Parasite was too tired to get away and too weak to harm the snake. Maintaining eye contact with the snake, he tried not to move hoping the snake would just pass him by. Seconds passed as the snake stayed coiled ready to spring forward. What did I do to make this snake so aggressive toward me? Thought Parasite. He continued to watch the snake, but began to see him coil tighter getting ready to spring forth. Unsure what to do, as the snake snapped forward toward Parasite’s face, he fell onto his back and began to roll back down the hill. The full length of the snake flew past his face, but quickly began to chase after his tumbling body.
Tumbling down the hill, he was moving faster than he could walk, but the snake was still fast. Worst of all, he was building up scrapes and would be vulnerable when he slowed down at the fast-approaching bottom of the hill. Looking up he saw the snake slithering after him. Well, I have nowhere to run and I won’t outlast this snake. It might be best to curl up and protect my face. See what he does. I’ll have to act fast if he bites though. Reaching the bottom of the hill, Parasite curled up into a fetal position and thought This brings back memories.
Bracing himself, Parasite heard the snake getting closer then a sharp pain in his right shoulder followed by a mild numbness. It’s venomous, he thought, This is my only chance before the venom takes full effect. He reached around with his left hand and gripped the snake below his head. Too weak. He thought as the snake started sliding in his tiny grasp. Not having any better idea, Parasite extended his tendrils into the snake and began using Absorb to strengthen himself and weaken the snake. He could feel the spread of the venom slowing, but the snake was thrashing even harder wrapping around his tiny arm and whipping his still clamped fangs back and forth.
Continuing to Absorb, his scrapes and bruises were slowly healing. They were being filled with the Bio-Matter from the snake. He could feel impressions of memories and emotions from the snake at the same time too. It was anxious and territorial, most of all there was a strong sense of protectiveness. A flash of the snake’s nest entered Parasite’s mind. He saw himself sitting between the snake and the nest at the top of the hill. A rush of understanding ran through him. This was a mother snake trying to protect her nest. Who would think a mother would go so far to protect their young?
As much hurt as he felt toward his mother, he could not separate this mother from her eggs. I’ll still have to weaken her so she will stop hurting me, but I need to let her know I am not a threat either. He held firm, but gently sent thoughts of calm and trustworthiness. He expressed his desire for friendship and felt the snake’s fangs loosen slightly. A sense of hesitation came from the snake but it relented and let go of Parasite’s shoulder as well as slowly uncoiling from his arm. Gingerly Parasite stretched his legs out and reached for roots of a nearby tree and began to Absorb from the tree.
“I’m going to trust you.” He sent to the snake and he began to Infuse it with Bio-Matter. The snake began to regain it’s vigor, but it no longer tried to attack him. He felt a sense of thankfulness and companionship from the snake. Parasite took a chance and decided to let go of the snake. He still protected his face with his left arm, but after letting go, he felt a slight tickle on his shoulder where the bite was and heard the snake start to slither away back up the hill. Did the snake just lick me? Seems I just made my first friend that is not a plant. He looked up the hill toward where the nest was and saw the snake burrow down into its hole with its eggs.
I think this is where people would smile. Thought Parasite but then remembered that he still had to figure out what to do with the venom in his body. Rolling over, he got to his knees and supported himself with is right hand. He began to look at the plants that were nearby and noticed some thorny brambles. He weakly reached out with his left hand and began to Infuse the venom into the plant. As he did this, the brambles began to take on a darkened appearance on their tips and he innately felt that the thorns now could inflict a minor numbing effect if you scraped against them. I could use this near my tree for some safety if I find a way to move it.
Noting the location of the venomous brambles, Parasite made his way back to his tree so he could rest for a bit. Over the next couple weeks, he continued to Infuse the tree and spent the rest of the time slowly digging around the brambles. He relocated them close to the entrance of the hollow, but far enough back that he almost had a front patio area. Satisfied, he took a step back and looked up at the tree. The canopy was starting to grow wider and overtake the surrounding trees. It was truly becoming his own little safe haven. Satisfied with his current progress for the day, he went back inside the hollow to rest a bit. It had grown inside along with him and the tree.
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The next day started out as normal, but as it began to approach midday, he started hearing loud caws and screeches from the direction of the hill. Looking closer, he saw a raven near the top jumping across the ground pecking and beating its wings dangerously close to the snake’s nest. Cheeky raven must have wanted to steal the eggs. Just then, he saw the raven go in for one more peck, but when it came back up the snake held onto its neck fangs deeply planted. Frantically, the crow started stomping the snake with its talons trying to break free. Finally the snake relented and the crow took flight aiming for the canopy of Parasite’s tree. It was clearly getting weaker though and began to glide before losing strength and plummeting to the ground.
Seeing the whole altercation between the raven and snake, Parasite made its way over to the raven. Its breathing was shallow and the venom seemed to be quite thorough with doing its work. Gently Parasite reached out to the raven and touched his hand to it’s back. He felt a strong sense of pride from the bird and strangely something deeper. It’s name was Corbeau and it had been watching the area for about a month. He got flashes of his tree from above, seeing it slowly begin to tower over the other local flora. Watched the tree well up with vitality as he saw himself deposit extra Bio-Matter into the tree. It was watching his life and the growth of the tree.
Most of all, Parasite could sense the raven, Corbeau’s desire to live, to continue watching to see what the tree would grow to be. It’s nest within its branches and its boundless curiosity. Caught up in how vast the bird’s mind was, the most complex since he touched his mom and the doctor’s coming up on a year ago, he nearly forgot how rough of condition the bird was in. Redirecting his attention to the venom and injuries, he began to Absorb the venom and Infuse the wounds with Bio-Matter. He sent Corbeau soothing thoughts and gently told it his name was Parasite. Corbeau seemed to calm down as it felt its wounds heal and the venom dissipate.
He still held the raven but needed to find somewhere to transfer the venom to so he could cleanse himself as well. Slowly he made his way back to the hollow and stopped on his patio at the edge of the brambles. Sitting down and leaning up against the tree, he reached out to the venomous brambles and began to Infuse them with more venom. Slowly their tips darkened even more as their potency increased. Satisfied that the venom was cleansed and Corbeau was nearly in peak health, he stood back up and planned to release the raven when he heard the rustle of plants approaching and an indignant hiss of a mother snake.
Between the brambles at the entrance to the patio, he saw the battered snake sharply looking at the raven and then to Parasite as though a snake was capable of a look of betrayal. Parasite quickly took in the scene and knew he would have to talk to the snake and Corbeau. Maybe we can work this out between us. My first attempt at interspecies diplomacy. Thought Parasite and he began to approach the snake. If this is Corbeau, I really should name mama snake something.
Thinking of what his snake friend could be called, he reached out to touch her. He could instantly feel her anger at Parasite being with the raven that attacked her nest. Parasite began to send calming thoughts to her and suggested of a name for her, Manasa. Her flashes of anger and betrayal paused for a second as she took in the name. She thought it over for a second and accepted it. Now it was time for the biggest hurdle of this meeting. He needed to try to facilitate communication between Corbeau and Manasa in as civil a way as possible.
Focusing on his Super Powers, he tried to figure out a way to share the thoughts and intentions of each creature with the other. Closing his eyes he tired to peer into both their thoughts at the same time. Struggling, he found he was able to do this tapping into the overwhelming hunger the raven had when seeing the nest and Manasa’s fierce protectiveness of her children. Then, he tried inverting it and sending the thoughts back but to the opposite creature. After he sent these thoughts out, a new set of thoughts and emotions arose. He began to flutter, in a sense, the thoughts and emotions of one into the other and as he continued to repeatedly share information between them. After some time, they seemed to come to a consensus. They would not fight anymore and would try their best to respect one another. Furthermore, Corbeau ended up promising Manasa one of his “shinies” from his next as a show of good faith that he would not touch her nest anymore.
Feeling that the communication was done between the two, Parasite let go of them both. Manasa looked up at him and again gently licked his hand before beginning to slither off to her nest. Corbeau looked up at him too with his head slightly tilted in a curious manner before taking off for his nest. Moments later, he saw the raven leave his nest and swoop low over Manasa’s before letting something with a small glint drop from his talons to the side of her hole as he made his way back into the canopy. With everything taken care of, Parasite tried to assess fully how he used his powers to solve this issue. Looking at his stats, he noticed a new Super Power called Mediate 1 S.
Mediate 1 S – Due to the incredible Vastness of your Soul, you have become able to temporarily hold the surface level thought and emotions of multiple targets you are in physical contact with. Waves of thoughts, information and emotions will be shared among the targets near instantaneously. If used when only in contact with only one target, your thoughts, information and emotions are shared with them instead. While more effective if target is willing, forceful communication can be achieved. All shared is kept by all participants in the end.
It seemed like a truly amazing Super Power and one that would definitely become more potent as time would go on. What was supposed to be a calm easy day sadly left him exhausted and he needed to rest earlier than usual. As quickly as he could, he lightly Absorbed Bio-Matter from a few of the surrounding trees so none of them got too weakened then made his way back to his hollow for the night.
Parasite ended up sleeping in a bit later than usual the next day but was woke by a sharp caw. Quickly peeking out and looking up the hill, he hoped to not see another fight taking place. Luckily it was clear and he saw something sparkle in the mid-morning sun as it fell in front of him. He heard a thud as he looked up to see Corbeau landing back in his nest. Parasite waved and thought warmly, Corbeau gave me one of his shinies too as a thank you, before looking down to see what it was.