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 Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:37 pm
After scanning angrily for the hare he sat back on his now-narrow haunches, tail flicking and twitching as the dust settled. As he sat the newest failed hunt seemed to add a weight to him and hunker his shoulders down another inch. Save his last master, hunger was the most miserable possessor he’d ever known. He’d been made to skip meals as punishment before, but it had never made him so aware of the weariness in his body or the stiffness in his bones. Although he usually reserved a very private pride for the striking colors of his coat, even that was now withered away. Dust coated him, grass seeds stuck to his undersides, and a patch of scars over his face made his expressions twist strangely when he rarely showed him. Jaw agape as he slowly recovered his breath, he looked about his immediate area dismally.
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:38 pm
Balia'azima had been in the vicinity when she witnessed the failed attempt of the male to catch a simple hare. She had been on her way passing through when it bolted towards her and she plundered its getaway with a quick paw to its head, knocking it unconscious. She grabbed it quick in her jaws and twisted its neck to kill it and kept it there as she decided to approach the male who lost his meal.
He looked a little thin and hungry, and though Balia was not known for her empathy, she was known to pity some and once she got close enough to the male she chucked the rabbit towards him, "You waited to long to kill it."
Balia looked at him with her electric gaze and took in his looks. The half and half coat with the red strips, as well as the scars upon his face. Aside from the scars messing with his face's features, he wasn't half bad looking, but he was definitely no demon. The feeling she got whenever she was near someone like minded was not there and instead she had an overwhelming urge to take the male down and drag him off like a Na'artu...
Perhaps... He was one?
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:01 pm
Hatari twitched at the sight of the large shape – lion – coming through the glass and jumped to his feet, pointing his head toward the newcomer in fear of a sudden attack. He almost took flight, but the lionness’s calm step was enough that he didn’t quite run. Knowing neither the area nor how to properly smell out the border markings of prides had given him a rough enough time with sentries over the last several days, but the lioness didn’t look much in the mood to chase him off.
The hare was flung at his feet and he glanced down as if hesitant to let his eyes drift from the lioness, but hunger was a demanding thing and he eyed the still-warm body intensely before looking cautiously back at the lioness. “Likely,” he agreed in a voice both soft and matter-of-fact about his failure. “I am no hunter.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:53 pm
"How are you no hunter and living alone?" Balia asked, raising a brow at the soft voiced male before her. More importantly, how was he surviving living alone while unable to hunt? Most would not live past their adolescence if they were unable to hunt. He was perplexing.
"Well go on. Take the rabbit," Balia said with a small frown, as if feeling insulted that he hadn't taken it already. "I brought it for you because I figured you were hungry..."
It was mostly the truth, and she also wanted to gloat about the fact she was a much better hunter than any adult, but rethought that approach. If a grown man was admitting to his lack of hunting prowess there wasn't exactly much to gloat about.
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:16 pm
“I hunted with a cheetah for several days. I sprang at herds and when I wore them down or fell behind, she would run in swiftly and take a weary beast. We parted ways some days ago, though. Before that, I was supported,” he said with previty. He had as much skill in lying as he did in the hunt, but he didn’t much want to explain his venerable situation to the stranger, rabbit or no.
He needed little encouragement to eat though, and after ducking his head and murmuring quick thanks he bent to tear into the small meal. He knew little about catching prey, but he was familiar with hauling the heavy carcasses won by great hunters and butchering it for little ones to test meat eating. He also knew how to finish his meals quickly and without wasting meat, and after a brief minute very little remained of the gifted meal.
Licking his lips, Hatari raised his head, but not over the lionness’s. Fear now abated, he now only looked at his benefactress with a gaze that was either meek or simply wary. “Many thanks,” he repeated. “Am I transgressing pride lands?”
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:39 pm
He hunted with a cheetah? No wonder he was unable to catch anything, what with it being snatched far before he could get there. Cheetahs were terrible hunters who seemed to only rely on speed in Balia's mind. She had yet to see one successfully hunt by stalking and wasn't exactly missing seeing it either. They were not lions, after all, so their very existence wasn't much to be bothered with.
"I see..." Balia said as Hatari mentioned he had been previously supported.
The fact he had said he was 'supported' and didn't gloat the fact that he had someone getting him food made Balia's mind instantly wander to the fact the male before her could have very well been a slave. She had heard of pride's where the males had females doing all their work and merely went on patrol and that lazied around the rest of the time, but this male's timid personality and lack of boastful didn't make Balia believe he could be from there.
A slave. Balia could use a slave. The little olive cub she wanted to take on as one was far too dimwitted for her to consider as a slave, on top of which was the fact she did not want to have a slave who she would basically have to raise. She was trying to get pregnant currently, and didn't want another person to raise on top of her own children. She wanted someone who was already an adult.
"There are two prides nearby. We are in the Rogue Lands between them," Balia said quietly, "What do you mean by 'supported'? Have you just left your mother? You seem much older than I..."
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:53 pm
Hatari shook his heavy head, and his mane shuddered lankly with the motion. Thinking she seemed a decent enough sort and being weary, he sat back on his haunches and flicked his tail tightly in around himself. “My masters have supported me. I have been traded among ranked lions, and each has allowed me a place to live and scraps enough to eat, and I’ve worked for them as required.” Remembering that destiny, that duty, he looked at the lionness’s paws as he spoke, but despite his muted posturing his voice was confident and subtly proud of his past. “I’ve been a servant all my life – until a few weeks ago.” He was unsure of the time that had passed, but she could likely estimate that by his poor physical condition. He was far more embarrassed about his appearance than anything – except what he was given to confess now in answer to the lioness’s urgings.
“The last one I served was wicked of heart. It was not my place to judge her, however, and I did as she bade as best I could. Until she did this.” He raised a paw and touched the back of it to his cheek, signifying his scarred face. He had other scars of course, but they were thin, small things, hiding beneath his usually magnificent coat. No slave was perfect, but his obedience had been a way to avoid mutilations in the past. “I fled then,” he concluded in a taunt voice and eyed the lioness for a reaction. He wasn’t sure himself what to think of his action. He had no qualms with fleeing in terror, but surely abandoning his duty was a mark against him.
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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 8:58 am
Balia listened quietly to the lion's story, electric gaze transfixed onto his crimson eyes and noticeable scar as he spoke. Her guess had been correct and he was that of a slave. The dark adolescent lioness took a moment of self-satisfaction at being correct and closed her eyes for a moment, looking as if she was listening intently or attempting to visualize what the male had been through in his life.
"I can't say I'd have done any differently," Balia stated. Granted, she would never be a slave to anyone. She was a proud demon, and as a proud demon no lion or lioness would ever make her submissive to them. If anything she would make them submissive to her.
It was in that small instant that Balia had the most practical of ideas. This male before her lived his life as a slave, where he was provided for and did the bidding of his master. Well, on his own he would not make it for very long, especially if he could not catch any food. Even if he was not weakened and hungered, she could still take on this male and defeat him. It was bred and beaten in her, the capabilities to kill and make one submit. This male would become her new slave, and with a little work she would teach this sorry excuse of a lion how to hunt, because there was no way she was taking on a slave who could not hunt for her.
"It's a shame, truly. Your face was quite the handsome one for being a half-demon," Balia said quietly.
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:17 am
Her answer was close enough to approval for Hatari to feel some relief about having abandoning his old master. He would not have done differently himself even if she’d disapproved and he had the opportunity to go back – his last mistress made too dreadful a memory to be overcome – but if the error were acceptable or at least understandable to a ranked lion (such as this female must have bee), then he didn’t need to wonder about the morality of it himself.
He almost took compliment to her other mention, but her last phrase made him hesitate for a moment, both in mental processes and speech. “Half demon?” he prompted, voice careful once more.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:52 pm
"Sorry, it's nothing," Balia said dismissively, his lack of knowledge about the pride she came from now very apparent to her.
Balia liked having pretty things. Back in her pride there was a little slave girl, pretty as can be. Balia wanted to have that little girl as her personal slave. She had no plans to treat her badly, because what's the point of having a pretty toy if you were going to mess the pretty toy up? However, this male before her, with his already scarred face, his already flawed beauty, it wouldn't matter if she beat him up a little more. New scars would be overlooked by all because his face was already ruined.
The issue was how to make this male, who despite being painfully unhealthy was still much larger than herself, follow her and than capture him as her slave. Hers forever. It didn't cross her mind what her mate would say, because he had his whore-slave, so her having one should be no issue to him.
"Have you ever seen a pride before?" Balia asked curiously. Perhaps she could lure him there without much force.
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:35 pm
Half demon? Hatari’s mind still questioned, but he didn’t want to ask again. He had a feeling he would get a lot more from asking that sort of thing than simply answers. Besides, he was too unnerved by the way she was sizing him up to go about asking for more problems. “Yes. I’ve been in a few different small ones, more like clans really.” What was she getting at?
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