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 Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:06 pm
 Odd glanced up, turning his golden eyes to the sky. It was overcast and cloudy again. It always seemed to be grey here. Perhaps it was always grey everywhere. For the first part of his life Odd had lived in a forest with trees so old and so big that it was rare to see the sky at all unless you found an open clearing, and those were uncommon. It was only after coming to the Stormborn that he had experienced open sky on a regular basis. It was also only after coming to the Stormborn that he learned how unpleasant it could be to become truly soaked by rain. He hoped it wouldn't rain on him. He was still a long way from home.
Earlier that day he'd been playing with his half-sister Kazul on the cliffs, taking turns pretending to be reavers and challengers. Kazul was larger than he was and had more experience fighting, but she still tended to hold herself back from actually making contact when she fought, and Odd didn't. He didn't really see the point in pretend-fighting either, but Kazul seemed to enjoy it, or at least seemed determined to do it until she was good at it, which wasn't really the same thing, but Odd didn't mind and so that was what they'd done.
Now, however, he had a long trek home, since his mother preferred to keep her den in the woods by the brackish stream rather than inhabit a den in the main pride area, which was sometimes called the stronghold. It would be an even longer walk if it rained on him, he thought a little sourly. Usually the cub took everything in stride, but it had been raining a great deal lately and he was beginning to tire of it, and also to wonder if lions could grow moss, because he was sure he'd gotten wet so often it was bound to happen sooner or later, and sooner seemed more likely.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:05 am
Hadiya let out a long sigh as she trudged over the stony ground. The grey sky loomed overhead ominously, but that wasn’t the only thing the lioness was concerned with. It had long been assumed by the pride that Hadiya didn’t have the guts to try to run away, and so at the moment, she seemed to be alone. And yet, she knew that she wasn’t. There was no telling where they might be hiding, but she could be tracked at this very moment, a security measure taken upon by some bored Reaver or freeborn to ensure that the pride’s assets did not go… missing. They had little to worry about, though. Hadiya knew that although one day she would try to escape, today was not it. Maybe they were right about her not having the guts. She was miserable now, but the thought of what might happen if she attempted escape and they caught her… well, it was better to wait for a perfect moment, to ensure she didn’t have to ever find out.
Her task was hunting, but the lioness had never been any good at it. She had been a priestess before, and so her experience with hunting was minimal. But she was learning, and that was why she went out alone this morning. She didn’t want to foul the hunt of another thrall that would undoubtedly have better luck than she would. Not that she had been invited by another. Other Thralls, even captured thralls, could not be trusted, for there was no telling how loyal they were to the pride. Hadiya made it easy for herself and spoke to almost no one.
The lioness caught a scent and she stopped walking. Had she just smelled another lion? She glanced around, startled, her fur prickling. Having the feeling of being watched and then getting a sense that someone was nearby was unnerving. But she said nothing, as always.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 10:12 am
Because he was coming down from the Warlord's den, Odd was in a good position to see the mostly pink lioness. Probably a better position than she was in to see him. Just the same, he was a little surprised that he had seen her before he heard her. Growing up as he had with a mother who was sensitive to spirits, Odd was also a very sensitive young lion, and in the habit of being as aware of his surroundings as he could be. For someone to go unheard by him while they were within visible range was unusual. She must be very quiet.
"Rain, do you think, or just grey?" he asked, descending and stepping deliberately into view.
His half-sister Kazul had told him once that it was not only unsettling, but annoying when he just appeared out of nowhere and stood there silently, waiting for someone to notice him. That was why he had said something, even though it was something kind of stupid and pointless. He understood now, after living among the Stormborn for some time, that his circumstances were unusual. Not the fact that he was viking-born, an illegitimate cub, but the fact that his mother had come to the pride and been allowed in without fighting an askorun, as some called the traditional challenges for acceptance.
The long and short of it was that his unusual circumstances meant that he probably shouldn't go around startling people and possibly making enemies of them by doing so. So he had learned to announce his presence when he didn't think it had been noticed. At least if he thought it likely he would be noticed at some point. If he wasn't likely to be noticed anyway, he just went his way without calling attention to himself.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:58 am
Hadiya had expected to see someone… or at least, that’s what she had told herself. But when they fiery juvenile came into view, she flinched a little as though excessively worried. She tended to keep a cool outward appearance and worry a lot on the inside, and so it was rare for her to betray herself like this.
She had seen this young lion before… he was a Stormborn, like herself. She hated the pride that had taken her as a slave, and yet she could never hate the young. This one had had nothing to do with it, and she had always had a soft spot in her heart for cubs. He might grow up into one of the ones she hated, but for now he was innocent. So she chose to speak, though she glanced around first, to be sure she was still alone. She may not truly have been, but there no sign of anyone else.
“I don’t know.” Hadiya told him, her voice thin and wavery from weeks of disuse. She found moments when she was alone to speak, or spoke to cubs, but she made sure she never said a word to one of the adults in her pride unless there was no avoiding it. It was her form of passive resistance that had caused the others to brand her a coward. Obviously discontent, but never raising a paw to do anything about it.
“Why are you out here? Are you alone?” She asked, because she was curious but also because she wondered if he was being accompanied by someone she’d rather not run into. His markings looked very much like the Warlord’s, and she would very much like to avoid being in his path.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 8:18 pm
Odd was conscious of the mostly pink lioness's careful regard and did his best not to look threatening. He didn't know what made her uncomfortable, but her discomfort and hesitance was entirely too obvious to be missed by anyone with the eyes to look and see. It was hard to see her flinch though. He knew it was the goal of most Stormborn cubs to be reavers and strike fear into the hearts of lesser lions, and he supposed that was his goal, too, but he didn't know that this lioness was someone who ought to be counted as lesser.
Perhaps she was a thrall? It was hard to tell just by looking sometimes. Some of the thralls carried themselves as though they thought themselves equal to or better than the freeborn of the pride, and yet it was the ones who cringed and apologized who tended to suffer more, he'd noticed. Cowardice and submission were never respected, no matter what the circumstances, he was coming to learn. It would go harder on her if she was one of the flinching thralls. He pitied her.
His pity grew when he heard her voice, pathetic and obviously rarely used. He knew that his half-sister would mock him for his pity and disdain the lioness for her seeming meekness, but he was not his half-sister, and she was not here. No one would see, know, or care if he smiled at her and spoke politely to her, as if she was a person rather than property. It went against the grain to do otherwise, even if she was someone's property.
"I'm out here because I'm heading home," he answered. "With luck, the spirits will see fit to hold the rain back until I get to the trees at least. I'm very tired of being wet."
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:47 am
Hadiya listened as the juvenile spoke, expression carefully blank, but she was surprised to hear how mild he sounded. She was used to booming tones of authority by now, and even some of the cubs of the pride could sound like their parents from a young age. There were no cubs she could dislike, but she did avoid the ones that seemed born to live in their parent’s shadows. His talk of the spirits also impressed her. In her old life, she might have asked the spirits of her pride to hold back the rain, but she doubted the gods of this warlike pride would ever care to listen to the likes of her. Still, belief in a higher power was one thing she and this pride had in common, even if they disagreed on the general details.
“I hope they will,” she agreed, gazing skyward as though trying to see the spirits at work, “Perhaps it would be best to move quickly though. Would you like an escort?” The young lion clearly didn’t NEED one, or he would already have it. And beyond that, if another adult had been present she might have been commanded rather than able to offer, but nonetheless, Hadiya did offer. It made her feel more normal, pretending it was her own choice to do such things rather than her duty. Besides, she’d rather talk with this young lion more, anyway. It had been so long since she’d been able to speak!
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:23 am
Odd was still trying to get a handle on what the lioness might be thinking, but he had come to the conclusion that she definitely hadn't been born among the Stormborn. Her speech marked her as someone who had grown up elsewhere. She lacked the tendency to growl her words that his half-siblings and the rest of the pride had. Odd often wondered if he had picked up the burr or whether he had a different accent. If he did, he couldn't hear it. Kazul said he did, but even when she mimicked him, he didn't hear a difference.
"Yes. Better to move quickly and not force them to take action. I've always been told that it's better not to try to compel spirits to do things, and that persuasion is more effective." He grinned. "I somehow doubt that not wanting to get rained on will really move them though."
He was being friendly, but the idea of having an escort wasn't really an appealing one. He would have to be friendly and personable for longer if he accepted her offer, and that could be tiring for him. Odd had been looking forward to a solitary walk where he could just contemplate and reflect on the past few days. On the other paw, he could maybe try to figure out what her place in the pride was. A puzzle.
"Company would be nice. My family lives in the woods. Do you ever go there?" He didn't think she went there often if she did, but that would tell him something about her, too.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:51 am
Hadiya chuckled at the idea that the spirits might hold rain back on account of two lions getting wet. She was also feeling more at ease by the moment. Normally she wasn’t this companionable, but the small talk was a good chance for her to finally feel noticed… in a positive way, anyway. She knew that this young lion might not know her standing within the pride, but she kind of hoped it wouldn’t have mattered. Still, she wasn’t going to go blurting it out without need. If he was a member and he didn’t know, then that better for her.
“Ah… No, I don’t usually go into the woods. Sometimes I suppose, not often.” She did when she hunted for the pride, but it was rare that she was allowed out by herself. Today she had been lucky. “Why does your family want to live all the way out here?” She glanced about, at the surrounding trees and gloomy skies, and thought that while it seemed perfectly peaceful, it also stuck her as lonely. But then, she’d never lived beyond the close proximity of others at any time in her life.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:56 am
"It's nice there. There's more shade and less wind, and it smells a bit less salty."
Odd liked most things about his home, but every so often the smell of salt coming off the water was overwhelming, particularly after a storm. To make up for it, the spirits tended to leave interesting things on the shore following the storm, so that was all right he supposed. As if it was any of his business to go about saying what was and wasn't all right for spirits to do. That thought amused him.
"And I think it reminds my mum of the place we used to live before we came here. The forest, that is. We lived in a forest before, too. Maybe it was the same one." He rolled his shoulders as if shrugging. "This one feels different, but I was younger when we came, so I don't really remember it too terribly well."
Which made him wonder if his brother Calder, who had been taken from the family and brought to the Stormborn even earlier than the rest of the siblings, could remember anything of the journey. Odd mostly just remembered how furious his mum had been, and how he had been afraid she would call down the spirits to curse everyone and everything around.
"I guess you live in the main part of the pride, then?" he ventured, still probing for information.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:11 am
Hadiya spoke carefully, not wishing to insult the young lion but curious as well. “So… was your mother taken, then? Or did she leave by choice?” Hadiya didn’t often hear of newcomers to the pride just wandering in, but then she’d only been with them for a very short time now. She was wondering if Odd’s mother was also a thrall, because she did know enough to know that captured lions never rose above that rank no matter how long they lived among the Stormborn. Or did they?
“I… like the smell of the sea,” the lioness admitted, furrowing her brow, “But it is also strange. I can see how it might get old after a while. “I do live in the main pride. It’s… nice enough.” Hadiya volunteered nothing else. Odd would have to keep guessing in order for her to spill anything else about her status.
As they walked, Hadiya kept note of their surroundings. Trees on all sides, grey above where she could see through to the sky. Here wasn’t so bad. She was still getting used to the rocky cliffs near the main camp, but at least the sea breeze kept things cool.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:30 am
"Taken? Not at all," Odd said. He supposed it wasn't an unreasonable thing to wonder, if a lion didn't know about the to-do his mother's arrival caused.
"My dad stole one of my brothers back here and my mum followed him with the rest of the litter and more or less demanded that he either return my brother or face her wrath." He had very clear memories of the exchange, and they amused him even more now that he knew his father than they had at the time. At the time he'd been terrified that the enormous lion his mother was facing would simply kill her dead with a swipe of one massive paw and then eat him and his siblings.
With a smile he finished: "He didn't want to face her wrath, but he had his position to consider, so they came to a compromise. Calder was returned to us, but mum joined the pride."
Odd, too, was noting their surroundings as they walked and the closer they drew to the den the more strongly he was reminded that his mum didn't much care for uninvited visitors. Rather, she had a great deal of fun with them, but the visitors rarely cared for her variety of fun. Odd and his siblings sometimes helped out with that, even now. He was watching for signs that he might be leading his new acquaintance into one of his mother's games. He thought he saw a pair of glowing golden eyes belonging to one of his sisters.
"I can get the rest of the way from here," he said, staring fixedly at where he thought he'd seen his sister, trying to warn his sib that he'd seen her and not to try anything. "Maybe you can even make it home before it rains."
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:58 am
Hadiya thought to herself that she couldn’t imagine anyone standing up to the Warlord. To her, he was practically demonic, at least in appearance. She’d never spoken with him directly but she wasn’t sorry for it. Now she had a picture in her mind of Odd’s mother being some titanic monster-lioness, and so she felt a little relieved with the young lion told her he could make it the rest of the way home. She didn’t relish running into his mother there, even without knowing of her delight of tormenting visitors.
“It’s good that your family stayed together, at least,” Hadiya replied as she came to a stop. Telling her he could make it the rest of the way was an order, if a politely worded one, but she did not take offense. It was much kinder than she often received. “Thank you for talking to me, it has been so long…” She flushed and stopped her train of thought, feeling somewhat ridiculous. Even if he was nice, he wouldn’t care about her sad story, so she told herself she’d just stop there. “I hope you can make it home before the sky bursts open. I shall try, also. Take care, and good luck.” And since his words earlier had been as good as a dismissal, she turned and started to make her way back to the pride, preparing an explanation of how she had used her time, if requested for one. If not, she would be silent, as always.
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