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 Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 7:52 am
Mana didn't miss the irritated lashing of Aiko's tail and he could guess at what had caused it. For himself, he had relatively few regrets about his past. Only the fact that he had fled his rightful punishment continued to eat at him. It had been a cowardly act and it had also been disloyal to his pride. He had a new pride now, of course, and that was what he reminded himself, but he thought he would always be ashamed of fleeing that first time, no matter how much better his life might get as a result.
"I know," he said with a rueful grin. "Cowardly. I strive every day to overcome that particular shame. I'm really not as faithless as the story makes me sound. I truly am loyal to Nyoka and this pride."
He glanced once more at his paw and then back at Aiko in surprise. He had not been expecting her to say that. As his own words should have shown, he had been expecting to see disgust in her expression and hear some sort of remark about his failings as a person. Had she made an attack on his character, depending on what she chose to attack, he probably would not have even argued with her assessment.
"I'm glad, too," he said, trying to shift gears. "But, really, it could have been much worse but for Nyoka. And as for the fairness of all this...I leave such things up to the greater spirits."
Mana shifted to sit and take most of his weight off his paw, hoping that Aiko wouldn't mind that he had done so. It wasn't as though it was considered disrespectful here to sit down without an invitation, and they were not in Aiko's private residence any way. In his limited experience with other prides and peoples, he had learned a few of these strange customs and been glad they did not apply to his life for longer than his stay in lands.
"Funny. I offered Nyoka my ears when I first met her. They were about the only part of me she might have wanted at the time. I appreciate the offer, but there's not much to talk about. It's the past." He shrugged and flicked his tail, dismissing the topic.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose to take up the profession you did?"
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:38 pm
...coward?
"Oh, heavens, no, that's not...I'm just surprised you didn't leave sooner," she hastened to correct him. Such a cruel heartless sort of place it seemed to her. Horrifically unfair. She'd love to prove she had a soul, claw it into them until they could never, ever forget again! Ever! Stupid bigoted creatures! They were the soulless ones! Not the poor people they preyed upon...
She smiled at his comment about his ears, though internally she was instantly on guard. Well...thank goodness she hadn't told about Dysi! Not that she could hate him for doing his job, but things with Nyoka were shaping up to be pretty shaky already. No need to fan the flame, no matter what Nana believed of her. She wasn't stupid, duh.
Which meant, while she liked Mana, and he was quite easy to like it seemed, she would have to tread carefully lest something slip back to Nyoka and get her family into trouble. Or maybe just her. It wouldn't be fair to her brothers...
"Why do I do it?" she asked, blinking, taken aback. Well... no one ever asked her that before. It didn't take long for her to smile sweetly, the answer already come so easily to her tongue.
"People should choose work that they're good at," she purred, flicking her tail teasingly at his unhurt paw as she started away. Talking to one of Nyoka's ears...not so wise. Nor was the idea of playing with one of Nyoka's ears...though that would be tempting now wouldn't it?
"Don't you like what you do?" Aiko asked, looking over one black spotted shoulder to wink at him before turning and padding off back into the shadows of the caverns.
(((It feels more or less finished to me, though if you wanted to continue I wouldn't mind editing my last bit. Or they can meet again~ Also fun X3 )))
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 5:32 am
I agree. Feels finished to me, too. Just making a last post here. No need to reply to it.
She...didn't think he was a coward. That was...idiotic. People were so strange. There was no denying that he was a coward. He'd fled a deserved death, which if he had faced it might have allowed him to be born as a lion. But he wouldn't be here if he'd done that, he reminded himself, and he really wasn't ready to die. He was still young, and even the comparatively brief period of being injured had shown him that he was poorly suited to life as a cripple.
He knew he'd made a mistake, however, in telling her that he had offered to be Nyoka's ears. He should have known better, but he had allowed himself to relax too much. Not that he guessed he would have been a difficult mark, but he thought that this proved she was well-suited to the work she'd chosen, whether or not she was interested in the sexual aspect. Nyoka had explained a little to him about the other purposes to which an entertainer might be put. He couldn't believe he'd been so foolish.
And she was evil. It a wholly entrancing sort of way. He'd been suffused with heat beneath his fur when Aiko said a person ought to choose work they're good at. For a moment, in spite of his chagrin at revealing his purpose in the pride, Mana wished he could test her theory. But it would hardly be appropriate at this point in the conversation. Still...he wouldn't mind getting to know her better in the future, in many senses of the word.
"Wicked," he muttered with an appreciative grin as he watched her retreat. "Positively wicked."
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