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radioactivepeasant · 8 months

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Fic Prompts: Snippet Monday

A short scene that doesn't have a story to go with, and is therefore free to incorporate into just about whatever.

Viper

"-look, all I'm saying is we need a break!"

Damas paused to listen to the voices floating up from the elevator shaft. Ah. He'd been beginning to wonder when, exactly, the boys had been planning to turn in their report on the sandstorm evacuation. He stifled a smile and went back to watering the date palms nearest the window as he listened to them arguing.

"A break? Dax, just being here is a break!"

"...you've been out in the sun too long, pal. You seem to have forgotten the life-threatening nonsense these people keep putting us through!"

Jak's laugh grew louder as the elevator rose higher. "So? We have entire days where we don't have to go anywhere or do anything! And we get to go wherever we want! C'mon, Dax, you can't possibly tell me this place isn't like a vacation compared to Haven."

The elevator locked into place and Jak ambled out, looking perfectly at home amid the artificial streams. He lifted a hand in irreverent greeting when he spotted Damas, and made his way across the stepping stones. And if he seemed to be making a game of skipping every other stone, well, Damas wouldn't tell anyone.

"All scouts accounted for!" Jak announced cheerfully as he landed on the last stone, right at the foot of the dais. "Oh hey, the Crawler's making some weird noises though. I think you should have Kleiver do some maintenance on it."

Damas raised a brow. "Hm. A mobile sandstorm shelter won't do us much good if it breaks down. I'll make a note of it."

He set down the pitcher he had been using to water the tree and made his way back to his throne, looking for one of the data recording devices he kept to hand.

"I don't have any other work for you at the moment. If you can find a way to amuse yourselves that doesn't involve violent destruction of private property, the rest of the afternoon is yours to spend as you wish."

Daxter snapped his fingers in a pretense of disappointment. "Darn, well, that rules out all your plans, doesn't it, Jak?"

"Swimming doesn't destroy private property," Jak suggested, bouncing his shoulder.

"Not during a storm," Damas cut in. "I don't want to hear that someone had to take a boat out there and haul you out of a rip current."

Jak was about to argue when he felt Daxter go rigid on his shoulder. Following Damas’s surprised gaze, he found his friend squinting around the room. His ears swiveled and rotated like satellites, as if trying to catch a specific sound.

"Dax? What's wrong?"

"Say, uh, Jak?" Daxter piped up nervously, "Anyone else hear hissing?"

Hissing? Jak frowned and scanned the room, wondering what his friend was hearing. As his eyes swept across the dais, something caught his attention. It wasn’t that noticeable, just the barest hint of motion. But when Jak reached for just a hint of dark eco, suffusing his sclera in darkness, it stood out as clear as lightning.

Instinct took over and Jak had a knife out of his boot before he could even process what he was seeing. In an instant he'd hurled the dagger at the throne, just missing Damas’s calf.

"Jak!" Damas snapped, "Watch it!"

With a pained squeal, something began to thrash beside his foot. Pinned to the leg of the throne by Jak's knife was a massive snake. A Dust Demon viper, slowly losing its camouflage as death throes sent it thrashing in pain.

Damas examined the creature impassively, then slammed down his boot, putting it out of its misery.

"I thought something felt different," he remarked, entirely too calmly. "Next time, aim for the head for a cleaner kill. There's no need to make it suffer."

Daxter’s fur stood on end like static electricity as he clung to Jak’s shoulder in an arch.

"How long was that there?!" he demanded, "Is this a regular problem for you?!"

Damas prodded the still twitching viper with the butt of his staff. "Hardly."

His eyes narrowed in thought, and lowered himself into a crouch to examine the animal. "This little one did not get here on its own power."

Jak was already thinking on the same track.

"Someone brought it here," he realized, and his face twisted into an angry, inhuman snarl.

He jumped up onto the dais to crouch beside Damas and glared at the offending creature.

"So...so what? This was an assassination attempt?"

"Hm. That is very likely," Damas agreed. He didn't seem particularly bothered.

Glancing up, he directed a smile at Jak and Daxter. "Very well done. I commend the both of you. This will not be forgotten."

Daxter perked up, glowing at the praise like he'd had a spotlight shone on him.

Jak missed the praise entirely. He was fully focused on the words assassination attempt. Who would try to kill Damas? And in such an underhanded way? If someone had a problem with the king, there was a perfectly good Arena to settle the dispute in!

Well. To be fair, Jak supposed that would be a fight the dissenter wouldn't walk away from. He wasn't even sure he could beat Damas in a fight. So what did that make this? Cowardice?

Jak hated it. It reminded him of the backstabbing he used to see among the prison guards under Praxis's reign.

Jak glowered at the dead snake, and jerked his knife out of it. He just missed Damas’s approving nod when he bent to clean the blade on his boot before sheathing it again. The snake lay sprawled in unnatural angles, no longer twitching. With dark eco rumbling in his chest like a warning growl, Jak reached down and picked the viper up by the tail.

"I'm gonna find out who did this," he vowed, looking Damas in the eye, "And they're gonna pay."

He started to stand, but a hand on his arm anchored him in place.

"Leave it," Damas commanded. He stood and jerked his chin towards the foot of the throne. "Let everyone who enters this chamber see it there."

"Why?" Jak furrowed his brow and stood to follow, viper dangling from his hand. "Won't that just show the assassin they should try something else?"

Damas settled into his throne with a scoff. "No no, think, Jak. What did I teach you about choosing battles?"

Jak blinked. Was this a test of some kind? He looked to Daxter, who only shrugged. Damas had that secretive glint in his eye, which meant it probably was a test. Jak closed his eyes and tried to think.

He's not facing this head-on, or at least not the way I would. Which means he's probably taking a more subtle approach. Jak, admittedly, was not very good at "subtle". He wracked his brains for an answer, looking between the snake, the throne, and the doors before realizing that Damas was watching his facial expressions intently.

Oh.

"You're...going to watch everyone's reactions? When people come in, right? If...if the assassin or an accomplice comes in, seeing the snake will send a message. Or...or it might spook them into giving something away?"

The answer lacked his usual brash confidence. Jak hoped the king wouldn't pick up on that, but at the same time he knew it was unlikely that he wouldn't. But he couldn't help a little trepidation! Damas clearly expected him to know the answer and he didn't want to get it wrong!

To his relief, Damas dipped his head and smiled proudly.

"Excellent! That is precisely what I intend to do -- so I can't have you running around the city to threaten people with a dead snake."

He gestured to his right meaningfully.

"And as you have no other tasks for the afternoon, I think this would be a good opportunity for you to hone your observation skills. After how quickly you two picked up on the viper's presence, I can think of no better choice to help me suss out our would-be killer."

This time Daxter wasn't the only one to light up and stand a little straighter in response to the commendation. Jak may not have been familiar with ranks and hierarchies, but he understood the gesture of trust Damas was extending to them. And he understood that being asked to stand by at the right hand of a warrior like Damas was no small thing. Damas was asking them to help him find an assassin in the ranks as though he hadn't the slightest doubt that they would be successful.

Jak squared his shoulders and nodded sharply. "We won't let you down," he said firmly.

Damas returned his nod with an almost fond smile. "I know."

Jak leaned on the pillar right of the throne and considered the viper thoughtfully before tossing it to land closer to Damas’s feet. Then, after perhaps a minute of silence, he asked,

"Can I have the fangs though?"

Damas let out a startled laugh. "The fangs?!"

"Yeah," Jak shrugged, suddenly sheepish. "It's- I have a- there's a thing. I need them."

Daxter translated with narrowed eyes. "He means his horrible, horrible, bone collection that he's been making jewelry out of."

Leaning back, Damas laughed again. "Then by all means." He smiled indulgently, gesturing, "Take the fangs! Just be careful of the venom."

"I will." Jak waved off the warning just a touch too nonchalantly. "How long do you think before people start showing up?"

Damas checked his data device. "Four meetings this afternoon, two more after evening meal. The next one is in approximately twenty minutes."

Daxter hopped down and settled into a more comfortable position on the dais steps. "Welp. Sounds like we're gonna be here a while. Jak, you brought snacks, right?"

"We could eat the snake if you're hungry enough," Jak teased.

Daxter made a disgusted sound and looked to Damas, pointing an accusing finger at Jak.

"Will you please do something about him?!"

"Don't eat the evidence, Jak," Damas snorted. "Go get some roasted crickets out of the kitchens if you're hungry. You have a few minutes."

"CRICKETS?!" Daxter shrieked. He clasped his paws to his head in horror. "You're an enabler! Jak! Don't listen to the man!"

Jak pushed off of the pillar and rolled his eyes at Daxter. "If you'll eat a decapod, you can eat a hexapod. Besides, they're good! Damas, you want me to bring you some?"

"Naturally."

Daxter groaned and pulled his ears down over his eyes. "Great. Lunatic and Lunatic Junior are sharing meal plans now. Goodbye, normal diet!"

Jak looked just a little too smug about being labeled "Lunatic Junior".

#fic prompts #writing prompts #snippet monday #Jak and Daxter #dadmas #king damas #tw animal death #I've never eated a roasted cricket before but I'd definitely try it #Damas is trying to train Jak to take on the kind of role Sig holds when he's home #Jak has no idea that he's started an internship

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