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 Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:50 pm
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Turiya was immensely pleased with herself, as smug as could be and completely incapable of hiding it. She had been exceedingly clever, in her own personal opinion, and couldn't help but be happy with what she'd worked out as what she wanted to do and just how to go about it. She had been thinking about it for quite some time, ever since their southern neighbors had ventured up close to the border and some had occasionally been spending time at the Outpost. She'd long been fascinated by the Ithambo'hlabathi, knowing of course about her origins and the rank her father had once held there, and over the course of her youth had often entertained the idea of going to live with that pride instead; not because she disliked her birth pride, not at all, but just because: just to show everyone her tail by winning her duel to earn her place as a 'real' Firekin only to leave anyway.
It would have been spectacularly awesome, but in the end, she had stayed, while the fascination lingered, only to deepen further once she finally met actual Bonelanders. It had started with Khazine, almost everything about whom ran counter to what she'd heard about the southern females, and who while smaller than her, was absolutely an equal opponent in a fight. And Khazine's father, who had overthrown the sire Turiya had never met...and once she'd seen him, Turiya could well imagine how he'd done it. He was big for an outside male, and all dark and scarred and stoic.
How could one not be...impressed by such a specimen?
She hadn't volunteered for the upcoming foray with any of that in mind, not really, but with the inevitable chatter about the potential for finding sires for strong cubs while the group was away, well...a certain lion had jumped to mind immediately, perhaps even a little too quickly, and she had started turning over the possibility in her mind almost obsessively. So, with their departure set just a few days away, she had made a special trip to the Outpost, giving herself just enough time to get there, see to what needed seeing to, and get back.
As long as they weren't away from the desert for overly long, she was set. They'd be back in plenty of time, she was (mostly) sure! All she had to do now was lie about and grin like she'd eaten someone's bird until they left tomorrow. |
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:03 pm
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Agni-pariksha was keeping quite busy lately. There were a few important reasons they had put together the upcoming foray and she was interested in the fact that two of her daughters had made the decision to go. While, naturally, she loved her daughters and had high hopes and expectations for them.. she would be perfectly capable of being unbiased and letting what might come happen on its own. She hoped they would prove themselves trustworthy and useful as spies, but she had perfectly reasonable doubts. They were her daughters, after all. Agni could be one hell of a spy but her approach would not be the kind preferred by most Spymasters.
There were other, more obvious reasons they might have signed up. Sentinel would certainly be a good rank for either of them to take, her girls would all make excellent ambassadors to the outside world. Investigating the Nergui, too, was something that might have drawn their attention. Their family was Hongshan, after all, though that had no doubt been overshadowed in their youth by their Bonelands connection.
She was curious enough to seek her daughters before they could go. And it so happened that she spotted a very smug looking Turiya first, and headed her way. |
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:17 pm
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Beyond her satisfaction with her own antics, Turiya was quite eager to be headed out into the outside world, since the Outpost was the closest she had ever come to that. She looked froward to seeing more, and better still, there was the possiblity that they might find actual Nergui, which in her youthfully, foolishly overeager imagination, meant they might fight some actual Nergui. Duels and sparring were boringly routine, and obviously a real fight with a real enemy would be infinitely more exciting. She might even get scars! She had a minor scuff here and there - mostly from Khazine, who didn't pull any punches ever - but it wasn't the same.
Yes, her future was looking quite promising indeed.
She raised her head and crossed her paws when she noticed her mother approaching, tail flicking busily behind her. Any doubts that she would make a suitable spy were well-founded; it would be obvious to anyone with any amount of perceptiveness that she was just bursting with some juicy bit of gossip at the very least.
"Mother," she acknowledged, her grin barely temepred.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:23 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:32 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:46 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:58 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:04 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:17 pm
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If it had been someone other than her mother or maybe her sisters asking, Turiya might have at least tried to play coy, but she knew - or assumed, at least - that her mother would not only understand, but maybe even be proud of her. She had put a lot of thought into this, after all, and it made perfect sense! There wasn't even the tiniest, quietest whisper of thought that this was anything but a good, sound decision on her part; she knew the same traditional sorts who'd disapproved of her and her sisters would disapprove, of course, but that was fun.
"I mean- I hadn't-" The stutter wasn't a nervous one, just an excited scramble for the words she wanted. "I hadn't really though about much, you know? Until I did." She wasn't exactly yearning to be a mother, per se, as she was hardly a mushy or traditionally maternal type, but once the idea had taken root, it had grown invasively. "So, yeah. I decided to get some help."
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:37 pm
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Watching Turiya stumble over her words, Agni-pariksha knew she had pinpointed the exact reason her daughter was so damned excited. She simply shook her head, smiling, as Turiya explained herself. Agni herself wasn't much of a mothering type and she had ostensibly done it to make a change.. it wouldn't have been surprising to hear that her daughter had taken action for social reasons, too. But that wasn't her first thought. Or her second, in fact, as she way Turiya spoke sunk in.
She didn't respond at first, instead giving her daughter a good, hard look up and down as she considered if it was a slip of the tongue or a hint at the truth. That time to consider was enough to remind her what exactly she knew about her daughter, and some very serious suspicions began to grow in her mind.
"Turiya," she said carefully, "Did you already..?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:47 pm
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"Yes," Turiya confirmed shamelessly, not at all concerned about whether or not it was okay to get a 'head start'...although she did jump to explain it, since from her point of view it was the only element of what she'd done that was that rule-breaking-y. But only a little. More rule-bending-y, really. "It's only early by like a day, so I figure no one will notice in the long run. I mean, it varies a little bit for everybody anyway, right? So what's a day or two or even a week? So, you know. Might as well get it over with."
"So congratulations, I guess?" she added with a cheeky grin, "You might be a grandma in a few months."
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:56 pm
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Agni's face went blank as she tried to puzzle out what exactly her daughter was telling her through the mental cursing that started almost immediately as, deep down, she knew the only possible answer. If Turiya had done something stupid, she clearly didn't realize it. It didn't give Agni much hope, though, as she pushed for the complete story.
Stay calm, find out the whole story before reacting, don't say anything stupid because this is your daughter and you love her even if she's being stupid just to ******** with the traditionalists.
"What exactly did you do?"
There was only one answer but she didn't want to hear it. The closest outsiders were the Bonelands, they were the only way to get such a small headstart without going missing. If there was anybody who had the right colors, they were related to her. That only left a few choices that should never have been considered by virtue of their coloration and a pride full of should-be celibate males, which would be terrible choices for more diplomatic reasons.
So which problem were they dealing with?
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:26 am
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Her swishing tail finally slowed when her mother gave her that look, and her expression slipped just a tiny bit before she quipped, "I hope you don't want details. Gross, mom."
As it happened, though, she was actually semi-prepared to explain herself, as she did have very good reasons that had been simmering in her mind for quite some time. "What you did," she answered, drawing up her posture, "But better. Andhaka was a good start, but he got deposed, and his ties to the Ithambo'hlabathi aren't that deep. Umkhombo is stronger, and from a much older bloodline that gets a lot more respect."
It was totally a sound diplomatic strategy to strengthen their relations with the southerners. Totally.
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:48 pm
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She didn't react to the implication that she was inappropriately interested in the specifics of her daughter's sex life, if she had any issues where that was concerned it didn't show even a little bit. As soon as Turiya started explaining herself, though, she knew she was the one who had ******** up.
What you did.
Umkhombo was the least messy possibility in this scenario, at least. He was tall, dark and handsome.. and to Turiya's credit, Agni would emphasize the dark most of all for it was really only in direct sunlight that it became obvious he was clearly brown. That was explicitly one thing the lionesses who bred outside the desert were being trusted to mind: color mattered here. A lot.
Add that there was already a question of how the lionesses in the south really felt about sharing their Abaholi.. doing this again and so carelessly was a problem.
If only she wasn't Regent, Agni-pariksha could have allowed herself to look at this in other ways. Surely she would appreciate it with time but all she could see was her daughter disregarding the rules, playing diplomat when she had no authority and blaming it on her mother. Unfortunately for the both of them, they were examples still, and that's the only thing that mattered in this first moment.
"Turiya," she said, her voice very serious, "You've got to be ******** kidding me!"
Well.. in charge or not, she was still Agni-pariksha.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:19 am
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Turiya had carefully left out the 'tall, dsrk, amd handsome' portion of her explanation, but it was true that he was all those things. Not that that was why she'd done it, no, of course not (or at least she told herself that wasn't really a factor). Making a decision based purely on appearances would have been silly...which was why she didn't care that his was brownish. He was a good size, he was strong, and he was a warrior, a damn good one. And she knew, having spent time with Khazine, that he sired strong children. The handsome part was totally just a pleasant coincidence.
"If I were kidding, I'd've said it was Ahlaq," she answered with a cocky grin. The smaller, lighter Umholi might be a warrior as well, maybe even just as good, but he was, well, smaller and lighter. And the other one was sort of bluish.
Her mother was looking and sounding awfully serious, though...
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