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 Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:51 pm
Bumburuka'Shemshi was lost. This she knew without a doubt and it made her tremble in fear even more than the birds that had 'chased' her into this dark, dreary place.
The day had started out so peacefully; she and her family were camped out on the border of the Pridelands, doing some exploring and just being the happy family that they were. Though her mother and aunt didn't like to stay in one place very long, they had stopped here for a few days, probably to let the four girls in their care rest. Bumbaruka, or Ruka as they called her, didn't mind this: the open Savannah was so much different than the jungle of her childhood it was amazing to her! Even though they'd been traveling through it, everything was still new and wonderous.
Perhaps it was this curiosity about all of these new sights that had finally worn away the last of Bumburuka's timid nature, instead spurring the female into long exploration sessions, with or without one of her sisters. Most of the time this was fine and she'd met more than a few interesting persons this way... but other times there were distinct disadvantages.
Despite her growing up and learning to be more outgoing, Ruka still held her overpowering fear of the winged creatures of the sky. Birds were the one thing she'd feared since childhood and always would. Dark, black shadows descending from above, a chill of something evil, flashes of things she'd never seen and never wanted to. Everytime she thought of it the girl mewled in fear, but at night she could never escape it... nor could she when a flock of birds cawed at her from a tree or stood in her way in a field when she tried to run. It seemed every time she'd turned during that days exploration there was another set of wings ready to engulf her, to destroy her, and she'd had to keep on running.
Running... running.. running... until she couldn't run anymore. Ruka lifted her head from her paws, wiping her cheeks as the morning light broke over the horizon. She'd been gone a day, she was starving, and she was surrounded by... by...
Ruka's breath caught in her throat. With a startled, choked mewl the girl was immediately on her feet and stumbling back against the side of a skull as she saw the piles of bones around her. This dark, desolate land seemed to be made right from her nightmares. The girl pressed herself against the skull hard, expecting at any moment some great monster of an avian to fall upon her with claw and beak.
When nothing happened, she once more peeked her eyes open, paw lowering slowly from her face. She was still in the horrible seeming place, but she was most definitely alone. "Hello?" She asked the air, trembling as her voice echoed softly through the bones. Slowly, Ruka pulled away from the skull, jumping a little when she realized what she had been pressed to, and began to wander out into the lightly fogged graveyard. She sunk low to the ground as she walked and tucked her tail between her legs, "Hellooo...Please?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:04 pm
Lysander prowled the graveyard. Like most of his family, he woke early and wandered the edge of the Maziko territory, keeping an eye out for anything unusual, and simply taking in the breathtaking sight of the suns rays breaking through the thick mists and dust of the dingy graveyard.
While his sisters generally went with their father on his patrols, Lysander preferred to go on his own. Perhaps it was arrogant of him, and he was indeed a serious little thing, but he felt that as the heir of the pride, he ought to develop a personal relationship with the land. A relationship that was best established on his own, without any annoying sisters. Thinking of them, the dark cub wrinkled his nose. Stupid girls...
And then a noise met the prince's ears. Flattening himself instinctively against the side of a ribcage and blending into the shadows, the cub listened intently. There it was again!
Not a hyena's laughter, though. Not even the roar of another lion. It was the whimper of a.. cub? A cub like him?
Slinking cautiously around the edge of the bones, green eyes narrowed as he looked for the source of the sounds. And it didn't take long. The glaringly golden cub stood out in the dank graveyard like a beacon.
Lysander approached her slowly, looking cautious but not afraid. His ears were folded back only slightly, and his tail was held out behind him curiously. He didn't say anything just yet, simply trying to catch the scent of the other cub, and making sure there were no other, more dangerous, animals in the vicinity.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:21 pm
At first Ruka didn't see him. It really wasn't hard to miss Lysander against the dingy background of the graveyard. Then, Ruka turned her head and saw him standing there, not two steps away. Her emerald eyes grew wide before she realized what she was witnessing, and a squeak issued from her mouth. The female fell on her stomach, paws over her eyes for a second and hair on end.
Very slowly it seemed, she lifted a few 'toes' of each paw, peeking up at him. She seemed to realize he wasn't a true threat and once more lowered her paws, glancing around fearfully before she suddenly darted forward!... and bowled right into him, wriggling through his front paws to cower half-under him like she would have any of her siblings. "p-p-please t-tell metheydidn'tfollowmeohgodidon'twannadiestupiduglyBADthingieijustwannagoHOME." The girl whimpered a little, obviously quite distraught, and nuzzled his back leg, squeezing her eyes shut.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:31 pm
Lysander barely had time to widen his eyes in disbelief as the golden cub dashed towards him and... hid... under him?! He gaped in shock, not moving merely out of complete and utter bafflement. Slowly, he folded his ears back and stepped backwards, eyes softening in worry and confusion.
"Umm... I... I'm sorry, are you alright?" She didn't seem hurt, but she was shaking, and... ohgodwhatshouldhedo!
"I uh, I dunno what you mean, I didn't see anything else.." he looked around the area with worry. Something was following her? He hoped it wasn't hyenas. What if it was hyenas? Oh god!
"C-c'mon, in here.." he managed, leaning in to fasten his teeth around her ear and gently tugging her toward one of the looming elephant skulls. "In here, come on..!"
Maybe once they got into a little shelter she'd calm down. "Are you okay? Is something chasing you?" He asked, finally turning to the other cub to give her a critical once-over. He'd never met a lion quite that.. bright. Well, his father was pretty brightly colored, but not golden. Weren't... Pridelanders usually golden? Lysander frowned. Hopefully she wasn't one of them...
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:41 pm
"i'mno--" She stopped, his teeth on her ear. The girl didn't freak out, though; rather, she was used to this sort of tactic with her sisters. Worried, nay terrified, that he had seen something she practically ran into the elephant he indicated, pressing herself between him and the wall of the skull as she looked out its nose to try and see what was out there. "T-the birds," She whispered fearfully, eyes on the sky rather than the ground. "S-stupid birds."
The girl sniffled a little, turning her eyes from the clear-seeming sky and pressed her face into his fur. "I-i was.. out on the grass.. and they were there and they were glaring at me.. so I ran and some were in front of me, and i just..." She started tearing up then and stopped herself, sniffling a little until she'd calmed down again, "And it got dark and I didn't knowwhereiwas *sniff* anymore andIcan'tfindmymomma *sniff* ormysisters *sniff* and its SCARY HERE."
Ruka looked up at him then with tearful green eyes, "Why is everything dead?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:50 pm
"I--" Lysander began, before being cut off by the weeping cub. His breath caught in his lung as she sniffled and pressed her face to his fur. He wasn't used to this sort of thing! His sisters never behaved this way!
Feeling like he probably ought to be comforting *somehow*, the baffled prince ran a rough tongue hesitantly along her head, as his mother occasionally did with him.
"Birds..?" He repeated slowly, looking confused. "Buzzards, you mean? But they don't eat anything unless it's already dead..!" He looked concerned and upset, frowning in thought. Were birds really that scary? He'd never seen any of them attack anything before, except occasionally hawks picking up baby rabbits, maybe...
"Oh, I'm sorry, I..." Lysander trailed off, startled again by the stark gaze of the other cub. He met her eyes for a second, then looked down at his paws. "Um.. I don't know, that's just... how it is." he replied lamely. "Things come here to die." Looking back at the golden cub, he attempted a smile. "It's not that scary, though! We have a pride here, and as long as you avoid the hyenas, it's really nice, I mean, I like it!"
He fell silent, embarrassed. He hadn't said that many words in a row before in his life.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:00 pm
"Things come here.. to die?" She whispered in a scared voice, ears shrinking back. Totally spooked looking the girl leaned out the skull again, her mouth in a little 'O.' Slowly she turned to look back at him, trying to process what he was telling her. "A p-pride?" She pondered that as her tears finally stopped. "m-my momma said we were gonna see a real pride... that's where.. that's where we were going..."
her voice was still hardly more than a whisper but it echoed in this place to make it seem as if she were speaking normally. It was a strange affect that set her fur on edge. "I-i've never s-seen a p-pride before..."
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:07 pm
"Well..not everything.." Lysander admitted softly, lowering his head and sneaking another look at the other cub from under his tuft of mane. "Elephants, mostly. Um, and they don't do it all the time, most of 'em have been dead ages..."
At the mention of his pride, however, the cub smiled. "Uh huh! The Maziko Pride. Is that where you're goin'? Cause if it is, I can take you there. Dad's prolly back from scouting by now..." He squinted out of the skull to get a look at the sun. Yeah, it was high enough in the sky by now. His parents were probably back at the den.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:20 pm
The smile was helpful to the female cub. Seeing him smile helped her to push back the clouds that had been over her all day and as sad as she'd been one moment it seemed that the brightness of her pelt echoed inside her as well. She offered him a slow smile in return, though she looked a little worried still. "I've.. never heard of the Maziko... we were going someplace else. ... i don't think there was a name involved, though, she just kept saying the 'pride's lands.' ... My big sister things its the pride she came from years ago, but they won't tell us the name of that cuz they're afraid of it, so i don't know why they'd be going back..."
Ruka frowned a little, pondering that over. Mother and Aunt didn't seem to worried about where they were going, she thought, so that certainly couldn't be it. Brightening again, she grinned at Lysander, "But maybe it was this place! They didn't say and they said the people we were going to see were friendly and... you seem really friendly!" Leaning in, Ruka nuzzled under his chin with a very soft giggle. yes, her spirits were definitely returning.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 8:28 am
"The... the Pridelands?" Lysander repeated, his insides going cold at her words. "Are you sure she called them that?" He looked worried, going to the mouth of the skull to make sure nothing was there, then turning back to Ruka with a concern expression. "My pride isn't the Pridelands. The.. the.."
He shuddered, sitting down and curling his tail around himself. The stories he'd heard.. should he tell the other cub? Would he upset her? But surely she deserved to know the truth, so that she might escape before it was too late..!
"My mother and father were kidnapped, when they were young, by two horrible, cruel lions. Bigger than any lions anywhere else! They tortured them and forced them to go with them to the Pridelands, where they ruled. My parents escaped, but only just." He explained gravely, stopping to look back at Ruka to see how she would take this.
"But you don't have to go! you can stay here, if you want, we'll protect you...!" He added hastily, looking distinctly uncomfortable as she nuzzled him.
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:44 am
"They... hurt them?" She asked in whisper, her ears drooping once more at the tale he told. "But.. Momma said the pride land lions are nice..." it didn't add up, really. She frowned a little, "she said... she said we'd like it there..."
Bumbaruka looked very upset by this, glancing once more out the skull. "Maybe.. maybe she doesn't know... What if.. OH!" The girl sat up straight, looking VERY worried suddenly. Her large, round eyes trained on him again as she turned to pounce upon him. Looming over him the girl asked fearfully, "What if she doesn't KNOW! And they're going there.. and my sisters and everybody's gonna be MEAN TO THEM!"
That story was definitely not something he should have told her, for the girl buried her face in his fur for a moment, shaking. After a minute or two of this, she sniffled and backed off of him once more. Her eyes went to the "cave" mouth and the growing light beyond. "... m-maybe... maybe they could come here instead. I could warn them and stop them from going in!"
Bumburuka grinned, taking a few prancing steps towards the exit when he face fell again. "But I don't know where they are...."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:04 pm
"Some of them were nice, but they let them hurt my parents cos the mean ones are bigger." Lysander explained with a nod. To him, it made perfect sense. After all, his parents had TOLD him so!
His ears drooped as Ruka panicked. He hadn't meant to upset her! Oh, dear... He hesitantly reached out a forepaw to pat her own. "It's okay, m..maybe your family can stay here with us!" He offered, cracking a somewhat lopsided smile and nudging her cheek with his nose. "Yeah, my parents won't mind." He paused, then added "They're the King and Queen, so if I asked 'em they'd have to say yes!"
He puffed his chest out a bit them, having realized that he hadn't told the golden cub that he was a PRINCE yet. He tried to arrange his posture to look regal and modest at the same time. It was difficult.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:14 pm
"REALLY?" She brightened up again a great grin spreading across her features. "We should go ask them then!" The girl nodded and, regardless of danger, dashed out of the skull and into the growing sunlight. She stopped a tusk-length away to tilt her head at him, "What's a 'king' and 'queen'?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:19 pm
"Yeah." Lysander said, trying to seem non-chalant. "It's not a huge pride, though, but yeah, they're--"
He trailed off at her question, turning to fix green eyes on her in disbelief. "You don't know what a..? Oh. Um. It means they're royalty! They're... in charge. Of the pride." he explained, following her out of the skull into the sunlight. It made her brightly colored fur look even more out of place.
"It means someday I'll be in charge!" he added, shivering. The idea still made him a little bit nervous.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:30 pm
"In charge?" She thought of that, her head tipping to one side as the concept wrapped about it. A pride, she had been told, was a large group of lions, much larger than her little family. So, it did make sort of sense that they would need someone to be the 'mommy' of their large group. "OHhh... so... They're the mommy and aunt of the entire pride?"
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