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 Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 4:29 pm
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 She couldn't be surprised when Yavin took the initiative after her failure to formulate any sort of response. She trusted him to do the right thing, the safe thing. The white lioness didn't think that she could stand to lose him, having only just regained him. But when Andama attacked? Lailah's heart jumped into her through and she began to move, body disassociated from any sort of coherent thought.
The fog in her mind was rather rudely interrupted by a sudden pain suffered by her physical body and she looked down to see a black foreleg pressing down on her chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Golden eyes watched the Prince calmly. She supposed that if the lion's goal was to get through this night without bloodshed, she wouldn't restrain him. But he was an idiot if he thought his bloodline meant anything to her.
"And don't you forget," she replied calmly, "that I may now be a member of this pride, but I don't care a whit for any of your royal bloodline other than King Shangyue."
She noticed that Firaga was ready to leap to the King's defense, though Shangyue appeared fairly relaxed about the whole situation. The surprise was when the Princess next to the rebellious Prince attacked.
However, that wasn't her baliwick at the moment, and Tyfu saw white movement out of the corner of her eye. She had no idea what the Apprentice thought she was doing, but it was easy for the Guard to move in front of the other female and stop her in her tracks. She tilted her head at Lailah, smiling mockingly.
"And where do you think you're going, girlie?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Like every other lion in the pride, Halili's attention had been riveted on the building drama unfolding around the Princes and Princess. But her attention was soon diverted by a familiar dark form moving to stand over Firaga's cubs. Orion!
She didn't know whether to be pleased or disgusted. Disgusted, of course, because he'd clearly leapt to do his...her mind spat the word...master's bidding. Pleased because not only was he protecting the innocent children who happened to be nearest to the trouble, he was therefore engaged in such a way that when the fight did begin, he shouldn't be involved.
Right?
The lioness couldn't be sure, however, of how safe her mate and his charges would be. And the low class' normal duties were to assist the higher classes in any way specified. She began moving around the perimeter of the crowd, hoping to reach Orion.
She couldn't get in trouble for helping him protect a trio of cubs, right? And for her peace of mind, she'd be doing something positive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Yksivarinen tried to keep an eye on the lions before him, but it was hard. First Prince Yavin called out from the group for his brother to stop. Which would've been nice if Prince Meshach would listen instead of just pointing out how much danger cubs could be in. But then Princess Andama did the last thing that the Royal Guard had been expecting her to do. She attacked.
Too late, he tried to stop her, but only managed to trip over his own paws on his way, able to watch her charge fearlessly forward and not do anything about it himself. Frantically, the monochrome male scrambled to his feet again, desperate to recoup this loss of face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Lavender eyes widened as Andama attacked. He'd expected that Meshach would be the one, but apparently he was wrong. Later the brown lion would wonder what would have been different if he'd managed to retain the anger that had caused him to attempt a similar charge around the new moon. But for the moment he was neither inclined to run headlong himself...nor to allow anyone to stop Andama.
And so when the Royal Guard fell fortuitously in front of him, Uchanjaa didn't look the gift lion in the mouth. A few moves that any real[i/i] Guard would have been taught, and he stood on top of the other lion.
"Now, why don't you just lie there and let the real Guards take care of this?" he asked Yksivarinen genially."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 The problem, Atz'mayiy was discovering, with being young was that you were little. And small. And short. And generally unable to see over the bigger lions into the middle of the crowd where the real stuff was happening.
So aside from the big, important lions arguing with each other, she didn't know what was happening. The juvenile bounced in place impatiently.
"What's going on?" she demanded of the lions around her. "What's happening?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 The more that happened, the more confused Gealach got. And scared. Had he mentioned scared? Princes and a Princess were arguing, and now the latter had launched herself to attack Shangyue. Oh Great Lion what was happening now? On the night of the full moon!? How could he...how could anyone do this!?
He noticed an exceedingly familiar form not too far away - one of his brothers, Sameah Yareach. But the words coming out of his mouth...! He moved closer to the other black lion.
"What are you saying?" Gealach asked of his brother, worriedly. "What about others from the royal family?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 And here he'd thought this night couldn't get any more stressful. Avahk groaned mentally. He had no desire to get involved in the fight that was developing in the heart of the pride, but he couldn't just leave now. The grey lion was certain that deserters would be hunted down, regardless of who won.
His eye, and ear, fell on a young lioness who was twitching impatiently, demanding to know what was going on. At least that was something he could deal with quickly, and he was fairly certain that her parents would likely forgive him for it, regardless of what happened tonight.
Avahk grabbed Atz'mayiy by the scruff of her neck and shook her until she stopped talking before dropping her on the ground before her. "Hush," he ordered. "This is dangerous, and you should go back to your den this instant!" |
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 6:33 pm
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A lot was happening all at once, Shangyue did not let his expression change, though truly he was concerned by this turn of events. He took a large step back and let Firaga move in front of him, glancing up to the moon as if apologizing that the Great Lion had to witness such aggression. He looked back down in time to see Halili appear and attempt to intervene-- and he almost, almost smiled.
Andama was moving too quickly to do anything when the large black lion put himself between her and her target. Caught at just the right time, she was thrown off course and hit the ground just off to the side of the path she had been taking- not far from where Orion stood with the cubs. She growled in frustration as she pushed herself up to her feet- only to be distracted by the familiar but unexpected lioness that lunged to stop Meshach.
Panic was setting in, they weren't going to get anywhere. This time she kept her feet on the ground and made a quick move to try to get around Firaga and to Shangyue, hoping against everything that this wouldn't be for nothing.
Shangyue couldn't win! They wouldn't give up this easily.
Orion was startled, watching Firaga quickly step forward to send Andama off course and protect Shangyue. When the princess landed nearer to them, he pulled the cubs back a bit-- and then he saw Halili head directly for Meshach and the world seemed to move in slow motion. He felt obligated to act, to do something other than stand here, even protecting the cubs. He was expected to show his loyalty but how could he? Halili had the right idea- stop them before they could get themselves killed.
He managed half a step forward before realizing he was too late, Andama had moved.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:06 pm
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"Caritas."
Normally the eyes that flicked towards her niece would have shown more warmth. If Nyota was showing warmth there now, it was of an infinitely more dangerous sort. "It is good to see you, even..."
She trailed off abruptly, her head snapping up at a roar bellowing the murderer-king's name. Her heart leapt--at least someone in Selene's line knew what was right and good. And there, his sister, her cousin, standing with him. But...so few others. Why so few? It wasn't right. By the Great Lion, they were all better than this.
Weren't they?
And then everything happened at once, and the choice was clear: stand aside and implicitly support the traitor pretending to the throne, or fight. For the briefest of moments, the lioness closed eyes the color of new grass and prayed that her parents would forgive her if she didn't make it out of this. When those eyes opened again, they were hard and clear with resolve. She had to help end Shangyue's would-be reign, here, now.
With a guttural growl, she leapt to Meshach and Andama's aid, swiping at the nearest of their attackers.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:16 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:29 pm
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Orion's heart skipped a beat as he watched Halili, his eyes entirely focused on her. He flinched when Meshach swatted her away, though it was clear he didn't intend to hurt her. His aim was, clearly, Shangyue. There was a long delay in his mind before he realized that his aunt had joined the fight. Their fight. His family, all of them.. and he wasn't brave enough to make a move, couldn't risk anything more than he was doing now when his immediate family was already on thin ice.
"Damnit," he mumbled.
Parisa yelped, leaning against Fasrin but unable to take her eyes away from her father as he really got into the fight. He didn't even make it look hard, getting that brown lioness to the ground- twice. That, and being safely guarded by the dark stranger standing over them, was the only thing to reassure her. Her father was obviously strong enough to keep them all safe.
Andama was knocked off her feet again and this time she had the wind knocked out of her as well. She tried to keep moving as soon as she hit the ground but it wasn't going to happen, she had to get a breath first- and it didn't come until Firaga's hushed threat was spoken and she gasped. She couldn't die, the thought of her cubs hidden away where nobody could find them, staying quiet and still and out of trouble.. they needed her! But she had already made her choice to fight, she couldn't back down now-
She made a move to push herself defiantly back up to her feet but was surprised to see, in the corner of her eye, Meshach moving very quickly towards them.
Shangyue stood stubbornly where he was, a few paces away from the commotion, refusing to participate or sneak away. Now he was in a tricky place, this is what his royal guards were for. He ought not to act foolishly with the Great Lion watching this spectacle and so far he had no need to. His focus was back on the fight once Nyota, a cousin, jumped in to aid his aunt and uncle.
What a pity, he thought. Only three of his aunts and uncles dared to make an appearance and only one of them was wise enough to stay out of trouble. There didn't need to be more blood shed in the Mwezi'Johari but it certainly looked like that was going to be how it ended up.
He looked almost conflicted, or perhaps disappointed. But still fierce and unmoving. He wasn't going to be the one to stop this, not yet.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:46 pm
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 When she'd gone to strike up a conversation with the older lioness, Caritas had not expected all hell to break loose. In her experience, the pride was a relative calm and peaceful sort, even when terrible things happened. This explosion of violence - rather, this third explosion of violence - was so contrary to all the black lioness knew, she wasn't certain how to react.
Which made her all the more surprised when Nyota launched herself into the fray.
Caritas could hardly be surprised, given that just as many of Nyota's family now lay dead at Shangyue's paws as did her own. However, she herself was more concerned with the preservation of all lives, rather than vengeance for her own cousins. Yes, she was related to all those lions who had died. But she had never been exceedingly close to them, and was always aware that despite her blood relation, she was not even remotely royal.
Now that distance in her thoughts made her reluctant to interfere and aid either side in the conflict.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After being bounced around by the grey lion, Atz'mayiy had to pause and let her brains settle in her head. But that also gave time for the grownup's words to sink in, and she realized that the roaring and snarling and other sounds were serious, a lot more serious than when she got mad at her siblings.
So the juvenile did the logical thing. She went around to the grey lion's back legs and hid behind him.
"I'm too scared to go back by myself!" she insisted. "You take me!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only good thing about dealing with the overly energetic bundle of lavender fur was that it left him too distracted to really pay attention to the insanity going on in front of him. Even so, Avahk groaned aloud.
"I can't take you back to your den right now. There will be a coronation tonight, and it would be bad manners for me to leave before it happens," he tried to explain things in the simplest terms possible. Whatever happened, he was certain that the winning lion would be crowned King...or Queen. And it would almost certainly go poorly for anyone who'd shown up and left before the outcome had been decided.
It looked like Avahk was stuck babysitting for the remainder of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The black, white and grey lion groaned as Uchanjaa moved into position on top of him. He was fairly certain that the brown lion outmassed him by a fair bit, which made his position all the more uncomfortable. He struggled, trying to wriggle out from underneath his adversary, but to no avail.
"I am a real Royal Guard!" the lion protested feebly. No matter how he attempted to twist and shift, he couldn't manage to dislodge Uchanjaa. Not even with his movements fueled by sudden panic as the sounds of more lions joining the fray reached his ears.
And it had all been going so well, too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From his vantage point atop "Icky" Yksivarinen, Uchanjaa had a good view of the other knots of combat. He could see that Nyota had added herself to the battle, and that Andama wasn't faring so well against the mysterious Firaga. Well, perhaps it was time he took a firmer stance.
The brown lion took a moment to cuff his opponent soundly, knocking 'Varinen unconscious for the time being.
Then he turned his attention to a more serious fight.
"I think we've had enough royal blood shed," he answered before Andama could respond, and Uchanjaa attacked Firaga with his claws outstretched, aiming to hamstring the darker lion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tyfu growled to herself. She couldn't simply stay here, babysitting two lions that, so far, hadn't shown themselves to be violent! But, by all accounts some of the lions who had been most involved in the fights tonight and previously hadn't shown any inclinations towards violence in the past.
The question was, did she think that the risk of these two joining in outweighed the gain of her helping?
As far as Tyfu was concerned, the question became moot as a blue lioness rushed to aid Meshach, and Firaga seemed to not be making headway as the purple lion attacked him next. Yellow eyes glittering, she snarled to Lailah and Yavin.
"If either of you interferes, I will make your life a living hell!"
With that, the black lioness launched herself at Prince Meshach, the purple lion whom she did not serve in the least. Her claws were outstretched, and she meant to leave scars wherever they landed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lailah wasn't certain what she'd expected from the black lioness blocking her way, but a threat, followed by an attack on Nyota, was not at all what she expected.
The white lioness felt as if she should probably help, but she wasn't certain who, and was pretty sure that she didn't know enough about combat to actually be of use - that she'd simply get in somebody's way.
A niggling thought reminded her that Yksivarinen had managed to help, a little, by falling in somebody's way. Lailah squashed it, however. She was not a total klutz like the lion, an she did have her standards. Which did not include making herself look like an idiot in front of the pride.
"Should we help them, Yavin?" she whispered uncertainly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The heavy purple paw landed on Halili's shoulder, sending her down with a snarl of pain. She was trying to get up again, to see if that leg would support her weight, when she felt an unwelcome swipe on one flank. Turning, her lavender eyes caught sight of an older lioness. Nyota'shuti, one of Unyezi's children...or grandchildren...or general descendants.
Angry, in pain, and utterly infuriated by the identity of her attacker, Halili lashed out, aiming for the older lioness' face. Ideally, her attack would distract Nyota long enough for her to help gang up on Meshach and put an end to this pointless battle.
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