An Inclement Proposal

The Seductress, as she was known by a local town after sleeping with every single woman in it (not at once), was staring down at the precious girl who had captured her interest. She slowly exhaled and exhaled, steeling herself-- how could someone so small and cute be so potentially destructive?

She had been unable to sleep, but she could hardly let her pet know that.

"Good morning, my Little Mercy," she said sweetly, as that was what she called the girl she had found and taken under her wing and claw.

Mercy woke up to see Eoforhild standing over her, looking all pretty in her clothes, and sat up, looking up at her mate lovingly... and then blinked as she saw something a bit off about about Eoforhild's face... was she... tired, maybe? "...did you sleep well, my lady?"

Eoforhild flushed a little, unwilling to admit she had been afraid of her own adorable little slave. "I had a bit of a nightmare," she finally lied, "and it made it hard to fall back asleep." There, better to admit she was afraid of something other than her Mercy, if she had to admit her fear.

Mercy's eyebrows raised as she looked up at her poor mate who had to stay alone and afraid the whole night. "You should have woken me up so I could hold you, my lady... I don't want you to suffer alone."

Eoforhild smiled and ruffled Mercy's hair, adoring her despite her fear. "You need your sleep too, cutie."

"But..." Mercy squirmed a little, wanting to make an argument, but not knowing how to do so without admitting she didn't really need to sleep.

Eoforhild slowly entwined her hair in Mercy's hair, and shifted her hand to shift Mercy's head along with it, make her look up at her. "Tell me, slave... who's in charge here?"

"You, my lady...?" Mercy stared up at her mate's face uncertainly. Even though she could tell Eoforhild's tiredness earlier, it wasn't easy for her to read the faces of humans. Was that the answer her mate wanted?

"And who makes the decisions?"

"You, my lady!" Mercy was more confident about her answer this time, and smiled up at her mate happily. It was a little scary being around Eoforhild sometimes, but mostly just because she had something to lose now, something to contrast being alone with.

Eoforhild stroked her hair gently. "Good girl. Now. We're going to go on a little walk this morning."

Mercy nodded. "Um... it's cold, but okay!"

Eoforhild shook her head. "Not with you naked... would you have walked outside naked if I told you to?"

"Yes, my lady!" No hesitation.

Eoforhild sighed. "...you wouldn't worry about freezing to death?"

Mercy laughed at that softly. "No... you'd bring me back inside and warm me up, my lady, wouldn't you?" She tilted her head a bit to one side questioningly, staring up at the woman she loved.

...no sense of self-preservation at all. Absolute trust in Eoforhild... if it wasn't for her power, she'd be the perfect girlfriend. Maybe if Eoforhild made a potion to weaken her, sap her strength, so she couldn't fight back even if she wanted to... she shook her head.

She couldn't think of anything that wouldn't make her poor naive girl feel sick, and after the life Eoforhild imagined for her, she hardly deserved that... no, it was hard to even think of anything to punish the girl for, which made her uneasy. "I suppose I would. But this is a bit of a longer walk, so I got some clothes for you." She walked over to take a box from a stack of miscellaneous things in the corner, where she had put it after removing it from the sled she had dragged inside last night.

Mercy looked down at the box confusedly, wondering if she was supposed to wear this, before remembering that boxes often had things inside them, and opened it up-- only to find two boots, and two complete sets of winter clothing which looked much like Eoforhild's, to her eyes. She smiled up at her mate as she hugged the clothes to her. "I can look like you now!"

Eoforhild laughed softly despite herself as she watched her cute little pet start to awkwardly try to pull on clothing in the wrong order, and moved in closer, caressing her obedient little pet's body as she pulled the clothes on and got them all nice and proper.

Mercy tried to pay attention as best she could as to how she was supposed to wear these things, but her mate's touch was inflaming her easily-aroused passion, and she pressed her body against Eoforhild's larger one, looking up at her needily. "...please touch your slave's pussy...?"

Eoforhild shook her head firmly as she gropes Mercy's ass a little. "If you're a very good girl, I'll make you cum when we return from the cold outside." It was hard for her to steady her resolve as Mercy's shoulders drooped and she pouted a little, but she hardly wanted to strain something before going out into the cold.

"...yes, my lady." Mercy had realized how much her mate liked being called 'my lady', so she had resolved to do it every time she remembered, but sometimes she forgot... it's not that she was particularly forgetful, or at least, she did not remember being so, though it seldom came up... rather, she blamed it on having such a beautiful and powerful woman for her mate, and it being distracting.

Eoforhild stepped back and admired the clothes. They fit pretty well, she thought, and there was a bit of motif overlap between her own clothes and Mercy's, as chance would have it... or maybe her uncle had chosen just such clothing to try to make them have a look that echoed each other. She smiled, and turned away, looking back to Mercy as she walked towards the door-- mostly to encourage her, but partially because she was just a little afraid to leave her back turned to her. "Come along."

Mercy hurried up behind her, and the two stepped out into the crisp cold, Eoforhild's body tensing slightly as the cold hit her face, while Mercy was practically unaffected-- she had had her entire body be this cold, and right now, it was like the clothing Eoforhild had got for her was wrapping her in a close an intimate hug.

Both had experienced worse-- it was cold, but not brutally cold, and perhaps that's the most one can hope for during winter.

Mercy trailed alongside Eoforhild at first, but she kept on getting distracted, seeing a rabbit and walking a few steps to watch it before it saw Eoforhild or recognized what she was and bounded away, smelling an interesting smell on the ground, and her lady watched on with amusement and a bit of unease... she seemed more like a wolf than a human, at times, getting distracted by little things and then hurrying to catch up to her beloved owner.

Mercy saw a little sprig of greenery poking through the snow and wondering if spring was coming here, if it would soon be time to move on... she crushed the little sprig of greenery that was threatening her hope beneath her foot. "Not yet," she said softly, willing herself to have more time. Her eyes teared up a little as she realized she'd probably need to leave when spring came... no, maybe she could keep this place in eternal winter if she stayed?

Cause and effect were always a little confusing, but she wanted to believe she'd be able to make this place be winter and stay by Eoforhild's side for as long as the mortal's flickering candle of a life could be her light in this dark and cold world.

Eoforhild had noticed the tears starting to form in her cute girl's eyes, and stepped close and wrapped her arms around her... it wasn't as nice as her pet being naked, but it was still very nice. "Are you all right, my Little Mercy?"

"I... it's hard to believe that this will last forever, sometimes," Mercy said quietly.

"Shhh... you're going to stay with me, and I'm going to take good care of you, okay?" Mercy nodded, and Eoforhild let her go, and the two of them walked onwards, Mercy sticking close to Eoforhild's side.

It was a little while before the two came to the crossroads where they had first met, and Mercy's eyes widened in recognition. "This is where you found me!" She smiled up at Eoforhild excitedly.

Eoforhild leaned down to give her Mercy's nose a dry little kiss. "Yes," she confirmed. "Lead me back the way you came from your previous house? I wish to have a word with them."

Mercy's eyes widened and she started to tremble as she realized that she couldn't, that this would reveal her lie. "I... don't remember the way back, really."

"Oh? I might have some memory-enhancing herbs with me...." Eoforhild started to look through the little bags attached to her belt.

"I wasn't outside that often," insisted Mercy as she shook her head.

Eoforhild looked up, and frowned. "My little Mercy... you aren't disobeying an order, are you?"

"I... if I take you to the house, this will all be over, I'm sure of it...." Mercy started to cry. "But if that is what you wish, my lady...." She remembered where she had seen an uninhabited house, and started to walk in that direction.

Eoforhild followed alongside her. "I'm not going to get rid of you."

"You say that, and yet things will end," Mercy answered softly and pathetically.

Eoforhild frowned. "I am in control of this situation, not you."

"You say that, and yet things will end," said Mercy even more hopelessly.

"This family of yours can't hurt me," insisted Eoforhild.

Mercy smiled sadly. "You are right... and yet this will end." But she led on obediently, trying to think how she could craft the lies she had told. It was too late to tell the truth, Eoforhild would never accept it at this point.

Eoforhild didn't like seeing her beloved little slave so sad, and besides that, she was beginning to have other doubts. If this was what Mercy was like, what was her family like...? And as a Witch, she had studied storycraft... if she had been reading a story, she was fairly sure, upon the third time of Mercy saying something like that, the result would've become all but certain.

Eoforhild took a few quick steps to catch up to Mercy's side, and caught her wrist, and the girl stopped in her tracks, and looked up at her owner tearily.

"I've changed my mind," Eoforhild said flippantly. "I had thought to teach them a lesson, but if you're this upset over it, I suppose we can just go back home."

Mercy burst out sobbing and turned and clung to Eoforhild, and Eoforhild pushed her head back a little-- she was worried her little pet might get too emotional and crush her to death. "Let go and turn around."

After one last long look at her mate, Mercy did so despondently... had Eoforhild decided to simply abandon her here, rather than go to the abandoned house? Had she known she was lying all along? Was this her punishment for lying to her mate?

Eoforhild stepped up behind Mercy, and wrapped her arms around her, and squeezed her tightly against her, and Mercy relaxed back against her, sobbing a little more.

"Thank you, Eoforhild. I love you." Mercy's words were soft between her sobs. "I'll do whatever you ask, just please don't ask me to return to that place... I'm so scared of what will happen...."

This poor abused girl... it made Eoforhild want to wreak vengeance on her family all the more, that such a sweet and obedient and submissive girl had been tortured and thrown out by them.

"Think no more of that place," answered Eoforhild crisply. "I'm your family now. We can get married in the coming spring, if you like."

Mercy laughed a little and then started crying harder, knowing full well that spring would never come as long as she, the Goddess of Winter, was with her, but desperately wanting to be married to her mate, wanting to be marked and intertwined in every way possible with her beloved. "I would like that very much, Eoforhild... you're so good to me... I'll obey you in every way I can, I promise, as long as I can stay by your side...."

"Shhh... I know how good and obedient you are. If you truly can't bring yourself to do something, just let me know... I might punish you, but I'll never let you go, you'll see." Eoforhild squeezed Mercy's smaller body against hers, feeling very protective.

Her little pet might be some horrible monster... but that was hardly Mercy's fault, was it? She had been born into this world as she was, Eoforhild figured, just as she herself had been born into this world as a witch, one who loved women, and one who was very particular and controlling in her desires, and if her cute Little Mercy could eagerly put up with that, she could certainly find a way to tame her little monster.

What sort of witch couldn't even make a monster into her pet, after all?