Jarvan's, Kital's and Morsel's Crazy Happenings (Monster Contract)

Xywel

Xywel

European Story-Weaver
Joined
Apr 7, 2020
Location
Europe-ish
This is a roleplay in the setting of Monster Contract, meant to flesh out the backstory between Jarvan Feran (@Xywel), Kital (@Silverbird) and Morsel (@CandleLitRevelries). For those who aren't the listed people and do play in the Monster Contract RP, read at your own risk of having backstories exposed (Please don't metagame of this ;P).
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Jarvan Feran
Jovial Mercenary and Merc Captain

Three months before the events of Monster Contract ......
​
Panting, Jarvan steadied himself against a tree as the clouds of his breath floated into the morning sky, his lungs burning. Damn it, fighting without companions against even a small group of Pawn Lillim was proving troublesome. Sure, two or three were much of a problem, but more of them were a royal pain in the ass. Projectiles everywhere, strange attacks fired at him without him knowing how to react. How troublesome.
Still, he'd gotten away from a group after he so foolishly thought he could get out of town for a bit on his own. Fleeing like a common chump really didn't sit well by him, but although his magic could carry him far, it wouldn't be enough to make him come out on top with his chances stacked against him.
He shuddered when he thought he could've encountered a Berserker or a Dragon Queen or something along those lines. Now that would be... fatal, maybe even worse.

The mercenary found himself near a collection of farms and lakes at current, having heard of some trouble being afoot nearby. He might not have Lillim of his own, but he was trained in making contracts and his own combat abilities were nothing to sneeze at either. Jarvan just wished he could encounter a Lillim that wouldn't be either attacking him on sight, live in big groups or just straight up ignore him for hours on end.
"Time to press on." He mumbled to himself, stepping towards the lake bound farms. He had to start his search somewhere. With a bit of luck, he'd find some clues where the trouble had been.

A little while and good talk with the locals later, Jarvan figured out that the local farmers had been having some trouble with Lillim, stealing livestock and just generally being a nuisance. With them not having any fighter nor Lillim amongst their own ranks, they needed somebody else to try and solve the problem. And that's why he was there.
"Alright, let's get this party started." He said with a grin, rubbing his hands. Who knows, maybe he would finally get his hands on some proper Lillim this time around. He just hoped there weren't any Bishops and Queens involved... That'd be bad, very bad. He wouldn't stand a chance on his own.
 
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The little fox-snake poked her head out of the water and searched the area around the henhouse carefully. No sign of humans. Surely humans were smarter than this? Her tongue flicked, testing the air. All she detected was the promise of fat birds and their eggs. She had stolen from this farm before, she expected they might at least put a dog here to keep watch. Still, all the better for her if they underestimated her.
Nonetheless, she would have to be quick, the hens would raise a stink that would bring the humans running. She would likely only manage to drag one bird back with her and maybe a few eggs. But these chickens were so delectably plump, she would surely be pleasantly full for the next couple of days. She dug her claws into the earth, pulling herself out of the water and slithering toward the henhouse. She took care to keep covered in the taller patches of grass and amongst small piles of leaves.
 
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The silver fish eyed the worm suspiciously as it wriggled, helplessly, in the current. The fish nudged it cautiously twice, then slowly circled around it. What was this worm doing here, out in open waters like this? There didn't seem to be any reason for it. Experimentally, the fish nibbled at the worm's flesh. It was plump. Juicy. Delicious.

"It's bait."

Kital yawned, her mouth wide, as she watched the fish from within a little cluster of roots and weeds. The fish paid her no mind; it was just a fish, and her words were as meaningless to it as they were to humans. It bit down on the worm.

On the shore, an elderly fisherman in a straw hat let out a whoop of joy as his line went taunt.

Kital rolled her eyes as she watched the fish's desperate struggle begin. "See? What did I just say?" The Matsuba let out a little sigh, then pushed herself out of her little hiding-hole. She wriggled for a moment, shaking a layer of dirt, then coiled like a spring and looked towards the surface.

The fisherman was treated to a brilliant flash of red and gold as Kital leapt high into the air, the afternoon sun gleaming off her scales. His head followed her upwards to the apex of her jump, one hand holding his hat in place, his mouth agape; and then she looked down, their eyes met, and she smirked.

Wait. What kind of fish smirks?

Kital sucked in a deep mouthful of air, her cheeks swelled, and the fisherman's eyes went wide. He released his rod in a panic, both hands now devoted to the duty of retaining his hat. A moment later a powerful stream of water blasted forth from Kital's mouth. It fell short of actually striking the fisherman, instead landing right where he'd just been standing, but it didn't much matter; in his haste to get out of the way, the fisherman's foot caught on an exposed rock, and he fell, backwards, towards the ground. He was forced to release his hat in an attempt to catch himself, and it bounced from his head, rolling off somewhere into the bushes. Kital laughed to herself as she fell; she caught a last glimpse of the fisherman, sitting up, shaking and his fist, and cursing profusely before she splashed back into the water.

The silver fish hadn't gone far. Freed from the fisherman's hands, the rod had soared off after the fish into the water. Now it was wedged between two rocks, leaving the fish just as trapped despite its desperate struggles. Kital let out another sigh, and swam over to start nibbling her way through the line. Within moments the fish was free, and shot off like a rocket, hook still in its mouth, with not even a word of thanks. A bemused Kital watched him go, then scooped up the rod in her mouth and set off in the opposite direction.

---

"I got another one!" Kital called out, proudly, in a sing-song voice as she swam into the inlet. She dropped the rod safely behind a jutting rock, where a good half-dozen other fishing rods in various states of disrepair and rot were already lying in wait. The Matsuba nodded to herself, and then looked around expectantly, awaiting a response. None was forth-coming, and after a moment her smile turned into a pout.

"Honestly, is she out hunting again?" Kital shook her head softly, and after only a moment's indecision, set back out into the river. She had a rough idea where Morsel might be, and the sooner she found her, the sooner she could tell her about her catch.
 
"...-nd then this large seamonster rose up from the depths and threatened to devour me! I barely escaped with my life!" The plump fisherman ended his story with dramatic gesture. It took all of Jarvan's self-control not to yawn straight into the guy's face. So there were 'seamonsters'. Probably not. If there were any higher level Lillim here, this fisherman would've been dragged off by those 'seamonsters' for whatever purpose those Lillim saw fit, which would've made been very nice in the long run.

So probably just a water-dwelling Lillim that liked to mess around with people. There had also been a few casualties in the chicken coops and eggs, although he doubted it was due to the 'night shadow of terror' one of the fisherman's wives has told him about. Hell, as far as he knew, it could've been a god damned ordinary fox, not even a Lillim. Alas though, the thief apparently was smart enough to dodge their traps, so it was probably a Lillim anyway.

"Did you get all that?" The nagging voice of the fisherman jolted Jarvan out of his thoughts, a polite smile immediately appearing on his face while he nodded. "Yes, yes, sir. Lake, seamonster, fishermen, ambush, got away with your life. Quite commendable, yes. Thank you for the information."
Or to put the story in translation: 'Lillim in the lake, scaring and messing with the locals quite effectively.'
Rolling his shoulders, Jarvan excused himself, finally being able to yawn as he got out of the man's line of sight. Okay, by the sound of it things weren't all that bad. No Bishops, no Queens. Thank the heavens. Now to try and fi-...
A stream of curses reached his ear as he walked around, a grin forming on the mercenary's face. Bullseye.

Taking out his flail just in case, Jarvan ran towards the source of the sound, eventually spotting an older fisherman sitting on the water's edge, looking quite bothered.
"Something the matter, sir?" The mercenary politely asked, spying around the water, but seeing no sigh of a threat. Damn it.
"Imma tell ye what, youngster! 'M fishes be gettin' ridiculous lateleh! One of 'm buggers just jumped up at meh and smirked. SMIRKED I tell ya! Damn bastard freed the fish I caught! Was a damned biggun too, lemme tell ya! And then it shot some watery gobbledegook at meh. This is gettin' out o' hand!"

Jarvan had to blink a couple of times and concentrate to translated what was being said. Water Lillim, freed a fish. Well well well. A Lillim with character, saving animals? Hhhhmmmm. Opportunities.
"Understood, sir." He said, helping the man up. "I will do everything in my power to stop this menace." He excused himself quickly, a grin on his face. Oh, he would fix it. And hopefully get himself a Lillim in the process. Finally.
Eyes peeled, the merc began to patrol the water's edge, hoping to catch a glimpse of this scary water spewer.
 
As she slid closer, the smell was making her mouth water. She’d lost count of how many of these little treats she’d had the pleasure of sinking her teeth into. Maybe that’s why she felt particularly smug as she wound her way closer to the henhouse, carefully pushing her head in through the little opening after carefully, quietly unlatching the little door. She took a deep breath in and her tongue flicked to smell all the better. Oh, they smelled good.

Slowly, silently she wound her way along the edge of the coop, towards a nest with six lovely, large eggs and no hen currently sitting on them. Well, well... she would be a fool to pass up such an easy delicacy before the chickens were alerted to her presence. She eased herself carefully into the nesting box, only to find when she was slightly more than halfway in, that the ground beneath her gave way and she was thrust into darkness. She yelped loudly in distress, in a haunting, human-like scream. She thrashed against the bag, yowling again as she found herself pricked by something. In a blind panic, all she could do was wriggle and thrash as nails driven into the bag drew blood all across her body, her tail lashing outside the bag’s mouth. The hens made a great commotion, many of them rushing out, clawing at each other’s backs to escape.

She heard a great guffaw as the plump fisherman bounded toward her, lifting up the roof and grabbing her by the tail, shaking the bag above his head victoriously. “We’re going to have quite the meal tonight! She’ll be a fine, tasty morsel!” He laughed, his belly rippling. “Get that firewood in, we’ve got cooking to do! Little egg-stealer special!” He gestured his arms about as he did a little dance towards the house, still laughing heartily.
 
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Pacing at the lake's shore, Jarvan's attention was pulled by a bone-schilling yelping call, followed shortly by a laugh from the plump fisherman. The merc strained his eyes, his eyes frowning and mouth contorting when he heard the words 'morsel' and 'egg-stealer special'. Oh, you had to be kidding him. Well, at least he had a clue now. Releasing his concentration on his spell, his muscles went back to their normal, still well trained, configuration as he ran. Rounding the corning, he saw the plump fisherman practically dance towards his home, almost salivating on the spot. A shiver of disgust shot up Jarvan's spine. Oh hell no.

Lillim were maybe seen as a pest, but he knew for a fact that they were intelligent little things, able to think and emote. Hence why he wasn't that surprised at a smirking fish earlier. Probably one of those Matsumigabo's or something. But not even rogue Lillim deserved to be eaten like this.
Just before the fisherman entered his house and walked outside of Jarvan's grasp, he managed to call out to him. "Sir! Sir, hold up!" He called out, making the plump man pause just in time, stopping him just before he entered the house.
"Ah, sir, good thing I caught you in the nick of time."
"Hhmm, ah, you're that mercenary from earlier! You can join us for dinner, I just caught myself a delicacy!"
Wait, WHAT? No no no no. No way in hell.
"Sir, if I may be so bold, the Lillim in that bag can rip your hand off the moment you open that bag. Hell, why it didn't rip open the bag already and attacked you is very unusual in and off itself. For your own safety, I must stress that you better hand that Lillim over to me."
Leaning closer to him, Jarvan looked around with a conspirator's glance before continuing to speak. "And between you and me... That Lillim there is somewhat poisonous to eat. I can tell by its tail. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone you made that mistake." Nobody else could hear them, except maybe the Lillim in the bag.

Good thing some people were as stupid as they looked. At first, the pudgy man didn't seem to care about his demand, but as soon as he mentioned the Lillim being inedible, his face whitened, snarling at the bag and almost threw it into Jarvan's arms.
"Gah! Unedible Lillim?! Things are more useless than a hen that doesn't lay delicious eggs! GAH!" Stomping, the fisherman headed back to his house, leaving Jarvan standing there, smile on his face, with a bagged Lillim in his arms.

"Now... what to do with you?" He mumbled, taking a glance at the tail. Contract-wise, would be do it by force or by diplomacy. He already knew Lillim to be clever. So maybe diplomacy was in order. He didn't really like forcing somebody into servitude anyway. If this little one was going to be his comrade in arms, it had to be willingly.
First things first though. One by one, he removed the nails from the bag, making the whole thing a good bit more comfortable for the little one inside. "Don't worry, little one. I'm not going to hurt you... or eat you. Dear god no, I'm not going to eat you. You're safe. Really. I just want to talk for a bit, alright?"
Whistling and holding on to the now nail-less bag, he wandered outside of the village and towards the water's edge. He had some things to discuss.
 
The bagged Lilim was growling, hissing, and screaming as she was jostled in the bag. She twisted, trying to get to the bag’s edge, but each time she found a sharp point. Another human voice. How many humans was she going to feed? She let out another vicious hiss, “I taste bad! Let me go! Keep your eggs!”

But she caught wind of the new human’s words. What’s he playing at? Is he going to eat me by himself? She started another low, threatening growl until she heard his quick assurances that he wasn’t going to eat her. That’s exactly what I would tell a hen, if hens could understand me. Make it nice and easy to eat them up. She twisted and coiled carefully, her claws trying to find a bare spot to cut through the cloth and avoid the... nails. Pinpricks of light started to shine through the cloth as the human removed the nails, one by one. The human was taking out the nails too? This was all very unusual.

Suspicious and confused, she coiled tightly on herself at the bottom of the bag, gently mouthing her injuries to comfort herself as she waited for the bag to open. Maybe she was foolish to believe a human, but this human was strange. She wanted to hear what he would say. She could always bite him. Biting was very much an option. Then she could escape, if he proved to be intent on eating her.

Speaking of eating, she noticed most of the nest she invaded was still in the bag with her. Her stomach growled. She carefully rolled an egg closer and busied herself with swallowing it. As far as last meals went, she figured, one last hurrah of eggs wasn’t so bad.
 
Strange. Jarvan would've thought that the Lillim inside would make more of a fuss. Like clawing the bag open, trying to escape, something along those lines. Instead, it seemed to just busy itself with eating the eggs inside. This Lillim was rather unusual. Rational. Very interesting. This might just be his lucky day after all.

With quick paces, he walked out of the village, making sure to be out of sight when he crouched onto the lake's bank, gently putting down the bag and loosening the opening so that the creature inside could slide out easily enough.
"Hey there. It's safe to come out now. We're not in the village any more. Nobody's going to eat you now. And I just want to talk."

Making sure his weapon was strapped to his side, he gave the bag a respectful distance, about 2 meters of it. Slowly and softly, he continued speaking, making his voice as casual as he could.
"See, I looking for a few nice Lillim that would maybe be willing to work together with me. And as you've proven yourself to be quite the brave one, I wondered if I could persuade you."

The warrior sniggered. "And don't worry about the theft. That fat fisherman has plenty of food already, he can miss an egg or two, even if he doesn't want to admit it."
 
By the time she was set down, she had eaten two eggs and hidden away two within her coils, her claws resting on the top of one of the eggs. She stood up on her coils and peeked out of the bag, giving a bark and quickly retreating into it again as she laid eyes on the human. Then again, tentatively, she peeked out. She used her claws and pulled the bag down carefully, returning to her coiled position, now able to see him from within the bag.

The creature was bleeding from several wounds across her snake-like body. She blinked up at him as he spoke, scratching her ear idly: though she kept a careful eye on him, in case he decided to come closer.
“Dumb human,” she barked in her rough, scream-like bark, “You can’t understand me, how are we supposed to talk? You’ll pay me? You’ll keep me as a pet? What work do you do? Catching fish? Eating eggs? Because that is what I do.” She patted the egg in her coils for emphasis.

Why would a human go to the trouble of helping out a Lilim? She heard humans only ever talk about their danger, about how pesky they were. Maybe he wanted to fight other humans. Maybe scare them. But why?
 
Huh. It did seem to understand him. Or well, she to be exact. Hadn't really heard of a Lillim yet that wasn't a female. His thoughts momentarily shot back to that fateful night a couple of years back, the mental image of his then girlfriend turning into something sending shivers down his spine.
He willed himself to focus on the matter at hand. Friend-making time.

Okay, she was still careful, but cautious. It was somewhat clear that she did understand him though. Good good, he wasn't talking to a wild animal. Then he should have a chance. Her barks seemed to indicate some doubts, but which ones he obviously couldn't say. He did see her patting the egg in her coils, indicating that... maybe she wanted to be paid in eggs? Was that was she was implying.

"If you help me, I'll give you all the eggs you want. Promise. I need a friend to keep me company and watch my back. Fight alongside me, if you will. In return, you'll not have to worry about humans every again. Hell, I'll even give complimentary belly rubs, hhmm?"

The wounds on the Lillim's body did seem rather severe though. "Wait, I think I got something for those wounds of yours. Hold on." He rummages through his backpack, taking out one of his first aid kits. Some healing salve and a couple of bandages. It wasn't much, but it would somewhat stop the bleeding and let the Lillim heal faster.
"I can patch you up if you want? Just to stop the bleeding. Look, if I wanted to catch you against your will, I would've. If you want to decline after I bandaged you, you're free to do so."

This felt weird... discussing things with a creature that couldn't talk back, but understood his words. He really was on the back foot here, heh.
 
It was a fine day, the sun was dancing across the water, and Kital had another conquest to brag about. Sure, she would've liked for her friend to be there to see her bringing back the fisherman's rod, but in a way this was better. Now she got to enjoy the anticipation, the joy of imagining the admiration on her friend's face while she shared her story. Maybe there'd even be food to share while she spoke. In short, Kital was in a grand mood as she made her way up the river. She was in such a good mood that she leapt gracefully into the air as she went, scattering droplets of water from her scales and enjoying the warmth of the sun in brief bursts before she splashed back down.

Until, in the middle of one such jump, she heard the distant, pained cry of an Nguruvilu.

The Matsuba's good cheer vanished before she hit the water. She swam swiftly back to the surface, but broke through more cautiously this time, just poking her head up to peek suspiciously in either direction. She wasn't far from the farmhouses, now; it wouldn't take her much longer to arrive. She dived back under and began to swim with purpose, trying not to think about the possibility that her friend had been caught, somehow, somewhere on land. Somewhere a Matsuba couldn't follow.

---

There, by the bank of the lake, crouched a human. He was... talking?... to a bag?... that presumably contained her friend. Kital could hear her voice, carrying over the water to where the Matsuba lurked, cautiously, by a group of rocks. They were too distant for her to make out any words. The human didn't sound angry, the way the fisherman always, but then... he didn't look much like they did, either, and who knew what that meant when it came to humans?

He was getting something out of his bag, that much was obvious. Kital couldn't tell what. She'd have to get closer. Slowly, she submerged, keeping her eyes on him as long as she could, and then she began to make her way carefully, quietly, towards the shore.

The human had made at least one mistake. He was in jumping distance.
 
The Lilim tilted her head as he spoke, her tail thumping slowly against the ground with some frustration. She wanted to tell him off, but it would hardly make any difference. The human could hear her, but he could not listen. Humans were funny that way.

She stood up on her coils again slowly, trying to get a better look at what was in his hands. She eyed him suspiciously. She hissed, showing her fangs as if to say No funny business. Her ears were folded back, not quite pressed against her head. She carefully slithered out of the bag, still keeping a wary eye on him.

She coiled at his feet, looking up at the human expectantly. This human was not like any she had met before. Maybe there were different kinds of humans. She gave a small yip,“Hurry up, then, and I won’t hurt you. Not this time; anyway.”
 
It took everything not to make his smile turn into a somewhat victorious grin. Hehehe, he was getting somewhere. Sure, he couldn't understand her, but her body language was clear enough.
'No tricks, otherwise you get the nom', it said.
"Don't worry, friend. Won't do anything fishy... or maybe that's the wrong word to use."

Carefully, Jarvan began to softly apply some of the salve to her wounds making sure to be as gentle as possible. Whenever it would sting a little, he's let her react, pulling his hands away. Quickly, he bandages up the wounds as well as he could. There, that looked a bit better. Although now the Lillim had quite a couple of white pieces of cloth wrapped around her body in different places, giving her quite the comical striped look.
"There, all done. I do need to advise you not to go into the water for the next two hours though if possible. Otherwise the salve will wash off."

The merc stashed his gear away again, turning to the Lillim again. "So, does that feel better? Would you like to consider my offer? Come on, I did save your from that fisherman, after all. I would already be glad if you gave it a little bit of thought, alright?"
 
Her ears flicked as she sat at his feet, her tail still thumping, though a little faster now. A low growl gargled in her throat as he gently handled her wounded body, but she didn’t show her teeth. It wasn’t that the salve hurt, per se, but it definitely didn’t feel nice to be handled right now. She wasn’t used to human hands anyway, so being enveloped so completely was an unfamiliar experience. Her hair stood on end.

She sniffed at her bandages curiously, suspiciously and looked up at him with the same vaguely confused, defensive look. When he mentioned she shouldn’t go back into the water, she looked back at the village. If I stay on land, I’ll be dead in those two hours.

She held her head down submissively, her ears turned downward beside her head as she approached his right leg. This would be a terrible time to be mistaken as hostile. She put a claw out carefully and scratched gently at his pant leg. She wanted to look him in the face and that would require being picked up.

She didn’t know much about Lilim contracts, only that humans ate some creatures and kept others. She would have to fight alongside him? Be his companion? It did sound like he wanted a pet. This affronted her pride a little. She wasn’t sure she was pet material.
 
Okay, that was done. Somewhere, Jarvan fully expected his luck to falter yet again, the little one before him scampering away into the water regardless of his warning. Now imagine his surprise when she looked up at his with a somewhat rebellious glare and DIDN'T leave. Instead, she approached his leg, her eyes turned downwards as she lowered her head.
What... the hell... was happening? This was a first.

For a couple of seconds, Jarvan was not sure what to do. He was a merc, a fighter, a killer at times. And here he was, talking to this weirdly cute snake... thing. Which understood him. And he asked her to be his companion and comrade in arms.
Okay, he really was going absolutely bonkers, crazy, mad and everything in between.
He looked at the little beast when she pawed his pants, clearly wanting to be picked up. Well... You know... why the hell not?

"Alright, want to be picked up, do you? No problem!"
Carefully, he held his two hands together, allowing her to slither onto them and curl up somewhat comfortably. As he looked on, he did notice that the Lillim was getting a little bit... defensive?
Maybe he should state his purpose again.
"Okay, so... To reiterate. I need a proud and clever comrade in arms. Preferably multiple, so you'll get another comrade quite soon, with a bit of luck." In his head, he thought about what he had said. Hold on, he had made a joke about belly rubs. If they were as intelligent as him, that might come across as rude.
"By the way, the belly rubs thing was meant as a joke. I know you can understand me, I know you're clever. I don't see you as a mere animal or something along those lines. Sorry if I made you think that."

And now he was apologising to the cat-thing. There went his whole bloody reputation. Next stop, the bloody circus to become a clown.
 
The human's form looked funny from beneath the surface of the water, a wavy and indistinct shadow. Kital could see his lips moving, obviously still chatting away, but she still couldn't really make his words. His voice was muffled and distorted through the water, but it sounded kind of... pleasant?

Well, that couldn't be right. The Matsuba's face set into a determined glare, and her body slowly coiled up. She wiggled as she took aim...

And then stopped as her friend came into view, crawling onto the man's hands. Intentionally, it looked like.

Kital's body slowly relaxed - though out of confusion, not any sense of relief - and for a moment she hesitated. What in the world was happening? This man must have done something to trick her, or trap her, right? She wasn't really letting herself be picked up like that, was she?

She must be confused. There was no way that made any sense. Her friend needed her. It was time she put a stop to this.

Her mind made up, Kital coiled up once more, then shot towards the surface. She burst forth from the lake in a shower of water, a dazzling bolt of red and gold soaring directly at the human's face.

"Run!" She cried out, "I'll distract him!"

She hadn't exactly figured out what she'd do once she landed, but that didn't seem like an important detail right now.
 
Just as Jarvan finished his question, a bloody Matsuba came leaping out of the water. Damn it, he should have expected that. What else could a frowning fish be? Even worse, that same frowning fish was now soaring straight towards his face like some red and golden arrow.
"Oh, for fuc-..." He was able to utter before he was forced to dodge. Or at least try to. Turns out that dodging a surprise attack from a big koi-like fishing flying at you isn't all that easy, regardless of how much combat experience you have. Especially when you have both hands full with a Nguruvilu... Oh wait, that was the name of the fo-... NOT THE TIME, BRAIN!

The fish collided with his face with a wet slap, almost knocking him off his feet while he trying to dodge in such a way not to hurt the Nguruvilu in his hands. Falling back, it took all of his control to fall in a somewhat controlled manner, his eyes closed against the wet fish wriggling in his face.
"Gods... Bloody... Aarghh... Come on!" He cursed, his voice frustrated and somewhat helpless as he fell on his back, cupping the injured Lillim in his hands so she would not get hurt. His back hit the ground hard, taking the impact for both the fish and the fox-snake Lillim. His hands relaxed, as he saw stars for a second. The fall had pressed the air out of his lungs quite effectively.

There he lay, with a splashing Matsuma on his chest and an injured Nguruvilu in his hands, trying to catch his breath in some godforsaken fisherman's village. Could this day get any stranger?
"Okay, okay... Hold on... I don't mean any harm, damn it. Calm, calm..." He groaned, trying to get his bearings.
 
The nguruvilu slithered into the big man’s hands carefully. As he lifted her up, she studied his face carefully. She tilted her head. He talked a great deal, this human. She hadn’t known a human who talked so much, particularly to a Lilim.

Her tongue flicked as she considered his offer. So he wanted fighters, like he was a fighter, but didn’t want them in the form of other humans. That made sense, she supposed. The humans she had seen did not seem like fighters, certainly not good ones. Maybe this human would take her someplace interesting. And he had already promised her eggs, though she had not asked for them. She certainly wouldn’t be able to get eggs from this farm anymore. Maybe pets had figured something out, getting fed by humans for only the pleasure of their company.

She opened her mouth to give some sort of reply, but instead she hissed in surprise as she heard the splash of water and her fishy friend’s battle cry. Then she was thrust into darkness, cupped in the human’s hands. She slithered through his fingers and over to her friend flopping on his chest. She tilted her head and barked, a little mockingly, “And what was your plan for after you landed, great savior?” She couldn’t help but give a foxy snicker. She stretched her little arms out as wide as she could and began to push Kital back towards the water.

“Do you ever think before you leap?” She teased good-naturedly, “The human wants me to become a fighter with him. Saved me from the fat fishers, offered to give me eggs.”

“Says he wants a trio,” She barked thoughtfully, taking great effort to get the Matsuba down the human’s body, “He seems a bit foolish. Talks very much. But he seems different from the other humans here.”
 
"I did think!" Kital protested, pouting, as she lay where she'd landed atop the man's chest - though that was obviously untrue. The man was trying to say something, but the matsuba ignored him, flailing her fins dramatically. "This is all a part of my plan! Watch, all I have to do is... is..."

She flopped her body back and forth, struggling this way and that, and at last, with a great deal of effort... managed to flip onto her other side, accomplishing little more than slightly adding to her victim's discomfort. The matsuba let out a small sigh, her fins drooping, and gave up the struggle, silently accepting her friend's assistance. This rescue was not going the way she'd imagined it.

At least her defeat gave Kital a moment to listen to what her friend was saying. She lifted her head slightly to get a better look at her friend, taking in the pieces of cloth wrapped around her body, and then glanced suspiciously back towards what she could see of the human's face. "He was really helping you?" She asked, her tone that of someone slowly coming to realize they were wrong but still reluctant to admit. She sighed again. "I... guess maybe I overreacted. A little."

He still seemed weird, though. What kind of human helps a Lilim out? For that matter, what kind of human goes around trying to recruit...

Kital's eyes suddenly lit up. She flopped her tail excitedly against the man's body. "Wait, he's some kind of Contractor?!" She'd heard of such people - humans who would make deals with Lilim to share in their strength, take them on as companions, comrades and warriors. People who were brave enough, sometimes, to travel the world despite the dangers it posed to their kind. The matusba flopped her tail once more. "Do you know what this means? We could form a contract with him! He could take us to see the world!"

It hadn't occurred to the matsuba yet that he might not want to form a contract with her after being slapped in the face. That didn't seem like an important detail right now.
 
Okay, his mind was now rather clear, so he sh-... Jarvan tried to sit upright just as the Matsuba flopped around, earning him another face full of fish. A vein popping in his forehead, Jarvan had to muster all his self-control not to use that damn fish as a skipping stone and send her careening across the water.
Grunting, he kept laying down for a bit as he listened to the two Lillim bubbling and barking to each other. What the hell were they talking about?

Finally, he felt something trying to push the fish off him. Looking down, he saw the Nguruvilu push the fish back to the water with great effort. The fox-snake seemed rather... smug? Sassy? Was that even possible? First smirking fish, then flying fish and now sassy fox-snakes. Was it just him or were all Lillim just this bloody insane? Maybe he did something to piss off a local deity or something. He should really check that out if that was the case.

"Oh for the love of..." He muttered his hands moving towards the Matsuba and the Nguruvilu and gently picking them up as he sat upright.
"Hold on, I'll move you to the water." With a few quick steps, Jarvan was at the water's edge and carefully lowered the Matsuba into it once more, fighting the urge to throw her in instead. Be gentle. Throwing smirking fish wasn't going to get him anywhere. Might scare off the Nguruvilu too.

"There," He said, nodding. "In the water with you. Let's start from the top again. First of all... I'm not going to hurt or kidnap or eat either of you. Alright? Okay. So, for miss Nguruvilu here. Would you consider my offer?"
Hopefully this whole interuption didn't put a damper on things. That'd be a shame. Jarvan looked at the Matsuba. Oh dear, these two were friends. He had a feeling what one of the requirements for enlisting the Nguruvilu's help would be...
 
The little fox-snake snickered as she watched her friend proudly struggle just to turn onto her side, “No, that’s great. I see your point. You have this all figured out.”
She gave a little nod in response to her question as she struggled to heave the Matsuba along, “He did. Strange for a human, right?”
She wrinkled her nose a bit at Kital’s sudden realization, “A contractor? What does that mean? What does the contract do?”
She gave a squeaking sound of surprise as she was suddenly in the human's hand again. She peered over at Kital in his other hand, sliding along his hand to peer down at her once he put her in the water.
“I don’t really care about seeing the world, but it would be convenient to be protected and fed by a human. No more snares and hungry fishers,” she glanced back at Jarvan, “How are you going to convince him to take you too?”
 
"Well, the contract is - hey!" The Matsuba began to squirm almost reflexively at the man's touch, but fortunately she wasn't quite slippery enough to escape his grasp - and besides, after a moment she remembered that she was meant to be trying to cooperate with him now, and stopped fighting back. She dipped out sight for a moment as he lowered her back into the lake, executing a quick turn underwater before poking her head back up through the surface.

"It's basically a magical deal," She finished explaining. The truth was that she didn't really know much about how it worked - she only really overhead a few stories - but she put up a good show of knowing what she was talking about. "It bonds us to him. We fight for and protect him, and in return he takes care of us and helps us become stronger."

She tilted her head to one side, taking a closer look at the human now. Was he really someone who could do that? She'd already beaten him once, after all. On the other hand, he was only human... maybe that was to be expected. He certainly seemed stronger than the fishermen... and there was something nice about his eyes. He looked like someone who liked to smile. He'd also already tried to take care of them, sort of...

"And just why wouldn't he want to take me?" She demanded, turning her head back towards her friend. Her outrage was feigned, though her pride wasn't. "I'm an excellent specimen of Lilimhood, you know, and you did say he wanted a trio. Besides... you wouldn't really go without me, would you?"
 
It didn't surprise him much to see that Matsuba return to the surface soon after he released her, continuing to bubble towards her Nguruvilu friend. Truth be told, he was rather annoyed by the fact that he couldn't understand them. That would make matter so much easier!
With a small chuckle, he shook his head, somewhat amused at this whole situation and took out his Lillim tome. He had carried this thing around for a while, a big leather-bound book with the number '6' embossed on its spine with a fancy font.

Keeping one eye on the Lillim, he flipped the pages a bit, making some minor preparations for the contracting ritual if the Lillim in front of him were going to accept. And he figured that he'd have to take both of them on board if he didn't want to resort to violence. He didn't want that. Jarvan just wasn't that kind of person. A mercenary should take care to treat his friends and family with respect and humour, not beat them into submission.
"Don't mind me, just flipping through my Tome." He said, grinning at the two Lillim. "These will come to contain the contracts I was talking about."
 
“I didn’t know humans could do that sort of thing,” the nguruvilu barked, turning to look at the human curiously, “What sort of bond is it, do you think?”

She peered over the human’s hand again at her friend’s proud assumptions. No, she wouldn’t leave without her. But that didn’t mean her friend shouldn’t be more concerned. She sprayed water down at the Matsuba’s face playfully.
“You did attack him, dummy. And stranded yourself on land in the process,” she tilted her head, “But I’ll see what I can do. Maybe he likes foolish Matsuba.”

She turned and yipped at the human to get his attention. She extended her claw to point at the tome he was holding, then she pointed at herself, then down at the Matsuba in the water, giving a small nod after. Hopefully the human would understand.
 
The two Lillim in front of him seemed to be bickering about something. Not that he could hear something else than barking and bubbling, but still. Jarvan chuckled when the Nguruvilu sprayed some water into the Matsuba's face. Somebody was getting scolded.

The Fox-snake turned towards him yipping to get his attention. Jarvan looked up from the tome and raised his eyebrows when he saw the claw pointing at the tome. His eyebrows turned into a teasing frown though when the little critter pointed to the Matsuba as well as herself, giving him a nod. Her message was clear. 'We're a set. Both of nothing.'.
To be fair, he did like the Matsuba's fighting spirit, but then again, she did flop into his face. A little bit of teasing was in order.

"Ah, I got you. You want me to make a deal both you and your Matsuba friend, huh? Ooooone little problem. She flopped in my face. Right here." He pointed at his nose and rubbed it carefully. "And she flopped on my chest for a bit. Although hilarious, not a very good move. We'll need to work on that."
"If she can promise she won't flop into my face again and that we'll work on her tactical skills, we've got a deal! Oh, and a sorry would be nice."
Truth be told, he would accept it even without the Matsuba apologising, but he wanted to see if she would. Curiosity and all.
 
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