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 Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:51 pm
 Senna had decided.
She was going on a Journey.
It wasn't just any journey. No, it would be a grand one. For too long she had stayed home with her dull family while her other sisters had no-doubt interesting and exciting adventures on the razors edge of danger! Too long had she been the perfect, beautiful, loving, true daughter, left with all of the responsibilities! Carrying, in fact, the entire weight of the family! Too long had she been considered a child!
She was no longer a child, and it was time to throw away childish things! Time to grow, be an adult, and come into her own, like a flower blossoming on a cool night, reflecting the moon in its beauty! Sure, not a lot of flowers blossomed and reflected moonlight around here, but regardless!
Senna would go! Go on a Journey! A Journey of growth and discovery.
A Journey for Beautiful Love!
She'd been toying with the concept as of late. She was an adult, and besides getting old and complaining about aches and pains and taking naps the only thing adults seemed to do was find mates. To have flourishing (flowering?) relationships, told in stories!
To, in fact, have such control over another’s life.
To be the boss of that lion! Imagine, having someone incapable of arguing! To be always right! To be the boss.
It was her calling.
But... There were problems. Her parents for one. And she didn't exactly know how to go about Journeying for Beautiful Love. She was sure it meant leaving these lands, but then she'd be alone and stuff....
The small lioness flicked an ear in annoyance.
She'd be alone and she'd have to take care of herself. That was the pits though, wasn't it? Unless....
A large, mildly frightening grin spread across her face.
"Unless I don't have to go alone," she nearly purred, and, with that final thought, headed out to find the perfect companion for her adventure.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:44 am
 Mikaili had contented herself with resting on a patch of grass some place aways from what her family called "home". Life again had begun to take its leisurely time in creating new excitement and adventures for her family, even though it probably hadn't been too long since a couple of her other sisters had left her parents to find something meaningful and grasp it.
She had nothing to complain about. Mikaili loved the family life, and knew that though members may not often show it, love and affection could always be found in their hearts and spirits. You just... had to look in the right places to find it.
So, days passed without any obvious upheaval in the family, and the ringing tone of monotony had started to embed itself in Mikaili's mind once more. She supposed it was alright, for as they say, "it is better to be safe than sorry". Her stomach rumbled in protest, as if to start a serious disturbance, which quite frankly simply confused the matured lioness. Hadn't she just eaten the hour before? Ah, no matter... Perhaps mother was in the middle of a meal herself, and perhaps a small scrap of that would satisfy Mikaili...
As the lioness got up to leave, she noticed something coming her way, knowing that it would've been one of her other sisters. They came to her more often than her parents to disturb her dreamy contemplations, though they were more than welcome to.
So, with a perfectly calm smile, Mikaili stood still to wait for her sister to complete her journey, and as soon as she realized it was Senna, of all sisters, wondered why it was her. Senna was the one to perhaps spy on her other siblings more, considering how Mikaili never really did anything wrong or stirred trouble. To Senna, Mikaili must be quite boring to keep company with if she didn't do anything to elicit punishment from their parents!
However, Mikaili called over to Senna happily, "What brings you here, Senna?" She eyed her sister with interest. Senna seemed excited, so perhaps there was good news she had not yet heard of?
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:49 pm
Perfect!
Senna grinned a wicked, private grin.
Senna had five sisters, and none of them had been alike. Tara, the responsible one and dearest to their mother, Nyu, the forceful, competitive one, Hahi, the drama queen, Swa, the sleeper, and Mik, the angel of the group. Besides, she corrected herself inwardly, for herself, who was quite obvious the better sibling and daughter for caring so much about other's affairs. After all, someone had to do it, right?
That wasn't important right now though. Most of the time Mikaili was not of much interest to Senna. She lacked the troublesome streak of the others, and had apparently no mind for Senna's senseless, slightly cruel, gossip. But she was a sister, and that was imbedded into the soul. A perfect pillow, if you will.
Mikaili was also perfect for Senna's plan.
"Dear sister," she practically oozed fondness, "how glad I am to see you! You know, you're just the one I was looking for!" she added chirpily, bouncing over to sit next to her sister.
"Are you busy?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 3:36 pm
At once Mikaili's gut told her to inch away slowly from Senna; something about the atmosphere felt... wrong. But her heart proved to be too big for her own good, and she received Senna with a heartfelt grin of her own.
As soon as Mikaili took in Senna's words, she knew something was queer about the moment when it almost seemed as if her sister was trying to... well, seduce her. Perhaps Senna was having an emotional moment?
"Ah, I am?" she asked, puzzled. What in heaven's name could have brought Senna out here to seek out her? Did she accidentally do something wrong? She quickly continued, "Sorry if I was a bit hard to find -- but I didn't know you were looking for me!"
Mikaili hesitated as Senna came next to her and thought, Maybe there's something happening with the family? To her, Senna never was really the type to have long sit-down talking sessions.
"What is it, Senna?" You could tell, by Mikaili's tone, that her curiosity had overextended itself, perhaps from a buildup of a lack of activity lately. "Did something happen?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 3:54 pm
"Oh no, not at all!" Senna said, continuing her cheerful and optimistic tone with an almost fearsome level of dedication, "But I am so very glad I found you!"
This was a truth. Not unusual for the lioness, she wasn't a habitual liar, but she also wasn't habitually complimentary. In fact, she rarely noted the good things in others, since she believed that she found the same qualities in more generous quantities in herself.
It was the truth, but that didn't mean it was a nice one.
Senna didn't often think of what others wanted. Usually if she wanted something she assumed the rest of the world wanted the same thing, or, at least, wanted her to be happy.
"Oh no, not yet at least," she said, a dismissingly, "Rather, something should happen, don't you think?"
"I mean, it has been ever so dull around here, don't you think? Very quiet. Not much to occupy your time right?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 5:45 pm
"...Not yet?" Mikaili asked tentatively. She felt a wave of caution hit her, and truly realized that something was amiss. Something should happen...? Was Senna trying to stir up trouble? But that didn't make sense, she usually got others to do that for her!
"What do you mean, Senna?" she asked, still eager to find out what her sister was up to. "Sure it has been quiet, but it is all for the best." She waved a paw in the general direction of where her family normally thrives as if displaying an example, "The peace that this 'dull' you speak of brings us all contentment... do you not like that?" She tilted her head and smiled weakly. A Senna without any trouble to report on, well, would indeed be quite useless, she realized.
"If you ask me, I like this quiet. Why would you want something... to disturb this?" she inquired.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:16 pm
Oh, not yet ey?
Senna was all rip-roarin and ready to get excited and spring the idea on her sister, nearly buzzing when excitement. That was until Mikaili kept talking.
And the more she talked the less excited Senna got. Her sister just kept ruining it by continuing her little peace and quiet love speech. By the time she'd finished Senna was buzzing again, however, this time with annoyance.
"OH!" she said, snorting a bit, "You're so dull! How very unimaginative!" she added, springing to her feet.
"Do you honestly think just sitting around all day is any fun? Sure, I mean, fine, peace is great, but you know, there are other more EXCITING peaceful things in the world," she ranted, pacing around her sister, not really paying attention to the other lion at all.
She was venting all her frustrations. This had gone on long enough!
"I mean, here we are, GROWN and MATURE, and what have we seen of the world? The jungle we were born in and this droll place! There are other places, other things out there! You know, like, our other sisters! What are we, spinsters!?"
She swung back to face Mikaili, stopping suddenly and adding, “You don’t want to know what you’re missing!?”
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:32 pm
Mikaili almost jumped back herself, startled by Senna's sudden reaction. She lowered herself to the ground, submissive. She never meant to rile her dear sister up this much!
But... was she really dull? To the extent of being unimaginative? Strange, why would she be spending time alone reflecting to herself if she were not imaginative! But it was alright, Senna just didn't understand...
Mikaili had been staring into the ground the whole time while Senna spoke, a tad bit too sorry for negatively exciting her sister. An eye finally flickered towards the other lioness, whom was now circling Mikaili talking her head off as if she were about to start a riot. Then, Mikaili realized that Senna must have had built up tension from all the quiet days, with not having anything to do, and silently forgave her for letting it all out in this moment.
But something in Senna's speech had struck a chord in Mikaili, and she nervously turned her gaze to the ground again. "Other things..." she thought quietly.
She wondered why she had never really thought about leaving home like a couple of her other sisters although their leave did seem to cause trouble with their parents. She still hadn't come to a final conclusion of why her family never ventured out from their pride's lands, but there should be good reason--they just never learned what exactly it was. But, home is where the family is, so leaving would really mean leaving the family... or would it?
"Have you talked to mom and dad about this?" she asked suddenly, quietly. She wondered what their thoughts would be, and she had to admit, it would have been best for what was left of the family to stay, but the slight intrigue of the world outside the pride's borders tempted her.
"But... no," she said again, quickly, changing her mind. "We have to stay! You yourself don't know what is out there, it could kill us! We are protected by our family, our pride!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:45 pm
Senna noticed, perhaps more then a little belatedly, that her sister was not pleased.
What was the word? Angry? Annoyed? No, she was more... sad? Oh, right. Senna hadn't thought she'd really hurt the other lionesses feelings. After all, she wasn't really angry and Mikaili or anything, she was just, you know, angry. It was just so boring since everyone had left.
"Uhn... sorry?" she asked, completely unused to the word, "and yes, other things, you know, stuff," she said, quietly thinking about it herself for a moment.
Mom and dad? Hah.
"No, not yet," she said, completely off-handedly. It wasn't something she was really all that worried about. No doubt one 'Daddy pleaaase?' would do it. Absorbed in her own thoughts she barely noticed the change in her sisters tone that signified her not going along with the plan. Family? Pride? Protection?
"What? No," she said, firmly, "Okay, Mik, how many dead lions have you seen? I mean like," she quieted a little, philosophizing in her own special way, "dying is what old people do, you know?"
"Anyway, we can take care of ourselves; we're not going to go jumping off cliffs and into groups of hyena's or anything," she said, chuckling at her own joke, "the problem is the old thing! Soon, we're like... going to be as old as DAD!? Can you imagine? And then we'll just keep getting old and we'll die, no hyenas or anything!" she added, desperately.
"When have we ever come to trouble? We used to live in the jungle, and we had no pride, and there were six of us with only mom and dad to watch us! And before mom and dad got old they used to wander too, you know," she smiled smugly, "Dad told me so."
She sat down again, looking up, "Anyway, I think I'd like to see things and meet other lions. I mean, it's nice here, but here will be here later too, you know?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:55 pm
Mikaili looked up once again, tilting her head as her sister apologized. ...Did she just hear that? She smiled warmly and nodded, dismissing Senna's earlier behavior.
"No, you didn't ask?" she clarified. "Then I believe the best thing to do is to ask them. They have a clearer vision of things, you see..."
It didn't take long for Mikaili to go through Senna's rationalization and deem it at once faulty. "You know, we haven't seen dead lions yet because we are safe! As I had mentioned earlier. If you go out there... Things may change, Senna. There may be other things that could kill you... Things that may know our weaknesses. I doubt a single thing out there wouldn't say that you'd make easy prey, with your simple view of life! Do you want to die by getting eaten by hyenas or something? Mom and dad have more knowledge of the world, and they looked out for each other! If they thought living in this place was bad, why have we settled here?"
She never really said much, but Senna's firm intent on leaving the place nearly frightened Mikaili, even. She sighed, and then cleared her head for a moment.
"... And wait," she said slowly, something suddenly dawning upon her. "You said 'we can take care of ourselves'?" Since when exactly was Mikaili going to be involved in this?
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:08 pm
Senna then performed what could only be called a miraculous feat of amazement. She rolled her eyes, sighed, and shrugged all at the same time.
Mikaili had such narrow views. For such a sweet kid she could be awful negative!
"Okay, little-miss-zebra-half-eaten, you're jumping to some like, seriously depressing ideas, right?"
She rolled back onto her heels a bit, giving herself a chance to sit with her front paws in the air, extra convincing style.
"Mik, hyenas are little. Dad said so," not a total truth, but she'd skip that, "And anyways, lions survive all the time without prides, we used to do it! And you know, mom lived on her own when she was little, so it can't be that bad. We need some knowledge of the world is what I'm saying!"
She waved one of her paws around vaguely, "What makes you think it's all just death out there? Don't you have any sense of adventure? If it's scary, we can just come back. If it's fun though, well, we'll have lots of it, right!?"
"And yes, we little sis. See, there is no-" she stopped.
She was about to say, 'there is no way mom and dad would let me go alone', but that was a little transparent, right?
"There is no way I'd go without you, I mean, it'd be mean. And you'd be pretty lonely with just the snoozer around. Besides, the two of us make quite a team right?" she winked convincingly, "We're practically unbeatable!"
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:18 am
Depressing ideas, perhaps, but probably not too far from reality. Who were the two to kid themselves, though? Neither one had ventured outside for an extended period of time, and for their whole lives, they had been watched by mother and father. Always.
"...Mom is different..." Mikaili said, shaking her head solemnly the whole time Senna was talking. Her mother seemed to hold a much stronger, stable, and independent persona than any of her other sisters. "And there is much to learn here," she reasoned.
Senna seemed to be losing a battle she never had the chance to win anyways, and Mikaili, thoroughly perturbed by the whole notion, had to put her paw down.
"No. Senna, no. Why can't you be satisfied roaming around the place we have here? It's big enough. ...Don't get yourself into any danger that you can't afford to get out of. If you want to move and go somewhere else, ask mom and dad, and if they say yes, then alright! But you can't just leave out of nowhere for no apparent reason like Tara, Nyum, and Hahi, Senna. I won't allow it."
She meant every word, but unfortunately was too accommodating and caring to support it. And as soon as Senna mentioned taking Mikaili along with her, she didn't know whether to feel touched or peeved at the apparent disregard for the other sister that happened to still reside at home with them. Sure, Swa slept most of the day, but it was her thing; it did no harm to anyone. Part of the fun that came with keeping Swa company was wondering what she dreamt of in her naps.
Anyways, Mikaili had surely made up her mind on the matter. "I'm not going anywhere, Senna, and you aren't either." She got up, thinking to ask her parents about Senna's plans. "Let's go to dad, or mom. See what they say..."
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:43 pm
Senna stood up quickly, stomping a paw.
"Fine then! If you don't want to come too then I guess I'll have to go all on my own. And I'm going to get mom and dad's support too!"
She stuck her nose in the air, completely changed in attitude, and turned around.
"And I'll get it by my self! AND, when I have it, I'll go out there and have lots of adventures and fun on my own, and we'll see who has the last laugh."
She finished the last sentance with a thorough flick of her tail and flounced off through the forest, a girl on a mission.
'Who needs someone so... so... sensible around anyway?' she thought angrily, certain that she was right. Afterall, how could she be wrong?
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:48 am
When Senna left, Mikaili was about to run after her, but figured it was a lost cause. Mother and father would deal with her, then she supposed Senna would forget about the whole plan. She sighed and turned back to her original resting spot, head full of conflicting thoughts. Perhaps Swa would make a good companion for the moment...
"Yeah, I guess I'll go look for Swa right now..." For once in her life, she was going to empty her mind and body of all activity, just like Swa, as it could not handle the prior tension from Senna.
But it would all be okay, Mikaili convinced herself. Everything would be alright.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:17 pm
Sometime later.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Senna was elated.
Her plan had worked! Not as smoothly as she'd toted, but definitely well! Almost better then one would expect considering the fact her dad had actually said now. Imagine, her mother siding with her! More proof that Senna was always, always right.
And now there was one last task. Go say goodbye to her goody goody sister, who would no doubt be insanely jealous that Senna had been right, and was going to be able to go have lots and lots of fun. Then she was off, to see the world and meet new people, experience great adventures and such, eventually finding a mate who would worship the ground she walked on. As he should.
"Mikaili!" she called, nearing the spot she thought her sister would be, a bounce in her step.
Yep, life was great.
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