Post by Nai-Ran on Aug 23, 2014 2:37:02 GMT
It was early in the morning, roughly an hour past sunrise. Nai-Ran wasn’t used to being up this early. She was far more accustomed to waking up when the sun was already nearing its peak in the sky. However, after a night of heavy insomnia, she was feeling restless. She needed to get up and move. It was the perfect time to do a bit of training.
The young Ryashi woman had slithered over to her favorite little patch of green near the edge of the desert in which she had made her home away from home. Upon her arrival, she wasted no time in scouting out the sturdiest looking branch that she could find among the trees that grew along the quaint little stream that flowed through the area. Nai-Ran lifted herself up to the branch, grabbed ahold of it, and then curled her tail into a tight little ball beneath her so that she no longer reached the ground. Pull-ups may have been a bit primitive, but they would do nicely for the time being. Besides, she was just excited that she didn’t have to worry about her father walking in on her and requesting that she stop what she’s doing to go grab one of her text books instead.
”Alright, Nai-Ran. Now’s your time to shine,” she said to herself in between pull-ups, trying to psych herself up as she started to rhythmically lift herself up and drop back down. ”No studies. No manners. No worrying about appearances. No distractions. It’s just you and your training.” When the day came that she would finally slide her scales over the sands of Appodorra once more, she was determined that she would make both of her instructors proud by her improvements on her fighting ability. If she was diligent enough, she might even surpass them. Nai-Ran had many fond memories of the two Ryashi that her father had hired to teach her how to fight. Instructor Re-Za and Instructor Ma-Surin were as different as night and day.
Re-Za was a master of ki and a rather flamboyant one at that. Even in the midst of battle he always managed to keep his hair and outfit perfect without so much as a single hair or thread becoming disheveled. Nai-Ran had no idea how he did it time after time. Even though she was well aware that your appearance was absolutely meaningless in a fight, she was still impressed every time she watched Re-Za fight. She wasn’t the only one either. The guy had his own fan club of female pupils that followed him around and fawned over him every chance they got. Nai-Ran wasn’t nearly that wild about the guy, but even she had to admit that she admired his vibrant indigo scales.
Ma-Surin, on the other hand, was an expert on hand to hand combat and often referred to as a paragon of manliness by his students. He was the largest Ryashi that Nai-Ran had ever seen. His entire body was absolutely brimming with muscles. Then there was his broad shoulders, his chin that was obscured by a thick, wiry, black beard, and his deep, gravelly voice. If anyone had asked what burly looked like in Ryashi form, Ma-Surin would be what came to mind. The guy was strict as well. If any of his students ever mouthed off to him or were obviously slacking, he’d work them to the bone with various drills to make sure it never happened again. He definitely got results, though.
Both instructors had treated Nai-Ran well ever since her father had hired them to tutor her. Unfortunately, she had always been a little behind in their lessons since her father had always been very insistent that she focus on other studies during the times that she wanted to train. As passionate as Nai-Ran was about improving her ability to fight, General Kan-Basu always saw it as nothing more than a recreational activity. It was frustrating to say the least. However, at least her instructors understood her circumstances when they saw that she wasn’t making as much progress as they would have liked. They were no strangers to the current ruler of the Rujju sands and where his priorities lie.
The young woman relaxed the muscles in her arms and just dangled from the tree branch for a moment. She wasn’t sure how many pull-ups she had done so far. Her body had just gone through the motions on its own as she reminisced about the life she had left behind. Nai-Ran had obviously lost track of time as the sun was a lot higher in the sky than when she had started her training. It must have been at least a few hours since she had started.
Nai-Ran could feel the large beads of sweat that had gathered on her forehead and trickled down her face. She didn’t really feel tired, but she was perspiring like crazy. Her pale pink hair messily clung to the back of her neck that was just as damp with sweat as her face. As much as she always fussed about her appearance thanks to her upbringing, it felt so good to let loose like this. Perhaps she would look into making this part of a daily routine. The best part was that she wasn’t even done yet.
With a deep breath, Nai-Ran began to swing herself back and forth like a pendulum. Once she had built up enough momentum, she swung herself upwards until she was holding herself up straight in the air. The serpentine lass watched as some of the sweat from her forehead dripped onto the branch that was now below her. The hair that hadn’t been stuck to the back of her neck was now blocking her peripheral vision. After taking a moment to stable herself, Nai-Ran continued her workout with some handstand push-ups.
Life on Earth was a lot different than Appodorra so far. There was more missing from it than just the lavish lifestyle she had back home thanks to her father’s position. While she had made a friend already, there were plenty of times where she still felt a bit lonely. Nai-Ran missed ability to call up any one of her friends and wander out with them to the market stalls at a moment’s notice. Fu-Risu, Ko-tan, and Beru-Beto were all daughters of members of high society, just like herself. They were going through the same types of situations that she was, and always knew just what to do or say to cheer her up if she was feeling down. Well, she supposed that they didn’t have to worry undertaking the ‘Ritual of Discovery’, but they were the same types of situations aside from that.
The mountain in distance, which Nai-Ran had learned was known as Mt. Paozu, looked rather nice. She could just barely see the top of it from the entrance of her cave. The young woman had a much better view from here though. Nai-Ran kept meaning to venture out and explore there. She simply hadn’t gotten around to it yet. The Ryashi knew she needed to leave her cave so that she could get out and see more of Earth. However, she always seemed to find various reasons to put it off. One of these days the young woman would need to stop making excuses and crack down on it.
Suddenly, Nai-Ran heard some rustling in the foliage below. She stilled her arms and focused her attention on a bush that grew roughly a few feet from the bank of the stream. A rather large looking wild boar emerged from the bush and trotted over to the stream, lowering its head to drink. How long had it been down there without her noticing? Oh well, wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity.
The Ryashi was careful to stay as quiet as possible. One false move could alert the beast to her presence and send him running. Going off of her previous observations, boars weren’t really known for their cowardice. However, she didn’t want to take any chances with it. Nai-Ran moved herself into position so that her tail was coiled against the branch that she had just been doing her handstand push-ups on. She poised herself to strike, not once taking her eyes off of her prey. The boar was far too busy quenching its thirst to notice the Ryashi in the tree directly above it, and she had done well in staying silent.
In a single, swift motion, Nai-Ran launched herself from the branch and wrapped her glove-clad arms around the beast’s neck as tightly as she could. The boar squealed and thrashed its entire body wildly in an attempt to free itself and possibly sink one of its tusks into its attacker. Unfortunately for the large pig, it would have no such luck. Nai-Ran tightly curled the length of her tail around the boar’s body, applying more than enough pressure to still it and break its ribs in the process. Once the thrashing had slowed and its squeals had been reduced to little more than a faint wheezing, the serpentine lass snapped its neck and felt the body she was curled around grow limp.
The young Ryashi gradually unwrapped her tail from the swine and glanced over her handiwork with a smile. It was a rather large specimen for its kind, and wild boars weren’t small to begin with. It would completely take care her next feeding. Not only that, she had discovered that boar was actually quite tasty when roasted. This wasn’t a bad haul in the slightest, especially considering that she hadn’t even come out here to hunt in the first place.
Though she was happy with how the morning had turned out so far, the smile on Nai-Ran’s face turned to a frown as she looked herself over. The sweat from her training had completely soaked through her clothes and was making her skin feel grimy. Her pale pink hair was still clinging to the back of her neck in a messy clump. To top it off, she was now covered in bristly boar hair. She knew what came next would sour her good mood, but what choice did she have? As a lady, she couldn’t go about her day coated in filth.
Nai-Ran slowly turned around until she was facing the stream and looked down at the water’s surface with a slight grimace. Back on Appodorra, water was pretty scarce unless you lived in one of the resort regions. It was because of this that Ryashi generally kept themselves clean by taking dust baths. However, the dust they used for such a bath wasn’t just any old dust. It was far more common than water on her home planet, but it’s not like you could just slither outside and roll around in the sand expecting to get clean. Nai-Ran highly doubted that she would find the special type of dust needed for such a bath anywhere on this planet, so that was out of the question.
The first time Nai-Ran had ever encountered the stream, she had actually been excited about taking a water bath for the very first time in her life. Having never had access to so much water at one time before, the young woman thought she might have enjoyed the experience since it was considered a luxury back home. She had never been so wrong in her life. It was cold and wet, which really should have been a given now that she thought about it. She didn’t like the feeling it left behind when it dripped off of her body. The young woman absolutely hated how it felt on her scales. Not only that, but when she got her tail wet and tried to slither home, the sand clung to it and left her feeling grimier than before. How did people stand to do this on a regular basis?
Nai-Ran stared back at her reflection on the water’s surface with distaste. She even briefly stuck her tongue out at the offending substance. It was a shame that it didn’t seem like there was any other way to clean herself off. Just about anything would have been better than this in her mind. Nai-Ran cautiously looked around the clearing to make sure she was alone before peeling away her clothes. The serpentine lass knew that this area was far enough away from civilization to not have to worry about any prying eyes, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Once her form was bare, Nai-Ran took a deep breath before hastily dunking her entire humanoid upper half into the stream until it was completely submerged, using the utmost care not to get her pearly scales wet. She hurriedly scrubbed away the dirt and sweat from her skin and hair with her bare hands while making a mental note that she needed to track down some time of cleaning brush or cloth for future bathing.
It didn’t take long for the young woman to lift herself out of the stream. She was gasping for air and violently trying to shake the water from her body. How she was going to be able to keep doing this fairly regularly was beyond her. Curse her need for good personal hygiene... Once she was done wringing all of the water from her hair, Nai-Ran gave her black dress and gloves a similar treatment beneath the stream’s surface. Nai-Ran redressed herself after her clothes were sufficiently wrung out. She cringed at the feeling of the damp cloth against her still-damp skin. At least she could take solace in the fact that she would dry out quickly on the way back to the cave thanks to the intense desert heat.
Trying her best to ignore the unpleasant sensation on her skin, Nai-Ran wrapped the end of her tail tightly around the lifeless boar’s hind legs and quickly made her way back to her cave. It wasn’t a long trip, but was thankfully just long enough to dry the Ryashi out just as she reached the mouth of the desert save. A scowl crossed over Nai-Ran’s face when she noticed that the entrance was littered with black feathers. It would appear that the little winged pests had dropped by to annoy her while she was out. Those black birds had continuously returned to bother her ever since she had first encountered them when escorting her friend Houri back home. It didn’t matter how many times Nai-Ran frightened them off; they always came back to pester her even more. She had even tried capturing a couple to see if they could at least be used as a food source since they insisted on delivering themselves to her doorstep. Unfortunately, no matter how many different ways she tried preparing them, they always tasted absolutely foul. No pun intended, of course.
Thankfully it looked like they had already cleared out a while ago. The only thing left to hint at their presence were the discarded feathers. It looked like they realized that Nai-Ran hadn’t been there to badger, and they couldn’t seem to open the only other thing of interest in the cave, her space pod.
Nai-Ran’s space pod was actually proving to be rather useful despite the fact that she wouldn’t be leaving Earth until the far future. It worked to preserved food after she had spent some time fiddling with the internal temperature control. She just had to remember to give the interior a thorough cleaning before eventually using it to return home. The young woman was sure that it would smell pretty rank after the coming years. Without another thought, Nai-Ran tossed her prey into the pod before resealing it.
A yawn suddenly escaped the crimson eyed Ryashi. The lack of sleep from the previous night was catching up to her. She felt good about her accomplishments for the day so far. She got a fair amount of training done, happened upon some more food, and ever managed to power through a quick bath without spending more than a couple minutes at most cursing the fact that she hated water baths. A nap was well deserved at this point as far as she was concerned.
Nai-Ran made a quick mental note that she still needed to acquire supplies for proper bed chamber, but that wouldn’t be necessary for the time being. She had grown rather attached to the smooth rock outside as a spot to sleep. Besides, the sun had been up for a while now. Her favorite rock would be delightfully warm by now.
With that, Nai-Ran slithered outside, curled up on the surface of said rock, and dozed off.
The young Ryashi woman had slithered over to her favorite little patch of green near the edge of the desert in which she had made her home away from home. Upon her arrival, she wasted no time in scouting out the sturdiest looking branch that she could find among the trees that grew along the quaint little stream that flowed through the area. Nai-Ran lifted herself up to the branch, grabbed ahold of it, and then curled her tail into a tight little ball beneath her so that she no longer reached the ground. Pull-ups may have been a bit primitive, but they would do nicely for the time being. Besides, she was just excited that she didn’t have to worry about her father walking in on her and requesting that she stop what she’s doing to go grab one of her text books instead.
”Alright, Nai-Ran. Now’s your time to shine,” she said to herself in between pull-ups, trying to psych herself up as she started to rhythmically lift herself up and drop back down. ”No studies. No manners. No worrying about appearances. No distractions. It’s just you and your training.” When the day came that she would finally slide her scales over the sands of Appodorra once more, she was determined that she would make both of her instructors proud by her improvements on her fighting ability. If she was diligent enough, she might even surpass them. Nai-Ran had many fond memories of the two Ryashi that her father had hired to teach her how to fight. Instructor Re-Za and Instructor Ma-Surin were as different as night and day.
Re-Za was a master of ki and a rather flamboyant one at that. Even in the midst of battle he always managed to keep his hair and outfit perfect without so much as a single hair or thread becoming disheveled. Nai-Ran had no idea how he did it time after time. Even though she was well aware that your appearance was absolutely meaningless in a fight, she was still impressed every time she watched Re-Za fight. She wasn’t the only one either. The guy had his own fan club of female pupils that followed him around and fawned over him every chance they got. Nai-Ran wasn’t nearly that wild about the guy, but even she had to admit that she admired his vibrant indigo scales.
Ma-Surin, on the other hand, was an expert on hand to hand combat and often referred to as a paragon of manliness by his students. He was the largest Ryashi that Nai-Ran had ever seen. His entire body was absolutely brimming with muscles. Then there was his broad shoulders, his chin that was obscured by a thick, wiry, black beard, and his deep, gravelly voice. If anyone had asked what burly looked like in Ryashi form, Ma-Surin would be what came to mind. The guy was strict as well. If any of his students ever mouthed off to him or were obviously slacking, he’d work them to the bone with various drills to make sure it never happened again. He definitely got results, though.
Both instructors had treated Nai-Ran well ever since her father had hired them to tutor her. Unfortunately, she had always been a little behind in their lessons since her father had always been very insistent that she focus on other studies during the times that she wanted to train. As passionate as Nai-Ran was about improving her ability to fight, General Kan-Basu always saw it as nothing more than a recreational activity. It was frustrating to say the least. However, at least her instructors understood her circumstances when they saw that she wasn’t making as much progress as they would have liked. They were no strangers to the current ruler of the Rujju sands and where his priorities lie.
The young woman relaxed the muscles in her arms and just dangled from the tree branch for a moment. She wasn’t sure how many pull-ups she had done so far. Her body had just gone through the motions on its own as she reminisced about the life she had left behind. Nai-Ran had obviously lost track of time as the sun was a lot higher in the sky than when she had started her training. It must have been at least a few hours since she had started.
Nai-Ran could feel the large beads of sweat that had gathered on her forehead and trickled down her face. She didn’t really feel tired, but she was perspiring like crazy. Her pale pink hair messily clung to the back of her neck that was just as damp with sweat as her face. As much as she always fussed about her appearance thanks to her upbringing, it felt so good to let loose like this. Perhaps she would look into making this part of a daily routine. The best part was that she wasn’t even done yet.
With a deep breath, Nai-Ran began to swing herself back and forth like a pendulum. Once she had built up enough momentum, she swung herself upwards until she was holding herself up straight in the air. The serpentine lass watched as some of the sweat from her forehead dripped onto the branch that was now below her. The hair that hadn’t been stuck to the back of her neck was now blocking her peripheral vision. After taking a moment to stable herself, Nai-Ran continued her workout with some handstand push-ups.
Life on Earth was a lot different than Appodorra so far. There was more missing from it than just the lavish lifestyle she had back home thanks to her father’s position. While she had made a friend already, there were plenty of times where she still felt a bit lonely. Nai-Ran missed ability to call up any one of her friends and wander out with them to the market stalls at a moment’s notice. Fu-Risu, Ko-tan, and Beru-Beto were all daughters of members of high society, just like herself. They were going through the same types of situations that she was, and always knew just what to do or say to cheer her up if she was feeling down. Well, she supposed that they didn’t have to worry undertaking the ‘Ritual of Discovery’, but they were the same types of situations aside from that.
The mountain in distance, which Nai-Ran had learned was known as Mt. Paozu, looked rather nice. She could just barely see the top of it from the entrance of her cave. The young woman had a much better view from here though. Nai-Ran kept meaning to venture out and explore there. She simply hadn’t gotten around to it yet. The Ryashi knew she needed to leave her cave so that she could get out and see more of Earth. However, she always seemed to find various reasons to put it off. One of these days the young woman would need to stop making excuses and crack down on it.
Suddenly, Nai-Ran heard some rustling in the foliage below. She stilled her arms and focused her attention on a bush that grew roughly a few feet from the bank of the stream. A rather large looking wild boar emerged from the bush and trotted over to the stream, lowering its head to drink. How long had it been down there without her noticing? Oh well, wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity.
The Ryashi was careful to stay as quiet as possible. One false move could alert the beast to her presence and send him running. Going off of her previous observations, boars weren’t really known for their cowardice. However, she didn’t want to take any chances with it. Nai-Ran moved herself into position so that her tail was coiled against the branch that she had just been doing her handstand push-ups on. She poised herself to strike, not once taking her eyes off of her prey. The boar was far too busy quenching its thirst to notice the Ryashi in the tree directly above it, and she had done well in staying silent.
In a single, swift motion, Nai-Ran launched herself from the branch and wrapped her glove-clad arms around the beast’s neck as tightly as she could. The boar squealed and thrashed its entire body wildly in an attempt to free itself and possibly sink one of its tusks into its attacker. Unfortunately for the large pig, it would have no such luck. Nai-Ran tightly curled the length of her tail around the boar’s body, applying more than enough pressure to still it and break its ribs in the process. Once the thrashing had slowed and its squeals had been reduced to little more than a faint wheezing, the serpentine lass snapped its neck and felt the body she was curled around grow limp.
The young Ryashi gradually unwrapped her tail from the swine and glanced over her handiwork with a smile. It was a rather large specimen for its kind, and wild boars weren’t small to begin with. It would completely take care her next feeding. Not only that, she had discovered that boar was actually quite tasty when roasted. This wasn’t a bad haul in the slightest, especially considering that she hadn’t even come out here to hunt in the first place.
Though she was happy with how the morning had turned out so far, the smile on Nai-Ran’s face turned to a frown as she looked herself over. The sweat from her training had completely soaked through her clothes and was making her skin feel grimy. Her pale pink hair was still clinging to the back of her neck in a messy clump. To top it off, she was now covered in bristly boar hair. She knew what came next would sour her good mood, but what choice did she have? As a lady, she couldn’t go about her day coated in filth.
Nai-Ran slowly turned around until she was facing the stream and looked down at the water’s surface with a slight grimace. Back on Appodorra, water was pretty scarce unless you lived in one of the resort regions. It was because of this that Ryashi generally kept themselves clean by taking dust baths. However, the dust they used for such a bath wasn’t just any old dust. It was far more common than water on her home planet, but it’s not like you could just slither outside and roll around in the sand expecting to get clean. Nai-Ran highly doubted that she would find the special type of dust needed for such a bath anywhere on this planet, so that was out of the question.
The first time Nai-Ran had ever encountered the stream, she had actually been excited about taking a water bath for the very first time in her life. Having never had access to so much water at one time before, the young woman thought she might have enjoyed the experience since it was considered a luxury back home. She had never been so wrong in her life. It was cold and wet, which really should have been a given now that she thought about it. She didn’t like the feeling it left behind when it dripped off of her body. The young woman absolutely hated how it felt on her scales. Not only that, but when she got her tail wet and tried to slither home, the sand clung to it and left her feeling grimier than before. How did people stand to do this on a regular basis?
Nai-Ran stared back at her reflection on the water’s surface with distaste. She even briefly stuck her tongue out at the offending substance. It was a shame that it didn’t seem like there was any other way to clean herself off. Just about anything would have been better than this in her mind. Nai-Ran cautiously looked around the clearing to make sure she was alone before peeling away her clothes. The serpentine lass knew that this area was far enough away from civilization to not have to worry about any prying eyes, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Once her form was bare, Nai-Ran took a deep breath before hastily dunking her entire humanoid upper half into the stream until it was completely submerged, using the utmost care not to get her pearly scales wet. She hurriedly scrubbed away the dirt and sweat from her skin and hair with her bare hands while making a mental note that she needed to track down some time of cleaning brush or cloth for future bathing.
It didn’t take long for the young woman to lift herself out of the stream. She was gasping for air and violently trying to shake the water from her body. How she was going to be able to keep doing this fairly regularly was beyond her. Curse her need for good personal hygiene... Once she was done wringing all of the water from her hair, Nai-Ran gave her black dress and gloves a similar treatment beneath the stream’s surface. Nai-Ran redressed herself after her clothes were sufficiently wrung out. She cringed at the feeling of the damp cloth against her still-damp skin. At least she could take solace in the fact that she would dry out quickly on the way back to the cave thanks to the intense desert heat.
Trying her best to ignore the unpleasant sensation on her skin, Nai-Ran wrapped the end of her tail tightly around the lifeless boar’s hind legs and quickly made her way back to her cave. It wasn’t a long trip, but was thankfully just long enough to dry the Ryashi out just as she reached the mouth of the desert save. A scowl crossed over Nai-Ran’s face when she noticed that the entrance was littered with black feathers. It would appear that the little winged pests had dropped by to annoy her while she was out. Those black birds had continuously returned to bother her ever since she had first encountered them when escorting her friend Houri back home. It didn’t matter how many times Nai-Ran frightened them off; they always came back to pester her even more. She had even tried capturing a couple to see if they could at least be used as a food source since they insisted on delivering themselves to her doorstep. Unfortunately, no matter how many different ways she tried preparing them, they always tasted absolutely foul. No pun intended, of course.
Thankfully it looked like they had already cleared out a while ago. The only thing left to hint at their presence were the discarded feathers. It looked like they realized that Nai-Ran hadn’t been there to badger, and they couldn’t seem to open the only other thing of interest in the cave, her space pod.
Nai-Ran’s space pod was actually proving to be rather useful despite the fact that she wouldn’t be leaving Earth until the far future. It worked to preserved food after she had spent some time fiddling with the internal temperature control. She just had to remember to give the interior a thorough cleaning before eventually using it to return home. The young woman was sure that it would smell pretty rank after the coming years. Without another thought, Nai-Ran tossed her prey into the pod before resealing it.
A yawn suddenly escaped the crimson eyed Ryashi. The lack of sleep from the previous night was catching up to her. She felt good about her accomplishments for the day so far. She got a fair amount of training done, happened upon some more food, and ever managed to power through a quick bath without spending more than a couple minutes at most cursing the fact that she hated water baths. A nap was well deserved at this point as far as she was concerned.
Nai-Ran made a quick mental note that she still needed to acquire supplies for proper bed chamber, but that wouldn’t be necessary for the time being. She had grown rather attached to the smooth rock outside as a spot to sleep. Besides, the sun had been up for a while now. Her favorite rock would be delightfully warm by now.
With that, Nai-Ran slithered outside, curled up on the surface of said rock, and dozed off.