A Monster In Our Midst - Closed Starter w/ @generic-connor‘s Mer!RK800-40 ‘Peppermint’ Connor & Naga!Rachel
A guardian. That was her role. It was in her blood. It was in her very nature, despite what her father led her to believe when she was young. She knew better than to believe his lies. The monster that labelled her as a stain was a fool, in the end. A fool who had no respect for himself as a naga. Thought himself above the creatures for whom their wisdom and knowledge was meant to serve and meant to be given to.
And here she slithered, triumphant and powerful and mighty. A leader of her people. Her humans revered her and looked to her with affection, adoration, and awe. She was their way of life, as much as they were hers. Their hearts beat in tandem with hers, inextricably interwoven like the entangled roots of the rainforest trees.
Water was the element of the naga. Many protected pure springs and waterways and served as guardians of nature. It was the one thing they punished humans for universally. For their callousness to nature itself and especially to water.
So, naturally, her home was semi-aquatic, filled with networks of underground rivers that led around the jungle and out to the sea, with springs and caves to match. Her people lived by her rivers. They were a source of food for them. They were clean and pure. Their guardian made certain that that was so.
But as of late, something had begun to threaten the way of life for her people. Several of her humans have reported their own going missing. And, as the guardian of her village, Rachel was enraged.
Not at them. She would never dare show her humans her rage. Her rage was reserved for being seen by those that threaten them. Monsters and vile humans who poison the Earth.
No, her ire was directed at whichever monster was responsible for their disappearances and has somehow managed to escape from under her nose.
This would not do.
So, vigilantly, the snake goddess slithered out from her home to investigate the waterways outside of her village. It was always after leaving to wash their clothes or fish that her people reported disappearances. She advised her chief to enforce a curfew and to prohibit the people of the village from going to these waterways until Rachel had snuffed out their assailant as well as encouraging them to simply use her cenote for their water. A small ask for the people who devoted themselves completely and wholly to her.
So here, lying camouflaged in the foliage along the riverbanks, she waited. Waited...and observed. Waiting for the monster who was stealing her people - her lifesblood - away from her.