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 Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:29 am
 Ihlo was within earshot of her hyperactive family, just by the edge of one of the rivers running through the Kusini lands. She looked over her shoulder a moment and smirked as she saw her mate over run by their brood. At least she was getting away for a quick drink. Raising a family was thirsty work!
Padding a little further downstream, she leaned down to lap at the refreshing waters...and then unexpectedly just flopped into the waters with a great splash! When she stood up, her fur sopping wet, she smiled broadly and let out a great big purr-sigh of elation.
"Oh that was SO much better!" she laughed out loud to herself.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:51 am
From further down the riverbank, a white liones with a gray-striped back sat, gazing down into the rippling water of the river. She stared down at the rocks that littered the river bottom, watching the fish dart to and fro, tiny little wisps of fish that made their way from one rock to another, seeking shelter from the unending push of the gentle river current.
Those fish, they reminded her instantly of Jaha. The lion was like a gigantic cub, constantly needing reminders and corrections as to just how badly hurt his paws were. How he needed to stop using them so excessively. And just like a cub, he always seemed to forget. If it wasn't to ask her if they should go somewhere, it was to ask her where the water was, where the fish were.
Sura bent her head down to the water, taking a quick lap. Then the sound of water splashing, not all too far away, caught her attention, and she lifted her head. Her turqoise eyes found the object of her distraction, the white lioness who had just plopped into the water. Sura smiled to herself, remembering the joy she had once found in swimming about. That was before Jaha had appeared, and all of a sudden water was just about the last place she wanted to be.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 4:00 am
Ihlo shook herself, sending water droplets flying everywhere like little shooting stars from her bright pelt. Before continuing with anything else, she took a quick moment to groom herself, straightening her hair tuft a little and making herself at least wet and presentable.
The she realised she had an audience.
Blushing a little, that embarrassment passed quickly. It paled in comparison to what she had gone through courting her mate, so seemed insignificant. Now safely on the dry bank, she approached the lioness slowly and with a soft demeanour.
"Greetings," she offered cheerfully.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 4:19 am
She shut her eyes briefly as the spray of water dotted her coat, even from where she was. When she opened them, the other lioness was back on dry land and approaching her slowly. Sura nodded and offered her a smile.
"Hello," She said, returning the other's greeting jovially. Though she was used to being more of a solitary lion, meeting and having to care for Jaha had changed her somewhat, and she found herself less objected to spending time in the company of others.
Whether she wanted to be near others or not, though, she was always far too polite to turn down anyone's greeting, and often found herself giving her cheery hello and being engaged in conversation.
Thus was the life of a pridal lion, she had resigned herself to it. But now, she realized, it was less of a chore, socializing with others, and she found that she could actually occasionally enjoy the casual company.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 4:31 am
"What brings you to the river on this lovely day?" she asked, trying to strike up some conversation. She couldn't recall ever seeing this lioness about the pride, but she had been spending an awful lot of time inside with the cubs.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:42 am
"Trying to find some alone time," She said with a small smile. Yes, life without Jaha. She wondered what that would be like again. But at the rate he was moving about, his paws wouldn't be healed for some time yet. Which meant she would be stuck with him until then. Still, she supposed, that wasn't the worst thing in life.
"And you?" She asked, more for lack of anything else to say than anything. She was not particularly adept at socializing, something she had realized long ago. She was not exceptional at striking up conversation, or continuing a conversation.
She supposed, in a way, that it was something of a miracle that Jaha had stuck with her for so long. The lion's paws were injured, granted, but he could easily have hobbled off elsewhere and found himself some better company than her. She was not a skilled conversationalist, and often she found herself noticing that she had reverted to monosyllabic responses in the midst of his attempts at conversation.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:37 pm
She wasn't sure whether to take that as hint that she would like to be left alone, or if that meant alone time from someone else, as was the case for Ihlo.
"A bit of the same really, getting some fresh air and a cool drink," she smiled. "Got an overactive brood back at the den."
"My name is Ihlo by the way, a pleasure to meet you..."
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:45 pm
"Ah," Sura said, with an understanding smile. Ever since she could remember, the den she had shared with her mother and siblings had always been loud and rowdy. She knew what it was like, living with hyperactivity. Plus, now that Jaha was around, she was beginning to understand what it was like to raise a cub.
"I'm Sura," She said, offering her own name in exchange. "Pleasure to meet you, too." Given that she had few friends, it truly was something of a pleasure to meet Ihlo. She was only just beginning to fully appreciate company.
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:15 am
"You'll have to forgive me, I've been lurking about this place long enough but there's always new faces to meet," she smiled and sat down close to the lioness.
"Have you lived here long? Such a big place, isn't it? I remember having to go rescue a younger sister of mine, right from the very edges of the lands. You have any family here? Might have met some of your family," it all tumbled from Ihlo's mouth, perhaps in an overzealous gesture to be friendly.
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:28 am
Sura smiled and nodded. "I've been here since I was born," She said. Her own frailties had made her rather antisocial. In her quest to be just like any other lioness, to not be laughed at or ridiculed, had made her an outsider. Only now was she beginning to realize it. She had become so caught up in being the very best she could be, in pushing her own weak body to and past their limits, that she had withdrawn very deep within herself for so long.
"My parents live here, and my siblings. Nyunya, my mother," She added. Perhaps Ihlo did know some of her family. She had rather many siblings, and being that she had never quite gotten the time to know them all, there were a few, she was ashamed to admit, that she knew only by sight, and did not remember their names. Her litter mates, she was most familiar with, though even those she had not spent all too much time with, and with age, they had drifted apart even further.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:04 am
Ihlo was listening raptly and then looked gobsmacked. Nyunya? Njozi's mother? She took a renewed interest in Sura's appearance now but despite practically boring holes into the poor girl with her eyes, she couldn't quite see as much of Njozi in this supposed sister. She could recognise the stripe, that was a giveaway to the lineage surely, as most of her own children had back stripes too. And an eye marking...hmmm, actually, Sura could almost have been one of hlo's offspring the more she thought of it!
She began to chuckle to herself now and smiled at the lioness in a good natured way.
"Nyunya? You must know Njozi then," she said, beaming. "He's my mate."
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