The state of things [Done]

[Tigeress]

Lost muse, sorry! I blame Morpheus' wickedness X3



The little highland feline padded into the room with quiet confidence. Her papa was in here somewhere she'd heard, and apparently he was okay for visitors today. The two overaffectionate hoebags that had been clinging to him over the past few months had at least that much use in her life, making him feel better and all, but at least they were finally gone for a day. It wasn't that Naylia was exceptionally hard to please, she just disliked people who were of no direct use to her that she couldn't manipulate. Her brothers and her papa were the rare exceptions to this rule. If anyone hurt them, they would pay.... severely. And hell, she'd be the one red-handed for the first time ever if it that's what it took.

Because of this, she'd decided a few days ago that someone had to die for making her papa upset, and for killing her father. She hadn't been nearly as close to him as to her papa, but he'd made him... strangely happy. So whatever, someone had to die nonetheless. Sitting quietly upon the floor, she couldn't see the distraught figure of the broken feline anywhere, had he stuffed himself under a bed or something?

"Papa, you're in here, aren't you?" She called out tentatively, her voice a soft feminine purr that carried across the room with ease. He'd liked that, her commanding voice, it was calculated and cool but with a pleasant sound, like people described his. She'd learned a lot from him that he hadn't even had to teach her personally. The feline was an apt pupil and very ninja at it.

[Spiderfly]

Pravus had been in his room for the majority of the day. Soon he tired of it however and slipped quietly out of his room and down to the kitchens. His stomach made an awkward gurgling noise and he glared down at it as he finally entered the main kitchen. The cat moved about, collecting a few things while stuffing a bun in his mouth before moving back out of the kitchen and back towards his room. As he neared it however he paused, hearing a voice. .

Who the hell was in his room? He dropped the food and stalked forwards, a rather sadistic grin on his face. Pravus always did like having an excuse to hurt something.

He moved into the doorway in a crouch before standing . . . Naylia. His jaw shifted to the side in a face of frustration. "What are you doing in my room Nay?" He moved towards the small table with two chairs and sat down, forgetting the dropped food in the hallway.

[Tigeress]

She didn't jump, but turned and blinked in surprise as her papa entered the room. He certainly seemed in a foul mood, but she'd been expecting that. At least he wasn't crying anymore or being lost and delusional and such as he'd heard people gossiping about. It seemed like gradually the shock was giving way to bitterness, but she was okay with that. He was actually a lot better than Raj and Khizr when they were angry. They certainly could mouth off against the best of them.

"Looking for you, of course." She stated it very matter-of-factly, as she'd never been in his room for anything other than his company. Some children liked to go through their parents things, but she'd never felt the need for it. He was a man after all, what nice things could he have that would suit her feminine tastes? No, she scouted around other people's rooms, or rather, convinced someone to scout around other people's rooms when she was curious about that sort of thing.

"Can I do anything for you at the moment, papa? You seem... agitated." She didn't bother asking if he was okay, he obviously wasn't. But she Could go find him something to occupy himself with until his mood became better. She didn't need to ask what he did with them, she didn't particularily care. They were there, he was there, they were gone, and he was in a better mood. What more could she possibly care to know? It didn't bother her any that she knew what he did might be considered 'wrong' by moral standards, they probably wouldn't have served any better purpose if they'd been left to live out the rest of their lives. Only the most low-down disrespectable slum-bums were brought in, people nobody would miss. Less questions that way. And less dirty bodies mucking up the streets of her region.

[Vyn]

([small death] Mephit made me. >_> She's too paranoid for something like that to go overlooked. If I'm interrupting something, then I'll promptly have her leave once she's sure Pravus is alright XD)

Even once Court life began to slowly but surely settle back into place and Mephitisia was forced to return to some of her duties as a Jack, she still kept an eagle-close watch on Pravus. She took whatever opportunity she could find to slip by his chambers or the dungeons and assure herself that everything was in order and that he was taking care of himself.

She took comfort in the regularity of her routine and the rarity of things going amiss.

Except for this afternoon.

As she passed by Pravus's room the food left in the hallway caught her attention and sent a wave of paranoid concern up her spine. The door still sitting half open did not help any, either. Smoothly stooping to gather up the forgotten food, Mephitisia stepped boldly into the room, hooves clicking on the floor as she rounded the corner onto Pravus and the highland child. She didn't recognize this one. A brow arched slowly.

"Is everything alright?" Her gaze swept over both figures before returning to Pravus. She said nothing more, but held up what he'd dropped as if to ask 'is this yours?'.

[Spiderfly]

( Umm, just to let you know Pravus is the least giving person ever XD Hell he's never even given anything to Linda and Lior and they're his kids with Fino. 0o Just thought you'd want to know Tigs in case you'd read him wrong. . . Pravus is such a bastard unless he likes sleeping with you XD . Thank god he doesn't like sleeping with his kids!. . .)

Pravus tapped his claws on the table before sighing slightly and gesturing towards the other chair. . . Kids. . .he just didn't get them. Xiven, he got, but the whole brood from Sekhmet were just. Not to mention Lior and Linda. He had thought, they if any children of his would be the ones he'd bond with and yet.

He looked the cross over, reminded of Sekhmet for a second from the wings on her back and a flash of anger shot through him but it receded quickly. Everything seemed to be slipping away from him lately, as far as emotions went. He couldn't hold onto anything. Though. . . strangely. . he was happy when Peaches and Mephit were around. As long as they were around some inner part of him was at peace if only for a while.

He raised an eyebrow at Naylia's question. What could a child do for him? "Uhh. . I'm not quite sure what you're getting at." His cold eyes regarded her for a minute. At least she wasn't as bad as Rajekhri and Khizr.

Suddenly Mephit entered the room and the barest of smiles tweaked his lips before disappearing again. "I'm. . . fine. Mephit, this is Naylia." He made a gesture at the small highlander. His eyes blinked a bit when he saw the food and he quickly stood to go and take it from her arms.

He looked at the doe with the slightest bit of sheepishness in his eyes before hardening up again.

[Tigeress]

She was surprised he didn't ask her to fetch someone for him to dissapear into the basement chambers with, but it seemed he'd been acting really, really weird lately. Normally he didn't hang around girls for too long, unless he wanted to hurt them or have fun with them. The girl knew a lot of her papa's personal behaviour from a few good spies and a lot of chatty mouths. A few of them had gone missing now and again, but that was the gamble they took. She stayed out of it. When the doe entered the room, she shifted over a few paces closer to the chair that Pravus had motioned her to. Argh, stupid overaffectionate hoebags, they weren't supposed to be in here today. But she should have known better. They were Always around. How in the hell was she going to get father to like her more than Raj and Khizr if they kept coming in and disrupting her?

It wasn't that she just wanted his affection for bragging rights, she actually cared about how he was doing, and she knew she was judged based on multitudes of other people, which prevented her true intentions with him from coming through. She never understood why her brothers seemed to not care about him very much, he wasn't stupid or useless, he was strong and smart and despite how he came off, she had the distinct feeling that if bad were to befall her or her brothers, he would be very upset indeed.

"Hello, your Excellence." Yeah, she knew how to be polite in front of his royal whores, because whores or not, he liked them and it seemed to make him happy when she was reasonable towards them. However, when Pravus turned away she made sure to send off a warning glare. Hopefully the doe wouldn't be dumb enough to comment on it, she was quite good at feigning innocence, and as far as Pravus would know, she'd have no reason to have done such a thing. She kept her personal opinions to herself around him, regardless of who they were about.

"I was getting at- you've been cooped up in your room for the longest time, and most of the time you're upset. Isn't there anything I can do to convince you to get out for a while?" Well, outside was loud and busy, and his personal torture chambers weren't exactly outside, but his lack of going anywhere was really throwing her off. She'd never grieved before, didn't know what it was like. All she knew was that there had to be a way to make it end sooner rather than later, she'd been toiling over it all morning.

[Vyn]

Mephitisia nearly breathed a sigh of relief once she caught that bare hint of a smile as it flickered briefly in and out of life. Good, everything was okay. She surrendered the food to feline, a smile half-touching her muzzle before something else sliced through her mind.

The little Highlander's thoughts rushed through her mind each time she thought of the doe, allowing her to see exactly what Naylia thought of her. Mephitisia tensed abruptly, her eyes darkening like smoldering embers as they swung down onto the little Highlander. Over-affectionate hoebag? Her eye twitched ever so slightly and, through clenched teeth, she hissed her reply.

In a sudden switch from the casual chill she had greeted Pravus with, Mephitisia's voice had reached that spine-tingling iciness that she treated all those she disapproved of with. Instantly she disliked this girl. "Naylia." She offered no formalities, not even a hint of friendliness.

When the little Highlander glared at her, Mephitisia simply laughed -- the sound was as cold and cruel as her voice. "Watch your attitude, Naylia. I won't be here long and you can control yourself while I am, can't you?"

[Spiderfly]

Pravus had moved to the far end of the room to set down the food on the night stand. His hunger however was abruptly forgotten because of the company in the room and then. . . her laugh. A dark thrill ran down his spine, he couldn't help it and he whipped around to see what had happened while his back was turned.

"What did she do?" Pravus near growled staring down Naylia. Always, with these stupid children from Sekhmet. Perhaps this little one was as bad as her brothers, but no . . . she wasn't. If Mephit was outwardly chastizing her for something than she had been much more obvious than her brothers would have been.

"Naylia, I don't care what the fuck you just did but if you so much as think an insult at Mephit I want you out of my room. Do you hear me?" Instead of his voice rising with anger it began to lower in pitch. Stupid little brat, what the hell had she said or done. And how could she possibly be stupid enough to center something at Mephit.

"Better yet, you think an insult at Mephit and I let her do whatever the hell she wants to you." Why did this cub insist on pestering him. He never liked it when she came around. Hell he never did when any of them besides Xiven came around. He just wanted them to leave him /alone/.

[Tigeress]

Her tail twitched as she listened to the woman speak. What kind of weird mental thing did she have that she could listen in on someone else's thoughts? It was rather rude, come to think of it, at least she had only thought those things and hadn't said them out loud. Her thoughts were her own personal territory, and if she had of been trying to misbehave, she would have just called the girl a slut and left it at that. But, despite her best efforts, if the doe insisted on intruding into her thoughts, she'd just have to make sure to think of butterflies and happyness or whatever else came to mind that had nothing to do with anything that was currently going on.

"I thought I was controlling myself. Very well, I'll work on that. My apologies." She sounded unusually sincere, though she still didn't like the cold attitude of this woman. However, she wasn't... fluffy or airheaded, like that crazy ass cat that hung around a lot. The doe seemed to be sane, logical, and eerily like her papa. Well.... maybe he had made a good choice in keeping her around. If she wasn't annoying, that was. So far she hadn't been, but maybe she was a ditz when Pravus wasn't around, no... it was hard to feign intelligence. Well maybe she was worthy of his attentions then, just maybe.

"I hear you loud and clear, papa. You... really honestly like her, don't you?" It was an exceedingly strange question to come out with the girl in the room, but she was curious. She had to hear it from him, that she wasn't just a plaything, because she would Not be talked down to by any of his playthings, Jacks or Queens, or hell, even Jokers. That was just too much. But if he truly liked her, maybe she could get used to her and perhaps even be civil if she was going to be around all the time. Gah, she hated not knowing about these things, he kept so much from everyone.

"That is understandable. I should hope to avoid that." Her ears flattened slightly and she curled in on herself a bit. The doe better not be here just to make her miserable, but if she was truly a bitch like that, Pravus wouldn't like her. She knew that he didn't like her brothers attitudes, and she had inherited the temper that often caused it. Not being in the know bothered her, not understanding her papa's motives even more, and the thought of her papa being used pushed beyond both of those.

[Vyn]

Mephit's expression twitched oddly. There was something between hatred and amusement in her orange eyes and her muzzle was twisted into a sadistic smile; fangs very visible. She had caught the thrill that had run through Pravus's spine, and her blood chilled with excitement for a brief moment...until Naylia's thoughts flushed into her head again.

Not an ability, no...but the bracelet itself which channeled the true thoughts of her companions into her mind. Well, at least the thoughts that concerned her. Bloody brat.

"As Pravus said, I can hear everything you think about me..." She rolled her eyes, expression cold and penetrating. "My comment, however, was brought about by your glaring. It that is your idea of control, I am abhorred."

She paused as the child spoke to her father, asking a question that inwardly brought her up short. Did he honestly like her? Well, that was almost interesting. Mephit hadn't thought about it in those terms before. They had sex, of course, and that was 'liking' enough for Mephit. Like she would have sex with someone she disliked.

Without missing a visible beat, Mephit arched a brow to stare at the girl before her and awaited Pravus's answer. This might be, entertaining.