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 Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 11:49 am
Keahilani gave an indignant snort. "I was only pricking her to make her move. Nothing more." He tilted his head. "Unless someone had a BETTER idea to make her move..." What if a rock fell on her? That'd be horribly inconvenient to the pride as a whole.
"Then DRAG her, you bug ox!" Once again, she tried to push the lioness. But Soleil was starting to get winded from the effort, and this wasn't going to work, was it? "Maybe we should just have the medics drag her away..." It'd be EASIER..
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 3:19 pm
Mkazo watched the others bicker for a few moments in silence, before he huffed a heavy I-can't-believe-I-have-to-say-this sigh and rolled his eyes. "Back the ******** off of her for a second," he snarled at the male harassing the cowering lioness. "She can move if we tag her out. Nobody has yet, so cool your s**t." He studied the lioness for a breath, tail twitching. The way she was shaking, she might not be opposed to what he had in mind. She looked like she'd be glad to get out of a fight right about now. "Nobody has to take her down...if she'll tell us where the others are."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 5:58 pm
Badieh was unsure of what to do, take her by force, or let the others loom over her like a large pack of hyenas and drown in voices.
Mwako'Damu looked to the others with silver eyes. No, the nergui did not seem like they would take prisoners, but if there was one like this, what would they do, truly, if the Firekin were faced with such a thing? An enemy who wished not to be involved, but perhaps coerced?
As Ryujin saw her, though her pelt covered, his silver eyes looked to hers,w here she lay secret, where she was hidden, taken aback, wanted to withdraw, and he felt his chest fall in on itself. Something spurned inside of him, anger, a fire like he never felt before. His sister, his sister, how DARE they?! She had only just been reunited with them, somehow, by some fate, and now, now he felt a need to protect her in the ways he couldn't when they were children.
Ryujin grit his jaw together, but it was evident he could not withhold everything, and he snarled. The others did not know, unless she had told them herself. But regardless of this game, Ryujin did not like the turn it had taken.
Peering about, Ryujin pushed himself past Mwako'Damu, shoulder almost batting against the red and white male's, and came closer to his sister. Between the two none could figure a resemblance, for Ryujin was so plain.
Ryujin was, at least, able to restrain himself from stating things towards those who guided harsh words at her. "How can you say such things? Even within a game? What if it was you?" he said with force.
He knew not what the other team's plan was, but he watched her from where he stood. Perhaps, perhaps this was a ruse, but regardless, how could he not do something...she was his sister.
"We can watch her, guard her even, but let us not fall to ministrations and become animals and monsters that our enemies truly are. We must be better than them, smarter."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 6:35 pm
This was all too quickly becoming a headache, Hraga thought.
When Keahilani's claws hit Adiel's behind, she let out a pitiful shriek and jumped to her feet. Immediately met with the faces of his team, perhaps more than she had expected, she did a painful lurch and hit the side wall. The lioness scooted back, her eyes wide. "I- I just don't-" she started.
Just kill her and be done with it, one of the female firekin said. It hadn't been the first time Adiel had heard those words. These lions played wargames like they knew what it was like to hear them for real.
But with his group split on what to do with the lioness, and tensions rising, Hraga realized it was time to end this. With a low growl he hopped from the rock ledge, the young male landing on one of the adjacent rocks. He used the brief difference in height to tower over the bickering few. "Enough!" he snapped. Then, perhaps a bit regretfully for his tone: "This is a game. We can't take prisoners, but there is no excuse for hurting anyone. You do that again and we'll have a problem."
The fragile lioness still seemed wild eyed at the whole affair, and Hraga twitched his tail in agitation. No, the last thing they needed was to drag along some lioness in the middle of some sort of 'nam flashback. "This is a game, Adiel. If you don't want to play, just let someone tag you out."
When she didn't seem to move, he squinted his eyes, walked passed Ryujin and gave her a push on the chest. She gave a small yelp, but fell onto her back.
He had a sense focusing on the event might traumatize the thing further, so he started to move again. "Come on. She might not have been meant for a distraction, but every second we don't get to Azar is another second he has to plan a counter-attack."
As Hraga walked away, Adiel looked up at her brother with a sheepish look. Whatever was going on in the lioness's mind, it was clear she was anything but proud of it.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 6:47 pm
As the events quickly turned with Hraga's movements, Ryujin was almost glad for it. Perhaps he wished she could have been tagged out in another way, but, at least now others would leave her be. Those in the pride here knew her as a Hongshan, an outsider. But she was family to him, Ka and Kai, she was blood.
Hraga walked passed and Ryujin stayed with his sister for a moment, was silent and let his eyes fall to hers. She seemed to be caught up in all that was happenings. He wondered, if, the curse was on her, curse of their heritage, and she had seen something others had not. But, it was a fleeting thought, and he offered her a smile. Regardless if she was a distraction for the opposing team, or not, he would stand by her and he moved to stand next to her and offered a shoulder for Adiel to lean on if she wished to stand.
"Do not worry," he spoke. This might be a game, but he hoped Adiel knew, they were still family, no matter where they hailed from after birth.
Badieh looked to the two, back and forth and shook her head, she was confused, did not know the relationship between the two, and did not wish to know either. It was foolish to get caught in such mind wanderings.
Mwako'Damu held nothing against the black male, for his words struck something in his chest. True, what if it had been one of them cornered by the nergui, how would they wish to be treated? Mwako nodded to Hraga and moved with him. They needed to find the end of this game.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 7:37 pm
When a lion spoke in defense of whoever it was down there, Kalama only shrugged. she couldn't even see the commotion, and wouldn't be bothered to go down get a better look. Instead, she opted for keeping an eye out up above, just in case of the enemy team happening upon them while they were distracted. One of them had, after all, gotten away.
"Finally." She muttered, once Hraga said it was time to move on.
Te little narrow passes were getting quite crowded, and Sjari had to squeeze against the wall sometimes to let others pass. Still, he wanted to remain there, because Adiel had been one of them. He did not yet know Ryujin was her brother, he just knew the female had joined the Hongshan.
Once she had officially been 'killed', and as such, relieved from the war game, Sjari felt he could relax a bit more. The black lion moved up beside her, and he really didn't want to intrude. But he did take a couple steps closer. "It's alright. We understand." He said, gently. By 'we', however, he meant the Hongshan. She wasn't alone, at least. The firekin hadn't really indicated they understood very well what she might be going through.
Not wanting to intrude any further, he decided it was best to simply turn and leave. Slipping out of the narrow pass, he made the leap up to the ledge. Time to move along and win this 'war'.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 2:35 am
As Hraga jumped down towards the narrow path in order to deal with what was holding them up, Teketeza continued to keep watch. He frowned deeply, as for all they knew, this female could just be a distraction of some kind. He doubted it though, as even then, it wouldn't explain why she was acting so fearfully.
"Pathetic." He spat, before moving ahead once more, again looking out for any of Team Two that may be lurking. When Hraga called for them to continue moving, having finally tagged out that poor excuse for a Firekin, he nodded in acknowledgement. Teketeza was bored again, so hopefully something would happen soon.
Ukuba could no longer see Isifo, as the rocks became more dense as the group moved on. He sighed lightly, beginning to feel as helpless as he did when they were being held captive. Although he and his brother had been treated somewhat better than the other Hongshan, it still pained him that he had been unable to spare his brother all that had happened.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 5:46 am
Deciding to further dispel things, Singh hurried over to the lioness and shielded her from everyone else. "Come on, Adiel, we'll just declare you tagged out so you can go join the others..." It'd be easier, and it would stop further headaches. He gave her a rather gentle nudge, especially compared to the pushing Soleil had been doing. "You'll be okay, don't worry." He shot a glance back. "Nobody else will be bothering you for the rest of the game." He'd have to see what he could do about the pricks Keahilani had given her, too. For a moment, Singh started to wonder how she'd been let in in the first place... Then he remembered his first encounter with a Firekin when he'd joined, and decided not to question choices.
The fire-maned male snorted. "Oh, it was only a p***k..." It wasn't like he'd smacked her or anything... As he left, he heard Singh's words and turned to smirk at Soleil, only to get a glare. "What?"
"Trying to push her away would have been easier..." She reached up, yanking him down by the top of his mane to her level. "That will NOT count in our bet." She then shoved Keahilani away and hurried after Hraga.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 8:45 am
Adiel seemed to take some comfort in Sjari and Ryujin's understanding words. It didn't seem to make her feel much better, but it at least stopped the shivering. When the medics came to collect her, she went willingly. Singh had a kind voice, and she tried to focus on that instead of the few jeers coming from the antsy war party.
It just...
Things were so different now.
----
Hraga snorted, hoping to hush up the few still dwelling on the event with Adiel. The whole thing left a sour feeling in his stomach, and he didn't like it. He didn't really want to know what sort of thing could render a lioness like that so fearful. Was that what they were up against? These monsters from the north?
He tensed. He had to think firekin were of a different sort. These Hongshan were strong, but...surely they'd become stronger through their influence. This wouldn't happen again, that was for certain. "These Nergui," he said to no one in particular. "It seems they like to do more damage than just kill you."
But they weren't up against them today. Today, Azar had them in his sights. And as the group passed through the corridors and into the wide open space before them, Hraga realized they still had some dangerous ground left to cover. In ordinary times, the land in front of them would be the spot where most of the cubs played during the afternoon, surrounded on all sides by the two den wings.
It was abandoned now, thanks to the war games. But a few of the spots were quite familiar to Hraga, who despite his white streaked mane, was still just coming into adulthood. It hadn't been so long ago that he and Tarsa had beaten each other up here. Or that Azar had come to scold him for not being on time for training. "We'll have to be careful here. There's a lot of places for someone to set up a-"
He was broken off by the sound of a most delighted laughter echoing in the rocks.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:05 am
When Nisi moved forward again, it was with her ears laid back, brooding over how poorly some of them had treated the other lioness. This was a war game, not a real war, and while it may have been meant to prepare them, these were still just other pridemembers they were 'fighting.' How could they be so cruel to someone who was supposed to be one of them?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the laughter. "Oh, great."
Hewa had simply watched the little episode unfold from above, and shook her head over it. It was pathetic, in her view, so much so that it wasn't even worth saying anything, except for a rumbled "about time" once they got moving again.
...not for long, though. Well, at least she was still on the high ground!
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:18 am
Soleil looked around, eyes widening as her ears began to move. Just where had that laugh come from? It seemed rather... Ominous. She frowned, peeking at the rather... Open ground. "Should we try hiding, let them come to us...?" It'd be easier, that was certain.
"Cowards hide and wait." Keahilani pushed past his sister, then started heading out. "We should just go straight in. Face them head-on." How many could be left? Only one of their own was tagged out, the rest were Team 2 lions!
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:19 am
She followed along as Hraga moved, but didn't really pay attention to what anyone was saying. Her focus was much simpler, on her surroundings. She had to keep an eye for for any 'enemies', lurking about. Reaction time could be everything, and some had already learned the consequences of being distracted.
The laughter did get her attention. She tensed, ears perked. "Get ready." She flexed her claws into the sand, unnecessary as they would be. "In the dens?" She suggested, out loud. The way the sound was echoing. She realized how eerie this place was now, when there weren't cubs about. Kalama had little to no reason to ever visit this part of the lands, but whenever she had there were youths about. Now it would serve as a battlefield.
Sjari had been close enough to hear Hraga's comment, and he merely hung his head slightly. Yes, the Nergui did much more than simply kill or injure. they did awful things.He found he was on the mend now, despite it all, but others, like Adiel, didn't seem so fortunate.
Despite all the warning and preparation, he felt he firekin couldn't truly be prepared for what was to come. They could win, yes, but there would be loss, and hurt.
He didn't voice his thoughts when the laughter came, but 'Stick together' came to mind. So he made sure his back was only turned to fellow teammates.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:28 am
As Ryujin stayed with Adiel before she left with the medics, he glared at the male who seemed so set on being so severe towards her. They were on the same team, within the same pride, and Ryujin did his best to let ill feelings pass from his heart. But he was angry, and it was evident. He wanted to end this war, this game, and more, in so many ways he did not know possible. He could only try.
As laughter broke, Badieh snarled and roared out, "Show yourselves!" she watched Sjari as he moved away, perhaps to get a better angle, and she wished she had an avian to get a higher perspective.
Mwako'Damu knew regardless of the outcome of his involvement he would train harder. After seeing Adie, how she acted, he would not let that happen to anyone within his pride, not if he could help it.
As Ryujin heard the laughter, his eyes narrowed, and the fire within him spoke, take them at first sight, and he knew he'd try.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:48 am
Naar, not liking how upset Ryujin had been about the bullying of the female called Adiel, moved closer to him again, pressing her side briefly against his. She said nothing but her body language was meant to comfort and when she turned to look at him her eyes seemed to ask: "Are you okay?"
In any case, it seemed that Adiel was in good paws now. She was safe and sound with the medics and away from the Firekin who had thought it amusing to taunt her like that. It worried her, in truth. The Hongshan were the only ones who knew what the Nergui were truly capable of. If Adiel was the result of that then...then...
She gulped and, snapping her gaze away - tried to hide her concern. But then the laughter came and she gave a small yelp - startled. What was going on? Why was this game becoming so scary?
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 11:20 am
Badieh moved to stand next to Sjari, mimicking his movements and their tils were close as she did so. Her eyes were searching the rock faces, trying to see any hidden forms. She kept her back to those she knew well, those she knew were apart of her team in this ordeal.
Mwako'Damu kept his head slightly down, shoulders tensed, waiting. The sound of laughter was not at all calming and his fur bristled.
Ryujin looked to Naar as he felt a pressure on his side, a gentle touch, and his silver eyes looked to hers. His held concern, for Adiel, and a want for answers. He glanced to others around and leaned close to her, nothing her concern as well when the laughter broke. He knew not if Adiel had told any that they were siblings, but, he believed Naar should at least know. But now was not the time. "I will explain later," he whispered, and he offered a sincere, reassuring smile and nudged his head atop hers and stayed close to her.
He would protect.
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