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 Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:59 am
 She should probably go hunting, Ak-kila told herself as she sat in the shade of a tree that was next to one of the oasis. She flicked some water up into the air with her. Why had she picked huntress as her rank, she asked herself. It wasn't like she was limited with her rank choice. She could have picked almost any rank and would have been the best at it. This rank was supposed to be easy. Hunt a little, bring back enough food for pride, become the pride hero. Simple, yet rewarding. She shook her head. The rank wasn't nearly as glamour as she thought it would be. When ever she tried to hunt, she would be to noisy and the creature would run away from her.
She knew she needed to get her duty done, but she decided she could do it later, once it was cooled down. If it cooled down. In the end if she ran out of time she could always make up a tale about how she was in hot pursuit of a gazelle and that she just barely missed catching it. That would work.
She bent down and took a big sip of the water. She realized she couldn't keep lying of course. That would get her no where. No one became a hero of the pride by just lying. They actually helped the pride in some way or another. She would have to get better at hunting so that way she could help the pride and she would start her training tomorrow, she decided after letting out a bit sigh.
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:14 pm
 It was just another day, another duty. Morning had told the young adults of the pride to go forth and pursue, coming back with a healthy bounty enough for at least some others of the Tuait'tekem. So that was what the young, blooming adult did - at the very least for his rather large family.
He had never found any other strong, pulling calling when he was growing up. That was why he had settled into a hunter, much like the rest of his siblings. It was just the place to be until he decided if he felt strongly about doing something else; but for now, hunting for the good of all worked out very well. It wasn't much responsibility, no, but the young lad didn't need so much responsibility at this age. After all, he was still very young in spirit.
Getting the prey was easy; though the animals in these arid lands were sometimes harder to find, he was quite strong enough to actually take one down, once he had found it. However, this time... he didn't even need the strength of a toddler to pick up his kill; he had spotted a hare dancing amongst the bushes, and quickly took it without hesitation; it hung limp from his maw as he carried the body back to the pride...
As he was walking to his family, he spotted one of the oases, and a lovely clump of trees providing shade to whoever may have stopped by to rest. The sight was tempting to him, and so he eagerly padded forwards to find a brown female just lying there. He was sure he had seen her walking around at some point, along with her siblings, but couldn't quite remember anything else.
Regardless, he stepped forwards to the edge of the oasis, hare still in mouth, and then sat himself down. He dropped his kill next to him, hoping the sight wasn't too crude for his company, and sipped a little water some feet away from the girl.
"Just passing by," he mouthed with a smile, realizing that she, of course, probably wouldn't care seeing as how she was just lazing.
"It's been hot, so I'd do the same thing if, uh..." he paused, "If I wouldn't be called out on not bringing back home something, since all my brothers and sisters went out, too."
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 10:16 pm
She looked up lazily when she heard the lion, than she saw him and immediately perked up. Her eyes went to his kill. "Aw! Hello," she said quickly as she sat up and looked at him. It would not help her at all if she looked lazy, in fact she could easily get in trouble. "I'm waiting for the right time to get my prey. I plan on bringing something big in, just to show off." She said cooly, despite how nervous she was. This was her first time hunting by herself like this.
"My name is Ak-kila by the way. I'm one of the new hunters," she explained, as she looked at his kill quickly. She wondered if she would be able to bring back a meal that big. It would be a nice way to show off on her first day.
"Where abouts did you catch that?" she asked nodding her head toward his kill. "I-I haven't hunted around here yet and I don't know where the best hunting spots are." She felt a hair guilt with her half lie. She smiled at the other lion, hoping he would be able to see how scatterbrained she was being.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:05 am
If he hadn't been busy quenching his parched throat with the water from the oasis, he may have noticed the very interested eyes of Ak-kila on his kill. In fact, he even missed her sudden jump up from laying down. It took a few good seconds of drawing the oh so refreshing water into his maw - he even made quite many slurping noises while doing it, though he did not care.
"Ah, the right time?" he repeated, head moving up again to look into Ak-kila's pale blue eyes with his deep ruby ones.
"That's what I thought, too, when I was a new hunter. Wasn't long ago, either," he said, smiling in a rather amused way, "Name's Zuberi. If you ask me, it's going to be hot all day, so you might as well get it over with."
As she asked a question, Zuberi rolled onto his back and squinted in the sun; his body simply flopped over, clearly somewhat tired from all the beating the sun did to him so far. He looked over at his hare, and it seemed like even its body was just sizzling on the sandy ground. He let a sigh and murmur out while thinking about an answer, closing his eyes eventually while recollecting what happened the past hour. He didn't even catch Ak-kila's stutter, nor the anxiousness in her voice.
"Hmm, I dunno," he admitted, "I guess I can show you where, but it wouldn't be worthwhile. I mean..."
Did he really have an answer? It wasn't like he had been hunting for a long time, and he never really listened that well to his parents' or teachers' advices.
"I mean, all you do really is go out and see if something catches your eye. I think. In these lands, kills walk everywhere! I mean, sure, being near water helps a lot, but there's also hiding places under piles of rocks, and even under the sand! Hasn't anyone taught you?" he asked as one eye opened to focus on her.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:42 pm
Ak-kila looked down at the ground, at her toes. She probably should know how to hunt, however her mother was too busy to teach her and her father. Well she never met him. She felt even more discouraged. "To be honest I have no one to teach me," she finally admitted, sinking to the ground, her paws touching the water. "It didn't seem too important durring lessons. I never thought I was going to be a huntress. I thought I would have a more important role."
As much as she hated to admite it, she was jealous of her siblings who had roles like, guard, artisan and priestess. She knew if she had no talent in any of those fields and would fail miserably if she had taken on one of those roles, but none the less she wished she had the role. "If you don't mind me asking why did you become a hunter?"
She looked up at him with her silver blue eyes. "I'm starting to question if I should even be a huntress. I seem to fail at even the simplest task."
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:29 pm
As Zuberi listened, he realized he had struck some chord with the young lioness in front of him. He flicked his mane over, unsure of how to react or attempt to resolve her feelings. He never really was worried about his aptitude in getting things done - perhaps that was natural for males to do, or perhaps he just didn't care because he hadn't run into much trouble since birth. Whatever the reason, this made it hard for him to imagine Ak-kila being very worried about being an inept huntress.
He raised from his spot then, striding over to Ak-kila; he hoped she did not mind him being so close to her. He then nudged her with his paw, offering a slightly amused smile.
"Hey," he started, trying to provoke her to rise from her little slump, "That's fine, it's not something you really have to be taught, anyways."
When he realized she was not going to get up, he went and laid down right next to her, moving one of his paws to twirl at the water's surface.
"You're not the only one who doesn't pay attention to lessons," he said with a chuckle, "And being a hunter wasn't what I thought I would be doing, either. I mean, it's not as... 'important', as you say, but it kind of gives me a lot of time to myself. It gives me a little bit more freedom, now that I think about it... I never really was interested in learning about the other roles, either. And if I get interested, I could always request to change in the future, I suppose."
He stared back at her, red eyes focused on the smaller, brown form. She seemed quite distressed, but he knew it shouldn't have been an actual concern of hers, so he wanted to calm her. It's not like she was disabled in any way, as far as he could tell.
"Maybe you haven't tried," he said encouragingly, "All my brothers and sisters are hunters, too, actually, except for Akhom, who went to be a scribe. And none of them particularly are good at anything. You'd probably be even better than them without trying."
Of course, he was exaggerating a little - but he did want to make Ak-kila feel better about herself.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 6:07 pm
Ak-kila felt a little comfort with him sitting next to him. She watched him with her eyes. No one ever comforted her. If something wrong happened to her usually she was told it was her own fault, which it usually was.
A warmth spread through her when he laid next to her and she felt her cheeks and ears warm up. When she was younger she always dreamed a situation like this, where a handsome male would just sit next to her, very romantically, and tell her how pretty she was and how perfect she was. This was a little different of course, but she couldn't help but feel embarrassed over the whole thing.
She watched his paw almost memorized as he twirled it in the water, until he attention fell back to Zuberi. "I think I could get better at hunting if I practiced some and maybe had a good teacher," she said as she thought about who she could get. "I would ask my mother, but I don't think she's much of a huntress. She is part of the royal family." She sat up as she thought on it some more.
Than she thought about her father. "My dad would probably be a great mighty hunter, but I've never met him. I was told that he's really powerful though. I wish that I could be more like him." She said with a laugh imagining her father that she's never met before. "I bet he would roll his eyes at me if he could see me hunt. I doubt I could catch even a hare at this rate."
Getting depressed she slumped back down. She really felt alone, despite how close Zuberi was to her. It never occurred to her that she had no one to properly teach her how to hunt until now. She just assumed she would be a natural at it. Her siblings were all good at something so she thought hunting would be the thing she was good at.
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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:27 pm
It was sad, how if Zuberi had been actually proud and efficient at his role, he could offer to teach Ak-kila. But it was simply out of his power - it wasn't like he was anywhere near being qualified at judging hunting aptitude like the vizier of the pride. This fact almost made him feel like he should've taken on another duty, but he was more firm-willed than that; if he was satisfied with hunting despite the fact that he may not be the best at it, he would stay hunting.
His head tilted when Ak-kila pondered over her situation; he nodded some times, acknowledging her and thinking himself. This girl had definitely spent some time thinking over her future and family; it was a pity Zuberi was simply... satisfied, or just comfortable with where he was at - Ak-kila had high aspirations and goals, which was almost inspiring to the lad.
However, it was apparent that she thought nothing of the sort - Zuberi noticed her sudden drop in attitude and energy again, and offered a small silence in lieu of not knowing what to do. She was so hard on herself!
"From what you said, you expect... a lot more from yourself. You want to achieve great things. It... inspires me," he told her, smiling - then he even started chuckling at the situation.
"Here I am, satisfied that I hunt - not even the biggest prey, mind you - and you are dissatisfied when it's not even your responsibility yet to hunt!" he said, as Ak-kila still had a few moons to go before she was fully acknowledged as an adult.
"From this knowledge, I think you will find success when you get older. You just have to be patient, I guess. And maybe we can hunt together one day. See how you do."
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Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:22 pm
"I- I inspire you?" She didn't feel like she had much to inspire. Sure she dreamed big, but doesn't everyone? Why strive to be average when you could be amazing? "I'm honored that I inspire you." She had a laugh at the thought. No one would believe that she could inspire someone else. She couldn't wait to tell her sisters.
As she listened to him, she found herself cheering up a little more and more. She smiled at him, showing her thanks. "You think I'll get better?" She got excited at the thought of being the greatest huntress in the pride. Slowly she begun to show her joyfulness on her face. She didn't have to be the best now, she could train and practice now, that way once she became an adult she would be the best. All the other hunters would be coming to her for advise. Her eyes twinkled at the thought.
"Thank you Zuberi!" she said completely differently than how she spoke before when she was down on herself. "I would love to go hunting with you, but only once I am a great huntress. That way I have a reason to strive to be better."
She stood up and stretched. "I think I might practice everyday to get better. That is the only way I'll get better right?" She assumed she would just be talented at hunting, but she wasn't and it was time to face the truth. Only hard work and dedication would get her better.
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 3:42 am
Zuberi nodded rather enthusiastically and oddly enough, felt a slight prideful feeling from lightening up Ak-kila's thoughts on the matter. He didn't expect the results of his aid or words to be that drastic, but if it made Ak-kila happy, he could go home feeling profoundly accomplished and as if he had done his good deed for the day. The girl was younger than him, true, and might have been more susceptible to naive thinking, but yet, he could tell she was wise for her years - perhaps even wiser than him.
He laughed at her last statements, putting a paw to his chest in surprise, saying, "Ah, then hopefully you will become the greatest huntress soon, or else I'll be out on a hunting partner!"
And when she got up, he reflected the movement and dashed towards his hare kill that he had set down before their conversation. He supposed enough time had passed for him to head back home now with this contribution to the family. Again, he nodded to Ak-kila's query.
"I think so," he said, tilting his head for the brief thought, "Hunting would be one of those things, huh. Well, I'll hope to see you come back with the largest antelope the pride's ever found one day. I'll see you later, Ak-kila!"
Giving her one last smile through the bloodied hare in his mouth, Zuberi started his pace back home, his mood a little more than better after the meeting with Ak-kila.
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:41 pm
She gave him a grin. "See you later." Before heading home she went further into the desert to see if she could catch a meal and bring it home. To her surprise she saw a gazelle. Quietly she watched it. She knew at the point she probably couldn't catch it yet. So instead of trying she decided to watch how it moved. Perhaps another day she would feel like practicing taking one down, for now she was rather content watching.
She imagined the future where she would be hunting along side Zuberi. She would be the best huntress around and he would be proud of her. It would be perfect. She let out a sigh as she though about it. Her and Zuberi side by side. Happy as can be. She felt her ears go warm. Together, she thought. Than she realized something. She felt something toward Zuberi. Something that wasn't friendship. Could this be the feeling of love? She shook her head at the thought. She was far too young, far too inexperienced to be feeling love. When she was younger she thought she was in love with every lion that gave her a moments notice, but now that she was older and slightly less compulsive she knew that a crush and love were two completely different things.
But still she would make him proud of her, one day.
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