Jungle Book: A Pythons encounter, remastered!

Not even the soft pitter patter of dashing feet did little to disturb the sweet chirps of the fluttering birds as they sang above the canopy, singing in tune to the light rustles of wind that sweep by the thick foliage of the Indian Jungles, accompanied by the howls of monkeys and soft grunts of other various inhabitants that prowled in the brisk of day. Sunlight trickled into down through the thick blanket of leaves, giving the Jungle carpet an interesting patchwork display. Some small portions of light were disturbed as a scurrying young boy sprinted through and over the seemingly never ending maze of these Jungles.

Angry and defiant. The calling bird’s song soon began to quieten, replaced by the sound of running water, instantly tempting the buds for a quick drink and a rest. His full on sprint in the scorching heat had saturated the child's tanned skin with sweat, dripping from his body like honey seeping out a hive.

…Baloo....

Betrayal, backstabbed. The child's legs soon began to slow and slip into a walking pace. His arms sank and grabbed the edges of his crimson red loincloth as he pulled it upwards, ensuring it hadn’t loosened after his long staggering sprint. He then rubbed the brow of his forehead and swept his messy black hair aside, so it was hanging everywhere except in front of his panting, reddened face. Sighing briefly, despite his already heavy breathing, he glared onwards, catching glimpse of an impressive edifice of water before him, and trampled towards it.

He glared back briefly, giving a sob of sadness as his rolled his eyes over the foliage in the event he had indeed been followed, yet that was not the case. He’d zipped right past the treacherous bear’s sight, even giving the wise and cunning Bagheera the slip. He’d said, time and time again, he wouldn’t go to the man-village. Ever! The Jungle was Mowgli’s one and only home. He’d never leave it, not even if he wasn’t a part of the wolf family anymore...not even if he had a friend anymore to explore it with.

A friend….

Mowgli breathed heavily as he strode onwards, taking a peek up past the quilt of leaves above him, noticing how the morning sun had risen since he made his escape, soon to be midday, or so according the lessons of the backstabbing papa bear. The vast Jungle seemed so lonely; he missed Baloo’s antics, his cheerful songs, and the way he stood up to Bagheera upon insisting the Man-cub be taken to the man-village. Even the thought of being with the cunning, black panther again was heartwarming, despite his lecturing.

The half-naked child shook his head violently, casting away such thoughts. There was no one he could trust now. It was just him and the boundless jungles. His stubby limping feet clambered onto some slick rocks, as he crouched down to take a sip from the cool shimmering waters, ensuring it was indeed running as Bagheera once told him it was much fresher than waters that were still. Again Mowgli shook himself, unable to cast away the thoughts of company. This was perhaps the first time he felt truly alone.

Having freshened himself, he continued to rest against the bank, watching the towering waterfall’s impressive display, excited and intrigued by the pleasant scene. He picked up stones and threw them onto the churning surface of the water, attempting to get them to skim along the rippling tides. Even so, there was no one there to admire a good shot, nor to compete with, again his thoughts rushing to honey glazed memories he and Baloo shared. Floating down river, singing, gathering fruits, lifting rocks to reveal ants and other assorted bugs.


SNAP!
Before he knew it, Mowgli had picked himself up and began to dash in frustration away from the pools and back into the thick foliage of the Jungle. The sharp crunching of a twig beneath his foot returned the man-cub’s mind to the thoughts of his current predicament. Just what was he to do now? Perhaps he could find his way back to the wolf packs? No... they would just send him to the man-village again. He knew he couldn’t let King Louie and his goons find him, not that they would after the mess that came of it, the old man-ruins were no doubt more ruined then before now. And Shere Khan...the tiger that triggered the whole man-village mess in the first place. Granted he’d heard many a time of this being, yet never laid an actual eye upon the so-called terror. Was he even real? Or was it a made up tale by Bagheera, to hide the truth that nobody really cared or liked the man-cub? Was Baloo just a part of the Panther’s scheme to be rid of him?

Mowgli’s mind continued to wander and wander, while his legs and skinny body did the same. He trampled along the Jungle’s carpet, balancing over falling logs and hoping over stone as he went. His mind then returned to reality as his legs began to ache once more. He had failed to give them a proper rest by the waterfall, in his urgency to vacate it. His stomach too began to growl lightly, obviously midday had come to pass and what would have been a piece of fruit for a quick, bear-necessity lunch, was to be found within this area. Or at least Mowgli failed to spot anything above him, as the blanket above had only grown thicker and thicker. It was only a matter of time before the man-cub found peace settling upon a thick mossy root of a towering Baobab tree. Out of the reach of a glaring sun’s rays Mowgli settled back against the smooth bark and sighed, shutting his eyes for a small while, as he spread out his legs. Only to find that a familiar face, wasn’t far away at all…

Mowgli felt odd, like he was moving. His eyes beckoned opened, and was startled to find himself being mysteriously lifted upwards. His arms reached out for the closest thing, latching onto a vine except....the vine felt just as odd....it was then that it clicked! Mowgli glared at the rope he had just grappled onto to find it being a brown looking rope, painted in black ovals and a faint gray underbelly. He looked down at his crimson red loincloth, only to find his legs had been wrapped around by this strange vine-like object. Watching as it weaved itself into a chair like object around Mowgli’s legs and lower body before the man-cub felt the sting of twigs and leaves rustle past his body. His eyes closed tightly as he brushed through the foliage and entered the unknowns of the canopy. Yet there was one thing that was indeed on Mowgli’s mind, finally free of the thoughts of his treacherous friends, as only a single word surfaced.

“Kaa!?!”
For a few brief seconds, Mowgli’s eyes were obscured, as the sudden blast of sunlight as he escaped the dimmed lighting from the carpet below. But even before his eyes could train themselves upon the long, serpentine being before him, the ominous hissing gave away who the identity of his creature was.

“It’s you!” Mowgli roared. A little surprised at the sudden appearance of the snake, or more rather, the serpents eager reception of inviting the man-cub up onto the branches without an invitation. Nevertheless the less, Mowgli quickly scoped the area around him, and more specifically the coils the snake placed around him while yanking him up. Thankfully only a loose coil strapped itself around the child's red loincloth and lower body, to which Mowgli quickly began to haul off of him. He’d met Kaa once before, although his memory of the encounter was much too foggy, yet one thing he remembered well was finding the serpents embrace slipping off of him after being slammed into the branch on that cold dark night. Thoughts of being tightly entwined within Kaa’s coils brought a shudder to the struggling man-cub.

Even as Mowgli scuffled to remove the serpent’s one coil off of him, Kaa simply glared and admired the Man-cub. He had only bared eyes on him in the light of the moon, and seeing him now in broad of daylight, was just as much entrancing as his very own trump card.

“Yesss, Man-cub! It’s Ssso very nice to sssee you again! hehe”, Kaa chortled with a gentle tone, trying his best to hold in his laughter as the man-cub’s sudden appearance brought a sudden rainbow into his day. Since his first encounter with the child, Kaa had mostly strayed away from him and his company. Bagheera’s swipe had indeed left him with an awful bump over the last free days, when his peak came into collision with a poorly placed branch. Not to mention the bruises the impact of his emergency landing left him, a mistake on his part to vent his anger against the dusk black panther and lest forget the very child he attempted to ingest. Yet he had not given up on his attempts to entwine the child in his coils once more. He had kept tabs on the man-cub, eavesdropping on the other animals as they chattered about the rumours of a man-cub in the Jungles. One thing that did grapple his attention was indeed how the Bandar-log, the monkeys whom Kaa had usually consumed as part of his diet had such a bold interest in the man-cub. Indeed, the boy did resemble one of them, somewhat, yet there was something so much interesting and perplexing about him that brought an exhilarating shudder to Kaa’s long slender body.

“Just….GO AWAY and leave me alone!” Mowgli yelled, wanting none of this. By now he had unraveled the coil and leaped off of his living armchair, only to find that Kaa’s head was slithering towards him, backing himself back against the coiled throne he just escape from.

“Now now, I merely wanted to enquire Man-cub, where are your friends? Your trusty black Panther and that bear I’ve been hearing about? Surely you’re not...alone, are you? Hehehe…” Kaa interrogated, still keeping a soft inviting tone. He knew well enough Mowgli would be cautious and the serpent would no doubt have to win him over.

Mowgli glared downwards towards the branch, he knew well enough what Kaa was capable of. Bagheera had made sure of that after that first meeting and knew well enough to evade eye contact with the snake at all costs. He shrugged, trying to look away, he didn’t want to be reminded yet again of all the upset the bears betrayal had brought him.

“I...I don’t know. Just somewhere...I guess...but I wouldn’t know because….I’m on my own now. I don’t need him anymore...I can...take care of myself!” Mowgli admitted, briefly rolling his eyes at Kaa, surprised the snake wasn’t trying his spell on him yet. Despite that, Mowgli was ready in case the rock Python attempted it.

“I sssee...you musst be a very brave man-cub for venturing off on your own, hehehe. It’s nice to finally meet you on your...lonesome...perhaps you’d like to chat awhile? I do get awful lonely...much like you did not a few moments ago…” Kaa grinned, eyeing the half nude child, watching his every action. For his goal, to subtly subdue the Man-cub, was to coax him into a sense of trust and security, for he preferred these methods over the hostile attacks most predators would lunge. Not to mention, he wanted the man-cub’s trust…

“Yes well….I don’t have anything I want to chat about!” Mowgli jeered, pushing the snake away from him, as he attempted to stride away, locate a vine to slide down and make a quick jolt, yet a single quick coil around his leg was enough to yank the man-cub back towards the Python’s gleaming yellow eyes.

“How disappointing, and here I was thinking you’d be much different than the other creatures, but even then. They have something you don’t have…and thus, no doubt why your fair weathered friends wanted your escort to the man-village so badly…” Kaa murmured in a disappointed tone, looking away from Mowgli in a look of disgust, much to the man-cubs surprise. Who despite entangling Kaa’s coil, now glanced as the snake with a puzzled look.

“Oh…? And what is it I lack?” Mowgli quickly responded, drawn into the serpent's words like a bee towards the alluring scent of pollen.

“Trust...man-cub….the Jungle is built upon trust…like the trust of a cub towards its mother, or the trusts between a Bee and its colony. The trust the tree shares within its fruits, and the trussst, you many inhabitants like you and I share in the neck of these woods. The trust between the Monkeys and their king, the trust elephants share on their patrols. Even the cunning man, build their villages on trust…” Kaa chanted, letting his voice drown out the bird songs that rang out in the sweet Jungle ambience.

The Man-cub listened well, and was well drawn into the rhythmic chanting the rock python murmured on and on about trust. The boy glared downwards towards his feet as he sighed softly, before looking back up at the snout of the serpent before him.


“I...I don’t trust anyone...not anymore…. not Bagheera…..not Baloo and….and certainly not you!” Mowgli bellowed, pointing his daggers anywhere but towards the devious python’s Jewel like eyes.

“ Ssso you don’t trusst me? well...that’sss disssappointing! And here I was hoping to help the lost little man-cub. And yet without your trust, there’s simply nothing I can do to help!” Kaa sighed, exhaling a deep breath of air as he once again pointed his snout away from Mowgli, another false wave of disgust. Just to add more flair to his words, for as predicted the red-clothed man-cub would be intrigued to his sudden generosity, or now lack of without the boys trust.

“You….wanna help me? How?” Mowgli interrogated, puzzled by the snake’s words but all the more interested. Kaa seemed...so much more different then when from what he remembered...was he...truly an enemy? Was Bagheera lying to him when he told him about Kaa’s powers and the threat of being eaten alive by the ravenous rock python?

“Certainly….you see….I could perhapsss sssee to it that you’d never have to leave thessse Jungless...hehehe”. Kaa chuckled, tilting his scaly head towards Mowgli, having seen the interest that peaked from the man-cubs brow.

“R...really? but...how can you do that?”. Mowgli remarked, rather astounded that Kaa would be capable of such a thing. All he wanted was, indeed, to remain inside the Jungle. He preferably wanted to be with Baloo again or back home with his fellow litter of wolf cubs and family, or even just a close friend he could spend his Jungle adventures with, minus the risk of being sent to the man-village.

“Well...I have a few ideas in mind...but I may to sleep on it...though I do own a few little...trump cards hehehehe….but before that ,like a bond between friendssss...there must be some trussst between usss. Can you trusssst me Man-cub?” Kaa coaxed, edging closer as he noticed the confliction on the man-cubs face.

Mowgli was back to glaring at his toes, the snakes words were….so intriguing. He wanted to believe the snake did indeed want to help him, and wanted to believe it with all his heart. He never wanted to leave the Jungles, EVER! He let it vent right out of him if was not, for the warnings Bagheera once issued him. They rang through his mind, just as clear as the day they entered his ear drums. “Kaa, like any other snake, is not to be trusted!” But how could he trust those words, if he couldn’t trust Bagheera? He could no longer trust Baloo, no longer trust any other being. Yet Kaa’s offering sounded more delicious than a tree full of fresh ripe Mangos.

Mowgli’s eyes lifted themselves from the view of his stubby toes and aimed themselves back up at Kaa…

“Kaa I….” Mowgli was unable to finish sentence.

As Mowgli’s eyes met Kaa’s was surprised to find the two gleaming Topaz’s were gone. Instead, two giant ovals replaced the stolen Jewels. He found himself awestruck unable to look away. It was then the two pupils that sailed on a sea of white within the Man-cubs own eyes, began to sink. In their place the very same swirls and incantations spiraled through Mowgli’s eyes.

“Trussst in me…”

A gleaming bright smile appeared on Mowgli’s face, he watched as Kaa’s tail unraveled itself and beckon Mowgli towards it. Without hesitation, Mowgli began to follow….a few steps more and Mowgli’s eyes pinned shut as he followed every word his new master blessed him with...

“Jussssst in me…

Shut your eye’s…

and trussst in me…”


----------------------------

Kaa’s lullaby echoed like a waterfall as his sweet honey words trickled into Mowgli’s ears. The young man cub was once under his seductive spell, but this time things were much different. Oh so very much different, the lump on kaa’s head still ached numb after the last time he crossed paths with the man-cub, that darn panther, Bagheera. Foiling his attempt to devour the child, but as much as Rock Python could curse the Onyx black panther for his swift stinging strike, he had to at least thank him. After all, now this encounter could unravel and now Kaa had an even better plan in store for the young helpless little lad.

He watched has he unraveled his coils out to form a rather straight stairwell, eyeing and enjoying the way the man-cub walked step by step down his curdling creation, watching how his stubby stalk like legs shot forwards and bended to and throw with every step. How his bright red loincloth wiggled with every step, or how his lengthy arms dangled like vines off a tree. Kaa was simply fascinated by his autonomy, somewhat like a Monkey, yet more...upright and dignified. He sniggered, as he felt the man-cubs soles rubbing against his coils with every small step, noticing his coils would soon run short, he volunteered his own head to further the man-cubs journey down the road through the doorway into the world of dreams.

“You can Sleep….Safe and Sound…

knowing I…..”

The brown oval pattern rope like coils, formed a hefty loop. Mowgli walked step by step into the loop and didn’t react as his felt a strange weight grasp over his head, nor  did he come to notice how no longer walked upright, up until he felt the smooth scales of his master slip down his spine up until he came to a complete stop. Not even the the small tropical breezes could distract Mowgli from his masters pleasing melody nor his soothing embrace.

“...am around….”

The half-nude child soon felt himself swing too and fro, as if he was napping on a hammock being gentle swung by a cooling breeze. He was at peace, his eyes shut tight and his mind in a state of bliss. Light snores began to erupt as he fell from reality and dozed into a sweet, subtle slumber.

“Slip into a silent Slumber….

Sail on a Silver Mist….”

Kaa picked up on the small snores the Man-cub slipped, and knew well enough it was time to pull his new friend out of the cradle and into his new silky bed. Curving his delicate tail into a hook, he pushed Mowgli upwards, and held him by the tip of tail. Before repeating this motion for a second time, throwing the man-cub up and catching him by his messy ungroomed mane, as it dangled downwards, Kaa did wonder if his blissful prey knew how he was being held.

“....Slowly and Surely Your senses will cease

to resist….”

Kaa nudged himself forwards, eyeing the man-cub’s face deeply relaxed mug. Going as far as to twist his own head, to upright himself against the upside down child whom rang out a few quiet snores as he settled into his slumber…
“Your snoring!” Kaa bellowed, smiling deviously as he watched his bewitched subject exhale his rowdy snores.

“S...orry…”
Mowgli responded, softly parting his lips as he slipped from the plains of reality, and floated upon a river of dreams. His body frozen in place, the only exception being the many stand of his messy overgrown slick black hair, as gravity groomed it groundward.

Kaa smirked, he departed from his little confrontation and rested his thick skull and impressively long neck against the trunk of the Jungles tree. His song nearing its end, it was time end to this little play session and finally fulfill his promise, of placing the man-cub back in his coils. Despite that very frustrated tone he delivered it with, way back when.

“Trust in me….Jusssst….in me….”

With that, Mowgli’s body was destined to say farewell to the very light of the sun, as with another flick of his bulky slender coils, Mowgli was flinged into the air. Only to land belly first upon a slippery slide crafted by the devious pythons very coils. Around and around, the childs arms hung down from the patterned rope, as he slid into his new cradle. The slide came to its end and nothing more than a thick cocoon greeted Mowgli as he flopped into it like a fish into a net. In that short instance the man-cubs entire body was submerged into the pond of scales. Tightening, a sudden squeeze. Secured….

In his last few moments Mowgli remained awake, he felt the cold blooded embrace coat him completely, leaving only his head and feet to soak in the comforting rays of the sun. Yet this didn’t bother the child, for he loved his master...and as such, he loved the very coils that stripped away his freedom and entwined him. He was now the snakes prisoner, trapped, unable to lift a finger, move a single muscle in the Rock pythons unbreakable embrace. Yet that didn’t bother the man-cub at all, as he drifted on to the world of dreams…

The devious Python sang the last lines of his song...

“Shut your eyes….and trust….in me…..”

Enjoying every second as he shut his eyes and but his focus on the boys scrawny body. How good it felt, to have it wound up, to feel every portion of his tanned pigmented skin. Even the fabric of the crimson loin-cloth was a pleasant break from the furless creatures stature.

Kaa slowly placed the child back onto the very branch he departed from that short while ago, sitting him in so his legs arched forward and the bottom of cloth make contact with the smooth bark. As the last of his words faded into the ambience, the Rock python lowered his head and eyed the Man-cubs sleeping face. Indeed, he had bested the interfering Panther, and the lunatic bear. He had the Man-cub, the child was all his. Nothing could altar the man-cub’s fate now…

*DING DONG DING*
A sudden barbaric force tugged on Kaa’s dangling tail, that he left swaying left to right like an existed wolf-cub.

“HUH?! Oh...Now What…..”