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 Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:32 pm
Aysu had company in her den and while this normally was something she could handle by herself, she figured she'd already made a very odd impression on the lioness and the best- and only- other lion she would even want to admit to having invited a strange into the pride to was Mazin.
Of course, she also had ulterior motives.
She'd told Iei to clean herself up a bit so they could go out and look around the pride so she could get a better feel for it while she went to get a companion for them to take along. So she'd left, hoping Iei would be more presentable, and was now on her way back with a rather confused Mazin. Mazin was spending a lot of his time, suddenly, with his cousin Aysu. She seemed to be clinging to a lot of the guilt she had confessed to over the gossip she had started about him and Selene, and while he truly had mixed feelings on that topic, he was grateful to have someone around to call a friend. Even his siblings were a bit hard to deal with but there was something about Aysu.
However, when she showed up that morning and told him she'd invited a rogue in and needed his help to show her around.. he wasn't sure what to think. On the one paw, she shouldn't have been anywhere near rogues and the more lions there were to initiate tomorrow night, the more stressful Stellaluna's job would become.. right?
Most unsettling was the way she said it, he could tell when she wasn't saying everything on her mind now and this was one of those times.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:40 pm
 Ieiunium patted the last stray furs into place. It had been so long since she'd been truly clean, and the difference it made! At the very least, she felt less like everyone in the pride's lands was staring at her. Aysu had gone off somewhere, and had been evasive - for Aysu - about what it was. The grey lioness had no real idea where or what the black lioness was up to and she was afraid to ask. She might just find out. Still, it was so odd, waking up in a pride. Even if it was just temporary. She did have to admit that it was nice to not have to sleep with one eye open.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:55 pm
"You have no reason to look so nervous, Mazin," she muttered as they neared where she had left Ieiunium, "It's not like she knows who you are or what's been going on lately, you can relax a little bit, nothing bad will happen!"
He really did need to chill out a bit.
"Iei!" she called when she spotted her new rogue friend, picking up the pace. She looked very nice now she was cleaned up, which could only help her as they took a look around. Aysu certainly wouldn't like being around a bunch of strangers while looking like a mess, and not looking like a mess was an added bonus of being around a pride where you could be safe and take the time to take care of yourself without worrying that it might mean going hungry.
"You clean up very nice," she commented brightly.
Mazin sighed when Aysu scolded him for looking so nervous, but it was his default setting lately. He tried to take what she said to heart, this really was a stranger who didn't know anything about him and so could hardly be so judgmental.. but he was still a slave and explaining that to someone you'd never met could get awkward even with someone who understood the system.
"If you say so," he said, watching her hurry off to meet an unfamiliar dappled gray lioness. He didn't hurry but he couldn't help but stare as he walked closer. He was within earshot when Aysu was boldly telling the lioness she cleaned up nicely.. and he shook his head.
Sometimes life would have made more sense if Aysu was in the high class, the way she was.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:59 pm
Iei looked up as her name was called. She hadn't been surprised when Aysu discovered the nickname on her own - it was the best way to shorten Ieiunium. She wasn't entirely thrilled at the black lioness' statement about cleaning up nice, but she was starting to get the idea that subtlety was a foreign language to this soon-to-be-mother.
She was surprised, however, when Aysu came around with a grey male. Clearly another member of the pride, but she wondered what the black lioness intended by bringing him.
"Good morning," she greeted her hosts.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:13 pm
Aysu beamed at Iei and the back to Mazin, stepping aside so she could properly introduce him.
"This is Mazin, he's my cousin," she explained cheerily, "I've asked him to come along with us, he'll help in case I forget anything really important." The only awkward thing would be when they had to go introduce her to the king and queen and explain why she was here right now. Maybe Mazin could sit that one out.
"Pleased to meet you," Mazin said politely, though it was evident he had far less confidence than his cousin did. He had been taught to be polite and had learned over time it was best to keep his thoughts to himself much of the time because he was an easy target to argue with needlessly since he was a slave.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:51 am
Ah, a cousin. That was...better, she supposed. Then again, from what she'd heard, some prides were almost entirely made up of cousins and would be in serious trouble if not for the former rogues accepted into their ranks. The grey lioness fought down a sudden surge of fear. Aysu hadn't invited her in for that reason...had she? Images of being tempted by a perfectly lovely young male, followed by imprisonment for the sake of unborn children raced through Iei's mind. It was true that Aysu didn't seem like the type, and though her cousin Mazin seemed less invested in the rogue lioness, he didn't look to be trying to trap her...
Iei took a couple deep, slow breaths, trying to calm her racing heart.
"It's very nice to meet you, Mazin," she replied politely, still a bit breathless. "I'm Ieiunium." She thought about asking where they were going, but decided she'd really rather not know before they got there. Still, she was nervous about being in a pride's lands now that she was awake. She wanted to be gone and free.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:15 am
"Alright then," she said, still beaming, "Where would you like to go first? The waterhole would be a good place to get an idea of how many lions are around and see some of them in action, but I don't know how long we should wait before making sure the queen knows there's a guest here."
She looked from Iei to Mazin as if he might have the answer. It had to be fine to walk around with a couple pride members for a little while, right?
Mazin shrugged, unsure what exactly he was supposed to say.
"That's really all there is to see, isn't it?" he asked, frowning a bit. The land here was quite flat and bare, it allowed for a good view of the sky and that was the most important feature. There were paths towards the mountains but they were on a border, there were places to go to look for food but they didn't need to take a guest hunting.. and there were places to find special plants that Mazin wouldn't have any knowledge of if he hadn't been so close to Selene.
No, the really interesting things in the pride were the members.
"What did Aysu tell you about us already?" he asked, a little more boldly than normal but comfortable enough around Aysu and a stranger.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:22 am
Iei simply kept her mouth shut and watched as Aysu and Mazin determined where they would be going. It wasn't as if she had any idea as to what was in the pride. She was nervous though when the black lioness mentioned a Queen. Did she have to meet the person in charge? All she'd wanted was a place to sleep, nothing more!
Then Mazin actually asked the rogue lioness a question. A quiz, as it were. "Um..." She thought back on the previous night. "She said that your pride is about the moon, that you believe it's the eye of a great lion." She forbore to mention that there were far more gods out there and the question she'd asked last night that Aysu had answered with a blank face.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:36 am
So long as Iei did not argue, Aysu was perfectly content to assume she was still interested in taking a look around- but she was also slowly deciding they didn't really need to tell anybody about it for a while as long as they kept an eye on her. She was definitely not dangerous.
"The best way to learn more would be to lion-watch or ask us questions," she said, looking back and forth between her companions.
Mazin only nodded when Iei explained what Aysu had told her.. and it was obvious Aysu hadn't told her very much. It was the biggest thing but how the pride lived by that was important and she apparently had no idea about it. He looked over to Aysu when she continued to push the waterhole idea- but at least she wasn't suggesting finding a priest to talk to. He'd noticed Iei looked a little worried at the mention of the queen. And she already seemed really uncomfortable and she was only with a slave and lower-middle class huntress.
"Did you want to go for a walk?" he asked.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:44 am
Lion-watching might be a fine pasttime for a lioness in a pride, but Aysu didn't seem to realize that as a wandering rogue, Ieiunium hadn't ever been around more than a handful of other lions at any one time. As for asking questions? She wasn't particularly interested in joining the pride, so why would she want to know more about it? All she'd wanted, as she'd said before, was a place to sleep. But Aysu was apparently convinced that Iei wanted to join her pride.
Luckily her cousin Mazin seemed to be more...observant. "Not really, no," she admitted quietly. At least not everyone in this pride was like Aysu. That was...promising. For her sanity.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:56 am
Aysu frowned, clearly disappointed. Iei had let her go off to get someone else to walk around with and now she wasn't even wanting to take a look. It would be extremely disappointing if she had been tricked into letting someone stay the night-- again.
Mazin could almost feel the change in Aysu, though she only looked disappointed.. but that didn't mean it was a good idea to force a stranger to wander around a pride when she didn't want to.
"Did you have any questions?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:03 am
Iei shifted awkwardly as she noticed the pregnant lioness' frown. She hadn't meant to let Aysu down, but it hadn't exactly been her idea to come here anyway. She hadn't known there was a pride around until she'd stumbled into Aysu. Not to mention that the grey lioness had not once cared to join a pride - large numbers of strangers made her nervous. Trapped. The rogue lioness loved to run, fast and free. A cage was what she feared most in the world. Especially ones with bars of flesh and intangible chains of love.
Mazin's voice brought her out of her reverie. Questions? She supposed she could ask the same one about gods as last night - she had a feeling Mazin might be less clueless than Aysu, but she supposed it would be cruel, if this great lion was so important to them.
"Well...knowing a bit about your religion doesn't tell me much about your people," she offered tentatively.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:22 am
"No, I didn't expect you got much from that," he said carefully, knowing it might come across the wrong way to Aysu.. but there was no changing the facts about how little what she told Iei really said about their whole pride and if she wasn't comfortable walking around, talking about it was better.
"What do you want to know?" he asked, "Life here revolves around the Great Lion, for everybody, that's why it's the most important thing to tell strangers. The Great Lion watches over our pride so long as we are together, but He favors some over others. The lions He watches over most protectively make up the high class, which is where the shaman and the monarchy must rank."
Aysu kept on frowning as Mazin began to explain some of how the pride class system worked, explaining the way the pride was governed.
"The shaman is the religious leader of the pride, the king and queen are the political leaders," she added, "The rest of the pride is broken up into classes, which determine what job we may take but we generally intermingle."
She hesitated.
"Or we did until fairly recently, it's a little more complicated for slaves, now."
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:05 pm
Favoritism, eh? Must suck for those the great lion didn't favor. And she wasn't sure she cared to hear that this pride kept slaves. Were those lions born without their god's favor, or were they simply battle loot like in other prides?
She doubted that this pride would be so foolish as to say that those born outside of the pride's lands who willingly joined had to be slaves. It was interesting to hear that the religious leader was considered as important as the monarchs, that the three together ruled the pride.
"Slaves?" she asked. It was interesting that Aysu had brought it up, if something had recently made this...complicated.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:24 pm
Mazin shuffled his feet a little bit when Iei picked up the slavery thing, though he knew it was a big deal. If there weren't rogues joining all the time, he might never have realized just what a big deal it was, though. There were many reasons to be unhappy with being a part of the low class but it could be far worse in other prides who kept slaves.
"Those lions who don't have the blessing and protection of the Great Lion are members of the lowest class and can only be slaves," he explained, "They are not allowed to leave because the pride views it as their duty to keep them safe to make up for their lack of spiritual protection, but to earn the protection of the pride, they have to be as helpful as possible to any and all members of the pride above them."
It was clear he was almost reciting a speech given to him.
"If the Great Lion is asleep on the night you are born, there is no hope of having gained any of his attention or favor," she explained, "I mentioned last night that the most blessed members of the pride are born under a full moon. Slaves are born when the moon is gone."
She glanced to Mazin and back to Iei before continuing, she'd cut in before Mazin could be questioned about his rehearsed sounding speech but she knew the next most logical question was where they stood.
"I was born under a crescent moon, the Great Lion was watching but not very closely," she explained, "I am part of the lower-middle class and can only be a huntress."
"I was born under a new moon," Mazin added in a quiet voice, deciding it was best that he himself finish his full introduction, "I rely on the pride to keep me safe because the Great Lion does not watch over me and so I am a slave."
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