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 Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:50 am
Princess_Feylin Uruloke had not failed to notice that the days were growing shorter and colder, though in the Firekin lands that was most definitely a relative thing. Whenever her voiced that obeservation, he couldn't help whining a little, and so no one really praised him for being clever enough to see that. Instead they told him not to get his whiskers in a twist, because it was just winter coming. Uruloke had never experienced winter, but he was reasonably certain he wouldn't like it if it meant being even colder than he usuall was. In preparation for this unfortunate coming season, Loke had decided the only thing to do would be to try to store up as much body heat as possible, and he knew that this was best accomplished by sleeping entangled with his many littermates or on a rock in the sun. Given that his siblings all tended to roam during the day, it was difficult to convince them to make a pile to keep him warm, so that left him the option of sleeping on a rock. He didn't mind that either. Less kicking, usually. The cub sought out his favorite sleeping spot and curled up with the tuft of his tail covering his nose. Retro Coffee Winter was welcomed to this female. It meant she could spend more time outside. Not like she would do that anyway, it would just be more pleasent when she went for her hunts with the party. The red and gray lioness moved through the dunes, ooking around at the pride and the little cubs that were out and about this ungodly morning. She hated mornings. Too much time to kill till her hunting party moved out for the afternoon. Some of these cubs couldn't care less about her, but most of them were looking related. They had some of the same markings and such. Did a couple have a really huge litter recently or something? She shook her head and snorted before she spotted a cub curled up in a patch of sun. A smirk appeared on her face as she noticed he was tickling his own nose with his his own tail tuft. She moved over to him and nudged the cub with her big paw. Why not spend some time with someone who'll play. Playing seems like a good way to spend the day. "Kid, you're going to freeze if you stay out here and sleep."
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:56 am
Princess_Feylin The sound of an adult voice breaking into his just-barely-achieved state of slumber was not a welcome one. Loke's eyes opened into a narrow glare as his pupils slid toward whomever had woken him. He wasn't nearly stupid enough to give serious thought to the idea of attacking an adult, but the thought did occur to him briefly. "Actually, I find it helps me stay warm," he contradicted her. "But if I'm in your way I'll move." He didn't see how he could possibly be in her way, since there were huge tracts of open space all around him, and this was not a place favored for sparring due to the uncomfortably rocky nature of the ground. His young paws didn't much appreciate it either, but it was worth a little discomfort to get to this most perfect of napping places. He was willing to move if she asked it, though. Retro Coffee In her way? Zynab made a face at that and rolled her eyes, moing to keep him where he was. "You're not in the way. You're kind of out of the way." Very observant. But the glare he gave her was kind of adorable. Maybe there was something to cubs, after all. Besides them being small and utterly useless, they were cute and warm. Her own paws were used to the rocky ground and were not hurting her. Even as she crouched down to sit in front of him. "What's your name? Don't you have siblings to keep you warm? I've seen more than a few running around with your coloration and design." What she wanted to ask was how many siblings he had and what prayer his mother had said to the fertility goddess to have that many cubs, so she could avoid it in the future.
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:22 am
Princess_Feylin If Uruloke had any idea that he was being described as small, utterly useless, cute, and warm, even just in the grown-up's thoughts, he probably would have abandoned any common sense and attacked in an effort to make her take it back. While it was hard to argue that he was small, he wasn't small for his age, and he certainly didn't see himself as utterly useless. And he most certainly wasn't cute. He was Firekin. He was ferocious and terrifying and...not cute. The thought of being warm was a desirable one, but it wasn't one he could actually accede to. Most of the time he wasn't. So, all in all, he would have been forced to correct her. Had he known. "I'm Uruloke. I think I'm named for some kind of flaming lizard." Lizards, if he recalled correctly, didn't keep heat very well either. His parents had been very smart in naming him. "And I have plenty of siblings, but it's morning and so they're all off doing things. You probably saw a bunch of them on the way out here. It's kind of hard to go anywhere around here without seeing at least one of my siblings." Retro Coffee "How many of you are there? Your siblings. I must have passed at least eight getting here." Maybe she was lying but either way. She could have swore she counted eight. "I'm Zynab. It means desert flower." There was a snort after that and a bitter laugh. Flower, right. Zynab would believe that when she started growing roots. Stretching out, she watched this little boy and tilted her head to the side. Her brothers had been that small at some point. So had she. Though she didn't remember it, she could imagine what she was like. Shy, wary of talking and playing all together. That's why she was like she was. Anti-social, rude to a fault.
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:32 am
Princess_Feylin Uruloke sat up and flicked his tail as he tried to remember how many siblings he had. The problem was also how one defined siblings, since there were siblings in the den who weren't from his litter, too, and he wasn't completely sure how many of those he had, actually. All he could come up with if he had to include them in his count would be 'a lot.' But he did know how many there were in his litter. People had been remarking on it since they were born, and so the number had been more or less seared into his immature brain. "There are thirteen of us in my litter. But I think my parents have other cubs. I don't know how many of them there are. People are always saying we should be trained up together to be our own squad or something." He could never tell if they were serious when they said that. It would only be a squad of twelve in the end, since one of his sisters was huria, or would be when she was old enough to be expelled from the pride. He wondered how his parents felt about that. "Desert flower? You don't look much like a flower to me. 'Course, I bet I don't look much like a lizard, either." But he really did have a lizard's problems with keeping warm. Maybe Zynab had other flowerlike qualities, though judging by her snort she probably didn't think so. Retro Coffee A family trying to gain power. How common. Especially when the family had a ton of children that would all bet trained to be the best fighters. Not uncommon at all. She watched the little lizard boy and snoted once again. "Thirteen. That's insane. Someone should tell your mom to stay away from the fertility goddess. Eight? Yeah, I can understand but more than that and you're just a glutton for punishment." Eight was a good, round number. A lot of families she had heard of had eight cubs in one litter. Four was a good number too. Especially if you didn't really want kids they'd just happened. She stretched out and popped her back before looking at him. "You look like... a bird or something more than a lizard. Maybe they want you to be like the lizards. Blend in with your surroundings and strike fast then go back to blending. No one sees a lizard when it attacks, or even after it attacks, you know."
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:43 am
Princess_Feylin "I think my mom would've rather had less of us," Uruloke remarked. "Thirteen's a lot to watch, even with dad helping out." The thought wasn't distressing to him. After all, he'd already been born, so there wasn't much anyone could do about it. The idea that a different kind of parent might have just killed any unwanted cubs out of hand didn't even occur to him. The Firekin were harsh, but that wasn't a kind of harshness Loke had been exposed to as yet, and he couldn't imagine it without some sort of prompting. "Do you have any cubs?" he asked, trying to be polite. Maybe she had eight, since she had mentioned the number. His tail flicked harder, and with more agitation as he protested, "I don't look like a bird any more than I look like a lizard. I look like a lion." But he'd never thought of lizards like that. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all, to be named for one. He'd only thought of them as prey, but if he remembered, lizards were also predators. His agitated tail stilled somewhat. Retro Coffee "I have no cubs. I don't give much thought to somehow getting a mate and having cubs. I'm focused on just living in the pride and avoiding conflict with my parents." It was too bad that she thought that way. Zynab knew how males looked at her, but she would never approach them or welcome their advances. Not until they proved just how strong they were. Then, if she was impressed, she would bring him home to meet the parents. If he survived that, then it would be a cold day in hell. Her father was a mess right now, but her mother was a different story. Zynab just couldn't talk to her mother. "Maybe not. But you could start studying lizards. See how they move about in the pride, hide from cubs who'd try to eat them or just kill them. See how they defend themselves from other lizards or bugs. You can get a good education from watching the prey we hunt."
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:04 am
Princess_Feylin Avoiding conflict with her parents? What did that mean? How could anyone get into a conflict with their parents? Uruloke didn't understand that at all. Parents were parents, and you didn't disobey them. At least, not in big ways. Not in ways that would result in Conflicts. Scoldings were whatever, but Loke couldn't imagine ever being in a conflict with his mom and dad. "I guess," Uruloke agreed. The idea of watching lizards didn't seem very interesting to him at the moment. Watching was a very passive activity, and when Loke wasn't sleeping, he wasn't really all that interested in passivity. In that, he was a typical Firekin cub, always more interested in a bit of a row than just sitting and watching. That sounded boring. Very boring. "I'm sure you'll make a great mom when you decide to be one," he said, yawning. The sun was beginning to warm him through his fur and make him sleepy again. Maybe Zynab would go away soon so he could go back to sleep. Retro Coffee Looking at the yawning cub, listening to how bored he saw, Zynab snorted a bit and rolled her eyes. Cubs these days didn't have the attention span she did. Well, it wasn't like she was having that much fun either. Cubs were dumb little creatures who thought they knew everything. At least, most of the cubs she had met were like that. "Well, go back to wasting your day with sleep." The disapproval dripped off her voice as she started to move away from him, in the direction she had been going. Cubs just obviously weren't her thing. Her tail flicked before glancing back at Uruloke and sauntered away at a lazy pace.
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Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 8:22 am
Princess_Feylin Zynab's derision and disappointment in Loke's waning interest didn't exactly go over his head. After all, no one could quite manage to figure out that their chosen activity for the day was being frowned upon when the other person called it "wasting your day." Nevertheless, Loke wasn't bothered by the lioness's disapproval. She simply didn't understand, and that was that. Perhaps one day she would have cubs and then she'd maybe realize how exhausting a cub's life could be. All that playing to do. And it was so cold out. How could a body be expected to stay conscious all the time when it was much easier to contend with cold by sleeping? He felt sorry for her future cubs as he curled up with his nose tucked under his tail and closed his big blue eyes in nearly instantaneous slumber.
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