Private Tales Blacksmiths and Chimera

[Kyla Scathach]

Kyla was hard at work. A noble had requested a great sword for a sum that almost made Kyla drool her way to the forge when she returned.

However the metal he had given her and requested the sword be made from was proving to be extremely difficult and soon the large sum became more and more reasonable. After finally shaping and heating it she was finally satisfied with how it turned out.
She moved to quench the blade gaping the glowing hot metal with her tongs before.

"KYLA!" The yell made her drop the blade to the ground. She chased after it with a stream of curses and obscenities flowing from her mouth as she quickly scooped up the blade and dropped it into the water barrel with a hiss and a sudden large puff of steam.

"KYLA!" came the yell again as a young elfin girl no older than 8 came running up to her forge with tears flowing.

"What!?" Kyla snapped viciously through gritted teeth stopping the girl in her tracks as she shrank back in fear Kyla chided herself for not checking who it was before she snapped.

When she had found Skyla the poor girl had been running through the forest for days with no food. Her cute and undoubtedly expensive dress torn to ribbons from thorns and branches. A pack of wolves had been eating her.

A chunk from her hip and shoulder and one must have gotten a hold of her right leg for a moment as that had been shredded as well. There was so much blood Kyla thought she had scared off the wolves to bury a corpse. But as she had drawn near...

A breath...A a simple intake of air a slight twitch as she began to try and rise. Tears flowed mixing with her blood as she had raised a hand to Kyla. Through the gurgling and between sobs she had heard a simple plea.

"H-help me...Please...Everything hurts...I dont want to die....Please..." That had been hard. Cradling the child in her arms as she sprinted through the woods.

"Send word to Miria. Tell her I need her now." She had said as a large shadow passed over her head. With a blood curdling screech it tore off to do as she asked. It had been touch and go from there, but Miria was a great healer. She had pulled through and she had been Kyla's little shadow ever since. She was fragile though and easily scared even by Kyla.

"I-I'm sorry sky..." She said soothingly sinking down to one knee to be more on her level. "Now come here and tell me whats wrong.." She said gently beckoning her over. The girl ran to her with blonde hair flailing behind her as she dove into Kylas arms. She calmed for a moment as her thoughts returned to what had scared her. "I-I saw something in the woods..It was a monster..." She said finally. "I see.." She said with a slight sigh of relief. All the same she whistled and a black shadow seemed to flash through the air before landing on her shoulder. The terrorhawk nipped her ear affectionately.It was a massive entirely black hawk but rather than shrinking away the girl stroked her lovingly. "Oh! Hi Mi-Mi!" Sky said with a grin. Mi-Mi then nipped her finger lovingly and then took to the sky. Scanning the surrounding woods for anything that shouldnt be there while Kyla carried sky into her forge where she sat and watched her work waiting for Mi-Mi's return.

 

[Maranae]

She sat on her haunches, and stared at the strange thing that bulged from the side of a tree, misshapen and grey. Hundreda of buzzing, flying things smaller than her pinky finger darted to and fro about it, sometimes landing and crawling into a hole in the thing. Maranae had no idea what the thing was, nor what the flying things were...but something smelled good from within the grey thing, something sweet to her nose.

Mara was hungry, but it was not the demanding sort of hunger that brought the beast out, the Bad One that resided in her head. That creature terrified her as much as the Bad Place had, though she could only dimly remember those dark halls and the things they had done to her.

She stood up. She was very tall, for a human girl at least though in truth that was not what she was. Not anymore. Her clothes - woolen shirt and trousers - were torn and dirty, inexpertly washed in streams and rivers - inexpertly, or inadvertently. There was more pale, smooth flesh showing than was perhaps proper in polite society, but the idea of clothes was a strange one to her, not something she had learned so much as a dim habit acquired in the bad place.

The smell was tantalizing, and drool dripped from the tips of her fangs that only just poked out from under her upper lip.

She approached the thing, curiosity shining in bright jade eyes. The buzzing seemed to intensify, a few of the flying things landing on her neck, arms. She ignored them and the warning they were trying to give.

It was when she reached the thing - the hive - and tore it open looking for the source of that scent, that she understood the warning. Hundreds of the flying things poured out, unminded, as she licked a sticky finger. Sweet! Such sweetness!

And then a fiery sting, followed by another and then another, and then dozens as the flying things crawled into her fiery red hair, beneath the ragged clothes and into tents in the cloth, stinging as they went.

Any thought of the honey she had found was forgotten as she yelped, stepping back and slapping at stinging shapes before tearing off into the woods trailing a cloud of stinging bees.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

A black shadow passed above her. Suddenly an entirely black hawk was hovering in front. It was massive and almost large enough for a small child to ride. It flapped its wings hard. A gust of wind swept over the girl banishing the bees flying around her and her pursers. Then quick as a flash it scooped her up by the back of her tattered clothes and flew into the air taking the girl with her. Soon a stream came into view and she was promptly dropped into it. The bird then circled once with a screech before zipping away with a burst of speed.



.....................


Sky Had finally gone inside to help Oni with lunch. Oni was a unique guest. She was half komodi and half elf. It was a stranger mix to be hold. She had been found trying to eat one of Kyla's sheep. She was pretty feral when Kyla finally did catch her.

It wasnt a surprise she was abandoned however. An elf would be mortified if it was found out they had relations with a Komodi let alone had a child. Undoubtedly throwing her out when she began to get older and the secret began to get harder to keep.

The girl looked like a perfectly normal raven haired elf girl from th back one almost wouldnt notice she was anything more than that. However, is she was to turn they would see her fangs with a pair of glowing green eyes with reptilian pupils. Her fingernails grew into points naturally and were hard as steel. along with black scales that seemed to run from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers while the underside was skin.

Her legs were much the same. The front covered in smooth scales to her waist. It was 4 months before Oni had said anything to Kyla.

It seemed she had simply hung around Kyla and Skyla when they would converse and slowly learned.

She had gotten a lot better about the house in the next year she had been staying there. No more tearing into food like it was going to escape, and most importantly no more using the restroom whenever and where ever in front of whoever.

She learned trade speak along with elvish as she allowed sky to teach her the fundamentals of both listening in and correcting when needed. She could understand and speak pretty well now even if words sounded like they were being spoken by someone with a mouth full of marbles.

With the blade almost finished she allowed it to cool as she began crafting the handle. A screech from above. She looked up and saw Milarami circle over head.

Once.
Twice.
Three times.

She dropped her work and grabbed her hunting knife sunk into the doorframe of her forge as she passed through it. Following Milarami at a sprint she soon came to the stream.

"Hello! Anyone here! Im here to help! Just be calm. No one is here to hurt you ok?" She yelled as her terror hawk screeched signaling her master had arrived.

 

[Maranae]

The things were maddening and she yelped with each new sting, running as hard as she could. It was surprisingly fast, but then she wasn't exactly a human being anymore. Something more, or perhaps, something less. Such concepts were too lofty, too complex, for her to even think of. The only thing she could think of now was the stinging bees.

The shadow of something crossed over her and her path, but she had no mind for that. The stinging was incessant, and although she had a very high tolerance for pain, it was the stings healing that hurt the worst. The welts erupted and then melted away swiftly, stingers working themselves free of her flesh right before the eyes. The cost of such a feat was....bittersweet, at best.

The massive downdraft caught her unawares, and she stumbled and tripped, flying into the stony ground face first with a squeal. The insects were buffeted back a ways, which was apparently enough to send them back to their ruined hive.

When the great flying thing took hold of her, when she finally noticed it, she blanched in terror. She had never seen anything that looked quite like it. As its talons closed on her clothes, leaving shallow furrows in her flesh where those long talons accidentally caught flesh instead of cloth (which immediately began to heal), she cried out in terror, a wordless sound that picked up in pitch and urgency when the thing took her feet off the ground. She hung from the flying thing frozen like a rabbit caught in the eyes of a predator, the only motion her breathing and trembling in fear.

The sudden drop into the stream seemed to be an hour and a half journey for the young woman, or girl, or whatever it was she was. Her shriek at the sudden drop would have been comical if someone had been there to see it, or to see her hit the water and leap from it on all fours like a cat dropped into a sink. The water had the effect of washing a few more of the bees that had gotten into her clothes - now little more than rags that hung about her shoulders, exposing the smooth, unblemished skin of her back and an indecent amount of cleavage.

There was a a building nearby, but she did not like buildings and so she did not go anywhere near it as she scrambled, heart pounding and eyes wide, into the woods surrounding the manor. Only bad things ever happened in buildings, and she did not want any more bad things to happen to her.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Oi! You!" Kyla called as she saw a girl wearing little more than rags scrambling out of the stream.

She was beautiful the rags showing more skin than Kyla was comfortable looking at. A blush spread a cross her face for a moment and though seeming very childlike if not somewhat animalistic in her movements she shook of her daze and began chasing after her.

"I can help!." She yelled scrambling after the girl.

She saw the route she was taking and she was fast, but these were Kyla's woods. After a few swears and a shortcut she arrived ahead of the girl in time to trip her.

If she succeeded she would then dive on top of her before she could scramble away and pin her down. Not aggressively. Just enough to keep her from taking off.

"Your scared, wet, and undoubtedly hungry right?" Kyla asked gently like she was soothing a cowed horse. It was a direct and simple question. She wasnt a woman to bandy words or beat around the bush. That's what most people were if they were driven out this far unprepared.

"I have food, and clothes a place to rest if you want..." She said still catching her breath after sprinting as much as she had been, but she looked into the girl's eyes. Her own green held a caring warmth in them. It hurt her to see someone so miserable and lost.
They pleaded with her to trust and allow help to be given.

Once she said her piece she rolled off.

Now it was up to her.

 

[Maranae]

Heart pounding, a staccato thunder in her chest as she lurched into the mad dash of the pursued, no thought to the terrain around her. Her bare feet seemed to get decent traction, and as a result she was able to fly like the wind, inhuman strength and stamina permitting her to continue on when most would have already flagged and failed.

Something stirred in her mind, some fragment of a thing that she could not understand. A memory? Maybe it was a memory. Of a place that was not the Bad Place, where they gave her foul things to drink and poked her with needles and, eventually, with blades. When there was...something. A warm presence, filtering light and life to her, a bond that was so strong that even the vaguest hint of it nearly broke her heart with yearning. Had she not been running from the big flying thing, she might have cried.

Instead, she cried out. The foot was not expected, nor the tumble to the hard ground. She very nearly lashed out at the shape that suddenly appeared, instinctive reaction nearly taking over. But she could recall instinct taking control before, and the violence it had led to had beggared her young mind, such that she couldn't even remember the event anymore. Too terrible, too horrible to contemplate.

"No! No! Let Mara go!" she wailed. Though she had a lithe body with little in the way of visible muscle, it must have been extremely dense muscle. The woman that pinned her was strong, but it would take nearly everything she had just to pin her in place, and thanks be to all the Gods in the heavens that she was not mean or violent. That would not have been pleasant to deal with.

She stopped almost immediately when the shape atop her spoke. Those arms remained taut as bowstrings, legs fully coiled and ready for renewed efforts to free herself...but she waited. She wasn't even breathing hard, and all the scratches and spots of blood she had earned in her struggles were already healing before the eyes of any who cared to watch or notice.


"No! Big...big flying thing! Danger!" she yelled, and tried to get up and resume her flight again. The thought of food was tempting, but the thought of that big flying thing was enough to override that impulse. For now. The ravenous hunger that always set in after any kind of regeneration had taken place was nibbling at the edge of her mind now, not insistent or undeniable, but making sure she knew it was there.

The woman that had been atop her rolled off, and Mara scrambled up on all four, crouching low like some kind of feral animal. She danced back a ways, until there was a tree between her and the stranger, eyes bright and curious and not a little bit afraid. "Bad flying things, but big flying thing more...more..." she said, struggling to try and convey her thoughts. "Mara no want to go back to Bad Place," she said, and did not move an inch forward.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Bad place..."

Kyla's brows furrowed. She pushed strange location, and the girls odd ,almost primitive way of speaking from her mind. Slowly she held up her hands turning them palm up slowly showing she had no reason to worry about her or a weapon.
She then crouched to be more on her level.

"Not a bad place..Good place..Its ok..just take it easy. Not here to hurt you. "

She could guess at the black flying thing...Though why would she would be afraid of Mirami was beyond Kyla. Then she saw somethings about the girl on closer inspection.

Mostly the 3 to 4 bees buzzing in her hair vying escape from her disheveled locks, and the honey on her fingers and mouth...She then noticed the girl was soaking wet..She glanced at the stream and it became clear why she would fear the bird.

"Oh...No! Thats my bird...She picked you up and dropped you in the water to get those bees out of your hair." She said calmly moving from a crouching to a sitting position keeping her hands out and in the open before beckoning for her to come closer.

"

 

[Maranae]

The gesture meant nothing to her, palms out and up, lack of weapon or with one. She did not move from her crouch, did not advance, but neither did she retreat. She looked at the woman in front of her, head cocked to one side, dirty locks of dripping hair hanging across her face.

And then she leaned forward, tentatively sniffing the air. The scent of the flying thing was thick around this woman, and around this place. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, commanded by instinct that could not be overridden by her otherwise sweet nature. In fact, those same instincts made her mistrustful of the woman before her.

"Flying thing...is not bad?" She said cautiously, gleaming fangs flashing in the sun. She moved forward a little bit, still unsure of the woman before her. "Bees? Mara does not know..."

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Bees..The things that came and stung you after you took the honey....The Um sticky sweet stuff..."

Kyla said pointing to one as it flew from Mara's hair....At least she assumed they had stung her. The girl didnt seem to have a single bump on her fair skin.

"They hate water so I guess she felt she was helping..."
She whistled and Mi-Mi suddenly streaked from the sky and landed on her shoulders. Each claw clung to a shoulder as she stroked her chest plumage and received an affectionate nibble in return.

"There, see? Sweet bird." She said with a warm smile. "You can come pet her if you like. No need to be scared." She continued calmly gesturing for her to come closer.

 

[Maranae]

Hunger stirred within her, the first pangs of what would grow to be something fearsome indeed. The girl was transfixed by this red-head crouching across from her, dropping her head low as if to get different angles of perspective, cocking her head this way and that. "Honey?" She looked at her hands, covered in dirty and leaves that had stuck to the honey from the beehive. She yelped and stumbled forward a moment, hand clapping against her neck. Her fingers ended in claws rather than fingernails, another distinction between her and humanity.

The welt was already beginning to swell up and fade away as she continued her standoff. "Mara does not like water," she said earnestly, a little more of her characteristic warmth making its way through. It fled immediately when the giant bird showed up, and she crouched lower, hissing at the thing.

"Bad big flying thing!" she exclaimed, shrinking back behind the tree, trembling a little. She poked her head around, and saw that the bird had not mauled the woman. She came around slowly, but did not approach yet. "Bird? Is flying thing? Flying thing with claws..."

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Well It was either that or nothing..Getting rid of bees is a pain." Kyla said with a shrug before continuing.

"And yes bird is flying thing, hahaha theyre called talons love, but I guess yes..she has claws..and you have them too.."

She said as her eyebrows furrowed once more...Fangs? Claws? Limited speech...Just what had happened to this girl...

"I understand your lost, I understand things might seem a little frightening at the moment, but I promise you'll be fine. "

When suddenly Mi-Mi took to the air once again. Kyla pondered for a moment why that was when she anded with a soft grace a few feet away from Mara.

An apple fell from her beak.

She slowly folded her wings and pushed it forward towards the girl.
She cooed softly lowering her head.

"She's apologizing, Wants to know if you forgive her and accept her gift." Kyla said with a chuckle.

 

[Maranae]

When the bird landed, Mara backed off hurriedly, retreating behind the tree again. She only peeked back out after a moment, looking at the red thing that the bird had dropped on the ground. It was unfamiliar to her, too, as was the scent that wafted off of it.

The initial terror at being lifted into the air was fading, forgotten in the face of new things. Her curious nature was reasserting itself, as well as the general carefree way she handled the world. She stepped out from behind the tree slowly, and approached the fallen red thing on the ground. Never taking her eyes off the bird or its handler she picked it up.

And then promptly forgot the bird and lady were there. The red thing was fascinating, smelling slightly sweet. Its surface was firm, and she sniffed at it delicately as if that would tell her more than she already knew. "Is cooked thing? Mara does not feel heat," she said in bright tones, and without further preamble, bit into it.

And then spit it out, sputtering. "Yuck! Is not food! Mara does not like red thing!" She looked up at the tattooed lady eyes wide, face twisted in comical disgust. "Does red lady have brown four-legs? Mara likes the blood," she queried. At least she had learned that red water was in fact called blood, and she found it delicious in the same way that the meat was.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Red lady eh? Guess that's fair.. " Kyla said with a chuckle at her comical expression.
"And yes I have meat if that's more to your liking. Guess your some kind of carnivore eh? You and Mi-Mi both it seems.."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a lightly seared cut of beef. It was still slightly warm and plenty bloody. She kept them for Mi-Mi as the Terrorhawk was a picky eater.

"But if you want it you gotta trust me and come get it. Fair?"
She said holding it out after tossing another to Mi-Mi so she wouldnt get her feelings hurt.

 

[Maranae]

She had not scented the meat before, but that could have been because of many reasons, not least of all the oversized bird of prey, which snatched its morsel from the air like some kind of party trick.

Mara was alert in a predatory manner herself, jade eyes fixed on the piece of meat much like a hawk on a mouse. She had been hurt here and there on her journey, and the cumulative hunger from her regenerative abilities suddenly made her ravenously hungry. Or perhaps she had already been and had simply not let it consume her mind.

She started forward cautiously, but hunger won out against caution. She darted forward and snatched the piece of meat, and ripped it in half with nothing but her teeth, scarcely chewing the rare meat before swallowing. She said nothing about the odd texture cooking caused it to have, she ate what she caught raw, typically, and normally bones, flesh, and hide. Nothing to waste.

She worked on the chunk of meat, unmindful of the woman close to hand.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"There see? No danger. I have more in the house. If you want some you'll need to follow me ok?"
Kyla said standing after a moment watching her eat.

She almost reached out to pet her head, but thought better of it after seeing those teeth.

There would be time for connection if she so wanted it, but Kyla wasnt about to lose a finger or two for being to hasty.
"Oni will love you. Between her and you I'd say my meat stores are about to be emptied. Pity, but such is the way of life I suppose.." Kyla lamented to herself with a chuckle.

"So what do you say um...Mara wasnt it? Trust me a little more?" She asked the girl gesturing for her to follow offering her hand.

 

[Maranae]

The words of the woman washed over her, and were unheeded as she herself was. Mara was hungry, a product of the nearly insane regenerative ability of her flesh. Walking barefoot kept it busy, but Mara's own inquisitive nature kept a steady line of work rolling through for it as well.

It was not uncommon for the hunger that generated to eventually overcome her sweet disposition, and drive her to acts she did not really like.

Licking her fingers of the last dribbles of blood and juices, Mara say back on her haunches, staring at Kyla with bright, curious eyes. Hunger sated, she seemed less apprehensive than she had, though she still cast obvious looks at the bird, distrustful.

"What is the house," she asked, cocking her head to one side so that unkempt red hair fell across her face. She shook it away. "Red Lady says many words Mara does not....does not know," she added brightly. She stood up, ragged clothes itching as they dried from her dousing. "Mara will follow so long as Red Lady does not hit her."

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Its the big building you saw through the trees."

She said as she crouched once more and reached out to give her a head pat.

"and no one's going to hit yeh. They'd have to go through me at any rate. Now come along. Youve got friends to meet. Well. They will wanna meet you at any rate."

She said with a chuckle leading the way back to the manor.

Oni and Skye were undoubtedly still cooking lunch.

Well Oni was anyway. Skye mostly helped by getting ingredients and sitting on the counter talking the ear off the silent hybrid.

Though she sometimes got annoyed she seemed to enjoy being around someone more than willing to fill the silence for her than pressuring her to speak. They entered into a small sitting room and advanced into the dining hall.

"I'm home Skye! Leave Oni be and come greet our guest!"

She yelled good naturedly. Skye poked her head out of the kitchen. "It's the monster!" she said with a squeak. But rather than running away she rushed out of the kitchen and looked at Mara curiously.

 

[Maranae]

She hopped up and started forward, cautiously at first, but with growing enthusiasm. She ran around the red-headed hostess, her own tangled hair flying as she chortled to herself in nonsensucke babble. It was like watching a very young child run around, and with about the same level of energy.

She did keep an eye on the bird, though, wary of a thing that could pick her up without warning. And, when the house came into view, she began to become a little less boisterous and a little more apprehensive as they got closer.

On the doorstep, she balked for a moment, watching Kyla go indoors. The scent of the place was very much unlike any she had been in before - not that human habitations were a thing she had occupied much. Most importantly, the smell of blood and suffering seemed absent.

She stepped inside hesitantly, and flinched when Kyla hollered. It wasn't as if she even understood all the words the woman said, but enough to not feel overly threatened.

The girl that came flying out of a room, gold lockers flying behind her, made Mara back off hurriedly. Normally, she was not so uneasy, but so far she had been stung, clawed, dropped in a creek, and tackled by Kyla. She didn't run, though, instead looking on the human girl curiously, her emerald eyes alight. She tentatively smiled at Sky, long cani as exposing themselves as she did.

"Monster?" she asked, looking to Kyla with a lack of comprehension in her eyes.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

"Ah dont mind her. I just reckon your teeth spooked her.."

Kyla said with a grin as the little elf herself drew back slightly at the sight of Mara's fangs.

"No need for either of you to be scared of each other now.."

Kyla said with a playful eyeroll. Skye nodded before she slowly walked up to Mara and gave her a quick hug before darting back into thr kitchen.

"Ok Skye. Let Oni know we have a guest and go set the table." Kyla called after her as she looked to Mara.

"Comon now. Follow me so we can get you out of those rags. Got more skin showing than a brothel during harvest season." She said with a grin at the girl.

The barest hint of a bush gracing her cheeks as her eyes wandered her slender curvy form. Even if she acted like a child she had the body of a woman.

She would lead her down the hallway coming to her own room. She got a pair of leather pants, and a chest wrap, along with a light green cotton shirt.

"Here you can put these on.."

She said with the thought of Mara stripping off the rags causing another blush to flame her cheeks as she desperately tried to push it out and away.

 

[Maranae]

Mara accepted the hug, which was to say she had no idea what the gesture meant and stood there as the girl embraced her with an uncomprehending grin fixed on her face. The scent of the girl was overpoweringly human, but Mara could smell other things in this....this house that were not.

"Mara does not wear rags," she said reprovingly as Kyla turned to go deeper into the house. "Mara wears a...a shirt. And....pants?" She had no idea what a brothel was, anymore than what harvest season was. They were words from the adult world, and she had never been an adult. Her age was, of course, in question - very much so. It had been three years since Mara had become, but before that...

Mara caught a strange scent from the woman, as incomprehensible as the rest in this place of people. It seemed to come directly from Kyla, though what it meant was beyond her. The woman rummaged about in a wardrobe, and she she turned to hand her the clothes she was to change into, the scent grew stronger. Strange.

Mara took the items, and looked at them. They were a great deal finer than anything she had worn before - the things the facility had given her were designed to be ruined, considering the nature of the experiments done on her.

"Ok," she said brightly.

And then she stripped without a second thought, right there in the hallway. Pale flesh, surprisingly smooth considering the trials she had undergone just to get to this place. She was very much a woman, in form at least, buxom and willowy of build. The number '18' had been tattooed on her left shoulder, on her back, and a series of numbers had been tattooed on her left arm on the underside. The bold numbering. 12936618, was easily picked out if its meaning was not entirely clear.

She dressed slowly and with the awkwardness of someone not used to the task, and still not entirely certain why it was even required to wear such strange things. She hissed with frustration trying to put shirt on, having not bothered with the chest wrap, not understanding its purpose other than to be frustrating to try and put on.