Soft Child
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Call him Theo, he likes that.
Theo is a copper-skinned young man, looks like he's Hispanic with a lot of Native American and by the look of his short tightly curled hair, maybe some African blood. The irises of his eyes are a dark amber in color. He's usually very sleepy and shy, but is prone to explosive violence when threatened.
He registered as a hero under the callsign Soft Child only a few months ago. No previous records exist of him, and there is very little information in his file.
He is a gun nut, and will talk guns for hours, but has major gaps in his knowledge of ordinary life. He uses the biggest weapons he can find, loves grenades, military helicopters, and really big combat knives. He can't even make toast, would likely set fire to the house if told to boil water, and couldn't do a load of laundry to save his life. His room at the base is littered with clothing, gun paraphernalia, ammunition, and a half assembled .50 caliber heavy machine gun. He sleeps a lot, mostly on the floor on top of the heating vent or the hearth if there's a fire in the fireplace. He doesn't like cold at all, and absolutely detests ice cream.
Magical sight indicates that he is a Spirit in human form, a little arcane knowledge will tell you that his name means that he is Grandfather Rattlesnake. He very rarely assumes the form of an enormous rattlesnake (rp-ed as him in Stealth Mode!)
He claims to be working for a more important Spirit named Kephra, a member of the Rogue Islands branch of 5M2M.
A Soft Child story, written in the style of Rudyard Kipling, with apologies to his Ghost. Soft Child originated as a Nobilis Character of mine, and if his story doesn't make much sense from a CoX standpoint that would be why. Hopefully it's enjoyable anyway. -Chairbreaker
B ack in the Beginning of Days, O Best Beloved, even before the Bi – Colored – Python – Rock – Snake helped the Elephant’s Child get away from the Crocodile, even before the Crocodile had sharp teeth, the animals lived without harming one another for they ate only Plants, and so got along as well as People do now, that is to say, some were nicer than others. Each animal had been given gifts to help it survive in the place it was meant to live. Some were fast runners, some had warm coats, some were big and strong, some even had armor.
In the desert there lived a snake called Soft Child, because he sounded soft, and felt soft, and was as gentle as a Lamb, though not so frisky. Soft Child had asked only that his skin be proof against the desert sun and sand, and that he be given a rattle to shake, so the biggest animals would not step on him by accident, as he happened to be the exact same shade as the earth, and could be very hard to notice.
Most animals heeded his rattle, and so he got on well with them, but a few were full of high spirits, and liked to tease and bully. Jackrabbit in particular liked to nettle others. He had discovered that in addition to being good for Jumping and Running his strong legs and big feet were very good for Kicking. Soon he had kicked everyone except the Eagles, who just flew away when he tried, and he soon had figured out which animals were the most fun to tease and kick.
At the top of his list was poor Soft Child, who would fly up into the air making different shapes every time. It was endlessly amusing, and the frantic rattling sent his cohorts and cronies into fits with laughter. They would wipe tears from their eyes and declare him the funniest among them. The Jackrabbit liked this very much, and so he did it as often as possible.
Soft Child was miserable, being thumped and flung about like that all the time, and so he began to avoid Jackrabbit, hiding in little caves and under rocks and such. He was usually a regular worshiper of the Sun and so when after many days he did not appear the Light of the Sun noticed his absence and sent his Priest to look for him. The Priest found him under a Smallish Flat Rock that was under a Medium Deadly Poisonous Plant, that was under a Large Bush with Scary Thorns. Moving these aside with some difficulty and peering under the rock he asked him “Why are you under there? Don’t you know the Light of the Sun can’t see you from there, and you won’t receive His Blessing?”
The snake looked very sad, and said “I miss the warm Light terribly, but if I leave here Jackrabbit will find me and kick me. See, I am all over with bruises from his big feet, he has even made a pattern of them to amuse his friends.”
The Priest looked the snake over, and had to admit those bruises did look painful. “Hmmmm, I will report this to the Light of the Sun, and we will see what His advice is.”
So the Priest went away, but presently came back with a Stranger. “O Snake, you are honored indeed! This is Light’s Smaller Sister, and She has agreed to help you in your present difficulties.”
Soft Child was greatly astonished to be the recipient of the help of not just one but two such August Personages, and his mouth opened wide in amazement. Light’s Sister bent down, plucked two Deadly Poisonous Berries from one bush, and two Scary Thorns from the other, and then quick as a wink popped them into Soft Child’s mouth, pinning the berries to the roof of his mouth with the thorns, and as you can imagine, O Best Beloved, this hurt him very much indeed!!!!
But when he had recovered he found that he had two very long Scary Teeth, and then Light’s Sister told him “You must have a care who you bite, for they will not easily recover, and may even die, for now you are a Venomous Animal.” Soft Child promised to warn others with his rattle when he could, and bite only in self defense. Light’s Sister Poison, for it was She, straightened and said “I have done you this favor, someday you will do one for Me,” for that is what all Powers and Djinn and Spirits require of those whom they choose to help directly.
Jackrabbit’s next joke on Soft Child went exactly as you might expect it to, and Jackrabbit (after he was reborn,) and all the other Animals paid strict attention to the rattle from that day forward. Soft Child’s bruises never did heal, as a reminder of the situation that Poison had freed him from. Soft Child gave himself over to the worship of the Light of the Sun, for surely it was His intervention that sent Poison down to help. You can to this day see his children all over the desert sunning themselves on Flat Rocks, if you are quiet and wearing good tall boots.
You ask if the Poison Lady ever came to get the favor? You are as full of ‘satiable curiosity as that Elephant’s Child! Very well then: of course, all favors are repaid eventually.
One day, long past ‘Way Back Then, and very nearly all the way in Our Time, the Poison Man, for by then he was a man, was wounded nearly to Death by some Enemy. I can’t recall which, it doesn’t matter, but he was being chased most dreadfully, and he was badly hurt, so he ran to ground in the desert. He then called for Soft Child, who was asleep amongst his many grandchildren. Soft Child remembered his promise and slithered to the Poison Man, who was dying by then. The Poison Man gave him a little package, small as a mouse, wrapped in strange leaves, and covered in the Poison Man’s blood. He told Soft Child to swallow the package, an easy thing for a snake, and then he told him how to take the package to its Owner.
The blood of the Poison Man gave Soft Child the strength to crawl the long way to the House of the Owner. Many are the amazing things he saw along the way, but he did not stop to wonder at them. At last he arrived, whereupon he was greeted and taken immediately to see the Owner. At that moment he realized he had no proper way to give the package to its proper recipient, for he could not cough it back up, snakes are no good at that sort of thing, and besides, it was a long way down in him. He would have to be cut open if it were needed right away! He wondered why the poison Man had made him swallow it, but then he recalled his treatment at the hands (or rather feet) of Jackrabbit, and thought of the countless generations of his children who had benefited from the Poison Man’s gift, and he resolved to be brave. He slithered forward ready to do anything required of him in repayment of the debt. The Owner, (and yes I shall continue to call him that, for He is one of Those Best Not Named,) gratified by his willingness, bade him approach, and touched him lightly on the place where the package had got to in his belly. Pain erupted as the seed in the package sprouted in his guts, and he writhed with agony on the ground, but he did not repudiate his willingness, and gave in to the seed’s will, and presently the pain abated, and he slept.
When he awoke the seed had grown all in him, and was in every possible part, and it felt very queer, and somewhat itchy. In particular his Mind itched for it had grown more than all the other parts all put together, and now he had all these strange ideas and all kinds of questions about things he had never thought before. There were Ancient Knowledges and New Inventions all jostling up and crashing around inside his head like icebergs in the Frozen Sea. He was, I fear, even as ‘satiably curious as you yourself, O Best Beloved, and not at all used to it. He even had new Emotions like Elation and Hilarity, Ardor and Tedium, Fury and Remorse, towering passions far beyond the small feelings and desires of a snake. He also knew everything there was to know about Poison, and all that had happened in the History of Poison. In his head, you see, were the memories of all of the Poison Men and Ladies there ever were. He had been made into the Poison Man.
He did a great deal of thinking in a short while, answering many of his own questions with his own knowledge, a thing which you may consider doing sometime when you are ‘satiably curious, because it will eventually do for you what it did for him – it made him a man, even if only barely.
Soft Child is now a man and a snake, all at the same time, as well as a Power. I think he is getting used to it by and by, for he seemed more at ease the last time I saw him.
I do not know what happened to the other Poison Man, and I do not think that Soft Child knows either, because the seed was made before that happening, so it was not amongst the new memories in his head. No, I do not know how he eats, and I don’t think I will ask, as he is much more closely related to the Crocodile than the Elephants Child. Ah, no more questions now, this was not very long ago, and so I cannot tell you the rest of the story as it has not happened yet.
Perhaps you would like to hear instead about the Camel and his Humph.
