Getting to the good stuff

"You really have no idea how much anything is worth do you?" Nyali asked Simon as she and Lara were helping fill some gaps in his knowledge.

"Sorta, but not the context exactly." Sly tried to defend himself.

"But you haven't a clue what those gems you gave us will buy?" Lara piled on.

"It's a lot right?" He asked a bit sheepishly.

"Yes, ya idiot, it's a lot. Wait! You didn't know that! You paid us in shiny rocks and didn't know what good they'd be!" Nyali hissed indignantly.

"I was pretty sure it was a lot. Besides you looked eager enough to take em." He retorted.

"I'm... Just gonna to go make supper..." Said Lara, slipping away while neither was paying any attention.

"You can't go around throwing away money like that! If you get fleeced once everybody'll do it!" The cat-girl seethed.

"Then you can get on board and handle this nonsense, if it matters so much." He challenged her.

This was the moment Nyali realized she was alone with him. "And what do I get then?" She pressed, her voice dropping in tone. She slid herself closer until he was within arms reach.

Sly felt himself rising to her challenge, wanting to make her call him Daddy again. "Damn, not like this." He managed to pull back with a glance at her. "I'm not interested in sex to curry favor."

"What? I get you off you treat us better, that's how it works. You're not bad to look at anyway." She said, not quite believing it.

"No, I'll take care of you because I took you in. This is not a part of the deal. I want what most people want, I think. To be wanted." He said with some resignation.

"So you won't... You could do what you did last night. Did you douse yourself in a love potion or something? I really wanted you then. Is that a combat strategy?" She said.

"Oh, uh, kind of but no. That's all me. I've been suppressing it. Makes having a normal discussion impossible." He grumbled.

"But if I wanted sex just for sex?" She asked more curious than sultry.

"Then if the mood is right, yeah. You are... Tempting" He admitted.

"Well hells." Nyali plopped herself own on the edge of the bed. "What do you think of Lara?" She switched topics on a dime.

"She's too good for where she was." He said.

"You know if you don't include her you'll break her heart right?" Nyali picked her nails intently a she spoke, not looking up. "She ran to some pretty terrible people because a pretty boy got her hopes up and dashed em. I don't know how she'd handle not being part of... this."

"Why all the seduction then?" he said sitting next to her.

"If you were at all like Krodag I'd know first. Maybe keep her safe this time." She answered. Sly was getting a clearer picture of what life was like for these two. He'd have to be extra careful with them.

"I see, Ari doesn't bother you? That I'm attached." He asked.

"Powerful people have affairs all he time. It's basically expected with humans. Us beastfolk tend to just group up for survival. A strong male can have as many women as he can hold on to. How that happens..." She let that last bit hang with a shrug.

"I'm not going to keep people like that. Or break my word."

"Then go sweep that girl off her feet. She's been waiting for someone like you. Pretty, powerful, rich and ready to carry her of to a new and better life. Shit, that's been her dream for a while." Nyali said subdued. "But you should have that sexy man-funk going when you do. Orcs and beastfolk use our noses and you barely register as male right about now." She added with a tease.