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 Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:57 pm
[AIM log]
The first rays of dawn had barely graced the dunes and rock outcroppings as the lioness left. The sun hadn't even yet peeked over the distant horizon much more than a sliver, providing just enough light to see by. As the shadows of night began to melt, a few deepen, she moved across the terrain, seeking out the prey she knew was there.
Even focused on the hunt, her mind wandered to her conversation not that long ago with her mother. It seemed a foreign concept, her with cubs depending on her. Which was why she was hunting - To try and get it out of her mind.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:15 pm
Perhaps it was just the female's bad luck that he'd be nearby during yet another one of her hunts. Fortunately this time, he was content enough to simply eye the herd as they grazed among the sharp, dry desert grass. He'd eaten not four hours past, a fat little calf that'd been unfortunate enough to pull a muscle during its retreat.
The little dirtball of a cub had grown into a mountain of silky crimson. A messy, tangled fluff had evolved into a thick, regal mane. A giggling, senseless nit-wit had become a confident adult who...still seemed to think himself above even the harsh reality of the small pride's situation.
Mismatched eyes slowly shifted from the herd to a dark spot parting the dry grass nearby. "...well well." He mused to himself.
Sticking low to the ground, Jua moved closer. But the herd was on the alert, already disturbed by something earlier. They'd barely heard the soft parting of the grass when they all ran. Frustrated, the lioness tore after, trying to catch even one. It was useless, though.
As she came to a stop, she looked around. Something around the area had made them alert to predators already. And it wasn't hard to FIND it.
The fiery mane made her stop and stare, mesmerized by it. It reminded her so much of her mother's own pelt, so bright and vibrant. Even the crimson coat was something to behold. As she started towards the lion, she forgot momentarily to question who he was and what he was doing out here.
Sinbad couldn't help but laugh at the lioness' failure. The herd had known he was there. There was nothing aggressive about his posture. If he'd so much as twitched- it was certain they'd have run off long ago, but the lion remained reclined against the rocks. Only the occassional flick of his tail and perhaps the flick of an ear.
As the female approached, however, he straightened up and offered her a smug smirk. "Well well... still at it."
She stopped, the realization sinking in of just who she was looking at. Her ears emediately went back as her eyes narrowed, glaring at Sinbad. "And still foiling my hunts." Circling him, she took in what she saw. He was certainly bigger... MUCH bigger... Even she had to feel a bit dwarfed. "I see you've finally got a mane."
"Finally?" He lifted an eyebrow. "Whatever. It's impressive, isn't it?" He brought a paw to run it along a bit of the mane that brew down on his chest. "And I didn't foil anything. You did that one yourself. I just sat here."
Jua continued to glare, moving back to where she could look him in the eye. "Just being here ruined my hunt." Her claws flexed, digging into the dirt. Dirt, not sand... It was still strange to her to not be on the sand.
The mane still captivated her, though. So fiery... "It's as big as your ego is now. How suitable.." She gave a flip of a non-exhistant mane, causing the bits of jewelry on her forhead to jingle. "Maybe now you can catch somebody's eye. I'll feel sorry for them, though."
"Right...blame me." He rolled his eyes, "You know, maybe if you didn't breathe so hard or break out of the grass so early you miiiight just get a little closer before they run off." He shrugged, "Just a suggestion."
At the second comment he only smirked. He'd get a mate when he felt like it. It wouldn't be hard. Not for a firekin lord. Not for someone with his bloodline. "Whatever."
She paused, looking back at him. "What, you know something about hunting? Wow, and I didn't think you bothered to lift a paw for it..." She hadn't, of course, forgotten his last show of hunting prowess. Well, maybe on purpose.
He opened his moutha nd let out a belch. No one said he knew how to be classy- and if he did, he didn't care to prove it.
A disgusted look crossed Jua's face. "You're not a lord, you're a lowly PIG." She paused, thinking better of this. "No, pigs have more class than YOU do." With a snort, she turned and walked off, ears back and chin high. "I think I feel sorry for your sister and parents..."
Sinbad only laughed, obviously taking the barrage of insults as further testiment to his victory rather than a slap to the face. "And you are a testy b***h, you know that? HOw do you expect to find a mate with that bit of thistle stuck up your back end?"
Throwing a hateful glare at him, the lioness snarled. "Maybe I don't need mate. Maybe I'll just... Just..." Just what? She couldn't just go find a rogue. She'd be killed, he'd be killed, any cubs would be killed... And the shame it'd bring her mother would be far more unbearable than death itself. "Why do you even care if I find a mate or not?"
Sinbad lifted his head and steeled his expression, now bearing an almost frightening resemblance to his aging father. "Because the survival of this pride...our bloodline depends on it. If we die out- then the weak prevail over the strong and perfect."
It was a logical answer, at least. "Well, I don't see YOU seeking a mate." Why did she even care, anyway? She didn't even like being around him. Then again, he was the only unrelated lion, the slave and the little snowball aside, she'd ever been around for longer than a chance meeting or talk. "Though I can't say you got the perfect genes going. The outside's good, the inside's a wretch." She had to stop suddenly. Oh, Finar-si, she'd just COMPLIMENTED his pompous a**.
Sinbad took the complement with a sly smirk and a lifted eyebrow. However, he decided against commenting on it. "Well I don't need a mate just yet. Perfect one's not come along. Not even a somewhat agreeable one." He shrugged. "Just a matter of time I guess. I'm not in a hurry."
"And you probably never will. At least... Not here.." She motioned to the East. "I think your perfect mate's out that way." As long as it was away from her... Her mind was still rheeling, though. She was probably becoming delerious with hunger or something.
"Feh.... you want me to find some filthy, flea-biting, dirt-pelted thing to mate with?" He wrinkled his nose up, "I'm sorry, but my lineage is far above that sort of thing. I'm afraid you'll have to go on your little mate- hunt on your own."
A snarl rose in her throat. "What, are you suggesting -I- go look amid those wretched traitors? I'd sooner follow YOU than one of them!" As if to emphasis this, she moved closer, glaring up at him.
"Well you suggested it to me. 's only fair right?" He didn't seem at all intimidated by her glare. In fact, he leaned forward and rested his chin against the back of one of his paws. "I dunno...black-brown...getting kinda close aren't we?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:28 pm
A disgusted look passed over her face. "You'd compare even yourself to one of those filthy wretches?" She gave a snort, then paced around him. "You're crazy." She paused, then looked at him. "Would YOU go looking amid them for a mate?" Tail twitching, she watched Sinbad, just waiting for an answer of any kind.
"First of all-" He leaned back a bit and flicked his tail. "I don't need to look for a mate, one'll find me. One, two- maybe a harem." He chuckled, "Secondly... I'd not mix my blood with filth. My family's line traces all the way back to Finar-si herself."
Jua tilted her head, frowning. "You'll be waiting a long time, I haven't seen hyde nor hair of much more than my mother, your mother, your sisters, and the odd slave." Her claws dug into the soil, ears back. "And I doubt you'd take any of THEM." Moving back to sit in front of him, she glared back up. "And as Mother's told it, we are ALL Finar-si's children." She meant spiritually, of course, but she wasn't about to allow him that foothold.
"Hah." He rolled his eyes, "Then why are some of us slaves, some of us common, and some of us...royal? It's just somethin' your mom told you so you could feel special too. Just like everyone else."
Letting out a snarl, Jua jumped at him. She would largely try to rebuke his comments, but anything negative about her mother... It got her blood boiling. Claws out, she tried getting some form of hold over him.
Sinbad made a 'tsk', sound and dropped down to his back and shot his legs upwards to meet with her belly and kick her up and over himself. "...you fight like a cub."
The wind was effectively knocked out of her as the lioness tumbled. Gasping for air, she slowly sat up. Throwing a glare, she coughed. "Well... Not all of us... Were born to fight..." Regaining at least her breath, she stood up. "Besides, Wakia was too busy running off with the other cubs, or we were too busy listening to Mother's stories..." She stopped, reality dawning on her. She knew next to nobody. Her family, the slave Kimiko, and the white lioness Savitri comprised all she knew besides Sinbad. She sat back down, mind realing at these facts.
"Feh...pathetic." He rolled to his belly and pushed up to his paws to stand at his full height, "We're firekin. Fighting, spilling blood, and defending what's ours runs through our veins..." He sneered, "Can't hunt, can't fight, can't breed- what're you good for?"
The glare she threw at him didn't hold nearly as much of the malice as it had before. "Who says I can't breed?" Her tail did a flip, moving from one side to the other. "Everybody has a use in war, and I intend mine to be to make sure all the cubs of the pride have pride in who they are."
He snorted. "War's for fighting. Not babysitting. I was on my own during the war as a cub..." He stretched his claws out and inspected them causally. "...though...I was disapointed I didn't get to sharpen my claws on some filth."
"You're not the only one..." She sighed, frowning a bit. "I was busy finding where my brothers were..." She stopped a moment, then shrugged her slip of tongue off. Standing back up, she stretched, trying to act as though she'd not been kicked in the gut. "I should try hunting again..." As she started to pass him, she paused. "And I haven't forgotten about that cheetah..." Passing him, she let her tail smack him in the face.
"Hm?" He tipped his head a bit and rolled an ear back, "Cheetah? Those scrawney wastes of flesh and bone? What about them?"
Looking back at him, Jua frowned. "Oh, don't tell me you FORGOT... You wanted a cheetah... And wanted my help in GETTING it." She turned back around. "Or did you change your mind?"
"Feh. I've grown up." He waved a paw dismissively. "I want myself some -good- slaves. Quality...best of the best. Maybe a bunch of ladies to groom me." He purred to himself. Ooh yes, that'd be nice. Worthless as they were, it'd be nice.
Jua let out a hmph. "Because you obviously can't groom yourself... I can find six tangles in your mane from here." She couldn't, really, but it was still fun to tell him that. If it'd just get a rise out of him... "Funny, though.. You're a lord... And you don't even have a slave..." She grinned at him, almost mocking his lack. "Where as I... I have a slave... A very loyal one, too."
He chuckled and walked himself in a wide circle around her, "Yup. I do all my work. All my hunting...all my fighting..." He paused and flexed a forearm. "...and look at that. Muscle. Raw, unbridled muscle... and lookit you. I could snap you over my paw."
"And yet you don't." She gave a shrug, then started to walk. "My slave is there to watch Mother when I'm not present. Who has time to work on hunting, when they're taking care of a family member?" She stopped, looking back at him. "Of course... When one doesn't get the chance that often, one doesn't learn well, and would need a teacher..."
"Family's just another bunch of things you're related to..." He shrugged. "If they're not strong enough, why bother? They'll just drag you down." He reached up and ran his claws through his mane- probibly looking for those tangles she'd mentioned.
She could only roll her eyes. "Family can be your greatest ally in a time of crisis." She frowned, going up to him. "If you treat your family well, they'll return the gesture." Or did his family even do anything like that? While she Saw, she could only See so much, and none of it pertained to his family. "Save your brother's life, and he will be indebted to you. Treat your sister as a sister, and she'll care for you when you're wounded and can't fight."
He only laughed. "The most they've done for me is given me a title and my blood... Everything I've done, I've done myself." He turned his head a bit, eyeing the desert, "..and I'll drive those damnable rebels from our lands."
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:29 pm
Looking in the same direction, Jua frowned again. "You can't do it alone, you know..." She looked back at him. "Even if you're a lord, even if you've trained hard... No lion can face an army alone."
"Heh... that's why I need to get some slaves. They can handle the pawns..." He unsheithed his claws, smirking as he inspected them once more. "I'll take the king."
Tilting her head, she raised an eyebrow. "And you don't worry that if there's more slaves than masters, they might not uprise? Start with few slaves..." Tail flicking, Jua looked back at him. "Besides, what of your brothers and sisters? Shouldn't they join in the revel of reclaiming the land that's rightfully ours?"
"Perhaps." He shrugged. "That's why you get them as cubs. Teach them that there is nothing beyond a slave's life. My sister's little freak knows nothing else...but he could be a good meatshield if needed."
"Very true... But a slave will come up eventually that remembers the life of freedom, and plant the seeds of rebellion." A mouse scurried across her path, and Jua slammed a paw down on it. Lifting it up, she frowned. "Well, at least I can catch SOMETHING..." Looking back at Sinbad, she flicked an ear. "You don't have any desires to train offspring to fight? To be brutal masters and keep slaves in line, BEFORE you get more slaves?"
"Maybe...but they've never done so in the past. The small and the pathetic are...easily dealt with." He flexed his claws and slowly set his foot down. "Better than spending your life babysitting and...starving."
She glared at him. "Mother is one of the few lions who still can recite the tales of old, of the days with your grandfather was king, when HIS father was king!" She gave a snuff, looking away. "But I guess that's beneath such a pompous a** like you."
"Guess so." He shrugged, "I'm not in it for the stories, babe. I'm in it for the glory. What a buncha dead lions did only really effects me by their end results."
"The end result... A pompous a**. Very lovely..." She gave a huff, tail curling. "A wise lion learns from the mistakes of the past made by his forefathers. But it's pointless arguing with you about it..." As one-sided as the arguing actually WAS, anyway. After a moment of thought, Jua looked at Sinbad, frowning. "What is it about you that I REALLY don't like...? Just being AROUND you has my hackles up.."
"Hah." He rolled his shoulders. "Then why don't you just walk off?" His lips pulled into a smug smirk. "Go listen to your stories and babysit your mommy. I'm gonna go sharpen my claws."
"And yet I can't seem to." Grunting, Jua started to walk off, only to stop, glaring back at him. "And who will take care of YOU when YOU'RE old without a slave to your name?"
He sighed. "I won't -get- old. I'm gonna die a warrior's death. No brainer."
"That hardly seems worth it." She paused, frowning. "You'll live on in stories, that's for damn sure."
"Whatever." He shrugged and shook his head, "Keep walkin."
Jua simply glared, then left. Oh, she'd find a way to show him... She didn't know how, but she'd find a way!
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