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 Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:54 pm
He hardly would have been content settling in the outpost of that pride. Much as he knew it was an important spot to defend, Moto'spaki had never left the desert, and the opportunity to see more of the outside world was too much to pass up. Not that he had ever been the curious sort, wondering about the outside lands. The Motoujamii's desert was all the white lion ever wanted in his life.
But since he was out here...
Besides, there was work to be done, resources to be explored. They needed to learn about the other prides out in the world, and spread the firekin name once more. Moto'spaki found, though, he'd mostly been doing some listless wandering, and decided to search for a vantage point from which he could better survey these grassy lands ahead. He found a rock outcropping, and promptly clambered atop it.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:02 pm
Mwako'Nakama had left the sands of the Dawnwalkers a little while ago. She wondered if her brother had followed, if he was close. She had Kessek making routes back and forth to try and track him. It appeared he was hard to keep her paw on, even from the skies. Her golden, sand colored self lay upon the rocks she had come acros in her wanderings. She had a want to return home, but first she needed to find a way to change herself. She peered into the pool of water before her, rain had collected from the previous night, the small bulbs beginning to sprout alongside the pool. She dipped her paw in and let it swirl in teh water.
If only the sunset's red colors would fall upon her pelt, and grant her allowance back to her home.
She missed her family terribly.
Sighing, she lay her head upon the slate and looked into the water, silver eyes peering back at her, eyes like her own mother's and she hummed to herself a tune to a song whose words she could no longer remember.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:09 pm
From his spot, Spaki could see the water. He could also see the lioness, but she was hardly interesting. At least at this distance. She was just a somewhat blurry shape. Living in a drought long enough made even a lion like him quite curious at the sight of water, at the same time that it felt strange to be able to drink all you wished. Especially when remembering those in the desert, who did not have this opportunity.
Still, he'd walked for hours this day, and would hardly pass up the opportunity to drink. The pool seemed too small, perhaps even too far to interest his pride, so he didn't think it important to report. Moto'spaki stepped down from the rocks he stood on and headed over.
Upon getting closer he realized there was... ah, something familiar about the lioness. Not familiar as in he had known her, but familiar in the way that she wasn't a complete stranger. Maybe she was related to one of the new rogue-bloods. Still, he didn't find it necessary to greet her. After all, they were just both lions in the roguelands, near water. So, he approached to pool from a different end.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:22 pm
Her ears flicked as she heard the low, almost soothing thrumming of heavy paws on hard ground. Her silve eyes peered upwards, watching the white male approach. He was large, but if she had to, manageable. Unlike many males that had seen her as a passerby she was not one to be trifled with. Her tail coiled as he came near. She would not defend the water, to a great extent. She had had her fill not long ago.
Mwako'Nakama swept a paw over the surface, barely touching, the ripples smoothing out as if to invite him to drink without words.
She watched him carefully, and upon closer inspection realized the other color upon him, in his mane, was not black nor brown, but red. As she tilted her head to look at him, she saw a vague marking on her face.
No...it couldn't be.
"Are you...?" she began but stopped, and she shook her head.
No, surely no firekin would be out here.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:34 pm
An invitation was not really needed. Moto'spaki didn't make it a point to be rude, but he also would not ask for permission if it was unnecessary. He owed this lioness nothing, really, and by the time she spoke, he was already lapping at the water.
He perked his ears in her direction first, then raised his head. The white male regarded her quietly a few moments, simply expecting her to go on. His expression was unreadable, perhaps because he wasn't really feeling anything. "Am I what?" He asked evenly, if only because he could not answer an incomplete question.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:37 pm
Mwako'Nakama wished to declare herself the wiser of the two and make him answer any and all questions. However, she did not truly feel that way. She was firekin, but she was not one that wished to take, she liked to give. If only her home would give her a second chance.
"What is your name?" she made a motion to his forehead, "where is it your from, I am curious to know...if I'm right in my curiosity."
She wondered if he'd act hostile.
She'd be ready regardless.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:52 pm
The curiosity from the rogue was... interesting. Perhaps unusual. She didn't seem to be out to make friends, perhaps she wanted something in particular. He briefly took better notice of her appearance. there was still that odd feeling that she wasn't completely strange to him, like someone he may have seen in the background once. And she wasn't a small lioness, unlike the lions they'd encountered at what was now an outpost.
"I'm from the desert of the Motoujamii." He replied, because the firekin name was supposed to be known, anyways. His own, he was not so sure. But the white male had a hunch, and he might as well go with it. He'd never received orders not to introduce himself.
"My name is Moto'spaki." He did not feel the need to ask her own, because he never found not knowing someone's name a true disadvantage. If she supplied it, that was fine.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:55 pm
As he spoke, and told where he hailed from, She came to stand, eyes settled on him. So he was firekin. A smile spread across her maw. Did he know her siblings, her father her...mother? Was she there? So many questions.
"I am Mwako'Nakama," she said with a pride that had come from beneath her exterior, days ago lacking of pride but now beaming of it.
Oh how she wanted to go home now.
How she wanted to become part of where she was born...
"I too was born Firekin."
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:12 pm
He demeanor changed, and Spaki quickly knew he had been right. Huria, then. That was interesting, almost amusing. His lips quirked up, briefly, but it couldn't quite be considered a real smile. He didn't quite smile easily, and occasionally thought to remedy that. But when push came to shove, he didn't change at all.
It was a funny coincidence, at least. "I see. How long have you been gone?" His tone did manage to get a bit lighter, perhaps picked by his new found interest. He had never seen a huria since their leaving, barely even seen them before.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:57 pm
She wasn't sure how to feel about this male. He was out here in the roguelands, why? Had he been exiled? Sent on a mission? Done something wrong? Nakama grew wary and kept her guard up. "Been gone for too long," she said peering at the pool of water, "one might say that I've been searching for a place to call home, when I know it is within the firekin," only she couldn't return. "I've tried everything I can to even darken my pelt color, change who I am on the outside, but nothing sticks, it all wears away," she said with a huff.
She just wanted to go home.
"And how about you, hmm? Why are you out here? Never thought I'd see an accepted, by color of birth, firekin out here."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:26 am
He was a distant lion, Moto'spaki. But he did feel a bit for this lioness, and wondered how many of the Huria felt this way. Probably quite a few. He was out here only temporarily, with the comfort of knowing he was welcome back in the desert upon his return. "Perhaps there will be a way, someday." He said, more out of politeness. It would be nice if she came home, but custom was custom.
Then again, some firekin had been allowed to stay due to proving themselves.
"What I'm doing out here? ... that depends. Your loyalty is still with the firekin, then?" Huria weren't technically pride members anymore, and despite her words, turning was possible. Still, this lioness must have family in the desert. "There are quite a few of us out here nowadays." He shrugged, because he may well just tell her.
"We prepare for war with the Nergui," He'd only explain who they were if she didn't know; Moto'spaki assumed, otherwise, that she had been around for the first Hongshan's arrival. "But there is still the drought. We've secured an outpost in a neighboring pride. Myself and others spread out, to find more water."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:38 pm
As he seemed to question her loyalty, her eyes had a flicker of darkness, disgust for the idea she would turn on her home, "the firekin will forever be my home, regardless if I am upon the dunes." Her siblings, her mother, father, theyw ere all there. Kidondo, he was there, those she cared about were there, but Gaddith, where was he? Had he returned there? They had lost touch, and she was sad for it.
When he spoke of war, Nakama stood, "War? What war? What has happened?" her voice grew louder, but not angry, more of concern.
Drought?
"There's no water? What of those there, the older lions and lionesses? How is the pride fairing?" what has happened since then? "Tell me," she demanded, taking a step forward, "I need to know what my family is facing."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:51 pm
It was good to know she was still loyal. Or, at least for the time being, Moto'spaki did not doubt her. Perhaps this made things more painful for Nakama, in the end. He pitied her a bit, perhaps she had the perfect sort of spirit for the pride. Her pelt's lack of fire was truly a shame.
"So you left before the Hongshan refugees arrived?" He swished his tail, not quite wanting to recount their arrival if it was unnecessary. Ah well. "They came from the north, the Hongshan. A warrior pride, I suppose not too unlike the firekin. They were nonetheless driven out of their lands by what they described as a massive group of savages known as the Nergui." At least that bit was out of the way.
"It seems the Nergui followed in their pawsteps. Weeks ago, another group of Hongshan arrived. At the same time as some firekin were ambushed by lions, believed to be Nergui." Moto'spaki wasn't one to speak slowly to ease her understanding, if she had questions, she could ask when he was done. "The regents' grandson, Nur'yu, died from the injuries he sustained in the attack. Several others were injured. So, war was declared."
As for the water. Well... "There is a little water left, but not enough to sustain all of us, which is why we are being spread so thin. The older lions and lionesses are fine, at least for now." He had, after all, seen Kinja when the Hongshan arrived. "As for your family, I do not know them, so I cannot give you specifics."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:59 pm
As he spoke he took every word to heart. Her body began to feel hot, fire was boiling in her blood, eyes narrowing, claws coming out and touching into the ground. Her chest breathed in deeply as he went on, they were fairing well for now but...
Without hesitation she roared, upwards towards the sky, loud and fierce with everything within her.
As he voice subsided, she waited a few moments, and soon a black spot came down from above, her avian, Kessek, already hovering before her, flapping wings wildly confused. "What is wrong? What is wrong? Has he hurt you?" she asked in a flutter.
"Go find him, try to find Gaddith."
"But we've not - what is this about? Has this male done something?"
"If you've not found him by nightfall, return to me."
"Why?"
Nakama looked over to Spaki and back to Kessek, "we are returning home."
"Bu-"
"GO!" Nakama roared and Kessek went off straight away.
Nakama waited until Kessek was out of sight before lokoing back to Spaki. Perhaps she would have no invitation, perhaps she would be turned away, but she needed to get home. "I need to return to my family, to my mother, and make sure I can do whatever I can, they must remain safe," she said without faltering. "Where is the outpost, so I may stop there first, Spaki? Let me go home to help."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:10 pm
The roar was a bit of a surprise, but Moto'spaki betrayed none of that. He patiently watched as the avian dove down, a mess of feathers. The meaning of the exchange between them was a bit lost to him, as he knew not who this 'Gaddith' was, but maybe it was safe to assume it was someone she knew, perhaps another Huria.
Her attention turned to him again, and he drew his eyes away from the avian as it flew away in a hurry. Moto'spaki didn't answer immediately, though, as he had to consider this. Another lion was good as far as war went, but it also meant more thirst to quench.
... But Huria were welcome home to visit, and he could hardly begrudge a firekin for wishing to help her own. "The outpost is south of our territory, in the lands of a pride called Ithambo'hlabathi. Huria are being trained there as part of a deal struck with the locals... I suppose I could fill you in on that as well, if you'd like." Since she was a huria. He wasn't personally fond of this pride, though. They thought too much of themselves, and certain other things seemed a bit strange to him.
Moto'spaki wasn't out of the desert to opine on natives, though.
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