Eurydice flops onto the grass in Harmonia's backyard. Kade sits nearby and pets them. Eurydice looks up at Kade with an expression that says "I want to be mad at you but I literally can't."
"Was it the water balloons?"
They grumble. "Do you like her more than me!!! Are we not friends anymore???? You looked like you were having so much funnnn ahfhghkb hgbf-"
"Whwhwh- I don't like anyone more than anyone! And we're very much friends still, yes." Kade pats them. "I have fun with you too!"
"fgnjsdgrhbdf"
"Are you alrighttt?"
"I attacked Harmonia with an axe because I feel like you're being taken..." Eurydice admits.
"..Ah. Oh, okay. No no, it's nothing like that at all! I promise. I'm not being taken by anyone! You two are simply very easy to show uh-.. affection? No, kindness! To, and all. I could never get taken away from you!!!" Kade reassures them.
The deer hugs him tightly. They're.. uh... surprisingly possessive.
Kade doesn't mind the hug in the slightest and returns it too!
They hug for a while.
"You okay?" Kade asks.
"I love you a lot but I think it would be maybe good to try and find more friends..??"
Kade pauses. "Are you talking about me or you?”
"....!!!! Me, I think!!"
"What makes you.. think so? I mean, no, I understand you entirely, yeah, but I'm asking where this is coming from."
Eurydice grumbles and slams their head against Kade. "I don't knowww!!!!! I'm worried about scaring you away and getting too attached maybe????? aghhgjbjgh"
"What about me makes it seem like I'm easy to scare away?! Unless being in your presence somehow mangles my body beyond comprehension into some unknowable creature constantly in pain I'm not going anywhere!!! That was off the top of my head, don't comment. But no! I'm not getting scared away easily. But uh. I don't mind attachment?? Just try not to hurt anyone who does get close to me, y'know? You can easily be friends with Harmonia! ...Soon. And anyone else! Be friends with whomever you want to be!!" Kade exclaims.
"...Harmonia is a no. bbut..." They trail off and play on their phone.
After a bit they perk up. "KADEE KADE KADE!!!" Eurydice stands up in excitement, having a smile on his face. "Ari said if I fight them and win they'll become my friend!!!!"
Kade looks stunned. “Well, uh. That's one way to make a friend! Good! Just, y'know. Know you can't make friends with them if you kill them so please be careful???"
"Okay!!!" Eurydice exclaims.
Kade gives them a thumbs up and Eurydice waits for Arimidex.
A while later, Ari slides into view from the woods, scanning for Orpheus (?).
Orpheus (?) is standing next to Kade with a giddy smile on their face. If Ari remembers his normal eye colors (Black and green left eye white and green right eye), they'd notice the eyes are flipped colorwise now. As in Black and green as the right eye.
They look towards Ari and run over.
Ari does not have that kind of memory retention and moves up to them. "Hey, we doing this?"
"Yeahhhhh!!!!" Eurydice clears their throat. "Yeahhhhhhh!!!!!"
Ari nods, shrugging off the demon language. "We doing weapons or no weapons?
"Up to you!!!"
"I mean I don't know where I'd get a bat, so let’s say no." He seems to be scanning them up and down.
5'5 deer twink with no antlers and big sharp teeth wearing pajama pants and a hoodie. Big fuckin claws and hooves that could probably break bones easily! "You sure???" Eurydice asks.
Ari's wearing their punk outfit from Enoch as they nod, their tail growing a good 30 ft, big and thick. "Mhm, I’m sure."
"Are powers allowed???"
"Uhmmmmmmmmm, at what limit do you draw the line at powers for me?"
"Noo clue."
"Uhhhh, let's say yes?" Ari shifted a tad, knowing this was a bad idea to accept.
"Who first!"
Ari stretches for just a moment before getting into a defensive position. "You go."
Kade goes along the sides, just watching.
Eurydice tries to punch Ari's face.
Ari makes a quick duck and swipes at them with their claws. "Fucker-"
It hits but Eury bites their arm.
Ari yelps, trying to shake Eurydice off of it.
They're latched on!!!
Ari groans and brings them up to eye level, her eyes and pendent fading into spirals. "Why don't we look at these for now if you're sticking."
They're gnawing at her arm not even looking at the eyes.
Ari scratches at their face and begins to move to try and wrap its tail around them.
It works! Eurydice lets go and barks at Ari.
Ari hisses in pain at the now open bite wound as she tries to use what grip she has on Eury to throw them against the ground.
They hit the ground with an oof.
Ari moves to slam their tail down onto them.
"AAAAACKKKKKK!!"
Ari tries to lift them up by their ankle, bringing them face to face at a reasonable distance so that they can't take any swipes at him. "Did I win yet?"
"FUCK!!!" Vines burst out of the ground and begin to thwap and whip at Ari!
Ari yelps and drops them, trying to sweep at the vines using their tail with long, powerful strides.
The vines try to wrap around them!
Ari tries to pull her tail up, attempting to rip the vines out the ground. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck."
Eurydice giggles from their nice lil spot on the grass as the vines continue to come out of the ground and wrap around Ari, trying to pull her to the ground.
Ari snarls as his tail thins up, giving him some wiggle room as he lunges out at Eury.
Eurydice is on the ground so Arimidex literally just flomps on them and Eury screeches.
Ari tries to punch at them, speaking in between attempts. "Let- Me- Win!"
Eurydice takes it, trying to sputter out that Ari won.
Ari rolls off of them. "Was that too much?"
Eurydice sighs and stand up.
"No, it was good! You're fun to fight and all...Nice tail." They trail off.
Ari grinned, proud of it. "Thank you! It's very helpful for-" They cut themselves off, remembering something. "Oh- and you wanted to be friends right?"
"Well, yeah...? You're, like..." They trail off again and start crying. "..it doesn't matter! You won anyway, so.."
Ari's eyes go wide. "Wait- wait no I was going to continue, we can be friends I just needed that win-"
"B-but that's not what we agreed on..?? You won fair and square so it's.. yknoww..." They sniffle and wipe their eyes. "…sorry.."
"Well, I never said we couldn't be friends if you lost, did I?"
"I g-guess..???"
"And given how well you fight, I have absolutely zero reason to say no, you're really cool."
"R-really??"
Xe nods. "Yeah, really! You did great, good spar." Ari offers a hand to shake.
Eurydice blushes a little but takes the hand. "T-Thank you..!! You too!!"
Ari props themselves up with their tail and moves to help Eury up. "So you're, not Orpheus right? You're the R053?"
",,Uhhmm..." They rub the back of their head nervously. “N-not really..?? Yes and no."
"Oh? If you're not comfortable talking about it you don't have too, I thought it was a more Claire, Pluvio situation."
"Well I mean.... ssort of?? It's… more like Kade and Cerberus ishh..?? I'mm... like.. an unfinished demon I think..??" They pause. “I dunno..!!! All I know is I started existing and then got into Orpheus's body with the help of the rose pill!"
Ari nods along, vaguely getting it. "Cerberus and Kade... they're the hot ones I flirted with that one time... ohhh it's that kinda deal. Cool!! It's nice to meet you, Eurydice your name? I think I saw? I'm terrible with names."
Eurydice sniffles, wiping their eyes again. "Yeah.. You're Arimidex right??"
Ari nods. "Yep! You can just call me Ari if you'd like."
"So you're like… the only other rose guy thingy here in the house?"
There's a small, "H." From Kade in the distance.
Eurydice looks to Kade. "A-are you ok??"
"Oh yes, don't mind me nono-" Kade responds.
"Nono wait.. what's wrong??" Eurydice asks.
Ari looks to Kade. "Yeah I am- Kade, you alright?"
"Yes I'm fine, carry on!!!!"
Ari narrows his eyes. "You... sure?"
"Yes, keep talking!!!" Kade exclaims.
Eurydice walks over and sits on Kade's lap. "W-well, uhh… how do you feel about not being the only one anymore..? Sort of not the only one any more??"
Ari shrugs. “It’s strange… I mean Claire was always there but not really there y’know? She feels like… a distant sibling I guess? It’s strange not being the only one, I feel less special.” He gives a joking pout.
"..S-sorry then..!!!"
Ari snickers, shaking their head. “I'm kidding, you really need a backbone don't you?”
"What!"
"You're so quick to apologize, dummy!”
Eurydice blushes and buries their face in their hands. "Well!!!!! I'm not really good at stuff ok!!!!! I.. htfgbghfuwjfnjfjgbbshfhrjsjhhfhs-“
Kade pats their head and their tail wags.
Ari laughs. "Fair enough!! Things are really difficult the first month."
"What do you mean?" Eurydice asks.
"Like- settling into existence, yknow? I don't know how much you've like- discovered yourself but for me it took a little while."
"I mean..." Eurydice sighs and leans back against Kade, grabbing their ears and pulling on them a bit. "I dunno. My brain is weird since it's not... like...I dunno. I'm really happy to have Cerberus and Kade since they're... helpful and yknowww... fun! Just it’s,.. bad that the first time I see them really talk with someone else I... get violent,,," Eurydice seems very embarrassed.
Ari nods along in understanding. "Hey no, I get that 100%. My first friend, Blossom, I can get uh- really protective of her... especially when a lot of people don't like her."
Eurydice makes quiet verbal keyslams.
Ari laughs a little. "What is that?? Is that a new language I don't know?"
"Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes /sɜːrˈpɛntiːz/.[2] Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards.[3] These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamidae, and Pygopodidae)."
"Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Hawaiian archipelago, and the islands of New Zealand, as well as many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans.[4] Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans. More than twenty families are currently recognized, comprising about 520 genera and about 3,900 species.[5] They range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm-long (4.1 in) Barbados threadsnake[6] to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters (22.8 ft) in length.[7] The fossil species Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 meters (42 ft) long.[8] Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago.[9][10] The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event). The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the Brooklyn Papyrus." Eurydice says.
"H-HEH???????????????"
Eurydice breathes in.
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING WHAT??" Ari yells.
"...snakes are neat..!"
"Was that a wikipedia on snakes-" Kade asks.
"Do you have that memorized???” Ari asks.
"N-no I...y-y’know..!!!" They pause before going back to verbal key slamming and hiding their face in Kade's chest.
Kade pats them.
Ari laughs a little. "C'monn you can't leave me on a cliffhanger!"
"Wwhhw.." Eurydice whimpers and takes a deep breath in.
"Most species of snake are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom that is potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by constriction."
"The English word snake comes from Old English snaca, itself from Proto-Germanic *snak-an- (cf. Germanic Schnake 'ring snake', Swedish snok 'grass snake'), from Proto-Indo-European root *(s)nēg-o- 'to crawl to creep', which also gave sneak as well as Sanskrit nāgá 'snake'.[11] The word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old English næddre was the general word for snake.[12] The other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp- 'to creep',[13] which also gave Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō) 'I crawl'."
"The fossil record of snakes is relatively poor because snake skeletons are typically small and fragile making fossilization uncommon. Fossils readily identifiable as snakes (though often retaining hind limbs) first appear in the fossil record during the Cretaceous period.[15] The earliest known true snake fossils (members of the crown group Serpentes) come from the marine simoliophiids, the oldest of which is the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian age) Haasiophis terrasanctus,[1] dated to between 112 and 94 million years old.[16]
Based on comparative anatomy, there is consensus that snakes descended from lizards.[17]:11[18] Pythons and boas—primitive groups among modern snakes—have vestigial hind limbs: tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs, which are used to grasp during mating.[17]:11[19] The families Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae also possess remnants of the pelvic girdle, appearing as horny projections when visible."
"Front limbs are nonexistent in all known snakes. This is caused by the evolution of their Hox genes, controlling limb morphogenesis. The axial skeleton of the snakes' common ancestor, like most other tetrapods, had regional specializations consisting of cervical (neck), thoracic (chest), lumbar (lower back), sacral (pelvic), and caudal (tail) vertebrae. Early in snake evolution, the Hox gene expression in the axial skeleton responsible for the development of the thorax became dominant. As a result, the vertebrae anterior to the hindlimb buds (when present) all have the same thoracic-like identity (except from the atlas, axis, and 1–3 neck vertebrae). In other words, most of a snake's skeleton is an extremely extended thorax. Ribs are found exclusively on the thoracic vertebrae. Neck, lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are very reduced in number (only 2–10 lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are present), while only a short tail remains of the caudal vertebrae. However, the tail is still long enough to be of important use in many species, and is modified in some aquatic and tree-dwelling species."
"Many modern snake groups originated during the Paleocene, alongside the adaptive radiation of mammals following the extinction of (non-avian) dinosaurs. The expansion of grasslands in North America also led to an explosive radiation among snakes.[20] Previously, snakes were a minor component of the North American fauna, but during the Miocene, the number of species and their prevalence increased dramatically with the first appearances of vipers and elapids in North America and the significant diversification of Colubridae (including the origin of many modern genera such as Nerodia, Lampropeltis, Pituophis, and Pantherophis).[20]" They take a deep breath out.
Ari's holding back a laugh. "All in one breath, damn!"
"Aa!!!"
"Quite the skill!" Kade exclaims.
Eurydice is quite obviously flustered! Happy tail wags :)
Ari laughs outwardly. "You take compliments hard don't you?" She is not laying off of the teasing.
"whatdoesthatevenmean!!!" Eurydice says.
"You're smothering yourself at every compliment!!" Ari comments.
"hjwmfjhfhwkfmbfgadg!!!!" Kade can feel they are. very warm.
Kade places a hand on their head. "Warm."
Eurydice is a babbling, flustered mess.
Ari looks to Kade. "They normally like this?"
"Somewhat! It's quite cute, isn't it?"
Ari smirked. "Oh absolutely it is."