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 Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:36 pm
This 'way' being to take constant breaks when she was near water, and taking post in the shade when it was available for the amount of time it would have taken to cool down.
In this case, it was a shade-break for the jellyfish lioness, whom had found herself a suitably large tree to sit underneath, looking up into it's branches with a good degree of thanks to them, as the poor tree (as, being a lion, she knew nothing about trees + sun = BEST FRIENDS) was taking all the sunlight upon itself so she could take a break underneath it without melting into a purple and pink puddle of DOOM.
All of her muscles seemed to groan from the constant walking + sit down + get up + I think we just passed here that her recent daily life had taken to consisting of as she laid down on her stomach, stretching her legs out in front of her for a moment, before crossing them, laying her head down on top of the limbs in a sort of tired manner.
Returning to her nomadic lifestyle had robbed her of her one distraction of the long days. Now it just felt like life was dragging on.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:01 pm
Banji was an easy-going fellow, always taking life in stride. But things were beginning to get even his cheerful, bright self down. Despite the fact he'd been alone all his young life, when he'd finally found his sister (and his sister's mate and their six daughters), he'd almost immediately felt like his life had been surrounded by others all along.
Having to leave them had caused a huge emotional scar that though it wasn't visible, also wasn't healing. This wandering he'd once adored so much was now perhaps the only thing in life he spited.
The male was sniffing around for potential food sources when he'd seen the female pacing, sitting, getting up, pacing more. He observed her quietly until she finally laid down.
Despite his own woes, Banji never passed the chance to play the knight in shining armor role (though he didn't realize this, it came naturally), and it came as no surprise that he strolled over and questioned politely as possible, "Is something wrong, Miss?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:09 pm
Leboya was possibly the easiest lion to sneak up, having an ability to become entirely distracted within a few moments by the littlest things, today's distraction of choice being a stalk of grass that seemed to have grown just a -biiiiiiiit- taller than the other ones out in the savanna. So, with mr. grass over there holding all of her attention, it was no surprise that she hadn't noticed another had come over to inquire to her about her well being.
In fact, the first reaction Banji would get was that of Leboya suddenly jerking up in surprise, the fur down her spine sticking up to accompany the suddenly bolt of shock that seemed to have come along to shove her tail into an electric-socket.
"EEP!"
This entire process was followed by the brightly colored lioness taking a moment to brush her fur down, check for any 'pain receptors' that might have gone off for whatever reason (be it she was under attack or that she'd hurt herself), then wondered -why- she hadn't had a flash of surprise in her mind the day before to tell her 'GUESS WHAT?'.
Her 'day before' instincts were full of lose at that moment, she guessed.
Once she's assessed such to be the problem, she lifted her head to look towards the voice that had spoken to her, smiling in a way that said 'what spazz attack?' in accompaniment to this action.
"Wrong?" she parroted, before stating; "I'm sure there are many things wrong in many places, but with me, I'm simply tired from walking."
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:14 pm
Banji didn't startle as another lion might have, but he did raise an eyebrow. Not in a condescending fashion. Almost in a confused way. There sure were a lot of strange lions running around out here. But then, he imagined his life would be completely dull and miserable if everyone was like him. Even he knew how boring he was.
"You were pacing a lot," he observed. Naturally, anyone would be tired of walking if they were pacing that much. He figured he shouldn't press the issue if she really didn't want to talk about it. Company was direly needed, though.
"I'm Banji."
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:30 pm
A sort of puzzled expression came at Banji's explanation on why he'd asked, before she simply smiled again. "Yes. I was. I do that when I'm thinking too much." she confirmed, though it was already obvious that the striped lion had been watching her antics. Had it been someone else, they may have thought it strange, but Leboya really didn't pay much mind to the level of 'creepy' to it.
Her moment of counter-observation, or rather deduction (SHERLOCK-LIONZ WTF), stopped upon being given a name. "Banji.... That's a nice name." she repeated, seeming to be making sure to have it at least on short-hand memory so she could use it for now, before continuing on to say; "My name's Leboya." she returned out of courtesy.
Quickest introduction she'd ever been given, she'd admit.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:34 pm
Was it really? Banji would have, on some level, on the inside, been disturbed by that. It was only polite to introduce ones self, wasn't it? Or maybe times had changed, and he was falling back on old habits. All he could hear was the voice of his sister as a cub, telling him to introduce yourself before anything else. Or else.
"Leboya is as well," he countered her compliment. He'd have said it about any name, yes, but he still wasn't lying. He hadn't heard a name he didn't honestly like so far.
He recalled the conversation he'd had with that wild dog a short while ago, in which they'd chattered about how many rogues there were. Banji hadn't noticed how many before that there were. Was she another?
"Are you traveling alone?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:44 pm
It was the first time in their conversation that Leboya took a certain degree of care into actually -answering- that question. If she said no, it could be dangerous, but at the same time, he didn't seem to be a bad person. Then again, Leboya wasn't exactly the queen of making character judgements.
OWELLZ.
"To an extent, yes." she said, keeping that same smile she just had painted on her face, though it seemed to go down 25% in the category of 'cheer', and up in the 'I just smile kthnx' category. Upon a second thought, Leboya decided her answer had been rather too vague, so took a chance to explain; "I'm alone in the sense that there is nobody with me, but I'm not in that I have loved-ones out in the lands whom I wish well for."
That wasn't much of an explanation, but for her, it was good enough.
She followed this up by making her own inquiry; "Why did you ask~?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:49 pm
Banji was the type to answer a question to the full and blunt extent. "I discussed with a wild dog not long ago about the topic." The topic being how many lone lions there were. Most of which, in Leboya's words, were 'alone in the sense nobody was with them'.
"I'm alone in that sense, too," he said, resisting the natural urge to frown. So much chaos in his family. "I suppose it's good we have that much, though." Because he knew, somewhere, there had to be someone who didn't even have that.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:01 pm
Well, at least he was straightforward. "A wild dog? I recall meeting one of those once." she mused, fishing through her memories to try and figure out just -when- that had been and all that fun joy and the like. Leboya mused to herself for a moment, in a sort of 'out of it' state, before looking back off towards the stalk of grass that had stolen her attention away earlier.
"Mm.. It's the worst 'alone' one can be, in my opinion." she said in a sort of distracted way, before slowly turning her head to look back at her present company. "It's the biggest hole in my life I could ever have. It's like I gave a piece of myself to every person I love, and they walked off with it to live on their own, leaving me hollow."
She shifted her paws to push herself up into a sitting position, as to keep from continuously making Banji look down at her while she lounged about, tilting her head slightly to the side in an innocent fashion, before asking;
"But you know all about that...?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:05 pm
Banji watched her thoughtfully. He had always been a good listener, but he was taking special heed in her words. When she asked him that, he mused over it, unlike his immediate answer previously. Finally, in an almost cautious voice, he answered, "In a way."
That way being he understood how she felt that way, because he had watched his sister feel that way as her daughters left her, one by one. But Banji? He was alone because he had caused all of that, in his opinion, and couldn't bare the guilt enough to stay around his sibling and watch her fall apart.
"Who has left you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:13 pm
She had to think about that list. Who had left her? It felt like an extensive list to her.
"Everybody I love. Mother, father, my sister, my brother, my children..... their father long before." Leboya seemed a bit hurt to admit she'd been abandoned by a lion she had trusted so firmly in such a short meeting. It was her curse to not learn her lesson. She took a deep breath forcing herself to calm, before looking to Banji. "It's only natural my children went to make their own lives without being tied down to their mother, though." she said, sounding like she was forcing herself to believe it moreso than him.
In fact, she seemed to do that trick rather well, as the gloomy cloud over her head quickly went away to leave her back where she was already.
Reality.
"And you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:16 pm
Banji looked to her sympathetically. Even for a soul like his, who was prone to helping whenever he could without a thought, the amount of grief he felt for her situation was extremely high. She reminded him so much of Hasana, who had the same, almost.
Except, Triv had not left her and her daughters. He was still with her, and Banji was thankful for that.
"You can't control children," he offered, as it was all he could think to say. "My sisters children left, and my family just...collapsed from there, I suppose."
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:22 pm
She seemed to listen with a great deal of interest, knowing her own plight wasn't that uncommon, but surprised that she'd actually met one of the 'five strangers between friends' to another of her own situation... kinda. In fact, she seemed to be a bit sympathetic to him.
"I'm sorry for her." she said, sighing sadly. "It hurts the most when the children go. Especially when they were your life. It leaves a gap.. and hurts when you realize the ones that needed you so badly aren't there anymore." Leboya offered, figuring that if he were to ever see his sister again, he'd be able to share that thought with her.
The lioness shifted her weight a bit, before making another inquiry to him: "She's not entirely alone, I would hope, right?" For Leboya, that would hurt her the most, knowing that another had been left first by the children, then by the others, since, from what Banji had said, that's what it sounded like.
Oh the Drama of the savanna! It would end up being the death of her poor sympathetic heart.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:27 pm
It was with almost a tone of relief Banji said 'no'. It was probably what had kept Hasana together. Triv, her other daughters, who from an outsiders prospective she didn't value as much as the others, yet still needed just as much.
"She has her mate still, and some of her daughters, last I heard. She has six of them. They're also in the land of the Unity Walkers. It's a sized pride." Very sized. It had come as a bit of culture shock to him, really.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:32 pm
"Mm. That's not a bad size for a family. Two parents and six children." she seemed to get a bit sparkly-eyed about that thought, though not in the 'WHY NOT ME' way, but moreso at the thought of raising a family NOT ON ONE'S OWN.
"I reared four of my own. Two sons and two daughters..." she paused a moment after saying daughters to allow herself a moment of mental panic over if her youngest baby, and sadly, her sickest, was handling life without her alright. BREATHE BREATHE.
Worrying about those kids from afar was about as tiring as it had been bringing them into the world!
"Unity Walkers?" she repeated, raking her brain over to see if she'd heard of such a place. The answer was -NO-. "Hmm. Sounds like a pleasant place. I'd say, is it as 'sized' as the Pridelands was for me?" she seemed to swoon a bit at the recollection of her short time there...
and of course, that being the place where she'd met the father of her litter.
"Now -that- is a big place, practically trip over a lion at any turn." she mused, laughing a bit.
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