Dominance [Merik]

[Ayara]

It was such a delicious target. The home of Knight Commander Zenethil, a driving force behind the persecution of the Gerudo people. A paragon of justice and light in the world and one of the greatest warriors the world had ever seen. And he lived in a house. A big house, but by no means a manor. No staff, no guards, just the commander and his family.

A family home. A sleeping family home inhabited by at least one highly trained warrior with excellent hearing and a will to kill.

Challenge accepted.

And that was how Din found herself sliding a thin knife under one of the windows and working the latch as noiselessly as she could until it came away and the window opened with barely a whisper. Say what you might about the commander, but he did take care of his house.

She didn't risk climbing in. Instead she simply floated through the window, setting down on the floor inside as light as a feather. In fact, she could have made herself as light as a feather easily. But where was the fun?

Room check. One entrance, one window, four walls, a ceiling, a floor, nothing shiny of immediate interest, but- oh. Oh. There was someone in bed. Sleeping.

It was a face she recognized.

Screw the burglary. This was just too good.

Stepping over to the bed with all the commotion of a slight breeze, Din leaned down so she could whisper into the sleeping man's ear.

"Wake up, Merik Dragmire. Your goddess calls you."

[Merik Dragmire]

It was difficult for Merik to sleep in Zenethil's house. While he was awake he could easily disguise himself from the watchful eyes of the Hylian Captain but once he fell asleep the disguise would slip away. Because of that he had been keeping himself completely alert for the slightest sound to indicate someone entering the room so he could disguise himself instantly.

Unfortunately he was paying more attention for someone to come through the door as opposed to sneaking in the window. As such it did take him by surprise to suddenly find someone in his room. His form changed instantly into that of Scott before he realized he had recognized the voice. His form shifted back as his eyes opened to glare at the woman above him.

"You aren't my goddess Din; I'd ask what you're doing here but I suppose that's obvious enough." he said quietly with a smirk as he pushed her back a little and sat up.

[Ayara]

When Merik pushed Din back, she let herself float away, sitting in mid-air in the middle of the room. "You know what I'm doing here, but what are you doing here?" She smiled triumphantly, though those with poor taste might call it a shit-eating grin. "And more importantly, does the old man know?"

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik cracked his neck as Din floated away in that fairly annoying way she had of just hovering around the place.

"I'm here providing moral support for my student; one of Zenethil's "daughters" is Gerudo, she was kidnapped as a child and raised by the racist bastard to hate our people. I've recently been giving her combat training in secret and she has grown to embrace her heritage." he said with a faint growl, still upset that the Hylian was allowed to go about matters as he had.

"Does the old man, one of the greatest hate-mongers against the Gerudo people, know that their King, and his greatest enemy, is his house guest? Of course he doesn't, though that could change soon enough so we're prepared for a quick exit in case."

[Ayara]

Din mocked offense. "You have a student? A new protegé? And you haven't introduced us? I am shocked and appalled, Merik."

She let herself drift closer to the door. "Shocked enough to blow your cover, even."

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik climbed out of bed and took a few quick steps to close his hand around the end of Din's cape.

"Or you can not go and talk to the angry Captain who we will then have to kill before he tries to kill us, and I do mean US because I will out you just as quick missy." he said as he tugged back on the cloth. "And no that isn't an invitation for us to up and kill him; we've got enough people lining up to kill us without adding more Hylians to the list by making him a martyr."

[Ayara]

Merik pulled back on Din's cloak and Din let the motion turn her over in the air until she was hanging upside down, face to face with Merik. Except she didn't look like herself anymore. Her skin was white , her eyes were blue, and her hair was a dark chestnut. She looked human, and surprised. "Gerudo? Wot're they? Them sand bitches, yeah? Nevuh seen 'em, guvnah."

She giggled, letting the coloring fade back to her usual Gerudo self. "Why kill him? He's a challenge. They all are." She floated closer to Merik, caressing his face almost lovingly. "And you're letting him control you," she whispered sensuously. "You're being dominated. By a knife-eared, soft-hearted old goldblood you weak fool."

And then she planted a kiss squarely on Merik's lips. A brief, fluttering touch of the lips, and she used her grip on Merik's head as an axis to maneuver herself behind him and wrap his arms around him. "So tell me about this new student of yours. Did you fuck her yet? Or did she fuck you?"

[Merik Dragmire]

Din's brief touch of illusion amused him and he knew it wouldn't be right to let her leave tonight thinking she was the better at disguise, but before he could deal with that little issue there was a clarification required.

"There will always be challenges, but some of them need to be dealt with quickly and carefully. Such is the case with Zenethil." Merik replied before adding with a glare. "No mortal being controls me, and I'm sure even the divines find me difficult. I'm simply proving myself to be the better man and polite enough to not assassinate the man who, no matter how unwittingly, has invited me into his home; much less with his daughters present."

Her sudden kiss surprised him; it shouldn't have as he knew that he was one of the few that Din hadn't been able to conquer and control. But once she had floated around him and asked her question he decided it was a good time for the one up game, especially as the question was none of her damn business anyway. Wrapped around him as she was it wouldn't be difficult to notice that she was being pulled towards the ground as the King shrank before her.

Within seconds her arms were completely wrapped around a small Hylian boy no older than six. Pale skin, gold hair, sparkling blue eyes...the ideal Hylian child.

"You shouldn't say bad things like that lady, my mommy says that people that say bad things get carried away by the Desert Demons and eaten by them and their King." he said in a sickeningly, innocent, little voice.

[Ayara]

For a fraction of a second, a look of ugly disappointment and anger flashed across Din's face before she pushed off of Merik to float near the ceiling, putting on an exaggerated pout. "So, what've you been teaching her? How to duck her problems, ditch her friends and screw her cousins?"

Suddenly Din was rolling in the air, covering her mouth, trembling. She was trying like hell not to bust out laughing. "Sorry," she whispered after it had passed. "I just imagined you trying to teach someone what being Gerudo is all about."

She floated back down so her face was level with Merik. "What I'm saying is that you don't know shit. You should give her to me. Three days with me in the desert and you won't even be able to tell she grew up here."

[Merik Dragmire]

The child growled as the voice shifted back to Merik's, though the form remained steady.

"ONE, I don't duck my problems, I deal with them in my own time for my own benefit. TWO, I don't ditch my friends; the closest thing to that was when my family moved on to the Fortress while you stayed in the village, even after I told you that no one would stop you from coming with us. Hell, when I led our people to the ocean I came looking for you to join me on my ship but you had already taken off on your own little adventure. THREE..." he paused before responding...it was technically true. "Well you can't prove three so shut up about it."

He seemed to remember all at once that he was still in the child's form and slowly turned back into himself.

"I've hunted, I've scavenged, I've stolen, I've taken part in raids, and I've fought side by side with hundreds of our people. Don't you tell me I don't know what it's like to be a Gerudo. As for Nairore's training if I ever want her to be a walking talking Gerudo Stereotype, I'll be sure to send her your way."

[Ayara]

At that moment, Din hated Merik.

Well, she'd always hated Merik. The way he somehow managed to wear two faces at once infuriated her. To the outsider, Merik might appear reasonable. Wise. A strong leader. A good and honest man and an open friend to all.

How was it that Din was the only one who saw that he did it all just to control her?

He offered before she could take. Surrendered before the battle even started. He excused and forgave, trusted and loved, and it was such UTTER FUCKING BULLSHIT YOU LIAR YOU LIE YOU LIE YOU LIE I'LL KILL YOU

Din's boundless rage manifested only as slight twitches in her face as Merik talked and talked and talked. A tension in her posture. A stiffness in her normally perfectly fluid motions. All of them signs Merik was sure to know by know. Mother knew he pissed her off enough times.

He tied her down with words and didn't even have the decency to beat her.

She put her feet on the ground and kissed him again. More deeply this time. Bringing her close enough to bring her hand up towards his neck.

Where her fingerknife would slice open his carotid artery and he'd bleed out like a pig.

[Merik Dragmire]

Oh yes, this was a side of Din that Merik knew very well. All the anger and rage that burned within her that she only just managed to keep buried beneath the surface.

And she released it in a kiss full of fiery and slightly wrathful passion. Sure the anger was mostly focused upon him, but he knew a portion of it was aimed at herself for not being completely in control.

And as her hand slid up towards his neck, he felt her finger catch ever so slightly on his tunic and he smirked into their kiss. The knife managed little more than to prick and pierce the skin before his hand closed around hers and pulled it away.

A single bead of blood welled up on his neck as he broke the kiss and laughed quietly.

"A weak attempt, if I didn't know better I'd say your heart isn't really set on killing me."

[Ayara]

Din's face turned ugly, spiteful, and then she broke. Her whole body shook with a barely-contained sob. She collapsed into Merik's arms, crying. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so so sorry. I missed you so much. I love you, Merik. You're my only friend."

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik was expecting a snappy comeback, maybe another attempted attack on him. But the reality of Din just breaking down on him like that was unexpected...and very, VERY disturbing.

In fact the completely out of character burst of non-anger-related emotion from her had him a bit more on edge than he already was. So being just like any other fairly normal man who has been confronted with an overly emotional woman, he did the only thing that popped into mind: he bailed held her while he tried to wrap his head around what the hell was going on.

"Shhh, it's okay...you want to tell me what's going on that brought this about?"

[Ayara]

Din was crying freely now, shaking in Merik's arms, fighting to keep as quiet as possible, considering where they were. "I'm scared. I'm so scared all the time and- and-" she couldn't speak through the quick, pained sobs that racked her. "You're the only one. The only one who's ever kept me safe. The only one who's ever cared about me. When I couldn't find you I- I- I didn't know what to do. Nowhere is safe. They all hate me. The Gerudo, they- they won't let me go back. I haven't seen our Mother in almost ten years."