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 Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:39 pm
The bones were lovely today. For some reason the dust was almost invisible, giving them an unearthly sheen.
How could anyone want to leave this glorious place?
Masika strolled through the maze of bones, unsure. She'd have to speak to the brother she hardly knew... discuss with him who would become heir.
She sat down inbetween the tusks of an elephant's skull and let her shoulders droop. It would be hard, being Heir, and it would bring about such responsibility. She'd have to find a mate and have cubs... but what if she couldn't find anyone. What if she became a spinster, and what if she let her beloved pride d--
No. She couldn't even think about that. That would never happen, she wouldn't let it!
Still, Masika was worried.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:48 pm
A very angry, very large female hyena loped her way to the untolerated side of the graveyard: the lion side. Mafa was simply fuming at having to come here, as she hated how this sacred place reeked of lions. It was disgusting, what they had done with her home. Along her little trip, she passed the pathetic excuse for a watering hole that the lions tried to dig up. It had withered and dried, now being only a crackled hole in the ground. Mafa scoffed. The lions just wanted it easy. They definitely didn't have what it took to live in this wasteland. But this dried failure was a good sign, it meant that the lions were leaving all on their own, without effort exerted from her part.
In her impassioned musings, Mafa had failed to scent the female lion before she was naught but a few feet from the beast. Immediately, Mafa froze, her hackles rising and yellowed, deadly fangs peering out from beneath her jowls. This lioness was familiar, one of the litter that the former residents had bore. Runai's sister it seemed. Runai, the one she had come here to find.
"Filth lion, what are you doing here? Why haven't you fled with the rest of your pathetic kind?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:59 pm
"I am not leaving my homeland," said Masika, "As one of the potential heirs to the Maziko Pride, I simply can't. I intend to work in this sacred land, and make my Pride beautiful once more."
She had heard of the hyenas here, and how most of them were hostile towards her Pride. She was unnerved, of course, but she wasn't going to stoop down to violence unless it was deemed nessecary-- she wasn't like her brothers.
"And what about you, Ancient One? Why have you come here?" The lionness straightened up, trying her best to look regal. If her eyes had been anything but black, a spark of fear would've shone.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:10 pm
"PFFT!"
Mafa's head flung back, from her throat errupted an eerie and well practiced cackle. She laughed at the lioness for a minute or two before shaking her head, looking to the female with unnerving eyes.
"You idiotic beast. You know nothing, do you? Heir? Pride? There is not pride, there is only a pack. /My/ pack, to be exact. Try to start a pride, and they will all die at my fangs."
Drastically contrasting from her outburst just seconds before, Mafa's tone was completely serious and grim. This was a subject on which she would not wobble. Mafa was in no way intimidated by the lioness. Being larger that the female, Mafa had nothing to fear. Sure, the smaller ones were always smaller, but Mafa had sheer power to back her up. She was fearless.
"If I was ancient, I would've be here, you disgusting runt. I'm here because I can be, because I live here, even though you lions have made a sty of this side of my lands. On any note, I've come to find your brother, that meddlesome pest. Where is he?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:21 pm
"I have many a brother," Masika said calmly, "But I'm assuming that you mean Runai... I have not seen him as of late, though I am sure that he is around."
Though she was small compared to the hyena, Masika didn't move back (as her back was already against one of the tusks) at Mafa's frightening cackle.
"I know nothing? It is true, that I am young. But I'm afraid in this case that you are wrong... dear lady," it was hard to refer to the fleaball as a lady, even a dear one! ... However, it was for the sake of her Pride.
"This dusty land is my Pride. It was my family's pride before they cowardly abandoned me. I will survive, and this place will flourish! I do not step on your boundaries, hyena... but know that if you try to hurt my family I will fight to my very last breath."
Masika paused for a moment, "Your people got into a tumble with my brother, Toshiro, didn't they.... and they disgraced my mother. They were simply not strong enough. I suppose, then, that it is my turn."
Masika's lips curled so that the tips of her teeth showed, "I can assure you, though I may not have brute strength, that I am ready."
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:13 pm
Mafa scoffed, she didn't care for any other of this female's siblings, hell, she didn't even know them. Rune was the only lion she'd bother to track down that she wasn't planning to kill. Of course, she wouldn't make his life pleasant, but she wanted him alive. At the lionesses comment, Mafa spat at the ground in anger,
"Do not play as if we were friends. Get this in your head. I am your enemy. You are to fear me, for I am not afraid to take your life. Kind words will get you now where."
Mafa wasn't going to have any of it. Her skull was thick, and her ideas set in stone. No lion was going to charge in and change things around. The graveyard had been the same for years, the lions coming in and changing it all peeved her to no end.
"What was left of your pathetic family is gone. No matter what we did to persuade them to leave; they left. Leaving this place to me. Not you. Get that through your head."
Mafa let echo a low, gutteral growl as she moved closer to the lioness. Pacing about, Mafa tossed her head as she spoke,
"You are not ready, I can see it in your weepy eyes. Let's say this, since I am gifted with eternal kindness... We will fight, and if you escape with your life, I will let you live here until I figure out what to do with your scourge. And then I will kill you. Sounds right and fair to me."
With this, Mafa lowered her head, guarding her neck, into an agressive position. She licked her chops, eager to taste this runt's blood and to see if she could hold her ground. Without another warning, Mafa charged at the lioness, zig-zagging in front of her to confuse her before finally leaping at her right side, jaws wide open, ready to tear into anything they made contact with.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:20 pm
Masika's mane was all that Mafa caught, but it did shake Masika up.
"Even if I don't inherit this Pride," Masika hissed as she dove to the side, her face ground into the dirt, "I will never, EVER let you hyenas defile these bones!" She straightened herself up, her teeth in a pure snarl.
"I will protect the future rulers, whoever they may be...!" Masika started to run forward, "As long as they are MAZIKO!" Diving forward, Masika was really hoping to hit anything, anything at all. She was flying towards Mafa's side, her teeth bared and ready.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:31 pm
Spitting out a mouthful of shaggy fur, Mafa turned on her heel with lightning fast speed. Her aqua eyes were blazing now, it was easy to tell that she enjoyed this, and that she wasn't going to back down,
"Us defile bones? You've already done that you worthless animals! Hyenas have been living here long before your kind brought in the plague and KILLED US ALL OFF!"
Mafa almost hissed in her enraged passion. It irked her to no end when these lions came charging in, claiming to know everything about her home. She'd been here long before them, and her predecessors long before that. They had nothing to say.
There was a sharp sting at Mafa's right flank as the lionesses teeth penetrated the layers of skin, just barely cutting into the meat of her leg. Mafa didn't react with pain, but with more anger, going beserk at the sensation of pain. Mafa whipped her torso around, the lioness still anchored on her leg, and lashed out at the closest body part of the lioness. From her vangate point, she had her eyes on the female's back legs, or her back.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:37 pm
Daggers of pain jolted through Masika's back leg as multiple teeth dug into them. Masika growled in pain before curling forward, hoping to pin down Mafa and at least get in a scratch or two.
"I may not have strong roots here," she hissed inbetween clenched fangs, "But I have shown far more respect for the dead... instead of hyenas like you who stalk around LOOKING for a FIGHT!"
She swung her paw again, claws outstretched.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:46 pm
Mafa twisted her torso around, the two females still locked in a painful circle. Mafa would've laughed at her pitiful comments and beleifs of rationalizing her actions, but she was too busy to let go. She avoided getting pinned down beneath the lioness, but the teeth in her flank were starting to tear her skin.
Mafa didn't let go either, her powerful jaws were clamped down on the lionesses tibia, slowly crushing the relatively weak bone as time passed. Not given a distraction, Mafa would simply snap the leg in half.
And the swat of the female's paw was just the distraction she needed. As the strong paw connected with her head, Mafa let go of the mangled and bleeding leg, snarling. At the same time she kicked her back leg up behind her forefully, hoping to disconnect the lionesses hold on her flank.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:00 pm
Masika yelped as the forceful swing sent her flying back into the dust. She looked at her mangled leg and cursed. What was it with her family falling to the hyenas?!
Still, she wasn't going to give up-- no, she was too proud... there were so many things she hadn't done. She hadn't had cubs, hadn't had a family...
... She hadn't saved the Pride.
That was what gave her strength to get up. With a wavering roar, she rushed towards the powerful hyena, going for her muzzle.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:08 pm
Mafa couldn't help but to chuckle grimly, her will of nothing but malintent. As the lioness was flung into the dust, Mafa took a moment of pause to catch her breath and to recollect her self. Pushing aside the stinging of her wounds, she readed herself for another round with a fresh mind.
The lioness was coming straight at her, and Mafa couldn't help but to scoff at her attempts. A head on attack was easiest to dodge, if you were ready for it. And Mafa was. She dodged back quickly, escaping the attack with a few superficial scratches on the bridge of her muzzle. Licking her blood whetted chops, Mafa prowled a circle around the lioness, looking for a good spot to attack.
"I'd run now if I were you. Keep pushing me, and I'll take out your other limbs, how're you going to save the pity you call a pride then?"
Mafa sneered, her tone mocking the lioness and everything she stood for. But Mafa was unphased, her head too thick to let anything through.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:16 pm
That hurt. It was far greater than any wound.
"I will not let you destroy this pride," Masika hissed, though it was a hiss of pain instead of anger, "My honor will be destroyed if I run..."
Her heart was pounding inside of her, her fur drizzled with sweat.
She limped opposite of Mafa, the inexperienced fighter getting ready for any attack.
"I know that I cannot kill you," she continued to murmur. It looked like she was debating life vs. pride.
She closed her eyes as she came to a decision. Slowly opening them once more, she faced the hyena.
"This will not be the last time you see me, Ancient One," she groaned, "Next time I will be more prepared, and I will kill you!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:28 pm
Mafa shook her head, grizzly maw looking fierce,
"Oh, the cards are in motion, my pack will take over, whether you like it or not. Pass the word onto the others that have hope for this place, ensure them there is none. You haven't even seen the start of my wrath!"
Mafa once again jumped at the lioness, snapping her jaws. She wasn't aiming to hit anything, it was just to scare her further.
"Of course you cannot kill me. No one can. Incinvible!"
Mafa grimmed maliciously, her blood stained teeth visible through her raised lips.
"The name is Mafa, don't forget it, don't you let anyone forget it. It may just be the last thing you ever hear."
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:31 pm
"Maybe I won't kill you... but someone will," said Masika as she limped off as fast as she could, "Our pride will..."
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