[PRP] Usefulness ... Maybe (Ragnvard x Rayn x Sif)

[Dame NightFury]

Sif settled herself down onto the flat top of a large rock and released a puff of air. Her siblings were all out doing domething, exciting probably, while she was here. Avoiding people because she just didn't understand why thy didn't accept her. Was she a little weird, sure, but who wasn't? Was her quirk to name things better than what they had really that strange? After all, it's not like she demanded others to know the new names. And she didn't really call things their new names when talking to others ......... Any more. So why were groups of others, or even just a few so hard for her to interact with? Why couldn't Sif find a way to fit in with lions and lionesses that were her siblings?

It must something that was passed along to all her siblings but skipped her. As fat as she knew, not one of Sif's litter mates had trouble interacting and communicating with others outside the family. Maybe while they were being made, and put together, there was a fundamental piece of their individual puzzles that Sif missed out on. She was probably renaming the inner organs of her mother's body at the time while everyone else was sleeping through the experience and thus getting that little piece of whatever it was that made socializing so easy for them.

And it was like Sif didn't try. Because she did, but it just never really worked. She couldn't seem to make a friend. Thunder and Lightning, she couldn't even make an acquaintance for a morning or afternoon salutation that would look for her if they didn't get it. Case in point. It was midday and Sif was sitting on the rock. By herself. And no one was looking for her. Sure a sister would be along eventually if Sif didn't find her way to them after sunset at the latest, but they didn't count. Siblings had to love you. They were your siblings after all.  

[Tanakako]

Grinning indulgently at his younger sister the large male chuckled darkly. "You did what...?" He asked in amused disbelief. Sometimes his sister's deviousness surprised even him, not an easy thing to do truth be told. Especially as he had watched her grow up and had helped her develop her natural talents. Her current tale involved an unfortunate reaver, a pile of furs and some beads. Though he had to admire her ingenuity he wondered if she was getting bored if she had resorted to tormenting their fellow pride members... His sister was the smartest lioness he knew, and a real asset to his band with her cunning mind and convoluted but excellent strategies. But sometimes he wondered if he had taught her too well.





Snickering she curled her tail against her flank, head lowing to gaze up at her huge sibling with a lazy smirk. "Why, he was so terrified of the 'flesh eating fleas' that he gave me the entire pile and fled as fast as he could. I've never see a lion run so fast in my life!" Laughing lightly she bumped her brother's shoulder with her own, her grin turning into a sly smirk. "Did you know 'flesh eating fleas' only attack dumb-minded reavers with too much loot?" Cackling she gave Ragnvard a sly, saucy smile. "And now I am the proud owner of no less than nine pelts, a bad of beads and enough gut-thread to make ten necklaces. What do you think, dear brother?"



Shaking his head he eyed his sister. "I think you are a liar and a theif. And I am very glad you are my sister, and there for on my side."

Laughing heartily she batted her eyelashes as her sibling, tail lifting high with pride. "My my, you are a flatterer aren't you? But thank you, sweet brother. I am rather talented, I know..." Grinning broadly she was about to continue when she caught sight of a female up ahead. "Well... looky here... Isn't that one of Lennart's relatives?" The astute lioness had already noted the bright yellow fur and distinctive back markings of the female. With her excellent memory and penchant for knowing her enemies better than her friends, she recognised the family likeness with one of the reavers that supported Ronan. A big white lion with yellow markings who worked under the same Captain as their golden-coated brother.

Ragnvard followed his younger sibling's gaze and studied the resting lioness. "I believe so... I wonder why she is out here all alone." Turning to Rayn he arched a brow. This was a golden opportunity to do some digging into their rivals, and already Ragnvard was wondering if he could recruit her somehow, though she didn't look like a reaver. To gain the trust of Lennart's kin would surely disturb the big white male nicely.

As they drew closer he smiled warmly at the lioness. "It is a good day to die." He greeted easily, stopping in front of the female's rock. Rayn stepping up beside him with a lazy smile of indulgence to her brother before turning back to the female before them, a welcoming smile on her own maw.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

Tanakako

Sif fought not to show her surprise at the arrival of two other members. She had no idea how to handle this situation in general, never mind spontaneous like this. But it would be rude and – well rather stupid – to not greet the two in return. Sif gave a small smile as she responded, “It is a good day to die, as long as you have enemies.” Of course Sif had tons of those – and they all lived in her self-consciousness so they hardly counted.

She focused on the pair, trying to keep herself from becoming distracted by either her thoughts or the desire to rename things around her. She looked like they could be siblings. Or cousins at the very least. But then again she used to automatically assume any line with lion with yellow in their pelt was a relative too. So she could be horribly wrong. Very horribly wrong and both of them looked to be very fit. She didn’t want to start any trouble that her sister would feel the need to come and clean up. Again. Yet again.

“And I hope the two of you have a plethora of enemies to choose from on any given day to keep from molding with boredom.” There. That sounded nice. And not weird. Or overly weird. She hoped. Sif started to stress out a bit after another two mil-seconds and started to rub her tongue against the roof of her mouth. This was getting awkward. Oh gods she was weird. She didn’t know what else to say. They were going to descend into silence, the silent stare of awkward waiting-ness. What else were you supposed to do? “Um. My name is Sif.” She tossed out there in a desperate attempt to keep that from happening.  

[Tanakako]

Arching a brow at the female’s rambling and obviously nervous greeting, the Captain couldn’t help the amused smirk that curled across his maw. But he did keep his tone easy and friendly, realising that while she may be a kin to Lennart, she was clearly no reaver. In fact, he would have pegged her as a thrall had he not known in advance that she was Stormborn blood. Dipping his head politely he decided charm would work best here, and warmed his smile. “More enemies than I can keep count of, to be sure.” He responded, tone gently playful as he settled back on his rump. This lioness was strange and amusing, and his interest in her was genuine. He had not met anyone born of the pride who seemed as jumpy as her, and briefly he wondered why she was this way.

“I’m Captain Ragnvard, and this is my little sister, Reaver Rayn.” Glancing at his sharp-toothed sibling he arched a brow in expectation.



Having been looking from the female to her brother and back, she caught Ragnvard’s spiking interest and smirked. She was more amused by her brother’s sudden shift to friendly, something she had rarely seen him bother with. Usually he simply intimidated everyone into doing what he wanted. Knowing he already had a plan in mind she simply rolled her eyes at his look and swotted at him with her tail. Turning back to the yellow lioness she smiled sweetly. Though on her it still looked sly. Rayn was not as good an actor as her older brother. She had never seen the point.

“It is a true pleasure to meet you, Sif.” And just as her brother relaxed she added. “What are you doing out here all alone?” Catching her sibling’s annoyed glare she grinned. As fun as it was messing with the pride, she adored irritating her brother even more.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

Tanakako

Sif felt torn. Though she had conversations with pride members not her family members often enough those conversations always felt forced on her part. This time - she felt almost comfortable. At least if she concentrated on the Captain. Once her focus shifted to Reaver Rayn, all bets were off and Sif felt even more nervous then when they had first arrived. Rubbing the roof of her mouth smiled shyly at Ragnvard and his reaver sister. Maybe Rayn's status made Sif nervous. But then again, Captain should have made her more so. Thunder and lightning she had no idea what was wrong with her, so she tried to ignore it. "I'm please to make your acquaintance, Captain Ragnvard. Reaver Rayn."

If her smile could have gotten any shier it would have. How to explain her awkwardness to two strangers who obviously didn't mind her awkwardness for at least one conversation. Yeah. No. But SIf told the truth - the root truth anyway. "I didn't want to get in anyone's way. I don't have much work to do. There isn't much need for maps of the pride, and no one really needs a mapmaker that relies on reavers and adventurers to make maps of outside places." Sif shrugged. "Besides most have a reaver or a captain that can do it themselves. When I'm not making new maps -" which she admitted to herself was happening more and more often then she liked. Maybe she should start thinking seriously about that adventure to visit her father and his pride.- "I'm with my siblings and family members, helping them with choirs. But they were all rather busy and I didn't want to bother them."

Hybeaware of her social awkwardness, Sif didn't want to strain her relationships with her family members too. She valued her family, especially her siblings far too much for that. No need to isolate herself even more by annoying them when they didn't have time or energy to deal with their own problems. She didn't need to add to theirs. Sif shrugged again. Wow she was bad at this.  

[Tanakako]

As she spoke, Ragnvard’s attention suddenly focused solely on her, rather than amusing himself with how the two females were reacting to each other, though he shot his sister a warning glare as she verbally prodded the poor freeborn. Rayn was often amusing and Ragnvard kept her around for her sarcastic witt as much as her talent in strategy. But he wondered if today he should have left he behind. Regardless, he knew he could control her if he needed to. Instead he smiled encouragingly at Sif. “The pleasure is ours. Please, call me Ragnvard.” He felt as though being more familiar would let her relax better, and he was more intent on a good impression now than he had been a minute ago.

“I highly doubt you are in the way, my dear.” Tilting his head he smiled easily. “You are a map maker? I am shocked that your services are not in high demand. I know I myself would be delighted to have a proficient artisan to record the lands I discover.” Giving her a conspirital wink he taps his head with one paw. “Keeping it all up here gets difficult after a while.” Pausing he studied her for a long moment, as if considering something of importance. “So, you don’t currently work with a Captain?” Standing he moved closer, stopping right beside her rock and tipping his head. “Would you be interested in working with me? I have no one able to create anything resembling a map, and I would greatly appreciate your skills.”




Beside him Rayn smirked, idly listening to her brother sweet-talking the freeborn. Maybe he wanted to invite her back to his den tonight? She wasn;t sure why else he would be bothering with someone so timid. But then he mentioned her skills with maps and huffed. So, Ragnvard had managed to find an advantage even in this situation? Her brother never ceased to amaze her. Not only would he acquire a body for the night, but he would gain a map-maker, and still manage to piss off his brother’s friend.

Bravo brother…

Ignoring any looks he shot her way Rayn settled down and started to groom one front paw. Though she sent what she hoped was a friendly smile at the female on the rock. No point in irritating her brother too badly, she had no desire to feel his claws on her hide.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

Tanakako

Ragnvard’s attention and interest in her passion sent her over the deep end. “You-youneedamapmaker?Don’tyouwanttoseewhatmymapslooklike?Whatifthey’rehorribleandI’materriblemapmakerandthat’swhyeveryonegoestotheirreaversordoesitthemsevles?ImeanI’llhavetousethecommonnamesforthings,soI’llendupchangingmypridemapssoyoucanreaditandnotbeconfusedbecauseofhowIstartedusingdifferentnamesforthingsthathavenamesthatjustdidn’tseemtofit-atleasttheydidn’tseemtofittome.” Sif stopped suddenly out of breath, but unwilling to pant for more. She shut her mouth tight and forced air in and out of her nose. No panting. That would just be embarrassing.

Nerves could do that to her, make her ramble without breathing and then get her panting because of the breathless burst of words exiting her mouth. She vaguely wondered if Ragnvard or Reaver Rayn had even understood what had just come out of her mouth.
Maybe she should try again. Slower. At nice normal lion speed. “I mean. I can bring you my maps and you can take a look at them, if you want. Before you really decide you want me to draw out the places you’ve been. I can even bring my landscape drawings if you’d like. So you can have visual pictures of places you’ve been and can show them to your reavers before going aviking to the same or general location it was in.”

If the captain really wanted to use her for her passion and talent of maps and mapmaking, that would be so exciting and Sif would be helpful to a member of the pride not related to her and so not bound by family obligation to be nice or anything. The thought made Sif smile. A real smile. It lite up her face and her features and showed that – when comfortable and happy – how easy it was and how much she enjoyed it and laughing as well.

But maybe Ragnvard didn’t want her barging into his den or space. Some lions were like that. They needed their dens to be private and didn’t invite anyone into them. Her smile turned shy again at the thought as she glanced between the siblings. Did she just unintentionally offend the captain? Oh. Oh no. “Or you could come see them in my den at your leisure if you prefer.” Hopefully, she hadn’t ruined this chance to be useful and helpful.
 

[Tanakako]

As the lioness suddenly launched into a wild breathless ramble, Ragnvard merely sat back and waited patiently for her to finish. An easy, amused smile curling across his maw. She was certainly an odd one… but he had discovered that the oddballs, the ones most of the pride assed over, were the ones that could potentially prove the most useful. Especially as they usually harboured some kind of ill feelings towards the ones that had previously ignored them, or not valued them. When she finally wound down and seemed to pause for breath, the Captain chuckled softly, though his expression was understanding. “I do need a map maker, and even if yours aren’t perfect, they will certainly be better than anything I can do.” He reassured her, evidently he had been able to follow her crazy run-a-long words. As he started to answer that part of her rushed conversation. “I am sure the only reason they don’t come to you, is that they don’t know you. How can they ask for your maps if they don’t know you are here? And let me see your current maps. I am sure I can learn a few new words for things, and then if we need to change a few of yours that I can’t understand, that seems like a reasonable compromise, yes?” His words were calm and reasonable as he spoke, he certainly sounded genuine. Indeed, the Captain was still interested in this unexpected bounty that had fallen into his lap, so to speak. And if she used code words? Well, maybe even that could be turned to his advantage… Secret maps of special locations appealed to the lion for whom knowledge and resources meant power and influence.

After a moment’s thought he smiled again. “Why don’t you bring a sample of your work to my den, and we can discuses things more there? I feel like we need to take some time over this.” He saw no reason for her not to come to his den. Though she would not be going inside, he was still a Captain and expected his lions to go to him, and not he to they, when something was needed. Besides, everyone knew where his den was located.

Smiling encouragingly he waited patiently for her to agree, or maybe to launch another verbal assault on his slightly ringing ears.


Rayn watched the exchange with an amused smirk. Her brother was being unusually patient with this female. But then, when he wanted something, he could be as cunning as a snake, or wait days, weeks, even months… That much he had proved time and again. Rolling her eyes she flopped down, claws gouging deep grooves in the earth until she sprawled lazily on her belly. At least the strange female freeborn wasn’t boring, even if she was highly predictable in her nervousness.

Dame NightFury