He hadn’t seen Zee in a few days, not by herself at any rate. He was struggling to process his feelings for her, he wasn’t sure if he missed her or straight up hated her guts. She was a foolish, silly girl who couldn’t understand what was happening around her. Always giving sass to her beaters, forcing him to beat her up. This was all her fault, and the one time he tried to fix it, she decided she hated him instead. He wasn’t sure they would ever see eye to eye again, and both of them where going out of there way to avoid each other, especially after what had happened in Belle’s den. He should have settled down on the ox blanket, and gone to sleep. He shouldn’t have raised his head at the first pitter-patter of rain, and gotten anxiously to his paws. When the storm started in earnest, he waited expectantly at the entrance of his den, peering out so he could help guard her to the safety of his home when she saught him out. Despite everything going on between them, he didn’t imagine for a moment that she wouldn’t come. After all, he had seen, tasted, witness her fear in that first storm. She had been horrified. He waited, and he waited, and another crack of thunder boomed through the sky, and still she did not come. He grabbed the cheetah coat he had carefully cleaned for her, and drapped it over his back so his mouth would be clear. He then left the den, moving out into the rain and towards her den, expecting to see her somewhere between. When he reached her den and still did not find her, he was afraid she had gone the wrong way, and was lost out there in the dark night, alone and afraid. So, when he stuck his head in her den, and found her curled up afraid in the safety inside, he was surprised. “Zee, why didn’t you come?’ he demanded as he stepped inside without invitation, shaking water from his coat as he dumped the Cheetah skin on the floor. "Speech"

She knew there was to be a storm soon, the deep dark clouds covered the sky in such little time she barely had time to make it back to her den before the rain started. She spent most of the storm's beginnings staring out from her den, trying desperately to push herself out into the world to go find Sirius and take him up on his offer. For tonight she wanted to put her hate aside and nestle into his thick fur, but the thought of him infuriated her all over again and she found herself unable to take the first step outside. With a frustrated huff she turned back to the far corner of her den, curling within herself and poking her muzzle into her underbelly. Her ears pulled tight against her skull in a sad attempt at blocking out some of the noise that was roaring outside. It was a futile effort, and with each passing boom the small slave's body shook harder. Sad whimpers escaped her maw and she did nothing to hide them. Alone was good. Alone meant she could feel the sorrow and fear and not be ashamed of it. The storm didn't rage long before a voice came upon her den. She flinched, badly startled by the noise. The pounding rain outside hid even the heavy footsteps of her ex-friend. Her head lifted sharply to regard him, the blue pools of her eyes swirling with equal parts fear and hate. "Get out." Zee begged, her energy drained from the terror that grasped within her. "I can't believe you need to ask why I didn't come." Another boom, and she curled into an even tighter ball. She tried her best to still her quaking body but it was no use, the anxiety had a harder grip upon her then her pride could ever have. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He saw her as he spoke, huddled in a shivering, scared ball in her den, one that flinched horrible at the sound of his voice. He was still angry with her, but it abated some at the physical evidence of her terror. She told him to leave, but he snorted in exasperation at that. Instead, he picked up the coat with his teeth, shaking out some of the wet from the Cheater fur, before moving forward, leaning over, and placing it over Zee. it wasn’t as thick and large as the Ox coat, so it didn’t drown her entirely, but it suited her beater, and formed nicely around her curved. With a sigh, he knelt down on the floor beside her, before rolling onto his side so his back was against her. He let his coat push into hers, and found his eyes looking out into the dark sky beyond, feeling a horrible sadness in his gut. Why did their friendship have to break? The sight of her alone on her dens floor was enough to make him angry, upset, sad and useless, all rolled into one large ball of anxiety. He showed none of that emotion, just let himself be there for her in silence, not forcing her to look at him, and facing away from her to be as less offensive as possible. But, at the end of the day, he had no intention of leaving her to her fear, no matter what terrible words she had thrown at him. "Speech"

He ignored her request and barged deeper into her den. She felt the coat fall over her back, turning her head away from him to hide any emotion that might come over her at the gesture. It was a different one then before, less fluffy and warm but also less engulfing. She was prepared to quietly accept the offering and attempt sleep once more, but then he lay himself against her and her passionate fury reignited. "How dare you." She growled, teeth slipping free from her gums. "Do you seriously think I want your comfort now? I'd rather sleep outside under the storm." Standing quickly, the pelt fell from her shoulders onto the floor between them. She gave it a look of consideration before resigning to leave it there, shoving herself hard past him to move towards the den's exit. Her steps were quick and decisive, though they came to a halt before she made it out into the rain. "No, I will not be chased out of my own damn den." Whirling, she turned to face him. "What is wrong with you, Sirius?" She demanded, voice thick with desperation. "What the hell would ever possess you to do such a thing as taking another slave right in front of me?" Her fury rose, her tone increasing in volume with her words until she was nearly shouting at him. "Is it not enough for you to bully and demean me, that you need to drag some other helpless soul into it? Did you seriously think I would appreciate the gesture?" She paused, chest heaving as her fury burned away her terror. Thunder boomed behind her, and she stood unflinching in the doorway. "I thought you were different. I was stupid enough to think you actually cared." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He had hoped that she would settle, and accept his silent comfort until the end of the storm, when he would leave her to her anger and hatred. It was too much to hope for, and she got angrily to her feet, the coat falling from her back as she growled at him. how dare you she said, and he wasn’t certain if he should feel angry or sad. He had a feeling she was never going to forgive him, and he would never again be able to protect her from her fear of a thunderstorm. That thought filled her with sadness, as he remembered her soft sleeping form in front of him that first night. Of her fear as she lay her alone and bitter angry instead. She moved to go to the entrance of her den, and he got silently to his feet, watching her, uncertain how to proceed. How was he to know just how tricky a female could be? what is wrong with you she accused him next, and he managed, only just, to keep a self-hating smirk from his lips. Oh she didn’t know the half of it. He growled as he listened to her words, and struggled to think of an appropriate response. He had already told her how he was sick of being the one to hurt her, and wasn’t sure how else to get his point across. “In my entire life, I have never met someone who would turn down the gesture of bringing in a slave, I was raised be people who enslave others. You chose to put yourself here, Zee.” he growled again, then shrugged, and hung his head. He couldn’t mast his anger, not now. Without it, he felt more helpless and exposed then ever. “Dammit Zee, have your damn den then” he stalked past her, leaving the Cheetah skin gift on the floor as he moved out into the rain, promptly sat down in front of her den, and looked up into the sky. He let it fall across his eyes and down his muzzle as he took long, slow breaths and tried to understand what it was about Zee that agitated and infuriated him all rolled into one. "Speech"

He spoke for the hundredth time on how slavery worked, and Zee felt her frustration build. He didn't understand. Yeah she could accept that Ashen took slaves, whatever. She could close her eyes and ignore it. But he was missing her point entirely. "You idiot." She seethed, narrowing her eyes at him as he lifted from the ground. "There is a difference between enslaving a wolf who trespasses at your borders and going out looking for one. You did not only take that man for no reason whatsoever, but you made me an accomplice to it. What was I supposed to do? Warn him and risk making the capture even harder for the poor fool? What you did was unfair to him, and it was cruel to me. You damn well know my opinion on slavery and you're stupid if you'd think I wouldn't care." She gave him a heavy sigh as he stalked past her to sit in the rain, turning to keep her eyes upon him. "I can't pretend to know your motives, you're too damn confusing." She muttered bitterly. "But for the record, I'd rather you just beat me into the ground for our masters then ever have to sit by and watch you take away someone's freedom ever again." Her ears pinned tight against her skull and her tail moved to wrap tightly around her side. "There is no one else I would have simply stood beside idly for. I would have fought even Deathbelle for his freedom. But in my loyalty for you I let it happen, and I might never get that self-respect back. You don't understand." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He sat there in the rain and listened to her words as she tried to explain why she could never condone his actions, how in taking his freedom, he had also taken something from Zee by making her an accomplice. His ears flattened to his skull, and he shivered a little in the cold night air, but he continued to stay in silence, and hear her out. He thought he was starting to get the outskirts of her anger, of the way he had made her feel, in taking that man. He wasn’t certain what to think that he was the only one she would have done it for. He was just starting to see how much of a colossal fuck up he had achieved, and why she would never forgive him. How could he fix it, after all, without betraying his masters? “Would you have had me leave him there, in the battlefield? He is not the first wolf that has been claimed in that place, and at least here we could offer him medical attention, and he could fight for his freedom, if he desired to.” okay, so his chances of winning until he was fully healed might be rather slim. “But.. I think I understand Zee. I wasn’t thinking of you, really, I was thinking of me, of how frustrated I am that I am continuously ordered to hurt you. I wasn’t thinking about what this would mean for you. I’m a fool Zee, but you confuse me so.” he still wasn’t looking at her, but out into the night instead. “I just know that it hurts to have you so angry with me.” The problem was, he still didn’t see snagging the new slave as wrong, he saw hurting her in the process as a sin. "Speech"

He refused to look at her, and so she let the fury fade from her face. It was exhausting being so angry and full of hate. She watched as he sat outside bombarded by the endless rain and her heart squeezed painfully for him. "Yes." Her voice would have been more quiet, though she had to nearly shout to be heard over the rain. "I see you when you go to the battlefield. Obviously nobody has looked at you as just a lesser needing to be claimed, or you might not be here now. Why is he so different? Why couldn't you have seen him as an equal deserving of his freedom?" It was hard to hear his confession, and she let her eyes close as he spoke. It was easier to think that he simply didn't care - or that he'd wanted her to hurt. It was hard to imagine that he captured the stranger for himself, and Zee suddenly felt very selfish as she admonished him. "You are a fool." She admitted quietly. "It's easier to be angry at you then it is to feel what I do. I am sorry for causing you pain." The apology hung in the air for a moment and Zee let it sink into her to cool her passion before continuing. "Come inside now, you'll catch a chill." The slave stepped away from the entrance, motioning with her head for him to join her in the shelter. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

She asked why he saw Nimbus as someone to be claimed, when he himself had never had this issue at the battlefield. Well, for one thing, the wolf had been badly injured and helpless. If Sirius was ever in that situation, he would have fought tooth and nail for his right to return to Deathbelle, and they would certainly struggle to take him alive. Perhaps that was the difference, but he wasn’t sure. He felt he just saw the world in a way that was vastly different from Zee, and didn’t know how to explain their differences. “I am at that” he agreed, his half smile directed to the sky, before he turned back around and looked to Zee, who was moving from the entrance of the den. He stepped just inside the entrance, and shook out his coat, before he moved any further. “The cheetah coat was for you, I took it down a few days ago.” he admitted, he still had the gouges in his hide to prove it, too. “Zee… I'm sorry. I don’t have a moral compass like you do, I guess mine got broken somewhere along the way. What if I promise to consult you before doing something radical like that again, I promise that your opinion will be taken close to my heart, my actions by your words. Would you accept my friendship again under that condition?” he asked her, as he lay down on the hard floor of her den, not too close. Just because she allowed him inside, didn’t mean she had truly forgiven him yet. "Speech"

He came inside finally, and Zee followed behind him as he moved to the back of the den. He admitted being foolish and Zee cracked a slight smile at his words. Once he was down in the dirt of the den, she pulled herself down beside him close against his side. "Thank you for the coat, the irony in gifting me the pelt of a king cheetah is great." She reached forward to grab it from the floor and drag it up and onto her back. At his promise, Zee felt her heart warm and she couldn't help but feel her smile widen. "I'd be glad to be your friend again." She admitted, nudging his neck with her head gently. "I accept your terms." Her gaze trailed down him then, and fell upon his leg. The flesh was healing where he had torn at it, but the gruesome tear caused her pain deep in her chest. She leaned down to lick at the wound carefully - her own silent apology for the anger she brought out within him. "Please, never be so foolish as to hurt yourself again and I promise I will do my best to reign in my... well, myself. With the Kleins." It was hard to get out, but she was determined to do her best to make life more comfortable for the guard. If he'd hated hurting her so much, then she'd do what she could to make sure he'd never have to touch her that way again. Regardless of what it meant for her self-worth. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He blinked at looked first to Zee, and then to the coat he had given her. “Eh?” he said, and gave the blank eyed expression of someone who had absolutely no idea what your talking about. “She was a fluffy winter cheetah, I guess nearing winter is a good time for coat shopping” he explained to her. He had thought the almost mohawk like hair looked pretty nifty, and offered even softer spots, where she could use it as a bed and a pillow if she so desired. With her widening smile, he let himself relax too, feel that things were becoming right in the world again. He had learned that he hated be at odds with Zee, and his anger had been a frightening thing. Luckily he had a cheetah to take it out on. A fluffy winter cheetah. She came closer to him, and nudged his neck with her tiny head, and he gave a more true, content smile as he looked down at her. “Good” he said simply, and knew that he would trust her opinion on what was wrong. He still wasn’t entirely certain that it mattered… but so long as she cared, he would force himself to as well. He sighed as she licked his wound, “I can’t help my anger sometimes Zee, i’m just glad I didn't turn it on you” actually, it had been surprisingly easy to turn from her and direct it elsewhere, other then the gruesome bloody skin thing, but nobody was perfect, right? "Speech"

Zee suddenly could not contain her laughter, and she pushed her head into his side to muffle the sound. "Oh Sirius." She began once able to collect herself, the remnants of soft giggles still on her tongue. "There is no such thing as a winter cheetah, they don't typically live where there is cold weather. This is a subspecies." She collapsed her head back into him for more soft snickers. His thick fur was unbelievably soft - although still wet from the rain - and she pushed into it more firmly. Her body moved to lay her entire side against him, her head sliding from his shoulder down towards his paws. She lay there for a moment in silence, caught up in the comforting touch. "I'm glad you didn't, either." She murmured her eventual response. "I don't think I would have had the courage to fight back." Zee felt in her heart that she was telling the truth - she would let him beat her if it meant she didn't have to cause him pain. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

She laughed at him, and even through it was directed towards him, he had to admit that he enjoyed the sound of it. When she explained that the cheetah was a subspecies, he rolled his eyes skyward and back again. “I mean, if you don’t like your gift…” he teased, instead of responding to his apparent misinformation. It was a fluffy winter cheetah and he would accept no other explanation. She pressed her body against him, and it was the closest he had ever let another wolf. There were times when he and Deathbelle had gotten close, especially when they were children and it was an innocent thing. After his rejection to her.. Well, things had been different. He wasn’t sure what to think of the sensation of Zee’s warm form beside him. His heart hammered a little in his chest as she slid down to the ground, and leaned her head against his paw. He slowly sunk his own head downwards, until they were lying side by side, the sound of the storm raging on outside the den, forgotten. “I think I'm past the point where I could ever hurt you” he said softly. Perhaps he needed to avoid all Klein but Deathbelle for the rest of his life... "Speech"

He mentioned that she didn't like her gift, and Zee reached to the closest part of him she could - his paw- and gave it a playful bite. "I love it, shut up." She told him, voice light. The hard hammering of his chest didn't go unnoticed by her with her head so close, and she let herself smile with the knowledge that he likely couldn't see it. Zee wasn't a stranger to men and their ways, and she could tell that the closeness of his body brought feelings through him. What kind of feelings she couldn't distinguish, but they were definitely not negative. His head came beside hers, and her eyes fluttered shut with contentment. She appreciated his words that he didn't think he could hurt her again, though she didn't take them to heart. She couldn't blame him for doing what their masters commanded - and Zee damn well knew she brought it on herself. "Hopefully the Klein's will be kind enough to do their own dirty work, then." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He tried not to shiver as her teeth clamped across his paw in a playful bite, and looked up at her from his grounded position, blue gaze to blue gaze, until her fluttered close, and he could see the happiness written in her expression. Whatever she was thinking or feeling, there seemed to be no lingering anger towards him. To think of how they had acted, like spurned children, to think how she had yelled at him, and he had torn a chunk of his own flesh in a petty retaliation. Yet here they where, side by side, quiet and content. He gave a soft, short laugh, through there was only a touch of amusement in it this time “Yeag, right” he commented, but his smile when he looked to her was true. Her eyes were still closed, and he let his own roam across her lithe, gentle form. She always kept herself so prim and tidy, hair all in alignment, clean as can be. It must make a strange contrast to the titan giant, who was happy roll in mud with a fighting opponent, and give himself nothing but a quick dip and a dry in the sun and call it clean. He was familiar with carnal desire, but he had always burnt such tensions through fighting, and never let another female take his thoughts, other than Deathbelle. He had not cared to, because no wolf had ever come close. Yet, as he eyed Zee, he felt himself flushing with his thoughts, and turning away. "Speech"

He didn't say much after that and the den got very quiet. The thunder still shook the walls of the den, and Zee couldn't get any closer to him if she tried. She let herself settle beside him, the fear of the storm dimmed greatly. "Stay with me?" There was little doubt in her mind that Sirius planned to leave her to her fears, but she needed to be sure. Her head still upon his paws, she opened her eyes to look up at him to gauge his answer. It was possible he still was angry, at least angry enough to insist upon staying at his own den. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

“Of course” he said softly, his voice a deep rumble that seemed to vibrate through his chest as he kept his head to the floor and body still, allowing her to keep his close proximity to him without disturbing her. He was weary at the idea of falling asleep so close to the greatly smaller wolf, but there was no chance that he would leave her well a storm raged on outside. He could feel no further tremors in her body, and she seemed calm and content now. Did he really offer her such great comfort? It seemed more profound and absolute then the last storm, through he couldn’t exactly define why. Uncertain if he would fall asleep, he kept his eyes closed and let the night drift away. -Exit?- "Speech"