In the early hours of the day, Aleksey's eye cracked open with a plan ready to be set in motion. His beloved mate was fast asleep in his arms, utterly exhausted from so many hours of learning about royalty, making meetings and many other activities which would keep her up late at night and away from him. Today, however, was completely free for her to rest up - and he knew she planned to stay up in the attic and replenish her need for sleep that was lost in previous days. He softly purred, careful not to wake her as he gently kissed her cheek before he slowly snuck out of bed. He stood up and stretched, leaning over to his sleeping cubs and one adopted cub, gently chuffing and seeing them healthy and fast asleep. To say he was proud and happy beyond imagination was an understatement, but it was time he got to work too. He turned away and slowly headed towards the trap door with assured slowness, avoiding the louder planks of wood that could possibly interrupt his mate's sleep.
"No … 'leksey," Sabre whined, no longer feeling her mate's warmth beside her. She sat up a bit, sleepily looking into the room and seeing Aleksey's bareback heading for the exit. "Come back, 'Leksey. I want to hold you." Sabre mewled in exhaustion, sounding nearly on the verge of tears from the lack of sleep she's been getting.
"You need rest. I go prepare surprise." He purred before walking back over to her and bumping her head to nuzzle his lovely mate. He leaned down for a moment, picking up the polar bear skin his uncle had hunted for her before he laid the heavy thick fur on top of her and tucked her in. He touched her nose with his own, purring and lovingly looking into her eyes. "Get sleep, beautiful mishka. You much need; I be back soon, and I hold you until you nice and warm." He thrummed, nibbling on her ear in a flirty manner.
"You … feel cold," Sabre murmured, snuggling up in the blanket with a soft exhaling purr, "put on a sweater so you'll be warm … please."
Aleksey twitched slightly, not wanting to put on either of the sweaters but now he had no choice. He could not tell his lovely mate no. With a stiff upper lip he grabbed the one she bought for him.
"No, not that one - the one Nikita made." Sabre pouted, sounding upset.
"Niet, mishka, I love you thoughtful gift." Aleksey said, holding the sweater up with a twitchy smile.
"Nikita's is better made." Sabre insisted, thinking of the health of her beloved mate.
"But yours holds my heart." Aleksey purred.
"No." Sabre huffed. "Wear Nikita's until I make a better sweater." She stubbornly frowned.
Aleksey frowned, knowing that would not happen any time soon. His uncle had already gone through countless fabrics, threats and furs before finding the perfect combination - which he was sure Sabre would eventually find out for herself.
"Ok, mishka, I wear." Aleksey spoke, putting on the pure white sweater. The feel of tight fabric against both his fur and skin made him uneasily frown, feeling a sharp emotional shiver snap down his spine. No amount of his mate's love could get him to ever like wearing sweaters - Nikita had traumatized him too much.
"Good. Be back soon." Sabre mewed, flicking her tail back and forth before she hugged the host's stolen pillow, burying her nose into the pillow and deeply sniffing the nice, safe scent.
Aleksey stared at the pillow and frowned. He really disliked how safe Sabre felt with just the host's scent around. He was going to have to do something to make her less attached to the host, a human female. Aleksey paused, frowning more deeply in annoyance. He was very upset at how jealous he was of that hooman woman who made Sabre feel so nice and safe in her presence. He growled as he opened the door and shut it, walking down the hall as his eye traveled around to the doors of the charges.
The time for his revenge has come.
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It was just about 4 in the morning when Aleksey heard a soft knock on the door. With a scheming smirk he got up and walked over to the door before opening it, finding an exhausted Mr. Smith with a very large black mamba lamia beside him. "Here you are, Ms. Ebele." Mr. Smith smiled, stepping aside and letting the large lamia slither inside.
The black mamba had beautiful long ebony hair tied back into a ponytail clasped with gold and diamond jewelry. She removed the heavy jacket that she had borrowed to show her bare attire, more accustomed to the heat of the African deserts as she took a look around the home. "So this the hooman's home where my brother is at? It's different than the house of the host I met." She asked, sounding a tad apprehensive.
"Yes. And now, if you would excuse me. Please call when you are ready to return to your home." Mr. Smith smiled before making a hasty return back into the portal, loosening his tie as he stepped through the portal with an endearing smile on his face.
"Welcomed be you, Alpha Ebele of the lamia." Aleksey greeted, nodding his head and holding a hand on his chest, closing the door and then opening his arm in a wide arc. "You have entered the territory and court of the great Amako Sabre Neofelis and Nebulosa, Her Royal Highness, grace of the Bastet, who welcomes you." The tiger formally greeted with a kitty smile on his lips. "I be Amati and Krigare Aleksey Jeloudov of Neofelis and Nebulosa, mate of the Amako and whom will be greeting your visit and holding negotiations. Pardon the lack of formality, but a formal courting receive would require too much preparation and we aware that you want to set up your position as fast as it can be arranged."
"I see. I thank you for inviting me here." She said, flicking her tongue out to get a taste of the house and the residences inside. She paused, snapping her head over towards the short hall with intense eyes. A door opened before the host stepped into the hallway wearing loose fitting pajamas, squinting her eyes as she tried to adjust to the light. " … would this be my brother's host?" Ebele asked, curiously slithering closer as Jackie stepped into the living room and looked up at the lamia, appearing startled. "Hello there. It is nice to meet you." She spoke with a happy smile.
" … hello." Jackie said, staring before rubbing her eyes again before looking back up to her in confusion. "It uh, it's nice to meet you too." She said before looking past her and seeing Aleksey standing by the doorway. She stared at them with a questioning intent, confused.
Aleksey turned to Ebele, stepping closer. "Da, she be the host in this residence, and I sure she will prepare you a sample of what the resident lamia like to eat." The tiger looked at Jackie, 'subtly' telling her to start making food for the seemingly important guest.
" … uh … yeah, sure," Jackie said, rubbing her eyes again, "what do you all want?" She asked as she walked over into the kitchen with a yawn. She wasn't sure what was going on but there was a hungry Extraspecies that needed to be fed. Questioning can come later.
"Host will prepare for our guest some delicately poached eggs with peelable shells, dipped in a sauce of the finest honey we hold in this house along meat pieces that compliment such taste with fine herbs. And I will have cubes of seasoned duck meat with the slightest roast along properly sized meat strips with a spice of dry sourer herbs and garlic." He demanded with fanciness, ordering for himself and for the lamia.
"Hm." Jackie briefly hummed in response and went to work preparing the food. What Aleksey had asked for was basically the same that Dumisa likes, boiled eggs and seasoned meat with the honey dressing, and the normal duck chucks Sabre liked along some normal meat strips with garlic.
"This is a nice hooman house; I like the space in the rafters above." Ebele smiled, glancing around before hearing a small splash. She turned, spotting a lionfish in the corner of the living room with a full spread of sushi. He stared at the group, not greeting them; only observing.
Ebele politely waited for a greeting but when she received none, she spoke up. "Hello there. I assume you are Reza, the lionfish?" Ebele greeted as she slithered into the 'resting' area.
"Yes, I am, and you are Dumisa's estranged older sister. Don't mind me. I am only here to watch. Dumisa's room is the first door to the right." Reza spoke, popping a salmon slice into his mouth.
"Da, a familiar visit would be nice, but first we should have breakfast. It be too early at moment but you come from different time zone, so first accept the Amako's hospitality and rest for a bit." Aleksey beckoned her to the sofa on the living room.
Both of the Extraspecies slipped into the living room and had a seat, patiently waiting for the food to be prepared. "How long have you been a charge, Aleksey?" Ebele curiously asked with a smile.
Aleksy flickered his ears, "Charge?" He then looked as if he had just remembered something and smiled widely at Ebele. "I now remember you a charge time ago in other country. Was it good there?"
"Oh yes I loved it. I went to France for my program and my host was a very kind woman who bought the best fizzy drinks. I would gladly encourage everyone to join a program at least once in their lifetime. It was quite the experience." Ebele smiled, slowly easing herself into relaxing for a bit.
"France? Nice architecture and interesting hooman history. Le français est une langue mélodieuse, comme ta voix (french is a melodious language, like your voice)." He said, not as melodiously due to his own russian accent.
Ebele giggled at his flirty comment and smiled, "C'est. Cela semble très bien de l'entendre (It is. Sounds very good to hear it). And your own accent certainly has its charm as well."
Aleksey gave out a small laugh. "Si vous préférez, nous pouvons tenir nos conversations dans une langue autre que l'anglais (If you prefer, we can hold our conversations in a language different than english)."
"No, english is fine; I need to practice perfecting my accent." Ebele softly smiled.
"As you prefer, Lady Ebele." Aleksey nodded. "Would you like to start negotiations right off? I heard you need … more support. Your clan have numbers, but numbers not always all in politics." He went straight to the point, letting her know he knew at least the general situation.
"Yes. Having more support while uniting the various lamia clans together would be much appreciated." She smiled, appearing relieved at getting right to the point.
"Here you guys go." Jackie spoke, walking into the living room and setting a bowl down in front of Ebele and Aleksey, "in yours, Ebele, I have pork meat dipped in eggs and covered in some bread crumbs and seasonings, along with some boiled eggs. Aleksey, these are duck thighs and breasts coated in some herb mixtures. It's a little different and I want to know what you think of them and if I should make some for Sabre later." Jackie explained, "do you guys want anything to drink? Water? I have soda in the fridge too."
Ebele's eyes sparkled with excitement as a slow smile curled her lips up. "Yes, can I have a can of soda?" She asked, hardly able to contain her happiness.
"Sure. Do you want Phanta, some Dr. Epper or some Coco-mola?" Jackie asked, surprised she got so excited for soda. To her knowledge, Dumisa doesn't really touch the stuff.
"One of everything please." Ebele smiled as Jackie walked off into the kitchen before returning with a large armful of sodas before placing them down on the table for her.
Aleksey chuckled. "It unusual for Extraspecies, more so for carnivores to like such high amounts of sugar or corn syrup bombs. Do feel free to take but keep in concern your health." He didn't want his new ally to die from that poison hoomans called soda.
"I have to admit that while I was a charge in France, I became quite addicted to this strange drink. The bubbles make it feel fuzzy as I drink it and the variety of tastes are very interesting." She smiled, opening one of the cans before drinking it down with excitement. "But of course, it is only good for small indulgences every now and then." She giggled.
"Da. But I assumed you could get some of such indulgence in your territory. It be large enough to have steady commerce even if you still consolidating it." He commented, leaning back and trying a duck chunk.
"Unfortunately no. Our territory is between Angola and Namibia. It may be large but given the war we waged to the old alpha commerce has never taken off, so hooman made supplies are few and far between. I may have to buy a few cases to bring back with me; my lovely nieces and nephew are sure to love it." She happily smiled, imagining their reactions to drinking such a strange but addicting drink.
"But you surely have a port, da? I hear your territory includes desert coast." Aleksey mentioned with a pleased smile, taking this conversation exactly where he wanted it to go.
"The port is not yet operational. With the ban on obvious expansion from the council there wasn't one before and once that was lifted the old alpha wasted much money in the central cities rather than a decent port. But we are adding resources and eventually we'll get one to start trading. We do have a lot of minerals." She eagerly grinned in excitement. "I'm eager to get the first shipments of world products."
"I see." Aleksey nodded, already thinking on how to use that. "I also heard you little financial resources for investment … and problem with recognition as you are barely one clan but too big and too new."
"Yes. We expanded quickly and efficiently - we will soon be recognized, but for now we are still organizing our followers and resources. Once we have a port, others will not be able to ignore us." She smiled, taking a bite of the breakfast before pausing in surprise. "This is quite good! What is covering the meat?" She asked, turning to Jackie for an answer.
"Just some store-brand Italian breadcrumbs and some extra spices tossed in." Jackie answered with a proud grin. "It's easy to make, you just whisk the eggs and a little bit of milk, dunk the meat into it before rolling it in a bowl of the breadcrumbs." Jackie explained, happy that Ebele was pleased with her 'cooking'. Making food for Extraspecies was insanely easy - she was happy that it satisfied them and that they were so simple to make. She didn't even have to cook anything which was nice except for a few specific recipes that Sabre liked, that picky kitty.
"I am surprised it is so easy to prepare. So simply done but holds complex flavors, much more than the meals I had in France." Ebele smiled. "Perfect for a fast meal." Ebele spoke, patting a napkin on her lips to clean up any messes, "thank you, Amako Sabre's mate, for the invitation to come. I have been wanting to see my little brother for quite a while." She mentioned, appearing a little fidgety and nervous, "perhaps another time, some of my adorable nieces and nephew could come to meet him. Not all lamia children come to know their father but it would be nice for them to know of their father."
"Perhaps we can arrange for them to come for a little bit." Aleksey grinned. "Our own territory will hold great opportunity to welcome visitors, allies, trade and much more. Court would like to negotiate on much, and being sister of a fellow charge of the great Amako already speak well of you."
Jackie perked up for a moment before her eyes widened. This was Dumisa's sister? Jackie had frozen in place, suddenly realizing what was about to happen the moment Dumisa realized she was here. Her lips sealed together tightly and awkwardly, darting her eyes down the hallway for a brief moment. Should she go warn him? She knew he would not react well to this. Jackie got up and headed towards Dumisa's room, planning to at least let him know that his sister was there.
"Host!" Aleksey called, stopping her intentions right there. "You need to prepare some lunch later for our visit and add much soda so she can take back with her. I also need lunch for mate because I taking her to nice place, and please do prepare a bag for the kitten's toys and blankets and such." He called before casually returned to conversation with Ebele about what the program was in France
"Yeah, sure." Jackie said, glancing down the hallway and hesitating before going back into the kitchen to prepare some meals for Aleksey and Sabre. The exhausted host slowly sliced away at the meat, yawning and sleepily began tossing ingredients into a pot to make a marinade for the meat. A leafy vine slipped by her head, dipping into the sauce for testing.
"The sauce contains too much sodium for the great Heika's consumption, may her allies get powerful." Naoki spoke beside Jackie's head as she tipped her head to the side an yawned again.
"It's fine." Jackie sleepily muttered as she mindlessly stirred the sauce before sticking the slices of meat inside to marinade for a bit. She covered the pot before leaving, chopping away at some more meat.
"Hidenka." Naoki spoke up, staring at the boiling pot as it bubbled over, making a loud hissing noise which the hidenka did not seem to acknowledge or notice. Naoki stared at the host before walking over to her and making her look at him with an empty and barely functioning gaze. "Hidenka, the pot is boiling over." He spoke as she blinked, becoming aware of the loud hissing and burning smell.
She jolted before staggering over to the stove and quickly turning it off before moving the pot aside onto the granite to marinade in the sauce. The host stared at the mess before heavily sighing and getting a wet rag, wiping up the mess. She reached a hand up, almost grabbing the burning hot metal grates of the stove top before Naoki's hand caught hers and pulled it away from the dangerous heat.
"If your fingers are damaged, hidenka, you will be unable to tend to the Heika's needs, may her sleep be restful." Naoki spoke as he held fast onto her hand, not letting go.
"Naoki, let go … gotta clean." Jackie groaned as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Just tired," she slowly spoke before trying to clean off the rag in the sink but Naoki's grip remained firm.
"In name of the Heika's well being in care of your hands, I've determined you need to rest as you are not a nocturnal creature." He said, as stoic as always but soon he moved a vine over Jackie and let some powder drop over her. The powder, once inhaled slowed her down before, with a final yawn, she fell asleep standing. Naoki then had his vines pull her away towards her room to rest until the sun was up.
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Dumisa's door cracked open, making everyone in the living room perk up. Dumisa sleepily slithered out of his room, flicking his tongue through the air multiple times to taste the delicious meal that the host had prepared. "You're up early, host. It's not my feeding day yet, is it?" Dumisa asked before looking into the hallway. He froze, locking eyes with the female lamia in the living room. His eyes widened in shock before he whipped around, planning to launch himself back into his room and barricade the door but Ebele, in the blink of an eye, had shot out of the living room and tackled her brother down from behind. She grabbed his arms and twisted them back, immobilizing him from grabbing her before he began thrashing about in the hallway. Her body twirled around his, tightly wrapping him up in a submission hold before she pinned him to the ground to prevent him from fleeing.
"G-Get off of me, you ugly hag! I am a member of the Amako Sabre's court! Do not force your smelly self on me!" He angrily hissed, baring his fangs angrily as he struggled to release himself from the strong female's hold. His breathing began to rapidly increase as his heart pounded in fright, remembering his younger years when larger and more powerful female lamia would pin him down and do as they pleased to him. Dumisa angrily hissed, twisting his head around and lurching forward to bite her but she held up a pillow, forcing him to bite down on the feather filled item.
"Dumisa, calm down, it is I, your sister Ebele!" She explained, holding him firmly as he continued to thrash about beneath her. "I am no hag, I am your sister. Look at me." She said, forcing Dumisa to look up at her as he searched her face, still breathing hard in fright. He blinked a few times as he shakily breathed, slowing down his thrashing. Once he had stopped struggling she pulled the pillow from his mouth, watching as he spat up a few feathers before glaring at her.
"I will not return to that wretched place and you have no right to drag me there. I serve an Amako so you cannot take me against my will now." He aggressively hissed at her, baring his fangs as he tried to steel his nerves.
Aleksey, from his spot crossed his arms behind his back and tsk-ed. "Technically snake not accepted in court yet since he has yet to present proper tribute to the Amako."
"I was the first important member to join her court. Do not pretend not to know that, you balding feline." Dumisa snapped at the tiger while never leaving his glare from Ebele's face.
"Dumisa … oh, Dumisa, it's alright. I won't do anything you don't want me to, Dumisa, my sweet little brother." She breathed, holding Dumisa's cheek as she looked down at him with her eyes shimmering with tears. "You've grown so much since I've last seen you. How long has it been? Five years? Ten? Thirty? So many years since we've seen one another face to face?" She asked, darting her eyes around his face to refamiliarize herself with his mature features.
"Twenty two." Dumisa hissed, clenching his teeth together as he glared back up at her. He could not remember his sister's faces - he remembered her from the hologram model, supposedly having been his sisters but he didn't want to believe it. It was so long ago when he was taken by those awful lamia that he had forgotten their faces but the lamia's voice and mannerisms were jogging his memory of them. His sisters; his two sisters he had forced himself to forget about - but he had never forgotten what they did to him. "It's been twenty two years, Ebele. I'm shocked your pea sized brain has already forgotten." Dumisa angrily hissed at her but did not attempt to bite her again.
"Oh Dumisa." Ebele softly smiled. "I remember when we all used to go and hunt for fish together in the river. You would always try to beat Ashanti in getting the biggest fish." Ebele fondly recalled with a happy smile.
"Is that your last memory of me?" Dumisa asked, his jaw trembling before tightly clenching his teeth together, angrily glaring up at her. "My last memory of you cowards was allowing those wretched wenches to drag me away while you fled." Dumisa spat between his clenched teeth, sneering up at her with a twitching lip.
"Dumisa, if I had not taken Ashanti then she would have died. We lost so many members that night." Ebele spoke, surprised that is what he thought of her. "You thought I would turn my back on your without the slightest thought?" She asked, hurt by his accusation.
"Did you even think of me, Ebele? Either of you? Of what they would do to a young, frightened male lamia hardly on the cusp of maturity? Not a lamia, hardly a lamia at all but a child! Of what those lustful, disgusting and revolting witches did to me? No matter what I said, no matter what I did, how they used their stronger bodies to restrain and crush me and get what they wanted?!" He angrily shouted as he trembled with tears streaking from his eyes. "How they would use and throw me away for the next soul sucking witch to come grab me? Have you any idea how many broken bones I've had from their crushing holds? How many times I went deaf from hearing them scream into my ear? How many times I was left alone, chained down and left to wonder what night I would be killed by an overzealous wretch?!" Dumisa shouted at her angrily, struggling again to try and break her hold.
Ebele clenched her teeth, picking up his shoulders and slamming them against the ground, cracking the wood flooring, "And what did you think we could have done but escape or die?! If I had come after you then, they would have killed me! Ever since then we have never stopped fighting to gain enough power to take our revenge on those wicked serpents and take you back, Dumisa! All those years you spent captured we had been building up our forces! And when we finally took them over, we had come to find out that you weren't there but … but had managed to escape on your own. And had gone to a host's family." Ebele explained, looking down at Dumisa with caring eyes.
"You never even looked back!" Dumisa shouted at her, snapping his jaws just short of her nose as he glared into her eyes with confused and stubborn hatred, "that night I was taken, you took Ashanti and fled over the hills. You never even looked back even as I looked after you, hoping, thinking, even praying that you would come back and get me but you never did! Not even a glance back at me as I was dragged away by those awful lamia!" Dumisa angrily shouted back at her. "You were the oldest of us, you were the strongest of our small village and not once did you look back with the thought of helping me while you fled, leaving me in the claws of those vile females! I spent years imagining, dreaming and hoping that you, my sisters, would spare me from the horrors they brought down on me but no, you never came! I had to save myself despite your childish promises that we would never abandon one another! What about me, Ebele?! The one you abandoned, your own brother, you vile b****!"
"You think I didn't try!? Once I left Ashanti hidden as far away as I could I came back!" Ebele shouted back at him with an agonized hiss. "But you weren't there anymore, no one of that awful tribe was there. The others in the village were hurt, dying or already dead. I searched for you there, in the village that was in the midst of being burnt down but they had already fled and hidden their tracks too well. When I tried to pursue them I was ambushed and nearly killed before they left and covered their tracks. I had no idea where they had taken you. It was a strategic attack back then, Dumisa. Even our best hunters, even I was no match for them. They were too skilled and too many. Dumisa, most of the village was killed that night. I thought you were perhaps lost forever but I never gave up looking for you." She explained, keeping him held down as she looked down to him. "You cannot imagine how glad I was to learn you were still alive and had entered a program."
"You have no idea what it cost me." He hissed, trembling.
"I know. I can't even begin to imagine the horrors they've put you through, Dumisa." Ebele spoke, gently holding Dumisa's cheek. "But how in the world did they allow you to join the program at all?" She asked
"Since no one else was going to spare me, I had to find ways to do it myself. You can imagine what they desired of me, the dances I performed, the revolting favors I gave, the lies I've told, the deceits I've made and so much more to gain the trust of those who I could use to my advantage. You can see the result from how many hundreds if not thousands of offspring I want nothing to do with." He achingly hissed.
"Well, many of them want something to do with you. You should hear how they ask for you and how sweetly they speak of you, Dumisa. They want to be part of the family, like I do." She softly smiled.
"Well, I don't want much to do with you." Dumisa hissed back at her, baring his fangs menacingly.
"Calm, snake. Once Lamia clan become official allies you must be … polite at least." Aleksey steeped in, retaining enough distance but knowing that Ebele would intervene if needed. Might do so anyways. "As part of Sabre's court, as you presume to be even though it not official, you needs to submit to the allied alphas. " Aleksey smiled politely while speaking with a very friendly tone as he savoured the words. "Or if you no want to be part of court after all, then you return with Lamia clan and sisters have complete jurisdiction of snake under Extraspecies and Lamia law." The tiger then looked at the Lamia alpha. "Of course, if he part of court then we assure he no mistreat. Would you like discuss alliance?"
"I agree wholeheartedly." Ebele smiled in agreement. "And of course, as Dumisa's sister, I will give what support I can to the Amako."
Dumisa glared at Ebele and sealed his lips shut as he uneasily flicked his tail back and forth. "I will never return to the tribe."
"You may return when you feel ready, be it 10 years, 20 or even 70." Ebele agreed with a sharp nod.
"And I may remain here to serve the Amako?" Dumisa questioned with his eyes narrowing.
"Yes - it is an honor for the brother of an alpha to serve an Amako. However, I will be visiting you and the territory along with Ashanti and some of your offspring who would be very happy to see you." Ebele smiled.
Dumisa hissed at the last part, "I never want to see them. They'd just bring up bad memories." He angrily hissed at Ebele.
"They are aware of how they came to be; that you were a prisoner and an unwilling participant with which those wretches took you. And still they wish to know you. They don't want to force you to do anything, Dumisa. They only want to know their father since they were never allowed to come see you." The older lamia said, raising up slightly, frowning a bit a his attitude.
"And for good reason. I would have killed them." Dumisa hissed, trembling so harshly that his teeth chattered together as his eyes welled up just in remembrance of all that hatred he felt for not only the women who made use of him, but against all the children that came from those awful encounters. "I thought perhaps I could forgive them, who had no choice in the matter of their creation but no. I was and still am so livid I would kill any one of them." Dumisa hissed with a burning anger and despair glowing in his eyes. "I wouldn't even give them the time of-," he started before Ebel grabbed his mouth and coiled around him with restricting strangle, silencing her brother before turning to Aleksey.
"If it would please the Amako, perhaps we can create a trade between your her territories and our clan. After all, it would be good to improve relations as such, more so because Ashanti and I will be negotiating with the rest of the lamias to support the new Amako Sabre Neofelis Nebulosa as to gain a better standing in the council. The support of a royal is always a very powerful aid." Ebele smiled. "I apologize, but could we discuss the details a bit later? I first need to have a little and nice family reunion with my little brother."
"I would be honored to host you!" Reza spoke up, immediately taking his opportunity. "I'll supply delicious sushi while you speak about whatever things you need to talk about." Reza offered, not wanting to miss any delicious details about Dumisa's and Ebele's tragic past. "And it would be a neutral territory." Reza added.
Aleksey smiled, pleased. "Of course, I understand. You be quite welcomed to take snake into deen. I almost lost brother too, so I know. And once you ready we can negotiate the basics or Mr. Smith open portal to take you home."
"Thank you. I will call when I am done." Ebele smiled, dragging the squirming Dumisa away. He resisted as much as he could but Ebele was much stronger than he was, dragging him into the merfolk's room to speak longer to one another.
Dumisa managed to get his mouth free, glaring at the host who had watched the entire thing but had not intervened. "HOST! Hurry up and come pet Ebele off of me!" He shouted, looking around for the host.
"The host is unable to tend to anyone at the moment. Her work was sloppy and disagreeable so she was been put to sleep until the sun has risen. With the rise of the sun, she will be serving the household at a better function than earlier in the morning." Naoki explained from out of nowhere as Dumisa was dragged shouting into Reza's room, all while Aleksey smiled not so nicely, watching the serpent be dragged away. First revenge was a resounding success. And now, onto the next. Aleksey evilly grinned as he slipped into the host's room where she was dead asleep on her small single bed. He frowned at the size of it but shrugged it off as he crawled onto the bed and laid his head on her chest to get some sleep. This way he would trap the host and not let her escape until his plan against Jaska was completed. He closed his eye to get some sleep, applying his weight onto the host as her breathing hitched in her sleep.
From above, so quietly he did not notice, Antain stalked the big bad striped menace. His tail wriggled as he carefully followed the large tiger, practicing his stalking skills while holding a plastic knife in his mouth.
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The light nudges of the host woke Aleksey up as he cracked his single eye open, seeing Jackie feebly trying to push his head off of her chest to get free of his grasp but his hold remained firm, keeping her still. "Aleksey … off." Jackie grunted, gently pushing against his head and avoiding his injuries.
Aleksey jawned a 'niet' and nuzzled a bit, a content smirk in his lips. "I taking care host not bothered. Plant said host needed sleep."
"Couldn't make it to Sabre's room?" Jackie huffed, resorting to petting his ear and jaw to try and encourage him to get off f her.
"Niet. Mate need sleep too and cubs resting. If I go they wake up and cubs then wake up mate. I no want tired cranky mate." He said, his tail very slowly batting over the bed.
" … you're not too injured to get to Sabre's room, are you?" Jackie asked, sounding a bit worried. "I have the guest room you, Sabre and the cubs can stay in if you have trouble getting up there." She suggested.
"I tired but I fine." He refrained from growling. Even the hooman though he was 'that' weak' ?
"My bed's too small - you're going to break the frame." Jackie huffed, tugging on his ear a bit. "Now please get off, you're crushing my ribs." She achingly exhaled as her head thumped against her pillow.
He moved a bit aside but didn't let go. "I no break frame. I know bratja had slept with host and all fine." The tiger said. "Bratja can be needy." He chuckled. "When we cubs we slept near each other, but if one too scared of anything, we ended up in Nikita's room." He then looked at her in the eye. "Host … bratja ever came in to sleep just because?"
"That was in his own bed." Jackie huffed, "and once or twice he has. Once with Sabre." Jackie yawned out her response before lightly snickering, "and that's cute." Jackie noted, petting Aleksey's snout while imagining a tiny Jaska and Aleksey mewing for their uncle Nikita. "You know, it's funny - Nikita, as vicious and s***y he was to me, I can tell he's a family kind of guy. And I'm glad that means that you, Jaska, Sabre and the kittens will be taken care of." Jackie smiled, still a little too sleepy to care about what she was saying. "And that's comforting to me."
"Taken care off?" Aleksey asked, a bit confused.
"I was always worried about Sabre and Antain, wondering what would happen to them once the program ended. And after she had her kittens, I was very worried - but I feel a lot better now that Nikita is there to take care of you, even if that means my visits will probably be limited." Jackie huffed, petting the back of Aleksey's neck.
Aleksey chuckled a bit. "Uncle do want to take care of us, but we need to take care of each other. Sabre be a royal, so she needs to take care of many things and I need take care of things that would hinder her taking care of other things. So is bratja." He smiled, not letting out in the least what his 'taking care of things' part really meant. "But it nice you care about taking care of bratja."
"Her being a royal only makes me worry more." Jackie frowned. "Being a royal sounds like a lot of responsibility - and that's going to stress Sabre out a lot. What if her fur starts falling out? Or if she doesn't properly eat? I'm not going to be around to help monitor that." Jackie groaned in annoyance. "Or you and Jaska. What if your fur keeps falling out? I'd have enough fur to make a rug or a very warm blanket in the winter." The host frowned, genuinely worried about the felines as she pet Aleksey's cheeks and squished them a bit before scratching his neck.
Uncharacteristically, Aleksey genuinely smiled and gave a small quick lick to the host's cheek. "Thank for concern." He then sighed. "Da, it be very stressing, but mate's fur perfectly fluffy." He however, remained quiet about the plans for the territory. It was surprising the hooman didn't know; or maybe she just wasn't smart enough to realize. Anyhow, it was time he acted, or rather, spoke. "Bratja need to be worried for however. I sure he would like host to take care of him. He used to cry a lot when cub. Now he not but he need comforting too. When he cub he could not tell uncle he wanted confort, so he just stayed there looking like he would cry until uncle caught on … or send him to train."
Jackie snickered, covering her mouth in laughter as she just imagined Jaska sitting and looking up at someone and crying for attention. "That's adorable." Jackie laughed, "and yes, I can see him doing that when he was younger." She grinned, knowing that Jaska liked to hang over her and apply his weight onto her to get attention, especially when she was cooking something for him.
Aleksey smirked. "Da, bratja cute cub, but I be the adorable fluffy one." He chuckled. "Bratja used to be a fat cub too. A fat cub who cracked ice when he walked on it, and wiggled butt while walking."
"Really? Jaska used to be a fat kid?" Jackie laughed a little more loudly, trying to imagine a little fat tiger cub.
"Da." Aleksey laughed too. "Jaska tried climbing tree but was so fat he got stuck and cried until Nikita came to helped him down … but before uncle could do, branch broke."
Jackie laughed out loud as she sat up in the bed and pet him a little more fully with an evil snickering grin. "That's hilarious! What else you got?" Jackie asked, petting away at Aleksey to try and coax him into telling her more about little Jaska.
"I got plenty." He smirked to his accomplice. "What you want to know?"
"Were you and Jaska good at swimming when you were younger? Or was it always too cold up where you lived?" Jackie curiously asked, imagining a little Jaska floundering in cold water or floating like a round balloon.
"We tigers. We good at swimming, but water froze in winter." He then grinned. "Jaska could swim … but he was fat so he mostly floated while padding with arms only. He also afraid of sea. He ran to it but when he saw waves first time he turned around and cried until he was behind Wei-wei's legs."
Jackie laughed at that. "Now I know why he didn't want to go swimming at the beach!" Jackie laughed, "I was wondering why he was just sitting under the shade being all hot and huffy - he was afraid of the ocean." She snickered.
"He no afraid anymore, but salt water bad for fur. Once ended with so much salt we needed to take many baths and roll in snow. It itchy for days and Jaska kept on scratching and biting self fur. He even asked Longwei to take a ride for flying in order to dry fur, but bratja cried as soon as he was like 10 meters in the air."
"Aweee," Jackie chuckled in amusement. "All you would have to do is soak in warm water for the salt to mix into the water and get out of your fur." She grinned. "But, I can understand him crying when flying with Longwei. I thought I was going to die." Jackie exhaled, shivering a bit at the memory.
"Longwei took host for a ride?" Aleksey grinned.
"Yes - kind of. I was keeping the kittens warm while he flew us back to the snow lodge shortly after they were born. You were uh, unconscious at that point, and so was Sabre after I fed her some sleeping medicine." Jackie explained, "but he was holding onto some flimsy material with me and the kittens inside - now that was downright terrifying." Jackie chuckled. "But to be honest, Longwei was actually pretty adorable after I pet him. He wrapped around me and sort of hugged me while I pet his whiskers. I think that was payment enough for me after being terrified of his flying."
"Do tell more about Wei-wei and I tell more about bratja." Aleksey already savoured the blackmail. "Give detail."
"Yeah, sure." Jackie chuckled, "when I went out there he was in his big dragon form. It was a little startling but he told me to pet him and so I did. I knew that his whiskers were a weak point for him so I pet his whiskers and snout - about 5 minutes into petting him he began to shrink down and push against me so I pet him a little harder. I started scratching by the base of his horns when he was small enough for me to reach and his back foot actually started thumping against the ground. Not too long after he began wrapping around me and I fell over because of his weight but he stayed wrapped around me. It took me a while until he was small and light enough for me to carry, at which point he was basically asleep. So I carried him back inside to the party." Jackie explained with a grin.
"Da? Wei-wei pettable?" Aleksey looked stunned for a moment, then he rolled up and began laughing. He would be revising all the hidden camera files later to find video evidence of this. He saw the ending results before but now he wanted to hear all the dirty details.
"It was fun petting something that big - his teeth were a little terrifying though. I actually slipped a bit when I was petting his upper lip and felt his tooth. I was shocked that they felt so smooth and cold, almost like a cold granite countertop. I was so shocked by how smooth his tooth was I actually ended up petting his gums a bit and his inner lip. As soon as I started to do that he flipped over onto his back and pushed me with his snout but didn't tell me to stop so I just continued. I'm a little surprised that all of Longwei's weak points are centered around his head. Normally Extraspecies have them spread over their bodies so maybe next time I get the chance to I'll try petting his feet." Jackie muttered, now strategically thinking about where to start if she got the chance to pet the dragon again.
Aleksey groaned and then stopped laughing, rolling around and accommodating in the loaf of bread position. "What be Jaska's weak points?" His smile was devious to say the least.
"The base of his tail and his jaws are the closest things to a weakness that I've found. Most Extraspecies have a bit of a sweet spot on her jaws, I think." She said, petting Aleksey on the jaws to show him the location. "It's funny, everyone tells me what a great petter I am but I really don't think it's that special. I'm starting to think that you all think I'm so good at it because you're never really pet. Right?" Jackie asked, curious about what Aleksey thought of it. "Or is it my scent? I've been told I have a calming scent but I'm not sure what that means entirely."
"Host's scent not threatening in any way, so it probably helps" He said while snickering about his bratja loving being pet at the base of his tail. "Uncle did pet us a bit when we cubs to calm down sometimes … or beat us so we weren't such crybabies. He also had Jaska learn many dances and have him dance to uncle's loud songs." He winked. "Bratja also always ended up trying to sing while drunk but he sings horribly. I have couple videos. If you tell me what you think of bratja, I let you see video, da?"
"So tempting." Jackie laughed, "and I think he is a very nice tiger. I think he's strong and even when he's being mean, his heart is usually in the right place. Except when he steals my socks." Jackie's smile became an immediate and annoyed frown. "I think he thinks I haven't noticed but it's definitely bothering me that he takes them when he thinks I'm not looking."
"Bratja steals socks?" Aleksey grinned, snickering. "He must really like host's scent."
"Do you know why? Does he use the scent to help him fall asleep or something?" Jackie asked with a bothered frown.
Aleksey evilly grinned before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in, whispering into her ear.
Jackie gasped and covered her mouth in startlement. "N-No, no! There's no what he'd do that, would he?!"
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Jaska passed through the hallway, searching for Aleksey. His tail nervously twisted around as he chuffed, calling for Aleksey in a friendly manner. His ears flickered, hearing Aleksey trotting over in his direction before turning the corner and spotting Jaska standing in the hallway.
Aleksey let out an acknowledging gruff. "Da, bratja?"
"Come, we need talk. Please." Jaska spoke before turning away, leading the way to his room. He left the door open, letting Aleksey come in. "Close door."
Aleksey observed Jaska's movements, finding him to be tense and very uneasy. Jaska sat down at a table where an empty bottle of strong vodka was sitting with another open and half empty. The forlorn tiger took a seat, taking a swig from the bottle while remaining rather shifty in his movements and mannerisms. Aleksey could tell he was very uneasy and appeared rather depressed.
"Bratja? Something wrong?" Aleksey asked carefully, making sure the door closed before approaching his brother. "What important?"
"I make important decision. One I not happy about." Jaska heavily sighed, thumping his head against the vodka bottle and deeply purred against the only thing that seemed to be keeping him sane.
Aleksey poured him a drink and then took one himself. "Have drink and then tell. I support."
Jaska slumped down onto the table, staring emptily at the bottle while slowly twisting it around. Unable to spit it out, Jaska tipped himself back, drinking the entire bottle in one go. Jaska tipped back, falling onto the ground with a loud thud but he did not let go of the bottle. Instead, Jaska remained on his back and continued to chug on the vodka until the bottle was empty. The inebriated tiger emptily stared at the bottle before heavily sighing, dropping the bottle off to the side as he stared at the ceiling with an empty expression.
"It that bad?" Aleksey asked. "Bratja is alive and royal forgave, you have time to finish contract and uncle won't kill … maybe. So what can be so bad?"
" … I going to make self clinically sterile once return to Nikita territory. Tests come back - DNA tests show offspring, if it happens at all will be infected with wolf genes. They be born genetically altered tigers, even if I mate a tiger female. Chances of survival so low. So very, very low." Jaska explained before heavily sighing and rubbing his exhausted and slightly red irritated eyes. Evidence showed that Jaska must have spent a sleepless night over all of this, perhaps mourning over what will never be. Jaska pinched the bridge of his nose, pulling his ears before taking a deep breath to try and calm himself. "I no want cubs to suffer consequences of spliced genes or be problem for bastet race like I am now."
"Ahh … ," Aleksey remained with his mouth open for bit before emptying his own drink.
"I … not tell uncle yet. I ask Lea to not tell. I want to tell uncle myself." Jaska stated, remaining where he was - sprawled out on the ground and not moving.
"Jaska … ," Aleksey took a deep breath. "I support." He then sat on the bed besides his older brother. "I understand motives, and I think it reasonable and rational choice."
"Da. I know. I spent all night thinking of decision." He heavily sighed. "But, in light of becoming sterile, I have favor to ask." Jaska started before hesitating. "I no want you agree out of pity." He said, looking back and staring at Aleksey.
"When do I pity anyone or anything? Only mercy in me would be in mercenary if needed." Aleksey gave a fake cruel smile that Jaska knew he used during 'interrogations'.
"Heh. True." Jaska softly chuckled, managing a soft smile. "If I find mate, we will want cubs someday. I unable to give cubs; but you can." Jaska stated, continuing to stare at Aleksey and judging his reactions. "Could you provide potential mate with cubs, so we can raise family?" He asked, twitching his tail back and forth. "I think about this for while. I know you have permanent mate." Jaska spoke, lowering his ears.
Aleksey smiled and licked the ear of his bro. "Of course, I sure beloved mates would agree too, so no problem. Bigger family mean more power. If no traditional way then I can help with artificial options."
Jaska let out a stiff breath of relief, giving a small nuzzle back. "Thank you, Aleksey." Jaska purred, laying back down as he began feeling dizzy. "I drink too much." He huffed, rubbing his eyes.
"Ha,ha, just like in Bosnia. You drank too much and almost messed up mission. Then drank more fearing what uncle would do." Aleksey laughed.
"And what terrifying day that was." He chuckled. "I thought uncle would rip tail off that day. But, good news; I drank so much, I no remember well." Jaska laughed. "I only know because you tell later."
"But we finished enemy and no one was left alive to tells story of bratja messing up." Aleksey chuckeld a bit more. "When drunk you ran behind enemy camp to steal socks."
"Da, much good day." He grinned with his chest rumbling with a purr.
"In fact … ," Aleksey grinned, standing up and sniffing before going to a section of the big tree bookcases. He sniffed again and removed some book to reveal a small box full of socks; all were from the host by the scent of it.
Jaska immediately stopped purring and froze in embarrassment. He tried to quickly leap up and stop him but tripped over the chair, falling onto the ground with a groan; much too drunk to correctly coordinate. "No touch those." Jaska frowned, knowing there was no point in trying to lie about that.
Aleksey laughed more and then smiled tossing his brother one of the socks which Jaska caught in the air. "Why you no go give socks back to host? And ask for more while doing so?"
"She not need - she have plenty." Jaska frowned with his ears pulled back. He tried sitting up before stopping, wavering slightly as he tried to get his balance.
"Host already knows you steal socks." Aleksey put the box back where it was.
"How she know? She not know." Jaska huffed with a frown.
"Socks keep disappearing." Aleksey answered calmly with a poker smiley face.
"Socks disappear all the time." Jaska shrugged. "Lost in wash, under couches, under beds - who knows. She not know I have."
"She know because you take them from her feet at night and she suspected you defile poor socks … but of course she had to reconsider it and now think you sniff them while 'taking care' of self." He laughed, walking towards the door carefully.
" … how you know that." Jaska asked with his eyes widening. "You say something?!" He gasped.
"Me? Why would I say?" Aleksey smiled, his face still showing a lot of amusement as he opened the door. "I only know because guards or senescal saw, and I, as royal's mate, need to know all that happens in house."
"No ruin chances to get host as mate!" Jaska growled before freezing, spotting the host walking by the room.
The moment she saw him her face lit up in a deep blush before she turned to him with an angry glare, "s-stop stealing my socks and defiling them! Th-th-tha-that's so gross! And mean!" Jackie shouted at him with an embarrassed stammer before Aleksey grabbed her, startling her before he threw the host into the air. She let out a sharp shout of startlement before Jaska caught her and held her against his fluff, flustered by what she thought he did to her socks - which was true. He hold them near his nose or held them in his claws as he did that and all else but still embarrassing nonetheless.
"I support bratja, so worry not." Aleksey gave Jaska some thumb up and then closed the door, leaving Jaska alone with the host.
As not papa striped menace left the room, Antain silently stalked him from above the rafters. The other striped menace and aki ost were taken down by the nefarious not papa, just like mama misa was. With his ears lowered Antain continued to stalk the not papa, trying to figure out what he was doing.
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With the host chewing out Jaska and Ebele distracted with her brother along Reza, who was hosting the two serpents, Aleksey headed towards his next target - the thick headed saltwater crocodile. He was physically strong - no doubt about that. But Aleksey had thought of the perfect way to get under the crocodile's thick skin with the mere force of his words. With a wicked grin Aleksey opened Kroc's door, looking inside to see the crocodile performing one handed vertical push ups - quite the feat for such a heavy crocodile.
"Greetings. May I come in?" Aleksey asked, invited himself in but not approaching.
"Not now, mate. Counting." Kroc said as he continued his exercise without looking up, focusing on a single part of the wood floor as he kept up his count of push ups.
"I challenge you." The tiger smiled.
Kroc paused at that, remaining quiet before he fell towards his stomach and landed on all fours before standing upright and looking over to the tiger. "You're too hurt to be a challenge, mate. We can fight another time." Kroc said as he grabbed his water bottle and squirted it over his tongue, drinking down the colder liquid to keep his temperature stable despite so much activity.
"I no mean fight." Aleksey looked carefully at the crocodile. "You said you want be alpha. You friend of mate, so you be ally." He explained. "But alpha no need only brute strength. Mind very important, so I want to challenge with mental exercise."
"Mind exercise?" Kroc questioned. "As in concentrating on a single focus?" Kroc asked, sounding a little confused.
"Niet." The tiger sighed. "As in what you would do as alpha. There many situations that be challenging but no require force."
" … sounds strange but interesting." Kroc admitted, tapping his lower jaw in thought, "right, I'll give it a try. You feeling up for some light sparring while we talk?" Kroc suggested before grinning, "just some light stuff; I'll let you set the pace, mate. Wouldn't want you getting soft." He teased with a cheeky grin, trying to get along with Sabre's mate. There was something that made Kroc uneasy about him - he trusted his instincts but he also trusted the sheila. However, knowing that Aleksey was so weak at the moment, he might not be able to spar at all - or survive a hit if Kroc punches him.
Aleksey let out a deep sigh and lowered his ears. "I would like to but it too early for even that. Wounds not healed much yet."
"Then I'll hold my hands up for ya. I learn best when I'm doing something so let's see how well you can punch, mate." Kroc said, holding his claws up and showing his palms. "No harm in getting a little exercise in while we talk. And I need a cooldown anyway." Kroc characteristically grinned.
"I agree. I no able to do much but some movement will do while I give mental exercise." Aleksey approached preparing for punching the palms of the crocodile and preparing the questions he had. He took a boxing stance and gave a couple light punches to feel how his body moved, then he threw the first real punch. A question about communication. "How you plan to set up communication network to delegate orders to subordinates?"
"Hmmm for when I set up a territory, you mean?" Kroc asked, easily taking the punches and finding them rather pathetically weak. But, that was to be expected.
"You plan to take on more than one territory and expand, da? But as you expand territory then you need to control it, and you can't be everywhere, thus you need followers, but how you plan to set up effective communication of information?" The tiger asked, knowing his punches were as weak as a kitten pawing but at least he could see where it hurt more or less or how long he could last with his current state.
"Well it depends on what the Rainbow Serpent wants which I'll find out after becoming an alpha. But, with communicating, I'll use phones, I guess?" Kroc said, knowing that Ale had a phone he would call people on and order them around when he was young. "Or are we talking more like runners to run messages to other territories?"
Aleksey stopped for a moment, astounded by his answer. "What you think you need to communicate or receive communication about?" He asked while continuing the boxing.
"About others encroaching territory by other Extraspecies and poachers mostly." Kroc answered. "And maybe settling rebellions who may not like me as alpha."
"You no think about alpha stuff seriously, do you?" Aleksey rose an eyebrow. "You even know what political structure you need set for exerting power and retain control? What about economic conditions? You set open trade or control influx of resources? Perhaps you plan make extraction industry instead? But what about council regulations on such?"
"I suppose we could mine - I know that in the area I lived we had a lot of deposits for various metals." Kroc said and blinked. "And no, not really. Never learned about all that stuff. I imagine … oh." Kroc said before catching Aleksey's hand and grinning, "that must be what the Rainbow Serpent wants me to learn more about from Nikita. I'm already very strong at fighting, so maybe the reason she wants me to go to a cold environment is to study?" Kroc mused in thought before letting Aleksey's paw go. "What do you think?"
"That you no idea about politics or managing territory." Aleksey gave another weak hit and his back satisfyingly cracked from the twisting motion. "You may learn some by observing uncle but he too busy to teach simple basics. He will teach how to master feral state, but that it. You no prepare to be alpha if you no know how to manage territory." And before Kroc could add or say more. He asked a new question. "What about economy? You plan to establish self trade, internal sovereignty, sustainability and sustainability; or you plan on creation and regulation of commerce permits inside land? What about tributes? You prefer Extraspecies time banking, resource barter and direct trade, or even hooman coin?"
Kroc remained quiet, trying to think of an appropriate answer but came up very short in thought. Before he could think of an answer, Aleksey continued.
"Sabre know more of that than even I. Mate very smart, but even so, you know too little to even consider alpha. You no strength of mind or knowledge."
"Give me some time to think." Kroc said, continuing to block, catch and redirect some of Aleksey's punches while Kroc tried to think about what economy he would have - and as he thought over the answers, he began realizing that he really had no idea about anything in economics. He didn't even know the basics. In all that time he spent getting strong enough to kill Ale, Kroc neglected to advance his mind. "Well, I did not think of becoming an alpha at first but you're right, mate. I really don't know much at all." Kroc admitted with a frown, shocked at how little he really knew and how unprepared he was. Not that it discouraged him - if anything it was showing him what weaknesses he needed to overcome.
"Niet. You lost challenge. You know not basics. If I possible ally or enemy it easy to manipulate you." Aleksey grinned, sensing Kroc beginning to understand just how uneducated he was. Aleksey went in for a punch but, trapped in his own thoughts, Kroc did not block it - instead of meeting the slightly giving force of Kroc's palm, Aleksey punched Kroc right in his metal jaw. The crushing hit barely budged, making all the pressure of his punch to reverberate down Aleksey's fingers and arm, making him crumble back in agony.
Kroc's head jolted back a bit from the hit but otherwise was completely fine. "Ah, sorry about that," Kroc said, seeing Aleksey's face contorting into pain before he controlled his expression. "You alright?" Kroc asked.
"Da." Aleksey musked between clenched fangs. But he had won, even if it was at the cost of his fingers. He could tell something might be sprained. Later on his paw would get swollen but he had won the mental battle nonetheless. It was worth it.
"Are you alright, Aleksey?" Ebele's voice asked, having seen what looked like was the the tiger sucker punching the saltwater crocodile in the metal jaw - and paid the price with his paw.
"Lady Ebele?" Aleksey turned around to see the lamia coming in.
"Hey, mate, let me see your paw," Kroc said, seeing Aleksey subtly trying to nurse his injured hand. The saltwater crocodile gently pulled up Aleksey's paw and checked out the wound before cracking his jaws open. "I taste fresh blood, mate. Must have hit a tooth." Kroc's tongue lightly licked his teeth where he had been hit, tasting a tiny bit of blood on his jaws. "They're not deep, are they?" He asked, trying to get a better look at them.
"I fine." Aleksey faked calmness and amicality although he was genuinely surprised as to why the crocodile was showing care at all. He of course removed his paw and turned to the important lamia. "Ebele, would you like to negotiate or you ready for portal to home?"
"Yes, I would like to negotiate." Ebele spoke as she came over and gently lifted up his paw and took a look at the wound on his paw. "Kroc, was it? Do you mind getting us a medical kit?" Ebele asked while she settled down and examined the gashes on Aleksey's paw.
"Yeah, sheila's got a big one in the kitchen." Kroc said as he trotted off into the hallway to go get the large medical kit.
"It just a cut. I fine." The tiger said, downgrading the wound. He wasn't that weak.
"They're not too deep but you'll only need a few stitches and some ice for it. They're already beginning to swell a bit." She pointed out, gently parting some of the fur on his knuckles and showing that he had 3 small gashes - a little too deep to leave on their own.
"I no kitten. I nephew of Nikita Sviet, the white fang of winter and I mate of Amako Sabre of the Bastet. This hit irrelevant." He proudly stated, puffing whatever fur could puff up to make him look slightly more impressive. "I thank for concern, but I deal with them later. Negotiating with your clan more important."
"Here you are." Kroc said, setting down a massive medical kit where the host would be able to fit into. Kroc opened it up, looking through the supplies before Ebele leaned over and picked up a small kit with a needle and some desensitized string inside.
"It's just fine. We can negotiate while I stitch up the cuts." Ebele smiled, "there's no need to worry; I used to do this alot for Ashanti so I'm very good at stitching up cuts." Ebele giggled as she strung the needle and began brushing back some of the fur for her to close up the wound.
Kroc leaned in a bit, taking a better look at the cuts. "Sorry for the miss, mate. Didn't think you'd aim for my jaws." Kroc apologized as his tail swept across the ground.
Aleksey refrained from rolling his eyes, hissing or biting and rather concentrated on negotiating. After all, this was still a real negotiation with a possible ally. "You like to speak about commerce first? That might be better to start us off."
"Yes, that sounds like a good place to start." Ebele smiled, tying off the first stitched wound before moving on to the other.
The tiger noded and offered a polite and grateful smile. "Lamia port still under construction and Sabre's territory is yet to adapt a port too, so for now we can prepare for trade via portal. Initially we could use some metals for construction, and perhaps the lamia would like some hooman merchandise?"
"Yes, hooman merchandise would be very nice. And we would like a concession for business without our own product. After all, our jewelry and perfume products seem to be a very favored commodity amongst the hoomans. Being a little more secluded as we are, finding hooman goods are difficult. Once we get the port set up, perhaps shipping the goods to one another would be more efficient for larger amounts than using portals." Ebele smiled.
"Da. I would like to offer import tariff of 20% and tax on goods sold of 18% over price. I can accept also goods for tribute for alliance to royal. Construction materials be welcome along Lamia engineer and architect as to plan for lamia's that may like to move to territory." The tiger spoke with a grin, entering the barting stage.
"I would like to instead keep tariffs and taxes on goods at a nice 10% both. And I would also like to request business spaces for lamia to come and sell our goods to the community that will be developing here." Ebele suggested with a smile. "I would love for businesses to be set up so lamia from my tribe can spend some time both here and in their native lands."
"If you become close ally and provide constant tribute under royal extension network of allies, I can convince mate to lower import tariff for selling merchandise to 16% and make it 13% for basic goods. If lamia set up business in business center as official then tax on goods sold of 15% over selling price. We accept lamia coming in but control on number and time need be established. A program probably, but we require you to give specifications of needs and help construct proper housing and fund living adaptations; plans need be revised along development for territory."
"Would we be funding the living adaptations of only lamia or other Extraspecies as well?" Ebele asked, thinking her choices over, "and if we could have a total of 15 lamia owned and operated shops within your territory, I can agree to your tariffs and taxes; would you be willing to lower those high percentages down overtime?" Ebele asked.
"We plan to create housing that can be used and adapted for different types of Extraspecies, but as I heard you would like to have clan members come in to experience difference, so we can agree for a place to have more lamia oriented rooms." Aleksey retained his smile, ignoring the pain of his hand and planning according to Sabre's general outlines. It was nice that negotiations between Extraspecies, when not revolving around competing, were quite straight forward. "15 shops? If you buy land we don't own already we can agree on the number but type need be revised along location. If you wish rent from us then we can offer reduced rent for ally and freezing of inflation rate increase for rent for first year. Taxes rates might change over time but it will be revised according to needs of territory, so no can promise anything for such."
Kroc silently listened to their conversation, finding himself very lost in their talk for economics and numbers. However, that didn't stop him from trying to understand what they were saying. So he held very still and listened to to their conversation.
"I'm afraid we may have to rent then. The land around this territory has all already been bought up. Even the reserves." She sighed a small bit. "I was going to buy up the lands and offer that as a tribute but now what we have for a tribute are our metal and other various goods such as perfumes and candles. There are a few islands we have bought already; small and uninhabited so those alone won't do for tribute unfortunately." Ebele apologized.
Aleksey, though surprised, did not comment on such. He needed to know who had bought the rest of the land, and fast. "Then maybe nearby island still up for purchase from hoomans? And hooman land near territory be good too. Everything as close as possible be fine so its reserved and not gets hooman infested. We can negotiate a lower rent for shops or give the lamia a place in a local governance body under the royal administration."
Kroc remained still as stone with his only movement being his gaze flicking back and forth between Aleksey and Ebele. He was truly, entirely lost in their conversation.
"Then we will continue to look for more nearby islands to buy from the hooman government here." Ebele smiled. "How many of my lamia are you willing to allow to live and do business in the territory?"
Aleksey grinned his kitty smile. "That be negotiable."
And thus they kept negotiating, adding details and bartering in percentages, looking for what the other party wanted and offered in return until basic agreements were reached, after which, they bumped noses to finalize the accord, all while Kroc was ignored and left to his own confusion. Finally, Aleksey stood up.
"It been a pleasure Ebele. Now, if you will, I call for a portal to be opened for you to go home. Future meetings can be via projection or if you prefer to come visit you be welcomed. I sure little snake brother would love family coming." The tiger said quite sweetly.
"Thank you for your time, Aleksey. I will be sure to keep in contact with you." Ebele happily smiled, pleased with the proceedings.
The tiger purred a goodbye in Extraspecies language and then sent a message to a number before placing his phone in the middle of the room, where a portal opened. Ebele waved goodbye and crossed with the portal closing behind her, leaving the tiger and the crocodile alone.
Kroc remained still as stone, completely unresponsive as he stared straight ahead without moving. In his mind he was busy processing everything that had happened and was having a hard time getting a grip on reality.
"That be good." Aleksey said to no one in particular before walking towards the door to deal with his next victim.
"Aleksey." Kroc called, not deviating his gaze in the slightest.
"Huh?" The bastet barely stopped.
"Please teach me about economics and the things you spoke to Ebele about." Kroc said before turning his head towards Aleksey and staring at him without blinking. "I have a lot to learn - and you seem to be someone who could teach me." Kroc said as he stared at the tiger.
Aleksey curled his tail in thought, surprised by the request. The crocodile, while uneducated, could prove to be useful to Sabre and her territory in coming years. "Da. When time come, I teach or help." Aleksey spoke before walking out of the room and heading to his next target.
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With careful steps, Aleksey walked into the basement where the plant Extraspecies resided. His tail curled as he walked along the path being careful of the plants before he grunted a call for Naoki, a mixture between a chuff and a growl.
"You called, pollinator of the great Heika?" Naoki's voice asked.
"Da. I have request for you, seneschal and gardener." He addressed, condensing such titles to the plant that he could not pinpoint in the premise easily. "It may be winter now but I see plants under your be alive and thriving here. Your care for them be very impressive. Thus I have mission for you that will benefit territory."
"Thank you for your acknowledgement of my skills. I will always remember your recognition." Naoki spoke with a small bow in his direction.
"Da." Aleksey nodded, not even noticing the plant. "Territory will expand as you know, and we need be prepared for all. We will need many plants to help soil, land, population and economy. So I need you to get samples of many different plant type and species. We will need the biggest and strongest trees you can make grow to protect and if they can resist winter and sea storms for coast that be good too. Frutal, berry and edible will be needed for population. I know you no like that be taken but we will make sure only fruit is used while plant be not destroyed. As such, we need too medicine of all kind, and herbs for food. I know jaguar has plenty. Take all and create a indoor plantation in some building. No mind jaguar, a substitute will be given and his samples may come from different source, so every single leaf, root and seed need be tested and used. If you have plants of that kind already keep them away from usage until new ones have matured, that way we can test all. And do not forget we'll need algae for biocombustible and energy along food and commerce of goods." The tiger commanded as if nothing. "I know it too much but I confident you can do all as seneschal and chamberlain of the great Amako Sabre. Any other plant Extraspecies that you decide bring to territory will be welcomed and protected."
"Nothing is too much when it comes to heika Sabre, may her reign be bloody and glorious." Naoki spoke, blinking, "and shall start collecting samples right away. Is there anything else you desire from me?" Naoki questioned.
"None else than to also keep patrol if weather allows, and to keep using hooman scum for fertilizer. Just leave no even bones." He turned around and then considered something more. "I also learned much of this land has much hooman trash underground, so try find out where, what type and how much. All that can be converted to fertilizer should be used as fertilizer to strengthen roots and buildings. When spring comes we'll need a great sprout of vegetation."
"I shall begin the investigations immediately." Naoki spoke.
"Da. I confide in you." Aleksey smiled and then walked away, his deeds done here.
Antain lightly growled as his eyes narrowed, crawling after the big bad not papa. He was going around and scaring all his mamas! The fox's eyes flashed, continuing to stalk his horrible not papa while quieting his growls.
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The trap door to Sabre's room slowly opened as Reza opened the door, balancing himself on the stairs while carrying a large container full of food for his almighty, precious Amako who did not force him to sing or announce important names of those around her. "Sabre, your royal chef has brought you delicious food." Reza grinned as he pulled himself up and shut the trap door and locked it so none of the kittens crawling around could fall down the hole. "Wow~ I'm so happy the kittens are finally beginning to move around more!" Reza grinned as he crawled over to where Sabre was. He unfolded a large stable table the kittens wouldn't be able to knock over or get to before he began laying out the delicious spread of Sabre's meal. "And just so you know, I tested them all for poison myself." He grinned.
Sabre half woke up and looked at Reza all tired and exhausted before rolling over. "Hi, Rez … ," she mumbled, almost falling asleep right off… which she did a few seconds later.
"Hmm~ should I have come back later?" Reza chuckled, holding up a very tasty smelling plate of Gyudon, Horumonyaki and Negimaki to her nose while he took the chance to look at the kittens more carefully. They were very active, crying out loudly to make noise and be heard while crawling around the room, not restricted anymore at the polar bear rug. They looked a bit poofy and wet, and judging by the smell of the bath water they had just received a bath.
Sabre flickered her nose and opened her eyes a bit, smiling and opening her mouth but not moving to grab the chopsticks.
"Does the royal chef also need to act as your personal human butler? Hooman butlers feed the homans they're assigned to, right? Wasn't the plant doing that? Wait… is he a butler or a seneschal, a chamberlain, or an assassin? Or all?" Reza curiously asked, picking up a pair of chopsticks fluidly before taking out some beef strip and placing a small bite size into her mouth. "I've always wondered about what human butlers were supposed to do. It seems fun, so I want to try it. Some Extraspecies are fascinated with the idea of hooman butlers, no idea why though. But if he can be all that then I can too, right? It wounds fun because you don't force me to do anything I don't want, like singing, or doing those very long and boring presentations…!
Sabre munched on the food with a smile while purring, but before Reza could feed her the next strip of delicious meat she doze off.
"... And of course I've got to say you are a good royal and a good friend too, which makes it double the duty for me I suppose, but I don't mind, this is fun, not as fun as creating a new dish, but still fun, and … oh … you fell asleep? Even though the delicious food is here?" Reza stopped short, noticing his Amako Sabre had fallen dead asleep. He warmly smiled, sealing up the food to keep its freshness before feeling a nibbling on his tail. He sat back down, watching the little clouded leopard girl playing with his fin. He smiled and flipped his tail gently, making the little leopard girl fly into the air before he gently caught her with his tail fin. He held her in such a way that she was stuck on her back on his fin before he very slowly rolled her around the thing webbing on his tail and enjoying her little cries of joy as she rolled back and forth before gently flipping her into the air and then catching he again.
"Fish, why you here." Aleksey came into the room, growling and puffing up, looking at the situation but not attacking although he very much would have done so were it not for his self control and the kittens all around.
"Well, as you can see, as the faithful chef, I came to bring my Amako her meal but she fell asleep before finishing. So I am here watching the little kittens in her stead since she did not tell me to not watch them." He cheekily grinned, flipping the leopard girl into the air a small bit before catching her again, the little cub meowing happy at the fun. "I can't wait for the little babies to get old enough to eat the food I make for them. I bet they'll absolutely adore my food, just like their mother. I wonder what other kinds of fish they'll eat, or … can cats not process certain fish? I'll have to look that up, and I'll love to experiment more on what different kinds of fish they like." He grinned, picking up the little leopard girl and gently rubbing her chin. "Oooh they're all plump and fat! Look how round they are." Reza laughed, poking the little kitten's stomach. "It almost looks like it'll pop if I push hard enough." He grinned, gently rubbing the girl's belly.
"Fish, as you see, Sabre too tired to even watch cubs." Aleksey said, full of concern, coming closer. "She been working very hard as a royal and today she needs rest and sleep. I sure she barely managed to give kittens bath." He then grinned. "It be time for kitten's nap, so since you want help the Amako then sing for cubs to sleep while I help mate sleep. I no good at singing for cubs."
"Sorry, but I have no interest in singing. Only Amako Sabre could order me to do that." Reza smiled, holding up the little leopard girl and nuzzling his nose against hers, making her giggle and gently paw at his scaly face. "Amako's mate or not, she promised never to make me sing or announce dreadfully long and boring titles and names at meetings." He grinned, poking the little girl's nose.
"I no using position as Amati and Shujaa, even though I could; I asking for cooperation." Aleksey said politely but firmly.
"And I said no." Reza grinned. "I don't intend to flaunt my voice ever again like before." He heavily sighed, setting the kitten down before picking up one of the tiger girls and setting her on his chest while he pet her head.
"If you no want to help Sabre with cubs then leave as there no reason for you to be here. Kittens need sleep too, and you no fit to play with them. You clearly no want to help with simple task to help them rest too." The tiger said, about to get up to retrieve the kittens but Sabre held onto him.
"That's an awful a lot of assumptions, Shujaa." Reza smiled, picking up another kitten, the other tiger girl, and held the two with a pleased smile on his face. "And seeing how you are unable to leave Amako Sabre's side, I am watching over the little ones to make sure they don't make too much of a mess or hurt themselves." Reza explained with a small flip of his tail.
"I'll have to wake up mate to retrieve them. As I said, kittens need their nap. If you no help then go away. You aren't needed, chef." Aleksey said calmly but firmly, knowing that dealing with a noble, especially one like this fish, was tricky. With a deep sigh he accommodated, ready to jump forward if needed. "I see you indeed no cooperative. It may come to no choice but to hold back on accepting the gift from Lady Sereci as tribute to accept her son as Krigare."
Reza paused for a brief moment before glancing back at him and flickered his tail. "That's rather ballsy of you, balding mammal. Do you know what you are implying?" Reza asked, sounding rather amused at Aleksey's threat. "And what makes you think I care about that? I abandoned my post and my family a long time ago to flee the royal guard and become a sushi chef. And you think threatening my mother is enough to coerce me into doing whatever you want?" Reza asked with a smile.
"You no fool anyone, fish." Aleksey yawned. "You may have abandoned underwater court, but you still live off family and report gossip to mother. You may not care either, but if your mother's gift-plea to accept you in court be too delayed or rejected, then she no choice but to take unfit son back to mermaid court or cut all funding for runaway fish. And it be bad for her as close of mermaid queen. If you cause such offense then mermaid queen, as ally of new royal, will support new royal and remove favor from uncooperative fish's mother. "
" … heh. You are more interesting than I gave you credit for." Reza lightly laughed. "Ok, I'll sing for the sake of my mother." Reza sighed with a light flush on his face. "Ah~ this tragedy that is loving tragedy … is quite tragic." Reza chuckled before took a deep breath and began singing a very beautiful melody that seemed to have some natural echo behind it as many mermaid voices did.
Aleksey smugly smiled while making sure the recorder was indeed recording. The fish indeed had a nice voice.
The little kittens stopped their roaming around before they crawled over to Reza and stared at his mouth, seeming mezmorized that such a sound was coming from the fish's throat. Very slowly and one by one, they began dropping and slumping against one another with a soft purr emitting from their chests. Reza smiled and picked them up one by one and set them aside in their bed, lightly patting them on the heads as he continued to sing a rather beautiful melody.
The tiger made sure Sabre was soundly asleep and the kittens were tucked in. "I be back later, please watch kittens sleep as much as possible." He whispered to the fish, knowing the recordings were on and that if he stopped singing before the cubs were well rested, the kittens would more likely wake up and demand more singing. He didn't like leaving the fish here, but he had to take care of the other issues.
With another mama down, Antain's eyes narrowed as he carefully balanced the plastic knife in his teeth while walking along the beams. He was determined to get revenge for his precious mamas he was scaring.
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Aleksey cheekily grinned as he silently stepped closer to Jackie's room, plotting to complete his final revenge of the day with the host, who had been both a source of comfort and harm to his precious mate. He severely disliked how she had played mind games with Sabre by taking away her petting, one of the few things that helped her relax during her stressful times in training to become a good royal and that deserved punishment. Aleksey devilishly smirked as he snuck into her room, hearing her in the bathroom.
"D***it, that doesn't look right." Jackie's voice growled as Aleksey opened the door, about to ask the host to clean up various well placed mess but when he saw her, he froze. She was wearing a rather nice attire of jean short shorts and a very nice blouse of the gifts Sabre gave the hooman; but her face had a mask of way too much makeup. Jackie's eyes widened, startled before she looked away, suddenly embarrassed.
"Why clown makeup? I no see costume. Host plan to entertain charges in new way?" Aleksey curiously asked while blocking the exit and just having a quite innocent kitty look.
" … it looks that bad?" Jackie heavily sighed, before grabbing what looked to be a make crusted towel before she wiped off her face with water to start fresh again. Her expression was quite drawn, clearly rather upset at yet another failed attempt judging by the pile of ruined towels beside her.
"So no clown then? If you clown then cute clothes wrong type of cloth." He tilted his head, looking her up and down for her to notice his stare.
"I'm going out tonight; I told everyone else but you were nowhere to be found." Jackie frowned as she picked up the foundation and stared at it in annoyance.
"Host? It all fine with Jaska? I sure he told much little while ago?" Aleksey asked, not casually but making it seem as if he was mildly worried.
"W-What about him?" Jackie asked, glancing off to the side awkwardly.
"You tell me. What about bratja? And what about host in relation to bratja?" He pushed.
Jackie nervously frowned, a little uncomfortable by the question. "I … ," she started, hesitating before slightly shaking her head to get a grip on herself. "I-I'm a host. It uh, it's not very appropriate to have feelings for any of my charges." She stated as her cheeks darkened a few shades.
"So you have feelings for bratja?" Aleksey smiled. "He a good kitty."
"I mean, he's a great guy and all but I … ," she hesitated glancing away. All of her charges were good guys and amazing too. It was like all her charges were on another level; and she definitely was feeling the weight of Longwei's and Nikita's words and scorn on her shoulders. She's put them through so much and … well, she definitely didn't really deserve them. She frowned, shaking off the feeling of inadequacy for now. "I don't know." Jackie admitted.
"You do." The tiger declared, closing his eyes before opening them slowly and helping her with her hair. "You no be confused or hesitant if you did not."
"I guess," Jackie sighed, rubbing her forehead at her dilemma. It definitely confirmed for her that Jaska did like her and wanted more from her than just being his host. Same went for Dumisa too, and she had a strange feeling in her gut that the others might be under the same disposition.
"You out where tonight?" Aleksey asked, snapping her back to attention; changing the topic a bit to leave the idea already planted open . "Hoomans wear makeup as mating ritual, right? You seeking mate? Or … what they call it?" He grabbed his chin. "Ahhh da, a date?"
"H-How did you know that?" Jackie asked with a light flush on her face as her heart skipped a beat.
"Host never dress nice or tries makeup to look nice. So I guess, da?" He smiled, changing his plans for revenge. The night of the full moon was soon. So this was the perfect time, not to mention that the host had signed a contract, so she should be truth to it and now he would make sure she endured it properly. With a firm hand he grabbed the eyeliner "Come, host. Let me help prepare." Aleksey purred as he took the make up components away from her. "Hold still, host."
Jackie backed up and covered her face, suspiciously staring at him. "Do you know how to do human make up?" She asked, sounding unsure of whether or not she should trust him.
"Da. I make face look better than what you did. I used to help other operatives look more hooman for date missions." He chuckled as she frowned. "Trust me. I help look better for human mate." He said as he pulled her over and sat her on it knee. He held her still, using the human size make up surprisingly well as he began applying some foundation under her eyes. "Host have good face for hooman standard, so you not need much makeup." He chuckled, beginning to place some eyeshadow on her eyelids.
"You uh, you think so?" Jackie asked, continually glancing into the mirror to track what he was doing to her face. Which, admittedly, was coming together much faster and better than what she was doing.
"Da. I know so. Profile of what hoomans consider pretty in potential mate is clear." He warmly smiled, placing some pink lipstick on her face before curling her eyelashes a little bit, making her flinch from the pull.
Jackie nervously held still before Aleksey poked her cheek and directed her gaze into the mirror where she saw her face which looked shockingly beautiful. The host leaned closer, taking a better look at her face. She really did look good with just a little bit of makeup on.
"There. And outfit mate provided much cute." Aleksey chuffed in a friendly manner before Jackie took a look at the phone.
"I uh, I better head off now. Thank you, Aleksey." Jackie sheepishly thanked as Aleksey walked her to the door.
"Have fun." Aleksey smiled before shutting the door on the host before she could respond. A wicked grin pulled up Aleksey's lips as his head tipped back, knowing exactly hot to get under the skins of the host and all the charges at the same time to get them all in line - now that the charges were already emotionally compromised thanks to his schemes, they would be easier to manipulate just in time for the full moon;besides, It was about time that they advanced and settled the contract with the host, even if that meant he had to be a bad kitty.
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Peeko: This chapter was so big, 90+ pages, that we had to split it in half … again xD the second I see we have 10 REVIEWS up I'll post the next chapter since it's already completed. So sorry for the long wait!
Chaos: Yeah, we went writing and only realized it was that long until we were almost done. Anyways we feel the need to explain the update systems for the various works again. We will be rotating between the updates of 'Duty of the red hood' (which might be moved to chaos-dark-lord's account as rating might change), 'Always read the freaking contract' (in Peeko's account), and 'A-theist' (currently in CDL's account) . We are only requiring 5 reviews for the other stories and we will keep on the updates as soon as the number of reviews have been attained. We just posted an update for A-theist and next one will be the 'Duty of the red hood'. With this system we think we can give you more wonderful stories while you wait for the next update.
Peeko: we'll try to, anyway xD
Chaos: ¬_¬
