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 Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:55 pm
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RP Log between Felyn and Kisoni
Isithunzi & Embamba
She was right about how far away they were from Mteo. A full days walking had yet to put them back in sight of the pride, and they'd had to stop again. She was feeling worse for his help, as much as she was grateful to it. Without Issy, as she'd come to call him, being there, Embamba knew that she would have given up already... if she'd at all become aware of the fact that she had intended upon killing herself in the first place. There were many things she could thank him for now.
Yet, there was still a large part of her that hated the fact that she was being friendly with a rogue. Or that she was out alone with him... or depending on him. No matter what he said, he was still a rogue to her mind-for only Mteo was a true, non-barbaric pride. .... but he was so very nice.
"i'm sorry," She said softly and plopped down into the dirt beneath a tree close. It was close to sunset, and a good grooming had her pelt once again spotless. This time her mask gleamed for what it was on her face in the orange jeweled light. You couldn't look past the weight she'd lost these past few months during her fight with Ndege and herself...b ut the vestige of the beautiful lady she'd once been had returned. "I'm sorry, I can't.. move further right now."
His eyes shifted towards the sun, dipped low on the horizon and cradled by the earth as it began to fade away. He nodded slowly at her words, still standing and watched the fingers of orange and red as they streaked across the sky like the sun was still gripping greedily to the world it was leaving behind. He looked back at her, a small smile on his maw. He had honestly believed she would have stopped walking hours ago instead of making it all the way to sunset. He admired that, especially given her current weakness.
"We can rest here for the night then, it's.. enough protection," he nodded, glancing up at the tree, and move to sit down slowly. He didn't get too close to her, but close enough that it was obvious he was traveling with her. He was taking care of her, getting her home, and that.. was simply that. He shifted, tail flopping against the ground, "are you hungry?"
"No," She shook her head and gave him a gracious smile, "But thank you. I'll be fine here, while you hunt for yourself though..." And she wouldn't run. If he were concerned for that, it was obviously from the shallow, though noiselessly, way she panted (while pretending not to, poor thing) and the limp way her shoulders and tail hung. There wasn't a word of complaint from her, however, even as she slowly shifted to lay down and close her eyes to the light. "you're a long way from your pride, though, Issy."
He shook his head with a small laugh, laying down slowly and tucking his paws against his chest. He shook out his rusty toned mane, letting it fall gently back down across his shoulders and against his face as he lay there content. "I'm not that hungry myself, actually. I just know that you need to eat more, you need the energy." He wouldn't tell her she was sickly looking, or weak looking, but she truly did need to eat more. He could find some food before they left in the morning, and that would be enough. "Yes, I am," he said finally, turning his attention upon the sun as mere inches of it remained upon the horizon. "I know my way home to my pride and travelling.. may be good for me."
"Your pride allows travel?" She asked, a little surprised at that. "ISn't it... bad for ones soul and morals?"
"Yes, of course they do. Most prides do," he said slowly, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at her. Not for the first time, he wondered what sort of pride she was from. "I've never heard that it was bad for the soul, or for morals. I find it relieving. Many lions leave one pride and join another, so that a lot of the prides have blood from at least one other." He shrugged, green eyes settled on her and his tail beating slowly against the earth. It was the way he knew life.
She frowned deeply as she pondered that information. It was true that... after the plague, the majority of Mteo was already in the same family. surely they weren't that closely related but.... Oh dear. The red female eyed him a moment. "It is... unheard of in our pride... save when circumstances are severe enough. Heathens, like you, might contaminate the mind of our members. .... no offense meant, of course, its simply the way it is."
He chuckled weakly at the words she chose, shaking his head slowly. That wasn't the first time she had called him such. "No offense taken, I suppose. Although your pride seems to be a little harsh, if you don't mind me saying so." He frowned, thinking what it must have been like to live there - maybe she had good cause to want to kill herself after all. "Our pride welcomes others with open paws, so do most of the prides that surround us."
Embamba shook her head. It was too strange. "I don't understand, Issy. I can understand that.... blood must be exchanged in some cases, but to so casually accept and pass on members? that seems.. what point is there in calling yourself a pride?"
He chuckled and shrugged, letting his tail waver slightly behind him. "Sometimes the families become too interconnected - they need new blood. Sometimes, it makes alliances strong - strength in numbers." He lay his head slowly upon his paws, vibrant green eyes shifted towards her, calm and unwavering. "And sometimes, the lions just feel as if they don't belong where they were born." |
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:58 pm
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"Like you," She replied, questioningly. "or like...." Emamba drifted off and looked out across the growing dark. "Well ... it still is strange to me."
He shrugged again and glanced off across the savannah, towards the horizon, where the last retreat of the sun glowed orange and yellow against a darkening sky. The sun itself was below the line of the land, but it fought to leave a remnant behind. "I imagine so, especially if you've never had any contact with another pride." He yawned softly, shutting his eyes, shutting the vibrant green against the world. "I did not think I'd ever want to leave, but.. sometimes I feel too out of place."
"I've had some contact," She admitted, "For.. many seasons now, I was a part of a small group that had been set away from our home... sent to roam in hopes that some of us might surivive the great plague that swept through the land. I've lived most of my adult life out amongst the Heathen."
He quirked a brow at her voice, though his eyes remained shut. She'd been gone from the pride so long, living out among the rogues, and she still called them heathens? "Did you ever go into a pride, or did you only have contact with these rogues - or 'heathens'?" He really didn't like the term in the slightest, espeially since it seemed every lion that didnt belong to her pride was a heathen in her eyes.
"Of course we didn't go in!" She seemed to be more than slightly offended at the thought. That settled quickly though and she shook her head. "No. we were run off from more than a few, threatened by others. But we tried to keep to ourselves mostly and skirt about them, especially when I turned up pregnant. It was bad enough my children never got their birth rights, but to be raised away from the pride as well? ... " She sighed. "i should have known better."
He opened his eyes slowly, raising an eyebrow at her again. "What sort of prides did you get near? I known mine never would have run anyone off, unless they were violent, or doing something inappropriate." He shifted, shaking his large mane out, ridding it of some of the collected dust from how he had been laying, then sat up. "I don't know what birthing rights are, but I can't say I'd like to raise cubs in a rogue life either."
Emamba shrugged, "Does it matter? they were far away from here.. and i don't know the names. I never cared to learn them--we wouldn't be staying, after all, and would have little to do with them later on. .... follies of youth, i suppose, i should have paid more attention."
She turned her head to look at him. "........You're an anomoly."
He shrugged slightly, glancing away towards the darkening surroundings once more, not particularly interested in the pride names for any important reason. "I just thought if you knew the names, I could tell you if I knew whether they were violent prides by word-of-mouth. A lot of prides suffered in the plague though - some were whiped out entirely."
He turned his head back to her quickly, eyebrows furrwoing, "what do you mean?"
"Religiously, you're not one of ours, therefore you've not recieved proper birthrights and are a heathen... not to be trusted and full of corruption--nothing personal, of course, its simply how it is." She paused, then tilted her head and frowned slightly, "But black fur is a mark of the Shadows, and something that only honored lions or lionesses should have. It is my graddaughter's black coat that lets me accept that their father must have been worthy, even if he was a rogue. So I am not sure what to make of you. Are you a Heathen, or are you accepted?"
Izithunzi watched her silently for a long time, eyes rather blank, jaw slightly gaping, and looking as if he generally had no idea what in the hell she was talking about. After a few minutes, he shut his jaws, shifted his eyes to the ground and let out a slow "uh..." sound. He glanced up finally, nodding to her slowly, "I've no idea what I am either, then. In my pride, black coats are the sign of rogues and golden coats are the sign of.. the original members. To think that my fur, the thing that has troubled me since my birth, might be looked highly upon elsewhere.." He trailed off, and then quite suddenly.. began to laugh.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:04 pm
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Her ears perked slightly and she looked just as confused as he was at his laughter. She didn't really see how this was so funny--but apparantly it was. Embamba frowned a little, trying to remain serious. The longer he laughed, though, the more her frown faded. Eventually she gave a little chuckle of her own that evolved into quiet, actually happy giggles.
He finally managed to get his laughter under control, letting it fade to a chuckle, then little snickers, before he settled on a wide grin. "I suppose if I ever wanted somewhere to belong, I could try your pride. Of course, that would depend on whether or not you could all decide if I was a heathen or a highly honored lion."
"That would depend on the King I'd wager," She laughed a little. One hand raised to wipe a tear from her eye, and it was then that she realized.. she was laughing. and smiling! and... it felt... good.
Emamba blinked and chuckled softly at herself, shaking her head slowly. "Though you could try.... Warithi is... a different one. I'm not sure what he thinks of outsiders anymore."
"Oh yeah?" He lay his head back down on his paw, his grin widening slightly as he saw her wipe away the tear. It was good to see her laugh, to be happy in a sense - she had been so dreary and down until now. "I suppose I could - perhaps I will think on it. Being somewhere that I might belong is better than being somewhere I know I never will."
For a long time Emamba stared at him. it was hard to understand, maybe, why she did but... Her heart gave a sickening lurch and tears sprung to her eyes again. The female shook her head and closed her eyes until the tears went away. "... do you really believe that?"
He frowned at her as he watched, not commenting upon her rather odd behavior, but simply watching. He did not know her well enough to even think it would be appropriate to ask her things so personal. Then, at her question, he took a moment to think. "Yes, I do," he said with a small nod, "I do not belong in my pride because of the heritage of my father, but neither do I think I could belong to the pride he is from."
"So you are mixed-pride," She muttered, attempting to understand this strange world that he came from. Embamba allowed it to sink in slowly, "What of the family you have there. Would they not miss you in your travels?"
"Yes, I suppose that you could call it that," he said with a small nod, in the manner someone would when understanding a new word they'd never heard before. "Well, my father's family probably doesn't know that I exist. He never went back to tell them he had cubs. My mother's family, and my immediate family.. have all gone their seperate ways." He frowned for a moment, then shrugged, glancing away.
"I'm prying too deeply, arn't I?" The lioness asked after a moment. Very hesitantly she reached a paw out and tapped his paw with it once in an apologetic manner, "Forgive me."
He chuckled at the tap and raised said paw to wave it away, "don't worry. I've spilled my heart out to lions I've known for less time." He shrugged, thinking back to the only family member he had spent any time with recently. Ushu - who was gone. There was a period of brotherly bonding, and then he had just disappeared. "I don't mind, really. I think I need others to talk to since I don't.. have anyone to talk to at all really."
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:06 pm
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The breeze ruffled her fur, sending the longer head tuft over one eye as she thought on that. A sigh broke the air. "Yes, I believe I can understand that."
He nodded, watching her for a moment, then realized that it was quickly growing more awkward. He chewed at the inside of his cheek, then pushed himself up with a slow sigh. "I'm going to go keep watch for a little bit - you sould try and sleep, we need to get an early of a start as possible." He paused, then nodded, and trotted off a little ways before plopping down.
Emamba watched him go, mixed feelings in her breast. She wanted to speak more to him.. but she'd already imposed so much on to this.... this stranger. Rather than stop him, she nodded to his back then turned to curl up upon herself and sleep.
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