Property, Pride, and Pancakes
[2026/10/24 12:20:32] Crow: /me moved from his tent. His face dark and grim. Surely this was not the day to get into an argument with him. His eyes, sharp as daggers moved from the bond to the killer. “Tal Arsus. Kedja.” he greeted. Although there was much kindness in his heart for both, his voice and tone didn’t represent it at all. He was serious. Very serious. More serious than he had been in a long while.
[2026/10/24 12:21:46] KeDjA: /me huffs when Arsus says something about calming down and raises her left hand into the air, gesturing wildly. “Calm down? I’m supposed to calm down? Who’s going to tell that to the Vulos and Verrs when they’re clucking and bleating with hunger, just because some coin slut had to throw herself at a man and leave them to their fate?” She spins on her heels and flinches when she sees Crow. In her rage, she’s once again failed to notice who was approaching. She grumbles discontentedly and roughly sets the basket of Vulo eggs down on the table behind her.
[2026/10/24 12:26:45] αяѕυѕ: “Tal Crow,” Arsus replied dryly. Arsus couldn’t yet figure out what had gotten under Crow’s skin, but it must have been something major, judging by the way he sounded—and especially by the look on his face. “Trouble?” he asked. When he saw Kedja set the basket of eggs down roughly on the table, he called out, “Careful, the eggs!” “You can always kill the whore when you see her,” he then said mischievously.
[2026/10/24 12:31:11] Crow: /me snapped his head towards Kedja as she spoke so boldly. He could guess as to what had transpired or how she felt. It was the law of Gor. A woman, once free, with the responsibility had found her way to her knees. Instead of the bond celebrating the new found freedom of the woman she found herself angry. “Is this about the slave of the killer that was once the farmer ?” the question was not directed to only one of them. He would move to Kedja as she put down the basket. His hand would shoot to her neck – in an attempt to grab her and pull her close. “If you wish to throw a fit … ” he paused as his eyes pierced through hers. “I would suggest you do it another moment … or when I am gone.” his voice low and with this dark whisper. If he had been in another mood surely it had been a promise of primal desire and need.
[2026/10/24 12:35:28] KeDjA: /me glances briefly into the basket, but apparently all the eggs had survived the fall just fine. And even if they hadn’t… there were so many… At Arsus’s words, she grabs one of the kitchen knives and drives it into the wood with a quick, forceful motion. “I will,” she promises ominously. She takes several deep breaths in and out to calm herself down. She knows, after all, that there’s nothing she can do about it right now. So, after a few breaths, she announces, “We’re having pancakes tomorrow.” At that moment, she feels a hand on the back of her neck and her muscles tense, while at the same time her hand releases the knife’s handle. A contradictory reaction, yet one that conveys more than words likely ever could. Her eyes narrow slightly at Crow’s dark, quiet words before she replies just as softly, “Then I’ll wait until you’re gone, Master.”
[2026/10/24 12:41:05] αяѕυѕ: Arsus watched as Crow’s hand shot forward. Arsus shook his head. “Yeah, we’re talking about the slut who abandoned her animals—I’d be mad, too,” Arsus said sharply as Crow grabbed Kedja by the throat. “Now you can let her go and take your anger out on someone else—preferably the one who’s actually responsible.” Even though Kedja was just a slave, she was his. Seeing Crow lose his temper like this was something new for Arsus. In his rage, Arsus had thrown vases against the wall before, but that was as far as it went.
[2026/10/24 12:45:14] Crow: /me would pull her against him even more, having her reach to the tip of her toes. The masculine scent of burned wood, leather and spice is like this cloud around him. His other hand grip to her chin as to have her face him. “That will be a good choice.” he breaths while his eyes lock to hers. There was something dark and primal in his gaze. One that could portray desire, focus or murder it was difficult to say. When Arsus spoke about letting go of her, he would turn his attention to him. His motions slow and hardly acted out in anger. There was no rage only control. “You two sound like an old companioned couple.” he reasons. “If you let her behave this way … without discipline you will be the one questioned and scrutinized.” It was clear that Crow was not intimidated, but had no intent to pursuit this any further. He would release her. “I love pancakes.” he added while he adjusted his tunic. Ensuring the insignia was worn on his sleeve.
[2026/10/24 12:50:51] KeDjA: /me presses her lips together as he forces her onto her tiptoes. Her hands clench, and her green eyes can barely hide her emotions as he turns her face toward him. “I’m trying,” she murmurs in response to his decision. A soft, dark sound escapes her throat as her eyes dart back and forth between his. When Crow lets go of her, she sinks back onto her heels and instinctively takes a step back, as if trying to escape the darkness. Her hand briefly slides to the back of her neck to rub the skin above her collar. Her eyes wander to Arsus, and she blinks for a moment before the corners of her mouth lift slightly, perhaps as a kind of silent signal.
[2026/10/24 12:54:26] αяѕυѕ: Arsus didn’t answer right away. He looked at Crow with icy eyes. “It’s my property, and in the end, I’m the one who decides how you treat my property. And I’m the one who decides how I treat my property and no one else. As for the elderly couple, that may be true, after all, I’ve owned Kedja for over 500 years. Kedja takes out her anger on objects; you, apparently, on living beings as well.” Arsus’s voice was sharp, but not confrontational. Wars had been fought and people murdered over slaves; he didn’t want it to come to that. “Pancakes? I’ll take eight,” he said.
[2026/10/24 12:59:02] Crow: /me regarded Arsus without so much as a flicker of expression. The man’s words were received in silence, Crow’s dark gaze resting upon him with the patience of a blade held at the throat. Ownership, it seemed, was the shield Arsus had chosen to raise. A convenient one, perhaps, but it did little to answer the matter at hand. “Your property, Arsus. Your responsibility, then, to ensure that it does not become an excuse for poor conduct. You are entitled to decide how you treat what belongs to you. That does not place your decisions beyond observation, nor does it make the consequences of those decisions disappear.” He allowed a brief silence to follow, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the comparison drawn between Kedja and himself. He offered no immediate defense. “Eight pancakes, then.” A faint, humorless trace of a smile touched the corner of his mouth. “At least one matter this morning appears to require no further debate. Now let us go.”
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