Rites of Ascension to Adulthood – Day 3

Day 3 – Wait, MORE Poison?!?

3rd of Nymm, 989 YK

More tattoos. These go on the back of our heads (ouch even more than usual) and down our back. They’re something about our perception of the world around us.

Then we’re told it will be an easier day. We get to just lay around in bed in a communal room where we can hang out together. Oh, but one more thing. They inject us with the poison of the giant leaf frog. I thought the eye poison was bad. This is like fire flowing through your veins quickly followed by ice water and then back to fire. This goes on and on and on and on and on and… you get the picture. There’s some fun screaming, deep guttural moaning, crying, eventually a little maniacal laughter here and there, and back to screaming and moaning. Not sure what else to tell you about this. It sucks. We all lived through it, but I can’t tell you what the purpose really is. Tattoos the next morning go on our left legs and are representative of endurance. Guess that makes sense, but seriously. Why?!? The poison had relented enough in the evening to allow us to talk some. If anything, I guess it was a good bonding experience. Brook and I have gotten along better ever since that day and no matter what stupid thing Marbles might say I still look at him with some respect since I know he had to go through that same pain with me.