Questing - Search for the Cure (PRIVATE)

[Anonymous]

It was early morning.  She had been there since dawn.  This village was serene.  She found herself at a local breakfast house dining on the above average food.  She was tired, but she always tried to keep a happy appearance. Her plate was empty and she sipped her remaining tea.  It was good tea.  Her piercing sapphire eyes gazed lightly about the restaurant and its customers.  She had jet-black hair with long bangs; the rest was tied back in a long braid down her back. Her slightly pale skin was soft, smooth, and contrasted the darkness of her hair.  Her figure was healthy and curvy, down to her well-endowed chest. She wore a flexible, skin-tight top with a silk brassier beneath.  It had baggy sleeves that were wrapped flush with her arms below the elbows by a pair of protective gauntlets.  Her tummy was exposed all the way down to her low cut, skin-tight pants.  Loose cloth covered her lower legs and soft leather shoes covered her feet.  She had a short cloak with hood off and a very impressive katana was sheathed and stood up beside her chair.  It seemed so peaceful in here, she thought.  

She spoke too soon...

Four obnoxiously loud men entered the small diner, all laughing about something or another.  They took a seat a few tables away from her.  Curious eyes followed them, even until they sat.  She didn’t look to be someone who could wield such a weapon.  One of the men glanced at her and she quickly averted her gaze with a small blush.  She didn’t mean to stare.  The man smiled, then, but not a nice smile, more of a smug grin.  The man looked her over and then returned to the conversation with his buddies.  Before she knew it, they had all turned to glance at her.  

The young Elf kept to herself, sipping her tea.  It was mostly nice until the first man she saw came up to her.  She blinked and turned her attention toward him as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her.  The man immediately tried to hit on her, and, being the kind person she was, she smiled nervously and tried to make small conversation with him.  

'Fool...'

His buddies just watched, as if it were a bet, nudging and hinting at each other.  She was oblivious to it, her concentration on the not-so-bad looking man with her.  He wasn’t very sober...

'Shut up...'

Her eyes shifted downward, at her tea that she held.  As soon as she had done that, a hand came around and caressed her cheek.  She flinched in surprise and jerked her face away and looked back up at him.  Apparently the man was offended by this and began to ramble.  

'You going to let him get away with that?!'

She tried to calm him.  She didn’t want him upset with her...  She tried to explain, but the man got defensive, and, soon, his buddies came over to put in a word.

'Just kill them!  Do it now!  Unsheathe me, and I'll end their miserable lives!'

She got scared, her voice trembling as she tried her hardest to put things straight as gently as she could.  But it wasn’t working.  

The one man grabbed her arm, and she meeped, resisting.  In the middle of her slight flailing, she was manhandled, and, finally, the waiter stepped in.  He broke up the fight, and the men were asked to leave.  The waiter tended to her gently and asked her if she was all right.  She nodded and smiled.

'You're pathetic...'

The men left, one catching a glimpse of something.  He calmed his friends and left without starting anything more.  They all wondered why, and he soon told them.  

Not in the mood to finish her tea, she paid for her meal and left the diner, grabbing her katana on the way out.  She pulled her hood over her face and headed out of the village to continue her quest.  She had been traveling a while now.  It did take its toll on her, but she grew used to it.  She entered the forest, happy to be there in the gentle nature.  It relieved her of her earlier mood.

'You're weak...  You let them walk all over you...'

She frowned.  The forest began to thicken, and that’s when trouble stepped in.  Easily ambushed, the four men lunged out at her.  

'Wield me! I'll rip them apart!!'

She refrained from attacking them with her sword, and one disarmed her and quickly threw the katana to the ground, trembling in slight fear all of a sudden.  She screamed, but they covered her mouth.  

'Stupid girl!'

They all laughed and yelled at her.  Her eyes grew terrified.  What had she done??  She was then gagged and her clothes pulled off, thrown in a pile with her sword.  One man pointed to a mark on the upper left corner of her chest.  The mark of a slave tattoo.  Her eye widened, and she struggled more as they dragged her over to a tree where they proceeded to bind her wrists together and then tie them to the tree's trunk where she could be easily bent over.  Another tattoo was found, this one on the right side of her neck.  It was the mark of shame.  Even better.  

The poor Elf was degraded.  They insulted her and smacked her around, treating her by the marks she'd been branded with when she was younger.  Marks she had earned freedom from.  But they didn’t care.  They were sick men...  Tears streamed down her face as she was violated.  

'......'

About four hours had gone by since the men left.  It was quiet.  Blood dripped from the fabric that gagged her mouth.  She coughed again, her head lowering, and she closed her eyes tight.  More blood drizzled from her mouth.  She sat naked on the ground, her legs closed and her body quivering.  Her wrists were raw, still bound to the tree, her weapon and clothes in a pile about ten feet from her.  They left her there...  Her eyes were waterlogged and her breathing now heavy again after her fit of coughing.  She made no sound.  Just breathing.  

'Look what you've done...'

She frowned, her eyes opening and staring at the grass below her. Sitting, her arms were raised above her head where they had been tied.  She trembled.  

'You LET them do this...  Why did you not use me?'

She began to cry again, shaking her head weakly.  She was tired and in pain.

[Rhindeer]

“Hi, lady!�

Suddenly from the tree Shane was currently tied to an upside-down face popped up right in front of the girl. Or, popped down? Yeah, that was probably more accurate, considering the person the face belonged to was currently hanging upside-down from a tree branch above her. Grinning broadly, Charik beamed happily at Shane as he hang in front of her, dark blond hair done up in a myriad of braids that swung lazily around his face, baring his pointed ears, and arms crossed nonchalantly over his bare chestâ€"well, bare unless you counted the jade necklace that looped around his neck and the dark green, delicate floral tattoos that decorated his body, scrawling thinly around him in swirling patterns that ended at his shoulders. His eyes were also green and equally dark, leaning on the brown side, though currently they were lit up just like the rest of his face.

“Whatcha doin’? Hehe, silly girl…got yourself all tangled up in a snare, huh? Goodness, but you humans are weird; it makes no sense that someone would put a bunny snare up that high. Rabbits can’t fly!â€? He shook his head, whipping his braids around in the process, and gave a little huff like it was the most obvious thing in the world and he just couldn’t believe how weird humans were. Which he couldn’t, actually! Because not only was she in some weird snare, but… “And why the heck were ya running around naked?  I mean, that’s cool for snakes and rabbits and stuff because they got--oh! Wait!â€? Suddenly, his eyes brightened and he shifted a little until he was hanging down even farther and was more on a level with her, practically face to face now. How the heck he managed that when he was hanging from his legs was anyone’s guess. “I know! Because it wouldn’t make any sense for humans to be hunting rabbits in trees, so…you tied yourself up here, didn’t ya? It’s some new human trend thing, isn’t it? I knew it! But, look girlie, you don’t need to lose weight or nothing…tying yourself to a tree to stem off cravings is kinda extreme, don’tcha think? I swear, you girls…â€?

Laughing softly, he shook his head again and tapped her on the nose once before fisting his hand in the gag that was stuffed in her mouth and pulling it out. And discovering that it was bloody. Ew. That wasn’t a good sign. Oh no! Maybe she’d been starving and had eaten her own tongue out of desperation!

Charik’s eyes widened--that was a gruesome thought!â€"and, chewing his bottom lip concernedly with his fanged teeth he grimaced. “Hey, can ya talk, girlie? You still have your tongue, right?â€?

Then, because the sensation of blood rushing to his head was starting to get pretty uncomfortable, he held up (or, from Shane’s angle, down) one finger and looked directly into her face. “One sec, ‘kay? Lemme get down from here.â€? That said, he suddenly and gracefully vanished back up into the tree in which he’d popped down from, and not a minute later there was a great deal of rustling from above. How he managed to get into this tree to begin with without making a lot of soundâ€"because he’d only just arrived hereâ€"was anyone’s guess. Probably because he was purposely making a lot of noise to let her know he was still there.

It wasn’t much longer before a thud from behind Shane announced that he’d dropped down out of the tree, and a couple of seconds later and he walked around to stand in front of her, tall at around six feet and young, probably no more than his early twenties. He was indeed bare from the chest down, though there were gold bangles decorating his wrists, but a dark red wrap was pulled around his hips and tied off at the waist, his only article of clothing.

…Actually, scratch that. He hadn’t walked out to meet her. Walking was something that someone with legs did. And Charik did not have legs, as would become quickly apparent.

From the waist up, he was perfectly human. But from where his legs began down, smooth green-brown scales replaced soft human skin, the sturdy body of a Burmese Python taking over from thereâ€"and, just like a python, he could just as easily use his twenty foot coils to crush something far larger than he was, though blessedly he’d never had to…unless he was hungry. Of course, he didn’t swallow his food and his jaw wasn’t detachable so once he squeezed something to death he just had to cook it like a human, but it was still useful!

Coils curled in a big, knot-like mess (though they were actually far more orderly than they looked), Charik tilted his head to one side like a puppy and tapped his lips thoughtfully with a finger. “You know, if I’m bugging you or anything just tell me to leave. ‘Cause if you really like being tied up and stuff, well, I don’t wanna bug ya!�

Oblivious much? Yeah. But it wasn’t his fault he’d been under socialized.

[Anonymous]

Shane took a deep shaky breath, but was shocked from her calm by a very unexpected visitor. Her eyes shot upward where her head craned and she took in the sight of the upside-down person.  She squeaked at him weakly just before he spoke, jumping back in slight shock and causing her wrists more pain.   She winced at her stupid move and shivered in pain for a moment, eyes closed tight. Finally forcing them open, she meekly gazed back up and looked over who she saw.  Her lightly glowing sapphire eyes gazed over his features and she tilted her head a bit at his unusual presence.   What did he want?? Was he a nice man?? Was he...then Shane finally started paying attention to what the boy was saying and she questioned him.  What am I doing?? Snare?? What was he talking about??? Her eyes filled with confusion and she whimpered through her gag softly.  

'Finally! It's about time someone came along...'

Then the strange boy spoke again. Naked?? She blushed and lowered her head in humiliation.  He was very...interesting... She mmmed at him again, unable to speak, and gave up. What's the use? She whined looked at him submissively, practically begging him to understand her and help her.  But then he continued speaking... Staring at his level, yet still upside-down face, her expression saddened. Please help me!!! Was all she wished she could speak out, but she could only wait quietly for him to comprehend.  

'Maybe I spoke too soon...'

Shane meeped and winced when he tapped her nose, bushing again. Was he playing with her?? Please no... She whimpered silently in slight fear for the worst.  Ahh, finally! The boy removed her gag and she gasped, coughing a little bit, fresh blood running down her mouth again. She wished so badly that she could hide it, but she was still bound. She didn’t want to look like this in front of him... Panting now, head lowered until most of the blood drained, she waited before returning her attention back to him. Her gaze met his again when he expressed concern for her and she blushed yet again. She blinked confusedly and finally nodded.  "Mm...I-I can...talk..."she mumbled.  

'Good! Now tell him to untie you!'

One sec? Shane blinked again and then the boy disappeared back into the tree. Wait-how did he??? She listened to all the rustling, wondering if he was for real, and found herself flinching again when he dropped behind her. She had to stop doing that... Shan turned her head to look for the boy again, finding him as he walked over to her. Herr eyes traveled his now right side up features, going from head to...toe?? She stared at him for a moment, getting lost in his person, and then she continued looking down to find his wrapping and...snake? She blinked again. What the...????  

'Quit staring and make him free you!'

Those, as well as the boy's words snapped her from her daze and he looked back up at his face. "N-nonono...!" she squeaked softly. "P-please help me...!  I-I beg you..." she tried not to start crying again.  "P-please untie me...!" she continued in her gentle voice, her body shaking.  "I-I'll do anything...! P-please...!" and she couldn't hold back and some stubborn tears shed down her cheeks.

[Rhindeer]

Whoa...she was begging him? Guess she tied the knots too tight for even her to undo them (hah, but hey, if she was trying to save herself from herself then it would only make sense that she wasn't supposed to be able to untie the knots herself, duh!) or maybe she really was caught in some weird snare or something. Maybe the rabbits here could climb trees! Or they were after squirrels. Or something. Squirrels were rather gamey, though.

"Okay, okay, silly! I'm untying you...but next time, don't go tying yourself up in random places, and you should really wear clothes. Because there's poison oak around here, and that can't be too fun, especially since you humans have bottoms. I just got scales so it doesn't bother me, but I got some on my arms once and it sucked!" Charik explained conversationally as he reached out and started fiddling with the knots, humming some random, spur of the moment tune to himself as he picked the bonds. Yeesh, those were tight! Finally, one wrist was freed and he smiled triumphantly before going to work on the next one.

"By the way, why're you all bloody and crying and stuff?" he asked suddenly, eyeing her out of the corner of one dark green eye. It was hard to tell because his eyes were so dark, but if one looked closely they would notice that, like a snake's eyes, the pupils were thin, vertical slits. Of course, it wasn't like that was the weirdest part about him--most people were more preoccupied with him from the waist down, and not for the reasons most people--especially of the opposite gender--were interested in cute males below the waist. Anyway, it seemed to have finally dawned on Charik that something was very wrong here because, well, if she could talk that meant she hadn't chomped off her own tongue, which meant she was bleeding and crying for different reasons.

She didn't look so great.

In any case, the way he cast her eyes over her body wasn't by any means sexual in any way. Psha, she was a human and he'd lived among other nagas, male and female. Among themselves, most didn't even bother with covering up anything so it really wasn't like it was a big deal. Humans (never mind that she was really an elf; Charik had a tendecy to lump all two-legged human-looking things into the "human" category) just seemed to think that nudity was indecent and "bad". Hah, you would think they'd never seen their own reflection from how some of them went on! Of course, that was what Charik had been told. Truth was, he'd never been around many humans and most didn't even seem to care about much once they saw the scales...which usually sent them  running off screaming for some reason. Weird.

This girl couldn't run off screaming, though, because she was all tied up. Which was kind of cool because company was always nice, even if the company was currently bleeding and weeping. He wouldn't force her to stay, though.

"Ah! There we go!" Charik suddenly announced as he finally got the last knot undone, freeing her. "All done! Okay, now, you're all free. So you can go run off now if you want, just be careful next time," he said with a firm nod and a small smile, making a little shooing motion with his hands, just like he did when he found a fox in the traps he set for rabbits.

[Anonymous]

"Th-thank you..." she mumbled weakly, sitting still and obedient for him, though her hands trembled, even more so when his came close to touch. Her wrists were sore, and though during the whole time she was tied, she tried not to move them, but it couldn’t be helped. He really WAS interesting! She could only stare up at his face curiously as he rambled. Was it possible for someone to think like that?? Maybe it was because he was part snake? Hmmm... Her beautiful sapphire eyes trailed own to his coils and she stared innocently, having never seen such a thing before. And she wasn’t scared either. She was too naive to be scared. He came across as a sweet person, so she would regard him as such, and that mean it would be rude to be appalled by his being, not sating se was in the least though. She didn't mind it. IT was just...new to her.  Once one wrist was frees, she slowly pulled it to herself, and covered well-sized bosom like she had been wanting to. Her bare, smooth-skinned and well shaped body sat patiently for him, but now she was much more comfortable now that she wasn’t all hanging out in front of him.

'This naga really IS clueless...'

Trailing her curious eyes back to the boy's face when he continued speaking, she stared quietly for a moment before replying, frowning a little bit after she thought about it. She sighed shakily and took in his facial features as she thought, but was distracted by the boy. She couldn’t concentrate for some reason... She was just too curious about him. He was so...innocent... Shane tilted her pretty face slightly, her ebony bangs swaying across her pale skin and into her eyes a bit, and she forgot to answer as she thought solely about him. Her pointed elf ears were revealed a bit now and stuck out a bit now from her black hair. Then she caught that eye that looked over her and blushed. She let him though.  It was the least she could do to repay him, right?  But wait... Shane leaned to one side to get a better view of the boy's eyes and was amazed at what she saw. They were like a snake's!

'Does he NOT know the concept of tied up...?'

Shane passed up the silent opportunity completely and the boy announced his freeing her other wrist. Slowly pulling her second arm to her and bracing her palm on the ground now as she adjusted her sitting position slightly, Shane got a better look at the boy's eyes before coming to her senses. She snapped from her daze and her ears tipped back a little with embarrassment.  "Th-thank you so very much...!" she exclaimed softly. But now he was shooing her off... Shane stumbled to her feet, knees wobbly, and she leaned against the tree with her other arm now, still wondering about the boy. In any case, she ignored his shooing her and instead walked closer to him. Unable to control herself, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her while body trembling as she pas pressed against him slightly. "Th-thank you...!" she mumbled, burying her face in his neck and shoulder. She cried again, those wet tears rubbing off on his skin. After a warm moment of just clinging to the poor boy, she finally spoke. "I-I'm sorry... I did fall victim to a trap...but not the kind you seem to be thinking of..." she confessed.  Oh god...how was she to explain this without breaking down?? "P-please understand...I-I was caught by somebody..." she paused to calm down, breathing shakily. "...a-and they left me here since a while ago after..." she took another pause. "...a-after...doing things to me..." She sniffled. "...S-so...i-it wasn’t my choice to be here...I-I was stripped of my clothes...a-and I-I'm crying b-because...b-because they h-hurt me..." Shane neglected to mention the blood though. It was not something she enjoyed discussing...

'*sigh*... well at any rate, you're free...'

[Rhindeer]

Pleased at himself for freeing yet another traped animal, Charik placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest a little as he waited for her to scamper back off to her little burrow or something. What did humans live in, anyway? Probably a burrow. Yeah. But she didn't scamper off--instead, she looked rather dazed. Hmm...maybe she'd been tied up a long time and hadn't eaten for a while! Oh man, that would suck! Charik knew he'd be all depressed and dazed if he didn't get anything to eat for a few days, because he rather liked eating! Thank goodness he was only part snake, otherwise he'd only have to eat like once a month! How boring.

"Oh, yeah, no problem, girly!" Charik said as the girl thanked him yet again and watching her curiously as she walked closer. Huh? Well, he had no time to think much of it, because the next thing he knew, she'd thrown her arms around his neck and he was almost knocked backwards as a result. It was only the quick work of his long, muscular coils whipping around to support his weight that kept them both balanced.

Blinking slowly as she pressed against him and and buried her face in his neck and shoulders, Charik looked down at the top of her head, his own arms hanging limp at his sides and one eyebrow arched. Eww...she was getting him all wet! Tentatively, he raised an arm and pat her on the head, just like he would do to an overly affectionate dog that was pouncing him and slobbering on him. He'd had a dog once, too, that he'd loved! Oh yeah, Charik had had a lot of pets in his lifetime. He liked pets!

"You're welcome? You should really get some food." A firm nod. "I dunno what you human people eat, but whatever it is, you should get some! You probably haven't eaten for a long time, and that's sad! You--" He trailed off when she finally started to speak.

And he could only blink his eyes and tilt his head in confusion.

...She was caught by somebody? Well...that was kind of the sort of trap he'd been thinking of! After all, if you got caught in a trap, you were technically caught by the person that set the trap, right? Right! Huh. Weird. Her kind of trap did sound a little different. Caught by a lot of people who then tied her up and...left her there? But why? If they caught her, weren't they going to eat her? That's why most people set traps, to get food, and once they caught the food they didn't leave it in the trap! They killed it and skinned it and gutted it and cooked it! This made no sense.  And...did things to her? And hurt her? Well...that wasn't very nice. Maybe they were the kinds of predators that liked playing with their food first, like cats! Or...maybe they had tried to skin her! That's why they took off her clothes. They thought it was her skin! How stupid of them.

Oh well! They snoozed they losed! Er, lost. Because she was his now (since she wasn't running away, he just guessed he'd claim her)! Though, she didn't look like she'd be good to eat.  But that was okay, because he really didn't like eating things that talked back. Too much hassle. Plus, human things were interesting.

"Well...that wasn't very nice. Though they were pretty stupid. I can't believe they thought your clothes were your skin! That's not how you skin someone...taking off their clothes..." He snorted derisively. Obviously, the concept of rape was not a concept that existed in his head. But that was simply due to the fact that, where he came from, rape just wasn't even an issue. It just didn't exist. Sheltered? Oh hell yeah. But that wasn't always a bad thing, was it?

"Oh well! Now! What do you eat, girly? You need food." Another nod. "You're too skinny, and that's no good! You need some meat on you! OH! And do you have a name? Or can I name you?" Smiling, he raised his hands and grabbed her arms, carefully removing them from his neck, completely unphased by her nudity.