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 Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:48 pm
The ward. It smelled like death, even though everyone was well aware that only occupant of it was still hanging on to life. For the first few days that the young blonde cub had been sent over there, she had been quite sure some dark, terrible monster lurked in the shadows. But after her adventure with Fia, and just a dose of skepticism, An had come to realize that although there was darkness on this side of the pride, it was not because of monsters.
At least not imaginary ones.
Her last misadventure had left quite a slash across the front of her face, she had been sentenced to giving a hand to her cousin Ea in reparations. The wild eyed girl had been furious at the notion. Not so much that she had to hang out with her younger cousin- but that yet again, another injury was being lopped upon her. Good god, she'd only just stumbled upon Vlam! It seemed No thought the fates were aligning for her.
But, in the end, there wasn't much a cub could do. There wasn't really much TO do, other then hang around and watch Vlam's condition. With Ea busying herself keeping his fever down, she left An outside to chase off any of the pride's curious visitors. It was a task that she was all too delighted to do. She sat upon a rock just outside the cave, fluffed up and poised like a kind of sentry. The slight swelling in her face did not seem to dampen her mood.
Grinning, An welcomed a small passing breeze. It momentarily lifted the stagnant air, and tussled her curly fur about in the wind. Later, she'd go on an adventure.
But for right now, she'd stick around. Somewhere in the background, Ea was muttering and cursing about this or that. An docked one of her ears, and tried not to listen.
Last time she'd used one of the words Ea had used, her mother had given her quite the angry face.
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 8:36 pm
Azar had found herself once more bored with nothing to do. She had been training not that long ago however now she not matter what she did she couldn't find anything to amuse herself with. Things had been like that lately, she couldn't find anything to do with herself now that she was older and out of the den, she didn't have her siblings around as much to romp with and well not many of the older lions really wanted to romp. Everyone had been so busy that she couldn't find anyone. Well then again there was that male Khin'del but he always ticked her off. She wasn't sure what it was about him but he made her so mad. Some one suggested that he liked her, or that she liked him but she wouldn't have it.
She picked up her trot as she headed in a once more random direction, keeping her nose in the air for scents she always made sure she knew where she was going and knew who she was going to run into. It wasn't long before she picked up a scent that she knew. Well some what knew. It smelt like her aunt and her uncle... It also faintly smelt like her sister. Azar felt that she needed to investigate.
She trotted a little faster before she soon caught the sight of a tan colored coat. She smiled as she looked at the small cub it looked a lot like her uncle. Azar had no problem with different color coats in the pride. Sure she was a proud firekin with her colors but she didn't care about the Huria. The were firekin at heart so she didn't look at the differently. She had been mocked before because of her dark colored coat, and she had seen Zii mocked because of her white coat she didn't like that. But because these cubs were born into the pride she had no problem with them. Now if they were rogues she would.
"Practicing being a guard I see?" She laughed quietly as she padded up to the entrance, before flopping down on her rump and smiling at the cub. She still thought she smelt her sibling but she still want that sure.
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 8:57 pm
"Practicing?" An remarked, not missing a beat. "I am guarding! You'll have to stop here if you want to go any further."
As though to show she meant business, she stuck out her small pink toed paw in front of her cousin. She was smiling, but in all honesty, there was a real seriousness about Ea's request. Ea was trying to weed out all the curious folks who were simply dropping by to see what horror Vlam's assailant had wrecked upon him. "Ea's orders, unfortunately. And, uh, don't get her mad at me or anything. My mom gave me the choice of helping Ea or hanging out with Aunt No, and your mom is helluva scary."
She winced for a moment, hoping Azar wouldn't catch the slight language. Her ears flattened, and she cracked a mischievous smile. "Are you here to see Ea?" Her bright eyes flashed. "Or, me? Hopefully not Vlam, 'cause that'll make Ea go crazy."
An fluffed up, leaning back. "Do I look like a guard?" She asked, suddenly rather delighted Azar had asked her about it. "I've been workin' on it pretty hard."
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:11 pm
Azar looked at the small cub before smiling once more. "I've very sorry to confuse a guard on duty with practicing!" The slightly amused smile stayed on her face, she remembered when she was that age, not really big enough to do much damage, yet thought she could take on anyone that came her way.
She couldn't help but to chuckle at the next comment out of the cub's mouth she moved a little closer to the rock before reaching out a paw and placing it on the cub's head, gently of course. She couldn't hurt a cub, she had quiet a soft spot for them. "Well! My mom can be quiet scary at times." She wiggled her toes on top of the cubs head looking at how big her paw was.
She started to wonder when she got so big, she still remembered when she was that little and her dad's paw was the bigger than her own head. Now she was looking at her own paws and her smaller cousin. It was a surprise. "I would have picked to help Ea too. Although my mom can be pretty fun to be around a times. You can learn a lot from her." She dropped her paw on the ground before thinking for a moment. "Ah! That's right!" She remembered that Vlam was in there, she always ended up on forgetting some of the pridal happenings. "I'm here to see you and Ea. It must get lonely some times." She laughed slightly.
"Of course you look like a guard!" She grinned, happy to see the interest the cub had. It really made her feel good herself. "I'd feel safe with you keeping watch of my den at night! Ea picked a good helper."
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:27 pm
An fumbled for a moment when a huge paw came down on her head. It wasn't heavy, but it did do well to remind An of the huge size difference between herself and an adult. She sighed, blowing up a small tuft of hair. Well. Her size hadn't stopped her yet...!
"Yeah, I know." The cub thrummed. "Mom says Aunt No was there when we were born. We crash her den sometimes." All ten of her brothers and sisters! They were quite the horde when they wanted to be. But An wasn't about to get underfoot of the regent. The last thing she wanted was being a menace. An was all for getting in just enough trouble to keep her distance, and just short of getting grounded forever.
"Weelll," An started, looking towards the cave. "Its serious business, so I don't get too lonely. If I do chores for a few hours, mom lets me go out into the dunes for a bit so its not too bad. I think Ea might be lonely though. She's sort of angry."
For a moment, she paused, and her lively face fell. Her ears folded against her skull. "Well... not so much angry as worried. They say there's a murderer in the pride! Is that true? What have you heard? I've been trying to investigate on my own but..." Her paw pressed to her chin. "Sorta hard when no one wants to talk about it. Got to keep an eye out for 'em though. That's what Ea said."
...Somewhere, Ea was fairly sure Kaanga would have been very displeased to hear her niece was using her daughter as a buffer.
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:43 pm
Azar nodded and smiled at the small cub before thinking back to when she was a cub, she knew she saw at lot of her aunt when she was younger. "I remember when I was really little. I used to see a lot of your mother too, me and all of my other siblings too." She knew she didn't have as many siblings as An but she was more than sure that it wasn't fun to put up with a lot of cubs in general.
"Mmhhmm. That makes sense my mom used to make me do chores before I left to do anything too." She laughed slightly before gesturing a paw. "Getting them out of the way and then getting to go out and play is a lot more fun then not getting to do anything." She glanced toward the den before smiling. "Angry?" she hadn't seen her sister angry that often, or atleast not that she could think of herself. "Hmm. Well hopefully she'll come out soon and visit hmm?" She looked at the cub before back at the end. She was in fact very curious on what was going on in there but she wasn't about to walk in there. She knew it was none of her business
Ah the murderer. She had heard of that before, she had heard many things that some thing was going on in the pride. The murder was still fresh in everyones minds however Azar wasn't that sure of who it was. She heard a lot from her siblings and her parents yet she still didn't know. "I've heard a little bit but mostly that it was a murder." She chuckled before nudging the cub. "You got to be careful where you stick your nose. You never know what might bite." She leaned forward and nipped the cubs nose before chuckling. "you don't want to get yourself into trouble.
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:03 pm
An smiled brightly. "Yes, my mom said that. She talks about you guys a lot." In a way, even An saw her cousins more like older brothers and sisters then anything else. Their families had always leaned on one another, and An liked that kind of connection. It was something that made her proud.
As for Azar's joke, An frowned for a moment. With the wound on her face still fresh, it was more of an ironic statement then not. But she decided to humor the comment and laugh a bit, if somewhat restrained. "Yeah, uh... I sort of figured that out. But I'm not afraid, you know. It just takes one person to figure out who the killer is. And its someone here! Around us." She looked out into the Motoujamii. "That's not the sort of thing you can just ignore...although, mom gets angry."
But frowns were short lived on the blonde cub's face. She smiled and let her ears flare out, standing up and hopping off the rock where she had positioned herself. "I can go tell Ea you're here. She might not be too happy-faced though. Vlam was very sick this morning and she's pretty... prickly." She laughed. "Maybe if you're here I can get off early!"
Taking a few hopping steps forward, she peered into the shadows of the cave. "Hey, uh, Ea?" She called, her small voice echoing into the darkness. "Azar is here to see you!"
An had made an obvious attempt to keep her voice low. But Ea's yell from the depths of the cave was anything but quiet. "WHAT?!" She snapped. "Oh, yes! Lets all come visit Ea now that she's got a job! She hasn't poked her eye out, has she? What do people think I am?!"
An winced, and edged aside as the wild-eyed female came sauntering out. She was looking a bit bedraggled; dark circles under her eyes and the red in her coat dulled from the dust in the cave. She took a quick look at Azar, agitated- but somewhat relieved she wasn't missing any limbs. "Well, at least you look like you're in one piece."
And then, just as quick, she turned to An. "Hey, what kinda guard are you? I thought you were keeping people out?"
An scoffed. "I did!"
Ea scooted the cub aside with a sweep of her paw, and sat down in front of the cave, looking over at her sister. She was surprised Azar had come for a visit. From what she'd heard from Fia, it sounded like all their siblings were off doing god knows what. "Well, hello!" She said in her singsong voice. "Mom didn't send you to spy on me, did she? I thought she was doing quite well enough on her own."
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:37 am
Azar was pretty glad that her aunt still talked about her and her siblings. She loved her family more than anything and in fact she spent the most of her time with them. Then again with her family so large who could blame her for wanting to be with them, There was really no way to avoid them. She chuckled slightly before nudging the cub a grin on her face. She puled the cub close before whispering. "Don't worry when I was little I stuck my nose in EVERYTHING." She pulled back with a wink before chuckling a little bit. "Well I'm glad to see that some one else isn't afraid around here!" She sat up before looking in the direction the cub was looking at before chuckling. "If you find him you better let me know! Then we can both kick his butt!"
She wigged her toes in the sand before licking her lips and looking at her. "Ah, I won't mind. She needs some company." She let out a quiet laugh then looked into the den and smiled at the cub. "If you want some time out to go and explore I'll convince her to let me take over." she winked before, wincing a bit at her sister's voice. She sounded pretty annoyed but then again weren't all firekin's easily annoyed?
"Don't worry about An! She was doing a great job!" She smirked as she looked down at the cub before stretching her paws out. "Hello sister." Her ear twitched as her sister greeted her, she thumped her tail around a bit, as if to invite the cub to play with it if she wanted. "Naw, I haven't seen mom today." She shrugged before looking down at the cub. "I wanted to make sure you still had your sanity. "And maybe to let this little girl have a chance to run around and be a cub. I can take over her spot. I don't have much to do today."
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:40 am
An smiled, eagerly nodding at the statement. "Definitely. I'll keep investigating." Although, to be truthful, An didn't know what a murderer looked like. Common sense told her it would not be so apparent... but, didn't bad guys look like bad guys? She couldn't imagine someone wicked appearing to be nice and kind.
But, it was something to think on. She pondered this as Ea went on her tirade.
And tirade she did. Ea look down at An and scoffed, taking a moment to bop the cub over the head with the flat of her paw. "Yeah, yeah. Some guard. Why don't you go check on the patient, will ya?"
An grunted, having had another huge paw come down upon her head. "Ffft." She groaned. She turned around and moved towards the opening of the cave. "Yeah, I can do that."
Ea nodded sternly, and twitched her tail. If she was to say anything more to the cub- that was it. Smiling sheepishly, An disappeared into the darkness. When she was gone, Ea focused her attention onto her sister. "Run around and be a cub? That little thing is a hell raiser if there ever was one. Aunt Kaanga has her grounded, so I don't think she's about to get parole. She gets off before dinner though and do cub things."
But, Ea wasn't one to toss out help regardless. Hell. Two were better then one! "Not that I don't mind the help. It must be nice not having much to do today! How is the free world, eh? Fia says everyone is acting crazy." She leaned back. "I hope you're not one of them!"
"It's not been easy though. Guy half near died last night, I don't think I've slept in days." She growled. "This was so not what I signed up for."
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:38 pm
Azar looked down at the blonde cub with a smile on her face. She was very happy to see that she had such an adventurous spirit to her. She wished she wasn't so into training when she was younger and spent more time going on adventures. She was very, very happy to see it.
Azar looked at Ea a little surprised, she really hadn't remembered seeing her sister this grumpy before. She mostly remembered all of those years when she was younger and she would used to run around like crazy with Fia. She was surprised to see her grumpy. She grinned a bit before pawing at her sister. "You were a hell raiser too if I remember right."
She stretched out a bit before shrugging. "Not really. I'd rather be here with something to do then out there doing nothing." She laughed slightly before nodding at her sister. "I can come around after the mornings and help out." She laughed again shaking her head slightly. "I probably am. But then again we're all a little crazy." She looked around before shaking her head. "You have to admit it's pretty true."
She glanced in the direction of the den. "Oh my." She shook her head a bit. "If you want to catch up on some sleep I can keep an eye on him with An." She nodded slightly, at the idea. "Or if you're hungry I could go out and fetch you something." she didn't want to see her sister sit here and get ill herself while taking care of another
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:35 pm
Ea would have been surprised by that sentiment- seeing as she pretty much had made a living causing hell and straight up bitchery. She was probably right about the comparison between herself and An- but, An was far more... genuine then she had been. Genuine, meaning insane. "True. But at least I did it for the sake of raising hell. I don't think that girl even knows she's a walking magnet for trouble." In fact, Ea was starting to suspect the girl even relished it. Which Ea wasn't too fond of. If An kept up the way she was headed, Ea would be patching up scratches and scars into eternity.
"Bah. Be careful what you wish for," Ea muttered, taking a moment to walk along the side of the ward, down to where there was a small pool of water. It had been carefully cultivated by the water-seekers over the past week- mostly through Ea's demands for a proper place to wash. There were just some things a tongue did not want to touch! "Here I was enjoying myself, and now I'm saddled with this lot. Although, I appreciate the offer- I doubt you can handle it." She quipped.
She supposed that sounded a bit harsher then she had meant it. Honestly, Ea was overwhelmed with the job, eager to vent, but completely unwilling to surrender it. She'd never been respected before. She had authority here. And quite honestly, she wasn't about to trust Vlam's health in anyone else's paws. Not after everything she had done to save him. "I mean. You don't want to handle it." She corrected. "Minute I walk away the s**t hits the fan. There's a reason I haven't slept. It might look quiet now, but this is a battlefield. And I don't think you want to do this sort of fighting."
"But, I'm pretty well fed. Armada has been acquisitioned to bring me more then an adequate supply of food. And little An here is quite the lizard catcher." Although...Ea wondered if she should mention her particularly bizarre fondness for the taste of lizards. She pushed a few stones around the pool so that the sand would not overtake it. Although she suspected it was a losing battle. "Then again, I won't stop you if you want to drop by in the mornings. You know, there's a murderer on the loose."
She leaned back, and almost menacing grin on her face. "As I keep getting informed- there's nothing to say he won't be back to try and finish what he started. Even with Vlam half dead... there's always the chance he'll wake up and name his killer."
She chuckled to herself, almost as though the thought was half-wish. She liked the added danger, at least it kept her busy.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:50 pm
Azar chuckled a bit and nodded at her sister, thinking back to it. "You do have a point there. She'll eventually calm down." She shrugged the idea off then flicked her tail around a few more times she had hope for the small come, just something about her made Azar smile. To Azar there was just something charming about the small cub.
She glanced toward her sister at her next comment then shrugged again. "It's better then laying around and feeling useless." The lioness liked pressure, she constantly wanted something to do. She really didn't care what it was but she wanted to do something. With the way things were recently she couldn't find anything to do around the pride. She was half paying attention to what her sister was saying that was until she heard something. She glanced at her sister and her claws dug into the ground, her temper was flaring up but she wasn't about to get mad at her sister.
"Well sister, I am very offended." She was really put off by that. She wasn't expecting it and she just wanted to bite her tongue to keep her mouth shut. The large lioness sighed slightly shaking her head. She wasn't sure what to say. "I would give anything to have the responsibility and trust that you were given." She let out a small sigh shaking her head. "I don't get do to much but occasionally sent to fight off a rogue or two when the guards are busy, Soon I'll get to train some cubs, and I get to train when I'm in the mood for it." She shrugged once more letting out a small laugh. "Call me crazy I'd rather be here pulling out my fur with something to do, rather then sitting out in the pride with nothing to do. I'd rather be here with the trust of some one, some one else's parents and heck even out parents to take care of some one."
She then nodded once more to her sister. "Well at least some one is taking care of you." She smiled, she really was glad that she had some one around taking care of her sister. She then let out a chuckle. "That there is." She chuckled slightly to her comment about a murderer being on the loose. "Well, only if you want I'll stop by, It'll be after the morning though. I train in the morning then after that I do what ever." She laughed a little bit once more then nodded. "I hope we'll find out the murderer soon and all of our nerves will be put to rest." She liked the way that sounded. "I'm more then sure we can find him."
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:43 pm
"I don't mean to offend." Ea remarked curtly, wiping her paws on her chest. "And please, don't. It's easy to say you want to do a job until you actually have to do it. Licking out festering wounds and keeping the flies away. Having to wake up in the middle of the night because your patient is gasping for air, and you don't know how to make the swelling go down. Or when the fever gets so hot you think it might sear the fur right off you. Or the smell! The constant smell!"
She turned her wild eyes upon Azar, and furrowed her brow. "And not to mention. You might want the responsibility I have- but don't think it isn't as fragile as a brittle bone! If Vlam dies, then I'm just Ea again, ******** things up. Don't try to take what I got. I didn't want it. You don't want it." She snorted. "The last thing I want is romantic notions that this job is rewarding. I hate it. But I hate it so much I might actually love it."
"If you want to come help, that's fine. But take it for what it is. It's a s**t job, with all eyes on you and one of them a murderer. Besides- I wouldn't think there was a lack of things to do around here." She looked back towards the cave. "The only reason I landed in this place was because I stumbled into it. It was either sink or swim. People thought Vlam was going to die, so they thought it fitting I sit and watch because I'd saved him. Mom said it was the right thing to do. But he lived, and now I'm stuck taking care of him. Granted, I turned out not to be half bad at it. But that's besides the point."
"Just... just don't go envying me. I can't stand that." She scoffed. "Isn't there something you like to do? My problem was I enjoyed doing nothing. I still enjoy doing nothing, but life caught up with me. I mean, don't get me wrong. You most certainly can come and help out. I don't mind the extra paws, and An isn't exactly a heck of a lot of help."
"But..." It wasn't easy. It was a dirty, painful job. Was she really so bored she wanted to spend time here? Oh! How Ea would have loved to be bored! It seemed like such a foreign concept. "I think we're all doomed to find our way. If you haven't found yours, I'm sure it'll be biting you in the tail before you know it."
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Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:16 pm
Azar shrugged slightly, being offended by a sister wasn't something she was used to, she normally got along pretty well with her siblings. This was all something new to her, but she really didn't want to get mad, she was more than sure it was just because her sister was stressed! She was pretty sure thats what was going on. Yeah, her sister was stressed. It was pretty visible in a way. "I don't mind. It's a job." She laughed again before looking at the other lioness. "If he is as bad as it seems then you should get into any kind trouble for it. It wouldn't be your fault." She shook her head a few times.
"I'll help out, even if it'st just hanging around just encase something happens. i'm a little bigger then An." She chuckled at that idea, winking at her with a smile on her face. "I could keep people away just a little better" She laughed a bit before smiling slightly. "Eh. Iduno. I hope I find what I'm meant to do soon. I'll go crazy if I don't."
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Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:28 am
"Tell that to mom," Ea muttered, moving back to the mouth of the cave. "Hey, kid. What are you doing in there? Check on him I said, not go on an expedition to the Pridelands."
She turned back to Azar, and sat. She could use the help, despite what she might have felt towards Azar's ambitions. This was the sort of job that grew old painfully fast- but she supposed she could milk what work she could get out of her while she could. "Just a little bit better, I suppose." Ea mused, the end of her tail swishing. "If you'd like to do so, I won't stop you. I could certainly use a guard that could actually do something."
"I can do things!" An squeaked, trotting up from the darkness of the cave. "He seems alright, by the way."
Ea arched an eyebrow at the cub, and gently prodded her ripped up face. "Yes, you are quite good at messing up your face."
An rubbed the swollen mark and snorted. "It's not that bad." But, she was eager to get off the subject. She looked up at Azar and smiled. "You're staying here? That's awesome!"
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