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 Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:25 pm
Zsaria lay at the edge of a gently sloped cliff, peering out into the white murkiness of the surf. There had been moments earlier in her life where she had contemplated falling from such a place, but it had seemed the coward's exit. As she thought she chewed absently on the last shred of a mint sprig she'd been nursing for a few hours, thankful for the brief time she had managed to be alone. Things were quieter now than they had been when everything had fallen apart, but she still felt a distinct unease and air of persecution in the company of the older pride members. It was as if they thought of it each time they saw here, reflected in their eyes, though she knew it to be a figment of her mind. Peculiar yet, she thought, flexing her paws against the sparse soft moss of the rock. Peculiar that the thoughts and fears hadn't faded with her act of attrition but rather intensified.
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:33 pm
Gunnar's duel with Taraxa hadn't been serious, but the brown lion was still nursing a few aches and pains. A walk would be good for the muscles, keep him from stiffening up. He was strolling along the cliffs now, near the sea, enjoying the tang of it.
There was someone here spoiling the view, though. Someone not far off from the color of the seafoam itself. Hmmm. He recognized the lioness, and wasn't exactly thrilled to see her. Gunnar didn't pause or turn around and go a different way. That would be foolish and womanly. His brows knit together slightly as he approached. He didn't dislike Zsaria, not exactly ... but he had the distinct impression that she didn't like him, and he wasn't a fan of female Reavers.
"Someday I will kill you," Gunnar said politely, using the standard greeting. He wouldn't, of course. She was a weak female, ill-suited to battle no matter how hard she tried. To kill her would be dishonorable.
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:38 pm
"Not today" she rumbled tiredly, peering only slightly to the side to catch sight of him. As she did her shoulders clenched a little tighter and she quickly turned her gaze back to the sea. "Am I called to something?" she asked as stonily as she could manage given her mild state of intoxication. She saw no other reason he should come out here, assuming that she had been sought out. Her question betrayed no affection for him. No other emotion plagued her mind than the same sort of anxiety that the rest of the reavers always brought on her, amplified only slightly by their histories.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 8:10 am
The female didn't seem very pleased to see him, which wasn't much of a surprise. Gunnar hadn't made a point of getting to know Zsaria, but she had seemed rather ... standoffish, ever since the incident with her brothers.
Huh. Well, Gunnar didn't care a bit if she didn't like him, but she had chosen to become a Reaver and that meant she was a comrade of sorts. He shook his head in response to her question. "No, nothing. I'm just out for a walk. It's important to stretch the muscles after a good duel." A hint of condescension crept into his tone. Gunnar didn't hold much respect for Zsaria's dueling abilities.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 8:31 am
Zsaria made a soft noise of agreement, allowing her muscles to settle some as he didn't seem ready just yet to pick a fight. She never could tell sometimes, there were reavers that were unpredictable, even manic at times, and then there were those that fought for their glories. Their actions were vastly different, and despite her time with them so far she wasn't quite sure which she herself was. "There are much better places to walk," she added slightly under her breath as she watched him in the corner of her eye, "Areas with much softer ground. Why here?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:51 am
Gunnar couldn't keep a slight frown from his face. Areas with much softer ground? He couldn't quite tell, but it sounded as though she might be insulting him. It also sounded as though she were getting uppity. He could walk wherever he damned well pleased without questions from some griping woman.
"I walk where I please," Gunnar snapped, holding back a snarl. He didn't want to lose his temper over this girl ... not entirely. "Why are you here, woman? Just lolling around chewing mint?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 8:14 pm
"I was thinking," she snapped, barring her teeth for a moment, "Don't try it too hard, your poor head might fall off." She wasn't normally this cross, but she detested being referred to by her sex, as if it mattered in the role of a reaver. She had the same tooth and claw he did, and she knew how to use them too. Regaining some measure of composure she pressed the mint stem to the rock beneath her paw, seeming a little ashamed to have been called on it, "And why should I not take a moment for myself? Have I not performed my duties as I should?" Her look was one of daring, though she was not passionate about her lifestyle she worked as hard as any other.
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Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 8:57 pm
Typical womanish whining and blatting, just like he'd expected. Every time he encountered Zsaria, Gunnar was reminded of how much she irritated him. Taraxa might love the feisty ladies, but in Gunnar's opinion they belonged within the stronghold caring for babies and talking to Gods and doing other boring womanly things. He snorted. "Yes, you perform your duties." His voice was scornful. "You fight well, but you do not love it. You don't have the heart of a Reaver. You should be having babies, raising more warriors for us."
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:56 pm
She scoffed, turning her gaze directly to him. Though it was true she lacked the heart for the job that so many of her companions had it would be wrong to assume that meant she would not give her life for her pride. "I fight for my family's honor, and I will fight until I am no longer needed," she snapped, "I will raise more warriors when my blood is worth it." Now the best she could hope for was cowards, tainted by their uncles' actions. Aside from that there was hardly any chance one of the pride would be interested in her.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:58 pm
Gunnar scowled at the uppity lioness, measuring her words. He was tempted to simply turn and stomp away, but he grudgingly supposed that as a fellow Reaver she deserved some measure of respect. He should at least try not to dismiss her as a weak and foolish female, for all that he believed she was.
"You are not entirely foolish," he said at last, the words dragged out with great effort. "Honor is a fair reason to fight." In a way, Gunnar fought for his family's honor as well ... for the honor of his weak mother and sisters, the outsiders who had been taken in by his father more out of pity than out of any kind of respect.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:46 pm
"You all would do well to remember I did not choose this life for myself." There was a certain place-able bitterness in her voice, though it was not directed at him. Rather she threw her anger at the sunset, the direction from which all her problems had seemed to come over the past years. "I'd like to be in one piece long enough to raise strong cubs," she joked, kneading at the ground with a scarred paw, "I feel as if I need to fight twice as hard as I can to keep it from being for naught." It wasn't often she opened up like this but he seemed to have hit a chord in the sparse agreement. "I wasn't raised a fighter, I was raised a trophy." Her father always had thought she was beautiful, he'd throw a fit to see her now with scars dancing across his face and coat.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:56 pm
Gunnar had Zsaria had traded barbed comments several times, but they had never really had a ... talk, like this. Not one in which Zsaria spoke to him as though she knew him well, as though he were a friend. Gunnar had never considered himself a friend of the bitter female Reaver, and he was quite certain that she had never viewed him with any affection either.
Her sharing left a strange taste in his mouth, one he wasn't sure he liked.
The blond lion was used to being surly, snappish, boastful, and pigheaded with Zsaria - never had he been spoken to like this. He felt off balance, off his guard. He felt awkward. Gunnar's usual reaction to feeling awkward was a burst of defensive rage, but Zsaria's sudden niceness was disarming.
He opened his mouth to grumble something noncommittal, and instead found himself sharing as well. "I wasn't raised as a fighter either. My mother was a saltwife." He was unable to keep the bitterness from his voice as he spat the word. "My father's true sons were the warriors." He rarely spoke to anyone about the old resentments, and it felt bizarre talking about it now with Zsaria, of all people. "You are a fair fighter," he said stiffly.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:01 pm
She offered him a queer smile, "I know, I've been saying it all along." Her mind clearing a bit she lifted herself up, shoulders high, and turned away from the cliff's edge, "You're a strong fighter yourself." It showed some degree of trust, turning her back to the plunge like that, but she wasn't aware of the gesture. He wasn't so bad, for all their history. Not the kindest or the smartest perhaps, but a little better than some of the others. "My mother was a singer who wanted nothing more than to be adored and bear strong cubs, she wanted the same for me. Funny how things turn out?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:13 pm
It wasn't like Gunnar to be so touchy-feely, and certainly not with a female he could barely tolerate.
Well ... that might change. Zsaria still rubbed him the wrong way, but he supposed she wasn't entirely detestable. "Of course I am," he said smugly, in response to her compliment. Like any Stormborn, Gunnar was well aware of his own prowess, and quite proud of it too. Accepting compliments modestly was foreign to him.
He nodded to her story, unsure of how to respond. All of this sweet talking family storytime was wearing on his nerves a bit. Talking about himself to others - about his feelings - was strange to him. Womanly stuff. Gunnar decided to go back to safer ground. He would try to talk to her as he would any other Reaver. Maybe he could pretend she was male.
He grinned toothily at the lioness, making a little feint at her. Not enough to truly startle her and send her over the edge of course. "You'd better watch yourself, Reaver," Gunnar said. "Ha! I could send you over the edge in one swipe!" He wouldn't, of course - even if he had absolutely loathed Zsaria, he would never attempt to kill a fellow Stormborn without extremely good cause.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:16 pm
Zsaria relaxed, seeing what he was doing. She was thankful for it too, it wasn't entirely comfortable for her to show much of that self around the rest of the reavers and she had begun to worry he might view her differently because of it. Flinching only the tiniest bit at the feint she raised a paw, claws flexed, "Well then we'd both meet a watery grave I suppose, because I sure wouldn't go it alone." She wasn't afraid of death, she simply wouldn't die the way her brother had. She'd taken as many as she could with her, the culprit first and foremost on the list.
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