Tanis
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About Tanis
Pint-sized ball of fire and curiosity.
She will climb everything, stick her nose in anything interesting, and pick fights with stuff twice her size.
The physical deets.
Scrawny, lots of sharp bits with elbows and knees and claws and teeth.
FRECKLES. All over, but especially on nose & cheeks, and shoulders.
Afflicted areas are primarily her hands and feet, which have been changing since she was around 8.
Girls like mud too.
She may wear dresses sometimes, but that's not gonna stop her chasing frogs in the creak. Or wiping her nose on her sleeves or burping loudly and laughing at the sound.
Takes after their late father.
Besides sharing the same hair and freckles, Tanis and her father share a kindred wild spirit and reckless love of life.
Growing up wild.
It's hard to tell if it's the curse impacting her behavior, or just their wandering lifestyle, but Tanis demonstrates more animal-like practices: stalking small animals, sniffing curious things, clawing trees for fun and because "it feels good." This is all a great source of worry for her brother, Taron, who tries to discourage these habits and raise Tanis "as human as possible."
Starved for a parent figure.
Wild as she is, Tanis really does want someone to hold her, kiss her boo-boos, and make all the bad things of the world go away. Her late mother holds a special sort of saint-like presence in her memories. Given how little care she and her brother are given as wandering orphans, she'll gravitate to people that demonstrate kindness (though she'll balk at patronizing). But it can be like coaxing a wild animal - hesitant of strangers, then affectionate, then running off again the next moment.
Will Fight U.
Regular little ball of fury when she gets going. Takes a lot of inspiration from Laura/X-23 in the recent Logan movie (though much less bloody) and with more slashing than stabbing. But yes, claws. She uses them. Teeth too. She's a biter. -
The Curse
What is the Curse?
A little world-building:
For as long as known history, man and dragons have been at odds - competing for the same resources of food & land. At first it was for self-defense and preservation, but then it was discovered that dragon's bodies held an innate magical quality in them. Bones were ground up and used in healing salves, fertilizer to promote incredible crop growth, claws were bound as charms for warriors, sharpening blades and quickening reflexes. Blood brought health and youthfulness. And consuming the muscle of a dragon's heart had the potential to unlock a human's ability to wield magic themselves, though the process was dangerous - Over half of those who tried died painfully, the overwhelming power consuming them from the inside. Still, it did little to dissuade those seeking power. Dragon hunting became a lucrative and prestigious, albeit deadly, profession, and a mainstay of the region's economy.
The dragons grew scarce, becoming only more valuable and desired. Humans hunted the dragons far into their own remote territories, back and back until dragons hid in the most inhospitable and distant habitats, hoping to hide from their hunters. But humans are tenacious.
A massive hunt was called. The bounty was the eldest dragon still in existence; the reward was a kingdom. In the end, the dragon was cornered, mortally wounded. With its dying breath, the dragon laid a curse on the hunters, that they know the unending fear and pain of being hunted themselves. When nothing immediately happened, the humans laughed it off and took their kill back to their camp to celebrate all night.
Panic struck at dark. Mugs were dropped as claws sprang from fingertips, screams became pained bellows. Fire erupted somewhere. People were painfully turning rapidly into dragon-like beasts, lashing out in fear and madness at those around them. Those that were unaffected, Suppliers and Apprentices and those unable to join the final circle of hunters, worked to take down those becoming "monsters." It was a brutal and bloody night. Every single hunter that had witnessed the death of the Elder was gone, either slain by their comrades or escaped into the wild as something no longer human.
However, the curse did not stop there. Perhaps it was because the Elder had been more than a little senile, but when the remnants of the hunting party returned home, they too soon began manifesting changes. And this Curse spread from those in the hunt to their families, and from the families to those they interacted with. It spread like a plague, but no one knew how to cure it. The only way to stop it was to avoid or kill those infected and hope it would die out with them.
Those that exhibited signs of the Curse are treated like lepers. Shunned, feared, and banished to the outskirts of civilization. It's been several years since the Curse was laid on hunters, and there's no sign of it ending.
How'd the kids get infected?
Tanis and Taron are the children of a small-time hunter. Tanis was only 8 when he returned home, unknowingly carrying the Curse with him. He and their mother were killed by the other villagers in a fear-induced riot, and the children escaped.
