A Feather Stolen
I'm Your First
«»
Anoel was determined.
She wanted to hold her promise no matter what. And that promise was making sure she did everything in her power to help Ly before she had to leave tomorrow.
She fed her. She got her a bunch of money.
Now she had her mind set on cleaning her up. Especially the wounds.
All of them.
"Come on. If you're staying the night, you need to get cleaned up. Wounds too," Anoel spoke firmly, leading Ly upstairs by the hand.
"Most of them are fine, really…" Ly muttered, protesting against the idea as she followed Ano willingly.
"No, they're not. And this is something I want to do for you. You'll need at least a little strength in your body, and it'll get pretty bad if any of those wounds get infected. So, I'm doing this," Anoel pushed her way into her room and zeroed her gaze toward her bathroom door.
"It's not like they're open… they're healing fine," the girl protested further, a little more adamantly this time around.
"But there's still a lot of them, right?" Ano asked, but she slowed down for a moment as she dipped her chin, keeping her face away from Ly's own. "Plus… I wanna sleep next to you tonight. I want you to be able to spend a night smelling nice in a soft bed… with something warm."
Ly breathed out slowly and heavily as her eyes alternated their focus between Ano and the floor, nodding a little.
She looked hesitant to receive help, even after asking for it, and from what Ano could tell, she had a lot to hide too. Especially her injuries.
Anoel didn't want to dig for what was hidden. Not the same way she usually did with people.
Ly was actually different. She was the first girl Ano found close to her age. And even more unique, she looked like she was thrown as far into the deep end as she was.
Probably even further than her… and all Ano's wanted to do since then is help her swim.
She was the first thief Ano met who genuinely looked sorry for doing their job too.
She was a good girl in a bad place with no choices that were her own.
Ano hoped to change that.
"Just… as long as you're really okay with it," the info-broker spoke softly, peering her gaze back at Ly as they entered the dim bathroom.
"It'll be nice…" Ly paused for a moment, distractedly grasping at the sleeves of the coat too big for her, "to sleep in a real bed again…"
Her blue eyes had turned to the bed when she spoke, a distant longing look in them as she stared. Wilfully ignorant of the consequences she may face for being away too long.
She really wanted this. It wasn't something forced, it was… something she wanted.
Ano just still felt a little bad convincing her.
"It'll be nice. I can throw your clothes through the wash tonight too, if you want," Anoel added, turning on the lights before looking back to see her response.
The girl nodded before her delicate eyebrows furrowed. "But what will I wear until they're dry?"
Ano took a moment to think about that, looking back into the room before meeting her gaze again. "I can give you my jammies to wear tonight. It'll be more comfortable than sleeping in your clothes."
"O-Okay…" Ly replied softly, nodding her head again.
Good. That was settled.
"While you were gone, I figured out a way to numb sensitive cuts and bruises with my heat. So you don't have to worry about me throwing you into a cold shower," Anoel made sure to clarify, finally letting go of Lylac's hand as she ventured further into the bathroom.
She started grabbing a few things, snagging two soft towels and a loofa. Her favorite body wash and shampoo were already in the shower, so she moved everything needed into it now as well to set it all up.
"No anes…" Ly paused again, confusion riddled across her face as it scrunched up slightly. "Anes…"
She was struggling to pronounce the word.
"Anes… the… tic...?" she finally managed to say, a small flush dusting her cheeks from the attention she suddenly garnered from Anoel.
It was a hard word. But Ano was an info-broker. She needed to be good with speech.
Still…
"That was super cute!" Anoel squealed, zipping back to Ly's side to latch onto her and give her a tight hug. "Can you do it again?"
The girl shook her head quickly as her face reddening in response to the embrace, "N-No..."
"Awweee!" Ano drawled out, narrowing her eyes and puffing out her lips. Not fair. "Well, you're cute either way."
She let her arms slip from around Lylac's sides to saunter out of the room for a moment. The info-broker quickly shedded her brown half-jacket and got her boots off, putting them by her desk with her socks getting thrown into her hamper.
Her big hat was soon rested down onto the desk itself.
She didn't want them to get wet. The black jeans and her white shirt she didn't care about.
The girl quickly made her way back into the bathroom to climb onto the rim of the tub, reaching up to pull the detachable shower head off.
When she looked back, Ly had copied her in taking off her shoes and socks, awkwardly standing barefoot in the bathroom door frame now without her coat on. It left her holding her right arm with her left hand awkwardly in just her torn blue jeans and dirty white shirt.
Waiting there for some kind of instruction.
Right…
Anoel left the shower head to dangle on its cord as she hopped back down, giving Ly a little once over with her eyes before crossing her arms.
"Do you need help?" Ano asked lightly. Or was she just being shy?
The girl shuffled her feet and kicked the floor slightly as she averted her eyes from Ano. "Y-You're in here…"
Oh…
Ano didn't think of that.
"Well, I'm sort of your… anes…" She was good with words! She really was! It's just, this one was hard. "Anesth… I'm your anes… thetic. The shower's going to sting a lot if you take it on your own, and I don't really have any kind of numbing stuff I can just give you. I don't actually think we have any…"
They've never needed them.
"I-I can wash myself and then you could… give medical care…" Ly meekly suggested, face reddening again.
Ano's mouth fell open at how out of order that was as she quickly shook her head. "But the water and the soap's the worst part! Your body's gonna be all red and in pain when you get out… I can't do much after that…"
"S-So… you want… to be in here… with me… w-when…" Ly's face was glowing red at this point, her embarrassment growing at a steady pace, "I-I-I'm n-naked…?"
Anoel's lips snapped shut as the tiniest blush slipped into her own cheeks.
She didn't realize that until now.
"I-Is that wrong?" Ano asked softly.
"I… uh…" There was a little panic in Ly's wide eyes as her awkwardness made her fidget a little, grasping at the hem of her shirt and turning her gaze further away.
Ano immediately broke her own gaze the other way. She didn't want to pressure her. That was the last thing she wanted to do.
But she was here to help take away as much pain as possible too.
She knew what it felt like to shower with cuts covering the majority of your body. It hurt. There usually wasn't anything you can do about that.
You just kinda had to grit your teeth and push through it until the burning and the stinging was all over.
Or your body got used to the pain.
"You don't have to if… you don't want to. I can't make you. And I don't want to make you. So, I can leave if you'd like." Ano's eyes stayed staring at the floor in narrow unsureness. "I don't want to pressure you at all."
"Will it hurt more…?" Ly asked quietly, "If I have a shower then let you fix my wounds?"
Ano slowly looked to the side as she lightly clasped a hand around her wrist. "Your wounds would be more inflamed… a-and raw. It'd burn more, and hurt more, but you'd be able to do everything you needed in here in private."
The sigh that left Ly's mouth was long-winded, exasperated, and Anoel honestly flinched away from it in fear of what she'd say next.
Her eyes drifted further and further away from Ly as the fleeting moments went by. Nothing but tension and silence stood between them for a long few seconds.
"P-Please don't stare…"
Ano's gaze immediately went wide as she snapped it back to Ly, finding the girl's nervous eyes dropping their gaze to the ground and away from her own. The hand she had grabbing at her own arm only grew tighter the longer Anoel's gaze lasted.
She'd only just then snapped out of it and did as asked, quickly turning around to face away from the girl. "S-Sorry! It's just… are you… really sure about this?"
A few more moments passed as Anoel waited, but her body quickly tensed at the sound of Ly pulling off her shirt, then sliding her legs out of her jeans and leaving both in the hamper.
Her small hands stayed in tight little balls at her sides as she kept her gaze away. This would've been the first time she'd see… her… like this.
She already knew she was going to stare if she peeked.
"It… takes a while for the heat to spread through the entire body… But I'll try to keep it kindled for as long as possible. It's just…"
Ano started to backtrack on her thoughts as she dipped her chin, realizing she'd already missed something she should've made clear earlier.
"It's easiest if I just hug you… to be honest…"
Ly shuffled in her spot a little more behind her, Ano's body growing tenser when she suddenly heard Ly start taking steps closer to her.
"D-Don't make it too hot…" she murmured, waiting for Ano's response.
"I won't…" Anoel quickly promised, keeping her eyes forward to keep them from darting around. "I just need to focus, really. The effects wear off after about a minute though… I'd have to keep doing it a few times while you shower."
"O-Oh jeez… okay…" Ly groaned a little, and this time she was close enough for Ano to sense the heat of her hot blush. The burning heat quickly spreading further to the bridge of her small, round nose.
She would've said the blush was cute. But she didn't want to push it.
She thought it though.
At least the hard parts were out of the way now.
It… just left one more thing.
"L-Ly, can I ask you something?" Anoel asked quietly, her paralyzed body finally starting to move a little as she took a tight grip of the hem of her shirt.
"Y-Yeah…?" the girl replied slowly, the smaller girl's eyes turning upwards to gaze at her curiously.
"I-I… want to make t-this as fair as possible… so you don't feel singled out so much, but…" The grip Ano had on her shirt grew tighter as she felt Ly step up into her peripherals, Ano's own gaze immediately turning the other way. "I've been hiding something… because I didn't know how you'd take it."
"What is it?" Ly returned, speaking with curiosity as she turned her gaze to Ano.
That willful curiosity only made this harder on Anoel.
The info-broker held her lips tightly together for a long few seconds, chin slowly dipping further and further away as she struggled to start getting the words out.
"I-I'm a… I'm… a…" she tugged at her shirt in her discomfort, something beneath it starting to slide around against the tightening of the fabric as it pulled taught. "a-a… fau… nus…"
"A faunus…?" Ly's voice was softer, taken aback by the confession for a couple seconds. Long, tense seconds Ano could only shy more and more away under. "W-What kind?"
What… kind?
Anoel's eyes slowly started to widen as the tension in her shoulders began to dissipate. Her grip on her shirt finally started to grow lax as she silently turned her gaze over to Ly's.
She was just… staring innocently at her, only curious.
"Y-You don't… mind?" Anoel asked first, her own gaze turning confused and needful for some kind of response.
"Why would I?" Ly replied quickly and evenly, eyes locking with hers, burning curiosity deep within their cerulean gleam.
Anoel felt the last of the tension inside her melt away at the look in Ly's eyes. It… didn't hold the malice Ano always hid away from.
It didn't hold any of it. None at all.
"Most do, is all." Anoel finally let out a small sigh as she relaxed her shoulders, turning her gaze down and away again. "I can just show you."
If they were both showing all of themselves, she was hoping Ly would feel more comfortable about this.
And out of the corner of her eye, she caught the small nod Ly was giving her.
Anoel quietly nodded back as she held her breath, closing her eyes for a few long moments before taking a soft grip of her shirt's hem again and pulling it up.
She tugged the article of clothing over her head and held it loosely between her fingers, black feathers covering the entirety of her torso.
Her gaze quietly peered back at Ly as the glossy feathers started to move on their own, slowly unraveling and sliding to loosen from around her body and drape toward the floor.
They were… black wings…
Ly stared in silence for a long, tense while, eyes flicking between the wings and seemingly forgetting that she was standing half-naked in front of Ano as her arms hung loosely by her sides.
Ano forgot about that too.
Ly blinked, but after a little longer, she finally began to stammer something out.
"I… I was expecting a t-tail…" she said softly. "I-I didn't even know winged faunus existed…"
"A… tail?" Anoel reiterated quietly, the tips of her wings gently furling and unfurling against the cold bathroom floor. But after a few seconds, she couldn't help but smile at the weird expectation. "Yeah, winged faunus are more rare, but they exist. And I guess having wings is like having two tails, so does that count?"
"I um… I guess…" Ly shook her head and blinked rapidly for a moment, her thoughts starting to clear out of her stupor. "They're so... big…"
Anoel's smile only grew at that as she started to giggle. "Is that it? Your first question… is wondering why they're so big?"
Ano took one of her wings into her hands as she smiled at it, running her fingers over the feathers before turning her gaze over to Ly.
"Yeah, they're pretty big. It's so that I can actually fly. Did you… want to touch them?" Anoel asked softly.
Ly nodded as she slowly padded her way toward Anoel, daintily holding out her right arm toward Ano's wing.
She was hesitant to bridge the gap, waiting for silent permission, and looking to Ano with longing in her cerulean eyes.
Ano just nodded reassuringly, letting her know she can touch it all she wanted.
Ly returned the gesture and carefully touched the tip of Ano's wing with her index finger, applying the faintest amount of pressure as she stroked a single feather.
Anoel couldn't help but giggle softly at that as she ran her own fingers down the expanse of her wing, sliding her palm softly over every feather she could touch.
"They're not as delicate as they look, so feel free to reach for more than one feather. They're soft, too. They won't catch at all, if you're worried you'll hurt me."
"N-No… I've just… never seen anything like this before…" Ly replied putting a little more effort into stroking the tip of Ano's wing. Her hand gradually moved to touch it with the rest of her fingers, delicate motions eventually transitioning to her entire palm.
Her touch was considerate of Ano, and yet her curiosity was being sated as she grew more confident with letting her hand slide carefully through the feathers.
Ano's giggling persisted as she dipped her chin, feeling Ly's touch start to get more confident as it grazed through the layers of her feathers.
"I guess I'm your first winged faunus then." Being cheeky though, Ano lifted her other wing into view and held it up, drifting it over to nudge itself into Ly's other hand to brush up against its fingers.
The movement startled Ly as her head snapped to the other wing and a tiny gasp made its way out of her slightly parted lips, but she soon began treating it with the same gentle care as she did the first. Running her hands through the glossy, black feathers with the slow and steady graze of her fingers.
Ano had her eyes closed as Ly let her touches start to explore a little, just enjoying the relaxing feeling of someone else fingers threading through her feathers instead of her own. To her, it was more indescribable than someone affectionately running their fingers through her hair.
It felt better than that.
And she was getting a little drowsy from it… starting to crave the lulling sensation it was putting her into.
So she quickly started to open her heavy eyes and glanced to the shower, spotting the shower head still dangling there.
"W-We should probably get you cleaned up now."