Clever Serpent

Jörmungandr stared at the proffered hand, confusion in his eyes while his features naturally remained blank.

What was this? Some type of secret signal? Was he supposed to do something?

He looked down at the patient god, Anubis, before looking at his comparatively pale hand. He was curious as to what he was supposed to do, but was distracted by the reason behind differences in skin tone.

Why did some people appear pale, others golden, and some dark?

He wasn't sure—sleeping in the depths of the world's waters was hardly a decent way at going and learning about differences of race, evolution and culture. And now he was curious—were all the god's of these said "Egyptians" as dark as this Anubis god was, or were they pale like him?

Perhaps they were gold?

Where were they situated?

What were their stories?

All of these innocent thoughts ran through Jörmungandr's mind as he continued to stare at the hand that steadily remained.

"Ah... perhaps you haven't heard of this custom among humans? When greeting those of equal standing, apparently they "shake hands" as a means of establishing friendly relations between peers."

Slowly, Jörmungandr met Anubis' hand with his large one, and began to follow Anubis' motions of shaking, his eyes wide and curious before releasing his hand from the contact.

"There!" Anubis exclaimed with a broad smile on his youthful face, "Now we can talk business properly, as gentlemen do!"

Meanwhile, his hazel eyes eyed the clueless monster, while his mind analyzed him steadily.

'He's... quite innocent. And not just ignorant, but genuinely innocent. He doesn't seem as if he understands the grave consequences of his actions, like a child... what was his myth again? That Odin fellow claimed he would destroy the world... perhaps their "Norns" were wrong?'

"...Won't kill... me?"

Anubis blinked at the surprisingly direct question. Now that was something he hadn't expected such a guy to ask out of the gate—was he perhaps truly aware of what he'd caused? Even so, Anubis replied as practiced and calm as a child reciting a fact.

"Now why would I do that? I don't even know you yet!"

"... I see."

'So you'll kill me if I'm determined to be too dangerous.'

Anubis rose his brow at the quiet acknowledgement before smiling his winning smirk again, the curves of the action forcing his face to appear almost impish. 'Clever little serpent... I might like him.'

"So, what's a fine reptile such as yourself doing in a flower field of graves; I assume the sight's not the reason?"

"...Learning. Why're you here, jackal?"

Anubis hummed, his smirk remaining in place as his eyes scrunched shut.

"Curiosity. What're you learning?"

"...Humanity..."

"Oh? Now, why is a monster like yourself so interested in an unnecessarily human thing?"

"...Unnecessary?"

"Yup," the Jackal quipped, "'unnecessary'. That's what most Gods and monsters think—why not you?"

Jörmungandr tilted his head, his gaze steady and his words articulate while he studied the child who could kill him somehow.

"Why not you?"

The Jackal's smirk widened at the redirect, "Why not?"

"Why not indeed?"

Silence descended between the two, the steady gaze of the Serpent and the Jackal meeting and discussing in the air before an agreement was soundlessly made.

"As I suspected—I like you, little snake. Why don't we make a couple of rules and terms, like the gentlemen we are, and determine exactly what we are and what we'll be?"

"And what will we be?" inquired the Serpent innocently, his eyes as clear and pure as before, though a gleam of intelligence graced the sunset of his irises.

"Allies, hopefully."

Jörmungandr looked away for a moment, thought scrolling through his vivid eyes temporarily, and too fast for the Jackal to read; he was annoying because of that—despite him being an open book, the pages turned so fast and became blank so quickly, that the poor god could hardly get a proper scan in, not even a summary.

But that was what made this clever little child so interesting—he was so exposed yet so closed off that Anubis could hardly wait to read his story.

"...Brother... will you meet?"

"You have a brother? Well, if he's similar to you, then I wouldn't mind I suppose—"

"Good," Jörmungandr snatched the child's arm so quickly, that Anubis couldn't react, nor break free from the vice-like grip. He suddenly had a feeling as if he'd just fallen for a trap.

"System, take us."

"Wait—!"

The boundary between the two servers collapsed around them, and suddenly, the god and monster were gone, leaving only the lonely asters alone.

—————

"Achoo—!"

Anubis, not used to the sudden arctic chill, sneezed, sniffing and desperately attempting to keep warm, clinging to the unaffected Jörmungandr, who still trapped his arm.

"Where are we!" he yelled over the tempest, his hazel eyes turning stone gray, a sense of danger rising from him as a warning. He didn't like having all of his... escape routes... cut off?

The realization came to him as a brief smile crossed the Serpents face, his face a dead ringer for the sly smile the Jackal would get when an opponent had fallen for a trap.

"...My brother... where else?"

An eerie howl rang through the air, and a massive silver blue wolf with a young girl covered in a fur cloak riding on its back appeared; baleful, icy blue eyes stared at him dangerously, and if the Jackal didn't know better, he'd think that this wolf was smiling.

A sudden thought came to Anubis as he realized that he knew no way out of this server, had at least three potential enemies around him, and was in a extremely disadvantageous environment:

'Clever serpent indeed...'