He woke.

Translucent eyelids flickered, as awareness came to the snake. He was huge, he was instantly aware of, every part of him pressing against something on all sides. A low twitch, and something bloomed in his back.

With a push, the snake released his magic. His Chrysalis exploded in every direction, leaving a tiny snake in its place. The cobra blinked, raising just the smallest amount of the ground, looking around and swaying slightly. Where was he?

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Still a bit disoriented from her meeting with the gigantic spider, Pelt decided to get something to eat. Because hunting usually made her feel better, and she was hungry anyway. Was there even anything good in these waters? Everything was all murky and muddy. Still, it couldn't hurt to try. She dove beneath the surface and almost immediately spotted a fish twisting through the water. Well, lucky me. Pelt lunged and caught it in her teeth. It was easy, almost effortless. Like it should be.

She surfaced and finished the fish just in time to hear the cobra's chrysalis shatter. She hadn't heard the sound in a long, long, time, so it took her a while to realize what it was. When she did, though, the seal approached the sound quickly, gleefully. Someone to play with!

Its shape gave her pause, though. A snake. Was it venomous? No matter. She wasn't stupid enough to let it bite her. Confident that she would be fast enough in the water to avoid it if things went wrong, Pelt called out to the snake. "Hey there! Welcome to the world. I'm Pelt, who are you?"

@Naja

The snake blinked - well, as best a snake could blink. His small hood flared, and his forked tongue darted out, tasting the air. It tasted wet, and heavy, which made sense considering the thick fox that surrounded him. It smelled of decomposition, and rot, as well. He could hear rushing water, but from rather far away.

There was a rippling sound, and he turned to look at the water. There was an odd-looking thing poking out of it, with rubbery looking skin that seemed rather different from his own scales, and he wondered how it felt. Detached curiosity made him want to touch it, compare it to his own scales. But if he couldn't, then no bother.

"Hello," he hissed, tongue darting out to taste the air. "I am Naja." it was spoken in a monotonous tone. His name was Naja. It was a fact. "Where are we?" but again, there was no inflection. Simply a statement.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

His voice - so monotonous! Some would call it boring, but no, no, this was not boring, not at all. What would it take, she wondered, to get Naja to show emotion? She would be careful, of course. Care was always needed when dealing with dangerous things, to avoid untimely death. She would never be so careless as to get herself killed, though. "Good question! Where are we?" she sang. "We are in Cetus. The South-East Quadrant. The Room of Mist. Part of Origin Cave. Do you know what those are? They are names, names for places. But without all those names? We are in a swamp. Which is also a sort of name, I suppose. But it is a different type of name."

Was she being confusing in her speech? Did she care? This snake was newly hatched, he would not know these names. Would it annoy him? Spark his curiosity? Or would he simply continue with his flat tone, devoid of emotion? She watched Naja for his reaction, immensely curious.

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

Naja's tongue darted out to taste the air, watching the leopard seal unblinkingly. The worm-like snake committed what Pelt said to memory, feeling as though it would be very important at some point in time. Really, any knowledge would be useful. Yes, that was important - he was going to gather as much information as he could.

"Cetus." he repeated in a low hiss. "The South-East Quadrant. The Room of Mist. Part of Origin Cave. I am aware of what those are. A quadrant is a part of a whole. A cave is a system of tunnels. A swamp is an area of land flooded with water. Also known as a bog, or a marsh."

His tongue darted out again. "This is a Quadrant, yes. Then there are other Quadrants - other rooms. What are they."

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

@Pelt

No reaction from the snake. Well, apart from a question about the other rooms. Did it even count as a question if it was monotone? "There is another quadrant, and many rooms within both quadrants, and a room at the heart of it all. Plus many tunnels connecting them. I have always found it strange that although the name is quadrant, there are only two. Is that not strange?" Perhaps the one who named them had been an amnesiac who didn't know the meaning of quadrant. Or perhaps there were more rooms, waiting to be explored.

She waited for an answer, purposely not going into any specifics abbout the room. Would this be enough to satisfy the snake's curiosity, or would he want more? Perhaps he would even lose his monotone way of speaking if she pushed his patience far enough. But how far would that be? She waited to find out.

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

The seal explained that there were other quadrants, well, one other. And that there were rooms inside of the quadrants, and one in the 'heart'. There were tunnels connecting them, according to the seal.

"A quadrant is supposed to be one out of four. Quad, quarter, one of four. Yet there are only two. Surely there are more. How many rooms are there - which ones do you see as important." he asked.

Rising up some, his tongue darted out, and he tasted the air again. There were so many smells, and he decided to go see what they were once they had finished their conversation.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

@Pelt

A twitch of impatience rose up in her. Was this snake an amnesiac who, upon hatching, had forgotten how emotions worked? No, she scolded herself. Be patient. You will not be the one to lose this game. Pelt flicked her tail, sending a small splash of water into the mist. "I live in water." Which wasn't exactly a lie - she did spend a lot of time in water. But she'd spent so long on land, too, trying to improve herself so that she might one day be able to catch up with the land Gembounds.

"This room, Pisces, and Polaris - the heart - all have large bodies of water. So they're important. I am sure you'll develop opinions of your own." She had a sudden urge to go deeper, to explain the differences in water - the coldness and clearness of Pisces' lagoon, the crashing of its waterfall, and the churning river in Polaris, and how this room was inferior to it all, with its murky, muddy waters and buzzing insects and giant spiders in its heart. But Naja didn't need to know all that.

Perhaps she should tell him more. She would drag an emotion out of him somehow. The easiest seemed to be curiosity. "I've always thought of this room as mysterious." Actually, this was the first time she'd been here, and she hadn't thought about that until now. "There is water, but not the clear kind or the swift-moving kind. There are trees, but not the vibrant, healthy-looking kind. It is... Quiet." A pause. "I should like to find out more about it." She did not really care about that kind of thing - playing with Gembounds was much more interesting. Again, Naja didn't need to know. "Do you think you'd be able to make a few discoveries for me?" Those last two words: for me. Would Naja be grateful for her information and agree? Would he insist that he only did things for himself? Or would he go on in his monotone manner, and make her push harder?

@Naja

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

The young snake tilted his head, tasting the air at a splashing sound. So far, he had only seen Gembounds with no hind legs. Well, Pelt had hind-legs, but in the form of flippers. He hadn't yet seen a Gembound with proper legs. So, to him, all of the Gembounds didn't have any. Could he fling water like she could?

"Cetus. Pisces. Polaris - the heart. Do all rooms have water. Or is that limited to particular rooms." his tongue darted out, testing the air.



@Pelt

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Pelt tilted her head and laughed. "Of course more than those rooms have water! Just less of it. Gembounds need to drink water to survive, after all, so what use would be a room without water? If all the Gembounds were squeezed into Polaris, Pisces, and Cetus, I bet there would be a crowd here! Although I have serious doubts about Monoceros' water supply, if it even exists. It's just that the other rooms have too little water for me to swim around, and I'm pretty clumsy on land. Or, in the case of Fornax, water that is too warm for my liking."

She'd spent hours practicing moving on land, and it still felt awkward. Frustrating, to say the least. But she wasn't about to mention that. "Now that I've answered some of your questions, why don't you do something for me? I would like to race you, Naja. On land." Why not? It would be practice, and it would give her a sense of how she measured up against other Gembounds, even if it was a newly hatched one.


"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

@Naja