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Newlywed Life (Jenna;TiffTiff)


Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

The Griffin’s explanation for his skills made Jenna quirk an eyebrow, slightly confused. A warrior… working with a chef? And beyond that, working under a chef? The idea was just sort of bizarre to her. There was no such thing as a dedicated chef in the Great Hollow, no restaurants to visit, though some lizards took to cooking a bit more than others and used that skill to barter for the goods they needed. "Huh. I guess that… kind of makes sense" she replied after a moment’s thought. "Well, you’ll surely be able to find a variety of seasonings and things around here, if not in the wild then you could trade with others who have them." With their breakfast over, however, she would rise and say "it’s about time to head out and scout for home locations now that we’ve got some food in us." If he had no immediate objection she would lead him out into the Great Hollow and start her search, wanting him to have some input on where they would make their home together.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"If I go to trade, they'll want sexual favors, won't they?" Griffin inquired, before standing up with a grunt. "Though, I thought someone said that tunnels are dug to represent family lines. Why look when we're clearly just gonna go in one direction?" he asked flatly.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"Probably, unless you have something else you can trade with" Jenna replied, nodding, "I'd imagine you wouldn't be open to trading that sort of thing, which I would prefer as well." She grumbled at his objection to looking for a home location, quickly saying "we can go a little ways, and some locations are better than others. In any case, let's just go find something. The sooner I get to work the better."
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"I'm not good at digging, so..." Griffin cleared his throat. "Am I supposed to help too? Seems like your kind treats men like women often enough, so it is dishonorable for a man to help with this whole cave thing?" he asked, and it was slightly true. Lizards were far more equipped to dig than humans, and there wouldn't be any truly efficient tools laying about for him to use, since all digging can easily be done without them.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"You can help if you want, there's no dishonor in it" Jenna replied, "but if you're really so set against coming with me you can stay here. Talk with my mom and dad some more." It was true, there wasn't much reason for him to go with her to search out a place to dig their home and to perhaps help or watch her work on it. She wanted him to come with her, though, because she both wanted to spend more time with him and didn't necessarily want him spending more time with her mother. Regardless of whether he followed her or not she would head out into the tunnels and begin the search.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

Griffin took a moment, but decided to go with her after all. He had nothing to dig with, so he was mostly standing back while letting Jenna do the muscle work. If she insisted, his miserable performance with digging compared to her own might help change her mind. He'd be getting in the way more often than not, and such would perhaps be the first time ever that Jenna would find something that she outclassed Griffin in. Griffin would remain silent the entire time, either helping her or not, unless she chose to speak first.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

Ultimately the Griffin decided to go with Jenna, which pleased her. The main decision, of course, was where along her mother’s entranceway she was going to build. Left, or right? She felt along both sides, trying to decide which was the warmest, though she had felt it many times before, and she knew she wanted to build off to the right. "It’s probably going to take me some time to dig this out. I have a plan for what I want, and I have to get it all dug out before anyone else gets to the space" she said after a moment, looking back at her new husband… she decided against trying to get him to help, given the lack of tools available and his lack of claws. She took a deep breath, readying herself, and then began to tear into the wall with both claws, digging furiously. She wanted a narrow entrance tunnel, perhaps wide enough for one person to walk through quite comfortably, and maybe two to squeeze through side by side with some difficulty; it would be easy to defend such an entrance against any hostile group that sought to attack her.

The lizardgirl wouldn’t allow her husband to stay silent for too awful long. There was too much work ahead of her. "So" she would say, "since you can’t help me dig, can you tell me some stories? I’d like to hear more about what it’s like to live outside, amongst the other humans." She was curious enough about the Griffin’s former situation that stories about it would probably keep her entertained for some time. She would dig herself a fairly long tunnel, zig-zagging it twice, before beginning to dig out a large circular room. This would be the den, where they would entertain guests. Once that was done she would move on to digging out the tunnel into the heart of the home, making it a fair bit wider than the entrance tunnel and opposite it, this time sloping downward significantly. She wanted a multi-tier home, it was something she had always thought about. The next room would just be a hub, and she would build two branches off it. Each would lead to a separate hub, one of which would branch off into a kitchen area, storage, all the various essentials. The other would be the bedroom hub, and she would branch off four rooms from it, one for her and her husband, the other three for potential children. Finally, the lower two hubs would be linked with a tunnel beneath the central hub. It was an ambitious design, but she had plenty of time, and there were no other claims in the space that she knew of.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"Stories?" Griffin replied curiously. But then he found that she was curious to know what it was like on his side of the world. To that, he responded with some thoughtful humming. "Well... I'll just go with what I know. My life was under the military, from birth until I was an adult. I never knew my mother, and I was told that she was but a village girl my father made love to. I eventually found that it was a lie, and that my mother was a Crow Tengu, a mystical mamono with abilities for telling the future. Someone like me would be able to live amongst other humans after being 'purified' by Order priests, but my father's life would be at risk, so he lied. Most traits of my mother are completely transparent, though my father's hair is blond, and mine is black, from my mother's side. I also seemed to have inherited some slight traces of my mother's powers from birth, and it is my ability to see very slightly into the future. Though it's not quite like that... More like I get a gut feeling that something is about to happen a split second before it does. I beat other boys my age who were in training, and officers were simply under the impression that I had exceptional talent in battle.

"The military life is a pretty simply one. You woke up, you ate, you trained all day, you performed labor, and then you slept for the next day of eating, training and labor. Once I had grown into a somewhat capable child, my father took me out from the standard scheme and told me it was special training, before he left me in the middle of the wilderness and only told me to stay alive. Well, I knew a fair bit of tracking, so I followed him back to camp. He then knocked me out and left me somewhere else before covering his trail so I couldn't find him. The forest was thankfully full of fairly weak mamono at the time, but they were still a challenge for a child. I realized just how vile mamono can be in that forest, attacking even a young boy to make children of their own. I was struggling considerably to find food while avoiding constant conflict with mamono. Even though I could win, mamono still boast their numbers. Even now, besting but one mamono is a challenge I can do easily, but I imagine that if your sister were fully grown... And if you perhaps knew a little more than the basics of combat, then I would have stood no chance against the both of you, contrary to how I held my own, at least for a little while." he grumbled.

"Anyway, there isn't too much to tell, really. My life was full of challenges, but I wouldn't describe it as interesting... Rather, talking about it all just feels like I'm complaining, and perhaps I am... I didn't enjoy not being able to enjoy myself... Or talk like I am now. I had no contact with women either, asides from rapist mamono, and I was told that when it came time for me to take a bride, I would be able to choose any woman I desired... Provided some other woman didn't choose me first. Such would likely have ended up being the case... As I'm no good with women." he said bashfully.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

Jenna listened to her new husband’s story as she dug without incident, taking in the tale with some interest. She nearly stopped him when he told her that he was the son of a mamono, one of her eyebrows quirking, though she didn’t say anything just yet. It was exceedingly rare that a human male would be produced by the coupling of a human and a monstergirl. Perhaps even moreso that the resulting child went on to live in a human community in secret. Next to that it wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe that he could see a few seconds into the future. She had heard a little bit about crow tengu before, after all. The Griffin’s life as a member of the military seemed not terribly dissimilar from the life of a more orthodox lizardgirl, mostly consumed with training his skill in battle. The story of his father and the way he had been left out in the woods multiple times to fend for himself made her think of her own mother. They sounded like similar people from what little she knew. Maybe that was why he seemed to get along so well with her mother.

Jenna blushed a bit when he mentioned her lack of combat skill as well, quite embarrassed by the fact. She kind of regretted going off on her own… kind of. "The man or the woman can choose a mate?" she asked quietly at the end of it, somewhat intrigued by this aspect of human society. "How do you choose? What traits do humans look for normally? Because I can’t imagine you would go very long without being claimed if it was anything like here. And besides that, what of your mother? It seems odd to me that your father returned to a human settlement with you."
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"Yeah, both men and women. There's often not enough people to perform all the jobs required, including soldiering especially, and even when roles are filled, like a master engineer, more than one is employed in case the current one gets taken by a mamono or a demon. People are constantly disappearing, so they conduct these rules to encourage more children to be born. In all honesty, men could be rescued... Like, for instance..." he rose a finger to state an example. "Soldiers could come and murder you, then I'd be free." he stated simply. He let her suffer the impact of that before adding. "I'm not serious."

"But there are men who aren't willing. Plenty I'm sure. However, those men are deemed to be tainted by the church. What I don't get is why they can't be purified. They've proven that they can do it, but often enough, they just execute any captured men they find... Well, I'm certain it's something shady." he nodded.

"As for how people are selected... Well, all it takes is someone of age announcing that they want to marry you. You gotta be old enough for marriage too." he informed her. "As for reasons... It could be anything. Social status, money, power, or even if they're simply attractive. A lot of people who got married like that will likely give you many different reasons, if they're honest." he shrugged. "For instance... If I were to want to marry you, it'd probably be because I could control the relationship to my liking, and you couldn't do much to stop me. I mean, I 'am' more skilled than you, and it's nice feeling like you're in control... Which is the opposite of my current situation, considering you can apparently change how I feel to suit your needs whenever you will it." he sighed.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

Jenna listened to this story with a slight bit of a frown. Were humans really being dragged off constantly by monstergirls? He made it sound like human villages were these tiny, depopulated places. She turned to look at him when he talked about men being rescued, about how soldiers could come kill her in order to “save” him, and her lip twitched… maybe not for the reason he thought, though. "Don’t joke like that" she said quietly, and she turned back to her digging while he talked about the way this church of theirs killed those men who had been captured and taken back, unwilling to “purify” them after the taint of mamono. What a strange world it was. The answer to the lizardgirl’s question made her feel… even more depressed than his little joke. Not the first bit, that was just a little strange. Human society seemed impossibly complicated, like something no real person could navigate successfully. A million possible factors for choosing a mate, a million more for being socially acceptable. What was depressing was partly the fact that he thought he could utterly dominate her, partly the hint of truth the idea had… and then what he said next.

Jenna stopped digging, but she didn’t turn to look at her husband this time. Instead she sat down and hugged her knees quietly for a long pause. "I thought you might make a scene before or during the ceremony" she finally muttered, "that you might get us both in trouble… I’m not… I’m not really comfortable with it either, okay? I just…" She paused again, setting her chin on her knees, her tail lightly tapping the ground behind her. She felt… kind of sick. "I want you to love me. Like, really love me, without this stupid magic" she spoke up finally, "but I know… I know you don’t. I know you’ll just go back to hating me. And I… I don’t think I could take that." She was making it a point not to look at him now, to stare at the bit of the wall she had just been digging out, trying her best not to let him see just how upset the situation made her.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

Griffin was silent for a time. He seemed to be thinking of Jenna's words for a good long while as silence followed. After a while though, he did answer. "I don't hate you." he announced in a soft voice, though went silent after that. He looked the opposite direction of Jenna, a bit of a blush on his cheeks. Leaning against the wall with his arms folded, he silently stood there.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

The cave went silent for some time, far too long for Jenna’s taste as she squatted there and hugged her knees. The Griffin finally answered her, though, quietly telling her that he didn’t hate her. All was silent again after that, but she could tell that it was different somehow… She didn’t know her new husband too awful well, but she felt that that was as close to a confession as he was capable of making. "Alright" she said quietly after a few moments, standing up and beginning to dig again, ready to finish up her digging in silence if necessary. She felt… a little bit better now. She wouldn’t do it all at once, but she would begin to ease her use of the wedding magic slowly over the course of the next few days.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

More silence fell as Jenna continued to work. Griffin's attitude seemed to change as well. He left suddenly, leaving the declaration that he'd be back, only to return with lemonade and some roasted meat. "Why not take a break?" he suggested, leaving her with the drink and food while returning to his spot, resting against the side of the cave.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

It was quiet for some time, only the sound of Jenna’s claws tearing at the stone filling the cave she was making. Her husband seemed to have changed his tone since their little conversation too, eventually leaving with the suggestion that he would be back soon. The lizardgirl shrugged and continued working right up until he returned with a bit of lemonade and roast meat. "A little break might do me some good" she said with a smile, wiping some sweat from her brow, taking the drink and downing it; she hadn’t realized how thirsty all this digging had made her. The Griffin stood by the side of the cave while she sat down on the floor and ate, the food quite good. It hit the spot too, after all this work. "Mmm, that was good" she complimented after she had wolfed it all down, "thanks dear." With that she was ready to get back at it and double down, ready to finish the home they would share together.
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

"You're welcome." Griffin replied. The air hung for a bit as he let that be all that he said. Jenna's powerful claws destroying the rock filled the tunnel as she worked. As the rocks turned into pebbles and dust, she'd hear a faint 'dear,' be murmured behind her. If she looked, Griffin was looking away from her, facing the other way, a hint of a flush on his cheeks from what she could see.

Given Jenna was a powerful mamono, she moved quicker than even a team of well equipped human beings while digging, and would be done with their own bubble in the rock that they'd call their home while normal humans would have taken much longer, even if they had diamond pickaxes. "... And you're not remotely near the strongest of your kind?" Griffin inquired, seeing the job done by the end of the day. He helped clear the rocks away by sweeping them, so that left Jenna to destroy until there was enough room, once the tunnel was done. "We just need furniture now."
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna)

There was quiet for some time while Jenna worked then, her husband telling her she was welcome for the meal and then going silent… for a little while. As she cleared out the finishing touches of one particular room he practically squeaked out “dear” in belated response. She slowed down her digging, turning to look back at him, and found him very intentionally looking the other way, clearly blushing a bit. She giggled and turned back to her work, not saying anything about it… He was so damn cute. Though she couldn’t have known it she was working at what to him was an incredibly impressive pace, her natural strength and ability making her far better suited for such a task than a number of humans, even with the best and most advanced tools available. Griffin started to sweep the debris out of the floors, the smashed rocks and pebbles and things, expressing his amazement not just at what she had done, but also the strength of her kind. "Hey, I’m no weakling" the lizardgirl objected, "most of the training I did after I ran away was with my body and my physical ability. Still, there are probably many others who could dig even faster than I can. As for furniture… we’ll probably need to barter for it. Unless you’re a woodworker on top of a chef, of course."
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna;TiffTiff)

"I can make the most basic of furniture, yes." Griffin acknowledged. "You sort of have to do odd jobs when you're not being paid for soldiering. I learned how to make very basic chairs at a sawmill." he revealed.

"All I made was chairs. Lots of chairs. The other man I worked with made tables... Lots of tables."
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna;TiffTiff)

Jenna began to grumble quietly as her husband told her that he did, indeed, know how to make furniture. Some of it, at least. "What things don’t you know how to do?" she asked quietly, "that would seem to be easier than asking you what you can do. In any case, we could actually probably use that as a bargaining tool. I could go out and gather you wood, and you could make chairs and things for us to trade. Unless you need special tools, I guess…" She was just a tiny bit annoyed that the Griffin seemed to outclass her in basically every way, to know so many things that she didn’t. That was to be expected to a certain extent from a lizardgirl’s husband, but the man wasn’t usually the sort of jack of all trades he seemed to be…
 
Re: Destined Union (Jenna;TiffTiff)

"The conversation about what I 'can' do will be much shorter than what I cannot do." He said honestly. "I'm really good at making squares... maybe rectangles... Circles are tricky, I can't do those... So our furniture will be a lot of squares and rectangles if I make all of it." He explained a very boring and possibly ugly idea for interior design.
 
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