[$] The King and his Pawn

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom dropped his head to his hands, the palms pressing into his eyes, "what should i do, then? should i go marching up there and demand he stop? tell him it's not right to hurt animals and that he can't experiment anymore? do you know what he'd do?" Niom knew. Liki would turn onto Niom for his experiments, testing him as much as he liked, Niom was his possession now, it was his right. "how do you propose i stop him, Nymph?"  

[Your Missing Period]

"N-No! I was just wondering," She'd made him angry and stressed now! She had to fix this! "I just, wanted to know, if he was lonely." she said through trying to hold back tears because she was afraid she might get in trouble. "Can I brush you're hair when we're done?" she asked loudly to distract herself from crying. "I found flowers so we can put them in. And it will look really pretty!"  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom was really and truly f*cking this up. he could tell just by looking at Nymphet that she was about to cry. "Sure," he smiled at the little girl, trying to reassure her, "if you want, go ahead. there's a lot of hair there, so it might take you a bit, but promise me you won't tell Liki." that was the last thing he needed. if liki found out the mage would probably order Niom to wear a dress and flowers in his hair every day, just to amuse himself. Niom defiantly wouldn't put it past him at least.  

[Your Missing Period]

"Really?" she asked before giving a smile, wiping at her eyes qith her meat stained hands. "Okay. I'll go get myself cleaned up and you can come out to the tables, okay?" she slid off her chair. "And I won't tell Master, I promise." and she quickly ran out.

Edwin finally walked out from under the table before looking at Niom. Men did not enjoy the feminine luxuries of flowers. Liki would think him a seductive nymph.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom prodded at the chimera with his foot, "don't you tell Liki either, or i'll not feed you tomorrow." he lifted an eyebrow at Edwin, not sure if he trusted the pet to keep his secret or not, before he cleaned up their dinner and head out to the tables as he'd been instructed. he was there first so he let out his hair and closed his eyes as a gentle breeze picked up and lifted it up behind him. he liked his hair down and free, but it got in the way so he kept it tied back.  

[Your Missing Period]

Griffon greeted Niom with a squawk, standing and going to snap at the blowing pieces of hair before seemingly trying to bite his head. Whatever it was it was mostly out of affection.

What was Niom doing here? Food magically appeared. it smelled like Niom. did he have more? He smelled like other animals.

"I have the flowers!" Nymphet said, walking back in with an armful. "I snuck into the gardens and stole them. I do that a lot and Master doesn't notice."  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom opened his eyes and smiled, "i'm sure he wouldn't mind, even if he did notice." he waved Griffon away and guess that a meticulous man like Liki could either care less for flowers or he noticed right away, but chose to not say anything. either way, it mattered little in the long run. "they look really nice, Nymph. really. i want to put them into your hair, they would look far better there than in mine."  

[Your Missing Period]

"I don't own a brush. I use my fingers to comb my hair." she explained. "Maybe if we split the flowers we can put them both in our hair! Let's see." they were placed on the ground and she looked at them, splitting the flowers so they'd both have even amounts she looked at the last white daisy. "Do you want this in your hair? I didn't pick enough to be split into two."  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom held his hand over the table and silently worked on a spell while Nymphet sorted the flowers. he'd finished by the time she asked him about the daisy and smiled, "you can have that one, and..." he held out the wooden brush he'd formed, flowers intricately carved into the handle and back, "you can have this as well." every girl should have a proper brush, he just hoped she'd like the design.  

[Your Missing Period]

Nymphet looked at the brush with a mix of confusion and shock before carefully taking it. There were pretty designs with flowers in it, thumb running over them. It was smooth, and it wasn't missing teeth and it was brand new. "I can keep this?" she asked, trying to contain her excitement beneath her awe.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom laughed, "of course you can keep it, i made it for you. i'm just glad you seem to like it." and she really did, the way she held it and looked at the designs, he could tell she really did like it. "i wasn't sure if i should make a soft or a hard bristle, but i went with hard since they work better. i wanted you to have something special, and this is it. please accept."  

[Your Missing Period]

She never owned anything in her life. The shirt she was wearing was Niom's (she had yet to change out of it) and her body also belonged to Niom since he bought her. The Griffon Liki made but he just offered it to her, he still fed it when he had the time and she lived in a room that wasn't hers or a building or a plot of land.

But Niom offered her this beautiful comb that she'd only seen in markets when accompanying women to buy food. She couldn't even get close to the stands without people shooing her away thinking she'd steal. Even after meals she only ate leftovers which wasn't much. She didn't even own a pair of shoes.

"This is," the child's voice choked and cracked, brown eyes filling with tears. "I've never owned anything before." the wide eyes looked up at him. "I'll take good care of it, I promise. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much Mr. Niom." she cried.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom pulled the girl into a small hug and patted her back as she cried, "i'm glad that i gave you something you like, then." he smiled to himself, knowing he'd done something right here. he might be a screw up everywhere else, but today he did something right. "maybe i should do you hair first, then, so that your hair is the first hair brushed with it."