[PRP] Sticks and Stones [Havyan/Sungus]

[ShinosBee]

Havyan woke with a growl and twisted about in the den she shared with Sungus. She felt a paw connect with something hard but covered in soft fur--probably that same mate--and flexed her claws momentarily before rolling to her feet and slithering like an angry snake from the dusty hole in the stone. Outside the sun was low, but not down to the horizon yet. All seemed calm in the pre-night day, and from where she sat she could spy the pride's sentinels, watching for the scum that plagued them time and again. The Qyrhyeshti would soon give up, she'd decided sunrises ago, when they had returned home from their victory, routing those pests nearly to the edge of the land they claimed to have owned. One more good push and they would be gone from her teeth forever. A shuddering growl of a sigh escaped her.

A passing female got a nod from her, and mentioned that several of the pride had brought in a kill an hour or two ago, and that there was plenty of good meat left, and that it might be good to take some before the rest of the pride woke. Feeling unusually charitable, Havyan rose to do just that, with a glance behind to be sure her mate hadn't been slain in the night.

She found the carcass soon enough. Someone'd taken one of the seals, it seemed. Wonderful. Their meat was delicious, and she snarled her way through the growing pack to it. A few wet gulps stained her maw red, and she retreated with a slab of the fatty meat from the thing's side back towards her den. Ah yes. She was feeling quite kind today. Or maybe it was that it was overdue for the pests to try to cause trouble again, and that she'd rather her Bey be fed and strengthened before any trouble arose. She told herself that was the reason, and by the time she returned to the den, dropping the meat in the dirt, she fully believed it.

"Get up you old log," She called into the dark den.  

[Meepfur]

A few moments of silence passed, then there finally followed some faint sounds of movement, but they stopped soon after they'd begun. Sungus was awake, but he did not especially feel like getting up and coming out...mostly because his mate was telling him to, as charmingly as ever.

The dappled lion groaned and objected, "Logs can't get up, and so if I am one, I'm not getting up."  

[ShinosBee]

Havyan managed to bite back the snarl that pulled at her lips. If he were anyone but her wonderful Bey (oh, and he was her mate too, she supposed) she would have gone in to drag him out by the tail. But as it was, she couldn't exactly do that. Still. She'd already been plenty nice for one day. Hadn't she brought him food? But then...logs didn't eat, did they?

"As you wish, oh great Bey-Log. But then, I suppose you won't mind having breakfast of water and dirt, hmm? And I even brought this slab of seal. Oh well. I'll just have to eat it myself." She lifted the meat and chewed it, not really eating any, but making enough noise to let him know she wasn't kidding.  

[Meepfur]

Dammit, what was so wrong about just bringing it into the den and right to him? Why should he have to get up when he was so comfortable? Sometimes he wondered if he should have taken a more agreeable mate, but even if she was a pain in the a**, Havyan was one of the best warriors the pride had. She was also fun to argue with, when he wasn't just waking up.

"Stop drooling on it, woman," he rumbled. "I'm up, I'm up."

Under threat of losing his breakfast, Sungus finally emerged, squinting in the sunlight.  

[ShinosBee]

Havyan chuckled to herself hearing him start to get moving. Worked every time! She knew just how to get him to move, even if he wouldn't admit it. And she enjoyed their fights too, especially when she won. "What's that?" She asked, letting the meat fall to the ground with a wet splat again. "You're not a log any more? Wonderful. Here." She brushed some of the dirt off the meat and offered it to him with a smile that was more of a smirk than anything friendly.

"Our mighty leader greets the day. Good thing those sulking Qyrhyeshti are too scared to come out of their holes. You'd sleep right through an attack and into the next life, it seems." Despite her joking tone, that thought did worry her. She made a mental note to spend the next morning being sure no one slept in, and that everyone woke promptly, just in case.  

[Meepfur]

"You're the one who dubbed me a log in the first place," he reminded her, his lashing tail a clear indicator of a less-than-pleasant mood...which, to be fair, was a near-constant state. He regarded the hunk of meat with a grimace. "How many times did you drop it? It doesn't even look like meat anymore!"

But he was exaggerating and hungry, so he ate it anyway. While he chewed, he continued to grumble. "Ha! They couldn't attack here even if they wanted to. I could sleep for months on end and they wouldn't be ready yet."  

[ShinosBee]

Havyan finally decided she'd had enough fun and ceased her teasing. "You should have driven them out entirely while we had the chance. Before they had time to recover." Sure, they'd lost their fair share of lions too, and probably the final battle would have wiped both their forces out, but still. Then they would be done with those lying fleabags. "That or you should have torn the throat out of their Bey's son, and his Hatun as well. She's enough of a hassle, and without the new Bey they'd be infighting over who'd rule for weeks." Her tail took a turn to lash now. "We have more resources now than they. We are fed while they starve. Rather than sleeping, we should be planning...?"  

[Meepfur]

"You know as well as I we couldn't have done that," he replied irritably, never fond of criticism no matter who it came from. "We'd all be dead. Except for you, maybe. If someone took a bite out of you, they'd never get the taste out of their mouth."

"It's not my fault the little coward and that ghost of his ran out of here. They knew they had to get him out as soon as Shan was dead." The Qyrhyeshti had sacrificed a lot of lions to cover their retreat, and cost the Burkuteshti more than a few as well. "Waiting is a plan. Their force is concentrated now, and we need top get our numbers back up if we want to take them out."

"We need at least a few more months for more warriors to come of age."  

[ShinosBee]

Havyan snorted, and smirked at the male. "Except for me, for sure! I'd tear them all to pieces before I let them bite me. Hmm. That does give me an idea though." Something along the lines of having the warriors roll in the most nasty filth they could find before the next battle. Even an enemy would think twice about biting someone who tasted as bad as seal dung. It might make them pause long enough for the Burkuteshti in question to retaliate. It'd be something to consider. Maybe try it herself before having the rank and file do it.

"I suppose. But it is a boring plan. An ignoble plan. We could wait until they all starve at this rate, but what honor would there be in that?" She flexed her claws, eager for a fight, as always. "A few months? Alright. I think I can wait that long. If not, my claws in your back at night will let you know, dear."  

[Meepfur]

Sungus rolled his eyes at his wife's complaints. It was not the first time he'd heard such from her, and he'd learned to brush it off. He would command his pride as he saw fit, whether or not it coincided with his Hatun's ideas...whichw as probably somewhere around fifty-fifty. "If you're that bored, you could always head up to the border and put your claws in something else."  

[ShinosBee]

"Ha! You'd hope I did, and got myself killed in the process!" No he wouldn't. She hadn't even given him heirs yet. But it was fun to poke at him. She knew fairly well that her ideas weren't always best. Sometimes they were, but for the most part he knew how to sift through them. That's why she respected him. He was a filter for her, and probably kept her from driving the pride into the dirt. Or maybe he kept them from an early victory. "I suppose I'm just restless. Not enough action. You're sure we have to wait a month?" She scooped up a stone and lobbed it towards a passing pride member out of sheer boredom. It missed, but she was pleased to see they startled and snarled fearlessly. "Some of them seem nearly ready to me."  

[Meepfur]

"Wishful thinking, I know," he 'admitted' with a heavy sigh. Of course, in the unlikely even that any Qyrhy actually got hold of her, he would kill them all for it...not that he was ever going to say as much.

When she threw a rock at the unsuspecting passerby, he laughed. "Since you're so set on action, you could come back inside."  

[ShinosBee]

That got her eyebrow shooting up. Inside? What did that have to do with action? A long beat passed when she considered throwing a rock at him for being confusing...and then it set in. Oh. OH. Well then. Apparently she was just thick headed. She flexed her claws and slapped his flank with her tail. As long as she got to burn off some energy, and maybe draw a little blood she'd be content, she decided.