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 Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 12:53 pm
The black lion knew only rumours of that Firekin pride and whilst he had visited the place once before, he had never fought one. It had surprised him how quickly Rap had learned and how fierce a fighter he was. Yes, he supposed he was proud of the male now. He almost considered the fiery one a son.
But he had taught him all he knew. He had kept his end of the bargain and passed on his skills. Yet, Rap seemed hesitant to leave. Why it bothered him, he wasn't sure. But it did.
Rap was moving away from his master and out across the grassy plains. He was a huge lion, muscular and strong. He knew h is mother would be proud of him if she could see him now. He wondered whether death would blind her or whether she could look upon them still.
The day to take his revenge was soon on the horizon. In fact, he was sure his ally back home was ready to put their plan into action.
And yet...he didn't want to go alone.
Shaking his head, he moved onwards, not really sure what he was looking for, but knowing that he had to find it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:00 pm
The lion prowling across the savannah was easily one of the largest lions she'd ever seen. The muscles rippling across his chest and legs showed he probably trained more often than just for hunting. Ajani wasn't an unusually small lioness, but she was certainly faster than she was strong, and getting into a fight with this lion was just asking for trouble.
Behind him, another lion reclined in the shade, and he didn't look like someone she'd like to be on the wrong side of a fight with either. His dark pelt seemed entirely unsuited to the hot sunlight, though, and she thought he looked fairly uncomfortable in the heat. Briefly, she wondered if he'd ever heard of plastering his pelt with clay to reflect more sunlight. Most lions were too proud of their pelts to do such a thing, of course, but the few she knew who'd tried it had liked the results.
Many of the large, war-like lions she'd met had been brisk and a bit touchy, but she was bored, and these were the only two lions out for kilometers in the absurd heat. There wasn't any harm in trying to engage them in a little conversation. Traveling on her own could be almost painfully boring sometimes, and she took what chances she got to alleviate that.
"Hey there," she said, moving toward the lion with the red pelt. She straightened her shoulders to make herself seem as large as possible. The gentle swish of her tail revealed her playful intentions despite that, and a friendly smile was trying to form on the corners of her mouth. "What are you two doing all the way out here?"
There wasn't anything wrong with extending a bit of friendliness, after all, and if the situation turned ugly because she had been a bit too forward with him, then it probably would have soured anyway.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:20 am
He shook the strands of dusty, white mane from his eyes and paused to draw breath. The day was hot, but he found the heat somewhat comforting. It reminded him of home, back on the sands where he had been born and raised until those who were too weak to continue to fight had returned to the people he was sure had killed his mother and had possibly even killed his little golden brother. The nameless one.
He was heartened that most of his family had chosen to leave, rather than to return to those who had brought so much heartache. His father was out here somewhere, along with his siblings - all but Zapaliti, though she had gone only to find their golden brother and possibly had left once she realised he was gone...
If he was going to be honest, he didn't think much about the little one. Possibly because he had no proof he had died or not and possibly because he felt an incredible guilt at not going back for him, himself. But no...Zapaliti had gone and she had always been close to the nameless one, anyway.
And then a voice - a friendly voice - disturbed his thoughts and he turned to see a golden female moving towards him. Luckily for Ajani, Rap's heart was as big as his stature and his mouth instantly turned into a crooked grin. "The same as you, I would think. Rogues without a home to call our own. We're resting up a little bit before moving on again, my friend back there doesn't much approve of this midday heat." He tilted his head back to where the dark grey lion rested. More father figure than friend, to the red-orange lion.
"I'm Rap. He's Hakan. How comes you're travelling out here all alone?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 10:50 am
Rap seemed friendly enough, now that she'd attracted his attention. It didn't seem like she was in any danger, so she allowed herself to relax at his smile. She chuckled lightly at his charming question. “Aw, are you worried about me?” She wasn’t a proud lioness, so she found it more amusing than insulting when she met a lion who thought she couldn't take care of herself. Her easy-going nature had kept her from getting in too many brawls with larger lions. She couldn’t fight as well as other lions, but her speed often compensated for that, as long as she wasn’t caught in close combat. There had been that one time when a pride she’d visited had wanted her to stay longer than she’d liked, though, and she kept that memory close as a warning against getting too close to prided lions until she had the strength to defend herself.
“I can more than take care of myself,” she assured him. “A damsel in distress, I’m not.” It was true; she’d been traveling on her own since her mother had died so many seasons ago. Most rogues learned how to fend for themselves when left on their own, and Ajani had been no exception. Sometimes, she missed always having the comforting presence of her mother beside her. Freedom was the one thing her mother had sought while she was alive, and on whatever eternal journey rogues took when they died. Every pride she encountered seemed to have their own opinion of the afterlife, but Ajani preferred to think her mother’s spirit was finally free from all the things she’d been running from in life.
“Just Rap, hm? That’s certainly easy to remember,” she teased. Hakan, the darker lion in the shade, seemed more than miserable in the heat. Now that she knew he was a rogue, she briefly wondered if he’d come from a much cooler climate, or if his dark pelt had always been such a burden. “Not many animals want to travel as much as I do. I never stay in one place for too long, so it's hard for others to keep up." The lioness paused, suddenly realize she'd never introduced herself. "My name's Ajani. It's nice to meet you both.” She pitched her voice a little louder so her last two sentences could carry to Hakan as well. It never hurt to be polite, after all.
Ajani padded around Rap in a leisurely circle, pretending to size him up while she stole a few more glances at his impressive size. From up close, he seemed even larger than he had from a distance, and she could easily imagine him tearing through whole ranks of smaller lions if they picked a fight with him. Most of his size seemed to be made of hardened muscle, which peaked her curiosity. Ajani stopped once she was in front of him and turned to face him. “Are you training for a tournament or something?”
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:37 pm
He laughed a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I'm sure you're as capable as any." He replied. Besides, he thought to himself, she didn't really seem like the type to want to start looking for trouble. She was far too smily for that! "I was just wondering why you chose to travel alone rather than with a friend or two. I tried it for a while but I couldn't focus on anything without someone there to give me a shove in the right direction."
He grinned anew. "Yep, just Rap." With a short nod of agreement, he turned his head to angle Hakan into view. "Same. We travel from place to place, no real trail to follow. Been like that since I left home and...well, for Hakan, I think it's always been that way. He gets twitchy when he gets near a pride." He shrugged, wondering briefly whether his companion would actually appreciate him sharing this...
Probably not.
He blinked and turned his head to watch her as she circled, curious but somewhat easy under her observation. He wasn't an edgy or nervous type, that was for sure. "A tournament? No...not really..." He pondered on his answer to this. "I'm originally form a pride called the Motoujamii, you may know us by the name Firekin, or you may not. It's quite a ways from here." He was never certain just how many lions had heard of the pride, though he had gathered it was a few. "I inherited a lot of my size from kin. We're a warrior pride." He added, just in case she didn't. "But...well, things got tricky, so I left as a juvenile and bumped into Hakan. The grouch took up training me ever since. He won't admit it, but I think he's lonely."
He paused and motioned for her to follow him closer to the dark pelted lion. "What I'm training for, exactly...well...I won't go into the details, but I guess you could call it vengeance. Take from that what you will. But don't worry, its pride cats I'm after, not rogues. Us rogues have gotta look out for one another, right?"
And as they drew closer, he called out. "Hey, Hakan! We've got a visitor!"
Striking blue eyes set in a face of dark grey snapped upwards at the sound of the voice and the large black male - slightly smaller now than his once little apprentice - shifted a little. "I'm not deaf, Rap." He growled. "And neither am I blind. I can see her just as well as you can."
He huffed a little and then seemed to calm himself. "Ajani, wasn't it?" He continued, as if to prove that he had heard her when she had raised her voice.
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