19 Aug 2021, 08:08
Three: The Cursed Number
The words spoken in this thread are either Parselmouth or actual snake hissing.
Time: Easter Holidays, the day after Cu Sith was taken home
[font=PT Sans]“ THREE! “
“ You know I feel like my parseltongue ability is useless when it comes to understanding you“
“ THREE !!! “
That was what the little snake had always answered whenever Hanako asked what kind of name she liked. For a week now they had been going back and forth about what to call her other than ‘dummy little snake’. At first, Hanako thought she wanted to be named Three but that wasn’t the case with how aggressively she shakes her head in disapproval. He was getting really tired of the way she shortened her sentences so much. Perhaps she didn’t know a lot of vocabulary. But then how could she go on a long rant about how cute something is for hours on end? How he ended up with a snake with this personality went beyond him. It was a mess.
Hanako sighed and continued to flip through the folktales and myths book he had received as a gift. A very random one as well. Who thought giving him a book to read probably didn’t know him well enough. But they did know he would’ve been bored as hell staying in his home during easter holidays. In fact, he wasn’t even reading it for himself. He learned that during the little snake's rant, there was a 78% chance that she would shut up to listen to tales. She’s a child basically. Someone whose unblinking eyes lit up as their strong imagination followed whatever fantasy storyline they were given. Hanako didn’t want to admit it but it was adorable as hell and he wanted to die happy. As irritating as the little snake was, there was an unspeakable connection between them, and Hanako was certain that if the two would part for too long, both of them would be more than anxious. Of course, he didn’t want it to show. Her ego was inflated enough. Obsessing over every sickeningly cute thing she comes across and complimenting herself a second later. No. He’d rather keep his affectionate thoughts to himself.
“ Nuckelavee ..” he read out from the book as he tried his best to avoid the little snake’s innocent gleam. “ A short description of the terrifying Nuckelavee is a 6 foot creature. It appears like a human riding a horse from afar, but upon a closer look, the Nuckelavee has long arms that dangle from its sides to below the horse's belly. The horse and the human looked intact together, their live flesh … exposed as if they had… no...skin….” Hanako didn’t need to look at the little snake already curled up in a frightful ball to know he shouldn’t continue reading this particular page out. He didn’t apologize or gave words of comfort, but he did flip to another page. The snake was easily frightened at things that weren’t what she considered ‘cute’ after all. While she was frightened, she was even more optimistic and can easily get over her fear if something else catches her interest. It was his job to quickly divert her attention to something else cuter. Cute probably wasn’t the thing she should be looking for in a folklore and myth book.
“ Cu Sith. Descriptions of this creature vary but it is sometimes described as a large dog. Big enough to be mistaken for a young bull. Either dark green in fur colour or coal black. Its tail is either coiled up or braided and its paws are the same width as a man's hand.” sounds cute enough to continue. “ The Cu Sith was considered as a fairy dog and hell bringer of .. death? Their jobs usually would be to bear away the soul of a person to the afterlife as well as kidnap women to force them into taking care of the fairies children?!” Folktales suck! Hanako was ready to flip another page if only the little snake shared no signs of stress. Which was fairly easy to tell in the first place. With hesitance, he continued. “ As for the Cu Sith’s abilities, they are mostly known for their deadly barks. Barks that are said to reach even the seas. They'll bark three times-”
“ THREE “
“ THREE?!?” Hanako squirmed in his seat, his worrisome expression that didn’t match the little snake's happy one.
“ THREE !!!”
Hanako wasn’t a dumb kid. He was so used to her short sentences that he somehow knew exactly what she meant by ‘three’. “ You… you want me to name you after a dog!?!One that kidnaps people?!? Are you crazy?! Don’t say three!” the snake held back a hiss. Hanako rubbed his temples in agitation at the snake's ridiculous request. Surely she didn’t pick this name just because it had a braided tail and was connected to the word three? Surely? S u r e l y. The more he convinced himself that it was, the more he realised he had spent more than enough time with her to know that this was exactly something she’d do. Liking a scary beast just because they got a braided tail. Sounds so much like her that he wanted to laugh.
He had promised that she could pick her own name. And in her own little ways, she was stubborn and would not go down without a fight. Hearing her throwing a tantrum was the only time he thought that it might’ve been nice not to understand snakes. Perhaps it was just a horrible coincidence? “ Maybe.. Maybe we should look up other creatures? I’ll find the ones with three in them but really I don’t think you’ll want to be named as…” Hanako wanted to glare at the obvious puppy dog eyes the snake was giving. Damn those puppy dog eyes he was weak too. Hanako closed his eyes to look composed and unaffected but he really wanted to cry. Was he really going to give the name ‘ Cu Sith’ to a cute obsessed snake? No matter what, naming such an innocent snake after some hell bringer of death didn’t match up at all. Fairy dog? Maybe. Fairy dog that kidnaps humans for fairies? It doesn’t make sense!
After Hanako was done imagining himself crying, he opened his eyes to the same puppy dog eyes he both loved and detested. With a long defeated sigh, he snapped the book shut and stared at the cute snake with indifference.
“ Fine. Nice to meet you, Cu Sith”
Even when she was physically incapable of doing so, Hanako knew Cu Sith smiled.
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