Out of the Norm

Keelin watched as Merrick attempted to take a bite of the venison he brought... only to have him grimace at the unpleasantness of it and wrap up the rest to throw it back into the basket. Well, it was the thought that counted, she supposed. He handed her a jar and she pulled off the lid with a bit of effort to reveal what appeared to be some cut up pieces of fruit she couldn't immediately identify that likely seen better days. It was unclear if these had been intended to be eaten sooner rather than later and were forgotten about or maybe if this was someone's attempt at making some kind of fermented fruits gone wrong. Either way, the smell coming from them wasn't entirely pleasant and she wasn't sure if they should even attempt to eat them. She didn't want them to get sick over a stubbornness to actually eat something on this picnic. She quietly put the lid back on the jar and set it back in the basket and instead just focused on the wine. At least it was tasty and she felt like maybe she might need a bit of alcohol to get through whatever it was Merrick was trying to warn her about.

In true Merrick fashion he didn't have any lead up or build up. Instead he just spoke plainly and gave her the rules unceremoniously. All but one of the pups had to die and he would be the one to pick the survivor and kill the rest. Considering she was still getting used to the idea that she was going to be having pups and bearing his children and was his "mate" for all intents and purposes this bit of news felt like just another thing to add to the whirlwind. She almost wished they could go back to living on the ship and continuing on their lives as slave and master. That at least was easy and understandable. This... She didn't really know what to make of this. She took another drink of wine and tried to figure out how she felt about the rules he laid out for him from his family.

She thought maybe it would shock her more than it did, but after the life she had lived so far nothing really seemed to shock her. She couldn't say she was particularly eager to be a mother and she didn't know the first thing about raising a pup so would it be that terrible to have her job cut down to one? As she thought that she realized she should probably feel worse about thinking about this so logically instead of thinking about how many pups would have to be killed for no other reason than his family's traditions, but she had lived a difficult life already. She knew the world wasn't wonderful and perfect. If anything it would just spare those pups whatever darkness could have been ahead of them. "Alright..." she finally agreed with a bit of uncertainty, setting the bottle back down after another drink. The wine was starting to warm her, but her mind was still clear. "How do you decide which one gets to live?" she asked curiously, more interested in the thought process behind all of this than the act itself.

"Keelin"