Re: withered | roleplay

by jaded Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:07 pm

Cats. Little fuzzy gray cats. Easy enough. He'd have one of the servants get one soon. "Ah, so you're a cat person. Most girls are." Cats were prissy and moody, acted like they were the best things since sliced bread, and clawed the furniture. Kind of like girls. He saw the resemblance.

*

"I made no such vow." He'd leaned closer, and she inched away. "There's no vow that demands the wife be a submissive, no-personality doll. I don't care if you're my husband by law or not." Would he really try to use the vows to convince her? It wouldn't work.

by **luna** Tue Apr 01, 2014 11:00 pm

"They're less work than dogs at least. And cleaner too"

by jaded Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:30 pm

"Little snobs, too. Grumps. Dogs are always happy. Well, the domestic dogs." She'd probably only seen the strays that roamed the streets, foaming at the mouth. These days, dogs came close to outliving humans if they played things right.

*

That seemed to get him. The brunette girl listened to his footsteps, headed in the other direction, naturally, with a proud smirk. Maybe he'd rethink purchasing a wife next time. One bad apple didn't necessarily spoil the whole barrel, but in this case, it should've. "Glad we're on the same page."

by **luna** Thu Apr 03, 2014 12:35 am

"Cats seem quieter though - they won't bark in the middle of the night, keeping everyone up at all hours"

We most certainly are not.

Yeah right.

by jaded Fri Apr 04, 2014 12:02 am

The girl kept working on the food until it was mostly gone. She must've been starving. "I guess that's true. What would you name a cat if you had one?" It could give him a clue as to whether she wanted a male or female.

*

The brunette girl threw her head back and laughed, cracking open a book and reading a few pages before finding another. Bits and pieces of different thoughts, different worlds. He was ignoring her, and if that was supposed to hurt her or aggravate her, he was mistaken.

by **luna** Fri Apr 04, 2014 5:00 pm

"Grover . . . or Oscar maybe."

by jaded Thu Apr 10, 2014 10:09 pm

So she wanted a tom cat. That'd be easy enough. The servants left not long after she'd told him which names she favored, and there were alone once more. He liked it much better that way, and would've continued admiring her if he'd been able to keep his eyes open long enough. Sleep started to take him, but he fought it, wanting to fall asleep after her.

-

Vivian slammed the book shut, tossing it onto a table and making her way over with gracrful strides to sit in the armchair opposite him. "Is that all you summoned me for? To feed me a load of bullshit and growl at me? If so, I'll be going."

by **luna** Sat Apr 12, 2014 3:45 pm

"I'm going to change and then I'll be back,"

enormous

"Remember you'll need someone with you"

by jaded Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:37 am

Months, and Thomas hadn't so much as gotten his hands on her. Vivian Pyre—Heronby, sort of—was, in essence, the cat that swallowed the canary. Maria looked like she'd swallowed the whole damn flock. She was showing, and the symptoms that came with it made her immensely glad she'd fended Thomas off for so long. "I'd ask how you and Sawyer are, but I have a feeling I already know." The girl was sitting across from her with a cup of tea, but the brunette had declined the servant's offer of a cup of her own.

-

Maria was well into her pregnancy, and Vivian hadn't even started it. God—He'd thought Thomas would've made quicker work of it than this, but it seemed as though the girl wasn't letting him anywhere near her. The younger man wanted to rub it in so badly. And he did, rather often.

by **luna** Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:02 pm

"I'm just thankful that I can keep this down,"

"I swear if you say one more thing,"

"I will personally throw you into that wall."

everything

by jaded Mon Apr 14, 2014 12:22 am

How could she put up with it, so much trouble and pain all because of a man who didn't even love her? And for nine months of what remained of her short life? The fifteen year old seemed dazzled by his affections and wealth, and even by having a baby, but did all of that really mask the bad parts? "I imagine being pregnant's not the most pleasant thing."

"Geez, what did you marry? A sixteen year old girl or a mule? She's feisty, I'll give you that, but I thought you'd have reined her in by now. I overestimated you. You seem to have the game of a half-dead slug." Thomas could try to throw him into a wall. He wouldn't succeed, and it was worth seeing his face turn red with anger. "Maybe you should let me try."

by **luna** Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:47 pm

"No, it's not. I just remind myself of what will come in the end though,"

"Don't you even dare."

"Besides,"

"not all of us can get the most naive girls. I'm surprised how quickly you finished the task - you've only been marries five months now."

by jaded Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:00 pm

How could she carry a child for nine months with the knowledge that it would be an orphan by age four? Even if Vivian was half-willing to sleep with Thomas, she didn't want a kid. Not when she'd just die before it even had time to know her. Maria was young, and naive, and hadn't seen enough men and the monsters they so often became to be wary of them. But she had.

-

"I could get her easily, Thomas. You know that," Messing with him about the girl was all too entertaining. The easiest way to get a rise out of him. "What can I say? I'm great, and a good judge of character. You picked a lemon. She's used to the tactics you're trying, I bet. You have to surprise her."

by **luna** Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:33 pm

"How are you and Sawyer? I haven't seen you two together in awhile . . ."

did he not love her?

"No shit, Sherlock"

"What would you do then, huh?"

by jaded Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:19 pm

How were they? Just as bad as, worse, than the first day they were married. Thomas had been relentless, but he hadn't made an inch of progress. Unlike Maria, she wasn't willing to give herself up that easily. She'd gone there and back with countless other men when it was do or die, and ultimately her choice, and now that the circumstances had changed, she didn't feel obligated to give her husband anything. Not even a kiss or a kind word. He was an entitled son of a bitch, even worse than the pigs she'd encountered. "We're not like you and Sawyer."

-

"Your girl is probably from one of the scarlet districts out west. And those girls might be a bit loose, but they're not all fools. Don't give anything for free, either." The scarlet districts, as they were called, were filled with girls sold into or driven to prostitution, and odds were, Vivian had been Gathered from there or somewhere nearby. "So give her a reason. Outsmart her. Make her a deal. Give her an ultimatum, or something."

by **luna** Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:38 pm

"Aren't you afraid he's going to get rid of you?"

"Oh yeah?"

by jaded Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:44 pm

Vivian scoffed and leaned back in her chair, the wind tossing dark brown wisps of her hair about. "Please. He paid too much for me to kill me. What's the worst thing he could do? Sell me? He hasn't got the time for that, Maria. Gatherers can't be called up a few days in advance. Months, years, even—and he doesn't have that kind of time." He could keep her, or get rid of her and try to find someone else within his numbered days. But it wasn't likely that he could. Too late. Maria should've been concerned about pleasing Sawyer—she wouldn't last a week in a scarlet district—but Vivian could. And if she needed to, she would.

-

"The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. At first I thought she was just stubborn and not into you—and that's part of the problem, too—but she's used to men trying to get with her. Too used to it, really, and that's another part. She's not naive like Maria. She doesn't give two shits about whether you show her any attention, as long as she's in control. And with the way things are going, she is." Thomas's method of pouting until the girl pitied him wasn't working.

by **luna** Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:22 pm

could she call her that?

"How are you and the naive one anyway?"

by jaded Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:33 pm

After years of her affections being bought and sold, she knew that women held more power than ever, especially since they lived shorter lives and were the human race's only way to continue. Men, as always, were blinded by pleasure and desire, and she felt no remorse for taking advantage of that to achieve her ends. They weren't helpless. She didn't force them to, unlike stories she'd heard of times before and times still, where men forced themselves on women—no, they did it to themselves. Vivian would've preferred surviving another way, but she figured surviving was surviving. It had gotten her this far—it'd see her to her twentieth birthday. Let Thomas Heronby try and stop it. Maria could sit around and be Sawyer's pregnant little pet, but the brunette refused to do anything remotely close to it.

-

"She's due in four months. I'd say we're doing well. Much better than you and your wife, I might add." Thomas didn't know how to handle not being handed something on a silver platter. The girl wasn't a doormat—she'd made that clear, and all his brother had had the guts to do was argue with her and sulk when he didn't get his way. Oh, the progress he'd made.

by **luna** Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:50 pm

"Have you had these before?"

"Know if it's a girl or boy?"

gathered

by jaded Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:29 am

The pregnant girl reached for what she'd been told was a macaroon, but Vivian stayed put. Anything that vibrantly colored wasn't to be trusted. Besides, it was too frilly for her liking. Probably too sweet and sickly-tasting, and the brunette didn't care to take more food than needed from the Heronby men. She didn't want to give off an air of dependence like Maria did, although her being pregnant probably had a major hand in that. "Can't say that I have,"

-

"A boy. Maria's trying to think of names. I just hope she doesn't choose something too frilly or odd. I haven't many ideas, myself. I guess I never realized that to have a son, you also have to have a name for him." A name hadn't crossed his mind until recently. What would they name the heir to the Heronby fortune? It had to be something worthy of carrying the last name. Sophisticated, but not quite stuck-up, like Thomas. "Wouldn't it be unfortunate if you finally got her pregnant and she had a daughter that grew up to be just like her?" Their father would go through hell trying to marry her off.

by **luna** Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:58 am

"Why don't you try one then? They're quite good."

"Shut up,"

by jaded Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:16 am

Vivian shook her head and stood, her sundress blowing softly in the wind. "Getting a bit hot out, isn't it? I think it's time we go again." She could feel her husband's eyes on her through the window, and was growing tired of pretending not to notice. Checking to see that the other girl followed, Vivian strode back into the mansion with grace and headed for the entertainment room. "Ever played poker before, Maria?"

-

Sawyer watched the older girl rise and beckon his wife, and nodded out the window. "They're coming in. Maria's probably getting a little hot. I guess I ought to go check on her." He cared more about the health of the baby than of its mother, but in order for her to have more children safely, she had to be healthy.

by **luna** Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:59 am

"I haven't. My dad used to play it with some of his buddies though."

by jaded Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:13 am

"Sounds like a grand reason to learn, then." Vivian collected the chips and laid them out on the table, sorting through them and the cards and setting things up. Sawyer and Thomas slipped in, but she pretended not to notice, not quite ready for confrontation with her husband. Maria's swelling belly was a constant reminder that she wasn't cooperating, a constant reminder that Thomas would have to trt harder if he wanted an heir. The birth control pills she had leftover could save her from the pain of pregnancy and leaving a child orphaned, if she played her cards right.

Sawyer sauntered over to his wife, planting a kiss on her cheek. "What are you two ladies up to?" The elder girl seemed tempted to ignore his question. Instead, she gestured to the cards and chips laid out in answer, and he nodded. "Where'd a girl like you learn to play poker?" The brunette's eyebrows shot up. "A girl like me? My late father taught me, asswipe." She seemed unsure of his implications, but didn't push her questioning any further. The man's eyes drifted to Thomas.

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