Post by June on Jul 10, 2023 15:08:24 GMT -6
It was a calm day out at sea. Gulls circled lazily overhead, clouds were small, few, and far off, and the only noise was the rustling of the ship's sails. Gonzo took a deep breath through his nose as he gently steered the tiller, letting the fresh, salty sea air invigorate him. Up ahead was an island, which looked idyllic for all appearances. Gonzo could see scores of palm trees, fat mangos and plentiful coconuts just from a glance. It was a large island, at least by the standards of the Great Sea… But of course, this island was outside the Great Sea. Only large ships could venture out this far, smaller vessels and boats found the waves too strong and too treacherous to brave. It made for the perfect hiding place, that much was true. And yet… Gonzo wasn't quite sure.
“Are you sure this is the place, Miss Tetra?”
Gonzo asked, rubbing the back of his head while keeping a hand on the wheel. She gave him a sidelong glare, then returned to studying the crumpled parchment in her hands.
“Nowhere else on this chart fits the description. This must be where our dear rivals buried their treasure – no other than Snake Island.”
Tetra replied at last, and folded the map back into her jacket.
"I've heard that the treasure may be the legendary Triumph Forks!"
Mako called from the deck below, looking up from the book he'd buried his nose in. Gonzo's eyes widened.
"Yeah?"
He called back, curious to hear more, but Tetra cut him off.
"No, it's not... That. It will just be stolen valuables taken by the Forsaken Fortress pirates."
She corrected them - both looked disappointed, but knew better than to challenge their captain.
"LAND HO!"
Zuko called from the crow's nest at the top of the main mast.
Within the hour, the ship had arrived, and the crew sortied out onto the beach, gathering in a semicircle around their beloved captain.
“You guys go on ahead! I’ll catch up!”
Niko called from the deck. Tetra and the rest, looking back at him, shook their head in bemusement. Niko was terrified of almost everything, and it seemed that snakes were on that long list. He never admitted it, of course, and no doubt when he failed to 'catch up', there would be some fanciful excuse about defending the ship from ninjas or some other grand escapade that delayed him unavoidably.
“Right, we’ll split up to cover more ground. I’ve heard stories about this place, and I don’t want us to still be here after nightfall. Senzo, you guard the ship, I don’t trust Niko to do it properly.”
Tetra began, and the crew laughed at her comment about Niko. Senzo nodded proudly and saluted.
“Zuko with Nudge, you guys go east. Gonzo with Mako, you go west.”
Tetra ordered, pointing east and west in turn as she assigned each party.
“B-but Miss Tetra!”
Gonzo objected. Tetra rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Gonzo?”
She asked, exasperated.
“D-d-doesn’t that mean you’ll be searching north on your own?”
He stammered, and the others murmured in agreement with him.
“Yes Gonzo, it does. Because I can’t trust the rest of you to do a job right on your own, so you’re all paired up. Got it?”
She snapped. They all saluted – Tetra’s temper was legendary amongst her crew, in spite of how protective they could be.
“Alright then – let’s go!”
She declared, drawing her cutlass and gesturing with it to the jungle dramatically. The crew shouted in glee, and dashed off in their pairs into the dense island foliage. Tetra sheathed her sword, smirked to herself, and set off at a leisurely stroll along the northern path.
Hours later, Tetra had found nothing. She had searched under every rock and leaf, but to no avail, none of the clues to the treasure had presented themselves. She could only hope that the two other search parties had found something, but she doubted it – north was the direction that the clues were most likely to be in. There wasn’t much time – it was already sunset, and it was beginning to get dark. She came across another overgrown curtain of vines in the path, and with a groan she drew her cutlass to cut it out of her way, when an odd sound gave her pause… A hiss… From behind? She turned around quickly, cutlass held aloft, ready to strike.
“Who’s there?!”
She demanded. If it was one of her crew, they’d respond immediately, fearing her wrath – but there was nothing. Silence, just the rustling of leaves. It couldn’t be them – but something was here, she knew it. Then she caught a light out of the corner of her eye, and gasped, looking up. Two… Beautiful… Shining… EYES. Thoughts were snuffed out like a candle in Tetra’s mind as the intensive colourful gaze drilled into her head. It took her a moment of getting used to this barrage for her mind to resurface just enough to realise that these eyes… Oh, those eyes… Were attached to a snake.
“Excussssse me~”
A voice softly hissed. A second passed before Tetra realised, slowly, that this snake was speaking, too. And another long second to realise that this was, in fact, rather unusual. She opened her mouth to point this out to the snake – Tetra’s mind was still too addled to realise that the snake probably wouldn’t stop being weird just because she pointed out how weird it was – but was interrupted as he spoke again, and his words reverberated loudly in her mind and removed all thoughts again.
“Might I be of ssssome asssssisssstance, hmmm?”
The hiss sent a tingle running up and down Tetra’s spine, and she stiffened from the sensation, a broad smile spreading across her lips. Her arms flopped like those of a ragdoll to her sides, her fingers loosening, her grip on the cutlass letting go… Danger! That was what she had been trying to think. The delayed reactions from the strange effect these eyes had on her… Oh, the eyes… No! Don’t look at them! Tetra forced her eyes shut with what felt like a slam, and gripped tightly to the handle of her cutlass as if she was clinging to a rope hanging over a cliff. With a swipe through the air, she deftly brought the tip of the blade right underneath the serpent’s chin.
“Stop what you’re doing, now!”
She yelled, and the snake yelped gratifyingly, shying away from the blade. With a grin, Tetra cracked one of her eyelids open to peep at it. The snake’s eyes were normal now.
“That’s better. Now what – or who – are you?”
She demanded. Kaa looked offended and angered, seeming to forget the presence of the cutlass for a moment.
“I sshould think it issss plainly obviousss what I am!”
He spat – but in response, Tetra simply pushed the cutlass closer with a flat expression on her face.
“Ah, ahhh umm… My name isss Kaa...”
He said, much more docile as he stared in terror at the shining blade. Tetra chuckled.
“I suppose that’s why this is called ‘snake island’?”
Tetra asked dryly. Kaa looked to her now, in panic.
“I-I’m sssssssure that’ssssssssss jusssssst a… Coincidence.”
He answered at last, putting a lot more emphasis onto his hisses. Tetra felt a deep urge to flutter her eyelids and give in to the butterflies in her stomach as those hisses tickled her ears, but she grit her teeth and endured it.
“Oh! You must be a guardian of the treasure.”
Tetra exclaimed, feeling she’d come to realisation. At first Kaa was stunned, but quickly regained himself.
“Um, yes! That’sss right, and you’ve passssed my trial, yessssss… Now I can ssshow you to where the treasssure isss...”
He wheedled, squirming uncomfortably against the trunk of a tree as Tetra advanced on him with the cutlass.
“So you lead seekers astray, like a will-o-the-wisp, then eat them?”
Tetra asked with a smirk. Kaa shook his head furiously.
“Oh, no no no no no, jusssst lead them asssstray… I – I’m a vegetarian! Look!”
He yelped, and shook the branches of the tree above with his tail, catching fruit that fell loose, and shoved a huge tailful of it straight down his gullet. Tetra raised her eyebrows, impressed, but more importantly she saw that he’d eaten more fruit that her bodyweight easily, by the great lump in his throat. At least he won’t be feeling hungry anymore, she thought.
“Very well then. You shall go down in sea shanties as the one who led fearsome pirate captain Tetra to her prize!”
She cried, and sheathed her cutlass again. She gestured ahead into the jungle.
“Lead on, Kaa!”
She cried, and Kaa nodded happily, gasping with relief that she wouldn’t cut him to ribbons after all.
“But.”
She jabbed a finger right in front of him, and Kaa stopped short as if it was just as sharp as the cutlass.
“Try and trick me again...”
She said, and then drew a line across her neck with a ‘krrrhhkk!’ sound out of the side of her mouth. Kaa gulped, nodding. And so the girl and the serpent set out to find the treasure! Whether Kaa actually knew where it was, or not…
Kaa led Tetra to a cave, hidden behind some broad leaves and vines. She whistled, impressed.
“I certainly didn’t see that on my way past here.”
She said, pointing back to the path. Kaa nodded nervously, giving a half-hearted grin to show his good-naturedness. However, as Tetra walked down to the cave, it turned into an evil smirk, as a devious look crossed Kaa’s eyes and he followed after the pirate captain. There was a moment of darkness as they entered, but in just a few steps, it was gone again as the cave broadened out, revealing a sprawl of reflective crystal growing all over the cave walls and floor, glowing and illuminating the place. Tetra’s jaw fell open as she looked across the whole scene, but her mind quickly got to work trying to figure out just how to proceed forward to the treasure. Being so reflective, it was hard to see quite how to navigate the crystals, and her steps were taken only gingerly. Tetra didn’t want to walk straight into a crystal and make herself look a fool in front ot… Wait, where was Kaa? Tetra spun around, she couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Where have you gone?!”
She called. Only an ominous, echoing chuckle answered her. Tetra drew her cutlass again, breathing heavily and cursing under her breath at the realisation that Kaa had walked her right into a trap. She turned around and around, looking for the slightest sign of him. In a flash, Kaa’s face appeared out of the corner of her eye – with a lunge, she stabbed the cutlass at him… And with a crack, her cutlass met crystal, and Kaa’s chuckle echoed mockingly at her. So he must be behind? Whipping her head around, she saw nothing behind her. Then Kaa’s head appeared again, suddenly like before, but now it was all around her. Kaa’s face was reflected in all the surfaces around her in a wide circle, and with a laugh that contained just a hint of finality, his pupils shrank and out of his eyes poured glowing, intoxicating rings of pure colour. With a start, Tetra realised that she had blanked out for a few seconds staring into his eyes, and shook her head furiously, closing her eyelids tightly.
“I won’t look!”
She declared, then cried out in shock as she felt a tail grab her jacket and pull, hard. The jacket tore in two and slid off her arms. She lunged out wildly, only for the tail to hit her wrist hard, knocking the cutlass out of her hand. Grunting, she risked a peek with one eye to try and see where she’d dropped it… And there was Kaa’s face, eyes inches away. Tetra's pupils constricted into pinpricks as soon as she recognised those awful, sweet, enticing colours spilling out of the serpent's eyes again. She tried to force her eyelids shut, and for a moment it seemed she would just about manage it, but then Kaa simply pressed his nose against hers, and in response her eyes opened wide, helplessly addicted to Kaa's gaze. She shivered as she felt the breath from his nose tickle her cheeks, feeling the same unwelcome pleasure spread like a tickle throughout her body as when he hissed.
“No, Kaa...”
She protested feebly, trying to resist smiling. She tried to step back to get further away from those oh-so-addictive colours, but their entrancing effect slowed her movements. It felt like she was moving through honey, and Kaa easily laid a coil in her way. Tetra helplessly backed into his coils, which pushed her gently back toward Kaa's eyes. She dug her heels in, but Kaa just pushed more firmly, sliding the girl's sandalled feet along the rocky ground until they were nose-to-nose again.
“Both eyesssss if you pleasssssse….”
Kaa hissed, and Tetra felt her other eyelid disobeying her as it slowly opened and colours flooded into her mind, washing thoughts aside.
“That’ssss right, let the sssspiralssss in. Like the tide, ebbing and flowing, ebbing and flowing...”
Kaa whispered, pressing his nose to hers. His tail idly flicked her kerchief off of her neck, then, wrapping a little around her torso as it lowered to undo her sash in much the same way. As her sash fell loose, it revealed a strip of bare midriff underneath. Tetra shivered just a little as she felt a breeze pass over her newly-bared tummy, now dressed just in her vest, trousers and sandals. She felt her whole body begin to stiffen as the spirals increased in pace, their rhythm making a kind of beat inside her head, until, weakened from Kaa’s earlier attempt to entrance her, Tetra finally felt her will be snuffed out… A satisfying ‘PING!’ noise rang unobstructed through her newly emptied brain.
“Now then, my dear, you are lucky that I’m no longer hungry.”
Kaa said, stopping his spirals now that Tetra was in a stable trance, and looking with a forlorn expression at the bulge in his stomach where all that fruit he’d swallowed earlier was still slowly digesting.
“But I will prove that you can trusssssst me, my dear~”
He cooed, accompanying the word ‘trust’ with a few idle spirals to make it stick in the poor girl’s mind.
“Here issss your preciousss treassssure!”
He declared dramatically, and from around a large bit of crystal, a coiled wooden chest emerged, which Kaa dropped on the ground in front of Tetra, flipping it open. Inside were gold coins, bejewelled daggers, silver mirrors, and all manner of other trinkets and valuables. Tetra’s mouth fell completely open, the sparkling metals almost as hypnotic to her as Kaa’s spirals.
“Sssssssssssee?”
Kaa asked rhetorically, and Tetra smiled.
“Yesss Kaa, I can trussst you...”
She replied in a sing-songy, absent voice. Kaa chuckled at the subservience of the girl who had threatened him so much just a short time ago.
“Now then...”
Kaa began, but never finished what he was going to say, as just then he was interrupted by a shout.
“MISS TETRA!!!”
A bellowing voice screamed, and just a second after, Gonzo’s fist connected with Kaa’s nose. The wind was completely knocked out of the snake, and he crashed to the floor, wheezing.
“My… Sssinusssesss...”
He coughed hoarsely.
“Miss Tetra, I’ve saved you! Miss Tetra?”
Gonzo looked at his captain with confusion, seeing her glowing eyes, vacant stare and stupid smile plastered across her face.
“SNAP OUT OF IT!”
He yelled, dealing a hearty slap to her.
“W-what?”
Tetra murmured, blinking the spirals out of her eyes and taking a moment to gather her bearings.
“Oh yes – he’s the guardian of the treasure, he did… Ssomething to me.”
Tetra explained, still feeling dazed. Gonzo didn’t notice the slight hiss in Tetra’s voice, and merely nodded.
“Oh! Quick, before he gets back up, get that chest to the ship!”
She ordered, finally regaining her alertness and picking up her cutlass from the cave floor. Gonzo saluted, and grabbed the chest, cradling it in both arms as he dashed out of the cave, with Tetra close behind, before she stopped at the cave entrance. Gonzo slowed and turned around, confused.
“What about you, miss?”
He asked.
“Just get it to the ship! Once the treasure is safe, if I don’t arrive, come back out with the rest of the crew to find me… I’ll hold the treasure’s guardian off.”
She explained. Gonzo shook his head.
“I can’t leave you to fight that creepy snake on your own, yeah?”
He objected, though he seemed to think twice when Tetra glared at him.
“Idiot! Do you want to lose the treasure?! I can’t carry it, so you go! Go! Run!”
She yelled, finally getting Gonzo into action. The great big man barrelled off into the jungle undergrowth with the chest clutched tightly against his body. Tetra watched him go, then, setting her jaw in determination, she turned back to the cave entrance, ready to face Kaa.
“Are you sure this is the place, Miss Tetra?”
Gonzo asked, rubbing the back of his head while keeping a hand on the wheel. She gave him a sidelong glare, then returned to studying the crumpled parchment in her hands.
“Nowhere else on this chart fits the description. This must be where our dear rivals buried their treasure – no other than Snake Island.”
Tetra replied at last, and folded the map back into her jacket.
"I've heard that the treasure may be the legendary Triumph Forks!"
Mako called from the deck below, looking up from the book he'd buried his nose in. Gonzo's eyes widened.
"Yeah?"
He called back, curious to hear more, but Tetra cut him off.
"No, it's not... That. It will just be stolen valuables taken by the Forsaken Fortress pirates."
She corrected them - both looked disappointed, but knew better than to challenge their captain.
"LAND HO!"
Zuko called from the crow's nest at the top of the main mast.
Within the hour, the ship had arrived, and the crew sortied out onto the beach, gathering in a semicircle around their beloved captain.
“You guys go on ahead! I’ll catch up!”
Niko called from the deck. Tetra and the rest, looking back at him, shook their head in bemusement. Niko was terrified of almost everything, and it seemed that snakes were on that long list. He never admitted it, of course, and no doubt when he failed to 'catch up', there would be some fanciful excuse about defending the ship from ninjas or some other grand escapade that delayed him unavoidably.
“Right, we’ll split up to cover more ground. I’ve heard stories about this place, and I don’t want us to still be here after nightfall. Senzo, you guard the ship, I don’t trust Niko to do it properly.”
Tetra began, and the crew laughed at her comment about Niko. Senzo nodded proudly and saluted.
“Zuko with Nudge, you guys go east. Gonzo with Mako, you go west.”
Tetra ordered, pointing east and west in turn as she assigned each party.
“B-but Miss Tetra!”
Gonzo objected. Tetra rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Gonzo?”
She asked, exasperated.
“D-d-doesn’t that mean you’ll be searching north on your own?”
He stammered, and the others murmured in agreement with him.
“Yes Gonzo, it does. Because I can’t trust the rest of you to do a job right on your own, so you’re all paired up. Got it?”
She snapped. They all saluted – Tetra’s temper was legendary amongst her crew, in spite of how protective they could be.
“Alright then – let’s go!”
She declared, drawing her cutlass and gesturing with it to the jungle dramatically. The crew shouted in glee, and dashed off in their pairs into the dense island foliage. Tetra sheathed her sword, smirked to herself, and set off at a leisurely stroll along the northern path.
Hours later, Tetra had found nothing. She had searched under every rock and leaf, but to no avail, none of the clues to the treasure had presented themselves. She could only hope that the two other search parties had found something, but she doubted it – north was the direction that the clues were most likely to be in. There wasn’t much time – it was already sunset, and it was beginning to get dark. She came across another overgrown curtain of vines in the path, and with a groan she drew her cutlass to cut it out of her way, when an odd sound gave her pause… A hiss… From behind? She turned around quickly, cutlass held aloft, ready to strike.
“Who’s there?!”
She demanded. If it was one of her crew, they’d respond immediately, fearing her wrath – but there was nothing. Silence, just the rustling of leaves. It couldn’t be them – but something was here, she knew it. Then she caught a light out of the corner of her eye, and gasped, looking up. Two… Beautiful… Shining… EYES. Thoughts were snuffed out like a candle in Tetra’s mind as the intensive colourful gaze drilled into her head. It took her a moment of getting used to this barrage for her mind to resurface just enough to realise that these eyes… Oh, those eyes… Were attached to a snake.
“Excussssse me~”
A voice softly hissed. A second passed before Tetra realised, slowly, that this snake was speaking, too. And another long second to realise that this was, in fact, rather unusual. She opened her mouth to point this out to the snake – Tetra’s mind was still too addled to realise that the snake probably wouldn’t stop being weird just because she pointed out how weird it was – but was interrupted as he spoke again, and his words reverberated loudly in her mind and removed all thoughts again.
“Might I be of ssssome asssssisssstance, hmmm?”
The hiss sent a tingle running up and down Tetra’s spine, and she stiffened from the sensation, a broad smile spreading across her lips. Her arms flopped like those of a ragdoll to her sides, her fingers loosening, her grip on the cutlass letting go… Danger! That was what she had been trying to think. The delayed reactions from the strange effect these eyes had on her… Oh, the eyes… No! Don’t look at them! Tetra forced her eyes shut with what felt like a slam, and gripped tightly to the handle of her cutlass as if she was clinging to a rope hanging over a cliff. With a swipe through the air, she deftly brought the tip of the blade right underneath the serpent’s chin.
“Stop what you’re doing, now!”
She yelled, and the snake yelped gratifyingly, shying away from the blade. With a grin, Tetra cracked one of her eyelids open to peep at it. The snake’s eyes were normal now.
“That’s better. Now what – or who – are you?”
She demanded. Kaa looked offended and angered, seeming to forget the presence of the cutlass for a moment.
“I sshould think it issss plainly obviousss what I am!”
He spat – but in response, Tetra simply pushed the cutlass closer with a flat expression on her face.
“Ah, ahhh umm… My name isss Kaa...”
He said, much more docile as he stared in terror at the shining blade. Tetra chuckled.
“I suppose that’s why this is called ‘snake island’?”
Tetra asked dryly. Kaa looked to her now, in panic.
“I-I’m sssssssure that’ssssssssss jusssssst a… Coincidence.”
He answered at last, putting a lot more emphasis onto his hisses. Tetra felt a deep urge to flutter her eyelids and give in to the butterflies in her stomach as those hisses tickled her ears, but she grit her teeth and endured it.
“Oh! You must be a guardian of the treasure.”
Tetra exclaimed, feeling she’d come to realisation. At first Kaa was stunned, but quickly regained himself.
“Um, yes! That’sss right, and you’ve passssed my trial, yessssss… Now I can ssshow you to where the treasssure isss...”
He wheedled, squirming uncomfortably against the trunk of a tree as Tetra advanced on him with the cutlass.
“So you lead seekers astray, like a will-o-the-wisp, then eat them?”
Tetra asked with a smirk. Kaa shook his head furiously.
“Oh, no no no no no, jusssst lead them asssstray… I – I’m a vegetarian! Look!”
He yelped, and shook the branches of the tree above with his tail, catching fruit that fell loose, and shoved a huge tailful of it straight down his gullet. Tetra raised her eyebrows, impressed, but more importantly she saw that he’d eaten more fruit that her bodyweight easily, by the great lump in his throat. At least he won’t be feeling hungry anymore, she thought.
“Very well then. You shall go down in sea shanties as the one who led fearsome pirate captain Tetra to her prize!”
She cried, and sheathed her cutlass again. She gestured ahead into the jungle.
“Lead on, Kaa!”
She cried, and Kaa nodded happily, gasping with relief that she wouldn’t cut him to ribbons after all.
“But.”
She jabbed a finger right in front of him, and Kaa stopped short as if it was just as sharp as the cutlass.
“Try and trick me again...”
She said, and then drew a line across her neck with a ‘krrrhhkk!’ sound out of the side of her mouth. Kaa gulped, nodding. And so the girl and the serpent set out to find the treasure! Whether Kaa actually knew where it was, or not…
Kaa led Tetra to a cave, hidden behind some broad leaves and vines. She whistled, impressed.
“I certainly didn’t see that on my way past here.”
She said, pointing back to the path. Kaa nodded nervously, giving a half-hearted grin to show his good-naturedness. However, as Tetra walked down to the cave, it turned into an evil smirk, as a devious look crossed Kaa’s eyes and he followed after the pirate captain. There was a moment of darkness as they entered, but in just a few steps, it was gone again as the cave broadened out, revealing a sprawl of reflective crystal growing all over the cave walls and floor, glowing and illuminating the place. Tetra’s jaw fell open as she looked across the whole scene, but her mind quickly got to work trying to figure out just how to proceed forward to the treasure. Being so reflective, it was hard to see quite how to navigate the crystals, and her steps were taken only gingerly. Tetra didn’t want to walk straight into a crystal and make herself look a fool in front ot… Wait, where was Kaa? Tetra spun around, she couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Where have you gone?!”
She called. Only an ominous, echoing chuckle answered her. Tetra drew her cutlass again, breathing heavily and cursing under her breath at the realisation that Kaa had walked her right into a trap. She turned around and around, looking for the slightest sign of him. In a flash, Kaa’s face appeared out of the corner of her eye – with a lunge, she stabbed the cutlass at him… And with a crack, her cutlass met crystal, and Kaa’s chuckle echoed mockingly at her. So he must be behind? Whipping her head around, she saw nothing behind her. Then Kaa’s head appeared again, suddenly like before, but now it was all around her. Kaa’s face was reflected in all the surfaces around her in a wide circle, and with a laugh that contained just a hint of finality, his pupils shrank and out of his eyes poured glowing, intoxicating rings of pure colour. With a start, Tetra realised that she had blanked out for a few seconds staring into his eyes, and shook her head furiously, closing her eyelids tightly.
“I won’t look!”
She declared, then cried out in shock as she felt a tail grab her jacket and pull, hard. The jacket tore in two and slid off her arms. She lunged out wildly, only for the tail to hit her wrist hard, knocking the cutlass out of her hand. Grunting, she risked a peek with one eye to try and see where she’d dropped it… And there was Kaa’s face, eyes inches away. Tetra's pupils constricted into pinpricks as soon as she recognised those awful, sweet, enticing colours spilling out of the serpent's eyes again. She tried to force her eyelids shut, and for a moment it seemed she would just about manage it, but then Kaa simply pressed his nose against hers, and in response her eyes opened wide, helplessly addicted to Kaa's gaze. She shivered as she felt the breath from his nose tickle her cheeks, feeling the same unwelcome pleasure spread like a tickle throughout her body as when he hissed.
“No, Kaa...”
She protested feebly, trying to resist smiling. She tried to step back to get further away from those oh-so-addictive colours, but their entrancing effect slowed her movements. It felt like she was moving through honey, and Kaa easily laid a coil in her way. Tetra helplessly backed into his coils, which pushed her gently back toward Kaa's eyes. She dug her heels in, but Kaa just pushed more firmly, sliding the girl's sandalled feet along the rocky ground until they were nose-to-nose again.
“Both eyesssss if you pleasssssse….”
Kaa hissed, and Tetra felt her other eyelid disobeying her as it slowly opened and colours flooded into her mind, washing thoughts aside.
“That’ssss right, let the sssspiralssss in. Like the tide, ebbing and flowing, ebbing and flowing...”
Kaa whispered, pressing his nose to hers. His tail idly flicked her kerchief off of her neck, then, wrapping a little around her torso as it lowered to undo her sash in much the same way. As her sash fell loose, it revealed a strip of bare midriff underneath. Tetra shivered just a little as she felt a breeze pass over her newly-bared tummy, now dressed just in her vest, trousers and sandals. She felt her whole body begin to stiffen as the spirals increased in pace, their rhythm making a kind of beat inside her head, until, weakened from Kaa’s earlier attempt to entrance her, Tetra finally felt her will be snuffed out… A satisfying ‘PING!’ noise rang unobstructed through her newly emptied brain.
“Now then, my dear, you are lucky that I’m no longer hungry.”
Kaa said, stopping his spirals now that Tetra was in a stable trance, and looking with a forlorn expression at the bulge in his stomach where all that fruit he’d swallowed earlier was still slowly digesting.
“But I will prove that you can trusssssst me, my dear~”
He cooed, accompanying the word ‘trust’ with a few idle spirals to make it stick in the poor girl’s mind.
“Here issss your preciousss treassssure!”
He declared dramatically, and from around a large bit of crystal, a coiled wooden chest emerged, which Kaa dropped on the ground in front of Tetra, flipping it open. Inside were gold coins, bejewelled daggers, silver mirrors, and all manner of other trinkets and valuables. Tetra’s mouth fell completely open, the sparkling metals almost as hypnotic to her as Kaa’s spirals.
“Sssssssssssee?”
Kaa asked rhetorically, and Tetra smiled.
“Yesss Kaa, I can trussst you...”
She replied in a sing-songy, absent voice. Kaa chuckled at the subservience of the girl who had threatened him so much just a short time ago.
“Now then...”
Kaa began, but never finished what he was going to say, as just then he was interrupted by a shout.
“MISS TETRA!!!”
A bellowing voice screamed, and just a second after, Gonzo’s fist connected with Kaa’s nose. The wind was completely knocked out of the snake, and he crashed to the floor, wheezing.
“My… Sssinusssesss...”
He coughed hoarsely.
“Miss Tetra, I’ve saved you! Miss Tetra?”
Gonzo looked at his captain with confusion, seeing her glowing eyes, vacant stare and stupid smile plastered across her face.
“SNAP OUT OF IT!”
He yelled, dealing a hearty slap to her.
“W-what?”
Tetra murmured, blinking the spirals out of her eyes and taking a moment to gather her bearings.
“Oh yes – he’s the guardian of the treasure, he did… Ssomething to me.”
Tetra explained, still feeling dazed. Gonzo didn’t notice the slight hiss in Tetra’s voice, and merely nodded.
“Oh! Quick, before he gets back up, get that chest to the ship!”
She ordered, finally regaining her alertness and picking up her cutlass from the cave floor. Gonzo saluted, and grabbed the chest, cradling it in both arms as he dashed out of the cave, with Tetra close behind, before she stopped at the cave entrance. Gonzo slowed and turned around, confused.
“What about you, miss?”
He asked.
“Just get it to the ship! Once the treasure is safe, if I don’t arrive, come back out with the rest of the crew to find me… I’ll hold the treasure’s guardian off.”
She explained. Gonzo shook his head.
“I can’t leave you to fight that creepy snake on your own, yeah?”
He objected, though he seemed to think twice when Tetra glared at him.
“Idiot! Do you want to lose the treasure?! I can’t carry it, so you go! Go! Run!”
She yelled, finally getting Gonzo into action. The great big man barrelled off into the jungle undergrowth with the chest clutched tightly against his body. Tetra watched him go, then, setting her jaw in determination, she turned back to the cave entrance, ready to face Kaa.