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 Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 8:25 pm
With her day's guard-duty finished, Tolu bint Saye lay stretched out beside the oasis that lay closest to Baj-Jer. This was her post for the week, and in another six days, she would rotate to the next - and then the next, and the next, until she was at the fringe of their holdings, and then back again. Duties and stations were shuffled regularly, rather than sitting the same force in the same location indefinitely. Their forces focused mainly on the border to which they'd pushed the Qyrhyeshti back, but there were always guards and patrols elsewhere, just in case, while the young and non-fighters were usually concentrated at Baj-Jer.
Next to Baj-Jer, this oasis was the prime post to have, since it was close enough for movement back and forth between the two, close enough that someone had brought this outpost a great fat seal to feast on. Tolu had eaten her fill, and now half-dozed next to the water.
It was good to be on top.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 8:51 pm
Youngsters! Stupid, irresponsible, undisciplined, good for nothing cubs! All they did was try the patience of their elders and get into trouble. Dikkatsiz sim Keskin shook his head as he limped along, stumbling once he realized that he was falling into the thought patterns of many of the older lions and lionesses.He wasn't old yet! Just because he was no longer on the front lines of the fighting didn't mean he could start echoing the concerns of the elderly and the frail.
Even more irritated now than he was before, though now at his own thoughts and infirmity, he grumbled nonsensical words under his breath as he moved through the sand, slightly dragging his bad leg behind him. He had been just like those idiotic cubs, he had to admit, and worse. But that didn't make them any smarter, nor did it give him the patience to deal with them. He wanted to smack sense into their heads sometimes, and when he couldn't, like today, he had to go for a short walk to ease his temper.
Because of his leg, he couldn't go far, but the closest oasis was a manageable distance, and this was his destination. Dikkatsiz hoped that the walk would serve well enough to cool his temper, and if not, perhaps there would be someone there he could talk to. His sister was stationed here currently... or at least he thought so. Time had a way of getting away from him now that he stayed mostly at Baj-Jer. With any luck, she would be willing to take a little time to talk to her non-fighter brother.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 9:02 pm
Even half-asleep, Tolu was aware of her surroundings. Hell, it was probably safe to say that all of the desert lions were light sleepers; when you spent your life fighting a war, you learned to keep one eye open and an ear to the perimeter...not that anything was likely to happen here. It would be a suicide run for the Qyrhy to attack this far in, if they could make it this far at all.
Still, habit was habit, and she was aware of her brother's approach soon enough. She raised her head and turned it to regard the limping Buyuk. Poor b*****d, stuck babysitting instead of fighting. At least he was alive, though. Tolu was glad for that.
"Brother," she acknowledged, all but swallowing the word in a yawn.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 9:29 pm
"Sister," Dikkatsiz said, returning her greeting and sitting down close to her, giving a pained huff as he did so. Moving a lot made his leg ache, sitting made his leg ache... and all of that aching made him bad-tempered. "Anything new happen today?" He asked, hoping for news of skirmishes, or encounters, or just... anything other than whiny and overeager cubs.
He was so tired of dealing with the ignorant, idiotic fuzzballs that reminded him too much of just how he used to be, and the kind of recklessness that landed him with the limp he had nowadays. He wanted to teach those idiots to keep themselves and their pridemates alive, and it was like they resisted the very idea of it!
Grrr, what he wouldn't give to be able to fight right this moment.
Tearing an opponent to shreds was much less stressful than dealing with youngsters!
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 9:45 pm
"Not a damn thing," she answered regretfully, choosing to ignore the sound he'd made. While there were advantages to being stationed here, there were also disadvantages, which made her glad for rotations. Ideally, everyone would see their fair share of fighting and downtime...although it had been mostly downtime, lately. The Qyrhyeshti hadn't made any real moves yet, so the only fighting anyone got was a skirmish here and there. Well, at least they'd all be that much more eager when things picked up again.
"Future warriors as promising as ever?" Tolu asked dryly. How any of them ever went from cub to soldier was a mystery to her, and that included her own transition.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 10:00 pm
Dikkatsiz snorted and chuckled, a sort of exasperated sound that did little to indicate true amusement. There was never anything promising about cubs, and little about their older counterparts. It was only actual fighting that indicated true promise. The real skirmish would show their true promise... such as it was. Fortunately, he knew his sister already knew this or he might have taken her comment as more serious than sarcastic.
"As much as ever they are, which is to say not at all," he said, rolling his eyes slightly. "How they expect to survive long once they're old enough to really fight, I have yet to figure out. They'll be lucky to survive their first skirmish at the rate they're not learning."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 10:49 pm
"Tch, maybe they'll get lucky and get some other idiot kid for their first fight." Tolu snorted, her tail lashing behind her. "Then they can just flail at each other 'til somebody loses an eye and learns a lesson."
It was a more humorous response than the 'They'll survive or they'll die' she considered. It was true, of course, but a little too grim for bantering with her brother. She missed fighting with him by her side, but she'd take what she get before she got rotated off to other posts he couldn't make the walk to.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 11:11 pm
"An eye, an ear, a good scar down the muzzle," Dikkatsiz saidd, smiling wryly at the thought of the scarring he bore on his own nose. "The first taste they get of real pain should make it clearer to them what's really at stake." Which still didn't mean all of the young ones under his guidance would survive - far from it. But really, as long as they managed to keep their forces up enough to successfully fight off the Qyrhyeshti, a few deaths here and there wouldn't affect the overall pride too much.
Sure, it was sad when someone fell, especially the youngest fighters. But such was the way of war, and for every drop of Burkuteshti blood spilled, their enemies would pay a hundredfold. Even the blood of inexperienced young idiots trying to take on opponents they weren't ready for.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 12:38 am
"And then once they've gotten over the sting, they'll parade around and show all their friends that they're a real warrior now," Tolu added, glancing at the scars that marked her foreleg. "I know I did."
The pain from a real fight could be shocking - until then it was all stories and glory and adolescent invincibility - but moreso was the realization of one's own mortality. "They'll learn. It might take pain, or it might take one of them dying, but they'll learn."
It was a brutal outlook, but the deaths of the unlucky or weak would strengthen the resolve of the rest.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 12:51 am
Dikkatsiz nodded, then gave an indignant-sounding snort. "And until then, I'll have to put up with their stupidity. Then the next set of idiots will be old enough to begin training." Just wonderful. It wasn't his place to complain about his lot in life - at least he was still alive, something which could not be said for many members of the pride - but he was not the best paw with cubs and he knew it.
"Damn fools," he mumbled, then heaved a dramatic sigh and turned his gaze skyward. "Listen to me, sounding just like all the older washed-up warriors and silver-muzzled elders," he grumped, eying his leg like he was seriously considering just gnawing the damn thing off. He'd contemplated such in the past, but had quickly dismissed the idea as foolish.
It he had known how much of a pain it would continue to be, he might have reconsidered the notion.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 1:06 am
"Ha! I can't wait until they're your kids," Tolu teased, with a short laugh at the thought. "Or worse, mine. Then I can sic them and their idiocy on you at will."
"Uncle Siiiz~" she mimed, pitching her voice higher. It would be pricelessly amusing, but it was also unlikely to happen anytime soon...not that it didn't bear some amount of thought in the future, but for the moment it was an idle threat.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 9:15 am
Widening his eyes and flopping over onto his side with a dramatic 'whumph' sound, Dikkatsiz pretended to be completely horrified. (Though if he was being honest, it wasn't entirely pretend. He groaned theatrically and tilted his head back in surrender.
"Don't even joke about that; you're going to give me nightmares!" The thought of training Tolu's - or worse, his offspring to not be stupid and to keep themselves and their pridemates alive... It was a terrifying and disturbing thought.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 11:09 am
Tolu's laugh at her brother's reaction bordered on a cackle. Though he may have been exaggerating, she was pretty sure he was at least somewhat disturbed. "Gotta think about it eventually," she persisted, unrelenting. "If there were ever a time to be popping 'em out, it's when we've got Baj-Jer."
Which was true, but still. She was mostly just giving him a hard time.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 11:38 am
Dikkatsiz rolled over and sat up, shaking grit out of his mane with a snicker. "I'm not the one who'd be popping them out," he said, needling her just a little. After all, cubs were a pain, but as the father of whatever cubs he had someday he wouldn't have to be the one to actually carry them and birth them and... all of those unpleasant female things. He was so glad he was a male.
Oh so very glad.
Ugh. Birth. Newborns. Pregnancy.
The females could keep all of that for themselves.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 11:53 am
Tolu snorted, refusing to be disturbed by the notion. "It can't be that bad Well, except for the laying around and waiting part. That's gotta suck."
"Eh, you know, you're right," she mused, trying to turn the teasing back around on him again. "You'd have to find someone who likes you enough to actually deal with all that."
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