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The bird bobbed up and down excitedly. How eventful this small gathering was turning out to be! This was more entertaining than anything that ever happened out in roguelands. Lions snapping at each other, squabbling over...well Thola still couldn't quite make out what they were fighting over. They wanted males, but only a certain type of male, and that certain type was nowhere to be found. Thola didn't understand why they didn't just go out and find a good pool of males they liked and picked from those. No vulture she had ever met would be so picky.
But it was not Thola's place to judge. Her role in the pride was to help find food and water, not pick the lions' mates for them.
She regarded Andhaka with a beady stare. Ah yes, one of the pride's males she had seen. Or at least, she assumed he was with the pride. It was hard to tell with the other red pelts. To Thola, he looked exactly like one of them. "Red pelt! Red pelt!" The vulture squawked at the male's approach, wings flapping dramatically.

"Enough!" Ukwazi's voice rang out with a snarl of her own to add to those of the other lionesses'.

The tan Umzingeli's hackles raised as she stood under the shadow of the lifeless tree. "If a red-pelt wants to become an Umholi, he must challenge for it as much as any male will have to. Andhaka has already proven his worth, unlike any of the Lusizi or Ahluke in the pride, by besting Nguvu who, as already mentioned, bested Jasiri."

Tossing a glance to the newly arrived Inselelo, Ukwazi snorted. "As it stands though, Andhaka is the best we have for defending the pride. Cubs could be raised to fight for the right to lead us and Lusizi could as well, but neither as of this moment could defend us." Her head turned towards the outpost with a look of mild disgust. Ukushisa had contemplated leaving for the red-pelts once upon a time, but that dream had quickly fell to the wind and was forgotten. "If they want the pride, they'll have to fight their way into it, but to address the immediate concern, Andhaka is who I support becoming Umholi."

[OOC Information]

We're on page three now! A new prize will be added to the prize pool shortly.

Her snarl increased in frequency when Nolaka crouched, even as she twisted, going from her belly onto to her side, on front paw raised to fend off the leap that was about to come. There was no question that the small female was the weaker, but she was still a lioness, with a lioness' resiliance.

Subsiding when Ukwazi snapped at them, Dania fell silent, laying flat on her side panting a little roughly. After a moment she dropped her head to the ground despite Nolaka's continued glaring. Dania bared her own fangs in return, but the brief moment of bravery was gone and she simply lay still, only her heaving sides moving as she panted, where she lay sprawled now before the Umama.

The last thing Jagazi expected was to be bombarded from above, and she turned her head up and snarled at the vulture. She wasn't sure what 'tournament' meant but she wasn't about to agree with the bird.

"Hey!" she called, "That's not fair. You're lucky I can't reach you up there!"

She almost missed Nolaka's comment.

"I can't see what his mane has to do with it," she grumbled. She knew that some of the females believed that dark-maned males were stronger somehow, but her mother and aunt had raised her to pay no attention to that. The old fashioned gang could be quite vocal however...

She fell silent as hackles were raised and ears tilted back in response to the large male approaching. Jagazi hadn't met the ambassador and his presence made her nervous. Some of the lionesses seemed perfectly calm, but enough of them looked worried to make her on edge too. She didn't mind white-maned males, but she found herself minding very much if this particular one was here to take over the pride or something like that. The young female backed away a bit. When the stranger was introduced as the Cabanga she relaxed a tiny bit, and when there was talk of voting she couldn't stay silent and timid any longer.

"I vote both," she said, giving Nolaka a stubborn look, "Or Jasiri if I can only vote for one."

It didn't occur to her that voting for he own father might cause problems for her later. She was a bit too young to think of cubs yet, and since so many females were bashing the white-manes she was even more determined to defend the white-maned Inselelo.



Kokumo stayed silent as tension rose and both fur and feathers were ruffled. The presence of Andhaka seemed to further agitate the situation, but she was not going to make his presence stop her from adding her vote.

"Jasiri fathered a large litter of healthy cubs," Kokumo said, "Andhaka has none. Are we sure he's up for it? I'll still vote for Andhaka, for obvious reasons, but we should make him keep Jasiri around at least until we know he can give us cubs."



Buna recognized the Cabanga by his markings, and wasn't as hostile or frightened as some of the other females when he approached. She scowled at him, but she'd looked unhappy the entire meeting so the difference was hardly noticeable.

"If we're voting, I'll vote no red pelts," Buna said, and then felt the need to clarify, "Not of any color. And I don't think Luzisi should be able to stay as Inselele unless they've been strengthened by the roguelands first. It's just not right."

She still refused to sidle with any of the Inselele.

She waved her paw dismissively. "Calling them red-pelts feels too specific and defining, as if ALL of them had red pelts, when there's also red-pelted lions out of their pride. Desert lions feels more apt a description since they LIVE IN A DESERT. But, whatever." She eyed the vultures sourly, then turned her sour gaze on Jagazi. "You do realize that if Jasiri is the Umholi, you'll be without cubs if he doesn't let males in as inslele right away, right?" She flicked her tail. "I vote Andhaka."

Zola shifted uncomfortably. They were voting? Oh dear... She wasn't much for voting, or being put on the spot. She wasn't the type to lead, but follow. Where others went, she went behind them. She didn't make the finishing bite to kill the prey, instead she was in the thick of it, one of the lionesses holding the struggling zebra down. "I... I..." She chewed her lip. "I vote neither!" When she noticed the questioning look her mother gave her, she shrank down just a bit. "Too many seem biased against Jasiri over a silly matter, and others seem to just not like Andhaka for one reason or another... So why not just start from scratch?"

Ooooh, this was an interesting vote... Mhisani let out a sigh, then ushered her daughter over, grooming her ears. "We must all swallow things we don't like to survive... Be it scraps of food left by another predator because we're starving, or dirty water because we are thirsty and there is none... This is one of those situations... And while I don't like him, I vote for Andhaka." She let out a puff of air, ears folding back slightly. "I, for one, can't ignore that he DID defeat Nguvu..." Especially since she was the only one who cared to take a chance and have cubs with the Inslelo. In fact... She'd noticed that trend... Each Inslelo had only ONE litter. "That is, IF he can produce TWO litters... Because I've yet to see ANY Inslelo produce more than ONE."

"No," she called out quickly at the Inselelo's remark on leaving for the lionesses to finish their business. "Stay, Andhaka. You may not have that large of a say in the matter, but you are concerned, as much as we all are." It was something many of those around her seemed to forget. This meeting was not just for the lionesses, but for cubs and those just growing large enough to hunt, even males too. It was a discussion, but it had turned into so much more now.

Ukwazi had not intended this to come to a vote or to even suggest it come down to that, but perhaps that was the single best way to determine a course of active if no one, not even Andhaka, would step up. Though she could not blame the striped male for not trying yet. Many lionesses would have simply dismissed his claims or challenged it, though it seemed many were also backing him with the assumption that Ukwazi's personal backing of Andhaka meant to take a vote. Sitting quietly with Ukushisa beside her, who was equally as quiet, which was odd for the red pelted lioness, Ukwazi listened as each lioness spoke, giving their final opinion on the matter. Some did not speak right away, for reasons she could only assume they wished to keep to themselves.

What was said was said though, there was no turning back now.

"What say you then, Andhaka?" The tan lioness asked with a quirk of her brow and a grin on her face as she looked to the Inselelo. "You seem to have enough backing from my pridesisters and I. Do you have the making to be an Umholi?"

[OOC Information]

Sorry for not leaving the vote window open longer (I actually had not intended there to be a vote, but that was a good move <3), but I'd like to move this along so I'm going to post early. c:

So. They had made a decision. Or were on the verge of making one. The bird had little idea of how the lion's voting system operated. Thola had been hoping for something more exciting to happen, but then again, when it came to the decision itself...well, not every lioness gathered supported it. A least that was what it seemed. That would no doubt lead to some tensions and conflict, and that would be most entertaining indeed. How interesting it was that their males held the power, and yet the females were determining who the power was given to. What would happen when not all of the lioness supported who was receiving that power? Thola lived for things that were...of an interesting nature such as this. Even the few short weeks she'd been hanging around had proved to be the most fun she'd had in her entire life. Well, suffice to say she had a wonderful reason to stick around the pride now, more than just the chance for an extra scrap of meat. Thola would stay nearby and see how this all played out. And who knew. Maybe she would make the full commitment of working with one of their lions. It would tie her to the pride officially, but the vulture didn't think that would be such a bad thing, if events turned out to be entertaining.
What a wonderful investment this was turning out to be.