It isn't exactly unpleasant in the Serpentine Village, the old master notes.
At least, not until the citizens noticed Wu.
Being practically dragged through the village, serpentine hiss at him and hide their children.
He tries to keep up with the blue ninja.
"I can take you to the food court, you can meet some cool people there. I can show you the martial arts class that runs around noon, I can show you the toymaker, and the-"
"Slow down," Wu mumbles, taking in the sights. Those who don't notice him peacefully go about their days. They trade goods. They offer each other things for nothing in return. Mothers and fathers dote on their children. Food is being cooked. Affection is being shared.
"Isn't it neat down here?" Kai asks, startling Wu from behind by putting his hands on his mentor's shoulders.
"I suppose? Where are the others?"
"They ran off to do their own things. Think Zane and Pixal went to look at the something robot-y. They're really fascinated by some of the little gadgets these guys have. Then I think Cole's having fun sparring with some constrictai and Lloyd's doing something with candy."
Wu's brows furrow. "You let your peers split up? Down here?"
Kai shrugs. "Why not?"
"Surely that isn't safe."
"Nah, they're cool with us down here. For the most part." Kai looks around. For the first time since their very first visit years ago, something feels odd. Half the citizens feel...defensive. "They are cool with us, right?"
"I think so," Jay answers. "I mean, I know not everyone likes us but we've been pretty well accepted the last few weeks."
Wu continues to take in the sights.
They don't like him.
Yet no one attacks.
If anything, there seems to be more focus on protecting the vulnerable.
He can tell it's him. They aren't hissing at Kai or Jay, it's aimed at Wu.
Wu takes a deep breath and turns his chin up, trying to remain standing tall.
He can't focus on the sights. He doesn't even know what's going on as they walk through crowds. Just so many eyes staring.
Which is why he almost didn't even hear Jay ask, "What do you want to eat?"
Wu stares at the snake behind the food stand. They're a venomari with many piercings, a far cry from the shy snake who served cake several stands over.
The employee seems rather disgusted. "Are you going to place an order or not?" they hiss.
"I- ah. What are you serving?" Wu stammers.
The snake gestures over to a menu.
Wu squints at the foreign language.
"Ooh, they have something spicy today?" Kai asks, pointing to an option.
"I think it says it's spicy, yeah. Looks like it's something to do with chili?" Jay answers.
"I know what I'm getting then."
Jay nods. "I think I want the soup."
Wu's brows furrow further.
"Sensei, what do you want?" Kai asks.
"I can't read this," Wu mumbles.
Jay starts reading off the menu to the best of his ability. There were many instances of "I think" and "we can ask about that."
"I think I'll just take some noodles," Wu answers dryly. It's simple. It can't be hard to mess up, right?
"Do you want any veggies on there?" the cashier asks.
Wu shakes his head.
After a couple of minutes of waiting, the three of them are handed bags of food.
Kai sits between Wu and Jay on a bench, dunking cornbread into what remains of his chili.
"Have you made any friends down here?" Wu asks while mindlessly twirling his noodles.
"I just like wandering around," Jay answers with a shrug. "I know there's a few places the others like going to though."
"I'm teaching them new ways to set things on fire," Kai says with a far too proud smile.
Both Wu and Jay look at him warily.
"Anyways," Jay starts changing the subject, "what do you think?"
Wu picks up a fork full of noodles. "It is...alright, I suppose. The snakes are rather rude."
"No offense, but you've been around for forever, you kinda made a lot of enemies in several thousand years," Kai says snarkily. "Bet there's at least ten more enemies that want us dead that you haven't told us about."
Wu puts his noodles down. "There are many terrible people in this world."
"I don't know, I feel like if you piss off an entire race, maybe you're the issue," Kai says, the venom rising in his voice.
Wu takes a deep breath. FSM, he's done this so many times today. "Aspheera was-"
"Who cares about Aspheera. The people down here don't even like her. They pity her. They hate you because you hurt her. But no one down here says 'oh wow she overthrew our king and made human relations worse, we love her.'"
"She lied to me-"
"You lie to us all the time! And what about people like Chen?"
"Can you let me finish what I'm trying to say?"
"What is there to say?" Kai stands up, looking down at Wu.
Jay carefully puts his soup aside. "Kai, I know you're still angry about the Aspheera thing but-"
"Yes! And you should be mad too. This affects how Wu treats you."
Jay bites his tongue. Be polite. If he shows any anger, Wu will have a reason to distrust him. Maybe Kai has a point, then. But still. "Listen, we're in public, I don't disagree with you, but can it wait until we get back home?"
Kai clenches his fists. "You don't just come into the home of people you fucked over and then complain that they're rude. I should know! People would come into the blacksmith shop all the time, insult my handiwork, then call me the rude one for explaining that no shit it wasn't a good idea to use a sword to make dinner."
"I think you're reaching way too deep into some past trauma, let's calm down," Jay says, putting his hands up.
"Doesn't it bother you? That Wu comes down here acting like-"
"Yes! It does bother me! It bothers me at home too. But lashing out at him won't make it better. Especially if I, me specifically, lash out at him."
"And that's bullshit on its own! You know Wu's gonna go easier on me than you right now."
"You're not wrong but listen, let's not yell about an old man's sins in the middle of not only a public place, but the home of those he screwed over," Jay says through gritted teeth.
"You used to yell in public all the time!"
"About other things, not the ways my sensei did a race dirty in front of said race!"
Both ninjas turn to ask Wu something, only to see he's gone.
Jay looks around. "Shoot shoot shootshootshoot." He looks over at the food area. Maybe he just went looking for Lloyd?
Kai goes through the crowd.
Jay trails behind, yelling for Wu.
They found the man hanging around a tea booth.
Wu watches as the tea is steeped just for him.
There are about five snakes working the stand, all of them either venomari or fangpyre.
It doesn't look like his tea has been poisoned. Yet.
There are quite a few orders being worked on though, maybe he's simply lost track of his?
"Your work seems rather popular," Wu mumbles.
A fangpyre is the "cashier." She marks down the orders, checking supplies, making notes. She gives Wu a glare that screamed, "you must be new here."
A cheery male-presenting venomari peeks over. "Who doesn't love a warm drink?"
Wu strokes his beard. "It is quite nice."
"Of course, you're here," Kai snickers, sitting down at the counter next to Wu. He looks down at the seats, raising an eyebrow. "Is this just like, the serpentine equivalent of a bar?"
Jay shrugs, sitting down on the opposite side of Wu. "I was thinking more like a cafe but sure."
Wu smiles slightly, seeing how his students stopped fighting.
"Can I have a cup?" Jay asks quietly.
The cashier smiles at him. "What would you like?"
Jay looks at the menu. It's just illustrations of the drinks. Kudos to the artist who did them, but he still has no clue what entirely he's looking at. The names are serpentine words he doesn't recognize. "That sorta blue looking one seems fun."
She takes note of something, then writes the order on a sticky note, slapping it on her co-worker's workspace.
The cheery venomari hands Wu his order then clasps his hands together. "I hope you enjoy it.
Wu cups his hands around the paper cup. The drink does smell nice. He enjoys the familiarity of holding a cup of tea.
"See? Isn't it nice here?" Jay asks Wu.
Wu hums slightly. "I will say, I didn't expect that the serpentine appreciated the fine art of tea making."
"It's a warm drink. I think anyone can appreciate that, especially down here. Snakes love this kinda stuff." Jay tugs his hoodie further closed, as if he's trying to cozy up. As one hand brushes over the other, he's reminded of how itchy the back of his hands are, making him compelled to scratch.
Wu's eyebrows furrow. Gently, he taps the back of Jay's scratching hand. "Don't do that."
Jay seems taken aback. He pulls his sleeves over his hands. "Right."
Lloyd sits at a stool, watching cotton candy be wound around a stick.
It's strangely calming. Something so, so simple. He was always quite the lover of candy, but seeing it get made is fascinating.
He really needs to look up some videos of this when he gets home. It relieves a lot of stress.
A short venomari breaks up pieces of hard candy. He glances up at Lloyd from time to time. Lloyd's fairly certain he's the one running this booth, but he's not sure. He sat in this same place the only other time he came down to the village, and both this time and last he hadn't dared speak a word, only watch.
Admittedly, Lloyd isn't the most comfortable in the village. The people are quite friendly, but sometimes he remembers how he treated some of the citizens when he was younger. It becomes difficult to look them in the eyes.
Watching the candy twirl makes him feel calm. He can get lost in the sugar swirls.
Which is why it's a surprise when he's suddenly handed a bag of hard candies.
"Oh, um, I didn't order this?"
The snake shrugs. "You attract visitors, take it."
Lloyd raises an eyebrow. "I bring you customers?"
"You'd be surprised how many people wanna gawk at the green ninja."
Lloyd smiles, then winces slightly. "I'm sorry for how I treated some of you when I was younger."
"You didn't do me any harm, you're good. I'm just happy to be doing more of what I love!" He reaches under the counter for some sugar. "It's exciting."
Lloyd smiles, then looks away. "Yeah, no, I didn't do anything to the Venomari. But the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre...I was using them. They had every right to turn on me, I was a brat."
"Kid, this is a candy shop, not a place to- how do you kids say it- trauma dump?"
"Sorry! Uhh," the green ninja looks around, "please tell me more about the business?"
"It's awfully primitive," Pixal snickers, looking down upon a small wind-up toy in the shape of a bird.
"It is!" Zane says joyfully. He pats it on the head. "It is not...cute?"
"It is. But why would we need one?"
Zane claps his hands together. "The average family has two-point-five children and a dog. We don't have the time for two-point-five children but we could have a dog."
Pixal puts a hand to her temple. "It is a bird."
"I calculate it's close enough." He winds it up and places it on the table. It hops up and down. "It reminds me of my falcon."
"When we get back to the city I can find you a better bird."
Zane shakes his head. "I agree that this isn't very complex, but let's appreciate it." He reaches for her hand. "It's something very simple but it brings joy."
She curiously pokes at the bird.
It skips forward a single step.
"I felt nothing from that," she remarks blankly.
He picks up the tiny, simplistic bird with a smile.
Okay, that smile does make her feel something.
"The bird can come home with us," she says, admiring Zane, feeling the electricity in her body spike and spark in her chest.
Cole roughhouses with a constrictai woman.
She shoves him down on a mat.
He grabs her ankle, easily pulling her to the ground.
She kicks his hand away. "I know you can do better."
"I know," he says softly. "But this is for fun, so I don't want to."
"Then give me my next opponent," she growls.
Cole steps aside as an elderly hypnobrai brings in a fangpyre.
Cole joyfully watches the fight, seeing his sparring buddy of the last thirty minutes easily overpower her opponent.
And then there's a blood-curdling scream.
Fangs stuck in her arm, jaws refusing to let go.
She tries to push her opponent off, but it's painful as her flesh is torn.
Then the opponent is pinned to the floor.
Cole pants, holding the bloody-faced snake to the floor. "That was a dirty move," Cole grunts.
The red snake seems to shrink under Cole's grip.
The earth ninja lets go and turns to the constrictai woman. "Are you okay, ma'am?"
Other serpentine are already tending her wound. She nods gently.
"Can you do that again?" a small hypnobrai asks, eyes sparkling.
Cole raises an eyebrow. "What? No, I was just protecting her. I'm not just gonna do it again."
The fangpyre gets up.
"You better not have a taste for blood," Cole says half playful, half stern.
Wu cradles his cup of tea.
Tea is familiar.
He has to keep telling himself this.
Don't be alienated, they like tea down here.
There's a lot of tea at home.
Snakes and humans aren't that different.
They have tea after all.
"What are you doing?" Kai asks, forcing Wu to look up from his cup. It wasn't directed at him though.
It was directed at Lloyd, who's helping spin cotton candy.
"I just felt like helping," he answers nonchalantly.
"You the one responsible for this little guy?" the shop owner asks, pointing to Wu.
"Y-yes?"
The snake holds out his hand for a handshake. "Kid's got a good head on his shoulders."
Wu hesitantly takes the handshake.
They chat for a while.
The shop owner comes across as a young older person. Someone who's seen a fair amount but isn't quite wise or elderly, just experienced.
The stories of learning how to make candy in the last few years, then mentoring other serpentine to do the same, resonates with Wu. There's a certain familiarity.
They really aren't that different, are they?
Lloyd gets to leave with a few bags of candy. The irony. All he wanted in the first place so many years ago was candy.
Pixal smiles as Zane goes through various toys and knick-knacks with various gimmicks, inspecting how they work.
While Zane understands machinery, especially if some simple contraptions can be considered machinery, he only truly understands to the extent of what he's aware of regarding his own body and from that what must apply to other situations. Admittedly, he would be lost without the work of Pixal, Nya, and even Jay, who, while skilled in the field, cannot name most of the parts of a machine to save his life. Well, at least not give accurate names.
So he's fascinated by things like the mechanisms of toys that deliver punches by twisting their waists.
He understands what must be making it work, but looking at it and thinking of other ways it could work is fun.
Pixal, while unimpressed, can't help but smile at his fascination.
She rests her head on his shoulder, watching as he twists a figure's waist, which causes gears in its torso to spin, visible through a clear window on the chest.
Wood and scraps of metal can go so far.
Zane eventually narrows his options down to a wind-up bird that flaps its wings to "fly" and a small music box.
The music box does catch Pixal's attention.
It's very pretty, the sounds it makes.
Gently, she places her hand over Zane's to help wind it.
"I like this one," she says softly.
Zane smiles. He looks between the box and the bird. He does want to bring home the music box for Pixal, but the bird...
Pixal waves over the shop owner.
"Mind if we take home both of these?" she asks.
"I'm fine, I wasn't the one who had a chunk taken out of my arm," Cole mutters. Wu looks skeptical.
They're walking around aimlessly, waiting for Zane and Pixal to finish up whatever they're doing.
"I was protecting a lady, the attack was an unexpected dirty move during sparring. It was no different from a human attacking another human. Not like we haven't seen plenty of that," Cole continues.
"Yeah but most humans don't bite each other," Lloyd adds. "Not to take away from what you're saying, of course."
"Of course not. They stab each other instead," Kai snickers.
"Not always. I don't stab. I can bite though," Jay counters playfully.
Cole rolls his eyes. "Yeah, snake venom or not, you've had an issue with doing that for years."
"It was probably just the venom lying dormant," Jay says defensively.
Cole slowly blinks. He turns to Wu. "Sensei, do you remember when you first brought us to the monastery? When we had no weapons and we were learning the bare basics of fighting? And Jay tackled me and once he realized I was gonna win he just..." he clamps his hand around his fist, mimicking a biting motion with his hand.
Wu cracks a smile. "I do remember that."
"I'd blame it on growing up in a junkyard," Kai cackles.
Jay playfully looks offended, scoffing and gasping.
Cole smiles. Then he looks over at a curtained-off area. A "store" down here. Zane is halfway through the opening, seemingly having an existential crisis.
"You don't have to pay, he said you do not have to pay," Pixal tries explaining to Zane.
"But the law says-"
"Human law. Serpentine law says exchange goods for free."
"But does he not need money to recuperate the cost?"
"Even if so, our money isn't good down here!"
"So we can't just take these..."
"We can," she grips his hands, trying to pull him out of the entrance.
Lloyd walks over to the two nindroids. "What's going on?"
"We have to pay," Zane mumbles.
The constrictai shop owner runs over to the entrance with a broom, shooing everyone away.
That worked, Zane forgot about wanting to pay alright.
Walking along the shore, Jay takes a moment to toss a flower into the water.
Wu seems surprised. Is this grief? From a snake?
...right, from his pupil.
Wu never really did get to comfort his pupils over the recent loss. He himself has been locked in his room trying to not think about the missing person during sparring, or the empty seat at the dinner table. He would eat his meals then go to his room as quickly as possible.
Silently, he places a hand on Jay's shoulder from behind.
Jay hugs Wu. After a moment of shock, Wu awkwardly hugs back.
Kai sits down right on the edge of the water. He looks at the water silently, as if sharing a silent conversation with his sister.
Wu drops down next to Kai. Neither of them say a word.
Kai quickly stands up, refusing to show Wu his face.
"You think we changed Wu's mind?" Cole asks, sitting on the couch, soda drinking hat on.
"I wanna think so but he's got like, a thousand years of prejudice packed into him," Jay answers from the opposite end of the couch, picking at the back of his hand.
"Yeah, I don't think we can just un-racist him," Kai says bluntly, sitting on the middle cushion.
"But everyone is capable of learning," Zane chimes in from the floor. "I'm over a hundred and I'm still learning."
"You're three," Kai laughs.
"This body is sixty-three."
Kai looks side to side. "Where'd the sixty come from?"
"Neverrealm?"
"Ohhh. Well, I think it's funnier to say you're three."
Zane rolls his eyes, smiling.
"Go clean your room son," Cole says playfully stern.
"But I don't want to. Screw the rules." Zane pretends to be rebellious and more robotic all at once.
Pixal tilts her head in confusion, sitting next to Zane.
Wu looks through books with Lloyd.
"So we need to plan a trip to the Dark Island," Lloyd mumbles, looking over a book. "You're sure there isn't like, some black market we can get the leaves off of?"
Wu strokes his beard, giving his nephew a doubting look.
"You can't tell me no one else has been there!" Lloyd exclaims.
"We're taking a trip to the Island of Darkness," Wu says, ignoring Lloyd. "I can go on my own if it makes you feel better."
Lloyd sighs. "I wanna go and keep you safe. I just wanna make sure there's no other way?"
"The only person who might've had it was Mystake but since her passing, it has been converted to a normal tea shop."
"There's no way it was all tossed though, maybe it's just under lock and key?"
Wu shakes his head. "It was all lost when it was demolished. It's simply a normal tea shop now."
Lloyd nods. "Got it. Dark Island."
