Solo The Colony

[Waisana]

26th Fall 516AV

Following on from this thread

Waisana had screamed until her throat grew raw and tender, the inner lining feeling dry enough to crack. She could have kept screaming in spite of the tight grip around her chest and even though the air whooshed past and tugged her breath from her. A vain hope that her screams would somehow bring about her deliverance. Even if they had made the beast man drop her, she probably would have died on impact with the ground. Not that she could tell how high she was. Visibility was nil. The rains still buffeted her face, each icy drop smacking against her skin with almost painful cold. Given the situation, she was safer where she was but the doctor just kept up her senseless screaming, even when it was clear they wouldn't do any good; the teen wasn't exactly thinking straight.

It had been terror that had made her fall silent as it had been terror that had started her shrieking in the first place. The beastly thing had roared in her ear and jolted her about with such violence that she'd quickly choked off into whimpers before falling silent. The situation felt surreal. Even whilst she'd been screaming, there'd been an odd dream-like quality about things as Waisana's mind failed to accept her predicament. The current raw state of her throat wasn't doing anything to convince her nor the many other sensations she was experiencing; she wondered when she'd awaken. They'd been attacked by the Zith, that much she was willing to concede but she hadn't been kidnapped. No, this was a figment of her addled mind, a result of a bad knock to the head when she'd fallen from Drusine's back and struck the ground. The soft fur and hard muscles that pressed against her, the chill wind and rain lashing past her, and the various aches and pains she were experiencing were all very good fabrications of her mind.

Her sense of time was warped and confused. She knew it was still night - the same night. It had felt like an eternity since she'd been snatched from the safety of her people, but it might only have been chimes. It was the greatest cruelty that she had been in the sight of home and security when she had been taken by this monster and lost all. She had no horse, no other Drykas, no knowledge of where she was headed or even if she would survive to see the dawn. Her fate was in absolute uncertainty and the girl just couldn't cope with it. She didn't faint but her mind retreated somewhat, her consciousness becoming hazy as things took on a faraway look. Not there was much for her to see to which her mind could hold on. The world was dark with Leth hiding his face behind stormy clouds. Maybe there were different shades of darkness for once or twice, she thought she saw something shift in the murk. It was probably just the weather playing tricks on her in the same way it sometimes made her think she could hear voices, other human voices.

When the sense of falling began, it came without warning. There was a shift in the wind and rain, a sensation that her insides were suddenly trying to escape upwards and a horrified cry left her mouth before she clamped her jaws shut. The feeling of falling eased and the air resumed its horizontal path. The rain and wind ceased abruptly although the movement of air remained as they continued their flight. The flight became turbulent, Waisana feeling herself buffeted every which way and she was even sure she was upside down at one point for a moment. Her stomach jiggled and gurgled within her, threatening to purge what remained of her earlier meal. Thankfully, it smoothed out again as light returned to the blonde's world. At first, she thought she was imagining it and then she made out the unmistakeable light of small fires. The large wings of her captor spread out above her, allowing the beast to glide towards the light where it joined its fellows. The Drykas teen found herself thrust forward and down before the Zith had touched the ground, leaving her in an unceremonious heap as arms and legs failed to support her. Her limbs were stiff and numb from cold and lack of movement. She squirmed weakly on the cave floor, trying to return sensation to her bruised and tired body.

A hand grabbed at the back of her coat to haul her onto her feet and she screamed. It was a reflex, she didn't think about it, but it earned her a hard clout to the side of her head. Her skull sang with pain, a sudden dizziness sending her world tilting sideways. Clawed hands supported her roughly and half-dragged, half-marched her between the fires. She caught glimpses of hunched human figures tending to the flames before she was thrust into a small group of cowering humans who were sprawled in the midst of a number of Zith. Once more, she ended up sprawled in the dirt and when she looked up, she found all hope of escape bared by the Zith that encircled them, wings half-unfurled to form a barrier. They were corralled like animals and the teen didn't want to look at them. She buried her face in her hands and wept.

[Waisana]

Her body shook with her quiet sobbing. There was plenty of noise around her, namely coming from the other humans. There weren't any sounds coming from the Zith as far as she could tell but the teen would be quite happy to ignore the presence of those creatures indefinitely. If she didn't look at them then maybe they would go away and she would be able to escape. It was a vain wish but it was the best way Waisana could come up with to deal with the situation. Dwelling on the unfairness of it all was another strategy although not a particularly good one for coping. The urge to wail aloud was a strong but she refrained for fear that it would be met with the same violent response that her screams had elicited.

The one place she didn't allow her mind to go was to the possibilities of what might lie ahead for her. The teen could dwell on the present or even the past but the future was a murky place full of uncertainty and terror. Death was a potential outcome she knew, but it was what might occur if she lived that was a total mystery. The notion of release was an unlikely one although she could still hope.

Hearing hysterical screaming close at hand, she glanced up in shock to see a young woman hurl herself at the wall of furry, muscular bodies. One of the Zith caught her effortlessly, grasping her arms tightly. It only made the screaming worse.

"Be silent!" the beast snapped in Common at the woman who was stunned into silence. Waisana found herself staring at the creature too, unable to believe that it was capable of so civilised a tongue. It wasn't just the language ability that was astonishing but the tone as well. The voice wasn't as deep as she would have expected although there had been a rumble like a growl at the end of her words. It was an attractive voice in spite of the growl, a wonderful purr, low and sultry and every human present stared at the Zith in horrified fascination. The woman had been released and as she staggered back, Waisana had the opportunity to view the beastly humanoid. Compared to the others, it had distinctive features that marked it as female. The fact that it was possible to differentiate between them was another stunning revelation. They were more human than she ever would have anticipated and they were easier to see now in the flickering flames of various fires than in the darkness of the outside rains. They had wings, claws and fur but they were so human in shape it was uncanny. The voice had been too human for comfort as well.

"Do not scream. We will kill if you scream again," the female pronounced slowly, her voice filled with the sultry threat of death. As the Zith spoke, she looked from one human to another, making sure they understood that it was the final warning for them all and not just the woman. The Zith went back to their discussion. Well, she assumed it was a discussion. They seemed to be looking at one another on occasion, their mouths seeming to move and movements rippling in their throats, but she could hear nothing. The blonde sometimes felt that she caught something passing between them, a pressure on her ear, a buzzing that was not quite in hearing.

The Common-speaking Zith had shocked Waisana out of her crying. Her mind was a little more focused now, more capable of approaching the situation with a practical mindset. She still shied away from the notion of her fate but she was able to utilise her training to assess her physical situation. Her leg throbbed but she knew that that was damaged. Her leg was caked with mud and there was no way to wash it. She was fairly sure it was cut but it would likely be difficult to assess it unless she could do something about the mud. It hadn't been too long ago that she'd been out in the rain so it hadn't had a chance to set in place yet but was still soft and pliable. The doctor focused on peel the layers of mud away until she could see both cloth and skin. There was a tear in her trousers where the wound was so she ripped the fabric down to the bottom of the trouser leg and parted the split layers of cloth with ease, rolling it up a bit at the back as she peered at her shin. It was possible to see where the skin had been torn and split, the blood having congealed unevenly over its surface. She prodded the top of the forming scab and found that the clot was very thin in places. She placed a thumb on either side of the wound and pressed inwards carefully, searching for signs of something in the cut that shouldn't be there. There was some swelling in the site but there didn't seem to be stones or any other noticeable debris. It was very likely that it was filled with mud of course, which meant it would need to be washed.

The teen felt laughter bubble up within her, threatening to escape in the form of hysterics should she let it out, as she thought about asking the Zith to give her cleaning supplies. Oddly enough she didn't think they'd be particularly forthcoming if she asked. Instead, the doctor considered how else she might be able to get water. Both her body and garments were soaked from the rain, the chill of her condition apparent now that she was in the warmer environment of the cave. It made her shiver from time to time but it was an excellent reminder that her clothing had absorbed moisture. They were as wet as if they'd been washed in the stream and thus the girl not only knew that they were full of water but also knew how to get it out.

She needed the cleanest water she could muster. Her coat and trousers were muddy so any water she wrung out of them would be dirty. However, her coat had been closed tightly about her shirt so that layer might have avoided being dirtied. The coat was unfastened with trembling fingers and peeled away from the shirt that was plastered to her skin. Placing the coat beside her, she tried not to blush as she saw how the material of her shirt clung to her chest and left little to the imagination. The Drykas teen was wearing undergarments but soaked as they were, they did nothing to hide the shape of her breasts and her nipples, which had become pert from the cold. Removing the shirt would not be reveal much more although she could return the coat to her torso after it was off to maintain her modesty.

Stripping off the wool layer, she placed it down on the other side of her and went to pick up her coat to put it on again when she spotted the movement from the corner of her eye. In the time it took for her to turn her head, the female Zith was upon her and Waisana had to shove her fist in her mouth to prevent the voicing of the scream that arose.

[Waisana]

The Zith had laid a hand upon her bare arm possessively, claw curling around so that the points topped the skin. It didn't hurt but i set the girl's teeth on edge. Already covered in goosebumps from the cold, she was still certain that her hair found a way to raise more. A tingling sensation rippled through the surface of her body and she found herself beginning to tremble as the face came down close to hers. Dark blue eyes peered at her, a few strands of the creature's hair creeping across its vision as it held its head slightly askance. Hair that had appeared black at a distance now seemed to shimmer with a hint of blue that matched the Zith's eyes. Waisana simply stared back, eyes wide with fear as she remained frozen and no longer able to think.

"What are you doing?" the female almost purred, a human curiosity modulating the tone together with the bestial wonder of her tilted head. The fist was removed slowly from her mouth but even with the barrier gone, no sound came out. The beast narrowed its eyes and repeated the question with a touch of impatience. When no reply was forthcoming, a low rumble issued from the Zith's throat and her eyes left Waisana's own to settle on the bare flesh instead. The hand that remained free reached out to stroke down her neck and chest. It was when the clawed hand traced a path around her breasts that some semblance of life returned to the blonde. With a gasp, she automatically tried to pull away, only to find that the possessive grip on her arm tightened so that the claws dug in enough to cause pain.

"I was going to clean my wound," she blurted out as her brain caught up and spat out the answer to the prior question. The Zith's eyes returned to hers and roamed over her face, the lack of understanding obvious. Any movement on the doctor's part was likely to elicit a negative reaction so instead the blonde tried to stutter out a brief explanation before she moved. "I-I am hurt. I will... s-show you." Cautiously, she moved the arm that wasn't being gripped and reached it slowly down to her leg so the creature could see the poorly scabbed abrasion. Its gaze moved to where she pointed and the hold on her arm eased. She suddenly found herself released although the Zith remained where it was, observing her with interest. Gulping, the doctor clutched the coat to her chest instead of putting it on for fear she'd be grasped once more. Hands shaking noticeably, she picked up the shirt and twisted it. When she had formed a twist to the point where moisture showed on the surface of the material, she folded the twisted fabric on top of itself and, gripping the whole thing, she turned it again. It was held above the wound and as she forced the material around, the water within came dribbling out to fall imperfectly around the abrasion. She moved the cloth closer to the surface of her skin and squeezed again. More water fell and she stopped her wringing to reach one hand down use the inside of the trouser leg to gently rub at it.

As she went to resume her wringing, Waisana found her upper arm clutched once more in the zith's talons. The shirt dropped from her hand in alarm and she felt herself tugged upwards as the beast woman rose. "Up," she growled, hardly giving the doctor a chance to respond before wrenching her to her feet.

"Move!"

The teen found herself being marched away from the others, no heed paid to her wound and the way she limped. Looking around her in panic, however, she discovered that she was not alone in being shifted. The Zith appeared to have divided them into two groups, one larger than the other; it was the larger one that Waisana was leading. She was brought closer to a fire where there were other humans, their clothes dry but in tatters. Some of them seemed to have small items of fur but they were skimpily dressed for the most part and there was only a few of them. Here, she was dropped unceremoniously and the female Zith left her without another word to the care of these other humans. Others joined her and then they were left relatively alone with a few Zith keeping watch over them from a short distance away. The others having deposited their burdens took to the air and launched themselves up high above the fires' light and becoming silhouettes before vanishing from sight altogether.

The other humans - slaves, Waisana guessed - moved among them, exchanging words here and there to offer comfort and instruction. They were unfamiliar in appearance and when the doctor attempted to sign to one, he regarded her in puzzlement. Now that she seemed safe again, she became aware of her relative half-nudity. Both coat and shirt were gone and she was merely left with her upper undergarment clinging to her chest so tightly that not only shape was revealed through the pale wool but colour too. Flushing, the blonde wrapped her arms about her in an attempt to shield herself and gazed pleadingly towards another woman from the settled group. She took no notice of the Opal girl and instead the teen found herself approached by the man who in spite of her crossed arms tried to remove the wet undergarment from her breasts. Waisana wrenched herself away from his questing hands in horror and tried to scramble away with the aid of one arm while the other remained across her chest. The man didn't relent but came at her again to try to pull it free.

"It's wet. You can't wear something wet so take it off," he explained in Common more fluent than her own. He was clearly becoming exasperated with her resistance but he stopped fumbling at her torso and instead grabbed at her trousers and began tugging them off. Giving a wordless cry, the blonde fought him wildly. "Take it off!" he snarled, hitting her on the side of the head. She reeled from the blow, made dizzy by it and he used her temporary distraction to snatch at both her wrists, thrusting them together and holding them with one hand.

"No! No, please stop! No! I'll do it myself! Please!" she wailed, her pleas falling on deaf and no longer sympathetic ears.

[Waisana]

Before this night, no one had ever touched her against her will. No one had ever had the nerve to grab her so callously as if she was a sack of meat. Since she'd been taken by that first Zith, she had been treated as less than human. These creatures had acted as if she was an inanimate object, a plaything that had no feelings and experienced no pain. To have a member of her own kind treat her in the same way as the winged monsters was worse. It was doubtful that the Zith had any reason or compassion to which she could appeal, but this man certainly did and yet he had chosen to carry on regardless. This time, when he tugged at the undergarment on her chest, it was possible to drag it free as she found herself unable to do anything about it. Her trousers followed in the same manner, the brute kneeling on her torso as she twisted and bucked beneath him in protest. Despite her best efforts, she was soon stripped and left shivering as the air hit the damp, newly bared skin.

The man's goal was unknown to the girl but Waisana had expected him to release her once he'd succeeded in humiliating her as he had done. However, as he maintained a tight hold of her and allowed his eyes to roam over her body, horror welled within her as a new fear took hold. There was a darkness in his eyes now, a malice that made her feel she was in danger. The blonde cowered, trying to shrink in upon herself. She tried to drag her hands free, pulling with all her strength to release them so that she could shield herself from the fierceness of his gaze. He looked briefly to the side towards the Zith and the action made her renew her efforts with new energy, shrieking hysterically and struggling wildly. He'd continued to hold her two wrists with one hand and as she got one of them free, he was quick to entrap it again with his other hand. Screaming her frustration, she tried to hit and kick at him but he knelt painfully on her legs and his weight was too much for her. He leaned on top of her, his mass suffocating her before he bent his lips towards her own and attacked them with ferocity. She gasped at the onslaught, which was forceful enough to bruise and found him trying to force his tongue down her throat in response as he found her mouth slightly open. The doctor was revolted but her struggles were too weak and feeble to faze him in the least.

There was a wordless cry against her mouth, a sense of choking and then mercifully his weight vanished. His hold on her went as well. Curling up in a ball with her arms clasped around her chest protectively, she watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as the man was dragged backwards by his hair. The Zith lifted him, the man's agonised screams filling the air as strands were tugged free of his scalp. The beast clouted the side of his head and when that failed to shut him up, it grasped his throat with its free claw.

"Did we say you could?" the Zith rumbled, the voice deep and gravelly unlike the one she'd heard earlier; this one was male. The human it held made some sort of choked reply before the beast man increased its grip. With a firm grasp of hair and throat, Waisana watched as in a combination of ripping and twisting, the man's head was ripped off with surprising ease. Blood fountained from the dispossessed neck, spurting into the air, across the Zith and across the young Drykas girl's body. The beast's head leaned forward into the torrent and began to drink the blood, teeth flashing to feast on the flesh as the corpse's body continued to twitch in its death spasms.

Nausea rose within the teen as her body urged her to throw up, a wave of dizziness coming over her at the same time as her terror-stricken system leaned towards a different reaction. The latter one won as the world spun rapidly around her and her vision went black as she fainted.

[Waisana]

When Waisana awoke, she discovered that she was warm and dry, curled up in a bundle of furs. For a moment, she was confused about where she was. Memory returned to her with horrible clarity as she recalled her capture, her near rape and the unfortunate fate of her would-be rapist who had been beheaded and feasted upon before her very eyes. She was far from overjoyed to find herself conscious in such abominable circumstances. Shifting around in the nest of warmth, the teen realised that she was still naked and that her body had accumulated more aches and bruises than it had previously. Her wrists stung, as did her lips, and she tried to assess the damage done.

Clutching the furs to her body, she sat up with the intention of taking in her surroundings. It turned out that she was in the same place with a number of other humans around her. Some of them were curled up asleep, others were eating, tending to tasks for the Zith or looking after the fires. There were more of the creatures guarding them than before and she quickly realised that they weren't all here to guard. One young man had been stripped naked and was cowering in the midst of a trio of Zith who poked and prodded his body, leaving bloody trails on his skin with their claws. The more she looked, the more horrible things became but yet the doctor found she couldn't look away as they struck and mutilated his body. Soon, he began to fall down under the brunt of their blows and he was dragged up forcibly each time and the torture was renewed. When he collapsed a dozenth time, one of the animals, a female climbed on top of him. The teen didn't comprehend what she was seeing at first but the man started crying out, the female grunting and growling enthusiastically and the girl hid her eyes as she realised they were copulating violently. She might not be looking anymore but it didn't block out the sound as the man's cries increased and the she-beast roared. It went on and on, while Waisana cowered within the furs. There was something almost like a purr in her ear followed by a deep laugh and then the doctor felt claws settle on her shoulders.

"You do not like it," the female voice laughed in Common. The blonde flinched and finally uncovered her eyes to discover the female Zith who had grabbed her earlier. Too terrified to speak, she shook her head woodenly. The response was met with further laughter before the creature dropped a bundle of ragged clothing and animal skins beside her. Waisana stared at them incomprehensibly. "Clothes. For warmth. You cannot stay like that or you are no use. Unless for breeding. You wanted to clean wound earlier. Are you a healer?" she asked, the sharp, intelligent eyes scanning the Drykas girl's face.

The girl found her voice. "A doctor, not healer. I can help with wounds and more," the teen explained, a faint hope beginning to take root within her. If she was being asked such questions then perhaps she would get out of this situation alive. The casual mention of breeding set her skin crawling, especially when she thought of her would-be rapist from earlier. Perhaps the Zith could respect and have use for a healer. If so then she would be valuable and they wouldn't want to hurt or kill her. Perhaps such a position would allow her to treat humans so that she could do some good for the slave population.

Why are you thinking about this long-term? Why aren't you thinking of getting out of here? she berated herself, the practical line of thought panicking her. Something deep within her pointed out that she probably wasn't getting out of here soon and might never get out at all. She shuddered.

"I thought you might be. You may have very good use then," the female commented. A claw gestured toward the clothing. "Dress then come," she ordered, standing up and moving away a little to watch as the harsh copulation - more accurately rape - between human and beast came to an end. Waisana made the error of glancing in that direction and winced as she caught sight of the man's chest, which the beast had savaged with its claws. He was still alive but there was blood everywhere.

The blonde bowed her head to hunt through the various pieces of material that the she-beast had given her. There wasn't much of use in it but the doctor was pleased to find her shirt, which had since been dried by the fire. She wrapped a scrap of material about her bosom and tied it under her arm so that the knot was easily accessible to her. The shirt was a welcome garment of civilisation, which only left her lower half to cover. She fashioned herself a skirt from a soft animal skin, possibly a zibri one, and then looped another swathe of skin between her legs. She tucked the latter into the back and front of the skirt and succeeded in fashioning something like shorts. As she dressed herself, the teen realised that she was still splattered with the blood from earlier as no one had cleaned her. If she was going to have the opportunity to clean her own wounds then she was going to scrub it off and she'd ideally like to scour her own skin off with it.

Once, she was ready, she hesitantly approached the scene of the recent rape, limping from her own recent wound. The female Zith noticed her approach and pointed to the pulpy mess that was the human male's chest. "Can you do something about this?" she asked. The blonde peered down at the bloody flesh and bad as it looked, if she cleaned it up, she was confident that she would be able to do something for him.

"I need to wash this and see how it looks when it's clean. It might need stitches. I do not know if I can do that here. It might need more than stitches. I need tools, supplies. What do you have?" she asked in Common, crouching to examine the man more closely. There was a warning growl from another female and Waisana realised that this was the perpetrator of the attack. She froze. A look seemed to pass between the Zith and again the teen saw the movement in their throats although no sound seemed to emanate from them. The tension vanished and the once aggressive Zith backed away. She seemed to have permission to continue and so she did her best to carry out a surface examination of the wound while doing her best not to touch it.

[Waisana]

If Waisana had been presented with her current patient without any knowledge of what had happened to him then she would have said an animal had attacked him. As it was, it wasn't too far from reality. The Zith were more beast than human and although she hadn't spent much time with them yet, the doctor was certain that she'd be provided with greater proof in the future. Right now, the man's chest was a bloody, pulpy mass that was difficult to discern anything from at the moment. He'd lost a fair amount of blood, the life fluid splattered around him and the ground in his vicinity. The female that had assaulted him was no doubt covered as well but it was impossible to tell; her fur and dark colouring hid a multitude.

"I need cloths, water, a helper - a human if possible - a needle or a piece of bone to make one, and I must have..." she paused, contemplating what she could suggest. They weren't going to have gut thread handy and it took time to prepare intestines to extract usable fibre from them anyway. Plant fibres could be woven into strings to toughen them but they weren't as flexible as what one could get from animals, not to mention they usually had to be weaved into thick pieces so they wouldn't break; it wouldn't be suitable. The obvious replacement in this situation would be horsehair but the teen doubted that they had anything like that either.

"I need thread for weaving but I cannot get it right now. If I had gut then I could make it with some time. I can use something for a little while like grasses but they won't hold," she explained.

"Gut? You make it from gut? That is... strange," the female Zith who had brought her over murmured, cocking her head to appraise the girl. "Would you make it from anything else? Anything that is strong like gut?"

"Horsehair. From the tail or the mane, it would depend what it's needed for."

The Zith pointed to the partially loosened blonde braid on the Drykas girl's head. "Can you not use your hair?"

Waisana shook her head. "No, it's too soft, it needs to be..." She rubbed her fingers together, searching for the Common equivalent of coarse. "Rough, tough, um..."

"Coarse?" The teen froze in the middle of nodding as a clawed hand reached out to stroke her hair. She felt the talons catch and pluck at a few individual strands and she found herself wincing. The beast woman then reached up to her own head and carefully separated a few strands of her mane. Waisana took it tentatively, rubbing the hair between her fingers.

"Yes, that would work. I will need more probably."

Another of the winged beings appeared with a human girl before it who carried a bundle of cloth and a roughly hewn vessel of water. The items were offered to her, as well as a piece of bone from the Zith, which she accepted tentatively. There was something unsettling about the situation but she couldn't determine what it was exactly. Instead, she turned the bone in her hand, examining it. The proportions were familiar and she noted the scratches and nicks on its surface, the red staining in places. She swallowed. It looked like a clavicle - a human one!

Setting the bone aside with shaking hands, she set to work cleaning the man's wounds. The girl they'd brought her seemed weirdly out of it and while she responded to simple instructions, there was something awful about her glazed expression, like she was drugged. The male Zith that had brought her remained permanently by her shoulder and it only added to the terror of the situation.

The cloths soaked up blood eagerly, almost thirstily and the water quickly became stained scarlet. It had to be changed twice, the material cleaned each time before she could truly tell the extent of the damage. Wringing out the rag she held, Waisana used it to dab the wound dry, attempting to remove some of the slickness of the water and blood. The girl rested on her heels for a moment, peering down at the wound thoughtfully before she looked at the bone that had been earlier set aside. She couldn't carve it without something sharp and somehow that had escaped her when she'd made her list before.

That's when it hit her. No one had left to fetch anything; the Zith and the girl had appeared from nowhere as if they simply knew where they were needed. That was the cause of the implacable uneasiness that had been triggered in her previously. If she asked for a knife, would that simply be brought without anyone having to summon someone to get it? It was a stressful situation and she wasn't thinking straight but of course that couldn't be right. Someone had obviously moved away without her noticing and she'd simply been too distracted to notice.

"I need something sharp to make this into a needle. A knife? Do you have those or...?" she asked her constant companion uncertainly. The female looked thoughtful.

"What does a needle look like?" she asked.

The doctor was confused. "Why do you want to know? You'll see soon. It should be very thin with a hole at the top. It has to be thin to go through skin without making big holes."

The Zith plucked the bone out of her grasp and examined it briefly then she thrust it into her mouth. The bone splintered loudly as her teeth crunched into it, Waisana flinching and cringing in horror as she saw the material for the needle go to pieces. The talons plucked a few pieces back out. The shards were small and thin enough to be needles and as she watched, one of those sharp claws pressed near the top of the bone, the Zith twisting back and forth. She repeated the same process a few more times as she continued to crunch away at the remainder of the bone in her mouth. When she was done, she held out five slivers of bone. The teen took them hesitantly and eyed them critically. Two of them had little cracks around the eye that might lead them to break under use, one had a hole too close to the top that had broken through but the other two appeared perfect.

"Th-thank you, uh... yes... uh" she stuttered.

The Zith casually inserted a claw between her sharp teeth to pick out shards caught among them. "Are you looking for something to call me?" she asked, clear amusement in her tone. "Humans like names. For your tongue, I am named Massacre."

[Waisana]

Waisana couldn't suppress a shudder, the name an unexpected one that spoke of a violence that terrified her. Oddly enough, she imagined that the others called themselves such awful things as well. Considering the viciousness of the Zith that had attacked her current patient, names like those would be suitable. Still, she didn't much fancy calling this one Massacre. She hadn't yet displayed the violent nature that seemed typical of her kind from what she'd seen thus far but the doctor didn't think that she would remain so docile for long. The crunching of the bones was an indicator of how she was, even if it hadn't involved a living victim.

The Drykas teen tried to focus on the task at hand rather than thinking about the beast's unsettling title. She had a job finding the hair that she'd been given but as soon as she found it, the blonde set to work slipping the strand through the hole at the top of the first needle. She doubled up her thread, hoping that it would give it a greater strength then focused on knotting the ends so that they would catch and hold in the flesh. Pressing the two pieces together, she looped them around her index finger then rubbed her thumb against the hairs until they slipped off the digit. She could feel the tiny loop she'd created and with a rub in the right direction, she felt it close and tighten to naturally form a knot. Her preparation done, the girl set about stitching together what flesh she could. The point of the needle was pressed close to the edge of ragged skin, not too near for fear it would slice through the thin barrier. She began from outside the wound, dipping the point into tissue a little way before she sent it sideways to where another bloody scrap lay. Holding the ragged edges together, she pierced the second piece of flesh from underneath and pulled the needle through completely, tugging the thread after it with care until it grew taut. The knot she had made had caught on the outside of the first hole she'd made and it didn't seem inclined to pass through the flesh. All the same, she wouldn't pull at it in case it decided to come loose,

Waisana moved the needle close to where the knot was and pierced through at a spot close beneath it. This time instead of bringing her needle straight across, she directed it diagonally down and brought it up through the underside of the other fragment of tissue. She continued in much the same way down the length of the wound, reinforcing straight stitches and keeping the diagonal ones below the surface where they could not snap as readily. When she came near the end of her thread, the teen would make a stitch that she didn't pull tight so that a loose loop was left poking above the skin. Then she would pass her needle through the loop, pulling the whole thing tight so that a new knot would be formed. Some stretches of wound required her to use several pieces of her hair-thread but she worked at it slowly and surely until the chest of the man before her resembled a patchwork quilt rather than a bloody blob. Sometimes it was necessary for her helper to hold tissue together or apply pressure to an area and she easily followed the doctor's instructions. Not that she could stitch everything back together of course but she cleaned all the areas after her stitching was completed and used scraps of cloth to cover the points that hadn't managed to join fully. With that complete, she wrapped furs around his torso and tied them, albeit not too tightly.

When she was finished, Waisana was wearied but she felt calmer than she had since her capture. Being able to aid someone was a wonderfully grounding experience and one that was familiar to her. There was a surety to what she did that helped her to ease her mind, thoughts of what would happen to her only occurring when she returned her attention more fully to her surroundings.

"You are a doctor. You are a good one. We will keep you and maybe you can help Zith. Slaves too. Can you help those with child?" Massacre asked her casually, as the man was helped to his feet and discarded by the female who had formerly been interested in him. The doctor's eyes followed him as he was tossed unceremoniously among the other slaves, the she-beast instantly seeming to forget about him.

"I can. I have helped many babies into the world and I can usually keep mothers alive. At home, I have plants to help. Here, I probably don't," the teen explained, looking up hopefully at the woman. If she was useful then she wouldn't be killed.

"Good. Now you can rest, eat and stay with me. I think I would like you as a pet." The Drykas teen cringed away as a clawed hand reached out to stroke her hair again. The she-beast laughed low at her reaction. "You will learn, but first, your reward."

Waisana was led back to the fire and given a hunk of red and bloody meat. She didn't know what it was and she didn't dare ask. She was left in peace to nourish herself and the first thing she did was skewer the meat onto a stick that she then thrust into the flames, turning it so as not to cremate her food. When the outside was well-charred, she drew it out and bit into it tentatively, wary of its hotness and the scalding juices that came from it. While the outside was blackened, the inside had retained some of its redness so that red fluid dribbled down her chin and onto her fingers as she ate. The doctor didn't care though as in that moment, she was simply glad to have the opportunity to feed herself. This was likely to be her life from now on and so she'd just have to get used to it.

[Khida]

Waisana

Skill	Points
Endurance	+1
Medicine	+2
Observation	+5
Planning	+2
Persuasion	+1
Rhetoric	+3
Scavenging	+1
Socialization	+3
Wilderness Survival	+1

• Endurance: retreating inward to weather difficulty
• Medicine: checking for inclusions in wounds
• Massacre: female Zith, keeper of 'pets'
• Medicine: stitching shredded flesh
• Medicine: the use of hair in stitches
• Persuasion: pleas upon deaf ears
• Planning: identifying needed supplies
• Scavenging: makeshift clothes from strips and swaths
• Socialization (Zith): act or be acted upon
• Socialization (Zith): punishment is brutal
• Socialization (Zith): usefulness is valued
• Wilderness Survival: wet cloth as water source
• Zith: male and female appearances
• Zith: have hair acceptable for stitches
• Zith: often speak Common
• Zith: surprisingly compelling, for beasts

Notes

I read part of this thread when you were writing it, and thought it was great. I still do. I think you did a good job here with Waisana's treatment and reactions, and her getting thrown into the deep end with the colony.

One comment: please ensure Fall 516 expenses are accounted for in your ledger.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade. Also please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.