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About [[Anchor Saltborn]]

[[Bold what applies, Italics for situational]]

We Are: Strangers | Acquaintances | Casual Friends | Close Friends | Intimate Friends | Partners | Family | Old Friends | Estranged | Rivals | Enemies

We Have:

Met | Argued | Laughed | Broke Up | Hugged | Lived Together | Sparred (okay more like he gave her lessons) | Battled Side-by-side | Gift-given | Became Friends | Cried Together | Kissed | Confessed Love | Held Hands | Slept Together | Became Lovers | Bonded | Built a Model Ship | Carried One Another | Danced | Became a Family | Grew Apart | Best Friends | Trusted One Another | Worked Together (he helped her while she was concocting potions) | Grew Up Together | Knew as Children (she knew of him when she was younger) | Written Letters | Grew Old Together | Gone on a Trip | Played Triple Triad | Lied for One Another (He did, she purposefully omitted telling the truth on his behalf) | Work Out and Train (one lesson) | Moved | Met in School | Read the Same Book

Thoughts On:

♦ What I Most Admire About Them: 

“His tenacity. For as long as I’ve known him, Anchor has never given up. Even after all the hardships he’s endured, he still has the will to keep going, keep fighting, keep living. Since I’ve met him, I am learning from his example. He’s helped me survive and brave things I never thought I could before.” 

♦ Something Physically Attractive:

“Just.. one thing? Hm… well… there’s something about this eyes. They are evasive at times, how his gaze skirts away from you. Then there are others times when they are ablaze with something rising from within, whether it be emotion or aether. But whatever may be whirling behind them, when his eyes meet mine, I find myself trapped there. Looking. Searching. Basking.”

♦ Something Mentally Attractive:

“He is so… very layered. Sometimes, when I see a situation in a certain way, he would see something else entirely different about it. Some have thought he was just stubborn or being unfriendly, but all his actions, they stem from many different things. He just may not tell you what they are, but never underestimate why he does what he does. There’s always a reason.”

♦ A Memory of Them

“Did I tell you that he is very dexterous? Once he caught a fish out of a pool at a Shogatsu festival. I barely saw his hand move but he snatched up that goldfish in a blink of an eye. Thinking back on it, I was feeling quite sad that I couldn’t see my family for the new year, and he cheered me right up by having us plunge our hands into a vat filled with water and fish.”

♦ Something I Wish They Had:

“I wish he had some closure for what’s happened in his past. How his family passed away. I think their loss still troubles him greatly, for it is something unfinished. Unsettled. I hope he finds peace with it, someday.”

♦ A Change I’d Like to See in Them:

“I am hopeful he comes to understand his aether, learn how to control it. I am also hopeful that I can help him find a way that it does’t hurt him. It’s... a bit complicated, and I have yet to fully understand it myself, but I am determined this change will happen for him.”

♦ What I Think They Think About Me:

“It’s changed over time, how he sees me. At first. I am certain he saw me as a nuisance. Then, someone that reminded him of someone else. But now... I hope he sees me as home.”

♦ What I Would Do for Them:

“Anything. Everything.”

From Relationship Ask!

Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

Okay, listen. 

Ghoa has a weakness for dangerous, handsome men that could easily snap her neck without a second thought. However, the fact that Anchor probably actually would snap her neck if given half a chance when Nabi wasn’t looking is a major negative.

“Anchor says I use pretty words, but I really don’t know what he means. He sometimes calls me daft or ridiculous after I say something, but… something tells me he doesn’t mind them so much.”

Lacking in formal studies from schools, or strict upbringing that is inherent in Hingan society, Nabi’s education came from her mother. As a child, Nabi didn’t have many friends her age, mostly because Hingans kept to themselves and didn’t socialize with the strange Xaela child. So she would spend many hours appreciating and interacting with the flora and the fauna. Her ways of thinking wasn’t molded by society rules but rather lessons passed down to her by her mother, who encouraged observations of beauty all around. She can ramble on about something she saw or found, for that was how she spoke to trees as much as her adaptive Hingan family.

But since this is a Valentine’s Day ask, if “way with words” mean getting others to do what she wants or entice them in someway, Nabi is not skilled in such verbal dancing… like at all. See above for lack of socialization as a child, followed by lack of experience in dating or flirting in any fashion. She could sometimes come off as too forward and earnest, or dense and naive even in certain matters of romance.

Nabi doesn’t get angry often or easily. But whenever she thinks back to the time beneath the mountain, there are specific memories that pits her insides with a burning sense of indignation.

When Elam Grave first brought Nabi to see Anchor after he had been forced to fight in the underground fighting pits, Anchor had been brutally injured, his lung pierced, and his body battered and bruised from both the fight and the abuse the place dished out onto its fighters.

Nabi was expected to heal him, so that he could fight again the next day. At the time, she was horrified, guilt-ridden, and overcome with dismay at his state of being. He had been forced into this position because of her, after all. And fight after fight, they gave Anchor no reprieve. He was to stay alive to fight again, all for the amusement of others.

Nabi tries not to think back on those times, but remembering how gaunt he had looked, and how many times he was near death before those that controlled the pits would allow him to be healed, so he could go through the same thing over again, disgust and anger starts to roil within her gut even to this day. 

It is because of that entire ordeal, she is especially protective of Anchor now, and emotions will rise easily when he is in any danger or he places himself between her and any peril. She has vowed never to let him suffer like that again.

Nabi had worked on the mixture for suns. Tried different variations, proportions, whispered to the herbs and the minerals she was blending together, getting just the perfect composition. And this sun, she could barely keep the beaming anticipation from her lips, her eyes looking to her patient with delight. She was so sure he was going to be impressed.

At least, somewhere in her fanciful daydreams, she imagined him to raise his brows and part his lips in awe. But in reality, he greeted her with a skeptical furrow of the brow, bothered that another effort at aetherically healing him could tax her, as it had beneath the mountain. Even when it was his arm that had been broken and his body that was mending, he was still worried, about her.

But this was her chance. To show him her true strength. Nabi couldn’t deny that while she was looking after him in the fighting pits, she had overextended her skills, done things she was not used to doing, and poured all she could into every attempt, despite her best judgement. Because, otherwise, he could die in his next match, if she didn’t give it her all. 

But now that they were free of Elam Grave’s shadow, and back in Kugane and recovering, Nabi was eager to show him what she did every sun for her patients: use herbs and minerals, alchemy and aether, to heal broken bodies. 

As she slathered the new salve over his forearm, she ignored the curious aroma that exuded, after all, the selection of ingredients didn’t need pleasant smell nor appearance. It just had to be effective. Small ground crystals glimmered within the dark paste, and as she whispered to them, they twinkled just a little brighter, before disappearing into the thick dressing. And in its place appeared a small mote of green, like a new sprout, before it faded from view. 

She could feel it, the nurturing energies of the earth, spanning from his fingertips to his elbow, infusing his flesh and bones with aether, mending what was broken. When she was finished, she sat back and let out a sigh, grinning proudly at her achievement. This was what she did. Her day to day profession that he’d never seen before. She bit her lower lip in anticipation, wondering what he would say.

Anchor remained silent for awhile, blinking at the sight of his arm, eventually drawing in a composing breath and giving himself a small shake. He glanced between her and his lacquered limb, looking somewhat uncertain.

“I rightly look like I be shovin’ my arm up the ass of a Dzo,” he mumbled.

Nabi is one of those that do not easily get angry about herself. This is mostly because she was raised by a caring and unflappable mother, who showed her patience and always made sure she knew she was loved. Nabi may have grown up a bit too sheltered when it comes to her tribe’s background, but that’s the life Chanai chose for her, to raise her in the serenity of Kugane. And Hingans weren’t really known for their public outbursts of temper, so Nabi grew up without much displays of antagonism. Her own temperament is cheerful and sympathetic, so there hadn’t been many reasons to get heated about anything. 

But lately that’s changed. She’s starting to see that there are people who just don’t show any compassion or logic in their decisions and willfully causes pain to those she cares for. This has sparked that rare hint of fire in her.

One such occasion was when Nabi was returned to Kugane. Her clinic had been burnt down, all for a ruse. And a dead body of a nameless Xaela was found in her clinic, also for the sake of deception. And someone else had taken her place under the thumb of a cruel man, and none of her friends were willing to listen to her pleas to do something about it. There was disbelief and shock at first, but after crying for countless days to no avail, there was a spark of resolve that started to burn within her instead. It was anger at her own helplessness, which she turned into determination.  

Dislike is a strong word. At least for Nabi.

But due to recent events, she is afraid of Arasen, while still feeling somewhat sorry for him. She has gained some glimpses of what his Sight grants him, and it isn’t a “Gift” in any sense of the word. It is a heavy burden, and she now knows what her mother had to bear since Chanai too had the same ability. But even when Nabi tried to reach out to her cousin in sympathy, he lashed out back at her with cruelty, causing her both pain and distress. 

But it is what he has done to those she loves that disturbs her the most, for she now suspects that he orchestrated the events in the ruins, where everyone she cared about suffered so much. While she can try to understand and maybe even forgive what he has done to her because he is relentless in his dream to pursue peace, it is not that easy to overlook what he has done to Anchor, Shael, and Ghoa.

Nabi once feared her uncle as well, Tugan Kharlu, who is Arasen’s father. But the elder has been an absent and distant figure in her life, where as his son has forced his way into hers, and has brought much trouble with him.

Art by: Ruen!

“I don’t know–or rather I don’t remember–much of the crew of the Ironsong. Whenever I traveled with them, I only paid for passage across the Ruby Sea and they never cared to talk to me, really. Except… for the most recent time I was on the ship.” There is a pause, and a distant look touches Nabi’s features. The warmth in her voice turns into something more melancholy.

“It was very stressful then. The circumstances were… most unusual.” She took a deep breath, as if using that moment to compose her thoughts. “Brick. He is the quartermaster of the crew. I remember him the easiest, because he is a Xaela that does not bear a Xaela name. But then again, I’ve discovered that they all give themselves a unique name on that ship, rather than go by what they were given on their nameday.”

Nabi’s gaze bows, and she quiets further. “Brick gave me one of the hardest news I’ve ever received. He was most forthright about it. And in that way, while his words weren’t particularly gentle, he said what he did to still keep me safe, because it was something that he felt he owed someone else. I… I appreciated that.

“He brought me onto the Ironsong when he didn’t have to. And he looked out for me after Anchor was taken away. He didn’t like the trouble I brought to his crewmen, but he still helped me. So I trust him still. I doubt he would show me the same favor again though. I did go against his wishes, after all.”