[SRP] Gadzooks (Aagen, Ísskinn, Lysende, Kesä)

[Princess_Feylin]

Lysende

With Kesä to help her hunt, Lysende was eating better, but it wasn't the food that had her in such a good mood. She was not really a solitary or introspective lioness by nature, and the time she had spent mourning Sukurys' absence in solitude had worn on her almost as much as her own sadness. Being in company helped tremendously.

The fact that Kesä was such agreeable company made it even better. she had not realized that a son could also be a friend. It was not the way she had been raised to think of male cubs, or males of any sort, for that matter. They had their uses, but friendship was not generally considered among them. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to learn that Kesä was fun to be around.

He was also quick-witted, which helped. Lysende was not stupid, but she preferred things to be simple and uncomplicated whenever possible. Kesä like puzzles and similar things. Basically, their personalities meshed well.

Kesä

For his part, Kesä was glad that his mother seemed not to mind his company. He had worried initially that she would tire of him, or that she would find him too difficult to be around, now that he was growing up and might resemble his father more, but when he voiced that concern she had laughed and informed him that he looked almost nothing like his father. He had figured that was the case, since his resemblance to his aunt Jhiqui bordered on spooky, but it had been reassuring to be told.

The two of them had even begun to develop inside jokes, which he enjoyed. Growing up, his sisters had more or less kept their distance, knowing he would be leaving eventually and refusing to become attached, and his brothers had been twins. They had not really had time for him, wrapped up as they were in their own twin things. Not that he had been lonely, exactly, but it was nice to have a friend. Even if his friend was also his mother.

Ísskinn

Ísskinn's opinions of his traveling companion were not particularly high. Half a god, Ísskinn was fairly huge, and his companion was a vikingborn son of an outlander. Were it not for the braids in his mane, he would look like an outlander himself, small as he was. It didn't help matters that Aagen actually had more experience getting by in the rogue lands than Ísskinn, and so he would occasionally correct something the white lion said or did, and that irritated Ísskinn.

He had also managed, on their first night in the rogue lands, to get from Ísskinn the story of his family. After doing so, he had pointed out that Ísskinn, himself, was the son of two outlanders. The fact that one of those outlanders happened to be a god had neither fazed nor impressed the small, dark lion. He had simply shrugged and said that he had never really had much use for gods, and he was sure the feeling was mutual. His indifference stung more than anything else.

Aagen

Aagen knew he irritated Ísskinn, and he knew how and why, too. He just couldn't seem to help doing it. If he didn't correct the larger lion, things would be harder on both of them. And it probably hadn't been very politick to point out that neither one of them had any real claim to being old blood in the pride, or to make light of Ísskinn's supposedly divine ancestry, but those things had both been the truth. Aagen didn't like to lie unless it was necessary to protect himself or someone he cared about. When he'd said as much to Ísskinn, the white lion had suggested that he might soon have a need to protect himself if he didn't guard his tongue.

Aagen hoped the two of them would soon find a thrall or something to drag back to the rest of the band, so they could go home. This viking was not turning out to be nearly as much fun as his first had been, and that was disappointing. He was so eager to prove his worth and worthiness in the pride, but the best way to do it seemed to be to put up with meatheads like Ísskinn.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Lysende

Lysende was alone when she heard the sound of two lions not fighting. She was not much concerned about the lions she heard approaching. They were male and they were already at each other's throats. It would be simple enough for her to turn them against each other, using the wiles her mother had taught her from an early age.

The first thing was to decide how they ought to meet her. They were making too much noise for her to convincingly claim not to have heard them, so it would be easiest just to pretend to be in distress of some sort. What sort of distress? The most obvious would be that someone was chasing her, but that would require being out of breath and she couldn't make herself that way without attracting premature attention. Lost sister then. That was the textbook choice. If lions used textbooks, anyway.

She relaxed into a slinking gait and moved in the direction of the voices, which were actually headed toward her, anyway. When she decided she was close enough, she stopped and called out a female name, as if she was searching for its owner.

Kesä

Hunting was something Kesä excelled in. He didn't know how he had learned the skill from his mother, and yet managed to become a significantly better hunter than she was. Surely their skills ought to be about equal. Hers should probably be even greater, given she had more life experience. And yet, he was the better hunter. Unless she was pretending to be bad at it so that he would feel he was contributing. It didn't seem like something she would do, but it was a ploy he knew the sisters of his former pride used.

However one looked at it, the end result was that Kesä did the hunting and his mother set up a safe spot for them to sleep. She also taught him some of the things she had learned from her mother about manipulating people. Men, specifically, but many of the techniques could be modified to work on anyone, and did not have to be enacted by a female, necessarily. At least if you were smart enough.

It was a good thing she had been teaching him, too, because when he heard her call the name Idoru he knew she was playing a lost sister game, and he should keep his distance.

Ísskinn

Lysende's estimation that she was hearing two lions not fighting had been perfectly correct. Right now Ísskinn was very deliberately not fighting with Aagen, even though the infuriating vikingborn b*****d was definitely not taking any of his warnings to heart. It was almost like he was trying to get under Ísskinn's skin, despite the not so subtle hint Ísskinn had given about how that would end up.

Personally, Ísskinn had no problem roughing Aagen up a little, but their captain, Tallskog, would expect an explanation for why the little outlander was all banged up, and simply answering that he'd been stupid probably wouldn't cut it. More's the pity. Not to mention, Aagen was probably a tattler among all his other flaws.

Ísskinn's musings on how much violence he could get away with before he would have to justify himself were interrupted by the sound of a female voice calling out, "Idoru!"

Aagen

"Let's go," Aagen said, forgetting that he was not the senior reaver and it was not his place to say things like that. Mistakes like that were the reason he and Ísskinn had been not fighting for the past half hour.

"Idoru sounds like a female name," he pointed out, hoping to deflect an argument about seniority. "There may be two to be captured instead of one."

The look on Ísskinn's face told him that he had not succeeded in making things better by mentioning Idoru's implied femininity. Apparently Ísskinn had figured that, too, and now it seemed like Aagen was saying he was too stupid to have realized it on his own. Aagen signed and looked at his paws, waiting for Ísskinn to make some sort of decisive call.

Tallskog was all right as a captain, but his reavers were mostly jerks, and none of them seemed to like Aagen in the slightest.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Lysende

Lysende had not been surprised by the arrival of two lions, but she had been surprised by how large one of them was. That white fellow was quite the brute. Not aesthetically unpleasing, just very, very large. Her own preference went more toward slimmer, more svelte lions. But this was not about her preferences so much as it was about keeping her son out of a fight he would not win.

She widened her eyes and looked as pitifully relieved as she could manage when she turned her gaze to the larger white lion. His dark companion looked to be the more intelligent of the pair, and thus less easily manipulated. She would have to deal with him later.

At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, before she could even open her mouth to present her fictitious scenario to the lions she heard a familiar roar and her heart sank to her stomach. What was her son doing? He knew what Idoru meant. This was going to turn nasty, very quickly. She could tell.

Kesä

Kesä's resolve not to get in the way of his mother's seductive game did not last very long. It wasn't that he had any desire to see his mother get it on. He really, really didn't. He was just curious about what it looked like when someone of his mother's upbringing used her wiles on someone. Maybe if he watched a little, he would be less susceptible to it himself.

There was also the fact that he was somewhat bothered by how his mother would just seduce some random lion when she claimed to be so very much in love with his father that she had left her pride to seek him out. A small, foolish part of his mind hoped that they might have somehow found his father by accident.

What he saw instead was definitely not his father, and it did not look like a good situation. Without thinking, he rushed in, roaring as he came to his mother's defense against two older lions, one of whom was freakishly large.

Ísskinn

"Well, get a move on," Ísskinn growled at Aagen, moving into a ground-covering trot that allowed him to easily outpace his smaller companion, although he could see Aagen catching up from the corner of his eyes. Sigh.

As they drew near Ísskinn got an eyeful of very attractive female. She, too, had her eyes wide open, but like she was looking for someone. Her expression changed when her gaze fell on him, though, and for a moment Ísskinn felt something like a hero. She just looked so relieved to see him. He actually almost forgot that he was there to capture her.

Aagen's arrival reminded him, however, and even if it hadn't, the sudden roar of a fourth lion and the sound of its paws pounding in rapid approach would have done so. He wondered, though, if he had actually walked into a trap. Well, if he had, he'd fight his way out. He might even have to rescue Aagen, which would be good for both of them.

Aagen

Late to the party, Aagen had some time to look around and figure out that all was not quite as it seemed with this lioness. She was entirely too something, and in his experience that was not the best situation to walk in on. He was about to suggest to Ísskinn that they hang back a moment, but the big lummox had already barged in and was just standing there making goo-goo eyes at the lioness. Not that she wasn't pretty, but Aagen smelled a rat.

And then he heard a rat. This was apparently an ambush, and he and Ísskinn had walked right into it. That was embarrassing. Officially more embarrassing for Ísskinn, since he was the senior reaver, but Aagen was feeling pretty damn embarrassed, too. He was not out of ideas though. He decided that since the fourth lion had not yet arrived, he had an opportunity to withdraw, circle around, and catch him up, thereby neutralizing the threat. Probably he ought to have communicated his plan to Ísskinn, but he had no idea how to manage it without sharing it with his quarry, so he didn't bother.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Lysende

Lysende's eyes grew wider by the moment as she saw the second, darker lion decide not to come any closer, and instead circle around to attack her son. A part of her completely understood why he would do that, but this was not just any lion. This was her son!

"No, stop, please!" she said, throwing herself on the mercy of the largest lion present. "Don't let your companion hurt my son."

Maybe Kesä wouldn't appreciate his mother pleading on his behalf, but she would do whatever she had to in order to protect him. If it meant begging, she would do that. Offering her body? Certainly. Even fighting. Kesä was her only reminder of his father, but also she loved him in his own right, as only a mother can do.

"Please."

Kesä

Kesä would not have admitted it, but he was terrified when a larger lion with gleaming golden eyes came at him from the side, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there. All of his air left his body in a huff that ended in a whine that he just hated, but couldn't help. The dark lion had sunk his claws into Kesä's flesh, not tearing so far, but threatening.

He could hear his mother pleading with the other lion for the two of them. No, for him. She had not mentioned her own safety even once. As he lay still and thought about that, Kesä felt a miserable curdling in his stomach. He had wanted to fight back, but he knew that to do so would negate the negotiations his mother was working so hard on. Listening to them made him feel so very sick to his stomach though.

Still, he was relieved that it looked like he would not be killed today.

Ísskinn

At first Ísskinn was too outraged at having been ambushed to be inclined to listen to the lioness. He even knocked her about a little, growling at her that she had better learn to control her son. She agreed, promised to do so, if he would only see to it her son wasn't hurt. Promised to do anything.

"You'll do anything? All right," he agreed, and then he laid out a detailed description of what, exactly, she would do to keep her son safe. First, the two of them would return to the Stormborn lands with them as his thralls. Second, she would serve him (and Aagen, he supposed) in any way they wished without protest, whether he asked her to hunt up dinner or satisfy his sexual appetite.

In truth, he was not comfortable with how readily she agreed to his terms, just to keep her son safe. It reminded him of his own mother. Still, he was a reaver, and this was what was expected.

Aagen

At Ísskinn's command Aagen let the younger lion stand up, not much the worse for the wear, just slightly perforated. Both he and the younger lion had been listening to Ísskinn negotiate with the cub's mother. For his part, Aagen was probably less bothered by the terms of the arrangement than Ísskinn or the cub, who had actually snarled upon hearing that his mother might be required to perform sexual tasks.

"You're not going to give us any trouble, are you?" he asked the younger lion, a warning in his tone. "Because you know we'll take it out on your mother if you do."

It had been pretty clever of Ísskinn to arrange to hold the pair hostage against one another. Aagen knew he would have thought of it, too, but she hadn't bargained with him. She had identified Ísskinn as the one in charge, and while that rankled, Aagen could live with it for now.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Lysende

Lysende wasn't exactly proud of the deal she worked out, or even pleased with it, but her son's safety was assured, as long as he behaved, and that was good enough for her. At least for now. She had hopes that she could find a time for Kesä to escape. Perhaps she could turn the two lions against one another and have Kesä flee while they fought. Maybe she could even join him, although she doubted that the gods would be quite so generous. If she could get Kesä away, that would be enough.

Even so, she found that it was difficult for her to look at her son as he and the second lion came out and rejoined the group. He would have heard her begging, agreeing to do anything - anything - just so that he would be safe. She was not familiar with the feeling of shame, but she felt it now, and it kept her reasonably docile for the beginning of their return journey to meet up with the rest of the viking band.

Kesä

Unlike his mother, Kesä wanted very much to meet her eyes. He wanted to convey to her that he understood, and he was sorry he wasn't larger, or a better fighter, or at least better able to protect her so that she would not have to make such deals. But she refused to look at him.

As their captors explained to them what their lives would entail now and in the hereafter he listened. Kesä walked, too, since they were doing that, but as he walked he listened and plotted. He vowed he would learn to fight, and that when the opportunity came, he would fight to free his mother and himself. He didn't know when that chance would come, but he was certain that it would. He was already a decent hunter. Surely fighting couldn't be so different.

Ísskinn

Ísskinn left the task of explaining thralldom to Aagen. Ísskinn probably knew about it, given his convoluted family tree and his history of growing up in the pride, but that session of bargaining had taken more out of him than he had expected. He did not really want to think about thralldom right now.

He also knew that he would not be using her in the ways that he had warned her he might. Perhaps Aagen would decide to do so, but Ísskinn planned to discourage him from doing that if he possibly could. The lioness was a mother, willing to do whatever she had to do in order to protect her son. His own mother might have done the same in her situation. Maybe. He could imagine it, anyway.

He could also imagine their triumphant return to the band though, and that brought a grin to his face that he could feel more and more as they walked.

Aagen

Aagen talked and watched the captives. The mother was ashamed, perhaps understandably, but he did not think she was going to stay as docile as she was at present. He saw sharp wits in her blue eyes, and that was not always a safe thing in thralls, Aagen had learned. Particularly not captured ones. And in her son's eyes Aagen saw a burning desire to fight. He, too, would bear watching.

Still, for the time being he and Ísskinn had two thralls to bring back to the band, and that would look good for both of them. Aagen was relieved, to be honest. He had been afraid that their search would be fruitless and that it would reflect poorly on him, even though he was equally convinced that if they had come back empty-handed it would've been because Ísskinn did something thick-headed.

But that wasn't how things had worked out. This was a win. Excellent.