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 Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:28 pm
There were many that claimed that night was darkest just before dawn. Kibaya wasn't sure if this was really true or of it was some sort of metaphorical way to refer to life. However, he'd felt that his night had become the darkest he'd ever seen; his life since that fateful night when that rogue had attacked Vinuka had become the darkest he'd ever seen. Now, he was starting to see the faintest traces of a new dawn. The notion was embarrassing to ponder, and he'd have been damned before so much as breathing such horribly dumb ideas.
After all, while he didn't particularly want his pride members to fear him (he'd lived under the shadow of fear for so long - others feared him for the wrong reasons), he also didn't want them to flock him. At least, that's what he... thought he wanted, right? Honestly, he wasn't even sure what he wanted any more. It was confusing for him; horrible. He'd always known what he wanted, and yet now, he was confused and though not unhappy... he wasn't sure he was happy either.
Neither happy nor unhappy. Confused and frustrated. Ashiki had been right in that the pride was not entirely doomed though; cubs were on their way already, if what he'd heard some nights ago had been any indication. Perhaps there was hope. As he pondered, he watched the way the lights began to illuminate the sky up above, the purples and pinks mingling with the dark blue of the night.
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:54 pm
Ashiki could not deny the fact that she was overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment at the moment, and for a number of reasons. First and foremost was the fact that the rogues had indeed decided to remain within the pride and for no more reason, it seemed, than the fact that Sukari had taken a liking to the large, gruff male. They made quite the pairing, she had to admit, and that brought about the second reason for her rather pleased mood at the moment. So taken were they, apparently, that Sukari was already with cubs and would be personally aiding in strengthening the numbers of the pride. She had high hopes that the scrawnier male would find a mate, either within the pride or outside and bring someone else in. There was certainly time for that though.
Lastly, Chrno, or Kibaya as he seemed to be more permanently for the time, had been behaving himself. She wasn't sure if it had to do with the talk they had had or if Vi simply being gone meant he didn't have the passion he needed to strike out so dangerously. Whatever the case, she had to commend him - maybe she wouldn't have to lose such a valuable asset after all. Still, despite the fact that she happened to be thinking about him at that particular moment, Ashiki was not in fact looking for him. It was early in the morning, dawn barely peaking over the horizon, and she was simply taking a small stroll. When his scent met her, she blinked a few times in surprise, though she didn't react much to it. Instead, her bright eyes swept out to find his dark figure in the ever-brightening dawn.
"Do you ever sleep?" she asked, standing where she had stopped when she was interrupted by his scent, not all that far away from him to be honest. She needed to pay more attention to where she was going, or at least to what she was doing. Zoning out was not a good habit to form.
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 2:33 pm
He was not startled to notice her approach; once upon a time he'd have probably felt skittish with the idea she was drawing near, however, Kibaya was slowly becoming used to having the queen nearby. It wasn't that she seeked him out, and it certainly wasn't that he looked for her... however, for some odd reason they always seemed to conincidentally end up in the same places.
In a way, one might have thought them to be polar opposites, and yet prone being attracted to one another. Funny how those things worked.
Kibaya wasn't entirely prepared to even start to figure out just why they always seemed to be dancing around each other, attracted to the same places at the same times. He was pretty much blaming irony and karma for that; or at least, he would have, had they been physical being he could have snapped at. Seeing as how they weren't though, the large lion had to content himself with blaming random rocks that lay dispersed on the ground, "I do, for your information. I just woke up," though the words were grumbled, he sounded more like a frustrated child that had been caught doing something he probably shouldn't have than the dangerous animal Ashiki had met in the cave a couple of moons back, "Do YOU ever sleep? Mighty early for a queen to be prancing around," he snorted, and in the dim light, the small smirk he was offering her was only just visible, "People might start getting the wrong idea."
Not that there were a lot of 'people' around anyhow. Bazi was probably off in the deeper chambers and Sukari and that bigger male were... actually, he didn't even want to know where they were, "Your General is loud," he told her bluntly as he returned to watch the sky, "She woke me up."
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:15 pm
"I'm not quite sure what you're trying to imply by that," she said with a quirked brow, slowly stalking forward until she could sit at this side, tail curling around her hind paws. "I've never pretended to be a coddled and spoiled queen and I don't ever intend to be so either, not like those pampered Pridelanders." She made a sniffing noise, as if the notion was entirely preposterous, and then narrowed her eyes on the rising sun in the distance. "I'm always up early, I enjoy the sunrise. It's powerful." She wasn't a poet or a sap, and though she could have said any number of mopey, sopping things at that moment, she simply settled on the most important.
"Well, I'm afraid that Sukari has good reasons to be loud," and now it was her turn to smirk. No doubt there was more than one meaning in that sentence, but she wasn't going to exaggerate them or explain them to him. If he picked up on it, well, good for him. "I'm sorry she woke you up though, perhaps you should find somewhere else to sleep?" She turned her gaze on him, her brows raising with her question as she stared at him calmly.
She was beginning to question why it always seemed that he was around whenever she was looking for a little peace as of late, a little time away from the rest of the pride. She knew he had a tendency to be a longer, but the lands were large and there was really no reason that the two of them should continuously find each other in the same places. It was coincidence for sure, and if she believed in ridiculous embodied things like fate and chance, she might think they had something to do with it.
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:47 pm
"I'm teasing," he told her bluntly as he looked over his shoulder, one dark brow arching up till it hid under the wild locks of his mane, "What, you never got teased as a kid? Never played or anything?" a mild snort resounded through his nose as he turned back to watch the sunrise once more, "Even I had time to play as a kid," what the hell was wrong with these people anyhow? Then again, his playtime long ago had always been with the same lioness... and though his pride had been significantly more.... cheerful than this one, they'd never been able to look his way. They had never been able to hold his gaze. Maybe... there was nothing wrong with this pride, and it'd been his that had had the problem?
It was still all very confusing, "Powerful?" the word dragged him out of his thoughts and he looked down at her as she sat so easily by his side, "What's so powerful about it? They're just lights in the sky," and something about this conversation was... horribly reminiscent of one he'd had with Vinuka about fireflies so long ago. The irony did not elude him. Another snort resounded him as she spoke; blunt and with double meaning. He had half expected her to shrink back awkwardly at his claim. Vinuka would have. But then again, he was starting to learn that the world wasn't all about the orange pelted lioness; it extended well beyond her. It had been hard to admit to that, yet he was slowly pulling out from it... from her, "Reason to be loud, she says..." but refrained the crude words that came to mind, "Eh, there's not really all that many ******** caves that aren't already occupied. That brat, the Nuka kid has taken a whole bloody ******** mound to himself and that other brat has too. The other girl... the weird one. The one with the skull, she's taken a whole section up too and has god damned snakes around there. Then there's the one your darling general had; mine was beside it. Those walls don't keep it in, let me tell you."
He rolled his eyes a bit then shook his head, "The other mounds are occupied. So unless you're extending up an invitation, that's a no go," which of course, he was perfectly sure she wasn't. He grumped under his breath some more, but honestly, it was clear he wasn't even meaning half of it; he wasn't making such a good show of it all either, for his muscles remain relaxed and his ears remain perfectly calm.
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:49 pm
"There wasn't much room for teasing around Saraphina," she said with a small shrug. She had played, sure, but she was also quite positive that the kind of playing that she and her siblings had done as cubs was probably much more morbid than the silly games other cubs endured with their family. The Outlands was a strange place to grow up, to say the least, especially when compared to other prides. "I played of course, but look at Bazi and I. What kind of playing do you think we did?" The smirk was on her maw again as she rolled her eyes up to look at his bloody ones, brows lifted lightly with the coldly amused question.
"It's the birth of a new day," she said softly, nodding her head at the light creeping up from the horizon, "it chases away darkness, sheds light onto the world so that all can be reborn under the sun." The dawn chased away darkness and demons, brought back the life and light of the sun. She could see herself in the dawn, she and those that supported her, bringing back life and light to the Outlands. "You can't deny something powerful enough to chase away the night, can you?" she wrapped her tail around her legs again, letting the tuft trace against her fur.
"The weird one is my sister," she said with a warning in her tone, though she wasn't exactly being very threatening about it. His tone was light, and thus was hers. Oh, she knew Bazi was a touch strange, even for the Outlands, but that didn't mean she had to openly allow others to insult her. "We'll all have to learn to share once the members start to grow, or go scouting for other caves to hold all the lions," she said with a frown, contemplating this future dilemma that she hadn't truly thought about until now. Well, it was a long way away, no use bothering herself about it until it happened, right?
She chuckled at his situation, imagining it must be quite amusing to see him at night while Sukari was up to her.. nocturnal activities. "Well, I'm sure she'll grow tired of it sooner or later - especially once she gets big and swollen with cubs." She did throw an amused smirk in his direction then, however. "My cave is rather large, though, being the queen's royal cave and all. If it bothers you so much, you can come rest there, especially if you're just going to keep intruding on my alone time wherever I go."
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:31 pm
"I wonder," he drawled out, though it wasn't mean or otherwise harsh. He wasn't judging her. After all, he was the one that had been discovered beating up small prey animals to a pulp out of frustration when he'd been young; hence why Vinuka had named him 'Kibaya', because he'd done 'something really really bad'. It was fitting and ironic all at the same time and he'd been unable to refuse the name, for it'd been the girl's childish way of making him feel better. At the same time, he'd felt himself bonded to her... and yet... she'd never felt that way towards him. Vinuka had been in love with Chrno.
And Chrno had not only been blissfully oblivious of that fact, but now remain dormant within Kibaya's mind. He figured he'd not wake up any time soon either, for Chrno's mind could not take the stress that his body had been suffering those past few moons since he'd attacked Vinuka, "Actually, no, I don't wonder," he knew what the two sisters must have been doing to turn out like they had. In fact, he'd had the 'pleasure' of meeting Saraphina, and knew that there must have been little fun to be had around these parts, if his few encounters with her had been any indication.
He found himself frowning as she spoke, his eyes drawn back to the dawning sky. Strangely, it made sense, and yet he'd never tried to see it like that; they'd just been lights in the sky, as far as he'd been concerned... nothing important. Surely nothing powerful, and yet he could not deny the truth in her words. At the same time however, his pride would not let him voice out that she might just be right, so he contented himself with being silent; if he was not rebuking her words it meant he agreed with them, right? "I've always liked night more. I liked the darkness. It's useful. And I don't stand out like a sore thumb."
"Sister, eh?" he'd known that, but he lacked the names of the pride members; after all, it wasn't like he spent time getting acquainted with any of them. He knew them by their titles; the general, the guards, the hunters, the shaman, the priestess... the only one Kibaya knew by name was Ashiki, and only because she'd graced him with her presence more often in the past few days than he could count on his paws, "All those lions, hmm?" he still seemed skeptic about that, if only because hew knew numbers did not grow on trees, "When are you leaving?" his tone was clipped at this point, "Gotta leave if you really want new members. Bring them over. Can't just rely on Lady Luck to show them the god darned way into the lands. Besides, that general of yours isn't precisely the best welcome party," not that he disagreed with her, that was obvious; he was merely stating a fact, "You wanna rally up some members, you gotta go look for them. So, when are you leaving?"
After all, he wasn't used to having anyone come into his life... and stay. There had to be a catch. His eyes strayed down towards her as she offered him his chamber, "As I recall.... I was here watching the whole 'powerful dawning' and s**t before you got here. So it might just be you intruding my time, hmmm?" he lowered his head down a notch till they were almost touching but not quite, "I accept."
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:09 pm
She chuckled lightly as he changed his mind so quickly about how she and Bazi had played as cubs. She didn't blame him - she wouldn't have particularly wanted to wonder about it either. It wasn't one of those things anyone really wanted to dive into thoughts about, at least.
"I guess you're right. The night can be very useful for those of us that like to skulk around and be mysterious, or just avoid the general population of a pride altogether," she said offhandedly, shrugging her shoulders as she did so. It was a tease, though she only let a small fraction of that show through her voice, the rest of it seemed entirely serious. "There are those of us that like to shine with the sun, though," she said, her eyes staring out to the horizon where the light was growing ever-brighter, reflected against the emerald pools of her irises.
"Who says I'm leaving?" she said with a quirk of her brow, turning to look at him. "I'm the queen, my place is here to look over the lions in my pride. If it comes to the point where we need to go out and recruit members, I have others to do that for me." She thought lady luck was a fine thing to rely on, to be quite honest. She was sure their luck would look up any time now, but he did have a point. Why wait when they could go out at the same time? "My brothers are sitting around doing very little of anything, I'm sure I can send them out to do that for me." She tilted her head at him slightly, "trying to get rid of me so soon?"
"I come out here most mornings, that automatically makes it my time," she said with a small sniff, faking her irritation rather well as she lifted her chin and sniffed again. She managed to tease from time to time, even if she wasn't an overly playful character. Her eyes narrowed slightly on him, even as her smirk grew, when he lowered his head. "This will be interesting, I believe."
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