[LOG] Following the Festival | Finished |

[Thalion]

Andranis ||
The thrills of the festivities had worn off. Wamblee picked at the beach, examining different shells as his two mates hung near by. It had been an eventful year so far, and an eventful Ball. Well, semi-eventful. It had been somewhat... Mundane? And from what others had told him, it was a blessing that it was so quiet. As he picked up a shell and examined it, he mused about the opaline surface of the inside, so changing and beautiful. If they still had muses, this would surely be his, as it seemed to contain the colors of both him and his mates hidden in an alabaster shell.

Near by, both of Wamblee's mates relaxed - Mola'katiti sat with all the elegance of one who went by the name Goddess Heart, while Emera... Somehow she was hiding. She wasn't keen on water, especially water where she couldn't tell where shore was. At least in a river, she could flail her way sideways from the water's flow and know she'd touch ground again, but the ocean terrified her in its vastness that she couldn't see. All she knew was the roaring crash of the waves. Unseeing eyes stared in the direction she thought the alabaster male was. "Don't let the waves carry you away, Wamblee!"

In front of her, Katiti let out a chuckle. "He'll be fine, Emera." She looked at the white lioness, then frowned. "Your hair is a mess again..." She pulled the lioness closer, starting to pick sticks and the like out of it. "How do you manage to..." She stopped. "No, don't tell me how you get so much in your hair..." She was protective of the other lioness, considering her like a sister. A sister she shared a mate with, but still a sister.  

[Thalion]

FireDog ||
The gypsy prince shook out his flame-licked mane as he strolled along the border between the sopping wet sands still foamy from the sea and the dried up sand further against the rocks. Here, the sands were cool and damp but strong and firm enough to carry his weight. He didn't have loose sand kicking up against his hind quarters and he didn't have sticky sea foam squirting up from in between his toes. It was the best place to walk, to run, to think. The smell of brine was thick in the air mingled with the freshness lingering from an early morning rain. Now was the prime time to pick the beach for treasures. Any later and the gulls and merchants would have picked it clean, any sooner and the border was covered in sea water. Like anything- perfection came with timing.

He lifted his gaze to the trio picking through the shells. Two lionesses laid nearby, picking at eachother's fur while a male picked through the sea's treasures.

...strange. These were the lions that came from a land-locked pride far from here....something about males keeping groups of females for breeding purposes?The outside was strange. Very strange. Part of him wanted to know and see more... another part was quite happy without knowing. It was sane here. Strangely- ironically. It was sane here.

Still. It was bad form not to at least speak to the strangers. It was his role after all. "Hoy, newbloods."The male called out.

Andranis

 

[Andranis]

The alabaster lion lifted his head from the shell he'd been examining. It wasn't just right, anyway... The sight of the other lion at first put him on edge, a sign of potential competition for one of his mates. But then he remembered that this was not just a member of the pride, but a high-ranking lion. He relaxed... Slightly. He flicked his ears, all but invisible in his mane, taking a seat in the sand. "Hello, ah..." He couldn't remember the lion's name...

Using her claws to pick a twig out of Emera's hair, Katiti glanced up. Wamblee was uneasy with another lion approaching them... He always was, when other males came near. He couldn't help it, though, in her opinion. He was protective of them, especially Emera. She was protective of Emera, too, though, so she couldn't fault him on that. She looked to the other lion, then smiled a bit as her mate drew a blank on the other lion's name. "Good morning, Lord Firedog."

Emera shifted, sitting up slightly and moving her large ears around. Somebody was here, and from the sounds of it, Wamblee'd forgotten his name. Katiti'd remembered it, though, which she found... Rather accurate. With her prior beliefs of being a goddess, Katiti made sure to know EVERYBODY. She liked to know the who's who of any pride they were in or near, so she committed everybody's name and what they looked like to memory. In the case of twins, she'd make note of personality quirks that easily defined one twin from the next. Not that Emera had to worry about such a thing. She shared markings with two sisters, but they were all different colors. Triplets, but not identical. She rotated her ears here and there, determining where Firedog was. "Good morning!"  

[Thalion]

Firedog laughed. Formality. He loved it.

"Good morning to you three." He drew in a deep breath and came to stand a few respectful yards away from the strange male. He could see his tension though he could hardly understand why. He wasn't exactly the most imposing of lions. His father was the muscle of the pride, one of the strongest patrons standing guard between the borderlands and the pride. Nico was all legs, slender and sleek- more like his mother. His agility and wit made him a threat but both were cleverly hidden beneath his deceptively delicate frame.

"Seems you've found the perfect time and place for finding treasures. Most outsiders take several months to discover what you've happened upon."

He raised a brow."Find anything interesting?"

Andranis

 

[Andranis]

He wasn't sure if the other lion was mocking them or not with his laugh... He decided that it wasn't a laugh of mockery, but amusement due to the Kizingo'zaa being so informal. They'd take a while to shed that. He glanced at Emera. Okay, two of them would take a while. Emera'd never been particularly formal. Perhaps that was from being the daughter of a god, feeling no need for formality with a father in such a high place. He shifted his eyes back to Firedog. "Nothing of particular interest yet." He moved some shells with his paw. "Trying to find just the right shells... White on the top, but on the inside glimmering in gold, yellow, pink, and grey.." Maybe some blue...

"I've found a lot of things stuck in Emera's hair..." She plucked another twig out. She let out a light sigh, trying to smooth the mess down. It was determined, though, to puff back up. The yellow lioness wrinkled her nose. She'd have to groom that down later. Her gaze returned to the other lion. "What brings you down here this early, yourself?" Her paws crossed, body shifting as she relaxed ever so slightly more.

The star-flecked lioness finally smiled as she settled back down beside her 'sister.' "He came out here to enjoy the beach before it got crowded! And I suppose another to ask about us?" At least three lions had asked about their odd relationship setup since they'd arrived. Though she didn't know what the colors were, or some of the markings, Katiti'd described them as a pink lioness with a skull mark on her face, a red lion with golden hair, and a dark brown lioness with black hair. Emera hadn't minded, of course. It wasn't that hard to describe for her. Wamblee loved them both equally, and she and Katiti treated each other like sisters who just happened to share a mate. There was nothing odd about it in her own mind.  

[Thalion]

"Gold hm?" Firedog tilted his head. "Those are especially rare. Pinks, creams, and tans are very common. Those you can find in the larger shells...very rare, even in these parts. Those you can find mostly in the tidepools."He nodded down the beach. "Find the rocks. Sand does not hold tidepools at all- the rocks hold the treasures of the deep where we land-beasts can get a good look at them. A taste of the mysterious depths."

He reached down to pull a dark brown shell crusted with barnicles and coated in seafoam. He pried it open and held it up for the lions to see. "Now these are common. Disgusting on the outside. Dark, crusty, often times tangled up in sea-grass...but on the inside-", He held it against the sun so the deep blues, purples, and touches of pink would shine. "They are quite lovely."

He offered the shell out to the other male. "Gypsy secrets. You'll learn them in time. As far as your....arrangement goes-" He cast a glance up the beach and bobbed a shoulder. "I have heard of odd ways of the outsiders. The non-gypsies. Here, we hardly frown upon sharing romance between males and females. Some of us are more greedy than others. My uncle, for example. He doesn't share."

He tossed some of the mane from his face. "I've not found a treasure to grow jealous over myself. But I tend to spend long hours walking in hopes of finding just the right one."

Andranis

 

[Andranis]

Wamblee examined the shell, nodding. "This is quite lovely. Thank you." The pink, blue, and pink were quite nice. He'd have a hard time finding gold in a shell, it would seem. He might have to have a crafter make something for him, to best symbolize himself and his two ladies. His eyes went to the tied pools, before he walked over and looked in. His eyebrows went up. "There's stars in the water..."

The butter-cream lioness got up, walking after her mate to see. She felt Emera very close behind, the blanket-marked lioness afraid of being too far away so close to the ocean. The sand, after all, was almost formless. Though Emera's whiskers offered her an unusual form of navigation, they were useless out here on the sand. It was why they didn't live somewhere with absolutely no trees.

Katiti looked in the water, then bumped her shoulder against Wamblee's. "That's a starfish, love." She looked over to Firedog. "I hope you find your treasure you jealously guard one day. You may find it... Or her... In an unlikely place."

Emera blinked, nose twitching. They were close to the water... Too close. She didn't like it. She barely liked being on the beach. It was a large area of sensory deprivation. Her 'radar' didn't work out here, and the crash of waves covered every other sound. Her ears flicked, but to her acute hearing, words the others spoke were lost. She didn't often show fear, but this... This terrified her, and she found herself pressing to the closest body, trembling. From the smell of it, it was Wamblee. "Too close to the water..." Her imagination was running away from her, imagining the unseen waves carrying them all away.  

[Thalion]

Nico followed the other lions to the tidepool and glanced into the clear, still water. The pool wasn't one of the deeper ones, in fact it was largely unimpressive compared to those further down the coastline, but it did boast a large pink starfish and a pair of sea anemones. A bright prink one with beautiful fiery orange tips waved gently through the water while a smaller yellow one was only just beginning to open.

"This is nothing." He observed. "Follow the coast to where the sand falls away to rock... they are difficult to cross. Half the rocks are slick and the other half are rough with barnacles, but the pools there are deeper. There are starfish of every color. Sometimes, the creatures with the shells you seek are caught in those pools. You'll have to wake a little earlier to get to the richest of pools."

He glanced up to the creamy lioness. "I'm a patient gypsy. My brethren tend to make hasty decisions. A clever gypsy will bide his time."

The other female, sadly, seemed out of sorts. He raised a brow and lifted his head. "I'm afraid this may not be the territory for you if you hold such fear of the water. She is cruel- but she is beautiful as well. She brings us life and death. I dare say she's no more dangerous than the plains where fires eat away at the grass and flesh."

Andranis

 

[Andranis]

He let out a pleased sound. "I'll have to go look tomorrow morning... It's at least a nice little quest to go on." It kept him close to home. Of course, if he had to, he was willing to settle for feathers. He'd seen a golden bird hanging around the red lion with the gold-cream hair. Perhaps he could get one off that bird... It wasn't hard to find white, yellow, or pink birds, either. If he had no luck with a shell... He'd have a go at that. Then he could find them all matching feathers. Or, if he found three semi-matching shells... He could get the feathers and make them matching necklaces. Was he possessive of his ladies? Certainly. Mostly Emera, though, but that was more out of protectiveness. Which... He glanced at her, then nuzzled her. "We should get back up to the trees. She's blind, that's why she's afraid. She navigates with her whiskers and ears, so the sand is formless for her, and the waves drown out sounds."

While Wamblee hadn't been bothered by the prince's words about being near the see, Katiti's hackles rose up and her tongue turned sharp. "Her fears are JUSTIFIED. How would YOU feel if you couldn't SEE anything? It's why she never goes anywhere alone - She doesn't know when she'll come across a CLIFF and FALL, let alone HOW FAR she'll fall!" She moved around Wamblee, standing protectively on Emera's other side. She turned to the other lioness, giving her a comforting nuzzle before speaking by her ear. "We'll be off the beach and away from the waves soon enough. Come on." She nudged Emera, gently directing her back to the trees. The fact she'd followed Katiti down to Wamblee instead of staying on the sand spoke of how afraid Emera was of being alone as well.

Emera's ears folded back at Firedog's words, before she was directed away from the water. As the sound of the waves grew more distant, she ever so slightly relaxed, though she still trembled. When her paws found grass, she finally stopped trembling, though her nose continued to twitch and ears move every which way. Next time Wamblee or Katiti decided to go to the beach... She'd find somebody else to latch onto that DIDN'T go down there.  

[Thalion]

Well little wonder why the lioness was so skittish... her mate and her mate's...other mate smothered her rotten, coddling her to the point of dependence. "Knock that off... you rob her of her dignity."

The prince lifted his head and squeezed his eyes closed. He stood still as a stone for a moment. "The firm, damp sand is far from the waves.... touched only by the sneaker waves. Dry sand is far, shifting, wet sands move closer to the water. You can feel that. Then you listen-"He paused again and rolled an ear. "The cry of the gulls... they flock near the shoreline- follow them to keep on the shore. Move from them and the hissing of the waves to move closer to the dens. Smell- brine. Fish. Salt. Further up? Beach grass and driftwood drying by the sun."

He opened his eyes. "And I have all my senses in-tact. THey say that when one thing is taken from us, another is made stronger. She will never learn to survive on her own if she does not have the chance to hone her senses."

He flicked his tail and gave a sharp nod to the other male. "Seems I have disrupted your morning. I'll be on my way."

Andranis