Dungeons and Dalliances

6.27 – Hierarchy

"Who was it?" Malice asked.

Natalie groaned, letting the towel drop from her waist. She climbed back into bed. Malice snuggled into her, the wolfgirl thoroughly satisfied by rounds two, three, and then a hastily concluded fourth.

"Alaina," Natalie said. "The baron's daughter."

"You sound upset. Why?"

"It's awkward, for one," Natalie said, wrapping an arm around the girl who had cozied up to her. "I thought for sure that was going to be Jordan, or maybe Sofia telling me to keep it down." She'd forgotten to throw up a sound-dampening barrier, and it hadn't been until the knock at her door that she'd realized her mistake. "But nope. It's the damn baron's daughter." She groaned loudly, covering her face with a hand.

"So? Who cares?"

Natalie shook her head in exasperation. Of course the wolfgirl didn't understand the mortification of the situation. Never mind the whole, Natalie-wasn't-allowed-to-sleep-with-Alaina thing, either. Gods, she'd opened the door in just a bra and a towel. The latter of which had definitely not hidden much, by how incredulous blue eyes had kept flicking down there.

"Hm," Malice repeated at Natalie's lack of a reply. "Whatever. I don't really care, to be honest." A few seconds passed in which they basked in each other's hot, sticky skin. "You asked me questions, human. Do I get to ask my own in return?"

"Oh?" Natalie said, peeking past her fingers. "About what?"

"There's a few things I want to know."

"Go ahead, then." She couldn't imagine there was anything she needed to keep a secret from Malice. After all, Natalie didn't come from an inscrutable, all-powerful deity-like dungeon complex, thus holding unfathomable knowledge that possibly no humans in existence were aware of.

"I've been trying to understand the hierarchy," Malice said. "But humans are confusing."

"What hierarchy?"

"You five. Your pack."

"My pack?"

"You're at the top, obviously," Malice continued breezily, as if what she was saying wasn't totally ridiculous. "But putting the others in their order is harder. Or where I stand, for that matter."

"What are you talking about, Malice?"

"The hierarchy," she repeated. "Jordan is second, yes, because she's your mate. I have that much figured out."

"W-What?" Natalie stammered, growing immediately flustered. "My mate? What do you mean by that?"

"Is she not?"

"Well, what's mate mean to you?"

"You two are bonded. Whatever you humans call it." She paused, as if searching for a word. "Married?"

Natalie made a choking noise. "No. We're not married." That begged the question of how Malice was even aware of those parts of human society—how did she speak their language anyway? But Natalie was too flustered to go down that path. "Where did you get that idea?"

Malice stared at her.

"Hmph," she finally said. "Never mind then. But if you two aren't mates … no, she would still be second. Ana third? I can't decide who's at the bottom, though. The white-haired one or the healer."

"Sofia? Liz?" As bizarre as this conversation was, Natalie couldn't help herself from growing amused. She laughed. "Honestly, I'm not sure which of them is the bigger bottom either. So it's fair you can't figure it out."

"Oh? It's not established yet?"

"We don't have a hierarchy like you're saying, Malice. We're a team."

Malice rolled her eyes. "Yes, but authority is always organized, even unofficially. It's a law of life. Even humans are animals, in the end."

"Liz and Sofia have as much say in team decisions as I do. We don't even have an official 'leader'. We're all equal."

"Stop being obstinate. There is a hierarchy. If you refuse to tell me what it is, I'll make my own assumptions. It goes you, me, Jordan, Ana, Sofia, and then Liz."

"Wait, you're second, now?" Natalie laughed. "When did that happen?"

"I changed my mind. Seeing how the rogue isn't your mate, then I would naturally be second."

Natalie twitched for a second time at the implication of Jordan being her 'mate'. "We're just friends," she repeated.

"Why do you two look at each other like that, then?"

"Anyway," Natalie said loudly. "If there was a hierarchy, Sofia goes on the bottom. And Jay is second, not you."

Malice sniffed. She didn't seem offended by that; it had been her original assumption.

"Why's Ana fourth?" Natalie asked. Maybe she should be shutting down this whole talk more seriously, but Malice's adamant world-view wasn't going to change anytime soon. Natalie could tell that much. If she thought their group operated on power dynamics that weren't really there, all the insisting in the world wouldn't sway her.

Plus, she was just interested in what Malice had to say.

"She's a difficult one," Malice admitted. "She clearly has a strong will and is respected in the group. But people don't look at her when hesitant about something." She made a noise. "At least she isn't blushing all the time, like the healer and the fighter are."

"True," Natalie said, smirking. "I'm not sure anything could make Ana blush. Why'd you put Sofia so low, though? She's confident. And a great fighter." Was Malice's views based only on … what, sexual confidence, and not the regular kind?

Malice's nose scrunched, as if disagreeing. "She acts like she's confident. Which counts for something, I suppose. But it's not really there. That's easy enough to see."

The words had Natalie blinking. Sofia? Not really confident? What the hell did that mean?

"She is a good fighter, though," Malice continued breezily, not realizing her words had silenced Natalie. "That's why I put her above Liz. But if you say she belongs at the bottom, I believe you. But the healer neither knows how to fight, nor does she have any confidence, feigned or otherwise, so I would've figured she was at the bottom…"

"Liz has plenty of confidence," Natalie disagreed, her brief disorientation from Sofia dispelling, though she knew Malice's interpretation was going to be sitting in her thoughts for a while. Liz's poise during meeting the baron had shown that she had plenty of self-assurance, and for that matter, she didn't show much insecurity in general. "She's just a bottom, and easy to embarrass," Natalie laughed. "It's not like a real authority hierarchy is based on someone's sexual tendencies. Come on."

Malice hummed as if she both agreed and disagreed. "Humans," she said. "Too complicated."

"What if I said you were on the bottom of the list?" Natalie teased. "Am I allowed to decide that?"

A scandalized expression appeared on the wolfgirl's features. "What? Me? Why would I be the lowest?"

"You were making some awfully pathetic noises a few minutes ago. Some I'm not sure I could even get out of Liz."

"I am not at the bottom of the pack."

"If you admit you are, then we can go a few more times, tonight."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Malice's mouth opened and closed as a blush grew on her face. "You— are you serious?"

"Why not? If my puppy can't maintain her dignity in the face of her neediness, wouldn't she belong at the bottom? If she needs to be fucked so badly she'll do anything, even accept a demotion?"

"Human! Don't tease me!"

Natalie laughed, squeezing the girl in. Malice glared at her from her side.

"Okay, no, but really," Natalie said, knowing she needed to say this outright, even if it wouldn't change Malice's mind. "There's no hierarchy in our group. Everyone's opinions matter the same. Including yours. All six of us are tied for first place, and if you go walking over other people because you think you're 'higher on the totem pole', then I'm not going to be happy." She kissed Malice to ease the scolding. "So please don't act that way. Okay?"

Malice frowned at her for a long several moments, then eventually said, "If that's what the packleader demands, then that's what I'll do."

Which was probably contradicting the point Natalie was trying to make, but she would take what she could get.

"So," Malice coughed, looking away as another blush grew on her cheeks. "You aren't, um, done for the night, right?"

Natalie rolled her eyes.

Seriously, how insatiable was this woman?