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 Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:24 am
 (Penzi is a juve in disguise!) Perhaps this just wasn't the sort of thing she was cut out to do. Penzi was simply to mild-mannered and sweet to learn how to fight. Yet, just like at least a few of her siblings, she'd set her mind on becoming a guard. She thought it was good to get an early start when it came to learning how to fight, but quickly found she was pathetic at it.
"Okay, I'll teach you, you--ow!!" And rocks didn't make particularly good sparring partners, either. She thought she had to actually hit them, because that's what you did in fights, but hitting rocks hurt. She furrowed her brows, shaking her paw and glaring at the offending stone. How mean!
Penzi hardly wanted to whine out loud, and opted instead for trying to incorporate this somehow. "Haha! Touche! Well what to you say to this!" And she threw herself at it, but mostly just flopped harmlessly on top.
Then, finally, the cub admitted. "This is stupid."
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:12 am
 Doting mothers never let their children scratch themselves or get battered up, much less let them roam out from the den. Such was the life of Kibetinyota's kids, but ever since they were old enough to walk without falling right back down, duty called to their mother. And as important as the children were to her, duty was not something she could ignore, much to their freedom's delight.
They were all growing up into decently aged kids now, anyways - old enough to paw out beyond their den, despite their father's urges to sit still unless they asked for permission. Because of their upbringing, most of them would have listened, anyways. Sometimes, however, there was the slight miscommunication... or alternatively, the forgetting to ask.
One of the paler kids of the group found himself walking around the sparsely populated Mwezi'Johari, finding nothing much to look at; perhaps everyone was... doing whatever their duty was, like his mom. Was life as boring outside of the den as it was in the den?
If he had known what sparring was, he might have been curious, even excited at the other juvenile coming into vision. However, all he could see was... a scary determination in hitting a rock. And talking to it.
"Hey," he offered as he approached her with a severe sense of caution.
"Are you... okay?"
He peeked at the rock, perhaps giving the girl the benefit of the doubt; maybe there was a mouse or something over there she'd been trying to catch. But all he could really see was the rock.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Or perhaps she liked hurting herself. He didn't want to ask.
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:20 am
At first she didn't even hear the other lion, because she was too distracted being unhappy with her lack of improvement in fighting rocks. She actually only caught on to him with the second question. She blinked, turning to focus on the male curiously. Then back down at the rock. "Oh. No." She answered, almost distractedly.
"HEY, you wanna--" Penzi hesitated, realizing her voice had just come out in almost a shout. Oops. Maybe she had managed to get herself all worked up, after all. "Spar with me?" She finished, much more quietly. "I'm practicing to be a guard." She provided an explanation, as she slid back down to the floor and sat. A few seconds later, she puffed her chest out, like she'd forgotten such statements should be made with a bit more 'oomph' and pride.
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:49 am
He couldn't tell whether he should be afraid that she wasn't hurt whenever she threw herself on the rock, or what. Maybe she had as tough of a pelt as his father did, who knew! She certainly was coming off that way, except perhaps with a louder voice and not so much exhibiting the quiet disposition.
He cocked his head reflectively at her inquisition, making it silent for a moment as he tried to understand. There wasn't much right now to be embarrassed about living in a sheltered den, but perhaps that's also because he wasn't aware of how sheltered he was. Sure, his father was a guard for the pride, but he, along with their mother, didn't particularly promote such things in the den when they were around.
"Spar? What's that? And what does that have to do with guards?" he finally asked.
As far as he knew, it could have meant eat. Or sleep, or walk, or... throw himself on the rock like she was doing. But it didn't seem like a natural practice in the pride, so it probably wasn't.
"Here? But I don't even know who you are!" he piped up defensively, "My dad's being a guard right now, and... and I can have him come if you do something funny!"
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:24 pm
"Spar? It's like fighting. But not really." That was the best explanation she could offer, and it should be sufficient. Because Penzi wasn't about to go explaining it more. "And guards need to fight. So when I'm a guard, I need to know how to fight." She nodded for emphasis, because it all made very perfect sense.
"Your dad's a guard?" That was asked with some excitement, but then she seemed to shrink back, perhaps because this cub had acted like he would call his dad to... scold her, or something. "Well, mine is too." Right, yes! Her daddy was a guard, so she would not be impressed by his guard-dad.
"And I'm Penzi! So you know me." Obviously. "Nice to meet you."
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:00 am
So this girl wanted a fight?! He blinked, wondering what to do to ready himself... His home never really did give a chance to practice those sorts of roughhousing; he sure was missing out on something, partially in thanks to his mother. She even got father to not teach them anything! This all made him jealous, knowing that the other kid knew what guards did and was confident enough to practice fighting to be a guard. He couldn't even get his own guard of a father to teach him anything that wasn't "safe"!
Well, now that he knew she wanted a fight and not something fishy, he lowered his guard and decided he would be polite, for now. He was a little embarrassed that he had to bring up his dad to defend himself, but how could he have known she wasn't dangerous!
At the very least, he could respond, "I'm Kayode. Ummmmm..."
What next?
"This fighting... I mean spar? Was that what you were doing with the rock?"
He had so many questions.
"Did you win?.. Does it hurt? I mean, what do you do? I mean, no, do you have to be angry? Does it make you angry? Does it make your parents angry?! Mine would get mad if we tried..."
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:41 am
She nodded at his introduction, but kept her ears perked to hear his answer. She did still want a sparring partner, because maybe then she wouldn't be such a lousy fighter! If the rock had been even a bit more mobile, she might have been helpless against it.
"Yeah, it was. Because I couldn't find anyone that isn't a rock to do it with me." She might be hinting a bit here. Oh, wait, more questions. Did she win? "Of course I did!" That answer was not delivered with the right amount of strength, rather, a bit weakly. Penzi thought to herself she had to get better at being assertive. "It didn't hurt, and I was just trying to... hit it. A bit. And be fast. I don't think you have to be angry, and my daddy doesn't seem to mind..." She frowned, thoughtfully. What if her mommy minded? Nooo, mommy wouldn't mind. Surely not!
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:09 am
Kayode was all too eager and pleased that she was answering his questions, and with no "buts" about them! It was very unlike his home atmosphere, where everything fun probably came with a "but". That, or "no".
He was a little meek about the subject, however. Sure, at home, he would hit at his father's tail all the time. Sometimes he would use his siblings' tails. But never were they allowed to do anything remotely near that sort of action with each other. His father was a guard, true; but his father also listened to his mother, and agreed that there would be a lack of roughhousing in their den, whatever that meant. He just knew that they always came in to stop his paw from landing on Halili's back or something whenever he was almost going to do it. At least aunt Nkosazana was more lenient!
"Oh, my mom and dad get real mad when I even swipe at my sisters' tails... Or my brother's. You have no sisters or brothers?" he said wistfully, "I mean, is that why you have to keep hitting a rock?"
What else were brothers and sisters used for?
"Umm... Maybe we can do it!" he said tentatively.
Truthfully, he was scared. He supposed he had wanted to do something like that since he knew how to use his paws, but the continuous intervention from his parents to prevent playful fights from breaking out made him anxious about this taboo act.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:16 pm
"Really?" She frowned. Her parents were mostly okay with a bit of roughhousing between Penzi and her sisters. At least if it didn't escalate too far! It seemed Kayode's parents were a bit boring to her, but she decided against voicing that thought. "I have a bunch of sisters. No brothers." She shrugged. "They didn't wanna spar right now, but I did. So I came to do it with the rock!" Because obviously that was the best possible thing she could have done.
Oh, but he was agreeing anyways! that was great! "Okay! So... um." Pleased as she was Kayode looked willing enough to play fight with her, Penzi felt awkward all of the sudden. He already seemed a bit on edge about it, so how did she even go about hitting him, or anything? Hmph.
"Okay," she repeated. "Let's start this easy. All you have to do it try to, umm... hit my paws. And I'll try to hit yours, got it? If you do, you can start!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:32 pm
Kayode widened his eyes at Penzi's response. Wow, she seemed so cool! Cooler than Janus or any one of aunt Nkosazana's adult kids! To come out all alone to fight with a rock, that is. That was so... independent, so cool. Too bad he had no idea where she was from or what her parents looked like, or if she even had parents. Maybe she was a being from the Great Lion himself sent for him to encounter this situation!
He was all too excited about the situation despite his previous hesitation to notice Penzi's pauses or repetition. He smiled a bit goofily, and listened to her instructions. But when she mentioned he could start, he gulped. Well... He hoped he would be better than a rock, at least. Maybe he shouldn't ask.
Hit her paws? Okay... that shouldn't be hard. Those things were easier to hit than tails, right? He stared at them, looking at the pink little toes and the dark grays of stripes above them on her arm. She probably was going to pull some trick, right? Like his siblings' tails would retract when he tried to hit them, but sometimes he would get them anyways.
"Uhh, take THIS!" he shouted as he lunged forward to swipe at her paws, except he threw his whole body into it and was heading towards crashing into her.
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(Penzi is a juve in disguise!)
