[SRP] Positive Female Role Models (Beyla/Adelheid)

[Puhterodactyl]

The white female took in a deep breath of the thick, salty air. The weather was gloomy. The sky was so white it hurt the eyes to look at, and the waves that crashed were drab gray. It was humid and muggy, but when the wind blew, a chill could be felt. It was a day of malaise, driving lions to do smaller tasks closer to home, their usual vigor and enthusiasm dulled. Beyla wanted to go home, too, to give up practicing her techniques, but that was not an option. Not for the lioness who had withstood so much mockery and teasing for being a portly little cub. As an adolescent, she was becoming proportionally awkward in another way. She was becoming incredibly tall. Her exercise regime had helped her become slim, but now her god-genes were taking over.

Beyla felt helpless now. Her height was not something she could control. She was already taller than most adolescent males her own age (save for her siblings who got the same god-genes; Hakon was already a giant) and even had a few inches on a few adult males. So she tended to let her head droop around others. She was muscular and strong, but that did not help fill out her frame enough to not be an awkward, lanky teen. But she despised her feeling powerless to affect things.

So she still trained. She had not found Hakon to help, but she trained without him most of the time anyway. He had good captains to learn from, and she was grateful that he shared that knowledge with her, but... Maybe she should find a more direct line. Well, after she was more confident.

The lioness took a deep breath, and began again in practicing her lunging training.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Adelheid, too, was looking to take the gloomy, gross day as an opportunity to do some training. Fewer lions would be out than usual, or at least in the especially breezy and clammy area where she was wont to do some practice exercises. She had been successful on her first reaving; she captured a thrall and had brought her back to the pride as her own, and if she was lucky, she just possibly might be pregnant with Vaskr's cubs. But it was too early to tell. She considered the only disadvantage about the her choice of sire for her cubs the fact that he would be impossible to find if she was in fact, not pregnant, and needed to try again. However, maybe she would not need to find him. A moon had not turned since she that evening. She had only told her mother about the possibility of her being pregnant (since Chayah might have killed her otherwise- but, like, probably not meaning to). Her brother, Eikthyrnir, who had gone on the same viking to become a reaver, too, had been asking some questions, though. He had smelled the scent of a strange, male lion all over his sister, which was weird considering the fact that the thrall Adelheid had captured was a female. Instead of being pressed for more questions, she was avoiding him, and these not-oft-used training grounds were pretty optimal for that. Eikthyrnir preferred the sparring pits to individual practice.

However, as Adelheid crested the ridge, she realized she would not be as alone as she had though. A white female was dutifully at work. She squinted at her, finding her to be very familiar, but then she realized that it was not this lioness who she knew, but her male twin. She had seen the same dragon marking (very distinct, easily memorable) on a lion being trained by some captain. This lioness... she was not sure if she had ever actually seen her, at least in searching her memories she knew she had never seen her practicing like this.

"It is a good day to die," she called out. Maybe they could practice together.  

[Puhterodactyl]

The white adolescent was startled and jumped when she heard a stranger's voice. She wheeled and stumbled over her lanky and awkward teenage paws.

"I-uh, I... It's, uh, a good day to... die..." Her brows were deeply furrowed. She was tense, anxious about what this lioness might be intending to do or say. She was more accustomed to being made fun of than anything else.

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The stress Beyla was giving off was almost palpable.

"Are you training to become a reaver? I just went on my first viking myself." She gave the white lioness a small smile, hoping to put her at ease. The other lioness responded with a nod.

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"A-are you like me? I- I uh mean related to a god or..." She did not know if that was a weird question to ask or if she was over stepping any boundaries, but she could not ignore how enormous the black lioness was. Beyla had been told her father (a mortal) was remarkably and irregularly large, and she had the knowledge that her grandfather - her mother's father - was a god. And besides her immediate family, the white lioness did not know any others with god blood.

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Adelheid was a bit shocked by the question and it showed on her face in the second it went blank.

"Yes, uh, actually. As a matter of fact my father and grandfather. I guess my size was what gave it away for you?" She grinned awkwardly. Did the adolescent feel uncomfortable in her body as she was growing up like a weed?

"Getting this big was not easy. It was a lot of knees and elbows, you know. But once I became an adult, it was a lot easier." She tried to offer the freeborn these words of encouragement.

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Beyla wondered if this black lioness knew just what to say because of her father-god given seer abilities. To see this lioness who had apparently experienced the same problems while she was growing up and to have survived all of them and even become a reaver was inspiring. Maybe the black loiness would eventually become a captain in the future. That was Beyla's hope for herself at least.

She choked back some happy tears of relief.

"Do you think you could help me train today, please?"

the end
Beyla: 535 words
Adelheid: 504 words