[PRP] They both reached for the gun.

[Split Personality]

Ukoo was busy already that morning. She had woken earlier than the others and was keeping herself busy. She had gone off and done some exploring-no desire to run away, and found something interesting. There were other dens everywhere with others like them. Families. She found it fascinatingly horrible though, the brightness of the sun. She wasn't gone long before she came back with eyes half lidded and forhead wrinkled.

She was used to night time wandering. This was so unusual for her, this bright day light crap. She mumbled something, not wanting to go back into the den and disturb everyone that lay inside, so she sat outside of the den for a moment, gazing out into the sun with watering eyes. She sneezed from it, shaking her head before standing and going into some tall grass, something she could lay in and hide in pretty well considering her pelt and the dry, dead look of the grass.

She gazed at the ground for a moment, watching the bugs moving back and forth as they worked. She lowered her nose, watching them closely. How long had it been since she saw bugs?  

[[Eskimo]]

The bright morning sun filtered through the cave's entrance, but Tariq was far enough in the back that it didn't touch him. The male was black in coat, and thus easily overheated. He openly voiced his dislike for daylight, and it was with twisted happiness that he sent his banu out to hunt for him in the peak of the day. Ahh, the joys of females...So simple, yet so important at times, for so many reasons.

Though the sunlight didn't touch the male, it did light up quite a bit of the den, and it was with an irritated squint that the male woke up. He yawned, limbs stretching and ears twitching. He rolled over with a grunt, shaking his mane, as was his routine. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he flicked his gaze around the den, counting his banu.

Ukoo was missing.

Brows quirking, Tariq jumped down from his elevated sleeping spot and crept out of the den. Upon immediate inspection, Ukoo was no where in sight. It couldn't have been that she'd gone out hunting, since Tariq hadn't instructed her to do so. And no one else was allowed to take her without his permission...And so help him, NO ONE should've been able to take any of his banu from him at all...

But then he saw her.

Something about the female's cub-like behaviors softened something in the lion, and he blinked, stepping closer to her. He was silent as he watched her, not making another move. Insects were disgusting, pesky creatures, but he was content to watch them for the moment, only because the lioness was.  

[Split Personality]

Oh her master would never have to worry about her wandering off on her own or attempting to escape. It was against her personality, really. She was unaware of giving Tariq a bit of a quickened heartbeat. She sort of figured that he would trust her... but she could have seen why he was like that-with O'tep being so-what's the word-so unlike Ukoo.

She lifted her olive paw with a smile and brought it to her face to gaze at a bug walking across it, giving a small giggle. Somedays it seemed that Ukoo herself was in fact-a cub. Perhaps it was her way to living her cub days again, since her baby memories were few and painful. She watched it move across her toes and flipped her paw to watch it go across her pad. She chuckled, lowering her paw to let it crawl onto some grass. As she lifted her head from her little bug circus, she spotted her masters dark shape.

She lifted her head and lost some of that childish fun in her eyes. She stood up and walked out of the dry grass, her head slightly lowered; almost like she had been caught doing something bad. "Good morning Master." She said softly, her blood red eyes lowered. Since her talk with O'tep... and the newly found fact that her master was capable of hurting her like that-she was a bit afraid. "I woke before everyone else and came outside so not to bother anyone."  

[[Eskimo]]

Tariq grinned, eyes narrowing in his mirth, both at her immature behavior, and at her words.

He despised insects. He wished each one would simultaneously die, ridding the planet of their filthy, twitching, flying, many-legged selves. But watching Ukoo play with them was different. He still hated insects, but the female gave them a strange charm; she made them appear like toys. That intrigued the lion male. It made him wonder. What would happen if the lioness saw her equals as toys, or she made them appear as such when she was around them? And if so, what about her higher-ups? Yes, it was intriguing.

Ukoo fascinated him.

"That was nice of you." he said quietly, walking closer to her. When he got in front of her, he reached the back of his paw under the lioness's chin and pointed her face up until their eyes met. The act was gentle, and not at all rough. He was calm, but his eyes held a smoldering light of sternness.

"But don't go anywhere without my permission." he said articulately. He tightened his grip on her chin before letting her go.  

[Split Personality]

Ukoo gave a small smile at his quiet words. She liked to think of others before anything else. She had never thought for herself before, it was true. Only when her cubs were born did she stop thinking for others and mostly only for them.

When his paw touched her face, her crimson eyes caught the light like a polished stone would, shining in the sun. She did not blink and she did not breath. She was completely lost in his eyes, like staring into a mirror of sorts. When his grip tightened momentarily, she jumped, looking startled before he let her go. She hung her head, her red eyes looking sideways as if she did not know she did wrong.

"Yes Master." She said softly. Her eyes lifted to gaze upon him. "I won't do it again. I am sorry." Her eyes still held that shining light to them. He would come to see that her eyes were very hypnotic. And he would also come to learn that she sometimes knew things not even she could understand. "Shall I go back inside?"  

[[Eskimo]]

Hm, a swift apology.

Was it heart-felt?

Did she understand her error?

Tariq questioned his new banu. He was a suspicious male, and it was easy, very easy, to make him doubt. He was the type of male to only truly trust himself, and perhaps one or two others, if that. But besides that, he had his doubts about anyone else. That was how he was. It was nothing personal. It was just his nature.

Tariq's expression remained serious, his head tilting ever-so-slightly to the side as he gazed into Ukoo's shining red eyes. For a moment he was tempted to drop the whole thing. For a moment he was tempted to answer "yes, Ukoo, go back inside." But that wasn't going to happen. He had doubts. He questioned her. No one was perfect, after all. Especially no female. The sooner she learned that, the better. And he would make her learn.

Oh, he would make her learn...

"Do you know what I am, Ukoo?" Tariq'ra'd asked after a moment of silence.  

[Split Personality]

Ukoo felt terror seeping into her fur at the sound of him not telling her not to go inside. She was expected him to want her to go lay down and be quiet beside his other females-but he wasn't. She sat with trembling paws. She knew the cruelty this male could cause, knew the power he could inflict. She saw the wounds on O'tep. She had cleaned them and tended them softly like a mother would a cub.

Her eyes gazed at his as she answered. "You are my master." She said softly, though inside her mind was racing. What would this male do? She had never really suffered at the paws of a male. Other than her neck wounds.

Did he not know she would obey always. That she was his puppet. That she had never known anything else in her life. She was not like O'tep. She would never try to anger him or be a bother. "You are my one and only master." She added, her voice becoming quiet with fear.  

[[Eskimo]]

Tariq eyed the female, seemingly pondering her answers, his expression stiff. She gave the correct answers, or at least the answers he wanted to hear. And she seemed genuine in them. She didn't seem to be lying, or acting. In truth, the male didn't doubt she truly wanted to serve him. But just the same, no one's manners were perfect. Ukoo was no different from any other female in the fact that she could use some brushing up; some fixing. But that would happen, all in good time.

All in good time...

"Good." he replied, ears swiveling as some kind of sign to show he had relaxed. He bent his head down, eyes meeting hers.

"Then you know you are to listen to whatever I say, without question?" he asked.  

[Split Personality]

Ukoo was born to be someone's slave. That was how she interpreted her seer powers. Why else would her life have led her to nothing but being someone's lesser-someone's peon. She sometimes sat and cursed the gods for her plight. After this encounter with her Vizer, she would need some time with O'tep again.

She nodded slowly. "Always." She said simply. "What ever I am told by you I will do or say. I will follow always." She said softly, like a birds feathers brushing air. "I will always obey." She added, lowering her red eyes.

She was so-so glad her cubs were not here. What fate would her daughter have fallen, what kind of tyrant's would her sons have become? The thought of her cubs not ever being apart of this was enlightening and a spark flashed across her orbs.  

[[Eskimo]]

Hm. That would do.

At least for now...

Pink eyes flitting over his banu's face, Tariq tossed his head in a cub-like manner, mane falling into his face.

"That's good, Ukoo." he said quietly. "Now you can go back inside."

She was a good lioness; a good banu. The fact that she said she would always obey made him content, but at the same time, he liked rebellious females. Then again, he had O'tep to play with in that field...So one very obedient female was fine, he supposed. But it was in his nature to be picky. Part of him disliked that trait, while the other embraced it.

He needed a nap...

Without waiting for Ukoo's response, the male turned swiftly and padded into his den, eyes set on his usual sleeping spot.

There was no doubt in his mind that Ukoo would follow. And that was good.

She would be rewarded one day.  

[Split Personality]

[colo=olive]Ukoo shut her eyes at his words and sighed lightly. She was glad that he would not carry on anything close to a beating. She shivered as he brushed past, before she stood and followed. Inside echoed the voices of all her past family members-her grandfather and mother. Her uncle Pya. Everyone was now long gone and she could be certain they would never find her here.

She lowered her eyes and went to where the other lionesses slept quietly, laying among them and staring at the wall. Slowly, surely, she was starting to lose any independence she had once had.