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 Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:04 am
 Mirsajadi had eaten from the kill brought back by Banu Ukoo and he was satiated. Now he wanted to do something. He didn't really feel like going out and exploring the pride, but it was boring in the den and there were entirely too many people. There were his siblings, his half-siblings, the adult banus, and always a few others whose role he wasn't yet sure of. Being home tended to grate on his nerves, basically, and he'd been feeling sort of short-tempered all day. He thought it would be better for everyone if he simply absented himself for a while, until he felt better able to deal with his family.
The only difficulty was that he would have to get out of the den, which meant escaping the watchful eyes of his loving mother as well as anyone older than he was. It was amazing, really, that the striped cub managed to get away from the den as often as he did. He was already learning to use the large population to his advantage, however, and knew that if he just allowed himself to blend in with his siblings until he could maneuver himself toward an exit he'd be golden. He thought himself very clever for discovering this fact.
He did it! There was only one more hurdle, at this point, ant that was clearing the open space immediately surrounding the den and getting into the pridelands proper. Once he did that, his time would be his own. He dropped into a crouch and slunk forward, using his diminutive stature to his advantage as he sought concealment among the taller grasses and shrubs of the area.
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Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:48 am
Morning shown bright and clear, the only clouds to be seen a faint wispy hint of whiteness against the vast blue sky. Anwar yawned, stretching as he made his way out of the den he shared with his rather extensive family. His brother often had…strange…dreams, and Anwar had volunteered to be woken up should he be upset by them. The plan had, of course, worked quite well, and Obadias now told him everything he wanted to here.
The drawback was, sometimes he was a little bit sleepy in the mornings. The only one of his siblings he’d really spent time with was Obadias. Because he was special…he had real dreams, and…well, Anwar was a little jealous of him. But he was also a little tiny bit worried. His little brother didn’t like those dreams… Anwar would love to trade.
And what could possibly be wrong with it? After all, his brother didn’t want to know the things his dreams showed him…and Anwar did. He really really wanted to know. Anything. Everything. It was why he'd spent his cub-hood sneaking out of the den, exploring all through the pride's lands...
Slitted red eyes followed a young cub's progress through the grass as the olive-furred juvenile crouched in the lower branches of a nearby tree. His initial tree-climbing experience had taught him two things. First, that being up a tree really did provide a good vantage point for seeing, and often even hearing, what was going one. And, secondly, that climbing up too high resulting in an exceedingly painful return to the ground.
Ah, gravity. If only he could sprout wings and fly like that god he'd met... He'd heard the Pad had cubs now, with the Sultan's sister no less. Really, he ought to go out of his way to meet them, were they, perhaps, gods like their father? It wouldn't be hard to figure out if he managed to cross paths with one of them, their father had rather distinctive markings that ought to make them easily recognizable.
Just as it was easy to recognize that this cub sneaking out of the den was a half-sibling. One of Orah's, golden brown and stripy. But which one was he? Omar? Rayhan? Or... ah, Mirsa...something. Jabari? No, not hardly. Mirsajabari? Where had that name come from anyway? He didn't even know anyone named Jabari... oh well.
Silent as a shadow, Anwar slipped from his tree and slipped through the grass, his green stripy fur blending almost easily with the tall grass as he padded lightly after his sibling with only the smallest trace of a limp. His paw only hurt because he'd made a foolish mistake, he'd no desire to explain why he was hurt so he'd neglected to mention that he'd hurt himself entirely.
Why he was following the cub he hadn't quite decided yet. Maybe it was because he really ought to learn something more about his family. After all, it was foolish to know so little about something so very close to home. Not that he didn't know a lot about them, hardly. But he didn't know as much as he could, especially in regard to the newest additions. Anwar didn't call out to the younger cub, instead moving after the brother quietly, keeping an eye on him without disturbing him. Where was he going?
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Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 5:49 am
Too young and self-confident to realize that there was any possibility of danger out in the world, Mirsajadi was oblivious to his voyeuristic half-brother. He was equally unaware when Anwar dropped from his perch and began to follow him. Had he known how vulnerable he was, Mirsajadi would have been disgusted with himself and furious with his half-brother in equal parts. As it was, he had no idea, and so he set off feeling very pleased with himself and how clever he was for getting away so easily without having been spotted by anyone.
Shortly he emerged from his cover into ground that could only be described as open. There was still grass, of course, but it was lower - too low even for someone as small as Mirsajadi was to find adequate concealment. Realizing this, he abandoned his slinking gait and began to walk normally. His paws and limbs felt a little odd, but he attributed it to spending so long moving in a crouch. It wasn't something he was used to doing after all.
Mirsajadi still didn't have a destination in mind, however, and so he didn't move very quickly. In fact, it seemed to him as though he wasn't moving at all. The scenery seemed not to be changing at all, and his head felt curiously light. Lights flashed and the world was relegated to shades of black and blinding white. Not understanding what was going on, Mirsajadi began to panic and soon his heartbeat was all he could hear. He couldn't even hear himself when he cried out wordlessly for someone to help him as he fell to the ground, his body convulsing and his limbs twitching.
The scenery blurred and shifted behind his eyelids and Mirsajadi found himself watching a pale lioness lowering her head to drink from a crystal-clear pool. She looked up, at and through Mirsajadi, and then said something he couldn't make out. A brilliantly-colored pair of cubs tumbled out of the underbrush and twined around her legs, trying to urge her forward and into the water. The crescent moon above flashed and became a pair of suns and Mirsajadi thrashed, hitting his head so hard against the ground that he snapped himself out of whatever fit he was having.
He returned to consciousness utterly limp and dizzy. With an effort he rolled onto his stomach and puked painfully, whimpering between heaves.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:37 pm
His claws kneaded lightly against the dirt, his deep crimson eyes gleaming from the tall grass as he watched his sibling leave the relative shelter. The other cub had the sense to stop openly sneaking now that he was out of cover. But Anwar was indecisive now. He’d little desire to seem like he’d been following this little brother, though he didn’t much feel like just turning back. Ah well, it wasn’t as though he’d much of anything else to do at the moment, there were always things to find and learn-
Wait.
What was…
Anwar frowned, watching as the cub seemed to stumble and fall, but it wasn’t so much that he’d tripped as he’d fallen and was utterly out of control of his body. The cry for help was not needed to inform Anwar that something was wrong, and he didn’t hesitate to leap out from the grass that he camouflaged with so well to move beside his sibling… and then take a hasty step back as the cub was sick.
“Little brother?” he called softly, stepping closer once again so that the obviously ill stripy little cub would be able to feel the warm brush of his own olive fur as Anwar moved to sit beside him. He didn’t think he was strong enough to carry this sibling back to the den comfortably, and leaving the boy alone seemed like a rather poor idea at the moment. Though if he couldn’t get up, Anwar might relocate him a bit away from the small puddle of vomit… “What happened?” He knew what he’d seen, but experience told him other points of view were important and ought to be considered. Especially since the cub was the one who best knew what had happened to him.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:46 pm
Mirsajadi blinked and turned his head weakly toward Anwar. He recognized the crimson eyes before anything else. His father had eyes like that, and so did many of his siblings and half-siblings. So he had been found by family. Or maybe someone had come to help him. He wondered, his thoughts fuzzy, why it hadn't been his mother who came to him.
"Brother..." he said weakly.
The name of this particular sibling escaped him for the time being, but he was sure it would come to him. After all, the other cub looked familiar, as so many people in the den did. It was enough that he was family. His family was competitive, he'd already learned, because they all wanted to see their father smile approvingly at them. He wanted that, too.
"The world looked funny. And then it looked funnier and I saw a white lioness at a pool." He probably should have known better than to tell anyone what he had seen, but he was weak and confused and he felt sick.
He wrinkled his nose as the smell of his own vomit was brought back to him. It reminded him that he was not in the best of positions. He hastened to inform his older sibling, "You don't have to worry about me. I'm all right."
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Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:50 am
Anwar blinked at his younger sibling's explanation. That was an odd reason to fall over sick. He understood if the world looked funny, he'd have thought that his brother had eaten something odd. But the white lioness... he glanced around. No white lionesses around here, and no water either. That wasn't for a bit more of a walk.
Interesting. Very very interesting. It sounded like the sort of thing Obadias might have said...
As the cub wrinkled his nose Anwar moved to gently gather his little brother by the scruff to pull him away from the mess. He wasn't very strong, and wasn't much bigger either, but he was big enough to move him somewhat. At least so that his little sibling wouldn't land in his own vomit if he should pass out or have another fit.
"It's alright," he soothed softly, "I'm your brother, Anwar. It's okay if family looks after family." And he was dying with curiosity to know if this cub was like Obi, if this cub could see things that other people couldn't. "That sounds very interesting though, I wonder why you would have seen a lioness when I can't see anyone else here. Do you feel sick still?"
Would this little brother tell him more? Was there more to tell? He had to know, he had to.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:07 am
Mirsajadi knew his explanation sounded strange. It sounded crazy. For a moment he wondered if that might be the case, if he might be off in the head and a little bit crazy. If that was true, he knew he had made a grave error in letting anyone know, even a family member. There was no way he could win his father's approval if it became known that there was something wrong with him.
"I could have done that myself," Mirsajadi felt obliged to point out when Anwar shifted him away from the nasty mess of his vomit. "I was just about to, in fact."
To prove his point, and to demonstrate that he was perfectly able, Mirsajadi directed his energies to standing. It wasn't exactly a graceful movement, but he did surge to his feet and stand there with reasonable steadiness. He felt a little dizzied by his sudden change of position, but he felt he'd already shown too much weakness in front of his holder sibling. His sibling already had enough advantages over him, being older, and there was no need to give him further leverage.
"I feel fine," he said defensively. "And maybe I didn't see anything. Actually, I didn't. I just made it up to see how you'd react."
It would be better, Mirsajadi decided, to have Anwar think he was a childish liar than let him know Mirsajadi wasn't sure of his own sanity for the time being. Deep in his mind, far below the conscious level, it occurred to him that it might not be so bad to be underestimated for the time being. At least until he figured out what was going on with his head.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:13 pm
Anwar watched his younger brother, standing a little ways away now that he'd moved the cub out of danger from his mess. An eyebrow quirked in skeptical amusement as his sibling protested that he was fine, that nothing was wrong, and then proceeded to leap to his feet. Which Anwar had discovered was not the thing to do when one had just been ill.
Fine was he? Well then, at the least he'd learned his little brother here was far prouder than he was. And more foolish. Much more.
"Oh, no? Well, that's too bad," the young lion mused, pawing idly at a flower that had been bent. "Because, it sounded like something I'm rather familiar with...but oh well. I suppose if you were just making things up then it doesn't matter." Now rather visibly disinterested, though it was the farthest thing from what the knowledge-hungry Pesar was feeling, Anwar stretched and yawned. "I guess I'll go and get a drink, it's pretty warm today. Come if you want, otherwise you might want to go back to the den before someone misses you."
And with that he turned with a lazy flick of his tail, starting to pad leisurely off in the direction of the lake. He was only being honest after all, at least in his words. It had sounded like something he was familiar with, the way he'd gotten Obadias to tell him all of his secret visions and dreams he practically might as well have been a Seer himself. If this little sibling had lied when he said he'd been lying, perhaps his interest would be piqued and he'd tell Anwar more in return for some help. And if he wasn't, which was quite doubtful really, well, nothing lost.
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:04 am
Mirsajadi had expected his brother to be angry at being lied to. He knew he wouldn't have liked it had their situations been reversed. In fact, he probably would have felt hurt and angry. But maybe Anwar just wasn't like that. It probably made it easier to be him, not minding things like that. Unless - another thought occurred to the striped cub - his brother didn't believe him and was hoping to get more out of him. It did sound a little like that.
His head hurt. It hurt far too much to try to puzzle out all these different possibilities. He could see that Anwar's interest in him was waning, and that, too, annoyed him a little even though he had not wanted to attract anyone's attention initially. Now that he'd been noticed, Mirsajadi couldn't help wanting to keep and hold the spotlight. The real audience, of course, was his father, and always would be, but that was all the more reason for him to distinguish himself whenever he could.
"A drink would be good," Mirsajadi said. He'd welcome the opportunity to wash the taste of vomit from his mouth, if nothing else. And it would also afford him the chance to question Anwar more closely about his 'familiarity' with Mirsajadi's recent experience. If his older sib really did know something, that would be worth learning, he thought.
"What did it sound like to you? Were you fooled?" Mirsajadi said, trying to simultaneously question his brother and maintain the illusion that he'd been lying.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:43 am
Maybe he did have more pride than he thought, because his little brother's apparent beliefs that he was so easy to fool stung a bit. If there was one thing he was proud of, it was being his father's son. His father who knew so much and could be so crafty. Just because Anwar had not taken after the powerful lion in strength, he could employ his other skills to the point where it hardly mattered that he wasn't the likely winner of a wrestling match. In matters where careful planning could be employed, he knew he was often a match for almost anyone. And Mir...something, was pretending that he'd shown Anwar's greatest skill to be flawed.
Perhaps he was offended after all.
But it never showed. Emotions weren't something he particularly cared for, the only ones that he shared were things he wanted others to see. Masks to wear and then discard easily.
"Well come along then," he shrugged when the cub said a drink would be nice. Perhaps he could coax more of a straight answer from this little brother given a bit more time. Certainly the cub's curiosity had been piqued. "I might have believed you, since I'm aware of...certain things. But if it was nothing, then I suppose you've nothing to worry about after all."
But if it was true, and he could get the little cub to admit it he could work on getting this brother to rely on him too. And then he'd have twice as much knowledge about the unknown just waiting to be tapped. It would hardly matter that the gift had passed him by if he could keep those who had been blessed with visions at his paws.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:16 am
There was something about his older half-brother which didn't sit well with Mirsajadi. He didn't know what Anwar wanted from him, and that made him nervous. Did Anwar want him to admit that he'd seen things that weren't there? Well, why wouldn't he? That would prove there was something wrong with Mirsajadi's head. There probably wasn't anything more to it than that, and he wouldn't be tricked.
"There are always things to worry about," Mirsajadi pointed out. "But most of them are things we can't change."
Maybe it was something he'd heard elsewhere, but he couldn't remember where, and Mirsajadi felt very wise saying that, and certain that he was correct. Anwar might think he was clever, but Mirsajadi knew he was, too. He was just younger. He had ever confidence that as he got older, he'd only get more clever, and that by the time he was Anwar's age, he'd be far more clever that his brother had been. He didn't follow the reasoning to its logical conclusion, that Anwar would always be older, and therefore cleverer.
"Anyway, if you're not going to tell me what certain thing you keep mentioning, you should just keep it to yourself. It's not nice to dangle things like that." Mirsajadi felt a little huffy, and more than a little like he wanted to get away from Anwar, but he had to get a drink at least before could do that. Life was so unfair.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:35 am
Ah, now it seemed like his brother was annoyed. Anwar knew precisely why as well. Little brother wanted to know, but Anwar wasn't telling. The cub was going to learn that something for nothing might work well with others, but Anwar was all about equivalent exchange...or unequal exchange in his favor.
"Mm, that may be true," Anwar shrugged, "But that doesn't mean you should just wander around expecting everything to work itself out or not. If you don't try to change anything, you might not be worried for long..." he paused, as though thinking, and then added, "Besides, I don't want to give you unnecessary nightmares or anything. That wouldn't be very brotherly of me."
The lake wasn't much further, he was running out of time to snag the truth and begin to twist this sibling around his paw as well. But there would be time later, if all he managed to do was plant the seeds of ideas, it would be easier the next time, and then the next tine, and the next, until finally this proud little brother caved and asked him for help.
Patience was key to everything.
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Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:27 am
"I didn't say I didn't worry. You weren't listening," Mirsajadi growled. "You said I didn't have to worry, and I said there were always things to worry about."
He wasn't sure why he was pursuing this argument. It certainly wasn't getting him any closer to finding out whatever piece of information Anwar was withholding from him. If there even was any information. Maybe his older sibling was just having fun with him and taking advantage of the fact that he was a bit vulnerable after such a disorienting experience.
"I bet you don't know anything special," Mirsajadi challenged Anwar. "You're just saying that so that...So that you can tell your friends how you pulled one over on your younger brother."
He still couldn't figure out why Anwar would mention it anyway, but it was hard for him to let go of the idea. He wished Anwar hadn't found him, and even more he wished he hadn't seen that lioness who wasn't there. The only thing he'd have to worry about then would be getting in trouble for sneaking out. Not that Anwar had mentioned telling on him, but he might yet. Older brothers weren't to be trusted.
"Look, there's the lake!" he exclaimed, picking up his pace. He could just get a drink and leave his stupid, frustrating brother to be stupid and frustrating all by himself.
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 11:34 pm
Tell his friends he tricked his little brother? What 'friends' would he tell? And what false glory was there to be gained from fooling one who was so much younger than he himself was? No, this little sibling did not know him well at all. Yet. But Anwar had always been sneaky, always been secretive, but always, always behind a mask of childish innocence. He might be a small lion, his mother's slight stature had not gone unnoticed by the cub, and his strength might forever been wanting in comparison. But his mind...no one could see the depth and width of his knowledge, carefully collected and painstakingly hoarded.
No. His greatest power was there, and no one, no one knew of it. Yet. Obadias was the closest, as Anwar would often share bits of information with his precious useful brother, and Zarha...they plotted together. She knew his power, but only a brush of it. If this brother turned out to have the gift Anwar coveted so enviously...perhaps then Anwar would be willing to share a few scraps with him as well.
"You are welcome to think whatever it is that you wish," he told the stripy sibling brightly, "Far be it from me to offer anything to someone who so clearly knows all there is to be concerned with." Now he was just being mean, but every sylable of his words had rung with warmth and sincerity. He was too practiced with this, hardly a challenge at all anymore. Padding beside the brother whose name eluded him, for the moment, he led the way down to the lake to lap up a few mouthfuls of water, though his crimson gaze was on the other cub's reflection. Watching for some sign. Waiting for him to slip.
"Well, once you've finished," Anwar continued, still in that same casual tone, "I can take you back to the den, if you'd like. I expect it's alright for you to ask your big brother to take you down to the lake for a drink, after all, our mothers are ever so busy."
"Otherwise...well. I expect I didn't see you out here at all." Anwar winked then, before stretching languidly to knead his claws in the muddy patch of shallows. Why mud felt so fascinating to him, he didn't know. He had no knowledge of his heritage in the Swamplands, as Ukoo never spoke of it to him. All he knew was that he liked the sensation...and the appearance of childish fascination it loaned him was nice as well.
This little brother didn't need to know he would be shadowed for days, if not weeks, until Anwar was certain of his answer. The true answer.
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Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:36 am
"As if I need permission from you," Mirsajadi shot back.
Evidently he had recovered from his earlier weakness and disorientation enough to be snarky. Perhaps it was unconscious overcompensation for being caught that way. Now he had to act tough to prove he couldn't be pushed around just because he'd had a momentary lapse of consciousness.
It didn't help that he was frustrated. He desperately wanted to know whatever it was Anwar was hinting that he knew, but he wasn't willing to give way. He was too young to really understand that compromise was an acceptable means of negotiation, usually far more effective than simply digging in one's claws and refusing to budge.
Either way, Mirsajadi had decided quite firmly that he wasn't going to say anything more to Anwar about what had happened this morning. He just had to make sure Anwar didn't say anything to anyone, either. That would be more difficult, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. He thought about this as he finished drinking.
"If you didn't see me out here, you didn't see anything happen with me either, right?" the striped young cub pressed. "I'm going to keep looking around, I think. As long as I know you won't run off and tattle to Father."
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