Taps -- Logs

Suraksha blinks at Roy, focusing puzzledly on him, "Yes, what exactly is that, please? A... kree-owe, I mean? People just laugh when I ask." She adds with faint amusement, "Oh, you need not worry about my easy-going Papai... it is Grandmama who is far more fierce, trust me."

Roy laughs softly, glad to take her mind off her obvious worry for a few moments. He says it carefully, "Creole, cherie. Useda jes' mean you got some French in ya. Came to mean French, Spanish, Indian, black... a mutt, basically. People still got weird ideas 'bout skin."

Suraksha brightens slightly, "You have hybrid vigor? Oh, excellent!" She grins, stroking Roy's hair again as she adds, "That's a good thing, where I come from. That's why Amma -- well, wait, let me tell it in order." She's still smiling as she continues, "So my Amma was raised in a safe place by a wealthy and loving family, on stories of Fearsome Grandmother. By the time she came into her young adulthood a few decades later -- which is when we as a species tend to get restless and want to go walkabout to do something, er... interesting as we come into our power -- she'd decided she wanted a challenge tangentially related to Fearsome Grandmother's walkabout time. She decided she would turn her strength and ferocity into taking over the City's recovered Underworld."

Roy has been processing what he's been told; in an effort to reassure her he says lazily, "Sounds like our kids're gonna be real handfuls, then."

Suraksha blinks, caught out by Roy's casual tone and comment. She goes still for a long heartbeat... then smiles slowly and simply whispers, "Yesss..." She takes a deep, relieved breath as she continues stroking Roy's hair, then says, "I don't know much about how it went for Amma, since my matriline learned from experience, and now no longer raise their girls on stories of how ferocious and effective their predecessors were during their wild youth. I do know Amma enjoyed herself tremendously -- she used her shape-shifting ability to craft a snow leopard form, much the same as I have a tiger form, and she used it to win the hearts and minds of the people against the more cruel members of the Underworld. I believe she was somewhat of a Robbing Hood figure that way for them."

"So with the unwitting help of the populace, and training and advice from our people -- including the Venerable Ying and the White Dagger -- she worked her way up through the ranks, quietly staying at about second rank for a century or so, so she could make sure those at the top were at least dedicated to not slaying the City they parasitizsed -- and at best were actually good for the City." She pauses, then adds curiously, "Ahh, do you know the stories of the Robbing Hood? Steal from the rich, give to the poor -- that sort of thing?"

Roy rumbles, "Yeah. Swamp rats love that kinda guy. Zorro, too."

Suraksha grins in relief, "Ah, good! Yes, we've heard of Zorro too in San Francisco -- he was just down the coast a ways, from what I was told, in a barony or county or something called... I think it was Mehiechko?" She shakes her head amusedly at herself, "Anyway. So the Spirit Cat became the bane of the lower levels of the Yakuza, and they tried repeatedly to have it killed or caught. It took them decades, but they did finally hire someone who successfully hunted her down -- although no one within the Yakuza knows that. One of my family's artisans wrote a song about it, in fact; she called it 'Golden Eyes.'" She clears her throat, then sings in a soft, throaty purr,

"A shadow in the bright bazaar; a glimpse of eyes where none should shine,
A glimpse of eyes translucent gold, and slitted against the sun.
This the clue and this the sign that sets him on his quarry's line,
But she has seen him in a dream, and now she's on the run.

Faster than a thought she flees, and seeks the jungle's sheltering trees,
But he is steady on the track, and half a breath behind.
She tastes his scent upon the breeze, and, looking past her shoulder, sees
He treads upon her shadow. She fears the hunter's mind.

So now she summons all her wit, and every trick she knows to hide,
To make him lose the twisting track, to throw him off her trail
In woman form, in leopard hide, fording, leaping side to side,
She doubles back along her track -- and sees her efforts fail.

He stands before her, dark and grim. Her terror now she can't suppress.
He blocks the only pathway out, and will not let her by.
Her gold flanks heaving in distress, half woman and half leopardess-
To either side, nowhere to hide; it's time to fight or die.

But what is this? To her amaze, the man has thrown his spear away,
And quietly, he draws near her now, a smile upon his face.
Before she thinks to run or stay, his body blurs like softened clay...
Before her eyes, to her surprise -- a leopard in his place.

The hunter they have sought in vain, and now the talk of the bazaar
Is of the canny leopard pair, a sight none will forget
Who once has seen them near or far, in sunlight or where shadows are,
As side by side they hunt and hide. No one has caught them yet."

Suraksha grins quietly; she seems far less nervous about this part of her story, "Unsurprisingly, the song fudges some of the details, of course. Amma says she actually favored the snow leopard form, because the gray-white coloration works better in a city. Also she says she's not dumb! She wouldn't have let any hunter corner her so. Instead she ambushed and pounced Papai when he finally cornered her -- or she let him think he'd cornered her -- and he shifted into a big chunky leopard under her claws. Papai, of course, just laughs and agrees with whatever Amma says."

Roy laughs quietly and murmurs, "Sounds like unconventional is the way to your heart, then."

Suraksha sounds puzzled, "Explain, please? This is Amma, not I, in the story?"

Roy drawls, "An' they say if you wanna know what'cher wife's gonna be like in thirty years, look at her momma."

Suraksha looks puzzled this time, "Thirty years? I will only look a year or two older, not like I am in my twenties?" She blinks then, mentally correcting, "Oh! You are referring to normal human women. My apologies."

Roy chuckles, "Yes. Normal, boring human women. You're extraordinary."

Suraksha laughs softly, her eyes warming for a moment -- she's immensely relieved Roy does not seem spooked by her yet! She grins and wryly adds, "Be that as it may, when Amma grew gravid with me she decided she'd played in the Yakuza enough, and needed to join in the family trading business. So her... then-current Asias-type form disappeared, although the sightings of the Spirit Cats continue. I think Amma's Yakuza retirement was one of the reasons such a bad seed as McNally managed recently to claw his way to the top of one of the factions, in fact. I hope she takes him down soon, but I'm not holding my breath that she'll go back. Once we hatch an egg we tend to calm right down, apparently." Roy hasn't been pushing at these comments about hatching eggs, but she's talked about dragons so far. He's trying not to make her feel nervous.

Suraksha smiles in quiet reminiscence, "It was apparently Fearsome Grandmother who wanted to call the White Dagger home to be my godsmother, and it was Papai who suggested I be trained to the tiger form, especially once they realized I didn't want to go walkabout in the City -- I wanted to conquer the entire continent!" She sighs and smiles softly, thinking for a moment, then recaps, "So Fearsome Grandmama can call on the sky and storm when she's really angry. We don't know what Amma's deep power is, though, since she's never been that angry. It may have something to do with 'hearing' electricity or energy instead of manipulating it -- like the white noise of a leyline, you know? -since she's an amazing information broker. Or it might have something to do with her ability to change shape so well and easily -- that's my guess. But she's not saying, and we don't know for sure."

Roy is trying to sound blithe and cheerful as he says, "So, basically yer a princess-priestess that lays eggs and has a grandmother's gonna hate my guts on pure principle. Guess I really wanted a challenge." There's some nervousness in his voice.

Suraksha says with soft tension, "W-well, that's why I worried about you hearing of my matriline. People seem to either adore us or loathe us, you know? Er, and we're rather, ahh... flexible when it comes to the power we grow into. As far as I know we're somewhat unique, and the myths do not always remember us well." She sighs softly, "Oh, they remember we're immortal female shape-shifters and very curious and snake-bodied or snake-haired and accumulators of treasure and guardians of watery places and gave birth to the legends of the Asians dragons and love milk and seem incredibly wise to a short-lived race... but they also believe we love apples and steal life energy and eat children and drink blood and kill sexual partners and turn people to stone with our gaze."

Suraksha clears her throat, then wryly adds, "The legendzs are only partly true, you know? You may know of uss as the Lamia, but that'ss a more derogatory term; we prefer to call oursselvezs Naga. That izs the bassiss of our chozsen ssurname as well: my grandfather inadvertently gave it to my grandmother when he first pressented himsself before her with giftss, to perform puja to her. He called her Ssesha, the Sserpent who ssymbolizezs Time." She swallows, then adds with a touch of embarrassment, "Pardon. I do not sspend much time in thiss shape; it takess me a bit to get ussed -- rrgh, uzed! -- to the tongue change."

Roy shifts a little bit, pushing himself upright slowly -- as if he's trying not to startle her as he moves. The human man's face is carefully neutral; he's not stupid and she's given him plenty of hints. Suraksha shrinks back slightly, trying not to give in to the very strong urge to slide under the bed and hide. She is only subtly different from the waist up: there is a very fine shift in the angles of her facial bones which seems to broaden the area between her slitted golden eyes, and de-emphasizes her small nose. Aside from that, and a slightly more golden sheen to her skin, she looks mostly the same -- perhaps her small breasts seem fractionally fuller, or her curling ebony mane gleams a bit more lushly? Her fingernails are more pointed; a bit longer than usual. The long, black, bifurcate tongue flickering out from between her well-shaped lips is certainly different, however.

Roy shifts slowly so he can stand and look at her; he's being careful not to give the impression he's jerking away. The king's eyes move over the transformed body of his lover and he whistles, low and soft and awed. Suraksha is unwittingly nervously wringing her hands as she whispers, "I, ah, j-jusst... I mean..." She's staring wide-eyed up at him, as if it's he mesmerizing her. Below the waist, of course, she is now strikingly different. Curling under her smooth, flat human belly are wide, pale scutes which flow down her front. Because his head had been resting there, Roy can remember both their warmth, and how they gave slightly as he shifted -- almost like soft, flexible ivory. Further down, her slender and powerfully muscled body twists over to lie with the scutes down, revealing long whorls of bright-scaled and iridescently patterned coils -- a lot of them! The scales blend together almost like human skin, warm and firm to the touch, and where her actual tail starts her scale patterns shimmer yet more brilliantly in the dim light.

Even as Roy watches, the end of Suraksha's tail quivers like a nervous rattlesnake's, and the sheets rustle softly. The big Naga shifts slightly, her coils drawing in a bit more tightly against herself and her tongue flickering several times as she watches him. Her wide, golden eyes have anxiety-narrowed, slitted ebony pupils. Roy looks her over carefully from top to bottom and his tongue moves to moisten his lips, "You... are fulla surprises, cherie." His voice isn't as whimsical as he means it to be, but she can tell he's trying to smooth the edges on amazement, not fear.

Suraksha is almost babbling in a mix of nervousness and relief that he's not yet bolted, "Th-thiss iss it, R-roy. Oh, they ssay I have my father'zs eyess: the tilted gold-green. Oh, alsso, according to them I'm really good at a lesss, um... exsplossive variant on Tapping for my people: I'm a talented chakra reader and negotiator. That'ss how I wass able to tell truth for you that time, after the asssasssination attempt, remember? Admittedly it's not azs, um, violently excsiting as what they do, but," she grins lopsidedly, her face tight with worry, "I -- it workss for me? That'ss why they encouraged me to take the Hetaera training, in fact: sso I'd have perssonal mental disscipline when I potentially got far, far better at being exstremely, ssometimes unwittingly perssuassive...?" Her voice finally trails off as she stares at Roy, and she shrinks down a bit into her coils, in a brilliantly patterned ball. She covers her wine-red mouth with slender, long-nailed hands, and whispers softly, "S-ss-ssay ssomething, pleasse?"

Roy steps forward, shaking his head slowly from side to side and reaching for her wrists. Suraksha stiffens in fright when he takes her wrists so, her tail tip quivering in the sheets again. When he speaks, it is in French, "[You are magnificent...]" She doesn't know the language, but listening carefully, she decides he doesn't sound disgusted or -- or violent? He carefully pulls her hands away from her mouth and, careful of the fangs, kisses her. When he leans in towards her she looks cautiously hopeful... and when he kisses her she takes a quick, gasping breath -- almost a sob of relief -- and tries to hug him, forgetting he has her wrists. Roy laughs softly and lets go of her wrists when she tries to wrap her arms around him. He doesn't seem to quite know how to settle against her, though, now she's all curled up so nervously tight.

Suraksha starts shifting her long body, leaning her human front carefully against him and slowly -- checking visually for his reaction -- letting a coil drape and slide about him as well. Roy catches his breath a little, then says, "'Minds me of the big pythons in the bayous."

Suraksha goes still, glancing worriedly at Roy, "I, uh... too much?" then adds with a hint of her usual humor, "Pythonss are not native to thesse sswampss, you know!"

Roy says, "Sumpin's been livin' there for twenny generations, I'd call native." He shifts and settles the coil more comfortably, "I always sorta liked 'em. Got pretty markin's. 'Sides, you get comfortable with serpents when ya mix with voudon."

Suraksha blushes a slightly warmer gold at that, nodding, "Y-yess... your houngan recognizsed me, that time at Lafayette Carrefour's warehouse. Where you were 'Blood of the King' and Chanti wass 'Blood of the Guard,' I wass 'Blood of the Sserpent' to him."

Roy chuckles, "Froid Jacques? He did say sometime that he'd enjoyed working with you. Odd duck, him." He shifts and settles until he's resting amongst the coils and with his head leaned back on her slightly-more-ample chest. He seems to be intent on making her aware he's not going anywhere. Suraksha finally starts to cautiously relax against Roy, as he seems to not be upset by her. The sharp scent of agitated snake is strong in the room, and she whispers a soft apology to him about that. As she slowly calms, her nervous tongue flickering lessens as well... although Roy can feel her both staying pressed closely against him, and the restrained tension still there under the skin.

Roy reaches out a hand to stroke his hand along her scales, unconsciously whispering, "Shh-shhh...." When she apologizes for the smell, he says, "Snakes smell like snakes. Cats smell like cats. I ain't too het up about things not smellin' like roses."

Suraksha murmurs with a touch of embarrassment, "I... can't do that ssort of shifting, ssorry." She sighs softly, relaxing more as he strokes her; it feels extraordinarily sensual against her sensitive scales.

Roy says, "Can't do what, cherie?" He continues to trail his fingers along her scales, starting to study her pattern carefully.

Suraksha says, "Change my sscent differently than the body type." She adds with shy hope, "S-sso... you don't sseem to mind...?" She shivers slightly with releasing tension, her muscles starting to relax where Roy's gently stroking her skin.

The king smiles wryly and says, "If I was gonna care that you ain't human, I'm bein' awful fuckin' slow about it." He shifts and starts using both hands to stroke the reptile part, "Always liked how snake scales felt."

Suraksha's breath escapes her in a slow hiss, her eyes going half closed; it's almost automatic for her serpentine half to respond with relaxation to caresses, considering how sensually wired that entire part of her is. The end of her tail curls around part of her partner, although she's not even aware she's doing it. She murmurs shakily, "I -- I... thank you, Roy...!" Her laugh is almost a sob as she adds, "Had n-nightmares about this...!"

Roy glances down when Suraksha's tail slithers around his ankle and then smirks up at her, "Sorry I wa'n't more reassurin', then." Absently he asks, "Must feel odd, havin' scales."

Suraksha opens her mouth to reply, then goes still, thinking. Finally she grins shakily, with a hint of her old humor, "Must feel odd, having tessticlezs?"

Roy throws his head back and laughs, reaching down with his free hand to adjust himself. "Guess that was a stupid thing ta say. I just mean... must feel differ'nt than human skin." The stroking hand is moving along more of her scales, "Never seen these markin's before."

Suraksha grins with shy nervousness at the success of her gentle teasing. She absently rubs her cheek lightly against Roy's shoulder as she murmurs, "Iss. Feelss much, much more... ssenssual, alive, alert... if that makess ssensse?" She shakes her head at his comment, adding, "I do not know where or what the markingss are bazsed on, but they are ssimilar for all three of uss. Amma'zs are more... golden and cream and jet, Grandmama'zs are more dove grayzs and ivory and jet." She studies her serpentine half thoughtfully, adding, "Mine are sstill forming, ssinsce I'm a ssub-adult, but I like the bluezs and purplezs. I hope they sstay."

Roy mms quietly and then grins a bit, leaning down to brush a kiss over her scales, "Ain't native to this area, but I shouldn't be shocked. Just how sub-adult we talkin'? I knew you were young, but am I a huge pervert by Naga standards?"

Suraksha is humming softly in dreamy pleasure as Roy continues his stroking and kisses on her sensitive scaled skin. At his words it takes a moment to register -- she blinks startledly at Roy, then tosses her head back and laughs aloud! Then she grins, arching her human half over to where he's leaning over her serpentine parts. She wraps her arms around him from behind, resting her head against his back, and her long hair slides silkily forward over his bare shoulder as she murmurs, "Thank you, dear man." She grins, adding with a laugh, "No, not a pervert at all -- I'm the older one in years, after all!" She grins again as she amends, "I think? How many years are you, sweet man?"

Roy rubs his slightly stubbly cheek against her scales and grins as she hugs him from behind, "More'n I look like I do. Moynahan was younger'n me by a good five years."

Suraksha mmms thoughtfully, trying to place how old Moynahan had looked, "So you're... what, late 30's, early 40's?" As she calms, her nervous hissing on her S's abates. She smiles, adding, "To Naga, we're both children. Well, to immortals, I should say."

Roy chuckles quietly and slides his hands down along her tail to see how the muscles feel under the scutes and scales, "Naw, cherie. I'm forty-seven." He doesn't look any older than his early thirties, possibly late twenties, given the harshness of life in this world.

Suraksha shivers pleasurably again, murmuring, "Careful there, lover... that's starting to feel a little too good!" then adds, "Ah, well, then -- we're about the same age!" She grins teasingly at Roy, her ebony pupils starting to flare out more naturally in her golden irises, "Disappointed?" She giggles as she adds, "No wonder you're such a successful rogue -- lots of practice!"

Roy chuckles and says, "People sometimes wonder 'bout me, I know." He flashes her a grin and slides his hands back along the same path they just took, "Not disappointed, cherie. But it's sorta fun when people're scandalized..." He smirks.

Suraksha blinks at Roy -- then tosses her head back and laughs again! Her eyes are twinkling golden sparks as she murmurs, "You troublemaker, you!" She grins, rising straight upwards on the smooth, gracefully patterned column of her body to reach up and unlatch one of the windows in the bedroom that looks out over the water instead of over the boat, adding, "Think we better clear the room out a little. You stroking like that, and the taste of sex, is not a good combination for me just now! Er, scent, I mean."

Roy chuckles and stretches his body slowly, trying to get more of it pressed along the scaly-smooth length of her body, "I don' even know how I'd start t' make love t' ya in this form, cherie..." He considers and says, "Take that back, I'd know how t' start..." The king's head turns slowly and he brushes a kiss against one of her breasts, "Dunno if I'd know how t' finish."

Suraksha shivers again, a soft moan slipping from her wine-red lips -- then she abruptly shifts her upper body away a bit, one slender palm flat on Roy's chest. She grins wryly at him, "Sweet man, please don't? I'm not, er... overly knowledgeable about the sex life of Naga, but I do know if we make love while I'm in this form I'll most likely shift into puberty. That..." she looks even more wry, "would be awkward."

Roy arches a brow, "So I been makin' love to a prepubescent? Thought you said wa'n't that perverted?" He's obviously teasing, but he shifts so he's not looking full on her nude, human upper half, "So I should stop pettin' ya?"

Suraksha giggles a bit nervously, shaking her head, "Technically yess, I'm prepubesscent... but that'ss only becausse we stay infertile through our in-between years: in between childhood, before we go walkabout -- and adulthood when we, er, lay our eggzs." She considers a bit, then adds apologetically, "I, um, don't really know much about giving birth for our species -- just what I've idly picked up around the house, you know? I know it's not until we find a nice man who falls for us as much as we fall for them that we -- well, our bodies, I guess? -start shifting into sexual readiness."

Her smile gets wry again, "At that point, of course, both Amma and Fearsome Grandmother have warned me I should start heading home immediately with my chosen mate, since they know how to take care of us, and there will be plenty of experienced guardians and other caretakers around for us." She sighs, nuzzling gently against Roy as she adds, "I just don't get the feeling you're ready for children quite yet... I know I'm not." Suraksha hesitates, then adds carefully, "Also, at some point after I hit puberty, my instincts will apparently start kicking in. I won't just want to go home, I'll, umm... well... I think all I have to do is bite you in my native form or something? Apparently it renders you immune to my venom, which, er..." she gives him a worried glance, "is... a good thing, yes?"

Roy smirks slightly, "I ain't, but I reckon I gotta get ready real quick, havin' adopted one." Suraksha nods once, watching him surreptitiously sideways from behind her dark hair, waiting for his reaction to her second comment. The comment about being bitten is making Roy think carefully, "Well, that's how the houngans deal wi' rattlers an' moccassins. 'Course, they also die a lot tryin' that."

Suraksha whispers softly, "I -- I won't let you."

He strokes her snaky length carefully, "Think we'll talk more 'bout that when it comes up, cherie."

Suraksha says at the same time, "I mean -- I'm ssorry, I ssaid that poorly. It'll be with family around who know what to do, you know?" She nods silently at his reply, coiling nervously around him with his back leaning against her human front. She thinks a bit, then adds quietly, "Do you want to know more? About Naga, I mean?"

Roy nods and smiles a bit, "Like I said, we'll figger it out later, lover."

Suraksha nods again, falling silent for a bit as she gently strokes his hair and leans her cheek against him. Finally she says quietly, "I should warn you: I can't change this form at all quickly or easily yet, so even if I wanted to it'll be a few hours before I can try shifting back to human form... and another 45 minutes to an hour to get there." She sighs softly, her breath warm against his skin as she adds, "I'll really need sleep and food -- or sex -- at that point, please?" Wryly she adds, "That'ss w-why I was nervouss about doing this here. I mean, I didn't think you'd call in your guardss t-t-to attack me... but it's eazsy for folkss t-to, um... to overreact to uss."

Roy takes a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh; he's trying very hard not to be disappointed there's going to be no more sex immediately. He chuckles, "Oh, darn. Gotta make love with a beautiful woman inna mornin'. Whatta horrible life I got."

Suraksha blinks at that -- then laughs shakily again, hugging Roy tightly. For some reason his gently teasing kindness has tears of relief welling up in her eyes, and she rubs her cheek against his shoulder, trying to sound teasing as well as she murmurs back, "S-ssorry?" There's a scrabbling at the window at that point, and Roy can tell just how much tension was -- and still is -- stored up in his lover as she whirls with inhuman speed and a sharply dismayed hiss, staring up at the window with her tongue flickering repeatedly.

Roy can't quite stop himself from making a startled, "hurk!" noise as he's suddenly constricted by a nervous and enormous serpent. Suraksha blinks startledly at Roy -- then looks mortified as she hastily flips her coils open. The scrabbling at the window gets louder, causing her to glance up, then around frantically for a hiding place -- but before she can actually move, Alg squirms through the window, dropping onto the floor with a satisfied grunt. Suraksha freezes in mid-dart, her eyes huge as she stares at the goblin -- then she hastily tries to flick a sheet over her serpentine body as she gasps, "Alg?! Wh-what are you doing here?"

Alg makes happy chuckling sounds, obviously proud of himself for something. He scramble-scampers over and rubs catlike along an exposed length of scale, then pats a coil. Proudly he announces, "Pretty snake lady with king!" He pushes his chest out and says, "Alg here!"

Suraksha stares down in astonishment at the goblin, one hand extending automatically to stroke the goblin's head -- then she catches herself and says confusedly, "You... you don't mind?" She frowns slowly, figuring it out, "You... knew? But... how?"

Alg snorts, clearly disappointed at Suraksha's slowness. "Alg smell! In wagon." He bumps his head up under her hand and pats Roy's bare leg before he starts sniffing his way around the room, exploring happily.

Suraksha stares silently at the goblin, clearly thinking with furious speed. Her eyes are huge and golden, the ebony pupils narrow slits again... then she laughs shakily, leaning against Roy as she murmurs, "How... how did I become so blesss't?" She takes a deep breath, straightening and holding out an arm as she smiles, "Thank you, Alg, dear -- you are truly a wonder." Alg lollops over from where he was sniffing at a drawer in the built-in desk. He rubs against Suraksha's body like a cat again, making happy-goblin sounds. Suraksha laughs softly, hugging the goblin close and gently ruffling his ears as she hums softly with pleasure and relief. As she's rubbing her chin against his head, though, she blinks -- then flickers her tongue out before she says curiously, "You're... dry? When did you come over to the Proud Mary?"

Alg rubs his chin against Suraksha's shoulder and chuckles, obviously proud of himself, "Rode on little boat when pretty lady come."

Roy blinks at that and says, "That was hours 'go."

Suraksha laughs softly, hugging Alg once more before she releases. She smiles, shaking her head, "Sneaky! I didn't notice. Clearly I need to be more alert... and it's a good thing you were there, yes?" She grins, running her fingers gently through his bristly fur as she adds, "Could you keep watch for us, please, dear? I'm going to need to stay here for several hours, and it would be bad if anyone else came in." She smiles at Roy, adding, "He probably just sneakily explored the Proud Mary. He likes sneaking around sometimes, just like sometimes he likes rocketing around and alarming folks who don't know him." Alg grins and bounces on the bed, cackling and hooting happily before he slithers off to go stand guard outside the stateroom door. Suraksha laughs as she watches Alg, then turns back to Roy and smiles, sighing and relaxing a bit. "All right, maybe I was worrying a bit too much?" She grins ruefully and hugs Roy tightly.

Roy does his best to hug in return, though the position is a little awkward, "Mebbe perhaps, cherie." He smiles wryly, "They already knew you's a tiger. Why'd ya worry 'bout the snake bit?"

Suraksha sighs softly, shifting around so he can hug more easily. "Tigers are majestic, protective, mammalian -- normal. Mythic, murderous, venomous Lamia... not so much." She adds quietly, "I was raised on stories of what happens when mortals discover a Naga, you know. Grandmama nearly died several times in the first week or two after the Great Dying. She still regrets those she killed in self-defense. A mob of scared mortals -- that's our bogeyman. We can peacefully handle one or two just fine. More than that... we don't have the natural weaponry to -- to dissuade them without hurting them."

Roy says gently, "Cherie... yer livin' in a differ'nt world." He stops himself, "Not differ'nt enough, though. Still got people like Droog an ' his lot innit. Yer right t'be careful." Suraksha nods silently, her cheek resting against Roy's chest. She is intensely relieved when, after several hours of cuddling and quiet talking with Roy, she changes successfully back to human form. Roy has food ready for her then, and they end up enjoying themselves sensually as well for the rest of that night.

The next morning (after verifying all went well for Sura) Sna'tha sends Suraksha and Alg back to the barge, and continues her training with the king and his bodyguards. Suraksha misses being with Roy, but is incredibly relieved at no longer having secrets from him! It shows -- she's practically glowing with happiness as she nearly bounces lightheartedly about her work on the barge. Those in the know regarding her feelings towards Roy smile fondly and say nothing; others are surprised and pleased at how joyously she goes through the days, lighting up everyone around her.

On the barge, Sna'tha is doing her best to get as much training packed into this concentrated time as she can. By the end of the third week the men are starting to get used to the long hours and hard work. Alan is positively blossoming; Elijah and Travis are improving steadily. Jacko is competent with the training, like he is with just about everything else. He isn't taking to it as well as Alan, but he outstrips the other two guards and Roy -- though Roy isn't as far behind Jacko as he makes it seem when the two young guards are around; no need having everyone know the king is quite so good in a fight. However, while Roy is making more progress than he wants to have be general knowledge, he's also getting very impatient to be back home. He's been gone from his city for over a month, and it's making him antsy.

Roy does, however, make no bones about the fact he misses Suraksha, and Jacko keeps a close eye on his liege, making sure Roy doesn't do anything silly like try to sneak over to the barge in the night. In what free time Sna'thaid lets them have, Roy tends to lean against the forward rail of the Mary and watch the movement on the barge, his least grumpy moments coming when he and his lady-love catch sight of one another. He's also not shy about being seen to blow her a kiss when that happens. Suraksha always beams and pauses to wave delightedly, returning the blown kiss and laughing -- she loves seeing Roy too! She misses him, but she knows Sna'thaid's training is probably going to be critical at some point in keeping Roy alive. For that, she'll put up with being a bit lonely at night -- mostly.

Sometimes, though, the young woman is lonely enough that she gets up and leans wistfully on the railing too, a blanket wrapped around her. Alg often keeps her company when she's most missing Roy, curling up against her at the railing or on the foot of her bed, occasionally patting her in goblin reassurance. Ohkwari seems to wander by often when she's standing late at night at the railing as well, blocking the wind for her as he stands and smokes his pipe in silent companionship with her.

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Last modified: 2010-Aug-28 20:29:49

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