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 Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:01 pm
Bad’s mother Zahra had said that some family was likely to visit today. However, Bad’s mother said a lot of things, and so far everyone who had dropped by to see the new litter had been family. Bad was beginning to think that the pride might be composed entirely of family, and she had even made a private game of trying to pick which of her siblings visitors looked most like. She tended to stare at them in a disturbing way while she considered such things, but no one had bothered her about it yet. If they even noticed the cubs except to admire and congratulate their mother, they usually fawned over one of the boys or someone who, unlike Bad, didn’t find clinging to mother’s leg and showing off like a brat and uncomfortable practice.
So, having been told there could be more visitors today, Badiah exited the den with a slow stretch that sent a quiver down her tail and, finding her favorite hollow in the shade of a knot of grass, flopped down on her stomach. Her coat was dark and she usually avoided doing anything in the sun if it could be helped simply to avoid the heat. She also seemed to avoid her mother’s tongue, because there was a bit of mud dried on her left ear, grass seeds in her tail fluff, and the way she sprawled in the dirt suggested she didn’t mind being covered in dust either. Idly, she rolled onto her back and pretended it was the world that was upsidedown rather than her head.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:52 pm
 In truth, Mirsajadi was not interested in his older half-brother's cubs. He and Anwar had always been somewhat leery of one another, and of all his siblings and half-siblings, Mirsajadi considered him the biggest threat to his desired relationship with their father, and the one most likely to spoil everything if he ever told anyone about the time he'd seen Mirsajadi collapse and throw up. He did not trust Anwar.
And so that was why he was going out of his way to meet his half-brother's cubs. It might throw his brother off his game a bit, which was always a good thing in Mirsajadi's book, and it would give him an opportunity to finally meet Zahra, about whom he had heard so little, but with whom Anwar had spent so much time as a cub. He had to know how good a banu she was, because whatever banu he acquired when he was older had to be better.
He was most of the way to the den, within sight of it even, when it occurred to him that maybe he didn't want to meet Anwar's cubs and banu. He and his siblings were growing up so slowly compared to everyone else, at least on a physical level, he wasn't sure he really wanted to meet any more cubs that would look like him for a while, but then outstrip him physically, if not mentally. So far the only advantage to being a late bloomer was that people tended to underestimate him.
He paused within sight of the den, looking at it and debating his options when he noticed a young banu sprawled in the dirt and grass. Was this, then, one of his half-nieces? He would have expected that their mother would have at least corralled them, knowing company was coming to meet them.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:47 am
((we can get some introductions out of the way if you want, Fey. Just post whenever you get time hibi. <3))
Bad spotted the male coming in from the right – no, left if everything were right-side-up, and tried not to move. It was a ridiculous position, but she didn’t want to be spotted while she tried to guess at his pelt. The pattern of it seemed to shift when he moved from shade to sun and she squinted at the illusion thoughtfully. She had expected him to pass by the den without interest, but that notion was dispelled in his approach. Was he another one of the family then? When he at last spotted her she sniffed, as if she’d been holding back breathing deeply to watch him, and rolled over to pull herself into a sitting position. “I guess you look kind of like Bahram,” she said plainly. She actually resembled the stranger more than her brother did, but she hadn’t seen much of herself besides her paws and the resemblance was too slight to matter anyway. “I’m Bad. What’s your name?” She at least tried to give the question with a polite tone.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:14 am
Gubari was very excited at the moment, his feet making audible thumping noises against the dusty ground as he made his way from the den of his mother and father to his sister, Zarha, and her Pad. She had recently had cubs, which means he was now a proud looking Uncle. He had watched his sister's stomach grow and expand, making her look like she was a pregnant gazelle. It was very funny because she got extremely moody and threatened to eat him once or twice.
"Uncle, Uncle, I'm an Uncle," Gubari mused cheerfully, his chubby cheeks high in the air from the big smile that formed on his face.
He had decided as soon as he heard the news that he would be the best Uncle those cubs ever had. Knowing that both parents had very extensive families, he knew it'd be a challenge. He was the son of Pad Vu and Beybanu Mollie, and that counted for a lot because like his father's friend, Pad Kame'bufuu, his father was a warrior and he had warrior blood running through him. He was automatically better by default, whether or not his rank in the pride reflected it.
Rounding the corner, Gubari caught view of his sister's den, but surprisingly to him he also caught sight of someone who was unwanted in his presence. Mirsajadi. The meanie that managed to spread through the pride Gubari's unwanted nickname of 'Tubbi Gubbi'. His smile faded into a deep frown, one of the ones mother's warned their children about giving them a chide and telling them it'd stick that way.
"What are you doing here?" Gubari said, his tail flicking back and forth.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:30 am
Mirsajadi's first thought was Who is Bahram? This was followed closely by the observation, Bad is an adjective, not a name. Unless she actually was bad so often that she'd already come to associate it with herself as some sort of moniker or nickname. Or, more likely, she just had a name that happened to lend itself to Bad as a nickname. Mirsajadi's name didn't lend itself well to nicknames, though Zoey called him Mirsa and he tolerated it.
Fortunately these thoughts occurred to him quickly, or else he probably would have been standing there like a moron, staring at the striped cub. She definitely looked like Anwar, and a little bit like Ukoo, though apparently the intervening generations had done some to make the stripes less angular and odd. Personally, Mirsajadi preferred that.
Mirsajadi didn't fail to hear Gubari's approach, but after sparing him a fleeting glance he dismissed him as being beneath his notice. Instead his attention remained on the banu he assumed was his half-niece. No one had bothered to tell him any of the new cubs' names, so he was still a little unsure as to whether he really ought to call her Bad, or if there was something else he should call her. Maybe he'd just play it safe and use her title for now, or avoid it altogether through pronouns.
"I'm Mirsajadi," he said. "Are you really bad?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:45 am
Even if Mirsajadi had stared at her like some sort of idiot, Bad wouldn’t have noticed it, because she was eyeing the newcomer. Frankly, he didn’t look like anyone except her mother because of the spots. This was less interested than the strange exchange between the two, however. She glanced back and forth between them, ears flattened in disapproval and confusion about whatever as happening. Eyebrow raised, she hesitantly returned her attention to Mirsajadi, though she glanced at the black and white male from time to time.
“No,” she said, as if she was instead saying, of course not. “My name is Badiah, but you’re supposed to call me Bad.” She made that claim without explanation. She couldn’t have made any if asked anyway because, well, Bad was just how she titled herself, and who had better authority over her name than her?
"Do you two know each other?" she asked, arching a brow.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:53 am
"Unfortunately," Gubari said, trotting up towards Badiah and past Mirsajadi with the same amount of disinterest that Mirsajadi had given him. "So your name is Bad, huh? Well I'm Gubari, Uncle Gubari."
He gave the little cub a big smile, and opened his arms for a hug, something he expected from his family members whenever he saw them. Zarha wasn't always receptive to the hugging thing, but he didn't mind as he got many from his mother anyway. With Badiah, though, he would have to make sure she knew hugs were a good things from family members and get them often. This was how you wormed your way to being the best Uncle, by giving lots of hugs.
"Your Mommy, Zarha, is my big sister." He said, looking back over to Mirsajadi for a moment, "Why are you even here?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:09 am
"Badiah, then," Mirsajadi said with a friendly smile. "But I think you prefer Bad?"
He assumed she did, since that was how she had introduced herself and most people tended to introduce themselves as they wanted to be called. It was one of the reasons he never introduced himself by the shortened version of his name Zoey had come up with. He didn't want anyone to call him that. Not anyone else, anyway. It was all right coming from Zoey.
Seeing that Gubari was distracted trying to invite a hug from his niece, Mirsajadi decided to take advantage of his distraction to continue a bit of an unkind joke he had played when he was younger on the other cub, Bad's other uncle, in giving him the nickname Tubbi Gubbi. First impressions were so important, and he didn't think Gubbi would want to make a bad one by turning and attacking Mirsajadi for what he was about to do.
With a wicked grin Mirsajadi went on, "Oh, indeed. Tubbi Gubbi and I go way back. He really likes it when you call him that, you know."
He didn't know how much she knew about the world yet, if she had learned to interpret that particular smile as one which indicated trouble and mischief, so he added another gesture, safe because Gubbi had so rudely pushed in front of him. He winked, slow and solemn. It was about as obvious as he would get in giving someone a clue as to his games.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:53 am
Well that didn’t really answer her question at all. Of course they knew each other, but she wondered what made them so obviously not get along. Still, she was willing to let the point lie for now and moved to let Gubari deliver his hug, though her return of it was somewhat lackluster. Like her mother, she wasn’t a very touchy-feely sort. Still, he was an uncle, so she didn’t mind it terribly.
Bad eyed Mirsajadi when he gave the name and tried to repress a grin at the nickname. Really? Mirsajadi had been good enough to use her name correctly s she was trying to return the same favor with some respect, but the slow wink made the mischief clear and she craned her head up at Gubari. “Uncle Tubbi Gubbi?” she asked, unable to keep from smiling now. It was the first time she’d smiled since meeting these two, and perhaps it wasn’t polite to make fun of someone older, but she didn’t really think it was her he would be annoyed with. "How'd you get that name?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:47 pm
"No I don't," Gubari snapped quickly, releasing Badiah from his hug and giving Mirsajadi a glare. "Mirsajadi gave it to me because he is mean and think's he's important because he's piggy-backing his Daddy's status."
Since the last time Mirsajadi and Gubari had interacted with each other, he had done some growing up. He was still awfully childish as indicated by his response to the other Pesar, and to his baby Niece in regards to this unsavory nickname, but he evolved from simply bawling like a baby to making some half-intelligent and snide remarks. This was because of hsi growing friendship with Pad Kame'bufuu's son, Amjad. That one had a sharp tongue on him, and didn't have patience when it came to being insulted.
"Please don't call me that, ok Bad?" He asked, looking down at the little Banu and giving her the best smile he could muster despite his agitation. He didn't want the first encounter with his baby Niece to go like this, but it was heading down that direction with Mirsajadi's stupid presence there. Why was he even there anyway? He was only a Half-Uncle. He might as well be a stranger.
"If you want, you can call me Gubbi, but never Tubbi Gubbi, ok?" He said, his dual-colored eyes looking at her expectantly.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:52 pm
Several unkind remarks came to mind with Gubbi's denial, namely something about how he didn't seem to have outgrown his name, but rather grown into it even more, but he kept them behind his teeth. He wasn't going to dignify Gubbi's moronic presence with a response if he could help it. He was here for his own reasons, and he would not be driven off just because he didn't care for the company. After all, he didn't care for Anwar all that much either.
"You know, I hear there are other cubs inside," Mirsajadi said with casual solicitude. "Perhaps, since you're so much more closely related, you would like to visit them first. I'll wait."
It was the first time he'd actually addressed Gubari directly, but if he could manage it, it would also be the last. Everything about the spotted pesar just made Mirsajadi want to cut into him with his tongue, and he wasn't going to cause that kind of scene right outside of Anwar's den. Rather like his hallucinatory fits, that was just the sort of thing he didn't want his half-brother to observe.
"I'd offer to go in first," he continued, not quite able to stop himself from getting at least one jab in, "but I worry you might eat poor Bad if you were left alone with her, and I'd hate to have to explain to her parents how I allowed that to happen."
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:58 pm
Bad almost giggled at the name – at first anyway. Gubari’s tone suggested that he was rather sensitive about the name though, and when he looked down at her and asked, no, pleaded really, about the nickname, she frowned in thought. She wasn’t really sorry for calling him Tubbi Gubbi in the first place– it was a funny name, and she would probably laugh about it later – but she did feel oddly protective. That wasn’t appropriate, a newborn Banu feeling protective for an older Pad, but Bad didn’t consider that and nodded earnestly at his question.
“Eat me? That’s stupid.” She hesitated for a fraction of a moment after giving the frank condemnation. She’d thought Mirsajadi was being something of a bully, but she liked him anyway and didn’t really want to trade Gubari for him either. “Besides, what if he went inside and I ate you?” She bared her teeth to Mirsajadi to show him what a threat the needle-like fangs could be. “I beat up my brothers, and I have a lot.” She smirked then, puffing up her chest slightly.
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:09 am
"Not really," Mirsajadi replied. "Think about it: your uncle is younger than me - a lot younger than me, actually - and yet he's the same size as me. Maybe even a little bigger. How do you think he got that way, if not by the occasional act of cannibalism?"
He wondered if Gubbi remembered Mirsajadi's suggestion the last time they'd spoken, that he must have eaten a sibling or two. It had upset him a great deal at the time, Mirsajadi recalled, which was part of why he brought it up now. He wanted to see if it still had that effect. Though this was neither the time nor the place, he knew. He just didn't feel like going to the effort of finding Gubbi later to test it. He really didn't take enough joy in tormenting the black and white pesar to make it worth his while.
"But if you decided to take up cannibalism, my advice is to start with siblings. They're annoying, and if you're already able to beat them up, they'd probably serve the pride better as food anyway."
He was aware that he was walking a fine line by making this suggestion, since most families were not like his, he had learned, and many young banu and pesars liked their siblings, even loved them, and would not be amused by his little joke. But Mirsajadi was in one of those moods, and he thought it a risk worth taking, based on the fact that Bad was already separated from her family for one reason or another. If it was by choice, she might have already figured out what he meant about siblings.
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