(AIM Log between Keantha and I.)
Scheherazade didn't know when she had begun to walk with her head high, but it felt good. In the warm sunlight, with her paw steps gliding over the dirt and crackled earth, the petite leopardess owned her life. At this point, there would be little chance that a Pad would come to steal her back to the pride, unless it was a lost Pesar. The fact was, she'd been on the run since the night she decided to leave, and the distance betweeen her pride and her physical body was just too great. She sighed, but kept walking. One day she might go back....just maybe...
Kupakwashe heaved a faint sigh as he lay streched out under a tree. Sabi had told him to not wander off, so he was going to stay put! The tip of his tail twitched over so often but that was the only movement from the big male. Under Sabia's not so tender care, the male had regained his former weight, the massive frame filled out to his true potential, though much to his mistress's disguest at times...he was still the same lost and gentle soul he had always been.
With a purposefully lazy stride, Scheherazade came across a great lion. Great meaning that he was easily twice her size, possibly more. She'd never seen a larger lion in all her life! Some part of her was scared of what he might do, seeing as he was the first rogue male she'd come this close to, but the other part didn't really care. She came closer, slipping under the shady tree as well and with an easy leap, hopped into the lowest branch to stretch out.
Kupa's odd violet eyes opened when he heard someone approuch. Tilting his head back he spied the leopardess and immedatly dropped his head back to his forelegs with a soft murmer, "Forgive me, shall I move from your shade?" Once he would have called her mistress, but he had a mistress that took care of him now, only she was allowed to have that title from him.
Scheherazade looked down from her new perch in the tree, opaque eyes widening with surprise at the sight of the male's actions. "It's as much mine as it is yours." She stated bluntly, but softly. Why was he acting so...odd?
A shy little smile came on his muzzle as he tried to make himself as low and flat as possible to not scare her. "Thank you lady."
"Why are you acting like that?" She asked curiously. In a delicate twist, Scheherazade place her head on her paw, her tail coiling around the branch.
"Like what miss?" Stripped ears flicked faintly as he looked up at her.
"Like I'm going to hurt you." She couldn't help smiling. He was so like a cub it was both adorable and painful. "If anything, it should be the other way around. You're big and I'm small; you're a male, and I'm a female."
He frowned puzzled as he looked at her, then looked horrorfied when she said he would hurt her. "No ma'am! I would never hurt anyone!" He hunched down as much as he could again, looking sad and nervous now.
Now that held her full attention, she couldn't help analyzing this large, red male. "Sit up straight. I never said that you were going to hurt me." She just had to remember that he was like a cub, or a whipped one, at least. "What's your name?"
At her tone, Kupa immedatly sat up straight, though he looked nervous. "Kupa ma'am. I belong to Sabia."
"You...belong to Sabia? Is Sabia your Pad?" That statement scared her to the core. It didn't matter that it was a male who was saying things like that; just the concept of ownership had her blood running cold.
Kupa smiled faintly, "What is a pad? Sabia is my mitress, she takes care of me and loves me." He was sure she did, in her own odd way, even if she did ramble off with other males and leave him alone at times.
"Where I'm from, a Pad is someone who is like Sabia, but a male. Your relationship would be reversed if you lived there." How very, very odd. A male who was under the command of a female? Who knew.
"Oh," Kupa looked confused but just nodded. Males ruled over females? What kind of madness was this? Females held the true power, it was they who decided when new life was to be brought forth. Females where the ones that nutured and taught. Shouldn't they be the ones in charge?
“Do you love her? Sabia, I mean.” Scheherazade rolled onto her back, slipping along the branch like a snake to get rid of a nagging itch. Her paws rested easily on her stomach, each little toe brushing up against her pure fur. “Or is she just your mistress?”
He looked confused, "Love? I do not know this word. She is my mistress and she protects me." Of course he did love the savage female, but he didn't know what it meant, only that he would die for her if she asked it of him.
Scheherazade supposed that was the most she was going to get out of this one; that she protected him and was his mistress. She sat up, stretching her front legs out in front of her before having a look around. “Is Sabia close? Is she coming to get you?”
He drooped more with a sad sigh, "No, she will not be back for some time. She said for me to stay here and she will come for me." Often she would go on long trips leaving the shy gentle male behind. Some might say it was because he was a liability to her, but Kupa didn't mind. She would always come back to him.
“Oh.” She lowered herself back down onto the branch, a large yawn slipping through her maw. “Would you…would you mind guarding me while I sleep? I…” As much as she wanted to, she just couldn’t say that she hated sleeping alone. It made her feel vulnerable, and the longer she talked to the larger male, the more she just wanted to nod off. “I’ll be gone before Sabia returns. Honest.”
He beamed brightly, "Yes lady! Gladly would I stand watch for you." He stood up tomove so he could see better. She had an idea he was massive when e waslaying down but standing...well good thing she already knew he was harmless or it might be a scarey thought he was so close
If she hadn’t already closed her eyes, Scheherazade would have moved to a higher branch. As it stood, she just gave him a smile while she wriggled into a more comfortable position. “Thank you, Kupa.” And with that, she gave in to the first peaceful sleep she’d ever had in the rogue lands.
(WC: 1,155)
