Tsiya Subiani:Tsiya sat on a rock shelf, makeshift bowls filled with the special dye his sister had taught him to use to tattoo his fellow clan members, some filled with water for his paws. Rimi was with him, she was the one who helped him with the bowls and making the dye. Anni was with him, too, she was the one he was tattooing. She was a nice female, a bit older than he was and his small number of sisters made him want to include Anni in that category. Her sister, on the other paw... Sister definitely was not the word that came to mind.
"Tell me a story, Anni? Your tattoos are supposed to be the story of your life," he asked, giving her a warm smile. She wasn't much bigger than he was, all his size genes had come from his mother, who was a very large lioness in comparison to other Elas. She'd come from the Pridelands, after all. And Anni, from what he'd heard, was half rogue, and half Pridelander and Firekin, two prides filled with huge lions. Her father cut a pretty intimidating figure to say the least.
Kirimu:
Kirimu, or Rimi for short, sat in a reclined position in a dip in the rock, chewing on a long stalk of grass. She'd helped bring the bowls over, but didn't have much else to do. Otter was her ticket to not being eaten and she did like hearing stories anyways.
Añuli:Añuli sat in front of Tsiya, her left side facing him, watching as the young Nvwati dipped his paw into the bowl filled with dye.
"Well, I remember being born on the savanna... the journey here was long, but nothing really eventful happened. And then we came here," she explained, her ears moving back as she realized her life was very uneventful.
Tsiya Subiani:
Tsiya chuckled at the short story. The poor thing wasn't a very good storyteller, but that was okay. He was obsessed with stories, so he knew how to get what kind of information out of individuals. He leaned down a bit to start working on the representation of the grasslands.
"You can do better than that, Anni. But that's okay. Tell me about things that you like," he replied with a small smile.
Kirimu:
Rimi laughed a bit as well. She wasn't terrible. It had only been a bit better when Otter was doing her tattoos. She just didn't have a terribly interesting life, or she didn't think so until the young lion started prying. Turns out it was more eventful than she'd thought.
"Don't worry, love, he had a tough time with me too," she added, giving the young lioness a small wink.
Añuli:
Anni smiled as Tsiya got to work and asked her to elaborate on things.
"Well, I like the sound of the rain and sunsets, flowers... There's also... Well..." She blushed a bit as the younger lion started working on something on her shoulder. She'd trailed off because she wasn't sure if talking about friends... or more than friends was a good addition to the tattooing.
Well, Koda wasn't more than a friend, but she certainly felt something more with him than with Tsiya or his siblings or her siblings. He was different from everyone else, but that wasn't why she liked him. He made her laugh and every time she saw him was full of surprises. Most would find it overwhelming, but by herself she was pretty boring. When Koda was around, life was more interesting. She had to wonder if he was all there sometimes, but she still cared about him. More than she really understood.
Tsiya Subiani:
Dark magenta eyes glanced up from his work as Anni trailed off. She had a look in her eyes and a flush was visible beneath the very white fur on her cheeks. He had to wonder what it was that brought on that reaction. A sunset would be hard to do, rain was easier, flowers were the easiest. But what was that "also" thing?
"There's also...?" he asked, tilting his head in a curious manner. Was it something embarrassing? If she didn't want to talk about it, she certainly wouldn't want to have it tattooed on her. Maybe he shouldn't have asked.
Kirimu:
Rimi plucked the grass from her mouth and looked over at the two lions when Añuli paused. The lioness had a look on her face that the older hare knew and smiled over. She reclined back with a little chuckle.
"Ottah, love, she's got a crush," she said, grinning and closing her eyes, her toes wiggling a bit. Oh, these young lions. They were so cute sometimes.
Añuli:
Anni flushed some more at the hare's comment.
"It's not a crush!" she exclaimed, giving the long-eared preybeast a glare. At least, she didn't think it was a crush. She liked Koda, but like in that sense? She wasn't really sure.
"He's my friend, I just didn't know if that was the kind of thing that should be included..." That was true enough. She hadn't known if that's something that should be included on her tattoos, though looking at Tsiya and Rimi, she should have known better. Tsiya had little pawprints all over him, that had to have been applied by the hare, or at least represented her.
Tsiya Subiani:
Tsiya's eyebrows rose as he continued to paint on tattoos, remembering not to go overboard. She was a rogue, after all, and rogues only got part of their bodies tattooed. Like Rimi.
"Well, friends are allowed, and family, too. This mark here," he paused to gesture to the wavy arrow on his right foreleg, "This is like one my youngest brother has, you know Howi. He's my closest brother and I couldn't resist."
The marking beneath his left eye was also from another lion, Anni's younger sister Chrodechild, though he wasn't going to tell her that. It was the most absurd thing to do because it was so very obvious, but he certainly did have a crush on her and felt he should honor her by giving her a page in his life story.
But he wasn't going to tell her about that. Because if no one noticed the tattoo, he wasn't going to go blabbing about it!
"So, what clan is he in? Family name?" Maybe he could put that representation down.
Kirimu:
Rimi listened to the pair of youngsters happily. She remembered when she was young and loved after... well, pretty much any buck she ran across, but she'd grown out of that rather quickly. She was still on the hunt for that one right male for her, but was also perfectly content to let him find her first. The older hare liked it here, with Otter and his family and pride. She knew that it would be more difficult, since most males in their right minds would stay clear of a lion pride and that fewer would trust said lions not to eat them, but Rimi did. And any male that wanted in her nest, he'd have to learn to live with that fact.
"What a daft question, Ottah! You should be askin' how they met," she said, grass still poking out of the side of her mouth and not looking at either of them at first. She turned to Anni though and smiled. "How did you two meet, love?"
Añuli:
Anni coughed a bit, clearing her throat and the embarrassment of the situation she'd walked herself into.
"He's from the Wolf clan... and I think his family name is Waya," she told Tsiya, glancing over at the doe when she spoke.
"Oh, um, how we met? Um... I was exploring the lands soon after we arrived here and just sort of bumped into him. He was actually really adorable." If Tsiya knew which of the Waya's he'd probably think her crazy as a magpie for thinking so, but Koda really was cute! In his own special way.
"He was doing something, and I sort of surprised him. I guess you could say I snuck up on him, but I hadn't meant to. And he told the most fantastic stories and he makes me laugh and...." And she was babbling.
Tsiya Subiani:
Wolf Clan? Waya? He knew that family. His eldest sister, she had several wolf-themed tattoos, no doubt connected to that white male he saw sometimes. It seemed like a good family. He smiled at he started working that into Anni's tattoos, listening to her tell of how they met.
There, that was good, they'd found a subject she liked, something that once she started talking, the information kept flowing.
Fantastic stories.
Tsiya almost slipped his paw across her foreleg.
A Waya son. Who told fantastic stories. And made others laugh.
"Are you talking about Nekoda Waya?" Oh, Kohana would murder someone if Koda found his way into the Shadow.
Kirimu:
The hare's ears twitched at the tone in Otter's voice and she turned a blue-eyed glance on the young male. If lions could get pale, she was sure there'd be not a single patch of color on his face right not. Was it this Nekoda guy? What was wrong with him? She'd never heard anything. If he was really that bad, wouldn't they kick him out of the pride. Of course they would, or worse, so it had to be something bad, but not that bad.
"What, does he smell like a water-buffalo's butt or somethin'?" she asked, closing her eyes again.
Añuli:
Anni rounded a short glare on Tsiya. Oh, she'd caught the tone and it rather annoyed her. What was it with Koda having a bad reputation here? It was probably all Kohana's fault.
"There's nothing wrong with Koda. He's nice and charming, if a little eccentric, but in a way that makes things interesting," she shot back with a stern frown. She wanted to glare at Rimi, too, but the hare obviously didn't know Koda, so she was just making a speculation as to why he'd be a problem.
"And he does not smell like anything kind of butt."
Tsiya Subiani:
Tsiya was a little taken-aback by Anni's outburst. Normally she was a pretty reserved female, at least from what he had seen. Sweet and kind, she often hung back when others were "being adventurous" as she often called it. She liked to help others and give advice.
But this was a different side to her, defensive and prickly. Oh, he liked Koda, for sure, but it was common knowledge, at least among his family, that Kohana did not like the flashy male, not one bit. And Eeva had already fallen head-over-paws for a Waya son, what would his older brother do if he found out another Shadow female, one of Malik's daughters no less, had fallen for a Wolf as well?
"There's nothing wrong with Koda, I like him, too, Anni," he finally said, going back to his work. "It's just that Kohana doesn't. And while anyone else in the clan who dislikes him might just ignore him, Kohana will give you trouble about it, I'm sure."
Kirimu:
Huh, that was certainly interesting. From the interaction she'd had with Anni, she took the lioness to be rather sweet-tempered, even a little quiet and timid at times. But this was certainly a change of character in her and the old hare liked it. She always thought that girls should stick up for themselves and their boys every once in a while, especially lionesses. And if this Koda fella was bringing Anni out of that little shell of hers, well good for him.
"He sounds like a sweetheart, love. Don't you go lettin' Ottah's big brother be a rub in your fur. Ain't none of his business, anyways."
Añuli:
Anni looked a little contrite for her outburst when both Tsiya and Rimi reassured her that they either liked Koda or thought he sounded like a good guy. Her ears flicked back and the paw Tsiya wasn't working on shuffled on the rock a bit.
"Sorry, I just... Last time I saw him, he asked if he was bad. I just don't like how he can't come visit just because Kohana doesn't like him." She looked down with a small frown. "He's different and all, but... in a good way."
Kinda like how her mother was a little different.
Tsiya Subiani:
Tsiya frowned a bit himself. He didn't think Kohana being a jerk really got to the other male, but apparently it did, probably more than anyone else really knew. Anni probably shouldn't have told him what Koda had asked her, but he'd keep her confidence.
"There, that should be enough for now. I can only do so much at a time, otherwise it might inconvenience you while it's drying. We'll do more later, if you want."
Kirimu:
Rimi's ears flicked back at Anni's explanation. The poor guy. At least he had Anni on his side. She was a nice girl and it seemed like she really cared about him, even if she didn't quite know how much herself.
"Means run 'long love. Make more stories to tell this nut," she added with a short laugh, toes wiggling again.
Añuli:
Anni stood when Tsiya sat back, trying to glance at the tattoos and failing slightly. She couldn't crane her neck very well in that direction, so she would have to use water to see them. She gave him a small smile and a nod.
"Thanks, Tsiya. I'll try to have more stories for you next time," she replied and walked off.
Tsiya Subiani & Kirimu
Tsiya and Kirimu watched as Anni left them, one smiling a bit, the other bearing a pensive look in his bright eyes.
"So, when are you gonna stop admirin' Anni's lovely sister from afar an' make some sort of move?" the hare asked, grinning up at Tsiya as he moved to wash the dye from his paws. He splashed her with the water in retaliation, gaining only a laugh from the doe as she wiped water from her fur.
