06-19-2014, 11:30 AM
Sora wasted little time with niceties, pushing the Ancient away from the gun spatter. She crouched between him and the wounded woman, keeping both eyes on the killer in case the colorful thing found the will to focus on her intended target.
“Sstay here and play with the lady or leave with me and live? Five ssecondss.”
"Uhh. I'm fond of living."
”Good choicce.”
A quick flip of her wrist covered him in her cloak. She found that Ancients did better when they could not see during the transition. It could be disorienting to one not used to the process. Most new Gatherers upended their stomachs the first few times they made the journey. She laid a hand on his arm and concentrated. They shifted and disappeared from the riverside.
Sora mastered the familiar gut-wrench and blurred vision, then stood to her feet. They had appeared in the city’s central courtyard. Light seemed to exist everywhere, though there was no sky and no sun, only an indistinct darkness above. A large, grey building dominated the square on three sides with a wide ramp of plainly dressed grey stone leading up the center to a pair of polished wooden doors. The doors stood open to a plain hallway that went left and right, welcoming all, but revealing nothing within. On the opposite side, a wide avenue led from the square out where the Naga community could be seen going about their daily activities. Several shops lined the road and citizens in both humanoid and snake form traversed the avenue, entering or exiting shops, stopping to talk to one another and going about life as usual. An older woman, a Gatherer in humanoid form wearing clothing similar to Sora’s, but without the face guard, carried a basket in one hand. In her other hand she gripped a young naga; too young to transform completely and very obviously, to Sora, not happy having to practice moving in his new form. His upper torso was human, but he lacked legs, slithering along beside his mother. The city had music to it; a sibilant sound that pervaded the subconscious enough that Sora sighed. It was the sound of home.
She turned to the Ancient and tilted her head quizzically.
“Are you ill? Ssome are ssometimess.”
She waited. Some Gathers thought it better to introduce the Ancients to the Naga slowly. Sora preferred to get it over with. It seemed to her that once they got past that, completing her sacred duty was easier. It wasn’t as if they were not safer here than Outside anyway.
Edited by Sora Ryuu, Jun 19 2014, 11:40 AM.
“Sstay here and play with the lady or leave with me and live? Five ssecondss.”
"Uhh. I'm fond of living."
”Good choicce.”
A quick flip of her wrist covered him in her cloak. She found that Ancients did better when they could not see during the transition. It could be disorienting to one not used to the process. Most new Gatherers upended their stomachs the first few times they made the journey. She laid a hand on his arm and concentrated. They shifted and disappeared from the riverside.
Sora mastered the familiar gut-wrench and blurred vision, then stood to her feet. They had appeared in the city’s central courtyard. Light seemed to exist everywhere, though there was no sky and no sun, only an indistinct darkness above. A large, grey building dominated the square on three sides with a wide ramp of plainly dressed grey stone leading up the center to a pair of polished wooden doors. The doors stood open to a plain hallway that went left and right, welcoming all, but revealing nothing within. On the opposite side, a wide avenue led from the square out where the Naga community could be seen going about their daily activities. Several shops lined the road and citizens in both humanoid and snake form traversed the avenue, entering or exiting shops, stopping to talk to one another and going about life as usual. An older woman, a Gatherer in humanoid form wearing clothing similar to Sora’s, but without the face guard, carried a basket in one hand. In her other hand she gripped a young naga; too young to transform completely and very obviously, to Sora, not happy having to practice moving in his new form. His upper torso was human, but he lacked legs, slithering along beside his mother. The city had music to it; a sibilant sound that pervaded the subconscious enough that Sora sighed. It was the sound of home.
She turned to the Ancient and tilted her head quizzically.
“Are you ill? Ssome are ssometimess.”
She waited. Some Gathers thought it better to introduce the Ancients to the Naga slowly. Sora preferred to get it over with. It seemed to her that once they got past that, completing her sacred duty was easier. It wasn’t as if they were not safer here than Outside anyway.
Edited by Sora Ryuu, Jun 19 2014, 11:40 AM.