Fakhir:Morning always began early for him. He would have it no other way. Fakhir would be the first to wake from his den, the first to crawl out, and the first to tug on his teacher's tail to rouse him for the lesson of the day. Today, however, Bai Feng and Taban both insisted on sleeping in, so he was left to drill himself alone.
He never went too far from the troupe. Fubar, Taban's 'mute' maned wolf companion, stood watch for the night shift. Fakhir could make out the larger canine's figure just in the distance. He could train alone in safety. Alone! Finally...
This time he decided to practice his jumping against the croocked trunk of an old tree. He'd seen the teachers practice such a skill-jumping from the ground, catching the tree with their paws, and leaping outwards. It gave them more altitude in their jumps and could be used to confuse less able opponents.
The pup rushed at the trunk of the tree time and again, jumping only to hit the trunk at an akward angle or to miss it completely. He grunted in frusteration at each failure, picked himself up again, and gave another try. He'd work at it all day if he was left to his own devices.
Neha:
Neha was also awake early, however, for entirely diferent reasons. When she'd woken up that morning, she'd found that the body she'd been clinging to all night (plus the several previous nights) was gone; this was hardly surprising, for Fakhir was the earliest riser the girl had ever known.
Rather than freak out like she had the first mornig he'd vanished, the brightly colored hyena pranced outside of the den, taking a moment stretch out her body at the entrance, her mouth opening into a wide yawn. The morning was lovely! There were no clouds and the sun greeted her with it's warm rays. Smiling at their feel upon her pelt, she set about to bussiness; findding Fakhir.
Why it was she'd practicaly latched onto the male, was imposible to tell, in all honesty. Taban had found it amusing, and so had most of the other troupe members; Neha, for her part, simply seemed attracted to the boy's sour personality. It was as if it balanced her own, overly cheerful one.
She soon enough caught his scent in the air and followed it eagerly, noticing him training. This was also hardly surprising. Fakhir was always training. Neha wasn't made for training though; that much had been discovered over the few days she'd spent with the troupe. She joined the other pups, granted, but there was no doubt she'd never be a guard, or a tactician, for that matter. That wasn't where her forte lay; her potential, whatever it may be, still lay undiscovered.
Approaching the young male, she grinned and popped out of the grass she'd been prowling just as he jumped, "HI FAKHIR!!" she yelled, "GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE! THE EARTH SAYS HELLO!!"
Fakhir:
He hit the ground again and rolled himself out of yet another failed attempt. Blissfully unaware of the female's approach. He narrowed his focus on the trunk of his target... just a foot from the ground. He'd been jumping higher, perhaps that was the problem- he was over-estimating himself. One step at a time.
"Alright...", He crouched down then broke into a run. His paws met with the ground and pushed him into the air, a graceful explosion of his young power- or so he thought. About halfway through the air time seemed to slow. A flash of purple and the a voice as cheerful as that of a young bird greeting the morning shot through the male's awareness.
It was her....
He had only a second to mentally cringe, his focus shattered. A sideway glance sealed his fate. Time resumed its normal pace with a loud 'THUD' as the Hyena hit the tree, all four paws sprawled. The wind, once again, was forced out of his gut. Fakhir looked up, cursing an unamed god as he fell back to the ground and lay sprawled on his back.
Why!? What had he done to deserve this!?
Neha:She watched as he flew by her and turned his head to look her way; the girl simply could NOT look away from him as he fell, even when she knew what the result would be. It was like watching a train wreck; in all honestly it amused her to see the sour, usualy proud male land in awkward positions, and she could not help the small smile that curled her muzzle when he hit the ground. Raising her paws to her maw, Neha hid a giggle as he looked up, "You falled," she told him uneloquently.
Muhali:
A near distance away, a strange looking individual was pearing at them from her perch on a tree; the smile that curled her own maw was almost reminiscent of the cheshire cat. Muhali had already decided she very much liked those two pups; it was probably the girl that had 'attracted' her to the spot though. Idly, the goddess crossed her small paws over the branch she was laying on, and watched onward, her wings tucked upon her back.
Fakhir:
Fakhir wanted very much to part his maw and gulp at the air to re-gain his lost breath. However, with an audience of one -two really, but he was hardly aware of the second- he kept his jaw tightly set and forced himself to take slow, short breaths. His boiling temper illustrated itself only through the venomous glare that he shot up towards the female.
Idiot..stupid moronic idiot! She was lucky he was out of breath or he'd give her a piece of his mind. In fact...he decided to use his breathless moments to calculate just what flame he'd spew once he was able to.
Neha:
The glare was hardly effective; she'd been on the recieving end of such glares from him so many times in the past few days that they'd lost all their force, as far as Neha was concerned. Flopping down beside him, the girl reached with her maw and dragged her tongue along his cheek and muzzle once, giving him one long, wet lick of a kiss, "There!" she told him sweetly, "All better!"
Muhali:
Muhali for her part, burst out laughing, finally revealing her perch on the nearby tree; her brilliant blue pelt, jewellry and wings making her easy to see once her place was divulged to the open.
Fakhir:
Fakhir reacted has he had for the last few days- his body shuddered slowly from the top of his head down to the tip of his tail, so violently in fact that Neha might just hear his teeth chattering as he fought to keep himself composed.
A losing battle unfortunately.
"YOU MORON!" He bellowed, losing both his composure and the speech he'd been prepairing mentally. He opened his mouth to say something else but the laughter snapped his jaw shut once more.
His green eyes shifted towards the source of the laughter, narrowing as he did so. Who -dared- laugh at him!?
Neha:
Neha's ears flattened at the yell, mostly due to the force of it; not because she was afraid he'd hurt her in the slightest. In fact, whenever something did scare her, Neha was prone to jumping behind Fakhir. For whatever reason, she'd seemed him 'safe' from the start, "NUH-UH!" she started, her ears perking right up as a paw reached out to point at him, no doubt to offer some sort of horribly irrational counterback to his insult, when the laughter that rung around them forced her just short of doing so.
Neha's brilliant pink eyes fell upon the strange, winged cub on the tree, and she blinked. Since when did lions have wings? The notion seemed to confuse her greatly; so much so that she was shocked into silence, which was rare indeed.
Muhali:
The laughter still rang around the hyenas, merrily, almost like that a child's, yet not quite. Then, the goddess dropped from her perch, using her wings and smirked at the pups, "Keeping your dignity," she told them, "You're doing it wrong~~" it was sing songed, as is mocking them, yet not quite. The long tail the female possesed, whiped behind her, fluffy, full, and much more resembling that of a leopard's than a lion's.
Fakhir:
Fakhir ground his teeth and slowly rolled himself to his belly then up to his paws. He'd not yet been told about gods or goddesses. Taban rarely mentioned them and Lucia outright didn't believe in them. So the lion...thing with wings was different- but not awe-inpiring. Afterall, he'd only seen what animals existed inside the troupe and what his mother or Xuco brought in for them to eat. There was no limit to what existed out there.
So it was in this ignorance that the hyena marched himself right up into the face of the lion cub, his hackles rasing and his tail sticking straight up. "Go. Away."
Neha:
Neha on the other hand was at least... old enough to know that lions did NOT have wings, "It's a bird lion thingey!" she chirped suddenly as soon as her shock faded from her features, her paws clapping a few times as if she were greatly amused by the situation.
Muhali
The small lioness seemed utterly amused by the display from both pups, specialy from the male. She did not only not lean away from him, but flopped her nose against him, "Not JUST a lion birdie thingey!" she told them, "But a MAGICAL lion birdy thingey!" and this said, she jumped away from Fakhir, and suddenly, the very shadows and darkness aroudn them shifted to create a large being behind her.
Granted, it was more of an illusion than anything; Irrationality's powers allowed her to make others believe things that would otherwise be rationality imposible, were happening around them, "Behold, for I am the evil villain of these lands!" the 'shadow-creature towered over both cubs as Muhali flapped her wings and perched herself on it's head.
Neha:
Neha had suddenly decided she did not like the lion birdy thingey anymore. She yelped and jumped to hide behind Fakhir's form, clinging to whatever piece of him she could; be it his tail, frame, or a leg. It didn't matter.
Fakhir:
Fakhir bristled, lowering his head down inbetween his shoulders. He had opened his mouth to insist that there was no such thing as magic, it was just about then that the shadow beast appeared.
As Neha stepped behind him, he positioned himself to fully come between the two. He was still a pup, courage wasn't something he was lacking in but he was still very much aware that something that large, that dangerous looking that...magical could easily take them.
"I---I'm not afraid!" He barked, throwing his head up and bearing his teeth. The goddess, however, might note that his entire body was trembling, his claws had already made a series of small ditches around their tips.
Neha:
Neha's eyes widened at the figure before she eyed Fakhir, "I AM!" she bellowed after the male's claim, honestly, bluntly, as if the small child could not posibly lie. She'd never really been taught to lie after all, "I'm afraid!! I can be afraid for the both of us!" and she probably was, her arms having stretched out around Fakhir's tail; the contact made her feel more safe.
Muhali
Giggles that were eeriely childish followed both pups' claim, "Oh, really?" she spoke to Fakhir, a grin upon her maw, her ice blue eyes somehow flashing as she moved in over dramatic-ways. The way she moved would've hinted to any adult watching that she seemed to be.... playing a part in a script, almost as if the whole ordeal were a representation and she'd taken the role of the villain, "I don't think you're you can pick to act irrationaly and charge to save someone you don't even like, despite knowing you'll lose..."
Fakhir:
Lose!? He never lost. Then again, he only really won little scuffles in the den now and then. Still it was a slap to the face. Whether he liked her or not was none of this..this...THING's buisness! Even if he didn't like her, he'd have to protect her. He'd take an oath when he was old enough, though he would honor it even before hand.
"Big talk." He growled, trying to pull himself away from the female's hold on his tail, "You MORON let go! I can't fight if I can't move!"
