[JRP] Albatross Around Your Neck (Blackbeard x Jasiri'mkono)

[Rainhowl]

The Mizimu'Tungika were gone. The young lioness wasn't sure how she felt about that, truth be told. Mostly, she was devastated. She'd only wandered off for a while and to return to the pride's lands in ruin? Her father was a warlord. Not just a warlord, the warlord. He was the strongest lion she had ever known... So where did they all go?

She was a small thing, even for a juvenile. Her lithe body was darkly furred and orange marked her cheeks and legs. Her mop of fur atop her head seemed always ruffled and an anxious frown seemed permanently etched into the timid lioness's features. She didn't know where she was or where she was going. Though she always regarded her siblings with jealousy, she found she missed them greatly. She simply wanted to go home, but such things were not possible.

She plodded along in the sun's early light, morning birds twittering and singing away as shafts of light dotted over the savanna. Her head and tail were significantly low, as were her spirits, and her stomach gave an unpleasant growl. She needed to find something to eat fairly soon, but her heart just wasn't really in it.  

[Buffy_the_Bloody]

Blackbeard!

The female was lucky he had brought down a meal for himself. He was rather annoyed at having to have done it, but he wasn't looking to share. Eating food the corsairs and hunters brought home was fair game. He had a portion as did everyone else. But Blackbeard was finally showing his devious nature. He refused to share a meal with anyone. He felt he was the prince, and he deserved the respect of eating a meal all to himself. It was his god given right! Yet everyone ignored him, everyone felt he was just the b*****d son. H e looked forward to the day when that changed, and they bowed to him out of fear of death.

Blackbeard was not like his father. He was not the genuine, good hearted, yet mischevious type. Blackbeard was a dangerous, loose end to leave lying around.

He sat, tearing into the zebra carcass with ferocity. He knew it was a matter of time before other predators, more like scum of the earth, went after the meal he had brought down. He hated those that stole food, when it was his food that was being stolen.  

[Rainhowl]

Her stomach protested as the coppery smell of blood caught her attention. The kill was a ways off, but she instinctively altered her course to lead her to it. A downed zebra would have been perfect, but there was a wee bit of a problem. A massive male, one who easily dwarfed the runty female, was hunched over it, filling his belly. He didn't seem the friendly sort and her nerve just about failed her.

Despite wanting to vacate the premises, she hung back and watched him with her vibrant, flame-like eyes. She feared approaching, but was unsure of just what else to do. Maybe she could wait for him to leave some. Surely he couldn't eat that entire zebra on his own? She bit her lip slightly, brows knitted. Her stomach gave another complaint and, at that moment, she realized the winds were shifting. She was placed upwind and her scent was being carried right towards the feasting male.  

[Buffy_the_Bloody]

He had been expecting the scent to drag others from their rotten hiding places. Scavengers, the lot of them. He hated others who did nothing for themselves but take his meals. He frowned, and continued digging into the fresh kill. Though it did not take him long to smell through the blood that was filling his nostrils.

The wind change had done him a favor. For his red eye leered up from his meal, looking directly at the female who was hiding. He didn't see her, but he knew she was there..

"If ye be hiding, I suggest ye come out now." He said, and the word now had such emphasis that he was almost spitting it out of his mouth.  

[Rainhowl]

The tiny youngster inched forward, wincing as the older lion spat his words. It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a demand, although it was worded as such, and she knew it. Sure, she wasn't experienced in the ways of the world, but she understood his tone and worried what would happen if she didn't listen. Hell, she worried about what would happen even if she did, but she tried not to let the terrible thoughts fill her mind. She certainly didn't feel like the daughter of a war lord, especially when she felt as afraid as she did right at that moment.

"I wasn't trying to hide, honest, not 'riginally." She peeped, ears flattened along her nape. She was easily dwarfed by him, though she wasn't quite a cub, anymore. She lowered her orange eyes to his paws, her dark tail twitching anxiously as she waited for whatever he would do or say. Maybe she'd be lucky and he'd ignore her. Better yet, maybe he would let her take a bite or two, though she didn't count on it. He was a large, well built lion, one that could easily do her harm if she angered him. The wilds of Africa were a harsh, harsh place, after all.  

[Buffy_the_Bloody]

"Grow a backbone." He said, casting her a look before arching a brow in her direction. She was a pretty juvenile, though too young for him to see her as much more than just that. Pretty. He didn't like tolerating females, but if he had to, then he would only tolerate those that he felt he could have sort of a.. fleeting fancy for.

"You are thin. Why?" He asked, though his question was quick, almost a statement of interest. He wasn't sure he wanted to share, and if hse touched it without permission he would kill her. Though still, he wasn't sure if he would give her permission.

"And quit looking so afraid. If I wanted you harmed, it would have happened already."  

[Rainhowl]

His words stung. How many times had she heard that in the past? Yet she was still a quivering, cowardly thing and it made her feel as though she were burning with shame. In an effort to seem stronger than she truly felt, though he may have easily called her bluff due to the fact that her ears were still low and her tail twitched nervously, she settled her vibrant eyes on his cheek. She didn't dare meet his gaze.

Though the mention of not harming her did raise her spirits some, she was most uncertain of what he wanted or what would happen to her. Still, it was better to go along with him, rather than defy him and find herself in deeper trouble.

"M-m-my pride dispersed and I dunno where they gone. I been tryin' to find them." She forced the words out and all of it was true. She didn't know where they had scattered to and certainly not that many had wound up in the swamps.  

[Buffy_the_Bloody]

Normally he didn't care if words stung. They were just words, and he expected others to get over them the way he did. But the look on her features made him roll his eyes. He was so not used to dealing with younglings.. He found it hard to be nice to them.

He noted that she wouldn't meet his eyes, and that's when he knew she was a smart thing. He had promised that he wouldn't harm her, for now, and still she wouldn't look at him. She was wise beyond her years.

"Then you are a weak little thing." He groaned and rolled his eyes, standing from his meal.

"You may have a little. Though the only way you may accept this gift is if you join the Pirate ranks. I do nothing for free." He told her.  

[Rainhowl]

"I know... Just a cub, pretty much." She mumbled at his mention of her being weak. It was no secret. She'd become very in the know about her own mortality in recent days. She was a snack on her own and the thought terrified her. She wasn't supposed to die on her own, in the middle of the sahara, without her fierce parents or her many, many siblings.

And then he was offering to make a bargain with her. Join the Pirates? She didn't know who or what they were, but she did know that she was starving and that she would eventually die on her own, if she kept wandering the way she was. Her stomach snarled as she eyed the deceased creature that the large male had been feeding on. Food and a pride? Shelter? She couldn't imagine saying no. She didn't realize just what she was getting herself into, but retained hope that maybe one day she would find her brothers and sisters and things would go back to normal.

"I will." She promised, the words leaving her mouth before she could truly think about it. She would worry about that, later. For now, she was a growing cub in dire need of some nutrients. She was already smallish for her age and didn't need to be stunted any further.  

[Buffy_the_Bloody]

Aurrie Beaues

He watched her come to terms with the fact that she could easily be killed, and that she was weak. He was glad he could help her come to those conclusions. Maybe it would save her life in the coming seasons.

She promised to join the ranks, and he grinned. One more on his list of recruits. Though she wasn't much, and he wasn't sure how great a pirate she would make. But he would train her if he had to.

He backed away from the kill, motioning for her to take her fill of the meat. He could eat from the pile the hunters brought later. She needed it more than he, and a deal was a deal.

"Then help yourself." He chuckled deviantly.  

[Rainhowl]

"Thank you."

She didn't move forward until he had given her permission. The older lion made her nervous. She wanted to go home. She missed her mother and her warlord of a father. She missed her siblings. She wished she was as strong as the others in her family. She hated the name she had been given, meaning "brave hand," because she could not live up to it's expectations. All of these emotions converged and it took all her effort to even attempt to remain stoic as she inched towards the kill and began tearing at the fleshy, bloody meat that hid beneath the creature's thick pelt.

She wished she could reach the spirits.

But who knew? Maybe this was what they intended on. Maybe she was to run with these lions for a stretch before she could find her family and commune with the spirits once more. At least, that was what she kept trying to tell herself to keep the waves of fear and guilt from crashing down around her.