Forums » General Roleplay » Harsh Day In The Desert (Open)

Laelu slithered along her usual hunting path, the tough desert plants long flattened from her weekly trips. This hunting trip though, was going to be a bit different than usual. "So hot.. What I would give for some rain right about now!" She grumbled, shaking her spear at the cloudless sky, the unforgiving sun shining down on her in defiance. Today she was going to attempt to catch a wild hare, a treat she hasn't tasted in months. Normally all she could catch were tortoises and a few unlucky desert birds. She hadn't had a decent meal in weeks, and her ever growling stomach could stand it no more. She had to catch something filling and soon, or she may as well dig her grave now.

Nomti walked quietly along his patrol, both cycles in his hands and his ears twitching. Despite his extreme resistance to heat, it was still getting to him. In the distance, he saw a small glint and quickened his pace towards it. As he got closer, the servant of Anubis stopped, realizing what it was: a Lamia. Ever since losing a pretty vicious battle against several wadjets, the mortal embodyments of the goddess, Nomti had been horrified of snakes, which was okay in the long run since Anubites fed off of fear, even their own, but there was no way he was about to approach a Lamia.

Laelu stopped by a small dwindling pool of water, one of the few remaining other than the ones from her oasis home. She cupped her hands and drank a few gulps, then splashed some of the water on her face. "Ah that felt great.." She sighed and sat on her coils for a moment, glancing around at the sand dunes and cactus'. With another sigh she continued on her way, searching every hole or burrow she came across. It would be night soon, she needed to catch something, anything! Or the chilling cold of the night would kill her before she could get home.

Nomti thought for a moment, then changed his mind about not approaching the lamia; if he could kill and bring her back, he would most certainly be forgiven for his loss against the wadjets. He used his own fear, feeding off of it and his body doubled in size, his legs becoming more feral and his arms becoming more muscular. The Anubite sped towards the lamia, letting out a loud snarl, unable noe to produce actual words. He pointed a cycle at the Lamia, issuing a challenge, though whether or not she accepted, he was going to attack and redeem himself of the punishment he had been given.

Laelu turned quickly after catching sight of the creature charging at her and dove into one of the burrows she had been searching. She then squeezed her way down through the various winding tunnels into the hollowed out part she assumed was a nesting den. She wasn't a fighter, she was a cowardly girl that could barely catch dinner much less fend off an attack on her life.

Nomti laughed, but it came out evil and demonic. He changed back into his more socially accepted anthro jackal form and laughed normally, his voice that of a teenager.
"First time I've ever met a snake of any sort scared me in any form," he still had his cycles drawn and was still scared of her but less so now. "Come out and fight me, I've got an loss to redeem myself of, lamia," his voice shook a little as he said this.

Laelu hissed and squeezed further into the burrow. "I have no reason to fight you! So stay away from me!" She yelled, trying to sound tough. But in all reality, she was shaking in her coils. She didn't understand it, why would someone attack her when shes done nothing wrong? She has always made it a point to avoid making enemies at all costs, so much so that she often let the other predators of the desert steal her prey so that they wouldn't attack her.

Nomti thought for a moment; there was no way for him to get at her right now and he sat down, scratching his head. "Alright... Really neither do I, and honestly I'm just as scared of you... Well maybe not you, but snakes, I'm just good at not showing it. Let's make a deal and I promise I won't hurt you, I'll even help you."

Laelu thought about it for a few quick moments. "If you mean that then move away from the entrance, I need room to get out.." She slowly moved around so that she was going back the way she came, hoping that this wouldn't be a fatal mistake. The burrow seemed to collapse a bit as she moved, making getting out of it much harder than it was to get in.

"Alright," Nomti agreed and backed up, putting one of the cycles away in it's small sling around his waist. He saw the lamia struggling to get out and extended a hand to help pull her.

Laelu squirmed and reached up, taking his hand. "Worst place I could get stuck in.." She grumbled, pushing herself forward with her other hand. Something started moving around her tail from within the burrow, biting and scratching at it with tiny teeth and claws. "Oww!" She hissed and thrashed her tail around in the burrow.

Nomti pulled the lamia the rest of the way out. He knew he had offered his hand but still shuddered at her touch. He had been pulling hard enough that when he finally did pull her out, he fell back. The anubite stood and dusted himself before looking at the large lizard that was now attached to her tail.
"Don't move," he warned and threw his cycle with deadly accuracy, landing the curved tip in it's side. He walked over and picked up the lizard and his cycle, putting the latter away. "All yours," he handed the lizard to her.

Laelu rubbed her tail and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh um, thanks.." She took the lizard and stared at it for a moment, feeling a bit bad about destroying its home and getting it killed. "Poor thing.." She murmured, then looked at Nomti with a nervous smile. "So.. I'm Laelu, whats your name?" She held out her hand to shake.

Nomti shuddered a bit but shook her hand, "I'm Nomti," he put a netvous hand on the hilt of his cycle. "Alright, I didn't kill you, but I need your help. Bring a snake, you'll probably be able to figure out where some are better than I can. Anyways, you know what wadjets are right? Massive cobras with wings on their hoods to keep their heads up and the mortal counterpart of the goddess Wadjet. Anyways, I lost a pretty bad fight against three of them, almost killed me and I've been scared of snakes ever since." Nomti had said most of that in one breath and paused for air. "The only way I can redeem myself for that in Anubis' eyes is by doing one of two things: bring back 12 Wadjet wings, or kill another, larger serpent, such as yourself, and I'm not doing that. I simply need your help finding six wadjets."

Laelu frowned a bit, trying to remember the last time she saw another snake of any kind. "Hmm... I'm not entirely sure, but I think I saw something like that by the old temple.." She crossed her arms, thinking about it more. "But I haven't been there in years, so I can't say whether or not they're still there.." She sighed.

"Can you take me? I don't know this desert at all, I'm not even a tomb protector, I just patrol the outer rim of the pyramid territory, so I have no idea where anything else is in this desert. I'll act as your body guard, hunter or whatever as long as you take me."

Laelu bit her lip and looked at the ground. "Alright, I'll take you there.. But, I can't guarantee that we'll be welcome at the temple." She turned and picked up her spear off the ground and tied the lizard from before to her hip with a piece of twine. "We should move quickly, it'll be night in a few hours or so, and the desert cold can be lethal. For me anyways.." She slithered past him.

"That's why I'm glad I've got fur. Keeps me warm at night, and being what I am, I have a very strong heat resistance too," Nomti said and followed her. "What exactly is at this temple other than possibly wadjets? Who's it a temple for?"

Laelu hummed to herself for a moment, thinking of the best way to answer. "Well.. Other Lamia, possibly. And I'm not sure who the temple is for, it was built by humans long ago." She looked up at the sun as it slowly descended towards the horizon. "And after the humans left or died off, anyone could claim the temple, so its often fought over." She shivered a bit, remembering the bloody mess she had seen years ago.

"In that case I could just kill another lamia... Or even better, rather than finding six different wadjets, if I could find a Ra's Wadjet and kill it, oh I would be more than just redeemed, I would be revered for that," Nomti smiled broadly at the thought.