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 Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:29 am
At first, Badiah had not wanted to leave the birthing den. She had seven other siblings (eleven if she counted her father's other Banu's new litter), and while her mother had nudged them out towards the light, Badiah had stood as near the entrance she cared to, staring out at the outside world with an almost hostile expression and her legs locked rigidly beneath her. Eventually she had been made to leave the limited world of the den, though she had mewled in protest.
Now, some days later, as soon as her mother gave her permission (it hadn’t yet occurred to her to that her mother’s commands were anything but divine yet), Bad was the first to slink from the den and glance about the dawn-lit world. She had been too busy playing with her siblings the last few days to think of it, but last night it occurred to her that if she had so much extended family, surely some of them lived nearby. Or at least, someone must live nearby. And maybe that someone had cubs. She wasn’t sure she would like anyone she met, but it with a keen sense of curiosity that Bad ran (stumbling over her clumsy cub feet) towards a rock and climbed to the top so she could stand higher and look around for some sign of life.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:44 pm
“Hello, young banu.” Mel said brightly as she approached the cub, standing at a respectful distance. She smiled, eyeing the little cub’s bright orange eyes with interest. From up close, it seemed the cub was somewhat similar to momma Uggi and similar enough for there to be an actual family connection.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:01 am
The rock would have put Bad at about eye level with Mel, only she didn’t hear the other Banu’s approach and the sound of her sudden greeting came as a surprise. Startled, one of her paws slipped and she went rigid, catching herself. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder at the visitor with an irritated look, as if she had to take her embarrassment out on someone. She said nothing yet though, and quickly finished her scramble to the crest of the rock, where she squared herself to face Mel and set her legs for balance.
“Um, hello there.” She scrutinized the older Banu with interest. There were greetings she’d been told to observe, but it seemed a little pointless now after the Banu had already seen her climbing with such ludicrous fervor. “What’s your name?” she demanded curiously.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:59 pm
“Oh, don’t fall!” Mel said quickly, visibly alarmed, when it appeared that her greeting would cause the young girl to slip and injure herself. The annoyance in the little girl’s expression would be enough to make her feel guilty if only she didn’t look so darn cute. “I’m banu Mel’Tamu, daughter of Pad Nywelle. But you can call me Mel.”
She was so… small. It was hard to believe she had ever been this tiny once. Would her little nephews and nieces be this adorable? Oh, Mel could hardly wait.
“What about you?” she asked brightly before looking around for more family members that might be watching the little cub.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 2:17 pm
”I’m Bad.” Bad cocked her chin with some kind of pride and then remembered that the name could be somewhat confusing that simply explained. “Badiah, actually, but call me Bad.” She glanced over her shoulder at the entrance of her den, hoping Mel hadn’t caught sight of a sibling she’d abandon her for. “I’m the first one up today. Mom lets us go where we want so long as we don’t’ go too far from the den.”
She looked back and gave Mel another critical look. “Have you seen any of the Banus that come back with the Pads? Mom says that they come back with the boys when they leave, and I was wondering if they’re very different.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:30 pm
“Bad? That’s an odd nickname. Do you like it?” It almost sounded as if she was being called a bad girl and even using the proper title, Banu Bad… it sounded rather strange. Banu Bad, Banubad, Banbad… odd but definitely catchy in a strange sort of way and Mel was certain she wouldn’t forget the little girl’s name anytime soon. She was about to ask for her father’s name when Badiah spoke again.
“I’ve seen some, yes. They’re not very different, physically…” but most do think differently than us at first. That was more information than it was proper to transmit to such a young girl though. “Actually my older brother Behnam just brought his first banu back. I haven’t seen her yet but I’ve been told she’s very pretty. And my mother came from the outside, as well now that I think about it. Didn’t your daddy also bring a banu from the rogue lands?”
Her head felt a little light and for an instant, Mel found some difficulty focusing the little girl's face clearly. Still, she managed to blink it away as if something had been caught in her green eyes and resume what she liked to call normal function. She was getting used to this feeling, after all.
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Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:41 pm
“Yes. My momma named me Badiah and said it meant unique. I wanted to help make my name though – I mean, it’s mine – so I nicknamed it.” She was pretty proud of that idea, and smirked proudly remembering it.
“Wow.” Her eyes widened slightly at the mention of a new outside female. “I think my mom was born here I think, but daddy got Star from far away. She says she’s a fallen star, and she’s pretty like it too. She just had cubs before momma had us, so there’s, uh,” her ears twitched as she tried to remember then number, “twelve of us now. Anyway, I was thinking maybe new Banus get to be normal after they’ve been here like Star, like maybe they change and they’re different before. You know?” In her rambling, she noticed Mal’s distracted look and furrowed her brows together in scrutiny. “You alright?”
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:47 am
Ah, so she had decided on her nickname. Well, Mel supposed that was alright even if the name was a bit strange and potentially confusing. Hopefully, no misunderstandings would arise from it.
“Twelve cubs?” Mel asked quickly, visibly surprised. She didn’t think they were that many. Wait, perhaps the little one was counting the adults, as well. That wasn’t all that surprised her, though. “A fallen star? How so?” The young girl’s rambling was rather endearing and the chocolate banu nodded all through her reasoning. “Yes, that makes sense.”
“Oh, it’s nothing… important.” Mel said softly, trying to avert the bright orange eyes that called her. She didn’t particularly like being stared at intently as it tended to trigger a vision when she in the mood for it. The young lioness knew, with absolute certainty, that if she touched the cub right now, Mel would probably see something regarding her past (unlikely) or future. She kept her paws firmly on the ground. “Something like a headache.” It was never as serious or painfully as Nadhir’s gift so apart from some social embarrassment and the occasional unkind dream, she was actually fine with it - if not proud.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:01 pm
Badiah nodded proudly. She didn’t really understand why yet, but there was something worthy and precious about her mother and Star producing so many children at once. “Yup, momma had eight, including me, and Star had four.”
Badiah cocked her head, but continued staring intently, as if she didn’t know it was rude to do so. The truth was she knew, but she didn’t care. She didn’t know if there was something wrong with Mel or something interesting, but she was too curious to avert her gaze. “Do you need to lie down or something?”
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 4:36 pm
“Wow, that’s one full den.” She was going to ask more about it. If Badiah was happy with so many siblings, if she liked one of them in particular or if she sometimes wished she had more of her parents’ attention just to herself. And many more as this family unit was a bit different from her own. But she seemed to be making a poor job of hiding the fact that she was dealing with something and Badiah was obviously curious.
“Ah… well. I have… a gift.” She wasn’t quite sure if she should explain it to such a young cub. Finally, she concluded that no harm would come of it. “As I told you before, I’m the daughter of Pad Nywelle. And Pad Nywelle is the God of Manes.” She smiled proudly before adding a tidbit of information she thought the little banu would find more than a little interesting. “He has wings.”
Should she continue? Well, she’d hardly explained why the fact that Nywelle was a God related to Mel’s little oddness. That’s what the little girl wanted to know, right?
“Because my father is a God, I’m a little… different. Sometimes I get visions of things that happened a long time ago or things that will happen in the future. Right now, I can feel one coming. It used to be just dreams but I sort of know how it works now. I can usually force it to go away but if I keep looking into your eyes or if I were to touch you…” at that the brown lioness lifted one paw in the air as if to touch the cub but she stopped midway. It would be incredibly rude to just pull a vision off the little banu even if she could almost be sure it was about her. She smiled, wondering what the little girl would say to all that.
((btw I know she got rolled a Seer! If she ever needs Mel's help dealing with her gift, feel free to have run to Nywelle's harem for support xD))
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:12 pm
Badiah looked contemplative at the mention of the god of manes. He sounded like something for boys to worry about. What would a god of manes be to a girl, and what was it like to be the daughter of a god? She might have asked some of these questions, but her childish fancy was caught by a detail. “Wings? She echoed in a wondering whisper. But that wasn’t the heart of the conversation of course, and she restrained herself so the older Banu could explain further.
She didn’t know what to think about being able to see the future. Bad often had a difficult time just imagining the next day, but Mel could actually see it? She tilted her head in heavy thought, as if concentration alone was pulling her off balance, and stared at Mel’s paw. She took it as an offering, and in a sudden moment of decisiveness, reached out and touched her tiny paw to Mel’s.
((I’m so excited about it! Hehehe. I’m going to wait until she’s a little older before she starts getting frequent visions, but I will keep you in mind when she starts having to deal with it more. <3
*EDIT: If you're not sure what to do with Mel's vision give me a poke, but it doesn't have to be much I guess. Heh.))
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:48 pm
In retrospect, Mel realized she should’ve expected it but the truth was that the older banu had been about to lower her paw right when Badiah touched her and the physical contact came as a bit of a surprise. And with a price. The world whirled in front of Mel as she stared wide-eyed into the cub’s bright gaze and suddenly the Badiah was a little bigger, standing in front of her with a somewhat submissive posture but with the most stubborn and defiant expression Mel had ever seen on a young banu. And Mel wasn’t Mel but someone larger hovering over the young girl threateningly, shouting. Her heartbeat rose at once, she truly hated these kinds of visions.
Mel tried to come up with as many different thoughts as possible but she couldn’t get rid of the image and the vision seemed to be stuck on repeat. Her mouth parted but she kept her wide green eyes on the girl, seeing right through her. Mel desperately wanted to look away but her neck was stiff and she couldn’t force herself to move. Her body started shaking a little.
(sorry for the delay, I got pulled away midpost. I tried to make her vision as vague as possible xD)
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:24 am
”M-mel?” Bad frowned and pulled her paw back. She didn’t know how long seeing the future was supposed to take, but the older Banu’s expression and vacant stare were starting to unnerve her. “Mel’tamu?”
She was too worried to sit still any longer, and she jumped down from her rocky perch – no easy feat for a cub so small. The move nearly knocked the breath out of her and she almost clipped her chin on the ground, but she was already moving and bounded up to shove Mel’s leg.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 4:25 pm
“Oh.” Mel said quietly, exhaling for what might seem like an eternity when Badiah’s eyes dropped suddenly from her line of vision. Finally, she looked down and spoke slowly to the cub, dragging out almost every word. “I’m sorry, banu Bad. Did I scare you?”
She was looking at the cub differently now as if it was the first time she was truly seeing her. Mel couldn’t help but to feel worried about the cub now and wonder what the future had in store for her. She’s looked too young to have a Pad already but someone had been shouting at her quite aggressively and Mel got the feeling it had been a male even if she couldn’t really say it with absolute certainty.
“I must go home. Don’t worry, little one, the vision wasn’t about you. You should return before your parents worry.” She’d never lied so blatantly before but Mel desperately wanted to avoid any questions at this point. She backed away a couple of steps and smiled even though inside she felt like screaming, warning the cub and her parents and just generally stalking the young banu for as long as it took to make sure she could be there should she ever got in trouble. It wasn't one of the worst things she'd seen but... it still made her feel terrible. “Hey Bad… be a good girl, okay? And… if you ever need someone to talk to, my den is always open to you.”
She dropped her head in the tiniest of nods before turning to leave, her mind strangely blank.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:29 am
Bad stared at Mel, concerned, but she couldn’t quite get up the nerve to ask if she were alright. The older Banu was just acting so… strange. It was unnerving almost. Her eyes tracked the older Banu without blinking, but she let her go with only the slightest of nods to show she’d heard her. It was painfully obvious that Mel wasn’t explaining something, but Bad had the feeling she wouldn’t like the answer if she’d tried to follow her and make her answer. She stood there for a while, before silently turning back for her den, trying to shake the feeling that she had brushed against something frightening.
Maybe she would ask Mel what she’d seen later. Maybe.
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