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 Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:41 pm
Zarha nodded exuberently at Dareia. "It's a funny name, it sounds like 'cheater.' I don't think they're cheaters though. I mean, that's what my dad said."
She tilted her head at Suha, puzzled at first but seemingly unoffended. When she tried to clarify what she'd said Zarha smiled a little. Her friend didn't mean to be insulting. Truthfully, Zarha didn't mind in the least. She rather enjoyed having an intimidating father figure. It made her feel safe. "I don't think he's scary, but some people do because of his scars," she answered matter-of-factly. She touched her muzzle, indicating the location of his scars.
"When my mom and dad were little they got attacked by a Firekin. Firekin are giant red and black lions that live in the desert. My dad tried to protect my mom, so he distracted the Firekin while she ran away and the Firekin pinned him on the ground and tried to blind him, but he thought fast and covered his eyes with his paws. But the Firekin kept attacking anyway and gave him some bad scars. That's why some people are frightened when they meet him, because his muzzle is so torn up." She refreshed herself with a deep breath and continued, "I don't think dad's scars make him scary though. They just show how brave he is."
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:55 pm
Suha ducked her head sheepishly, still feeling bad about her very poorly worded question. She didn't want Zarha to be upset at her, she wanted to be friends! She was quite relieved when the other didn't seem to be upset. Still, she'd need to be careful to be more tactful in the future...
She nodded as Zarha explained, eyes widening at the other's description of the Firekin lion. It sounded so scary... Zarha's daddy must have loved her mommy very much. Would she ever find a Pad that would love her like that?
"Wow..." the silver pawed cub breathed, once again impressed. He sounded so brave and strong and he surely knew so many stories! Suha thought she might love to meet him...
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:05 pm
Dareia's face contorted at the mention of the Firekin. They sounded like such vile creatures! To attack someone for no reason like that? Dareia could understand if Zarha's daddy had been threatening, or encoraching on their territory or something like that, but the way that Zarha said it, it sounded as if her parents had been innocent.
Placing her paw upon her own muzzle, Dareia smiled. "Yeah! I wish I had some scars... maybe not on my face, though. I wanna be brave like your daddy!" She grinned at the thought, but it quickly faded when she realized the pain she'd have to endure in order to get those scars - was it really worth it?
Then, as she thought back upon the story, he smile reappeared. Zarha's daddy was brave for her mommy - he loved her! Oh, it was so sweet and perfect; him willing to risk his life for her like that. It made her wish that her future Pad would be like him; brave, and kind, and thoughtful, and loving. And brave.
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:44 pm
"Not me," Zarha replied, curling her lip at the thought. She looked ugly enough already without scars on her face. "Of course if I had to, to protect my family, I wouldn't mind so much. My pad will do anything to protect me but when he's not around I have to be strong to protect my cubs and myself. That's what daddy says."
Her father never put it in Zarha's head that she was a helpless female. He wanted her to be tough. Life could be hard for a female in this pride. Of course, Vu wanted to do everything in his power to make sure his daughters went to good pads.
"Anyway, my dad's story about the cheetahs got me thinking it would be really fun to have a race! Do you guys wanna race with me?" She grinned, taking a play stance.
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 5:54 pm
Oh good, Zarha really hadn't been offended by her tactless question, and the conversation had safely moved on. Thank goodness, she would have hated to have offended her new friend by accident! When her sister said she wished she had some scars too, Suha glanced at her, surprised. Sure, scars looked pretty cool on some of the Pads, but she didn't think she wanted them. Getting them surely hurt, she wouldn't want that. And besides, the most likely way to get them, as far as she could tell, was to be attacked by a rogue lion, which would be terrifying, or to horribly displease her Pad. She never wanted to do either of those things, so she figured she could do without the scars.
"It would be really scary to get a scar," Suha said softly, shuddering slightly, "I don't think I want one..." Though she supposed Zarha was right, if she had to defend her cubs and her Pad was not there...perhaps then she'd feel the scar would be worth it. She still didn't think she wanted one though.
As Zarha changed the subject, Suha's eyes brightened eagerly. Like most cubs, she'd no objections to leaving the solomn and slightly scary idea they were discussing behind for a good bit of fun.
"Ooooh, yes!" she glowed, starting to get down in a play-stance like Zarha had, only to get an idea from the way the other's hair still stuck up. Giggling, she licked her paw and slicked it through the fur on her head, trying to make stick up the way the other cub's did. Like a cheetah. "You too, Dareia," Suha suggested eagerly, "We can race like shee-tahs!"
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:25 pm
Dareia shrugged. She supposed it would be really cool to be brave and appear to be so, but at what cost was she willing to go about it? She wasn't quite sure if she'd want to have scars from being attacked, or because she'd had been disobedient to her Pad, but if she'd saved her cubs from a mean, intruding Cheetah she'd be proud to bear the battle scars. Something small, of course - she'd hate to have to bear scars all over her body because of some stupid, mean animal that caught her off-guard without her big, strong Pad to help protect her. She supposed that wouldn't be too pretty; and daddy wouldn't be too happy about that, either.
"Yeah," Dareia said in response to Zarha's remarks. "Scars would probably make you not-so-pretty, wouldn't they?"
At the mention of a race, Dareia's thoughts quickly brightened. Scars and battles forgotten, she grinned. Glancing over to Suha at the mention her name, Dareia found herself giggling. "Yeah! Let's race! Like Cheeturs!" She collapsed into a new-found fit of laughter, but managed to bring herself together enough to find herself in a beginning-a-race sort-of stance. "But where're we racing to?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:47 pm
Zarha was glad Dareia asked her. She loved making decisions. Sometimes she wished she'd been born a boy so she could boss everybody around, but she knew that if she worked hard she might become a Beybanu one day. Then she would have lots of people to boss around, plus cubs! Zarha would be a force in her cub's lives one day.
So she had to pick a finish line that her friends would know. She thought for a few seconds, then grinned excitedly. "Let's race to the big tree by the lake! You guys know the one, right? It looks like it has a big fat belly."
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:33 pm
Dareia brought up a fair point. Suha had rather forgotten about a destination. She'd been so excited to just do it that an ending never occurred to her. Unlike Zarha she had very little desire to be in charge. Really, she was quite content in her 'place'...so long as her place was with the boy she fell ears over tail for.
She nodded eager agreement, already wriggling with anticipation for the start.
"On three?" she suggested, trying to picture exactly where the tree was. Certainly would be silly to go off the wrong way and get lost!
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:10 am
Dareia nodded, imagining the tree in her mind. It was a very large tree, and had a belly like a pregnant Banu. It was quite tall (especially in comparison to someone as small as Dareia!), and had many leaves atop it's branches. Even if you got lost, it was a landmark that you could see if you got yourself elevated enough. Plus, she'd been over that was just the night before, the memory fresh in her mind; all the better.
Nodding once more to Suha's idea, she lowered the front half of her body and slit her eyes as if about to pounce her prey. Back end and tail high in the air, both swaying slightly, Dareia decided to start off the count, and let either finish. "One," she said, a shaky excitement slowly growing in her voice. "Two..." Dareia tensed, awaiting one of the others to shout the three so they could be off.
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:35 pm
Zarha got into line between her two new friends. It was so exciting meeting new cubs and making friends. She had a good feeling that she and Dareia and Suha would be friends for a long time. It would be so much fun being friends with the Sultan's daughters! And because her father was a friend of the Sultan, she knew they would be seeing a lot of each other.
Zarha crouched down and dug her claws into the earth. She concentrated on her breathing, getting ready for the big dash. When Dareia got to two, Zarha took a deep breath and shouted, "Three!"
The word had just left her lips when she took off - like a cheetah! There weren't a lot of twists and turns to the race, but there were plenty of obstacles: rocks and branches to jump; little hills and tree roots; and most perilous of all, adults that got in the way! After all, the grown-ups didn't know there was a race going on.
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