[ P ] The Lady

Tybalt Aetós

[This thread takes place back in early fall of 7010, while war was still raging…]


There was an unfamiliar chill in the air as summer faded into memories. Autumn had come. He had spent the morning playing in fallen leaves that scattered along the path leading into Yorkshire, running wild until his stomach would no longer permit him to ignore its hunger. Unusual eyes, emeralds with just a splash of citrine, moved restlessly over the crowd of wolves that moved up and down the old cobblestone road.


At three months old, give or take a week or two, the ebony-masked pup was a wild-looking creature with unkempt fur decorated with bits of leaves and twigs. Nobody paid much attention to him as they went about their business. He saw big, tough-looking soldiers, even some with wounds from recent battles. There were wolves with carts and couples cavorting beneath the golden glow of afternoon. And there sat Tybalt, alone, near the road, waiting for something to happen.


Dad fed him when he was around. And Tybalt was pretty skilled at catching mice (which tasted yummy) and frogs (which did not taste yummy at all). Today, he had a different plan. Maybe if he found someone who looked really nice, they would show him a bit of kindness and something to fill his empty tummy. A growing boy needed to eat.


A clean looking lady, with a well-groomed pelt colored like cinnamon, looked like a promising target. And so with his most charming smile, toothy and absurd, Tybalt sauntered over to the wolfess, looking up with childish green eyes. He began to address her in his native tongue: "Tráthnó-" But he caught himself. That's now how they talked here. ”I mean, good afternoon, miss.” The words were heavily accented, voice cheerful.




@Adeline

Adeline Verlice

She had lost the ever watchful eye of her guards that had been tailing her everywhere she went, even more so now that her husband was gone as if his order had become even more set in stone to keep her safe. If he was dead, she wanted that chance to join him and perhaps that was why she was choosing to be reckless, far more than she normally had since the war had started. With the country split unevenly, she didn’t think she had to worry about Highlanders getting into her personal space though her thoughts migrated to a certain man from there that perhaps she could hire to do a little job for her. It had been a long time since she had seen him but she wasn’t so sure he had remained in the Mainlands after all this dishevel, not surprised at all if he got chased back to where he came from. Not an entire loss but it was one less man under her thumb if it had happened. A waste of her energy keeping him out of jail and ultimately murder.

Her tail swayed back and forth, enjoying the weather at least, finding the gentle breezes of the Autumn air welcoming as they played around with her coat in an elegant way. It made her feel more beautiful than she did on the inside, completely shattered and broken. Lost without her Kenny. To think he had said he loved her not all that long ago for the first time and now she couldn’t even see his face beyond memories, and she feared those would turn to static with each passing day. She didn’t want to forget him; she didn’t want to lose him, and she had nothing to remember him by.

Tears were creeping to her waterline, threatening to spill when she heard a child’s voice babble something that might have been incoherent if she wasn’t someone that knew the languages of this land beyond just the common tongue. An unversed lawyer was a pitiful one too easy to manipulate after all. Her fur rose alone the ridge of her back in pure anger before it smoothed as she turned her attention to the little rodent that desired her attention. The rage would be tamed as she looked down at the young boy, not particularly a fan of children as a whole but one with the inferior tongue only added points to her loathing.

Those emeralds with hidden color within with a dark backdrop would make her freeze a moment, rattling her as her husband’s face flashed before her. It wasn’t right. Kenzo had green and purple, not green and orange. Her lips pressed, doubting it meant anything, but it kept her attention as he cracked a smile so bittersweet. “Hello, twerp. Whatever are you after? Here to steal the jewels off my neck?” she asked with the sweetest voice she could muster and a little laugh to fake it as a joke, curious as to what the child wanted.

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Tybalt Aetós

Eyes like gold dust peered down at him with indifference that he failed to detect as the stranger greeted young Tybalt: ”Hello, twerp.” He had never heard that word before; naively, he assumed it was a nice thing, and his toothy grin grew wider. In his young mind, this was already a hopeful encounter.


The regal femme continued to address him in his father’s native tongue: ”Whatever are you after? Here to steal the jewels off my neck?” Her words were tinged with the hint of a laugh – more good signs. And so the boy was quick to correct her assumption: ”No no, Miss! No Joo-ools..” Although now that she mentioned it, they sure were pretty to look at, how they sparkled in the sun! Tybalt had never seen anything like that before. But he had no use for something like that, and his empty belly grumbled as if to attest to his starving state, loud enough that the noblewoman may have heard.


”Name’s Tybalt.” He was not the most skillful when it came to the language, and the words were clumsy as he spoke. He couldn’t hide the distinct northern lilt in his voice, even if he had grasped that he should – especially with a woman like this one. ”D’ye ‘ave coins ta give, please? Er food?” He wore his sweetest smile, tail thumping on the ground behind him as he looked up at the Lady, his green eyes shimmering with misplaced hope. She was nothing like the woman who had given him life, who had been scarred and disfigured by the time Tybalt had arrived. This wolfess was very pretty, dressed in earthen hues, with golden sights that shone nearly as much as the gems she wore. Her countenance was one of prestige. And she had two eyes!



@Adeline

Adeline Verlice

Her brows creased as he smiled wider, resisting the desire for her muzzle to wrinkle in disgust at those puppy teeth that gave her an unsettling twist in her gut. Instead, she mimicked his smile, appearing far friendlier than she really was but it seemed like most children, this one was lacking in brain cells. Not that she was complaining in this case, she preferred a dumb boy. So much easier to control than one with caution would ever be. It was that innocence that made him potentially useful and that was enough to bring a genuine smile to her muzzle she normally did not carry as of late where depression normally resided. The smallest hint of tear stains would make her finch had there been a mirror to see herself in.

Ears perked as he seemed to only get happier the longer he was in her presence, which she could not blame him, she was simply radiant and even a child could appreciate, that she was sure of. She even got a little laugh out of his failure to say jewels correctly, even found it a little cute. Not enough for her to throw money at but cute enough to brighten her day which was saying something for a child, and it was in that moment a humored thought turned into a more genuine desire to steal away this rugrat to be her personal little plaything and cater to her every whim much like Matilda, her most precious of servants. The question was, how might she go about this in a way that wouldn’t cause her issues in the future? She didn’t have a habit of kidnapping, especially on a busy street like they were now.

She wanted what she wanted but perhaps this was something she couldn’t squeeze into her pockets so easily. So drab, but she wasn’t wholly deterred just yet.

“Hello Tybalt, you may just call me MiLady,” she smiled at the boy, not much for giving her name to him just yet in case he tried to use it against her later. Then he provided her an opening with his little questions with that funny little accent of his that made her laugh again, though this time it wasn’t as effortlessly lighthearted but not one that might scare a child either. He was making it far too easy for her. “I live nearby, why don’t you come home with me, and I’ll get you a little something, hmm?” she offered sweetly, bumping his cheek with her nose to falsify some sense of motherly affection.

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Tybalt Aetós

“Hello Tybalt, you may just call me MiLady.” It was a weird name, but who was Tybalt to call attention to it? Maybe everyone here had weird names. Maybe he had a weird name… ”Me – Mila –” He attempted to echo the syllables she had offered, but found it challenging with his foreign tongue. His brows knit together in deep concentration as he made one final attempt: ”Mildy…” That was close enough!


He found her laughter to be further encouragement. This lady was a very nice lady. Her voice, saccharine sweet, beckoned him to follow in words veiled with kindness: “I live nearby, why don’t you come home with me, and I’ll get you a little something, hmm?” Tybalt didn’t think much about the woman who had given him life. When he did remember the pale woman, he didn’t feel sad. He didn’t miss her. She had never been a mother to him, had never shown him affection or love. He had been merely something she tolerated, because she had to. And the second he didn’t need her anymore, she was gone. So Tybalt hadn’t really experienced the tenderness of a motherly caress or sweet words. He didn’t recoil, however, at her soft touch. His expression was one of surprised awe, eyes growing moist with an emotion he didn’t know.


Tiny tail wagging behind him, he practically danced on his absurdly oversized paws before her – his digits were an indication that the lad would someday be a behemoth. ”Oh, yes! Mildy’s home!” He was willing to follow his new benefactor just about anywhere, but his stomach ached with emptiness, so he hoped it was close – and filled with tasty treasures that she would so kindly share. He leaned closer to rest his cheek against the woman’s foreleg before bouncing away again, eager to follow. ”’s it far? I dun ‘ave one of those, y’know – no home,” he offered, even though she hadn’t asked.




@Adeline

Adeline Verlice

A small chuckle married her throat with glee. He was so obedient already and she didn’t even have to break him into submission, which was far better than some of her little pets she kept around the house, ready to catch her paw whenever she needed them. They weren’t always so perfect to start out with, especially when scooped up nice and young, often running off in rebellious streaks she didn’t care to cater to on any given day or night. She had never had to deal with it personally, her mother had been the shrew tamer, beating them till they complied to her every will including her own children. Maybe this little boy wouldn’t need to be punished and thrown into a hole with no food or water until they were begging that they would do anything to get out. Her home didn’t exactly have one of those anyway and her precious maid was a cut above the rest, ensuring the rest of the servants did as they were told.

“That’s fine dear, you’ll learn in time,” she humored to his repeated failure on calling her a proper title, but it was close enough to sate her desires.

She would pause in her attempts to guide him when his eyes seemed to gloss over like he was about to cry like a little, well, like a spoiled little child. Confusion was tempted to touch her expression but only her brows knitted a touch while the rest of her face kept that sugar coating that was becoming nearly genuine at this point as her smile grew all the wider when he started to dance around. He could make fine entertainment, perhaps he was destined to be a little court jester to trip and get a good laugh out of.

As she started to walk toward her home, she would feel her skin crawl as the critter came up to hug her with his cheek and once he stopped looking at her, she would take the opportunity to dust her limb off. She couldn’t have his filth all over her, but she resisted one of her cleanliness tantrums, her eye twitching from the desire she had to scream.

Then came two beautiful words from his lips. So, he was a street rat after all. “No home? Well, that will not do for a little cute boy such as yourself. Why don’t you come live with me? Of course, on two conditions…” she hummed, allowing her facade to return and hide that agitation that had briefly reared its ugly head.

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Tybalt Aetós

The Lady didn’t seem perturbed by Tybalt’s stumbling words. She smiled and she laughed, and Tybalt adopted each expression as his own, mirroring her as best he could so that she would see and be happy. In that moment, nothing in the world mattered so much as Mildy’s approval – not even the food he had been trying to procure from her, though his grumbling, empty stomach begged to differ.

He failed to perceive the disgust the woman already harbored for him. In fact, he would have gladly hugged her leg all day, if she would have allowed him. Maybe she would even hug him, if he was a good boy. She was soft and she smelled like flowers. Tybalt was unaccustomed to being around females, not since he had last seen the mother he would never see again, as she would soon be dead and rotting on the battlefield.

The stranger was astute, quick to pick up on his comment, and a compliment rolled off her tongue. Tybalt didn’t know she was only pretending to think he was a cute little boy, but it made his heart happy to hear her say it. He wasn’t too sure that Dad would like it if he lived with this lady… But Dad wasn’t here while Mildy was, and she was very nice and soft, and Tybalt was hungry now. But then, the wolfess said something at the end that caught his attention, though he didn’t thoroughly understand what she meant. His head tilted just slightly to one side questioningly. ”Cond-itioms?” Maybe it was some sort of game… Naively, he beamed, voice light: ”Like what?”

Of course, whatever she asked, Tybalt was willing to agree, a hapless, ignorant expression painting his dark features. Emerald gems never left Mildy's feigned smile. "D'ye live far, Mildy?"


@Adeline

Adeline Verlice

Her pupil held the smallest bit of admiration for the boy, finding his mimicry rather flattering had it not been started from a far darker place of her own. She would choose not to see it as mockery of any sort, not with such an innocent face such as his own, knowing children to generally be pure of heart even if they were little demons she didn’t much care for, besides the thought of her own. Perhaps that was part of why she actually found some tolerance for this little boy, that desire to be a mother of a mirror image of her husband had been on her mind for a couple seasons and it never seemed to fully vanish from her mind. Hormones were the true devil, dictating her life in ways they never had before, and it might have irked her had she noticed her own shifting affinity. Too bad she was blind to the change within herself in this moment or she might have connected it all together.

As far as she was concerned, all these feelings were just the craving for a new help she could mold from scratch before it gained too much of a mind of its own.

An ear would twitch as he seemed to get all the more excited with every passing second, which had a flare of being contagious had he not already made her want to puke with his putrid grime. She was worried he’d turn back around and rope her into another hug, and she was not about to deal with that. Not so sure she could keep this facade up long if she kept getting more and more dirty by this flea.

At least he seemed to listen well enough as he returned to being inquisitive, leading her to turn her head to him with that same bittersweet smile that had been there for a while now on this little walk. “First is to always obey every request I give you without complaint and in a timely manner. Be on your best behavior for me, Ty. The second is to never tell anyone where you have been staying, hmmm?” she offered her two instructions, ones that would give her the utmost control over him without having to come off sinister. At least, not within the public eye. The last thing she needed was a case put on her. Defending herself wouldn’t be as easy as defending someone else, clients often disregarded until they say something self-incriminating.

Annoyance would pile up as she heard him utter how far for a second time even though she had answered before he ever asked. “Use that darling brain of yours. I’m sure you can recall,” she tried to keep the agitation away from her vocals as she met his gaze before heading toward a rather lavished building that looked better maintained than most and within Yorkshire. One might think them in Rionna with how absolutely stunning the estate was and not horribly far from the barracks or pub either. A perfect place with a perfect location for the inhabitants.

She wouldn't make another step until he agreed to her wishes.

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Tybalt Aetós

He never suspected that the smiles she cast were anything less than pure kindness. Sincerity, with a golden heart to match. That was just one mistake of many that Tybalt was destined to make. The only gold she sported was her jewelry, and her heart beat only for her husband… and herself. Dark-rimmed ears pricked forward as the woman’s feminine tones explained her conditions. She wanted obedience, full and unquestioning, concluding with a request: ”Be on your best behavior for me, Ty.” ”I’ll be,” he promised, nodding solemnly so she could see that he really, truly meant it. ”Be best, Mildy. No worry-ins.”

”The second is to never tell anyone where you have been staying, hmmm?” This request seemed a little… weird. And his dark mask scrunched up in confusion. Before he could censor himself, the boy had already blurted out: ”But why?” Naturally childlike curiosity, the sort of question a pup might ask a hundred times a day. But as soon as he had asked, Tybalt suspected that he shouldn’t have, and his smile faded for a second as he anticipated repercussions for the slip of his tongue.

After what felt like hours but was likely mere minutes, the chocolate-hued wolfess led him to a great big place in Yorkshire. Tybalt had never seen a building like this before. It was practically a castle – at least to the lad who didn’t have any house at all to call his own. Green eyes were wide with wonder as he looked at the brick walls, at large doors on hinges as big as his head. ”Tá sé ollmhór - oh, I mean..." He caught himself this time and stopped speaking the bad language. Tybalt looked up at The Lady, in awe. "Ye live here?” There had to be 50 – no, 100 wolves living in that big place! "'ts so big!" Finally, his gurgling stomach compelled him to inquire: "Food, now, Mildy?"



@Adeline

Adeline Verlice

His agreement had come without a hitch, or so she thought at first as he uttered his compliance more than once but then came that pesky question soon after. To ask why would cause her tail to thrash with a mild sense of anger as she peered over at the young boy, doing everything in her power not to allow that agitation to rise to her visage. They were still in the public eye and even if they weren’t, she needed to build his trust and codependency before she could hope to have him as putty under her paws and accept the abuse as self-induced for his own failures if she was going to keep him as a pet. There was a slight waver in her decision to keep him in that moment, not needing a boy that asked too many questions that could perhaps get her in trouble one day. If he wasn’t entirely compliant, it might rise to her husband’s notice should he ever come home. She couldn’t put herself at risk of being executed for doing something her family was versed in since well before she was born.

Slavery wasn’t turned a blind eye to by everyone. It was one of the laws she knew well enough and one she had been breaking since she could remember. She could leave him under her head maid’s care, allowing her to fluff him up with ideals of welcome and comfort. False safety should he slip up later. Not that her own paws would ever find him. She would have one of the other help she conjured to deal with this child if the time arose. Hopefully it will never happen.

She quite liked the little brat for what it was worth, rarely desiring the companionship of an orphan. At least, she continued to assume he was but a helpless war orphan to be begging for food from random strangers and on this side of the border. “Would it be an issue to keep this between you and the house? I can’t go adopting you and you go tell every homeless child or poor man I helped you or I will lose everything for my…generosity. Do be my special little boy and don’t try bringing in our end of being eaten out of house and home,” she smiled with a false warmth before guiding him the rest of the way to the mansion of sorts.

So long as his response wasn’t a flat no, she would take him into her lavished home and walk him along the luxurious corridors full of helpers. There was a variety of different wolves. Some frail maid and servants, others hired guns to keep her and her home safe. “Patience. Patience. We are nearly to the pantry,” she replied with a tsk upon her tongue.

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