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 Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:43 pm
"Uh huh!" Lysander nodded, hoping she understood the concept. It wasn't too hard to grasp, was it?
He began to make his way slowly towards the larger skull that his parents used as a den, making sure Ruka was behind him every few steps.
"Umm.. kind of like that, I guess... more like a mom and a dad, though. My aunts don't live here anymore."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:54 pm
Dad.. there was that strange word again. It was remarkable how easily she forgot about the existence of such things; one of these days she'd get it, though. For now she just bounced and giggled as she followed along with him. "I see! So that makes you the King-Jr. right?" She gasped suddenly, eyes wide and grinning, "SO YOU'RE GONNA BE A DADDY!"
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:48 pm
"Um," Lysander said, frowning thoughtfully. "Kinda.. it's called a prince." He explained, unable to contain a small smile at Ruka's enthusiasm.
However, at her exclamation regarding parenthood, he stopped and gaped. "What? No! I mean, maybe.. maybe someday, but it's not really like that... Er." He trailed off, shaking his head. "It's kinda different. Maybe my parents can explain to you."
With that, he lept the few remaining feet to the mouth of his parents' den and peered inside. "Mama?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:56 pm
Ruka finally stopped, somewhat behind him, and took a good look around at what they were. There were a lot of bones... well, everywhere. Not much grass... not ANY grass, actually, from what she could see. How strange... Finally her emerald orbs fell upon the skull he was talking to and.. realized what it was.
Her eyes widened a little, trying to imagine what it had come from. She remembered him mentioning elephants, but she had only seen those at a distance on the trip to the PrideLands with her mother. Ruka's heart stabbed slightly with pain at the thought of her mother and sisters. They would be worried about her, she knew... and she was worried about them, of course. Those pridelanders sounded so mean!
The orange cub gave a little mewl, and skittered up the few steps between her and Lysander, pressing herself to his side once more before ducking down to slide half underneath him, her nose poking out from between his front paws.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:42 pm
Lysander made a little "oof" noise as Ruka slid under him again. "It's okay, she's really nice," he murmured, trying to sound reassuring.
Amleth stretched and eyed the pale light outside the den. Shaking her head, she stood and shook the dust from her fur. Lysander had gotten up earlier than she had, for once! Padding out into the mists of the graveyard, the lioness paused for a moment to let her eyes get used to the light.
"Lysander," she said, then looked down at Ruka, lifting her eyebrows. "You have a new friend?"
"Um.. uh huh. This is my mama," Lysander said, nudging Ruka gently forward. Amleth lowered her head to the cubs' height and smiled.
"No need to be nervous, no one's going to hurt you." She said gently.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:51 pm
"H-hello ma'am," She said in a small, but cheery voice at the lioness that had emerged from the Cave. It was obvious where Lysander had gotten his colourings from, though Ruka was still a little surprised at the lioness's appearance. Both her mother and aunt were very brightly coloured lions, almost blindingly so, and their colours clashed so badly it was hard to tell that they were even from the same litter. The only other lioness she'd met in her life previous to now hadn't been as bright as either of her relations, but she still hadn't been this... dull.
Dull was a harsh word, though; while not bright by any means, Amleth did has a beauty about her dusty, more muted colouring that blended in well with the place she lived in. Unlike the little spark of sunlight now wandering around them.
Most of Ruka's back end stayed situated between Lyander's front paws. Though they were about the same age, if Lysander not a little older than she, he was definitely bigger than she--enough that she could duck under him with ease. Slowly her ears perked up a little as Amleth indeed didn't hurt her and seemed to be very nice indeed. "I'm not nervous!" She informed in a soft tone as a smile stretched across her face only to fall again as she remembered what she WAS nervous about. Leaning in closer to Amaleth, green eyes roaming up to the giant skull the lioness was sticking half out of, she whispered to her only loud enough that Lysander might have heard, "Did you know you live in a skull?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:58 pm
Lysander smiled lopsidedly at his mother and half-shrugged, as if to say "don't look at me", and gave up nudging Ruke all the way out from under him. She seemed determined to use him as a shelter for the time being.
Amleth crouched low so she was at face-level with the bubbly sunshine-colored cub, crimson eyes lit with interest and amusement. She leaned in and turned a dark ear towards Ruka, then looked back at her den. To Ruka, to her son, back to the den, around the dreary bones of the graveyard, and finally back to Ruka.
A few seconds' pause, and the lioness burst out laughing. She slunk further out of the skull, grinning. "I had noticed, but I thank you for pointing it out! I imagine it must come as a bit of a shock, if you're not from here." She smiled then, giving Ruka a long look. "I'm not from here, either. It surprised me a lot when I first saw it, too."
She seated herself gracefully, curling her tail around dark forepaws and gazing down at the cubs. "So, where *are* you from, then?" She inquired.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:12 pm
Ruka finally drug herself completely out from under Lysander, at least for the moment. Had anything else startled her she likely would have dove right back underneath him, but thus far nothing came up and the laughter put her at ease. That in itself was, perhaps, remarkable as there were many others whom would have been annoyed or embarrassed at being "laughed at." Ruka took this in stride and even grinned whole heartedly. Behind her, her tail swung back and forth in a lazy, happy pendulum.
"I've never seen a place so full of bones before!" She chattered at Amleth, backing up the thought that she hadn't seen such a thing before, "I thought all Lions lived outdoors or under leaves! I guess it makes sense, though, cuz you might get rained on."
For a moment she drew her mouth together in a purse, contemplating this dire fate of wetness. "I don't really like the water," She admitted on a tangent as she sat down in a copy of the way Amleth had and the grin broke over her face again like sunshine though the clouds, "I used to but then this log tried to eat me. It was on the shore, but it went back into the water afterward. Thats where they live, you see, the bad logs that wanna eat us."
Ruka glanced over at Lysander, wondering if he'd ever had such an encounter, when she remembered she hadn't fully answered the question. "OH! I come from the Jungle," The cub nodded and ruined the imitation of the elder lioness by bouncing slightly in place, "My family and I stayed there for a LONG time, and it was always raining and covered in trees and leaves and flowers and BUGS!" Unlike most little girls, Ruka seemed very happy about the prospect of bugs.
"But," She continued on, "We left cuz momma said we had to, and she was going to take us to these Pride Lands, but then... then..."
Ruka's ears sank back against her skull as confusion hit her once more, "Then the birds chased me here and I haven't seen my sisters or my momma or my auntie in a long time and then Lysander said that the pride land lions were MEANIE BUTTS and they would call them NAMES!" This last was exclaimed with the utmost importance, green eyes huge and watery and pathetic up at Amleth. In all honesty, Ruka didn't know WHAT to do about the situation, only that she had to save her sisters from what was, laughably, the worst fate she could imagine.
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:32 pm
Amleth grinned at Ruka. It was nice to see such a cheerful, playful cub! Her own were slightly less... hyperactive, and Lysander was so serious sometimes it worried her. Perhaps this new friend of his would help him loosen up a bit!
"It is certainly more dry in our den than not," Amleth agreed. "I'm pretty sure a lot of lions have dens, though. Just most of them aren't made of skulls." She watched Ruka think with amusement, simply nodding as she described being chased by a log. Having never seen an alligator, the older lioness assumed it was some tale of cubbish fantasy. Lysander just started at his new friend, amazed at how much she was talking. Where did she KEEP all the words? They just kept spilling out!
Amleth listened patiently as Ruka described her old home. "The jungle! I bet Nerissa would like it there, hm?" she commented to Lysander with a smile. Her youngest daughter was quite interested in all manner of crawly things. Her smile faded, however, at the mention of the Pridelands. She didn't say anything for a long time, then stood and beckoned the two cubs to follow her into the den. "I can tell you about the Pridelands." She looked to Lysander. "There's something you should know, too."
(Blaaah blah can we just pretend she told them about her and Duhu being kidnapped? And then she needs to tell Lysander that Kami and Ta came to meet with her and Duhu about the arranged marriage between Nerissa and Akida so now she knows that there's new rulers who she trusts so she doesn't think the Pridelands are that bad anymore cos they've formed an alliance with the Maziko. I just don't wanna type it all out XD *cough* BUT THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED.)
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:53 pm
It had been with a slight amount of trepidation that Bumbaruka entered the skull that was their home. Once inside it seemed alright, however, and she happily curled up with her friend to listen to Ameleth's stories. Some of it was worse than anything she'd ever heard before, frightening her to the very core. But the ending... the ending was better. She didn't quite understand the politics behind leadership or things such as royal "alliances," but she did understand that Ameleth considered things to be getting better for the Pride Lands. That was good, Ruka decided, a smile upon her features as she thought over what was said.
It had been a long day for her, though. She hadn't really slept the night before and she'd done a lot of exciting things in the past short forty-eight hours. Indeed, her stomach was rumbling quite a bit, but that didn't matter to her right now. She was warm and safe and, yes, inside the head of a very large dead thing, but most importantly she was with those she considered friends. Laying between the familial pair, comforted by the fur against her own, Bumbaruka put her head down upon her paws as they talked over her head. Before she knew it, she'd passed on into a very grateful sleep.
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:58 pm
Glad that her explanation seemed to have calmed Ruka down a bit, Amleth smiled as the bright cub curled up and drifted off. She watched her warmly for a moment, then looked to her son.
"I have to go get some hunting done, Lysander. You should probably stay here with your friend."
Lysander nodded, having had no intention of leaving Ruka all alone in the den. He watched her with fascination as she snoozed, her tiny chest rising and falling with each breath.
Smiling, Amleth rose quietly and padded out of the den, glancing back once at the two cubs before she left. It would be good for Lysander to finally have a friend his age who knew how to have fun.
{END 8D}
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