Map Room Rendezvous

Emperor was restless...night was upon the island yet his mind could not be stilled to into sleep. The pacing within the room turned to the aimless wandering through the halls. The haunty rustle of his silken robes as they swept round corners and drug against the floor. His presence surfaced within the throne room. An unsteady hand stroking against his beard. Weariness about his features. Every day left drawn out. Exhaustion slowly seeping over the mastiff's body. This physical casing in which was affected by age. Slowly but surely the strength of it ebbing away. He was having to use more of his chi to keep it pristinely composed. The crease of wrinkles over his forehead as dull ember gaze scanned over the map. A foot kicking over one of the yellow army pieces with a grunt. "Why can't you just die..." Tired eyes dipping half closed. His gum lifting at the corner with an unpleasant sneer.

Ankha knew there were many nights where her partner did not sleep peacefully, just as he paced through the room and halls, her soul tended to wander into the aether that was the Duat. She was not keen on such a journey through the Halls of the Dead again, where her father's throne sat empty and Osiris demanded she seek him out. Leaving the luxurious comforts of their bed, the Egyptian pulled on a loose silk robe over her night gown and went trailing after her mate. She found him in the throne room, where the floor map sprawled out for a majority of the space and was littered with red and yellow figures to symbolize the opposing armies. It was easy to read the fatigue and irritation in his expression and posture, she padded quietly to his side and rested a hand on his arm. "The tides of war are ever fickle, are they not?" Ankha spoke in a low tone, her arabic accent curling huskily around her words. "How long has this struggle gone on?"

Emperor gave a lengthy exhale as he slowly looked up from the map. Distracted by the somber thoughts as the blur of color was captured out of his peripheral. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes unfortunately." When she asked how long it gone on for...the war. Had that never come up before. He found that interesting. After even so many years together there were still things to learn about each other. He turned towards her with a grave expression, but moved to wrap an arm about her sheer encased hip. "Few millennia now...I've stopped counting the life times I have fought this battle." As he slowly eased them down over the cool marble. Propping her next to his waist, pressing her side against him. He gestured to one of the provinces on the board in which one of the red dragon statues stood on. A region of stony mountains. "That is Malgas the iron province. Split into three districts. and Hamyong the butchers province." Shifting his hand towards the red earth section. "Where the majority of our current resources lay. The food and coin that supplies the armies."

Ankha, It was sometimes easy for her to gloss over world events, for the longest time she had simply been fixated on running her Merchant business and dealing with political matters back home as needed. Wars came and went, lands were conquered and lost. But her Egypt remained steadfast in the currents of Time, because it was protected against the greed of the outside world. She had never had the opportunity in the past to ask just how long he had been heading the campaign, how many lives he might have lived to see its completion. "You are weary," it was not a question but she spoke with quiet empathy, tucking herself to his side and the warmth he offered. They were both old souls, bound to the mortal coil for some predetermined destiny or curse. Her eyes swept to the map upon his gesture and she considered the region closely, "The mountains are a good barrier but they can put our soldiers at a disadvantage if we lose any passes through them." Absently adjusting the sheer of her robe, "I did, on the note of coin and supplies, receive a financial offer from a client of mine. He considered providing a donation to go towards supplies." Tactics and the like were not her particular forte, she was a businesswoman at heart and left matters of war to her advisors and his Generals. Money however? That was all her. "It may be a small drop in the bucket but every little bit helps."

Emperor couldn't say it out loud and so when she spoke the words weary he simply lay his head against her breast with a soft huff of his breath, stirring over the fragile material she was wearing, rippling with the breeze. He closed his eyes for a moment as if he might just drift away to her river Styx perhaps. Reluctantly prying them open to glance over the painted mountain ranges. "Yes it can be a strategist location. An uphill battle in which there is an advantage." Drawing in a deep inhale through his nostril. Though her mention of some donations towards the cause had his breath hitch and then seem to pause altogether. His temples catching a sudden throb. His hand coming up to palm at the side of his head, brushing through his unkempt locks. Before a slow rumble would roll through him and that claw be seeking purchase at her slender throat. A click of his teeth. "I do not need anyone's pity handouts. I am no peasant." Spoken pointedly, as he glared and cupped her throat in a dangerous grip. Laying her back against the marble, pressing her there. "I am perfectly adept at taking care of my family."

Ankha: Where ever she might be able to reach, there would be idle patterns drawn on his robes or on his exposed fur. The steady pressure of her manicured nails creating invisible markings and glyphs; when he laid his head against her bosom, her long fingers combed through his mane in a soothing manner. She didn't really care to speak more about the war, beyond what Junjie had offered and the change in his demeanor stills her touch. But even as curled a hand around her neck, she regards him with cool jade eyes. "I never said it was an offer borne of pity or sympathy, perhaps he just wants to relieve himself of unspent coin." And to her? Money was money. Even better that it was freely given but then, the Queen was terribly avaricious to a fault. The gossamer silk robe flutters and loosens around her figure, it hadn't been securely tied anyway and a low rumble crests in her vocals as he pins her to the marble floor. "Don't put words in my mouth," is her retort, tail twitching beneath her.

Emperor feels the press into his sleeping robe. The same color and style of his martial ones. Simple white linen. Truthfully he didn't have many different fashions. As he held her against the cold hard stone. Contemplating her words. "Whatever shall I do with you...taking handouts like such a wanton woman. It is unbecoming." He rumbled. Distracted by the exposure of her body as he leaned forward to nip at her perky breast and breath a whisper over it. "Trade or sale...this is acceptable. For then we paid for it." Even if it was a simply tricket worth only a coin, his pride would be intact. Ears rising from beneath his locks as they curled forward. His body hovering over top of her. "Hmm...put words in your mouth?" Head canted. "What if I put something else there instead?" Emperor As tongue licked across the sides of his muzzle as it stretched wide in a hungry sensual grin. Inclining down, craning his neck towards her mouth to take within his own. The claws of his free hand dancing over her curved waist. His leg spreading over her's to take her on the war map.

Ankha is wholly unconcerned for her current, rather vulnerable position, leering up at him as he half-heartedly scolded her for freely accepting money. Whatever snarky remark that sits poised on her tongue is swallowed when his teeth skim over one of her breasts, the jolt of pain and pleasure eliciting a twitch along her shoulders and a low hiss from between her fangs. "Hn, then perhaps I will rework the offer to spare your pride." The jackal finally says with a certain amount of feigned annoyance, though there's no mistaking the hungry gleam in her eyes with his shadow looming over her. "I'll bite you," it's not even a real threat, not that she doesn't drag a few of her teeth along his tongue when he does lean down to kiss her. The growl that resonated in her chest melts into a low croon, and with her hands free, she in kind works to divest him of his robes with deft fingers.

Emperor listened to the gasp loose from her lips and his eyes softened to a smoldering warmth of embers. "Good..." He spoke before he would kiss her lips. Pulling away slightly as she grazed him with such a sassy warning. A bark of laughter ushering from the pit of his gut sharply. "Oh oh...will you now. As if I would not enjoy it." He gave off a pleasant throaty vibration as he loosened his grip on her throat and traced a finger along the nape of her neck down to the groove of her clavicle. The sultry etching of her elegant neck. Resting himself on the side as he took her leg by the shapely thigh and angled it skyward. Pressing his shaft into her cozy folds. A soft groan. Claws entwining against the long limb leaving little prickles behind as he drove himself deeper. Pressing her back into him. Eyes half lidded as his eyes rolled slightly towards the ceiling.