Closed Clipped Wings [Bat]

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna was legitimately surprised when the Zith opened her mouth and spoke in common words, dashing thoughts of them being mindless beasts completely and utterly. Still a lesser creature of course but it was no longer on the level of monster like a Yukman, more on par with Kelvic in her mind. The sorceress stroked her chin as she considered this, an interesting discovery to make regarding the nature of another species. Her tongue peeked out from behind her pale lips, moistening them as she studied the Zith. Likely if she wanted to she could tear right through Anna with her claws, especially at such a close range though it seemed the Zith was less interested in killing and more interested in obedience.

The sorceress would go through the same examination with the Zith as she had with the human male, thought a bit more cautiously considering those claws and fangs. The tall woman would position the Zith arm’s up at her sides if permitted and examine her torso and arms closely. Her fingers trailed over the claws stretching out from her fingers, the points noted to be rather sharp and well equipped to rend flesh from bone. Anna noted that around the elbows the Zith’s fur was much thicker and more pronounced, she idly wondered if there was some meaning to be found there.

Outwardly she looked merely cautious as she examined the Zith so closely, on the inside Anna was quaking with fear of the more primal variety. Perhaps freeing the creature from its shackles had been a mistake; one swipe of those claws could see her throat sliced clean open. Then again, if the Zith was at least somewhat intelligent perhaps it would have already considered that and was not acting upon it for fear of being without guidance in this place. Anna could not say, all she knew was that she still had her throat uncut and pristine which urged her onwards.

“Turn around.” Anna commanded.

If the Zith obeyed her the tall woman would examine the Zith’s back, pushing the wings aside to remove the obstructions. Whip scars could be seen here as well, prompting Anna to close her eyes once more. The tall sorceress started muttering Ancient Tongue words under her breath, random gibberish really to any speaker of the language but they made excellent incantations. She grasped at the strands of her Djed willing them into her senses, tasking them to help her gain more information about the creature before her.

A rush of Djed fled from her body, fueling the magic that she was rather unfamiliar with and allowing Anna to open her eyes to a whole new world. Bat’s form was wreathed in color, a rainbow swirl of colors and sensations, tastes and smells as Anna’s five senses were nearly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sensory information coming from Bat. The tall woman placed her hands upon the whip scars, the hairs on her arms standing on end as her fingers brushed the area. The taste of blood filled her lips, her own back twitching for some reason so could not identify properly.

Anna closed her eyes and severed the sight once more; pinching her brow as the flow of her Djed into the Auristical sight was cut. It was less taxing than Reimancy had been at first but the tall woman was still inexperienced, only being able to identify physical elements before her on a limited level. It irritated her, but the sorceress was not so foolish so as to think she could push too much further. The sight was still a very weak tool in her arsenal but Anna was confident she could increase her power with it if she just continued to work with it.

After recovering Anna reached around and slipped her fingers up the Zith’s blouse, examining her breasts with little care for personal space. Noting nothing out of the ordinary other than the fur her hands would stray lower as it had for the male human, her own body tensing as though expecting assault from the creature for her probing. As before her examinations were rough and clinical, simply checking to see if everything was function and Anna was somewhat surprised to discover anatomy similar to her own if she went uninterrupted.

She removed her groping fingers and got down to her knees and examined her legs and feet, noting the claws upon her fingers were mirrored by her toes. Anna ran a finger down one of the claws, noting its strength before standing once more and urging the Zith to turn back around. The sorceress would grip her jaw and urge her physically to open it so she could look upon her teeth, rather intimidated if Bat would comply with the sight of the sharp implements.

“Interesting, damaged as before but not overly so. Anatomy is strikingly similar to human, minus the claws, wings, and teeth. Intelligent as well, not at all like the stories.” Anna noted to herself.

“Tell me Zith, where were you born? Do those wings allow you to actually fly? How good it your eyesight and hearing? How old are you?” Anna interrogated, crossing her arms under her breasts and seemingly considering the specimen before her.

OOCIf I took too many liberties with my reply let me know and I'll edit it up.

[Bat]

Mistress raised Bat’s arms, which the Zith held in place after she let go. Mistress looked more closely at her elbows, then at her claws, and then Mistress's heart began to pick up its pace for a few moments before she retreated. “Turn around.” Bat turned around, a bit more uneasy now that she could not see what was happening to her. The hands returned, grasping at her wings, and Bat gasped as they wandered over one of the sores that had been opened by her brace. But the hands were gone soon enough, and they stayed gone for a small while––Mistress muttered something under her breath, syllables that Bat could hear quite clearly but could make no sense of, and then the hands were on her back, at the spot between her wings, and for a moment the contact between the two creatures was nothing more. After a long moment of wondering what exactly Mistress was doing, Mistress finished whatever it was and then continued her examination. While Bat had no real aversion to her breast being touched, the positioning was more than a little awkward with her facing away and two large wings taking up no small amount of space. But Mistress managed it somehow, her fingers retaining their mechanical efficiency as they continued––down. When it came down to it, Bat knew very little about her new situation. She didn’t want to be punished so early with such a new owner, but if the previous examination had been awkward then what Bat assumed to be coming next seemed next to impossible. And so she took a leap of faith, hoped for the best and raised her wing. Her joints popped after so long being trapped, something between pain and pleasure but something that Bat did not want to focus on. She reined all her attention onto Mistress, maneuvering the ungainly limb to a place where it would no longer block Mistress’s inspection and praying that Mistress would not be offended by her initiative. The assessment of her lower regions was as clinical as that of her upper ones, and soon Mistress was moving farther down, to her legs and feet and to the claws on her toes. Bat remained perfectly still, although it was immensely difficult––she was being examined, as she had seen other slaves examined before purchase––but she, she had already been purchased. For four hundred mizas. The numbness of the sudden change had begun to subside, and Bat was growing more and more excited. A curse upon those who had said she’d never be worth anything! She was worth something now, to Mistress––she was worth four hundred mizas, and that was a sight better than nothing. To Mistress, to her Mistress, something she had never thought she would have, to the Mistress who had undone her bindings and shackles she was at least worth such a sum of money. As she felt Mistress straighten, Bat’s mind whirled––the strange, distant daydream of the past had suddenly been given form, and she wanted to prove… something. She wanted to prove her old owners wrong. And she wanted to prove her new Mistress right, to think that she was worth four hundred mizas. More than that, even. Bat would be worth more than that. Her Mistress bid her to turn around, and Bat did so silently, bringing her raised wing down to rest. Mistress took her jaw, not unkindly but not kindly, either, and urged Bat to open her mouth. Bat opened her mouth, doing her best to limit what she was certain was very bad breath. After a moment, Mistress dropped her hand. “Interesting, damaged as before but not overly so. Anatomy is strikingly similar to human, minus the claws, wings, and teeth. Intelligent as well, not at all like the stories. Tell me Zith, where were you born? Do those wings allow you to actually fly? How good it your eyesight and hearing? How old are you?” Bat blinked at the sudden barrage of questions, but quickly went over them in her head, analyzing the questions themselves and the order they had been asked in so that she could answer them in the same order. “I was born in Ravok, Mistress. I didn’t fly before they tied my wings, so I don’t know if I can. I saw my mother fly, once, though. I see best in darkness. Better than most, I think. I can’t see very good in bright light. I can hear a lot. More than most thought I could, before. I can hear your breathing now, and when your heart sped up when you looked at my arms. I am eight years old.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Ravok, there was the name of Rhysol’s holy city once more, another gift from the Defiler seemingly landing upon her lap though in a much more bestial form. Her answers were satisfactory though when the subject of her heartbeat being heard Anna felt her blood run cold and her breath hitch almost imperceptibly. Fear once again reared its head, this Zith’s powers of observation making it seemingly the perfect hunter. The sorceress was making notes of being safe during the day though at night it appeared as though the Zith held the advantage, with their better eyesight at night and superior hearing. She swallowed subtly, attempting to crush her fear.

The Zith seemed docile enough towards her, for what reason Anna could only guess but she was willing to take full advantage of that. She had cooperated during the examination, which Anna noted her physical age was further along than her actual. The Zith appeared sexually mature if nothing else, so Zith obviously aged much faster than the average human by Anna’s guess. Were all Zith like this one, or had a life of captivity trained it to behave as such? Slavery could tend to break one in certain ways, would the same not apply to the Zith.

Whatever the case was Anna nodded to the shorter creature and moved on to the final specimen, the ragged human female whose brown hair was clumped in patches. Wordlessly Anna started the same examination she had the other two times, holding the woman’s arms out at her side. This one seemed to be much more nicely broken than the male had, not resisting and complying to her movements. Anna liked that, a useful trait in a long term slave was unquestioning obedience out of fear. Not as amusing as disobedience perhaps but it was a better investment. She was a little less bruised than the male had been, though just as underfed.

“Take off your shirt.” Anna commanded.

Wordlessly the woman complied, lifting her shirt up over her head to reveal her torso a map of scars and bruises as evidence of abuse. Anna urged her to turn around, laying her hand upon one of her more numerous whip scars. Her fingers ghosted along the surface of her flesh and she idly pondered dipping into her Auristical sight before discarding the idea. Too much of that would leave little Djed for the first steps in her newest project. No, she needed to conserve her energy, besides it was unlikely she would learn anything new immediately.

Her arms snaked around from behind the slave and groped at her breasts roughly, and then trailed down lower to examine her more intimate bits. Everything again seemed to be in order so she knelt down once more and lifted her pant legs and checked her legs and feet. The human woman was not missing anything obvious so Anna stood and turned the woman around again. She opened her mouth and checked along the inside of her mouth, noting a missing tooth or two near the back rows but nothing too damaged. All in all she looked like she could make as suitable a test subject as a slave, fortunately Anna had a way around her dilemma of choice.

“Well now, you both look rather like what I might be looking for. That man in there is going to die in my experiments as a test subject. One of you will as well. The other will serve me as a slave for the rest of their lives doing whatever task I desire of them. Unfortunately there is only room for one in this position, as slaves take money to keep alive.” Anna started, heading to the chair at her workbench and turning it around so that she could sit and stare at both slaves, crossing her legs as she did.

“So I’ll give you both a task and the one that succeeds gets to serve me. I’m in need of some entertainment you see; things get so dreadfully dull upon Sahova. So, you two are going to fight each other until I call for a stop or until one of you stops breathing. The one who wins is obviously the stronger and more cunning so they have the right to continue to live.” Anna stated, crossing her arms under her breasts.

“Do try to avoid making a mess, and if you break anything important I’ll repay the favor on your limbs.” Anna said as an afterthought, smirking at both slaves as she waved imperiously for them to begin.

[Bat]

Mistress’s breath hitched for reasons unknown, but she said nothing more to Bat and continued on to the third and final slave. Left to her own attentions, Bat took the time to look back at her hands, flexing them and rolling her wrists to regain feeling. It had been rare to be unshackled, and she had never had her wings free, at least not since she was small. As Mistress examined the other slave, Bat slowly and silently began to move her wings in their sockets, popping some joints but not daring to open them fully. Freedom felt good, unexpected as it was, and Bat reveled in it until Mistress completed her assessment and turned to address them both. “Well now, you both look rather like what I might be looking for. That man in there is going to die in my experiments as a test subject. One of you will as well. The other will serve me as a slave for the rest of their lives doing whatever task I desire of them.” Bat blinked and looked at her comrade. Which one? “Unfortunately there is only room for one in this position, as slaves take money to keep alive. So I’ll give you both a task and the one that succeeds gets to serve me.” A task, yes, Bat could to a task. She would do a task. She was strong, stronger than the other, and she didn’t know what the task was but she was going to win her Mistress. If she had to kill the other to win, she would. “I’m in need of some entertainment you see; things get so dreadfully dull upon Sahova. So, you two are going to fight each other until I call for a stop or until one of you stops breathing. The one who wins is obviously the stronger and more cunning so they have the right to continue to live.” A fight! Yes, Bat could fight, and she would fight gladly! Her wings moved of their own accord, flapped once, twice, nothing strong enough to generate more than a feeble gust of wind but more than enough to convey her excitement. Bat liked fighting, and she like fighting to please Mistress even better! The Zith hissed, bared her teeth and wheeled to face she who had become her opponent, requiring no further prompting. As soon as she had squared up, Bat leaped upon the woman with claws outstretched. Unfortunately, the newfound freedom of her wings came with a price; in her excitement, she drew down with a single, powerful flap that added an altogether unexpected burst of height, and she sailed right over her intended quarry. There was enough space on the other side to recover, however, and when Bat hit the ground she wasted no time in regaining her feet and retreating a few paces, reanalyzing her position and sinking in preparation of another leap. If given the chance, she would not miss a second time.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna chuckled as the Zith whirled around to face her opponent, who let out a surprised squeak and ducked on reflex as Bat lunged. The sorceress noted that her wings caused her overshoot her target, gliding over her and managing to catch herself. Anna simply for her part opted to prop her feet up her workbench and observe the festivities, enjoying the power of setting two sentient individuals against each other. Perhaps she should look into setting something up like that when she finally had free time and a larger space; pitting slave against slave for the amusement of others seemed like fine entertainment.

The human woman seemed to recover as well as she possibly could and tried to leap to the side, to avoid the Zith. Assuming the creature missed she’d stand and attempt to take a swing at the Zith’s back, following up with a kick. Anna was pleased to note that she was carefully avoiding the stone table in the center of the lab; she was not fond of having to rebuild such things. The tall sorceress was betting on the Zith honestly, the creature looked likely to kill the human if nothing else. The woman might put up a fight but unless she was clever she was likely either going to be beaten heavily or dead.

“I certainly hope you aren’t holding back on my account. Come now, let’s see some violence!” Anna jeered from her seat on the sidelines.

The dark haired woman hummed as the fight would continue, taking up a brush and ink well as she got to her feet and moved to the central table. She picked up a few errant pieces of parchment from the floor and placed them next to the book and dipped her brush into the inkwell and started Glyphing one of the pieces of parchment. Her hand was a flurry of motion, the Glyphs coming into existence easily and quickly enough. Ink stained the page as a stylized inverted triangle was drawn upon the page, taking mere seconds to be created. Around the Focus Glyph a ring of smaller stylized geometric shapes, the Barrier for the sigil.

She turned her gaze up to the fight and allowed it to continue as she waited for the ink on the first page to dry, her grey eyes glittering with pleasure at the violence that no doubt was continuing. Anna was going to fill each page of the book upon the table with these same Glyphs; the last page of the book would possess the Trigger Glyph for activating the entire thing. The sorceress knew exactly what it was that she wanted, it was just the act of putting in the time to creating it and charging it. A dangerous affair.

OOCFeel free to RP the actions of the slave, give yourself something more to work with than I can in this combat.

[Bat]

The woman had escaped the Zith’s claws on her first pass and was reeling to face her again. Wasting no time, Bat sprang once more, this time taking care to keep her wings tucked neatly against her body. There was no overshoot, and she collided with her target in a satisfactory manner; the woman struck Bat’s back, perhaps enough to bruise a bit but lacking the claws to do any real damage. The biggest surprise was the kick, which landed squarely in Bat’s stomach. Bat let out a huff of air and curled around the assaulting limb, refusing to let her windedness get the better of her and wrapping an iron grip around the ankle. “I certainly hope you aren’t holding back on my account,” said Mistress suddenly. “Come now, let’s see some violence!” Bat glanced at Mistress, momentarily confused, and her opponent took the chance to try and escape. Without thought beyond instinct, Bat yanked her back enough to sink her teeth into her calf, beating her wings to drag her off balance and return the advantage to Bat. oocSorry for the shortness, but I’m no good at fluffing up action and it looks like you’re sort of NPCing the other slave.

[Annalisa Marin]

The Zith was a good enough combatant to where the human had not managed to escape her initial strike, a cruel smirk overcoming tipping Anna’s lips upwards. Bat was apparently caught off her guard by the kick, winding her momentarily but it was not enough to stop the more vicious creature. Grey eyes glittered maliciously as the two struggled against each other in this little fight. Anna’s words appeared to have momentarily distracted the Zith, causing the human to try and escape the Zith’s grip. The creature then started to drag her back to her, the smirk widening ever so in approval as she watched the conflict.

The tall woman was a little surprised when Bat sunk her teeth into the human’s calf, earning a loud shriek of pain from the other woman. The human kicked at the Zith in an effort to free herself, hobbling as she did with her lack of balance. She ended up losing her balance completely and tumbling to the floor, likely taking Bat with her unless the Zith had been anticipating it or managed to release her in time. The sorceress leaned over her table to get a better view, her grey eyes analyzing the movements of the fighters.

The human woman was obviously the far more desperate of the two, squirming and writhing to do anything she could to just get away from the Zith. Bat on the other hand was far more savage about her approach as far as Anna could tell, having noted the way she had bitten her. Instinctual perhaps, savagery could very well have been written into her very nature. After all she certainly looked monstrous enough, instinct over intelligent thought perhaps? Or were the two more closely interwoven than Anna had first thought herself? Whatever the case was Anna felt she herself was learning a great deal just from the watching.

The tall woman would allow the fighting to continue for the next three chimes, taking the time to draw out two more similar sigils on the remaining parchment upon the table. When she was working it looked almost as if though the world itself had melted away entirely, like there was nothing else around. It was a trait she had picked up on Sahova, the ability to completely and utterly devote herself to a task. It was her biggest strength but also her biggest weakness really, for such absorbance could cause one to forget the world around them. After those three chimes she could look up to the little fight.

“Alright, I think that’s enough.” She would say.

[Bat]

The woman reacted violently to the bite, as Bat had expected she would, although the wild writhing was a bit more unexpected––as was the sudden tumble to the ground. The woman took Bat with her, although Bat didn’t particularly mind––she could fight as well on the ground as on her feet. Having fallen backwards, the woman had ended up under Bat enough for the Zith to chance releasing her jaw, blood staining her teeth bright red. Now she stretched upwards, grasping at the hem of her opponent’s shirt and drawing them face to face. The woman bucked and writhed, and without thought Bat’s wings extended, slamming to the floor and preventing any wayward strikes from throwing her to either side. Now she could focus solely on doing damage, which she did in great measure; she didn’t have to break limbs. She had her claws, after all, which were weapons in and of themselves. Bat scratched freely and without prejudice, scoring whatever flesh came within her reach. The woman’s arms suffered first, and were running freely by the time Bat found an opening to go farther. The woman let out a pained screech as Bat rent the flesh of one breast, ripping fabric as she continued down her chest and to her stomach before a punch to the face distracted her. But that was alright, as Bat’s attention went to the hand now––the punch continued past her cheek, clumsy and swinging, and Bat gripped the elbow firmly and then latched her teeth around this appendage instead. Once again her wings began to beat of their of accord, almost lifting Bat into the air as she dragged at her opponent’s arm. Then, disappointingly, Mistress’s voice pierced the haze of bloodlust that had fallen over the Zith. “Alright, I think that’s enough.” Bat settled back on the ground, although with more space to do so she managed to straddle the other slave and come to rest comfortably on her navel, not even giving a glance to the blood that soaked her loincloth as it flowed freely from the gash across her torso. The human woman whimpered and struggled, but there was little she could do and Bat had ceased any real assault. Instead, Bat simply looked at Mistress, bloody and breathing heavily with her opponent’s arm still in her mouth.

[Annalisa Marin]

A low chuckle escaped Anna’s lips as she looked upon the Zith standing dominant over the human, straddling the helpless woman’s body. The sorceress was very much pleased that she had bought a vicious monster of a creature; Bat was certainly looking to be an amusing thing to keep around. If nothing else she could just let her kill things and people that she did not like, her own personal pet monster. Her family had owned a cat when Anna was younger, Bat was a little bit different but the principle was the same. As a bonus the Zith appeared to be loyal to some degree for some reason.

Anna circled around from behind the table and slowly stalked towards the pair, smirking down at both as she placed her hands on her hips. A calculating steely glint entered the overcast of her stormy grey eyes, seeming to judge the worth of both creatures before her automatically. The human would make a fine Test Subject most likely; the sorceress would likely need to expend her sooner rather than later due to the injuries but that could be arranged. Anna suspected she’d get her money’s worth out of her by the time she expired.

“Well done Zith, you’ve proven you aren’t a weakling. Release her and get off of her.” The sorceress commanded.

If Bat complied Anna would grip the human by the back of her hair and haul her to her feet, favoring her with a sneer. The sorceress was not overly fond of failure and was even less fond of overt weakness like this woman had shown, unable to best this Zith as she was. The woman whimpered, staring into Anna’s eyes fearfully as the tall woman jerk her head painfully. Why was it that it was always the weaklings that she seemed to be ill fortuned to acquire? Most likely, she supposed, because the strong would not find themselves as slaves.

“You on the other hand are weak, unfit for a prolonged existence upon Sahova. You are to answer to Test Subject 2F from this moment on, do you understand?” She hissed.

“Y-yes, Mistress.” She stammered, her eyes watering from the pain.

“Good. Collect your things and take the cell next to the other test subject, when I have need of you I’ll claim you. Now go and get out of my sight.” The sorceress said, shoving the woman roughly in the direction of the cells.

Anna returned her attention to the Zith as the human departed, glancing over her once again before shrugging and returning to her cluttered desk. The tall woman grumbled as she searched around for a form, the Citadel and its damned paperwork. A mere formality however the Citadel tended to like to keep track of a Wizard’s resources, slaves and Test Subjects counted towards her resources. She’d already made them aware of Alva, now there was the matter of the Zith and the two humans. Idly she dipped a brush in ink and started writing, not bothering to sit as she wrote.

Resource Addition Report, 66th of Summer, 514 AV.
Lab: 30G
Presiding Wizard: Annalisa Marin
Resource additions: One Male Test Subject, human, average quality, will deliver to the Palsa Hydrasa if there is anything left of him by the end of testing.

One Female Test Subject, human, average quality, will deliver to the Palsa Hydrasa if there is anything left of her by the end of testing.

One Female Slave, Zith, superior quality, will keep her on for an extended period for personal use. Perhaps train her towards hunting? Will keep the Citadel appraised of her use and of course deliver her corpse to the Palsa Hydrasa when she expires.

“Well, you’ll be sticking around a little longer then, Zith. Being that you have proven yourself worthy of not being expended in a test of mine, you can tell me what you are called. I assume that Zith have names, no? Or shall I simply need to give you one?” Anna inquired as she moved the document to the side for the ink to dry.

“I’m certain you are wondering what you will be doing. Put simply, my lab is rather a mess as you can see and I lack the time to waste on organizing every piece of parchment or vial of ink here. So, I want you to handle that. Your job will be to clean my lab and keep it looking spotless. Of course, you will also follow whatever other orders I might have for you.” The tall woman explained.

“Any questions so far?” Anna inquired, her mood far more pleasant than before.

[Bat]

“Well done Zith, you’ve proven you aren’t a weakling. Release her and get off of her.” Bat slackened her jaw, letting loose the woman’s arm. The Zith rose and stepped off and away, retreating a few feet before letting Mistress do as she pleased with the defeated slave. Left to her own devices, Bat found herself licking her claws of the blood that still stained them, observing quietly as Mistress took the woman and snarled at her. Bat smiled ever so slightly. With a shove, the slave was expelled from the room to where the male had disappeared to. Mistress then glanced over to Bat, but said nothing. Instead, she went over to the desk and began to fuss about with the things upon it, pulling out a brush and ink and setting into a piece of paper. Bat said nothing, simply watched curiously and licked her claws. When Mistress finished, she looked over to Bat once more. “Well, you’ll be sticking around a little longer then, Zith. Being that you have proven yourself worthy of not being expended in a test of mine, you can tell me what you are called. I assume that Zith have names, no? Or shall I simply need to give you one?” Bat rustled her wings proudly; she was fairly certain that that had been praise, and praise was something Bat had not expected to receive so quickly. Then, of course, she had to figure out how to answer the question. Bat opened her mouth, then closed it; Mother had given her a name long ago, and she still remembered it, but she also knew that she could not tell Mistress her name, even if she wanted to. “I… cannot give my name, Mistress. Only other Zith can know. But I was called Bat on the ship.” She shuffled, unsure if that was the correct way to phrase what she wanted to say. “I’m certain you are wondering what you will be doing. Put simply, my lab is rather a mess as you can see and I lack the time to waste on organizing every piece of parchment or vial of ink here. So, I want you to handle that. Your job will be to clean my lab and keep it looking spotless. Of course, you will also follow whatever other orders I might have for you. Any questions so far?” Bat tilted her head. “... What now?”