Except: The Red Vixen at Sea (PG-13 for male on female violence)

Jul 30, 2014 06:09

Update on the Kickstarter. After a banner weekend that brought us to $91 and 81% of our goal, we've been in the doldrums for the past couple of days. It's so close I can taste it though....

Update: $25 pledge this morning, bringing us to $516 and 86% of our goal. Eeeeeeeee......



It was a little like being stuck by a lightning bolt, Melanie thought, this sudden clarity. She'd been married to Rolas for a year now and she hadn't seen it before. What a fool she had been!

"I always though you were moody and broody because of having to deal with that lunatic countess your family was trapped under, but I'm betting you were always like this, because of Salli," she said.

"Of course it was about Salli, how could it not be? You saw here when you arranged for her treatment," Rolas said.

"Oh, no," Melanie said, grinning fiercely. "I don't mean about her being hurt. I mean it was always about Salli, wasn't it? Even before she married Kev Highglider, it was always about her."

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"Normal young males don't go sailing in circles for two months with just their sailboat's AI for company. But you did. You had to, just get away from your family, or else go as mad as Salli. You were jealous."

Her husband's jaw dropped open. "What?" he asked, incredulous.

"You heard me. You were jealous. Do you remember how you first described her to me? I do. You said she was always ahead of you. Prettier, smarter, more charismatic. And of course she was a vixen and you were just male. She was your family's heir and you were expected to be her helper to administer the estate, leaving you to deal with all the fussy paperwork while she got all the attention and love of your commoners."

"I don't want to hear this," Rolas said, frowning deeply, his paws reaching behind him to grip the aluminum deck railing.

"Oh, yes you do!" Melanie said, going on, relentless now. "Then she was betrothed to Kev Highglider, and you thought that finally things would go your way. She married up to a Countess' Heir. Sure, you'd still be her social inferior but at least your family's domain would be all yours once your parents passed on. No big sisters to trail after anymore. At last you'd be able to shine!"

"Stop this!" Rolas shouted.

"No!" she shot back "You need to hear it, because you know its true. You've just been hiding your anger all these years, pretending it was about Salli being hurt, when that wasn't it at all. Because just when you were settling in to the idea of being your family's Heir, she came back, mutilated and half mad because of the abuse she'd suffered under Kev Highglider. And all of the sudden it was all about her again, and you couldn't even be angry about it because poor, poor Salli had suffered so. So you had to swallow it all down and be a good little boy, while your sister hid in her rooms and cried and cried that no one really loved her."

"Be quiet!" he shouted.

Melanie stepped forward, paws pushing against Rolas' chest, forcing him back against the rail. "Let's face it, Rolas. When you saw what Kev had done to her, didn't make you warm inside just a little, because he'd finally done what you could only dream of?"

With a roar, Rolas cocked his fist back and slammed it into Melanie's face, dropping her to the deck.

* * *

No, Rolas is not going to be very happy with himself after this...

kickstarter, writing, red vixen, the new media, red vixen at sea

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