Post by Bhaskar on Oct 28, 2010 20:37:35 GMT -7
To the other lion cubs, feel free to say your characters heard/witnessed as much or as little of this scene as you'd like. 
Cast:
Dano (Juve. Lion)
Mukula (Juve. Lioness)
Bhaskar & Lakshmi (Tiger, Golden Jackal)
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Stand of Trees
A modest scruffy stand of trees stands stalwart against the drier desert to the east, consisting mainly of thorny Ber trees, with a few closely-related jujube trees mixed in (especially toward the west) and a few taller teaks (mostly toward the south). Larger acacias dot the stand mostly along the eastern edge before giving way to more scattered lone acacia trees farther east. The stand of trees is neither vast nor dense, and from various points within the trees, an enormous mountain can be seen rising toward the north and rolling hills toward the east. The gently sloped terrain rises from the east toward the west, and here and there the distant sound of trickling water can be heard from the east (a bit more substantially during the rainy season).
------
How long has it been since his family was killed? He can't even remember. The days and the nights all seem a blur to Dano. The only thing that seems to be real is the pain, and the hate which wells within his heart. He refuses to cry, at least in front of his siblings, with the majority of the time being filled with stubbornness and giving orders. The others may resent him, but he'll keep them alive, at least that is what he believes. At the moment though, the young lion is standing in front of a tree, ramming his paw into it, over, and over again. He shreds the bark as best he can, trying to hone the sharpness of his claws as he grits his teeth, hissing in both pain and righteous anger. "Dushta..." He rumbles out in his throat.
Throughout the trip here, Mukula has been unusually quiet: not uttering a word of complaint the entire time. Bhaksar or Lakshmi probably wouldn't know what's normal for this girl-cub, however, and she hasn't gone completely silent as she was during the first few hours. At the moment she's well within sight and sound but seperate from the others as she sits and stares silently and thoughtfully towards the south. Her thoughts are actually quite similar to her brother's, but she expresses them differently, keeping them mostly internal thus far.
This scruffy grove will serve well enough at the moment. It provides enough shelter for the cubs to hide in, but it's not nearly as dense as the forest they'd come out of and is close enough to the plains to, perhaps, seem more habitable to a group of young lions. Realizing that it would be pointless to take them any farther north until he knows that they've got a situation waiting for them, Bhaskar has stopped their journey here. He's been absent for the last half hour, ranging the area perfunctorily, but now he returns with Lakshmi at his side. "...Go ahead on your own," he's telling her as they enter the shade of the trees. "You'll make better time that way. Find the wolves and maybe that dhole of yours and explain what's happened. Ask them if they can do anything."
Strike after strike, Dano slashes out with his claws into the tree, his glare furious as he stares at the splintering bark. His muscles are tense, and his body quivering. He has been at this for nearly a half an hour, and his paw is soaked in blood. An outlet he does not have yet in expressing himself, lessons his family had yet to teach him. So, he will attempt to kill this tree, since he can not yet kill the black tiger.
Even after the distance they've travelled, Mukula is still enough on edge that when she hears someone coming she defensively pins herself to the ground until she can see who it is. It doesn't matter that she saw Bhaskar and Lakshmi leave and was waiting for them to get back - she won't believe someone approaching isn't dangerous until she's certain. Seeing that they are familiar faces, she looks relieved as she quickly calms herself, idly listening into what they're saying. Wolves? Dholes? What do they have to do with anything? But she keeps her questions to herself, and is instead silent as she pads over to meet them, eyeing her brother with a frown as she passes him. Like clawing a tree will do any good!
The jackal dips her head as they come to a stop, and when Mukula approaches Lakshmi stretches her head out to greet the cub. Bhaskar grunts acknowledgement, but he's surveying the area, counting visible heads and lingering particularly on Dano. Hn. Excusing himself, he leaves Mukula and his kol-bahl and approaches the boy instead, not saying anything or even making a sound, just watching. "Bhaskar will go hunting soon," Lakshmi tells Mukula. "I've got to leave, but I'll be back within a few days. Will this area suffice for you all?"
Stepping away from the tree now that his paw is hurting, Dano lets out a soft breath, giving his head a firm shake. As he turns his attention towards the other three as they speak, he settles down in front of them, tilting his head to one side. "This area is suitable." He speaks up with a clear of his throat. "Will you be alright traveling by yourself?" He asks the canine as his ears perk forward out of his fluffy 'mane' that is developing about the top of his head.
That question seems to give Mukula pause, and she glances around the area for a moment. "It's a lot like home," she finally answers, her voice a bit distant. There's another pause before she adds, "I wish that you didn't have to go." No, she won't argue about it - perhaps because she's still trying to figure out the Hatyaa/Dushta connection - but she'd still greatly prefer having Lakshmi around. While she's getting used to Bhaskar, he's still big, gruff, and unfamiliar. Lakshmi is equally unfamiliar, but at least she's nicer and less scary. Bhaskar makes her feel safe, while Lakshmi makes her feel happier.
To Dano's question, despite the gravity of all that's happened, Lakshmi cannot stop herself: she laughs, smiling at him. "I will be, I can assure you. Not all of us have tigers to scare the bigger predators away, but we manage!" The tiger in question slides to his stomach in the grass, his pelt dappled with sunlight, and there he stays. His ears are alert, however, constantly moving, filtering through the sounds of conversation to focus on other noises. His eyes slit halfway as Lakshmi's grin fades, taking in Mukula's statement. "I'm sorry, cub," she says more softly, "but I must. It won't take long." She gives Mukula's forehead a lick, trying to reassure, and then looks north towards the distant peaks of the mountain. It's afternoon, but she can cover a fair bit of distance before nightfall and traveling after dark isn't nearly as dangerous here as it is in the jungle nowadays.
"Don't worry, Mookie. I'll protect you." Dano says as he comes to her side, leaning in to press his nose against her shoulder gently. "And soon as you know it, she'll be back, and everything will be fine." Whatever fine may be. His paw is sure hurting. "So, Bhaskar, when are you going to show me some more stuff?" He looks eager to fight, to know more about it, to get rough and tough.
A heavy sigh is the only reply Mukula gives as she watches Lakshmi depart for a moment, hardly paying much attention to her brother's reassurances. She'd never tell him so, but she finds the level of protection that a cub only a bit older than her can provide lacking at best. She'd do better to learn how to defend herself, and so when he asks Bhaskar that question, her ears perk and her head turns in interest. She's an eager student as well.
When the jackal leaves she moves quickly and without hesitation, not looking back. Lakshmi is kinder than Bhaskar and seems to bond more easily, but she won't let concern for the cubs get in the way of doing something that's necessary for them. They're quite safe with Bhaskar around, in any case. It's not as if she's leaving them unprotected. Bhaskar slowly opens his eyes when Dano addresses him, his gaze flicking between the two cubs. It's measured, considering. "What are the most vulnerable areas of any animal?" he rumbles suddenly.
"The throat, and the eyes." Dano says quickly and proudly, cutting a look over towards his sister, then back towards the tiger. "You can't fight if you can't see, and you can't fight if you can't breathe." He says as his tail twitches about behind him quickly.
At the sudden question, Mukula is caught off guard, and after Dano picks the good answers she has to think quickly before she hesitantly adds, "And the legs. If you can't stand then you can't fight or run away." Typical lioness answer from one who has been learning to hunt rather than fight. Still, she thinks that it's probably valid.
"Those are two," Bhaskar agrees, his head inclining just a fraction, and then his thoughtful stare turns to Mukula. "And that's another. There are others, but first, Mukula raises a valid point: hobbling your opponent can be as good as killing him. You can't always reach his throat in battle, so you must know other ways to either disable him or end his life, and /that/ entails knowing every weak point on his body." He's silent for a minute. "To stick with the example of legs: the joints are most vulnerable to impact, and of those the wrists are most fragile." He gives his own paw a twitch, bending it to demonstrate. "If you're targeting a hind leg, severing the tendon on the heel will render anyone unable to walk. The inside of the thigh contains an artery that can bleed you dry if punctured." Who knew that fighting was such a complicated, intellectual pursuit? It seems to be for Bhaskar, at least, but he's had eight years of experience at it and it makes sense that he'd have a lot to say on the matter.
Hanging on every word is Dano, practically leaning in as he listens, ears perked upon the top of his head. "But for you to lean in and try to bite someone in the leg, it exposes your head, and your neck." He says with a frown upon his face, using Mukula as an example as he ducks his head down towards one of her legs, where his neck is practically beneath her chin. "See, she can easily bite me." He says.
Ah, see, her answer was even better than she thought it was. Mukula lets a proud grin cross her face briefly, but it disappears when the tiger continues with the details she listens in rapt attention, trying to absorb every word. It doesn't help when her brother distracts her with his demonstration, so he pays him back by play-biting at his neck just a bit more forcefully than strictly required for the example.
"You don't bite the wrists." There may be just a touch of amusement in Bhaskar's gravelly voice. "You use your paw. If you strike it at the right angle with enough force, you'll snap it like a twig." He pauses again, then adds, "Don't try it on Mukula. I'll bring you something to practice with," before continuing. "In regard to the back legs: think of what you'd do if you caught your foot on something. You'd try to pull it free, to turn around, but your mobility would be limited and chances are you'd only hurt yourself more with all your thrashing. If I caught you that way, you could probably twist around and attack me, but you wouldn't be able to do so very effectively. You'd scratch my head, maybe my ears--nothing important, unless you got lucky and found an eye. Chances are you wouldn't be able to bite well, either. We're flexible, as cats, but even we've got our limits."
When Bhaskar starts to explain further, Mukula's attention easily shifts away from her brother again. This is very good stuff that he's teaching! And in her mind as she works through the moves he's describing the legs that she's attacking happen to be large and black... "And since there's more than one of us, if one of us got a back leg then it would also be harder for him to attack the rest of us too," she suddenly notes, pleased at that thought. She already noticed that Dushta had used the tactic of separating them in order to get her parents and aunt. As long as they kept together, knew how to fight, and grew a bit, then their revenge should be easy!
"Precisely!" Bhaskar is ordinarily such a dispassionate individual, quiet and distant even in the middle of the storm, that to get such a reaction out of him must be high praise. He doesn't smile, but he sounds pleased and far more intense than he did a moment ago: the cubs are not only thinking for themselves, they're thinking /smart/. "If every one of you is disciplined and coordinated, then you'll be able to make short work of just about anything as a team. But before you can fight as a group, you must learn the basics--and you must learn to fight alone as well. You'll be doing yourselves a great disservice if you rely too heavily on one another. I could separate you, and what then?" He doesn't make the obvious comparison to their parents and aunt. Maybe it doesn't even cross his mind for now. But they were certainly vulnerable once they were apart.
Though the last question is rhetorical, Mukula is too busy trying to absorb it all that she doesn't realize it and she answers, "Then it would be a lot easier to kill all of us." There's a silent pause as she trys to sort through the emotions that though carries with it, though to her credit she doesn't cry even though it looks for a moment like she might. "What do you do if you're all alone and you know that something is hiding and about to get you?" she suddenly asks, as that question has been absolutely plaguing her since she saw what happened to Vrimta.
The tiger is watching Mukula quite closely now, and there's no doubt that he sees it when her face shifts, but she gets ahold of herself and he doesn't draw attention to her upset. He just focuses on the question. Its roots are even more obvious than his hypothetical scenario. "First of all," he starts, "your instinctive reaction will probably be to panic and run. You must /never/ give into that urge, Mukula. If you ever go through an event like that again, with a hidden, unknown assailant stalking you, you need to be aware of two things. One: he's likely much calmer than you are and knows it. He'll be counting on your fear of him to make you behave stupidly and allow him to maintain control over the situation. Two: if he doesn't already have sight of you, he'll be looking to get it. Bolting in terror will only make you easier to spot, and even if he doesn't see you he'll be able to follow the trail you leave. You might even blunder into him while you're trying to get away." Here he pauses, even though he's clearly not done; he's looking at her expectantly, checking to see if she's followed all that so far.
Follow it? Mukula would have to try really hard to pay any attention to anything else, and the way he's explain it is simple enough. Don't run... Well, what /do/ you do then? Though that question goes unvoiced since the tiger seems to just be pausing. She's quick to remember that Vrimta didn't run, at least not in the end. Then again, her aunt /had/ been very distracted trying to make sure that everyone else would get away. Once again the memories tug at her, but the young lioness's determination to become stronger so that it all can't happen again is strong enough to conquer most of her fears.
When there are no questions forthcoming, Bhaskar appears satisfied. "It may be difficult, it's certainly more easily said than done, but you've got to keep your head clear. At the same time, overthink things and you'll hesitate, which can be as disastrous as not thinking them through at all. The best advice that I can give you is to trust your body and reflexes; it knows itself and your surroundings better than you do." His tail curls lazily over the ground, flitting into a patch of shade and then out of it again, as he mulls over how to word what he feels he needs to say. "Have you ever woken up for no apparent reason, only to discover that something was amiss--say, a predator in the area? Even when you sleep, your body keeps a constant lookout. It responds to danger faster than your mind. It has whiskers to detect changes in the air currents, ears to hear the most subtle of movements with, a nose and eyes to smell and see with. All of those senses work together, so you can't count on any one more than the others. There's no point in using your eyes to look for an assailant when he's concealing himself; utilize your ears and whiskers instead." Finally he rises, shaking a bit of dust from his pelt, and comes over. "Stay where you are," he instructs. "I'm going to demonstrate."
Trying to absorb this concept is a bit more difficult. The idea of just listening to her instincts is a bit foreign to her, as she hasn't had much cause to pay so much attention to them before. She's still trying to mull this over when the tiger says that he'll demonstrate, but her first reaction to that is fear; what is he going to do? But that emotion is quickly squished by another: the desire to learn this and perfect it so that she'll be okay if it ever happens to her. And perhaps that will be the basis for her being able to have some confidence again after all that's happened.
Were Lakshmi here she could probably be somewhat of a calming influence or at least a more appropriate demonstrator; Bhaskar, after all, is quite a bit larger than they are and is hardly an ideal sparring partner. But he's not behaving as if this will be an aggressive exercise. As he draws closer he even exhales through his nose, producing a rolling, friendly sort of noise. Prusten. It's not a sound that anyone who knows him even a little would expect to hear. Perhaps, in his own way, he's trying to reassure Mukula. "I'm hidden," he goes on, deadpan, apparently setting the stage for a game of pretend. "Don't look around or behind you--actually, on second thought, close your eyes. Blotting out that sense will force you to use others."
It's fortunate that they've had a little time together before this, or Mukula would likely be too frightened of the idea to even try it. But she recognises Bhaskar's attempt to calm her as a friendly gesture at least, and so she willingly closes her eyes when prompted. At first her ears twist wildly, but she forces as much calm into herself as she can and they settle, and the slight twitch of her nose and whiskers indicates that she's at least trying to use them too.
It's hard to say when Bhaskar moves on or where he goes to when he does; he can move very, very quietly when he chooses to. Were Mukula to open her eyes and look around she could probably spot him easily, since the grass in this area isn't too long and is a poor choice for a tiger to actually try and hide in, but that isn't the purpose of whatever it is he's been driving at. Finally, an interminable amount of time later, there's a sudden shift in the currents around Mukula's whiskers. The signs are subtle, not something that most would even notice until it's too late, but they're present and warning. He's closed in at a silent run.
It takes some measure of willpower, but Mukula manages to fight off the urge to peek. But she finds that it's easier to pay attention to her other senses anyway when she's not thinking about looking anyway. And just when she's starting to wonder if the tiger is actually going to do anything, she feels what he was talking about: the sudden feeling that she ought to dodge to the side. And, squealing in a mixture of surprise and fear she does so, unable to keep herself from looking then.
Her eyes open just in time for the older cat to pass her, his fur agleam in the waning sunlight. Rather than turn to pursue her, Bhaskar skids to a halt and glances back at her. There's approval in his gaze. "Good," he says, turning around to speak more easily. "Do you see what I mean? Trusting your reflexes and simply /acting/ can save your life in circumstances where your mind would be too slow. Did you feel more alert while you had your eyes shut?"
Woah. That's all that Mukula can think for several moments, but once she gets her wits about her again, she says, "That was so cool!" Though the answer to his question was perfectly clear, it takes half a moment for her to put words to it, "Yes, I did. I think it would be a lot harder if I didn't know you were gonna do something though." Well, that plus she didn't have very much to distract her. But that probably just means that she needs to practice it until it's second nature.
"It would be," Bhaskar allows, "and that's why you have to make a conscious effort to be in tune with your body at all times. That level of constant, heightened, unconscious awareness isn't easy to achieve, but it can be done. It's like strengthening a muscle by using it. In fact," he decides, lifting his voice somewhat so that it will reach the others in the area, "I think this will be a very useful exercise for all of you. Ambush one another. You'll hone your stalking abilities along with your reflexes if you're practicing on each other instead of waiting for myself or Lakshmi to surprise you." He seems about to leave it at that, but then, thinking better of it, speaks again. "And one more thing: I know I've mentioned a few little tricks about how to disable an opponent's legs, but under no circumstances are any of you to try them out. Not on your siblings, not on Lakshmi. Not even on myself, although you're rather too small yet to cause me grief. I will provide live prey if I feel that you're ready for the experience, but until then this is all theory to you. If you cripple anyone due to negligence and overenthusiasm, I assure you that you will not like the consequences." He doesn't expand on what those consequences might be, leaving it up to each individual's imagination, but his face is stern now, ominous, his ears set back.
Just what Mukula needs; an actual excuse for her siblings to ambush her. Well, at least that sort of play would be another step towards getting things back to normal. "Okay," she agrees. Perhaps this is a good excuse for her to work on her ambush skills as well. Gotta make sure that her siblings learn it too! "I won't!" she promises to the other point, though that's hardly necessary in her particular case. Bhaskar already told Dano not to do it, so she already wasn't planning on doing it herself either.
"Good," Bhaskar repeats, and, his point made, drops the subject. His ears return to a more normal stance, and if his face doesn't soften it at least becomes less terse. "I think you've enough to work on at the moment, so I'll let you get to it." To Mukula specifically he adds, "You did well." That might even be a smile on his face. It's brief, small, and far from Shaamti's radiant approval or even Pahalautha's more restrained affection, but it's there and genuine.
The slight grin on Mukula's face at the individual attention at least somewhat indicates that she understands that counts as getting high approval, even if it's not shown in quite the way that she'd like. The tiger isn't unlike her aunt, after all, and a part of her wouldn't want the tiger to treat her with too much affection. That would seem too much like someone trying to replace mommy. Feeling a bit more determined than she was before, she starts to wonder just how much Indra heard of this lesson. Hmm... "Thank you!" she says to Bhaskar before she starts looking around the stand of trees for him.
Cast:
Dano (Juve. Lion)
Mukula (Juve. Lioness)
Bhaskar & Lakshmi (Tiger, Golden Jackal)
------
Stand of Trees
A modest scruffy stand of trees stands stalwart against the drier desert to the east, consisting mainly of thorny Ber trees, with a few closely-related jujube trees mixed in (especially toward the west) and a few taller teaks (mostly toward the south). Larger acacias dot the stand mostly along the eastern edge before giving way to more scattered lone acacia trees farther east. The stand of trees is neither vast nor dense, and from various points within the trees, an enormous mountain can be seen rising toward the north and rolling hills toward the east. The gently sloped terrain rises from the east toward the west, and here and there the distant sound of trickling water can be heard from the east (a bit more substantially during the rainy season).
------
How long has it been since his family was killed? He can't even remember. The days and the nights all seem a blur to Dano. The only thing that seems to be real is the pain, and the hate which wells within his heart. He refuses to cry, at least in front of his siblings, with the majority of the time being filled with stubbornness and giving orders. The others may resent him, but he'll keep them alive, at least that is what he believes. At the moment though, the young lion is standing in front of a tree, ramming his paw into it, over, and over again. He shreds the bark as best he can, trying to hone the sharpness of his claws as he grits his teeth, hissing in both pain and righteous anger. "Dushta..." He rumbles out in his throat.
Throughout the trip here, Mukula has been unusually quiet: not uttering a word of complaint the entire time. Bhaksar or Lakshmi probably wouldn't know what's normal for this girl-cub, however, and she hasn't gone completely silent as she was during the first few hours. At the moment she's well within sight and sound but seperate from the others as she sits and stares silently and thoughtfully towards the south. Her thoughts are actually quite similar to her brother's, but she expresses them differently, keeping them mostly internal thus far.
This scruffy grove will serve well enough at the moment. It provides enough shelter for the cubs to hide in, but it's not nearly as dense as the forest they'd come out of and is close enough to the plains to, perhaps, seem more habitable to a group of young lions. Realizing that it would be pointless to take them any farther north until he knows that they've got a situation waiting for them, Bhaskar has stopped their journey here. He's been absent for the last half hour, ranging the area perfunctorily, but now he returns with Lakshmi at his side. "...Go ahead on your own," he's telling her as they enter the shade of the trees. "You'll make better time that way. Find the wolves and maybe that dhole of yours and explain what's happened. Ask them if they can do anything."
Strike after strike, Dano slashes out with his claws into the tree, his glare furious as he stares at the splintering bark. His muscles are tense, and his body quivering. He has been at this for nearly a half an hour, and his paw is soaked in blood. An outlet he does not have yet in expressing himself, lessons his family had yet to teach him. So, he will attempt to kill this tree, since he can not yet kill the black tiger.
Even after the distance they've travelled, Mukula is still enough on edge that when she hears someone coming she defensively pins herself to the ground until she can see who it is. It doesn't matter that she saw Bhaskar and Lakshmi leave and was waiting for them to get back - she won't believe someone approaching isn't dangerous until she's certain. Seeing that they are familiar faces, she looks relieved as she quickly calms herself, idly listening into what they're saying. Wolves? Dholes? What do they have to do with anything? But she keeps her questions to herself, and is instead silent as she pads over to meet them, eyeing her brother with a frown as she passes him. Like clawing a tree will do any good!
The jackal dips her head as they come to a stop, and when Mukula approaches Lakshmi stretches her head out to greet the cub. Bhaskar grunts acknowledgement, but he's surveying the area, counting visible heads and lingering particularly on Dano. Hn. Excusing himself, he leaves Mukula and his kol-bahl and approaches the boy instead, not saying anything or even making a sound, just watching. "Bhaskar will go hunting soon," Lakshmi tells Mukula. "I've got to leave, but I'll be back within a few days. Will this area suffice for you all?"
Stepping away from the tree now that his paw is hurting, Dano lets out a soft breath, giving his head a firm shake. As he turns his attention towards the other three as they speak, he settles down in front of them, tilting his head to one side. "This area is suitable." He speaks up with a clear of his throat. "Will you be alright traveling by yourself?" He asks the canine as his ears perk forward out of his fluffy 'mane' that is developing about the top of his head.
That question seems to give Mukula pause, and she glances around the area for a moment. "It's a lot like home," she finally answers, her voice a bit distant. There's another pause before she adds, "I wish that you didn't have to go." No, she won't argue about it - perhaps because she's still trying to figure out the Hatyaa/Dushta connection - but she'd still greatly prefer having Lakshmi around. While she's getting used to Bhaskar, he's still big, gruff, and unfamiliar. Lakshmi is equally unfamiliar, but at least she's nicer and less scary. Bhaskar makes her feel safe, while Lakshmi makes her feel happier.
To Dano's question, despite the gravity of all that's happened, Lakshmi cannot stop herself: she laughs, smiling at him. "I will be, I can assure you. Not all of us have tigers to scare the bigger predators away, but we manage!" The tiger in question slides to his stomach in the grass, his pelt dappled with sunlight, and there he stays. His ears are alert, however, constantly moving, filtering through the sounds of conversation to focus on other noises. His eyes slit halfway as Lakshmi's grin fades, taking in Mukula's statement. "I'm sorry, cub," she says more softly, "but I must. It won't take long." She gives Mukula's forehead a lick, trying to reassure, and then looks north towards the distant peaks of the mountain. It's afternoon, but she can cover a fair bit of distance before nightfall and traveling after dark isn't nearly as dangerous here as it is in the jungle nowadays.
"Don't worry, Mookie. I'll protect you." Dano says as he comes to her side, leaning in to press his nose against her shoulder gently. "And soon as you know it, she'll be back, and everything will be fine." Whatever fine may be. His paw is sure hurting. "So, Bhaskar, when are you going to show me some more stuff?" He looks eager to fight, to know more about it, to get rough and tough.
A heavy sigh is the only reply Mukula gives as she watches Lakshmi depart for a moment, hardly paying much attention to her brother's reassurances. She'd never tell him so, but she finds the level of protection that a cub only a bit older than her can provide lacking at best. She'd do better to learn how to defend herself, and so when he asks Bhaskar that question, her ears perk and her head turns in interest. She's an eager student as well.
When the jackal leaves she moves quickly and without hesitation, not looking back. Lakshmi is kinder than Bhaskar and seems to bond more easily, but she won't let concern for the cubs get in the way of doing something that's necessary for them. They're quite safe with Bhaskar around, in any case. It's not as if she's leaving them unprotected. Bhaskar slowly opens his eyes when Dano addresses him, his gaze flicking between the two cubs. It's measured, considering. "What are the most vulnerable areas of any animal?" he rumbles suddenly.
"The throat, and the eyes." Dano says quickly and proudly, cutting a look over towards his sister, then back towards the tiger. "You can't fight if you can't see, and you can't fight if you can't breathe." He says as his tail twitches about behind him quickly.
At the sudden question, Mukula is caught off guard, and after Dano picks the good answers she has to think quickly before she hesitantly adds, "And the legs. If you can't stand then you can't fight or run away." Typical lioness answer from one who has been learning to hunt rather than fight. Still, she thinks that it's probably valid.
"Those are two," Bhaskar agrees, his head inclining just a fraction, and then his thoughtful stare turns to Mukula. "And that's another. There are others, but first, Mukula raises a valid point: hobbling your opponent can be as good as killing him. You can't always reach his throat in battle, so you must know other ways to either disable him or end his life, and /that/ entails knowing every weak point on his body." He's silent for a minute. "To stick with the example of legs: the joints are most vulnerable to impact, and of those the wrists are most fragile." He gives his own paw a twitch, bending it to demonstrate. "If you're targeting a hind leg, severing the tendon on the heel will render anyone unable to walk. The inside of the thigh contains an artery that can bleed you dry if punctured." Who knew that fighting was such a complicated, intellectual pursuit? It seems to be for Bhaskar, at least, but he's had eight years of experience at it and it makes sense that he'd have a lot to say on the matter.
Hanging on every word is Dano, practically leaning in as he listens, ears perked upon the top of his head. "But for you to lean in and try to bite someone in the leg, it exposes your head, and your neck." He says with a frown upon his face, using Mukula as an example as he ducks his head down towards one of her legs, where his neck is practically beneath her chin. "See, she can easily bite me." He says.
Ah, see, her answer was even better than she thought it was. Mukula lets a proud grin cross her face briefly, but it disappears when the tiger continues with the details she listens in rapt attention, trying to absorb every word. It doesn't help when her brother distracts her with his demonstration, so he pays him back by play-biting at his neck just a bit more forcefully than strictly required for the example.
"You don't bite the wrists." There may be just a touch of amusement in Bhaskar's gravelly voice. "You use your paw. If you strike it at the right angle with enough force, you'll snap it like a twig." He pauses again, then adds, "Don't try it on Mukula. I'll bring you something to practice with," before continuing. "In regard to the back legs: think of what you'd do if you caught your foot on something. You'd try to pull it free, to turn around, but your mobility would be limited and chances are you'd only hurt yourself more with all your thrashing. If I caught you that way, you could probably twist around and attack me, but you wouldn't be able to do so very effectively. You'd scratch my head, maybe my ears--nothing important, unless you got lucky and found an eye. Chances are you wouldn't be able to bite well, either. We're flexible, as cats, but even we've got our limits."
When Bhaskar starts to explain further, Mukula's attention easily shifts away from her brother again. This is very good stuff that he's teaching! And in her mind as she works through the moves he's describing the legs that she's attacking happen to be large and black... "And since there's more than one of us, if one of us got a back leg then it would also be harder for him to attack the rest of us too," she suddenly notes, pleased at that thought. She already noticed that Dushta had used the tactic of separating them in order to get her parents and aunt. As long as they kept together, knew how to fight, and grew a bit, then their revenge should be easy!
"Precisely!" Bhaskar is ordinarily such a dispassionate individual, quiet and distant even in the middle of the storm, that to get such a reaction out of him must be high praise. He doesn't smile, but he sounds pleased and far more intense than he did a moment ago: the cubs are not only thinking for themselves, they're thinking /smart/. "If every one of you is disciplined and coordinated, then you'll be able to make short work of just about anything as a team. But before you can fight as a group, you must learn the basics--and you must learn to fight alone as well. You'll be doing yourselves a great disservice if you rely too heavily on one another. I could separate you, and what then?" He doesn't make the obvious comparison to their parents and aunt. Maybe it doesn't even cross his mind for now. But they were certainly vulnerable once they were apart.
Though the last question is rhetorical, Mukula is too busy trying to absorb it all that she doesn't realize it and she answers, "Then it would be a lot easier to kill all of us." There's a silent pause as she trys to sort through the emotions that though carries with it, though to her credit she doesn't cry even though it looks for a moment like she might. "What do you do if you're all alone and you know that something is hiding and about to get you?" she suddenly asks, as that question has been absolutely plaguing her since she saw what happened to Vrimta.
The tiger is watching Mukula quite closely now, and there's no doubt that he sees it when her face shifts, but she gets ahold of herself and he doesn't draw attention to her upset. He just focuses on the question. Its roots are even more obvious than his hypothetical scenario. "First of all," he starts, "your instinctive reaction will probably be to panic and run. You must /never/ give into that urge, Mukula. If you ever go through an event like that again, with a hidden, unknown assailant stalking you, you need to be aware of two things. One: he's likely much calmer than you are and knows it. He'll be counting on your fear of him to make you behave stupidly and allow him to maintain control over the situation. Two: if he doesn't already have sight of you, he'll be looking to get it. Bolting in terror will only make you easier to spot, and even if he doesn't see you he'll be able to follow the trail you leave. You might even blunder into him while you're trying to get away." Here he pauses, even though he's clearly not done; he's looking at her expectantly, checking to see if she's followed all that so far.
Follow it? Mukula would have to try really hard to pay any attention to anything else, and the way he's explain it is simple enough. Don't run... Well, what /do/ you do then? Though that question goes unvoiced since the tiger seems to just be pausing. She's quick to remember that Vrimta didn't run, at least not in the end. Then again, her aunt /had/ been very distracted trying to make sure that everyone else would get away. Once again the memories tug at her, but the young lioness's determination to become stronger so that it all can't happen again is strong enough to conquer most of her fears.
When there are no questions forthcoming, Bhaskar appears satisfied. "It may be difficult, it's certainly more easily said than done, but you've got to keep your head clear. At the same time, overthink things and you'll hesitate, which can be as disastrous as not thinking them through at all. The best advice that I can give you is to trust your body and reflexes; it knows itself and your surroundings better than you do." His tail curls lazily over the ground, flitting into a patch of shade and then out of it again, as he mulls over how to word what he feels he needs to say. "Have you ever woken up for no apparent reason, only to discover that something was amiss--say, a predator in the area? Even when you sleep, your body keeps a constant lookout. It responds to danger faster than your mind. It has whiskers to detect changes in the air currents, ears to hear the most subtle of movements with, a nose and eyes to smell and see with. All of those senses work together, so you can't count on any one more than the others. There's no point in using your eyes to look for an assailant when he's concealing himself; utilize your ears and whiskers instead." Finally he rises, shaking a bit of dust from his pelt, and comes over. "Stay where you are," he instructs. "I'm going to demonstrate."
Trying to absorb this concept is a bit more difficult. The idea of just listening to her instincts is a bit foreign to her, as she hasn't had much cause to pay so much attention to them before. She's still trying to mull this over when the tiger says that he'll demonstrate, but her first reaction to that is fear; what is he going to do? But that emotion is quickly squished by another: the desire to learn this and perfect it so that she'll be okay if it ever happens to her. And perhaps that will be the basis for her being able to have some confidence again after all that's happened.
Were Lakshmi here she could probably be somewhat of a calming influence or at least a more appropriate demonstrator; Bhaskar, after all, is quite a bit larger than they are and is hardly an ideal sparring partner. But he's not behaving as if this will be an aggressive exercise. As he draws closer he even exhales through his nose, producing a rolling, friendly sort of noise. Prusten. It's not a sound that anyone who knows him even a little would expect to hear. Perhaps, in his own way, he's trying to reassure Mukula. "I'm hidden," he goes on, deadpan, apparently setting the stage for a game of pretend. "Don't look around or behind you--actually, on second thought, close your eyes. Blotting out that sense will force you to use others."
It's fortunate that they've had a little time together before this, or Mukula would likely be too frightened of the idea to even try it. But she recognises Bhaskar's attempt to calm her as a friendly gesture at least, and so she willingly closes her eyes when prompted. At first her ears twist wildly, but she forces as much calm into herself as she can and they settle, and the slight twitch of her nose and whiskers indicates that she's at least trying to use them too.
It's hard to say when Bhaskar moves on or where he goes to when he does; he can move very, very quietly when he chooses to. Were Mukula to open her eyes and look around she could probably spot him easily, since the grass in this area isn't too long and is a poor choice for a tiger to actually try and hide in, but that isn't the purpose of whatever it is he's been driving at. Finally, an interminable amount of time later, there's a sudden shift in the currents around Mukula's whiskers. The signs are subtle, not something that most would even notice until it's too late, but they're present and warning. He's closed in at a silent run.
It takes some measure of willpower, but Mukula manages to fight off the urge to peek. But she finds that it's easier to pay attention to her other senses anyway when she's not thinking about looking anyway. And just when she's starting to wonder if the tiger is actually going to do anything, she feels what he was talking about: the sudden feeling that she ought to dodge to the side. And, squealing in a mixture of surprise and fear she does so, unable to keep herself from looking then.
Her eyes open just in time for the older cat to pass her, his fur agleam in the waning sunlight. Rather than turn to pursue her, Bhaskar skids to a halt and glances back at her. There's approval in his gaze. "Good," he says, turning around to speak more easily. "Do you see what I mean? Trusting your reflexes and simply /acting/ can save your life in circumstances where your mind would be too slow. Did you feel more alert while you had your eyes shut?"
Woah. That's all that Mukula can think for several moments, but once she gets her wits about her again, she says, "That was so cool!" Though the answer to his question was perfectly clear, it takes half a moment for her to put words to it, "Yes, I did. I think it would be a lot harder if I didn't know you were gonna do something though." Well, that plus she didn't have very much to distract her. But that probably just means that she needs to practice it until it's second nature.
"It would be," Bhaskar allows, "and that's why you have to make a conscious effort to be in tune with your body at all times. That level of constant, heightened, unconscious awareness isn't easy to achieve, but it can be done. It's like strengthening a muscle by using it. In fact," he decides, lifting his voice somewhat so that it will reach the others in the area, "I think this will be a very useful exercise for all of you. Ambush one another. You'll hone your stalking abilities along with your reflexes if you're practicing on each other instead of waiting for myself or Lakshmi to surprise you." He seems about to leave it at that, but then, thinking better of it, speaks again. "And one more thing: I know I've mentioned a few little tricks about how to disable an opponent's legs, but under no circumstances are any of you to try them out. Not on your siblings, not on Lakshmi. Not even on myself, although you're rather too small yet to cause me grief. I will provide live prey if I feel that you're ready for the experience, but until then this is all theory to you. If you cripple anyone due to negligence and overenthusiasm, I assure you that you will not like the consequences." He doesn't expand on what those consequences might be, leaving it up to each individual's imagination, but his face is stern now, ominous, his ears set back.
Just what Mukula needs; an actual excuse for her siblings to ambush her. Well, at least that sort of play would be another step towards getting things back to normal. "Okay," she agrees. Perhaps this is a good excuse for her to work on her ambush skills as well. Gotta make sure that her siblings learn it too! "I won't!" she promises to the other point, though that's hardly necessary in her particular case. Bhaskar already told Dano not to do it, so she already wasn't planning on doing it herself either.
"Good," Bhaskar repeats, and, his point made, drops the subject. His ears return to a more normal stance, and if his face doesn't soften it at least becomes less terse. "I think you've enough to work on at the moment, so I'll let you get to it." To Mukula specifically he adds, "You did well." That might even be a smile on his face. It's brief, small, and far from Shaamti's radiant approval or even Pahalautha's more restrained affection, but it's there and genuine.
The slight grin on Mukula's face at the individual attention at least somewhat indicates that she understands that counts as getting high approval, even if it's not shown in quite the way that she'd like. The tiger isn't unlike her aunt, after all, and a part of her wouldn't want the tiger to treat her with too much affection. That would seem too much like someone trying to replace mommy. Feeling a bit more determined than she was before, she starts to wonder just how much Indra heard of this lesson. Hmm... "Thank you!" she says to Bhaskar before she starts looking around the stand of trees for him.