Welcome to Gaia! ::

Simba leaned towards Nala and whispered, "Are you sure?" At that moment, the crow approached him and answered his question herself. Simba looked at her in awe. There's a certain air of dignity around her.
Wow. She's an old crow, but she looks impressive! "Whoa hey! mom!" Simba whined in surprise as Mother's large paw caught and dragged him towards her. His nose wiggled as the reassuring scent of Mother's cool damp fur reached him. Sarabi's loving warmth, which Simba had known since his earliest days, flowed through her fur and enveloped him. Simba sighed in contentment and snuggled himself deeper. Mother's gentle and affectionate voice reached his sensitve ears and he flicked them. "Oh, I was just inside the cave, watching the rain and playing with Nala." Casting a mischievous sidelong glance at Nala, he added, "And I beat her too! I was so strong and...Awww mom, mom...stop it! stop it!" Simba eyes almost popped out as without warning, Sarabi's wet tongue came down on his head, cleaning him. "Okey...okey..I'm clean! C'mon mom!" Simba complained, his four limbs struggled wildly, as he attempted to get himself out of Sarabi's embrace.

Maawio looked to Simba and his mothers embrace, her nose almost touching the dusty ground. Her eyes looked glassy, she smiled to herself weakly. She could just see her, forcing a smile, next to Simba, her mother looking very proud atop pride rock. The sound of Simbas roar. The marriage ceremony. Maawio gritted her teeth, her growl erupting from her throat. She glanced to Simba and blinked heavily, two angry tears of frustration reluctantly dripping down her golden cheeks. She swished her tail, as she pulled up her paws and bounded away, her eyes glimmering as the wavering heat reflected her retained tears...

The figure of a great read lion dotted the boundry of the pride lands. Smaller dots followed along with him- a white one, a golden one- larger than the others- a brown one, and perhaps some others if they weren't making themselves at home on his back at the moment. He was tired, thinner from the long trip accross the desert and looked not at all dangerous- not at the moment. His great maned head was slumped and his tounge flopped from his ebony lips. He could smell water and life all around him but his wearyness was so great that it was blinding. He didn't see anything. The only thing that pushed him on was the smell of water. Even within reach of the watering hole he seemed spaced- very much unlike the prey animals that had been enjoying a drink themselves. The strange lion stirred them from their drinks and drove much of them away. The elephants paid little mind to him and the others- they knew that they were larger and only an idiot would try to bring them down.

Mwali could feel the cool of water lapping against his paws and almost instantly everything came to life. He dipped his head down and began taking in greedy laps of water. It felt wonderful on his pasty throat- scorched by the heat and made dry by the desert winds. He allowed himself to wade in to his great shoulders as he drank. It was cool, refreshing... he'd never seen so much water, never felt the cool of it along his skin, never felt mud between his paws. It was glorious. After he had a full belly of water he looked up and around himself. The first thing to catch his eye was-of course- the massive elephants. He had never seen them so until they moved he passed them off as rocks. Seeing them move, he jumped from the water back onto the shore. His eyes widened and pupils diolated in shock- what were these things?! How did something so large manage to live?! Then he noticed more things- trees.... tons of them. He'd only seen weak whithered shrubs and assumed that's how all trees looked. To see otherwise was a shocker. Grass everywhere, the ground really was green here. Everything was wonderful.

The air was crisp and bearable- it was cool to him though to any other creature it was probibly warm. He could see whole herds of prey just standing around- not that he knew how to hunt them... he was starving by then. The trip accross the sands had proved to show only a few mice and hares for food. Dispite his urge to give hunting a try he remained still as a stone, slowly looking down to the cheetah, fox, and her cubs- his odd little "pride".

Taka filled her lungs with the pure, grass scented air letting out a relieved and cheery sigh. Her eyes dropped in pleasure at the feeling of grass under paws again, the grass brushing away the coarse, offending sand. Her mouth watered at the sight of the many gazelle scattered around the lands, at peace and grazing intently. A flicker of slyness flew across her maw, a smirk growing from her little smile. She turned to look over the cubs, fox and lion who seemed impressed at the sight. 'Hopefully, he'll find a littl happiness here...'

Teule moved in front of the others, his anger returning to it's cage in the back of his mind. No time to think of such thoughts when such good things were happening. A weak grin sat on his face as he took in the delicate, flourishing landscape. It was going to be a fun challenge to hunt in these areas, probably easier now that they didn't have to run on the sinking sand dunes. His tail rose high as he inched forward, throwing a mischevious glance towards Woko and Jasi.

"Wanna race?"

The old crow looked up to where Sarabi was looking and a warm smile laced her old beak, she then bowed her head respectfully to the wise king of Pride Rock before she chuckled at Taku just sitting there smiling and giggling happily as she watched the prince try and escape his mother.

Mwali calmed himself and glanced to the others. The cheetah was smiling right back at him- that was a bit confusing. The entire trip through the desert she never once failed to remind Mwali that he was to behave. Now and then she'd try to teach him to hunt but it was no good- he was far too clumsy, made too much noise, and didn't have the patiance to get close enough to the pray. He wasn't slow but he wasn't exactally quick either. His paws would often catch in a sinkhole of sand and trip him up. Of course that was an antic that the cubs had never grown tired of laughing about, but they were always sure to come up and ask if he was all right. He'd grumble his answer and get to his paws, trying to hide his face from the others. He had been a prince and though his title meant little more than laying around and growing fat- it still had a good deal of pride in it, pride that was hurt if he muffed up as badly as he had.

That was all past now. He had grown quite attached to the cubs- and even the cheetah though he'd not admit it openly. He watchd the cubs slowly move to the water, Jasiri had been pretty close to him pretty much the whole trip. It seemed her and Teule were the ones "caring" for him of the entire "pride."

"I have to find the king here..." he said- turning to Taka, "I have to give him a message from one of my pride- that and make sure he won't...." He glanced to the cubs, a bit of a wince forming, "Hurt the little ones."

He knew the ways of the lions well enough just by watching his father. If a rouge cub came into their lands it was either enslaved or killed. He'd not let that happen- or at least he'd try. The best he could do in a fight was be a meat shield long enough for the cubs to make a decent head start... knowing that wedged a stone in the pit of his gut but if that's what it came down to, it would be done. He turned his great head towards the odd rock formation that seemed to be the center of the land. He could see golden creatures moving along them... the golden lions he had heard about for so long.... they were real after all. Would they be like his tribe? No... not what he had known form the lioness who had given him the message. She was angry when the possibility of slavery came up. He'd not let his guard down.

He took a slow breath, rounding the water hole and making his way towards the rock and the golden shapes. He wanted them all to come with him but if they stayed there he could fully understand. It was dangerous... but more for him than them. He was a firekin, they were known for their brutality and doubtless the other prides had heard of them before... they probibly hated them. He knew that with his bright crimson coat he stuck out like a sore claw- they'd see him coming.

Good... then they at least can assume that I'm not trying to sneak up on them... that or they'll know how witless I am.

"Aw mom!" Simba whined as Mother foiled another escape attempt yet again. "C'mon mom, I'm clean!" Twisting and turning his fuzzy body around, Simba ended up upside down within Sarabi's paws, and his eyes brightened like sunshine, his tail swished excitedly, his ears flickered and his jaws split into a huge grin as he saw...his Father. Mufasa, King of the Pride Lands, walking towards him. "Hey dad! Where have you been? I can't wait for you to show me around my...your kingdom!" "And Nala too" Simba added almost as an afterthought (sorry vieve, couldn't resist doing that XD)
Simba stretched one of his paws out to Mufasa in reply to his question and attempted to swat Father's gigantic mane. "Well, I..." Simba grimaced as another wave of cleaning flowed from Mother, this time so intense that half his face got twisted out of shape. (XP)