Quote:
Aim RP between Kisoni and Thalion
Mishka
Maji
Kisulisuli
Mishka
Maji
Kisulisuli
"You let her go!?" Kisulisuli growled, his thick frame tensed up from where he sat. Maji could almost even hear his claws scrape against the stone floor. "And you wonder why you were forced to step down!? You let things like that happen! You let Masika in here- 'ooh she's my sister, I'm sure she's civil' and look where it's gotten us now! You let Ciyari in, and Laana, Layla, even a lioness under Nyek!"
"She meant no harm." Maji muttered, though he'd sunken back into his shoulders from the scolding. It had only been a few days ago, but he'd not told Suli about her. Not yet...knowing the brash young male, he'd go looking for her to run her off.
"You're not listening." Kisuli growled, "We're -lions-. This is our territory. No one should be allowed in here but us... even then -us- has become us and them."
"Relax." Maji said in a louder voice, raising his eyes up to meet with Suli's burning ember ones. "Taban made some sense... if we keep to just us then -they- will outnumber us... and besides, your mother was just like her."
That stopped the larger male's ranting in its tracks. The expression of rage cooled slightly. "...and where is she?"
"It can't be helped now." Maji said softly, "Either way... we cannot keep turning everyone down..."
It'd been a few days since she had last journied to the mists. Now, she sank back down into them as careful as ever. Following her...... accquantaince's advice, Mishka waited until the afternoon sun had burned off some of the water before she made her decent. That made it easier this time--she actually managed to get down in a short time without breaking or twisting anything. A miracle, certainly!
At the bottom she shook herself, for stress had caused her to tense. It seemed that heights really weren't her thing. She could stomach them.. but little more. Of course, she was going to have to go back up..... Mishka raised her eyes to the ledge above, then shook her head. It didn't matter.
Now she looked about and wondered where 'Maji' may have gotten off to. There really was no good reason for her visit.. other than the need to talk to another lion. Damn that antelope! She'd been perfectly happy in her solitude until it had presented her once more with another of her kind. Now.... it was good to have the company of another predator, no matter how silent he might be.
Mishenka collected herself and headed off into the mist, attempting to follow the invisible path he'd been looking towards those few days before.
"No but we can't keep letting anyone in here. You're too soft. That's what got us in this mess in the first place. Sure it's harmless with herbavores but you let them in!" Kisuli jerked his head out towards the mouth of the cave, "And now look! We're nothing more than hunters now. Maybe. Scouts at best."
Maji opened his mouth to say something but just as Suli gestured out of the cave, the bright colors of the lioness slowly began to come into view. He snapped his mouth shut and glanced back to Suli. Oh lords if he saw her. "...calm down..."
She could hear the raised voices. Her ears tipped up and she looked about.. but try as she might, she could see nothing in the deep mists. Rather than go on, though, she stopped where she was and tried to pick up more of the conversation--not for the words themselves, but for the direction which they came. Mishka was fairly certain that one had been maji.
"CALM DOWN!?" Suli nearly roared and got himself to all four once more. "We had promise of a good life... you know what outsiders have brought here? You say they're old members returning. Returning after it was -us- that defended the placed and stuck with it. Starving...fighting out rogues. If they were real members they would have-"
Maji frowned and stood himself up slowly. "...it's past us.... I don't believe all of them are to blame. I've not forgiven Masika...or Ramses and Enki for their broken promises. But what can we do?" He started from the cave. Best way to keep him under control was to let him cool off... of course at the moment he wanted to put himself between Suli and the female.
As he padded from the cave he dipped his head. "Good to see you again, miss."
She nodded to Maji as well, but she'd heard what they were saying this time. Her eyes remained trained past Maji, back the way he'd come.. but she saw no one. "Your friend is not very pleased with my presence, I think... or others' for that matter."
"It's complicated." He said quietly and glanced over his shoulder towards Suli.
The larger male had his teeth bared towards them both and had hulked down into his shoulders, tail whipping around behind him. He'd not attack but he was making his outrage clear.
"I think it's best we let him relax for now... care for a walk?" He was already walking forward, he'd only really asked to be polite and to drop subtle hint.
Mishka took the hint, even though she'd have followed him without having realized what it was. As much as she was not afraid of the other male--despite whatever feirceness he held, she still was larger than him and a skilled huntress--she did not care to get into a fight. Especially not in what she was suspecting were a pride's lands.
Without a word she followed after her friend heading by his lead into the mists. She was careful to not speak until she was certain they would not be heard. "Complicated certainly. I suppose it is not so wise for my to visit as we'd assumed." It was a question, even though it was not marked as such.
"It's no longer our place to restrict anyone from coming here." Maji said quietly, perhaps more to himself than to her. "I did extend the invitation and I'm grateful for the excuse to let Kisulisuli cool his head... he has a temper but a good heart."
He was following along the river bank. No reason in perticular, but it seemed a decent route to follow. "So what brings you back down here?"
Mishka wasn't so sure of that, but neither was she familiar with the male. She allowed that to slide, for no incident had really come of the matter. Following him once more, she allowed to topic to shift. "Company," She replied slowly. "You were right to say that my solitude is well loved.. but it also comes with a price, as do all things in life. It has been long since I knew there were others of my kind nearby... and herbivores, while interesting companions for a time, are food in the end."
He nodded slowly. "I agree.... growing up I was friends with a collection of herbavores. But a diet of fish doesn't sustain a lion once his mane has begun to fill out. They were wise to shift their herd's migration patterns from the lands." He glanced over a bit. The colors were amazing...he'd never seen anything like them. "...did you know your parents?"
"Of course." She chuckled, "Few don't... few that survive anyway." Mishka gave a shrug at the strange sort of question, "I left when I was old enough--my siblings and I did not get along very well, and it was better that I seek out my solitude."
Why had she gone into that? Oh well, she had. "They were wise, yes, with the way this place has been. Hopefully some will return or.. your pride, i'm assuming it is, might do poorly indeed. I'm impressed you've managed at all."
"Mmm....", Maji frowned, though it was very faint. He didn't seem to be the overly expressive type. "Well... they have returned. It's true that it is difficult to manage alone. I was fortunate to have lived without my parents. I suppose the gods had a paw in it but these days it's hard to say. I may just have been a lucky cub, or clever enough... with no predators in the valley until I had my mane..." He shrugged, "It's hard to say."
"its always been my belief that while the Gods watch over us, they dislike those who refuse to help themselves. You can plead for their help all you wish, but they only smile on the few who suffer and work for what they want." Mishenka replied slowly. "Of course, there are those few fortunate which Luck favors... but perhaps your answer lies not in one or another, but both instead."
"Another friend of mine said something very similar." He grumbled, apparently having touched on the subject a few times prior. "I think you and him would get along. He has no true loyalties, but he enjoys the area enough to linger. That or he just wants to learn our language." He chuckled. "But I'm starting to realize the truth in that statement..."
"Truth is relative, keep that in mind as well." She chuckled. "Wise friend.. perhaps." She made no move to inquire further, however. Her eyes gazed about at the returning life spreading through the jungle about them. "I'm surprised, still, that you find these rains so loathsome."
"They mean the end of what I knew for so long." He glanced up towards the sky and narrowed his eyes a bit, "The rains are a painful reminder of my foolishness... I suppose it's only fair that I'm reminded of them time and again."
There was a pause between them, but a strangly un-awkward one for those who did not know one another well. Mishenka thought it over, answer considered carefully as they padded over rejuvinating soil and muddy sand. Her life hadn't been an easy one, despite parental influence, for the life of one as brightly coloured as she could never be easy... not in this land. And hardship had brought her some form of wisdom, at least. "perhaps it is not a reminder that is intended, but a hint that you should let such things go. Foolish are all our pasts, should we choose to see the mistakes in them."
"Easier said than done really... especially when there are others to consider into it." He glanced back towards the cave, "Kisulisuli is my godchild... so he and I are very close, but recently he's been very disappointed. More angry. Of course, he grew up in troubling times for these lands." He looked forward once more and paused as they came to a small 'pool' sweeping from the main river. As a cub he often fished here. "Your colors are very odd... not in a bad way. They remind me of blossoms."
"I've been told that many times.. often by those who thought to eat me." She chuckled, passing on to a more gentle topic for both of them. "Of course, I was very much flesh and blood rather than petal and leaf, and so they were dissapointed. I rather enjoy it, when it works in my favor."
Maji paused and glanced to either side of them. "Hm...." He sat himself down and tested the mud near his paws. It was soft, but firm enough so it wouldn't slosh around too much. If he stepped in it, there'd be a light imprint.
"Here... watch this." He lowered a claw down and began to draw out one of the markings along her shoulder, strangely accurate. Once he was done he sat back and smiled. It had been a while since he'd drawn..
She watched him claw at the mud for a few moments wondering many things, chiefly why on earth he thought this was interesting. When he was done... there were a bunch of scratch furrows in the mud. She lifted a brow at him, then turned her gaze once more at the mud. After tilting her head back and forth a few slow times... she looked at her shoulder as best she could. "Hmm... interesting.. ah.. trick?" It wasn't really a trick, of course, but... well what else would one call it? It was certainly odd, that was for certain.
