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 Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:33 am
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Turmoil buckled the knees of the devastated Father. Bjorn had heard the crying of ravens over head, but couldn't bear to turn up his eyes to the sky to greet the news. Zjarri has fallen. The thought echoed again and again in his mind. Their last conversation hadn't been pleasant and his heart swelled to think of the way she spoke. Dione had left the den, likely shortly after he had met with Zjarri, or somewhere in between and he found it vacant - thankfully.
The den was warmed by the sun and peaceful, home made things better, but not the best they could be. A decision weighed on his mind and he was struggling to see both sides. Dione would likely be front and center to greet the new Warlord, she was the High Priestess after all, but he was bitter about it. He knew the feelings his mate - wife - had for his daughter and proud as he was he could see the reason behind it.. he wasn't blind to the string of bad luck his daughter encountered. Svana. The name had stuck with him since Zjarri had 'won' her challenge. From the start she was burdened with failure, so to speak, and when she encountered other misfortures.. it couldn't be a shock.
Still. A father shouldn't out live his daughter.
Silently he pled with gods about the choice he was struck with. Stay in a home that didn't only cast out his daughter, but banished her. Or leave and hope that she could be found and her life could be salvaged. Bjorn feared the latter was impossible or damn near close and anyone he talked would likely argue the same. Unfortunately he hadn't made many friends among the lions in his home, he hadn't taken time to make himself much more than he already was.
Goals.
The word stuck to him like glue as he battled the internal war he had going. She had always wanted him to make something of himself - besides an a**. The bulky lion chuckled softly, the sound seemed odd as it echoed in the den. Like he was hearing his own laughter for the first time in a long time. A sigh followed it, but he felt as though a weight had been lifted. His decision, albeit a hard one, was made. Zjarri had already said she would understand, she would have too. His eyes glossed over and he struggled to fight back his emotions.
Though Bjorn had been seated the entire duration of his thinking he still felt weary. The whole ordeal left him drained and he moved on to consider whether or not he would make an apearance. Surely Dione would understand if he sat out on this event, large as it was. He held so little status that the new Warlord certainly could care less about what he might have to offer - especially if the rumors were true. |
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 8:53 pm
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Ylva sighed. She....she didn't know what she wanted to do right this moment, but she wanted to escape from underneath her mother's paw. Just for a moment. She knew that her mother desperately wanted what was best for her, but the tough love that she could show was suffocating. Her eyes wander over the crowd, letting them linger on some of the males that were gathered to size up the new warlord. He was rather handsome, but honestly...Stormborn had a lot of handsome men. The downside was peeling away at that outer shell to realize just how awful some of them were. She just wanted a husband that would respect her enough to run the house. She had noticed that there were some men that just...had to control everything. Useless egotistical idiots.
Then her eyes crossed over to see her father. Oh....oh. Should she tell her mother?
Creid was paying perfect attention to their new warlord, assured that her daughter was doing the same. When it seemed like Ylva was being a bit too quiet, she glanced over to her. "Hmm?" she hummed, and before Ylva could look away, Creid noticed who she was looking at. Oh. Snorre. Perhaps the most useless husband around...but at least they had a decent relationship.
A sweet, fake smile curled on Creid's face, and she walked right over towards her husband. "Oh, Snorre," she purred. "Isn't this just fabulous! It is exactly what we were hoping for," she said sweetly, a mixture of pleasure and frustration seeping out of her voice. "Now perhaps you can finally go out and get that thrall your promised, so we can get Ylva all set up with a good husband."
Ylva's eyes softened as she looked at her father, following along after her mother. "Sorry, Father," she whispered, not caring if her mother heard her.
Yes, her father was lazy, but....she still loved him.
Geirr had been lingering around, listening. He hadn't really known what to think; other than that he probably wouldn't get away with what he had been doing before. After a short, brief, failed attempt at learning how to be a reaver, he hadn't tried again. He had injured himself barely outside of the lands, and had been sent back so he wouldn't be holding the rest of the band back. His pride had taken a hit, and he hadn't put himself out there to possible fail yet again. He knew better, and yet... hm?
He felt a gentle nudge, so much so that he wondered if he imagined it. He glanced over to see a decently young female paying close attention to the announcement. He couldn't help bot notice that she seemed tense...and honestly, strong. Was she one of the females that was at most risk of losing their rank? She didn't seem as...soft as the freeborn females he was usually mingling with, and that set him a bit on edge. Nervous, jealous, frightened....just what was he feeling?
"How...are you not liking what you're hearing?" he dared to ask, keeping his voice quiet in case there were others around that might snap their heads at him. He was pretty neutral in the whole debate between traditionalist and modern, and felt like he had no foot to stand on, still technically being a freeborn himself.
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 7:05 am
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It was a moment when both High Priest and First Speaker exchanged glances - they hadn't often spoken, but Ushindi appeared to have a parrot on his shoulder and it was hard to ignore. Clearly their new warlord, regardless of his heritage, couldn't speak for himself... Not without his sycophantic kitten yelping and yipping in agreement where it might very well be misplaced.
To require a parrot to support your ideas, to persuade those who really mattered that they were right, before you had even explained them... The High Priestess couldn't do anything else other than laugh. Her eyes narrowed briefly, then her eyebrow lifted as she regarded Ushindi rather scathingly. Oh she was a traditionalist at heart, she was the first to declare that what the Stormborn had become was shameful... But she couldn't offer her respect to a boy and his pet.
Evidently, Ushindi's counterpart hadn't done him any favours in the eyes of the High Priestess.
"How quaint," she spoke, allowing her words to come out clear as day as she turned to the First Speaker. "It would seem our new warlord cannot speak for himself. A parrot speaks on his behalf, echoing his sentiment as if he lacks the ability to persuade those that matter that his decisions are right."
Thron's eyebrow rose in reply, to say Dione was playing with fire was a bit of an understatement... But her opinion was a valid one. None should have been speaking at all until Ushindi had completed his speech and laid out his plans. This thing that stood at his side, preening and disingenuous did him no favours. Sycophants were only there to spout nonsense in support of their leader and suck whatever he told them to, their opinions were irrelevant.
...The opinions of the freeborn were the most valuable and Rakan was not one of them.
"Evidently not," Thron replied in a bored tone. "It would seem he lacks confidence in his own opinions to the point that his toy must speak on his behalf," he shook his head. "Perhaps he should silence his bird and finish his speech so that we might review his changes properly," he turned his gaze towards Ushindi, though it wasn't quite as critical of the new Warlord as Dione's was.
"Contrary to your parrot's apparent views, we prefer to hear everything that needs to be said before we offer our agreement - what you regard as 'taint', may not be the definition of taint to others." He pointed out smoothly.
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 8:36 pm
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Sunnbein and Kirabein |
Sunna smirked at Dione and Thron's statements. She was sorely tempted to throw out a "hear, hear!" of her own in a mockery of their new warlord's dog, but bit her tongue - mostly because she felt it would undermine her High Priestess and First Speaker's points. Instead, she stood a little taller, her gaze cold as stone atop her rebellious smile, waiting for Ushindi's response.
Kira, meanwhile, crouched back against her daughter. She did not have Sunna's ferocity on the matter of... well, anything really. For all her looks, the skeletal pattern of her coat that may look intimidating, Kira had never been in a fight with anything she wasn't trying to eat. And this tense atmosphere only grew tenser, in a group of lions born for combat and glory. In fact, she actually jumped when a voice greeted her from behind.
Turning, she saw a fellow thrall whom she'd never formally met; although, she did recognize him, having joked to herself that the pride could boast a skeleton and a ghost as thralls. She smiled warmly and, resisting the urge to have that little quip be her first words to the white lion, introduced herself instead.
"Hello!," she whispered, so as not to be heard by anyone other than her daughter and their new company. "Welcome to the meeting. I am Kirabein, and this is my daughter, Sunnbein. Would you care to join us?"
Sunna had also turned at the voice, and offered a polite smile and nod of acknowledgment, but nothing more. She rolled her eyes and scoffed affectionately at her mother's unyielding friendliness and turned her attention back to the meeting.
Bryndis |
Bryndis remained quietly seated, feeling her patience slip as the warlord still did not elaborate. She did set aside some of her attention to take in the reactions of the gathered lions, however, and quietly weighed her options. The dark lioness had tried not to form an opinion herself until Ushindi deigned to finish his speech, but it seemed as though he didn't plan on doing that, which itself gave a pretty unfavourable opinion. She would happily agree that his little echo was more than slightly irritating and threw a distinctly unimpressive pall over his idol. To need your own admirer to back you up when trying to address what is supposed to be your pride was just piteous.
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Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:50 am
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Hila hadn't even turned to see who she jostled, so intent on waiting to hear their new warlord elaborate on just what he found so...displeasing. At the low voice, however, she turned to look at the lion standing beside her. She hesitated a moment before answering - she didn't know this male, after all.
"I don't know yet - so far, he's been...rather vague." She made a face. There were certainly things that went on that she felt were...unbefitting of the pride. However, she'd also heard her share of comments from more traditional pride members about how a lioness' place was in the home, instead of reaving. It was enough to have the adolescent equally concerned that the changes he had planned were going to interfere with her dreams of captaining her own viking band someday. She hadn't even been granted the title of reaver yet - she'd been on two vikings, just had yet to make it official.
"There are some things that could be changed that wouldn't leave me thrilled," she said drily, careful to keep her tone low. She wasn't afraid of speaking her mind, but as things stood, there was no reason to antagonize with vocal disapproval when she didn't even know if it was deserved, yet.
"How about you?" She turned the tables, her expression shifting into sometjing a little less serious. "Any strong feelings one way or another?" She quirked a brow at the larger adult male, expectations clear.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:53 pm
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"Ylva is our golden goose," Creid purred as she approached her husband. Her lazy, lazy husband. He was at least faithful to her, and she would do her damnest to continue to improve their situation with or without his help. "The other two are incorrigible, and I have left them to their own devices."
Ylva did her best to resist a sigh, politely nodding to her father. "I wouldn't go quite that far, Mother. They just have... a spirited way of life, I suppose you could put it." She didn't see her sisters too often anymore; she was worried they were running around with bards. At the very least, her father wasn't a bard.
Creid rolled her eyes ever so subtly, giving her husband that look. "Well, at least they aren't dead. As long as they don't bring any shame to our names, they're fine." She suppose.
"No mother. And hopefully Haldor will return with glory for us, and my other brothers will follow suit," Ylva said boldly.
----
Well. She was careful with her words, but Geirr wasn't an idiot to realize that she was certainly not for what the new Warlord was petitioning. His mother was a priestess, and he had certainly been a disappointment to her to be as old as he was and still wet behind the ears in terms of learning the skills to be a reaver.
"No," he replied bluntly. "I sense a wave of change that will be hard to navigate, though at the end of the day I hope everyone gains something they wish." It was rather sentimental of him to say to a stranger, but he really didn't think it would be quite as dramatic as the whispers were saying. Only time would tell.
"I am but a mere freeborn, flower-blooded, whatever insults you may hurl. It is why I am...cautiously optimistic, but not completely convinced."
There, he said it. And hopefully his mother would not overhear it and terrorize him with one of her priestess-ly strange rituals.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:08 pm
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A spirited way of life.. so they were living like him, and so had been given up. Of course there was little they could do as parents once their children were on that kind of path.. and it remained to be seen just how long one could go on as the wife of someone like that. Was he incorrigible, too?
Probably, and yet they remained together and faithful.
He smiled at Ylva, and then at Creid even when she gave him a look.
"Ah, our other golden goose," he said at the mention of Haldor, "Too bad he's missing all this fun, though I'm sure having one child around to take advantage of it will keep you busy enough."
This would certainly present some opportunities they hadn't had before. Maybe Ylva wouldn't benefit from having her mother trying to work things out, but maybe she would.. she clearly didn't mind speaking out herself, so he guessed it would work out in her favor, one way or another.
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Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2018 8:23 pm
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Hila's eyes widened slightly, surprised by his response. Well, that hadn't been what she expected. It wasn't so much the no response to her question about his feelings being strongly one way or the other that surprised her - a great deal of the pride was far more ambivalent about many things, so he was hardly unique there. Instead, it was the expression of a desire that everyone get...something that they were hoping for, from the upcoming changes (whatever they were) that had her turning her head to look at him more closely.
As he continued, his view made...at least a little bit more sense. "I've wanted to captain a Viking party since I was a cub," she replied, eyes narrowing once again as she looked him over. While none of the stormborn tended to be exactly...soft, this male lacked the rangy, hard-bitten look that so many of the stormborn did, especially after spending months out on a Viking. Given that one of her friends seemed to have left his dreams of also being a captain behind him as they'd grown, she wasn't quite as inclined to presume a male was a failure, or weak for not being a reaver as she may have otherwise been, but it did pique her curiosity. "Being male, why haven't you gone on a Viking, and become a reaver?" she asked after a moment. Perhaps he had a desire to become a lawspeaker, or something else less...physical? She'd always wanted to see what lay beyond the pridal borders, which drove her own desire to take on the role, traditionally only held by males.
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Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2019 10:22 am
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Creid purred. She was thrilled to be carrying a fruitful conversation with her husband, but it was very hard to not look upwards at the new Warlord, to see if his eyes were trailing anywhere in particular. It was too early to place any bets, but she was very aware of the competition that may arise.
"Mother?" Ylva asked, surprised to see her mother's attention wavering. The dark brown lioness acknowledged her daughter, but her eyes focused on Snorre. "I think he is like you, in terms of following politics. He will be grateful to have missed most of this." She was more curious on what he may bring home than anything; if he finally delivered a thrall, they would really start to gain traction in power.
Ylva sighed, though she tried to hide it. She was grateful that the focus was on her brother and not her for a moment. "I will be sure to fill him in on what he missed. And then you can start looking around for a wife for him, dearest mother." Please. Anything to make it a shared burden, dealing with their mother.
---
Geirr hadn't expected an interview on his own personal goals and merits. True, he hadn't really put himself out there, and he didn't have any solid reasoning as to why. Especially to one that wanted what she could no longer have, and if he worked hard enough he could gain the title that was taken away from her.
Should he tell her the truth? Or should he make up some sort of elaborate lie? He hadn't spoken to this female for very long, but he could tell that she was already smarter than he was. Honesty it would be.
"It sounds foolish, and like one full of flower blood, and not iron..." he sighed for a moment before picking up where he left off. "I fear that once I go out there, I may not return. Not due to death, but due to finally being away from my mother; a most strict priestess."
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 7:30 pm
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"Yes, dear," he said on cue, knowing when his opinion was not being asked for. He was still smiling, though, and he winked at Ylva. Haldor could deal with it when he came back. Maybe he would have his own ideas after spending some time away from them, meeting the other Reavers, making his own connections.. maybe he'd come back more eager for his mother to play matchmaker for him. It could go either way.
Change seemed unavoidable now, and Ushindi clearly inspired his wife's imagination and ambition. Snorre didn't like change but he had a feeling he was in for a lot of it, maybe it was time to start thinking about taking charge before it just happened around him.
Maybe.
/wrap for Snorre |
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Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:39 pm
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"I've been as well as I can be." She was quite sour about this whole business but what could be done? She wondered how much longer she'd call this pride home, she just had so much of her family here she didn't want to leave them but if she didn't have a future anymore what would the point be to stay? Hushing her tone a little bit so that no one could overhear their talking, "He sure is something huh?" It was said in a bit of a sarcastic tone, but he was the warlord so really she'd have to follow what he said in the end at any rate. Letting out a heavy sigh she wondered how this would change the pride.
SSBrosB total fail on my part >.>
Though, were there any spots available for the position? Risa wondered that as she sat next to her niece. "What do you think you'll do if you can't become a Priestess?" The greenish black and orange female looked over towards the older adult and gave a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm not sure. I definitely don't want to have to keep relying on the males to go out on a viking...." Her future in this pride might be short lived.
Njordr listened as his sister and daughter talked but didn't really comment much on it, he really had nothing to worry about given his gender. "I don't mind going out with you, but PLEASE do not bring that daughter of yours...... To be honest she sorta scares me." The male said looking at his sister with a serious look. Valka knew that Ernaline was headstrong and could be rather ballsy, she wasn't entirely sure where it came from. Probably some recessive gene or something. "I promise I won't bring her."
"You know I'm going to make a Reaver out of you yet." The brown male said to the redder colored one and Milas shook his head, "I really don't want to be a rea-" He was cut short by a shove from Raizen. "Hey....." Milas narrowed his eyes a little but shut his mouth. "Fine." Raizen wasn't going to let it up anyway until he finally went along with him so he might as well humor him.
"I'm glad you're finally seeing it my way." Or rather their father's way. Ragnvard wasn't one to toy around with and Raizen was really just looking out for Milas, it's not like he was doing anything else by staying in the pride all the time.
Bhumi frowned a little, she didn't particularly like Raizen but she didn't say anything. Sitting in silence near her son she looked about, hoping to see any more familiar faces.
"I promise nothing will happen to you Rana." He had noticed that she had been growing a little rounder as of late, was she carrying? He hadn't asked her but didn't want to bring it out in the open if she didn't want to talk about it just yet. She looked over towards the young adolescent and gave him a reassuring smile. "I have no doubts that you and your father will make sure our family is safe...." Still, this new warlord had her on edge.
Tecwyn was quite relieved that the female was on the brighter side in personality, it made him relax a little bit. "It's wonderful to meet you Kirabein and Sunnbein, I'm Tecwyn." The oddest of his siblings you wouldn't think he was at all related to his family, which made him laugh internally a little. "I would love to join you both." He felt weird being alone in the crowd so the fact he would now have two more lions to sit with made him feel much more comfortable. Hushing his tone a little, "He scares me a little...." motioning towards their new leader.
Rennekae we could have Sunnbein and Milas interact here as well smile I'll have him spot her in my next reply ^^ |
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AstoriaFallen
AstoriaFallen
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 6:12 pm
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Vigge sighed after his sister did. It seemed that they were both uncomfortable at the situation. He wasn't surprised that his sister was angry at the change in ranks. And he supported her in being angry. Why was it, after all of this time, that females were not supposed to be considered "weaker" compared to males? He considered quite a few of the females better than himself, and if they proved themselves, why couldn't they be at the same rank as males?
"He is. I'm not sure where he's getting these ideas from." He had almost added "perhaps one of the females should show him a thing or two" but decided against it. Now wasn't the time to talk openly about what should be done about their new "warlord".
"If you... feel the need to move elsewhere, I would understand." He murmured to her. He wouldn't want her, or any of his sisters to leave, but he wouldn't hesitate to support them in their decision. This warlord was just asking for females to leave, and then where would the pride be? Overrun with males and that would lead to disaster.
"Though if you do ever need to go out on a viking with female friends, I would be happy to "escort" you and spend my time taking a nice nap under the shade of a tree." He chuckled, but it was true. The female would be fine on their own. And he certainly wasn't going to get in their way. And if he needed to eat, he would just hunt on his own. That was his job here after all, how would it be any different elsewhere?
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