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 Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:23 pm
 Ceres stalked, stiff legged through the lands today. That odor- that terrible stench of males was so embedded in her nose that she wasn't sure she would ever get it out. These days, whenever she went anywhere, it was stiff-legged and agitated. It had been a very long time since she last walked with any spring in her step. Back when she was younger, and while she was in this situation, she had an escape. Not so, these days. They seemed unavoidable the older you got.
Stupid men.
With a frown she went to the river's side, sat down, and stared at the shimmery red face looking back up at her from her reflection in its waters. Her frown deepened as she kept staring. And yet... None of that expression fixed her problems. She still felt as trapped as she had before.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:46 pm
The river was clearly the place to sulk.
Vinjari lay on the bank, further upstream than the red lioness. Though he didn't lift his head from his paws when she settled, his ears did perk. Ceres was one of the few lionesses he could recognize by heart, having met her as a cub. She was an interesting one, full of tough opinions and a snappy mouth. Like he had said before, it was almost a pity to waste all of her intelligence here in this pride.
But she was frowning at her reflection, which meant that he had to say something. He had boredom to alleviate, after all. Not bothering to get up, he called, "Come to mope here as well?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:52 pm
Ceres hadn't even noticed the blue male until he spoke. He was a sort of haunting figure to her. She'd met him as a cub, and had been scared of him. Rightfully so at the time, she had bee waaaaaaay smaller than him. Now, though... She wasn't as scared. Not only had she talked to him as a cub, but he had appeared in a couple of dreams since then, always bad ones. Always he had appeared as a form mocking her mother's "pointless death." Even though he hadn't been as evil as he was in the dreams, she melded the two beings. After all, at the core of his being, that was what he was like.
As far as she was concerned, the apparition Vinjari and the real Vinjari were the same.
She locked her onyx eyes on him with a frown. "What the hell is it to you?" her response was snappy. "You're the very reason I came to mope, you have no damn good reason to be down here pretending to sulk," she said angrily before turning her eyes back to the river, ears now flat against her head in increased agitation. Her tail lashed now behind her a few times.
"Hmph. You should be pretty happy with yourself," she snarled.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:10 pm
Oooh, somebody was in a bad mood.
Vinjari muttered under his breath, shifting his weight so he could roll onto his side. It seemed everybody here was starting to fuss and growl whenever they were presented with the opportunity. Clearly he needed to speak to Ushindi. If they had enough time to grumble then they definitely weren’t working them hard enough.
"You sulked as a child and that didn't help with the situation. I don't see the point in sulking now that you're old enough to know better." He yawned, flexing his feet as he stretched. "And I wasn't adding myself into the category. Other lionesses have come down here to mope and grumble instead of accepting their situation. Things won't change."
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:17 pm
"You wanna know something? She asked, turning to him but rising to her feet, ears still flat against her skull. "You are really annoying," she said, narrowing her eyes. A small voice in the back of her head told her to calm down, but she had had enough of that stupid voice. It had held her back all of her life. Restrained her at the end of a thin tether- a tether that had reached its snapping point.
"Things may not change by moping," she said, advancing on him while shaking her head a bit. She reveled- just for a moment- that she was taller than him when he was lying down. "No, they cannot change by moping, but that doesn't mean anything. Did you ever think that perhaps this moping was a warning sign? You can mark my words," she hissed lowly, "things will change. It's just a matter of time," she stated icily enough. "I can't tell you how or when, but over the course of time, things will change." Her face was as determined and set as it had been when she was younger- she had the same amount of the same type of hope for the future, be it her own future or that of her descendant's.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:35 pm
"No, not really. But you're going to tell me anyways," Vinjari replied evenly, knowing that it was a rhetorical question but not willing to let an opportunity for a barb to pass. If Ceres was going to try and talk down to him, she was going to have it coming. Of all the females in this stupid sisterhood, she was the only one he thought was actually worth something. It was because of this that he bothered her. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have said anything.
He frowned when she approached but he refused to move from his position. If she was going to try and throw her weight around he wasn't going to rise to that bait. Even so, it was hard to resist the urge to curl his lip. Hn.
"Change is unnecessary. Life is fine the way it is. You thinking of starting a revolt? More lives will be ended. Try to strike back against the males? Lionesses will be wounded, crippled, or killed. Is that the change you want?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:47 pm
How the hell could he just lay there like that, anyway? While she thought she could derive some pleasure from that, she absolutely couldn't. As much as she hated him, and as much as she had lost her self-control in the scenario, she would not lose that last bit of honor and strike him while he was down.
"Change is unnecessary!!!" she roared "I tend to agree, everything was FINE before you and your jerk-wad cronies came in and CHANGED everything, you idiot!" Her mind was lost, completely lost to a void. She wasn't thinking, she was acting. This was the same thing her mother had chided her about as a cub. Back then it was wandering away from the nanny because she wanted to go another way, now it was acting up simply because she was frustrated. Regardless, it was selfishness that drove her onward. One could suppose she needed a repeat lesson- use your brain before you act. ANY act.
"I'm not thinking of starting a revolt, not at the moment, I'm just REALLY pissed off!!" she yelled, swiping at the ground as hard as she could with every intention of getting some dirt in that blue lion's face. Even if a blade of grass hit his nose as a result, she would be ecstatic. "And it's all YOUR fault, you and yours had to come in and ruin everything! We had happiness, you couldn't have gone off somewhere else and made your own stupid pride!? You just had to have this one little patch on the savannah? Don't tell me that's what you were thinking, because that makes no sense. No, no no you people did this to torment us and for that sole purpose!" She spat.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:06 pm
Growling low on his throat, the tip of Vinjari's tail flicked angrily with every emphasized word. Honestly, why was she exploding all over the place? Didn't she have animals to kill? That was a good way to vent anger. Clearly she needed to hunt more. "We are having a discussion, not a yelling match, Ceres. Control yourself if you want to talk, otherwise go away. I'm not here to be deafened by you. Yelling your opinion doesn't make it right." No matter how loud you yell it, he added silently. He could have sworn his ears were ringing.
Having enough of being yelled at, the blue lion slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position to make their eyes at least a little more level. He didn't break the gaze even as he moved, though he did arch one eyebrow at her. "You were here unprotected and vulnerable. You had no proper order and you thought yourself unbreakable. If you had been wise, you would have protected your happiness better and we wouldn't be here. But no. You blame us for your own naivety and expect me to say what? I'm sorry?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:16 pm
"Fine," she said, lowering her voice. It kept every ounce of poison it held when she was yelling at the top of her lungs. Her expression flickered once- just for an instant, when he rose: Fear. She always forgot how big they were. Nowadays, anyway. It was easy to forget when you were just a moment ago looking down on someone. She moved her back foot to brace herself for anything, but it didn't come. She had regained her confidence in that instant and she listened to his words. She couldn't believe it. "Are you insinuating that it is our fault that you attacked us? That we invited you here to take away our happiness?" She demanded, continuing to keep her voice low, but something had to increase to keep balance. She had stopped roaring, and instead replaced it with something a bit more physical. She lifted onto her back paws and aimed a shove squarely at his shoulders, not bothering to keep her claws in.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:35 pm
Aaah. Finally. He couldn't help but breathe an inward sigh of relief when Ceres lowered her voice down to normal speaking range. Vinjari would have given her a pat on the back, but not only did he not want to touch her, he was certain it wouldn't be well received. Still, he was pleased, and his posture relaxed slightly. Yelling wasn't fun. He didn't like to raise his voice, no matter how furious, and he didn't like it when others did. It was an unnecessary waste of energy, in his most humble opinion.
"I am saying that you were naïve to think that your happiness could last forever simply because you wanted it to. You failed to protect it, and therefore you submit to our rule. It is as simple as—" He was cut off by the shove, skin prickling painfully where her claws broke the skin. Vinjari's eyes narrowed instantly as he finally got to his feet.
"Do that again." His voice was quieter now as he lifted his head, watching her without blinking.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:44 pm
It didn't validate him having come in. You don't take advantage of someone because you can. And with that angry thought in her head, she pushed aside the screaming-bashing-on-the-walls voice of common sense telling her to let it go, telling her that this was not a good fight to pick. But no, her determination and pride shoved that voice aside. And besides, she was sick of being held back. Sick and damn tired, and it wouldn't continue beyond this moment. This was her one (and possibly only) chance to get her point across, that yes, she was willing to cross the line.
She went to give another shove, face as enraged as it could get (mostly as some sort of psyche-up,) and gave it more speed, in hopes that he wouldn't have time to counteract her. After all, the move would be somewhat predictable if she didn't put a little flare on it. As a result, she prepared to only land the shove with one paw, and block with the other. She could only hope that an increase in speed and this block-preparedness would help.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:53 pm
…
She did it again. She honestly shoved him again.
It may have been entertaining to see the surprise on his face had the situation been different. The surprise shifted slowly to a completely blank expression, the only sign of his current mood the fact that his ears had disappeared into his mane. A small flick of his tail was her warning as Vinjari dropped his head and launched himself at her, aiming for her blocking paw with his jaws. He wasn't aiming to break – breaking bones was tacky – only to grab and hold, keeping her within his reach and short one front paw.
She couldn't say he hadn't warned her.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:05 pm
Now, she had to say that she was expecting that. She really had been. Buuut she really hadn't expected an attack to her block. He landed it perfectly, pain seared up the leg and seemingly all around the rest of her body too. Probably from the surprise. She expected an attack, but not there. This was not the end of it, though. A snarl of anger mixed with pain and shock made her flex the claws on the blocking paw, searching for any sort of flesh they could hook into. Preferably the face, since it was right there. And yet, there wasn't much she could do with that other than flex the paw a little- the way he had her made it hurt to use any muscles in her front leg, rendering it mostly useless.
Ceres had the common sense not to try to pull it out of his mouth any more than a gentle, constant pull- just enough that if he were to let go, she could back up.
Needing her other front foot for balance, it couldn't be used for an attack... If she used it to do so, some amount of weight would be shifted to the leg he had in his mouth, which would drive his teeth in further, causing who-knew what kind of damage. She had to do something. Perhaps, to free her confined foot...
Not smart, but she had only two options at this point- turn back and ask for forgiveness (OUT of the question, by her mind) or to do what she went to do. In hopes of freeing her leg, she went with her teeth hoping to get his muzzle. If she could free that foot, she could probably give it one more good shot at another attack.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:32 pm
It was tempting to give the leg a shake, especially after her obvious daring, but Vinjari rarely did anything in excess. Control was important. It was one thing to be a brute. It was quite another to be a warrior. His father and his brother were brutes, Ushindi less so than Utesaji, but they used their strength to simply dominate. But Vinjari wasn't interested in ruining Ceres or crippling her. This was disciplinary, and in order for it to stay like that he needed to stay in control.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Stay focused.
He let go as she came in for his muzzle, feeling her teeth scrape across the top of his nose as dipped his head low and charged. With one foot injured (and previously incapacitated) her balance was probably compromised, and the charge was intended to shove her over. Vinjari continued the motion as he shoved with his shoulder, dropping his head down to bite and hold, this time around her throat. Had they been playing his bite may have been gentle, but the blue lion liked to think of it as precise. He wasn't trying to kill her, after all, but the message was clear.
It's over. Submit.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:00 pm
Surprise rippled through her again, but for a different reason now. She had felt her teeth make contact- she hadn't honestly expected that. Though, she didn't think they did much. And it did the exact thing she had wanted- she felt his jaws release her leg and she would have put it down, but now the absence of his fangs made it hurt just as much as when he had first bitten. Her snarl rose at the pain. She wasn't sure whether that would leave a mark or not.
That thought became starkly insignificant as she noticed that he hadn't finished. She should have expected that too. Without being able to do a thing about it, Ceres caved to gravity and found herself on the ground in an astoundingly short time. And, as if the two events had happened at the precise moment, she found his fangs replaced from her leg to her throat- worse move. Definitely worse move. On your back with your enemy at your throat, may as well have her tail tucked between her legs too. And that attitude would have pushed her further...
Except that there were jaws holding her life between them- he could take it away in a moment. Her mortality finally knocked some sense into her. Having picked this fight in the first place was a mistake, the little stupid voice had been right, yet again. She listened to it this time.
Wounded limb tucked as close to her body as she could get it, Ceres didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she needed to say anything at all. But she still felt like she should do something. She raised her good paw slowly, as if pondering whether this was the wisest move, and pushed lightly against his chest, managing to get the tiniest little "Please" through her throat between those teeth.
A single tear managed to escape one of her eyes, for fear of her life and for mourning of her pride. The most maddening thing to her at this very moment was that his last argument words.... they made sense. And that had been part of driving her. Being forced to deal with those words in the coming days would sting more than her leg would.
There had been a time when she had thought she would fight to the death over a matter like this- but that had been contemplated during a time of complete safety. Having death actually be right before you... changed your mind.
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