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 Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:19 am
On the southern edges of the Ethiopian Highlands, a lioness is lazily reclined next to a kill - a young goat.
The gorge that she's in consists of two sheer cliffs rising up on either side, but the entrance to the gorge leads out onto the plateau that may be seen from this close distance, as a narrow slit where the two cliffs come to not quite a close. But the gorge itself widens out proportionally from this slit, and she had quite a bit of leg-room to chase her prey before bringing it down. The black lioness had almost missed, too ... a dozen more yards and it would have had more than enough ample room to run, and she would have probably been tripping, less sure-footed than the goat, over the rocky expanse directly below the gorge.
The kill had been more luck than skill, in fact: she had surprised the beast on it's way out to the flatlands below, presumably for a drink or the lush grasses that grew there. She reflected that the creature probably rarely saw something her size ... as much as she could tell, lions were a rarity in these parts. Licking her lips, she settles in for the meal, one ear cocked carefully outwards. It never pays to be too cautious, particularly about an area she doesn't know well yet.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:25 am
Almost seemingly dragging her paws along her head was craned forward, muscles in her neck tight and sore, she hadn't been sure where she was a day or so ago, and now it seemed as if she had fallen into an endless abyss of wandering unsure of which way to travel. Silver hues focused slightly as she seemed something almost on the horizon before her, yet it seemed closer as well.
Her focus was beginning to blur.
She wasn't tired, she wasn't thirsty or hungry, jsut agitated and lost, wishing to find an end to this endless circling of the earth beneath her lazy paws. Only hope kept her paws moving, hope and a will to not give up until she found that place she might be able to call her own home.
Though her internal musing ceased when blood crossed her nose on the wind.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:35 am
With her senses primed to the outside world, Afu's hackles raise as some extra animal sense make her glance up from her kill. But there's nobody there ... not that that means anything. She can only see through the slit ahead of her, and the gorge around her, and the sky above. Suspicious, she swallows and licks off some blood from her lips before casually moving around the carcass and waiting, her jaw set, all nerves on edge.
Perhaps Ahali ... ? But if not him, then maybe the owner of the odd scent neither she nor Ahali was able to make out? But the wind's going the wrong direction, carrying her scent to the other, and not the other way around. She can only wait. Perhaps it's nothing, only simple paranoia.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:39 am
Some black mass was ahead, a scent lingering on the waft of the breeze carried throughout the earthly crevice, perhaps cutting up or down the slate and earth net to and above her head. Flicking her tail she raised her head higher up, eyes encircled by red watched, waited, and she almost stopped to see if the other would be a friend or foe, Mzaa had no need to create enemies for herself this day.
As if to show that she was no threat she approached further, though kept her head somewhat down, not submissively, but in a manner to show respect and to show she was no threat to the other clad in black such as herself.
Yards now, ever drawing nearer.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:50 am
The dark lioness eyes Mzaa as she enters the gorge.
There was no obvious threatening manner to the other, but again, Afu knew that meant little: it just meant she had to be on the lookout for subtle threatening behavior, which was always more of a chore. Still, the other didn't look starving, so she probably wasn't interested in stealing meat. And there was no scent of lion over these mountains that wasn't very recent, so ... a traveler, then. A lone lioness. Hmm.
"Greetings," She offers casually, seating herself near the kill. A smile hovers around her lips, but those eyes are slightly narrowed, too, suggesting that this conversation could go quickly in any direction: good or poor.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:56 am
Mzaa watched her closely, such a dark pelt and such striking eyes, surely this lioness was not made to be made a fool of, so she'd have to hold her tongue, sometimes she couldn't help herself in speaking in tones and phrases that were not suitable to others' ears. "Hello," she stated simply, came to a halt several feet from the black lioness and her kill, the blood still smelled fresh.
"Mzaa," she said rather quickly, lowering her head some to show some subtle respect in her actions as if to not provoke the female to think differently of her and her words or actions, so at least this female would know her name, perhaps offer hers in exchange.
Though whether this female would let her pass without trouble was another resent thought amongst many others.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:04 am
The sudden jump from one subject to another made Afu blink, a rare occurrence. Slogging her way through what this could possibly mean, she raises a brow. "Mzaa? Oh; your name?" Perhaps the other lioness was shy, or one of few words; if the latter, Afu's had plenty of practice with Ahali.
"I am Afu," she pronounces, regally drawing herself up, ears tipping forward, like some statue of a great cat. On some, this would look and sound ridiculous, but with the feline's dark fur and purple, slightly narrowed eyes, she doesn't look so silly. Despite that she doesn't tack on a title to this statement, there's sheer overwhelming emphasis on the 'I,' indicating some self-importance there.
"Where are you headed - Mzaa?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:16 am
"Afu," she repeated, seemingly trying to etch the name into her memory as to not forget and then disrespect Afu in another time, hopefully Mzaa didn't come off as too silly or strange. Flicking her tail she watched as Afu seemed to put herself in a stance that was foreign to Mzaa, was she a noble from a prideland nearby? Perhaps,it was the only explanation she could think of for the statuette stance Afu had taken.
"I'm not really sure, home I hope, but then again, I don't know where that is either. Do you reside around here Afu? Is this area your home?" she was curious.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:35 pm
It better be. Unwilling to show uncertainty around this unknown - Afu will only show uncertainty when it suits her motives, for otherwise she believes it's a wasteful weakness - she nods, briefly, amused. "Yes, I should say so." A pause, and then: "Are you ... lost, then, or searching for one?" She lifts her head slightly, as if scenting a potential recruit. She knows nothing of this one, but she knows next to nothing about many of the others, either.
The black lioness smiles, thinly, her tail-tuft coiling about her front right paw. This could be a most auspicious beginning to her new life.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:45 pm
((you and your fancyful language whats auspiscious mean >> *dumb* <3))
Mzaa shook her head and sat back on her haunches, silver eyes watching as Afu's tail seemed to move, almost coil like a serpent, though Mzaa had seen many snakes in her days, it was no wonder she thought of such things when it wasn't that way at all...least she hoped not. "Lost, no," in a manner truly she was, "I just can't remember a lot from before, I woke up one morning with an ache above my brow that echoed, I can't remember much before then," an accident, she didn't even remember how it had happened.
"So searching for one, some things seem familiar when I pass them, some others seem familiar too, you do, a little bit Afu, if you don't mind me saying," had she met the lioness clad in black once before? She couldn't tell.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:40 pm
(LOL, sorry. It means favorable, fortunate, a promise for success.)
She was familiar to this Mzaa? Her mind whirled. Had her father had another b*****d child? Three sisters were enough; and she had left them well behind. She doubted her mother had another litter, although she supposed it was possible. Maybe a cousin she didn't know, nor recognize?
"Perhaps ... " Afu frowns, pretending to scrutinize the other lioness closely. Maybe she could twist this to her advantage, of the lioness was truly suffering from a loss of memory. "You look ... familiar, as well," she lies, quite smoothly. "I was very young when I left home, however, and I've been many places ever since, Mzaa. You don't remember your parents' names, or faces?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:49 pm
(No its okay just I'm doing this stupid paper and its eting my brain cells I fear lol <3)
Mzaa seemed hopeful for a moment, perhaps Afu remembered something she did not, could fill in a puzzle piece that was missing from her past? Perhaps, perhaps, the word echoed in her mind. With the mention of seeming familiar as well Mzaa's hope seemed to brighten, her ears perked and highly aware and tuned into what Afu spoke.
"No," she said somewhat softly, giving a slight shake of her head, anyone observing her could tell it upset her she could not remember her parents faces, names, or even voices. "I wish I did, but I can't.."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:07 am
Inwardly, she smiled as hope lights the other's face. But long used to hiding true emotion, she keeps her face an innocently puzzled mask, as if she were truly trying to remember when she had seen Mzaa last. She considers. Loyalty was easily bought by blood. Perhaps she does not want to make this feline her long-lost half-sister (she had problems enough with them ... but her cousin ... yes. Her mother's brother had had enough b*****d children during his time, and had also been mostly black. That Mzaa would be a child of his was no considerable stretch of the imagination.
"You look," she says hesitantly, delicately, "Something like my uncle, my mother's brother, I do confess."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:46 pm
Mzaa sat quietly, waiting, watching, ears erect and listening ever so closely, almost to the point where if she wished, perhaps she could hear Afu breathing at that moment in time. Perhaps there was some invisible unknown bloodline of hers that still lingered here, perhaps she did have a family after all, maybe they were looking for her, if so, maybe Afu knew, maybe.
Uncle?
"Really?" hope, ever so much hope that there would be something coming back to her, though what would that make her and Afu then besides strangers to one another?
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:45 am
"Yes," she muses, eyeing Mzaa speculatively. "You might be ... but, that's silly, way out here!" She gives a light laugh, and an apologetic smile. "Forgive me, but you do look an awful lot like one of his daughters. I have not seen them in many a year, however, though I heard that several of the cubs got lost in a ... " Think, Afu, natural disasters should come easy to you - " ... landslide, I believe. They were never found." Now let Mzaa come to her own conclusions.
The trick was to have some semblance of the truth, so it could pass even if she did meet up with someone Afu knew all those years ago. Fortunately for Afu, this time it wasn't difficult: her uncle did have seven daughters, and it was likely that he had more that nobody knew about.
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