursed it, holding the Djed and his form together and turning a flat stare at Bones.

"How can you move like thissss?"

by **Ssafirsotibones** on May 17th, 2012, 12:26 am

Bones would have smiled if he could in his snake form, upon seeing Wren see his form. It was true, that his snake form was amazing, even to those that had seen other "dhani." Not until one saw a true dhani, a constrictor, did you see what a dhani was truly meant to be, there true possibility and power... Raw power...

Then Wren tried once more to copy what he saw Bones doing... Trying to take on his form through his flesh magic... Or at least a rough imitation of it. Not a very good one... He doubted any human could truly get there form right all of the way through... Not unless they knew of flesh and bones and such, and had seen the inner workings of a dhani... Much of the innards of one were so different from what appeared within a human...

He almost laughed as he moved on trying to alter his head and face... Though it simply came out as a long hiss, which was most likely unnerving to any living thing that heard it... He had seen many a creature pull away at it, respecting that with a lap of his tongue, a twist of his neck... They could be digesting in his belly.

He did wonder though if the human was only shifting his outer layer of flesh... Or doing a true transformation, and shifting the underlying bone, morphing them, and along with it the outer bits... Though perhaps that was a easier concept for a dhani to understand, being a natural morpher, than a human normally trapped in there one physical form. Bones could not imagine what he would do if that happened to him, and he could not transform.

Then he saw the complete form... Which aesthetically looked more or less right... But from his hissing breath, and his heaving chest, he doubted that he had managed to correctly work the innards so as to compensate for the larger body. He appeared to have forgotten that he was larger, and needed to take in more air. Which meant enlarging the organs which allowed him to do so... His heart... Lungs... And such. He would not be surprised if he passed out.

How could he move like this? Quite easily. He looked at Wren, and then moved forward in his practiced fashion. Oscillating his body. Each bit following the single track that the bit before it did. If he kept going in the same direction, and headed forward, his entire length, each part of him, would go through the same motions, passing through the same space that his head currently rested in. Following its own track.

Really moving in snake form was easy... He would imagine it was rather like if in human form... You laid on the ground, and pushed yourself along with your feet. Though since a human form was not really meant for that. In this form, it also involved a bit of twisting...

But quite simply, he pushed at the ground with his tail, with his body, and he moved in the opposite direction. It was the reason snakes moved as they did... The reason it was possible for them to swim on the surface of the water without changing how they moved... They simply pushed at what they were on, and they moved in the opposite direction.

Though could Wren figure that out? Well, Bones would give him some time to do so, as he moved along, showing off for Wren, moving over next to him, around, and back to were he started, were he would look Wren in the eyes, and give another long hiss.