Into the Lion's Mouth [Rids]

[Boyce]

"Would you? If given the chance?"

No, I wouldn't. The thought was quiet but it was spoken by both of Alice's minds. Neither her crazy half nor her sane would have ever given up Ridley. Not to Eligius. Not to anyone. Ridley was hers and Alice felt a strange feeling of possessiveness over her. Maybe that was her crazy side talking. How could she possibly have any hope of being with Ridley? She was beautiful, exciting, dangerous and far too out of her league. Being friends with the wonderful leader would be best. Even if she couldn't stop her fantasies.

Alice wasn't sure where she was going or for how long she planned on walking for. She was well aware of the fact that she couldn't simply enter Sapientia territory without there being serious consequences. If someone were to find her without Ridley, she could possibly become a prisoner or even pay with her life. At least, that's what she had heard from her Animos pack mates. How much of it was true though, she couldn't tell you. What she could say however, is that everything that she had heard about Ridley was absolutely false. At least for Alice it seemed to be. Had it been anyone else, would Ridley have turned out to be everything that the black-and-white female had heard about? It was quite possible and it gave Alice a small thrill to believe that she was an exception.

Pawsteps sounded from behind her and Alice felt her heart rate increase. Ridley was coming. Ridley. Was. Coming. Even in her world of her wildest dreams, Alice hadn't been completely expecting it. Therefore, she couldn't have prepared herself. It didn't take long for the Sapientia's gorgeous leader to catch up to her and Alice looked towards her. A warm smile that was meant for Ridley only bloomed on her facial features. Ridley was here and that's all Alice wanted.

"So you're coming home with me, then? I guess that is another option to get rid of your smell, Spend the night with me and you'll smell just fine."

 

That caused Alice to briefly pause her step as her heart kick-started and she continued on. Excitement at the prospect of Ridley's words had caught her off-guard. What an offer to make. Had the Animos wolf not been of.. well Animos she would have easily accepted that offer, whether it be a joke or not. However, she knew that such was an absolute scandal and one that wouldn't be overlooked by anyone if they found out. Another thrill of doing something that was against any pack law shot through Alice. She wanted to stay with Ridley. Badly. She could just imagine being pressed against Ridley while they slept underneath the stars. She could feel Ridley's warm breath and hear her heartbeat.

"That's a pretty risky offer, Ridley." She said with a cool, and barely controlled voice. It was difficult to keep the desire out of her tone but she didn't want Ridley to realize how much she wanted to accept what was said. "Are you sure that you could face the consequences if I were to say 'yes'?"

Whatever came next would define everything.

[Ridley]

Answered with silence, Ridley was suddenly filled with doubt. Still, what did the leader of Sapientia expect? Alice admitting she wouldn’t give her up would be treason. Saying that she would betray her meant that neither of them could continue to indulge with their fantastical illusion. Perhaps it was better for them both to continue on blindly, both in the dark to reality and loyalties and anything but them. Even so, to not know where Alice stood with her allegiances meant that the Animos was still very much a knight. It was just the question of whether or not she knew it herself. To be a knight and wrongly labeled as a pawn was an injustice worse than... death. It was to be unacknowledged of one's full potential, of one's purpose. If Eligius knew not the true brilliance of what could be one of his most valuable pieces, it was a tragedy. A tragedy that was bested only by the attraction that continued to consume Ridley.

As the dark she-beast followed after Alice, she couldn’t help but let the uneasiness slip away from her. It was just impossible to remain anything but enlightened around her rabbit. Ridley was intoxicated from the smallest gestures that allowed her imagination to keep up her charade of mutual infatuation. The way Alice’s face parted in a wide smile, how her steps faltered when Ridley made the proposition for the night, and how her voice seemed almost as full of desire as her own was (maybe that was imagined, but who knew?). “That’s a pretty risky offer, Ridley, ” her words caused yet another charismatic grin to part the dominant female’s features.
“Nothing is ever risky when you’ve nothing to lose, ” Ridley’s confidence, her arrogance, was only fueled by the signals she believed meant Alice wanted to accept her offer. What could also be considered her ego, was also her insecurities. When she said she had nothing to lose, it was not that she held nothing valuable in her life. It literally meant that Ridley had nothing, no one. The thought was morose, depressing to say the least, but true all the same.
Nothing to lose? What of war, Ridley? What of my war? Midas piped in, somehow using his daughter’s spout of self-pity to manipulate his way into her mind again. She heard him grumbling in the lower parts of her subconscious, bitter and irritated due to the new distraction that seemed to be derailing Ridley from his plans. Your pawns, their lives. Since when had he ever been concerned about the lives of Sapientia’s followers? Did he truly believe Ridley would fail him, fail her pack mates? The war is nothing to lose because the game is mine already. Ridley’s own thoughts silenced Midas’s grumbling, save for the faded sound of his laughter she swore she heard in some dark corner of her brain.

“The question is what do you have to lose if you say yes,” she eyed Alice, searching her for doubt, fear, anything that would let her into her thoughts for just a moment. How easy it all could have been if her rabbit didn’t play so coy. She had to be the only wolf that didn’t sweat under Ridley’s gaze. But that didn’t mean she would be immune to everything that was sure to befall her if she did accept Ridley’s offer. If she returned to Animos, saturated in the smell of the rival pack’s leader, how would that look? A cloud of doubt shadowed Ridley’s thoughts for a moment. It couldn’t possibly work, but all the same, it had to. Ridley wanted it, wanted Alice, more than anything. She’d be damned if she didn’t get the alluring and illusive, and apparently insane, female.
“Actually, there is an even better question I have for you,” Ridley’s grin had faded and her tone was suddenly serious, “Are you sure that it's worth facing the consequences if you were to say 'no'?” The words were the Sapientia wolf’s way of saying that she wanted Alice that day, but might not have the courage to want her tomorrow. This was a real wanting, one that rarely happened with Ridley. It willed her to follow an enemy into the darkness, blinding her to the real reality of war. If Alice departed, returning into the Animos territory to spend the night among wolves that carried her same sour stench, that would be that. Ridley’s distraction would be gone, Midas returning and demanding her to “smarten up” and she would try to forget the mad wolf that had so easily unraveled her. Everything about their collision—their encounter could be called nothing else due to the sheer amount of force and fate involved—had been so sudden. If Alice disrupted the momentum of their crash, Ridley was almost positive her trance would be shattered and everything would burn itself out. It was a painful, disheartening, idea for the female, but she had to know that Alice understood what she was getting into and what she was deciding if she passed up the offer. Lust or loyalty. Now or never.

[Boyce]

Alice enjoyed being in Ridley's company. A lot more than she knew that she should. She knew that she shouldn't even be here, playing a game where both players did have something at stake. What would they do if someone were to catch them together? Suppose that little Alice did stay the night with this wondrous creature and then Ridley's scent refused to wash off of her fur? She pondered briefly on what Eligius would think of this. He most likely would be appalled at the apparent traitorous skin that latch onto her. She could almost feel his fangs digging into her, stealing the life from her very body. That's when another question crossed her mind: Was it all worth the chance? She risked a glance at Ridley as the silence stretched on between them. A grin had grown on the Sapientia wolf's lips at Alice's words. Another smile bloomed on Alice's own mouth. Yes, it was definitely worth it.

“Nothing is ever risky when you’ve nothing to lose, The question is what do you have to lose if you say yes,”

There was no creature in existence who had as much confidence as Ridley. If there were, Alice certainly had not met it. Everything that the other female said was laced with confidence and it seemed to radiate from her person. Had anyone else acted this way towards the small black-and-white wolf, she probably would have snapped by now and sought escape in her insanity. With Ridley, it was different. That part of her was sated and seemed curious of this new endeavor. Occasionally, it would react to a little movement that Ridley made. It would get excited and desire for contact between Alice's physical body and the Sapientia leader's. As much as Alice wished to give into those, she didn't know if it would be welcomed. The first time that she made contact was still fresh in her mind and she truly didn't want to break the spell that seemed to befall them both.

“Actually, there is an even better question I have for you, Are you sure that it's worth facing the consequences if you were to say 'no'?”

"No." The thought was in perfect sync with her voice. She stopped finally, her yellow eyes on Ridley, never faltering in their stare. Was she actually going to speak the desires? Maybe this was her crazy half while her sane mind was resting. No, that wasn't true. This was the clarity that she sometimes would strive for in situations and the one that rarely came. To think that it was present for so long at once was a miracle on its own. Perhaps it was because that she didn't want to lose herself and lacked any doubt towards her own mentality. "I don't want to deal with those consequences. I am sure that they would be worth a lifetime of regret." She paused as she immediately thought over what she was about to say. It could ruin her entire life, these few words. That was, if she had one left. "I would love to stay with you."

Alice stepped towards the Sapientia leader again and ever so gently touched her nose to Ridley's. To herself, that was the seal of her words. It was a show of how much she already trusted Ridley and how much she truly wanted the other to be hers. She stepped back after a half a second of contact and looked right into Ridley's enchanting yellow hues. Alice was searching for something, anything that would give away what was going through Ridley's mind. Mostly, she was searching for a mutual attraction.

One that could prove to be a deadly toxin or the greatest thing of beauty to both.

[Ridley]

"I don't want to deal with those consequences. I am sure that they would be worth a lifetime of regret. I would love to stay with you." If Ridley cared about Alice more than she did about herself, even just a little bit more, she would have snapped out of her trance. She would have cursed Alice for being willing to accept her offer. She would have snarled and snapped, ended their strange encounter, and made her way back home—alone. Damn it, she should have done anything other than quiver when Alice pressed her nose to hers and looked into her eyes. If the dark dominant female wanted to show a beating heart and maybe care about anything other than her self for the first time in a long while, she wouldn't have risked whatever consequences Alice would face if she went with her for the night. She wouldn't allow the Animos wolf to acceptance such a risky offer and come home with her. But Ridley had never been selfless. She'd been raised to get what she wanted when she wanted it. So Ridley was selfish, even when she knew it was wrong. To allow her desires to run her mind was all too easy. There would be no rejecting Alice for her own good because, in all honesty, Ridley wasn't strong enough to do so. The want was too great.

"You will?" her voice was shaky as she spoke. Fear? Was that fear making her heart hammer and words so fragile? You have no reason for fear now, little one, Taru's voice was always so innocent, yet always so sure of itself. Even then, when Taru couldn't possibly understand how scared Ridley suddenly was, she somehow understood what to say. It returned just enough of Ridley's confidence to her so that she could swallow the apprehension and recover. "I mean, you will," she grinned, raising an eyebrow and forgetting to sense of guilt gnawing in her stomach, "Of course". If Alice wanted to risk it, who was Ridley not to let her? But if it all goes wrong and someone ends up hurt, who is at fault? "Then be prepared for an amazing time," the dark she-wolf broke her eye contact with Alice for a brief moment, in order to gain to position herself beside the other wolf. Their sides brushed together gently.

With her rabbit by her side, Ridley was perfectly content to make her trip back home. She was almost tempted to show off her latest prize, to brag about her latest winnings. Did a conqueror not have room to gloat about his conquests? It was no different for Ridley, save that the conquest had a piece of her heart that she was almost sure she would never get back, not that she wasn't content with Alice holding onto it. But bragging was beneath Ridley. She was not one to go showing off the latest pawn knight she had stolen from the white king. Besides, the black queen wanted nothing more than to keep Alice all to herself. More selfishness. Aren't you a keeper? Ridley thoughts to her herself made a small frown flicker across her face. Had she always been so conceited? Had her mother ever been like that? Taru most certainly hadn't, although once or twice she had explained she felt enormous guilt about some wanderer that she'd loved with every ounce of her being. "Tonight shall be about you, considering you're to be my guest," she added, more to assure herself that she wasn't going to let it be just some one night stand like she'd had so many times before.