Closed The Sands of Home (Nephti, Reysin)

[Allassanachassanya]

10th Winter, 516 AV
"Speech"

She had gone there as soon as she heard the rumours. Somewhere, in this crazy city, lay a copy of her home. It would undoubtedly be a crude copy, but nevertheless she knew she needed to go there. She had been right. She had finally arrived, after travelling through some of the strangest landscape she had ever seen, and the scene that lay before her was absolutely wonderful. She could feel it in her bones, first of all the generous warmth (still not quite there), then the copious amounts of Eypharians, and even some of her own kin, spotted occasionally in the crowds. Oh praise Siku, she was home.

A few grateful tears to whichever god had granted this, and a whole new belief in Ionu, she started to explore the city properly. It was gloriously warm, she could feel the heat radiating from the walls of the buildings that lined the streets. The air hung heavy with spice and woodsmoke, and the sky overheard was a beautiful, shimmering azure. She scuffed her feet happily along the floor, kicking up dirt and dust and sand. The desert was a dangerous place, but never had she been so glad to see and feel real sand as she was now.

She hadn't realised just how much she had missed the place. It was one thing having the cosy memories, an entirely different thing to be able to open the memories up and actually live them. The initial thoughts of tears broke free and turned into the brightest grin her face could manage, as she tucked herself furtively behind a column and began to strip from her clothes. Half a chime later, and she stretched luxuriously into her Dhani form.

It felt so right to be Dhani once more, she thought. It was too long since she'd felt the ground beneath her body, too long since she could tower over people and look intimidating. She giggled to herself as a nervous-looking woman started anxiously as she slid out from behind the pillar, but soon swept past and started to explore, searching for a convenient place for her to lay down and bask.

[Yisanareysin]

Rey woke with a sense of achy nostalgia he hadn't felt in quite some time. He stirred, his coils loosening as he raised his head to figure out what was causing this feeling. He blinked sleepily at the familiar interior of his house, warmth of the stone floor, the scent of spice in the air, the snatches of arumenic coming from outside his door-

Rey snapped upright. Oh, Siku. It couldn't be. But it was. Slithering over, he reached out for the door, set his hand on the handle. Couldn't quite bring himself to turn it. He stayed like that for a long while, breathing shallowly. Finally, fingers shaking almost imperceptibly, he pushed the door open, revealing the Alvadas outside his door.

It was beautiful. Familiar. Almost home. Somehow, it hadn't occurred to him that Ahnatep, that Eyktol might be replicated in this new Alvadas, but it seemed he had been dropped right into it.

Swallowing through a lump in his throat, Rey snatched up his pack, and was out the door in a flash, barely remembering to lock it behind him. He got a few startled glances, but barely cared, his focus entirely on soaking up the sight and smell and feel of the desert.

He was home. An illusory copy of it, no doubt twisted in some way, but still. There was sand under his scales and warmth on his back, and it was like he'd never left.

It seemed he wasn't the only one enjoying this Alvadan Ahnatep. Across the street, another of his kind wandered in dhani form, seemingly enjoying the city every bit as much as he was. Joy and nostalgia loosened his tongue, and he slithered up to her.

"I never dreamed of finding the desert again once I crossed the Suvan, but here we are. It seems Ionu's whims swing in our favour this winter."

Snake Tongue | Common | Arumenic

[Nephti]

Wandering...


Of course, she had already been here. The city of her home - she had spent so much time here already, in this Alvahnatep, this strange distortion between illusion and what she already knew. She skipped through the streets, already more comfortable with it. Memories of the real Ahnatep came back, but the good memories, not the memories from summer. The sun soaked into her skin and it made the light gild shine brighter, making her stand out from those who simply wore the illusion of Eypharian arms.

As she moved through the streets, a sight she wasn't expecting caught her eye. Dhani, in their form, talking in their hissing snake tongue. At once, the girl froze, wondering whether this was an illusion of her nightmares instead of the city which she loved. She watched them from a distance, heart stopped slightly.

She would never stop fearing them. Especially with just one sight, with no idea who lay beneath the scaly exterior. All her mind went to was the Dhani from her past, the one who had changed everything. Ruined everything in some way. It was true she had changed for the better, but that Dhani was never to be forgiven.

Taking deep breaths, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the heat. She had to face her fear, and meet these, in their form like this, and show them and herself she didn't care. She had spoken to Dhani only last season. They hadn't hurt her. They wouldn't hurt her in this form either.

Nephti approached, keeping a smile on her face and holding her gnosis mark close to her, giving her strength even when she didn't use it. "Greetings," she smiled at them, adding the Arumenic word after to prove her worth, "It seems that Ionu has a place for all of us." After all, Dhani and Eypharian called the same place home. They weren't that different at all. "Are you from Ahntap or Eykotl too?"

[Allassanachassanya]

"Speech"

It was astonishing again to see another Dhani, one of her race. The Eypharians were to be expected, and the regular humans were just that- regular. Even though the Dhani were not uncommon around the real Ahnatep, she couldn't help but be surprised by this one.

He was big, bigger than Ssanya certainly, with a muted scarlet band like a ribbon around his neck. She ran her eyes over him, dark brown eyes meeting his own unusual ones. Then she burst into a grin, and swung her arms wide. "Siku, Ionu, whichever god has given us this is worthy of the highest praise." Her voice dropped to a murmur, then dipped up happily, "I didn't know when I'd next see this. Isn't it wonderful?"

Her speech was interrupted then by the arrival of a young Eypharian. She seemed nervous, and it took a little while for Ssanya to realise what she was saying. Going from snake-tongue to common was difficult, and she blinked a few times as she tried to figure it out. Then she did a double-take. Her common slurred, "Nephti? We met, you remember. In Bizzare? I'm Ssssanya!"

Apparently she was slow today. She shook her head at herself as she realised, of course the girl wouldn't recognise her, not when she'd only seen her human appearance before. She briefly considered changing back, but petch it. She didn't go around like this often, and she was in Ahnatep.

She brought her attention back to her compatriot, and switched messily back to snake-tongue. "So, what brings you here, Eyktolian brother? It's a fine city. Odd though, full of well... illusions. I don't think there's anything else quite like it!"

OOCI'm terribly sorry both for the long wait, and for the short post!

[Allassanachassanya]

"Speech"
"Others"

Before she could even hear her companion's reply however, the truth of desert living showed itself as the people on the street began to exclaim in either panic or regular wonder. Sand, whipping into action by an almost instant wind, was writhing into the air in a sandstorm that promised to blast the skin from her face. Ssanya immediately ducked her head and covered her face and eyes with her arms and her hands as best she could as she hurried to safety.

It was difficult to keep an eye on Nephti and Reysin, and it was inevitable that she lost them in the hullabaloo of the sandstorm. Ssanya was caught up in the maelstrom of the primal element, but found herself almost grinning, even through the stinging pain that was enveloping her every clear surface. It was almost truly exactly like home, and she was glad of it. All that she missed now was her family, and although she hoped with almost every day that they were faring well, she sent her well wishes via a prayer to Siku and remembered her mother as she clutched onto the knucklebone necklace that laced around her neck with the utmost care.

Eventually, once the sudden storm had settled and the people had finished shaking the sand from every fibre of their being, the Dhani began to idly walk the streets once more, looking for the other snake and the six-armed girl who had looked so apprehensive. Even as she walked, she expected Alvadas to spit her out and put her somewhere else, but the landscape remained the same and the sun continued to beat down on her head. It appeared she was trapped, and it was strangely wonderful.

A man had opened his home and was selling drinks from his front door with a tent propped over to shade people from the heat. There were chairs, and one was free. With a delighted flop, and a few odd stares, Ssanya settled down and lazily closed her eyes, letting the dappling sunlight flicker across her outstretched legs. A quiet hubbub of everyday chatter surrounded her, whilst two cats fought over in an alleyway and a dog barked mournfully. Birds twittered across the rooftops. A soft breeze, all that was left of the sandstorm, lifted life into the old tarpaulin that stretched above her head, and Ssanya imagined her family could round the corner at any moment.

They were not rich nor influential in the real Ahnatep, but on the occasions they had visited the grand city of the Eypharians, Ssanya had enjoyed every moment, basking in her Dhani-ness. It was the only city she'd encountered so far that really accepted the snake race, perhaps because of their plentiful dealings with the Eyktol nest that bordered so closely with the beautiful city. Ssanya didn't really care about any of that old history, but she did care about the memories and the almost painfully bittersweet feeling she found herself coursing along as she lounged and listened to the world living around her.

She longed almost desperately to hear her mother's voice again, that soft yet firm voice telling her what to do next, guiding her along the simple path she had found herself on in life. Of all her family, it was perhaps Ssanya who was the most surprising in that she was just very ordinary, the type of person that no-one expected to up and leave the nest. But in her heart, there was a strong desire to wander, to not be trapped. For all her excuses of learning malediction in the world, a task that was proving far more difficult that she'd have expected, she also yearned to see what else there was.

Yet malediction was not something she had cast away, and now she felt its tugging at her heart, almost as if her mother's finger were tapping her there through the age-stained bone dangling around her neck, trying to remind her of her goal when she left home. Perhaps the facsimile of her home was the best place to practice the magic, despite being outdoors and despite her lack of ingredients. She had her knife, all she needed was a bone of some sort. Her Dhani seeming would be enough of a disguise, she hoped, though in reality she wasn't caring about being caught. Her familiar home turf was making her brazen.

[Allassanachassanya]

"Speech"
"Others"

She cast about with open eyes, looking for any kind of scrap of throwaway on the floor, but she could see none from her vantage point. She stood without much in the way of gracefulness and began scanning the floor, looking especially into the corners where bones might end up. It was unusual for much rubbish to be lying around, but then it wasn't too strange for people to throw the bones of what they'd just finished eating to the ground. After a time, an animal of some description would surely come along and eat such a thing up.

Ssanya, in Dhani form and thus rather terrifying to the right kind of creature, could only hope that she would get to such a prize first. She walked, letting her feet kick up sand and her eyes peer into darkness and shade. Finally, as she was getting ready to give up and find herself another seat, she spotted something in the a long shadow cast by an artificial-looking pillar. A bone, what looked like a rib of some animal, was lying picked clean of all meat and fat. She seized it with glee and ran her fingers over the smooth bone, searching for fractures that would make it unworkable, but it was perfect.

She grinned, lost in a bubble of her own, and perched herself upon a low-lying wall that ran around an elegant garden, horribly out of place in the desert air. The rib was small, but not miniature. Idly, she thought back over all the things she'd eaten in the past, trying to place what exactly this particular rib belonged to. Her closest thought was either a rabbit or a small pig. It wasn't anywhere near precise enough, but she wasn't too fussed. This was practice, after all, not serious, even though her mother would have yelled at her for wasting the magic.

Ssanya settled on small pig, and set about designing a sigil in the sand with her toe to match. Pigs were voracious, she imagined, and ate a lot, though it wasn't particularly useful information for the bone she held. She thought deeper, harder, trying to place the significance of the rib. She pressed a hand to her own ribs, and felt the beating of her heart, and beneath and underneath the beginnings of her stomach. Thoughtfully, she traced lines in the shape of a throbbing circle, imitating a heart. The rib was a guard against damage, and her malediction circle a totem against attack.

She was satisfied, and drew her knife to hunker over and begin carving the design into the surface. She started slow, as strangely she had grown accustomed to using the tool and weapon in her human hands. She twisted her fingers and then all of a sudden it clicked, as the sunlight glinted off the iron and the sharp, hot smell of the artificial desert washed over her. The middle of the design was a circle of imperfect shape, a hollow hole that she dug out with the tip of the blade. Next came the protective encasement, wrapping around and around the central heart that represented the owner. She worked slowly and carefully, methodically working the knife in an effort to make sure she made no mistakes. The bone was hard and brittle, but she had worked with many kinds of bone and it wasn't too unfamiliar to her.

The design lay in the flattest and widest part of the rib, roughly above the centre. Later, she would drill a hole into the highest part and thread it through with leather lace, but for now there were more important things to do. The magic had yet to happen, though there was a rustic kind of charm in cutting the design into the rib. Ssanya cleaned the knife as best she could, and took a few paranoid moments to look around. To her surprise and good luck, the street was deserted apart from whoever lived in the houses that surrounded her. She opened her right hand, and placed the rib carefully between her knees. Anticipation welled in her heart, and she began to cut the knife into the fleshy part of her hand where blood flowed freely.

Several large droplets of blood fell and she squeezed her hand tight, and her eyes closed, falling with the blood into the deepest part of the rib and finding what she needed within. She sought the well that connected her with the primal magic, and drew from it as deeply and as succinctly as possible. Concentration and deep thought sent splinters burrowing into her bloodstream, tiny pinpricks of tingling, and then as the blood filled the hollow pit of the circle, the ritual was complete and she reeled as the rib softly throbbed against her skin. Her own heart beat with the same rhythm, and she felt light-headed yet ecstatic. Something had gone right, and she was full of gladness that no-one had seen her. It was a pleasure that didn't need to be seen by another eye.

[Allassanachassanya]

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Grade Rewardsss
Reysin, if/when you unretire your PC and you'd like this graded, PM me or the resident ST if I'm not around, and I'll happily give you your grades.

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Nephti

Skills

Observation: +1
Socialisation: +1

Lores

Alvadas location: Alvahnatep illusion Winter 516
Dhani: Difficult to trust

Notes

It would have been fun to continue this, but I kind of fizzled, and you kind of fizzled, so we'll just have to revisit our writing together at some point! Still, it was lovely to write with you. Let me know if you wanted anything else from your grade.

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Ssanya

Skills

Socialisation: +1
Wilderness Survival: +1
Observation: +2
Investigation: +1
Drawing: +1
Carving: +1
Malediction: +1

Lores

Alvadas location: Alvahnatep illusion Winter 516
Socialisation: Remembering the correct language
Wilderness Survival: Finding shelter in a storm
Ahnatep: Accepts the Dhani
Malediction: Checking for damage before starting
Malediction: Pig rib
Ribs: Offer protection

Notes

This was a self-grade. Please PM me if you think I've graded incorrectly. I awarded WS for avoiding the sandstorm, and investigation for deliberately searching for bone rather than just observing it, as such.

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