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 Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:08 pm
 Soro was not a follower, but he was an opportunist, and he could not resist the idea of a pride ripe for the picking with only moderate risk to him. With such a large number of predators hungry for flesh, the situation was enough to keep him following the group he had at least been tolerated to be in. As it was, the plan was simple. Bite the head, watch the body fall, and after the matriarch was taken, the pride was resistant to rebel, for now. Not only did the newly established rule have to be enforced, which Soro delighted in more than anything as he had been idle for too long, but with the brothers about rooting for a few slaves, Soro started to scout for ones worth his station. As it was, he moved about the dens, sniffing about, tail curling as he let his eyes savagely eat the lionesses as he passed.
It was simply a matter of requesting which one to come to his den. There were plenty of females, all filled with the fear and hate that only fueled Soro onward. He wanted to make them all submit if he could even bother to tolerate their company for that long. As he scouted, his eyes settled on a slender female with a dark purple pelt and a deepish gray-brown chest and chin. She looked healthy and that was good for him. Paying no mind to request her name, he sauntered toward her, causing some nearby females to hunch as he approached and a few to move away, hoping that they would not be the ones requested. “You.” He spoke to Lorelei. “Come to my den tonight.” He turned about to leave, not liking to stay around females for too long.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:21 pm
 Absorbed in her work tending to a wounded female, Lorelei was unaware of the approaching male. Her heart cried out with hatred for the tyrannical males that had taken over their pride and slain their Queen. For refusing to cooperate with their demands, this female had won a torn ear, gnashed shoulder and ripped muzzle. As Lorelei dressed her wounds she congratulated the lioness on her brave attempt at rebellion. She may have lost this battle, but their war – the war of their pride was just beginning, and their pride needed brave warriors like her more than ever to show the others that all was not lost.
Lorelei would have happily risked her skin to join the dwindling number of lionesses willing to spit in the faces of the males if her skills as a healer were not so direly needed at this time. She was aware that she was putting herself in danger by encouraging this behavior. Someday she might be punished for attempt to incite rebellion. She quietly chided herself for this. Her place was as a healer, not as a warrior, and she needed to remain neutral during these tough times so that she could continue to tend to the sick and those brave few who stood up in defiance of the males. She would be their shoulder to lean on and she would never let them fall.
She was almost finished applying healing herbs to the female’s wounded shoulder when her patient flinched and inexplicably ducked her head. As Lorelei tried to remind her to hold still, a shadow fell over the two of them. Lorelei looked over her shoulder and gawked at the rusty brown male. If he had ordered her to go with him now she would have outright refused. Thankfully, he saw she was busy. “Yes, sir,” she murmured, masking her disdain.
As Soro left her maw twisted in disgust. Though she was loathe to agree to such a request, Soro would readily beat her in front of the other females if she declined, and there were still others who needed her attention. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The knowledge that Soro would happily drag her from her den if she denied his request was the first thing that persuaded Lorelei to leave her den. She hated Soro deeply and knew she could not fend him off alone. Soro would take her inability to defend herself as an admission of weakness, and she would not allow him to have that pleasure from her, nor would she allow herself to be used when she reached his den. How she would accomplish this, Lorelei did not know.
The second thing that coaxed Lorelei out of her den was curiosity. She had never seen Soro alone in his own den before and part of her wanted to believe that there was more to him than the savage persona he showed in front of the pride.
Her ears pressed flat against her skull and her tail swished like a zebra swatting off mosquitoes as she went broodingly to Soro’s den later that evening, but as she neared the den her posture gradually relaxed. She would show Soro that not all females feared him despite the slight unsteadiness in her legs.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:51 pm
It was a good thing that Soro had already ate, or else he would have been more agitated, though that did not keep him from laying in his den, relaxing on the cool ground as he surrounded himself with animal bones. The hard skeletons comforted him more than furs or plants could have, and he remained close to these bones that he had requested from the hunters of this pride. They had not denied his request, but their eyes questioned the reason for such an odd demand. He didn’t care. They had no right to ask, and he hungered for them to question them. After the fight for this pride, he was just as restless to do something with himself. As of now, his mind was what he could accumulate as his own without having himself put in danger of being corrected by the king and those close to him. He was a new member to the already established group, and his history and in turn, his connections to them were short. He didn’t want to jeopardize something that was good, but he also did not want to get the short end of the spoils.
For this reason, he was being selective. With so many pride members wanting to take the new females, he wanted someone young and healthy. He didn’t need many women. A harem repulsed him. Many women repulsed him, but a few. One, maybe two, were fair. Not to keep. He could use many, but to have one or two as secured spoils were best.
When his came of the day came, he rose his head from where it had been resting, and he curled his claws into the dirt. His red eyes watched her from his mask, and he flicked his head to get her to move closer. “Come.” He stated, moving to a pile of bones and using his paw to hit them aside. “You’re mine now, and I’ll be allowing you to stay in this den.” His turned over to look at her fully, taking in her form. She would do nicely for his needs, and his eyes said that clearly.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:50 am
Lorelei’s eyes drifted over the bones. At a glance, she deduced that they were all prey animals, except for the mask. That skull clearly came from a lion. He probably just found it somewhere, she told herself. The rest of the bones were clearly from the huntress’s kills, showing Soro had a habit of picking up bones where ever he could find them: a scavenger. The rattling of the bones as he swiped them aside caused her to shiver.
Allowing? What did he mean by that? Did he dare assert that being in his presence was a privilege? Her tail flicked in disgust. “Seems it could use a lady’s touch,” she muttered, sneering at the bones.
She picked her way through the bones, pausing to sniff here and there, taking in her surroundings under an aloof disguise. Fear is for prey. Soro’s den was testament that prey often meet an unfortunate end. Suddenly, a field mouse leapt from the eye socket of a gazelle skull with a squeak. Recovering from her mild surprise, Lorelei regarding the fleeing mouse with a soft snort as it scurried into a small hole in the wall. There must have been some meat left in that skull. How pleasant. She stopped a few feet from him, unwilling to go any further. “You’ve got a certain talent for setting the mood.”
She phrased it like an inquiry. There had to be a reason why he collected all these remains.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:00 am
Soro watched the lioness move about his den, inspecting the bones that littered the den and were formed in small piles, pushed into groups whenever he wanted to sleep and make himself comfortable. He looked amused as she was lightly taken aback by a mouse, which Soro turned his head to watch run into the wall. Being in the habit of sleeping with bones, mice were not new to him, and he appreciated that they removed the rotten meat he could not eat. Still, it did not mean he liked catching them and making a small snack out of them. Small game was still game.
With the lioness in here, he felt no need to sit, and instead watched her, remaining on his feet as she approached him and commented on his choice of arranging his den. His expression narrowed behind his mask. “Remove these bones without asking me first, and I’ll replace each and every one with one from you. I really have no need for another mask. I do however have reason to see you alive.” He started to move, circling the female to inspect more closely as his tail flicked. “Do not make me regret choosing you.” He did not take kindly to having someone fail his expectations, and when they failed, they were of no use, and he had no trouble correcting the female to succumb to what he wanted her to be. “From this point on, address me as Master. Do not use my name. Do not address me as anything else. Do not think for a moment you are at the same level as I am or are entitled to anything that I did not give you first. Do as I say, and I’ll keep you as mine. If you do not, I’ll teach you your mistake, then let the entire pride teach you as well. Then I’ll find someone else. A dear friend of yours maybe.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:03 pm
Lorelei bit her tongue until her tyrant finished. If only she was stronger like the warriors in this pride. Even if she was stronger, she couldn’t risk her life to castrate one arrogant male. She had a responsibility to her pride. She turned to face him, eyes barely wavering as she struggled to control her fury. “See this?” She touched the herb pouch around her neck with her paw.
“My pride already owns me. I’m a healer, one of only a few. Their well-being is my chief concern and for the time being my pride unfortunately includes you. I’ll do as you say, but my pride will always come first. If you have a problem with that, find someone else.”
It was a hard thing for her to say but likely her best option.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:49 pm
This female was aggravating and too headstrong for her own good. To think she was someone having to add him on as a addition to the pride and not her chief concern only lowered him, and he would not be lowered before a female. Frowning, he kicked a bone out of the way, letting it roll past the lioness.
She did not have the position to go talking in such a way to him. Growling, he went over and without warning, took his paws to her side and his mouth to her neck. “If you have concern for this pride, then address me as I should be addressed. We’ll see how this pride handles the loss of one of its healers after I kill you and tear into the rest.” He growled aground her fur, tightening his mouth and pulling in his claws. A bone nearby testified he could and would do so. Those that were not claimed by someone could be abused as an example. They would heal, if barely. It was the loss of one of their members that would scar the pride the most.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:26 pm
The impact sent her staggering. At that moment Lorelei’s fear evaporated to be replaced by rage and hatred. She spread her legs against his weight, reclaiming her balance, and spun on him with a roar of, “You b*****d!”
She lifted off her front paws and managed to swing one arm over his neck and push him down. Soro’s teeth tore a small hole in her flesh as tried to grabble him. Consumed by fury, she gnashed her teeth on his foul mask, but her canines slipped off the smooth surface leaving only shallow grooves in the bone. She would rip that obscene trophy from his face and blind him with her teeth – if only she could get a grip.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:59 pm
She was angry, and he wanted that. He wanted to fight and tear into her, feeding all his aggression. She yelled, shouted at him, and he roared back as he tried to dig into her. When she corrected her stance and remained firm, he knew this would be a challenge. He was a rogue for a long time, and while great at fighting, a lioness who had been in a pride with ample food and water could put up a worthwhile fight to a lion who had been scrapping in the desert for most of his childhood.
That did not mean Soro could not fight. The man that was a trophy and sign of this also had helped in protecting him in other fights. When she went for his face, he knew that she knew where to aim. This wasn’t the first time she attacked a lion, or at least not another prey animal. Growling, he snarled back, and went out to claw back at her body as he went to bite for the closest piece of flesh to free himself from her grip. Being on the ground was the last thing he wanted, and his heart started to hammer in his chest. He wanted to be on top.
His swung his body and twisted to free himself. Useless fighting for limbs would be no good to take her down, and he would only exhaust himself. He needed to go for her face and neck as much as she was going for his. The only difference was that she did not have someone to protect her face.
“Try and blind me?! I’ll tear out your eyes!” He roared back, and finding a arm, bite into the flesh.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:09 pm
Lorelei could feel every snort, his muscles bulging and contracting in her grasp, smell the foul wetness of his breath. They were fighting in close quarters. If she were an experienced fighter she would have known better than to stand in Soro’s attack zone. All she knew was her hatred of him. She roared as his teeth sank into her flesh again, but that did not stop her from clawing and biting at every exposed piece of flesh. Just then, completely by accident, she swept up her paw and knocked the mask from his face.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:32 pm
Soro watched as his mask skidded and he watched it clatter across the floor of his den. The mask was his, and he hated it off his face. Turning, he showed that he in no way was disfigured. The mask wasn’t to hide anything, but to serve as protection, as safety, and to inforce an idea. Without it, he felt wild from being unsettled. “You b- ” lunging, he threw his entire weight into his attacks, digging paws into flesh, biting into neck and around bone, and ripping with the experience of a lion who had clawed his way from the sands. When he had tired and felt the female had given up her own fight, be breathed out and walked away, panting as he tasted the blood of lioness in his mouth.
“Remember... I own you. If you – “He inhaled deep to catch his breath. “ - …if you do that again, I’ll kill you. Don't think for a moment I won't. I'm giving you a chance now. Obey me.” He went over and picked up the mask, nuzzling into the bone before it was back upon his face. Narrowing his eyes, he went out so that he could wash the blood from his fur.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:19 pm
Trembling, gasping on the cave floor, Lorelei tried to curl around herself, wincing at her wounds. Slowly she opened an eye. Soro was gone. Her herb pouch lay close by, torn from her neck curing the scuffle. The strap was broken. She had other pouches but she would have to return to her cave to get them. No time for that now. At least she had enough herbs to treat her wounds. She reached out with an unsteady paw and pulled the pouch closer to her, sticking her muzzle inside and chewing the herbs into a paste which she could lick onto her wounds. There was not enough to treat all her wounds; only the large ones.
When she finished, exhausted from pain, she rose and moved her aching body to a more comfortable spot in the cave with bones piled on either side of her. She was a little surprised to find herself feeling safe nestled between the piles of bones. They gave her false comfort, making her think she was hidden. It would be easy for Soro to find her. She lay her head between her paws, feeling the cool cave floor touch her throat, and stared into the empty sockets of a zebra.
Tears welled in her eyes. This can’t last forever. In a few weeks the others will start to recover from the loss of our queen. We’ll fight them off, one day.
Lorelei had never hated a male before. She even had a husband once. Though he often ignored her, he had been kind to her and a good father to their children. She never could have loved him. It wasn’t because their marriage had been arranged. She couldn’t even have loved him as a friend, though he was a friend to her, at least in some sense. She couldn’t have hated him either. There was one male she thought she hated, a long time ago. Now that she understood the true meaning of hatred she realized that even he was merely a fly nipping at her rump compared to Soro.
Even so, as the minutes passed, she felt her hatred toward him lessening. Her insatiable curiosity made her weak in hatred. She almost looked forward to his return. The brief glimpse of his face intrigued her, like the flicker of a shadow in the night, frightening yet fascinating at the same time. She wanted to pick him apart and see how he worked.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:17 pm
The lion returned minutes later, dripping wet. It seemed his form of first aid was just getting rid of the blood. Soro still couldn’t get over the convenience of a river that freely gave him enough water to drink at all times, clean and clear, that he could even submerse himself in it. Shaking off, he went to the other side of the cave. Despite what he did to her, he came over and pushed bones up against her as if she was nothing more than an addition to make him comfortable. With that, he laid his chest against her back and head upon her neck, a paw draped over her possessively. He could smell something fowl on her and noticed the herbs on her body. Smart. She wouldn’t die. As for Soro’s wounds, he didn’t bother to even lick them. If they scabbed, then it was good, but if they festered, he would eat off the pieces till it was clean and let it try and heal again. He left the water to soak in his skin and it dripped into her fur.
“Go to sleep.” No one would take her while he rested, as he was sure to stay here over to to prevent her from escaping while he rested and from one of the other males from stealing her. She was his.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:56 pm
Lorelei visibly tensed at his approach. She started to bare her fangs and a part of a low growl slipped out of her throat before Soro slunk around her and lay down with his paw over her shoulder. At his touch she twitched, partially from the pain of her wounds, and flattened her ears at him with a disgusted sneer. His body was a weight on her, holding her to the ground. At least she had finished her duties for today. Though she despised his touch, she had no reason to complain and arouse his wrath yet again, especially with the rest of her herbs back in her other den. Her other den. She raked her claws across the cave floor in frustration.
At least he leaves my wounds alone, even if he is dripping all over me, she thought, laying her head on her paws. She kept one ear turned in his direction at all times. After several minutes of tense listening Soro’s breathing deepened and evened out, indicating sleep. Lorelei glanced at the huge paw on her shoulder.
She would have to find a way to continue her healing despite Soro’s presence. Clearly he wasn’t going away. She hoped she could convince him to let her use her old cave. She hated to think how the lionesses would react if he forced her to treat her patients among his treasured dead. Still, it was more important that he allowed her to do her job. He would probably see the importance of it in time, when his wounds started to fester. Even if he was the enemy, even if she hated him, Lorelei would not deny care to anyone that needed it.
((Fin~))
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