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 Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:50 pm
Brown eyes half-open, the pride Queen stared out quietly across her lands. One day she would leave here and go back to wandering, or perhaps move across the borders and live with Sen. While she had been quite possessive about her pride in her younger days, she was starting to feel the call of the world again. She wanted to go places, see things she hadn't seen, and listen to the rhythms of other places. When Kitambi was old enough, she would take her place, if the pride let her. But she knew there would be no problems. Her daughter was competent. With a small sigh, Nsundu reached up a paw to swat at a fly nearby her face, momentarily distracted from her thoughts. Darn flies.
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:35 pm
Ah well... she was taking a chance now and going out on her own. She knew, somehow, that the pride Binafsi had told her of was where she belonged. Where she was meant to be... and besides. Nothing said that she couldn't go back home and visit. Right?
With a little nod, her pace picked up and the beat of her paws steadied... until she looked up and spied a large brown lioness lying on a rock. Oh! Perhaps she could ask directions...
Padding up, Kya stopped a little distance away and smiled. "Hello! I'm trying to find the lands of a uhm. A musical pride... are they close to here?" she asked politely, ears pricked forward.
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Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:52 pm
The sound of approaching footsteps made Nsundu lift her head off the rock, ears perking. Who was coming? Judging by the lightness of the footsteps it sounded young, though much too dainty to be a lion. Perhaps it was Kimanda! No, she was sure he walked a little heavier than that, not to mention he should jingle. Kitambi had told her that she'd given the male cheetah a necklace of honor, and as such the pride queen would have expected to hear some clinking when he arrived. But there were only very soft footsteps, and Nsundu could not help but be intrigued. Who was this stranger?
When Kya came into view, Nsundu couldn't help but smile. Well if it wasn't a little cheetah! No wonder the footsteps had been so soft. She was used to hearing the heavy steps of her pride members, the majority of which were lions. Correction: the majority of which were lionesses. Not that the lack of males in her pride bothered her, but such was life. It appeared that the cheetah was looking for something, however the brown lioness would have never in a million years guessed that it would be her pride. "The musical pride? You'd be in it! As far as I know, since I don’t think they're any other musical prides 'round here."
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Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:03 pm
Kya's eyes widened at that, in both surprise and pleasure and she gave a little excited bounce. "Oh! I am? I didn't think that it would be this close, thank you!" she said quickly, almost vibrating with the knowledge that she'd found this place so easily.
But before she just took off running, she forced herself to calm down a little bit and think. This lioness seemed nice too, maybe she could tell her where to go and who to talk to if she wanted to join. "I'm Morayo'Kya," she said then, with a little dip of her head. "I came here... because I want to join the pride."
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:58 am
Oooh, so she really wanted to be here then? This was assuming that her excitement was based on the finding of the pride, but Nsundu would assume that it was. It was always a good stroke of her ego when felines came to the border looking so thrilled to be here. "It's close enough to what we need, but it's pretty far from other prides." Close was a relative term. In terms of how close they were to the Pridelands, Nsundu was quite sure that they were quite far away. It had been a long walk to get there, from the Southlands where Juke and Muujiza lived all the way up to Lake Victoria. She was sure she had met Banji somewhere in the middle, and that was where the Pridelands were. Too far for a day visit, but close enough that if she wanted to go she could. It was nice that way.
"Morayo'Kya," Nsundu repeated, not entirely sure she liked how long the name was. She would just shorten it to Kya. Hopefully the young cheetah wouldn't mind a nickname. It wasn't half as bad as some of her other names. "Aaah, you looking to join? Well then, you've run into the right lioness." At this, the brown lioness sat up a little taller. "I'm Nsundu, the current Queen of the pride." She flashed Kya a rather cheesy grin. "I'm assuming you met one of the huntresses while they were out? And they directed you here?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:56 am
Kya's eyes widened at that, becoming almost like pink saucers in her small face. The Queen of the pride? And she'd just been standing here talking to her like she was a normal lioness! Oh dear...
Quickly bobbing a little sort of bow in Nsundu's direction, Kya stammered a bit as she replied, "Y-yes, I ... I met a lioness named Binafsi and she taught me a little about how to use a hollow log or something to beat on ... but I wanted to learn more." A blink up at the lioness and she added a bit timidly, "Your majesty."
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:05 pm
Ooh, perhaps the dramatic smile had been a bit much. It looked as though she had given the poor little cheetah a heart attack. Perhaps being in the presence of the queen was more important to Kya then she had initially imagined. When she had first met Kimanda he hadn't been that impressed by her being a pride queen. But, then again, all cheetahs could not be compared to Kimanda, especially not the female ones. Gender was probably just as important in cheetahs as it was in lions. Or at least, Nsundu would assume it was.
"You met Binafsi? Very nice lioness to meet. She's the head huntress here, so she was probably out scouting for trails." Binafsi was bringing in quite a fair share of youth to the pride, what with her own children and now this one. It was nice to know that there were more musical youth out there than Nsundu had originally thought. "You don't have to call me your majesty. If I was the Queen of the Pridelands then maybe, but we're just like a big family here. We relax and enjoy ourselves, but help out each other when we need to. You're definitely welcome to live here and learn more about drums and rhythm. We even got dance teachers and lionesses who'd make jewellery for you!"
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 8:58 pm
"Oh!" Kya said and instantly relaxed a bit. She had just been worried... "I was just ... afraid that I was being too uhm. Familiar," she said then, smiling as if somehow proud she'd remembered the right sort of term. She hadn't even heard of the Pridelands but from the way Nsundu talked, it sounded like someplace formal.
Then her expression brightened as the rest of the lioness's words filtered through. "I can? Really? I ... I would love to," she said, a bit of that shyness coming back. It sounded like a wonderful and perfect place, and it was hard to believe ... that it could be that easy.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:37 pm
"You got nothing to worry about here. Everybody's got a role in the pride, and then it's only because they're good at something. The leader is good at leading, the drummer is good at drumming, and things like that. Nobody gets a position if they don't deserve it or aren't good at it, so it's not really all that formal." Nsundu gave a small shrug, still grinning. That's really how it went here. Kitambi would be the next pride leader because she was the one who had the skills to do it. If she didn't, the pride would know, and they would replace her. It was fairly simple.
The brown lioness's ears perked when Kya said she would love to live here, and her grinned widened. It was always very nice to know that felines would love to come and live in her pride. It was even better if they were musically talented. "That's great! I'm looking forward to seeing you around! The cheetah who's usually here isn't hanging out right now, but he comes to visit every now and then. Nobody really minds where you came from or what species you are so long as you put your heart into your Rhythm. You like drumming, I hear?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:08 pm
Kya considered that for a moment, and then nodded. It made sense, and it was a good way to run a pride. If everyone just did what they were good at, then no one could really get jealous or anything, either.
Then she bobbed her head at Nsundu's question and smiled brightly. "Yes! I've been practicing a lot lately ... I was hoping... I would be good enough to join by the time that I found this place," she said then, a bit shyly.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:53 pm
Ooh, so she practiced drumming? Excellent! It was always nice to welcome a good student into the pride. The pride had really only one bad student, but she had gone to a better place in their allied pride. It was amusing – in a rather cruel way – that the failed student had been Nsundu's own daughter, but her eldest made up for the lack of skill in her youngest. Besides, it wasn't like anybody really knew about Waseme. She was gone before most of the new members had even arrived. Only her mother and her sister would remember her, though it was Kitambi alone who knew why she would be happier in a different pride.
"Awesome! No worries about being good enough. You're young, and you've got loads of time to learn more. Besides, we don't mind if you want to join and you're not very good. So long as you try and give the best you can, that's good enough." Nobody who had stumbled upon the pride had ever not been good at music, but Nsundu was a firm believer that anybody could hang out and learn from the pride even if they couldn't hear music. "You'll get to make a drum while you're here. That'll help you learn better."
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:36 pm
Wait, wait... make a drum? The young cheetah's eyes widened at that, and she leaned forward a little, listening carefully to the older lioness.
It seemed like there was a lot to learn here, and others willing to teach ... that would be good! No, more than good ... almost like paradise, for her.
"I ... Thank you!" she burst out, bouncing just a little. "I don't really know what to say ... or where to start. But I would love to stay here!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:32 pm
Aaah the enthusiasm of the youth! Nsundu blanched inwardly at that thought, shooing it away to the back of her mind. She wasn't that old, and definitely too young to be thinking thoughts like that. Vain as she was, the brown lioness would probably never admit her age, despite the growing up of her daughters. One day, maybe, when her body caught up to her she would realize it. But for now, she considered herself still young and spry. If you kept that mentality then your body would never age! (Or so she believed)
"Then you are most welcome, Kya! You're free to go wherever you please in the lands, and if you need anything just ask. Everybody here's very nice, and they won't hesitate to lend you a paw. In fact, I think Binafsi's just brought back her hunting group with some food. Shall we make our way over there?" The lioness rose with a stretch, before turning back towards Kya. Time for food!
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:08 pm
Kay instantly bounced up to her feet and nodded. It had been a while since she had eaten last - and that had just been a small mouse that she'd been lucky enough to catch on the way here.
"That sounds like a great idea!" she replied, and followed after the lioness as they both went deeper into the lands of the pride.
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