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 Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:57 am
 Akel'dama casually strolled through the lands, a self-satisfied look on her face - a look many would have loved to smack right off of her. As it were, she had done exceptionally well on the recent hunt, and couldn't help but gloat. The dark brown lioness came to rest at an outcropping of rocks. Laying in the deep shadow they cast due to the setting sun, she began to clean the blood from her furr. The dark red 'war paint' having served its ego-inflating purpose. After a short while, Akel found herself clean and bored. Looking around, her bright blue eyes searched for someone. Anyone. In a since, her 'I must annoy' senses her tingling. Now where was the door of opportunity,...
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:21 am
 Issy sighed deeply as he sauntered through across the earth, his path taking him in aimlessly away from where he'd been minding the cubs for the day. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't surprised at how much work it was to take care of so many little ones, because he had honestly forgotten what it was like when his own brood was so small - and there were certainly more than that within these lands. They could use with a few more minders to spread the work between, that he had no doubt of. Still, it gave him purpose and distracted his thoughts, and that was all he could ask for in life at this point.
Yet, when the day was done and he was left to his lonesome, in what was meant to be the most relaxing point of the day, he felt himself wandering back to the recluse that he had become. The laughter of the day vanished, the warmth of being a caretaker was removed, and he was left with nothing but that sinking emptiness. His face grew tight as he paused to look up at the sun where it hung low on the horizon - a couple of hours left in the day, maybe less. Where had the time gone? He sighed as he tried to push the thoughts away, and with it this somber, ghostly version of himself. In his distracted state, he didn't even see the female lounging a few feet away - if she'd meant him harm, he'd probably have been dead from carelessness.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:30 am
At first Akel glanced over the lion, but then snapped right back to him. Finally.
"Hey you! You there, with the face, and the mane and the- HEY"
She hopped up from her lounging place and walked swiftly to the lion. Hello Mr.Opportunity. Akel was short, thin, and a little boney. Clearly she wasn't very young, but neither was she old. The firey spark in her was most apparent.
Akel'dama wasn't a very patient lioness, but she made up for that with another 'p' - persistance.
"Hey, you, I was talking to you."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:45 am
At first he didn't seem to hear the words being shouted in his direction, completely lost in his own thoughts as he stared around at the empty (or presumably empty) land around him. He could be a really dense character when he felt like it at times, that was certainly for sure.
It wasn't until the short, bony little figure completely interrupted his thinking by shoving her way into a conversation with him that he seemed to come around to reality. Whether he really wanted to or not, she seemed keen on getting his attention. "I'm, uh, sorry?" he stuttered lamely, narrowing his eyes on the figure through his tuft of a rusty mane.
"Did you.. need something?" he asked, glancing around them momentarily to see if there was something else he had missed in his trance, before deciding not, and settling his gaze back on her. He recognized her as a pride member, but what ranking and who she was exactly was lost upon him, not that that was unusual for him.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:53 am
"It's very dangerous to be so unaware, you know," Akel said with dangerous sweetness. "Now, as to what I need, little ol' me was just looking for someone to talk to. It can be so boreing sometimes."
She then sat deliberately in the lion's path. "I am Akel'dama, but feel free to call me Akel. So, tell me who you are." She said, not at all beating around the bush. The sooner formalities were done, the sooner she could start diggign up dirt on this guy. Really, he seemed so out of it. there must have been a lot weighing on his mind. Hmn,..time to drag the skeletons out of the closet.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:08 pm
"Maybe it is," he said slowly as he furrowed his brows, though he couldn't really see the dangers in being unaware in one's own pride - prides were there to protect their members after all, "though I think I'm fairly safe inside the Mizimu." The way she was addressing him made him suspicious, but he couldn't exactly put a paw on why. Maybe it was just because she reminded him so much of how he used to be, and he was never up to anything good in those days. "I'm not sure how good I'll be for conversation, but I suppose I can offer what I've got." He gave her a small, wavering smile, the best he could manage.
His brows arched slightly as she sat down in his path, and when a small sigh, he took it as an invitation (or command) for him to sit down as well. Thus, he did so, sitting calmly on his haunches and fixing her in his gaze. "It's nice to meet you, Akel, my name is Isithunzi. Most just call me Issy though, as I suppose the full of it is a mouthful." He shrugged it off, then shifted uncomfortably as he waited for her next question. He didn't know what she wanted to talk about, to be quite honest, and he was hesitant to offer up any information about himself.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:17 pm
"Ugh! What is it with parents giving their children such names!?" She said, more to herself than anything, looking up at the sky with something like exhasperation. "Issy it is then."
Akel's tail flicked to and fro, and her eyes glint with a slyness. "What brought you to these lands? I know you weren't born here. I would know you if you were"
Akel wasn't always 'in the know' when it came to new comers to the pride, unless they became members of the hunt. That was because she had her pawful of pre-selected targets that she had been annoying since cubhood. It was just issy's unlucky day today, that none of them would be around.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:35 pm
A ghost of a smirk quirked the corner of his lips at her exclamation, knowing all too well the irritation of having such a long and tongue-twisting name. Who was he to question his parents' choice of name though? It fit him well at the time, the shadow in the golden pride.
"What brought me here?" he said slowly, the smirk fading quickly and taking any mirth it had held with it. Now a frown lingered, his eyes hallowed as he thought about it. "No, I wasn't born here, I was born a long way from here in a very different pride." He sighed and flicked his tail, the bright rust-red standing out against his shadowy pelt. "I came here with my daughter, we were looking for a home." Not the whole truth, but not a lie either, he supposed.
He would really rather not be here having this conversation with her, not if she was going to dig around in his past at sore spots. For once in his life, he was hoping someone would come along and divert a female's attention away from him.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:46 pm
Akel watched how he changed when she asked her question, and took note of it.
"Ah, not a happy exodus, I presume. For one to leave the place of their birth, there must be a good reason. Come, we all have secrets, feel free to share," She coaxed with unnerving sugary sweetness.
She had secrets herself, and a well recited cover up story. To know that this Issy has unpleasant secrets himself meerly fueled her curiosity. She wondered just how much coaxing it would take though. He didn't seem like the kind to easily share.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:01 pm
"Actually, I think you might be misinterpreting things a little," he said with a little narrowing of his eyes, though it wasn't truly intended for her. His reaction was more an attempt to find a way to tell her what she wanted to know without having to give too much of himself away. Could he tell her about part of his part and omit the bits that were the most painful? Lying was never really something he was fond of doing.
"I left the pride I was born into because I didn't fit in, I was different," he gave a small shrug at this as he let his gaze lift up to stare at the sun above them, a smoldering orb growing dimmer as it sank down to the horizon. "A whole pride of golden lions, and me a lonely little shadow. It was just a cause for restlessness." But to go back to that simple time of his life, when his itchy paws were all that concerned him, it would have been peaceful compared to his life now.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:26 pm
"Ah. Were you never told, 'the brighter the light, the deeper the shadow'? I think it would have been a good opportunity to learn, and grow. Look at our sacrifices. For their difference, they are honored. They grow, and learn." Akel shook her head. "I find it hard to believe that someone who appears as strong as you, let your wee wittle feeeeelings push you away." She chuckled softly.
"Let's try this - a truth for a truth. I'll begin -- When I was a cub, my mother killed one of my siblings. She swore it was an accident, but was driven from the pride anyway. Your turn."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:38 pm
He frowned at her words, this time directing the actions straight at her, for he felt offended for once at the implication that he ran away instead of learn. "That would be all well and good if there was honor in difference in that pride, but I would have you know that I didn't run because I felt pushed away, I left because I felt drawn to something else." And then the frown was replaced immediately by a blank expression as he attempted to block out the thoughts of exactly what he had allowed to draw him away, cursing himself inwardly for letting her goad him and drag him down that path.
"What would you have me tell you?" he said with a snort, flicking his tail now. He found he was growing irritated with this conversation, and although that might have been better than the aimless emptiness, it still made him want to get away from it. He sighed, however, and let the stony expression on his face wash away as he tried to think of a secret fitting for the conversation. There was nothing in his past from the Pridelands, so he supposed he would have to turn to the more painful parts of his past. "I met my first mate when she was wandering away from her pride in an attempt to kill herself." The pain in his eyes was there, but he did well to conceal it from the rest of his face - after all, he suspected Emba had been successful the second time.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:47 pm
"Psh" Akel shook her head. "What a waste - killing one's self. You can die any time. It takes true courage to live."
Akel was never one not to state her oppinion. And boy could she form an oppinion - and she could care less what one though of her for it.
"You're better off without such a coward. Where is she now? I don't suppose you were able to provide her with some new form of strength, hmn? Otherwise you wouldn't be here."
Oh Damn. According to the rules of her gave, she'd have to share more to get an answer. After a moment she said;
"I had a mate once. He-" She was about to continue, but quickly stopped, as a thought passed through her mind. Not here. Not where they might could overhear,... The pride still believed that her mate had meerly wondered off, and ended up losing a battle with a local rogue that had been wondering around.
"Hm, follow me just out of these lands, and I shall tell you. That is, if you wish to know,..."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:59 pm
He found the words rising in his throat before he ever thought them and it was all he could do to bite them back down and stop himself from spewing out exactly what he wanted to say to her. Emba had given up once, but she'd been strong and full of a fire that he had never seen before, and he wouldn't have the likes of this bony twit slandering her name. Then again, getting him riled up was probably just what she wanted - she seemed to want to dig at him just to know his woes. Well, he wasn't about to give into that, she didn't deserve to know about Embamba's life, or their life.
Still, he was always curious, and even his current state-of-mind hadn't stopped that thirst entirely. An unfinished sentence left him hanging, and he wanted to know. What stupid male would mate such a nuisance of a creature? Despite his best instincts, he found himself pushing himself to his feet.
"Fine," he said with a small nod, "lead the way then, Akel." At least it was a distraction, he supposed.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:13 pm
Akel'dama nodded, and headed for the border, keeping a vigilant eye out for any other unwanted followers.
It was true, she was having fun digging at his past, and riling him up. At first he has seemed so empty, lost, and blank. All it took was some prodding to bring some feeling back to that empty shell. She like to think she was doing him a favor, even if the feelings she was stirring up was his ire.
Finally they were well away from the border. Akel sat down again, and let out a bit of a sigh.
"As I was saying -- yes, I had a mate. He was a veteran, much older than I. He has the patience that I did not, and we complemented eachother in many ways. We were having some issues with rogues in the area causing us all sorts of trouble. He was assigned to get rid of them. Little did I know that he took a liking to one of them," Akel scoffed. "He and the lioness had a little rendevous that produced cubs -- and he hid it all from me! I was a fool blinded by love for him, and he betrayed me."
"When the lioness birthed her cubs, he was going to bring them here to be sacrifices. He was never going to tell me that they were his, but when he returned that one day full of wounds and cuts, and I confronted him,... It took forever for me to make him tell me the truth. The whole truth. He was willing to keep such a huge secret from me. He would have, too, if I had not persisted. And that secret would have festered, grown, multiplied untill our love was nothing but lies." She snarled. Long ago she had turned her pain into anger. Deep seething anger.
"The pride believes that it was one of the rogues that killed him, but it was me."
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