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 Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 2:37 pm
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Another day had passed since his duel had ended with Delphi. He was not liking his record of duels on his return to the pride, but the Monarch's Claw wasn't here to prove himself to anyone really. He had already proved himself to his queen, and that was all that mattered.
While the male hadn't been interested in taking an Apprentice soon, it would be a lie to say the female had him intrigued with such the bold offer at her duel win. He was rather impressed, to say the very least, that she would offer herself as an apprentice, even if she had yet to duel anyone until their fateful day.
Now, Ebbe just needed to figure out this. He was so use to observing, and being by himself, knowing that another would be near him more was almost a thought the male could not comprehend. He enjoyed his solitude, and his duty to the Queen.
Orange eyes watched the female approach him. "Well, Delphi," he did miss saying Unbranded after her name. But unbranded she was no more. "Good to see you actually turned up. I was worried you just said those things in the heat of the moment, and didn't really want this."
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Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 5:23 pm
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Ebbe grunted at her comment. He approved, but it didn't mean he would show it well. The lion had a hard time showing emotion. Those feelings could lead to a downfall, and that was something the tiger striped male was not ready to experience.
An amused look did cross his features though as he shook his head. The slick back blonde mane fell short just before his eyes.
"Wouldn't dream on it. Besides, I think the Queen would start to question if I hadn't taken an apprentice soon." With aging of her son, it would likely be soon he'd take the throne, and with it a new set of viziers.
"Although, that leads me to my next question for you." His voice was rough, no nonsense. The norm.
"Why do you want this? To be an apprentice of the Monarch's Claw?" Now, Ebbe could learn what went through Delphi's mind. He had seen her fighting skills, but what was her thought process. |
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:34 pm
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Delphi watched the Queen's Claw with steadfast eyes, weighing out how she was even going to manage to deal with him. It seemed difficult at best. He was just so incredibly dry.
She supposed she owed him an answer, though.
For a long moment she simply watched him, weighing her options on being truthful of brushing the question off in a non-committal way. Something about him told her that he would just see through a lie, though, and she let her gaze swing away from him with a sigh from her jowls to settle instead on the termite mounds that stood tall and indomitable in the distance beyond him. She didn't know how to phrase it without making it sound absolutely absurd - after all, their age differences were not lost upon her and she had to wonder if he even remembered what it was like to be concerned over such trivial things as family.
"Mostly, I just want to make my father proud - or prove him wrong. I'm not sure which of those things I'm aiming for the most anymore." She pulled a smirk across her lips but it didn't clear the furrow of her brow or the focus in her eyes. "He belonged to this pride once, before the breaking, and he thinks there is no place for him here. Or anywhere."
Her shoulders rolled in a shrug as she brought her eyes back to him and as she did, that pensive look faded and was replaced with a blankness. She didn't want him to think her attachment to her father was a weakness that would interfere with anything.
"I figure maybe if I prove I can belong here, well more than belong here, he'll have a reason to bring his sorry hide home."
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:52 pm
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A silence filled the air as Delphi finished speaking. Ebbe was taking in her words, processing them, finding the meaning behind each one. To make her father proud? Hardly a good reason. To prove him wrong? Equally terrible in the mind of the current Claw.
"And who is your father?" He asked, unable to hide his curiosity of the lineage.
He shook his head, motioning for the female to follow. They had work to start, and them just chit-chatting away would not get anything done. Not in Ebbe's time frame at least. "So you just want your father to come back then, is that it then." There was a sound, perhaps of disgust, that emitted from his throat as he moved closer to one of the smaller termite mounds, inspecting it briefly before continuing on his way. The male had few quirks about him, routine, he never failed to sway from.
"More than belong here? Elaborate." Curt. To the point. Typical Ebbe. |
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:33 pm
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As Ebbe turned away from her, Delphi couldn't stop the exaggerated roll of her eyes behind his back. He was so incredibly oblivious to the finer subtleties of a lion's nature - or perhaps he willfully ignored them apurpose. She honestly couldn't even be sure anymore.
"Niruzu," she said bluntly, "he had a bunch of hellions with Katiti but I don't think any of them have returned."
Not that she had expected to find them. The children they'd released into the world seemed as keen to get away from their mother as Niruzu had been himself; she could still see the look on his face when Clio dropped down in front of the old rogue.
"Elaborate?" she laughed before she could stop herself, staring at the back of his pale head as he glanced into a smaller termite mound before dismissing it and continuing. She didn't stray from the path she took following him and despite the amusement in her eyes, she was studying everything that he did. It was all so mechanical and purposeful that she wasn't sure she would ever really get past his hard outer shell. Did he even have a soft, squishy middle? As she studied his scar-pattered pelt she began to think not.
"I want to belong here, Ebbe. I want to make a name for myself, earn titles and ranks and be revered. I want to raise a family and watch them flourish in my home before I die and go to the stars with the great ancestors." Her tail flicked, annoyed that she had to defend herself by admitting to her dreams and fancies. "Is fighting all that matters to a Claw?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:59 pm
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He was sure the name rang a bell, but the actual appearance of this 'Niruzu' fleeted from his memory. The lion just opted to nod, a look appearing across his maw at the mention of spawning children with the Queen's Eye.
"Family can be distracting." Maybe it was why he hadn't opted to take a mate, or partake in a lioness' company for the evening. When he was younger, the ordeal was more tempting, but now. Now, he had a peculiar routine he stuck to, and a family was anything but routine.
At her question, the lion stopped, his sharp orange eyes glaring at her. "Is fighting all that matters to a Claw? Of course it isn't." He said, offended. "Protection of our home is most important. Knowing any children that are brought into this world are secure until they are old enough to make decision of their own. Knowing our Monarch," in this case, the Queen, "the other viziers, the old, the sick, and even the tarnished are safe." Perhaps this was the most Ebbe had been passionate about something.
"If fighting is all that matters to a Claw, then they have no business being here." During his speech, the Queen's Claw was mere inches from the lioness. "Is that clear, Delphi." |
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 5:27 pm
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The sudden passion that bubbled out of him was unexpected and despite not really considering herself a jumpy lioness, she couldn't help the urge to back away from him as he rounded and touted off his explanation of his own duties. Yet, somehow, she managed to stand her ground as he brought himself face-to-face in that too familiar invasion of her privacy she was beginning to associate him with.
As his words drug on and he spun a web that formed to the shape of his soul, she found that there was a fire in his heart and that it was actually kind of endearing. He saw this whole pride as his responsibility from the Queen down to the broodlings. That was enough of a responsibility to explain why anyone would be flippant about ought else in the world.
"It's clear," she responded, automatic, though the small smile at the corner of her lips suggested that she was already thinking of something else. She stepped past him into the direction they had been headed, close but not quite touching him as their shoulders broke even, until her tail flicked just-so against the hanging tips of his mane. Such a casual, infinitesimal brush could have been an accident but the tone of her voice suggested she was playing with him, dangerous game though it seemed.
"I think you're doing the pride and yourself a disservice, Queens' Claw," she chimed as she stalked forward, eyeing the horizon as she went. "Your bloodline would not be one to be reckoned with."
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 5:52 pm
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His eyes remained in a glare as Delphi stepped past him, continuing on her way. He ignored the smile the seemed to tug at her lips, deciding to brush it off as the female's personality, instead of something that held and underlying meaning. It wasn't until the tail, the slightest brush of the tuft, touched his mane that caused his nostrils to flare, a silent puff of air of his gathering frustrations departing. He remained silent, not enjoying the game the dark female was playing, and more so debating in his mind if he had made the correct choice and accepting the Unbranded as his apprentice.
He followed shortly after her movements, a shake of his head. "That is your opinion on the matter. One that I do not wish to heed. If I am doing my pride a disservice, as you say, My Queen would tell me so." Not that he would up and take her word for sure either, but only few judgments mattered to Ebbe. He mentioned nothing about being a disservice to himself. It was obvious it didn't matter to him.
"Enough of this talk." He finally stated. "You will take the helm today. Do what you think the Monarch's Claw is suppose to do in a day. At sundown, you will receive a report with critique. You are expected to learn from that report if you wish to remain my apprentice. Understood?"
He continued to let Delphi lead, his own form following just behind, a gap remaining between the two. |
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:00 pm
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The dark lioness was thankful that he trailed behind her as she spoke so that he did not see yet another pointed roll of her eyes. She would have had trouble stopping the reaction even if he had been staring her dead in the face. Her urge to look danger in the eyes and mock it was a trait she had very clearly inherited from her father - luckily, for her, she was a better fighter than the old rogue had ever been.
Survival isn't about who is the strongest, little one, she heard him say in the back of her mind. She wanted to roll her eyes at his memory too.
"Understood, sir," she chimed, almost too mechanically, but she doubted a blunt and to-the-point lion like Ebbe would even notice. She let the sound of her own voice die off and her attention minimize to focus on the pride around her. The rogue-born new blood was not keen on finding out what he was like when he was disappointed - he barely seemed to like her when he wasn't.
Without anything else said between them, she led him forward as she inspected the border they had been trailing, letting the silence settle in.
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