Slithering in the Sands [Secret Oasis] (Job w/YoungBridge)

Job Description:

The sun shone harshly upon the land, scorching plant and animal alike and threatening to evaporate all moisture which hadn't already disappeared. It was the very first time that Akeya visited a place like this, a vast open desert, and she had very mixed feelings about it. Holding up a hand to shield herself from the glaring sun she was worried that so much light would hinder her abilities too much, as in such a large expanse there wouldn't be a lot of shadows she could make use of. On the other hand...

Her lower body, that of a pure white snake with red markings, pressed against the ochre grains of sand that covered everything, and she felt the warmth of the ground glow through her scales and into her body. It was hot, hot enough that a human would already be sweating like a pig and grabbing a bottle of water to make sure they didn't dehydrate on the spot, even more so if they weren't used to this climate. But Akeya's form was that of a lamia, and like their smaller kin the serpentine folk were very well suited for places like this. There was still danger in the heat, but she would have a lot easier a time enduring it than a warm-blooded creature, as her body knew how to turn most of the warmth into energy for herself, in contrast to humans and similar creatures who generated their own heat entirely and because of that would only be fighting this external source of energy.

She allowed herself to smile slightly at the thought. Originally a dragon it wasn't like she couldn't use her shapeshifting to become warm-blooded as well if need be, but she liked to stay as close to the attributes of the creature whose shape she took as possible without compromising herself, and in this case being cold-blooded was actually an advantage... at least for as long as the day lasted. Given the task of finding something in the depths of this desert, they'd certainly end up traversing it during the night as well. There was a limit to how much area one could search, even with the two of them.

This mission had been assigned to her because she often used the lamia form, meaning she didn't really have to change much to her physical form to be suitable for the task. She hadn't been told much about her partner, other than that they were also very suited for the desert. As she waited for them to arrive Akeya looked around and sniffed the air, but with nothing of interest being anywhere nearby she decided to do the smart thing as a snakefolk: she laid down in the sand, her tail leaving grooves and shifts as it uncoiled, and she closed her eyes as she relaxed and waited. Since she had her tattoos to protect her from the sunlight she could enjoy the heat without being blinded, and she was confident in her ability to spot anything arriving in time for her to react.

After several minutes she decided that, given the fact that there was nobody around and she didn't need them for protection against the environment, she might as well sunbathe without her clothes getting in the way. Raising one hand she snapped her fingers, the white outfit fading away and merging back into her shadow, the white lamia returning to doing nothing while the sun dominated the sky and her only company was the warm winds that flowed across the desert and pushed the sand around, the tall dunes and the rippling patterns which looked like numerous tiny waves.

It was a marvellous place, really, once you found a way to deal with the heat and the sun. She wondered just what they were going to find in the area previously hidden behind a sandstorm, but for now she wouldn't mind if her partner took their time getting here. Under normal circumstances she'd have to constantly be on her guard in case there was some kind of threatening creature, but one of the advantages of this place was that it was very easy to tell if there was something nearby... if you had the right set of senses.

Appearance:

As the sun warmed her front and the sand warmed her back Akeya found herself becoming somewhat drowsy, unused to being this comfortable. While she didn't search for ways to make herself as uncomfortable as possible she rarely took any interest in luxuries beyond books, scrolls and other items which possessed either knowlede or otherwise useful traits. But now that she had taken one of the most suitable forms for living in the desert and there was nothing around that warranted her direct attention her reptilian side had decided that sleep might not be such a bad idea.

It was almost a relief when she heard the flapping of wings, something which required her to get up and see what was going on. Pushing herself up from the sand she brushed the grains from her back which were being reluctant to fall down even as she looked towards the source of the sound. She didn't recognize the species, but given that it was descending towards her (close enough that she could pick up on the sound its wings made) and that it wasn't bothering with a steep dive she didn't think it was hostile.

Now that she was paying full attention again she also noticed a source of magic approaching... and that the bird also possessed some magic. The lamia stretched, showing herself relaxed even if she wasn't sure if the bird cared for that or not, then looked in the direction of the bigger source of magic to see... a lamia who looked exactly like her current form. Akeya stared for a bit, blinking several times, but she couldn't see any sign of an illusion or fata morgana, so she had to conclude that it was real, in which case it was just sheer coincidence.

Well, as long as the other lamia didn't mind the fact that they looked alike Akeya wasn't going to make a fuss about it. After all, she was the shapeshifter who had taken this form, and she wasn't so vain as to make it a requirement that every one of her appearances was completely unique.

She waited for the other lamia to get close enough for introductions, noticing the lack of words even as the hand is stretched out. Taking the hand she shook it even as she smiled and spoke, taking the initiative in introducing herself.

"Greetings. I am Panacea from the West Fiore Trading Company. I'm guessing that you're the legal mage who I'll be working together with?" She tilted her head as she studied Hebisha's form with curiosity glimmering in her eyes, the tip of her tail idly moving from side to side from where it was raised above the sand. "I didn't think I'd meet another one of the serpentine folk, let alone someone who looks so much like myself."

Akeya had heard of lamia and naga who had more than one set of arms, but Hebisha didn't appear to be one of those so the eight swords were a bit of a puzzle. Most likely they had something to do with her magic or fighting style, unless she was simply the type to be prepared for any contingency and she wanted to have several reserve swords at the ready just in case. Or maybe sentimental value? There were a lot of options, but Akeya wasn't going to probe too deeply right off the bat.

"It's a pleasure to meet you miss Hebisha. I hope we can get along during this mission." When Hebisha noted that she couldn't see Akeya blinked, unsure if it was ironic or not that a lamia would be blind. On one hand snakes were somewhat infamous for the kind of cold glare they could give you, but on the other hand it wasn't like snakes actually used their vision a lot. "Well, that might actually be fortunate in this instance... I was sunbathing before you arrived and you might have seen me in a state of undress otherwise."

With a small motion of her hand Akeya's clothes returned, covering her once more as she smiled at Maha while Hebisha introduced the bird. "It is nice to meet you as well Maha."

Now that the introductions were out of the way Akeya reclined a bit further, lowering her upper body and putting more weight on her coils even as Hebisha admitted that she wasn't actually very certain what the mission was about. Folding her arms the shapeshifting lamia frowned slightly, as though both surprised and somewhat concerned, before smoothing over her expression and replacing it with a smile.

"I had thought that your guild would have explained, but maybe it's better if I do the explaining anyway. Simply put there is a large oasis in the desert which for the longest time was inaccessible because of a giant sandstorm that surrounded it, never faltering or weakening. However very recently it did actually stop, but there are creature in the desert who protect the oasis, so we need to clear the path so others can safely access the oasis." And because water was such a scarce and vital substance in the desert they didn't mind hiring some expensive mages to take care of the job, although Akeya didn't say that part out loud.

"So our job is actually very simple. We'll find the oasis, take care of anything protecting the place and maybe find out what caused the sandstorm or what made the sandstorm go away, and then we're done already aside from reporting in. She shrugged "They're probably very eager to know what the sandstorm was about, but I'm here mostly because as a lamia I'm much better suited for this climate than a human."

Panacea followed Hebisha's gaze towards the bird companion, although she assumed that since Hebisha has called herself blind her turning of the head had more to do with focusing than with actually looking at the bird... who was compensating for Hebisha's lack of vision by staring really hard, leaving the lamia somewhat puzzled as she tilted her head.

"Maybe she's confused by the fact we look alike?" Given that lamia were rare to begin with encountering one was already unusual enough without that one looking like an almost perfect copy of the one you already knew. Two white-scaled lamia might be possible, but one with the same human half and markings? That could make even the most carefree person surprised for a moment.

With Hebisha apologizing for Maha's staring Panacea smiled and bowed back. "I don't mind, really. I'm sure she's just curious." When Hebisha drew her blade Panacea looked somewhat surprised, but since the other lamia didn't actually do anything with the sword and sheathed it soon after she didn't get worried, although seeing the indecisive look on Hebisha's face made her somewhat curious... and the curiosity was compounded when Hebisha suddenly got very close, Panacea leaning back a little and staring into Hebisha's red eyes with her own. A glassy gaze... the lamia really was blind. Well, from what Akeya knew snakes weren't that focused on eyesight to begin with, so given that lamia still shared traits with the lower serpentine animals it probably wasn't as bad as if you were a human... but still.

"Is... something wrong?" The outer Panacea was mostly just confused, trying to figure out why Hebisha would be getting so close without jumping to conclusions or sounding rude. The inner Akeya frowned as she was beginning to suspect that bird could see things. Hebisha's behaviour began after that intense stare, and while Akeya's lamia form was as real as any that didn't mean that someone with the right set of senses couldn't still notice that something was off. Staring into her eyes with a blind gaze wouldn't do much, but if someone could take a look at her soul rather than her body they might figure out that her soul wasn't exactly a perfect match for the lamia body.

The sudden blowing on her neck had Panacea blink and flinch a little from the sudden cold amidst the heat filling up the desert, placing a hand on her neck while staring with surprise and a little bit of shock as Hebisha held up a strange scarab beetle and explained it had been hiding on her neck. "Really? I know I dozed of a little but I didn't think I'd miss something like that." As Hebisha explained about Maha's abilities the lamia bowed towards the bird once more, shaking her head in response to her companion's question.

"You don't need to apologize, and while surprised you didn't upset me or anything. I'm happy that you noticed, since it would have been embarrasing to be moving about with a beetle on my neck without me ever catching on. Not to mention dangerous, if the beetle is capable of producing mirages..."

Akeya was more curious about the bird now, given that either Maha and Hebisha both didn't feel like outing Akeya after Maha had seen the truth about who Akeya was, Maha didn't bother to tell Hebisha, or while Maha could see through lies like illusions that didn't mean she could see things which weren't so much false as... more complicated. Akeya's lamia body was flesh and blood, the real deal down to the last scale, so if Maha could only see through illusions that would explain why she hadn't picked up on Panacea being more than she seemed. Well, unless either Hebisha or Maha tried to expose her she wasn't going to play her own hand, she'd just keep an eye out as she always did.

"With all of that said and done, maybe it's time to depart? We've got a large distance to cover, and depending on just how cold it gets during the night we might not be able to go any further after the sun sets." She motioned for Hebisha to follow as she began to slither her way further into the desert, slowly so the other lamia could catch up if she hesitated in following. "I think we can cover the first couple of miles without running into danger but after that we'll have to be careful. From what I've been told there's more than just the sandstorm to be careful of, and I'm not talking about your average poisonous animal."

Seeing Hebisha hesitate Panacea slowed down and then came to a halt, turning around to face her fellow lamia as she frowned slightly on confusion and concern, wondering what might be bothering the woman. Hearing the question she nodded, then realizing that Hebisha wouldn't be able to see that scraped her throat.

"We look shokingly similar. I wouldn't be surprised if someone assumed we were twins." From the perspective of someone trying not to draw attention to herself looking exactly like her fellow mage wasn't exactly perfect, since it'd make people suspicious of the uncanny resemblance. However by the time she'd realized that they were almost identical it was already too late for her to change her appearance: even if Hebisha turned out to be blind the bird would immediately have cried alarm. Panacea shifted slightly in her position as she listened to Hebisha, who sounded like she was thinking of something painful. Thinking quickly she watched Hebisha as the lamia began to move, then followed her while quickly replying.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you, unfortunately." A laughable excuse which any fellow master of disguise would immediately file away as suspiciously convenient, but it was better than making up a big complicated lie with a thousand little things where it could fall apart. The trick of staying under the radar was provide as much detail as you could without giving anything which could be contradicted: as long as you did it naturally the more internally consistent information you gave people the more they were inclined to believe it was the truth. In this situation however Akeya had no way of making up a story about lamia and their customs because she had no way of making it appear like the truth.

Instead she left it at that and focused on moving. If Hebisha wanted to know more she'd most likely ask, and they had a lot of distance to cover. Their bodies were suited for the landscape so they moved fast, but even snakelike lamia couldn't ignore the challenge presented by traversing a giant desert. Akeya had plenty of practice moving with a tail, since lamia shapes were in fact one of her favourite, but even if she could move convincingly enough to make everyone believe she was a lamia by birth rather than by transformation she could tell that if they pushed themselves too hard they'd just get tired before they reached the goal.

Maha was a great help though, Panacea nodding in gratitude and understanding when she came down to provide information. It looked like the beginning of this trip would mostly be one of boredom, but she wasn't sure if she should waste breath with idle talk or if Hebisha would rather stay silent.

The member 'Akeya' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

The warm sand was a pleasant sensation underneath Panacea's scales as she slithered next to Hebisha, the lamia making her way through an environment which for many organic creatures would be considered challenging. The heat flowed into her from the sun above and the warmed desert below, leaving her feeling energized. Smaller snakes would have to be careful in this kind of heat, as they couldn't regulate their bodily heat to negate the extreme temperature, but for a larger snake (like the lamia) it just served as free energy.

She was somewhat surprised that Hebisha didn't try to talk more though. She'd have thought the other snakewoman would have questions either for her species or her guild, but it looked like she was too busy moving forward. Panacea didn't mind that too much, although she did blink when suddenly Hebisha sped up, followed by her coughing from the cloud of dust that was kicked up before she lowered her body and sped after her fellow lamia. Moving quickly through sand with a snake's tail felt different from hard concrete, but Panacea had enough practice that she at least didn't fall too far behind.

Coming to a halt next to Hebisha Panacea looked out over the sight before them, her eyes wide even as gears turned inside of her head. "That's... a lot more green than I was expecting." It was common knowledge that oases like these formed spots of life in the midst of dry, hot desert, but she hadn't been expecting a bona fida jungle. "There's enough that I'd think it rained here." She joked, although when Hebisha stressed that they had to stay close she nodded and became serious again. "I'll stick as close as I can." She tilted her head slightly, but then silently followed Hebisha into the jungle, trusting her companion to be able to lead the way through the thick foliage. She stuck low to the ground, trying to disturb the plants as little as possible while taking advantage of a form which was better suited for crawling than most sentient creatures.

Hearing the sound of battle before her Panacea hastened forward to aid Hebisha, but by the time she arrived her partner had already taken care of the threat. The lamia was somewhat surprised but didn't show it, instead just sighing in relief. "Glad to see you're unharmed... wait." Her eyes hardened as she both saw and smelled that there was a snake missing. Three dead snakes... but subtracting Hebisha's own serpentine presence there was one hostile snake left. "Don't move." This was all Panacea said as she scanned the surroundings, her tongue flicking out from between her lips to taste the air more accurately before withdrawing it back into her mouth, pressing it against her palate as her eyes widened and she hissed.

Combining the network of smells with what her red eyes could see Panacea didn't wait for their last remaining enemy to strike first. Tensing the muscles in her powerful lower body she suddenly attacked. Diving into the foliage she grabbed the tail of the last remaining snake, using it to pull herself in and wrap her serpentine body around the actual serpent's as quickly as she could manage while her hands reached for the beast's head.

It quickly turned into a struggle as two serpentine creatures tried to gain dominance. Panacea managed to grab the snake by the neck with both hands, preventing it biting her as she tensed. Tails intertwined she began to crush the creature's throat, although given the difference in size between this snake and the others and the fact that Panacea wasn't a mage who relied on raw physical might she needed both hands whereas Hebisha had no issue crushing the skulls of the other snakes.

Once she had a good grip and could get to squeezing the throat shut the fight didn't last much longer. Most of it was spent with Panacea keeping a solid hold on the serpent while she waited for it to stop struggling. Once the snake completely stopped moving she cut open its neck with sharp nails, something she was afraid to do earlier because it might have given the beast an opportunity to bite and poison her. While she wasn't as easily poisoned as a human she still didn't want to deal with whatever deadly concoction an animal living in such a blatantly magical place had in store for her.

Uncoiling her tail from around the snake Panacea returned to where Hebisha last was, dragging the large snake corpse behind her as she glanced around. "A lot more green than I was expecting, and I didn't foresee such hostile wildlife either." She would have asked whether the other lamia thught it normal for snakes to attack the serpentkin, but honestly she wouldn't be surprised if it was pretty normal. Monkeys didn't hesitate to chase humans off either.