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 Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 4:42 pm
Kraken  Corraling all of his cubs had proven to be a virtually impossible task. Oh, they all returned to him when it was time to sleep, and they arranged themselves around him and on top of him, more like he was furniture than family, but Kraken didn't mind that especially. He was just pleased to be able to perform a head count and end up with five every time. Other than nights, the best Kraken could usually hope for was to find two of his cubs in the same place at the same time. He had been making an effort to seek them out recently, in pairs or on their own, because Tuomas had been getting on him about arranging for the cubs' education. It was not appropriate for them to run wild all the time, apparently, and so it would be well for him to learn what the cubs thought they wanted to be, and make plans accordingly. Kha  Kha was still sore about her loss in the warlord's tournament. She had been completely convinced that she would do well, with her impressive size working to her advantage. Unfortunately, she had lost to Bjarni Butt-biter, and Khisa had been teasing her relentlessly ever since, saying she'd told her this was going to happen. What a pain sisters could be! Yeah, it was true that Khisa had been initially sympathetic, even making the uncharacteristic offer to do some sparring with her so that she'd be better prepared for next time, but Kha didn't want to spar with Khisa, who was a terrible fighter, and she'd said so. She'd said the only way to get better was to spar with someone who was better, which Khisa wasn't. It was about then that Khisa started teasing her. Kha was going to throw a snake at her. She'd already stunned it and stashed it, and now she was just waiting for her sister to walk by. Khisa  Khisa shrieked in an entirely embarrassing way when a length of floppy reptile came flying through the air at her from behind one of the many rocky outcroppings near her home. She didn't even have to think about it to know who to blame. "Kha!" she shrieked shrilly, running in the general direction that she thought the snake had come from in the hope of catching her sister before she could make an escape. "I am going to kill you and use your pelt as a doormat!" Ordinarily Khisa was a basically nonviolent cub, much more inclined to teasing and fits of giggles than acts of violence, but having a snake flung at her was a perfectly good reason to get into the maiming and mauling business, in her opinion.
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 4:53 am
Kraken The sounds of youthful shrieking were hardly rare in a pride as large and full of aggressive personalities as the Stormborn, but Kraken was not such a terrible father that he could not recognize the voices of his own cubs. Besides, Khisa was naming one of her sisters as the recipient of her wrath, which made it that much easier. "Kha! Khisa!" he called, letting his voice edge toward a roar so that it would reach farther and have a more impressive impact on his daughters. "Come here." He didn't bother elaborating on where "here" was because, really, that would seem pretty silly and would absolutely detract from his attempts to seem like the adult in charge, which was a role he did not feel particularly well-suited for, despite having a litter of his own cubs to look after. Kha Kha was relieved to hear her father's roar. It didn't sound as if she was in trouble - yet - and she was pretty certain that Khisa wouldn't be able to make an attempt to make good on her threat if they were both right where their father could see them. With that in mind, she altered the course of her flight to bring her in the direction she'd heard her father's demi-roar coming from. She could hear Khisa doing the same behind her, but she didn't spare any time to look backward, knowing it would slow her down, and she definitely wanted to arrive first. Da was like base, sort of. "Da!" she squealed as she skidded to a halt at his paws. "Khisa says she's going to skin me and use my pelt as a doormat." Khisa Not too far behind her sister, Khisa was able to hear Kha tattling and she was indignant when she arrived, immediately arguing that, in fact, she had said she was going to kill her and use her pelt as a doormat. She hadn't said anything about skinning. "Skinning can be done while you're still alive, you know," she pointed out. "I was being nice and letting you be dead. Because you're my sister and I love you. Even if you're really awful." Her sweet smile might have come across as a little psychotic, given the context, but she could tell it didn't faze her sister or her father, and so she didn't give it another thought. "What did you want, Da?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 11:48 am
Kraken Kraken glanced between his forepaws at his bright blue daughter and carefully stepped backward so that she would be in front of his paws once more. He lowered his head and spoke softly, but so that both cubs could hear him, reminding them, "A Stormborn does not run from battle, nor does she hide behind her father. If you've earned yourself an unwanted skinning, you'll have to defend yourself from it." He was reasonably confident that Khisa wasn't actually going to attempt to kill and skin her sister, but she talked a good talk. He was proud of her for that. Tomi would have been proud of her for that, too. The lawspeaker was always fond of a well-worded threat. "I was going to ask the two of you if you'd like to come down to the training sands with me tomorrow, begin your training as reavers." Kha Kha wasn't completely thrilled to find that her haven had abandoned her, but her da was right. Proper Stormborn did not run and hide. If they ran it was to lead enemies into an ambush of hiding Stormborn. They weren't cowards who hid to preserve their own skins. "Um. Okay?" she said hesitantly. She hadn't given much thought to her future in the pride, but when she did think of it, she didn't really picture herself going out on raids, killing strangers in glorious battle and taking their things as her rightful spoils. Not that there was anything wrong with doing that, she just wasn't sure it was the life she wanted. "It'd be good to learn more about fighting," she admitted. Khisa Her thoughts of murder and vengeance were completely disrupted by her da's suggestion that the three of them go to the sparring grounds the next morning to begin training to be reavers. "It would be," she agreed with Kha. "But, Da? I'm not sure I want to be a reaver. That's okay, isn't it?" She didn't think her da would be mad about her decision, and she didn't mind the idea of learning to fight, since it was an important part of life in the pride, but that didn't mean she had to be a reaver. There were lots of lionesses who could fight amazingly well, but never became reavers. Nobody thought any less of them.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 12:19 pm
Kraken If his daughters' reactions to his proposal disappointed him, Kraken gave no sign. He remembered how Tuomas had behaved when he told him that he didn't want to be a lawspeaker. He had not shown any disappointment, and instead had simply said that he'd see to finding him someone to train with. Kraken could do that. "It is important to know how to fight," he agreed. "But if you don't want to be reavers, you don't have to be. And if you decide later on that you do want to be reavers, you can do that, too. But everyone should know how to fight." And that's what they'd be doing tomorrow. He'd round up some of his other cubs later and get them started, too. Make a big family outing of it. It would be a headache and a half, but at least no one would say he'd been playing favorites then. Kha Kha was absolutely unsurprised to learn that her sister wasn't interested in being a reaver. Reavers got dirty, and Khisa hated to be dirty more than just about anything, even though she generally laughed it off. Most things got laughed off in their family. "Are the others going to come, too, or will it be just the three of us?" Like most cubs born to a large-ish litter, individual time with their father was precious and fought over. She might have even pretended to want to be a reaver, had Khisa not asked about it. She still might, tomorrow, if it would mean she got to spend more time with their da for training or something. Like he'd said, she could always change her mind later, and everyone should know how to fight. Khisa Khisa smiled, relieved by her da's answer. Being a reaver meant getting covered in dirt and blood a lot, and Khisa didn't like either of those things. She liked to be neat and clean, which might have made her a little unusual for a Stormborn cub, but it wasn't as if she was fanatic about it. She just didn't have to be hunted down and forced to bathe after playing. "I think it sounds like fun either way," she said. But of course, like Kha, she was secretly hoping for a smaller group, and she'd even be willing to keep training for a long time in order to get extra attention from their da. "But the boys are going to have the advantage, since they're already bigger than we are." Her brothers told her that they'd be better fighters because of that, and she believed them. She also happened to think it was unfair.
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 6:24 am
Kraken "You'll have to learn to fight boys sometime, but I suppose tomorrow it can be just the three of us." Having been raised as the sole recipient of his caretaker's attention, Kraken had no idea how desperate his cubs were to win his attention and approval, so he couldn't begin to guess at the thoughts behind his daughters' apparent enthusiasm for learning to fight. He was just pleased that they seemed interested. "So! Bright and early tomorrow! It'll be fun!" he said, actually looking forward to spending the next morning teaching his daughters to be the fierce warriors he knew they were capable of being. Even if they didn't want to be reavers. Kha Kha wrinkled her nose at Khisa, whose response sounded so much better than Kha's had, and yet Kha knew Khisa didn't mean the part about thinking it sounded like fun. And she didn't like Khisa pointing out that boys had an advantage. She didn't think boys had an advantage just because they were bigger. Still, she didn't say anything to contradict her sister. She didn't want to start a fight in front of Da. "That sounds great, Da!" Kha exclaimed. And she truly thought it did. It was okay with her that Khisa would be there, because she already knew she was a better fighter than Khisa, and so she would be able to look good in front of Da. "I can hardly wait!" Khisa Khisa could see Kha getting ready to argue with her and was almost relieved that her sister had stopped herself. She knew she could've won any argument against Kha. But Kha behaved, and so Khisa behaved. It was annoying that Kha had expressed her delight first, and with a lot more exclamation marks than Khisa probably would have used anyway, but that didn't stop Khisa from adding her voice to her sister's, enthusing about tomorrow's plans. "That sounds like so much fun. I'm really looking forward to it. But I just remembered I was supposed to meet Helga about now and she'll whine if I'm late, so...I've got to go." She didn't wait around for permission, darting away at top speed. Khisa didn't know anyone named Helga, but she did have to go. She had to practice as much as she could before bedtime so that Kha wouldn't make her look bad tomorrow.
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