Roleplay

@CloseEnough @Lamvin @Kamiden @HummingKnight

The glint of a thousand gems, the sun glistened against the deep emerald feathers with glittering sapphire eyes at the end. Dan sucked in a breath. Peacock +Anima. Now everything made sense. Peacock +Anima were rare.. perhaps almost as rare as his own Anima.. and thus they were highly coveted. Their glittering feathers were the main reason they were so wanted. He'd met only one Peacock Anima before.. the guy had been one of the more popular pleasure slaves due to his appearance with the fanned out feathers.. His feathers weren't nearly as pretty as Xafinas feathers.

Dan saw the shift in Xafina's gaze, the fear and shame which danced over her eyes. He reached out to her and set a hand delicately on her shoulder, being careful not to frighten her. She'd done a good thing for a person who was hurting. He gave her a small nod in understanding. His own +Anima was nearly just as coveted... but his for the massive Ivory trunks he could grow. he was fortunate his first master had wanted to wait to harvest his tusks.. and even more fortunate the old lady who had set him free hadn't cared for the Ivory at all. Dan gave her a gentle smile, a crinkle of the corner of his eyes. He knew exactly what she was feeling, the shame.. the fear. He could understand.

Dan caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. The blonde, hands moving at a thousand miles an hour.. wait.. wait.. what was that?? What the hell was that? He had to do a double take, staring at her petite form in confusion. She had six arms.. and in extension, six hands. Each hand fluttered over the broken surface of Reptile's back, herbs flying and the strange material she'd used before being tugged out of her abdomen. A chill ran up his spine. He'd never seen an Anima like this before.. but he could make a guess as to what she was... a Spider. Dan felt slightly sick to his stomach as he watched her work. The poor woman.. Dan felt even worse when the woman had finished and curled into herself and started to cry.

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Nanza blinked as suddenly black claws fluttered out from underneath a girl in the clearing. Nanza saw the glint of feathers and panic rose in her chest, her heart beating a thousand miles an hour. Kan! She could scarcely breathe. But then she realized the feathers were a deep green and blue, not white. She had to take another breath and held out her hand to take the herbs. The shame and fear in the Peacock girl's eyes was clear as she averted her gaze. She probably hated her Anima as much as Nanza did, though Nanza didn't understand why. Bird Anima were the lucky ones, the pretty ones, the ones able to move through the sky on a whim, to spread their feathers to the sun and soar.

Nanza turned her attention back to Reptile as he fell asleep under her hands. NO no no no no. Full on panic rushed her body. He needed to stay awake so she could access his wounds, but waking him right now would be a bad idea because he might start thrashing and his wounds would bleed more. He needed help, and fast.. And she knew how she could give it.

'Do you need help, Nanza?' Min's voice, back with the herbs she needed so badly. The bird +Anima's herbs were definitely going to help.. but she had needed more for the amount of wounds on Reptile's back. She shook her head, fear rising through her body. She knew what she had to do.. She didn't like it.. and the very thought made her tremble.. but if Reptile was going to be saved. She had to do it. She had to.

She gave a jolt as a man sat next to her and asked to use his needle and thread and alcohol. No.. this thread would do them no good. It would be much better to use her own silk. Nanza fluttered her hands up and snatched the needle and the Alcohol from his hands. "Thank you. Please, hold him down for me." It may have been silly to not allow him to use his own needle and alcohol, but this was her patient, and she knew what to do to save him. It was good the man had come along with his Alcohol when he had, Reptile would have been fine without it, but having it was always better than not. Nanza had actually been planning to do something a bit more barbaric to sew up his wounds, but with the needle it was a much more delicate practice She made a mental note to start carrying needles and alcohol again. Nanza took a nervous breath as she stared at Reptile's back. She started to sing to herself in a remarkably beautiful voice... his song... She blocked out the existence of the other Anima and flung her shawl upwards and over her head with one quick movement of her arms.

"Underneath the Nanabi tree..."

Six arms danced through the air chaotically, almost dancing as they performed various tasks. Two arms pried a chest open and pulled out several herbs of varying types. As these arms finished yanking, one started pounding the herbs into paste inside of several silken bandages she was weaving with two other arms. Her remaining three arms glided across his back, dabbing the alcohol with a delicate precision before applying the herbs.

"The forest calls to me.."

Nanza could almost hear his voice echoing with hers as she started to sew his wounds shut as quickly as she could. Her silk was the perfect thread for his back, it would keep the wound shut and protected. It was good he was sleeping now or she would have put him to sleep with the herbs.

"The stars gleaming brightly in the sky."

She pressed a different kind of silk than the one she'd used to sew on his back. This silk was sticky and would act as the perfect bandage. Protecting from outside dirt while also protecting from any other projectiles.

"She waits for me, my sister... underneath the Nanabi tree..."

She stopped her song as she finished stitching up Reptile's back, her extra arms curl against her body as Nanza folds into herself, the tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry." her voice is tiny and broken. She never wanted to show this many people her +Anima.. it was not something she was very proud of. She fumbled for her shawl to cover her arms, but in her panic she was coming up on nothing. So instead she folded even more into herself, trying to hide her freakish mutation from those who would were beside her.

((gah, i broke my own rule about paragraphs, sorry for the length guys, just so many things happened, and i needed to make Nanza expose her arms sometime here XD))

@CloseEnough @Draconequis @kamiden

Screaming. That's what Reptile heard. Rain falling on his face and nearly naked body, his pants worn and filthy, the chains having blood on them, the taste of blood in his mouth. Reptile opens his eyes and looks at the man who had tortured him for so long. He was hanging by his fingers, bound tightly in rope and stuck together in chains, far too tight on him. The man's throat was gushing blood, cuts and snake bites on his skin. Dead. Reptile started to panic. He just killed so many people...then he heard it. The singing. "Underneath the Nanabi Tree...The forest calls to me...The stars gleaming brightly in the sky. She waits for me, my sister...underneath the Nanabi tree..." Reptile looks around for the source of the voice. When he looks back at the man, there is no body, no blood, no rain. He was in a forest. He lunges at the mouse he was chasing...

--

When the singing started, Reptile had smiled one of the smallest smiles. A minute after she was done, he became concious, in time to hear her say sorry. That is, until he fell asleep again.

@Draconequis @kamiden @Lamvin @HummingKnight


Xafina looked up from the touch, she seemed even smaller than she already was when she saw Dan. It was nice, he acted like one would help a friend, and indeed thats what she was seeing from him.
Why were they not jumping her? Trying to grab her pull out her feathers and throw her in chains? That always happened, that was normal to happen right? Instead one just put a hand on her shoulder? Was it because Reptile was injured?
No words escaped her lips, instead she just turned her head and watched, it may be because she was not accustomed to Anima or people, or because she just did not care but she was confused when everyone shown signs of surprise when they saw the girl's arms. She was just another Anima right? A spider and that was amazingly useful while she would not have to worry as much by slave traders.
Still no anima was ever safe from them.
She tilted her head, feeling her changed eyes glisten with a unmarked tear she rubbed it furesly, she felt better now so why was that showing?
Hearing the horse woman she shook her head. "I'm fine, focus on others" she looked back at her feathers, a shiver down her spine only to jump when she saw the cat woman again, actually hiding behind Dan for being the nearest mass as she was preparing to run, her own feathers bristling in their folded form from stress.

Why had she not already been running? Thats what she does Anima shows up, she does what ever it was that needed doing and she runs. Yet now she was way to scared of the cat woman to actually start doing so properly, eyes glued on the woman as she nodded her head, thoughts racing through her mind when she realized that the cat saw her feathers, a lump in her throat as she felt the world grow weak around her.

@Lamvin @kamiden @CloseEnough @HummingKnight

Nanza was frozen by the unfamiliar touch of the random blonde man she didn't know. Her eyes drifted to his feathers and one of her hands reached, a strange longing in her eyes. "Kan?" She stopped herself short at seeing his feathers were not pure white. She pulled back quickly, a faint red blush drifted over her cheeks."T-they aren't!" She protested. Her arms marked her as a freak.. that was not beautiful in any way shape or form.

As the coat drifted down over her shoulders, Nanza pulled it tight around herself, trying to undo the damage which had already been done.. trying to make everyone in the circle forget about her freakish extra arms. It was too late for that, but the coat at least covered her so she looked normal again. Nanza's eyes drifted to Reptile, sorrow dancing in her amber eyes. At least.. he was safe.

And then a strange girl took him. Right from under her. Nanza's blood started to boil and her amber eyes flashed with fire. Reptile was under her care, he was her patient, and there was this random stranger taking him out from under her when he should not be moved at all! She focused her eyes on the strange girl's body... she was showing quite a bit of skin, good, then it should be easy to bite, inject her poison and get back her patient. As much as she hated doing so, she was not about to let Reptile be carried off and away after she'd spent all that time talking to him, patching him up. Just one bite should be enough. She prepared to leap at the girl who had stolen Reptile but was stopped as the girl spoke. Slavers.. coming to get them. Nanza felt her face heating in shame. She'd let her Anima get the better of her again and allowed violence to move where reason could have been used.

Nanza turned to Min, relief flooding across her tear-stained face. In the confusion and the slowly growing group of +Anima, Nanza had almost lost her new friend.. the very one she'd promised herself to protect. She mentally punched herself as she gave Min a nod. "Min... get everyone out of here. I'm going to say behind for a bit as a distraction." She slid the coat from her shoulders and folded it, setting it on top of her bag, scooping up her shawl on the way and doing the same. She took a breath and started to weave, her entire body trembling like a leaf. She didn't have time to be selfish and fearful. Now was time to save others. Silk layered on her six arms folded over on its-self as she weaved swiftly.

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Dan took his hand of Xafina's back as the woman said something about Slavers, letting out a low grumble. He cracked his knuckles. Well, the slavers could try to catch him if they wanted to get a face full of elephant buttwhooping that was.

He froze as the petite spider woman stood and stated she was going to stay behind as a distraction. Was she suicidal?? what was she thinking? A small women against grown men would never end well. Not to mention the girl was already wounded, with a gunshot wound on her shoulder and left leg. What did she expect to do, stare people to death? Was she insane???

Dan would have offered himself for the job to replace her, but he noticed the rather skittish attitude of Xafina as the cat woman with the tight dress came over. She was cowering behind him. Right. because cat's eat birds usually. he reminded himself. Well, he wasn't about to leave poor Xafina all on her own, but someone needed to stay behind to replace the Spider girl. he stood slightly taller before her, happy to act as a body guard between her and the rather scantily clad woman.

Dan took a shot in the dark. "Hey, feather boy!" he called. "Why don't you take the lady medic's place and act as the distraction? She's in no shape to be fighting anyone, and we need her to continue caring for Reptile." He was careful not to mention the poor woman's anima because she seemed so broken up about it.

@Draconequis @kamiden @Lamvin @HummingKnight @Kitirine

Hearing about how everyone wanted to prove a distraction caused Xafina's head to perk up. Now that was something she was good at,beyond good at, running away when a slaver was after her. "If you," she sighed, swallowing her fear as she used Dan to get her barring. "If you don't want to I can. I been running from slavers and they have yet to get me, not even when they had a rope around my neck."
She looked at her feathers, fingers grasping a smaller one, "I can lead them a trail away from here and make it back to you guys, i'll just want someone to take my bag if its alright."

Shes done it before, making people thing they were after in when in reality she was in the next city. That how one lives when they can't exactly fight, they run, they run and make a fool out of those around them thats what her teacher always told her.
And its something she lived by, yes its terrifying, one slip up and she could be gone for good. The traps set always finding themselves empty, and when she left a trail some are fine with leaving her be when they realize they cant capture her because they already gotten a prize, her feathers are worth a lot of money.