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 Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:24 pm
 She had agreed to leave, but she didn't really want to. The Bahari was where he was, and how on earth was she supposed to get him to love her when she wasn't even there? Maybe she should play hard to get too? Oh yes, that would work. Not. Ugh, just the thought of leaving him there with that female drove Ivie insane. She grit her teeth and tried to forget it.
After all, her love for Fedha had brought her nothing but pain.
He'd said cruel words, he'd led her on, he'd snared her heart, he'd forced her to such pains to get his attention that she even had his brother's cubs to try and pretend they were his.
But all for nothing! Not even the agony of childbirth and the pain of bringing up the cubs had been enough to capture his attention, and now atleast two of her cubs hated her, after she had brought them up and sacrificed herself for them.
And now she was out in rogue country again. The longest she had ever been in rogue country was when she had been moving from the pridelands to the Bahari, now she was out here and she had no destination in mind. All she knew was that she was following Dharba somewhere. And though there was a tender spot in her heart for the brother of the one she loved, she was unsure she'd ever feel the same way about him.
But, the longer she'd been out here, the more she seemed to stray from his side. She just couldn't keep still. She wanted something and she knew what it was.
Knew she'd never get it.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:37 pm
He was on his way back from the old pride's lands, slowly working his way back towards the current ones with every intention of circling around as much as he needed to. So far he'd only gotten the old slave Mizu back to the pride, but none of the wandering members had been found yet. When he wasn't hunting or resting, he only had to walk and keep his eyes peeled for signs of anyone who might be from the pride. It was simple.
In the distance he spotted the pale lioness, and he had to pause a moment to look. It was hard to see color or distinct form from the distance they were at, but there was at least one light colored lioness he was looking for so it was worth an investigation. Smiling, he jogged toward her.
"Excuse me!"
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:44 pm
The words sent a bolt through her. Was it Fedha? She whirled around, eyes wide, his name on her lips - though she halted as she saw the male wasn't the one she wanted. Purple. An odd colour, just like her. Well, he certainly was handsome and she certainly was lonely. Maybe it wouldn't hurt - just this once - to let herself get closer to another.
So long as he didn't get too close.
Her seer powers had actually dulled down during her emotional distress, probably because she was less focused on them and it had made her lose her defence a little. She'd been reckless, she'd flirted, she'd stolen into other's dens when Dharba wasn't looking.
Actually. She was quite out of control.
But just recently her powers had been returning to her with violent force, almost as if they were angry at her for neglecting her. The last time she had nuzzled against a strange rogue, she'd seen flashes of his past, seen his claws raking through another's hide, spurting blood. And since then she'd been wary, even of Dharba.
Of everyone.
But that had been a couple of weeks back and the memories were starting to dull. Loneliness was beating fear. So she turned towards the male and waited for him, putting on a quaint little smile and dipping an ear towards him.
"Hello, can I help you?"
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:55 pm
A good view of the colors and the lack of familiarity in the greeting was enough to tell Thoth he hadn't found someone of professional interest to him. However, for someone who used to have a whole pride of lions to socialize with, he more than welcomed the chance to have a friendly conversation. Perhaps he would learn something about the area they were in, they weren't too far away from the new Mwezi'Johari lands.. though the area around here might not ever effect them. No reason to be rude.
"I'm sorry, I thought you might be someone I was looking for," he apologized quickly, but didn't seem too disappointed and politely he introduced himself, "My name is Thoth, I'm from the Mwezi'Johari."
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 1:18 pm
"Never heard of it." She replied, flexing out a nervous twitch in her shoulder. "Erm...I'm...Ivie'lingwa." Her eyes flicked up to his face and then fell down to his paws again. She felt fidgety and odd. "I'm from..."
Where was she from?
The pridelands, the land she had once loved, the land where she had been born and grew up with her family at her side? She remembered Vitashki, she remebered Kikore; her brother and sister, felt the pain of their dissapearance deep in her heart.
Had they forgotten her?
And then there was her father, Na-Be. She hadn't seen him for a very long time. Had he forgotten her too? Didn't he care about his family anymore? Her heart clenched and then her thoughts turned to mother. Palesa. She adored her mother desperately, but she had new cubs now. A new family. She knew that Palesa wouldn't love her any less, but the fact that they hadn't seen each other in so long brought a terrible suffering to her.
She'd lost everyone.
"I'm from...nowhere." And she was close to tears, her voice thick with emotion.
And it was true. She wasn't a pridelander anymore and she certainly hadn't been a Bahari'mtoto member. She was a nobody out in no man's land.
"If you have a home, why are you out here?" Oh right, he was looking for someone. "You looking for family?"
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 1:41 pm
"No, I don't expect many around here have," Thoth replied with a laugh, not concerned with the pride being unknown. They were fairly new to the area even though they were far from being a new pride, "We recently relocated the pride, we're north of here now but came from the west." There wasn't really any other direction to come from, where they were so close to the ocean now. Still smiling, he waited patiently for her to decide where exactly she was from. Not being in a pride would make it more difficult, and if you moved around a lot perhaps picking one place might be hard..
The way she settled on 'nowhere', the emotional tone and the look in her eyes.. it wasn't very convincing. Seemed less like the indifferent answer of a rogue and more like someone who'd lost their place or home.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ivie'lingwa," he said, "I was sent by our king to find members of the pride who haven't yet heard that we've found a place to stay once again. You could say I am looking for family." Thoth saw no reason in specifically mentioning that he had a cousin who was one of the missing members, while Otieno was one of his inadvertent top priorities, they were all as good as family to him.
"Are you alright?" he asked carefully, "If you don't mind me prying, you don't really .. sound like you wanted to say 'nowhere'."
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 1:54 pm
"Your whole pride moved?" She blinked, imagining a gang of lions moving together across the savanah. Companionship. She craved it. But she craved love more - any sort of love would do. The love of mother and child, the love of siblings, the love of friends. She had Dharba's love but...she couldn't return it, not yet.
Her heart had yet to heal.
Maybe she'd never love again. Maybe she was incapable of it.
Just for once she wished she could see into her own future. See what lay in store for her. If it was more misery maybe she should just lie down and let it end before the pain got any worse. But she couldn't. She couldn't see her own future. Only her past through the bitter memories left behind. And worst of all, the most bitter ones were her own doing.
Some would say she'd brought this pain upon herself.
"Then I hope you find them." She replied. "If I was searching for my pride, you would be a sight for sore eyes. You'll be a welcome sight to those looking for the new lands."
She flinched at his question, turning her head away. "I didn't...but it's the truth. It never used to be, but I have no where to go and...the place I came before." She laughed bitterly. "I was no better than a leech."
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 11:51 am
"Yeah, our pride relies on a certain plant for initiating new rogue members," he explained, "Without it, we'd have to isolate ourselves and we'd die out- or we'd have to completely ignore old traditions and the favor of our god." To Thoth, it was simple really. And to anyone open-minded even a little bit, it would probably not be too hard to understand on some level even without knowing exactly why they needed the plant. He'd happily explain if asked, but he didn't need to take over the conversation like that.
"I will find them," he said optimistically, trying to brighten the mood up a bit, "Those who want to be found anyway." He felt slight remorse when he noticed her flinch at his question, but she answered so he had to assume she didn't mind some questioning about it.
"You don't look so old that you couldn't make up for anything you've done," Thoth dared to comment, "Most can be foolish while they're young, you learn from it." He didn't mean to imply that she wasn't young, he meant more of adolescent aged. Before Thoth officially became a guard, especially before the war, he hadn't really taken much of pride life seriously.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 11:18 am
"A plant?" She tilted her head. "It sounds important..." She smiled warily. Odd, she'd forgotten pride customs, forgotten how different one could be to another. She sighed deepily, feeling suddenly deeply jealous of the male. He had family and he had a purpose, what purpose did she have other than to mess with people's lives?
"Who knows, maybe you'll even find a rogue or too craving a family of their own. Maybe your pride will be better than before. There has to be some joy in this forsaken world."
She shook her head grimly. "I don't mean to destroy, it just happens. Everyone I get close to, everything I touch, it falls apart. I'm cursed. I've been cursed since birth." She growled, feeling the hatred for her own twisted seer powers spurning and growing. "I was a fool when young and I'm a fool now. Some creatures are meant to suffer and cause suffering, it's how the balance works." She shook her head. "Someone as handsome as kindly shouldn't stay near me for so long. I might taint you, too."
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 5:58 pm
"Any rogues wishing to join would be most welcome, I'm sure," he commented, wondering if he would find any lions who might want to check out the pride. Looking at Ivie, he had to wonder if she might want to. He was from a religious pride, he was not oblivious to curses- but their class system covered it, any lions cursed by the Great Lion was a slave. That was the closest equivalent that Thoth could imagine, at least. But the slaves were not terribly mistreated, not by the whole pride anyway! Some high class members tended to be cruel, but they generally were snooty. Or they had been before the war.
He couldn't help but puff up a bit when she called him handsome and kind, and he kept a smile on despite her grim explanations. He wasn't about to believe something like that.
"You don't sound like you like having it that way, though," Thoth commented, sounding optimistic as he continued, "If your intentions are good, you shouldn't be blamed for when things go wrong. I'm not worried about sticking around, it's good to have someone to talk to."
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 8:28 am
"Maybe that's my answer. Maybe I need to find a pride too. It was always the idea. I've always been in a pride, never out here. I hate it here, more than anything. It's not safe." He shrugged. "But no one would take me when they realise what I'm like." She was full of self-pity, self-loathing and every positive she had to dull with a negative.
"Whether I mean to or not, I still hurt people. I k now my actions are wrong and yet I can't stop myself. My heart, it was taken you see, manipulated. Now I'll never get it back." She shook her head. "That's what I'm trying to do, you see. Recover my heart."
She purred, stepping closer, her eyes hungry. But hungry for what? Someone to comfort her? Pity her? More? Probably all those things. "You want to talk to me?" She curled her tail thoughtfully. "Then maybe you could fix my heart." She blinked, slowly.
(( hmm, just had an idea for this RP. I'll catch you on AIM to explain! ))
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 12:33 pm
"You'd be welcome to go North and check out the Mwezi'Johari," he said, looking off in the direction he knew the pride was- though he also was aware now that there were prides between here and there now as well. And he wondered if he should explain anything about the class system, as he understood rogues were not always terribly well warned about the chance of being slaves- they had to understand the religion of the pride and be willing to accept it, slavery was just a part of that.
"I can't imagine them turning anyone who was willing to learn and accept the pride's traditions, no matter what you think you're like," Thoth continued, leaving it there for now. Unyezi or Aure could explain the rest if she did go investigating, though he would feel a bit bad if she went and ended up a slave for his withholding information.
He frowned when she described how her heart was taken. Love trouble certainly was a tough thing to deal with, though he couldn't confess to having a whole lot of experience in that department. With all the previous conflict in the pride, the extreme downsizing thanks to war.. well, he'd lost a lot of opportunity, and friends. It was nice to see her cheer up (if you could call it that) when he said he wanted to talk to her, though he wasn't so certain what a stranger could do to fix a stolen heart.
"Well, I don't know about that," he said, though he was smiling.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 12:56 pm
"Maybe I should..." She pondered. "If Dharba agreed." She did care deeply for the greylion and she'd made up her mind that she wouldn't leave him again. She felt bad for using him, for manipulating his good nature and birthing his children without telling him. No, she owed him, even though he did remind her of the lion she loved.
She shook her head. "Worth a shot. North you say? I'll keep it in mind."
She purred, stepping closer so that she was a mere step away. He was bigger than she, but Ivie had always been on the petite side. She certainly hadn't taken after her grandfather, the great war god Mrost. Though, maybe that's where she got the manipulation from.
Surely it couldn't all be blamed on Fedha?
"Ah you never know. Males are good at fixing a female's heart, right? If they can take it away they can put it back." Her voice was changing, becoming slurred. Fear pinched at her heart, warned her not to get too close in case of the visions. But she'd found that so long as there was good in the lion's heart, she saw nothing but good things. It was the bad memories that attacked her.
"In all honesty, I haven't met a male who can help me yet. But whose to say you aren't that one?" She stepped closer, purring, twitching her tail lazily, eyeing him...fliraciously?
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 10:41 am
He didn't know who Dharba was, but he assumed it was a traveling companion of some sort and likely not the offending heart thief that she referred to. He smiled encouragingly, hoping that she could find the home she needed- even if it wasn't necessarily with the Mwezi'Johari. Then Thoth was thoroughly distracted when she purred and stepped closer, standing much closer than anyone had in quite some time. He put on a playful little smile.
"Interesting," he said, puffed up confidently, playing along, "But how do you know I haven't taken a few hearts in my day?"
Thoth was a good natured lion, but he definitely had more experience in war than in love. His memories were not always happy, being one of the few remaining guards from the war and having watched a cowardly friend flee from duty, friends and family.. but he didn't let those consume him, and he would be unhappy to know if they came to harm anyone else.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:26 pm
She tilted her head. "I guess I don't." Her reply was honest. She had no way of telling what this boy was like. Maybe if she'd have been a good seer she could have found out. But her gift had never been controllable and so it couldn't be trusted.
Sad really, Ivie could never really trust herself, or her judgement. So she went on spontaneous decisions, hoping they were right. More than likely, however, they were wrong and she probably was on this occassion too.
"But that's a risk I'm willing to take. Besides," She purred. "The lion who has it now is a horrible creature, at least there's some gentleman in you." She shook her head, laughing. "And the lion I wish I did love, is nothing more than a friend a abused. I'm surprised he even stuck around. He shouldn't. I'll end up hurting him too, just like everyone."
And she rested her head against his shoulder. "But that's not for you to worry about."
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