World Snake Day - How you read that matters

[the_rebel_son]

They had come some time over night, or perhaps just appeared in the morning. On the outskirts of the plaza, a huge feathered snake lays drowsily in the first rays of the sun. Feathers, every color of the rainbow, cover its 4 large wings and the body instead of scales. A ruff of feathers around the neck raise and shake occasionally from harassing flies. As it stretches the tip of the tail flicks showing a iridescent fan of brightly colored feathers that reflect the sunlight. If the wings weren't odd enough, the snake also has short stout legs that are nearly masked by the raised feathers. Its eyes open to watch any who might approach, facet cut gem like eyes that show great age.

As impressive as the feathered serpent, who could be over 70 feet long, might be, there is an even larger serpent beside it. Glossy black scales, that shimmer with reds under sunlight, cover the body. Its head alone is large as a decent sized vehicle but it too slumbers. Ears, or fins, flick on the side of its head as it is also harassed by the summer flies. It bears small bat like wings instead of forelimbs. Whether it has hind limbs is hard to say. The bulk of this snake reaches off, from the several coils here, into the wilds. The size seems impossible, dragging on as far as the eyes can see into the trees. It was made hugest in its own place, and perhaps would be so here in the Nexus. All around them smaller snakes rolled about, slithering here and there. Some seemed to be normal snakes, others appeared like cobras with wings, or snakes with lion faces. Many simply lay coiled around the near by grass and brush sleeping lazily in the sun.

It's not words that come when someone approaches but a vague sense of questioning, as if the air itself bears the curiosity and the sound is not really there at all.

"What are you known by, what are you known for?" Though neither snake has moved the electric feeling in the air suggests it is the larger of the two that wants to know.

Comments

[coffee_elf]

Lucifer? Rondo looks mildly confused for a moment, before realizing that he hasn't asked their names, nor given his own. "S-sorry," he says, "I'm a little overwhelmed, I think. I'm Rondo. The...rainbow one, that's Lucifer? What should I call you?"

He turns several shades of pink at the offer of a gift, tongue-tied for a moment. He certainly didn't expect a gift, nor would he ever have dared to ask for one, but refusing seems unconscionably rude when they're being so kind. He's still scrambling for what to say when the two little serpents drop into his lap, and he has to clap both hands over his mouth to stifle the gasp of shock and delight.

"Oshaan," he murmurs when he can speak, fingertips brushing delicately over the wings of the blue snakeling. "And Oloreth."

He gives a little shake of his head as if to clear it, but his thoughts are already spinning. There is no way he can say no; it's not physically possible, he couldn't get his mouth to form the words to save his soul. How the hell he's going to hide baby winged snakes from his dorm-mates, he has no idea. "They're fledglings...do they talk like you? Is...do they mind being, um, my companions?"

A really solid illusion, he thinks to himself. It's a little weird to have pet snakes at the school, but he could get away with that. Just hide the wings and then bring them to the Nexus or the desert to fly, maybe?

[the_rebel_son]

"Yes, I am Lucifer Morningstar." Lucifer confirms when asked even if he is busy.

"I am Leviathan." She's not bothered by the late introductions. Great age leads to patience.

"She is a matron to my kind." Lucifer adds after the introductions.

The reaction pleases Leviathan and re-enforces this being the correct choice. The hatchlings look up eagerly when he starts to talk. The brown one standing so far that it topples over backwards. It is obviously a little on the goofy side.

"Eventually, yes." Leviathan watches the little snakes to see how they behave with Rondo. "They are children now and will need guidance and teaching."

[coffee_elf]

"R-rondo dan Olorthavaas," he says sheepishly, and ducks his head a little like he's used to bowing in a formal introduction, but he's in a bad position for it, seated on the ground like this. At least he's coming out of the shock a little, although he sort of wants to cry at the sheer cuteness of the hatchlings.

It only reinforces the cuteness when they sit up to look at him, and the brown one starts to fall over. He quickly puts his hand out to help steady it, biting back a giggle.

"Oshaan is the name of the e'tha of hidden water and hidden knowledge," he says, half explaining to the hatchlings, half to the massive, adult snakes. "They're always blue in the petroglyphs. There aren't any drawings left of Oloreth, but the writings say he has big eyes. He's the wind-serpent. I mean, those don't have to be your names, they're just what came to mind."

He takes a breath and looks back up at Leviathan. "I'm not sure I can teach them snake things. I can talk to them and teach them magic, and there are people that keep veth as pets, so I'm sure I can get all the food and things they'd need that way, but how will they learn to fly?"

[the_rebel_son]

"We are not gods. There is no need to bow." Lucifer tells him when he sees the motion. Respect was necessary but deference and submission was not.

After, the snakes just listen to his explanation of the names he had said. Even the tiny ones in his lap are looking up and listening. These parts of his culture will be remembered, as would any others, but those about snakes share a special place for his audiance.

"They know how to be snakes." Leviathan encourages. "They will need lessons on the harder to learn things like language, morality, ethics."

[coffee_elf]

"It's...just a formal greeting," he says sheepishly. "We bow to greet mages and dignitaries, too."

Honestly, the cultural knowledge of how to address their own gods has been lost, anyway. He wouldn't know where to begin, aside from giving the respect he would to any full-fledged mage.

The little upturned snake faces are strangely heart-melting. Tentatively, he strokes each head in turn and rubs under their chins. "I think we may have to work on morality and ethics together," he murmurs. "There's always more to learn there. But if they're happy to come with me, I'll take care of them or die trying. Thank you."

In a way, this is a solution to a problem he's never liked to admit he has: loneliness. He's spent a lot of his life surrounded by people with no interest in him, and that feels isolating.

[the_rebel_son]

"We show respect in words and actions rather than bowing and formality." Lucifer meant more than as serpents too. This held true for the angels in general, perhaps all the denizens of chaos.

"There is no pressure to take them." Leviathan informs Rondo. "You can decide with the little ones if it is the right choice."

[coffee_elf]

"I try to do all the above," he says. "But I guess the hierarchy among mages on my world is...I don't want to say rigid, but there's a lot of ritual involved."

"I want them," he adds hastily. "I just want to make sure I do what's right for them, too."

"What do you think, guys?" He murmurs, curling up a little to bring the snakelings closer to his face. "You want to see what my school is like? Try some of the commissary snacks? Probably not that, unless you eat scrambled eggs."

He calls up a little of his own magic, gathering latent power in the palm of one hand. It's invisible, but there's a feeling of pleasant warmth there, and he holds it closer to the hatchlings to let them investigate. "I'll have to give you each a glamour so no one freaks out that you have wings. I think your wings are perfect."

[the_rebel_son]

"We have social structure but formality is reserved for government functions or when we are displeased with each other. We prefer to spend most time as equals." Lucifer informers the elf.

Leviathan is pleased to see how Rondo speaks to the young snakes. "We are here if you need assistance raising them." Well she probably wouldn't be but Lucifer would.

[coffee_elf]

"Maybe that's the point of confusion, then," He says to Lucifer with a little nod. "My world's government is two-thirds mages and one-third non-mage landowners. And then there's the Grand High Wizard. He's a little hard to explain."

Mind you, no one really asked for a dissertation on alien governmental structure, so he's going to leave it at that. He's much more interested in the snakes, anyway.

He keeps his voice low and pleasant when he talks to them, and holds his cupped hands in front of them to let them adjust to the feel of his magic. It varies between hot and cool, dry and humid, invisible currents coiling and rising and falling slowly, before he lets a few tendrils of power loop around little Oloreth's wings. He won't layer the spell over them yet, giving them time to get used to him and recognize he won't harm them.

"I...um, I have kind of a studio in the pink stone building close to the Crossroads Cafe, in the plaza. If either of you wants my PINpoint information..." Yyyyyeah, snakes probably don't use PINpoints.

"Well. You're welcome to visit anyway." He bites his lip. "Or look in the window, at least? I have no idea if you'd fit in the building."

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer nods his large, feathered head. "I am the king, but our government is democratic. Everyone has a voice." It was often a big difference between the angels and most other cultures. They had an understood hierarchy but it was fluid and nearly non-existent when it came to speaking one's mind.

"She will not." He nods toward Leviathan and as soon as Rondo's eyes shift to her Lucifer changes to his human form. The elf may see the flash of light but even an instant is enough time. He's straightening his vest and suit jacket. "Not all of us are bound to one form."

Because he has just changed out of his serpent form, Lucifer's wings are not their usual white. Instead they have the sunrise colors that he usually hides.

[coffee_elf]

"That sounds sort of idyllic." Rondo smiles. "I have some issues with how ours operates, but politics is sort of a dry subject to chat about, especially when it's a whole different species and planet."

He looks at Leviathan when Lucifer nods at her, and can't help but laugh a little. "I guess not. I can't even see where you end. I never imagined--"

The transformation cuts him off with a faint start of surprise, and he looks puzzled by Lucifer's change in shape. It's easy enough to recognize it's still him, based on the wings, fortunately. That, and at least two of the serpent-gods of Arraka'ar have been depicted with bipedal forms. Rondo looks him over thoughtfully, nodding. "Shapeshifting isn't a thing elves normally do," he says. "What you see is what you get, here. Kind of a shame, I wouldn't mind being taller in this place."

[the_rebel_son]

"It can be chaotic with three million rebellious subjects." Lucifer didn't consider the other angels subjects. This was more of joke. "As a king the politics of others are worth being familiar with for diplomacy."

Lucifer nods and sits on the ground. "We are limited to some forms important to our duties."

[coffee_elf]

"Three million...that's actually a little small for a planetary population," he says thoughtfully. "But maybe that's for the best if you're all so powerful...or if any of the others are as big as Leviathan."

He gives the immense serpent a shy smile, trying to be respectful.

Continuing with his gentle introduction to the baby snakes, he wraps a few threads of magic around Oshaan's wings, and strokes the little head. Oloreth appears to have acclimated so well already that he's seeking a way to crawl into the elf's sleeve.

"Most of our magic is used very practically," he says. "Wind magic to protect desert villages from sandstorms. Water magic to find aquifers. Earth magic in tandem with mechanical mining operations. That kind of thing. I feel like it's missing a spiritual component we must have had before the Occupation, but I guess recovering these things takes time."

[the_rebel_son]

"We do not inhabit a planet." Lucifer corrects. To be fair, he isn't quite sure what label to give Chaos. "Six million more still dwell in heaven, or more if there have been more created since I was in my father's presence."

"Many of my kind reserve magic for things we cannot accomplish without it." Lucifer spends a thoughtful moment on the elf's commentary. "We do not separate the mundane from the spiritual in the way you describe. To protect a village or provide water would be an equal spiritual act to something like a blessing."

[coffee_elf]

Honestly, even nine million sounds like a small number to Rondo, but he's more interested in where they live, if not on a planet. There are, as far as he's aware, a limited number of alternatives. "Do you live...here?" He asks curious but wary of prying.

"I think our ancestors must have approached it more like that. There are carvings of Oshaan at old well sites, and almost all of the older mines have inscriptions to the Earth-veth. We've just lost so much, we--ee!"

He breaks off in a squeak as the one hatchling vanishes into his sleeve, biting his lip to stifle giggles. He's staying still, careful to be gentle with the snakeling, but that tickles.

[the_rebel_son]

"We stay here but this is not our home realm." Lucifer didn't feel like this was prying. In somewhere like the Nexus it almost felt like a question that needed to be asked sooner rather than later. Everyone was from somewhere else.

Lucifer considers the difficulty the elf is confronted with and was going to offer something when the squeal and stifled giggle makes Lucifer laugh. It takes a moment and he waits until the tickling is through from the errant hatchling.

"There may be a way to learn about pieces of your past. I cannot guarantee anything but angels have abilities well beyond most others."

[coffee_elf]

"I hope I'll see you around here, then," he says, a little shyly.

Oloreth seems to have made his way up to the crook of Rondo's elbow, and, find it a nice warm spot, winds around his arm to take a break. Oshaan is more businesslike; he's making a slow inspection of Rondo's lap and belts before climbing a little. The elf is already smitten with both.

"We have to balance our past with our future," he says. "There's no going back to the world we were before human occupation, and I'm not sure it would be a good idea to do that even if we could. If it had been flawless, it wouldn't have fallen the way it did. But learning about it can only be good, to avoid the mistakes they made and rebuild what deserves to be rebuilt."

He looks thoughtfully at Lucifer. "What way did you have in mind? You've already given me a lot."

[the_rebel_son]

Our villa is open to you.

He considers the comments and the offer. He's careful because power imbalances are a real thing that can be devastating. "We have diverse abilities. One among us who can read any language, if you have inscriptions that cannot be translated. " Lucifer sighs heavily. "I could bear my crown in your world. I don't know if it will work but I can see the past with it sometimes."