"Speach"
'Thought'
«Other species»
[Writing]
A soft breeze washed through the trees of the forest, carrying a few leaves over a clearing, blue, brown, and yellow dancing around by a song that the wind played.
A nearby mouse wasn't paying any attention to the spectacle, more focused on a nut it was eating instead.
Another creature was focusing on the mouse, the hunter silently sneaking up toward its victim.
Suddenly a twig snapped, causing the mouse to look towards a bush where the sound had come from, just in time to see a dragonbite viper burst out of it, its fangs ready to sink into its prey.
Squeaking in terror the mouse, ran off, starting the chase for life and death.
In the end, the mouse was faster, disappearing into a hole, and living for another day. Realizing that he was too big to follow, the hunter gave up, hissing in frustration.
He thought about sleeping, but his stomach protested with a loud rumble. It had been over a month since he had last eaten, his hunting skills being quite pathetic. He had mostly survived by stealing food from humans and dragons, only being able to catch every 10th try.
He let out another annoyed hiss and continued looking around for anything else to eat.
'Hopefully, I can find something else, I really don't want to go with scavenged food again… that stuff is starting to come out of my ears.'
It was then that his tongue picked up another smell, well two to be more precise.
The first one was the sent of death pray, possibly rabbit, and judging by the smell it was quite fresh, only having been killed quite recently. The second was more alarming, as he could send smoke in the air, which meant that a fire was nearby.
'Dragon!' his mind immediately went, all his senses instantly on high alert, eyes searched the sky.
Looking up, however, he couldn't see a single sign of any possible dragons through the treetops, not even a tail, or a wingtip visible against the clear blue sky of the afternoon. He could however see a small trail of smoke rising, its size suggesting that the fire created was still fairly small.
He considered for a moment if he should investigate, his curiosity wrestling with his instincts. In the end, curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to go… plus it was also the same direction from where he could smell the rabbit sent coming from.
After a while, he arrived at a clearing, and to his surprise, it was not only the source of one but both of the smells.
He could feel his body relax a bit when he realized that the smoke came from one of those enclosed fires humans make. While they were still as hot as normal fires and just as dangerous they usually didn't spread the way wildfires did, which was quite a relief. He however still kept his distance just to make sure, watching the flames dancing in their stone circle in an almost beautiful, but also threatening manner.
The dragonbite viper had always wondered why humans captured the fire in these strange stone circles. Why would any creature willingly keep something so dangerous so close to them? He could still remember his mother dying to the flames of that dragon…
Quickly showing aside the unsettling memories, he instead focused his mind on the other reason why he'd come here.
Carefully heading around the fire in a safe circle, he approached a small rock with multiple human things lying around them, including a wooden box whit a dead rabbit lying on top. It seemed as if the human hunter had just killed it recently and it was still fresh.
He slowed down a bit, investigating the area around the camp for any possible traps. He had seen humans use them before and it was slightly suspicious that the rabbit was just lying in the open, although it could be just as well be, that the hunter had just temporarily left it there, trusting that the fire would keep other animals away.
A few years ago it might have worked on him too, but the viper had quickly learned that the captured fires humans used couldn't cause any harm as long as you didn't go too close.
Not noticing any suspicious devices or leaves that could hide something he felt safe to go closer, climbing up the box to the food. He happily flicked his tongue out when he noticed that the pray was small enough for him to eat.
Despite him being one of the biggest snake species on the continent he was still a juvenile, which could be quite limiting when it came to food as he like all other snakes could only eat things that were small enough for them to swallow whole since they lacked teeth to chew.
He was just about to enjoy the meal when he heard a rustling from behind him, causing him to whirl around.
Behind him stood a human who had just come out of the undergrowth, and was now watching him in both surprise and curiosity. «You again?»
The viper jerked up in surprise, the sound of the voice sounding surprisingly familiar even though he couldn't understand what it said. Flicking out his tongue to smell the air it was quickly confirmed. He had met this human before. It was the same human who had shown him kindness to him and saved him from that thorn bush.
His body relaxed a bit as the human came closer, walking slowly in a non-threatening, but also alert manner. «What are you doing here?»
He thought for a moment about what to do, before realizing that he was still on the human's stuff, so he decided to start by getting down from it, and allowing the human access to his things. His second thought was the bunny, but he quickly came to the conclusion that stealing the pray of someone who helped you wasn't the proper way to express your gratefulness, so he left it where it was.
He instead curled up on a sunny spot nearby, continuing to watch the human curiously.
«You look hungry… You know what? You can have it, I can just hunt for more if necessary.» he said, before tossing the rabbit towards the viper, which immediately earned him another positive score in the viper's book as proceeded to happily eat his meal.
The human on the other hand grabbed one of his tools that looked like a bent piece of stick with a rope attached to both ends of it and went back into the forest.
The snake decided to follow, for one being curious how the human hunted since he was lacking in both noticeable speed and strength as well as any natural weapons, but mainly because he wanted to stay at this human's side. He had proven to be a helpful companion and maybe he could even get some more food that way.
«Sorry little guy, I don't have any more food for you.» the human said, once he noticed that he was being followed.
The small viper simply stopped, giving him a confused look. He slowly started to wish that he could understand the human language. In the end, he slithered over to him nevertheless.
The human chuckled. «Alright, if you really want to follow me that badly, I won't stop you…»
As they continued walking through the woods the human started talking again.
"Yôû knôw whât? Cônsîdêrîng thât yôû sêêm tô wânt tô stîck ârôûnd mê, Î thînk ît's tîme thât Î gîvê yôû â nâmê. Î cân't jûst kêêp câllîng yôû snâkê ôr vîper cân Î?" he thought for a moment. "Âlrîght, whât wôûld fît â fêllôw lîkê yôû… Bâsîlîsk? Nô, tôô lông ând âggrêssîvê… hmm… Î gôt ît, Bâsîl!"
«You know what? Considering that this is the second time we meet, you seem to want to stick around me and you haven't shown any sign of aggression so far, it's time I give you a name. I can't just keep calling you snake or viper can I?» he chuckled, thinking for a moment. «Alright, what would fit a fellow like you… Basilisk? No, too long and aggressive… hmm… I got it, Basil!»
He turned towards the snake. «What do you think? Is Basil a good name for you?» the little viper only gave him a confused look, still not understanding what he said, but somehow it sounded important. The human chuckled again. «Alright, I take that as a yes. Let's go hunting Basil!»
'Basil?' the viper thought confused, testing out the strange human word. 'Why is he calling me like that? Wait, did he just give me a name?'
Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember his name. His parents were killed when he still was young, and with no other family or friends, your name quickly becomes meaningless when you stop using it.
Basil… it was a human word and sounded strange on his tongue, but somehow he liked it.
'If he named me then someone might still care about me…' he thought, hurrying after his newfound human friend, who without knowing it had earned the full loyalty of one of the most dangerous animals in the world.
(Author note: Robin is a professional and fully armored as well as trained to kill. Since you're not Robin, note that in real life being followed by a snake is a serious matter and ALWAYS a reason to be worried! Don't replicate his behavior, and if this happens to you, you should try to get away from the snake without panicking or rapid movements. If you get bitten make a foto of the snake in question, so that medical help can identify the species and provide you with the appropriate antidote. Stay safe.)