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 Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 10:35 am
Tyr was glad he hadn't become a Reaver. He'd never been the sort to go out and just kind of... take what he wanted. He knew he didn't have what it took, and he was fine with that. It was a never-ending source of embarrassment for his father, but at least Tyr had gone out and had some cubs.
He'd even brought two back with him. Beautiful daughters. That was good, right? And yet, he couldn't help but feel like he'd never be exactly the son his father wanted him to be - despite the fact that he was the only child that Taraxa had that had gone out and made babies. Well, not anymore, now that Lennart had a litter, but.
He'd been the first. That meant something. To Tyr, at least.
He often found himself milling around his aunt's living space, and she rubbed elbows with the Thralls. Mopani was a Thrall, and Mopani was Tazira's mate. It was kind of weird, but refreshing that his aunt never felt like she had to care what anyone thought of her and her decisions.
Tyr wanted to be like that. He really did.
As he watched the Thralls go about their daily work, Tyr's eyes landed on one female in particular. Suffice it to say he stared. And stared. No reason in particular, really. She'd just... caught his eye.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:26 am
 "Uh...Kyra?" a nondescript thrall with blue eyes and a pale coat began hesitantly. It had not taken long for the thralls of the pride to learn that Kyra was a thrall with a short temper. Worse, she had the abilities and inclination to back her ire with claws. Definitely not a lioness to piss off.
"What?" she grumbled. Erlendr had said that she would be a thrall in name only, but it seemed that he did not have enough status in the pride to enforce that particular promise, and so she was occasionally press-ganged into labor by one of the so-called freeborn. As she had been in this instance.
"That lion is staring at you."
"So?"
"Well...uh...I just thought you might want to know," the pale-coated lion said meekly.
"Sure." Kyra rolled her eyes. The timidity of so many of the thralls in the pride made Kyra want to hurt them. If they thought their lot was bad, why didn't they try to change it? Here he was, a big, strong male, but he was afraid to say anything to her, and she was just another thrall.
She spun around in the direction the pale thrall had indicated and fixed her eyes on the lion he'd been referring to. It wasn't difficult to guess which one he was. Without consideration for what the consequences would be, she strode over and planted herself in front of the freeborn.
"What do you want?"
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:40 am
Tyr certainly hadn't been expecting that. He really didn't want anything, honestly!
"I don't want anything," he replied rather meekly, a worried expression on his face. He really didn't want to ruin anyone's day - as far as he was concerned, the Thralls didn't have an easy go of it - and he'd only been here because it was where his aunt lived, and usually the Thralls didn't bother him.
Until now.
"I'm. I'm really sorry, I didn't uhhh I didn't mean to offend you."
His voice was incredibly soft for a lion of his size. Firekin blood had earned him a broad, bulky frame. Tyr looked rather ridiculous as he shuffled to his feet from his position on the ground.
"I'm really sorry."
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:45 am
Kyra looked the brown lion up and down and decided he looked familiar, but not in that I've-seen-you-before kind of way. More in the I-bet-you-have-a-big-family kind of way. Well, he wasn't bad-looking. But that pink mane had probably gotten him a great deal of teasing when he was younger. He should really be tougher and less apologetic after a childhood like that. Weren't the Stormborn supposed to be hard on their kids or something?
"Then why were you staring at me?" she demanded. "Is there something on my face? Do I look like someone who killed your mum?"
Oh, Kyra was in a mood today, no doubt. Unfortunately for the brown lion, he had attracted her attention and now he was going to suffer for all the suffering she had been refraining from inflicting on the other, probably more deserving lions of the pride. Like the fart-for-brains arse who had forced her into working to begin with.
"I'm not offended. I'm annoyed. There's a difference. Offended usually looks like someone shoved something up someone's arse. Annoyed looks like me right now. I'm working and if you're really sorry, you could get off your arse and help."
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 12:18 pm
Tyr gave the Thrall a pained look, scooting back a few inches before he finally rose to his feet. He really didn't want her to smack him around or anything, so maybe if he just.. acted biddable, for a minute at least, maybe she'd go back to working and he could enjoy his solitude.
He shook his head. No, she didn't have anything on her face. Nor did she look like someone who killed his mom. His mom was alive and well, the last he checked.
"Look, okay. I'll .. I'll come help, I'm just, I'm sorry I annoyed you, okay? Just.." Was his tail tucked back? It certainly was. Ears too. Head lowered. Tyr was very obviously not looking for any sort of conflict.
"What ah.. what were you doing?" His mouth felt dry. She was going to thump him, he could tell. Tyr shuffled back a little more.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 1:41 pm
He was so submissive Kyra's usual instinct to remind males of their asinine ways and make them suffer for the ruin they inflicted on others was mitigated by her firm belief that she might be dealing with one of the "special" lions of the world. Those who remained children for their entire lives. Personally, she didn't see how that sort survived to adulthood, but she didn't think it was her duty to exterminate them. Life was harsh and would doubtless see to their destruction without her assistance.
"Good. We're moving rocks."
Apparently somebody's wife wanted this patch of land cleared so she could plant things. Or something. There really weren't many explanations forthcoming because, after all, Kyra was only a thrall and not worth explaining things to. Thralls would be more effective, she suspected, if they knew the goal they were working toward, so that they could keep certain things in mind. Like not pounding the dirt solid as they removed the rocks.
"They go from here to there." Here was represented by an area that was gradually being cleared of rocks and There was a growing pile of rocks, stones, and pebbles.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 3:11 pm
Tyr wasn't afraid of physical labor, but moving rocks seemed a little... beneath him. It truly was a job made for Thralls, but Tyr was a little terrified of the female and so he didn't really want to press his luck.
"This is kind of.. it's a dumb job." He shook his big head but didn't complain otherwise. Instead he set to moving one of the bigger rocks of the bunch, shoving it aside with ease. There was something to be said for being a big guy. Maybe. When it came to moving rocks, at least.
"Who do you belong to," he asked quietly as he went back for another rock. "My papa has a Thrall. She's my aunt's mate now." Tyr wasn't certain how all that worked, but whatever. He was perfectly happy being single, honestly. Single with two gorgeous daughters. They seemed happy, and that's all that mattered to Tyr.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 6:21 pm
"You think?" Kyra snarked. "Why do you think we're doing it instead of princess pitty-paws? She'll probably enjoy toodling around with her plants for a while, but I bet the real work's done by thralls."
In truth, Kyra was not any sort of abolitionist. She understood that slavery was sometimes a necessary evil. But she that didn't mean she wanted to be on the enslaved side of the institution. Nearly all of her life she had been someone's subordinate, it seemed, and she hated it. Sometimes she dreamed of a lion with dark fur and unsettling amber eyes who would arrive to save her, but he had never come for her. She would have to save herself. As usual.
"I belong to myself," she growled. Softening and relenting a little she continued, "But I have been claimed as a thrall by Erlendr. You might know him. Golden coat, mixes up the order of his words?"
That bit about his dad's thrall being his aunt's mate was just weird. Particularly with the use of the feminine pronoun. Kyra had never heard of two females being mates. Was that sort of thing commonplace in the Stormborn? It didn't seem to be in keeping with the pride's ways, but she didn't know much about the pride's ways so maybe it was perfectly normal.
"I bet your dad's not thrilled about that."
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:25 am
"He isn't," Tyr mumbled around a mouthful of rocks, taking great care to watch where he was stepping before depositing the rocks where she'd ordered. "He isn't happy about a lot of things, I guess. I don't know. I have a lot of brothers and sisters, though, so that makes him happy?" Tyr shrugged. It didn't bother him that his aunt was mated to a Thrall. "She's not a Reaver or nothin', just a Freeborn like me." The large, soft-spoken lion shrugged as he moved back to the first pile of rocks, nabbing a large one in his strong jaws. "I know of Erlendr. I think. I mean, I probably do." Obviously it wasn't important to him. Keeping the female happy and good conversation were what mattered, obviously. "Maybe someday he'll set you free."
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:10 pm
Kyra sighed as she shoved a rock too large to pick up and carry. Of course his father liked to have lots of cubs around. He probably had nothing to do with raising them. He just sired them. Men had it so much easier.
"And does being 'just a freeborn' mean that her doings will be overlooked?" Kyra asked, curious despite herself. She had not expected that to be the case, but if it was, that was information worth having.
"I don't see why he would," she muttered. "Not when he can have me as labor for free, and take from me anything he wants."
Not that Erlendr had done any of those things. In fact, he had tried to be as pleasant and soft-spoken as this current fluffball of a lion who was moving rocks with her and earning her stares from the other thralls working at the same task. Still, Kyra had learned from her other experiences as a slave that it was better not to let others know that she was being well-treated.
Just the same, a part of her felt guilty for speaking that particular untruth. It was uncharacteristic of her to feel guilt about such a thing, and she didn't like it. To regain her equilibrium she snarled, "You're doing it wrong. Just go away and leave us to our work."
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:31 am
Tyr, while strong in his beliefs and convictions as a Stormborn male, could see that this female had a fire within her that did not suit the life of a Thrall. It saddened him, truly. There were those who enjoyed the life of servitude - Thorgrim's wife had a thrall that truly enjoyed helping Lena. There were others, as well, that did not mind performing menial tasks such as... moving rocks, cleaning dens, serving food.
Then there were lions like Kyra. Lions that did not belong as mere Thralls. He was struck, for a moment, by how pretty she was when she spoke so bluntly to him. He opened his mouth to respond to her comments only to have her snarl at him abruptly. Tyr snapped his mouth shut and hunched back, slightly terrified once more.
"I am sorry," the large lion responded quietly, shuffling away. He was only upsetting her, it seemed, and so as not to be a hindrance Tyr did as she demanded.
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