[Makutsi's Tower] The Return

by **Ssezzkero** on March 24th, 2015, 1:41 am

9th of Spring, 515AV
9th Bell of The Morning
Makutsi's Tower

Waking up that day was not hard, and Sezkero found it surprsing. For over two seasons, the snake had not wanted to wake and definitely not wanted to go to work. But this day, as Sezkero had groggily pulled her consciousness from her dreams, which were quickly forgotten with the moon, Sezkero found a new burst of excitement to go to the tower Two seasons ago this wouldn't have been unusual at all, but this day it was so unusual Sezkero practically sprinted from her home.

Sezkero had wasted no time in readying herself before racing down the steep second tier streets and through the massive blue men, fear pushing her legs. It was an irrational fear, a fear that she would loose this excitement today. She would only be her old self for a very small amount of time before returning to the lazy, rude, reckless but ultimately selfless person she was before. And so urgency to get to the Tower and appreciate it before she stopped caring filled her.

By the time the snake had reached the doors, she was completely out of breathe. Her heart was racing and Ker placed one hand on the thick wooden door to catch herself as she wheezed in the sharp cold air of the morning. It would warm up soon she knew, but in the meantime the moist but cold air scraped her wind tunnel as she sucked it in greedily.

Before she could completely catch her breathe, amazed at how out of shape she was that the mile winded her so, the door swung open. Sezkero stumbled as she was suddenly forced to regain her own weight and stood up straight, looking into the deep blue eyes of Shi'ra.

"Sezkero!" The friendly Konti greeted her with enthusiasm that the snake had not seen in a long time. Sezkero couldn't help the grin spread across her face as she still huffed through her mouth.

"Ssshhhi-" Ker breathed but was suddenly swept up in a hug from the taller woman. The snake had to keep herself from squirming, unused to touch from others, especially after the odd feeling of the last seasons.

"Something has changed." The Konti released her, an impossibly wide grin letting her words out. Sezkero nodded. She couldn't explain it either but she knew something had changed as well, something had returned the city back to normal, back to feeling good and right in their own skin again, and Sezkero was grateful.

Common | Snake-Tongue | Tukant | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

by **Ssezzkero** on April 19th, 2015, 3:03 am

No one in the temple had wasted time in rejoicing the change. For the most part, Makutsi's followers where whole and devoted. Those who resided at the temple had found peace in their life and enjoyed their purpose. The switch last season had made many feel awful, and Sezkero was no exception. And celebration was in the making. One of the Acolytes had already pulled out the drums and flutes and none had wasted time to move with the tune.

A grin was slowly growing on her face too see the temple so festive after the last seasons. It was as if Makutsi had came to town or something, but she was sure the festives were not too great. Baked goods and fresh fruits had been bought because the Acolyte's kitchen had not been touched in two seasons. The floors were stained and dirty and the fire had not been watched that winter so ash marked the hearth and the already stale air was accented with old smoke. The temple had shown signs of neglect very quickly, and although Sezkero knew it would be well taken care of now that everyone was back to themselves, at the moment she felt in the wake of the dead.

"Ker!" A voice called and she turned to Kal, who had two clappers in his hands. He held one out to her, and she didn't hesitate to grab it, already pulling her headscarf off and hanging it on the hook. She followed the Priest's rhythm as he kept with the ongoing tune for dance. It took her a moment to realize that Kal was not just standing there shaking the clappers like she was, he was dancing and keeping rhythm.

The snake gawked for a moment, watching the lithe preist float throughout the room, keeping time iwth the music but still enjoying the celebration. Arguable, Sezkero might be the worst dancer in the entire temple. She knew one dance and rarely deviated from that routine. It limited her in many ways, but then again, much of what she did in her everyday life limited her. She was a woman of routine, but after being shaken up with unpredictable mood swings and events the last seasons, she realized she did not want to be. So she took a leap of faith.

The festival was in full swing and the music was cheery, and she would not dwell on why things were back to normal, she would celebrate with the rest. But before the snake could take a step, someone had her hand. Shi'ra was floating through the room, and the tall Konti had grabbed her hand to swirl her around. The friendly and charismatic sea-woman had somehow found a way to dance with everyone, and Sezkero found herself to be no exception as she raised her arm above her head, twisting her ankles in the familiar pattern and curving her arms to twirl. She wasn't sure when the giddy grin had returned to her face, but maybe it hadn't even left. The Konti released Sezkero's hand then, skipping lightly to the next person to dance with. Sezkero found herself falling into the rhythm much easier now.

Common | Snake-Tongue | Tukant | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

by **Ssezzkero** on April 19th, 2015, 3:41 pm

With a practices pattern of her feet, the snake twisted and twirled through the small crowd of Makutsi's Acolytes. Sezkero found herself drifting towards one of the wooden hutches on either side of the fireplace, the hunger in her stomach overpowering her wish to dance. This one had been dusted off and those who had brought food had placed it here. The merriment continued though, as she picked up a slice of melon and a rather large muffin. Popping another melon slice in her mouth, she turned around, ready to settle herself by the musicians and watch the dancing, but as she chewed her first melon, almost regretting stuffing the whole of the juicy fruit in her mouth, she realized that Kal had stopped and was looking over his clergy with the familiar warm-hearted expression. The expression that drew people to him and made no one question why Makutsi favored the man. Shi'ra was by his side and when Sezkero caught her eye, the Konti beckoned her over, which Ker found herself nearly skipping to join the woman.

As she neared the Acolyte and the Priest, she held out the slice of melon to the Konti silently. There was an aura of patience, as if everyone was waiting for Kal to speak, whether they've recognized that he had stopped and was preparing to speak or not. Shi'ra nodded and took the melon, taking a smaller and more appropriate bite of the melon than Sezkero had. A little embarrassed, Sezkero worked to swallow the melon quickly. The music began to slow down as the musicians took note of Kal's silent stance, and they worked to end their song, which brought attention from the dancers. One by one, each member of Makutsi's Clergy responded, slowing their steps and turning to wait silently for Kal, some even sat on their knees as if they were school children, waiting for the teacher to begin a lesson.

"So!" Kal broke into a grin, clapping once with his single word. "I think it is apparent that we are all very grateful for the... return to ourselves." He took two steps back, finding himself on the stairs and sat down on the seventh one up. High enough that he was still the same height as if he were standing, but so that he could sit. Shi'ra went to sit on the second step just below him, which left Sezkero standing awkwardly to the side of the congregation rather than apart of it. Picking a piece off of her muffin, she stuffed it in her mouth before shuffling over to the rail of the stair way and leaned on the end. For it it was the perfect height to rest her shoulder on, but this Temple was built for Akalaks, so it was only meant to go to most of the blue men's hips. Chewing as quietly as possible, Sezkero settled in to listen to Kal's speech.

"We were all very different this past season, some who changed for the better, but most of us were discontented with last year, where we not?" He paused when he received a murmur of agreement. For Sezkero, she could feel a creeping sense of doubt and guilt left over from the last season, although she did not yet remember exactly why. "I will not shame any of you for that, and I hope none of you shame each other either. We could not help the plague, but it is best if we do not dwell on it either. Makutsi has not come yet to chastise us on out decisions last year, and so neither will we, to each other." He paused, which gave one of the string musicians and chance to add in their own peice. A solemn warrior tune, the dramatic kind used in plays, rang out in the silence, which earned a bought of chuckled and laughter from the clergy.

When the musician had finished mocking the solemn feeling, Shi'ra piped in. "Let's put that aside now," Her high bell voice contrasted Kal's greatly, and brought attention back towards the stairs. "Shall we redeem ourselves? Of course we all have some apology dances to choreograph," Suddenly Sezkero felt the seeing Konti's eyes on her. "Especially you, Ker, you'll find your dance will not only benefit your spirit but introduce you to a positive influence in your life." Sezkero shrunk back into herself, turning her head ever so lsightly to look at Shi'ra, who seemed to barely interrupt her speech to speak of her visions to the snake. The Konti wasted no time in continuing. "But, we've neglected to care for the temple itself these past few seasons. We've got to return care to our dear shrine."

"I do plan to help clean the plunge pool. I hadn't realized how quickly algae grows underwater when it is not in use." Another Konti piped in, which immediately brought her offers of help from other sea-races and some who offered to assist in the cleaning of the actual plung-pool room.

"We'll have to clean the upper floors, obviously, but we are also running a bit dry on... money." Kal re-entered the conversation.

Common | Snake-Tongue | Tukant | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

by **Ssezzkero** on April 19th, 2015, 4:34 pm

Money was a touchy subject. Everyone in the tower would like to think that they work there on their own time. It was in most of their spirit to care of Makutsi's Temple free of charge, but the simple truth was stronger. When you devoted all of your time to the Tower, there was no time to work another job, to support yourself adequately. Thankfully, Riverfall valued their religions greatly. The Council awarded an allowance to the various temples, and it kept them and their clergy going. But as they grew in numbers, and worked harder, each Temple knew they would need to put some effort into making their own money. Previous to the last two seasons, it was not uncommon for a wealthier Akalak or their wife to give substantial donations as a thank you to the temple, among others, especially during the dry seasons. The Orchards and various gardeners often hired out some of the clergy to bring rain to their crops and the working member added it to the pool of money for the temple.

The only problem was that in the past few seasons. Very few had still felt compelled to participate. Even Sezkero, who worked at the temple only for the money, hardly did anything to actually earn that money. She half-cleaned and groaned her way through talking to potential worshipers, she was not worthy of the paycheck that she had gotten, yet she had gotten it anyway.

"If only our dances brought us that too. Someone, a black-eyed Chaktawe man, grumbled in reference to their funds going dry. This time the chuckled replies were less enthusiastic. Ker took off another large chunk of her muffin to see if she could fit the soft bread into her mouth again.

Someone questioned why the city's wealth had stopped donating, someone else mentioned that it was supposed to be a dry spring, which meant they could be in more jobs this season. Sezkero crinkled her brow, remembering the summer before. Almost no one had been asked to dance for rain outside of the temple. Struggling to quickly swallow her bite of muffin. Sezkero shifted her weight and spoke up. "Yessss, but I don't believe very many people underssstand what we can do for them. Lasst ssssummer we only had about four call-outss the entire ssseasssson. It was plenty dry enough that the cccity'ss gardenssss and parksss would've needed more rain. If that isss to be sssso again, we need to get the word out."

"But how?" Was the very first response to Sezkero's words from one of the Acolytes.

"Advertissse our sssserviccess? Umm... Word of mouth?" It took Sezkero a few ticks before she could come up with an adequate reply. How were they supposed to get the word out? "An open door gathering?"

"Excellent!" Shi'ra grinned, scooting closer to the snake that leaned against the railing, muffin in hand. "That is two birds with one stone, Ker." The small Iyvess only looked at the Konti quizzically as she thought about what the Konti had said. How was that two points? Opening their doors to strangers, as if their doors weren't already alwasy open, would just invite people in for them to advertise to. How would simply that create more money? "We can host a fundraiser!"

Now Shi'ra had gotten the rest of them on Sezkero's page, and even Sezkero now understood her own idea better now that the Konti had clarified it, it made sense now.

"We can teach dancing, give tours and advertise what we can do for the community to those who come." Shi'ra continued, procuring ideas for the fundraiser.

"I'll make some goods for a few coppers. It won't be much, but it may add something."

"We can also team up with some farms or gardening clubs. I'm sure if we made a deal with them for a discounted rate, they would be inclined to use our services more."

"Excellent!" Kal chimed in, standing up. People were beginning to get excited now, throwing ideas in the mix. Some made no sense, but most were interesting and would likely work.

Common | Snake-Tongue | Tukant | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

by **Ssezzkero** on April 19th, 2015, 4:42 pm

oocBah! I was eleven words off! Well, here is a little wrap-up blurb that should tip the 2500 words

People began to disperse than, thankfully taking the spotlight away from Sezkero. It was well known that money was a touchy subject within the tower, were no one wanted to seem as if they worked there solely for the money, yet it was a necessary topic from time to time. The grin was returning to Sezkero's face as the music picked back up and she realized her idea might work. It would take a fair amount of planing and enough time to get the word out, it was no an immediate plan of action, but it would help.

"We should consult you on business more often, Sezkero." Kal spoke to her now, which darkened the snake's cheeks. Pushing herself off from the railing, she stepped lightly to where Shi'ra was, trying to displace some of the attention to her friend.

"Well, Sshhi'ra and the ressst really came up with the ideassss for it, I jusst thought we sshhould advertisssse." She said in a low voice, handing Kal's rhythm shaker back. Shi'ra, not paying too close attention to the conversation was already dancing. The charismatic Konti rarely danced alone and took no time to grab the priest's hand, whisking him away to the dance floor, which allowed Sezkero to finally finish her muffin and think a little further on the idea of a fundraiser.

Common | Snake-Tongue | Tukant | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

by **Timothy Mered** on May 5th, 2015, 2:14 pm

Your Righteous Reward!

Sezkero

XP :

Lores :

Note: I was under the impression Sezkero is checking Kal out. Maybe that is just me though...
Also, the socially embarassing eating habits were hilarious, and relateable

Great solo!

If you have any questions, concerns, remarks, or comments regarding the grade, please send me a PM and we can work something out.

Solo [Makutsi's Tower] The Return