Flashback Swanson the Snake, Kuvarakh the Sailor,

[Licearsvansan]

Svan laughed. Or at least he would have if he hadn't just been blasted with hypnotism. Instead Svan dropped immediately away from the ledge and began slithering away. He, with his weak mind, got about five meters away before he even bothered to question why he was doing this. He glanced back towards Kuv, confused, "What the petch?! Why did- I don't..."Svan shook his head and began slithering back towards the Nuit. Still somewhat under the effects of the spell, Svan chose to stop on a ledge about three meters away from Kuv and a foot above him.

The snake was frowning...or rather it seemed as if it was trying to frown. "People don't like Nuits much either, I'm not your enemy, Stick with the truth." Svan said each one mockingly back towards the undead man. It was fairly obvious by the tone of his voice and the scowl on his face that he was VERY offended. "Well look who is the hypocrite now! Do you understand why I don't go shouting my secret to the heavens? You tell people your story and you get sympathy. Me? I show people what I really look like and suddenly they start asking questions they never thought they would have to ask themselves. Like, 'I wonder if he thinks I'm tasty?', or 'I wonder how fast I could hop away if he ripped off one of my legs?' Do you get it now?" If Svan had ears, smoke would have been pouring out of them like a bad exhaust pipe. He normally didn't get this angry, but the wave of disgust he had been hit with had set off his temper. He didn't like it when people viewed him as a monster, but it hurt even more to see himself as one. Not one to wallow around in self pity, he had rebelled against his own sorrow with rage. It wasn't the best way to handle things but getting angry was far more productive than moping around so he didn't bother to try and change it.

Luckily, the cool mist of the sea breeze was quickly relaxing Svan. His temper, while still alight, was eventually brought down to a simmer. The snake folded his arms like an upset child and glared down at the man.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself."

[Kuvarakh]

"SYMpathy??....HYPocrite?....SAY for myself? What are...How can you...?" Kuvarakh sputtered. "Where do you get off with that shyke? Just how receptive do you think people are to a shambling corpse in need of a new body? They assume most Nuits to be stalking some poor sap to murder and take his body. At least you CAN look like a normal human when you want. I can't go ten days before I start showing my...condition. No one HAS to shout MY secret to the petching heavens!"

He took several deep breaths, a strange empathy developing towards the Dhani, who was still clearly upset, though his reptilian features made it difficult to tell if it was "pure" anger or "hurt" anger. He went on a little quieter. "I did NOT lie, but you KNOW you have been. But I don't care so much that did, as that you seem to think you HAD to. What have I done to make you think I'm looking to expose your secret?"

He started to grin, "Be honest, you know damn well you snuck up on me in that form just to watch me shyke my pants. Well, it may amuse you to know that, since this body DID eat recently, and since those...systems...no longer function with me in charge, The whole aspect of crapping my pants IS a legitimate detail I will have to contend with for many days until it...fully...drains." he made a face.

"We have to spend a crazy percentage of our time keeping clean. We have no sort of natural disinfecting or purifying functions in our body. I'll be wiping my petching ass for a whole season! Normally, I can take the time to do some embalming and...eliminate...this problem before I...jump in! But I didn't have that luxury this time, did I?"

Lyseer still had not reacted with any debate. His face registered some thinking, but the reptilioid nature was a completely new experience for Kuvarakh, and he had nothing to gauge the attitude behind the scales. He seemed to be giving it thought, however. Kuvarakh took a step forward, hand extended. "So what do you say? Call it even? There's no reason for us to be at odds. And hey, I'm sorry about the mental blast there, but really, it's your own fault, scaring me like that. It's a reflex"

A shrill voice suddenly interrupted in a mocking tone from the higher crest of the cliff, where a old-looking woman, leaning on a leafy staff and dressed in hermit-like rags, stood with a gap-toothed grin and a pipe in hand. "Aww, don't do that! You two are much funnier when you're trying to one-up each other!"

[Licearsvansan]

As should be expected, the man had quite a bit to say. The Nuit did have a point. Unlike Kuv, Svan never had to deal with the trouble of switching bodies, and having to switch as often as once every ten days would easily put a damper on his travels. And Kuv was right about Svan's ability to hide as well. The cold blooded reptile could easily hide in civilization....as long as he didn't touch anyone or say anything. Svan was simply fortunate that he looked down on other races enough to not to want to interact with them.

When the man paused Svan was about to launch into his own defence, but the sudden calm in his voice caught the snake off guard. What HAD this man done to warrant any deception. Svan had been lying to this man long after he had proved himself trust worthy. The serpent began to rub the back of his head guiltily. He knew he was in the wrong. His lies had caused all sorts of trouble for this man and he hadn't deserved any of it. To make matters worse, the Nuit began going into detail about all the clean up work he would have to do because of him having to switch bodies. it made Svan feel guilty.....but it also made him laugh. The sound was something akin to that of a deflating balloon as the snake did his best to conceal his amusement. He managed to stiffle it for a tick or two, but it only resulted in the laugh bursting out even harder when he failed. The Dhani leaned against a rock and began slinking down to the ground in a fit of giggles. It really shouldn't have been this funny, but the joke got hit home somewhere between his sadistic nature and his childish sense of humor. "Eve-even? Yeah, w-we're even," He replied between laughs. Just as Svan finished speaking,

"Aww, don't do that! You two are much funnier when you're trying to one-up each other!" A third voice spoke out.

Svan felt his lungs nearly pop as he tried to gasp in shock mid laugh. With one hand at his throat and one over his heart, the snake collapsed. "By the Gods above, don't do that!" The Dhani shook himself as he used the rocky wall the stand himself back up. "Seriously, why the petch did you need to-" The woman glanced over to Kuv, "Oh...Well its nice to meet you Karma, people always told me that you were a bitch but I never knew they meant it literally." The dirt colored snake scowled at the old woman. He didn't much care for eavesdroppers. The "clean up" work that was involved with them was rarely ever easy.

"So aside from trying to scare the scales off of me is there something that you want?"

[Kuvarakh]

If not for Mr. Swanson's reaction, Kuvarakh would surely have gotten mocking applause for his display of staggering clumsiness. He straightened with a jerk, as though he'd just gotten an electric shock, and spun, losing his footing and falling painfully amongst a cluster of rocks. The woman's eyes sparkled with mischievous satisfaction as the Dhani replied indignantly, "By the Gods above, don't do that!" The snake-man braced himself against the wall for support as he rose, continuing to protest her sudden appearance, "Seriously, why the petch did you need to-"

Kuvaakh looked over at Lyseer to see why he cut off his complaint, and saw him direct a scowl at the woman. Kuvarakh looked back at her as well then, and was somewhat unsettled to see that penetrating gaze directed, without the previous hint of amusement, at himself. He winced as the Dhani lowered the bar of courtesy further with a comparative remark regarding the woman, bitches and Karma.

A glint of upcoming wit gleamed in her eyes as she popped down the rocky cliff face like a mountain goat. "You two rub your bruised pride even better than your bruised butts! Maybe you ARE as amusing when you...attempt...to work together." she said the word as if it were a travesty.

She stopped suddenly, her eyes locking with lethal intensity on something lying on the ground between the two inept adversaries. "Which of you two is responsible for that?" her finger stabbed the air in the direction of the necklace, lying forgotten in the sandy mud.

Kuvarakh knew that HE had found it in the sea the day before, but that Lyseer had had the foresight to bring it with him. On the one hand, it could be that the woman was going to be grateful for its return. On the other, she may be irritated at the disregard with which it was left lying in the mud. On an imaginary third hand, it may be a vitally important artifact that will make him a hero for finding it. On yet a fourth hand, it may be a diabolically cursed item, from pre-Valterian times, banished from the realm of Mizahar, only to be unearthed by the cataclysm of the gods, and re-inflicted upon the world by the ignorance of an inept Nuit alchemist.

Kuvarakh paused a moment and made his decision. "HE did it!" he snapped, his hand flying to direct an accusing finger at Lyseer. There was an odd tone and echo to his words, and he looked at the Dhani to find a similarly apprehensive look on the reptilian face, and an identical finger pointed back at him.

[Licearsvansan]

Its not that Svan was afraid of the woman.....

He just wasn't interested in having his name tied to whatever eldrich horrors were about to be unleashed from the trinket. The last thing he needed was for some kind of soul devouring, mind flaying, kitten kicking beast to spew forth from the ancient looking necklace and go around telling people that it was all Svan's fault. If the last day or so had revealed anything, it was that Svan could make his own trouble.

"HE did it!" A echoed voice rang out in mutual damnation.

The look of betrayal and bewilderment on his serpentine face should have been apparent even to humans. "YOU! You petching..." Svan scoured the entire common language for the exact words to describe his rage, -PETCH!

"Oh that was original."

"Petch you."

"And the wit just keeps coming."

"Why- I-.....Arrruagh!" Svan exploded his arms towards the sky in a fit of frustrated rage. But then, just as his arms reached the peak of their accent, he froze. A moment of sudden calm passed through the snake, and his muscles relaxed. What was once a show of rage became of display of calm surrender. "No. I'm not going to do this." Svan calmly bowed his head. "I am going to be the better man here." That lasted all of two ticks before the snake's hands flipped from surrender to petch you. The snake grinned smugly as a pair of middle fingers sailed high in the sky towards Kuv.

As he slowly lowered his hands and raised his head, a vindictive gaze fell upon the Nuit. "Last I checked, I wasn't the one coming back from the dead with the necklace proudly wrapped around my pale-arse neck. In fact, the only reason I ever had that necklace at all was because you had dropped it back in the-" A wave of panic swept over Svan like the tide as it dawned on him that perhaps the Nuit had lost the necklace on purpose. And here he was admitting to having unearthed from its watery grave once again. He shot a worried expression over too the woman. "But-but-but wait!" Gods, he sounded like a 9 year old child trying to justify his bad grades. The Dhani shot another accusatory finger towards Kuv, "You thanked me for bringing it back to you!" He said, suddenly remembering what Kuv had once said. Irony would have it that Svan would not have been able to recall such words if the Nuit hadn't said it in such an odd manner. "You didn't loose it on purpose, you wanted it back. The only reason you let it go was because you changed bodies!" The snake shouted as he announced that, yes, he had been spying on Kuv.

The woman grinned cleverly at the two of them. "And so there goes the shortest truce Mizahar has ever seen."

[Kuvarakh]

For all its reptilian features, the Dhani's face displayed a tantrum every bit as well as a human's. His sudden calm and feigned maturity, followed up by smugly delivered gestures of vulgar triumph, could have been performed no better by any brat of human origin.

Kuvarakh's sour expression spoke his muttered sarcasm, "Better man, eh?" more clearly than his voice. Letting the snake-man talk only got him to inadvertently reveal more of his falsehoods. By the time he finished shouting about Ku's last body swap, it was the Nuit that stood smugly, arms folded, with a wry grin on his face.

Kuvaraklh was about to launch into a rebuttal of his own, when the old woman cut him short, "And so there goes the shortest truce Mizahar has ever seen."

Now it was HIS turn to lash out with a series of whiny protests, accusing "Mr. Swanson" of deliberately misrepresenting the circumstances of those "half-truths" he was "tossing" around. Insisting that bringing back the necklace wasn't anything he'd done deliberately. He stammered in embarrassment as he realized how ridiculous this statement was. He tried to cover his gaffe by emphasizing how his opponent's remark clearly showed that HE WAS the snake after all.

The triumph of this remark died completely in the face of the Dhani's reptilian form. Obviously he was the snake! Falling back on stammering did nothing to rescue his dignity. Nor did his denial that he had thanked the fellow for returning the necklace. He quickly waved to dismiss that remark and raised his voice to admit his error even as the Dhani opened his mouth to vent his outrage.

As this was going on, the woman had made her way to stand beside Kuvarakh, who suddenly lurched away in shock to find her there. She gripped his wrist in a hand like hardwood and tore the necklace from his other hand.

"GIVE ME THAT!" she hissed, all humor vacant in her eyes as there was a tense pause. it seemed as though the very fabric of reality demanded her next gesture. She slapped Kuvarakh across the cheek, spinning on her heels to sap the energy from the mockery about to leave the Dhani's lips, as she glared at him, just daring him to do it.

"Now that is just about enough of that! Would you two idiots stop your feuding long enough to realize how useful you could be to the villagers here?" She slipped the necklace over her head, taking a deep calming breath. "And thank you for returning my necklace...BOTH of you."

[Licearsvansan]

The Dhani and Nuit waged their battle of blame for what seemed like hours...though was likely only a chime or so. Each had a nearly depleted arsenal of insults and things to find fault with in the other, but both had wit aplenty and the argument wore on even as the both of them ran out of insults to sling. At one point Svan was fairly sure that he had made up a word just counter what the man had said....but he thought he had made it sounded convincing.

Before their once clever argument could devolve into senseless babbling, the old woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and snatched the necklace from Kuv. Svan let out the slightest of chuckles and then caught sight of the woman's glare. Svan stopped so quickly that even the sound of his laughter seemed to freeze in place. He slowly closed his mouth and swallowed down all the jokes he had been ready to toss. The way she looked at him...he could practically see himself in them as pair of snakeskin boots. There was no reason an old lady should command such power over a monster like him, and yet Svan oddly found himself wondering how good his chances would be of escaping if he tried to run. Judging by the way she had jumped down here as deftly as an Okomo, he imagined that his chances were somewhere between negative and nonexistent.

He watched silently as the woman put on the necklace. Still to shaken by her glare to say or do anything else. And then...she thanked them.

That was unexpected. "Um, your welcome?" Svan looked at her sideways as if it would somehow give her words more sense. "You're necklace...? And wait- What do you mean useful to the villagers?" Svan looked over to Kuv. "Maybe you missed it but he body snatched a sailor, and there is a man walking around back there with a perforated leg because of me. Exactly how can we help them? Because aside from bloodletting, I don't think I've demonstrated any skills to them." Svan said, unfortunately having found his voice again.

The woman rolled her eyes. "To meet the Nuit here, what did you have to do?"

"Um...transform?"

"Before that..."

"Swim?" The woman lightly tapped the tip of he nose to tell Svan that he had got it. Svan of course, still somewhat new to human gestures mistook it for something else. "Nosediving?"

The woman let out a groan, "I don't have enough years left to waste trying to deal with this." She turned around to Kuv, her expression exasperated. "Explain how you came to find this. Perhaps then he will understand." She gestured to the necklace.

"Wait! Just give me a hint. Does it involve bloodletting? Because I can do that."

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh might have felt some vindication over the way the woman scolded the Dhani and accepted no nonsense from him, except that the withering glare she'd also "blessed" HIM with left no doubt that her opinion of him was every bit as "generous" as his.

He didn't really feel that he deserved her present disdain. It depended on how much of their exchange she'd witnessed. He HAD tried to start a fresh slate with the Dhani a few chimes ago. But he had to admit, he'd fallen right back into the playground at the first smart remark. No, her estimate of his maturity was not far off the mark. But it was only these in last few chimes where he'd really sunk to childish levels, he felt. Perhaps he could redeem himself in her eyes with some unconditional cooperation.

"It was in an underwater cave in the cliff side, around where there were some drowned ruins." he responded regarding her necklace, testing her intent.

"And were you able to reach them in the time a living man could hold his breath, while being battered by the conflicting currents down there?" she asked, going further with her point.

Kuvarakh was slow to grasp it. "Uh...well, I'm not a trained diver...I suppose if someone had the right training, and knew right where it was -..." he began. Her rolling eyes sufficed to cut him off.

"Did YOU know right where it was?" She snapped at him. He shook his head uncertainly, muttering something indicating that he hadn't. "Well, neither did anyone else in the village. I was here before most of them, making use of the things that washed up from the sunken city. I don't begrudge them their take, but the more people that settled, the quicker the resources ran out."

She began to pace, her voice softening. "It has been hard here for them. And for me now as well. Riches from the sea have long since become inaccessible to us all without either Laviku's blessing, magecrafted underwater gear, or both. Sometimes, the Svefra are able to aid us for return services. They allow us to benefit from the capabilities of their "Tavans", which is a great help, though also quite a rare occurrence."

She turned suddenly, her eyes fixed on Kuvarakh. "But you...You can hold your breath forever! You can go down there and get things like this!" She tapped the necklace. "There may be a bounty of such things down there. Now obviously, if you show up in that body, they will remember him being dragged of into the sea by...your former self...and...not react well. I will vouch for your character and benefit to the village. They will listen to me."

She turned back to the Dhani, "and now you, Mr. Swanson..."

[Accolade]

Kuvarakh

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+ 3 XP
Meditation	+ 1 XP
Subterfuge	+ 1 XP
Interrogation	+ 3 XP
Intimidation	+ 1 XP
Hypnotism	+ 1 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Swanson guy: Unnatural snake
•	The bless of slow meditation
•	Practical Jokes between a Nuit and Dhani
•	Lyseer Is a Dhani
•	Returning a Necklace of Unknown Significance

Notes :

Very entertaining and wacky thread guys! Licearsvansan I'd add your grade when you've updated your ledger.

The Sylir has spoken

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.