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 Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 5:47 pm
 Mashaka had been wondering more and more these days, further and further from the pride his new adoptive mothers had brought him to. He was happy that they had taken him from where he was living with his father, and now his sister was so happy. He definetly knew she had found the place she belonged, she had even found a mate, or at least he though that was what she had found, he wasn't really in tune with how the whole mate thing worked.
As he wondered through the savannah, Mashaka found himself drawn back towards a pride he had first incountered when he was travelling between his two homes, his old home and now here. He had met a lion cub around the same age as him when he was there, and he had seen the colors of the pride, it just seemed like somewhere he belonged. Though one thing was still on the edge of his mind, the cub had told him that females ruled and males... while lets just say males not so much.
He made his way quickly and quietly to the border of the pride, where he sat and watched.  Something moved through the dark jungle. She moved as a current through a stream, invisible and silent, a part of her surroundings. Her name meant in the nighttime and the shadows were as brothers and sisters. From where Mashaka sat, all seemed quiet except for the singing of birds. Suddenly something came crashing threw the leaves. A flock of birds thrilled and scattered to the treetops.
“Oooh, shoot!” Kisikusiku growled at the empty earth beneath her paws. She thought for sure she would catch one this time. How did they even see her coming?
Kissy had been hunting for herself for over a week now. Ever since she caught her first monkey her self-confidence had soared and she felt an urgent need to become self-sufficient for the honor that would bring. A black coat like her’s needed plenty of toh. If she could collect enough toh while she was young, the gods would bless her with cubs of every color of the rainbow. She would lie awake at night daydreaming of her beautiful cubs. There would be yellow, orange and gold cubs, just like her grandmother, and there would be blue, purple and green cubs, too. Kissy wished she would grow faster so she could see them.
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:41 pm
Mashaka was very startled when the black female came crashing through the trees in front of him. He hadn't seen the young girl coming at him. So it was a huge shock at him. He stumbled backwards, loosing his balance quite a bit as the girl came leaping through, leaves and birds flying everywhere. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. He continued to stumble backwards until he fell over on his behind.
He looked up and saw the black female ahead of him, she didn't look like she belonged to the pride she was all dark, but at the same time Mashaka found himself drawn to her, he stumbled up to his feet, losing all grace the young male might have once had in his body. "Uh Hello" he stammered.
Kissy was so focused on catching a bird that at first she didn’t even see him standing in front of her, even though he was much brighter than she. She was quite large for a female, muscular too, but not in a masculine way. She was lean from countless hours spent playing, jumping, climbing and exploring every inch of the pride lands, except where the males lived. That land was off-limits to females her age. When she spotted the rogue male her ears suddenly flattened and she stepped back almost into the shadows.
“H-hello. Who are you?” she stammered back, too startled to say anything coherent. Even though he looked like one of the pride she assumed he must be a rogue. She spent so much time exploring and making friends that she knew almost everyone in the pride, and here was an unfamiliar face close to the boarder. Her eyes darted, afraid an adult rogue might be lurking near by.
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:58 pm
"I am sorry." he told her quickly, it was strange for him to be so coherent and caring about what he may have made the young female feel. He more often then not actally couldn't have cared less about what he made females feel, females were well they didn't matter.
"I am Mashaka." he told her gently, he didn't dare move closer to her, she was obviously unhappy with his being there. "I didn't mean to startle you, I meant no harm, I just I just... " he had been able to speak smoothly at first but as he got further into trying to calm her he got more and more nervous that she wouldn't want to speak to him.
“Are you alone?” Kissy was still too nervous to socialize. She wasn’t going to come out until she knew he was alone. Though she could easily overpower another juvenile, an adult rogue could easily carry her off against her will. Kissy couldn’t stand the thought of someone taking her away from her pride and her family. It would be a terrible dishonor to be captured by a male. When she was in the safety of her pride she was as bold as a rawal despite her low ranking. She loved to make friends with everyone, except for males, because they meant little to her.
She had already started to view them through the eyes of a full-grown lioness, as if they were no more than reproductive vehicles. Yes, Kissy knew all about the birds and the bees. She was an inquisitive cub, so it was only a matter of time before she found out.
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:18 pm
Mashaka looked around him, at times one of his mothers might follow him out, but he really didn't think either had followed him all this way, they knew he would come back eventually, he was still kind of young to be out on his own. "Yes I am alone." he told her confidently.
"I wont hurt you, you can come out of the shadows." he told her. He wasn't sure if she was afraid of being hurt, sometimes females are afraid of being hurt by males, but that really wasn't the type of male he was. He wanted her to come out of the shadows so that he would be able to see her better, he wanted to know more about her.
Kissy cautiously sniffed the air. Well, she didn’t smell anyone else. She slunk out of the shadows and looked around, slowly gaining confidence in herself and the boy cub’s word. Where as a club she was once clumsy, her constant exploration taught her control and grace. She crept forward like a rising mist and narrowed her eyes at the boy. She walked right up to him, showing no fear, and sniffed him from head to toe. Now that she was so close their difference in size showed. Even though they were the same age Kissy stood almost a shoulder taller than him.
“Well, you don’t smell like a liar,” she growled softly. She liked to pretend she had super powers. She held him still with her paw on his chin and stared into his eyes. “Hmm. Very interesting. You seem… confused… lost. Yes, I see it very clearly.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:54 pm
Mashaka wasn't sure what to make of the female holding her paw up to his face. "I am not a liar, so I guess it is good that I don't smell like one." he said a small smile spreading across his face. He was trying to make some sense of what she was trying to do with looking into his eyes, when she told him what she.... saw.
"No I am not lost, I know where I am, I uh I came here on purpose, its this place this place has a pull to it." he wanted to add in to that statement, you have a pull, but well he wasn't that equiped of a flirt yet. Unlike Kissy he hadn't fully managed to wrap his head around the birds and the bees, he was able to recognize the attraction he felt to the female kind, but he was still somewhat confused about it, as as far as he knew he despised them.
Kissy only laughed at him, shaking her head as she backed away. “No, I’m sure of it. You’re definitely lost. If you knew where you were going you wouldn’t be here. Only females are welcome in this pride. Your kind, well, you might as well be slaves.” She smirked at that. Even though he did have a pretty coat, she didn’t want any more lousy rogues in the pride. He would only try to run away like her father. Thanks to his willingness to dishonor their family she simply had no respect for males, especially outsiders. She figured if she told him what he was in for he’d get scared and run away.
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:16 pm
Mashaka was honestly a little put off, the thought of being a slave wasn't overly appealing to the young man, but at the same time, the thought of going away and never seeing this place again wasn't one he really liked either. He was becoming more and more confused about what he was doing here, why he was drawn here, why he wanted to talk to this particular female.
He stood up, should he leave? "I know that females are the rulers, but well I uh I, I was drawn here." he smiled hoping maybe she would lighten up, there wasn't many females he had met in his life and none were as serious as she was. He wanted to know more about her, "Please I promise I mean no harm, I just want to know more about these lands, who is allowed here, everything."
“Why? So you can invade with a bunch of other males?” Kissy held her head up high, digging her claws into the dirt with a grin. “Well go ahead. Try it. We’re a pride of warriors, so you wouldn’t stand a chance. We’ve got super powers and everything. I bet you can’t even turn invisible.”
She wasn’t taking him seriously. She actually found it funny that he wanted to know about her pride, but she wasn’t about to share all their secrets with an outsider. Did her pride even have secrets? Kissy liked to pretend so, at least in front of this outsider. Messing with him was almost as fun as playing war with her cousins.
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:53 pm
"I already told you I meant no harm, and you said I didn't smell like a liar." he said to her, trying to make her feel a little more at easy. "I really just like the pride, I havent felt like I belonged somewhere before now and well I, I just liked this place." he wasn't sure why he felt a need to convince her.
"No no I can't turn invisible..... " he said trailing of, maybe this wasn't the place for him, I just wanted to have a home. "I have never had a home before, and well I just I thought here seemed nice, and well you were so striking when I first saw you." he looked at her again, embaressed about what he had just said.
Did she say that? Kissy couldn’t remember. She was having too much fun messing with him. Now she felt caught in her lie. Maybe she could make something up about her powers not working so well all the time, but she could already tell he wasn’t interested in playing along with her game or giving her the reaction she wanted. He just looked embarrassed.
“Huh?” she asked, giving him a look. She hadn’t been paying attention for a moment but she could have sworn he said he wanted to be a part of her pride. And he called her stunning? “Why would you want that? I just told you this isn’t the place for males, especially rogue males. You’d probably be happier somewhere else. If you want to live here you’ll have to go to the parastar lands where all the males live and stay with them until a female chooses you. I mean, technically speaking, you’re almost too old to be talking to me.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:16 pm
"Too old to talk to you?" he asked, Mashaka knew already that this is where he wanted to be, but he wanted to be here here with her, but if he couldn't see her, then he wasn't sure what to do. "Well" he began, "I think I think that would be ok, I mean maybe I would be picked early on." He looked down at himself, wondering what would get him picked, the pride seemed to like color, and his coat was purple so that was a plus for him right.
"Erm I am sorry but I dont even know your name." he told her, he wasn't sure what had brought it to his head, but he wanted to know what the girls name was. If he joined the pride it would be helpful to at least know that much.
Kissy frowned and shook her head. Truth be told she felt her pride’s traditions were the right traditions no matter what any outsider said, so she found his ignorance a little off-putting. “It doesn’t work like that. We never mate until we’re fully grown. If a female ever had cubs when she was a teenager that would be a huge dishonor to her family, that’s why the males have their place and why we’re kept separate until we’re old enough. You do know about honor, right?”
She paused and looked at him questioningly. He should have left by now. Maybe he was just dumb. “It’s Kissy.” She thought for a moment. “Do you have a name?”
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:31 pm
"I am Mashaka, and yes I know what honor is." he told her. He had nodded along while she talked about the rules of the pride, the pride he was thinking more and more should be the place that he called home "I wouldn't want to cause dishonor for anyone." he told her trufully, "Least of all you." he blushed a little, angry with himself that he had these feelings, feelings that for one reason or another he wasn't able to control.
"Tell me more, I want to know it all, that way when I come and live her for good, I will know all the rules, and won't dishonor myself either." he asked her.
Kissy blinked at him. She smiled softly and giggled. In her laughter was the singing of birds and the baying of wildebeest; at times musical, at times startling. “I never met a rogue before who… well, I never thought I’d meet a rogue who cared about that! I always thought all rogues were too dumb to know the first thing about honor. That’s why…”
No, she shouldn’t talk about her father. Mashaka didn’t need to know. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, in my pride we call honor toh. You have to earn as much toh as possible in this life so that after you die you’ll be reborn into a better life. See my fur is black because I was dishonorable in my last life. That’s why I’m a shikar-i and not a rawal. But that’s okay, because I’ve got a chance to earn honor in this life too! I’m working real hard so the next time I’m reborn I’ll get to be a ghast like my sister. Males are the lowest caste – that’s what we call a rank. If you want to be born into a better caste in your next life you’ll have to work really hard, even harder than me.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:41 pm
Mashaka nodded hard work didn't scare him,"How do men prove them self in your pride?" he asked Kissy. He wanted to know how he could prove himself to her. He knew unfortuantely that he wouldn't be able to stay here, he would have to go home before he moved here, explain to his mothers why he need to come back here, and he had to find his real mother, and understand a little more about her before he knew he would be ready for this adventure.
Mashaka had noticed Kissy trailing off but he decided not to push the topic, he wanted her to tell him more about the pride, he wanted to know all he could before he left home to explain.
“Well first you have to obey all the laws. You can’t talk back to a female ever even a shikar-i like me.” She particularly liked that rule. If she ever felt bad about her caste she would just go spend the day with her brother Kupa. He was such a perfect male, she knew he would have a good life the next time he was reborn.
“Also when you have cubs with a female you have to stay and take care of them. When the cubs are old enough to fend for themselves – you know, when they’re teenagers – then the female can send you back to live with the other parastars. But if you do a really good job, she might decide to keep you.
“There are other things that can take away your toh. If you lie, steal, or harm someone who can’t fight back you’ll lose toh and be born into a lower rank in your next life. You have to keep your promises and be a good person. Since you’re so bright you probably did good in your last life, but not good enough to be born a girl. Females are always above males no matter what.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:55 pm
Mashaka nodded, he was beginning to understand more and more, girls before boys, colors before neutrals, it was fairly simple he thought, but it was quite likely that it would be much more complicated then his young mind could really make sense of. But he knew one thing for sure. "This is going to be my new home." he told her confidently.
"I have to do the right thing though, I need to say good bye to my old family first, I dont want my mother to worry abotu me or my sister. But I promise that I will be back, and I will look for you when I come back." he told her honestly. "If I can't make it back before I become a teen, please don't forget me, because I will be here, I will be back." he smiled at her, and swept into a low bow. He wanted to make sure that he was engraved in the females mind.
Kissy actually felt herself blush a little. Maybe he did belong here after all. She was glad he would go back to say goodbye to his family and explain. Her father never did that. “Okay… I’ll try to remember you. I can’t promise anything, but I will try.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 10:00 pm
Mashaka gave her one quick nod. He was happy that she would at least try. He turned and ran full speed towards his home land, he needed to say a quick good bye and get everything in order, he was going to be prepared to come back here. Even if it was after he became a teen, he would wait, try to catch glimpses of her, he didn't fully know it yet but he was in love.
((Fin~))
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