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 Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:20 pm
 Keeping her nose close to the groun, Ilayda swept over each of the small plants growing in this clearing with her gaze, moving carefully and slowly so as not to miss anything, nor crush it prematurely beneath her paws. So far, so good - there were quite a few helpful and potentially medicinal herbs growing here, and it appeared as though there would be even more soon enough. Ilayda briefly contemplated harvesting a few, though they were not yet ripe, to see if the younger herbs would be more or less effective than their mature counterpart, but set the idea aside for later.
Surely one of the older herbalists would have already tried this and would have an answer for her question. And if not, then she could proceed with her experiment... carefully, for if the younger herbs were less effective then it would be a waste of resources to collect them before they were mature enough for use. At last, finished with her inspection of the patch of wild herbs, Ilayda sat up, looked around, and tossed her head in an attempt to uncross her eyes.
Now that she had finished her survey, she wondered if she might find some company. It would be nice to find another lioness to speak with - who, she wasn't particular about. The only question was if there was anyone nearby available for a short chat...
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:46 am
"Hey hey!" Lysende greeted her sister. "Looking for something? Should I not come any closer?"
She was used to her sisters' ways. Aquaria was a dreamer and a thinker, and she was easy to startle and spook. Ilayda, on the other hand, was sharp-eyed and sharp-witted and knew her way around herbs. She was not a good lioness to startle and spook; there could be incredibly unpleasant repercussions for doing so.
Her question had come from a previous experience wherein she'd crushed a plant Ilayda wanted whole. It had been accidental, but Ilayda had not been interested in hearing the explanations Lys had to offer. She was too angry and out of sorts. Lys had spent most of the next several days terrified that she was going to find herself with a blue tongue or perpetual itch, or any of the other things Ilayda claimed she could do with her herbs.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:46 am
"Hello, Lysende," Ilayda said, lifting her head as she carefully backed out of the patch of herbs. "Yes, stay where you are - there are some herbs in this patch that I would prefer to stay unharmed." The other lioness was smart enough not to try and damage the tools of Ilayda's trade, at least after a few scares in the past.
"Although, if you decide to walk over here anyway, I could use a subject to test some of my new ideas on~" she spoke in a singsong voice as she approached, smiling at her sister. "But as it stands, I'm finished for the moment. Was there something you needed?" Ilayda rather hoped not - she just wanted her sister's company and maybe some conversation for now; she would gladly assist her, but even a highly professional lioness such as herself longed for company on occasion.
"Are you well? No recent trips to the healers, I hope?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:12 pm
"Oookay," Lysende agreed. "Anything in particular I should avoid stepping on?"
Her sibling was backing away from her to leave the herb patch, but there were other ways for the two to walk side by side and Ilayda had taken it so that they might do so. At least once Lysende removed herself from the edge of the patch, which was a feat she would not attempt until Ilayda told her it was all right to do so.
"I've been well. Hunting is not that dangerous. Fish don't really fight back. And those that do are not likely to come close enough to shore for me to have to worry about it."
She had seen the sharp-toothed fish with the heavy silvery scales that sometimes floated up to the beach partially consumed by smaller brethren. They always reminded her of monsters. She was glad that she'd never had to take one of those on. Her claws had difficulty piercing the larger scales along the sides and back of those fish.
"What about you? You are well?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:12 pm
"The small, round-leaved plants to your left, the blue flowers in front of you, and any and all seedlings that you can see," Ilayda said, taking care to use descriptive terms rather than names for Lysende's benefit. Once she was out of the herb patch, she walked around it and waited until her sister had freed herself from the risk of stepping on something.
"Fish aren't the only dangers one can face; you know that as well as I do," she said softly as she approached, checking over the ark-furred lioness to reassure herself that she was,in fact, fine. She'd send Lysende to the healers herself if she was lying about anything.
"I'm quite well; though I believe I will need to make another journey to the mainland soon to stock up," she smiled at Lysende, but didn't mention her other reason - to hopefully add more lionesses to the pride.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:09 am
It was just as well Ilayda had described her special plants the way she had, because Lysende knew only a few plants' names. Those plants she did know and recognize were ones that were frequently used in seasoning meats and those used to treat minor injuries. Thankfully, Lysende had never had a major injury in need of treatment.
"Silly. I'm fine. I haven't seen any lion that doesn't belong around here in ages and ages." She chuckled. "And if I had seen a strange lion, I would've just done like mom and seduced them."
The idea of a trip to the mainland sounded fun and exciting. Lysende hadn't been across the water in some time, since most of her hunting was done in the water surrounding the island and did not require her to leave. Fishing was kind of her thing. More than overland hunting, anyway. Just the same, it was an irresistible temptation to ask...
"Would you like company? A guard? Someone to help carry things?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:34 am
"Well you can't grump at me for being overly-cautious," Ilayda said, her tail twitching a little with agitation. Perhaps she worried a bit too much about the other members of the pride, but she couldn't help what she Saw, and the toothed monsters of the deep that she saw in her nightmares kept her concerned about the huntresses most of all.
She couldn't help but chuckle a little though at the eager excitement Lysende's voice was nearly dripping with. It was clear that her sister wanted to go across the water, and was willing to do nearly anything if it meant she would get to go.
"That might be useful, indeed,"she said with a smile. "There is a kind of herb that will be blooming soon, and I'll need the flowers - the more I can bring back, the better."
It was only a half-truth;she did need the flowers, but they should be blooming for months and getting a large amount of them at once was really not necessary... but this way Lysende could feel useful if she truly did want to go along and help carry things.
"I could use your assistance, if you'd really like to go with me."
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:46 am
"Can, too." Lys teased. "I can grump for whatever I want! Besides, what're you going to do about it, tiny?"
It wasn't fair, perhaps, for Lysende to call Ilayda tiny, but she really wasn't as muscular as Lys was. They had chosen to follow different paths growing up, but they were still sisters and friends. Lys was only teasing. And not even very sharply. She didn't want her sister to refuse her offer to come with her to the mainland.
"I really would. There's a...project I want to work on that requires me to go to the mainland."
Could she tell Ilayda about it? With her gifts, Ilayda could probably be helpful. She might even be able to tell Lysende if her plans were worth following through on. It would spoil the surprise, of course, since Lysende wanted to include Ilayda on the list of gifts she wanted to bring back.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:32 am
"Hm... what am I going to do? Well I could make your tongue swell up so you can't talk or grump at me for a few days," Ilayda said, but her tone was light and amused - she didn't really mean anything by it. She smiled at the slightly taller lioness, and affectionately butted her head against Lysene's shoulder.
"A project, hm? Care to tell me more about it?" Something about this 'project' reminded her a bit of a vision she had the other day, but she couldn't place her paw on what, exactly, that reminder was.
"Is it something I can help you with?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:06 pm
Lysende fell into step beside Ilayda and stuck out her tongue in a tacit dare to her sister to try doing anything to it. She may have followed the path of a huntress, but she'd done her time training as a warrior with their mother and she had no doubts in her abilities. She could hold her own against Ilayda as long as her sister didn't cheat and use her herbs in some way.
"I was talking to Aquaria and she mentioned that she might be on the lookout for a consort. It got me thinking that maybe all of us could use a consort. Just to entertain ourselves, you know? And maybe, since I'm kind of the huntress of the family, I could go bring a few back for everyone. Like gifts."
Yes. Lysende was totally talking about bringing people back as gifts, like they were seashells or flowers or something. They were only men, after all, and not particularly bright. She wasn't inclined to feel like they deserved any other sort of treatment. They were meant to be enjoyed, and that's about it.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:56 pm
"Consorts, hm?" Ilaydaasked thoughtfully, deciding to take a winding route toward the shore so they would have a bit longer before the rush of the water made hearing a challenge. "I haven't thought much about having one, myself, but I suppose if Aquaria wants one I could help you obtain a few," she said quietly.
Really, who cared about males anyway? Not Ilayda, she didn't need one for anything but to make cubs. "I'd rather not have a consort at the moment, I think," Ilayda murmured, twitching an ear a little. "I do want cubs for the pride, however, so perhaps I will find a male among your potential consorts that would be suitable."
She wasn't entirely sure yet how successful such a venture would be, nor how Lysende would obtain the necessary males, but Ilayda believed that at the very least she would be able to aid her sister in 'hunting' downone or two.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 10:54 am
"I don't really need help catching them, I think," Lys explained.
"I look a lot like mom, and she never has any trouble with that. It's more...getting them back here without having them fighting amongst themselves. Do you have any herbal..." She didn't know the word for what she wanted and so she resorted to making a sort of "hocus pocus" motion. "Tranquilizers?"
Lys shrugged at Ilayda's insistence that she wasn't really looking for a consort. Lys was curious about what it would be like to be with a male, but she wasn't really in the market for a consort either. Not quite. She just wanted to see what the options were, and maybe enjoy herself a little. Surely there was no harm in that.
"I see nothing wrong with you testing them before we bring them back. Really, it's kind of like quality assurance, right?"
Lys was thrilled to have a co-conspirator and was suddenly seized with the urge to begin planning things right this minute but she made herself bite her tongue and restrain her enthusiasm. For now.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 7:42 pm
Ilayda thought for a moment, going over the different herbal combinations she knew, and at last she nodded. "Yes, there is something I could put together - it wouldn't kick in immediately, however, so you would have to plan carefully," she said, adding in the caution so that Lys wouldn't assume they were an instant knockout.
Smiling at the darker lioness, she dug slightly at the ground with a thoughtful paw. "A test run might be nice, though - and it would certainly keep them occupied while the herbs kicked in." She was starting to like this idea, though caution was still warring with excitement in her mind - bringing males back as potentially unwilling consorts... sure she didn't care much about what happened to them, but what if they brought harm to the pride?
She would definitely have to go along on this little venture - if for no better reason than to ensure Lysende's wild idea didn't lead to trouble.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 6:07 am
Butting her head against Ilayda's shoulder, Lys grinned. "You're the best."
Her forepaws danced a quickstep jig of delighted anticipation. "This is going to be so much fun!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:08 pm
Ilayda rolled her eyes fondly at her sister and ducked her head to butt her as well. "Why yes, I am," she said cheerfully, then smirked at her sister. "By the way, sister...that plan you're stepping on will give your paws a rash."
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