Snippet #2585794

Once Hope got Richard's answer, he replied 'Ah, ok. I'll head there straight away then.'

He began to walk towards the entrance of the city, humming softly. As if attracted by the tune, the yellow snake being; which had been resting in Hope's pack (it was pretty empty, with only a towel and some other basic necessities), came out and slide up to his shoulder. It swayed to the beat, and came up and around to come face to face with Hope, who gave a chuckle at the sight.

'Almost forgot about you,' he muttered fondly, directing a faint smile towards the snake. It gazed silently at him, and Hope examined it in more detail, half-paying attention to the route he was taking in order not to bump or trip into anything.

Upon closer inspection, the snake seemed to have changed slightly since the last time he saw it. The flickering had died down to a faint glow, and the scales were now a deep fire yellow instead of light straw yellow. There were faint sunny gold stripes on the side blending in with the yellow, and the reddish diamond on its forehead faded gradually into the yellow background; as though it was a diamond shaped sun about to rest or rise. The head itself had grown into something resembling a particularly rounded triangle, and it's eyes reminded Hope of the summer sky.

Oh, and it had grown more smaller too. The snake slithered out of the sack and around Hope's neck, and it hanged around his neck like a particularly tasteless necklace, wrapping it's body loosely around Hope's neck twice before running out of length to do so again. The warmth from earlier was gone; now it felt like the snake didn't even exist. Hope stopped examining it and increased his pace from a stroll to a brisk walk; he wanted to reach the meeting point ASAP and find out whether what Uona had helped him plan was a success.

'I think I'll call you Daryl. What do you think?" Hope asked the snake, ignoring the brief looks of bystanders who thought he was talking to himself. As though it was answering, it moved its translucent head from in front of his vision to resting around his neck, and Hope took it as a yes. "Daryl it is, he muttered, grinning, and increased his speed even more.

Hope decreased his pace to normal walking speed once the gates were closer in distance, getting his breath back from the almost-run he had done to reach his destination. It was kind of embarrassing that he had ran here, and no on but Hope himself needed to know that he had done so. As he reached them, he caught sight of Uona, a merchant, Richard and a red haired knight who was probably the Altara Richard had mentioned before, along with a young female elf who had blonde hair.

Hope walked towards the merchant's cart, curious about the wares the dwarf was selling. He gave Richard and Uona a grin and a small wave before turning to the other two ladies, giving them a nod in greeting and a smile. Then he turned and examined the cart's contents, careful not to interrupt anyone while he stared at the items belonging to the merchant, wondering if there was something he wanted which the merchant could provide.