Welcome to Gaia! ::

"The fact that I qualify for this 'Order of the Golden Paw' in no way means I want to join it," Ruzul pointed out. Then, to put a seal on it he went on, "Besides, Midas is one of Njal's family."

He added the last part with a curl of the lip which was almost a snarl. He had not been alive during his mother's exile, but her family's general hatred for the family of the former warlord was pervasive, and he had been raised to it. His attitude toward anyone in Njal's lineage was pretty much poisonous.

"Let's talk about something else," he said, dismissing the subject in a manner that smacked of regal entitlement. He got that from his mother, although his father was a pretty cocky b*****d, too.

"I didn't say you should join. I just said that you meet the qualifications," Kekäle protested. He should have known better though. Ruzul's temperament was volatile at best, and mentioning any of the lions who had wronged his family, even lions who hadn't been directly involved in the wronging, was a sure way to put him into a surly mood.

"But all right, fine. Let's talk about something else," he agreed. Certainly, if Kekäle could avoid having to deal with Ruzul in one of his dark moods, that would be desirable. Ruzul's dark moods got dark.

"How are things between you and that lioness you were telling me about before my last viking? Are the two of you still doing that thing where you have sex but don't actually talk or anything?" Kekäle still didn't know how Ruzul had lucked into that arrangement.

Ruzul's mood and expression lightened visibly with the subject change. He was tempestuous, but the winds blew both ways. The mention of Fjäril brought a self-satisfied grin to his face.

"Fjäril," he said. There weren't too many people he had shared the lioness's name with. He preferred to keep their relationship private from just about everyone, since he didn't intend to marry her and didn't consider their liaisons to be serious.

"And, yes, we are. It's absolutely amazing." And it was. The not having to talk or have any sort of meaningful relationship beyond sex was glorious. Fjäril never made demands of him and was always accommodating and pleasant. He enjoyed her immensely.

"Fjäril," Kekäle agreed.

"I'm glad you're still enjoying it." And he was, truly. He just didn't particularly envy Ruzul.

In truth, Kekäle couldn't really imagine the idea of having a relationship with someone that was solely based on having sex, and trying to keep it secret from everyone, including his family. Of course, Ruzul's family was less inclined to pry into romantic affairs than Kekäle's, but still, it seemed like a lot to go through, just for sex.

"You know, you never told me how you ended up with that arrangement," he remarked. Inviting Ruzul to tell stories was usually a great way to learn interesting things.

Ruzul looked speculatively at his friend, wondering how much detail he should go into when answering.

Since Kekäle already knew about his relationship with Fjäril there was no reason not to fill him in on the rest of it. But in truth, Ruzul wasn't sure his friend wasn't still a virgin, and he didn't want to set the poor fellow's standards for his first time impossibly high.

"I'll tell you how she and I got started if you tell me about the last lioness you tumbled," he replied with a wicked grin. Most of his grins were wicked, of course. He got that from his father, although he didn't like to credit his father with any of the good things he inherited. His father was a pretty shitty father, after all.

Kekäle was less than thrilled to have his question basically turned back on him, but fair was fair, and he had been sort of looking for an excuse to brag to Ruzul about the fact he'd gotten some the last time he was out viking. So what if it was kind of unprofessional to have done so with another member of his band? He was young and young reavers did things like that. Besides, nothing bad had come of it. So far.

"That would be Eli," he said. He was going to draw this out, he decided. It wasn't as if he'd had a great many lionesses to boast about, after all, and he couldn't help feeling smug that she had come on to him.

"She's a bit older, new to the life of a reaver, so she's nice and soft, but not fat, you know? Totally inexperienced when we did it the first time, but a fast learner." He smiled fondly at the memories there. The viking had been good up to that point, but from that moment on it had been great.

Ruzul grinned a grin both wicked and knowing.

"Very nice," he congratulated Kekäle. "So when are you taking her home to meet your mother?"

Like most of Kekäle's friends, Ruzul was aware of the pressure Kekäle's mother was exerting on him to marry and have cubs and he thought it was hilarious. His own mother had already said that she didn't care what he did, as long as he took care of things, which he knew meant being there for any cubs he might sire.

Of course, she didn't know about his current arrangement. He knew how she would feel about a lioness like Fjäril, and he preferred not to have that conversation with her. She had no patience for useless people, particularly not useless lionesses, which was basically what Fjäril was, despite her talents in the sexual department.

Kekäle's initial laugh came out in a bark, but stretched into a prolonged peal of manly mirth.

"I was thinking I'd bring her home around the same time you decided to do the same. Maybe we could have both our mothers to dinner and make all the introductions at once. I think that would definitely be the very best way to do this."

In other words, there was no way he was ever going to bring Eli home to meet his mother. If he had his way, even his sister Svana wouldn't find out about what the two of them had gotten up to on that one viking. It wasn't as if either of them had taken steps to keep it going on once they returned to the stronghold, after all.

Ruzul snorted at the very thought of Kekäle's proposed dinner and for a while the two lions simply laughed together, their mutual amusement echoing across the rogue lands.

When their laughter abated and the Ruzul had caught his breath, he looked around and recalled suddenly, "Oh, hey. Weren't we supposed to be doing something useful, like hunting?"

It seemed unlikely that he and Kekäle would have much luck with that at this point. They'd been entirely too careless about how much noise they made. No doubt they had scared off any potential prey in the area. Oh well. In this, the blame would fall on Kekäle, unless he tried to put it off on Ruzul, which wouldn't be very effective. Kekäle was the senior reaver, after all, Ruzul thought with a smirk.

"Stormlords' balls," Kekäle exclaimed without much vigor. "You're right."

He shook his head and sighed before making the executive decision, as the more senior reaver, that they should just return to their band and admit defeat. The captain wouldn't be thrilled, but that was why he sent out more than one hunting party. As long as Ruzul didn't tell anyone they'd likely scared all the prey away with laughter, Kekäle didn't intend to do so, so they could just chalk it up to bad luck.

"Eh. Let's go back and hope someone else had better luck," he said, turning back the way they had come. "But if it comes to it, I'm absolutely going to eat your share, should we end up with short rations. Just so you know."