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 Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:31 am
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Ever since she'd met Kura, the infuriating Pridelander boy who was stubbornly (and wrongly) convinced that he owned the whole world, Jini had felt a little unsettled. He hadn't wanted her around, yet she'd wanted to prove herself to him, and she'd done everything she could possibly think of to impress him.
To her utter frustration and humiliation, nothing had been good enough. For the first time in her entire, very young life she'd been forced to give up and walk away, with her dignity trailing traitorously behind her. She couldn't remember a time when she'd been more embarrassed or angry.
Who the hell did he think he was? She'd done everything, and she'd done everything well! It just wasn't fair.
She was sure that she hated him, yet she desperately wanted him to at least approve of her. These contradicting emotions and wants brought up a whole new issue- one that she didn't understand or even begin to want to comprehend. Which made her even more upset.
What was wrong with her?
As Jini rested in the shade of a particularly giant tree with overhanging bows, she'd come to the conclusion that his standards were unrealistically high. It was the only thing that made any real sense. She was as good as good could get and, if he couldn't see that, he could train all by his stupid self for the rest of his stupid life. |
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:31 pm
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Syeira had been getting continually restless the past few weeks since she had come home. There seemed to be a storm in the air and it affected her mood badly, making her fidget and unable to sit still for very long. Not only that, but she had been thinking over her family and all that had happened. Her mother was dead, her eldest brother was gone, and the rest of her siblings could be scattered to the winds as far as she knew. Her children were growing older, many of them were leaving the nest of her home, and even though she had her younger ones there were still empty places in her heart from the lack of them all being home where she could take care of them or at least see them.
A soft smile spread over her maw as she saw one of her older daughters, her eyes gleaming as she changed her path to head over towards Jini instead of towards the river to find Uumi like she had originally intended. Her lithe little frame slunk closer, her head ducking below the overhanging branches, and she sat calmly before her daughter with every intention of talking to her over anything at all. Of course, it took only a moment for Syeira to realize what sort of conversation she was going to have exactly.
Call it mother’s intuition, but she could almost smell the discomfort radiating from her beautiful little girl. “Jini, love, what’s wrong?” She moved closer, laying down calmly and leaning to nuzzle her head against the darker fur of her daughter’s neck. She didn’t like any of her children to be uncomfortable and being that Jini was such a gentle soul made it all that much worse. |
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 7:39 pm
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Jini hadn't been too absorbed in her own thoughts to miss the site of her mother, graceful and gorgeous, headed in her direction. Much of her youth had been spent away from Sye and Uumi, but Jini felt that the ties she shared with both of her parents were stronger than anything that time could sever. They hadn't talked much, and hadn't spent very much time together, but the adolescent didn't believe that anybody was to blame for that. She'd always been incredibly independent and, at least in her own head, had never really needed much guidance.
Until now.
Not that she would ever admit to needing help. Jini usually had far better things to do than admit that she had any type of weakness. Like fuming about stupid boys who were... stupid, because she couldn't think of anything more degrading to call him.
When Sye stretched out beside her and offered, without really offering, to help get rid of all of Jini's problems, the youth felt two great surges of love and gratitude towards mother. It was nice, not having to announce that something was the matter. It was cool how Sye just knew. Jini leaned into the older lioness's nuzzles and shrugged once, unsure of herself.
She didn't really want to talk about it. But, really, what else could she do?
"I'm too clumsy," she blurted out finally, voice barely above a whisper.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:40 pm
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Most of her children were aware that Syeira and Uumi fought frequently, albeit loving one another. Sure, it had calmed down now, but a long time ago it really hadn’t been so pretty. What most of her children were not aware of, however, were the dirty little details surrounding their mating and the birth of the eldest son, Taabu. Sure, it had been somewhat planned on Sye’s behalf, but it was still a very sticky situation and it had taken a lot of manipulation to get them to where they were now – a (mostly) happy family. For this, Syeira had had to come to understand the way males thought, particularly the pompous and arrogant ones. For even though Uumi wasn’t that great of a lion, he had always had a lot of pride – enough to make it a pain for Syeira to deal with him anyway. Not that she wasn’t very prideful herself – but why would she admit that had anything to do with anything?
She had known since Jini was a cub that she would be headstrong and independent - she saw herself in the girl, even as a cub, and knew it would simply be so. She had never been bothered by Jini’s detachment from her parents, had loved her just the same, and knew that she would one day grow up to be a strong lioness that needed very little guidance. After all, Syeira had been largely that way, although she spent time around her parents during the pregnancy with Taabu for the sheer want to be somewhere familiar. That, and she had always been very close to her father – but Uumi really wasn’t the type that one could be ‘close’ to, now was he?
“What on earth are you talking about, beautiful?” she said with a small quirk of her eyebrow, letting her daughter lean against her without much of a question. Her tail flickered, her head balanced gently against her daughter’s. “You are not too clumsy, who in the world made you believe such nonsense?” She frowned at the thought, wondering idly why she was even bothered over the thought of being too clumsy. “And why is that bothering you anyway, love?”
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:07 pm
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Until a couple of weeks ago, Jini had never been concerned about much of anything. She'd done what she'd wanted to, when she'd wanted to, for as long as she'd liked to do it. That, if anybody had asked, would be enough to sum up the majority of her life.
Now, however, she wasn't so sure. It was silly, really. That stupid boy hadn't done anything but stick his nose in the air and make her feel inferior and, somehow, she'd still been desperate to impress him. Which, she wrinkled her nose at the thought, was absolutely horrible. Jini wasn't the desperate type. She didn't pine around and wait for things to happen. She was used to demanding and, therefore, getting everything she wanted.
What, exactly, did she want?
Jini didn't know. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know.
Sye's words tickled her ears and, in spite of the conflicting emotions that swirled around inside her skinny body, a grin started on the young lioness's face. Beautiful. It was nice to hear that word. Even if it was coming from her mother.
"I am too clumsy," she stressed the sentence with every word. There was a pause, as she contemplated exactly how to explain the situation to the older female, "It wasn't too long ago, when I hurt my ankle trying to run down some cliffs and, um, oh, it was so horrible. I keep trying to forget it."
To forget him and his stupid smirk.
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:37 pm
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If Syeira knew nothing else in life, she knew how to manipulate males to her will. It had begun innocently with her father, wrapping him around her paw as a mere cub and she still probably remained one of his favorite children if not the most favorite of all. Then she had turned her attention onto Uumi – the pridelander prince with ego enough for three lions. Sure, they had their rough spots, the fights that had originally had no affection at all beneath the tones. But eventually, with enough of the right words, they had become a family. That was an achievement in itself, especially since Uumi had never really wanted to mated to any female and had always claimed to hate cubs regardless. Sure, it had been a lot of work, but she had done it.
If she had known that her own daughter was being manipulated, forced to prove herself worthy to a male, it would be highly likely that she would wonder why her manipulative gene hadn’t been passed down to the pretty girl. She couldn’t come to think that any of her daughters couldn’t outwit a male, or at the very least make them stutter through every sentence. Of course, the fact that Syeira had been gone so long and absent during her eldest daughters’ rise to adolescence probably had at least a little something to do with it.
“Why on earth were you trying to run down cliffs, Jini?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at her daughter in her curiosity, although she seemed to have that underlying tone that said she obviously didn’t approve of such behavior – probably not even from her sons. Cliffs and rocky slopes and the likes were dangerous. “Not that you should have been attempting such a feat, but you can’t be called clumsy for failing at that. I suppose, however, that you didn’t decide to do that out of the blue or tell yourself that you were clumsy for failing, hm?” Mothers knew all, and it was obvious that Jini wouldn’t have done that of her own accord.
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:21 pm
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Sye might not have come right and and said it but Jini could tell by the tone of her mother's voice that she had some idea as to what had happened. The adolescent cocked her head to the side in order to get a better look at the much older, wiser female. Jini knew very little about her mother and knew even less about the circumstances that had resulted in her relationship with Uumi. She'd never stopped to consider the fact that things might not have always been the same as they were now. Still, in spite of the less than impressive knowledge Jini had about Sye, the older lioness seemed to know exactly what was going on in her daughter's life. It was eerie. How could she know? Just like that? Without even actually asking?
Vaguely, Jini wondered if Sye could read minds, and if she could, why she hadn't inherited the ability. Perhaps then she wouldn't have such a difficult time with Kura. She'd never met somebody more confusing.
"Weeelll," she sighed and licked her lips, while trying to decide the best way to explain her little situation to her mother, "I met a lion, who thinks he's better than me at everything. Which he isn't. He just doesn't know it yet."
Jini shrugged and prodded gently at a busy anthill with the tip of her tail, "He's the reason I was hurt. I was trying to complete his stupid training course, which really isn't as great as he thinks it is."
Sure, Kura was big and strong, but Jini was quite sure that there was no brain rattling around in his giant head.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:35 am
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Syeira let a small, wry smirk spread over her maw as her daughter immediately began to talk about a male. It wasn’t mind reading at all, no matter how it might seem to some of her children when she figured them out before they had even told her something. No, Syeira had a sharp wit and a wise mind – she always had, even if the razor of her tongue had dulled down slightly over the years. Jini was at the age where she would start looking at males in a different light, at an age where they would start seeing her that way too. It wasn’t hard to figure out. Of course, Syeira had never really gone out of her way to impress someone – she’d seen others do it though.
“Your father was like that,” she said in a rather conversational tone, her eyes dancing with mirth as she stared off at the sky with a look that suggested she was reliving some long past memory. “He thought very highly of himself, that silly pridelander prince,” she said with that smirk firmly in place, eyes narrowing slightly as they glimmered against the light of the sun. “Of course, he learned very quickly that he was not better at anything other than being grouchy,” she chuckled at this, softly, and turned her eyes back to her daughter. She studied her daughter for a moment, tail flickering softly, just a silent motion that seemed to be measuring her more than anything. Perhaps if she had not left for so long to train her son’s and grandson’s bodies, she could have been training her daughter’s mind for situations like this. Honestly, she had never assumed that the ability wouldn’t come naturally. Ah, she should have known better – Uumi’s mind probably trumped her wit in the passage of their genes. No reason she couldn’t try now, though, right?
“You have to deal with pride a different way than you would anything else,” she said finally, her tail flickering still but her mind completely on Jini now. “You will never match his strength, sweetheart, for females, sadly, are not built with the brawn of males,” she smirked here, her eyes dancing yet again with that secretive laughter, “but you must also remember that the gods did not equip men with the minds females are graced with, and what is brawn without the mentality to put it to good use?” She laughed and shook her head, amused – this was, after all, her favorite subject. “Females were meant to think for males, my love, for they are useless bags of muscle and bone without us. Getting them to realize that is the problem. It took a very long time with your father.” From a queen of manipulation, the words really weren’t surprising. However, the gleam in her eyes was just a little too hard to comprehend – was she being serious, or joking? It could be either with her, perhaps even a little of both.
“Perhaps you should stop trying to prove your brawn to him and instead make him prove his wit to you?” her eyes danced at the question, her head tilting lightly. If Jini was willing, Syeira was sure she could teach her enough to outwit most males. Sure, she didn’t have to do it forever – just long enough to gain the male’s interest. That didn’t always take the sharpest wit or the most experience at the game, but it was effective enough for a little while.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:13 pm
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Jini didn't suspect that her feelings for Kura ran as deep as all of that. The young lioness couldn't actually recall ever experiencing romantic feelings for anybody before, and therefore didn't know exactly what to expect. Perhaps she was interested in Kura. It wasn't impossible. After all, he was strong, fast and easy on the eye, but, as far as Jini could tell, that was where his list of attributes ended and gave way to a much longer list of faults. Not that she could think of very many. She just felt that it must be long, since he infuriated her the way that he did. Nobody, not even Damu, had ever been able to ruffle her feathers so easy.
It wasn't fair. She hated how weak he made her out to be because Jini, who took immense pride in the strength and size of her family, knew that she was no such thing. How could she possibly be anything else?
"Dad is usually very grumpy," Jini nodded her head in agreement with her mother's statement. She hadn't spent very much more time with Uumi than she had with Sye, but the young lioness didn't need to be close to her father to know that. His favorite expression, as far as she could tell, was a sour one. She smiled at the little tidbits of information Sye gave her about her father's youth. It was strange, trying to picture either of them as anything other than what they were now.
Jini turned her head to look at her mother when the older, much more experienced lioness began to talk about men. The topic intrigued her, for reasons Jini wasn't sure she liked to think about, let alone admit to.
"I've already resigned myself to the fact that I will never beat him," she sighed sadly and bent her head to rest on her front paws. Her eyelids fluttered closed, but Jini's stiff posture and erect ears should have been enough to let Sye know that her daughter was still listening attentively.
The idea that females were made to think for males was an incredibly amusing one, which she agreed with wholeheartedly. It made sense. Many of the males she'd met fit into the picture her mother painted like pieces of a puzzle. They all belonged there, regardless of their age.
"He's not interested in talking," Jini said softly, ruby red eyes blinking open once more to glance at Sye. A mischievous smile started on the pretty youth's face, "What should I do?"
This, she'd decided, was no longer about her battered dignity. No. That, unfortunately, had been lost to her. At least when it came to him. Deflating Kura's over-inflated ego sounded like a much more promising project.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:43 pm
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Weak was not something that Syeira would ever readily use to describe her daughters, or even her sons for that matter. She had chosen Uumi as a mate for their first cub originally so that she would have strong-willed, smart offspring. She had certainly not produced any of the half-wits that a lot of lionesses had. In fact, in nearly every one of her children there seemed to be not only her own brains and strong will, but their fathers as well. Of course, it was too bad that a few of them had also gotten Uumi’s temper, but all things can be overcome with time. Despite all the odd little quirks they seemed to possess, they had every single one turned out like she had wanted them to - smart, strong-willed of mind at least, and capable of getting what they wanted no matter what they had to do to do so. Jini was no different than the others in this respect.
The first time that a lioness realizes she is in love is often one of the hardest things for her to admit – at least in Syeira’s case. She had not been ready to love Uumi, despite using him to produce Taabu, and had certainly never thought she would be where she was today. No, in fact, she denied her feelings for the longest time simply out of need. She had never been faced with a situation that she was not used to or a lion that she could not dismiss. No, more and more she had found herself seeking Uumi out and not just for their son. It was unfortunate in the beginning, being so confused and dumbfounded over one’s own thoughts – but at the end, it was beautiful. It was worth it, in her opinion.
Syeira smirked slightly as her daughter mentioned her moody father, a soft shake of her head although she readily admitted the same. Uumi really was grumpy ninety percent of the time and she was sure there was going to be very little to ever change that. Of course, he had been making an effort with the youngest cubs, even though she was usually the only one that ever saw him doing so. The only one that really seemed to be grumpy as his father was Azima – and he didn’t even like to be around Uumi anymore than Uumi liked to be around him. That situation needed some mending – she’d have to remember that for later.
Syeira smiled softly down at her daughter as she showed interest in her mother’s best skill, her tail flickering as she watched her from her position. “The best way to drive a male crazy is to pretend you know something he doesn’t, particularly something that pertains to him and his interests,” she said with a little smirk, icy eyes measuring her daughter in a moment of silence after her words. “If you imply that you’ve see better than him, it will make him work harder in most cases. To do any of this, you have to master a calm façade. You must keep a blank look, cold, almost disinterested.” She nodded, realizing this was a bit harder to explain than it was to actually do. “However, it’s always best to pretend to be amused with him after he says something macho, like you would be amused with a child. Give him a small smirk, a raised eyebrow – it always suggests you’re above his silly games and words. That used to drive your father mad – it still does.”
She laughed softly under her breath, putting her head on her paws and leaning against her daughter comfortably. “If he asks you to do something, imply that you don’t do silly things like that or you don’t feel like it. Pretending you have something more important to do always works as well, but only if you begin to act like you’re leaving. The leaving game doesn’t always work with every male though – some will try to make you stay and others won’t, you’ll have to judge that one for yourself.” She looked at her daughter from the corner of her eyes, making sure the little thing was getting it all and hadn’t been lost yet.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:32 pm
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Her size and appearance relative to that of her mother's and the rest of her family was the only thing, up until now, that Jini had ever bothered to concern herself with. She'd never paused to consider that she might have certain personality traits that paralleled either her father or her mother, or, perhaps both. It was strange to think that she was a combination of two completely different beings, strange to wonder about what she might share with them. It was quite obvious to her, at least, that she had not inherited Sye's sharp tongue, nor her mother's vast knowledge of the opposite sex. Instead, Uumi's quick temper and stubborn nature was something she possessed in bucket loads.
Like her mother, however, Jini would have the most difficult time admitting that she was in love. If it ever happened. Which, she was quite certain, it had not. The young lioness had never been very sure of her feelings and she had been prone to dramatic outbursts ever since she was young, simply because she couldn't begin to comprehend her own emotions. They frightened and frustrated her, in more ways than one. Jini had never learned to reign in her emotions and, if she did not live for unpredictability the fact would have been a hell of a lot harder to bear.
Instead, she failed to make the connection between her own lack of control and the confusion that seemed to constantly plague her poor heart. It was easier to make everything his fault.
Never mind the fact that he'd never done anything to warrant her feelings for him. Never mind the fact that he could never possibly return her feelings- that was, if she had any.
When Sye began to teach, Jini was more than willing to listen and to learn. She rested comfortably beside the older lioness, and nodded her head whenever she felt that it was appropriate. It wasn't very difficult to imagine herself doing everything exactly as Sye directed, but it was virtually impossible for her to predict Kura's reaction. She sensed that it might not be as easy for her as it was for her mother. Still, it was fun to assume that it could work. Kura was a male, after all, and he couldn't possibly be put off by everything she threw at him.
"I think I'm going to enjoy playing this little game," Jini laughed merrily, feeling lighter than she had in days. It was nice to talk, for once, about the things that weighed on her mind and, it was especially wonderful to talk to her mother.
"He is usually very good at making me angry," she offered shyly, "I can not help myself, some times. He says things, and he does things and I just snap. How can I keep my temper under control?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:57 pm
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Syeira had always been aware that her children had all inherited at least some form of personality trait from one parent or another. However, the most common of those seemed to be from Uumi – the quick temper and the stubbornness happened to be a couple that shone particularly brightly among them all. Even in the gentle ones like Jini, it was there, like a monster rippling beneath the surface of the façade. She knew that most of them handled it to a degree, but she was sure that it was at least a little frustrating at the best of time. She herself had a good stubborn streak, but it was coupled with a coolness that very seldom allowed strong emotions to bubble to the surface. She was too proud to let things get in the way like that, too proud to let them show even when they were bothering her. She was a strong lioness, and she knew that her children had at least inherited that, even if they had the misfortune of her mate’s temper.
As she had thought before, all things could be overcome with time, and she was going to help her daughter overcome anything she needed. One was the matter of her feelings. Syeira knew the root to Jini’s distress, perhaps better than Jini did herself, and it could certainly be played up to a mother’s ability at knowing every whim of her child. Even if Jini couldn’t decide what it was she was feeling for this male, Syeira knew. She had half a mind to go off hunting for him, just to chastise him for ever putting her daughter through the turmoil at present and to make sure he was even worthy of being considered for the position she felt Jini would inevitably place him in one day.
However, that brought her to the second issue that needed to be sorted out with Jini and it happened to be a little more important at present. After all, what mother could let her daughter be outdone by a male, especially one that happened to come off as a brainless buffoon? She simply smiled at her daughter’s eagerness to learn her way, proud that she was at least teaching one of them the manner of her art. She wished, honestly, that she could have instilled such a thing into a few more of them – but right now, Jini wanted to know, and she was more than willing to teach her every little thing she could possibly offer.
“He makes you that angry?” she asked with a little tilt of her head, considering her daughter in silence for a few moments. She had gotten angry at Uumi, sure, but she had always been able to keep her emotions mostly on the inside. She realized now that she had to teach someone her ways when they happened to have a temper much like that fiery lion himself. “All I can say about your anger is to try and keep that in check, Jini. I always looked at it like a game; if he made me mad, if I showed that, if I blew up at him – then he won.” She shrugged it off, turning those icy eyes away for just a few moments, staring off in thought. With a little smirk, she simply glanced back, “it’s a matter of self restraint. If you can learn to do that, my love, you can learn to do anything.” Her smirk got a little more mischievous at this point, her eyebrow lifting slightly, “besides, if you can manage to keep a smirk on your face, if you can manage to convince yourself to be amused at him, then there’s very little he can do to make you angry. It kind of makes you feel like you’re looking at a child that way.” The thought made her chuckle, her eyes shutting slowly in her mirth. Oh, but Syeira did enjoy her games!
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:58 pm
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There was nothing Jini longed for more than the ability to keep her fiery temper under control. She would have given anything to have inherited her mother's quick wit and stubbornly patient disposition. As it was, though, the young lioness just couldn't seem to bring herself to hold her breath and count to three every time somebody (especially Kura) did something that made her angry. Nobody was better at it than he was and, while she had always tried to act the part of the calm, cool and collected female, his snide remarks and superior attitude always managed to get the better of her.
Jini admired Syeira's ability to keep her temper firmly intact. The older lioness's intelligence, combined with that unfailing steel control, made her mother a force to be reckoned with. She gazed fondly at the other female through big, ruby colored eyes and was struck by the sudden realization that size wasn't everything. Sye was somebody she'd never want to mess with, even though she was a little on the small side as far as their species went. When it came to being a formidable adversary, strength wasn't the only thing. It was crucial, yes, but strength was nothing without the knowledge needed to use it properly.
She couldn't suspect that her mother understood her feelings for Kura better than she did because Jini had never known anything of these particular emotions before. All she knew was that, whenever she was with Kura, she wanted both to strangle him and to make him like her. It really was too bad that he'd hate her if she tried to kill him.
Plus, Jini admitted grudgingly, she would be terribly disappointed if he wasn't around to bother anymore. That was probably the core of her issues. She enjoyed competing with Kura, when he didn't really like being challenged by somebody as simple and as worthless as a girl.
Hmph. She'd show him. With the help and guidance of her mother, of course.
"I suppose I could look at it as a kind of game," an amused grin split her pretty face in two, "I do like to win, and thinking about it that way would probably help me keep my temper under control."
A delighted chuckle slipped between her lips, "If I were to laugh and smirk in his face, he would probably get angry. He doesn't really like being made a fool of. It sounds perfect, mum."
She'd do anything to see him lose his temper, for once.
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:47 pm
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Syeira realized that having her father’s temper often kept Jini from being able to keep her composure. It was an inconvenience at best and she, for one, was glad that she didn’t have that fiery crack-of-the-whip temper. Sure, she got angry, but she had long since developed other ways of dealing with it. Perhaps if she had spent a little more time with her daughters, and her sons for that matter, she could have raised them up like her eldest child. Taabu had not inherited his father’s temper, but instead had the craftiness of his mother. He had gotten softer than he was when he was younger now that he had a large family to take care of, but that was all well and good. The fact of the matter was that he functioned well and she had managed to keep most of his father’s attitude out of him. He was his mother’s child entirely.
However, it was firmly Syeira’s belief that anyone could change at any point in their lives. If Jini tried hard, she would learn how to keep her temper under control, learn to repress it and be able to face anything she needed to. It took years to build up the sort of character Syeira had, and she was sure the biggest brute in the lands (which was probably her son, anyway) wouldn’t dare to butt heads with her. She was crafty, smart, and she could turn a male upside down and make him eat his own foot if she wanted to.
“Winning isn’t everything, but the game certainly is,” she said with a small smirk, quirking an eyebrow at her, “and what fun is playing the game if you’re not winning?” Oh, that little round-and-about thinking would have thrown Uumi for a loop and probably caused him to get grouchy with her. She was sure her daughter, however, had enough of her mother in her to figure out her words.
“Laughing in your father’s face always made him extremely angry, and I’m willing to bet there isn’t a male alive that would feel differently.” She chuckled and leaned over to nuzzle her daughter comfortably, whispering in her ear, “the easiest way to make him respect you is to be able to kill his pride. As long he thinks he’s better than you, he’s going to treat you that way.” She smiled as she leaned away, giving her a bit of a smile. She had every confidence that her daughter was going to make her very proud.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:40 pm
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