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 Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 4:18 am
 Blood seeped sluggishly from the wound across his muzzle, pain flaring as Raskogr roughly swipped at it with his front paw. Damn his brothers!! Fangs grit he eyed the stream before him, having nearly tripped over it in his distracted, pain-edged wandering. It certainly hadn't been the first time his older brothers had drawn blood, but this was one of the deepest wounds he had received so far. The pain made his eyes water. There was nothing glorious in this! Why would anyone willingly go through this every day? Which it seemed his brothers were hell bent on doing. Every single day they fought, or 'sparred' as they called it. Sneering Raskogr eyed the chilled surface of the stream again. "Pointless." He growled, narrowing his eyes as a drop of blood fell to turn the stream briefly pink before it was washed away.
"Fighting is pointless."
All it had ever gotten him was beaten up, and already he was collecting several scars from his brothers more determined blows. "Playing? As if." Taking a deep breath he screwed his eyes shut and plunged his head into the water, resisting the urge to cry out at the bitter chill that stung him even through his thick fur. Gradually the sting eased, his wound throbbing in time with his heart. Only when it was his lungs that had started to ache did he lift his head free, shaking roughly to dislodge the tiny pinpricks of biting cold that clung to his face. Sucking in a deep lungful of air he waited for the stream to calm again before inspecting his wound. it bled less heavily now, though still seeped slightly. It would do.
Snorting in disgust the adolescent turned away from the stream, intent on getting as far away from his hateful siblings as he possibly could.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:06 am
 Probably Raskogr would have preferred not to have a witness to his little self-pity session, but Seqineq hadn't exactly planned on him being by the stream when she was. Still, she kept back and out of sight as he waded morosely into the chilly water, doing her best to give him some semblance of privacy without actually leaving, which her curiosity wouldn't permit.
When he stayed under and stayed under and stayed under, Seqi wondered if she ought to attempt a rescue, but just as she was about to creep from her hiding place the brown lion broke the surface and took a deep breath. She wondered if it had been on purpose, or if he'd been attempting to drown, but been overwhelmed by his body's desire to live.
Somehow he still hadn't seen her - or at least he hadn't acknowledged that he'd seen her - and he turned away from the stream, which presented a problem. Seqi wanted to ask him what he had been doing, but since he had not said anything to indicate he was aware of her presence, she would have to admit to basically spying on him. Ugh. Fine.
She emerged from her vantage point, making no effort at stealth, and pursued the sodden lion, calling after him, "Hey!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:28 am
There was a reason Raskogr was now starting to sport the marks of his bigger, burlier brothers. he had no awareness. Not of danger, not of his surroundings.. making him incredibly easy to sneak up on. Something his siblings loved to take advantage of and which Raskogr himself had grown to despise deeply. Had he known he was being watched, he could at least have pretended to be unaffected by it, or could have avoided the embarrassing situation altogether. Warriors were supposed to wear their scars proudly. But Raskogr hated his, and they ached in the cold nights, preventing him sleeping properly.
The sudden voice behind him not only surprised the skinny adolescent, but forced an undignified yelp from him as he leaped sideways, spinning round in a less than graceful fashion to confront his attacker. It took a moment for his wide blue eyes to settle on Seqineq, recognition appearing within them, rapidly followed by confusion and then annoyance, though he made an admirable effort to conceal that last emotion. Soma had made him very well aware of his betrothal to the little cream-coloured cub he had met some time ago, and ever since then she had been lecturing him on the appropriate behaviour he must display towards the female. Usually he ignored his mother, but he couldn't help but have the instructions ingrained in his mind after all this time of listening to the same sermons repeated time and again. Reluctant or not, he managed to school his features, so at least he wasn't scowling at her like he usually did at his brothers after such a fright.
Nevertheless, his control was not good and he scowled at her after a moment, well aware that he looked like a drowned cub with his still-emerging mane flattened about his head and shoulders, and blood dripping from the end of his nose. "Seqineq." He greeted, his voice more grunt than spoken word, blue eyes flicking from her to the stream and back again. "What are you doing here?" There was more accusation in his tone than his mother would have approved of, but he couldn't very well un-speak the words, so instead he added quickly. "I didn't see you..." Of course he hadn't, she had made him jump a mile in the air like a preybeast! Wincing he wanted to smack his head against something hard, for now not only did he look stupid, he sounded stupid. This was why he didn't talk to anyone. Ever. He was no good at it.
Princess_Feylin I forgot to say I'm playing him as an adol this time around. X3 Figured we could jump ahead a bit age wise.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:37 am
Seqineq sighed softly at Raskogr's yelp. She had brothers and she didn't really have to work too hard to guess where his cuts had come from. She also didn't have to work particularly hard to figure out why he had them. People who yelped were just asking for other people to beat up on them. Everyone knew that.
In truth, if he hadn't been her betrothed, Seqi wouldn't have cared much one way or the other if Raskogr's siblings beat up on him. But they were going to marry one day, and Seqi hated the thought of being married to a lion who was afforded no respect. It would certainly reflect poorly on her and any cubs they had. She would just have to make the best of him. It! Make the best of it!
"Raskogr."
Seqi offered a tight smile that showed she had noticed his resentment, but she was choosing to ignore it as long as he didn't become unpleasant. She hesitated for a moment before speaking again, choosing to ignore his question and his ridiculous statement of the obvious in favor of satisfying her curiosity.
"It is a good day to die, but speaking as someone whose future will be permanently affected should you choose to do so, I would like to request that you die in a manner slightly less pathetic than suicide by drowning."
It had been meant to come across as funny, but as she closed her mouth Seqi wondered if she just sounded like a stone-hearted nag. Ugh!Tanakako Adol is fine. Seqi would still behave as she did.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 8:01 am
Well, he certainly hadn't expected that from her. He remembered her as an annoying but weirdly cute cub that asked to be sacrificed, and in the intervening period he had seen her periodically about the pride and had been secretly and pleasantly surprised by how well she was growing up. She seemed to know what she was doing with her life, and had this... air about her. He couldn't quite put his paw on what it was, but it certainly made a few of the other young adolescents look at her longer than Raskogr was comfortable with. He didn't know it, but what he felt was a possessiveness towards her. She was his.
Her words made him forget his annoyance as he looked at her, his expression clearing as confusion reigned. He wasn't a bad looking male all told, when he wasn't scowling so feirsly. Something that others might have noticed had he ever stopped doing so in front of them. Flicking an ear he glanced at the river, one brow lifting. "You thought I was... trying to drown myself?" The growing incredulity in his voice was obvious, unlike the first smile he had ever gifted her with as it briefly appeared on his maw. His blue eyes searching her expression for the truth. "I was soaking the cut. To stop the bleeding." He explained, making a short motion with his paw towards the fresh-looking mark across his muzzle.
Something else she had said caught his attention. ' ..someone whose future will be permanently affected..'. So.. she hadn't forgotten. He was surprised to realise this fact, and could only look at her, slowly digesting this strange fact. He had assumed she would have, considering how many more suitable males there were in the pride. The barely-there smile that had appeared a moment ago returned, a little stronger, a little brighter.
She had remembered him.
Princess_Feylin Seqineq is hilarious! And I feel so badly for her being stuck with Raskogr. XD
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 8:35 am
Fortunately, it seemed Raskogr was not completely devoid of humor, and had picked up on the fact that she wasn't actually that much of a b***h. Truly, Seqi would not have liked anyone to think she was a b***h. This applied doubly to the lion she would one day wed, as that would undoubtedly result in an unhappy marriage for her.
"You stayed under the water for a long time," she pointed out with a sly smirk. She was teasing him now. "And how am I to know what was going through your head? You might've had a whole elaborate thing planned out that included your rotting corpse poisoning the stream to get revenge on the lions who wronged you."
She considered this plan she had imagined for him and went on, "You shouldn't do that. Not only is it a cowardly way to die and a cowardly way to get revenge, but it will make you an ugly corpse and I think I could learn to like your smile if you don't turn into an ugly corpse."Tanakako Aww! He's kind of adorable secretly.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 8:52 am
He listened to her, not entirely sure he felt ok with having been watched for that long. But... it was Seqineq, and they would be married one day. If anyone was going to watch him soak a cut and look like an ungodly bedraggled mess after, it was her. His brow rose as she outlined what could have been a very gruesome death. His smile was a full grin now, a shadow of the cub she had first met appearing out from under the gangly adolescent he was now. "You really do have a talent for dramatic deaths, don't you." He replied, recalling their failed attempt at sacrificing her when they were younger. In hind sight he was glad it had failed, he would have been disappointed not to have her as his wife...
"Though it is a good plan." He returned ruefully, fairly impressed with her taste for the macarb. Poisoning the river would have been a fairly effective way to get revenge, after all. Cowardly or not. "It was my brothers, so revenge would be wasted anyway, they would glory in my demise I am sure." Shrugging he moved forwards, closing what gap had been between them, feeling far more relaxed now after the fright she had given him earlier.
Like his smile? Again she surprised him. He had assumed that she barely tolerated his presence, but not only had she remembered him, and appeared to care not only on if he died, but how he managed it... she liked his smile? Blinking at her he had no idea how to reply, finally ending up with. "I don't think I'd like being an ugly corpse... Not that I'll ever make a handsome one." He had been told that often enough by his bigger brother, big meant handsome, thin was ugly. Raskogr had long ago given up trying to compete with his older siblings, and was undoubtedly thinner than the pair of them. It didn’t bother him though. Anyone who went for looks over brains deserved the trouble they won for themselves. Ragnvard was not a lion Raskogr particularly wanted to be around.
"You would make a very pretty corpse.." He commented, immediately wishing he could take ti back. Not because it wasn’t true, but because he once again sounded like a complete idiot around her. Ugh.. why did she make him so tongue-tied?
Princess_Feylin It is purely her influence on him. XD
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 9:21 am
"Do I?" Seqineq asked, startled by the question. Having forgotten about their first meeting, she had no idea how he was drawing this conclusion about her, and she wasn't sure how she felt about him thinking she had a talent for dramatic deaths, of all things.
"It is not a good plan," she said firmly, although she couldn't help being a little pleased that he'd been impressed by her spur-of-the-moment idea. She was grinning as she informed him, "If you decide to end your life, you will do so in battle so that you can go to the good afterlife and I won't have to continue living with the shame of a betrothed who died with flowers in his blood. Is that understood?"
Her good humour evaporated quickly at his stumbling attempts to play off the ugly corpse idea she had put forth. Initially because it seemed to her like he was fishing for compliments about his looks, which she was not going to give him when both of them knew he was hardly the Stormborn ideal. Then she was just irritated at how clumsy he'd been at attempting to turn the whole thing into a compliment, because it came across as all kinds of skeevy.
"Thank you," she said, shards of ice creeping into her voice. "I'll try to take that in the spirit in which it was intended."
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:29 am
His gaze studied her, seeing her blank expression at his words. So, she didn't remember that day. Well, never mind, he couldn't very well explain it to her now, he would just look silly, or worse, as if he had cared about remembering something so insignificant as meeting his betrothed for the first time, never mind neither of them had been aware of such at the time.
Huffing with indignation he shook his head. "I have no plans to die any time soon. And when I do it certainly won't be in any such manner. I have already decided I will be a Lawspeaker, and eventually First Speaker. So there will be no pointless battles for me." Regarding her with his sharp blue gaze he kept his head high. This was the first time he had spoken his plan aloud, and to her of all folk. But it didn't matter what she thought of the idea, he was set on his course.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:58 am
He was going to be a lawspeaker? That was news to her, and it changed some things fairly significantly. She had known, thanks to her brothers' teasing reports, that Raskogr was never going to grow up into a famous reaver, and she had been trying to resign herself to that fact, but if he had a goal in mind, something lofty like first speaker...well now. That was something else.
"That's good to know," she said, still considering the possibilities and how they changed her own plans. The wife of a lawspeaker led a different life than the wife of a reaver or a captain. She would be expected to know different things. She would also be in charge of teaching her cubs the basics of battle, which was almost certainly for the best in this case.
"What could I do to be helpful to you in that?" she asked. "Not that I'm promising to do anything, mind, but I'm curious. I'm also curious about who you'll train with. Not all lawspeakers are equal, after all, and if you're going to be first speaker, you'll have to train with the best from the beginning."
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 1:49 pm
Still smarting from her cold words a moment ago, and prickly from embarrassment, her sudden interest in his future goals was, disconcerting. Eyeing her for a long moment he tried to sense if there was any artifice in her tone, but she seemed genuine, once again friendly and interested in him. Puzzled he replied slowly, voice cautious. "I've already started to talk to Lawspeaker Bjartur. Since none of my family have anything to do with the Lawspeakers, I've been finding out what I need to do to become an apprentice. Bjartur has agreed to take me on, provisionally. He is one of the older Lawspeakers. Once I have completed my basic training with him I intend to go to the First Speaker and apprentice to him." Not that he had been able to find out who that was, Bjartur had simply told him to have patience. That he would find out when the time was right, but Raskogr was suspicious of the old lion. Not enough to refuse to apprentice to him, but wary none the less.
As to her first question, he had no idea what she could do to help... Pausing he considered the problem for a moment, "Lawspeakers need to know the pride, what is going on and such. If I had someone to listen around and report back to me, I will be able to cover more ground, so to speak. There is only so many places I can be, after all." If he could get her to spy for him, he would know more of what was happening in the pride, and thus, would be less likely to be caught unawares by some big event... At least that was his theory.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 6:07 pm
"That sounds like a good plan," she admitted.
Seqineq didn't know much about lawspeakers. She had no idea which would be the best of them, but she would make it a point to find out after this. It seemed like it would be prudent, all things considered. There would be many things she had to learn, but that would be a good starting point. Her parents might be able to advise her further.
"I won't spy for you," Seqi told her betrothed, hoping that by putting it in these plain words he would understand that she was serious in saying so and would not ask her again to do such a thing. "Gossip is a bard's trade, and if you wish to take up that calling, you will have to ferret out your own information."
In reality, Seqi rather liked bards. She liked their stories and songs and colorful insults. But they were not respected in the same way that lawspeakers were, and part of that was because it was, in fact, among a bard's duties to be mindful of gossip. Liking bards didn't mean she would willingly turn into a spy for one. She would rather listen to a thousand poorly composed ballads than acquire a reputation for tale-telling.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 1:51 pm
Once again she surprised him, her words kind and, he thought, approving, struggling to suppress another smile and fairly sure he had failed. At least until she spoke again, refusing to spy for him. Which didn't actually bother him, she had been the one to suggest she could help, if she didn't want to, he was no worse off than he had been a moment ago. What annoyed him was the assumption she made after, that he was interested in meaningless gossip.
Pinning his ears he frowned. “Why would I be interested in gossip?” He grumped, annoyed by the very idea of listening to so much pointless prattle. He didn't care who was doing what or what so-and-so thought about their best friend. No. He wanted actual useful information. It made sense that she wouldn't realise the difference between important news and gossip. After all, she wasn’t going to be a Lawspeaker so she had no reason to look into the role.
"I have no interest in the bard's trade." He added, just so they were clear. Bards were all well and good as part of the pride, but he had yet to hear one that interested him, or really see the point of them. Though they were perfectly useful in entertaining the reavers between Vikings. He hated to imagine the chaos that would ensue if the reavers grew bored and turned their brutish attentions on their own homeland.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 2:39 pm
Seqineq's ears flicked back signaling her annoyance with his question.
"Asking me to listen around the pride and report back to you sounds a great deal like you're asking me to spy and spread gossip," she informed him a little more acerbically than was necessary, perhaps, but she wanted to drive this point home.
It seemed, however, that he really wasn't interested in gossip. He was just terrible at expressing himself, as she'd already had some opportunity to observe. She wasn't sure how well that would work out for him as a lawspeaker, but she didn't know any lawspeakers well enough to say whether they were actually good at communicating or not. Maybe as long as they could remember the laws and the lineages, their people skills were irrelevant. Which kind of explained the need for bards, actually.
"Can you even sing?" she asked, accompanying her change of topic with a half-smile to let him know she was once again trying to be funny.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 3:11 pm
Her comment didn't deserve a verbal response, so instead he rolled his eyes, shaking out his growing mane in annoyance. Gods but she was exhausting! He didn't understand her and trying to to do so only seemed to confuse him further. It would be best not to bother trying. But oddly he found he didn't resent her mystery as much as he had expected to. That half smile she gave him..... surfice to say that he wouldn't mind seeing it a little more. And even surprised himself by returning it after a moment, blue eyes returning to her as if drawn against his will.
"Not at all. Last time I tried I think I killed the nearby birds with it."
She was maddening, infuriating and spoke to him like he was thick in the head, but she was as intriguing as she was unknowable. And he couldn't help but want to figure her out.
However for the moment he needed space to get his head clear again, to recover after the mental assult she never failed to wreak upon him. It was disturbing how much her opinion actually meant to him, he wasn't used to considering another person's feelings when he interacted with them. And curbing his usually sharp tongue was utterly exhausting.
Dipping his head to her in some semblance of politeness, he paused, but could come up with nothing to say in farewell. "It was good to see you Seqi.." He finally offered, for once speaking the truth though it was hard to tell by the tone of his voice, which remained mostly unaltered.
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