803 replies and 30 files omitted.
>>119009Um.... Eh...
>>119001 →She stands up, and gets off the bed. No word or comment, with the same frown
>>119010Iron uses the power of empathy to try and see what's going on inside her head that left her frowning.
[1d20 = 8]<Sense Motive >>119011It seems there is or has been a discrepancy between expectations and reality
>>119012Iron ponders this for a second, planting a hoof on Sands' flank.
"Wait."
>>119014Iron hums for a second before putting his hoof on her cheek, approaching her muzzle with his own.
"I can sense you want something," he says as he goes ever closer to her.
>>119015She looks away for a moment, then back
“Perhaps...”
>>119016Iron's breath can be felt near her muzzle at this point.
"Say it."
>>119017Now, she looks right into his eyes with big, green, almost sad eyes of her own
“I want a promise”
>>119019“That...”
She looks down, and rubs the ground with her left forehoof
“That when this is over...”
Looks up at Iron
“You will be my special somepony. And I, yours”
>>119020Iron is stunned by the proposal, astonished that a mare actually offered him to be his special somepony.
He blinks at her dumbfounded.
"Why? I have not even made good on my promise yet," he utters, unintentionally revealing his insecurity. "How do you know you can trust me to accomplish what I promised?"
>>119021She smiles, and pets the top of his head, over his ear with her left hoof
“Where the heart is... it will happen”
>>119022Iron's ears droop, feeling quite conflicted over the issue.
"I... I do not know what to say..."
He looks at her with a bit of shame but determined.
"I still want to be with the zebra as well. I do not want to let her go."
>>119023Now her ears droop
“Don’t think of her now. Think of me”
>>119024Iron looks back at Sands, ears still drooped
"Can I not choose both you and the zebra?"
>>119025“Can you commit your heart and time to me? We can work on this whole ‘zebra’ issue later. Just so long as you will be mine.”
>>119026Iron thinks of all the good Cauldron has done to help him, from giving her home for him, treating his wounds and offering him companionship even though he almost broke it up after getting drunk and expressing his primal desires straight up.
Her smarts, cunning, resourcefulness, trustworthiness, dexterity and charm. He can't simply part away from that.
However, Sands has been quite the patient, caring and loving pony, letting him nuzzle her and use her body to alleviate his primal desires, specially with her soft, fluffy fur. He can't simply leave her behind either after what he did.
Because of this, he's basically at a standstill, shaking his head in mild desperation.
"I want to give my heart and time to both. Not one over the other."
>>119027She sighs, then sits down, wrapping her tail around herself, as she lowers her head along with her ears
“Fine. Let me put it to you this way. If I had sex with you, I could become pregnant. Would my foal have a father with the love, the will, the money and the time to provide for her. Hold her. See her off to school in the morning. This is something I need to know with certainty.”
>>119028Sorry for breaking the moment, Sands. Iron can't help but want two mares instead of oneIron hums a bit before nodding with certainty.
"Yes, I will."
>>119029She nuzzles him
“Hopefully in time you will give your whole heart”
>>119030Iron holds her head close, placing his head over her, content with the agreement.
"I will never betray your trust, Sands. I promise you that."
His member has receded back to its sheathe at this point in time.
>>119031She is pretty soft and comfortable to hug, sitting there. Her hair is soft under his muzzle. She now wraps her forelegs around him
“Good”
>>119032He decides to hold her close, savoring the moment of slight tenderness.
However, he does have one last thing to say.
"Do not betray mine."
>>119034He simply stays silent in the hug, not wanting to explain himself, lightly stroking her head tenderly.
>>119035She pulls away from him, and eyes him
I wonder where Iron went. He needs to better explain what he said to poor Sands.
Unrelated question: what voodoo lets you have OP post numbers in even thousands?
>>119033Also golly gee the autism emanating from Iron>>119037>>119039>>119038>autismI don't blame you for thinking that because you probably didn't witness her ask for immunity after hearing Mala, the gnoll with Silver, ask for it when it was revealed he ate the bones of deceased pony slaves. If she felt compelled to call for immunity after hearing Mala eat dead ponies, then she has a big secret compared to eating pony bones, which is pretty bad.>>119036Iron smiles at her as if nothing strange happened or was implied.
"Why worry about something you will not do, Sands?"
He strokes her mane.
>>119042She pulls away again to look at him with a partly open mouth
“The Hell are you even talking about?”
>>119045Iron blinks at Sands.
"Are you feeling alright?"
>>119046“Are you?”
She now pulls away entirely, and starts to slowly walk to the door, with a gait almost like a cat. She shakes her head as she nears the door
>>119047"Yes," he responds calmly as he follows her.
"We should go back to the others now."
>>119042Why would she have any idea of what Mala’s secret was? Why would she know that? Why would anyone except Mala know that? Why would anyone think that she could have known that before he said it?>>119048With our word, she opens the door and goes into the hallway
>>119049Because Mala said so to everyone for the first three questions. The fourth question is a not relevant at this point because, as I've said, Mala said his crimes to everyone by implying gnolls can digest bones.Iron simply follows her, because of course he is quite worried about how shifty and evasive Sands is becoming.
(This mare just keeps getting more scared by the minute. How bad is it to not just say 'Alright, Iron. I will not break your trust.' What is she hiding?)
>>119050Nigger, here’s the timeline
1. Mala asks for immunity
2. Sands says, “can I have it too?”
3. Mala opens the garbage chute, everyone looks inside of it
4. Mala implies that he disposed of bodies
Literally no one knew why Mala was asking when he asked, or when Sand’s asked.
And now Iron threatens her out of the middle of nowhere for no reason, after explicitly telling her he has no intent to be faithful to her. When she tries to ask why the hell he just threatened her, he pretends like he never said anything. Any real human being in this situation would think, “this is the kind of guy who will blatantly flirt with the waitress in front of me, but will yell at me and break my cellphone out of irrational bouts of jealousy. Pass.” She’s not a real human being, so she won’t leave him, but she knows a red flag as surely as anyone else
>>119051Threaten her? You and Sands are overreacting. He simply asks not to betray his trust either as a statement since, you know, he did put his trust in her and all, but because she has the fear of being a changeling to deal with, she just forfeits because she'll eventually be found out.
So much for that plot hook, I guess.
As for Mala's situation, Sands was a slave to the griffons, why would she even want immunity? Why did Khoi or Jubilosa not ask it too if they thought they were in danger?
Why only Sands and Mala? >>119052She asked him
twice to clarify, explain, or elaborate upon the “do not betray [my trust]” line, pulling away from him to signify that this was a very important issue to her that must be answered, and twice, he refused
>Her statementHe could ask. He may not get an honest answer, but he could ask
>and she's even considering taking him now as his coltfriend.
That stallion was Dark Star, funnily enough.
>>119057What is there to clarify? He simply asked not to break his trust. He wasn't implying anything aside from 'Don't screw me over'. If she wanted specifics, she would've asked 'That's rather vague, mind telling me what can break your trust?' instead of going suspicious and scared she's been found out or something with 'What are you implying?'.
>He could askBut he doesn't want to, because by this point he knows it's a useless line of conversation currently and needs to gain more trust with this mare if he wants to get an honest answer.
>>119055Iron doesn't mesh well with Skies and we'll leave it at that. >>119059SighHave you ever seen the “Don’t you fuck me?” scene in the movie Scarface? It’s worded pretty much the same, and it is very obviously a threat.
https://youtu.be/IcInPRRfr9EHe’s clearly implying that he does not trust her. He says this immediately after he has pretty much told her straight up “I am still going to try to date this other girl, by the way,” which is him telling her he does not intend to be faithful in the normal sense, and in any case is a pretty big thing for him to ask. So she is puzzled and offended that he implies that he does not trust her, since she has given her no reason not to, whereas he explicitly told her not to trust him to be faithful.
>>119061Reeee realistic behavior is people not talking to each other and hating each other. I want ponies fucking.
Also I tried to resolve it in character with unsubtle non-verbal cues. It didn’t take
>>119063I mean, I guess she would just walk off like a stranger, maybe complain to Silver later, and in any event act colder.
I’m just frustrated when character interactions and relationships are ruined by a small shit and a lack of communication. I’m getting blue balled too.
I’m just bitching, but yes, she would return to being a combat focused NPC
>>119066He never learns, damn it! He just thinks that if he offends another person, it must be because he is right and superior, and the offended person is bad and inferior
We can proceed like normal. It’s just a shame, that’s all
>>119064>>119066>>119067I have to admit retreat is not exactly a good option if what you want is a climax and Iron to learn.
Nothing will be gained or lost, after all, and no one learns from it.
Although it is pretty realistic, I won't lie.
>>119068I'm not sure I'd call what transpired as "realistic". It was just...bad. Poor Sands...
>>119069Miscommunication killing off relationships? It happens all the time.
>>119070Again, I'm not sure I'd call what happened miscommunication. Maybe it was on your end, but to everyone else it came off as overly harsh and callous, especially after his pretty terrible responses to Sands' previous questions.
>>119071Harsh? He asked something very simple which needed no further explanation. A relationship is based on trust, after all.
>>119072It's the way it was worded. "Don't betray mine" sounds far more adversarial than, say "I'll put my trust in you".
>>119073Sure, but it's not worth breaking up over.
>>119074I can't really do much if she goes away, but you're right. He'll have to let it simmer. >>119080Is he here tho? I can't say for sure.Well, I guess I better do this again.>>119049Seeing Sands getting upset again, he puts a hoof on her flank again with a curious, worried gaze.
"Are you upset about something in particular?"
>>119081>>119081I wrote a huge thing. Then you made this postShe flinches, and turns her head back. Then she pulls her forelegs back. She speaks, loudly, suddenly, and with hurt in her voice.
“Why do you think I will betray you? Do you not trust me?”
>>119082Iron's eyes widen in surprise followed by fervent nodding.
"I do trust you, Sands, but there is something that has been bugging me after you went for a private talk with Silver."
He looks at her, ears drooped and a doubtful expression.
"There is a big secret you are not telling me."
>>119083“.... What? Why would you think that? Silver.... Is that the unicorn? Silver pulled me aside to talk about your Zebra”
>>119084"But why did he? Why did he not stop you?"
He pauses for a bit.
"And why do you need immunity against law enforcement? You were a slave worker here, right?"
>>119085“He wanted to tell me about your Zebra mare”
Then she looks down
“Well.... sort of...”
>>119086Iron cocks his head at her uncertainly, ears still drooped.
"What do you mean?"
>>119087“I was captured by these criminals... before that, well...”
>>119088Iron awaits patiently her story.
>>119089“So maybe I
didn’t work in elderly care... I was just telling that to the kid because he thought he recognized me... working as a waiter for snooty ponies doesn’t pay big, and certainly not enough to pay rent”
>>119090Iron is still not satisfied with the response given, but gives her a small grin at her since she is telling the truth.
"So what did you do before then?"
>>119091“So maybe I worked with a local organized gang. Perhaps swindling a few stallions, or distracting customs agents as cargos are offloaded. Maybe I did some illegal things. And maybe I was captured as a part of a turf war...”
>>119092Iron cocks his head, confused by her actions.
"Why did you call for immunity if they had nothing on you?"
>>119091>>119092*pouty unicorn sounds*
She hangs her head low, and her eyes half closed
>>119093“You never know what they know, or what they’ll find”
>>119094Iron looks a bit iffy, still bothered by something.
"Why did you not mention it when I offered you to do illegal activities, then?"
>>119095Iffy as in head cocked, ears drooped and eyebrow cocked.
>>119095“I was asking you about.... Well, dating. I was surprised and disappointed to hear a business proposal instead”
>>119097Iron hums a bit before pulling her chin up gently with a hoof, ears drooped and brow lowered and staring at her gently.
"Is that everything? I dislike having secrets with the ones I love."
He blinks once.
"It is what breaks my trust the most."
>>119098She sits down, and places her forehooves together
“I
may have collaborated with the gangsters here just a tiny little bit...”
>>119099Iron's eyes widen and his ears perk up.
(How many secrets are in there?)
"What kind of collaboration?" he asks
>>119100She looks into his eyes
“Let’s not dwell on things”
>>119101Iron can't help but feel even more worried, ears drooping back again.
"It is important to share these kinds of things, Sands. We cannot cover things up between eachother."
>>119102“Okay okay okay okay... fine. They would have us locked together. Sometimes in a workshop, sometimes... down there. They would give food, or more favorable treatment to prisoners who would tell when others were not working hard, or were planning escape or what have you, as well as who knew the patterns of Customs, which I did”