FoR (On Hold)

Chapter 1.4

It was a tense standoff, more or less in the native's favor, seeing as we were terrified. No one moved, except the person with fur clothes. With her strange, animal-like mask, she pulled out a surprisingly taught, well-kept bow, loaded an arrow and pointed it at the boys.

Slowly stepping forward, Daichi raised his bare hands up to his face, palms outward. "Listen, we don't want any trouble." As soon as he spoke, the one with the feather skirt gracefully and swiftly swept at him, pointing her spear right under his chin.

He gulped, and moved slowly back. "P...point taken." The one with feathers then turned to look at us one by one, as if sizing us up. Obviously, these are female natives, I thought to myself as her gaze penetrated me through the mask, And they don't seem too keen on letting us out of their sight.

Suddenly, she backed up to join the others, and turned to face them but kept us in her sights. The woman began speaking in a strange tongue that none of us recognized.

Unbeknownst to us, this is what she said. "I don't see any weapons, but we can search them over if you all want." Next to speak was the girl with the scale skirt and fabric shirt with a sort of fishnet across her torso, brown braided hair and small shells entwined in the strands.

Her name was Mist, a skilled warrior, an excellent fisherman, and an expert with a whip. "No, I don't think they're dangerous." The woman standing beside her was nodding. Her hair was a sun-streaked blonde, and wavy. A genius inventor with an open mind. Garbed in a special fabric trimmed with small multicolored jewels, this woman was, true enough, named Jewel.

She agreed with Mist, nodding and fiddled with her daggers. "True. They look more scared of us than we are of them." The small archer, Tigress, a strong heart in a tiny body, was glowering with dark brown eyes at the men. Normally she was very compassionate about everything, but when it came to fighting, she was serious and defensive. Her sleek, straight black hair flowed down her shoulders.

"I'm not scared of them," she proclaimed stubbornly, when in fact she was slightly worried about the outcome of their situation. To her right, the first woman who approached the men, patted Tigress' shoulder in understanding.

Phoenix. Long brown hair, and deep brown eyes. A fiery personality to match her fiery name, she was dressed in a feather skirt and long-sleeved, cut-off top made of fabric. In her hand, she held an expertly-cared for spear, with two orange feathers tied to the head.

A self-proclaimed protector of the others, Phoenix always felt very intensely about the safety of the girls, and was an extreme fighter, one of the best. (As for the feathers, they were simply dipped in a paint-like substance, not blood like Joshua thinks.)

"I say we drive them off. We have no use what they're capable of." Behind the group, sat silently, the gentle healer, Echo. A beautiful and calm doctor, she carried a staff with small pouches of herbs attached to the end. Her singing voice was the best anyone had ever heard, giving her the name Echo.

Whispering quietly, Echo looked down respectfully, for offense was not her specialty. "Um... Some of them are gravely injured..." They turned to look at her, Phoenix's expression full of disapproval.

Tigress glanced at Mist, and shrugged. "Well... As long as they stay back and leave us alone, I guess she can treat their wounds." Phoenix glowered, then sighed. "Alright, fine. But we have to make it clear to them what we intend to do."

Turning back to the us, the feathered one stood tall and walked over in front of me, then put both hands in front of her, palms outward, like Daichi had. Then she gestured to Alex, who was practically falling over his own feet from shock and blood loss.