Closed [Bronze Woods] Showing Off.

[Archailist]

70th of Summer, 514.

Patrols were always needed. Syliras was a big place - split into many smaller sectors, each of which could be potentially holding bandits or other miscreants trying to pick off the occasional traveller trying to get into Syliras. No matter if it was squire or knight - preferably squire, because apparently it would help prepare them for further on in life - someone had to scout out these various places, and make sure each day that they were as they should be. Today, that job would fall to him. Tomorrow, it would fall onto a different squire. If there were no squires available, then a knight would go out. The cycle continued, over and over. Personally, he wished that he could spend his time doing other potentially more important things - like, for example, taking care of the pages. The little group of miscreants often left to his control, were often forgetting to post a letter here or there, and not following their orders. He was often the one held accountable.

It wasn't really a matter of because he was the higher in command - more or less because he was a squire, he was a Pycon, he was a squirrel.. and therefore everyone kept making the connection that they were getting no lessons from him other than how to resist authority. He was slowly poisoning their minds with the thought that they could get away with disobedience, because he wasn't strict enough.. he wasn't as imposing as the other knights, or the other human squires, when it came down to it. And in a way, that was entirely true. He wasn't as physically imposing as them. But he could also command respect from them, because he was their superior by rank. He didn't need to look dangerous.. he was dangerous, and they knew it.

The same reason he could be blamed for his pages, could fall upon all the rest of his efforts. Ser Iros knew otherwise.. but that was Ser Iros. The others didn't really.. well, consider him an effective member of the Order. Of course they didn't go throwing it about to the wind, they didn't yell it in front of his face and neither did they do anything else un-knightly about it. They were knights, after all. They weren't supposed to be so rude and blatant over it. But, he could still hear things. When a letter wasn't delivered by a page, they looked to him. When something was stolen in the streets, they looked to him. He'd become the go-to for little problems, because.. he was little. One day, though, he'd be above them in rank as well. They'd learn to live with his authority and his orders or they would leave - he wouldn't tolerate their attitude and closet racism.

He needed to do his best in these patrols, for those very reasons. Not just because he wanted to excel as every knight did through the ranks.. but because he knew of the consequences if he missed the slightest thing. He could feel the knights subtley waiting for a mistake that they could exploit. The bigger, the better. It wasn't malicious.. it was simple distrust in such a small creature, so alien. If he was a human, like them.. he would have done the same. He'd just have to prove them otherwise.. that he was trustworthy like them. And he'd have to do that, by showing them he could be a good knight.

Those thoughts locked in his mind, he gently nudged his mount into a quicker trot that sent them both deeper into the Bronze Woods. With any luck, he'd reach the edge of the Aylasa Caves before midday. Then it'd be a round circle through the Sunset Falls, towards Sylir's Brow, and then around Pavi Lake and back to the Mithryn Outpost. He wanted to get some more training in with Xarex, down at the Menagerie.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn had ridden out of the city and traveled to the Bronze Woods fairly quickly after her arrival in the city. The Dhani had traveled into the woods looking for food, and after getting deep enough into the woods that she thought she would be able to find a decent sized meal. After taking off her clothes and sticking them in the saddle bags, Suresslynn changed into her snake form, the half-chime long transform relaxing the woman enough that she almost coiled up and took a nap on the spot. However, hunger drove the snake to slither away from her horse, who had grown used to having her nearby in snake form, and seek out food.

The snake hadn't been searching long before she smelled something strange approaching. After hesitating for a moment, Suresslynn decided to find food before investigating the smell, and kept up her hunt. Fortunately, it wasn't long before she found a robin resting on the ground. Slithering up behind the bird, Suresslynn struck out with and sunk her venemous fangs into her prey, holding onto her meal until it stopped moving and swallowing it whole.

With her hunger finally satiated, the snake picked up the strange scent she had picked up earlier and slithered after it as fast as she could. It took some time, but before long the snake had come across the strange scent and the even stranger sight that accompanied it. "A squirrel riding on a dog...but it doesn't smell like a squirrel." she said, the sibilant language of serpents coming out as a hiss that most would likely find completely unintelligible. Her curiosity peaked, Suresslynn pursued the dog riding, funny smelling squirrel, slithering through the grass until she was able to get ahead of it.

Taking a small risk, the viper moved out in front of the two, being careful that if they didn't stop or swerve she would be able to slither away from the dog and avoid being trampled. "Could you stop for a moment?" she said, the words coming out as a vaguely threatening hiss she was fairly certain would at least get some kind of attention.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The only sign that his path had been disturbed, came in the form of Xarex suddenly stopping and backing away from the suddenly-appearing snake, with loud yips and whines. Arch tried to comfort him by patting his head and stroking his sides, but it wasn't working. Then again, the squirrel was pretty terrified as well. Having never left the Sylira Region, he'd never seen such a creature as a snake before. They weren't common in the forests of Sylira, as far as he'd seen.. perhaps in the deserts of the far south, or the jungles even farther to the west.. but in the forests, never.

And what a strange creature it was. Hissing loudly in strange tones that the squirrel could only take for a warning of sorts, a scaled creature that only seemed to consist of a head and a long tail.. possibly some strange monster left over by the Valterrian. He couldn't be sure. Most likely dangerous though. Not just for himself.. for all the people of Syliras if it was in the Bronze Woods, not too far from the city itself. He needed to get rid of it. Ahh.. he only wished that he'd brought his Py-Pole. It would have made this so much easier. Now he'd have to use his fists. After hopefully pulling back Xarex to a safe distance, he dismounted from the faithful dog and kept a hand on the side of his head. "Stay." The dog knew the command - if he followed it, he'd get another piece of jerky. So, obediently, he remained where he was; watching with those same wide puppy-eyes he always did.

Meanwhile, Arch went on the approach. It was fighting the Gesentke Beetle all over again, although he wasn't sure if this thing was poisonous or not. Either way.. he couldn't be sure if the stuff would even affect his body. He didn't fancy getting bitten and finding out either way. "Come on then.. let's see what you've got." He took on that typical crouched stance, with both paws lifted and ready. "Heh. Let's see if you can take on this squirrel, huh. Come on." Suddenly, he lurched forwards and immediately swerved left; baiting attacks to see what this thing could do. Use its tail as a weapon, possibly? With no arms or legs.. it couldn't really punch or kick. But with a long narrow body, he wasn't going to say it was harmless.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn watched quietly as the squirrel got off and approached her, then gave a small double take when it spoke and got into some sort of fighting stance, its paused closed into little fists. "Interesting...an intelligent squirrel...male from the voice, I guess." she hissed, watching as he lurched forward. Darting away from him to the right, the snake watched curiously as he swerved left, away from her. "Are you baiting me? What for?" the snake hissed curiously, before darting in with its own lunging attack, now curious to see how quick the squirrel's reactions were. As she had just eaten and had now interest in this creature for food, she didn't extend her fangs, simply attempting to poke her nose into it's middle with her attacks.

When she neared the squirrel, the snake had second thoughts about the wisdom of her lunge and darted to the right of the squirrel. "Hmmm...you obviously have some form of combat experience, and I don't know how strong you are...it would be unwise to simply attack you blindly." Suresslynn raised her head off the ground and eyed the squirrel carefully, swaying side to side slightly as she watched her diminutive opponent, though she wasn't really in a position to comment on anyone's height at the moment. "Okay then...let's see what you're going to do next...if nothing else, I can at least learn how squirrels fight."

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He had to admit, it was quite surprising that the snake didn't make a single move at all, when he lunged straight for the head. Either it was waiting very carefully for him to make a move.. or it wasn't going to attack at all. He seriously doubted the latter.. this thing wouldn't travel all the way from another region in search of some berries. It couldn't be sentient, otherwise it would have done something, other than slither right out in his path and then look like it was about ready to make a meal out of him. Where's Ser Iros when you need him. The Akalak would know what to do in these situations, for certain. For now, he supposed he'd just have to work off his own intuition, and hope that it paid off.

First thing to do - as soon as it was obvious the thing wouldn't be making an attack any time soon, he hopped back several paces to clear some more ground between both of them. That way, he could at least focus on it before he made another strike. And next time, it'd be one that followed through. He wasn't intent on just baiting it repeatedly until it either got mad, or it got dark and whatever other animals this thing could attract turned up and decided he looked like a better snack than this one thought of him. He was still left wondering exactly what threat it could pose.. with scales lining its body, it'd have to be a reptile of sorts.. which once again proved that it didn't belong in the temperate forests of Sylira. It certainly was much larger than the squirrel.. considerably longer than his 5" body. It could coil around him if it wished.. even though it didn't look very large, he'd have to be careful of that.

Suddenly, it struck out at him. Petch, it's fast. But.. it didn't seem to do anything other than strike - didn't even have any teeth in its mouth, by the looks of things. It.. swallows its prey whole? Disgusting. But how on earth would it do that.. it looked fast but did it have that same muscle in its body to snap at its prey? It surely wouldn't swallow prey whole, while it was still alive.. it'd never get the things to hold still for long enough to eat it. But what did that mean.. what was this monster hiding from him. It didn't matter. In light of the knowledge that it had no teeth in its mouth to speak of, he knew that he could take it on. Both of his paws raised to try and grab its head from below.. but they swerved straight past as the snake.. imitated his attack.

Move for move. It's baiting me now, is it. Interesting. He knew he'd have to be wary. But that didn't mean he couldn't give the thing a good punch on the nose for the cheek of copying his attacks. He didn't have anything to worry about, after all. Immediately, he began walking towards it with both of his paws balling back up into tight fists - while clay began to shift through his body, and pool into the paws. A normal punch by a squirrel would just squish on contact with a solid body.. but if he forced enough clay into a small space, and increased the density.. well, then he'd be able to deal some real damage on the thing. However, he drew those paws up near his chest and little else. "Come on. Try that again. I dare you." He wasn't about to be scared off by this thing. "Come on. Come here. Try it." His jaw grit in frustration.

"COME ON. COME ON!" Now he was really shouting, at the top of his lungs. His voice wasn't squeaky, either - it was deep. Not as deep as a full-grown man but it wasn't a squirrels voice either.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn watched as the squirrel balled up his paws into fists, then let out a startled hiss as he started shouting at her. "What's your problem? Grouchy little rodent...I've eaten things bigger than you, you know!" she shouted back, before remembering that the squirrel probably didn't speak snake. Slowly moving forward, Suresslynn eyed the squirrel as an idea occurred to her. "You want me to come on, little squirrel? I'll come on then...lets see just how fast you are." she said, lowering her head as she got close and letting out a deliberately threatening hiss and showing her fangs. Immediately after hissing, she darted forward as fast as she possibly could...right under the squirrel and between his legs.

Whipping around behind the squirrel, Suresslynn poked at the snakes back with her nose to try and get a feel for what he was, if he was indeed not a normal squirrel, then darted away and hissed at him again. "Well, squirrel boy? You can keep fighting if you want too but I'd rather talk. If you'll back up a bit, I'll change and we can talk and learn about each other?" she hissed, then let out a snakey sigh as she remembered that he still didn't speak snake. "I need to teach people to speak snake, would be so much more convenient. Why can't you people learn a civilized language?" she hissed, this time with a bit of a whine as she watched the squirrel, this time setting her head down. She couldn't keep this up for much longer, the air was colder than she liked and a lot more humid....

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

In response to the snakes hisses, he only shouted louder. After all, he'd gotten this far.. there was no point in backing off. It'd just make him look weak. "Come on, COME ON." It seemed to be hissing louder as well.. but that was fine, he could have a shouting contest if needed. That didn't stop him from moving towards the snake.. as the snake moved closer in turn. He was about ready to reel back a fist and give the thing a real punch on the nose, to make sure it knew who was boss.. when it opened its mouth and bared a pair of large, sharp fangs. So that's your secret, huh. Big fangs and poison. Well, he was about ready to let the thing bite him just so it could see how much good it would do for his body.. and for its own, as well. Unless that stuff could eat through inorganic material, it'd have great luck getting a lump of clay poisoned by whatever it had.

"Come on, you think you're so big? Huh? Bite me. Come on, I dare you. You want a piece? Come on then, BITE ME!" The thing was still drawing closer, and he responded in kind. If he couldn't give it a good punch with one fist, he'd be better off simply whacking the thing with his entire body and trying to crush it. Not that he actually had any strength when it came to wrestling or the like.. no muscles to speak of, that could be used for pressure. All he had was his clay.. which came in very useful when he could build up momentum, but otherwise.. pretty useless. However, it looked like he'd be up against a creature that at least knew its way around the basic ways of combat. It ducked, and slid suddenly between his legs - nearly lifting him off his feet, because it certainly wasn't a small thing compared to him. A regular human, perhaps.. but not him.

He could hear hissing behind him abruptly, and he knew there'd be no point in turning around - it was too fast for that. However.. as the hisses got slowly closer, and closer.. his tail filled with clay, hardening its tip. And then.. as its snout came close enough to practically touch the middle of his back, it struck from below, swinging up like a big club made of clay. And it essentially was - a big club made out of clay, that would likely sting if it managed to hit. Not that he would be satisfied with just that, though. No no no. Whether or not the club actually struck the snake - once it was done, it swung back down again and the squirrel pivoted on one foot, to spiral into a powerful punch with his right paw.

At the same time, his left one reeled backwards. He needed to make the timings just right in order to create the best punches.. and that meant constantly pushing clay back and forth through his body in fluid motions. As soon as one attack finished, the majority of the clay from the one extremity pulled away from that point and moved to the one that would be next used in the next attack. For now, most of the clay in his tail was being split.. trying to push it between both of his hands equally. Not that it was exactly easy to do such a thing, while still trying to use said fists. It required more than simple martial knowledge.. he had to multi-task and organize his thoughts between various fronts at once.

"Hah, COME ON. That's the best you've got. Huh, is that the best? Come on, COME ON!" He wasn't going to back down - physically or verbally. Not until the thing either backed off or until he was stood on top of it.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn hadn't expected the tail, and it connected with her jaw, knocking her head back. Swinging her head left to avoid a punch, the snake darted away before he could throw another and letting loose with her hissing tirade on language and their fight. And then her jaw really started to hurt from the tail slap. "Oooooh, yess...." she hissed, a shiver running down her spine from the feel of it. As much she enjoyed hurting other people on occasion, she enjoyed getting hurt as much. Which tended to make fighting a lot more fun than it really should be. "That felt good, little squirrel...let's have some more fun!" she hissed, now at her loudest as she charged him again.

This time, she made to swerve left again like she had before, but feinted and instead swerved to the right, then immediately to her left and attacked the squirrel's side. "Lets see how fast you react, little squirrel!" she hissed, being careful to keep her fangs back so that she didn't actually bite him. She had no desire to kill this squirrel, seeing as how she had just eaten and was definitely still curious, plus she wasn't sure she could even digest it. Partly she was curious about this creature's nature, and partly she was now really enjoying fighting the squirrel.

Swerving away again after attacking the squirrel's side, she slowly slithered around her opponent. "This won't be able to go on much longer, squirrel...I'm not built for this climate, and I'll have to rest soon." she hissed, her tone quieter now as she waited for her opponents next move, her cold eyes watching the squirrel very carefully for any other abilities she might not be aware off.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He grinned - looked like he'd gotten the snake good, although the thing was left reeling back at the moment and every punch he threw didn't seem to make it to its head or body. Shyke. The one moment where I should be giving everything I can. It soon straightened itself, and hissed even more. Well, it could give its best shot, that would be all the squirrel said. He felt like he'd given it a good smack, and now it was its turn to try and return the favour. If it could, that was. The snake certainly had its natural speed on its side, which unfortunately even the squirrels particularly good reflexes were a little too slow to really react to. He could throw his arms up and all of that, in preparation.. but the thing was still damn fast.

When it looked ready to come back for another go, he was ready. His fists were up, ready.. and the thing began swerving. He could tell it was just trying to bait him into attacking like before. "Oh no you don't!" He wasn't about to try and get into a speed contest with the snake, because he knew now that it would win. Instead, he took the best aim he could - which would be for the 'main body'.. or at least, what he could guess was the main body, behind the head. It was that part, that he practically sprinted towards with his fists ready to deliver a good punch at. Except, most of its body weaved to the side, before striking at his unprotected side. It didn't hurt, because it didn't have its fangs extended.. all it was really doing is gumming away at the upper portion of its right arm.

"Not a chance!" He soon swerved with both hands, and stretched out their fingers to try and get a grab around the snakes head, while it was still gripping at his arm. Well, he didn't really want to try and bring it down to force.. but it looked like he'd be doing that anyway. Quite funny, he was being forced to use force.. although there'd be time to laugh at the situation later. He was busy fighting something without arms or legs.... alright, that made him giggle internally just a little bit, while the snake pulled back and prepared itself once again.

More hissing. He was really getting sick of that noise. Then again, he was getting sick of this fight. He was supposed to be the fast one; the nimble squirrel that wouldn't be hit because he was too fast. Not this.. creature, that wasn't even a squirrel or anything of the like. Well, he'd show it what it meant to not just be a squirrel, but a Pycon squirrel. Soon, his voice picked up again, as he rolled his shoulders and glared, hard, at the snake. "Come on, is this all you can do, huh? Is this all? Because I haven't even started!" As he spoke, his skull and body began to shift and change shape. Funnily enough, it was only half-intentional. A Pycons body usually reacted to the situations and experiences it was being put through.. so he supposed that this would be another one of those changes. Although this one, even he wouldn't be sure of.

Slowly, out the top of his skull and behind both of his ears, little nubs formed of his clay. However, they didn't just stop at nubs. They slowly grew into sharpened points that curled backwards on themselves, with smaller horns forming before them, between his ears. He could feel them, as naturally as any other part of his body, of course.. and he liked the way they felt, in all truth. It wasn't the only change - his claws seemed to become longer, sharper.. lines of spines began to push out of the back of his spine, growing as they went; always following where his spine would usually be. Even down the sides of his arms and his legs. Purely aesthetic.. but by no means, any less cool.

Fuelled by all these changes, he decided to put one last one in, just to freak out this beast a little more. Maybe he could get it to back off and quit, if he tried it. The Pycon started by drawing in a long breath, while preparing the rest of his body - actually puffing out his chest a little, while the cavity containing his air expanded significantly more than usual. Then, he released it, in the loudest shout he could.. but at the same time, his jaw slowly distended and grew much longer and wider than it should have. Of course, he had no bones.. it wasn't very comfortable, certainly, but he could pull it off. Slowly, his jaw continued to stretch.. wider and wider.. until he was sure that the base of his jaw should have been around the bottom of his neck. And yet, he was still shouting. "AaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH!" Yep. That should do it. "Still want to try? Thing? Go on, get out of here. Don't come back."

[Suresslynn]

When the squirrel started yelling at her again, Suresslynn sighed and set her head down. "So much yelling. Grouchy little rodent, aren't you?" she hissed, before taking a double take as the squirrel started changing. The head spikes were weird enough, and the claws may not have bothered her much, but the arm spikes and the shoulder spikes were just plain creepy. However, it was the lengthening of the jaw that really got under her scales. Who did this squirrel think he was, imitating snakes like that. Rearing up, she hissed at him again and opened her jaw as wide as she could to show him how snakes did it, then realized that he probably thought she wanted to eat him now. "Well, that's not the message I wanted to send..." she hissed irritably, before letting another sigh. "Very well then, how about this?" she hissed as she started to change.

The change started with her tail, which grew out another two feet in length as she shifted to her Dhani form. Then, as she lifted her head off the ground, four feet of her body came with it and expanded into a humanoid shaped torso. Then the arms started growing. First they burst out of the shoulder portion of her torso, just seeming like two vaguely arm shaped clubs. Then they bent at the elbows, unfolding to their proper length as she opened her fists and spread them into fingers. Looking over at the squirrel, the Dhani pulled into her boxing stance. "See!? I can do it too!" she hissed, her voice now quite a bit louder and a bit higher than it had been, though still completely unintelligible to anyone who didn't speak snake.