[video] SNAKES ON A M_F_in' SHIP

[snake_dreamer]

[The camera pans wildly, showing the interior of the ship, and an open pod.  Snake's not used to video technology like this. Oh, Center had its call screen but nothing this small and compact. 

[That she'd seen of course. But obviously she's in Center. Somehow.  Center, at last, when she least needed them.]

[But she wouldn't break her silence just for nothing.  She's awoken from her pod, crawled out and found what looks to be a battered leather case, with several large--empty--compartments, and another compartment crowded with boxes, pouches and vials.]. 

Where are my snakes? 

[She sounds halfway between angry and frightened. ]

Comments

[akito]

I'm not a human.
What is too cold for them?
There is a way off of the ship!
I just followed the wind out of it.
I could send a stronger breeze in for you to follow
If that would work for you??

[snake_dreamer]

Not human.

[She can't help but stare. Yes, at a text display, wondering if that was why her strange new companion didn't show himself. Herself. Itself.]

Above frost. [That would actually comfort them, a bit, the cold air making them sleepy.]

I could try?

[Never turn down help, though even as she agrees, her hand checks the belt knife in her waist. She won't be taken by surprise again.]

text;

[akito]

I am a wind spirit.
I'll make sure they stay a good temperature!!
And I am going to ask the winds to guide you here now
So don't freak out!

[ and not long after he sends out the text, a cool breeze will twine around Snake, then guide her outside. c: and in the general direction of where her snakes are. ]

wow I could swear I tagged this last night!!

[snake_dreamer]

Spirit of the wind.

[Able to talk? He didn't seem like a crazy. But right now, if he led her to Mist and Sand, that would be what mattered. ]

[You don't handle snakes if 'freaking out' is in your vocabulary. Snake moves to the doorway, tilting her head, until she sees the faintest tendril of a breeze stirring at her hair. She follows it, battered boots light on the decking of the ship. A spaceship. She should be wondering and marveling more, but all she can think of is her serpents.]

Please don't go too near them. [Air spirit or not, it's simple safety.]

[akito]

Yes!
Something like that.

And I will keep my distance!
I don't want to hurt them by mistake.

[snake_dreamer]

And you can use this device to make words.

[She's not doubting. But it does sound a little strange.]

I am rather afraid of them hurting you. If they're frightened and disoriented, they may strike.

[Sand was ill-tempered even on the best of days.]

[akito]

Yes, texting.

Snakes can't hurt me
So don't worry!
:)

[snake_dreamer]

Texting.

[All right. It's not a word she's familiar with. But she has a feeling it's hardly the strangest thing she'll find in this place.]

I wouldn't be a healer if I didn't worry.

[akito]

Texting!
:)
What kind of healer are you?

[snake_dreamer]

[It's then that she realizes the little ':)' shape is like a smile. She can't help it: she's been through so much recently, and the simple smile makes her laugh.]

I heal with snakes--you see why I need my friends.

[akito]

Creating cures with the venom?
And they are sleeping soundly!

[snake_dreamer]

Yes!

[She sounds delighted and a little surprised.]

You know other healers who do the same?

[akito]

I have seen people make antivenom before
Most healing is done with doctors who prescribe medicines
Or do surgeries!
But there are still some healers who use herbs and naturopathy

[snake_dreamer]

That's most of how we heal. With a proper lab I can do more.

[But she hasn't seen one since the Station.]

These are all the tools we have, in my world. I've performed surgery but only as a last resort.

[The Mayor was almost at that last resort, the wound in his leg foul with gangrene.]

[akito]

So you are more like the kind of doctors I know!
Except that you have snakes.
:)

[snake_dreamer]

Is that different from the healers they have here?

[She's made it to the mouth of the ship by now, squinting into the daylight.]

[akito]

I don't know!
I have been here just over a day.
There are lots of different kinds of peoples and non-humans here
So people who heal with magic would not surprise me!

[snake_dreamer]

[He seems very settled for someone who's been here a day.]

I am learning that.

[Another laugh.] To me, one who speaks with the winds does magic. This is merely science.

[akito]

Some people say that magic is just what science hasn't explained yet.
If science could explain my existence
It would be really neat to know!!

[snake_dreamer]

I would understand that. People thought my tigerpony was magic, when it was just a simple genomic modification.

Has anyone studied you?

[akito]

[ his reply takes a bit longer than usual to come. ]

No.

[snake_dreamer]

Do you want to be? If I had a lab, and some...samples--do you have a body?

[Why is that a question she'd never thought she'd ask?]

[akito]

I have a body.
I don't like the thought

[ he stops responding for a few minutes to gather his nerves back up. ]

Doctors and scientists make me uncomfortable
Or at least the thought of them doing anything to me does.

[snake_dreamer]

...I would never do anything to you that you didn't want. I am a healer, it goes against everything I believe in.

[She knows it's a lot to ask a stranger to trust, but there's something about this wind spirit that reminds her of Melissa: the shyness, perhaps, something her snakes can't make a medicine for, but maybe friendship could.]

[akito]

Maybe someday
If it would help other spirits
Then maybe someday I would think about it
Maybe