[PRP] A Slave?! (Jabari/Iaeratu)FIN

[Ice Queen]

He should have let her go. No, he should have physically kicked her off the prideland the moment he saw her. Now he was stuck listening to her bitching and sleeping with one eye open nightly to make sure she didn't rip out his throat the moment he got to sleep. No, Jabari had made a big mistake, and he wasn't quite sure how to fix it.

Uncharacteristically the Ligi was lounging on a rock in the sun, his mind racing through all of his options as he looked out at the rogue lands. His tail flipped once, then twice, boredom and irritation clear in every single line of his being. Maybe he'd just not show up that night and hope she took advantage of his absence to run away.

He would just kill something and tell the others that he had killed her for trying to escape... A bit of blood on the paws, the muzzle--  

[Velveteen Angel]

Iaeratu couldn't believe it when she'd heard. A female had been taken in as a new slave. Sure, slaves were pretty common, but what had really frustrate the huntress was who had taken in the slave. Ligi Jabari. Of course, most people weren't aware of his name while they were gossiping, so they just flashed his mother's name around, and the fact he was paler than his brothers, apparently. But Iaeratu had known who they were talking about.

Of course it would be Jabari. The jerk. How could he do that to a harmless female? Trespassing or not, she should have been left to roam out.

Iaeratu would deny that she was in fact looking for the jerk of a Ligi, she was merely out hunting, but her eyes glanced around to see if she could spot his familiar bulk. She could. He was resting on a rock - just another reason why Ligi were useless. They were lazy.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Ligi Jabari," she called out, keeping her voice polite, but her eyes were narrowed. Why was she confronting him? Because someone had to tell the jerk what a jerk he was, and he had yet to kill her for her previous outbursts of speaking out of turn, so maybe he would forgive her chastising.

 

[Ice Queen]

He groaned at the very familiar voice and rolled over, feeling as if his hellish situation had just gotten two times worse. Females, he thought, were nothing but trouble! First Sitaki growling at him all the time, now Iaeratu--his Iaeratu--about to rip into him for some reason.

"What?" he asked, not looking at her. He felt sooo guilty for some strange reason. Like he was cheating... on a girl who hated him. Okay, that was stupid.  

[Velveteen Angel]

Iaeratu's eyes narrowed further at his lack of response. As if she was bothering him. Well, she'd bother him then!

"I heard the most fascinating rumour about a new pride member today," she said sweetly as she drew closer to the rock he was sprawled upon, stopping not far from him, waiting for him to acknowledge her. If he was another pride member, she might jump on the rock with him and push him off, or do something else to gain his attention, but he was Ligi and could still get her in a lot of trouble.

 

[Ice Queen]

"She's not a pride member, she's a demon in the disguise of a lion," he muttered childishly. "She tried to beat me, can you believe that?" he demanded, looking at her. "Here I tell her she's trespassing, and she tries to con her way out of it, then attack me, when all I wanted was for her to apologize for lying to me--"

He muttered something dark. "I haven't slept in DAYS," he complained.  

[Velveteen Angel]

Giving him a bland look, she didn't seem that upset by his words. If she didn't know he was in fact a Ligi, she might have just thought him a childish male who refused to grow up. "Then maybe you should have let her con you out of it. If you had just let her walk away, then she would not be stuck here in this ruin of a pride, and you would have been able to get your precious beauty sleep," she snapped, unable to hold back her words. Her eyes flashed in annoyance.

"You have literally taken away yet another lions freedom. Do you really understand what you've done?"

 

[Ice Queen]

"She gave up her freedom when she was stupid enough to trespass on this land!" he snapped, getting to his feet. "Don't think she was innocent. You can hear the cries, smell the desperation for miles. If she willingly comes into this pride, then she willingly accepts the ramifications. And maybe, just maybe, I can use her to--"

He stopped, almost cutting his tongue with how quickly he slammed his mouth shut.  

[Velveteen Angel]

Iaeratu scowled, unable to deny the truth in his first words. However, his last, cut off comment, irritated her. "Use? Use?" She repeated frustrated. "You Ligi are all the same! Everyone else around you is just a pawn, someone to move how you please, use and then discard." She huffed, tossing her lock of fur out of her eyes.

She took a step towards him, although she knew just one hit of his paw and she could be badly damaged. "She is a lion too! Have you ever thought that she might be afraid of where she is? Or that something might have driven her to cross into our lands?"



 

[Ice Queen]

He laughed in her face. "You haven't met her," he said, staring her down. "Trust me, that wasn't fear." He glanced around, making sure that no one was there to watch them. "Remember who you are talking to," he said in a far more quiet tone. It was that secretive tone that he was so good at. "For both of our sakes."

Then he pulled back, as if he hadn't said anything at all. "She got what she deserved! She should have it worse!" he said more loudly. "As it is, she's well fed and sleeping in the bed it took me months to get comfortable!"  

[Velveteen Angel]

She reared back as if struck at his whispered words. If anyone else saw her yelling at him like she was, then she would likely be killed - and him punished. Her eyes grew guarded and she stifled her rage, listening to him rant over how the female had deserved it.

He always seemed like two different people. An actual likeable male, and then the jerk Ligi that he actually was.

"A life in lush captivity is still captivity," she said quietly, simply to him, her eyes dark. She wasn't merely talking about being a slave. The whole pride was captivity, under Shahen's rule. She couldn't imagine bringing another life into this pride, not while things were in such a disarray. "It's another mouth to feed." She said louder, so that her annoyance at him would seem justified, a lack of food was always a possibility.

 

[Ice Queen]

"There is a huntress," he said, his tone calming, a hint of amusement mixed with irritation in his voice, "that lazes about all day, then seeks for help at the end of it to make it look as if she's been hunting. Before you begin to complain about too many mouths to fill, perhaps you should do something about the ones that are supposed to be filling them."  

[Velveteen Angel]

"Sounds more like a Ligi than a huntress," she said sweetly, her eyes still showing her annoyance. She knew she should leave, before she struck out verbally again and got herself, and him, into trouble.

"But I will look into it, Ligi Jabari," she said stiffly, and bowed her head to him, as if out of respect. It wasn't, and she had a feeling he knew that. "No one should be doing less than their fair share of the work."


 

[Ice Queen]

"I agree completely," he said evilly, knowing how she would feel about his words, as well as how she was mimicking respect rather than truly giving it. "Which is why I will keep patrolling our territory. After I finish my nap."

He rolled over, lounging in the sun and closing his warm brown eyes.  

[Velveteen Angel]

Iaeratu huffed, and eyed the sleeping lump of Ligi, wondering if she could find water to dump on him or something, but that would not be passed off as a forgivable 'accident' on a Ligi, especially if anyone else was around to see it. It would be fun though, she thought, with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, stalking off to continue her own duties. Someone in the pride had to work, at least.