[PRP] Mind Bending (Behnam & Gintare) Fin!

[Ice Queen]

Finally he had started out on his mission to bring back a banu. It was his coming of age... thing. His moment of truth. Was he the lion that he thought he was? Hell if he knew, Behnam admitted as he started out of the pride. His mother had watched him go longer than the rest, and he knew she was worried about him. At least, he thought she was. Before he had gone she had sat down with him and told him of her lonely travel through the rogue land to get back home.

Sometimes he wished he could have met her first pad. Of course that wouldn't be possible, but the old man sounded like he knew so much. Not that his father didn't know a lot--he was a god, after all, but--

He sighed, wishing he wasn't alone after all. He wasn't used to so much... contemplation.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Time away from the cubs was essential to Gintare's sanity. Not just time away from them, though, but time spent not thinking about them either. Because when they had just been born, the little things had required a great deal of her attention, and she had felt like she might go crazy trying to keep them fed as well as feeding herself. There was obviously a reason most lionesses chose not to raise their cubs alone.

Not that Gintare was at all interested in a mate, and now that the cubs could be left alone, she was free to come and go as she wished. As long as she didn't wander too far - an innate instinct prevented that - she could have a few hours to herself, and she'd be able to increase their number as the cubs got older. It would help the cubs become self-sufficient as well as keeping her sane, which were both to the good as she reckoned it.

One of her favorite recreational activities before she'd had the cubs had been toying with the males outside of the Ukuucha'Wafalme. She had been born and raised around the area, although she didn't think she had any relatives in the pride. When she was old enough to wander on her own she'd done so, and she continued to do so, but always she returned to this place, which was her favorite. It provided so much sport!

So it was where her paws carried her now that she could be independent again. She was craving reassurance that having cubs hadn't made her any less attractive to the male sex. She was entirely too fond of males to accept that possibility.  

[Ice Queen]

The wind was messing with his mane. It pulled the long fur over his eyes for a moment until he turned so it would get out of his eyes. Then he saw her. A dark reddish brown female, older than him, by the looks of her, but still quite pretty. Maybe, Behnam thought, he could finish this quest a lot faster than he had ever imagined!

With that thought in mind he sped up to a trot, heading for the female with a smile on his face. "Hello!" he called to her. "Are you lost?"  

[Princess_Feylin]

As if her thoughts had summoned him, a young lion with gold glinting along his flanks came trotting toward her, evidently very excited by her appearance. Of course, he was undoubtedly looking for something different from this encounter than she was. She could tell by the eagerness in his stride that he was only just setting out on his quest, and he seemed to think it would be the shortest quest on record. Oh, the adorable little fool.

Of course, and her eyes narrowed thinking this, he might be like that little brat she'd met before she had the cubs. The one who was off to catch a fallen star or something idiotic like that. She hadn't seen him since, and was just as pleased. Maybe he got eaten by a crocodile. The thought made her grin with wicked glee. If anyone deserved to be eaten by a crocodile for being an arrogant pain in the a**, it had been that guy. All lions from the Ukuucha were arrogant, and she usually found it at least entertaining, but that one had just irritated her beyond words.

"Hello," she purred back to the younger male. "If I say yes, will you help me find my way home?"  

[Ice Queen]

"I'm afraid I probably wouldn't be of much use," Behnam admitted as he reached her. "I've never, ah, actually been out of my pride before. But I can travel with you, if you need an escort." He gave her a sheepish smile, the wind ruffling his thick, slightly longer than normal mane. "My name is Behnam, son of Nywele and Amani. And you are?"

He was so new that he didn't realize those names would mean nothing to most of the people he met. Well, perhaps his father's would.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Gintare sighed softly, as though his admission disappointed her, but only a little. In truth, she would never have had him come to her den. She didn't bring males home. Doing so tended to make them think they could make themselves at home, and she didn't want that. She didn't have any need for a full-time male in her life. Even now that she was caring for five cubs.

"That's very kind of you," Gintare said, the wind in his mane catching her attention.

For an adolescent, his mane was pretty well developed, and very healthy. No doubt one of his father's banu had taught him to care for it. She hadn't noticed that most males took the time to care so well for their mane and coat as Behnam would have to. Perhaps it had been his mother, Amani. The name sounded somewhat familiar to her, but she couldn't think why. She didn't tend to keep up with pride goings-on.

"I'm Gintare, daughter of no one." She had more or less raised herself, and done a bang-up job of it, if she did say so herself. "Tell me, Pad Behnam, how far would you go with me, if I asked?"  

[Ice Queen]

"How far?" he asked, sitting down and looking at the wide, pretty much empty area around them. "How far do I need to go?" he asked, more to himself than to her. "I'll take you as far as I need to go, if you want," he said finally. "I'm a bit torn, honestly. Part of me wants to go home. The other part of me never wants to go back. What about you? Do you want to go back to wherever you came from?"

He was a child in an adolescent's body. He was spoiled by the parents he had left behind, and he knew it. This was his chance to become an adult, not just to find a mate. He looked at her, realizing this abruptly. She was an adult, one that relied on no one, or so it sounded. "But you don't need to go with me, do you," he said as he looked her straight in the eye.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"Not too far at all," she replied coquettishly. "Just a little way, really. But it's up to you how far you want to go with me."

She wondered if he was experienced enough to pick up on the entendre. Probably he was. It had been her experience that adolescent males tended to spend so much time thinking about sex that anything even tangentially related to it could bring it to their mind. Gods, her own mind worked like that pretty frequently, and the longer she went without satisfaction the more quickly her mind went there. It had been a long time.

"I don't know. Perhaps I don't need you as you might think of it, but then does anybody really need anybody else? I prefer not to go around needing people and making them need you? If you find people you get along with, that's wonderful, but otherwise, I believe life is more about enjoying it while you're living and living until you die. Wouldn't you agree?"

She smiled quickly. Sometimes she didn't really understand all of what she said when she spoke to Ukuucha lions. But that didn't matter too much. She wasn't looking to form a lasting relationship with any of them, so it didn't make a difference to her whether they thought she was a little odd. In fact, it tended to work in her favor that they do so. Not many pads-to-be wanted to have slightly-off banu, no matter how much fun they were in the sack.  

[Ice Queen]

Wait, she was talking about that, right? So she would do it with him? Wow, that was--well, unexpected. He had always thought that that came after you proved you could provide a nice home and a good place to hunt-- Wow, the world outside of the pride sure was different, wasn't it?

But... he was only a male! If she was going to offer it up, then he should--well, go with her how far he had to go, right?

Wait...

"Do you enjoy life?" he asked curiously, distracted by her explanation on how to live life. If she did enjoy this life, he wasn't going to drag her back to his pride for a different one! He wouldn't have blamed his mother if she had decided not to go back, of course, he wouldn't be alive, either.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Gintare flashed a quick and dangerous grin at the pad-to-be. Behnam, she reminded herself, was his name. Just because they were unlikely to meet again didn't mean she couldn't do him the courtesy of remembering his name. After all, he had afforded her some amusement in one form or another, and she wasn't ungrateful for that.

"I enjoy life to its fullest," she answered more or less truthfully.

The whole truth was that she was not presently enjoying her life as much as she had in the past due to the fact that she was obliged to play the role of a semi-responsible adult and mother, but she was working around that particular difficulty, too, by doing things like this, which she did enjoy. So in this exact moment she was enjoying herself, and in general she enjoyed herself.

"What about you? Do you enjoy your life, with all its rules and restrictions? Do you have a banu waiting for you at home, secretly hoping that the banu you bring home with you will be less attractive, even if she is more wild and maybe more exciting? Or are submissive lionesses not to your taste, and you're hoping to find a kindred spirit among the lawless lionesses of the rogue lands?"

It wasn't nice of her to tease him and make him think about things like that. He had been raised to be the way he was, and he had known no other way of life. Not firsthand. Perhaps his mother had been a captured banu, and she'd told him something of the world outside, but even so. Firsthand experience was so very different.

"You shouldn't be in too much of a rush to hurry home with your prize. There's lots to be experienced and sampled out here."  

[Ice Queen]

He thought about it, cocking his head slightly. She had some great questions! "I'm really glad I met you, you know," he told her candidly. "You've asked some very interesting questions. I don't have a banu yet, so I suppose she can't be wondering about who I bring back home, but I do wonder what type of female I like. I always thought one like my mother would be best, she is a very classy lady, you know, but maybe someone wilder would be better. Someone exciting that makes me think!"

It almost sounded like he was talking about her, but he didn't seem to be thinking that. In fact, there was more of a "teach me more, teacher!" look on his face. "And of course there are rules and restrictions. You can't run a pride properly without them," said the nephew of the sultan. "But I do think I'll take my time! I would like to test myself. To become an adult, like you clearly are."  

[Princess_Feylin]

An undeniably wicked grin curled Gintare's lips at Behnam's candid remark. It was just so much fun to play with the Ukuucha males. So many of them were so stiff and formal that they wouldn't know what fun was if it walked up to them and swatted them across the nose, as Gintare sometimes wanted to do. They were so very certain that their way of life was the only way to live. She liked to prove their assumptions wrong.

"So, you haven't even..." she shook her head, as if in amazement. "Well, I hope for your future banus' sake then that you get some practical, paws-on experience while you're out here, or you're going to be something of a disappointment to them."

Oh, gods, she had a mama's boy here. A large part of her was relieved that neither of her sons seemed inclined to grow up into mama's boys. Oh, they were very young now, and she didn't know much about cubs to tell, but she really thought they would grow up to be fine, strong lions. But Behnam was open to experimentation, apparently, and that put him in good standing with Tare.

"I've no doubt your mother is a fine lioness, but you might want to look a bit farther afield before you settle on someone who reminds you of her. There are lots of lionesses in the world, some of them more willing to follow the rules and others less so." She paused and considered how much farther she could push him.

"Myself, I am quite firmly in the second category. Not being one for rules, I'm also not one for prides. Life without a pride is a fairly wonderful thing."  

[Ice Queen]

"I wouldn't want to disappoint them," he said, hesitating. "Do you think you could help me with some paws-on experience?" And it was said so innocently, too. But she had just blatantly offered! And he had given her the chance to back out, so it was all fair!

He was a noble fellow, but he wasn't that stupid!  

[Princess_Feylin]

"I don't know," Tare teased. "I'm pretty sure you just called me old a few moments ago. My feelings might be too hurt for me to be helpful."

They weren't. It was pretty obvious he hadn't meant it that way. She was just being a bit facetious. It was how she kept herself young, teasing and tormenting lions. She'd been doing it for ages, it seemed. Since she was barely an adolescent herself. At least after the first time, with that arrogant, idealistic young pad who had been so thoroughly infatuated with her, telling her all about his pride and his home. Before then, she'd had no idea what the Ukuucha was, and she'd never been near the territory. Since then, she'd deliberately crossed to the lands quite often.

"But, you know, I have a certain sympathy for those lionesses who decide to submit to captivity and perpetual submission. They should at least have a pad who can please them from time to time."

She looked him up and down blatantly. Since he had been so blunt about asking, she decided it was not really necessary for her to be coy any longer. He wasn't bad-looking, and he seemed to be more open-minded than most. She might even enjoy herself. Not the first time, but if he had any sort of stamina Tare didn't doubt he'd improve with practice. She could hold out for that. It had been long enough for her, and with the birth of cubs in between, that she was maybe a little out of practice herself.  

[Ice Queen]

"Of course not, I called you experienced in life," he said, not really remembering what he had called her, to be honest, but right now was the time to appeal! "That is a wonderful thing to be. Something I, myself, aim to be at the end of this journey. And I am ready and willing to become a pad that pleases his banu regularly."

Which was true, actually. If he was going to have multiple lovers, he should be able to make each of them happy! And this female seemed to know a lot about how to please! "Should we find someplace more private?" he asked. "So you can begin your instructing?"