[PRP] A new place ... [Sabia`N x ??]

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Winds had woken the lioness from her peaceful slumber, she was still not settled in completely and so she was again startled to see the sun setting and the moon already in the sky. Yet, it had been weeks, and many moons had passed where she had begun to share the night as day and day as night. trying to stifle a yawn she stood and pulled the front of her body into a large stretch. Once properly groomed and settled she pulled herself from her small home and found herself staring out into the world she had come to accept as her own.

"The moon does make the world a different place." She commented quietly to herself, she had stopped many times to admire the change it made. Things seemed darker, but prettier at the same time, as if the moon cloaked things in a deep, caring blue rather than black. Her worries had retreated when she saw her first evening and her worries were still gone. Even with all that had disrupted the usual way of things she still remained calm and gentle. She would not allow the sudden changes to make her change for any lion.

One more glance to the sky than she was off and moving. Upon entering the pride she took on the position of Guard, it was a unique experience going from royalty to with high expectations to Guard with some expectations, but very little pressure. Or at least she thought there was little pressure. What she did with her time was not as monitored, but she did suspect she was being watched at some point, by someone, just to keep an eye out on what the guards behaviors would be. This particular night she took to the outskirts of the pride to gain some further perspective of the lands she now wandered and as she greeted darker parts of the pride she thanked the moon for its light.  

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Tyfu had always preferred the night. It certainly helped that she had the fur for it, and now the night was inextricably linked in her mind with Shangyue's impressively ruthless coup d'etat. The lioness had been intrigued enough by the then-Prince to sign on - quietly! - to his uprising and had joined the Mwezi'Johari for that express purpose. And if she hadn't been at his right paw, the Guard liked to think that she had been one of his key lieutenants.

Had been.

Unfortunately, he'd put more of his trust in his Royal Guards than his regular ones. Which she could understand, but still! Was she not one of his oldest supporters? Hadn't she proven that she was willing to do anything he asked of her? Tyfu fumed inside at the unfairness that had caused her King to completely overlook her.

This generally did not make her the best person to be around. So when she saw another Guard simply wandering around in the moonlight, it didn't please her one jot.

"Lazing around, are you?" the dark lioness snarled at the lighter. "The night isn't getting any younger while you stare into space, you know!"  

[Ctrl F Greenie]

The pale lioness' ears flicked back towards another as she approached. Though she knew the lioness was there she had no idea the foul mood accompanied it. Sabia`Nafsi took this moment to turn around and gracefully meet eyes with the nasty sounding lioness and raise her brows in a startled expression, had she truly done something to wrong the pride? Was she wasting time? "Pardon me?" Her response was calm, collected and reaching out for an explanation. She had just woken and her duties would be done in a timely manner.

"I will see my duties through. I'm simply taking a chance to familiarize myself with these borders." Even if the lioness wouldn't offer something to her, Sabia was proper enough to give some form of clarity.  

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Yellow eyes narrowed at the resistance. That, in and of itself, was no problem and was even a good thing. But the insistence on politeness? That was just overrated and nothing Tyfu herself would have wasted time on, let alone a thought.

"Familiarize yourself?" she repeated, voice going dangerously soft. "If I remember correctly," and she usually did, "you joined the pride less than a moon after I did," which would have been midwinter, as opposed to their present high summer. "Half a year - or more! - is plenty of time to familiarize yourself."

The threat underlying Tyfu's voice was clear. The real question was how the white lioness would react...and what the black would do about it.  

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Red orbs gazed to the sky with a small plea than returned to the pair of yellow orbs which had begun to place judgement on her, this 'conversation' had just begun and Sabia had already found herself wishing she were somewhere else. The negativity flowing from the individual before her was beyond disturbing and she found herself inwardly trying to recall those lessons she had had during cub hood. The ones that had taught her patience and poise.

"Have you been wasting all that time, times of change, sitting at all border points memorizing them?" Those words, they were said with a polite manner, but with a nasty undertone. Had she thought about what she was about to say than she might have stopped it, but something had pushed past the barrier of thinking. "I sure have not been and am making up for the time I chose to use monitoring within the pride."

Anger had erupted in her peaceful world, polite anger.  

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Tyfu snorted in disgust. Half a year was more than enough time for any competent lion to not only memorize border posts but also to spend a decent amount of time keeping tabs within the pride. The fact that this idiot of a lioness hadn't managed to do both was an insult to their gender, their species, and the pride.

"The fact that you seem incapable of multitasking makes me wonder who allowed you to become a Guard," the black female retorted scathingly. Then again, it seemed that the Mwezi'Johari was laughably lax in far too many respects. Sadly, Shangyue's attention had been focused elsewhere, or Tyfu was certain he'd have done something about it.  

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The snort was absolutely appalling and looked simply hideous on the face of any lioness who chose to make that sound. It was simply disgraceful and Sabia had begun to wonder if perhaps she had chosen the wrong path. It was certainly a hard one and she knew she would need to make some dramatic changes to her lifestyle, but this was just simply rude.

"That is not at all what I said." She held her ground steadily, keeping her eyes on the others and simply trying to keep herself relaxed. Her anger was uncontrolled if it did happen, and she worried that if she got angry she would say the wrong thing, it would only embarrass her, not make her look threatening. "I have been multitasking, but chose which were priorities and which weren't. Not that it is your business, but it also took time to adjust to this living style." Excuses. Sabia knew she had just spit out excuses and yet again she could not control that. The young, inexperienced lioness found herself between a rock and a hard place. She wanted nothing more than to be left be and to work at her own pace, but that appeared as though it would not happen.

So she took this moment as a learning experience, what she would learn from it was beyond her though. "Besides all of that, what business have you out here that you've found me? It seems you've gone out of your way." Sabia hadn't meant to sound so nasty, but it simply blurted out that way, but she held still and firm.  

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What a prim little b***h. Tyfu could see the disgust on the other lioness' expression and frankly, shared it towards its owner. If there had ever been a female created as the black lioness' antithesis, this would certainly be her. Which didn't make this encounter any easier to bear.

"All it sounds like to me is that you've been a lazy bum incapable of resetting their sleep schedule within three days," she replied disparagingly. Really, three days was all it should take. It might require that the lioness stay up all night and all day to accomplish, but it could definitely be done.

"I," she emphasized quite clearly, "am one of His Majesty's lieutenants amongst the Guards. Which makes your failure mine to correct." That wasn't entirely true - Tyfu wasn't the Head Guard or anything and no one had actually said she had that kind of power. But in her experience, the simpering, whining, polite masses like this pale idiot tended not to question those who acted as if they had the authority.

Besides, her standing as one of Shangyue's early supporters was well known, and those who weren't inclined to question the King certainly wouldn't question someone like Tyfu.  

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This lioness must have been manifested from Sabia's nightmares, manifested as karma for having taken the night as her companion. She almost grumbled at the thought, this was completely an unbecoming moment, she was just simply losing herself. Only after taking a deep breath did she decide to speak again and hopefully with a little more thought this time.

"The King, no matter what he has done or caused, would not choose the likes of you as a higher rank." Sabia was thinking, though she hadn't realized how aggressive the tables had really turned. "He is aggressive and assertive, but would not waste his time squabbling with another member of the pride unless it served some form of purpose." Quietly Sabia sent up a silent prayer about what she had just said. The pale lioness knew very little about Shangyue, she knew what had happened and what the lion was guilty of, but time would not stand still for grief or decisions. "And, I'm sure, if he saw you standing about bickering with another Guard he would have both of us removed in a nasty manner."

She breathed, it was about all she could do at this moment. It also helped her wandering imagination as it began to go to the what ifs, as in: what if she struck me? And she could not have those thoughts while handling this argument, of course none of it would matter if she was actually challenging a Head Guard, or even a Royal Guard for that matter. Her innocence was dissipating, but kept her making some choices that perhaps a less sheltered lioness wouldn't make.

"Now why don't we both correct our failures and leave this conversation here in the dark." Where it belongs... The excitement Sabia felt at possibly moving was building, though the look on her face had become emotionless. Though she had made a request to end it, did not mean that it would end so easily.  

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Tyfu chuckled harshly. The white lioness appeared to be completely and totally unaware of who she was talking to. Sure, the black lioness' claims may have stretched the truth a wee bit, but that didn't discount the fact that she had joined the pride only after speaking with Shangyue personally and vowing to support him in the uprising.

"You may be right, I think he'd have preferred that I woke to the low class, so that I could be one of his Royal Guards," Tyfu admitted. "But you appear to be sadly misinformed on our relationship." Of course, it wasn't as close as she'd have liked, but that was an issue for another time and place.

"But I doubt that I'll come to any trouble over this," the dark lioness grinned, coming closer and closer to the light. "After all, who will you tell?" The last was said at such close range that the white lioness could smell Tyfu's breath before the black female withdrew once more...and left.

Sometimes, the art of threats required that one withdraw. But she'd come back. And the white lioness would just have to wonder when.  

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Light and dark. The pair were polar opposites and it would probably surprise few individuals of the sudden feud that seemed to blossom from between these two. Sabia inhaled deeply, this was it, had she started something more physical? When the dark lioness began to speak she exhaled, she had avoided a confrontation for the time being, but was not given a chance to speak.

Glad she was seated she breathed in deeply again, trying to remain calm. It was at this time that the lioness had begun speaking in lower tones with more twisted words. The words seemed to creep through the air and whisper right into Sabia's ear and dripping into her mind. The words were corrupt, ruthless and the pale lioness found her hackles rising to the call of possible defense.

Before she could move, before she could call out, before she could do anything fear had frozen her in her seat. The dark lioness was creeping closer and closer, a dangerous smile on her face that terrified Sabia more than anything. This can't be happening... She thought, but it was, she was truly existing in a nightmare. The face of her troubles was directly in front of hers now, she pulled her whiskers tighter against her face away from the others in an attempt to create space, but the dark lioness' breath was enough. Than she spoke, like a snake it slithered in the air and towards Sabia.

Who would I tell..

That was the last thought she had as the threat began to walk away. She was left with a hanging suspension that was thick in the space around her. Sabia took the moments after the dark lioness left to begin steadying her breath again, she would have to face her duties now and try to complete them without a shake in her step. Once relaxed, at least slightly, she stood and began walking slowly to her first destination. This would be a long day.