Flashback Old Foes, New Faces (Svan, Ireth)

[Licearsvansan]

The snake grinned at Joshry's reaction. Perhaps the man WAS capable of enough intelligent thought to realize that his words were meaningless. He had seemingly calmed down after Svan had spoken, if only because he had nothing left to argue about. Despite this, Svan could practically see this man's hatred drifting off of him like a black cloud. Surprisingly, the century old man didn't mind. Something about knowing that he had had fouled up this human's day just tickled his stomach. He didn't like Joshry, and Joshry didn't like him. It wasn't a fair balance though. For the human, Svan was a black stain his world that he could only wish would disappear, but for the Dhani, Joshry was a gnat that he had just properly smacked.

Not bothering to waste so much as a chime of his time focusing on the man, Svan turned over to Kessah. He was curious to see how she would react to him having used her real name. Curiously, she seemed not to take notice and after briefly agreeing with Svan she turned back to the pot. Before things grew silent however, the human piped back up and introduced himself. The way he left his sentence hanging obviously indicated that Svan was meant to return the favor. Instead of replying, the snake's eyes narrowed and he examined the two like one would a criminal known for lying. Which was probably true of the female. The his question seemed harmless, but there was a certain...edge in his tone. Names held power and Svan had learned the danger of throwing them around. So long as he knew their identities, and they didn't know his, he had a degree of power over them. Unfortunately, it was only power he could hold while in his human form, and so long they remained in their current forms the woman had plenty other advantages over him. After a brief pause Svan decided that their trust and the freedom to take his Dhani form was more valuable than keeping his little secret, and so he decided to tell them his name.

But which one? He had gone through numerous aliases in hopes of shanking off anyone who might link his misdeeds in one city to another. Kessah would know his real name the moment he needed to turn into a Dhani, but the humans wouldn't. Svan scratched his chin, "My name is Swanson," he replied in an even voice. It was a name given to him by a Nuit who had mispronounced real one. It was close enough for the female to put the pieces together, yet far enough from his other aliases to easily remove himself from trouble should either human tell his name to the authorities. After all, who would think that a man named Van, and one named Swanson were the same person? The male's gaze fell upon the scar on Kessah's back, "I see you never lost the wound from our little hunting trip."

"Isollana is doing fine in case you are wondering."

[Iskessah]

It took Iskessah several moments for Svansan's words to have any meaning for her. They sparked something in her memories, but it was like she was dragging them up from the bottom of lake Ravok. When they finally surfaced, Isollana, Svansan, the hunting excursion with the bear... it was like a fire lit in her mind. It took her a few ticks of remembering before she was able to speak, but when she did, it was with such loathing that even Joshry looked shocked. "You! Of all the possssible Dhani in the world, Ssiku ssent you?" Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Joshry trying to signal her. He had gotten free of his bindings, but he was keeping his hands behind the chair, presumably to keep the element of surprise for a moment when it would be useful. Reminded of the humans in the room, Iskessah realized that she did not want them to witness what was about to happen between her and Svansan. Let the humans believe that all Dhani were allied, no matter the circumstance. Iskessah pretended to untie Joshry, then slithered forward and grabbed the Telemnar girl, pulling her to her feet. "You two, go to the market and bring back meat. If you don't feed him, he'll likely eat you." Without waiting for argument, or for Joshry to get the ropes off the girl, she shoved them both outside, along with her basket. There was no one else around; he'd have plenty of time to untie Ireth without arousing suspicion, and Iskessah needed them gone. Now that the Dhani were alone, Iskessah prepared to tear into Svansan (verbally and physically if necessary), but something he'd said hit her. He spoke of Isollana as if he'd seen her recently. "You... you have been to the nesst?" She was suddenly filled with an overwhelming desire for news about her family, so powerful that it temporarily overshadowed what a coward and idiot Svansan obviously was. She was massively homesick, and the ever-present pull of her home felt sharpened in her mind.

[Licearsvansan]

Svan waited patiently as his words slowly sunk in. The short few moments where Kessah's face slowly twisted into one of pure hatred made this entire day worth it.

"You! Of all the possssible Dhani in the world, Ssiku ssent you?" The other Dhani exploded.

Svan had to fight the urge to laugh in her face. "Aww its so nice to see you too! Its good to see that you no longer put so much care into maintaining your figure. I'm sure all those people who say you've let yourself go are just jealous of your self confidence." He had expected her to be angry, but not this mad. It warmed his heart to know that she remembered him well enough to hate his guts. That fact that her day had just been ruined didn't hurt either. Ruining one of hers after all that she had done to him was the least that she deserved.

Svan's smug grin fell slightly as she untied Joshry, and ordered the two humans out of the room. Not only did Svan fear that the humans might alert the guards to his presence, but the idea of being left alone with the she-beast hardly comforted him. Sure he could speak and act more freely, but so could she. Svan feared Dhani even when h was in top physical condition. Now however, he had several severe wounds to his side, and it was taking all of Svan's strength just to pretend that it wasn't killing him. To make matters worse, his drink was nearly gone, and the alcohol was quickly working to numb his mind. He tried focusing on thoughts, but his grip over them was getting looser.

Svan set his mug down so that he could wave politely to Ireth as she left, and then just as the door closed his eyes shot back to Kessah. He almost expected her to leap up and begin throttling him right then and there, but instead he asked him a question.

"You... you have been to the nesst?"

It would have been an understatement to say that Svan had been caught off guard. His alcohol addled mind quickly fumbled to the first conclusion he could think of. She's homesick. It made sense. Even Svan, who had hated the nest, fond himself feeling homesick some days. And he had only been gone for roughly a dozen years, but her? She had been gone for decades. "Yes, I've been to the nest. if you don't remember, I was there when you were as well." Svan's smile drooped again, "But I assume you mean 'have I been to the nest recently'. To that my answer is yes, at least more recently than you at any rate." Svan leaned back casually, doing his best to mask the pain he was in. He spoke as if talking back to female Dhani had become as simple as speaking to any common petcher. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know on one condition."

"I want to know why you left the nest."

[Iskessah]

Iskessah did not answer Svansan right away. It wasn't that his audacity shocked her; she'd been in Ravok long enough that his condition did not even make her blink. Someone always wanted something, and they held whatever they could find as ransom. This was especially true of information. But Iskessah hesitated for a different reason. It wasn't that it bothered her to give Svansan information... But that time in her life was difficult to think about. She had never spoken of it before. It was long enough ago that it had little value to the Ravokians, even the connoisseurs of information. The only man who knew the whole story was several years dead, and anyone else who knew her had only met her after Ravok had become her reality. She needed more time, so she busied herself with the bandages. The strips of cloth had cooled enough to lift out of the water without burning herself. She brought them over to Svan wordlessly. She removed his makeshift bandage and his shirt, her tail ready to silence his protests if he were foolish enough to resist, and examined his wound. She hissed sharply at the five stab wounds as a long-suppressed anger peeked into the surface of her consciousness. For a glorious moment, she forgot the dangers of threatening Ravokians, and felt a desire to strangle the men who dared abuse a Dhani in this way. In truth, she had seen very few serious injuries in her line of work. All she really knew to do was wrap it with bandages. But she was the only option Svansan had right now, since the Healing Hand would hardly help him, and she let that steady her hands in lieu of actual confidence. She cleaned away some of the excess dried blood with a wet cloth. Usually, she would enjoy the sight of an open wound bleeding everywhere, but the same thing on a fellow Dhani made her sick. When the wound was relatively clean, she took the strips of cloth and, one at a time, wrapped them around his torso. By necessity, that put them quite close together, and she had to reach her hands around his back to wrap the bandages. She did not speak a word in all this time, but... somehow, being around another Dhani felt like... like remembering herself. Even if it was just Svansan. When she finished her handiwork, the blood had already begun to soak through. It did not look like he was losing blood at a life-threatening rate, but she still wished there were something more she could do. She had to get Svansan out of Ravok, but if he died... it felt like the Dhani part of Iskessah would die as well. She prayed silently but fervently to Siku to help him escape Ravok with his life. It was time then. She could no longer put off answering his question. She slithered back a few feet and rested in her coils, getting comfortable in case her brief answer invited more questions. "I did not leave by choice. I... I wass captured. And brought here."

[Licearsvansan]

Svan was mildly annoyed at the woman's silence, but held his tongue. She had fresh bandages in her hands, and he decided that he could tolerate her silence long enough to receive aid. Svan began loosening his clothing before the woman came to him, and finished by the time she unwound the bandages from around his waist. When she went to remove his shirt, the male let out a hiss of pain. His blood had crusted around his shirt and bonded it to his skin. He felt like he was being flayed.

It didn't help that Svan was wearing three layers...

Each one was more painful than the last, and the man was breathing heavily by the time she finished. He looked down at his bleeding side and glared. He hated it. He loathed this feeling of weakness and he silently cursed himself for leaving himself at the mercy of this woman. However, it wasn't just the fact he was weakened that bothered him, it was that this woman could seem it clearly now. That, and the fact that it was far from the only injury Svan had. The first thing she would notice was obviously the five deep puncture wounds in his side. His assailants had at least had the sense to use a thin dagger so that the stabbings wouldn't hit anything too valuable, but in all honesty, Svan would have preferred to be stabbed by a thick dagger. At least then his several layers of clothing might have reduced the depth of the wound. Unfortunately, once she got past that she would be able to see all the other injuries that he had sustained. A mess of scars, fresh and old, littered Svan's body. He had light burns that marked his knuckles and snaked up his arm, bruises that lined his chest, and scars from over a dozen different sources. With all these wounds and his newly toned muscles, Svan was beginning to resemble his father. But he knew better. His father's wounds were trophies of battle, but his were the product of years of torture and countless failures. Svan was not a warrior like his father, he was simply a survivor.

Slowly, the woman began wrapping the warm bandage around his newest wound. He groaned in pain and turned away from the wound, hoping to forget it. His gaze ended on Kessah. Having not seen another rattler for years, Svan had to admit that he was impressed. A scent like rusted iron leaked from the crusted blood and hovered in the air between Svan and Kess, but Svan didn't notice it. The female was so close to him and all he could sense was the pheromones leaking off her skin. Any other time he might not have cared, but it was mating season for him and the urge to procreate was near overwhelming. He closed his eyes calmly in hopes of stilling his nerves. Sadly, this only caused him to be caught off guard when the woman bent forward and reached around his waist. His eyes shot open and his entire body went tense. Then, as Svan realized what was going on, he relaxed. by the time the woman pulled away, the male was already as calm as he had been before. it had been such a small reaction that one might have easily missed it, but Svan had actually flinched. It was a strange feeling for him. He rarely ever flinched these days, locking up like that only invited trouble. But something about this woman stirred old memories, and left him feeling a bit more vulnerable. He however, assured himself that it was just the effect mating season was having on him because it just didn't make sense for him to still fear this woman after all this time. Sure she had been a scourge on his childhood, but he was stronger now. Wasn't he?

Eventually Kess finished bandaging him and Svan was able to finally unclench his teeth. As the woman drew away, Svan collapsed the weight of his upper body on to his knees. The experience had left him drained, and it was all he could do not to collapse on the bed. He was glad when the woman retreated. Her scent had left his mind in a fog and only now was he able to think clearly.

Then, resting on her own tail, she finally answered his question. "I did not leave by choice. I... I wass captured. And brought here."

Svan was staring down at the floorboard when she said it, but his eyes quickly flicked up to meet hers. "Captured?" The male said, not quite sure what to make of it. He stared blankly at her for a moment as he processed what she had meant. The obvious answer was slavery but he could barely even imagine it. Soon however, the other possibilities lost ground and the man quickly reached the only possible conclusion. For a tick he stared at her in disbelief. The silence was soon followed by a single chuckle, then another, and soon Svan was all but dying of laughter. Fortunately for Kessah, his laughter upset his wound, and a blot of pain quickly halted his mirth. Swearing loudly, Svan gripped his wound and began breathing heavily again. As his eyes rose once again to meet the woman's, all of the humor was suddenly drained from him. All at once he felt guilty for laughing, and his gaze slowly returned to the floor.

He shook his head solemnly, "And to think you used to be the one who called me weak." His tone seemed more of an admonishment than an insult. He paused as he ran his hand through his tangled mess of chestnut hair. A mix of emotions were warring within his head at the moment. On one hand Svan HATED this woman back in their youth, but on the other hand she was still a fellow Dhani. Normally, Svan's aggression would have won out, but his protective instincts were going berserk and keeping his anger was an impossibility. In the end Svan decided to simply say whatever came to his head first and run with it. He lifted his head up and glared at the woman. His expression was strangely both cold, and concerned. "You know Kessah, you used to tell me all the time that I wasn't worthy of being called a Dhani. So tell me, what does that make you?"

Surprisingly, Svan didn't enjoy this as much as he thought he should. Justice had never tasted so bitter.

[Iskessah]

OOCAssume she's still hissing her s's, but since it's only Dhani here I'm not gonna type the extra s's out.

Iskessah mostly stayed silent as Svansan reacted to her admission. She had expected some sort of insulting response--this was a Dhani after all--but she thought laughing in her face was a bit much. Her brow went lower and lower as her glare deepened. The only thing that kept her from attacking him was the grim satisfaction of watching the pain his wounds gave him. If her face were still human, her own lip might have quirked upward at the poetic justice of the moment. The pleasant moment was short-lived, however, as Svansan kept talking. Her scowl returned at his accusation, and she snapped, "You think I haven't thought about that? That I don't fear every day that I'm losing myself to this place?" In her human form, she might have closed her eyes, or looked away. She was glad her current form prevented such gestures of weakness. She hadn't even noticed how she'd gotten into the habit of subtle submissiveness. She had always argued that it was an act, necessary for her survival against an army of humans who would kill her if they knew what she was. But it seemed as though, somewhere along the line, the act had become indistinguishable from reality... Desperate to turn attention from herself, she retorted, "Being Dhani among Dhani is not so difficult...except for you." Though, seeing him now, she couldn't exactly remember what it was about him that made her so sure he was unworthy of the Dhani name. Until she'd recognized him, she had seen nothing in him to signal him as weak...though it was possible her judgement had dimmed after so many decades away from home. Still, he had fought and killed those who attacked him, and that was certainly more impressive than she remembered him being. "Perhaps...perhaps you have grown stronger since then." Since first meeting him in Ravok, Iskessah's mind had been consumed with nothing but keeping him from the Ebonstryfe and the Black Sun. She'd had no room for thoughts of another sort, but now her sense of urgency was fading. Now, she was at leisure to consider just what it meant to have a male Dhani here, with her. It was not that she was sexually frustrated; she knew she had a higher drive in the Springtime, but in Ravok she found no shortage of sexual partners, paid or otherwise. But...those encounters always took place in human form. She held her gaze steadily on the other Dhani as she tried to work out exactly what she wanted.

[Licearsvansan]

Again it tasted bitter. The justice he had so long awaited had revealed itself to be an ugly and rotten thing. He sneered at her comeback, not because he was actual offended, but because he couldn't enjoy it. This woman was at the lowest she had ever been, and Svan had only to cut the last few threads of pride that held her and she would fall...but he couldn't. It wasn't simply that he had reclaimed so much of his conscience back that he couldn't bear to cause her any further harm though. It was because she wasn't worth it. She had allowed herself to fall in to slavery and had let herself be corrupted so deeply by the humans that it just wasn't worth crushing. Whatever was left of the snake he once knew was nothing more than a memory in the back of this woman's mind. He had no qualms with the other part of her. Whatever it was that she had become.

"Perhaps...perhaps you have grown stronger since then."

That caught his attention. The words were one thing but the tone...it was almost sultry. Svan looked into her eyes and he could see them relaxing. Is she really thinking what I think she is thinking? Svan could barely believe it. His mouth hung loosely and only his exhaustion kept his eyes from pooping out. And then, he had an idea. The male closed his mouth and a wry smirk stretched up his face. Slowly he lifted himself up off the bed and went over to the corner of the room and turned his back to Kessahhis cloak hid his movements, but the next sound she would hear was that of his belt buckle hitting the ground. "Thats flattering but how do you know if I'm stornger if you haven't even seen me in the form you remember." He said to the woman while causally peering over his shoulder.

Once he managed to get his pants off his ankles, he turned around and began slowly walking over to Kessah. The cloak that was drawn tight over his shoulders obscure most of his body from view except in brief moments were the sway of his walk mismatched that of the cloth. He walked over to Kessah and smiled charmingly at her. Carefully he moved his hands onto her shoulders and began to let the morph take over his body. Skin dissolved into scales, bones melted at reformed, and muscles shifted and grew. There was a moment when his legs gave out and in that tick he allowed himself to hand gently from the female. He hated the vulnerability he had right now, but honestly, with his wound he would be too weak to do much in any form. As he regained his balance, he began to run his hands smoothly over the womans scaled body. He slithered a small circle around the girl so that the two were intertwined. As the morph reached its final levels Svan felt the last bits of his clarity slipping. His goal had been simple. He wasn't trying to seduce the woman simply because he wanted to petch something. He was doing it to destroy that last remnant of the old Kessah. The one that had looked down on him all these years. The very thought that she might lie with someone like Svan... It would be the ultimate way to crush the old Kessah without the guilt of hurting the new. And all he had to do was stomach sleeping with one of his most hated childhood bullies. Thank the gods for pheromones and alcohol. "Just let me show you how strong I've really become."

Svan flicked his tongue, tasted her raw scent and let the last bit of restrain melt away.

[Iskessah]

A tiny, irrelevant part of Iskessah's mind noticed that Svansan was tearing his bandages, but the rest of her had more important things to think about. The fire she'd started earlier had submerged the room in a blanket of warmth, and for the first time, the concerns of Ravok faded from her mind. Surrendering to her primal instincts, she felt truly Dhani. She moved toward Svan, slowly but insistently, quietly taking the lead in their dance. If it had been anyone else, she might have had to use force, but she sensed that Svan wanted--perhaps even needed--this as much as she did. Some part of her held doubt, wondered if she was settling for Svan because he was the only Dhani available. But she couldn't help being overwhelmed with the powerful feeling that Siku smiled upon them. She grabbed his hand, interlocking their fingers as her tail sought out his... ~*~ She had lost track of time. So entranced was she that she barely registered the heat signature of someone approaching the room. The door opened before she could react, but it was only Joshry, returned from obtaining food for the Dhani. Iskessah ignored him. Joshry, however, was not so blase. He stood in the doorway gaping for rather a while, just gaping. His mind was not entirely sure it was okay with the image of two giant snake people petching in a Nitrozian apartment. It just wasn't natural! A very strong part of him wanted to run screaming, but he couldn't because he still had to deliver the meat to Kessi. The situation was so bizarre, all he could do was stand there.

[Licearsvansan]

There are a lot of things a man should never have to see in life. That list ranges from thigs as heart breaking as watching your children die before you, to things as disturbing as being forced to watching animals petch each other. Then, in a few rare horrible cases, you get things that managed to mesh squick and emotional turmoil flawlessly. And if walking in to see your best friend violently petching a snake isn't one of them, then I don't know what is.

Joshry stood in the entrance to the apartment, mind, body, and possibly even soul, frozen. Svan didn't dare look at the food in Joshry's hand. It would have been far too cruel to remind him that he had just bought dinner for the man who was currently screwing his friend. In fact, Svan decided to be even more merciful. While he had yet to actually climax, Svan had satisfied enough of his lust in the past thirty chimes to last him a life time....well perhaps a kelvic lifetime. More importantly, Svan was fairly sure that if he kept petching Kessah like this, the poor human's brain might just snap. And as much as it amused the male serpent to imagine Joshry trying to explain that to Lhex and Dira, Svan just wasn't the kind of guy who would do that to another man.

Okay Joshry, you owe me for this. For some reason he had his doubts that the human would agree. We put an arm here, one there-No.... Wait, this goes there, and that goes here. Then we twist like-WOAH that felt good. Remember that position Svan, kinky as petch...

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Svan shot the tip of his tail to Kessah's stomach in an attempt to blast the wind out of her, and pulled his arms tight just as she exhaled. The next thing Kess knew, she was in a guillotine. Svan's arms were wrapped around her neck and cutting off the flow of oxygen. The Dhani tightened the choke as hard as he could and hardened his gut, fully expecting Kessah to begin beating the shyke out of him in an attempt to escape. For most races, trying to choke out a creature that could hold its breath for several long chimes was pure stupidity. But Svan had grown up with Dhani and knew that if you could catch one when they breathed out, they had little more ability to hold their breath than any common human. Of course, "little" was a relative term, and while a human might go out in under 5 ticks, a Dhani should be able to last at least half a chime depending on how much air they still had and how much energy they burned up trying to free themselves. Which meant that this was going to be a long thirty ticks.

Looking over Kessah's shoulder, Svan stared at Joshry with well feigned surprise. "Hey Joshry. Thanks for - petching hold still bitch!- food. Just leave it on the table, me and Kess-Aaaah... are just settling a disagreement." Svan's voice carried the same exhausted groan of someone under the weight of a 300 lb rock. "D-don't worry, wrestling is just how we Dhani solve our problems." It wasn't entirely a lie. Wrestling was a common way for both constrictors and rattlers to deal with conflicts between one another. And while it would be clear to any Dhani that the two had been petching, human's tended to be fairly inept when it came to exactly how animals reproduced. This was especially true in the case of snakes where fighting looked almost identical to sex. The state of the room certainly didn't hurt Svan's lie either. He was fairly sure they they had begun on the bed, but by the time Joshry came in the two Dhani were lying on the floor and half of the things in the apartment had been knocked over. It couldn't be helped. Female Dhani liked to dominate, and Svan liked to rebel. The result had been a whirlwind of passion and snake sex that had ripped through the entire apartment like a brown scaly tornado.

Though truth be told, Svan hadn't even realized that what a mess the two of them had made until the moment the human came in. He remembered it all, but just hadn't had enough mental clarity to notice it in the moment. It was a good thing Joshry came in when he had. Svan had been about to climax, but the human's interruption had stopped him. It was a good thing.

Svan would have hated to have gotten Kessah pregnant.

oocIf there is anything you don't like, then please tell me Kess

[Iskessah]

Iskessah had been enjoying herself so much that she did not even notice Joshry come in. So when Svan suddenly turned violent, she was naturally outraged. She flinched enough to partially deflect his tail, and her surprise led to a sharp intake of breath, so when the male Dhani foolishly tried to choke her, she had more air than he'd been anticipating. She was too upset to even worry about what lies Svan was filling Joshry's head with. She wrapped her tail behind her and swung the rattle at his head, hoping she could brain him into unconsciousness. In case that failed, she also rammed her elbow behind her into Svan's torso, aiming as well as she could for his existing wounds. She was angry, and she wanted Svan to suffer. At the moment, she had forgotten all about her goal of getting him out of Ravok alive. Joshry set the basket of food down and mumbled, "Maybe I should just go." He left quickly before anything angry and snake-shaped decided to disagree. Iskessah's violence had the desired effect, and soon she was free. She was disgusted with Svan, but she couldn't shake her loyalty to the Dhani. "You can stay until your wounds heal, but then I want you out of Ravok. This is no place for the likes of you."

OOCApologies for the abruptness of the ending, but at least it's an ending