Mature Content Warning

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: sexual themes later in thread

pharaoh had been crowned, muat-riya blossomed; and now the festivities drew to a close, which left those who would remain in the pleasure palace to themselves. the royals, inji thought, would not stay for much longer.
she had begun to think of the cenote as home, and she supposed she would for the forseeable future now. her chamber was decorated with a selection of cactus blossoms and reeds, and the walls had become smeared with natural paint — test swatches, crude drawings, color palettes. future plans, past memories. she sweeps a lanky forelimb to straighten out her bedfurs and collapses onto them in a heap, eyes fixed sharply upon the ceiling.
with so many new faces, inji often found herself wondering why she felt so lonesome.

He supposed it was only a matter of time before his paws itched to travel again. Talisman had no intention of abandoning The Tribe, yet he decided to lean into his wanderlust today by heading out toward the nearby dunes. Maybe he would find something useful out there to bring back to his kin.

From the top of the tallest dune, he could see the cenote in the distance. His pale eyes squinted as he watched tiny figures coming and going from what looked like two large holes in the ground. The other members of The Tribe had cautioned him about this place, though Talis was suddenly helpless to resist his curiosity.

He ventured closer with a slow, wary step, stopping often to observe with all his senses. By the time he came within earshot of Muat-riya’s claim, he was covered in desert dust. He heard the slosh of water and swallowed. He was parched, he realized. From up close, he couldn’t see down into the sinkholes, though the young coyote was almost certain he would find water down below.

Just let me know if it’s not cool to plunk him in here. :)

ur all good!! <3 this'll be fun LMFAO

inji had not noticed the trespasser immediately. instead, she found herself distracted by the blurry melt of browns, beiges and reds when she unfocused her eyes. an onlooker would have likely thought her to be sleeping judging by the stillness of her frame.
she thought stupidly of khusobek, how long it had been since he had called upon her. the still-teenage heart yearned for something that was not hers to take.
blinking away the fogginess, she decides then that her break was now over. there was still much to be done — much to be cleaned up around the palace in the wake of the festivities and their destruction. she almost thought to reach for a branch of sage to cleanse the surely tainted halls.
bleary-eyed and running on autopilot, as she emerges from the tunnel leading to the surface, she nearly walks right past him. the face that she had not seen before. the face staring into the cenote's open ceiling. the face that did not belong here. blink blink blink, and then:

HEY! what the fuck!

For several minutes, Talis didn’t venture any closer. He looked around, assessing his surroundings, trying to ignore his bad case of cotton mouth. But when he heard what sounded like scurrying footsteps, his arctic blue eyes cut forward again. He deliberated a moment, then decided to tiptoe closer and look inside, like a boy gazing down into a well.

“Hey!” a voice cried as his eyes darted around the impressive chamber down below, filled with sweetwater. “What the fuck!”

Sorry! he blurted mindlessly, backpedaling away from the sinkhole’s edge before he could get a proper glimpse of the speaker.

In fact, he pivoted and hastily galloped a hundred yards or so. The young coyote then slowed and whirled around to face the cenote again, waiting for her—he was almost certain the voice had been feminine—to emerge. His heart beat hard against his ribs as another apology waited on the tip of his tongue.

panic, embarrassment; the stranger had scrambled away so fast inji almost thought she had been mistaken. but then, she pokes her head out, followed shortly by her shoulders and her torso, and a way's away from the cenote's edge, she can see him. she could not recall the palace taking on a male fellahin.
wh-- w-- she hoists herself up onto the sand, stiffly shaking herself out and scanning her surroundings to ensure no one else could see them. she softens as she recognizes the fear clearly plastered on his face. um, sorry, i-- do you know where you are?

When she apologized, it struck Talisman dumb. He swallowed his own “sorry,” trying to make sense of what he was seeing. She looked like a coyote, though she was a little taller, with some wolfish features. He had never shared The Tribe’s aversion to their larger cousins, so her species didn’t matter to him. But he had expected anger and she just seemed as confused as he felt.

No, he said hastily as soon as he found his voice again, I didn’t mean to trespass. I’m sorry, Talis repeated.

The fact that she wasn’t about to chase him down and tear off his face made him relax ever so slightly. He drew in a steadying breath, rolled some tension out of his shoulders and blinked his baby blues a few times. He couldn’t help but be a little spellbound by her own lavender eyes, though Talisman quickly averted his gaze.

I mean no harm, he said a bit more calmly now, collecting his thoughts. My name’s Talisman. I’m from The Tribe. I’d heard about this… gathering from them but I was under the impression it was, like, a temporary encampment. That’s my bad, though. Are you all here to stay, then?

it appeared to be only a misunderstanding. relief came flooding down the expanse of her body.
oh, inji quickly readjusts herself, awkwardly smoothing her pelt down with a sweep of a paw. he was lucky he'd happened to come across her and not somebody like the jodai. or khusobek. or rashepses. or — anyone else. we're here to stay, yeah, it's, um-- we came from akashingo. pharaoh has established a pleasure palace. muat-riya. that's what this is.
his name is talisman and he's from the tribe. she had never really heard of the tribe. should she know about the tribe? was that why the occasional coyote seemed to pop out of nowhere? perhaps it was bold of her to assume this strange boy knew what akashingo was.
my name is inji. i'm a, uh, i'm a fellahin. servant. but you happened to catch me on my off hour. she had meant to get back to work, but now here she was. and for some reason, she wasn't mad about it. i-i, you should, um-- here, i'll walk with you to the borders?

The Tribe would be very interested in this information. That was his first thought. What would those exotic names mean to his kin back there? He shifted his weight, smacking his dry lips a little as he took mental notes to carry back home.

But then she introduced herself, giving a title that meant nothing until the word “servant” left her lips. Talis barely registered the words following that as he heard that same old voice whisper in the back of his mind: ZAFRA! He had the exact same reactions as the time when Qiao had uttered “servitude”: his pupils dilated, his heartbeat quickened again and he felt a tugging sensation deep inside him.

Talis caught himself and, for the second time, collected himself. Inji, he breathed. He licked his dry lips again. Who do you serve? he found himself asking, his belly doing a little leap.

inji took this chance to weave her body around him until she began to walk ahead. she did not know where this supposed tribe lived, and she suddenly found herself afraid to ask. she would just have to guess — her gut pointed her southward.
talisman looks as if someone had smacked him stupid upon her utterance of the word servant. she bristles, the hair trailing her neck fanning out into a sharp, nervous spine.
pharaoh, she responds matter-of-factly. and semer-wati, and anyone else within the kingdom who... calls for me. but mostly men. the mazoi like to have me give them baths. she thought once again of khusobek, and she found that a warmth began to spread across her cheeks.
typically, she would have met him with flirtation; her voice would have pitched up to a pleasant tune, and she would have purposefully swung her hips in a way that would catch his eye. but how was one even meant to speak to a boy from a different world?

She closed the distance between them and Talis blinked, shaking his head lightly. His lips parted to apologize again, this time for failing to answer her latest question. They pressed together as he flanked her away from the sinkholes. Talis gave them a slightly dazed glance, swallowing dryly, then returned his full attention to Inji.

I don’t know what any of those words mean, he told her candidly, but all of it sounds so exotic. It…

But the thought on the tip of his tongue hadn’t fully formed, he realized. Still walking alongside her, Talis lapsed into a contemplative silence, a furrow knitting his pale brow as his eyes dropped to his shuffling paws. Then it smoothed as he raised his eyes and caught hers a moment later.

My great grandmother was a zafra, he found himself sharing, a little shudder traveling down his spine, which meant ‘slave’ in her native tongue. She served a god called Shardul. The way you speak so casually about servitude reminds me of how my family always took pride in Regipre’s status as a slave. It was a great honor to serve the cougar who’d saved her life. Talis paused. Not many see it this way.

he was not, in fact, haunted or disturbed by her status — inji felt that perhaps he was merely fascinated. she listens contently while he talks with his own exotic words; a tale of people who died long before either of them had ever been born.
i'm no stranger to it myself, she laughs. my, um. my family, i spent my whole childhood wandering from pack to pack, doing odd jobs so that we'd have places to sleep at night. some of us liked it more than others. my parents really wanted me to go out and find a better life, or whatever, and... well, here i am, in the same place i started.
she had never really thought of it this way before.
but i like it, so, i mean, it's okay, y'know? pharaoh is very kind, she treats me well. and i like the other girls. and i don't have to do anything i don't want to, technically. she did anyways, sometimes, and she didn't really know why. she shakes her head again as her gaze finds his. it's not always such a bad job.
but sometimes, it was.

At first, he thought she meant she was no stranger to these attitudes. Many looked down on servants. But Inji spoke of her youth, of wandering and trading work for places to stay. Talisman’s eyes brightened when he realized she was a kindred spirit. She’d known a nomad’s life, even if her experience differed from his. Talis and his dad had always stayed on their own, looking after themselves.

Inji insisted her Pharaoh treated her well, that she liked the other girls who served. That made Talis wonder whether there were male fellahin. He found his chest tightening at the thought.

Maybe you were born for it, he said softly, insisting, and there’s honor in that. I think… I think I was born for it too, actually.

He didn’t even know what he was saying, though it felt right to the young coyote. His dad had told him stories about Regipre and Shardul so many times in his youth. Yet Talis had never had any opportunity at all to explore this deep-seated urge to serve. He’d only started living communally quite recently and everybody was an equal in The Tribe.

maybe you were born for it.
and perhaps she was, she thought. it was in her blood. it had been for generations, the way her parents lived. the way the packs surrounding minya worked.
but then again, maybe she wasn't. but did she want more than the only thing she'd ever known?
y'know, inji pauses as her steps come to a halt. i could... bring you to meet eset. she's the hebsut. master of the house. she could bring you to pharaoh, there was something exciting about the potential for a male fellahin, for something different — to not be alone in her servitude at muat-riya.
to have someone around who understood.
her lip curls into a soft, hopeful smile. maybe you'd like it here. it's not-- it's not too late to turn around! unless, um, your tribe friends would be mad.

Inji offered to introduce him to what sounded like the principle figures in Muat-riya. Talis’s heart leaped in his chest. He could see no reason to decline such an opportunity, at least until Inji mentioned that The Tribe might be upset with him. They would probably be happy to get any information he gathered upon his return, he imagined, though he supposed that was the question: would he return, if Talis liked what he found here?

I don’t think it could hurt just to meet with them, he replied slowly, thoughtfully. I’d love to learn more about this place and what you do here, he confessed in the next breath, though his interest was probably rather obvious. You said you give baths. You also said this place is a pleasure palace. So do you basically just… pamper anyone who calls on you?

Mature Content Warning

what inji heard was, in fact, a yes! okay! okay, okay! she expels her excitement with a quick little happy dance, wriggling her hind as her tail spurs into a beating wag. we'll-- oh, jeez, you'll need to bathe and to find a place to sleep, and, um... oh man i don't even know if pharaoh is still here butwe'llfigureitoutc'mon! she reaches out a paw for him and gestures him back in the direction of the cenote.
and then, she realized that he'd asked her what exactly a fellahin does. her heart froze in her chest for a splintered second.
oh, um, how was she to explain this? you give baths, prepare dishes, straighten living quarters... help build temples, prepare for events, paint, organize supplies for the sesh, escort the mazoi, um-- she was missing one other thing. perhaps the most important.
and sometimes, they want to... y'know, um, her tongue pokes the inside of her cheek in an obscene gesture she could only pray would be understood. but pharaoh would never make you do that. or anything. unless you wanted to. it was one of the most important things to her, when i joined. that we wanted to be fellahin. found joy in it.

Her enthusiasm was both adorable and contagious. It also disconcerted him a little. Talisman smiled a little nervously, glancing down when she grasped him by the elbow. When Inji tugged, he found himself obeying, his own chest filling with excitement.

His question made her freeze, though, and he did the same. Talis felt a nervous flicker in his belly, though it dispelled when Inji began listing the tasks expected of a fellahin. Some might balk at them, though just hearing her speak of them filled Talis with a sense of honor, importance and duty.

When Inji made an obscene gesture, his pale blue eyes blinked. He was at a loss for a good beat or two, as Inji insisted nobody would ever force his hand. Pharaoh wanted her servants to want to be servants, which of course spoke to some deep place tucked inside the yearling.

And then it hit him, what she must mean by that motion. Talisman’s lips parted. Something in his belly flickered again, though it was entirely different now. Even more people might eschew this particular line of work, though that wasn’t how he felt. Perhaps it was partly his inexperience, yet like any hotblooded young man, he could find no fault in being asked to perform in this way. Pleasure palace, indeed…

All of that sounds rewarding to me, particularly the last bit, he confessed in a breathy voice, pupils now overblown so that only a sliver of arctic blue showed. But won’t that mean there’ll be a lot of pups? Talis wondered in the next breath, his voice as curious as it was hopeful.

really? inji was shocked. it was such a taboo within the palace, the manner in which the servants were often called upon — and it was not always pleasant, doing things for men that a wife may never even entertain. well, there's... i guess when it's that time of year, yes. i, um, i wouldn't know. i've never had--
heat. she had never gone into heat.
her cheeks were swallowed by flames, and it worsens the longer she studies talisman's expression. she had never seen someone so — eager, and not in the lecherous, perverse way the palace's men often looked at her. he was more like her; just like her, even!
and, suddenly, a girlish desire overtakes her; a curiosity about him.
but she shouldn't.
she could, though.
y'know, we don't have to go back right away. we could-- talk? some more?

His question evoked a flustered reaction from Inji. Talisman immediately worried that he’d said something out of turn, though he couldn’t think what. Only when he realized what she’d been about to say did he realize why she might feel embarrassed. He felt warmth creep up his throat too.

I haven’t either, he told her reassuringly. All my knowledge is theoretical only, he went on with a sheepish laugh, but from what I’ve heard about it, it’s supposed to be really… His pale eyes darted around as he searched for a word, the sights of Muat-riya serving up the perfect one on a platter: Pleasurable?

Perhaps this confession endeared him to her. Inji now proposed they sit and talk a little more instead of seeking out the palace’s authority figures. He bobbed his head, offering her a soft smile. Talis certainly wouldn’t mind getting to know her a bit better, not to mention learning more about Muat-riya.

Sure, he said easily. After a beat, he kicked off with, So, how did you end up in Muat-riya?

Her avatar is STUNNING!

she would hope a biological man would not go into heat! she did not know much, but she knew that wasn't... how it worked, was it? she looks at him, bewildered, before her eyes begin to widen into saucers and she realizes — oh. wait, you mean you're a virgin?
oh, boy, she wanted to sink her teeth into him.
she guides them to a spot beneath the shade of a creosote, where they can sit and watch the cenote from a safe distance. the sun shimmers along the flaxen sand, a mirage against the unforgiving winter. talisman could think more on it, she thought; gather more information without the pressure of muat-riya's authority — and she could escape from responsibility for just a little bit longer.
pharaoh wanted to expand into the south when akashingo got a bit too crowded, and she also wanted a place to honeymoon with her consort, inji tells him in idle thought. aaaand i decided to stay here. because a pleasure palace needs people to, like, provide the pleasure, right?
she did not mention khusobek, nor her hope that he, too, would make muat-riya his home. the thought of him made her stomach hurt, sometimes; as did the thought of rashepses, the night they spent together.
focus. she wanted to focus on the boy in front of her, the soft topaz eyes. it is fun, y'know, her voice becomes heady, bashful. her paw drags through the gravel. the pleasure part. when it's with someone you like.

THANK U

She was now looking at him a bit peculiarly, her beautiful eyes widening in sudden comprehension. The surprised tone of her question told Talisman he’d misconstrued her meaning. He made a small noise in the back of his throat, cheeks heating a little as his lips parted. But before he could answer her, she moved and he was left to scuttle haplessly after her.

They were soon seated in the shade, Inji addressing his own inquiry even as the pale yearling scrambled to collect his thoughts. He barely heard her answer, honestly, though Talis looked at her sharply when she shifted back to more risqué topics.

I thought you’d never… he said, remembering Inji hadn’t actually finished her sentence, leading him to make an assumption. Not that it matters, Talis continued in the next breath, shaking his head, right? He huffed out breath, part bashful laugh, face still flushed beneath his cream fur. I haven’t had the opportunity just yet but, yeah, I’ve heard it’s a really good time.

for the first time in months, inji felt alive.
she had seen hardly a patron since the coronation began. eset was always favored for her body and mind! and khusobek — khusobek. it was as if he was afraid of her, as if she had been tainted by the way rashepses had held her.
and perhaps she had been.
but talisman did not know the semer-wati; talisman knew only what inji said to him, a caricature of who she was, of what she did here. he was not a man of the palace, not yet, and what she saw in the warmth of his cheeks and the set of his lips was the tiniest sliver of free will, of spontaneity, of throwing caution to the wind and saying fuck it —
fuck it.
she inches toward his face and boldly slings an arm around his shoulder. well, she breathes, the lavender eyes darkening, desire coiling tight in her belly. you have the opportunity now.

Abruptly, one of Inji’s slender legs slung around his pastel shoulders. Talisman could feel her breath caressing his cheek as she spoke in a voice that could only be called sultry. He went rigid under her attention, simultaneously bashful and intrigued. His insides squirmed.

He felt as though there were two snakes lashing around in his stomach, battling one another. One of them was awkward and anxious, the other was bubbling with lust. Every point where he and Inji touched felt so sensitive that Talis wasn’t sure if he wanted to lean into it or away. He glanced at her purple eyes and the more salacious of the serpents devoured its opponent in a lecherous ouroboros.

Now, like right now? he repeated, just to be clear. I mean, yeah. If you’re down, then so am I, Talis said, pale eyes now searching her face.

As far as he knew, Inji wasn’t in season—perhaps that’s what she’d meant to say earlier—and pups weren’t a possibility. That was sort of a shame, in his book, but Talis was fine with a practice run. He felt his belly dipping and swooping, the snake wantonly burrowing into his core. He surprised himself by making a rumbling noise low in his throat, a final, wordless note of consent.

Would it be alright to fade this to black here? :)

of course!! i'll tack on an ending here <3 tysm for joining this thread i did NOT expect this but i am not at all complaining LOL

yes, right now, silly, she let herself kiss him then — chaste, playful, trailing from jaw to collarbone. right here.
it felt like white-hot freedom; like a youthful first time she never got to have. no risk, and yet all of the rewards. in the aftermath, she was golden.

she leaves him with a promise of seeing him again, hopefully among the shimmering halls of muat-riya.