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 Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 10:19 pm
(I will think of an actual title later. Don't judge me.)
Velrissa kept saying she'd never meant to hurt anyone.
"Gods above," Winza sputtered. "Gods above, I think he's dead."
The ugly little thing wasn't dead, Kindoro knew. She'd seen him breathe, albeit barely. If anyone asked, she'd have told them so and Winza wouldn't have to keep pacing back and forth.
But no one would ask. They never asked her anything.
"I didn't mean to hurt him," Velrissa recited. All the candor with none of the remorse. "I was taking care of him."
"You were taking --" Winza's frantic words fell short of expectations. The male stilled his distraught marching, clamped his jaws shut, and shook his head in a way almost violent. Kindoro could see it all play out from the corner of her eye.
"This is why you've been bringing all those plants in here?" Winza queried. "To poison somebody?"
"They let him sleep," Velrissa said.
"They kept him asleep!"
Kindoro tried to tune out the quarrel and focus her intent gaze on the rise and fall of the cub's side. His fur was dark. The cave was dark too, made worse by the late hour. No wonder the only one who could tell he was alive was the lioness looming over him.
When the others weren't looking, she nudged him in the ribs with a paw.
Kindoro, Velrissa, and Winza had been together for approximately two months. Half that time was spent in the same area, a lush, verdant valley surrounded by mountains. Plenty of food, water, and shelter for everyone.
Kindoro and Winza had returned from a hunt to find Velrissa dragging something from a hollowed out part of the wall neither of them knew was there. A someone, rather. Winza was beside himself when he realized.
"I found him near the river," Velrissa explained at the start. "He fell from the cliff."
It was the truth. Once upon time, Velrissa had gone for a drink and found a heap of fur and bones -- some of which were undoubtedly broken -- washed up on shore. She'd brought him back and nursed him to health best she could, but when he started talking of family and leaving...
Now here they were, huddled in the back of their abode, arguing over the hows and the whys and the what now.
Not Kindoro. She was the progressive sort, and if she just kept poking and prodding the unconscious youngster would eventually stir.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 10:42 pm
The circuits twitched, jumped, shorted out, and lined up at synapsal cliffs all over again. The fervid anger grew and spread, wiggling down to the cub's toes. His whole body began to shake from it.
"Give me back my chunk! THAT IS MY PIECE." He yelled, as his limbs kicked out, flying madly at the air.
They weren't making him move, and the cub rolled onto his belly, stumbled and fell. Clumsy, sloppy, weak limbs from too much time without use. He tasted dirt, growled at it, and focused his eyes upwards on the nearest hot body he could feel.
His small mind was very surprised to see it was not his sister, who had been stealing his meat for ages and his mother wasn't doing anything about it. He'd caught that huge antelope all on his own!
"What are you looking at?" He tried, sneezing the dirt that had jammed up his nose. His head was stubborn, even though his body was quaking and his internal fear was as obvious as the sky was blue.
And he was still impossibly angry. At everything.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:05 pm
Outbursts of that magnitude were guaranteed to stop anyone in their tracks. Unless they'd been braced for it. To the other tenants of the cave Kindoro had succeeded in waking the dead. In the instant they couldn't move, couldn't speak, she was backpedaling away from the noise and to the far left wall.
His heart stated beating again and Winza took one step forward, two steps back, receding with an uncertainty the depraved females knew nothing of. He'd heard stories about situations like these and always fancied himself a candidate for being categorized under the altruist group of responders; he'd never let a female be taken advantage of, an innocent slain, or a cub abducted.
Gods above, why did he so badly want to run away when the time came to prove it?
Velrissa's swift reaction was second only to the pale form huddled to the side, instinctively baring teeth. All Kindoro had most days was instinct, not a thought in her pretty little head. But Velrissa, oh, she was not that way.
"I told you he was fine," she sneered. There would be time to belittle Winza later. For now, she focused on her baby, grooming the section of fur that would one day grow to be a luxurious mane, she was certain. Already she imagined the many suitors she would have to ward off.
"They're looking at you," Velrissa cooed affectionately, as she had many times before about many other things. Amun had only been conscious for a fraction of them.
Winza curled his lip and nose back with a twitch. The spasms of his face were relentless. He was choking on nothing but air and dread. A voice that did not sound like this -- surely, he'd never think these things -- told him they were well on their way to a kill or be killed scenario.
This cub would spread word if he were to survive and escape, but...
But.
"Stop -- Stop it, Velrissa. Stop it."
Velrissa ignored him and deftly wrapped herself around the youngster, settling his shoulders beneath her extended neck and nuzzling the side of his face.
"Shh. Shh."
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:52 pm
Gack.
The small, black juvenille tried to creep forwards. The dirt seemed to skittle away from his feet and then a heavy tongue was pushing down on his head.
Even if he wanted to--and he did want to--it was almost physically impossible for him to wiggle away.
"Tell them to stop," he growled back at her. His small ears were laid back, and he clawed the ground since he could not trek his way across it. It wasn't funny, okay? Who were they, anyway? He didn't trust them.
He recognized the cave. Velrissa. And while she was impossibly weird, he remembered she'd saved his life, and so as aggravating as that darn tongue was, she was the safest thing in this room. Amun was busy trying to figure out nuances of conflicting information before someone unjustly decided to shove their face in his.
Actually--
"Where is my antelope?" he demanded of them. If they were going to gawk, they could be useful. If he sounded bigger than he was, maybe he'd look bigger, too. His fur puffed up, and he became twice his original size. It was still remarkably unimpressive.
"I killed it! Where did you put it?" Amun's small juvenille eyes darkened.
His sister must have taken it. The whole thing! Were they in cahoots with her?
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 2:48 pm
Damn it.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.
Winza cursed his affinity for all things unwholesomely dreary. Kindoro was absent of any underlining rationale and Velrissa was troubled in ways he couldn't quite put into words. Initially, there had been the thrill of the chase with both of them. His goal was not to creep toward them in the middle of the night, but simply to understand them in the light of day.
He understood one thing: this was a mistake.
He watched Velrissa tend to the cub with an affection so genuine and loving it made him sick. There was no shame or sorrow for what she was doing. No thought paid to the order of a weeping mother whom he was convinced must be out there somewhere. This captive of theirs was far from a newborn. Someone was taking care of him prior to his fall.
"We'll get you one," Velrissa assured him. "We will. Kindoro..."
But Kindoro was not listening. She was staring instead, toward the entry point of cave. Eyes alert. Ears more so. "Someone's coming."
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:54 pm
The promise of another antelope soothed him. Sure, it wasn't the one he'd killed, but it was the principle of the thing.
He stopped squirming, gave out a sigh. A back foot kicked Velrissa's leg as he shifted, rolling over onto his side. "You'd better." But it was mumbled, and he closed his eyes and rested them on his paws.
Every now and then, his cub face would twitch into a terrible grimace--a result of his hatred for Velrissa's tongue.
Amun's wish was moving its way towards the den.
His mate's teeth were clamped around a bloody throat. The red had stained her fur off-white down the front of her chest. The animal's foot drug on the ground so she kicked it when she walked and the whole thing swayed.
Despite the clear concentration on her features, Yaariq was wearing her unimpressed face.
"I just think it would be a good idea to say hello," Ahlsen was defending himself. His eyes were wandering at random towards Lakisa in search for help.
"They're our neighbors. It's good to be polite."
And, it was also good to keep a close eye on them. Ahlsen thought the pair of three was nothing but weird. Not the kind of weird that made you scream and run, but the dangerous sort that made you want to poke your nose where you didn't belong.
His wife said they should mind their own business. They were probably a private people. In truth, she simply did not wish to deal with the sight of any lions who might have been happy, any lions who might have had children. Lakisa was old, and Yaariq had seen herself within the mother and immediately felt a bond.
Her mate was thinking that Yaariq needed to meet more people, pull herself out of the rut she'd fallen into. Maybe their neighbor's could help with that. Besides, the more private someone was, the more they had to hide!
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 5:14 pm
Winza didn't know what to expect crossing the distance between the back of the cave to the front. What had seemed a moment ago to be his only means of egress was now another potential threat to his well-being. He hoped for the best, though.
He just wasn't sure what that consisted of.
Velrissa's demeanor did not change in any noticeable way at mention of intruders (intruders? Ha!), and that made him wonder if the passing months had all been a ruse to lure him into some kind of trap. Would he be dragged back as a slave? A prisoner of war? He was of royal blood, after all
Could it be his saving grace waiting for him out there? A stranger ready and willing to offer aid? How could anyone resolve this?
Winza never decided and the train of thought was rendered null and void upon seeing not one, but three predators. One was lumbering with an antelope in her jaws. An antelope! The coincidences were one too many for him to think anything but treason; however, just as he was about to run, his line of sight was obstructed by sallow fur.
Kindoro was not trying to keep Winza in, but keep the others out. She had shoved her way in front of him to take on the role of a shield. 
When Ahlsen looked to her, Lakisa nodded her consent.
Neither had made her feel unwelcome, but of her own accord she was beginning to feel intrusive. They were a lovely couple and she would miss them when it came time to depart. Upstanding company was a rare find and she said as much often enough. Sometimes indirectly, such as now.
"They're up to something," Lakisa said candidly. "Especially that yellow one. Looks just like Hari. Crazed, wretched thing. I bet they're related somehow."
Up ahead she could see the aforementioned lioness lingering at the front of their cave. Behind her, the only male, as far as Lakisa knew. Perhaps they were in one of those... multi-partner relationships that were all the rage.
Disgusting.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 5:39 pm
The commotion made Amun's eyes pop open again. Adjusted to the darkness, it became hard to see through the sharp cast of light.
His small neck craned, he could see nothing but pads of feet everywhere outside the door. Foreign smells trickled into his nose. Even a juvenille can tell when things are off and the tension shared between all parties was tangible.
For once, he was quiet, the anger of the drugs had begun to recede in the light of more important things. He stayed very still, dropped his head, and simply listened. Velrissa would be able to feel the increased, hard pound of a tiny heart against her paws.
He'd seen his sister moments ago. Where was she now?
Amun had not yet explored his thoughts in enough depth to realize there was simply no connection from one of his realities to the other. For now, they were both entirely real.
-
There was a falter in Ahlsen's step. An old-lionness' memory should not have been better than his, but here she was recognizing the yellow lioness. The name uttered was one he had not heard in years, but it left a sort of uncomfortable taste in the back of his throat.
Over the bloody spot on her nose, Yaariq flicked her eyes towards Ahlsen. The black lion did not give her an explanation, instead resuming his strides.
"Maybe you should stay at the back," he advised Yaariq, and then wondered if maybe he should advise Lakisa as well. That, unfortunately, would leave him all alone to face two lions. If something was up, what exactly did he plan on doing?
Yaariq shortened her steps some. The bones in the antelope's neck popped as her teeth sank in further.
"We'll be careful," Ahlsen instinctively spoke out loud. The tone seemed to be more for himself than his mate.
"Hullo there!" he tried instead, cheerfully. A smile could get you anywhere. Barring, of course, if your neighbors were crazy. "Great day, isn't it?"
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 6:12 pm
"It's night time." Kindoro didn't speak loud enough for Ahlsen to hear. It hadn't necessarily been voiced strictly for that, more an observation the baffled lioness said rather than thought.
Behind her, Winza was straining to get a good luck at one of the strangers in particular. He had only caught glimpses of them, and by happenstance, mostly the two younger ones.
Even farther back, Velrissa was coaxing Amun to settle in through another gentle nuzzle. With his little heart beating so fast, she could only beg repose on his behalf and assure him, "It's all right." Tell him, "Go to sleep now. It's all right."
"Sure is," Winza called back to the approaching male. Any uncertainty could be dismissed as shyness, he hoped. Not everyone was adept at socializing with strangers.
Except --
"Winza?"
Lakisa, keeping to Yaariq's side, had been the one to say it. Last she'd seen him, he'd been an adolescent scurrying off for the Rogue Lands quick as a freed Firekin slave would. His mane hadn't come in yet and some of the spots that she saw now weren't there before. But his voice hadn't changed at all. It was definitely the late queen's son before them.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 6:33 pm
He wanted to tell her to shut her trap. Amun did not want to sleep. His ears flicked, strained, and he caught strange voice after strange voice. But when you had to choose between escaping five strangers or staying in the safety of one, who, though annoyingly attentive, seemed legitimate, you closed your eyes and you tried to sleep.
Amun closed his until he saw spots. Not Winza's spots, either.
No, those, Ahlsen was visualizing quite clearly in between blinks. His head held high, he attempted to keep his unruly, partially dreadlocked mane from restricting his vision.
It was like an eerie kick to the face, and he stood there, dumb as a brick, returning the gaze of the prince. Ahlsen, who had absolutely no problem socializing. Ahlsen, friendly, bored, generally for lack of caring of what many thought of him, caught by such powerful seer visions that life had ceased to surprise him; this Ahlsen was without words and sucking in bountiful quantities of shock.
"Um."
His wife, anticipating coming to his rescue, let the antelope fall from her jaw. Yaariq let out a long sigh.
"We have extra food, and thought you may like to share with us."
While the others were gorging, Yaariq would have plenty of time to heckle both Lakisa and Ahlsen on just who these people were. The young female knew far too little about her husband's life before he had whisked her away from her sandy homeland.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 2:09 pm
In contrast, Kindoro knew all she needed to about these strangers: She didn't like them. She didn't want them here. With her hackles up, she leaned in to listen to what Winza was whispering so fiercely. Not sweet nothings or reassurances.
"Stop it." Winza had only meant to cease her visible hostility. He absolutely did not want her to retreat back into the cave with Velrissa and leave him standing there, looking a fool. Any attempt to beckon her back was met with Kindoro staring at him and nothing more.
"Get him some meat," Velrissa piped up. "He's hungry."
There weren't enough hours in the day for Winza to decide whether going out there alone -- or at all -- was a good idea. He wasn't blessed with that much time to decide his next move. Before he knew it, his paws were padding out the cave and to the familiar duo plus one.
Lakisa studied him with visible suspicion. If Ahlsen didn't beat her to the punch, she was going to outright ask who those harlots were.
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 2:48 pm
Yaariq stuck her tongue into the roof of her mouth, and tried not to look alarmed at the way the lioness' hackles had raised up. Her eyes widened anyway when a third voice came rolling out from the cavern.
Who's hungry? Yaariq almost blurted out, but managed to catch the comment in the back of her throat. The female's eyes were moving between her traveling companions. Neither of them made her feel any less lost.
"Winza," Ahlsen began with the name, hoping to catch the male's attention and give his own voice some focus and command. Things had gotten impossibly awkward, and quickly. "Who are those lions?"
Yaariq had stepped a paw over the meat as though she were guarding her own child. It was an automatic, uneasy response, and she would not notice she had done it until someone mentioned it.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:49 pm
Winza didn't acknowledge Yaariq's impulse to safeguard her meal, but it hardly went unnoticed. Things had taken a turn for the worse from that point on. He swallowed and his shoulders ever-so-slightly drew closer together. "They're just some rogues I know," he replied steadily.
Debatable whether Winza himself should be classified as a rogue. Not to mention a liar. He'd told the truth, but not the whole truth. Should he? Would they think he was involved? If they didn't, would harm come to Kindoro or Velrissa? Did that matter to him? These were not questions easily answered.
"One of them looks like Hari. Acts like her too. How rude." Few could grouse as frequently and with the same vigor Lakisa did. Ahlsen would not steal her thunder when she had so many grievances she could nitpick. "I was hoping you had settled down somewhere. Found a respectable mate."
Keyword: Respectable.
"Can't all be as lucky as Ahlsen here." Winza tried to grin at him. And stall. Stalling was good. "Who's your lovely lioness, Ahlsen?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:55 pm
Hari.
There was that name again. Ahlsen had tried desperately to get rid of it by ignoring its existence. Like he'd tried to ignore his daughter's death by refusing to travel to where it happened, or try and tell Yaariq he was ready to have more children.
Yaariq opened her mouth, Ahlsen opened his mouth.
"We're not--"
"My name's Yaariq."
"Together."
The lioness blinked, cast a look at Ahlsen that would have made the God of Silver Tongues feel awkward.
"The yellow one doesn't look very happy to have us here," Ahlsen tried to cover. They were running around everything but the subject at hand.
"Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" It seemed Ahlsen's (ex?)-wife had experienced too much mystery for one day.
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Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 3:16 pm
Not together?
Not together?
Never took much to evoke reproach and derision from Lakisa. She all but made an art form of it. Those around her often assumed they were somehow exempt from her moral righteousness. Perhaps Ahlsen had made that same mistake.
She was not so crass as to say anything with company around -- degenerates or not -- but the skepticism on her face offered plenty of insight into her thoughts.
Meanwhile, Winza was at a loss for words now. Kidnapping or broken relationships? Which was the more... politically correct topic? He'd have sworn he jumped out of his skin when the voice cooed from behind him.
"Would you mind speaking quieter?"
It was Velrissa, now right behind him and looking all the world as if these bothersome neighbors were imposing upon the rest of them. She pinned her ears back. "My son is very sick and you're keeping him awake."
They weren't. Velrissa was sure Amun had taken his medicine and was out like the light of a firefly smashed between two stones.
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