I'm Not A Snake Monster!: Chapter 1

Summary: Willow, an enormous snake-like monster with a heart of gold, has never seen anyone like her. She runs away from home in pursuit of the truth.

[Story Listing]

CHAPTER 1

Deep in the boreal forest, where the canopy above had grown so thick that the sun's rays struggled to reach the soil below, a small doe darts from bush to bush, looking for food. It hunts as the forest's heart lies in a perpetual state of twilight, even in the middle of the day.

It's a brave deer. Other animals have learned to avoid this neck of the woods. For it was the stomping ground of a fearsome predator. Its presence was evident all around, broken branches, frayed bushes... the earth itself swept clean. 

The doe paused, looking around. She felt a presence in the bushes. Perhaps she was being watched. She would have to finish eating soon, and flee to a safer location. 

The doe understood, as all animals did, that every day was a battle for survival, and constant vigilance was the key. 

Just as the doe searches amongst the shrubbery for tasty leaves, the predator stalks its prey. 

In the corner of its eye, the light shimmers, twisting oddly. The deer senses that she's in critical danger, and prepares to make a run for it!

SWISH!

...When from out of the darkness, a net smacks lightly against a fallen log. The sudden movement is enough for the deer to bounce a good twenty feet away!

"Yessss!" An excited voice hisses to itself. It sounded like it belonged to a young girl.

...The deer turns its head in the direction of the voice. It sounded like a human. Actually, they were even dressed as a human, adorning a blue shirt with an atom design printed on the front, and a skirt near where her waist was supposed to be. However...

One look at the girl suggested anything but human. Instead of hair, a writhing mass of six snake heads and a multitude of tails shifted in all directions. Instead of fleshy skin, reptilian scales covered her entire body. The length of her snake-like body was impossible to estimate as it disappeared into the darkness of the bush... 

...Oddly enough, she had a human-like torso, with arms holding tight onto the long handle of a bug catching net. Her yellow eyes sparkled with giddy enthusiasm.

"Got ya! Ooh, stick bugs have really good camouflage huh??" She mused to herself.

...One of the snakes writhing from her scaly scalp turned towards the deer, its beady eyes staring in its direction. Its tongue shot out, flicking to try and get a read on its scent. 

"...Oh?" The snake-like girl mumbled, turning to face the astonished deer. The girl's expression shifted rapidly from curiosity, to excitement, stifling a gasp that revealed her sharp fangs. "I-is that a deer!?"

Unfortunately, her shrill exclamation was enough of an invitation for the deer to get the heck out of there. Turning tail, the deer bounced off into the deeper parts of the woods. 

"No, wait! Come baaack!" 

The snake girl slithered forward, extending her hand. She lowered it as the deer disappeared well out of sight. 

"Awww... I just wanted to take a picture of you." Willow pouted to herself. 

Clink.

"...Eh?"

One of the snakes on her head was coiled around a small plastic container. Big enough to safely store and transport a stick bug. The snake gently nudged it against her shoulder.

"Oh, right! Thanks for reminding me, Terry!" She smiled, scooping up the insect with the net. "Okay lil' guy, don't squirm too much. We're gonna take you home, okay?"

"Wiiiiiillooooow!" A faraway voice called out through the woods. 

"Oh! Mom's calling!" Willow blinked. Her body reered upwards, turning towards the sound of her mother's voice. Suddenly, a thin, forked tongue darted out from between her lips, and then disappeared almost as quickly as she came. It was how she tasted the air... how her sense of smell worked.

"I smell lunch!!" She cooed, beaming excitedly. "Better hurry back, before it gets cold..."

She fussed with the small bug container, making sure it was secure, and began the trek back home. 

Slithering through the underbrush came easy to her. She barely even felt the rocks, the gnarled branches, or the odd overturned log. She knew this area like the back of her scaly hand, and traveled almost at a sprint.

---

Willow arrived at a clearing in the woods. In the center, a small wooden cottage stood alone, apart from the mighty trees surrounding the modest building. It was seemingly constructed by hand, and in a bit of a hurry too - if not for the warm, inviting light illuminating the front-facing window. 

Willow wasted no time hurrying over to the front door, letting herself in.  The door greeted her with a haggard creaking sound; the dang thing needed oiling pretty badly. 

"Hi Mom! I'm home!" Willow cheerily announced her presence, closing the door behind her. 

"Willow! It's time for lunch!" A woman called again for Willow, her voice sunnily responding. She was hunched over a small stove, gently stirring a small vat of some kind of boiling concoction. 

"Aha! Knew it from a mile away!~" Willow giggled. "Cabbage soup. My favourite!"

"Oh? Smelled it from that far? Ah, one of these days I'll have a surprise ready for you..." The mother chuckled, stirring the pot briskly - once, twice, three times. 

It was interesting to note that Willow's mother was, in fact, not like Willow at all. For one, she wasn't a snake. Actually, she was a simple, run-of-the-mill human. 

Willow's mother had a heavyset body and a happy-go-lucky bounce to her step. Garbed in an apron with the name 'Chef Minnie' on the front, she worked with an unflappable smile almost as bright as her shoulder-length blonde hair. 

Minnie seemed a touch too big for the altogether too small kitchen area, but she was happy with her setup. It meant that she could simply spin and turn around to reach for anything she needed. It's not like their family had many personal belongings out here to clutter things up.

Minnie wasn't about to let the little things get her down, though. She wore her smile with pride - and bombast to go with it. Not before lunch. The medley of vegetables she tossed into the cabbage soup were all freshly harvested, and packed with nutrients for a growing girl. 

"After lunch, we'll have to get you cleaned up. Sami would throw a fit if she saw you, caked in all that mud!" Minnie prepared a few bowls of the soup.

"Aww, but moooom! I was hunting!" Willow whined, not looking forward to another thorough scrub-down.

"..."Hunting'?" Minnie's movements paused for a seconds, as she glanced over. 

"Mmhm! There was this stick bug! He thought he was being sooooo clever, but he couldn't trick me!~" Willow presented the cage with pride. "Lookit, lookit! Do you see??"

WIllow slid the small cage onto the table. Many parental figures would fervently  object to a bug being placed on the kitchen table. Minnie didn't see the harm in letting Willow indulge her curiosity just a bit. Sami wasn't home to lay down the law, after all.

"...Oh! That's quite a specimen you caught, Willow!" Minnie, glancing over, took a nice close look, squinting to make it out. Her eyes weren't nearly as good for spotting subtleties as Willow's were, but in a cramped little carrying case like that, there weren't many places for the bug to hide.

"...Hm! They're interesting little creatures. You might've guessed they disguise as vegetation, so no predators can go and eat them up..." Minnie nodded, rubbing her chin.

"Mmhm! Like sticks! And they got a bunch that look like leaves too!" Willow paused. "...I hope I didn't step on any. There's leaves everywhere..."

"Yes, they're all part of the same order of insects. Phasmatodea, specifically... ooh, fun fact!" Minnie leaned forward. "Here's a neat trick! They sway their bodies from side to side, to mimic the motion of leaves in the wind. See, look closely!"

Minnie pointed towards the insect. True to form, it was swaying gently in thenon-existent breeze. Willow's serpentine eyes widened, and the tip of her tail wagged back and forth in excitement.

"Wow! There's no breeze or anything!" Willow uttered, astonished. "You're so smart, mom!"

"Mmhmhm! Now, why don't you go throw him in with the others you've collected? I'll get lunch ready in the meantime." Minnie patted Willow on the shoulder dotingly.

"Ah! Right, definitely! I still need this cage!" 

Willow slithered over to the back. A small terrarium was set up, housing a myriad of insects. There were cocoons hanging off small branches, resting fireflies, the odd centipede and millipede wriggling through piles of leaves. 

"You think I could find a biiiig tarantula out there?? I heard there's one out there that can eat a whoooole bird!" Willow pantomimed it with a pair of scaley hands - she greatly exaggerating the size of the bird.

"Ahahaha, um, probably not! They're faaaaar south of these woods." Minnie chided, with a gentle chuckle.

"Awww, really? That sucks..." Willow pouted, giving her terrarium a quick one-two check. 

"Make sure you've closed that good and tight! We don't want your little friends moving in with the bed bugs!" Minnie called, putting the final touches on the soup in the kitchen.

"Okay Mom!" Willow made sure it was locked up, before pausing. "...Maybe I should hunt down a bed bug..." Filing that little thought for later, she hurried over to the table.

Willow didn't need a seat at the table. Actually, she wasn't really built for chairs. She simply coiled up into a happy little pile of herself, looking over her meal - a piping hot bowl of cabbage soup. She saw more than cabbage though - there were carrots, and celery, and potatoes... pretty much whatever was on hand, really.

Willow leaned over to get a better sniff. Her tongue darted out, tasting the air, and managed to get just the teensiest lick of soup. She smacked her lips. 

"Mmmmm... smells good!" One of Willow's hair snakes was already reaching for the spoon.

"It's fresh from the stove, so don't eat it too quickly." Minnie cautioned Willow with a wag of her finger. "It's healthy, so I want to see that bowl clean. It's good for a growing girl to get big and strong!~"

"And long!!" Willow beamed. 

"...And long." Minnie conceded with a bemused smirk. 

Willow loved the feeling of getting a little bigger and stronger. Every time she shed her skin, she'd grow just a little bit longer. Usually, she needed a little help from her parents, but she had grown quite long over the years. 

"When I grow up, I'm gonna be the biggest person in the whoooooole world!" Willow declared bombastically from across the table. 

"...The biggest??" Minnie tilted her head. She wondered if Willow didn't fit that bill already.

In fact, at only nine years old, she had grown to a staggering length of 13 feet. They made a ritual of measuring her every time she shed her skin, and now, from end to end, she was longer than both of her parents stacked on top of each other. 

"Mmhm! I'm gonna be biiiig, and strooong, and I'm gonna help people! Nobody's gonna bully anyone when I'm around!~" Willow puffed her chest out. "Or they'll have to deal with me!"

And with that length came muscle and girth; Willow loved the feeling of exercising every muscle in her body. It was a good thing there was hardly another living soul for miles, or else Willow might've challenged them to a duel!

"Well, Willow... you don't have to be big and strong to make the world a better place." Minnie tilted her head. "There's a lot of things you can do. You can use your words to talk things out, and try to make friends..."

"...Eh? But Mom, you always say I should be the bigger person..." Willow was legitimately confused, and Minnie could see the poor girl's gears grinding. Some of her hair snakes were also glancing at once another quizzically. 

"...Oh! Hahaha, n-no, WIllow, not literally, just... hm, let me think..." Minnie rubbed her chin, trying to think of something to help with Willow's confusion.

"...Hm. Remember that story we read together? When you were a... a little more itty bitty?" Minnie leaned forward. "About little Sally Lu?"

"Oh! That one made me sad. The other kids were really mean to them..." Willow frowned, her hair snakes drooping in turn.

"Mmhm. But she stood up to her bullies. And she didn't hit back, or fight. She used her words." Minnie explained, waving her spoon as she did. "...And she made some new friends along the way.~"

"...Yeah. I can use my words too." Willow nodded. "...And if words don't work, I'll just stand up even taller than them!~" 

She reared up higher and higher with a toothy grin. Higher still, until...

"Oop! S-sorry Terry..."

...One of her snakes bumped against the ceiling. It shook its head, its tongue darting out. Sheepishly, WIllow lowered herself, raising a hand to rub his head better.

"Hehehe... I guess that's another way to go about it." Minnie chuckled to herself. Even through Willow's bombast, Minnie understood Willow was good at heart. Even if she looked rather frightening. 

Creeeeeak.

"...Oh! Just in time. Sami!~"

The whiny sound of the front door's poorly oiled hinges announced a third person's arrival. She had a lithe body, draped in a heavy wool coat. She wearily removed it, slinging it on a nearby coat hook, before pushing up the rim of her glasses. She kept her black hair short, neat, and tied in a bun. 

"It's Dr. Connelly. Honestly, Dr. Hutchins, circumstances change, but we can at least try to be professional."

"Awww, don't be so cold! We've been living together for almost a decade, you don't have to act so shy around me~"

Dr. Sami Connelly only scoffed at that notion. She had a serious look on her face, like her face muscles were starting to ache with all the frowning she did. All in all, she looked like the sort who would chew you out over being two minutes late for work. 

"...Willow." The doctor nodded slightly, with a look that suggested distance instead of warmth.

"MOOOOOM! I MIIIIIISSED YOUUUU!"

...But distance meant nothing to Willow. She slithered over to close the gap, clutching her waist. 

"Nn! Willow! Th-that's inappropriate contact! It's my personal space!" Sami sputtered, trying to pull away. Unfortunately, Willow's grip was too tight, and her tail was starting to wrap around Sami's legs.

"Ohhhh, I'd say this is perfectly appropriate contact. She's family!" Minnie cheered, leaning forward to get a better look. She was enjoying the spectacle.

"She's not- w, we aren't... ugh, Minnie...!" Sami tried desperately to string together a sentence, but she could barely string two words together. 

"Did you bring any new books? Did ya, did ya??" Willow looked up at Sami with wide, begging eyes. 

"Nn! If you loosened your coils, maybe I could reach them!" Sami groaned, struggling under Willow's full-body embrace.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry..." Willow released Sami in an instant. Sami supported herself on the far wall.

"Hah... better." Sami shook her head, before reaching for her carrying bag. "...Got you something."

"REALLY!? Lemme see, lemme see-" 

"Not. Yet." 

Willow had made to reach into the bag herself, but Sami's hand snapped to grab her wrist. She had good reflexes! Willow was stunned.

"Ah, Willow, mind your manners. Those are Sami's belongings!~"

Sami shot a glare at Minnie's cheeky comment, but opted not to harp on the point of being on a first name basis. She turned to Willow.

"It's time for your milking."

"Milking!? Aw, c'moooon, do we have to?" Willow whined, prodding her fingers together. 

"It's important, Willow. Your venom sacs contain a deadly neurotoxin. It's an anticoagulate, it's hemotoxic, necrotising, and fast-acting on top of it. It will kill someone. Easily." Sami explained with textbook precision. 

"W-well, yeah, but-"

"With just. One. Drop."

Sami leered over at Willow. She was getting pretty tired of these constant excuses. Minnie watched with some concern; she was never a fan of how blunt Sami could be. 

"W-Willow, it's just for safety. Sami knows how to make medicine from your venom." Minnie smiled reassuringly.

"But... But it's just if I bite people. I-I'm not gonna bite anyone! Never ever!" Willow folded her arms. "I know better! I'll use my words and-"

"Willow, we know. We know you're a good girl, it just... just in case there's an emergency. Please?"

Willow had a hard time saying no to her moms. "...Ooooookaaaay..." Willow sighed, slithering across the room. Sami followed close beside her. 

There was a corner of their home dedicated to small lab experiments. Some of the equipment still needed repair, others were rather antiquated, and it was difficult to clear enough space to get any kind of experiment off the ground. Sami did find one regular use for it, and she was the most qualified to perform the task. She was a toxicologist, after all.

Willow sat patiently for Sami to present her a small mouthpiece, connected by a series of tubes. She examined it in her hands. She understood that she had to bite into it, but... not in the way her moms bit into things.

She slowly opened her mouth, wider and wider. A pair of long fangs revealed themselves, distending towards the mouthpiece. She bit down, feeling the mouthpiece close around the roof of her mouth.

Sami clutched a small handpump in her palm. She stared at Willow with an expectant look in herself. Willow nodded slightly - the signal to begin.

"Nn-"

Willow felt a strange sucking sensation in her head. Somewhere, a little behind her sinuses, she felt a gentle pulling. Sami watched intently, watching a translucent, dark yellow fluid flow gently down the tubes, collecting in a small container. 

They worked in silence for the better part of ten minutes, with Sami making sure she had squeezed every last drop of venom out. And when she was done, Sami gave it a thorough wash. Willow rubbed her lips as her fangs retracted.

"Okay. Next."

Sami changed the mouthpiece out for one that was made for a much smaller mouth. She reached for one of the snakes sprouting from Willow's head. As her hand hovered closer, the snake reared its head further back. As if they didn't want to go through this.

Sami's mouth flattened, letting out a sound of disapproval. Her eyes glanced over to Willow; she shrunk a bit under the look. 

"H-hey, guys, we all know the drill. You guys go in order: Barry, Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry, and then Obama. Okay??"

Willow's soft reassurances were enough for the hesitant snake, and it too cooperated with Sami in much the same way Willow had. 

"...This is gonna take a while." Sami sighed. She preferred to work in silence, but she felt a pair of eyes boring into her from across the room. She glanced over, spotting Minnie leaning forward.

Minnie made a gesture, powerfully pointing to Willow. Sami blinked, before sighing to herself. Of course, Minnie would ask for that.

Sami would have to make idle conversation. To bond with the girl.

"Sooooooo... Willow. How was your day?"

"...Me?" Willow stared. Sami wasn't usually the sort to start conversation, never mind smalltalk. 

"We're going to be at this for a while. So..."

"Oh! Sure, it was just... r-right, eheh!" Willow stirred a little under the unexpected attention, but warmed up to it quickly. "I went bug hunting! I got a stick bug today! I haven't named him yet, I was thinking David would be a nice name..."

"You went hunting...?" Sami queried, her eyebrow raised. 

"Mmhm! He's making friends with the others in the terrarium, right over there, see?"

"...There's more?" Sami glanced over, a puzzled look on her face. "...I suppose I was gone for quite a while."

"Mmhm! I've been really busy, lesse, there was the stink bug, but Mom wanted me to release it..."

Willow went at length about all the creepy crawlers she had spent the last few weeks hunting. Sami had been out of the house for that time, so this was all news to her; she seemed to take it in with a quiet stoicism.

It made for an excellent time killer; soon Willow and her hair snake friends had produced enough venom to fill a small flask. 

"Okay. Done." 

"YAAAY! Okay, okay, I wanna see my gift! Pleeeeease??" Willow went right back to begging.

"Willow was very well-behaved. And her little friends too. I think she deserves a treat!~" Minnie chimed in with a wink.

"...Yeah. I'll grab it."

Stonefaced, Sami rose to her feet, pacing over to her carrying bag. From inside, she pulled out a thick book. Willow got a look at the cover:

Cultures of the World: A Travel Guide from Home

"...Omigosh! Mooooom! I love it!!" Willow wrapped her arms around Sami, bouncing up and down. She loved getting new reading material, she couldn't tear herself from it! 

...She then paused. "What's it about??"

"First of all, Willow, we've been over this. It's Dr. Connelly. Second of all..." Sami glanced to the cover. "...Since you're not traveling, I... figured it'd be good for you." 

Sami averted eye-contact, but her intense blush didn't escape Minnie, staring across with a biiiiiig grin.

"Awww, Sami! You're so thoughtful!~ Willow, why don't you take that book up to your treehouse?"

"Mmhm! I'm gonna tear into it, and I'm not gonna stop 'til I'm done!" Clutching the book to her chest, Willow slithered out the back in a hurry.

The two women were left along. Minnie turned to Sami with an even wider grin than before, rising from her seat. 

"Iiiiii knew it! I knew you cared about raising our little girl-"

"Minnie! You let her out to HUNT!? Are you INSANE!?"

Minnie staggered back at Sami's outburst. She sighed to herself, rubbing the back of her neck. This wasn't about to be a happy reunion.

"Good to see you again, Sami..."

---

Up in the willow trees, where the canopies provided cover, shade, and security from prying eyes, Willow had a secret clubhouse all to herself. Minnie had helped her with it - or, well, she built pretty much all of it, she was an engineer. But Willow provided the creative vision!

The treehouse was supported by several powerful branches, flanked by three of the sturdiest trees nearby. The house had all the things a treehouses needed. A warm cushion, padded inner walls for insulation, an elevator system controlled by an elaborate network of pulleys, a chalkboard to map out all kinds of logic puzzles. It was a dork's paradise.

It was Willow's paradise. Her home not even 20 feet away from home. 

There was a rope ladder available, but Willow had no need of it. She simply coiled up the tree, following its truck in a spiral. It was still daylight, and up at her vantage point, she could find juuuust enough daylight to use as a reading light. Plus, being bathed in sunlight was more than relaxing.

She wrapped her long tail around one of the sturdy supporting branches and reclined against the tree. Flipping the book open, her smile absolutely radiant, she opened to the first page.

This book would've been a bit higher-level for other girls her age, but Willow was a smart cookie. Even with the academic writing within, she followed along without a problem.

And there were maps! Hand drawn maps! And diagrams, and sketches, and flags, and pictures! It was a treat for the eyes, and the mind! 

There were so many kinds of people all over the continent. There were the Stellarens, a hardy community carving a living out in the hardest desert climates. There were the hardy Geronians, industrious and gifted with emerging technologies. There were the spiritual Mistiacca, striving to connect deeply with the Radiant Goddess.

Willow digested the book at great speed. Natural daylight began to wane; thankfully, Terry came in the clutch, holding a flashlight for Willow. Just as well too—Willow had good eyesight in the dark, but details were lost on her in pitch black.

Still, she had an uneasy feeling collecting in her gut. The further she went on, the more her smile waned. The pace of her page turning slowed to a crawl, as her curious mind changed gears. She had a single question this book didn't seem to answer.

"...Why is there no one like me in here?"

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