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 Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 3:57 am
A black tail flicked above the dune as the cub who it belonged to had just managed to catch a lizard. The lizard was wriggling in her paws but she wasn't going to let it go but yet she wasn't about to kill it either. She just wanted to watch it, she wasn't a torturer nor was she a killer, not when there was no need for it anyway. She wasn't a fighter either, everything she did was to do with her mind. She worked with her mind and it was her sister who had taught her that.
She laid down and let the lizard go watching it scurrying as fast as it could from her. She chuckled and then rolled over in the sand. She should probably go down and see if she could see anyone to turn to the dark side. Being a cub meant she could 'forget' that Finar-si wasn't worshiped here. She didn't do it often though and tended to act naive around most. She had to lie her way in life, it was the only way she was going to help her sister take over the pride. Oh the dreams of cubs...
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Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:58 pm
He had some exceptionally bright blue eyes that were so deep anyone could lose themselves in them, but that were also so reflective that it seemed at times as if they could mirror someone's soul back at them. The eyes were possibly one of his greatest assets. Because although he had appeared to have inherited his father's heightened ability to notice movement and just about everything in his surroundings, he hadn't inherited the sensitivity to only certain shades of colors.
And those eyes, now, fixated on the shape of a lizard, frantically scrambling its way toward him. Away from something, Atesh supposed, but away from what didn't really matter. His ears perked at the sight of the lizard, and before further thought had the time to cross his mind, he lunged for it, meeting it headfirst. It was well adapted to the sands, and in a moment's time it had changed course and was scurrying the other way.
The black felt a growl form in his throat, and then die away promptly as his body moved into action once again, chasing the lizard. It had better get- Oops.
He skidded to a halt as he found himself face-to-face with a dark face sporting two scarlet eyes, and for a moment, the chase with the lizard and the mad charge uphill was forgotten as he studied the face carefully.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:14 am
"The lizard went that way." She nodded to the left of where she was sitting. She had seen the male coming as she had been watching her lizard though she hadn't expected to not notice her till so late. Well things happened as they did.
She looked him over, lingering on his eyes. There was something about them that she didn't trust. She wasn't sure whether it was just because she could see herself in them or if it was something else but she very quickly made herself look innocent and sweet. Unlike most in the pride but she was a cub and the naive trick worked all the time.
"I am Bastet." She smiled as she introduced herself though she didn't move from where she was. Her eyes constantly flitting over his body. He was younger then her, she was pretty sure of that. She was sure she had seen most cubs in the pride, she made it her duty to know everyone in the pride by sight. She rarely spoke to them, you learnt more by watching.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:43 am
"Oh, uh," he eyes followed her gesture in time to see the lizard disappear over the crest of another dune. "Don't matter." He said with a small shrug. "Wasn't really tryin' to catch it anyway."
No, it was much more interesting, being here. Lions were more amicable than lizards, that much even Atesh knew. Still, she was a strange one. Kept... looking at him like she was going to find something that she couldn't see the first time over. Oh well, maybe she was just a little bit cautious. He couldn't blame her for it, maybe it was just her nature.
Quite unlike his, then, he assumed. He was outgoing enough that he made friends first, and reconsidered later. It was just a slightly different tactic, after all, and it worked just as well - if not better. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. So if and when he realized that any of his friends were indeed untrustworthy, it was all the easier to keep track of them.
The only trouble was realizing that they were a threat to begin with.
In any case, it didn't bother him much. He was still just a young cub, after all, and at his tender age, everybody was a potential friend.
He grinned, making an effort to ignore the flitting eyes. "Atesh." He offered his name proudly, feeling himself puff up at the very sound of it. Yea, Atesh. It was a true Firekin name, of course, and one he could bear with honor. "S'nice to meet you, Bastet."
He peered closer, seeing the markings on her face that stretched from her eye down her cheek. Almost like Da's tearmark. That was what Atesh called it, the tearmark that some of his siblings shared with Azarax - like tears had run down their faces and drawn deep marks in their fur. "Y'almost look like my Da." He informed her. Just thought she might want to know.
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:11 am
Atesh.... She repeated the name over in her head a few times to make sure she wouldn't forget it. She needed to remember these names, it was important she did so!
"Like your Da?" Da? She hadn't a clue what he was talking about. "Who is your Da and how do I look like him?" She had heard rumours that she was related to the regent but this cub didn't look like him or any of Bastet's siblings. In fact she had no idea how they were at all related in anyway possible. So how could she look like Da? Whoever Da was? Her traditional upbringing meant that her father was to be called father and her mother was to be referred to as mother and nothing else.
She was also taught how to fight though it wasn't her strongest point, also the teachings of the pride of old, of Finar-si and of the rebellion. It was all taught in secret but she was sure that she could make a difference and she was glad that she was at least able to know her true heritage unlike most of the runts that were born to the rebels.
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:06 am
"Mhmm," he nodded proudly as the subject turned to his father. Ah, his father. Yes, being the son of the Simo's General was indeed something to be proud of. Not only did his father control the entire army and hold tremendous power over the Council, but he was also good friends with the Regent - also a lion Atesh had learned to idolize almost as soon as he'd had sense. Why? Because they made sure everything worked well, that everybody had a place to call home and could sleep well at night in their dens, safe in the knowledge that they would be protected.
"My Da is th' Gen'ral," he announced with a grin, wiggling his baby pink nose. He hadn't meant for it to be show-off-y in any way, but if it came out that way... well, that was okay too. "An' well, y'look like him cause you have eye-markings, see?" He leaned in to peer closer at them. Maybe at a second glance, she didn't look that much like Da, but close enough, and he was having fun telling her about him!
"Cause, you got these gray things under your eyes, right, and that, that long thing. The tearmark. My Da has that'n too, except he's got two, and you got one curly one," he nodded, feeling impressed by his own analytical skill. Connecting two and two was not his strongest point. His strongest points would have been anything physical, anything to do with fight. "But my brother, and Koro, they got those too. An' the muzzle." At that, he twitched his whiskers to show her his own lightly colored muzzle - as if she didn't have eyes for herself to see - and bobbed his head again.
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:52 am
The general? Well that was boring. She was half sister to the Regent, much more interesting. Especially when he did what he did. Not only that Bastet looked like she belonged to both her parents, she had her mothers markings and her fathers colours. It all made a lot of sense really.
"My markings are from my mother Karama." She stated as her mother was the most important lion in the world. "My colours are from my father, Vuvimoto." She held her head proudly as she spoke of the two. She was more then happy to talk about her parents even if her mother wasn't around.
"I look nothing like your Da'" She was adamant about that. She may not have ever met him but she was certain she looked nothing like him in the slightest. She didn't look like the cub did she? He was all spotty or something. She looked much more elegant and so much better then he did! She groaned somewhat in her head but didn't let it show. She had to attempt to show a nice side of her.
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:29 am
"That's plenty cool," he said, tilting his head as she spoke. What must that be like, to look like both parents! Atesh himself looked... well, almost nothing like either his mother or his father. He didn't have the tearmark, he wasn't that shade of tan that was the exact same shade as the desert floor, he didn't have a fiery red mane, and he didn't have ocelot patterns like some of his siblings, either. He shrugged. "I dun look like my Momma or Da," he explained. "Dunno where I get my stripes. Dun even look like Teketea, an' he's stripey too..."
A cheeky grin spread over his face at her next words, and he chuckled much like his father did sometimes, and shook his head gently. "Well, y'do look plenty like my Da," he corrected. "But if'n you insist." He was more than happy to let the issue go. After all, she had probably never met Azarax before, and it was only natural that she felt she didn't resemble somebody she didn't even know.
"You're pretty plain, too, though," he said after a moment. "Like my Da, actually, but not... like him since you dun think you look alike. Momma's spotty, but Da is all, plain like you are. I fink dat's from th'lions who were born from Firekins before the big... war thing. Cause, Da looks like that too, and his Momma was sommat important or somethin'."
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:39 am
"How can you not look like your parents? Are you sure they are your parents?" Bastet couldn't quite get how you couldn't look like your parents. It made no sense. Bastet didn't look identical to any of her siblings but her markings her siblings also had and her father was black so that was sorted easily enough.
"My mother was really important before the pride split. My sister apparently looks more like her, she is bright red and has markings like me but white." Bastet smiled, she adored her sister if only for the fact that it meant she was kind of looking at her mother. She had seen her mother in a vision once she was so beautiful!
"Who was your 'Da's' mother?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:58 am
He drew back with a frown, and paused to contemplate it. He'd never thought that they might not be his parents at all. He didn't look like them, admittedly, but he has always taken it for granted that the two lions he called his parents were, in fact, his parents. Still, maybe Bastet was right, he did look nothing like either of them...
He shook his head. "Well, sure they're my parents," he said decisively after a moment. "Why wouldn't they be?" He shrugged. "Well, mebbe I jus' look like an uncle or sommat. And," he added, perking up immediately. "I got them streaks in my hair, like my Da." He nodded proudly, having found the common thread, and now rested assured that Bastet was not right and that his Da was, indeed, his Da.
"She was?" He questioned, eager to know more. "Who's your Momma?" Well! If Bastet's mother was imporant, and his grandmother was important, then perhaps they had known each other.
"Oh, she was, uh, a storyteller or somethin' like that. Her name's Ripuka, she's colored like my Da's hair. But she's not around anymore, I dunno why. Gone to the sky or something, I think."
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:57 am
Bastet watched him wondering if he was actually thinking about what it was that she had said. It was more then possible that he had been smuggled in, oh the drama it would without doubt be interesting. She let the little play run in her head and she was without doubt thoroughly amused by it but she didn't let it show nor did she speak of it.
"Yes my mother was Karama. Apparently she was favoured by the late King Kimeti." Bastet held her smugness at bay, there was no doubt in the slightest that showing smugness about that would cause her trouble. She wondered if the cub would know anything. Bastet was taught everything about the pride, after all she was born from the traditionalists. She would always know the history and if she had cubs they would know too.
"I haven't heard of Ripuka. Not an old one anyway." Maybe she had but the lioness he was speaking of was dead before she had been born.
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:40 am
"The King?" He echoed, his bright eyes widening at the mystifying word. Sure, he had heard of this King creature, but only in the context of snippets of history that he hadn't quite understood. Azarax understood, though - his Da knew everything, obviously - and Atesh could remember times when his father had told him little tales laced with details of the past. Stories that Atesh appreciated, loved in fact, but understood little. One day, he would though. When he was a little older, and had more sense, he knew that everything would fall into place and the things that seemed hazy and veiled now would become clear. "Well, I don't know so much about 'im," he admitted. "But I heard of 'im. My Da's said some stuff about a King. I don' really know what he is or anything, though."
He was okay with being at a disadvantage right now. He understood that he was still small, that he had a lot more growing up to do. And obviously, Bastet was older than him, so it only made sense that she knew more about their world than he did. And that was all alright, because he knew that when he grew older, he would become more like her. His Da wasn't going to let the cubs grow up without fully understanding the history of the pride, and even though Atesh didn't really know why that was, he knew it was true.
"Mebbe she left b'fore you came, then," he said with a small shrug. It would have made sense - after all, she hadn't been around when Atesh had been born. "Cause, I think she left when my Da's liddle brother was on'y real little. Uddhava was like my age, I think. Or smaller, even. So. It was pretty long ago."
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:25 pm
"Kimeti was Kidondo's father." Bastet spoke with a large smirk on her face but she was sure the cub wouldn't make the connection and she was more then happy about that. If he did work it out she really would be really surprised, he didn't seem to know much but then he was young so...
As for Ripuka. She agreed with him on that. She had never heard of her nor did she expect to. It didn't matter to her what or who she was as she was no relation to her.
"Yes I think you are right."
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:21 pm
"Oh." He beamed again. "My Da's good friends wid Kidondo. They go sparring together." He informed her. He obvoiusly found glee in making the connections, and it mattered little whether or not Bastet cared. It was enough for him that the connections were there and that he noticed them. Ah, what a small world it was!
"Course," he agreed with a nod. After all, Ripuka was his grandmother and even if he had never met her before and knew nothing about her, it was only right that he got these things correct.
He sat for a moment, tail twitching against the sand, and his bright blue eyes began to wander. It wasn't that he was bored, but at his age, it was no surprise that he could barely sit still for a moment. His attention span lasted all of five minutes, and by now five minutes had long been up.
He stood, the cheeky grin plastered on his face again. "I think I'm gunna go after that lizard." He said, pleased with himself that he had found something to do. "Was nice t'meet you. Good to have frien's around."
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 2:00 am
Oh joys.
She listened to him talk about how his father knew Kidondo, not that she really cared. She didn't care much for Kidondo, from what she knew it was his fault he pride was so messed up.
"Catch ya around." She said as he wandered off. Friends? Were they friends? She wasn't overly sure but she would think about it. She had a habit of thinking about a lot of things all the time.
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