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 Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:39 am
 Kazul still lived with her mother and father in the Warlord's den because, well, they were family and it was somewhat expected that she would remain with them until she found herself a mate or someone she would rather live with. For a while there it had seemed as if she would obviously be moving into a den with an outlander-born Reaver named Ruzanski when she came of age, but things between them had soured somewhat in recent times. He had been distant emotionally, even when he wasn't distant physically, as he very often was. Oh, sure, he was earning quite the name for himself as a Reaver and a warrior, but that didn't stop Kazul from feeling ignored and unappreciated.
The other possibility, of course, was that she could take up residence with her half-brother, Odd Haleifr. He probably would not have minded her company, since he was her best friend and she assumed the same was true for him, however there was a lioness he was interested in - very interested in - and Kazul did not want to accidentally give Muista the wrong impression by living with Odd and forcing him to explain why there was a lioness in his den. Besides which, Odd lived in the forest at the edge of the pride, like the rest of his family, and that would make things inconvenient for Kazul.
So she lived with her mother and father and sister and brothers, which meant that she was getting to hear a great deal about this newcomer to the pride, Thorgnyr, who claimed to be a representative of one of their gods. Not a great deal of detail or information, but certainly a great deal of excitement. Only when the messenger wasn't around, of course. When he was present everyone tried to act as though they had guests like that every day.
"Sure we do," Kazul said under her breath as she beat the sleeping furs outside. She smirked to herself. The den had gotten a lot cleaner since Thorgnyr moved in.
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:06 am
It was really a good thing she had beat on the furs before entering, or Raiden might have had his cover blown. See, pretending to be a mortal had it's drawbacks, and not stretching your wings was one of them. So he had thrown caution to the wing and brought his wings back, just because he missed the feeling of having them spread out by his sides. Yeah, that was good!
At the sound of someone outside, though, the god immediately changed back into his disguise. Thrognyr. He thought that had been a very nice choice of name. He'd also been careful to make Thorgnyr not look too much like himself. While Raiden was a black-furred god, Thorgnyr was somewhat lighter, with a gray mane, muzzle, underbelly and toes. He had no white markings down his back (and, of course, no wings or horns). But the eye color remained the same, because he hadn't been bothered to change that. There were other little markings here and there, which in his true form her lacked, just because he wanted to have them. A bit irritating to always remember, but oh well.
It took him much longer to actually remember how Thorgnyr talked, so at first he didn't even answer, and simply stepped out of the den. As for size, Raiden had stayed nearly the same, perhaps only a slight bit smaller. (He figured if you represented a god, you should look big, strong and godly). Really, this was all pretty fun.
"Kazul." He greeted, though he mostly said it out loud to remind himself of her name. Raiden forgot sometimes.
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:49 am
"Good morning, Thrognyr," Kazul greeted the pride's esteemed guest. "I hope I didn't wake you."
The task of cleaning sleeping furs wasn't one of her favorites, but it did afford her an opportunity to vent her frustrations in a way that didn't involve fighting with anyone. Kazul obviously had no objections to fighting, but at the same time she knew she wasn't all that good at it, and so she preferred not to do it.
She did not lower her eyes or abase herself in any way. He was not a god, only the representative of a god, and she was descended from the same god he represented through her mother. There was no reason for her to humble herself. Much of the pride likely felt the same way. Of course they showed him respect and were polite to him, but they were polite in the Stormborn way, which meant they treated him as one of them.
"If you're awake, you could bring out your sleeping furs and I'll beat them, too, before I put all these back."
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:48 am
"Not at all." Raiden barely needed sleep. All he needed, really, as belief. Sleep was pleasant, but not really necessary, and, as such, he never got irritated if he was woken. The god was quite happy during his time in the pride, because since they did believe in the god of thunder, it made him more cheerful and energetic. Even if the stormborn didn't really do much of the worshiping, just knowing he was somehow important here was enough to make the god quite like the place. They had good taste!
At her offer, he nodded, because his furs were quite dusty. Mostly because he didn't use them that much. When Raiden wasn't Thorgnyr, he was usually something very small and inconspicuous, listening in on what the rest of the pride thought about. He left, and quickly returned with the sleeping furs from his den, dumping them unceremoniously with the others. "Anything exciting going on lately?" He asked, voice casual, but really he was curious. Raiden--Thorgnyr got a little bored.
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:08 pm
"Oh, good," Kazul said. It hadn't occurred to her to worry about it until Thorgnyr emerged from his part of the den, but she supposed she ought to have taken the furs farther away before beginning to beat the dust and dirt off of them. It was just so much work to do that, and she'd hoped to avoid that.
When he brought out his furs and dumped them carelessly with the others Kazul caught herself frowning and fighting the sarcasm that wanted to permeate her words as she thanked him. Instead she swallowed her cleaning-induced ire, which was not truly directed at the pride's guest anyway and began to work on the furs he'd brought out for her.
"On a pridal level or a personal one?" she asked him to clarify. Because she wasn't going to bore him with her personal problems if he was more interest in pridal goings-on. She certainly wouldn't blame him if that was the case. More than anything she wanted to get out of her head just to be able to think about something else for a while. Something that wasn't Ru and the rumours she'd been hearing about him lately.
"I'm afraid the most exciting news I have to share with you on a pridal level is your arrival, which I suspect you're already aware of. I think one of the captains, Uhtred, is planning to lead a viking to gather more herdbeasts for the lean months, too."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:23 am
Thorgnyr's brows raised slightly at the comment about a viking coming up, and that did seem very interesting, perhaps something he might want to get it on. Though it might be irritating if it involved fighting, because then the god would actually have to fight in the body of a lion. Usually he'd just turn himself into something stronger and tougher. He could fight, sure, especially for appearances, but it was irritating.
"How about on a personal level?" He asked, mostly to have something to think about other than how bored he was. He watched the green female beat on the fur with his paws, and decided to pull a little prank. So the next time one of her paws hit the fur, instead of a dull thump, it sounded like thunder. Loud enough to be surprising, but not exactly a crackling-thunder.
It wouldn't be the first time he had shown this to the Stormborn, as he had used the same trick to prove himself some sort of representative/chosen one/whatever mortals liked, of the god of thunder, you know, give some more credibility. It was perhaps the first time he used it in such a stupid manner, though.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:50 pm
Mrr. That wasn't what Kazul had wanted to hear. She didn't want to talk to the god's emissary about her petty personal problems. It wasn't as if he could do anything to help improve things.
Before she could be called upon to answer, however, the fur she was beating gave off a sound like a much-dampened crack of thunder. The sound startled her into jumping back, but she was laughing as she did do, delighted by the trick.
"Your god doesn't mind when you do that just because?" she asked. "I didn't realize the god of thunder was the type to allow that sort of thing."
She thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "Actually. I don't know that much about him. Maybe he is. You'd probably know better than I, and I guess you wouldn't do things that would encourage him to smite you for trivial displays of power."
Kazul grinned, half-hoping to learn that this was the sort of trivial display of power Thorgnyr was likely to make in the future, either with or without his god's approval. It was childish, perhaps, but she was still pleased by it. It was a different sort of power than her mother demonstrated as the high priestess.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:08 pm
Thorgnyr was amused by her reaction, and let out a laugh himself, glad that he had pulled such a prank. At her question, he was forced to think again. Because he knew Raiden didn't mind, for obvious reasons, but he wondered what exactly the Stormborn would like to hear about their god. "He gave me a gift, and I use it." He answered almost dismissively, then decided it wasn't a satisfactory answer.
"I am here to bring glory to the pride, and thunder is glorious." Even Raiden thought speaking like that was amusing, since he was essentially talking about himself. "So I don't see why I shouldn't use it in other aspects of pridal life! Besides, he said to use it when appropriate, and left me to judge when it is appropriate. I thought now was fine." He briefly wondered how funny it would be if the entire pride could do what he did, and everyone would be singing with thunder's voice all the time. The pride would definitely be the best sounding pride.
"If he has a problem with it, I'll just apologize." Raiden supposed he'd like his own followers to respect him more, but the character he had imagined for Thorgnyr... well, since the god was the lion, he hardly wanted to be boring. Impressive, yes. But boring, never! He could hardly feel insulted by himself.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:24 pm
Kazul grinned. "Good answer."
Based on the stories she'd heard about her ancestors growing up, both the mortal and immortal ones, Kazul had never believed that a lion ought to be ashamed of a special talent, and absolutely agreed that a gift should be used as often as its possessor wished. Certainly she was proud of those things she did well, even though there did not seem to be a great many of them when compared to the abilities of her siblings and half-siblings.
"Well," she said as she returned to her chore, "I'm sure you get quizzed about your god by everyone, so I'll not ask any more about that. Likely the priestesses and their apprentices will be able to do more with your answers than I could anyway."
Her mother was the high priestess, after all, and several of her siblings were training to be the same, so Kazul had a better idea about what the priestesses would want to know and want to do with the knowledge than most, but she still thought it best to let them ask it. Clearly Thorgnyr was capable of being capricious, and it might amuse him to be difficult when dealing with them. The thought amused Kazul.
"I think I'd like your god though," she declared after a moment's thought. The arrogance of saying that she would like a god, as if it mattered how she felt about the god, was staggering, but it didn't occur to Kazul to be ashamed or self-conscious about it. Her father was the Warlord, her mother was the High Priestess, and Kazul herself was descended from gods.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:42 pm
He shrugged, because Raiden supposed he didn't really mind questions about himself, especially if he got to answer them pretending to be someone else. But he couldn't find a good enough reason for Thorgnyr to disagree with her, so he didn't pursue the matter. Actually he found himself having to think more about himself since joining the Stormborn, because of all the questioning, he had to think up good, satisfactory answers. Sometimes he would even think up a good answer to a certain question, but the question went unasked, so he god a little bummed out by that. Oh well!
At her comment, or declaration, he paused. Because as a god that was weird for him. I think I'd like your god though. Raiden didn't get attached to mortals, so he had to think quickly with this one. What would Thorgnyr say in a situation like this? "He'd probably like you too." He offered, because he supposed if he weren't actually the god in question, and he were just Thorgnyr, well... he'd want his god to like him, too.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:23 pm
"Is that so?" Kazul asked, g.lancing at Thorgnyr out of the corners of her eyes.
Meanwhile the young lioness continued her work. He could be helping, she thought acerbically, but then mentally chastised herself. He was a guest, and guests traditionally did not help with household chores. Honored guests especially did not do any of that, and Thorgnyr did fall under the category of honored guest, even if he was not always on his dignity. Kazul was relieved about that last bit, actually, because that would have meant she would always have to be on her dignity, too, and that got exhausting.
"Mind if I ask what you base this conclusion on, or would that be prying into the oh-so-secret affairs of gods?"
It really wasn't that Kazul was a nonbeliever, or even particularly unimpressed with the gods. She just held the same attitude that the majority of the pride did, and that was that the gods were their ancestors, so really they were all a little bit divine, and haggling over portions was not the way of a proper Stormborn. Stormlords' balls, most Stormborn couldn't even be bothered to haggle because it implied need on the part of the purchaser and poor craftsmanship on the other end. Besides which, Stormborn tended to take what they wanted.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:32 pm
For a brief moment Raiden did consider trying his paw at cleaning the furs, mostly because he almost wanted to show off another of his powers. It would only take one little touch from him to send any dust on those pelts flying-- heck, not even a touch. But he didn't want to seem suspicious, with Thorgnyr having more than one power gifted to him by the god of thunder. Bummer!
Then he realized Kazul had asked him a question, or, wait, two questions, and found he may have dug himself in a hole here. Crap, why would Raiden like a mortal? He tried to think back to any mortals he had 'made friends with' in this lifetime, and found there weren't many. There was, what, one? Ethiopia? And he hadn't even gone bother her in a while. Maybe he should do that sometime, she might forget about him.
Well, okay, cross-reference the traits in Ethiopia with Kazul and... uhh. "You seem smart. He likes smart." A nonchalant shrug. "Besides, did you want me to say he wouldn't like you?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:43 am
Kazul sighed inwardly. Smart. She knew she was smart, and she was proud of her intelligence, but she did get tired of that being the only thing people seemed to appreciate about her. There were times when she would have given away half of her intelligence to be considered attractive instead. The only lion she knew who really found her attractive was Ru, and he had a funny way of showing his attraction.
"I guess not. Be kind of a conversation killer if you did say that. Though now I'm curious: did you say that he'd like me just to be polite, or because he actually might like me?"
Kazul knew she was putting their guest on the spot with her last question, but she had asked it in a teasing manner so she hoped he would realise that she wasn't going to be upset by his answer, whatever it was. It didn't matter very much to her if the god of thunder would like her or not. She very much doubted she would ever meet him, despite the presence of his messenger in her pride.
"When I'm done, would you mind helping me return these?" She had nearly finished with the furs, even the ones Thorgnyr had added, the conversation making the work go faster. Even so, she knew as soon as she'd spoken the question that she shouldn't have. It was poor hospitality to ask a guest to help.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:51 pm
"Obviously I was just being polite. He'd hate you, Kazul. Pretty girls are so irritating." Thorgnyr said, but adding in enough sarcasm to make sure she didn't actually believe the statement. And it was untrue anyways, Raiden didn't often like mortals, but hate was a strong word. He couldn't remember truly hating anyone in this lifetime, actually! And he knew what truly hating someone was like, from past lives. Like that one time he had a mortal mate and some idiot killed her... that was five lifetimes ago? Hm. Sometimes it was hard to tell. Well, it was some previous lifetime.
At her request, the god-in-disguise raised a brow, a somewhat amused expression crossing his face. Not that he knew enough about viking hospitality to realize she had been impolite in some way, he was amused because of something else entirely. Raiden had never been asked to help with a chore. Ever.
Meh, he supposed it was a change of pace. "Sure, I might as well." He shrugged, no big deal. If Thorgnyr wanted Raiden to be well liked in the pride, he should probably be at least kind of nice and helpful. Sometimes. So long as no one made a habit of asking him to do things.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:48 pm
"I've always thought so," Kazul said with a half-smile that left it unclear whether she intended it to be taken seriously or as a joke. Growing up her father's favorite, but knowing she would never be the beauty in the family had given her unusual views regarding the pretty girls of the world, among which she did not count herself.
She began to gather up the furs she'd finished beating, deliberately positioning herself so that Thorgnyr couldn't help her with them. If either of her parents found out she'd asked their guest to aid in housework, let alone actually allowed him to help, she would be bruised from brow to bottom. And deservedly so.
"Ah, that's okay," she said as she thumped the pile onto a skin that could be dragged about. "There's not really too much you can do to be helpful, really. But I'd be glad of the company, if you haven't other things to do."
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