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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 8:30 am
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The lioness glared at the miscreants before her. Feykir and Dagrún were lions who'd chosen to become Reavers as was the way of the pride. She could easily see why neither had been invited to join a Viking as an adolescent and, frankly, she wasn't certain either of them deserved to be here now. Sadly, there was no longer the excuse of youth to keep either of them away. Dagrún was her own age, but Feykir was older and while he seemed more mature, it obviously wasn't enough if he'd allowed himself to get embroiled in a pointless brawl while their target got away. Anwar sighed.
"Listen up, idiots," she addressed the pair. "Because you most royally ******** up in this, we're going to do it again. Properly." Purple eyes glowered at the two. "The lioness you failed to capture has been tracked to a watering hole. We're not too far from it now. You, Feykir, will circle around the long way and come at her from the west. You, Dagrún, will come with me as we approach from the east. You will both remember that stealth is key, and that we want this lioness alive as a thrall. If either of you manages to do well in this, you may get to keep her."
She glanced from one idiotic young male to the other. "Now. Let's move."
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 8:45 am
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To let his anger get the best of him wasn't exactly rare, but he was mentally kicking himself for letting it happen on the raid. It was embarrassing, and now he had a younger, more experienced, female reaver giving him a dressing down. He didn't trust himself to speak, less he only add to the stupidity that was happening here today. Feykir again was wishing Hial was here with him, if only as someone for him to gripe to. But again he realized that was a stupid thing to want, then she would have known about this embarrassment and probably would never let him forget about it.
He cleared his throat. "Yes, fine." He was already letting his thoughts jump ahead to 'fixing' this problem, but also at the cost of doing better than the other male.
Was Dagrun annoyed that he was now having to do extra work? Certainly. Was he bothered by a female lioness his own age taking charge? Not quite... it was certainly something he might get s**t for, but mistakes happened. Which was a very poor attitude to have, considering mistakes sometimes costed lives. Getting to keep the thrall after all of this seemed almost a waste. s**t was no longer fun for Dagrun and when things weren't fun he didn't care for them much.
"Okay." He tossed in dryly, before moving with the female reaver. Stealth. Stealth. The thing about stealth was that you had to be quiet and Dag didn't do well quiet. "So, this your first viking where you had to fix the botched capture of a thrall?" Again he sounded amused, there was little that could keep Dag down for long.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 8:55 am
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Anwar snorted as she and Dagrún padded up to the water hole. The idiot didn't even know the meaning of the word "stealth", she was learning. Most likely he wanted to be a Reaver for the extra prestige it lent him, and to occasionally fight people on the pride borders.
If she had her way, she'd never go on a Viking with him again.
"Firstly," she answered quietly, barely above a mutter, "most people don't ******** up the way you do. Secondly, it's none of your business. Thirdly, I'm not doing this to fix your mistake, I'm doing it so that you actually ******** learn something about being a Reaver. Now hisst!" Anwar ended abruptly as they came near enough.
The lioness' fur was distinctive and, frankly, an eyesore to the much darker-coated Reaver. She was lying next to the water, no longer panting and heaving, but clearly not back at her peak. That was one advantage the idiots had - more stamina.
"Go," she spoke just above a whisper. No other command should be necessary, but Anward had misgivings about Dagrún's ability to follow orders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KVET ITEMLESS KVET
The pink lioness was curled up under the waning sun, letting its dying warmth soak into her strained muscles. She hadn't pushed herself too hard in getting away from the males, but it had been a long time since she'd run so far and so long. She had gotten a bit soft.
At least she knew better than to founder herself on too much water.
Orison Omi drowsed, green eyes nearly shut though she herself wasn't quite asleep. Yet.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:02 am
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Feykir was trying to be stealthy, but he was also trying to be fast. His way was longer, and would take him longer if he went too slow. He refused to let that other idiot be the one to get the would-be thrall at this point in time.
Dag wondered for a moment why the reaver was speaking so quietly and oh... oh right. Right, he should have maybe spoken quietly too? He nodded along to her words, though almost in a manner that suggested he wasn't listening. It didn't help that he was letting his eyes roam about the land.
That was true, most lions didn't ******** up like he did! He was about to make a joke of it when she was hissing at him to be quiet. One fight was enough for today, thank you. Quiet he could be! There the little lioness was, bright as ever, lounging near the water. Even though he'd just been told to go he remained rooted to the spot, taking in the area. No sign of Feykir, it seemed. Well, good!
He moved into a posture better suited for stalking as he moved forward, slow and careful. He was downwind from the female, but the wind was behaving rather poorly today.
Feykir slowed when the watering hole came into view, but he couldn't see the female just yet. He moved down lower to the ground, careful where he stepped but still being a little hasty.
He saw the female about the same time he was able to spot a glimpse of the other male. Moron. His tail gave a flicker and he paused in his stalking, eyeing the path the other male seemed to be on. Alright, fine. He shifted his gait so they had a better chance of trapping the female between them. He wouldn't give away his position, just yet.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:21 am
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Once she was certain that the idiot was moving, Anwar also began to move. Not closer to the pink lioness, not yet, but so that she, the boys, and the water itself formed a square. As the other female wouldn't be able to flee into the water, she'd head straight for Anwar.
Assuming the idiots failed. Which was, all things considered, fairly likely. Hence the only Reaver in the group positioning herself so that if the idiots failed again, at least the lioness wouldn't get away. At least, not without overcoming Anwar herself.
Which was highly unlikely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She thought she heard...something. Orison raised her head, sniffing, ears twitching. Nothing. Was she paranoid, after the events earlier today? Or was there actual danger of some kind?
Reluctantly, the pink lioness stood up once more to examine the watering hole and its environs for threats.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 1:55 pm
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 2:00 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:24 am
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Dagrun saw the lioness stand and realized he'd made a mistake, but it was too late to do anything about it now. She still seemed to be unsure of what she was doing, at least. He grunted and brought himself to full running speed, suddenly letting out a roar. Spook her maybe? Scaring someone was as good as sneaking up on someone, right?
This had been butchered from the beginning... that a** Dagrun. Feykir was going to beat him, for sure. He was going to drag his claws down his belly and let his guts fall out. He'd brought himself rather close now, and at least the little lady had been focused more so in Dagrun's general direction, Feykir thought.
His lip curled when the roar echoed through the land and he shook his head while moving his quick stalking place. He shifted his gait and when he spotted the lioness he finally sprung into a full run, not being able to do much else. "Think you're going somewhere, miss?" He snarled out, close enough to make a lunge for her. If he could tackle her quick and dirty he wouldn't have to chase after her... and that meant the sooner he could beat the s**t out of Dagrun. "Why not stay and have a little fun?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:30 am
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The roar startled her. Orison whirled to face it and saw one of the lions from earlier barreling towards her. She almost didn't hear the voice and the footfalls behind her and turned back around to see the other one coming straight for her.
She cried out as his weight carried her to the ground and immediately began kicking out at him, struggling to get away. He hadn't pinned her, just knocked her over, and the pink lioness was determined to get away.
Just a little more...!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dagrún was, and always would be, an idiot, Anwar decided. Feykir, at least, had some potential. The former had given himself away with a stupid roar. The latter had at least managed to tackle their victim.
It wasn't a perfect attack, but it might last long enough. The lioness began to creep inwards towards the conflict. She was no longer certain her aid would be necessary, but there was no sense in taking risks.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:44 am
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:57 am
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Orison refused to give up. She would not quit fighting. She had no idea what these lions wanted from her, but she didn't want any part of it. Not even taking claws across her face deterred the pink lioness.
Nor was she allowing the physical struggle to impede the rest of her judgement. He said there were two more with him. One was obvious, the other male now circling around them though not interfering.
She hadn't seen the other. Still didn't see the other. And that's what made her begin to despair, to stop struggling.
If she hadn't seen the third, that probably meant that lion was the most capable of the three. Oh sure, the one wrestling with her could be lying, but neither of the two she knew about seemed like they were clever enough to make up a lie like that.
Orison whimpered. She didn't stop struggling, but her movements were weaker, slower.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anwar would have to give both of the idiots a point by point critique afterwards. There was absolutely no reason to give away the whole game by alerting the captive to her presence. It would be better to hint that there were more than two lions around, but to not give any definite number. To play with the victim's expectations and knowledge through a clever mixture of truth and lies.
But since he had revealed her, she might as well put a stop to this before someone got seriously injured. The Reaver stopped crouching and stood tall, stalking towards the trio.
"Enough. There's no escape for you, and you'll only hurt yourself trying to get away," she informed the other female.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:06 am
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:14 am
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"What? You don't get to do that!" the pink lioness exclaimed in rage. Her name was Orison Omi not...not Kvet. She mentally spat the godsawful wretch of a name. She got to her feet, fur bristling, ready to attack the male who'd downed her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I like it."
Anwar wasn't the largest lioness around, but she wasn't small either and her wiry build was still powerful. Most of all, it was her presence and confidence that created the aura of threat that followed the Reaver wherever she chose to walk. And right now, that was right up to the newly named Kvet, to stare down at this pretty pink lioness.
Oh sure, she wasn't just looks, not with those clawmarks across her face, but the fact that she ignored them to focus on more important issues was a point in her favor. Still, it wouldn't save her from Thralldom.
"You may keep her, Feykir, as a souvenier of your first Viking." Unspoken were the words that always followed - if he could. It wasn't unheard of for Thralls to escape, and it always reflected poorly on the Stomborn who'd owned them.
Having said her piece, Anwar turned to lead the group back to the party.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a point where Orison - she refused to acknowledge the name she'd been given - could have escaped. Could have run faster than her captor could react. But she'd have had to run past the other lioness and one look at those purple eyes and the pink lioness knew she wouldn't make it.
Knew that the other lioness could and would kill her, and think nothing of it.
As little as she wanted to be a slave, Orison was not ready to die for her freedom. So, bitter and angry, she hung her head to hide the tears of rage that came from being captured so damned easily.
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