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 Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:52 pm
Location: Western edge of the Motoujamii desert
She could run, she could leave now and never return. Bodaway had ordered her to hunt down something to teach the cubs to hunt if he didn't return soon with a kill of his own, which she'd dutifully done... And she'd been brought to the desert's edge by a hare that made her think of her mother's green markings. Green... She loathed it almost as much as pink...
But here she stood, at the edge of the desert, with a choice. Should she leave now, and take her freedom... Or stay, and willingly abide by the laws of being a slave? She testingly took a step off the sand into the plains, as if to stay away. What she saw, though, caught her eye. A glimmer of white... In an instant, she broke into a run to chase it down.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:53 pm
Nothing had, in her memory, prepared Kohpi for the sudden sensation of a much larger body hitting her. The lioness' world spun as she tumbled, stopped only by a small sand dune. She shook her head, clearing her vision. What was that...? Her first thought was to look for Darshana, but the hare was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an imposing figure loomed above her. White as herself, the other lion was marked with black toes, black marks like tear streaks, and glared with burning gold eyes. Was this friend, or foe?
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:54 pm
The lioness, scarred up by her belated life experiences, growled at the other lion. "Get up and walk, NOW." Perhaps... This would please her masters. A new slave, brought in by a loyal slave. She swiped a paw, batting at the other lion. "MOVE."
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:55 pm
Oh, she moved, alright. Kohpi was up in a flash, running across the grass. She wasn't about to roll over and be beaten up! Orange and white paws practically flew across the ground, trying to flee the other lion. She could hear the roar of anger as the other beast chased her, almost... Herding her. Grass gave way to rocks and rocks gave way to sand. Unprepared for the shifting granules, Kohpi sank at first. An instinct told her to go another way, to flee the sands, as well. But she was having a hard time even moving on the one dune she ran along.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:57 pm
This wasn't going well. Her attempt to bring home a new pet for her master was failing, and Kimiko was not happy about it. Stretching out her legs, she raced across the sand after the much smaller lion. A shift in the sands, though, and Kimiko found herself instead trying to not get burried.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:01 pm
She could easily have kept running, escaped, and fled into the Pridelands. But a look back made Kohpi stop, watching in something akin to awe, shock, and horror all in one as the other lion was burried. Though she'd attacked the small lioness... She couldn't just LEAVE her. The sands didn't move for long, and Kohpi set to digging the other out. Small though she was, she wasn't one to leave somebody BURRIED.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:07 pm
Surely this was the end. Burried in sand... What a way to go! But it wasn't to be so. Light flooded her eyelids, causing her to peek them open. Sand was being moved off her, and there was the tiny lioness. Slowly, Kimiko pulled herself out of the sand, falling over. Every breath was sweet, welcomed agony as she gasped air in. It took a moment for her to recover, as she eyed the other lion.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:10 pm
Sitting back, Kohpi watched the other lioness. It wasn't in her, to just abandon somebody in need. She'd never done it, and never would. After all, she never abandoned Mkorogo - He was the one that turned and left in the night. No, she would sit with the other lion until she was better.
After some minutes, she pawed the larger cat. "Are you okay...?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:18 pm
Kimiko stared at the other lion, ignoring the pawing. After a moment, she closed her eyes. "Why...?" When she opened them, she saw the confused look. "Why did you help me... When I attacked you?" It made no sense. She'd hurt this other lion, and it was HELPING her...
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:35 pm
"I don't just abandon others..." She tilted her head, watching the larger lioness. "It's not in me. It's never been in me." She smiled, head tilting the other way. "Momma says I'm like Daddy. I'm a pacifist. I don't fight." Standing, she went over. "You didn't answer my question, though. Are you okay?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:36 pm
After a few minutes, the white lioness slowly pulled herself up, spitting out a last bit of sand. "Yeah, I'm... I'm okay..." She looked at the other lioness, gold eyes questioning. "Pacifist, you say..." She shook her head, ears pinning back a bit as she mockingly said, "I know not the meaning of pacifism... My father murdered, raped, and pillaged... I am no better." She eyed the lioness again, shifting and turning towards the dunes. "I don't deserve your kindness.... Whoever you are." Sighing, she turned and walked, leaving pawprints in the shifting sand.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:38 pm
Following a bit, the tiny lioness watched the other. "I'm Kohpi...." When the other stopped and looked back, she stopped as well. "Everybody deserves some kindness... They only need to be shown the light they have lost, to regain some shred of being a better being. Lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena... We all have it in us to be good, if only we choose to."
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:38 pm
Kimiko stared, ears shifting back again. "So you say... But what I think and you think are as different as night and day. I must go... Kiunguza will be displeased if I delay returning with prey for her daughters." Tail flicking, she turned and walked back into the desert. Not once did she consider running. After all, this was her fate, this was where she belonged. Wasn't it?
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:26 pm
Kohpi could only watch as the other left. She didn't even know her name, but... Somehow, that was okay. After watching the dune a moment, the sand gently blowing in the wind to cover the paw prints, she turned and headed southeast. Behind her, Darshana followed, red eyes hooded with thought.
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