Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaved was tired of advice on how to deal with Dalla, but people insisted on pestering him with it. The latest was the incredibly asinine idea that he should woo Dalla. Gaved had never wooed anyone or anything in his life, and he certainly wasn't interested in wooing Dalla. The concept was unthinkable.

But the idea of wooing Stygg, now ... that had some strange, twisted appeal. Gaved had actually grown rather fond of the thrall since marrying Dalla. She didn't get on his nerves nearly as much as Dalla did. She did as he said, and actually seemed concerned about whether he was happy. That concern was born of fear, of course, but it was still pleasant after facing Dalla's barbs. Spending time with Stygg was oddly soothing.

So Gaved, ostensibly out of black humor (but perhaps more secretly out of some real interest), announced himself at the entrance of Stygg and Badoura's den that evening. He had a small string of beads with him that he had picked up on a viking but Dalla hadn't seemed interested in. Unsuitable for her crafts for some reason. So, it would be Stygg's. "Stygg, it's Gaved," he called.

She'd gotten used to Gaved's odd little visits here and there. There was a part of her that still feared him, just slightly - after all, he was his father's son, and that little fact had Stygg holding just a little bit of fear close to her heart. She'd spent time speaking with Badoura, and in all honesty the other lioness really had nothing but scathing remarks to say about Gaved.

It surprised her. Things had certainly gotten off to a rocky start for her, but since he'd married Dalla it seemed as if he didn't mind spending time with her.

Males were so strange.

When she heard his voice at the doorway to the small, cramped den she shared with Badoura, Stygg perked slightly and moved towards the sound of his voice.

"Yeth, Mather Gaved," she lisped softly, as he came into view, "how can I athith you?"

Now this was how Gaved thought a prime Reaver like himself should be treated. With respect and gentle concern. Dalla should come to greet him so pleasantly. "These are yours," Gaved said, pushing the beads towards her with one paw. There. Trinket given. He was a champion of wooing.

It was tempting to simply tell Stygg he had need of her and take her off somewhere to have his way with her. He didn't need to woo her. She was his thrall, and he could do whatever he liked with her.

Still. It would be amusing to see how this turned out.

"Come with me, Stygg." It was more of an order than a request. Gaved had never politely asked a female out on a date before.

Stygg blinked down at the beads about five million times in rapid succession before she flashed Gaved a confused look. For her? He'd given her a gift? But she was no wife - she was a mere thrall, had always been a slave in one respect or another. This was out of her realm, and she would never admit it but she felt a surge of something deep in her chest. It was bizarre.

"Thank you, mather," she choked out, eyes widening as he ordered her to follow him. She listened, of course, as any dutiful thrall would, and picked up the pace so that she could follow after him at a respectable distance.

If she thought males were confusing before, Stygg was completely baffled at this point.

Gaved didn't particularly want anyone else to see him dining with a thrall, so he had rounded up another thrall and ordered them to drag out a nice haunch of meat to a secluded spot beyond most of the dens. It was a spot he had used with Stygg before, actually, for more passionate purposes. He led her there now.

It belatedly occurred to him that Stygg shouldn't be walking behind him.

"Stygg, walk beside me," Gaved ordered.

Stygg knew exactly where he was taking her once they got to a certain point on their walk, and part of her wilted. She should have seen this coming, though she hadn't - and now she wondered why he was being so utterly nice to her.

Her eyes widened when he told her to walk beside her, mouth slightly ajar as she hurried to catch up.

She was in trouble, wasn't she.

"I am sthorry if I have upthet you, thir," she began awkwardly, mouth wrenching. He was going to beat her the instant they moved out of sight, wasn't he? He was. She knew it. What had she done wrong? Stygg was wracking her brain but couldn't figure it out.

Gaved sighed. Outside of Dalla's sheer hatred, nothing irritated him more than Stygg's weakness. It was oddly satisfying to crush the lioness, but her weakness infuriated him as well. He couldn't understand a lion that would cower so.

But he had planned a nice evening for them, and it would make his hard work pointless if he just smacked her and told her to shut up.

"Don't cower, Stygg," he said, trying to keep his voice patient and even. "I hate it when you do that." It was difficult to keep from shouting at her, but the smell of the meat lifted his spirits slightly. They had almost arrived.

"Yeth, thir," Stygg mumbled, voice rife with confusion. The scent of food was rich on the air, and Stygg's stomach growled a loud complaint. The tips of her ears turned pink with embarrassment, and she shut her mouth and kept quiet.

The last thing she wanted to do was upset him again. It was something she was quite accomplished at, even without trying.

Despite all of her thoughts, she couldn't stop pondering over the fact that he sounded patient with her - something that he very rarely did. To keep the peace - and because she liked his patient tone - Stygg merely walked next to him, ears perked and eyes alert.

Gaved was reasonably sure lions on dates chattered at one another about this and that, but he had never really tried small talk with a female. Definitely not with Stygg. He remained silent until they reached the little clearing. The meat was ready for them, the thrall that had brought it still lurking. Gaved waved him off impatiently and then gestured to Stygg.

"Sit. Eat."

That seemed overly harsh. Sitting himself beside the meat, Gaved tried again.

"I wanted to have dinner with you."

Stygg sat. She ate.

She almost died when Gaved said that he'd wanted to have dinner with her.

"With me?" Her voice was a wibbly squeak, and she couldn't help the way her mouth dropped open. Was this a... was this a date?

Stygg was afraid to ask. She'd never been on a date ever in the entirety of her entire life, and she had certainly ever expected to ever go on a date with Gaved, of all males.

Stygg sounded weak and squeaky, but at least she wasn't sniveling. It was more of a surprised-squeaky. Gaved could handle that. He settled down to eating himself, taking a minute to savor his food before replying to Stygg.

"Yes."

He looked up from his food, at Stygg. He hadn't talked to her much, really. Now that they were really ... doing a date, or whatever you called it, he guessed they ought to talk. As long as she didn't start bawling and whining it might even be nice. It would have to be nicer than eating with Dalla. Ugh. If she wasn't outright being nasty, she was doing that horribly overly sweet simpering with her eyes flashing murder. Gaved wasn't sure which was worse.

"So, Stygg. How was your day?"

Since Stygg wouldn't pipe up without his permission, it was up to him to start their talk.

Stygg left that comment as what it was - he'd admitted that he'd wanted to eat with her, and so it was what it was.

And then he asked her how her day was.

"Well, thir, I woke early to clean your den, and then there was a lion that gave me a hard time later after I wath shaking out your theeping furth. After that I ate thome breakfath, and then I cleaned out my den. After that I went to thee if Lena needed any help cleaning out her den. And then Badoura athed me if I wanted to help her find thingth for Dalla'ths crafting."

Stygg cleared her throat and took a bite, chewing a bit indelicately before continuing on with the duties of her day.

"After that I helped look afther the cubth that needed looking after, and then I went home to clean out my den again.. and then there you were."

It sounded like an exhausting day. Gaved felt vaguely impressed. Naturally he didn't care what thralls did as long as they did what they were told, but Stygg was his. It made him almost proud that she was so dutiful. Certainly no one could say that Gaved's thrall was lazy. He liked that she was so focused on helping the family. As meek as Lena was, she was family, and the ever-annoying Dalla was family as well. He supposed even Stygg was family in her way.

One thing annoyed him.

Gaved lashed his tail. "What lion gave you a hard time? No one gives you a hard time. You're mine, under my protection." He certainly didn't like that it was a lion. "A lion, a male lion? Was he a thrall? He didn't try and touch you, did he?" Gaved scowled, furious at the idea of any male trying to lay a paw on his Stygg. "If he did I'll rip his balls off," Gaved snarled.

Maybe this wasn't very romantic talk, but Gaved wouldn't tolerate anyone bothering his thrall.

Stygg cowered slightly, debating on the merits of lying and blaming a thrall over telling the truth.

She decided to go with the truth.

"It wath one of the Grei brotherth, thir. I don't know which one it wath, but they are relatively harmleth. I juth told him that I was a kept thrall, and he left me alone."

She was no longer hungry, the mental image of balls being ripped off fairly destroying any urge she had to eat.

"Hmm," Gaved said, mollified but still aggravated that anyone had dared talk so to his thrall. Especially those weirdos. Gaved had heard the lionesses gossiping about those three. It was no business of his what they wanted to do with their thralls, but they certainly weren't going to do anything unsavory with his Stygg.

"Well, good. If they talk to you again, tell me. I don't want any males harrassing you," Gaved said fiercely. He wrinkled his nose, his expression faintly appalled. "And certainly not one of them," he added, in a voice of almost ladylike horror.

He returned to his food. "Too bad you aren't Freeborn," Gaved said idly, smacking his lips. "Then they'd leave you be." A silly thought, of course.

Perhaps it was the tenuous amicability that was reigning supreme, or maybe it was that Stygg was not quite the brightest star in the sky, but Gaved's last comment had her grinning like a fool, and words were being vomited out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Oh, yeth, thometimeth I think that I might find a Reaver who will ath for my freedom, and then I will be a wife or even a thaltwife - and then no lionth would bother me ever again."

It was at that point that she realized what she was saying, and she closed her mouth before any other verbal diarrhea could flow forth. She shot Gaved a worried look, hoping against hope that he wouldn't slap her for being so forward.

Gaved was shocked. FURIOUS. And ... hurt. He had grown truly fond of Stygg, and lost his suspicions that she might try to sneak off and find another male to ask for her.

And now he had allowed a damned thrall to hurt his feelings. Gods above.

Gaved stared at her. "What did you say?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous. "You want to leave me?" His voice was rising now. If he had heard a female talking so, he would have scolded her for getting hysterical. "You want to sneak around, find some other Reaver to marry you?! You plan on betraying me!"

"No! No, I would never, I would.. I would never! I thwear! Mather, I would... I would never, pleath believe me, I wathn't thinking properly, I wath juth.. it'th.. pleathe."

Oh Gods above, there went the pleasant atmosphere. Now she'd done it.

"It ith juth that I thpoke without thinking. That'th all, thir. That'th all. Pleathe."

She cursed her lisp. For once in her life, she'd have liked to be able to sound like a rational lioness. She wasn't even sure what to do to make things better, to make him take on that friendly tone again.

"I would rather die than betray you, thir, and that'th the God'th honeth truth. Pleathe, believe me."

Gaved had been enjoying their meal. He didn't really want to beat Stygg, although he had more than enough cause to. He frowned murderously, wanting to believe her. She was too weak to betray him, but ... she could allure another male. She could. If another male took her and sired cubs on her, he would be within his rights to claim her and the cubs. Gaved snarled, outraged by the very idea.

"So what Reaver would this be, hmm? Which Reaver is going to make you his wife, if you're so sure you won't betray me?"

Stygg might not've been the smartest lioness in the pride, but she was smart enough to know what answers were the right answers to give when prompted by a very serious, serious question.

She was nearly one-hundred percent certain that he was going to laugh, but she'd deserve it.

"M-maybe it might.. it might be you, thir."

He was going to laugh at her, slap her, and then whet his lusts on her. Stygg knew it, but she'd gotten him this angry, it was only her own damned fault.

Gaved honestly hadn't expected that. His eyes widened in surprise. Stygg thought he might marry her? Where had she gotten such an idea? Had Lena put it into her head? At least it wasn't some other Reaver she was after, though. That idea was just dumb enough to ring true, coming from Stygg.

He should probably slap her and tell her to stop being stupid, but he had a sudden depressing realization.

"Well, that makes you the only lioness in this pride that wants to marry me," Gaved said gloomily. He had never wanted a wife to begin with, but lionesses falling all over themselves to commiserate with Dalla and tell everyone in the whole damn world how glad they were not to be married to him was starting to get to him. He had never set out to be a charmer of lionesses, but it was taking a toll on his self-esteem. He frowned at Stygg, collecting himself. "That's a strange idea. I don't know ... I don't know if I want a saltwife." He snorted. "Dalla wouldn't like it." No, she would not indeed. "But I've a right to a saltwife if I want one," he said, sounding almost as if he were arguing with himself. "I'll think about it."

Stygg merely kept her mouth shut as Gaved spoke. It was probably the wisest thing she'd done all night.

However, she did offer Gaved a hopeful look and a nod. In all honesty, his reaction was better that she'd expected, and that was saying a lot, for Gaved.

When he seemed to be finished talking, she tilted her head to the side and watched him carefully.

"I think that you are a fine huthband," she mumbled with awkward honesty. "I just think that perhapth, maybe, Dalla would have liked being able to chooth her own huthband - but it .. it doethn't excuthe her behavior."

"Hmph," Gaved grunted. He didn't really like being given a reasonable explanation of Dalla's behavior, but Stygg seemed to be on his side. That was nice.

Of course, he was certainly just as much at fault for the feud between him and Dalla as Dalla was, but his sense of empathy was a frail and under-used thing that overloaded easily, so Gaved didn't really consider it.

Now that he thought about it, it would probably be nicer being married to Stygg instead of Dalla. Unfortunately he couldn't swap them out, but making Stygg his saltwife was a possibility. But there was a drawback: if he freed Stygg and made her a Freeborn, she wouldn't be bound to stay with him. She could leave and do whatever she liked. If he wanted to make her his saltwife, he would have to make her like him.

"Maybe," he said, shrugging. He didn't want to talk about Dalla. "Well. I had a nice time with you tonight, Stygg. Are you done eating?"

Earlier he had thought to end the night with a roll in the grass, but bullying her into sleeping with him wouldn't make her like him any more.

Stygg gave a quick lick to her chops, clearing her fur free of any lingering food or blood that might have stuck to her muzzle. She briefly nodded, gracing Gaved with a curious look. There was a part of her that wondered, fleetingly, what sort of thoughts were going through his mind at that very moment - and she wondered, too, what sort of happiness she'd find in being Freeborn.

It was a scary thought. She'd always served those of higher social standing, but perhaps as a saltwife, Gaved would still look after her, and she would still be allowed to serve as a housekeeper to their little family. A silly thought.

Clearing her throat softly, Stygg couldn't help but inch forward just a bit. Usually when he brought her out here it was for a quick tussle on the cool grass, but there was something different about tonight. He was trying to be nice - and yet, well.

Stygg would be lying if she said she didn't want that tussle.

"Yeth, thir." She cleared her throat again. She'd never been very good at this - in fact, she'd never done this before, ever. She tried to formulate her expression into one she'd seen Lena give Thorgrim once before. Heavy-lidded, soft smiles, low voice.

"Would you like to go into the deeper grath?"

Seduction. Stygg has it.

Stygg might not have been the world's greatest seductress, but to be fair, Gaved wasn't a very reluctant seductee. It did take him a minute to realize that she was actually interested in him and not just trying to please him. Stygg had never seemed interested in him before. In fact, neither had Dalla. The females he spent the most time with usually acted more ... resigned.

This was a fascinating change of pace. As wary as he was of upsetting her now that he had decided to make her like him, Gaved could hardly turn her down. He grinned at Stygg, delighted. Wow. Wooing was a lot easier than it sounded, apparently. He was probably just a natural.

"If you want to," Gaved said, "It would be my pleasure."