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 Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:36 pm
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The evening glow was quickly being drawn away into a dim, moonless night. Thick clouds hung overhead, choking out the starry night sky. It was getting dark. Unsettlingly so. A constant wind blew in from the west, accompanied by the occasional gust that blew the lion's dark mane into wisps around his face. The air was warm. A storm was coming in.
Tabari sim Demir cursed beneath his breath with every other step. That coming darkness wasn't troublesome in itself, but this wind made it near impossible to catch any familiar scent. The reaver was alone. Separated from his band when they scattered when the traveling little group of merchants turned out to be much less vulnerable than they had originally thought. The wind that now hid the scent of his companions masked the presence of reinforcements. When his captain called to scatter, he did. Some of them had been wounded. Tabari himself had an unpleasant wound in his forelimb that left him with an unpleasant, though thankfully temporary limp.
The lion's steps came to a halt atop a grassy hill, having emerged from the thicket of forest. There was no one in sight.
A sigh escaped him. There was no use in traversing aimlessly in one direction. That might just take him further from his group. He was better off waiting until morning, or until the wind passed.
"At least it can't get worse, right? A scoff escaped him and he shook his head, looking around for any sort of thicket where he could rest for a few hours. Hopefully he hadn't jinxed himself. Things could always get worse.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:57 pm
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"I wouldn't say that," came a voice as chilly as the gusting wind, carried on the peculiar night with a hint of humor that should have been comforting but wasn't.
The lands Kenina had encountered since she left the Firekin behind had been strange to a lion born and raised in the thick of a desert but in a way they had been easier, even if solid ground felt strange beneath her wide, heavy paws. At least in the grasses she was more camouflaged than in the wide, golden desert - she blended well into the pitch black of a dark night, like this one, with only her eyes left to glow like two golden orbs. For now they were locked upon him and, though it was harder to tell, her teeth stretched into a wide, Cheshire's grin.
"It could get a lot worse, wanderer."
She shifted from the patch of tall, dry grass she had taken a break in, letting it rustle more than necessary so he would know from what direction she was approaching. The ex-Firekin would have liked to claim that she had stalked him in silence, that she was a master of her skill, but in truth he had simply walked past her without so much as blinking. Such was a night with playful winds to those who relied upon their nose for protection - it made them all blind and foolish. It was part of why she had simply chosen to stop and wait it out, she had no interest in accidentally stumbling past scent markers she couldn't find.
"This night isn't without it's protection, though, I didn't even smell that wound until you got close."
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:21 pm
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Oh Hell.
It took every ounce of mental fortitude for Tabari to not jump out of his own skin. Had he been distracted so much that he hadn't noticed someone else? Let alone a lioness? And so near? The reaver's lip curled as he looked to her. Not one of his band, but also not someone he recognized from the failed raid. Someone else, then? Was she alone? He could only hope.
"Protection at the cost of unexpected surprises, I guess," he grumbled, his voice low and defensive. It had been a long while since Tabari had traded the dry desert of the Burkuteshti for the almost offensive humidity of the Stormborn lands. Still, the air felt like it clung to his pelt. It was heavy. It felt as though scents didn't travel as far, and he wasn't a fan of being caught off guard like this.
"It could get a lot worse," he repeated, quirking a brow as he adjusted his stance to face her. His muscles were tensed, but he made to move to attack or flee. A warrior's pride. Or folly, perhaps. "If you intend to be the one to make it so, I have to warn you. It's been a testy night. If you bring trouble, I'm not really in the mood." Her grin unnerved him and Tabari returned the expression with a steady and set jaw.
She had caught him off guard. That was embarrassing enough on its own. A Burkuteshti warrior and a Stormborn reaver, he wouldn't let himself live it down if he let her continue to unsettle him.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:15 am
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An amused, wicked laugh tumbled from her jaws as he shifted to face her, so clearly putting up a front that she could almost see the wall he built between them. It made her skin itch beneath the fur as she felt the charge jump between their persons; he could give her a fight and it had been damn near ages since she had last had the opportunity to brawl in the sands. Her muscles tensed with their own memory, ready to pounce and strike at a split second's signal.
It was a foolish impulse.
"Calm down, warrior, I don't have the luxury of expending energy to teach you a lesson about awareness tonight. I appreciate the opportunity though."
The laugh faded to a chuckle beneath her breath and the smile that spread wide as a cheshire's grin dampened to a smirk, making it less visible against her black fur in the dead of their dark night. She knew him in a way only warriors could recognize, the spirit in him that drove him to defense at a moment's notice. Her Firekin blood admired it instantly and, had she the good fortune of being able to retreat to her pride, she might have tested his spirit then and there.
"I would, however, like to pick your brain about where we are if you have a moment. I think I am.. a bit lost."
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 6:18 pm
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Tabari snorted. His bristled spine calmed, but only slightly so, The reaver wasn't convinced, but the fact that he was no longer facing a seemingly glowing cheshire's grin made him feel a little more at ease. Though, talking to a shadow in the night wasn't very reassuring.
At the heart of it all, honestly, he was probably just embarrassed. 'I don't have the luxury of expending energy to teach you a lesson about awareness tonight.' Ouch. He knew she was right, but still. That one stung the ego a bit.
"Thanks, oh wise one. I'm happy to chat, though it might be a bit more enjoyable conversation if I knew a name to put to the voice in the darkness," he grumbled, his voice underneath his breath but not quiet enough to keep his words to himself.
Another breath escaped him, more a sigh than anything else. He felt his muscles relax and his body take a more comfortable, lounging position. It had been a long day. If she said she was no harm he was inclined to believe her. He wanted a break.
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Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:51 am
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The Motoujamii. Tabari had, in fact, heard of them. Met some in his new home, in fact. The Burkuteshti had also been warriors of the desert. Less a huge militaristic force and more a group of brawlers with a historic grudge, but the idea of another group that knew how to shed blood on the shifting sands. The desert fighter had his respect.
A brow raised at her question. "Pridelands? Which-" A pause. "Oh. The Pridelands," he finished, remembering the lands of peace and diversity that his traveled captain had told him of. Tabari had always thought they sounded a bit pretentious. His head tilted a touch and he sniffed the air.
"It's a little ways away, I'm afraid," he started, squinting at the horizon. "The only specifics I know is we're about a days travel from the lands of the Stormborn. Don't know the distance, but heading towards the sunrise should take you in the direction of The Pridelands." Not that you could really do that in the pitch of night, but it's the only directions he could give. "Smell the sea and you've gone the wrong way."
The reaver looked back to her, his head tilting to the side in a questioning look. "What takes a desert warrior to the utopia of peace and prosperity, anyways?" The mocking tone wasn't lost in his voice. A place with no conflict. Where you could just laze around and get fat. It sounded like a bore.
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Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 5:41 pm
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Kenina, ever the clever girl, let her eyes snap up to the horizon the moment he had mentioned following the sunrise to the Pridelands. She knew which way that was even with the sun hidden from the world for the night and it was hard to dissuade the immediate itch in her paws. She dug them a little farther into the earth beneath them and pulled her eyes, forcefully, back to the wounded warrior.
"Certainly not the peace and prosperity," she offered, not missing that he had pinpointed her homelands with a certainty. It made her smile - though, on her face, it always seemed more of a smirk. After the space of a few breaths, having decided she rather liked him well enough, she blew a long sigh between her jowls.
"I am seeking blood. My father traveled from their lands to seek out his father's lands. It's all very complicated." Generations of ping ponging back and forth, back and forth. She was the one that wandered away from her pride to seek out that which she no longer had among her folk. Yet even as she chastised herself internally for her choices, she could not banish the intense, dreaming look that lingered in her eyes. "I just want to know, I do not think I will rest until I do."
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 5:35 pm
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Tabari caught the movement over her eyes only because the whites were visible in the dark night. Perceptive, he thought. So many self-proclaimed warriors these days were all brute and no mind behind it. He had admiration for those who could think.
'Certainly not the peace and prosperity'. The reaver returned the smirk and opened his mouth to return with some snarky comment before the lioness spoke again. His expression became thoughtful and he returned her words with a distant and considering "Mmm."
The war was all his bloodline had known. The battles between the Burkuteshti and the Qyrhyeshti of the Jahy Sarlarin was a feud that passed through the generation. If there was any history beyond it, Tabari wouldn't know. What must it be like, he wondered, to know your blood traced all across the land?
"I wouldn't know anything of having to travel to find blood," he started, "Only that war isn't quick to leave your blood, even when said war is long gone." Absent-mindedly, Tabari stretched. It had been a long day. No chance of trekking out and finding his band tonight, he figured. Which was fine. The lion had come to the Stormborn to fill the spot in his battle-ready heart that had been made empty when the Burkuteshti disbanded. He was there for the fight, not necessarily for the pillaging and glory. He could use a little break.
"And what will you do when you find what you're looking for, Kenina of the Motoujamii?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:50 pm
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Those sharp, golden eyes fluttered back to him as he vocalized his consideration with a single tone. It brought her focus onto him so that when he spoke next, she drank in his words, finding the familiarity between them to be more alluring than she had reckoned. Perhaps it was the length of time she had spent travelling alone thus far but she did find a male with a taste for bloodshed to be intriguing.
"Well, that is the mystery."
Kenina laughed as she thought of it; it wasn't the first time. She knew that as soon as she has satisfied her curiosity of knowing her blood, knowing what she was truly made of, she would have to make the decision for herself: return home, stay with them, or seek something that was entirely her own. Even now she didn't know what she would do.
"There's so much of this world beyond the sands, it seems a shame to not try and put a little mark of my own on it, doesn't it?"
Of course, by the sounds of what her father had told her and the general reputation this stranger seemed to be painting for her, the Pridelands would no more hold her still than the shifting dunes of the Firekin. It was unnerving and thrilling at once to think she might find her place in a land she had never heard of.
"What about you, wandering warrior, where are your feet taking you?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:23 pm
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"A fair point, I suppose. Many marks to be made, out there."
Tabari looked to the distant horizon and held back a long, wistful sigh. To be honest, he hadn't until now done a lot of self-reflection on the situation he had put himself in. From one pride to another to fill a feeling of emptiness. And how was that working out for him? Fine enough, he supposed. The Stormborn gave him the opportunities to get his adrenaline going. But when you lived your life to fight a specific war, going day to day with a singular purpose, it was easy to come up short when looking for something to fill the feeling of loss.
"Me?" He started as the subject of the conversation turned. "I…" Tabari started again before his voice trailed off as his mind searched for the right words. "I suppose that's a whole other mystery in itself, isn't it?" A laugh.
"My life started in the desert and, back then, I couldn't ever imagine leaving it. But things happen. Wars end." Pale purple eyes turned to her. "So life brought me to the sea. You can satisfy an itch for battle amongst the Stormborn. As for what lies ahead…"
The sigh that seemed to be building in his chest was finally released. "Who knows. I wish my feet would make up their mind already, though it seems as though they're settled enough out there by the sea" he finished, lifting both front paws from his sitting position and giving them a little shake for added effect.
But was he content there? Enough, he reasoned. Perhaps as content as he would be, anywhere that wasn't the long gone Burkuteshti.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:15 pm
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The Stormborn, he admittedly, finally, and she did not miss it. It wasn't the first time she had heard the name but given her relatively sheltered existence among the desert born warrior pride of her birth she couldn't really say she had learned all too much about them. Most lions she encountered simply warned not getting entangled with the pride or their.. reavers? She was fairly certain that was the word that old male had used for the bands outside of the pride.
So, was that who this mysterious male was then? A reaver? She had to admit, her interest was piqued enough that she did not so much mind the time she had to waste waiting for night to pass now; these seaside warriors were the most appealing thing since she had left the sands behind.
"Ahh, would that I were not on my way to find my kin."
The words were follow by a deep chuckle that exhaled on a sigh, dramatic for effect, before Kenina lowered her belly to the ground. With her head held high and her back straight, she leveled her golden eyes on his speckled face.
"That is always what worries me. What if I find them and I still have that need to continue looking? Perhaps family will never be enough for the battle in my blood." She paused as the contemplation left her mouth so freely but then dismissed it, rolling both shoulders stiffly. "I guess I know where to look if they aren't though, hm?"
oo DeD I did not mean to requote, I just saw a billion typos that I can't handle. QQ
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:14 pm
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A smirk appeared back onto his face. "Aye. There are many places for warriors of both mind and body out on those sands, I'll tell you that."
The reaver's eyes remained on her as she lowered herself to the ground. After a few thoughts of consideration, he followed suit. It felt good to get off his paws, and the good company didn't hurt. "I can't say I have any advice on that front. Back home, battle and family were so closely intertwined that it was hard to separate one from the other. Though for what it's worth," his paws crossed before him and his tail twitched from side to side. A claw drew circles in the dirt that he watched closely, as if he could find his words there. "I always felt like if I found battle again, it'd would fill up the hole of a lost home. But battle without family, it's not the same. Maybe family without battle wouldn't be, either."
A chuffed breath left his nostrils. A considering silence followed. "You hurried off to find them, then? Family in the Pridelands?" Tabari's head stretched from one side to another. "A long dark night ahead of you, if you are. Would be a shame to have to spend it in silence."
Was it an invitation? For company on the road, or an evening of rest? To be honest Tabari himself couldn't really say. The words seemed to just leave him, but he almost made no attempt to take them back. Their conversation had been brief, but the reaver was certain of one thing: there was far worse out there for him as far as company went.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:35 pm
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The dark Firekin watched his claw as closely as he did, letting her brilliant, golden eyes trace the line that trailed in the wake of his motions. It was easy to listen and watch, digest and consider. Maybe he was right - maybe she wouldn't find what she was looking for in those soft-bellied lions that had raised her father in the Pridelands but he spelled her conundrum out for her as cleanly as she felt it.
Battle and Family.
There was a balance that needed to be found and she wasn't anymore sure of where to draw that line than he was. Just circles, round and round..
Her eyes pulled up and away from his claws at last and settled on his face, considering the weight in his words. Kindred spirits were a rare find and she wasn't planning to go anywhere this night; probably not until morning and then.. what?
"Mm, only fools travel on a windy night," she heard herself, pointed and certain of her decision, "I hope you won't mind if I linger here a while. After all, we're probably better off together right now." Her first words were full of reason but then, her cheshire's smile sprung back to life across her jowls, "and I won't bite if you don't."
What harm was a night in familiar company, anyway?
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