ORIGIN

She needed a place to rest her head.

Sizzle was tired of being afraid. Every time she left the safety of her bones, she feared. She didn't know what she feared, but the fear gave her a feeling of being unsafe. And she didn't want to be unsafe. So she'd spent a good amount of time in her bones. But something about the bones didn't feel right. The snake felt as though she should be up, up, up, high off the ground. So, reluctantly, she'd left the Bone Room, in search of somewhere high off the ground.

Fortunately, there were some quite loose-lipped Gembounds, who were willing to help her out. They pointed her to 'Eridanus' or, the plant room. That had sounded quite good enough, so she'd begun her journey that way.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

As she entered the room of mosses, she was taken aback. It was beautiful! There were plants, and most importantly, trees, everywhere.

The snake found herself taken aback by the amount of trees. There were so... many... trees. Tall ones, short ones, round ones, squar-ish ones, fat ones, thin ones. Some were green, others were off white, some were brown, and others were an odd greyish color. She'd even found a black one or two!

Oh there was a - !

SPLASH

The snake flailed, suddenly finding herself in the water. As she struck out for shore, she looked around, seeing a rock that protruded out over the lake she'd landed in.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

Sputtering, Sizzle finally made it to shore. For once, she found herself quite glad she was a snake; if she were almost any other animal, she'd have stinky, heavy wet fur and/or feathers. But her scales let water run right off of her, and she didn't have to waste time drying off.

Boy, she hoped no one saw that. That would have been embarrassing. Thankfully, nobody seemed to have noticed her, so she hurried to slither away from the water.

Once she was far enough away as to have plausible deniability, she stopped, raising up to look around. Her eyes caught on a hole in a tree trunk, and she looked over the tree. It was perfect, a rich brown and color, but not too large or too small, too thin or too wide. Success!

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

The Bush Viper looked up at the tree, trying to figure out how to climb it. There was a branch not too far from her - maybe she could climb up?

Slowly, she began to stretch up towards the branch. It proved to be only just barely in reach, and she draped over it, circling it and wrapping herself around her. Once she was securely on it, she began to work towards the next branch, unlooping herself slowly.

Through this method, she worked her way up to the tree, until finally, she had reached the hole in the trunk.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

Hesitantly, Sizzle's tongue darted out, tasting the air. She couldn't scent anything, so it seemed this hole was safe. At least, the Bush Viper hoped so. Tasting the air a final time, she slithered the rest of the way to the hole, poking her head inside...

only to jolt back as there was a burst of pain in the blunt nose. She hissed, blinking as her eyes adjusted, seeing a bird guarding a nest of eggs. "Sorr-" but the bird didn't let her finish before lunging at her again, and she hurried to slither down from the tree.


"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

Sizzle slithered away from the tree as fast as she could, proverbial tail tucked between her legs. She wanted no fight, no quarrel, only to be safe and have somewhere to rest her head. But, of course, the first tree she checked had to have birds in it.

So she continued exploring the forest, looking for a tree that looked safe and, hopefully, void of any vicious birds. Finally, she found one that seemed innocent enough, and slithered up to its roots.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

Hesitantly, Sizzle began to attempt to climb the tree. It was slow going, being a rather small snake, but soon enough she was making her way up, having to circle around the tree, bringing her coils around it over and over. Her scales helped catch on the bark, preventing her from sliding down. Thankfully for her, it wasn't long before she could see the hole in the trunk, and hesitated, remembering what had happened the time before.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'