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 Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:36 pm
Sun and sand, as far as the eye could see in one direction. In the other, rocks, thorny shrubs, and lions. None of them were Momma though, the little white cub knew that much. Ever since she'd woken up to find Papan in the den instead of Momma, she'd taken to checking those lions each day. Papan said Momma had gone away for a little, and taken one of the cubs, her brother, with her. He said Momma and Brother would be back soon, any day now. He said they were fine, just doing something important.
At first the tiny cubs hadn't understood. Without a mother to feed and comfort them, they'd been distressed for many days before slipping into the new routine of life without their mother. Papan had brought them strange food. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the warm milk they were used to either. That had been the second big change.
The third had come the day they had been brought, stumbling and blinking, up into the world above. For a time that had distracted the cubs from wondering where their Mother had gone, with so many new faces all around, new things to see and people to meet. Eventually though, even that had become almost normal, and while the world was still wide and wondrous, the cubs began to again wonder just where Momma was.
She wasn't with the other lions, Zapaliti had seen. She'd just been about to turn and head back towards the den when something caught her eye...a cub! One she hadn't met either! With the short attention span so common to children, she forgot her concern's and bounced towards the potential new friend, a brilliant, blinding sight under the high sun.
"Hello there!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:47 pm
Makaa'yamoto stalked as quietly as he could on a lizard that sat on a rock, a ways away from his family group. He was almost within pouncing distance, when a call behind him sent the reptile scurrying away before he could go after it! With an annoyed growl, he turned his red eyes on the creature that had scared it off.
She turned out to be an appallingly white cub, her only redeeming marks being the touch of orange on her fire, like fire among clouds. He frowned at her as he sat down, his shoulders squared.
"You scared off my prey," he stated lowly when she was within talking distance. She'd better apologize, or she'd be in big trouble if he had anything to say about it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:03 pm
Zap grinned when the cub turned to her, looking past the scowl on his face in her excitement. "Oh? Your prey?" She looked around. Huh. Nothing there. She really must have scared it off then. "Sorry!" She paused, seeming to wait for him to say something, and when nothing came, she went on only slightly less surely.
"I've never seen you before! You're awfully red, aren't you?" With all her brothers being orange or white, seeing a cub so very dark (while not being black) was interesting to her. She sat, seeing as he'd sat, and her tail swished behind her eagerly. "Hey, you haven't seen a big orange lioness with scars and a bad eye, have you?" Maybe he'd seen Momma lately! Especially if he was out hunting.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:13 pm
Boy did she like to talk! Makaa had the feeling if he let her, she'd never shut up! It took him a moment, but he processed all of her questions.
"Yeah, my prey, and you're apology's accepted," he replied in a somewhat arrogant tone of voice.
"Well, you're really white. At least I'm a good color," he added, pointedly ignoring the reminder that his baby-sister was nearly all white, too, though less so than this girl. He paused there, thinking a bit, trying to remember, as he liked to be more knowledgeable than others.
"Ripuka? Yeah, I saw her. She was talking to my older sister, if I remember correctly, a while back. Haven't seen her since, though," he finished with a shrug and then looked over her again, from tail-tip to ears.
"So who are you, anyways?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:23 pm
Zap tilted her head to one side. "Good color? But white's good too! Ngoma and I are both white, and Momma said that's okay." Well whatever the cub meant, she knew she was alright. She still didn't exactly know what a bad color was, but she knew that a bad anything wasn't something you wanted to be.
She nearly tackled the boy when he said he'd seen Ripuka. "Really? How long is a while? That means she might be back!" She leapt to her feet and spun a circle, peering around the sand in hope. Of course, nothing...well the cub said he'd seen her, so then it was all okay!
"Oh, I'm Zapaliti...Ripuka's my Momma! What's your name?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:37 pm
Makaa leaned back when she nearly exploded over him having seen her mom.
"Woah, it was a while back, like a week," he interjected, no doubt breaking her little bubble of happiness. He wasn't about to explain the deal with colors, but he knew white wasn't as good as red or orange, one of the reasons he envied his sister Para, a cub that was nearly all orange, like their father, Lord Mwali. Makaa looked most like his mother.
"Zapaliti..." he tried it out before shrugging. "My name's Makaa'yamoto and Lord Mwali's my father," he finished, trying to look tall and proud. Which wasn't helped by how his small mane was flopped into his face.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:57 pm
Zapaliti drooped significantly when the cub revealed that he had seen Momma a week ago. So had she. A sigh escaped her. When would Momma come home? Oh but she was being rude, ignoring her new friend to mope and be glum! He'd think she was just awful for that.
She nodded when he repeated her name. "Yeah, just like that!" His name was much longer, and she frowned. "Makamoto? No, that's wrong..." He'd gone on from his name so quickly she found herself at a loss. What was a lord? Was it important? And what was his name again?
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:04 pm
"Makaa'yamo- oh forget it. My brothers and sisters call me Makaa." Makaa tried to say it slowly, but gave up when he figured she wouldn't get it right. In truth, he actually liked Makaa more, anyways. Short and to the point. He wanted to shorten her name, probably to Zapa, since Liti was TOO girly for him to want to say.
"So what are you doing out here by yourself, anyways, Zapaliti? Don't you have an older brother or father or something to make sure something doesn't carry you off?" he asked, flipping his mane from his eyes with a short flick, one eyebrow quirking a bit in questioning. It was the pot calling the kettle black as none of his family was anywhere in sight, but he had a different opinion on that. She was a girl, after all, and thus needed protection. His older sisters and mother were a different story because they were grown lionesses and were able to take care of themselves. He'd get mad if his little sisters wandered around on their own.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:13 pm
Ahh, that was much easier! She felt a little silly for not being able to get his full name, but Makaa was nice too. "Makaa...hey, that's my dad's name! Not Makaa'yamtoe, just Makaa though. That'll be easy!" She flicked her tail, pleased that she'd found such a good way to remember the name.
"Well I'm exploring, of course! I was looking for Momma, but she's never around. I was going to go back to the den, but then I saw you and thought I'd say hi." She shrugged. Nothing wrong with that, right? "I've got older brothers too. Wakia and Lua and Rap! They're around someplace. Maybe sleeping."
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:26 pm
Makaa snorted and planned to keep their names to memory, so that he could tell them off for shirking their duties as older brothers and letting their little sister wander around by herself like that.
"Ah, well good luck finding her. But seriously, you shouldn't be all by yourself. It's dangerous," he said and shrugged. No buts about it, he was no doubt going to have to play protector today. Not that he really minded, in fact doing so made him feel quite accomplished, made him feel like he was proving that he was worthy of being a lord of the Firekin.
"I guess I can keep an eye on you. And help you look for your mom," he added with a bit of a shrug.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:41 pm
"Thanks...she's been gone ages!" She looked around, confused. "What's dangerous? The sand? There's nothing out here but that and the rocks and the other people in the pride, right?" She didn't feel threatened at all, this close to the center of the pride. Of course, they weren't in her den's front yard, so to say, but it was in sight, and that was enough, right?
Distracted as she was, Zap sort of missed out on Makaa's offer to 'protect her'. She did however hear him say he'd help look for Momma. "Oh would you? Thank you so much Makaa!" She leapt at the boy, likely bowling him over with the power of her hug.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:48 pm
"Well, there's snakes which can bite you and sometimes birds and- gah!" Makaa had begun listing off reason why she would need protecting when she tackled him, hugging him tightly. And if there's one thing the very BOY Makaa disliked, it was cutsie, touchie-feely things. Like nuzzles and licks from anyone but his parents. And sometimes even from them.
But most of all, HUGS.
"Ugh, get off me!" he growled, somewhat roughly pushing her off. He quickly jumped up, cleaning himself of sand and whatever girl-stuff she might have got on him, a near-comical look of disgust on his face as he did so.
"Don't hug me again," he added, just to make sure she understood he didn't like hugs. Warriors and lords did not give hugs!
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:14 am
Zapalitit looked up at the sky. She'd never really thought about the things she saw flying around up there. They looked so small though, they couldn't be a danger, right? But Makaa seemed pretty insistent, so if only to settle him, she decided to agree.
"Oof!" She slid off Makaa with a thud, and shook herself. "What's wrong with hugs?" She stood and dusted herself, the clinging sand momentarily muting the sun's blinding effect on her fur. She frowned, slightly miffed. Who didn't like hugs?!
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:22 am
Makaa wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
"Warriors don't hug. It's not tough," he explained, quite matter-of-factly, as if he were explaining to her that the sky was blue. This Zapaliti was definitely going to be a pawful, he figured. He'd probably have to explain a lot of things to her and keep her out of trouble. But did she HAVE to be such a girl?? He hoped she wouldn't be doing the huggy-touchie things often.
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:34 am
"Ohh, so you're a warrior?" How did he get to be one? She sort of wanted to know. He looked like any other cub, and he seemed her age. Partly she was upset that no one had asked her if she wanted to be a warrior yet. Maybe he was older than he looked then.
"Well you don't have to hug. I'm not a warrior, so I can hug you just fine, right? Anyways, where do you live? Our den's that way." She motioned to one of the openings that led under the sand.
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