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 Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:06 pm
 Ukoo was down. And everyone could tell. Everyone she usually talked too, she avoided. She went out to get food for herself and then came back to be with her cubs. She doted on them. Her attention was on them constantly. They helped her be distracted from her misery.
It was strange, only a little while ago she was completely happy and content and now she was miserable. For one, her sleep had been interupted by dreams that were frightening and confusing and just... strange to her. Which meant she really didn't have much energy to do much. And she had stopped her normal tasks that she did out of habit. She no longer replaced her den mate's grass bedding. Course, O'tep had started to take that upon herself to be her job to put it on Tariqs bed. That just irked Ukoo.
That was her job and O'tep had taken it.
She was laying among her sleeping cubs, little uggi draped across her back like a shawl. Her young cubs slept so well, except for her seer cubs. She wasn't sure if their father really knew if they were seers or not. He had been pleased to learn Ukoo had been one.. but did he care now? Probably not. She shifted, not able to get comfortable. That and she knew if she shut her eyes she'd fall asleep.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:38 pm
 Tariq'ra'd was watching.
The grass O'tep had placed on his elevated sleeping spot was warm under his belly where he was lying, forelimbs crossed and back legs sticking out slightly to his side. His head rested sleepily on his arms, eyes half-lidded in their observance. He wasn't trying to hide the fact that he was awake. Actually, he wanted Ukoo to notice. It would be interesting to see how she would react...
Tail shifting in the air and landing to drape over his ankles, the dark lion trailed his tongue over a dry fang, pink eyes trailing over the small body of his banu. She had been acting strange, Ukoo. His little seer pet had become rather irritable ever since she had bore cubs. Odd, Tariq thought, considering she seemed so happy to have them. Which could only mean, then, that Ukoo's troubles did not reside within her cubs. The Vizier had spent time debating the issue in his mind over the last week, even resorting to following Ukoo in secrecy, watching her...
Just like he was watching her now.
The childish lioness was fidgeting quite a bit, seeming restless--perhaps even forcing herself not to sleep. Ukoo had recently had an argument with her closest "sister," and it was obviously on her mind every day. Among other things Tariq wished to know...Like the reason for their argument. Of course he could force and answer out of them, but it was so much more fun to solve a mystery gradually. A slow grin found its way onto the male's lips, and he lulled his head to his other paw.
"Can't you sleep, little pet?" Tariq'ra'd asked huskily.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:45 pm
Ukoo didn't care if he was awake or not. Usually she'd have asked him why he was awake but now she didn't care. She just concentrated on her thoughts and on ignoring her surroundings. She only wanted to watch her precious babies sleep. They were her cubs... not his. For some reason this made her feel better... made her feel-safe and secure. She tugged her darkest son under her chin without waking him, her red eyes half lidded.
Her skin prickled at the sensation of him watching her. She refused to show that she knew this. She flicked her tail slightly in agitation. It was odd, Ukoo had never disobeyed or shown any kind of hesitation or ignorance... it was like a complete 360 turn. It was strange really. Like apart of her subconscious had surfaced after years and years of hiding. Perhaps she had pressed these emotions down into her psyche to help ease the transition of her life.
Her ears swiveled back as she spoke to her. She was tempted to tell him to be quiet and that her cubs were asleep but no one roused. "No..." She said simply, shifting her shoulders. The fragrant grass crinkled as she moved. She had stopped drying it however and it was just green grass now. She didn't want to go out and see everyone else at this point. Not after word of her and O'teps fight got out. She didn't want to explain to anyone.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:03 pm
Ahhh, sweet spite...
Ukoo was unhappy with him.
Trying not to grin at this revelation, Tariq instead busied himself in examining his claws--a quick distraction from his momentary amusement. It didn't take him long to regain his composure and relax his posture once again. His eyes sought Ukoo's, but it was evident by her actions and demeanor that she wanted to pretend her pad wasn't there. But why now? What had happened to alter the usually cub-like female so drastically? Her cubs caused happiness, her life was perfectly content and she had never voiced any discomfort before...so what was it?
Tariq felt a heavy breath leave his nostrils in a frustrated cloud. The black velvet night enveloped the cave, smothering everything in it, especially Tariq. His bright pink eyes were nearly all that was visible on his form, and they were set unblinking on Ukoo.
"No~?" he echoed quietly, as if to draw out more of an explanation. His eyes found the lumpy bodies of cubs on the ground, chubby bodies intertwined in sleep. They wouldn't wake from a quiet conversation between their parents. No, the voices of their parents must've been more like a lullaby--not something foreign to alarm them out of sleep. All Tariq could think about was how their sleep would keep Ukoo's voice down. That was what Tariq wanted.
Prying words were best spoken in quietude.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:10 pm
Ukoo hated him right now. She hated him in so many ways. She hated O'tep too. She looked down at her cubs and tussled with her olive daughters tail, momentarily pleased by the silence. Perhaps he would just be happy with her single word answer. She doubted it. Her wounds from the fight itched suddenly and she squirmed to get at them.. since she didn't have a sister to clean them for her like she had when Tariq and her had fought. She had simply let them scab naturally.
The wound on her forepaw however had not healed. She had been chewing on it so much it was just an open wound now. Not a diseased wound though... just an irritated flesh wound. She had found herself chewing on it in her sleep even. And when O'tep attacked her she had chomped down on it so hard.. but now it was healing super slow.
She bent to chew on her paw again as he spoke once more. She chewed for a few moments before lifting her head and turned to gaze at him blankly. "I've had bad dreams." She said simply, before turning her head back to her black cub and cleaning his ears quickly. Thankfully she hadn't dreamed of that lioness that seemed to get Tariq so worked up when she told him about it... but she still wanted to pry someday. Not yet though. "The usual."
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:45 pm
Well, there was something that had slipped his mind: the wound on his smallest banu's paw. It was a clue to the mystery he was slowly beginning to solve, day by day. Ukoo had taken to chewing her paw as a habit. But every habit had a source--a root. The nature of such actions was to relieve or add something. Boredom, effort to concentrate, fatigue, routine, anguish...
Frustration...
Maw drawn down, the male pulled back his broad shoulders and pointed his chin to his chest, tail tip curling and uncurling. Then he smiled--for Tariq'ra'd was never without His Smile for very long.
"Dreams?" he questioned further. His interest was always piqued whenever Ukoo's dreams came up. It had been a while since he had last asked about them. He would have to remember to ask her later. Of course, now was not a good time to question if she had seen the Sunset Beauty of his life. Ughh, he wanted to ask her NOW. But it wasn't a good time. Tariq was enough of a tactician to know that much. In time, yes. In time she would come back around to him, smile on her lips and an obedient spark of affection in her red eyes.
"I wonder, Ukoo..." the male began ponderously, his voice hushed. "...If anyone ever told you that pent-up emotions caused nightmares?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:51 pm
Ukoo chewed until the taste of her blood filled her mouth. The pain was absent, she was used to superficial wounds that bled. Her neck hadn't hurt after the first few times. She licked her paw, clearing the blood away as she kept her back to him. Why was he so busy talking to her? Shouldn't he be doting on that misbehaving white monster.
"Then my life has been one long pent up emotion since the day my mother birthed me..." She said simply, rolling her eyes without him able to see. What was he trying to pull? She had been born with these seer dreams and knew they had nothing to do with emotions. She had them regardless of anything. They came-they went. She saw one day and saw nothing the next.
She bent down and proceeded to chew her paw. One of the cubs twitched in their sleep, it happened to be a cub she knew had seer dreams too. She reached over and with a soft cooing sound, placed her paw on his belly. She regretted that a boy and a girl had been born like her. She pulled her paw back from the cub and turned to look over her shoulder, her crimson eyes glazing over a bit. "Why so worried? It's nothing new..." She said, turning back. The only reason he was so interested in her dreams was because of that lioness.
It was true. She had always had these dreams. Why was it all of a sudden he cared? Especially when he had O'tep falling for him like ripe dates from the tree. She cringed. She felt so betrayed... and felt so... so... she couldn't explain. What really annoyed her was that all of a sudden she doesn't feel like being her normal cheerful self and everyone shows concern? Why? No one cared years ago when she was a tiny weak cub kidnapped to be raised as a blood slave... No one cared that her three cubs were taken away from her by this black lion who thought he ruled over her. Her red eyes narrowed at the pink flesh of her paw as she bent to chew on it again... perhaps it was the vampire inside her that egged on this habit.
Not to mention her most recent dream was so vague but familiar. It was so so so familiar. She could recognize the smell and the voice but couldn't remember it. She dipped her head down and gave her paw a good hard chomp in frustration.
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:33 am
Ukoo was an enigma--a little puzzle game for Tariq to solve. He had discovered that the day after he took her in, when she awoke in his den, red eyes wide and cub-like fear radiating from her hesitant form. She was confusing. She was intriguing. She was obedient. She was delightful...and now something in her was turning--pieces of the puzzle falling out of place and shifting, rendering Tariq unable to put them back. His eyes were hard and glistening as he listened to Ukoo's words.
What Ukoo said was true. Her dreams were "nothing new." But then again, she was wrong. Her dreams varied. The banu seemed to be avoiding something, putting up a wall so that Tariq could not see. But he would see. He always did in the end. At least, that was what he believed.
The dark male watched with great interest as his first banu took to chewing at her paw, teeth digging and fur plucking. It was so...unusual. Tariq had never observed such a habit before, and he felt his head lean forward slowly as his curiosity overwhelmed his discretion.
"Am I not allowed..." he began slowly, losing himself in his observation. But he quickly shook himself out of it and regained composure. "...To worry about you, Ukoo? You make it sound as though you don't think I like you..." he murmured softly, his voice sprinkled lightly with something reminiscent of being upset. His eyes glanced up and down her turned back, wheels of his mind turning as he tried to put the puzzle pieces back into place.
"...I do like you, Ukoo..." came the thick velvet words.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:28 pm
Ukoo shifted positions for a moment, licking her own blood from her lips. Her paw was starting to ache now and that was usually when she stopped. She turned her head to look at him when the first phrase of his question slipped his lips. His pause made her wonder what he was going to say originally but didn't really care to question it. She turned her back to him again, staring straight into the wall with her blood red eyes.
Her tail twitched at his words. He liked her. That was good to know that she wasn't just sitting in this den and looking lovely for no reason. She didn't really understand her own beauty. She had always found her coat rather strange and bizzaar and being surrounded by the females and male with stripes. She licked her lips slowly, her shoulders flexing.
What could she say to him. She didn't want to show that hearing these words did make her feel better in a way... but... she didn't want to show him she appreciated it. Since when did he care about making her feel okay.. or feel wanted.. or feel beautiful. "I'm sure I am a wonderful asset to your harem." She decided to say, ears flattening slightly.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:39 pm
Her simple stream of words grazed Tariq's ears like claws, pink eyes losing their careful spark for an instant. An epiphany came to him.
Ukoo was lonely.
In a slow, rising wave, Tariq felt a responsibility wash over him and he began to look at his banu in a new sort of way. She was upset. She was sad. That much was clear. All the time he had spent with her and away from her, puzzled by her actions and secretly trying to break her apart and piece her back together--all of the time, maybe she was being ripped apart from loneliness. All the time, maybe she was sad. All the time, maybe she just wanted to be wanted--needed for something...something other than tasks. Perhaps it was that she wanted to be loved for something other than what she could do, or how many cubs she had. Something...
She wanted to be loved for herself.
Face emotionless and eyes holding a steady gaze, Tariq slipped carefully off of his space and stalked towards his smallest female. Her back was to him, the scent of her own blood from self-inflicted wounds itching his nose. Tiny grunts and mews from the cubs' throats suddenly hushed in his ears, something in his mind blocking out sound. The black-striped male grew closer and closer, not blinking as he neared. His paws stopped at her back and he bent his head down, not kissing, not nuzzling, just pressing his face against the side of her neck. He closed his eyes.
Sometimes Tariq was so busy thinking about what his banu owed him that he forgot about what he owed them. They owed him much more than he owed them, he thought, but Ukoo had reminded him...that he was responsible for his banu. If Ukoo was unhappy, it was his fault. Being a good Vizier meant taking good care of one's banu. Was Tariq failing? No, no, he was a good Vizier. He could still make Ukoo happy...he could fill her loneliness...somehow. Then he would be a better Vizier.
He would be the best Vizier.
"You are an asset to me in more ways than you think..." Tariq breathed.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:51 pm
Ukoo contemplated chewing her paw again though the slow throb in it was annoying. She didn't really see herself as lonely, she had always been a lonely soul. Alone in a world that was so big to her... she had been alone so much in her life she wasn't really indifferent to it. Being taken from a loving family at such a small age and being used as a blood toy...
She did not hear him approach, and if she had would probably gotten up to move away from him. She wanted nothing to do with him. He hadn't wanted anything to do with her children so why would she expect the same for herself.
When his breath was upon her neck she froze, mostly out of surprise. She had not expected him to be so stealthy all of a sudden. She tried to not show her surprise but the pause of movement and her breath being held shown it.
His words danced across her ears like a cool wind. She sighed. "I do not believe that..." She said softly, her red eyes half lidding in her woe. She didn't feel as though she was an asset. She felt as though she useless to him. Every moment she devoted to him seemed insignificant now. She felt as though, she could whither away and no one but her own cubs would care.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 3:32 pm
Rousing from his abnormal state of mind, Tariq moved away from Ukoo, head shifting in thought. He regarded his banu carefully, eyes moving to the cubs briefly. He wanted to ask her, "Are you calling me a liar?" He wanted to know. He wanted to argue with her that he was telling the truth. He wanted to get mad and put her in her place. But he didn't.
With a quiet but devious look, the male grinned.
"I'll prove it to you, then." he murmured, more to himself than to her, for his eyes had already wandered elsewhere. There were beybanu, banu, and kajira, but all were females, and all had to be treated in certain ways. If Ukoo was lonely, it was Tariq's duty as her pad, as the Vizier, to make sure she was feeling her best. If she was feeling her best, she wouldn't be lonely. If she was feeling her best, she would be happy.
If she was feeling her best, she could serve him better.
So with a happy sort of look in his step, the male wandered out of the den with a plan in his mind, saying, "I'll be back," without looking over his shoulder.
Then he was gone.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 3:37 pm
Ukoo felt strong ignoring him like this. She was not giving him all her attention, but staring quietly at the wall. There really was no truth in his words because in her mind, there was no way to prove it. She would lay here in his den and keep bursting forth cubs for him that he disregarded as his and keep staring at the walls until her brain burst.
She turned to watch him leave, her red eyes glinting as the cubs slept quietly. There was nothing he could do to change her mind in her mind. He had betrayed her trust and love and thrown it to the wind.
"Hmph" She said simply, turning back and nuzzling down into her litter of cubs and breathing deep their scent. She refused to let herself believe they smelled a little like Tariq.
Fin
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