Fon Youn glanced sideways, watching the approaching group of Shrinekeeps as they approached, and touched one paw to the pouch around his neck. He had grown up carrying the smallbones of his mother's right forepaw as well as those of his grandfather in that pouch. The former was to remind him, he was told, not to become an irresponsible layabout like his mother and the latter because his grandfather had been a great Poupe. He touched them for different reasons, namely to invoke some of his mother's excellent flirting skills and the awe afforded his grandfather. He closed his eyes briefly and whispered a quick, succinct prayer: "Please." His ancestors would understand what he meant.
When he opened his eyes he wore a grin he thought would be charming and his stance had shifted to display his developing figure to its best advantage. Then he swung his head around and opened his eyes wide, affecting surprise at the Shrinekeeps' approach. He took one step in their direction, conscious of the sight he presented, and lowered his eyes in a way he could claim was respectful, but was actually an attempt at seduction. The fact that he continued to look at the ladies, even with his eyes half-lidded, would have given away to anyone watching that he was not showing respect to their position. If anything, he was showing respect to their attractiveness.
"Ladies," he said in a drawl he had begun to affect a few weeks ago because he thought it made him sound more suave and exotic. Some people laughed at it, but it had just a high enough success rate that he hadn't yet abandoned it. Probably the reason no one higher up had taken him to task for it was because they expected it would be like most of his other interests - fleeting.
"You know, I would be pleased - honored, even - to escort you wherever you might be going," Fon Youn said once they'd paused to spare him a moment of attention.
He was already scoping the group to determine which would be most receptive to his advances so that he could capture her interest and then ignore her. He decided the one with the murky pelt would be his best bet. She wasn't the decidedly shy one in the group, but she wasn't the one looking skeptically at him either. Between the two extremes was good. He would divide his attention between flirting with the skeptic to make her jealous and being considerate of the shy one to show he was really a nice guy. The perfect plan.
"It would be devastating if anything were to happen to three ladies such as yourselves," he said, meeting his target's gaze once before smiling gently at the shy one and winking at the skeptic, both of whom laughed at the melodramatic tone he'd used to address them. "Please allow me to accompany you."
Soon it was settled and Fon Youn found himself surrounded by three lovely ladies and taking the longest possible route to the shrine they were assigned to work at. Oh, thank you, Loa. This was definitely a glorious way to spend an afternoon, and even if nothing came of it, Fon Youn was certain he would make a positive impression on the three ladies, and they would remember him fondly the next time they met. He could call this, then, laying the groundwork for the future.
It didn't turn out to be anything more than that, much to the young poupe's disappointment, but he took great care not to let it be known he was disappointed by the afternoon's outcome. As far as the ladies were concerned, he didn't mind that all he got from them was a bit of conversational companionship. And, in truth, he didn't really mind that either.
Throughout the course of their conversation Fon Youn had found himself increasingly unable to decide which of the three he would be most interested in pursuing if he were made to choose only one. The most outspoken of them was fiery and challenged him with everything she said or did, thinking she definitely had his number, and he'd enjoyed surprising her when he bid them farewell at their destination without making any attempt to linger. The quietest made him want to try to make her smile and laugh without reservation, and he always enjoyed such challenges.
But then there was the shrinekeep who had caught his attention to begin with had not only held it, but continued to attract it whenever it wavered, seemingly without even trying. It would probably be to her that he gravitated most easily, and if she would have him, he would definitely take whatever she was willing to give. For the time being, that was a quick smile and a sweet farewell, but there would be other times, and Fon Youn had such high hopes for them.
But now that little adventure was ended and the young poupe was left with the decision either to do something productive and useful with the rest of his day or to continue loafing around as he had been before he saw the shrinekeeps. His personal inclination was to return to loafing, since it was something he was good at and something in which he found pleasure, but the odds were good that his walk through the pride to the shrine had brought him to someone's attention, which meant they would want to make him do work if they found him.
Perhaps the best course of action, in that case, would be to make himself scarce. Following that logic, Fon Youn did not return to the spot he had occupied earlier in the day, though it had proven itself to be a perfectly acceptable, out-of-the-way place from which to observe pridal goings-on without being forced to become a laboring participant. Instead he wandered toward the borders of the pride making for a low slung tree he knew of from which he would be able to watch the gatherers return from their duties and fall in behind a largish group of them to claim credit for some of their take.
The dishonesty of doing so didn't bother him. Fon Youn knew he'd make it up when he was called on to summon a really important Loa in a time of crisis and when his possessor proved to be able to save the pride through him, it would absolve him of any past wrong-doings.
