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 Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:03 am
< Join by invite only>>  --------------------
"Daughter of the firekin, why do you wander at the border?"
"A daughter of fire no longer I'm afraid." She grimaced, not daring to look back.
"Then I can help you."
"How?"
"I have magic that can stop the pride from following you, a magic that will save your life." He chuckled.
"Why help me?"
"Why not?" He yawned and spread his wings, a strange glow encasing his large frame. "I am the Lost God. They have forgotten you. Now you can be free."
"W-what do you mean forgotten me?" Ripuka snarled, lowering her position a little.
"Your time with them is lost. Now I must become lost once more." And as quickly as the great lion had appeared, he was gone.
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Ripuka's head snapped up, her eyes scanning the wave of golden dunes before her. It was like she had stumbled into a dream - one that she had witnessed many times before - and yet it wasn't. She truly was home!
Home.
Perhaps that was why those memories were flooding the remnants of her mind, filling her heart with renewed pain as she thought of a family she had left all that time ago. Would her parents approve of what she was doing now? For she truly meant to set things right. Wandering without her pride was like wandering without a soul, every part of her craving the scent and feel of the desert.
The sand beneath her paws brought tears to her eyes as she remembered and after a moment of standing still she began to pad across the golden blanket in a rather wavering path. She looked almost drunk as she walked, a madness in her step as she swaggered first to the right and then to the left. Some said that perhaps the heat had affected her mind, made her crazy...and dangerous.
For when you mix madness with a temper as fiery as Ripuka's the consequences can never be good.
She increased her step, her paws thudding against the sand as she moved slowly but surely, eyes scanning for the rolls of the dunes that would lead her home. To the pride she adored.
And as the sun beat down against her vibrant pelt she raised her white muzzle to the sky and soaked up the colours of the celestial ocean; as perfect as a painting splattered on canvas. Only in the desert was the sky that blue! Only in the desert was the sun that comforting!
For the first time in many months Ripuka's eyes were opening to her surroundings, her senses returning to her as she traversed the familiar lands. The place of her heart.
She was in a way, completely in love with the desert.
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"Come away with me 'Uka." His words tempted the lioness as she lay beside him, content against his warm side and listening to the firm beating of his heart. This was crazy, stupid but oh how she loved it. Living on the edge, afraid of being caught. It made her feel alive!
She purred as she rubbed her cheek against his great shoulder, breathing in his scent. "I can't Orcan." Her voice was laced with dismay. "I love my pride."
"More than you love me?"
"..." She hesitated, turning her head to watch the steady flick of her tail, "I love you both."
The male growled, "that's not the answer I wanted to hear. I want my red angel to tell me she loves me and me alone."
"Well sadly that isn't going to happen." She got to her paws, shaking off the achiness brought from their 'rough and tumble' games only half hour ago. "Same time tomorrow?" She said with a sickly sweet smile.
"Of course my lady." There was a tingle of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke.
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She reached the top of a great dune, her peircing red coat glowing under the rays of the sun as she gazed about her. Already her face was flecked with particles of sand, the blessed ground showering upon her.
"I wonder..." She murmured to herself, "I wonder how much has really changed around here." Were the rumours over exagerrated or was the pride really in ruin? Would she have returned if the rumours had spoken differently?
The muscles in her shoudlers twitched as she prepared to move, her muscled bulk sliding down the slope of the dune. A golden cloud trailed behind her as she went, moving less than stealthily across the ground.
Soon...she'd be there soon.
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:32 am
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However, there was one dillema that Ripuka still had to face, for even when she got to the pride how did she introduce herself? She couldn't just stroll up to them and say, 'hey there, I'm Ripuka, remember me?' It just wouldn't work! Thanks to that God's curse she had been forgotten by her pride, lost to them forever.
It was never thought that she would return again...but...here she was!
She lowered her head, coughing into the sand as she moved, racking her brains for a soloution. Maybe if one of her own generation was there they'd be able to remember her. Break the curse set upon her. Or maybe if she just explained to them what had happened despite the fact that their pride believed only in one Goddess: their beloved Finar-si.
What would they say to her story of this strange Lost God?
She growled, swiping at the sand and lowering her maw to bite into a rock that jutted out from the blanket of powdered gold. Her temper tantrum lasted only a few minutes before she set off again, still not quite knowing what to do.
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She jolted to a halt at the sound of her father's voice, turning around to gaze up into his cold face, his golden eyes sending shivers of fear down her spine.
"Where are you going?" His words were laced with a growl as he spoke, his great forepaws standing firm upon the hard-packed sand beneath them.
"I'm...going to check the borders to make sure everything is clear." She bowed her head, "does this displease you father?"
"You reek of another, who is this lion who has rubbed his scent on my daughter?"
Fear gripped her and suddenly it was very difficult to breath, a strange sensation stirred in her stomach, knotting and twisting until she thought she would vomit. "Yesterday...I spotted a rogue in our lands...I put it out of it's misery."
"Oh." His eyes lit with approval, "are you injured?"
"No father." She dipped her head and backed up a few paces, leaving Paytah alone to ponder on this further.
And as she padded away the feeling in her stomach returned and this time she did vomit. What could this mean for her? Could it possibly be...?
No...no...no...
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The red lioness closed her eyes, biting back that memory and the fear that it brought her. The realisation that she was pregnant with a rogue's cubs was too much to bear. She had thought of suicide, and yet she had turned her temper on others instead of herself.
She bit down on her tongue to try and repress the feeling of pain that was returning to her and drew to another halt.
For rising above the golden sea of sand were the cliffs she had once called home. Her heart jolted to a halt and her mouth hung open, her scarred face turning upwards to the great, dark pinacles. It was there that she had been born and raised by Paytah and Nui'Lua.
Her eyes brimmed once more as she continued her wavered step towards her destination, intent on reaching the caves before nightfall. Maybe the den of her parents had been left empty...maybe she could reclaim it as her own and live the rest of her days there in the shade.
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"You're late." Orcan growled as he slunk out from his hiding place, moving over to try and nuzzle at her. "Where have you been?"
Ripuka took a step back as she tried to ignore the stirring in her stomach, "I was speaking with my sire." She hissed, "don't question me."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He moved to advance on her, wanting to quench his thirst for lust as he tried to dominate her into lying down. However it seemed Ripuka was having none of it, already suspicious of the life growing in her womb. Instead she bounced back away from him, twirled around once then leapt at him, pushing him onto his back and lying flush against him, stomach to stomach.
"My turn to dominate you." She slurred in a sensual manner, lowering her head to lick at his throat in an affectionate manner.
"Well now, you certainly have a lot of energy today--"
It was as Orcan spoke that Ripuka felt her stomach twist again, reminding her of the treachery that grew within her. She snarled quietly to herself, ears flattening back as she realised she could do away with the rogue. The rogue who had dirtied her and cursed her with his own filthy offspring.
The realisation of her deed hit her full force and concentrating her anger to the tips of her brilliant white fangs she found herself sinking them into the lion's throat.
One second. Two seconds. Slowly the thrashing male fell limp beneath her, life draining from his body.
Three seconds, four seconds. His eyes opened up as slithers, their gaze looking straight into Ripuka's golden orbs with one lingering question: Why?
Then it was over.
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:49 am
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The sun lowered in the sky, following it's arched pathway in the brilliant blue sky above. The shadows swung outwards from her path as she moved, panting now from the heat that relentlessly attacked her. It seemed strangely hotter now and for a moment she wondered whether she should stop to find shade.
At a small glance however she could tell that there wouldn't be much shade in the area, and in the end her best bet would be to head for the dens and seek solace there.
Though should she first seek out the King and Queen?
She was eager to see the young Firekin in action, wondering if they really were as terrible as the rumours had spoken. Maybe she had been misled?
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Her muscles contracted as she lay beneath the bows of a tree, paying no heed to the danger she had put herself in for birthing out in the open. Her body convulsed and she cried out in pain, feeling her insides burst into flame as they fought to deliver life.
She raised her head, curving her strong neck around to gaze at her hindquarters, wondering whether anything could yet be seen.
Another pain tore through her body then, and she lay back down on her side, panting heavily as she pushed and pushed. And then relief. She craned her head back to the slimy cub that had slithered out from her body, spying the white and brown fur that donned it.
No red. No black.
This cub was of rogue quality.
She left it lying there, unable to breath and unable to feed, intent on letting it die there on the ground. She would have nothing to do with it. The pain returned to her and with fear gripping her once more she pushed again, intent on ridding her body of this alien life that had invaded her.
It left her too and she stood up on shaky legs to turn and face them.
Two slimy, dying daughters. One white and brown, the other brown with a red face and paws. They were a shame to her.
She ended their suffering with her jaws, crushing their tiny, fragile bones and then with a flick of her tail, turned and moved slowly off. She was tired and sore but she would not remain there at her cubs' graves.
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Ripuka felt the change of the sand beneath her pads as she moved into the lands, the scents of lions exciting her into quickening her pace once more. No longer did she feel the fatigue of her journey, for it had been replaced with sheer exctiement.
She was home!
Throwing back her head she parted her jaws and roared her welcome to the pride. Her pride. Oh how long she had waited for this day and feared it would never come.
Joy filled her heart as she realised she truly had returned to her one true love.
Her desert, her pride, her home.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:14 am
The sound of a lionesses roar didn't go unheard, in fact is perked the young King's curiosity since it was not familiar. Hauling himself from the cool ground of his den, Kimeti padded out into the heat of the desert, eyes taking mere seconds to adjust to the intese brightness that the days brought compared to the shadows of his den.
Padding out of the cliffs and into the full of the desert the King could see a lone figure upon a dune not far off. The intensity of her red pelt screamed her bloodlines but colored pelts were only a small fraction of what made a Firekin. So, with head high and chest out Kimeti strolled toward the lioness with purpose, eyes studying her every move while staying on guard. It would be idiotic for a lioness to attack a lion by her lonesome but Kimeti wouldn't put it past against some, especially if they were anything like his sister, Kwana.
"Who are you? Why do you intrude upon our lands." She question was easy enough in itself. All the lioness would need to do was explain her reasons for stepping foot on Firekin territory. Just claiming to be a Firekin would settle that question but of course would bring along more for her to answer.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:32 am
A real Firekin, a true Firekin!
Her heart hammered in her chest as her eyes scanned the entire of his being, good eye widening as she drank in the authority his presence craved. For a moment she was speechless, seeing only the power that his form held, the muscle, the brilliant pelt, the mighty paws that trod easily upon the sand.
She had forgotten what it was to meet a Firekin and found herself overwhelmed by it. The emotion must have showed within her for she remained silent even after he had spoken, staring at him intently.
She perhaps looked older than she actually was, her scarred face marring her once pretty exterior. Yet here stood a lioness of The Blood, with tradition running through her viens. It was all she knew, and all she wanted to know.
"I..." She paused again, finding her throat thick with emotion. What was wrong with her!? She was finally home, that's what! Oh and how much it meant to her! "I was once known as Ripuka in these lands. I was sired by Paytah here long ago it seems." She doubted this lion would know her father or her mother, seeing as she was not from the royal line, but she was proud of them and wanted to state their names in this male's presence.
"A Firekin I was, and a Firekin I want to be again. I wish to repledge my loyalty to the pride and make up for past mistakes." Were mere words enough? Heh...she doubted it.
And as she followed her lord into the heart of the pride she knew.
She knew she'd be a Firekin again.
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