Completed [Makutsi's Tower] Loathe

[Ssezzkero]

30th of Fall 514AV

The Autumn mist still hung heavy across the Riverfall streets as Sezkero strolled through them. She had walked through someone's garden, the dew of the grass wetting her toes in between the leather straps of her sandals. Normally, Sezkero would not have walked through another person's grass, not because she would ruin it by waling on it, simply because it was not her garden, but the snake did not care. It was an emotion she was getting used to, the lack of emotions. Unconsciously she feared for her sanity, the Iyvess was well aware of how odd she was acting and yet her conscious thoughts were not preoccupied with worry about her polar behaviors. She simply didn't care. She really wanted to rip the clothes from her shoulders and free herself into her true form, and slither through the streets as if she owned them. The sudden and rash urge nearly overwhelmed the small Iyvess before her brown eyes caught sight of the familiar rise of Makutsi's Tower. "Not today." Kero hissed to herself, reaching one hand up to pool the cotton cowl from her head, her yank was harsh as she neared the religious tower. Instead of removing the thick scarf completely, she simply let it hang on her neck, still covering her Iyvess mark.

A small hand fell on the metal handle of the door, and a burst of angry energy yanked it open. Few Aclyotes were up and no visitors had come to the temple yet, so the loud bang of the door behind her was shocking to those inside. It was clear she was not the only worshiper who was having trouble worshiping this season. Kal, who was up earlier than the rest to welcome the morning dew and rain when it came, was laying under the stairs snoozing. An arm was slung over his head, a shocking sight. At this time, he would usually be teaching dance to the other raindancers, or in deep meditation upstairs. Soft brown eyes were hardened at this sight. Sezkero suddenly wanted to explode at the Priest for his lack of activity. She did not want to be there, but knew she had to in order to make a living, but he was Makutsi's Preist! He was chosen by her! And yet he didn't give a damn if she was worshiped or not.

A small voice, whatever was left of who Sezkero had always been, spoke up. You can't be mad at him, when you yoursself do not care. The voice was soft but meaningful. What was wrong with her? The snake shoved the voice of reason back down, furrowing her brow at the man.

Before the Iyvess could turn away, something hard clattered on the ground in front of her. "Well, don't just stand there, get to work." It took a second for the snake to understand the quick-spoken Tukant. She heard enough words and understood the tone to know that it was not a kind reminder, nor a gentle request as was normal within Makutsi's walls. Before shock could register on Keri's face, a glare found the speaker. A normally soft-spoken Konti, She'a, was not demanding she do something? Rage spiked in Kero's stomach, but the Konti was speaking again before she could react. "You've been an ass lately, you might as well make yourself useful." This time the words were in Common, easy for the snake to understand. In an odd burst of rage, she turned to the woman and hissed. The inhuman sound accompanied by her oddly sharp teeth widened the Konti's blue eyes. She couldn't help but take a step back, however once She'a was a safe distance away, she returned Kero's glare.

No one was in their right minds this season.

Sezkero waited until the Konti had turned away before she bent to pick up the broom. Two other Acolytes, who were gambling with die, were giving her odd looks, but obviously hadn't seen the whole show. A sigh escaped the Iyvess' lips and she walked over to the stairs, deciding to start her sweeping in the dancing room.

Normally, all work she did in the Temple was volunteer. She spent most of her days in Makutsi's Tower, immersed in the rich faith of the River Godess' followers. Since she only had one gnosis from the Goddess, she did not live in the Tower, however she often was compensated for her volunteering. Normally, Kero couldn't fathom thinking of her time in the Tower as work. Normally, Kero's only reason to be there was to be close to her Goddess and the other who followed her, not to earn money. But, this season had not been normal for the snake. She would have liked to never set foot in the Temple again, however she knew it was the only way for her to gain money, and money was all she wanted.

Common - Snake-Tongue - Tukant - Thoughts

[Ssezzkero]

When Kero reached the top of the public levels in Makutsi's Tower, she should have been shocked. Not one person was to be found in the large empty room. The carvings of people on the walls, depicting different forms of dance for any who looked close enough, suddenly sent chills down the snake's spine.

In the main room, where others were present but did not want to be, like her, the Tower seemed less holy. Now that she stood, alone, in a room of worship, with nothing but a measly broom as her weapon, she felt haunted. She felt as if she didn't belong, as if she had betrayed her Goddess this past moon (which she had), and that she was somehow unworthy of standing here. The tiny Iyvess suddenly felt smaller, she felt similar to the first time she stepped into civilization as a humanoid. It didn't take long for this self-loathing, these feelings of unworthiness, to turn to rage. Rage, rage, rage. It was all the Iyvess seemed to be able to feel when she was reminded of her faith, and she didn't know why.

Huffing, Kero set to work. Flax-woven mats were rolled up in the corner, neatly placed on a metal rack. Some dancers preferred them to the floor, while others didn't. The rack of mats and the few benches by the windows were all that would be found in the wide open room. Normally the benches would have pitchers of water and glasses on them, available to tired dancers or observers, however it was clear that none of the Acolytes had set it out. Kero made a mental note to grab those from the kitchen in the Acolyte's quarters after she had swept the room. She almost felt like her old self again.

The course Sorghum bristles hit the floor with avengance and Kero aimed to finish her task as soon as possible. Maybe, if no curious visitors came in, she could finish the chores and leave by noon. She would still be volunteering and would gain compensation at the end of the season. The idea of Kal handing her the gold mizas seemed so satisfying to the snake as she swept. Quick, short sweeps didn't seem to be moving fast enough, and so Kero didn't mind missing a few tiles. When she neared the mat-rack on the other side of the room, she stood the broom upright, leaning on the handle and looking at the rack. She realized that she should have shaken out the mats before sweeping, so that she could get whatever dust they had on them, off. But one glance at the amount of space she had already covered, and the pile of dirt that was sourly disproportionate made up her mind. This new lazy behavior wouldn't help her get paid, but someone else usually swept the next day, and so it wouldn't be her problem.

And so Sezkero ignored the rack.

She continued haphazardly brushing up the dirt in the room until there were tiny piles of brown dirt, from the shoes and feet of the dancers, scattered through the room. Little specs of dust floated through the air, causing Kero to sneeze, but she did not open the window. It would have been too much work and unnecessary in her opinion. As she gathered the piles into her tin dustpan, she remembered yet another step that she was used to performing.

On any other day of any other season, Kero would have taken her shoes off while she swept, to make sure that she got everything. On a normal day, Kero would have also opened the windows, shaken out the mats and moved the benches to get in the tight corners of the room, but today was not Kero's normal day. This season, was not Kero's normal day. The act of sweeping was not something she wanted to do to care for the facility, it was something she had to do to get money. There was a difference in the results, by a difference in motive.

Common - Snake-Tongue - Tukant - Thoughts

[Ssezzkero]

Kero finally did open the window, when she had collected all the dust. She was used to carrying the dustpan all the way down stairs to dump the dirt in the garden behind the temple. She knew how high up they were and to simply dump a dust-pan onto the bustling morning street of Riverfall would be rude and inconsiderate. But did Sezkero care? No.

Wide brown eyes watched the dirt floating down, carrying by Zulrav's breezes, onto the heads of the pedestrians below. A few looked up to see where the sudden shower of dirt had come from, annoyance clear on their faces, and all they got was a sharp-toothed smile from the snake as she watched.

She leaning back into the dance room, reaching up to slam the window shut again. The metal frame clattered loudly in the empty room, echoing off the carved walls. The Iyvess turned to look at her work in the room, a habit of hers, only to not find a difference. There was less dirt on the floor, but there was still dirt on the floor. The mat-rack was the same, only now it was slightly turned to the side, where Kero had shoved it out of her way. The room was actually dissapointing to look at after spending nearly a three-quarters of a bell cleaning it. But then again, she didn't really try, so what did she expect?

Kero sighed. "Petch thisss." She stooped to pick up the broom and dust-pan, bringing them down to the main lobby, as she passed the other dance-rooms, Kero found an overwhelming sense of annoyance as she looked into them. She did not want to clean them. Why couldn't someone else do that? Just because they had two Gnosis marks from the River Goddess, didn't mean they were better than she was, did it? No, it didn't.

The thought of Gnosis marks started a tingling sensation in her leg. She could very clearly feel the cool hand-print on her knee where the Goddess had blessed her as a child, the divine Djed flowing through her body. Instead of the usual comforting sensation of remembering she was blessed by her mother Goddess, Kero suddenly repelled the feeling. She hated that this God had power over her and had so easily claimed her, as if she was a slave. Disgust boiled inside of her and the snake stomped all the way down the stairs. Just before she reached the bottom, after passing the Acolyte's level, Sezkero remembered her task to replenish the water.

A huff of annoyance burst from her lips and Kero set down the broom and dustpan in the middle of the flight of stairs. Small feet hurried up the steps, leaving the cleaning tools where she would never have done so before. So what if someone tripped over it? Maybe they'll break their neck. The dark thought shocked Kero, even with the odd emotions and ideas she was having lately, she knew her own brain had gone too far, but her disapproval of her dark thought only went so far before she shrugged it off. She didn't really care that much.

When she reached the Acolyte's quarters, she had little trouble waltzing into the place. Door led off to bedrooms, all of which were closed and probably locked, something that was unusual in Makutsi's temple. The only two doors that remained open were the kitchen and bath, used by the Acolyte's that lived there.

Once Kero was in the kitchen, she found a mess. Instead of it bothering her, she ignored it. The communal kitchen had always been neat, out of courtesy for the others that used it, however this past season, it fell out of people's minds. Reaching into the appropriate cabinet, Kero found the pitcher's and glasses that belonged in the dance room. Instead of neatly organized on their tray, they were barely standing up straight with a light layer of dust coating the top.

They hadn't been used in days. A brief flash of worry shot through Kero, when she realized why the dance room was so dirty, no one cared any longer. But the snake didn't dwell on her gut reaction too long, her mind was more focused on completing the task and leaving. She pulled the tray down from the cabinet, re-stacking the glasses so that balanced better and closed the cupboard door. She walked over to the pump, that connected to a well below ground, and started pumping water into the pitcher. She didn't have much issue with the lever, since her strength was in-proportionate to her body, but she disliked the amount of effort she needed to out into filling a pitcher.

Once the water was a little over half-full, Kero stopped. By the look of things, it was unlikely that anyone would actually take the trek up the stairs of the tower to dance. They didn't need that much water. If they did, they could get it themselves. As her brown eyes scanned the top of the liquid, she found the dust swirling on the settling water, but the snake didn't care enough to rinse the pitcher out and refill it. It would have to do.

Common - Snake-Tongue - Tukant - Thoughts

[Ssezzkero]

Trudging back up the stairs with a her hands occupied by the tray with the pitcher and the glasses was more tiring than a normal stair-climbing session. Maybe it was the thought of returning to being alone in such a faithful room, but then again, Kero had mostly been alone the whole day in the tower. It was nearing noon, the time that teh Iyvess had told herself she would go home by, and she just wanted to leave. When she finally reached the top dance-floor, she placed the tray down on the nearest bench. The room hadn't changed in the minutes she had been gone, but the uncomfortable feeling had returned. Her discomfort was interrupted by the clang of metal on wood when she set the tray down harder than she intended. The dusty water sloshed around in the pitcher, but not much came out, because she did not fill it all the way.

"Done." Sezkero huffed, even though she was not at all tired. The overall energy spent on sour feelings while in Makutsi's tower was enough to wear her out for the day. She really didn't want to do anything, least of all this, but she wanted the money. To say she needed it, would be a lie, but she had found a new sense of greed this season, and so her wants seemed nearly as important as her needs.

Once Sezkero's foot fell on the first step, she was down faster than a crossbow arrow. By the time she reached the main floor, she realized that she had forgotten to pick up the broom. Once glance back at the stairs confirmed that she had forgotten the broom because it wasn't there. There was no body on the floor, so it didn't kill anyone, but someone must have gotten annoyed with her. Good. The sour Iyvess thought, turning back towards the room. A guest had wandered into the Tower, and was being poorly entertained by Kal. The stranger kept firing off questions about Makutsi and what the purpose of the tower was, clearly uneducated on the River Goddess' faith but also curious. Far more curious than any of the Acolytes, or Sezkero, was willing to humor. It was unfortunate for this curious visitor to walk in on the one season that no one in the tower actually cared.

The snake did not dwell on the fact for too long, opting to escape instead. She pulled the cowl back over her hair, covering her eyes from the sun and hiding her Iyvess mark again to re-enter the bustling Riverfall streets. She had come and done work, enough work to get paid at the end of the season, and now she wanted to get the Hai out of this wretched tower.

Common - Snake-Tongue - Tukant - Thoughts

[Matthew]

Sezkero

Experience Points:

• 1 Diplomacy
• 2 Observation
• 3 Organization
• 1 Socialization

Lores:

• Emotion: A Lack Of
• Organization: Effective Sweeping Technique
• Diplomacy: Containing Your Temper

Additional Notes :

This was a very enjoyable read. This is going to sound a bit random and a little nitpicky, but I noticed that "Shielding" was mispelled on the Skills section of your CS. I know those things are hard to spot though I thought I'd point it out. Aside from that unrelated note, this was a good job thread.

If you have any questions or concerns relevant to your grade, don't be afraid to send me a private message so that we can work it all out! Please remember to mark your Grading Request as Graded.

A shout-out to Ollic Rimesage, who was kind enough to make this template for me.