[SRP] Yoink! (Isarmaq, Mustela & Freyr)

[Princess_Feylin]

Freyr

A viking! His first! Freyr was really excited that his da had finally made good on his promise to take his sons viking. Oh, it was true that Fast didn't seem particularly enthused to spend time with his family, and seemed to vanish as often as he could manage, but Freyr didn't much mind that. He was really just very excited about the prospect of being out on his first viking.

And now he was going to capture his first thralls, all by himself. Well, not quite by himself. His father and half-brother were nearby, watching and prepared to corral the lionesses and prevent them from leaving if they tried, or help him fight them if they tried that. He sort of hoped he would have an excuse to do some fighting. Freyr knew how to fight. He was pretty good at it, in fact.The reavers he'd trained with had said he had something of his father's berserker in him, but he'd never unleashed it fully.

For now, though, he was supposed to try to talk them into coming with him quietly. That was the best, simplest way, according to his father and brother.

Isarmaq

"I really think you would like my brother once you met him," Isa insisted. It was an old argument between her and Mustela, who had met Khozar once before and been distinctly unimpressed by him, despite his role in rescuing her from imminent rape.

"He's so very intelligent, and brave. And handsome. You, yourself, have admitted that he's handsome," she pressed on. "Once we find him, you'll see."

She stopped talking about Khozar then, even though she always had more to say in praise of her brother. In her time with Mustela she had learned to read the older lioness's expressions and body language, and she could tell that Mustela was growing irritated with the topic. She did not have a very great tolerance for discussions of Isa's sister, although Isa was confident she was wearing her down, and would eventually succeed in convincing her of how wonderful Khozar was.

Mustela

Mustela did her best not to roll her eyes at Isa when she dragged their conversation around to her sainted half-brother Khozar. She had heard so much about that golden idol of a lion in her time with Isa that she was actually beginning to doubt her own memories of meeting him. They were being gradually replaced by the memories Isa shared of him, where he was a better lion. Oh, of course she knew that the violence she had witnessed was in her defense, and she could appreciate that, but there had been something in his eyes, a potential for cruelty that she found difficult to forget.

It was a relief when Isa changed the subject, apparently picking up on some unspoken cue that she must have given without even realizing it. However, they did not have the opportunity to explore the new topic for very long, because Mustela hushed her young companion, having seen a dark lion with vibrant green markings emerge from the brush. She watched him warily but called out no greeting.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Freyr

Freyr could tell the moment one of the lionesses noticed him from how still she went, and how she looked directly at him. Her striped companion fell silent and turned her head in his direction, and suddenly he found himself momentarily pinned by two pairs of dark golden eyes. The moment did not last, however, and he continued to stride boldly forward until he was close enough to speak to the pair without raising his voice.

"It is a good day to die," he said cheerfully. After a brief pause he added, "I don't mean that as a threat. It's how people greet one another in my pride."

There wasn't a script for this, and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to sell the pair on the idea of becoming thralls, so he decided not to try. He was just going to lie to them, offer them a position in the pride as freeborns, or whatever rank they expressed an interest in, even if it didn't exist, and then prevent them from leaving once they had met up with his family.

Isarmaq

At first Isa was taken aback by the undeniably violent-sounding greeting, but the words seemed at odds with the white-maned lion's cheerful demeanor, and so she did not feel particularly threatened by him. In fact, he was a very well put together lion. Muscular, and with bright, clever eyes.

"Oh! What a strange way to greet people," she replied. "What sort of a pride greets people by remarking on what a good day it is for dying?"

With her tone she implied that she did not think well of any such pride, which was likely composed of idiots. Attractive, well-muscled idiots, perhaps, but idiots. Who could possibly be so cheerful about the prospect of death and dying? No one of good sense, certainly, Isa thought sniffily. Then she sniffed for real, just to make sure she was getting her point across.

Mustela

Mustela did not cease in her suspicious regard of the green striped lion. Something about him reminded her of the lion who had attempted to rape her. His coloration was different, but his build was similar and his eyes were nearly identical to that other lion. Her instincts told her to fight or flee, but not to remain and allow him to charm her or her quasi-cousin.

"I don't really care what sort of pride he comes from, Isa," she said, matching her younger companion's disdainful tone. "We are not looking to join a pride. We are looking for your brother. I doubt we will find him with this young lion."

She could see the appreciative way Isa looked at the striped lion and it did not exactly please her, although if the lion turned out not to be a bad sort, Mustela had no intention of getting in her way with him. She doubted, though, that he would have an easy time of it with Isa, assuming he even returned her interest.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Freyr

Freyr could feel the situation getting somewhat away from him as first one lioness turned disdainful, and then the other was outright chilly. He wondered if this meant he should get physical, or keep trying to be persuasive. He had spent more time training in the physical aspect of reaving but he knew that being clever was also part of it, and an important one if he ever wanted to make captain.

"I'm from the Myrsky Syntynyt," he said, addressing himself to the lioness with golden stripes. "The Stormborn. We're warriors. We say that as a greeting because we're proud to be unafraid to face death, whenever it may come."

He didn't wince, but upon hearing his explanation for the greeting aloud he realized that it had sounded a lot better in his head than it did when he spoke it, which was unfortunate. From the expression on the unmarked lionesses' face, he'd sounded pretty foolish.

He pressed on. "We also do a great deal of traveling. What's your brother's name? I may have met him."

Isarmaq

"I can't say that I have," Isa answered the strange lion.

She was still doing her best to seem disinterested, although in truth she wondered if everyone in the pride was as fun to look at as this lion was. She had left her father's pride while she was still quite young in search of Khozar, too young to really appreciate a well-formed lion, and so she had set greater store by what was in a lion's head. If asked, Isa would still say that a lion's brains and temperament were more important than his looks, but looking at this lion was still very pleasant indeed.

"My brother's name is Khozar" she answered him. "He's brown with black stripes and a golden mane. He's also incredibly intelligent, and very brave."

Really, Isa doubted that the dark lion would have encountered Khozar, but it did no harm to ask.

Mustela

Mustela barely managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the lion's explanation of his greeting. Honestly. If everyone in his pride was like him, it was probably just a bunch of muscular morons sitting around boasting about things they may or may not have actually done. Not someplace she had much of a desire to visit, let alone live.

"Wandering warriors?" she mused apparently too quietly for anyone else to hear and respond to. "What do you fight for? Or, whom, rather?"

No one bothered to answer her though. Isa was busy describing her brother and eying up the strange lion which Mustela thought was stupid. Now that Isa had given her brother's name and a description it would be only too easy for the lion to say he'd seen him and send them off in any direction. She would have to have a talk with the girl about the power of withholding information in the near future.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Freyr

In fact, Mustela's suspicions that Freyr might have claimed to know Isa's brother just to get them to go where he wanted them to go had been spot on, and she had even supplied him with the right kind of information to help him create a believable story, but as soon as he had heard the lion's name and physical description he had realized that he actually did know this lion.

"You will probably find this hard to believe, but I actually do know of a lion by that name that fits that description. He ended up joining the pride after..." Freyr paused. He wasn't sure he ought to go into details which might embarrass Fast, like how Khozar had nearly killed him and then dragged him back to the pride so that he would be completely humiliated.

"...After defeating one of our warriors in combat, which is one of the ways one joins the pride. Of course, not everyone does. If you have family in the pride, you don't have to fight, they just have to claim you as family and you're in."

Isarmaq

Most of what the lion said about how one went about joining the Stormborn went right over Isa's head. Her attention was riveted on the fact that he said he knew her brother. She could not easily imagine that Khozar would want to be part of a warrior pride though. He and their father shared views on the general uselessness of lions whose only skill was doing violence.

"That doesn't sound like something my brother would do," she said doubtfully.

Of course, it had been a long time since last she had seen him, and it was possible that he had changed enough that joining a warrior pride was something he would do, but she was not convinced that was likely. Khozar's stubbornness was a large part of why he had left their home in the first place.

"Can you prove that you know him?"

Mustela

Mustela's concerns about Isa's willingness to give away information were somewhat allayed when she realized that her quasi-cousin was not going to accept the strange lion's story at face value, but was demanding proof. She was not sure what sort of proof he would be able to offer though.

"Yes, I would also like to know if you can prove your acquaintance," she said. "Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about what he does in your pride. Or, ideally, why he would join it in the first place."

She would have no way of knowing if his answers were truthful or accurate, but she trusted that Isa would know her brother well enough to tell if something was off about the lion's story.

"Oh, and while you're at it, we would both like very much to know your name. There is something unsettling about conversing with a nameless lion. It does not inspire trust."

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Freyr

"My name is Freyr Galningson," he said promptly. "Freyr. And I would be glad to offer you proof of knowing your brother, but the fact is I don't know him. I just know of him. The Stormborn is a large pride, and he is not a friend to my family."

It occurred to him that this information might not be the sort of thing he ought to tell, but it was the truth. Then he had a better idea: "How about I have my brother tell you about him. He's the one who knows him best. It's because of him Khozar's in the pride at all."

He didn't wait for an answer from either lioness before calling for Fast. He could sense their skepticism and he was beginning to feel that no matter what he said, he would not be able to convince them to come quietly. This, at least, gave him something of the element of surprise, and even numbers if it came to a fight.

Isarmaq

Isa and Mustela both turned to look for the brother he summoned, and at first Isa could not help feeling rather impressed by his appearance, too. Like Freyr, this other lion, Fast, was fit, but more heavily muscled, as a more mature lion would be, and that made him fine to look at. However, she saw in her peripheral vision that Mustela's eyes had grown wide with what could only be described as horror.

Then Mustela was urging her to run, to flee. Isa hesitated, not sure what had prompted her quasi-cousin to react like this. Yes, the fact that Freyr's brother had been so nearby and remained in hiding did sort of indicate that there had been plans for an ambush, but Freyr had also made his own presence very obvious. Unless there were more lions that he had not called to...

But it was not the realization that they might be surrounded which finally prompted Isa to obey Mustela, but the two words her cousin gasped: "It's him!"

Mustela

Mustela wanted to flee right away, but she could not leave her cousin alone with these two(?) lions. Not with one of them being so dangerous and the other being his brother. She was forced to stand her ground until Isa finally decided to get a move on. Once she had done so, Mustela joined her in running.

Unfortunately, there were more than two lions, and the direction she and Isa picked to run, the one that would be the third point of a triangle composed of Fast and his brother, had a third lion who bore enough resemblance to the other two that it was clear they were all related.

There was no time. They could not flee, and although both she and Isa whirled and prepared to fight it was apparent that this was not a fight the two of them would win. And they did not. She was struck hard across the skull and sank into darkness. The last thing she saw was Isa's body hitting the ground hard beside her.