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 Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:26 pm
 It wasn't possible to forget some things, much as Mei wanted to. Certain nights when she was hit with a rare insomnia spell she would rouse herself from her pillowed bed and quietly lay paw after paw upon the ground. No jangle of jewelry, no glint other than that in her eyes as she walked. She would skirt the slaves' niche and slide outside the door to the warm open night, frighteningly aware of how empty it all seemed sometimes. The hound would nose her way to the "backyard", the small patch of land that was slightly greener than the rest, whereupon a single flower laid. And it was there that she could tend to the singular flower growing and let her mind wander to somewhat more bittersweet days, that which if it did not haunt her dreams every once in a while did so in her daydreams equally occasionally. In this particular instance . . .
Father was angry. Very, very angry. Mother was attempting something again, the effort in and of itself enough to make a vein grow in his temple. Mother with her once doe-eyed look turned into the sharper stare of a predator, a caged tiger locked in a silent contest with the barb-clawed raptor that held the key to her freedom. Such was the relationship now with Father and Mother. Ming and Jiao were already too old to have stayed in the house by now; they never had to witness the deterioration between their parents like she did.
It wasn't right. Mother was getting over her cloudy-mind sickness and back to her razor-witted self after so many months of it plaguing and demeaning her into little more than a trophy wife. Why was Father so angry that his precious flower was returning to health? And why, why was it that the only thing on her mind now was to add to that burden?
Young Mei sighed quietly to herself as she left her family's estate to reach the modest gardens and the river that helped irrigated it. Fresh air and silence. That was what she needed right now, lest she caught the remnants of Mother's sickness and be herself shrunken to only half a mind and the gay smile of obliviousness. Bright blue hues were near the river's bank - and so there she went.
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:27 pm
 His roots were in Zanzibar. Every father's father had been born and raised in dingy city, and Kangara was no different. He loved the dirty streets, the sense of foreboding and adventure that lucked behind every tent and mudhut, but lately the grander cities of Mesopotamia had captivated his full attention. It had all started a few years ago when his family, the first in seven generations, had uprooted their lives in Zanzibar, and moved the the more groomed and glamorous streets of Cairo. They had lived humbly, residing in a little clay hut near the outskirts of town, but they were happy. Or at least as happy as a family could be when the man of the house was always away at war. But unlike his mother, Kangara did not care. Without his old man around, Kang had more time to explore the city, and the neighboring ones as well. This freedom had led him to a very beautiful discovery, one that he refused to admit he thoroughly enjoyed.
Heavy paws moved with shocking agility across streets of Cairo as their owner clung to the sides of the building. His father would be greatly displeased if he knew of his son's destination. Greatly displeased indeed. And yet, despite his hero worship of the elder hound, Kangara would not be deterred from the only true friend he had in the city.
Only a few moments later, the young male crept quietly onto the wealthy estate, golden eyes glancing around tightly in search of his female friend. "Mei?" He hissed, keeping his voice just above a whisper as he made his way towards the river. "Pst, Mei, you here?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:25 pm
Ah, there it was! A pair of limpid blue forms by the water, almost drained of color without their precious sun to give them a good light: blue lotus flowers. Gently she nosed one to sniff it, closing her eyes for the length of the breath. She loved the scent, sometimes even the taste on the very rare occasion ("once in a blue moon", she would quip to herself) that she would indulge in eating one even; the mild hallucinations were an easy price to pay for the ripples of ecstasy it could produce with the right mixture, things she had found out purely on accident. Things her family didn't know or need to know. Father would just accuse her of being a closet drug user somehow . . .
A sharp but family whisper broke her reverie, and Mei lifted her head to see her one and only friend from the Academy once more snuck out to see her - well, so she assumed. Kangara had a habit of liking to wander from his house, and Fate had often stuck them together somehow on at least half of those ventures. "Here," she whispered back, glancing over her shoulder to make sure none of Father's slaves had decided to search the grounds for her. most were usually kept within the estate, hardly ever leaving unless when scared half to death on a delivery service. "Although you shouldn't be. Father is angry again tonight and if he storms out and catches you, you might very well lose your ear between his howls and bared teeth."
Father didn't quite like knowing his daughter was friends with a hound whose roots drew from the dirt of Zanzibar, to put it nicely. And for all of his subtle ways of showing it, the fact of his disdain for the male was quite apparent to even the blindest creature.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:56 pm
Though the Academy hosted a wide variety of Hounds, Kangara had always felt like the minority. Most of his peers were from the upper echelon of society, boasting beautiful trinkets in their fur and reeking of scented perfumes, and from the the very first day he had separated himself from them quite adamantly. He found their snotty demeanors to be a right snooze, and he had lost all hope of enjoying his brief stay in the prestigious academy until he chanced across a rather interesting female. From the beginning, Mei had been the only one to look past his lowly upbringing, and he from the fact that she could carry on a decent conversation...a witty banter even, that they would be fast friends. And they had, there was hardly a memory that Kang possessed of the Academy that did not include his dainty friend. A fact that made his secret all the more painful.
A roguish grin slid easily across his maw as he waltzed right up to the whispering female. "Let him catch me! The old codger doesn't have anything on me." Developing chest muscles swelled as he puffed his chest out exaggeratedly. He gave a soft chuckle and winked, settling himself comfortably next to his Mei. When he spoke again it was a whisper, his rough baritone softening, "When is your father not angry?" He turned concerned eyes upon her, gaze flickering briefly past her to the dim lights of the impressive estate. "What did he say to you this time?"
For now his secret would wait. There was something written upon Mei's face that had his secret worries giving away to protective concern. She was like his little sister after all and for some odd reason he felt compelled to protect her...Though he was quite sure she neither needed nor appreciated the sentiment.
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Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:45 am
It was odd going at first, the way they had met. Like two parallel sticks that rolled the same way with the wind, neither coming from the same tree and yet in the same locale nonetheless. Amazingly, despite her occasional snide comments about his upbringing, Kangara remained a stubborn friend - through him, Mei grew to become desensitized to the rougher lower class despite her father's early impressions upon her that they were not to be mixed with such dirt-lovers; and Father had not been happy to hear that at all.
Piled on top of the stress at home and Kangara's usual bravado, Mei wasn't sure whether to chase him off to vent that pent up frustration or just be glad her old friend would come even in dangerously precarious circumstances. Now that they were nearing adulthood, it was getting harder to keep that delicate line between them. She couldn't just ignore that he had grown handsome . . . Ah, but look at her! She was letting her mind wander too much, adding more to her problems. Cursed flower.
"If he did 'have anything on you', he would have already mounted it on the front door as a warning for any trespasser," Mei pointed out with a wry smile. Was it best to let him know? He would be persistent if she didn't feed him something . . . "It's just the usual bickering between them. Mother has been getting better and that wasn't accounted in my father's plans, a slave attempted to escape again, business has been slow . . . What any high-powered hound would furrow his brow over. Any particular reason why you're out and about?" she asked, trying to turn the conversation away from her.
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