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 Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:22 pm
I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be doing this.
He repeated those words, over and over, inside his head. It was certain death for him, walking back here. Back home, a slave that was sent away but came back anyways was always killed for being disobedient. No one payed attention to the loyalty that really lay behind the urge that drove exiled slaves back to where they came from.
Ash sighed. Though he had been a cub when he had escaped his first taste of slavery, it was all in his blood and genes, and the slave ways had been engraved in his brain nearly since birth. He couldn't abandon those ways, even if he wanted to. That female... she had been his new master, and, having grown a lot since that first meeting, he had gained a great sense of responsibility towards her. Despite her telling him to stay away, he went back because he was a slave and he was meant to serve.
Flicking his tail slightly, the oddly-colored lion sank down to his belly then lazily rolled onto his side. He was hiding a bit behind a random shrub, but it wasn't much cover. Way out here, plant life was scarce, and whatever was there was very thin and ugly. Hardly a hiding spot. But, it was enough for him and so he uneasily closed his eyes...
Then he slept.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:24 am
The rocks were dry and hot beneath her paws, as the small white child strolled down their edges. It was a warm, dusty day- not that it was particularly unusual for the typically hot and dry landscape. As she moved, faint flecks of red dabbled onto the hard stone- and the white female paused briefly for a moment to rub her chin. It stung, particularly with some of the sand grating into it. The blood smeared across her white face, and already began to brown in the sun.
The claw marks were unmistakenable, but she didn’t seem too troubled by them; although her mind was already replaying the events. (We’ll put red on you-) Faintly, the small female smiled, and shook them away. Kaanga was very good at forgetting things that troubled her. “Faa–.” she said incoherently, and scrambled down the rocky edges, the end of her tail swaying behind her narrow hips. “–laa.”
Father wouldn’t be too happy to find her out this far. But, for the moment she was a bit lost in straggled thought, and her face seemed lightened by the mid-day sun. It was only then, beside a poorly shaped shrub, that she noticed the collapsed form of a long male.
Kaanga squeaked, and bit her lip as she idled on the warm stones. Who was that? Not firekin- that was for sure. Nervously she shifted her eyes. She might not have been bright, but she knew that it wouldn’t bode to well if an adult found this male sleeping on the lands. Breathing a hot intake of air, she swallowed it up and scrambled down the dusty rocks, and towards the male.
It was hard to say whether innocence or a lack of intelligence made her brave.
“Hello-“ she squeaked, and curled the end of her tail as she pawed his large snout. “Kaanga wants you to wake up, uh?” Kaanga rambled, and rubbed herself affectionately against his head. “You can’t be sleeping here you know. No one sleeps out here.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:49 am
Dreams... nightmares...
The latter haunted him more, particularly more now that he was almost fully grown and actually had a true sense of responsibility. His slave blood was running hot every day and, without a master to tell him what to do, he simply felt lost. It was that same blood that had droven him here, back to the place that he had met that fiery female that had let him free without him serving any true time as her slave. But why? No master ever did that.
But that was all forgotten now as his nightmare grew worse. At first he had been wandering aimlessly in some fiery land. It was dark and spooky, but he continuously walked further and further into it. Yet suddenly he was caught off guard. Something had leapt out at him from the darkness and was now clawing at his face, using its full weight to pin him down against the hot ground that singed his fur. But he didn't squirm. His heart beat like never before, but he didn't fight back. This was his punishment... his punishment for--
"Aah!" he squealed, opening his eyes wide and flicking his tail once. He didn't jump, though, as he had learned to take abuse without saying or doing much. But this 'attacker' wasn't clawing at him. She was... rubbing against him.
"Uhm... I'm terribly sorry, miss. I--I uh..." Stuttering wasn't acceptable. Stuttering wasn't acceptable.
"Your Majesty," he tried again, this time calling her by a higher name due to her almost perfectly white coat. "I'm sorry to have trespassed on your lands. I know sorry isn't enough, though, so, please, punish me as you will."
And with that he simply lay there, awaiting his punishment.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:12 am
“Aah!” Kaanga shrieked and fell backwards, rolling onto her back and kicking her small feet outwards. It had been a compulsive response to the male’s flailing- and once he was breathing in surprise, Kaanga allowed herself to calm and took to soft giggling. With his head still in reach, she reached upwards and lightly nudged his nose with her back leg.
Her soft giggles continued, before finally she took a sigh, and relaxed herself. “Your majesty?” She smiled, and batted her bright yellow eyes. “Hehe- no ones ever called Kaanga that before. My daddy- he’s the king, not I.” And while all this was indeed rather funny for the small cub, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat nervous once he started in with the punishment talk. Why would she punish him? How could she anyways?
“I’m Kaanga.” She remarked, although she had already said her name in the third person twice. “Why would I punish you? Nothing to punish, although sleeping out here is not good for you. You’ll get heat stroked- that’s what they say.” she babbled, her eyes flickering.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:32 am
Ashki widened his eyes slightly when the female told him that her father was the king. That wouldn't go over well. Slave masters he could deal with, but kings? The last pride he had been in, their king wasn't so much the mingling type and so gave orders out and such to the lions of the pride, he himself simply stowing away and relaxing all day. But he had heard of the lions around here. They were more... hands on.
What if this white Kaanga turned him over to her father? Would he be killed? Sighing, he lowered his head and let his round ears fall back slightly. Death, he realized, wasn't really what he feared. Rather, it was the reason for death. He wouldn't want to die simply because he had been disobedient. That was the worst for a slave.
Glancing up at her a little, Ash tilted his head slightly. "I've trespassed, miss. Normally that's reason enough for punishment. Plus, I was disobedient. Where I come from, a slave being disobedient is the worst. Death is normally the penalty for that." He spoke smoothly and his voice never faultered. It was amazing how he regarded these things the way he did.
"But, since you have given your name, it's only right for me to give mine," he began, standing on his paws then lowering his front ones in a bow of sorts. "My name is Ashki, Kaanga Miss, if it means anything to you."
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:35 pm
Kaanga giggled pleasantly, and nodded her head. She was an odd one among firekin, that was for sure. “Where would you get that idea?” Kaanga asked, and twirled the corner of her tail. Father, and many of the other lions, had slaves- this she knew. But she didn’t know too much about the punishments of slaves...and, regardless, he wasn’t one of their slaves anyways. “But- you’re not a firekin slave.” The white female retorted innocently. “Why would I punish you for being disobedient? I never told you to do anything you could disobey yet.” Kaanga considered this for a moment, and puffed her whiskers out. “No– Kaanga hasn’t told you anything before. I don’t think I’ve met you before. Sometimes I do forget...” That was true; she had a habit of forgetting people rather easily. She tried to remember important things, but often she did forget.
“What is Ashki doing here?” She questioned, tilting her head. “You’re not hurt are you?” Compulsively, she rubbed her paw against her cheek, and let it settle.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:50 pm
Coming out of his bowing position, Ash settled down on his hindquarters to look at her for a moment. Normally, one would look the other in the eye when one was talking to the other. But, having been a slave all of his life, he had been taught that he looked away to show that he was inferior and had no dignity. And so that's what he did. When he spoke, his eyes weren't on her but on his paws.
"I was taught that way, Miss," he said simply. Lowering his ears down again, he proceeded to speak again. "No, I'm not one of your slaves. But I was born a slave, raised a slave." He paused for a moment to think. Should he say that he had met one of them before? Or would that get the female in trouble, since she let him go?
Having learned to trust only himself, Ashki kept it to himself that he had met another of these Firekin. Instead, he remained vague: "I have disobeyed someone else. Where I come from, it doesn't matter who gives the punishment, so long as the slave learns--"
But then he stopped suddenly when she asked what he was doing here and if he was hurt. This Kaanga said it in such a way that it shocked him. No one had ever been concerned about him. It was new and frankly quite strange. "N-no, I'm not hurt." What to say about what he was doing there? "And, honestly, I'm not supposed to be here. I really don't know why I'm here."
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:50 am
“But,” Kaanga peeped, and titled her head to the side. “If you’re not one of our slaves, and you’re not with your masters, are you not free?” Such an odd one! She didn’t understand his perspective. But, perhaps it was typical of royalty to have some kind of alienation from the normal class. He seemed taken back by her concern, and in response the small female smiled.
As a firekin, Kaanga had some knowledge about slaves, and the politics involving them. But she had never really understood why. It was in the same breathless bemusment that she did not understand the anger in her pride. So rutheless, but she seemed almost unaware. She was small, dainty and kind- even stupid, to an extent.
“You’re here because you came here. Yeah?” The small female spoke, her wide yellow eyes blinking. Underneath the slight absence of mind- there was a seer. Somewhere. That was the consensus at least. “Maybe– you came to see Kaanga?” Kaanga interjected, and idled her paws. “Play with me?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:23 am
Ashki perked his ears slightly, but it was only to make sure he caught all of her words. "Oh no, I'll always be a slave whether I have a master or not. I was born a slave and therefore I must die as a slave, Miss. It's the law where I come from." He spoke like there was nothing wrong with it. And really, in his mind, there was nothing wrong with it. That's what he had been taught since he was a cub and he wouldn't forget it quickly.
But when she went back to talking about why he came here, he lowered his head slightly. He wasn't supposed to be here, it was forbidden almost. That lioness had told him to stay away but he had disobeyed. Why wasn't he being punished?
"Well I--" he began, but he was cut off suddenly when he realized that she had asked him if he came to see her and to play with her. "E-excuse me, Miss?" This was odd. First she wouldn't punish him for disobeying and now she wanted him to play with her? This was a strange one indeed.
"Oh, well... I'm a slave, Miss. Are you sure it's such a good idea?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:56 am
The small white ball grinned. “Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” Well, there were perhaps a millennia of reasons why it wasn’t good, but Kaanga knew none of them. “I don’t know if Kaanga understands.” She spoke simply. “Why do you want to be a slave? Couldn’t you be free? If you wanted to, you could I think.” Rumbling somewhere in her throat, the small female slipped across the larger male’s paws and rubbed affectionately against his chin.
“I don’t care about slaves. Kaanga doesn’t have any.” She smiled, puffing her whiskers outwards.
“It might be dangerous here.” She quieted, staring out over the sweeping mound of dusty rocks. What would they do to a strange lion on the grounds. “Who are you here to see?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:42 pm
"Well, I'm a slave, Miss. And you are royalty with your white. Where I come from the two simply don't mix; it's forbidden." When she talked about him being a slave and asked if he couldn't simply be free, the purple male sighed slightly. He knew how it all worked in his head, he was just trying to find a way to put it in words. But he immediately stopped and took in a sharp breath when he felt her against him.
No one had ever made contact with him in this way. It was strange and slightly discomforting for him. What was this princess doing, talking with him like this and being kind? Was she playing games with him? Surely there was an ambush waiting, only they were testing him to see what he would do? Surely...
Yet he was distracted from it all when she talked about it possibly not being safe and then proceeded to ask him who he had come to see. Before, when she had sort of asked him that, he had managed to get away by giving an answer but simply not a direct one. This time, however, it seemed he had no escape. She had asked him directly who he had come to see. His training as a slave taught him not to lie to his superiors. He couldn't get around this one.
"Yes, fairly dangerous. Especially for myself. But... I've come to see Kijinge, despite her warnings. I... I simply can't help it." Yes, his slave blood drove him here...
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Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:01 pm
A soft giggle escaped from Kaanga’s lips. “Hehe. Me? Royal?” Well, it was true. “No one says that because I am white.” She pressed her paw to the scratch on her face. “They put red on me. Red is the color of this tribe- and black. See, I have some-“ She turned, and noted the black scratches across her back and the stripe of hot red down her spine. “They don’t say that’s enough though- Kaanga, it’s not enough.” Despite her words, she smiled and gave Ashki a considerate look. “Silly boy- Kaanga doesn’t think it’s good for you to be here.”
“...Kijinge?” Kaanga squeaked, somewhat disheartenedly. She had hoped that perhaps Ashki would play with her a bit and be her friend– but perhaps he already had a friend. Slowly she thought, trying to remember...and then! “My aunt!” She replied with a smile. “If you know my aunt, then I am sure you are welcome here. I take you to her?” She spoke enthusiastically, and took a bounce back. “They say she had a white cub too, you know. Never met her though.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:57 pm
Ashki nodded obediently, looking at her for a moment. "Yes, royalty. Since you seem surprised, I'd guess it's not so much so where you live. But where I come from, Miss, being white means you are of the highest rank. The pride back home thought it had to do something with the divine spirit of the gods, and so they worshipped it." He really didn't understand what white had to do with the gods, but he believed it nonetheless... he had been taught and told to.
When she turned around, his eyes widened slightly. They put red on her by scratching and scarring her? Painful memories came back to him as he stared at the wounds. "That's very bad," he murmured, mostly to himself. This was absolutely horrible. As a slave, he had been beaten a few times. But this Kaanga... she wasn't a slave and yet they clawed at her back! "Who did this to you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in anger at whoever did this. It wasn't right.
But his anger was forbidden; it was his place as a slave to stand by and take anything and everything unless otherwise ordered. As a slave, he wasn't allowed to think for himself. So he quickly shook the feeling and cleared his throat.
"Oh no, Miss! I can't be taken to her. You know how I said I've disobeyed someone?" He paused for a moment, looking down at his paws shamefully. It was the death penalty for any slave that disobeyed. But he had to explain. "She told me not to come back. I shouldn't have been here in the first place."
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:22 pm
It couldn’t be helped. Kaanga fell into giggles at the thought of people worshiping her for her white coat. It wasn’t just impossible- it was downright silly. The small little cub fell a bit to the side, leaning her back against the rock and kicking out one of her feet lazily as she finished. A quietness fell over her, and what could almost be confused with thoughts crossed about her face. She rubbed the scratch mark silently, and crinkled her nose.
“Hee...” She spoke, but the laughter was out of her voice. “It doesn’t matter. Things like that happen to Kaanga sometimes.”
Almost at once, she broke out of it. “But! If you have come so far to see her- I think you should. Besides, you’re not her slave anymore. You don’t have to do what she says. If I’m a princess- can’t I say you can go see her if you want?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:34 am
Ashkie shook his head and folded back his ears in embarassment when the female seemed to laugh at his saying that his old pride worshipped lions with white coats. He supposed it was a bit absurd. There was no proof that white fur meant divinity. Kaanga laughing at the concept only made him think more about his old pride and how strange their ways were to him now. Perhaps he should just stop talking about them altogether. The past didn't matter, right?
But there was still a sense of loyalty to his old pride and their beliefs. He couldn't help but grow a little hot in the cheeks as she continued to laugh. He even narrowed his eyes a little and got this sort of scowling look on his face. But he was a slave, and so couldn't grow angry at someone higher than him. So he let a bland expression take over as he rose to his paws and began to walk away.
"It was nice meeting you Kaanga," he mumbled, walking quickly away. Though, it seemed, he wasn't keen on getting out of there too fast, for she could have easily caught up to him if she wanted...
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