|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:42 pm
The closest Viking would be within sprinting distance, but far enough away he could consider this adequately secluded. He did appreciate a good brawl with one of his reavers or another captain; he could make time for a chat, knowing there would be a lot of palaver about whether or not the new Warlord should be embraced or respected only out of obligation to tradition. Kondo was not introverted by any means.
Today, he acted as such. Memories of Aja weighed heavy on his mind and he sought no company until it passed.
Her death, and that of all three female cubs, prompted suspicion and censure of him. It had been said Kondo didn't want any daughters to besmirch his name, not recognized as good, but revered as capable. He had always gone to great lengths as a captain to maintain aptitude for his work and the semblance of aptitude in his followers at the bare minimum. Daughters could shame in ways sons couldn't, that was true.
It was not true he had harmed them under the banner of protecting his reputation, though Kondo himself was willing to believe it, to put faith in this theory even as he sloppily presented it as an unfortunate tragedy to the public. In all truth, it was, but. The cubs had not all been stillborn as the official recollection of events claimed. He had been too angry to even look at them after what they'd done.
Kondo did, in time, blame their mother the most. How dare she be so weak and stupid as to birth their kin by her lonesome. But as it happened, as he found her, he blamed those cubs. He hurt for the loss of his wife, and responded the only way he knew how: by hurting in turn.
Until then, Kondo had been indifferent to the idea of daughters; however, he had wanted a son for as long as he knew how to make one, and the wailing little whelp had been blessed by someone. Enough to give him a chance. He had probably just gone on to die in the rogue lands regardless. Another tragedy.
When he was done tromping around in the water, he would make plans for a trip. He was hurting tonight, and again, there was only one way he knew to cope.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 7:35 pm
Should Kondo ever listen to her song, Freyja would pull him in, and he would Drown.
One might think, then, that she had followed him here. It was no secret: Freyja had her eyes on Kondo. The lioness' had been watching him since before her sister had caught his eye. They were happy children. Kondo had a beautiful smile. He did not smile anymore. Not for her. Not for anyone.
Then, Freyja did not smile, either. She showed her teeth, flashed her tail towards raucous males, but she did not smile. There was no sun in her teeth. Only the moon.
A moon which was cast over muscles, rough fur, a scowl so permanently fastened it had become a part of the beast. She said nothing, watching him take the waves, pay them no heed. His eyes were as distant, to her, as the foaming, black waters.
Perhaps a sea monster would swallow him up.
The cold, icy waters tickled her toes and still she kept striding, up to her ankles. Until the waves were so loud they pushed out her thinking. It was just the two of them, out in the frigid waters, bathing in the virgin seas. "Are you attempting to test the fates, Kondo?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:00 pm
The last lioness Kondo wanted to see was Freyja. Today, or ever. She looked enough like her sister that he could blame her for starting this sentimental mess to begin with. Aja had a more radiant beauty, and brains behind her bewitching eyes. He didn't make a habit out of being superstitious, but that female was an enchantress and her song was softer and sweeter than Freyja could fathom, let alone imitate. Her cheap mockery was claws on stone and made him cringe.
He was left with this lesser daughter of an admittedly great reaver. His father had much respect for him, spoke only highly of him, and Kondo was not allowed to torment his offspring either in jest or in anger. That ingrained respect had kept her from being struck more than once.
"I am the fates," he stated arrogantly, "and you are testing me."
Kondo kept his eyes in the distance, carried on through the water. He was looking at someone not there, and if he were to give Freyja the honor of a glance, those circumstances would not change.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:10 pm
While he stared away, she watched him. Freyja's eyes took a slow path up the salty cake of his legs, the thin rift of his spine, the slick of his mane. The hard, set jaw.
"Mmm," she answered him as if she had only half heard.
It did not stop her, and she crept out further, salt filling her mouth as she moved past a wake. The distance between them invited Kondo to reach for her. She would not get close enough that he could easily strike -- no, he would have to work if he wished to cause her pain, or to place his space where hers was.
"Then may you pass your test."
Vulgar man. Finally, her eyes moved from him. In the distance, she was sure the fog parted along broken, shattered rocks. The moon blanched their wet surfaces white like bone.
"There is nothing for you here."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:28 pm
The water gave way to his ceaseless stride. The very nature of it spoke of contained chaos. To dwell like this did not energize a lion like him. He would need to overcome this spell the dead had cast on him; to break free, go forth, and prosper. "There is a bath for me here," he said blandly. It was good to wash your paws of all past sins once in a while so that those of the future were all the more horrific.
"I want to look presentable when I kill their males and take their females, over and over." Kondo had no target in mind. 'They' would be whomever had the misfortune to be the in the path of he and his band. He wasn't going to force himself on any of the women, simply due to lack of interest, but the chance to wound her was there and he was nothing if not an opportunist. "I've heard each and every of these mermaids has twice the beauty of any living lioness here. Perhaps I will hunt for one."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:45 pm
The words fell as dully on Freyja's ears as they had been cast from Kondo's mouth. Her own tongue slid against riveted skin, playing with the back of her teeth.
There was a steady increase in her chest as he continued to speak, and Freyja's eyes moved along the water. There were lions wrapped up in those waters, pleading eyes, extended claws. The ocean gasped at her.
Freyja laughed.
"Perhaps you will find one, Kondo," she delightfully played along, feeding into those dark corners.
Beat. Beat.
"And when they no longer satisfy you, you will take the ocean, and that too will give you nothing. Let the other lions satisfy their urges. A mermaid is nothing more than a weak-man's tale to make him feel powerful."
She shifted in the water, but remained standing between the furl of the waves. "There are better things to hunt for."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:04 pm
Kondo did nothing but grunt, at first. When she played along, an unmovable object (her) meant an unstoppable force (him). Most would conclude their choice was either to push and push or go around. He knew this not to be so: You could also, to the best of your ability and circumstance, avoid the annoyance.
On that note, he refused to take her bait. Being in the water did not make him a fish anymore than sounding intelligent made her worth listening to. Her sister had known when to shut her mouth, too.
"Then I will hunt for pirates," he said. "They have females."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:17 pm
Had he been looking, Kondo would have seen Freyja smile. Or, perhaps even he would not call it a smile. It was that similar baring of teeth that spread from one edge of the muzzle to the other.
It was gone quickly.
"Then I shall request of War, so the iron in your blood does not grow thin." As any proper lioness seeking a single lion's safe return and his conquest in battle should.
"Do not die in bed." Not like your wife.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:36 pm
Kondo didn't have to see her smile to know it was there. Another mockery of her sister. Aja's smile could tame the hearts of true warriors, of captains and reavers whose blood was made of iron. The truest of them would return to their battles as he had, but they would rue the loss of her company all the while.
He hated himself for being haunted by her to this day, knowing there was no remuneration for his hapless devotion to someone who was bones, if not dust. He hated Freyja much more than that.
The lion snarled and in an instant he was near her, very near, like he would raise his paw and kill her -- or something else -- or something other than that.
"Do you have a death wish, Freyja?" He had looked at her, and now they both needed to be reminded of who she was -- more importantly, who she was not. Not her sister. Not anything to him. "Are you so useless that your very existence bores you? Are you hoping for me to do you a favor and spare you of it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:42 pm
The moment he was near, she could feel him in her entirety. It shook her down to the bone. Her blood did not run with iron--it ran thick with fear and loss.
They both hated that her sister had died. And until the day they died, they would not forgive each other for it. And they both knew, because it clawed at their chests, minds, hearts, that Freyja would never be the sister that had been lost.
And she had never been merely His to lose.
"Are you prepared, Kondo, to find out?"
And she bared her teeth at him, even as her tail tucked low and her body turned submissive. Whatever happened next would be, entirely, Kondo's choice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:45 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
