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 Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 4:35 pm
As the sun rose on the savanna, a pair of dark, cunning eyes opened in the dim light filling Shai's cave. Barafu stretched a bit on the furs he and Shai had spread across the cave floor, avoiding jarring the hybrid female next to him or the cub between them. Cub. The psychopathic cheetah smiled at that, when he thought about how much hurt that would cause his brother. That was right, he needed to catch a bird, they traveled faster than other creatures. He'd tell it to take its time though, to make it look like a long distance had been covered. Something of a distance HAD passed beneath his and Pich's paws, however not enough in his mind. Part of him hesitated, a streak of uncertainty running through him at the thought of his brother tracking him down.
The gold-banded cheetah stepped into the budding light, frowning in thought. He was a skilled fighter, he knew that. He also had no doubts that Shai was good at what she did. But he had no idea who was among Mafunde's group, if he even had a group. Most likely Mafunde and Pich's mother, and Kweupe at the least. He didn't think they could manage more than three opponents and "protect" Pich at the same time. Besides, if Pich knew he had stolen him instead of just taking him along to train, he would most likely fight back until Shai or Barafu himself would be forced to kill him. And what a waste that would be.
He glanced around and saw it, the leftovers of one of their meals. Not many creatures flocked around it, but there was a pair of large vultures. They would do nicely.
After a small spat and a much longer time convincing his captive that he wasn't going to eat him, Barafu's message was on its way back towards his brother. He smiled as he recounted the message in his mind.
"Find a cheetah of dust with golden spots. With bands on his legs like mine in the color of blood and eyes the gray of storm clouds," he had told his messenger. "Find him and tell him this: Your son is mine, Mafunde. I have placed my ice in his heart and as you lament his loss I will nurture him in my image. As you grieve, Brother, I laugh, as I have taken my revenge. Live in sorrow, Brother, for I will tell you your little Pich will grow with a heart as cold as mine. One day, you might see him again, but never the same as before. He. Is. Mine. From Barafu'moyo."
Messenger sent, Barafu returned to the mouth of the cave and surveyed the other inhabitants.
`
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:27 pm
Pich stood and stretched out each small muscle sore from the long run, he blinked and looked about confused a moment by his surroundings. It took him a split second to realize that Barafu must have moved him while he slept. He twisted around and looked curiously at the figure that had kept him warm. With a sniff he figure it was Barafu's female, the strong one, she would teach him if he was good. He shook off and rushed outside curious to find his uncle.
Pich blinked at the bright morning sun and spotted his uncle not too far ahead a vulture flying away from him.
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Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:17 pm
Barafu smiled as Pich left the cave.
"Good morning, Nephew. I'm glad to see you're an early riser. Lazy beasts don't make for good warriors. This just shows you're made of the right stuff," he said, playing to the ego he knew the cub had.
"I sent that message to your father," he added offhandedly, sitting down where he stood. He would probably take Pich hunting today. He wouldn't show him how he liked to torture his prey, not yet anyways. The cub was young, but he doubted Pich trusted him as much as he needed to just yet, to be able to accept his and Shai's ways. He would, however, bring any prey he brought down back, for Shai and for the pelt.
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:25 pm
Pich grinned at the compliment and decided that he would rise before the sun managed to every morning. His tail swayed before he wrapped it close and nodded at Barafu, with the message sent he no longer felt very concerned that his parents would worry. His mother, he was certain would understand best that he had her spirit of adventure, and perhaps the female in the den could foster him. He would try to please her as if she were his own mother.
"Is the female in the cave my aunt?" He questioned Barafu with curiosity gleaming in his golden eyes.
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:08 pm
Barafu frowned a bit. Things had happened between him and Shai the night before, things that had changed how he looked at her, and undoubtably how she looked at him. But he wasn't about to jump to any conclusions or humor his nephew's fantasies.
"She is Shai Teinai, and you will address her as such until she tells you otherwise, Pich. Do you understand?" the cheetah asked, his stance stern, but his tone merely explaining how things were to his young nephew. He doubted Shai would ever allow Pich to call her Aunt, even if she one day happened to become so. And Barafu preferred it that way. If his Shai was to become the leader they both saw in her, she would have to command respect from her follower. None of that pet-name nonsense.
Besides, if anyone was to give her pet-names, Barafu was hell-bent on that person being himself and himself alone.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:36 am
"Shai Teinai, right!" He nodded and tried to adjust his stance to match his uncles. The frown was something he was trying to understand, he didn't want to do anything to displease his foster parents on the first day after all.
His golden eyes gazed at Barafu intently trying to take in every move every bit of body language he could manage to understand. He would prove to them both that he was worthy of their training...and love?
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:51 am
Barafu watched his nephew for a moment before his features softened. It was a slight thing, but there nonetheless and would probably be as soft as the sociopathic cheetah ever got.
"Come along then. I think today we should try a spot of hunting," he said with a small smirk as he stood and turned away from the cave and his sleeping Shai.
He looked over his shoulder at Pich.
"Did your parents take you hunting yet?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:57 am
Pich leapt to his feet and grinned at his uncles words, a hunt! What a thrill, he might actually get to bring down his own breakfast for once. He followed Barafu with a breathless enthusiasm and a sparkle in his eyes.
"No I've never been out on a real hunt!" His paws skimmed the ground and he could already feel the surge of adrenaline in his young veins. Was this what his mother felt? Was this why she would vanish for days and reappear, to get this feeling?
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:11 am
Barafu growled a bit, in warning.
"Pich, calm yourself. I'll be doing the hunting and you will listen when I tell you tips and explanations and observe," he said lowly, though he did his very best to control his temper. He would have to reign in his nephew's eagerness soon, or he'd be of no use to himself or Shai. A rambunctious warrior was a useless one.
"Don't worry," he continued in an attempt to cushion his reprimand, "I'll see if I can't get something small for you to practice on after I catch breakfast."
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:24 am
Pich strained to control his twitching muscles, he felt so alive and ready. Yet his uncles soft growling and tone made him focus, he forced himself to calm his muscles ceased their quivering.
"I'll be paying close attention." He nodded to his uncle and gazed out before them, the excitement was contained inside him held tight with the desire to learn and please.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:38 am
Barafu smiled ever so slightly as he watched the little cheetah try to contain his excitement.
They walked for a spell, the older cheetah keeping a close watch on the surrounding area for something to eat. He eventually spotted a adequate gazelle that had apparently gotten separated from its herd. He quietly told Pich to lie low and not make a sound before he stalked off towards the preybeast.
White coat merely a patch of sunlight on the bright day, the lean cheetah had every advantage and took down the lost creature with surprising ease. And what luck! it had been a mother, her calf not far away, trembling in the grass. With a smile, Barafu knew that the dead mother wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon, so he called out to Pich and rounded up the calf.
"We're going to take this back to the cave now," he explained, as the adult had not been very big to begin with and he could carry it the distance back to the den for Shai to skin and share. "What I want you to do is bring the calf with us. If it tries to stray away, keep it between you and me by biting at it. Herd it like I did," he finished and slipped the carcass onto his back to carry.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:44 am
Pich nodded and started to herd the calf his energy now released for the task at hand. The little creature ran this way and that for it's life but Pich was easily able to run circles around it and herd it to follow Barafu in almost a perfect line.
He spent no energy in talking and kept his golden eyes glued to the task at hand.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:58 am
Every so often, Barafu would glance back at Pich and smile, for he knew now that this little cheetah was his blood. It was clear in the white on his coat that he was Barafu's relative, but it was in the way he set his mind to his work and the speed that he too to it that the scarred cheetah knew that Pich was his blood.
Getting back took longer, but the sun had still yet to reach its zenith by the time they got back. The area just outside of the cave was nicely shaded by a small tree, of which Barafu lay beneath after leaving the kill to Shai to skin. He was sure Pich would ask about that.
"Let's leave Shai to her work, Pich. Oh, you can kill that, now, if you feel you can," he said, adding the last part as an afterthought.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:03 pm
Pich heard his uncles words and wondered what work Shai would have, was eating the task she would have? No, this pair was beyond the simple task of filling their stomachs, Pich knew Shai would do something special with the carcass and he was curious about what it could be.
He tired of the calf and the way it had given him such a hard time, when his uncle asked him if he was capable of the kill the young cheetah sprang ontop of the calf with ease. With another spurt of energy he ripped the throat open so wide that the head of the little prey animal almost flew off. He grinned up at his uncle with hope and a bloodstained muzzle.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:10 pm
One of Barafu's eyebrows rose slightly and a smirk grew on his maw at Pich's dispatching of the calf.
"Well now. You don't have to be that quick, my boy, or that energetic. But you did well, nonetheless. Better than I imagine any of your brothers would have done," he replied and looked over to the den where he could imagine Shai carefully separating hide from muscle on the carcass. He licked his lips just thinking of the delicious scene. Of the first time he saw her do that and how their prey had screamed under his paws.
"Those furs you woke up on. That is what Shai does. We use nearly every part of a kill, for food and for comfort," he explained and chuckled a bit at his blood-stained nephew.
"Of course, I think your kill is a bit small for that, so I don't think she'll mind if you tear that up for your breakfast."
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