Monsterhearts:The Serpentine

Saturday August 16th, 3:10 AM
Wildomar, Chris's House
**Chris walks through the large house, having just gotten home. He walks into the large foyer and looks at the high ceilings. Despite him having driven around for nearly an hour in quiet thought it didn't help, and being home doesn't make him feel any better either. He walks along the side of the stairs and then leans on the banister post at the bottom. Quietly, he thinks how nice it would be to have someone to talk to right now, and he regrets having left the others, turning and looking back at the double doors that lead to the garage, he wonders if he should drive back.**

**Natalya**: **A slithering hiss, like a long soft raspy sigh fills the room and the moonlight from the large windows is suddenly eclipsed as his mother's long slender shadow crawls across the floor. Her voice cuts through the silence, echoing about the large room. It sounds even darker than normal, a lingering tone hisses between each of her words as her soft voice somehow carries through the entire room, as if Chris is hearing a new quality of it for the first time.** I thought you were to return in the morning. **She's standing at the center of the landing, looking down at him. She's in a simple dark-silver nightgown, and her hair is down. The moonlight causes her hair and gown to glisten silver in the darkness, making her look ghostly.**

**Chris**: **He turns his head and looks up the stairs to his mother, her presence unnerves him, even more than normal. He wants to tell her what's happened, what he's seen, but he fears that she'll only glare him into silence without even entertaining that what happened to him tonight were at all possible.** ...I decided to drive home.

**Natalya**: **She tilts her head as she looks down at him, her green eyes seem to catch the light and flicker for a moment.** Rest, my son. Tomorrow is a new day. **There's something foreboding about her tone, but she says nothing more and turns, ascending the stairs to the right, her silver form leaving the pale moonlight and disappearing into the darkness.**

**Chris**: **He watches her move out of sight, then looks down, wondering what she could've meant. Everything about the night is so strange, he turns and slowly makes his way up the large stairway, heading for his room. As he walks towards his room he agrees with what his mother said, the events of the night have tired his mind, and he needs to sleep.**

***9 Hours of sleep later...***

**Chris is woken by the sound of something in his room. A hushed movement, but the motion is enough to stir him from his sleep. His skin feels strange. Tighter, like he's wearing a wet suit.**

**Natalya**: **Her voice slithers through his room, somehow echoing even in this small space.** Awaken my child... And embrace the glory that is your birthright... **She's standing near the foot of his bed, looking down at him.**

**Chris**: **He groans, still tired, but as he recognizes her voice his eyelids shoot open, his green eyes looking to the source.** Mother? **As far as he remembers, she's never even been in his room before, any of them, in any house that they've lived in.**

**Natalya**: **She's wearing a black dress, almost a gown, and her head is covered by a black veil that hides her appearance, leaving little of her other than a dark silhouette against the light of the mid-day sun. She glides towards him.** You haven undergone the change... **She raises her hands, her black metallic nails glimmering in the daylight.**

**Chris's skin seems to have withered and tightened against his body, like a too-small suit of pale rubbery dead flesh that clings air-tight to his whole body.**

**Chris**: W-what the hell?! **As he looks himself over he starts to panic, pulling at the dead skin to try to peel it away, thinking that it's been caused by that creature from last night.** What is this?! **He looks to her in fear.**

**Natalya**: **As his eyes look to her, her veil has been lifted, and her inhuman green eyes freeze him in place. The panic and fear giving way to her hypnotic glare.** There is no need to fear, my son. **She calmly sits at the side of his bed. She reaches out towards him and presses the nail of her index finger under his jawline, then runs it along his neck, as if she were to cut his throat, however there is no blood. The rubbery flesh divides like a paper against a razor's edge. She then settles her finger just above his adam's apple, and drags it downwards, slicing a thin vertical line as her finger moves.** ...You see the world as it is, and now you can show the world as you are meant to be seen. **Her gaze still freezes him as her finger drags down between his collarbones. She pulls her hand away.** You have become as you should be. **She stands up, and then breaks the gaze, turning to look away.**

**Chris**: **He immediately grabs at the flesh, tearing it away in a panicked frenzy. He rolls off his bed. After a moment of struggle there's a sudden quiet gasp of fear.** ...W-what the hell is this?! **He stands up, looking at his hands. He's torn off his shirt and all of the dead skin from his waist up, his torso is no longer human, his shoulders, arms, sides and back are covered in dark green scales that have a neon reflective sheen in direct light. His chest is lighter and colored in yellow-green tones, with wider scales set in horizontal rows that run down the front of his torso. His face is unrecognizable, turned sleek and almost skeletal, with ridges of sharper spine-like scales that form his brow and cheek bones, his eyes are brighter yellow-green and set deeper, with his nose being little more than a scaled stub with two barely-visible vertical nostrils, and his mouth set slightly wider and lipless, bordered below by a sharp jawline and almost pointed chin.** What's happening to me?! **As he looks himself over his panics and backs into the curtains, crashing against them.**

**Natalya**: There's no need to fear. This is your true state. **She walks around his bed, and in less than a second she's in front of him somehow.** No longer a timid child...

**Chris**: My fucking skin-It's! It's... **He claws at his own skin with his fingers, which end in translucent claws.**

**Natalya**: **She grabs him at the wrist and pulls his hand away from himself.** You have shed your false form.

**Chris**: What are you saying?! **He looks at her, his monstrous face shows little emotion, but his eyes show fear and panic.**

**Natalya**: This is who we are. **She gazes up into her son's eyes and her own eyes turn darker green and the pupils form into vertical reptilian slits.** This is our power. **Chris can't tell if her gaze has frozen him, preventing him from moving his arm from her grasp, or if she is somehow much stronger than she appears.** This is the nature of our dynasty, my son...

**Chris**: **He looks into her hypnotizing eyes with terror.** ...What... Am I?

**Natalya**: **She breaks her gaze and turns away, letting go of his wrist.** Follow. **She walks down the spiral stair to the first level of his room.**

**As his mother breaks her gaze, the fear of what he is floods into his mind. Roll to** ***Hold Steady*** **In order for Chris to keep from falling into a panic.**

**Taylor**: **(Rolling to** ***Hold Steady*.** **4 + 4 + 2** **Cold** **is 10.** **Marking experience.)**

**Chris**: **Natalya's calm and hypnotic eyes soothes away the panic of the situation, his mind goes blank, and after a brief pause he follows her, like a scared child obeys its mother.**

**Natalya**: **She's stopped in front of one of the full length mirrors in Chris's room. As he walks up beside her she gazes at his reflection, her eyes appear as they usually do instead of as a serpent's.** You are as you were meant to be.

**Chris**: **He trembles, staring at his form, his legs still covered in the dead flesh of his human skin.** ...I'm a monster.

**Natalya**: **She tilts her head.** ...You are eternal.

**Chris**: Am I stuck... like this? **His eyes are darting back and forth as he looks over his hideous reflection.**

**Natalya**: You can revert to a human appearance at any time. **She sounds almost disappointed in him.**

**Chris**: H-How? H-How do I do that? **He looks at her reflection, a pleading look in his eyes.**

**Natalya**: You already know how... Trust your instincts, they are stronger now than they ever have been... **She pulls the black veil back over her face.**

**Chris**: **His scales seem to shift, shrink, and pull inwards, down into his normal pinkish flesh, there's a quiet cracking sound, and his face shifts as bones and cartilage slide back where they once were, and his short hair appears on his head as the scales shrink away into nothing. In only a few seconds he appears as he normally does. He gasps in relief.**

**As Chris returns to normal, he sees that his lip has been fully healed, and he also realizes that his stomach has stopped hurting for the first time in three days. It's like he's a whole new person.**

**Natalya**: When you are ready... Join me in the ballroom. I will explain everything... **She looks at him once more, then turns and walks out of his room.**

**Chris**: **He grabs his shoulders with his hands, feeling the familiar texture of his skin. It feels more vulnerable, but more comfortable all the same. As he stands there he breaks out in a cold sweat, he sits down and pulls off his pants, grabbing the dead flesh around his legs and ripping it off as his eyes begin to tear up.**

***An hour later...***

**Chris stands at the edge of the ballroom, all the windows in the house have had their curtains drawn shut, and there are few lights on. The ballroom'ss grand interior is dark, but he can see his mother standing near its center, still wearing her veiled dress, and Agatha standing against the far wall. At the center of the ballroom, less than a foot from his mother, there is a circular symbol that's been drawn into the ground, made with a kind of metal powder, it shines silver and green in the dark, as if light were being shown upon it.**

**Natalya**: The first shedding is always traumatic, but you will adjust in time. **She motions for him to come to her.** We all do...

**Chris**: **He gulps silently, he's wiped his tears and taken a shower, cleaning off the remains of the dead skin he woke with and weight of last night's events, which seem mundane compared to what's happened to him now. He's dressed in a simple green shirt and black jeans, with no shoes or socks. He struggled to decide if he shouldn't just flee. Run from his horrifying mother and her apparent monstrous ancestry, but his insecurity and curiosity had won in the end. He needed an explanation. After a brief pause of thought he steps into the ballroom and slowly makes his way to his mother.**

**Natalya**: **Despite her being helpful, her manner is still as cold as its always been. Distant. She doesn't ask Chris how he feels, seems to take little interest in his frightened appearance, and has her signature stare of near-malice. However she's being unusually social, and stranger still is that she's offering to help him with something instead of leaving him to figure out how to deal with this on his own, as she has with almost everything in the past.** ...We belong to a dynasty, my son. **Her voice resonates through the large hall. She holds out her hand and the powder flashes bright with green-white sparks that circle upwards into a curtain of light.**

**Chris**: **He recoils backwards, the sparks surprising him, and causing him to take a few steps back.**

**Natalya**: **She stares into the sparks, and the light forms shapes as she speaks.** A great many ages ago, there lived a young woman, beautiful above all others in the land. She forsook the comfort of men and pledged herself to the confines of a great temple, giving her whole being to its goddess. She became most loyal of the temple's acolytes. Pious, virtuous, faithful. She tended its gardens, polished its floors, and prayed to its deity every day of her life. **The smoke and sparks spiral to form the blue feminine silhouette of a woman, praying, kneeling, cleaning.** Never once did she deviate from her religious tasks. Never once did she question her peers or her Goddess. **She stares into the swaying sparks of light and smoke, her voice turning almost solemn as she tells the story.**

**Chris**: **He watches the dancing lights and the shapes they create with caution, unsure of how his mother is doing this, if it's just a trick of the light or some kind of magical power. These wondering thoughts give way as she begins to speak, and he listens to her intently.**

**Natalya**: On the final day of the eleventh month of her sixth year of servitude, the town was besieged, set upon by sea-borne savages from the north. The town fell to fire and ruin, and the raiding men ascended into the great temple, wrestling the gold and statuary from its alcoves, trampling its gardens, and staining its polished floors with the blood of its clergy. While other acolytes fled for their lives, forsaking their divine duties, the young woman ran to the temple's grand antechamber, falling before the statue of the Goddess, she prayed for help. In moments the men were upon her. **The silhouette of the woman is immediately beset by large broad-shouldered white outlines of men. They bear down upon her brutally and without mercy as she struggles against them.** They raped her on the temple's altar, and she screamed out to the Goddess for mercy. **Natalya narrows her eyes.** But no such mercy was ever bestowed upon her... Each men took their turn with her, beating her, using her in whatever way their carnality demanded. When they have finally had their fill of her body they left her broken and beaten before the statue of the Goddess she revered, the statue which now glared down accusatory upon the young woman who held her in higher regard than her own life.

**Chris**: **He winces slightly, the violent imagery, though vague and nothing more than dancing light, making him feel uncomfortable when accompanied by his mother's dark monologue.**

**Natalya**: Hours into the night, after the savages from the north left for their homeland, the woman stirred, and in her ears boomed the voice of the Goddess. **She says the last part of the sentence with uncharacteristic disdain.**

**Goddess**: **Golden flames shoot up and over the broken form of the azure woman curled against the floor. The shimmering flames rise, until they become the upper body of a colossal woman, whose divine form fills the entire ballroom, from floor to ceiling. A voice that is not Natalya's booms through the house, commanding and unquestioningly powerful.** Nadrageel, you swore yourself only to me, but here to are, before *my* throne, within *my* house, *defiled* and *unworthy* of *my* grace.

**Natalya**: The woman cried out against the goddess. **Natalya's voice changes to that of a young girl's.** *"I could not keep them from desecrating your temple. I am sorry! I serve only you my goddess!"* **She sounds like she's on the verge of crying, and it's the most emotion Chris has ever heard from his mother.**

**Goddess**: **The voice of the goddess booms through the ballroom in response.** You are no servant of mine! *Harlot*, for as beautiful you appeared, from this day forth you will be as monstrous. The nature of your true virtue revealed to the world! For the eyes of men to see you as you are meant to be seen!

**The blue silhouette of the woman twists in agony as golden light wraps around, and the fire shrieks and crackles. From the broken blue silhouette of the woman rises an emerald serpentine form, long and slender.**

**Natalya**: **She responds to the goddess, speaking with the woman's voice, which turns wicked with hatred as she continues.** *"Then I swear vengeance against you, and before the day of my death your temples will lie broken and bathed in the* venom *of your own justice."* **By the end of the decree, the woman's voice has been replaced with the darkly strong voice that Natalya normally speaks with.** *"You and your name will be lost to time, while I and my sons and daughters will remain eternal, never to be weak and broken again!"* **The green serpent leaps forwards onto the goddess, constricting around her and coiling until she is crushed into nothingness. The sparks and flames vanish immediately, leaving only a burned circle upon the ground. Natalya looks to her son in the darkness.** Since the priestess's promise of vengeance, our lineage has slain gods and demons, monsters and men. We have watched kingdoms rise and fall like the tides of an epoch's ocean...

**Chris**: **He looks from the smoking circle in the floor to his mother, unsure of how to act or reply.** What am I... To do then?

**Natalya**: **She looks back to the ring of ash.** You've seen it. The world as it is. Creatures skitter in the dark. Demons dealing in the flames. Ghosts laughing in the moonlight. In ages passed our house ruled these forces, and I have brought us here so that this dynasty will rule them again. The time will come when gods fear my name... As for what *you* are to do... Keep your new companions close. They are more than they appear, and with them at your side, you will spread *my* influence over this area. Too long has this great lineage been concerned with useless human prospects... Wealth is not power... Power... is power.

**Chris**: **He stays quiet for a long time, taking everything in. He always knew there was something off about his family, never imagined something like this, something so monstrous and ancient.** We're not human then? **He feels uneasy, almost more so with his mother's explanation of why they're here.**

**Natalya**: Do not concern yourself with being *human*. Your humanity was merely a shell, from which you have now hatched... **She continues to stare at the circle.**

**Chris**: **The pit of his stomach starts to hurt as he begins to feel sick, the comment his mother making about him "hatching" from his humanity seems to make everything worse somehow.**

***A few hours later...***

**Chris**: **He's laying in bed, the sheets are clean and he's cleaned up the remains of his old skin and given it to Agatha to dispose of, a chore which caused his stomach to churn in knots. His mind keeps wandering to the zombie, to his transformation, and the story his mother told him. The last twenty hours of his life are like a fever dream, a string of events too unreal to be real. Everything has been turned inside out. The world he knew, school fights, homework, and social drama, has given way to monsters and myths. He sits up, the one thing that's made him happy is that his stomach doesn't feel sore from the fights over the passed few days. He gets out of bed, quickly walks down the spiral stairs and moves to the mirror to the right of his closet. He stares at his reflection, raising his right arm, he balls his hand into a fist and flexes his forearm in front of him, his human skin gives way as scales painlessly pierce up through it, running along the length of his arm. He opens his hand and translucent white claws form from his short fingernails. He tilts his head as he looks at the display, it somehow seems much less strange now that his mind has had hours to settle on it, though the fact that it seems less strange to him also unnerves him. Like he's been numbed by what's happened and what's happening to him.**

**He hears the muffled ring of the doorbell resonate through the house. Though there's no ring in his room, it's still just loud enough to hear in silence.**

**Chris**: **He turns and looks at his door, the scales on his arm receding and returning to normal skin. A notion that it might be Liam or Odie crosses his mind, and he runs to his door, flinging it open. He wants to see them, a semblance of normal life is what he needs right now. To talk to his friends, maybe Odie will even accept his horrible snake skin? He hurries down the hall and flings open the next door at its end and runs to the railing, looking down into the foyer and to the front door eager to see who it is.**

**Karen**: **She stands at the front door, speaking with Agatha. They're too far away for Chris to hear what they're saying, but Agatha steps to the side and lets Karen in, the caretaker turning and then looking up to Chris, Karen follows her gaze and holds her hand up to wave at him. Her outfit looks very similar to the one she wore last night, the only real difference being that she's wearing her hair up, and has what looks like a diamond hairband just about her bangs.**

**Agatha**: **She stops, looking up at Chris and shouting out to him with her strict tone.** Ms. Totenkopf, here to see you Master Chris.

**Chris**: **He smiles, relieved, even more glad that she's here. He calls down to her.** Send her up! **He motions to Karen.**

**Karen**: **She thanks Agatha, and continues on her way, walking up the flights of stairs to Chris, as she reaches him she looks him over, almost like she notices something different about him.** I'd heard about your run in at Murdoc's after I left.

**Chris**: **He looks down to Agatha.** Let's talk in my room... **He turns and walks back through the doorway, down the hall and into his room.**

**Karen**: **As she enters his room she looks around.** Very modern. **She raises an eyebrow, no expecting his room to look so different from the rest of the house.**

**Chris**: **He lets out a sigh of relief.** So you heard about that thing that attacked last night? **He shuts the door to his room.**

**Karen**: **She walks around his room as she speaks, looking at different things.** Odie called me. He wanted to make sure you were ok, after what happened. I came by earlier, but your caretaker said you were sleeping. **She picks up one of the CDs on the stand next to his TV and looks at it, then puts it back.** So... **She turns to look at Chris.** Are you ok?

**Chris**: Better, now that you're here. **He smirks and pushes off the door, walking towards her.**

**Karen**: So you weren't ok before I was here? **She raises an eyebrow and smirks at him.**

**Chris**: **His smirk fades and he looks a lot more serious.** Dunno... **He sighs.** To be honest... I don't really care about... That thing that attacked last night anymore... Today I... **He shakes his head.** You said I could come to you if anything weird happened right? So you know about all this supernatural... Shit happening.

**Karen**: Yeah, I know all about it. **She sits against the arm of his couch, crossing her arms over her chest.** Demons, witches... So on and so forth, I've known about it all my life.

**Chris**: **He sighs. He doesn't want to tell Karen, but at the same time he needs someone to talk to about it.** I found out... Today... That my family isn't... Normal.

**Karen**: Ah... But we already both knew that didn't we?

**Chris**: **He lets out a long groan.** Yeah but... I mean... If I told you my family was even *less* normal than I thought it was, like... **He shakes his head.** I don't even know how to say this without sounding insane...

**Karen**: Just say it, Chris. I've seen or heard stranger, usually from *my own family*. **She smirks.**

**Chris**: I'm... That is... Me and my family... Aren't human. **He bites the inside of his lip and looks to Karen, waiting for her reaction.**

**Karen**: **She tilts her head and looks him up and down.** ...Really? You look human to me...

**Chris**: Only because I choose to look human right now. **He shakes his head, realizing how stupid he must sound.**

**Karen**: ...So what are you then? **She sounds curious.**

**Chris**: I don't know what we are... **He walks over to her, his expression is troubled.** I... Can show you... Promise... Not to scream or run in fear... Or... You know?

**Kane**: **She smiles and shakes her head.** I'm not that kind of girl. Promise.

**Chris**: ...Alright... **Green scales rise from his skin, and the bones in his face shift and realign, in seconds he goes from human to reptilian monster.** ...I... **He looks away from her, not wanting to see her reaction.**

**Karen**: That's not so bad. **She shrugs and pushes off the couch, walking up to him.**

**Karen gains a String on Chris.**

**Chris**: Huh? **He looks back at her.** ..But I look like...

**Karen**: **She shakes her head.** Don't make me get all sappy and say it...

**Chris**: **He looks down at his scaled green hands.** ...Say what?

**Karen**: Alright... I don't like acting mushy, but you seem to be having a *real* bad day, so you get this one the house, alright? **She sighs in feigned annoyance.** It's not how you look... **She puts her hand on the side of his mouth and moves his head to look at her.** It's who you are... **She smiles slightly.**

**Chris**: **He lets out a quiet sigh of relief and his serpentine form slides away to his human appearance. He leans closer and moves in to kiss her, but stops, his mouth partially open, only an inch from her lips, breathing quietly as he looks into her eyes.**

**Taylor**: **(Rolling to** ***Turn Karen On*** **4 + 3 + 1** **Hot** **is 8.** **Marking experience.)**

**Karen**: **Her right arm wraps around his back and she pulls herself to him, bringing their lips together. She kisses him passionately for nearly half a minute before she pulls her mouth from his. She steps on the back of one of her boots and pulls her foot out.** Want to know a secret? **She pulls her other foot loose of her other boot and brings her leg back and grabs the boot with her hand, pulling it off.** I'm not human either. **Her dark grey eyes shimmer, not glowing, but reflectively, iridescent with colors, like the surface of a soap bubble or a butterfly's wing.**

**Chris**: **He tilts his head and stops moving, having been about to take off his shirt.** ...What are you then? **He tries to sound as inoffensive as he can, after all she's already accepted him for who he is.**

**Karen**: **She smirks.** Fae... Isn't that just awful? **She almost looks embarrassed.** At least you get to be a scary monster.

**Chris**: ...Like a fairy? **He smirks at her.**

**Karen**: Well, on my mother's side. **She undoes the belt around her coat and pulls it open, revealing a strapless black top and her supple chest.** ...So half. **Chris is suddenly pulled towards her by an invisible force and she grabs onto him, rolling him onto the floor, with her landing on top of him. She whispers seductively.** I hope that's alright with you... "*Snake eyes*"...

**Chris**: **He just smiles up at her and reaches down to take off his shirt.**