[The Nursery] Oh My Acidic Friend...

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on April 28th, 2014, 6:10 pm

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

The Nursery, 20th of Bell, 47th of Spring, 514 A.V

It was night in Zinrah as Aka found herself 'sitting' in her Dhani form, in the nursery, surrounded by no less than ten snakelings, all slithering and adorably hissing in Snake-tongue around her. "Uhm..." Aka scratched her head with her scaly hand as she watchd the snakelings happily frolicking in front of her, hissing, slithering, and playing with each other. Why was she here in the first place? Oh yes, Aka was approached by one of the female in charge of the nurseries, she had an important errand, and needed someone to take care of these snakelings until she came back, the female wouldn't be back for about six bells or so.

Of course, Aka wanted to object, I'm not a babysitter... but the female was practically begging - and threatening - her that if she didn't do this, it would be seen as high treason to refuse the noble calling of nursering future generations of Zinrah, I bet she just wants to take a break... Aka half-expected that, so in the end, the Viper was the slave they could order around. She wanted to just leave, but these... cute little critters, they looked so adorable with their large eyes and infant-like mind, Aka found herself stuck in place. Suddenly, as if on cue, the snakelings all looked at her, hissing and slithering on her body, shouting "Play with usss! Play with usss! In their endearing Snake-Tongue.

"W-well uhm... I..." The Viper didn't know on what to do, she just stood there in confusion. Idly, her right hand moved to her womb "...", she could feel it, Xen's seed mingling in her, forming eggs that she would lay in about a few months, perhaps late Summer, Aka was going to be a mother, whether she liked it or not, and what better way to educate herself than doing real practice of handling children, it was just... she didn't know where to start. The Constrictor infatns keep begging and slithering on her, around her, in front of her, some playfully biting her scales, it was not until another female, an adult Constrictor in Dhani form, entered the room that Aka shook out of her trance.

"Why, hello there, what might you be doing here, Fire Viper?" The female asked, great, now the snakelings were even more excited at the title, asking her silly questions, one of them being 'What is fire?' and 'What is Viper?', thank you very much, female.

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on May 4th, 2014, 1:20 am

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

"I'm uh...", Aka didn't know where to begin, then she decided to keep it simple, "A female asked me to take care of thessse sssnakelingsss until ssshe came back from an 'errand' or sssomething..." Aka sighed in defeat, but as baby snake slithered to her serpentine cheek and playfully bite it, the Viper couldn't stifle a giggle.

"I sssee, The large - they all were - Constrictor female crossed her arms over her chest as she examined the Dhani-formed Viper up and down, also the snakelings, then she chuckled, "Thessse sssnakelingsss seemed to be fond of you, why don't you humor them by telling a ssstory? Tell them the gloriousss tale of our Goddess, Siku." The female suggested, then she quirked an eyebrow, "Alssso, who isss your name, Fire Viper? I am Ssarissia, Priestess of our Glorious Goddess." This caused Aka's breath to hitch, she was facing with a high-ranking member of the nest, a Priestess! Aka's serpentine jaw simply hing there in agape, looking silly for a couple of ticks before she realized that the female had asked her a question.

"W-well, uhm, I'm Soshakuakamamushi, Priestess, you can call me 'Aka'," Aka then fidgeted nervously at the Priestess' request, telling the story about Siku, the problem was, Aka was not exactly her devotee and she was afraid that making something up would anger the Priestess, the Viper turned the gears of her mind, wishing for an answer. If she said she was a flame of Ivak, this Dhani might see her as a blasphemer then called for her execution, it was unlikely as Aka had done numerous deeds to help the Nest as a whole, but she was a Priestess, one could never know...

Before she could come up witha a decent reply, the Priestess spoke again, "Hmmm, I don't sssense the mark of our Goddess upon you, care for an explanation?" The Priestess crossed her arms, eager to hear what the Viper would say.

"W-well, I uh... I..." Aka would be practically brimming with sweat if she was in human form, she had no idea, it was an irrefutable proof, hanging her head down, the Viper just admitted... part of the truth, "Forgive me, Priestess, but it ssseemed... The Goddess-Queen didn't deem me worthy, I wasss... a runt, I was a failure among my siblingsss." Partially true, Aka still felt guilty for leaving her nest and coming back to see they were slaughtered, she should have stayed and defended them to her last breath, she was a coward, "W-what ssshould I do, Priestess?"

Surprisingly, the Priestess smirked as she was about to begin a lecture about Siku, "I sssee, you have proven yourssself ussseful to Zinrah though, I heard about your reputation, I think it isss only a matter of time before our Goddess-Queen noticed you, pray that she will not sssee you in a bad light, Viper, you will need it. Of course, the Priestess didn't know about Ivak's mark on Aka, if she did, she might act differently, "I wasss here to check on our sssnakelingsss and future generation of Zinrah, alssso, to check on my children." She gestured to one of the clutches, they were her eggs apparently, "I have a ritual to do, for our gloriousss Goddess, I ssshall take my leave." With a nod, the Priestess slithered off the exit.

Aka held her breath and once the Priestess was out of eyesight, she drew a breath then sighed, "*Sigh*... eggsss huh? she smiled, rubbing her belly, and of course, the snakelings kept slithering and nibbling playfully on her, demanding for something interesting from her part.

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on May 4th, 2014, 3:01 am

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

Smiling a soft smile at these adorable snakelings, Aka then gestured for them to gather before her, "Alright then, children, let me tell you a ssstory! The snakelings cheered as they slithered then gathered in front of her, looking at her with those large expectant slitted eyes, Aka gulped down her nervousness then started, "This isss a ssstory about an Okapi." Before she could continue, a snakeling interrupted her with the question of 'What's an Okapi?', Aka was irritated at the audacity, but kept her voice checked, "An Okapi isss an animal that lives in the junglesss, now, ssshut up-... ahem, be quiet ssso I can continue." Satisfied, the snakeling closed her jaw then watched.

"Where wasss I? Oh yeah, there isss thisss one Okapi named..." Aka scratched her head, looking for a name, then simply shrugged, "Oka," The children all 'ooh' and 'aah'-ed at her, Aka felt horrible, she was telling bullshyke, but was that the whole point of stories anyway? Waving it off, she continued, "Oka isss a nice Okapi, ssshe wasss born from an Okapi mother and father." The snakelings all nodded in agreement, Aka chuckled awkwardly, glad that they were too innocent to quip sarcastically, Yeah, like an Okapi can be spawned from a Dhani mother and Myrian father, suuuure... She was bad at his, horribly bad, but whatever.

"One day, Oka wasss wandering in the jungle, doing what Okapi doesss bessst, ssshe sniffed at a leaf... peeked out her tongue then pulled it to her mouth, calmy enjoying the deliciousss leaf." In her mind, Aka was groaning, Dhani were carnivorous and eating plants would make her sick, the children didn't seem to mind though, they kept their attention to her, "But then, ssshe heard a sssound... the sssound of sssomething ssslithering on the ground..." Aka exaggerated her words, making a looming gesture, the snakelings went wide-eyed as their curiosity raised.

"It wassss a sssnake!" At her revelation, the snakelings hissed in excitement, so this was a tale of friendship between a Dhani and an Okapi! How fun! "'What did it want?' Oka thought, but before Oka could think further, a ssstream of lightning la-",

"What'sss a 'lightning'?" One male snakeling asked.

"Shusssh! I'm not finissshed!" Aka rebuked him then plowed on with her story, "The lightning launched from the sssnake'sss jaw, ssstriking Oka dead on her chessst! Frying her body and heart! Then, Oka dropped down to the ground, dead, all ready to be feasssted upon by the sssnake!" Aka expected the children to be all scared and shivering, but...

"Yaaay! Woah! Awesssome! Yaaay!" They cheered instead, slithering all around her as they talked excitedly among themselvesss, "Did ssshe tassste deliciousss? How did the sssnake eat her? Can we eat her too? Where isss she? I wanna eat her! A stream of unexpected questions and statements left Aka speechless, she was inexperienced with children, but it seemed... Dhani were vicious, even as snakelings. Well, their patron Goddoess herself is a vicious one, she couldn't expect much. Aka wanted to continue with the second part of her story, about the snake meeting with a certain half-Myrian half-Dhani woman, but... another familiar figure entered the cavern.

"Aka!" Senka, the Dhani guard in Dhani form, entered, carrying a massive halberd in one hand then a net in other, what was she doing with a net? Capturing Myrians, Aka assumed, "We need your help, sssome lizardsss are causssing trouble!" This prompted a raised eyebrow from the Viper, lizards? Her memories swam back to when she encountered the acid-spewing a few seasons ago, in which she killed then asked a maledictor to fashion its teeth into a ring, there were more of them? One could damage the tunnels, imagine a whole group, this was a serious matter.

"Right, I ssshall help right now, alright childrn, go to ressst now, I have some work to do." She raised her body, the snakelings looked disappointed but they obeyed then slithered off to various spots in the room, curling up into a rest, "Alright, Senka, lead the way." With a nod from the guard, both Constrictor and Viper in Dhani form slithered off to the tunnels.

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on May 4th, 2014, 6:54 am

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

Senka led her to a particular tunnel near the hatchery and once there, the sight made Aka raised an eyebrow, a collection of lizards could be found nesting there, there were a lot of them, about twenty or so, and guards were gathering around them, trying to catch them for disposal later, but something... held those guards back. "We could have handled it ourselvesss," Senka sounded exasperated, then she gestured to the lizards, or to be specific, one lizard in particular, a snarling slobbering one with green saliva... wait, green? "Becaue of that one, it spewsss sssomething sssickly gree and... corroding, and aweful... it'sss lik-

"Acid."

Aka interrupted the guard on a whim, not on purprose, just reflexively speaking her mind after a flash of deja-vu, it was the same lizard, or at least, another member of its species. Senka snorted in annoyance, but agreed with the Viper. "Yeah, Acid, anywaysss, we can't get clossse to it without risssking itsss 'acid' to corrode our scalesss, that isss where you come in." The guard told her and Aka needed no more explanation, the master reimancer slithered forward into the fray, clenching her fists as res began oozing out from the eye-shaped scars on her scaly palms.

Senka took charge of the other guards, gesturing for them to clear the way for Aka and they all agreed, didn't want to disturb the (in)famous fiery viper in working her magic. Mages were always like that, fickle, this girl's diminutive appearance utterly betrayed her destructive capabilities. The guards, all in Dhani form, slithered away, both from Aka and the acid lizard, they moved to handle the other colorful lizards instead, at least they didn't spew acid. Sharp fangs and claws? These mighty Constrictor warriors could handle just fine, but stone-corroding acid? No way unless Siku herself commanded them to do so.

"Ssso, my acidic friend..." Aka, in Dhani form, now stood before the lizard, its beady green eyes facing her, acid dripping from its jaw, "We meet again..." The Viper spoke ominously, rather exaggerated, but she wanted to have her moments, especially in front of these guards, let them see what a 'small fry' like her could do, how her magical prowess could handle problems that their muscles and brawn couldn't even touch. Without further ado, Aka swiftly held out her scaly palms, res oozing out at the creature, this should be done in a snap, but this particular lizard didn't make it easy, the thing lunged at her, opening its acid-coated jaw to bite her.

The Viper used her inherent reflexes to flex her tail and slithered out of the way, to the side, the creature missing her, slamming into the ground, any self-respecting Dhani would know that one bite from that acid jaw would mean the end of them, as the creature landed, Aka quickly used its momentary recovering state to coat it with her res then quickly transmuted them into sturdy crimson stone, now the creature was trapped inside a boulder, the Viper then clenched her fists, causing the boulder to become smaller and denser. Hissing sounds could be heard as the acid started corroding the stone, but it was not fast enough as the boulder crushed the creatures' body, bone, muscle, and scales under intense pressure.

Aka then proceeded to feed more res into the boulder then ignited the lizard's body, cooking it inside the boulder, she also transformed the resulting smoke into harmless air as not to clog the tunnels, after she saw done, there was nothing left of the lizard except for ashes. The worse was over... "Phew..." Aka wiped her forehead as she released control of the rock, gently dropping it to the ground.

"Good job, sssmall fry!" Senkai said as she approaching, carrying three dead lizards slumped over her shoulder, each in the color of magenta, pale yellow, and copper brown, Aka had an assumption of what the Constrictor going to do with it, "They are pestsss, but I think they are deliciousss~ Wanna eat them together?" Aka rolled her slitted eyes, of course, Senka never changed, it was either combat, wrestling, or food. The Viper raised her hand then slowly shook her head, then slithered off, "Oi! Where are you going?" Irritated at being ignored, the guard called after her vitriolic friend.

"Back to the children! My ssstory isss not finissshed yet." Unbeknownst to Senka, Aka also meant it about herself, her story, her plans she had and her goals, they were far from finished.

by **Catastrophe** on May 5th, 2014, 5:35 pm

e

Aka :

Notes :

Completed [The Nursery] Oh My Acidic Friend...