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A fresh face would inch it's way closer for a better look, lit with the excitement of activity and with the intrigue of Nahmba's unusual behavior.

Awiki had come to know many of the faces in the pride, despite them not necessarily knowing of her. The lioness had been a useful component wherever one was needed, participating in the hunts typically, and had in that aspect earned her place amongst the others. But socially Awiki had distanced herself. It was in many ways out of respect, or at least that was how the lioness treated it. The inner-workings of daily life, no matter how strange times were getting, were not often available to strangers and Awiki had come to accept this long before the Bonelands. She had also come to accept, and had already forgiven, the cryptic or otherwise evasive individuals that had crossed her path long before ever having met them...

Fortunately, Awiki would catch the attention of a pride-born lioness and would no longer feel the constraints of suspicion holding her down. Not so strongly, anyway. Keeping in the company of Nombuso, she freely spoke to the older female, as well as made attempts to communicate elsewhere.

Such as then, finding herself in the mix of something new. The lioness arrived just in time for the festivities to begin.

"OH!" Awiki exclaimed suddenly in her efforts to push through the crowd, her feet coming to an abrupt stop beside the nest. She hadn’t noticed the chicks in the center of their circle before than, and had to side-step to avoid landing on either of them. Her focus had been on the cubs and the mud that would be smeared onto their tiny little heads. “I'm sorry chick-lings." She cooed, leaning in to sniff their thin plumage before glancing toward the gathering youth. Apparently these vultures were somehow involved... If they could be, than why couldn't she? "If you need an extra paw, I can help with that!”



"Awiki," Nombuso's voice boomed in warning, shaken by the near-tragic end to their gathering and angered by Awiki's clumsiness. A quick nudge against the new arrival’s hip alerted Awiki of her concern, but did not seem to slow the other down. The Busisa's enthusiasm seeped through her mock-apologetic frown, twisting at the very ends of her lips into an eager grin. It was adorable, but Nombuso was still very unsure as to how the others would take to her. "Do you even know what they are doing?" The question was posed rhetorically, her brows furrowed in an attempt to sustain a sense of seriousness.

She knew as much about ceremonies as the pride itself, but had no intentions of letting Awiki in on that little secret. For all the other lioness knew, Nombuso was well versed in this area.

But it was truly Nahmba who had the experience, and for that Nombuso was grateful. She swayed on her paws to give the light lioness another nudge, before offering a smile. Perhaps with the air being as light as it was amongst the crowd, Awiki would be humored. She was not usually this intense, and those who would be later interested in speaking with the Busisa would come to find what it was Nombuso had.

Dania had moved closer to her sister, fascinated by the chicks and by the older lions all around them, for the adults seemed just as excited as she herself felt. When she was suddenly nudged along behind her twin towards a rather large and intimidating male, Dania felt her tail curl under her quarters, and her small body hunch down a little. This was why she and Kania were so close, it was her twin's boldness that kept Dania walking towards the scary adult.

"Umm..." She had no idea what animal she wanted to pick, had never really considered being anything other than a lion. "I... guess I'll pick a serval...?" They were quick and sleek and fast, and superb hunters considering their small size. She hoped one day to be as proficient as they were....

Suddenly she was yanked from her thoughts by the thin, shrill voice of one of the chicks and only barely managed to jump backwards in time to save her toes from that tiny but rather dangerous looking beak. "Ah!" She exclaimed in startled confusion, stepping back rapidly as the chick went on a packing frenzy.

She turned to give Nombuso one of those annoyingly smug grins, tail playfully swatting at the older lioness' thigh. She didn't need to know what was going on, not completely and not when the object that had gathered so much attention was interested in a stare down with her.

"What lovely green eyes this one has!" Of course, one would have to get past the fact that they were green and bulging, as well as on a bald, wrinkly, and rough-looking vulture...once you were past all that they were actually quite nice! Awiki motioned as if to prattle on about something, more than likely pertaining to the bird but one could never tell, when she was struck, unprovoked, by the hatchling in question.

"OUCH!"

Such fight in the purple vulture surprised Awiki and sent her reeling back, unaware of who she might bump into. The chick in turn scampered off to inflict pain elsewhere, leaving the peach lioness a bit speechless. Somewhere beyond her sight, Nombuso's laughter rumbled...but the lioness had no plans of facing the older female just yet. It took several minutes and for the runt to screech 'Out!' before the Busisa dipped her head and chuckled.

"I don't think she knows just how tiny she is!"

Meanwhile, Nombuso removed herself from the pecking site, no longer willing to fuss over Awiki's activity. Instead, she decided to turn her attention to the cubs. "Excellent choices, little ones!" She shifted continuously away from the nest, settling in beside the youth of the group. "I would not have been able to come up with better ones myself." A warm smile eased across her face, wavering only when the youngsters were assaulted by the vulture. "Awiki, you're spooking them!" Because of course it had to be the peach lioness' fault. Of course.

Kania smiled at her sister encouragingly before puffing out her chest at the older lion, "I'd have to go wiiiith... a Jackal!" Why she felt the need to be so proud of herself at picking something that held strong to family ties, she wouldn't realize.

When the little chick decided to go for Dania's toes, Kania frowned, wrinkling her nose at the forward ball of feathers, "If you peck at anyone's toes again, the only thing you're getting is swatted at, puffybutt." Her threat however, was no stronger than a gust of wind. There was no way Kania would be outwardly aggressive around Dania... if she could help it. And right now, she wasn't all that hotheaded yet.

Of course, she glanced at Dania's toes to make sure they were all there. That was going to be one of the reasons she didn't pounce on the little blue bug then and there, seeing no harm had come to HER Dania.

"Should we do something?" Matifa asked warily as the vulture continued to go on her spree.

Nahmba's answer was to close her eyes and hum happily. They were going to have to make their own choices--

--and make them fast.

The vulture chick halted in her tracks. She turned, eyes searching until they found the loud, obnoxious, utterly grating sound coming from a certain cub's mouth. The vulture made a hiss, a high-pitched, baby sound that was clearly threatening.

It was all the warning Kania would receive. The tiny chick had lept at her, beak pecking and hind limbs raking at what she could hold onto. What may have been a cute bit of personality before was now an angry menace of feathers. Her tiny, useless wings flapped angrily at her sides, but it seemed she didn't need them.

When the large group had gathered, Hari had cracked one final flea between her teeth before padding over to see what was up. As she saw the baby vultures around the backs and heads of other pride members, she couldn't help thinking that they were so ugly they were cute. She had often wondered what it would be like to be Cigna or Enda, but that thought was always cut short when she remembered how little contact she would have with other lions. No, she preferred hunting.

Suddenly, one of the tiny birds rushed forward and started to harass the cubs. Hari's first reaction was protective anger, and her muscles tensed. She was about to push forward to aid the cubs when she realized that no actual harm seemed to come of the vulture's attacks; while the cubs pulled back with squeals of surprise and sometimes pain, they weren't actually being injured.

That is, until Kania decided to stand up to the tiny bird, and it launched a full-fledged attack on the cub. Hari froze with horror, but only for a second, then began to head towards the front, trying not to be too forceful in passing. She noticed that none of the lions near the front seemed to be doing anything to help Kania, and she called out.

"Isn't anyone going to pull those two apart?!"

Xatu smiled as Matifa complimented his antelope. With the complicated family ties in the pride it was easier to just think of her as a sort-of-sister. They weren't by blood, but since they shared the same half-brother they might as well be. And it was easier to know how to behave around family. Unrelated females still made him nervous.

Xatu didn't mind the pecking at first, he just moved the leg that the chick had nipped. But when she decided to start brawling with one of the twins it wasn't funny anymore. Some of the females still laughed, but that was probably because they had never faced the business end of an angry vulture. Young or not, she could do some serious damage if she hit an eye.

"Hey kid," he shouted, "Close your eyes and try to turn your face away. Can someone lift the cub? Xefo?"

The last part was almost pleading. He didn't dare to rush over for fear of stepping on the chick, but the vulture might be able to separate them.

The vulture waddled towards the scene, wings flapping. He didn't like this at all. The lionesses would probably be careful, but if his daughter kept fighting like this one of the lion cubs might hurt her while trying to defend themselves.

"That's not a good way to make friends," he croaked, but it was unclear if he was talking to the lion cub or the chick, "Oi! Cut it out!"

He cuffed his daughter across the head with a wing, and then smacked Kania too for good measure.

"Xefo!" Xatu shouted. He knew what it felt like to be slapped by a wing. You'd think feathers were soft, but as it turned out they could deliver a fair amount of pain. It looked as if the adult vulture had held back a bit compared to the smacks he usually doled out. But the Enda didn't agree with slapping around cubs or chicks.

((Ooops... Didn't see you there Zohwhee. Good thinking!))