Saracyn was a proud wolf. Proud wolves did not like having to go grovel to others for what they needed. He was a prince of Mendacium nobility, the Commander of Elysium for crying out loud! And yet here he was, having to go crawling like a whining dog to Scylla to convince her and her brethren to stay within Elysium. Tactically and logically he knew it had to be done; Scylla was a talented fighter and poisons expert, and her siblings helped to bolster the defenses of the pack. Losing the Kleins over the failed betrothal would deal a devastating blow to the pack, so damage control had to be done preemptively and swiftly and at any cost. Unfortunately, that would turn out to be a bitter pill to swallow. But swallow it and his pride he would for the sake of his sister. Plus deep down, he knew he had been the catalyst that caused this conflict. He needed to set things right to make Avacyn's life easier.

Following Scylla's scent out of Alias to the Boreal mainland, Saracyn carried with him a freshly caught salmon. A peace offering. He didn't know if the little Klein fae would be hungry or not, but he didn't feel right not having some sort of gift to open dialogue with her. Not to mention he was only really good at fighting, hunting, fishing, and fucking, so she got fish this time around. Grumpy about what he was about to do, Sara followed the fae's trail to the lake before he decided he wasn't going to be chasing her all over Elysium just to throw herself at her paws and plead for her family to stay. So the crimson brute parked his rump down on the pebbly shore surrounding the lake, set the fish gift down, then uttered a call for Scylla. Hopefully she wouldn't hate his guts so much she'd ignore him—or worse, continue to lead him on this wild goose chase...

"Saracyn Mendacium"

The plans that her father and Manea had laid were brushed under the carpet so to speak. Saracyn didn't want her and Avacyn didn't want Albion. It was rather comical as they would have been wedding above their station. Not that she didn't like Manea and Alastor, but they didn't compare to a line of emperors and empresses. Not being with Saracyn was just fine with Scylla, but Albion being rejected... It rubbed her the wrong way. Her pale sibling was perfect. He was dedicated and steadfast and caring. Albion had been willing to go along with the betrothal and had been more than a little upset when it had been severed. It took her a while, but Scylla eventually let it go. Albion was too good for Avacyn anyway.

The blue and cream fae had just finished a rather delicate project. She had reconstructed the bones of a snake and mixed them wit the skeleton of a cat. The sight was nightmarish and she loved it. Once the finishing touches had been put on and she was satisfied, Scylla decided to reward herself with a little gambol around the lake. Maybe she would find something else to murder. One could never have enough cadavers.

While resting upon one of the many large rocks surrounding the lake, a call rang out. A call for her, specifically. Mismatched eyes looked across the lake and landed on the form of Saracyn. What in the hell could he possibly want with her?"Helloooooooo..." the woman called out, one dexterous paw waving a few times in the air. If he wanted her, he'd have to come get her. She was far too comfortable to give up her place just yet.

"Scylla"

Saracyn was not a fan of having to wait, so he prayed that for his mood and Scylla's sake, she responded to his call sharpish. What the crimson brute hadn't expected though was for a vocal call to ring out for him across the lake. Perplexed and taken aback, the dire brute lifted his head and snapped his gaze off in the direction of the familiar voice. There, lying across a sunbaked stone, was the slate and cream fae he had been looking for. She gave him a little wave with those dexterous little paws of hers, but made no effort to rise or come answer his call. Sara stared at Scylla from across the shimmering water, and when it became apparent that she wasn't going to come to him, the prince groaned outwardly and began the trek around the perimeter of the lake toward her. Seemed like she was going to make him work for what he wanted...

Approaching the large rock that acted as a lounger for the petite fae, Saracyn glanced up at Scylla—although it wasn't much larger than his own head height, so it was more like she was on eye level with him now. "Enjoying the sun?" he began sarcastically, quirking a brow as he checked to see if her legs were broken or something. He bit his tongue on any further comment though, knowing he had to at least act amicable for the time being. Insulting her would likely only hinder his purpose of trying to keep her to stay. "I wanted to talk to you about you and your family, and how much we value your presence and skills in Elysium." Did that sound odd coming out in Saracyn's voice? Yes, no doubt. But was he trying his damnedest here? Hell yes he was.

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Sara tromped around the edge of the lake towards her and Scylla watched him the whole time, grey and blue eyes fixed on his russet and black form. Ah, she enjoyed making him come to her. It was the little things in life, you know? When he arrived, the man sarcastically asked if she was enjoying the sun. The tiny fae smiled pleasantly and gave a little hip wiggle on her perch. "Oh, very much so. Much too comfortable to move just yet." She knew that the answer would annoy him. That was why she said it.

With Sara standing before the big rock almost eye level with her, Scylla gave a languid stretch, clawed digits curling as a little sound of pleasure pulled from her. After her stretch and a delighted sigh, the cobalt and cream dame placed her chin upon one bent foreleg, light and dark ears shifting forward as though letting Saracyn know that she was ready to hear what he had to say.

The red man spoke and inside Scylla was roaring with laughter. Externally, she only smiled. His choice of wording did eventually bring a sultry chuckle from the woman. "Oh, do we?" Did he think she was stupid? Scylla knew damn well that Saracyn would be perfectly fine without any of the Kleins staying in Elysium. It was his sweet sister that needed their skills and numbers. Avacyn should have been the one speaking to her, but here they were.

Scylla stretched again, this time her toes hooked over the edge of the rocky platform. Her long tail snaked over the other side, lashing slowly back and forth as she leaned towards Saracyn. "Since our skills are so valued, what are you willing to do to continue having those skills on your side?" He'd put himself in the perfect position for bartering and Scylla wasn't one to pass up on such an opportunity.

"Scylla Klein"

Scylla looked oh so pleased with herself up on her perch, and it took all of Saracyn's self control to keep his eyes from drifting when the lithe little fae gave a wiggle of her shapely hips and a long languid stretch of her slender body. It was not an easy feat, especially with how graceful and catlike Scylla's movements were, like she was deliberately trying to tempt him or make him uncomfortable. She stared him dead in the eye, her mismatched blue and gray eyes piercing into his with an intense focus that might have made lesser wolves avert their gaze away from hers as if she were a gorgon. Saracyn however did not avert his gaze; he held hers with their faces less than a foot apart with the way he was sat and how she leaned in towards him, lounging about like the picture of comfort.

His words brought a smile to her face, this cheeky little knowing grin and far too much delight in those heterochromatic eyes. She teased him, playing coy to his intentions as if she didn't know what this conversation would be about. Saracyn bit his tongue to keep from making an exasperated face. Scylla stretched again and again Sara's attention was tested. Don't look at those hips or long legs. He bit his tongue again, the little flash of pain from his serrated teeth helping to keep him focused where his eyes needed to be instead of where they wanted to be. He didn't say anything right away, at least not until Scylla leaned in closer to him with forepaws and serpentine tail hanging off her rocky platform, looking like she was having a delightful time making him twist in the wind. No doubt she knew what she was doing. Scylla was no idiot, but sometimes Sara thought she might be too clever for either his or her own good.

Scylla questioned what the Mendaciums brought to the table to offer the Kleins for their continued presence in Elysium. This had been expected. No deal was ever brokered with only one side offering anything, and he had discussed this very thing with Avacyn before coming to find her. "Avacyn is offering positions of power and influence to you and your brother to stay in Elysium," he explained, trying to keep his tone impassive as much as he was trying to keep his eyes on her face and not her swaying tail. Memories of the time she ambushed him in the Thicket coming back to his mind at the most inopportune time. "I recommended you be made Master Fighter for your skills in combat and your knowledge of poisons and... other substances." Certain sedatives came to mind... "Albion will be made Advisor for his keen intelligence and insight. Avacyn found a lot of value in their conversations."

His last sentence was said through a clenched jaw, still trying to remain diplomatic although politics were far from his strong suit. It irked him that the pallid brute had so much value to his twin, but these were Ava's wishes, and as her Commander he had a duty to follow her orders. "Are these positions acceptable to you?" asked the crimson brute, his tail giving a little anxious quiver behind him. He was not scared of Scylla, but being in such close proximity to the petite sultry fae was making his insides feel all out of sorts, like he knew he was being toyed with but couldn't do anything about it—yet. Hopefully this would be an easy negotiation and Scylla wouldn't turn this into some big project for him.

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Positions of power were offered. Master fighter. Advisor. Fancy stuff, but Scylla didn't give a damn about rank. A pretty title wouldn't change who or what she was. She needed more than promises to earn her continued allegiance. If she left, then her brother's left as well. That would be three very skilled wolves leaving three very big holes in the packs ranks.

Sara mimicked the words that his sister had no doubt given him, then asked if the terms were acceptable. Scylla's blue and grey eyes narrowed slightly. "No, Saracyn. What are YOU willing to do to keep me and mine as part of Elysium?" The woman gave a little click of the tongue and spoke in a sweet, singsong voice. "Skills not used for you could very well be used against you, you know." Scylla lowered her head just enough so that she and the red brute were eye to eye. "Any ideas on what you're willing to give me to keep me on your side, sweet strawberry?"

As she waited for the man to speak, her head tilted slightly. "You know, it's funny that you hold your twin in such high regard, yet you look down upon my own, whom I hold in such high regard. I, in turn, look down on your twin." Teeth flashed in a sweet smile. "Funny how the world works, eh?" The fae's tail flicked over the rock and she continued to speak. "By continuing to stay within Elysium, I'll have no choice but to play nice with your sister, considering she's the leader of the pack. Shouldn't you then be forced to play nice with my brother?" A thoughtful expression dramatically crossed Scylla's pretty face and she gave a little shrug. She thought that would be quite fair.

"Saracyn" & "Scylla"

He thought he had been doing a pretty damn good job being diplomatic and making their offers to Scylla pleasantly, but that apparently wasn't good enough for the Klein fae. Those mismatched eyes narrowed as if she were scrutinizing his every word and then demanded to know what he specifically was willing to do to keep her around. Saracyn's brow furrowed as he leered at the striped fae. What the hell did she mean by that? She didn't do a great job extrapolating on her demands either, restating what they stood to lose if they failed to persuade them to stay. Yes, he was acutely aware of what was at stake here, thank you very fucking much. Staring eye to eye with one another again, Scylla continued on, almost goading him into aggravation by taunting him with their circumstances.

Scylla stated the obvious—by staying, they would both need to play nice with each other. Making amends may not be in the cards, but civility would be. "I figured that went without saying, but if you need that reassurance, then yes, I have no intentions to cause you or your brothers any grief." Sara's head tilted to match the same direction of Scylla's, maintaining their eye contact throughout. "And I don't 'look down' on your brother. I wasn't happy with him sticking his dick in my sister. But now that that's no longer a concern, I have no issues with him. I will play nice with Albion so long as you don't make any trouble for Avacyn." In his adolescence, Saracyn might have been haughtier, with a holier-than-thou mentality around his family. Time and experience had tempered some of that wild youthful aggression. Avacyn wouldn't have had anything to do with him if he continued to make an ass of himself, especially if he was going to be her partner in leadership.

But that still left the matter of what she even bloody wanted to stick around. Gods be damned, why couldn't this frustration little raccoon-looking wolf just come out and say what she wanted?! "What the fuck do you even want, Scylla?" he asked with a huff, dropping his head down onto the rock with a heavy thud so their faces were mere inches apart. "You have everything you need to make you happy. Do you want a cave all to yourself for your little workshop of horrors? Do you want me to be your servant or whore for a day or something? Do you want to cut off one of my toes? Do you want to drug me up and blow me again? There's only so much I have that I can give you. I'm not some rich monarch like your family. I don't have treasures to offer. I'm just a fucking extra Mendacium with all the wrong parts between my legs to matter." Saracyn had vented about his frustrations around his family's matriarchal preferences and how worthless he felt before, so he didn't care if he said it again. This would be no surprise to her. Whatever she wanted from him, her pound of flesh would have to literally be that—taken from his body. He had little else to offer her.

"Saracyn" & "Scylla"

Saracyn easily agreed to play nice with Albion and Scylla would hold him to that. Ava was important to him and Albi was important to her. Both of them would defend and protect their siblings fiercely and both had made that terribly obvious. Scylla would kill for Albion and had actually considered it more than once. It would be so easy to slip something into the kill den and just decimate the Mendacium line completely. Grind them into the ground and scatter them to the winds. That would be too easy though and Scylla liked a challenge. A life without strife was a boring one and she was no old maid that craved warm breezes and days spent easy in the sun. Scylla firmly believed that hardships made hard wolves, and so she welcomed the challenges in life.

The striped fae had been expecting more back and forth banter, but Sara surprised her with true frustration, asking straight out what she wanted. When he thumped his head down before her on the rock and continued speaking, the humor drained from Scylla's pretty little face. Okay, so she had a soft spot for him. A rather large soft spot. In her mind, Saracyn was the only wolf that she might be able to call friend. She hated hearing him talk about himself as though he was less than the rest of his family. Something about it hurt her inside and that was a difficult thing to do.

Nimble digits reached out to either side of the brute's face, gently stroking his cheeks. Her switch had flipped and she had gone from catty playful mode to comfort mode. Thumbs stroked gently over the silken fur of his cheeks as she prompted his head to raise some from the rock. "I don't see you that way at all," she informed him in soft tones. "In my culture, you would be a king. You would be whatever you wanted to be." Scylla continued to slowly, languidly pet the man, keeping his gaze on her own mismatched eyes. "That's the funny thing about culture. We're all the same except for the words that are hammered into our minds." Would he catch her underlying lesson? He was choosing to see himself as less because he believed the words of his ancestors. If he could just break free of all that... He'd taken the first step by pledging his love and loyalty to his sister. He just needed to take a few more steps.

With a sigh, Scylla placed a gentle almost chaste kiss upon the brute's lips before she released his cheeks from her grasp. "You don't need to do anything, Strawberry. I, Scylla Klein, am your loyal wolf." His loyal wolf. If he chose to read it the way that she meant it, Scylla was pledging her loyalty to him rather than his sister. She waved one dexterous paw. "Run back and tell your sweet sister that she has nothing to fear." Now that her mood was much more solemn than it had been prior, the slate and cream fae sighed and curled her body upon the rock, giving Saracyn her back and her dismissal.

"Scylla Klein"

Saracyn saw the moment that something he said flipped a switch in Scylla's mind. That wry smile on her face drifted away and the mirth in her gaze gave way to something more like genuine sympathy. Before he knew what was happening, Scylla was reaching out to caress his face with both dainty little dexterous paws, stroking over his cheeks and through his fur in a soothing way that seemed to abate the aggression that Saracyn usually put up as his daily front. The brute's expression softened and for a moment the facade cracked, and he just looked tired and frustrated. She urged his head to lift from the rock and he would acquiesce, raising his chin an inch or two while she pet him. Hey, he was a simple brute. He liked the physical affection and touch of the fairer sex, and Scylla's nimble fingers felt lovely on his skin.

Scylla spoke to him with words far too kind for him. She didn't see him as extra baggage, and in her culture he would have been fit to be a king. That earned her a short scoff from the crimson man when she used his pet name, though he'd loathe to admit that he liked it. He had never felt like a king in all his life. He'd had to work twice as hard to feel useful and get a fraction of the recognition his sisters got. In fact, the only reason he had risen to be the Commander of Elysium was solely by virtue of romancing Avacyn. He was the Matriarch's mate, and that would forever be his greatest achievement, the only thing he could attain. Scylla noted how funny it was how cultures worked, how they were all the same save for the words they were given and allowed themselves to take. Sara's lips tightened into a fine line, but he didn't say anything. His eyes dipped from hers for a moment as he considered her words. He understood what she was saying, but she also didn't understand just how deep this all ran. It wasn't just his parents or his family, it was the very core of their beliefs that female souls were stronger and more valuable than male souls. This was his family's tenets; almost a religion of sorts. It was easier for her to see him as something more than he could see himself as. An outsider's perspective far clearer than his own.

The petite stripy fae broke the dark brute out of his mental sulking with the sudden kiss placed on his lips, earning a few startled and surprised blinks from Saracyn. He had come back to his senses as Scylla was declaring her loyalty to him. He did not miss her intentions in her words. She would be loyal to him. Scylla Klein to Saracyn Mendacium. That was about as good as Avacyn could hope for, so he would take it as a win for her cause. He was still reeling from this emotional whiplash within himself when Scylla dismissed him and turned to lie away from him. Saracyn lingered for a moment, hovering at the edge of Scylla's rock, mouth open as if to say something, but each time he opened his lips nothing came out. After a third failed attempt to speak, the dire brute exhaled slowly and gave up trying to voice his thoughts. He lifted his head from the rock and turned to leave, making it a couple steps away before he stopped in his tracks. A beat passed in silence, then he turned his head to look back at Scylla, watching her for a moment while things inside him tumbled over themselves.

"I'm sorry for the way I've treated you and your brother," he said back to Scylla, knowing she'd be listening even if she wasn't facing him. It was the first time he'd ever apologized to anyone besides his family. "You're the only one who's ever seen me as anything outside my family's beliefs." Another long pause as he grappled with his emotions before adding in a soft, "...Thank you." Then Saracyn turned to head back to the island and deliver the good news to Avacyn, though he had a lot more on his mind now.

- exit -

"Saracyn Mendacium"