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 Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:21 pm
Great paws moving carefully across the sand, Bodaway surveyed everything around him. He'd thought he would feel sick, rebelling against the traditions he'd held near and dear since cubhood. He'd thought he would never do such a thing. But here he stood, at the dawn of a new age.
Dawn... It was like a new beginning. A new chance.
Shaking his mane out, he crested a dune, looking at the desert in dawn's light. It looked different now, very different. Puffing his chest up, he breathed in the air. It somehow smelled sweeter.
As he was coming back down, he spied to the side a dark shadow. At first he thought it might be No, but no... There were darker patches amid the black. As if the night sky had been stained with dark. It was one of the rogue rebels.
Realizing then that he'd never taken the time to get to know these foreign-born Firekin, he approached the lioness. "Good morning."
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:15 pm
Ruby colored eyes lifted curiously from the distance as she was spoken to. Kibela slowly studied the Firekin male that stood over her, a flicker of interest in her eyes.
The dark pelted lioness was unused to others approaching her. In the Prideland, her coloring, and her eyes had intimidating many from even walking her way, but here, such color was favored. She supposed it would have been only a matter of time.
With a slight shift, she sat up for the warm sand she had been relaxing in. " It is lovely, is it not? "
Her head tilted down lightly in a bow of greeting. " Kibela. " She offered. Obviously, he would figure out that was her name. She felt no need to say such.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:01 pm
"Bodaway..." Looking up to the horizon again, he breathed in the air. As the sun rose higher, he felt the heat return to the lands. Perhaps now things could settle down, and they could all take time to recover from their inflicted wounds. Some, though, he knew would not be so easily healed.
Satisfied that the world was right, he returned his gaze to Kibela. "Something about you seems familiar..." The patterning of the pelt, the blackness of the coat... The red eyes... Yes, it all seemed very familiar. Where had he--
Ishara, Toshiro, Shin, and Radi. That's where he'd seen those attributes before. Ears folding back, he tilted his head. "Are you any relation to the lions Radi and Shin? To Toshiro? To a lioness named Ishara?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:29 pm
" Radi and Shin. They are my siblings. Toshiro is my father.. Though I've not seen any of them since I was a small thing. Ishara, though. That is not a name I know. " Her head tilted curiously as she more carefully studied this lion. " How is it you know members of my family? "
She'd first thought him a turned traditionalist, but it seemed that he had traveled for atleast a while to come across them. As far as she knew, they had never left their Pridelands. The lands that had left her so restless.
She had always been terribly detached from her family, Radi aside. But still she remembered them well, and didn't particularly like such thoughts of them to pop into her head. There was always a regret in her that she had left them so young. Had they been worried for her? Had they even notice she left..? She did not know. At the time, she had believed they would not even notice. She rarely got attention, as she avoided it. And they had several other cubs to worry over.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:33 pm
He bowed his head, nodding. "I met your brother in my travel home... Your sister... I met when I was visiting some... Extended family in the Pridelands." Adoptively extended by Kabichi...
Turning his gaze off to the distance, he tilted his head. "As for your father... I met him through HIS mother, Ishara... He wasn't too happy with the fact she had children following her paws... I warded him off."
The great lion shook his head before looking to Kibela. "If you haven't known your father long, be glad. From what I've seen, he's not sound of mind and best avoided."
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:38 pm
" I never plan to return. Nor do I believe I would ever be welcome to. " She said thoughtfully. " I abandoned them long ago. If they should even remember me, they would not consider my family. Radi, perhaps, excluded. "
" Hmm. Perhaps it is him that my oddities have come from. I had always thought them rather normal. " Shaking her head, Kibela stood from sand to move forward to him curiously. " In a distant way, I suppose that makes us family of sorts, for what ever that would be worth to you. "
She bowed her head, before moving past him, stopping a few paces away. " You... were born here... yes? " She glanced back to him, seeming rather unsure of herself. Indeed, she was contemplating if this was a good idea or not.
" Would you show me around...? I am still not used to this place entirely... "
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:03 pm
Letting out a rumbling chuckle, the large red lion started up a dune. "Normal to one is abnormal to another. In short, we are all abnormal to SOMEBODY."
Flicking his tail, he smiled to her. "Come on, I can show you around." He crested the dune, stopping to wait. "And to answer the previous question... Yes, I was born here. I am one of the last lions of pure Firekin blood. Therefore, all the old traditions were impressed upon my mind from the start. I may have a hard time yet letting go of some, most out of habit..." He chuckled, lowering his head. "It will be hard to not exclaim 'Finar-si damn you!' to a rogue, but I'm sure even I will break the habit."
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:12 pm
Her tail lashed out behind her slightly, a sure sign of her curiosity. " Kidondo told me little of the tradition Firekin. Most of what he told me was about what he would turn them into. I can't help but wonder about your old traditions, and culture. For a pride to be so on the course of their own destruction.. What were they like? "
If was a bit hard to tell if she was talking to herself, or actually asking him, but her eyes fell onto him as she caught up, obviously awaiting a reply.
It was perhaps a bit strange of her, to want to know of a culture she had help drived out from this very place. But these desert dwelling lions so captured her focus and curiosity.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:57 am
Pausing mid-step, the old lion tilted his head. "I suppose, with the new ways... It's alright to talk about the old traditions in a 'used to be' sense..." He looked at her, gold eyes flickering with a flame that refused to die. "Once upon a time, the pride was mighty, strong, bountiful. There were many of the original Blood, and also slaves, both those that had been found in our lands, and those we'd actively sought and captured."
He paused at a skull in the sand, long left by time, there before the war. "I was just a cub then, seeing Makadari, the king of the time, as a great ideal of what a true Firekin was like. Then the plague came, whiping out almost the entire pride. I was away, a stupid juvenile seeking to catch a slave to impress the king, when I heard about it." He let out a chuckle. "I got lost, as juveniles have no direction sense. I've seen many things, but... That's a story for another time."
Nudging the skull around, Bodaway soon passed it, cresting a particular dune that afforded a perfect view of the land. "When I came back, after finally finding my way with the help of others, I found many lions still in the lands and thought nothing of it. Then it became clear... What was left, was becoming related. Only a few strains remained of the pride." He shook his head, looking at Kibela. "Faith once guided the pride through hard times, as well as the old ideas of purity in the blood. Faith was so strongly pounded into the minds of the young, that it was all they knew. The Firekin were believed in those days to be the children of Finar-si, direct descendants of the Goddess. All others were impurities, and breeding with rogues and slaves was a taboo." As his tail flicked and he looked in the distance, towards the western horizon, he fell silent. After a moment, a sigh escaped. "I've told no others this, but... I've broken that taboo many times in my life." He probably couldn't name ALL of them, but there were many.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:35 am
She eyed him a moment, silent in her thoughts.
Her gaze was not judging, no, merely curious to take him in, and understand further. " Faith is often blind. There are many who expect the gods to listen, and to help them at their every whim, to protect them from every harm. "
She settled down on her haunches in the sand beside him, gazing across the desert. " To punish those who disobey their ways. But the gods are not so fickle. From what I know of Finar-si, she is the Goddess of Change. For those who would follow her... It is foolish to have such solid and stubborn beliefs. "
" Not that I find the beliefs, or ways them-self foolish. But to be so unwilling to accept change, when that is what you follow... " She shook her head lightly, letting her eyes slide shut.
" They've paid for their stubborn streak in the end I suppose. Much to Kidondo's dismay. " Tilting her head back to him, crimson eyes reopened. " Considering you were not strict in following the ways, I'm sure this change must be easier on you than many of the others. But still, I doubt it's every easy for all you knew to be so uprooted. I hope you settle into the changes without issue. "
Really, that was as close as Kibela would ever come to words such as 'I'm sorry for your loss'. Apologies held little value to the dark lioness, even from those that have done wrong. Words alone would never fix anything, after all.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:51 am
Only shrugging, Bodaway smiled. "Each lion follows the ways of their pride, their family, in their own way." He looked to the horizon, a breeze tugging on his mane. "We all need change, though." After a pause, he made a line in the sand. "Life is like water, it's always flowing, always changing... We are not rocks, or we're not meant to be. Those that are are eventually worn down, forced to change. If they refuse..." He swept the line away. "They vanish for the sake of those who can bend to the flow." Looking back at Kibela, he sat down. "Nobody can help that but the ones who refuse to or are willing to bend to the flow and change of time and life."
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:00 pm
Her eyes shut as she listened to the elder lion's words, tail swishing lightly through the sand around them.
The metaphor he spoke was a very good one, and she spared him a very small smile when his words were finished.
" You speak wise words, Bodaway. " She said softly, glancing up to him. " I believe I can understand the old Firekin a little bit better because of you. "
Her eyes returned to the desert soon enough, another smile catching her lips as she watched the slowly setting sun. Every day she grew more attached to this beautiful desert that so many considered harsh and unlivable.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:40 pm
He let out a chuckle, turning to the sunset. "I speak the truth." After a pause, he looked at her. "A lion well beyond the time he should have met his ancestors told me that, many monsoons ago." He let out a sigh, eyes dancing just a bit. "I sometimes wonder if I am fated to his lot in life, to live eternally, and watch whole prides rise and fall like the dunes of the desert."
He paused, looking at the sand. "When one thinks about it... Prides, kingdoms... Entire nations... We're like the dunes... We shift and move... Grow and shrink... But really... We never truly vanish."
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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:12 pm
" If we are comparable to the dunes, then I suppose life would be comparable to the desert its self. " She said thoughtfully, head tilting up towards the sky. " Ever changing, ever moving... An endless journey, where the oasis are few, and far apart. "
Climbing to her feet, she moved forward to begin heading down the slope. " You should hope for a long life, Bodaway. I always fear what could be after this. Do we drift? Do we go to a new land? Do we vanish forever? " Stopping, she looked back to him, giving a slight smile.
" Come, old one. I'll hunt for you. " She teased softly. She was hungry, and it was well past time to eat, likely for the both of them. She may as well share her catch.
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:44 am
He flicked an ear, amused. "Am I truly so old and feeble to not be able to hunt?" He followed her down the dune, keeping pace. He was larger than her, but coming from outside blood, it was expected. Or perhaps she was like his adopted brother, small due to outside influence. "I plan to be in these sands for some time yet, as I plan on being here to teach younger lions to fight in ways that might die out otherwise."
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