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 Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:45 pm
((Backlog RP, takes place before Rebellion))
The deserted pelted adolescence lifted his golden eyed gaze up to the skies for a single moment. The sun shone glaringly above him, a whitewashed ball of flame in his eyes. It was a strange thing, the sun. He could see it when it rose or set, when it was still an orb of brilliant red, halfway up or down the sky. Now, it hung just past its peak. The hottest part of the day.
Azarax tended to take advantage of this time. It wasn't often that he ran into the Firekin in the middle of the day if he left the slave dens. It was far too hot to be out in the sun for any sustained period of time. At least for the while. He had been careful when he left, ever since he had found out about his mother. Running into her was the last thing he wanted.
The young lion made his way to the edge of the oasis, and bent his head for a well needed sip of water. The cool of the liquid refreshed him and wet his parched throat. He lifted his head again, savoring the feeling of being out and about with little worries. But again, it was only for a while.
Kadogo'moto, she and Chen's "master", had taken her brother out into the desert heat not too far off to try to toughen him up. At least that's how Kadogo had put it, but truth be told Yin and Chen didn't know the difference between friendly intentions and harsh training. While Kado might've MEANT well by helping the little blue fluffball learn some strength, really he just managed to make Chen that much more nervous.
She worried as she stared into the pool with coal black eyes for a long moment... that is, until she noticed the sound of another approaching. Eyes going wide she'd scampered quickly to hide, remembering Kadogo's warnings not to get caught or be seen by other pride members, lest they try to claim her and take her away from him and thus her family. Some Firekin were okay, like Ilahle, but it wouldn't be pretty if any of the loyalists found her.
She watched the tan lion from where she hid beneath lush leaves, silent as she could be.
Huh... he wasn't colored like a blood member... more like a....
~A slave...?~ She thought quietly to herself, mouth tightly shut still.
He had a feeling.
It was a new sensation. Azarax didn't tend to get "feelings." He trusted his instincts enough to realize that it was a good idea to listen to this strange feeling he had. As if someone was watching him.
He was not... truly supposed to be where he was, he knew. There was nothing wrong with simply going for a drink, but suppose some of the Firekin came along. He paused. No, he -was- a Firekin, he knew he was. His mother was proof of that. But they didn't know that. When they looked at him they saw a slave, save for Uzulu perhaps. Perhaps Uzulu knew he wasn't simply a slave...
Azarax lifted his ears and scented the air, a small frown on his face. "Is... anyone there?"
"... Are you one of them...?" The child asked uncertainly, not emerging yet, just staring out at him past the leaves. She stuck to the shadows despite realizing she'd probably given herself away. Her paws kneaded the ground softly.
"I..." The question caught him off guard. It was as if she knew what he was thinking. Was he one of them? No, not really. Technically, he was. But he wasn't. "No. I'm not." He said finally.
That she had referred to the Firekin as "them" was instant assurance to the cream lion. It was a term that, for him, made her an immediate ally. It didn't matter so much where her loyalties lay. "They" were the ones that he had to watch out for, not her.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:56 pm
She still seemed uncertain, but took obvious heart in the fact that he wasn't one of "them", and that he knew who she was talking about. As she crept out of the bushes slowly on unsure paws. She was ready to dart away again if need be, but one look at the male in front of her and she knew that'd be an impossible escape. he'd probably have her down in three strides! But...
"But you smell like them... are you... a slave too?" She asked, despite her young age (well, she was actually no longer a baby, but coming from a litter of seven, she also wasn't as big as she could have been.) trying to be tactful about her question. She never liked acknowledging being a slave to the Firekin, she couldn't imagine anyone would be happy with the fact.
He smiled slightly, as the littler lion finally emerged from the bushes. She seemed completely on edge, as if ready to dart away again at the slightest hint of danger. There wouldn't be any, he knew, but there was little way to convey it without having it sound suspicious. So he sat himself down, curling his tail around him.
"I guess you could say that," He said with a nod. Although whether or not he really qualified as a slave, he didn't know. After all, he never had to do what other slaves tended to do, and he had certainly never been beat before, even though he knew he did more than others that deserved punishment. Far more, and yet he got away with it. He had never understood it, and Mpaji had never explained it.
"I'm Azarax," He added, feeling a sense of camaraderie between himself and the little lioness, now that it had been established that they were both on the same side.
"Oh... I'm Yin-li." She replied in kind, watching him with a mix between curiosity and uncertainty. Given normal circumstances she probably would and could have been an extremely outgoing child, especially between she and her twin, but life had delt them a harder hand. Instead, she nursed her natural-born introverted tendencies with all the ferocity that her tactical way of thinking longed for. She often saw things that her siblings didn't, though being so young it was still easy for other things to get in the way of rational thought-- things like fear and sorrow and other such powerful emotions that, really, only age could teach her to temper. His relaxed air, however, did seem to help put her a bit at ease even if she kept her ears ever poised for the moment, listening for sounds of an attack or danger.
"Well, it's nice to meet you," He offered. She seemed quite a bit older than a young cub, and yet her size offered little confirmation. Perhaps she had a large family. It didn't seem his place to ask, so he simply assumed that he was right. He was right about such things most of the time.
The fact that he could see that she was obviously what she appeared to be in his eyes - black and white - made him feel comforted, for whatever reason. Whenever he met a lion that he could see, he always felt slightly more at ease, even if they were Firekin. He didn't enjoy the coats of varying shades of gray that he tended to see. They made him nervous, the way he could not tell whose side they were on.
He noted, then, that she still seemed to be ready for flight. The slightest sound would likely send her flying, he realized. "Don't worry," He said with a chuckle. "I'll cover for you if anything happens."
Though he was supposed to be a slave, he was far larger and much more muscular than other slaves he had seen his age. He was only an adolescent, not all too far out of his juvenile days, and already in size, he was approaching that of some of the adult slaves. He could take them on easily, he knew. And this knowledge made him cocky. More than he really should have been.
"You too." A pause, her black eyes taking him in again before glancing away.
The sound of his voice after the brief pause caught Yin-li's attention instantly, and she snatched her gaze back to the red, white, and predominantly tan colored slave immediately. For a moment after, though she just regarded him with a calm, studying gaze before seeming to decide something. She got up her courage then, and strode forward, hesitating only briefly before moving in between his front legs, her fur brushing his briefly in the process before she turned again to face out, sitting right between his forepaws.
"It's hot..." She offered, as if it were the only explanation needed, but she did sound a bit apologetic for being so forward. "Are you really by yourself, out here?" She was curious, and it wasn't the most imaginative question but starting small didn't seem so bad. Her parents encouraged them at every given chance, but it would be nice to talk to someone not related by blood, and not related to that scary huntress that "owned" them.
He nodded cheerily. It was strange, he realized, that he was being... cheerful. It wasn't at all like him. Those who knew him, knew that he was, by nature, somewhat surly and brooding, tending to wander off on his own as much as he could and rarely talking to others, if he could avoid it. But there was something about Yin-li, the way she was, that reminded him so much of what being a true Firekin slave meant. It made his heart hurt, sometimes, when he thought of how horribly the Firekin treated those of their own kind, that them deemed "inferior." What gave them the right?
His eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly stood up strode toward him, settling herself into the shade he provided. For a moment he blinked, caught by surprise at the bold move. He wouldn't hav thought she had it in her. But thena gain, he had only met her moments before, so he was in no place to judge.
"Okay," He said, finally, with another grin. "I did say I'd cover for you, didn't I?" It must have been a strange sight, the little black and white lioness curled up between the easily Firekin-sized slave's forelegs, basking in the shade. Perks of being small, Azarax realized.
"Yea," He nodded. in response to her question. "It's a little more crowded back home." He added, thinking of the den he shared with Mpaji and the children. The ones that were related to Mpaji by blood. He had always felt something like an outsider.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:38 am
Yin-li couldn't help but smile a bit at that comment, realizing that it did fit with what he'd said as she allowed herself to get a bit more comfortable. It was nice to realize that she did feel at ease there, and finally she relaxed fully.
"Yeah... for me to. I share with six brothers and sisters, plus mom and dad and lady Azula and her family." She mumbled softly. To most it would be seen as quite generous to simply share quarters with their master, but if they KNEW Azula and her brood, they'd understand. Except for Kadogo'moto, who didn't den with his birth family, they were all a little freaky. Azula was cold as ice, or the hottest flame that felt burning cold on contact just before the searing heat kicked in. Her oldest son Hiashi was just cold period, and emotionless. Second oldest, Moto'Zita, was an unstable replica of her mother but with a terrible, terrible temper, she scared Yin-li the most for her lack of control and refusal to heed even Azula when the matriarch wasn't present. Moto'Vita was alright, and Moto'Zari was just strange, but also terrifyingly obedient as her brother Hiashi was.
She was just glad that Kadogo had taken she and her twin, rather than any of Azula's other children.
"You share a den with the Firekin?" He asked, clearly surprised to hear it. He had never heard of such a case before, and in fact, he had difficulty imagining it. Of course, he had only really met Uzulu and his sons, in terms of the Firekin, and it was a true stretch of the imagination to think of Uzulu sharing his den with his slaves. But then again, he supposed, stranger things had happened.
"Me, I stay with Mpaji - he took me in as a cub, that's what he told me. And he has... seven, I think, children..." He paused, deep in thought. He had never been great with remembering names, numbers, and all that. He wasn't used to it, so he tended to remember lions by sight. If he saw them, he would know immediately who they were. But if he had to picture them... that was a great deal more difficult.
He realized that she had relaxed finally, sitting in his shade. That was good. It told him that he posed no threat, and in fact, acted as protection for her. She felt safer, now that she was sitting right under him. He had always prided himself on being extremely loyal to those he was close to, on the fact that he knew he would be able to protect them if the need arose. It was good to know that it was, in fact, true.
"Mom said it's because lady Azula doesn't trust us or something..."
In actuality, unknown to her, it was Azula's way of assuring Vian's cooperation. While Azula could likely take the desert-dweller on herself, it paid to have insurance all the same, and insurance came in the form of seven little dependent children and one as-good-as defenseless mate.
"Is Mpaji a slave too? I didn't know there were so many of us..." She admitted, a bit awed and surprised. Why were they still slaves in that case? Surely they outnumbered the Firekin? Maybe when they were older...
"Oh." He said with a small nod. He guessed it kind of made sense. After all, which Firekin trusted their slaves? To do meager jobs, perhaps, to do things that they didn't want to do. But they would never trust them to do truly important things. And that did make sense. They thought their slaves were inferior. Of course, he knew this was a generalization. Not all Firekin were like that, he knew that, but he had difficulty imagining it all the same.
"Yea, he is," He said, with a slight smile. "Sometimes, it makes me wonder how there can be so many slaves, all of which are powerless against the Firekin." He said quietly. But he knew why. It was because they had all given up hope, or they had been born here, and knew little of life otherwise. If all the slaves became one body of rebelling masses, the Firekin would not stand a chance. But how would they ever be able to combine into such a force?
"One day we'll... be big enough." Came a slightly distant reply, as sleep began to creep into her tone slowly. Yin-li fought it off valiantly though, resting her eyes only for a moment with a wide yawn. "--One day, we'll be able to fight back. I don't want to be a slave forever."
/fin.
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