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 Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:57 pm
 Eeva had been napping in the shade, beneath the intertwined boughs of the trees that encircled their home and kept the dens hidden from watching eyes. Once a lover of adventure, Eeva's life was certainly more settled and more...responsible now a days. She was Clan Leader now and as such she was expected to dedicate her life to the upkeep of her home and her family - the entire clan not just her own blood - safe and happy.
It was a tough job, but one that she had been honoured to take. Her parents had been worried at first, that she might be too wild and mischievious to handle the duty. But she had proved an adequate and responsible leader despite their fears.
Yes, Eeva Subiani had grown up.
And what made life even more exciting was the birth of new brothers and a sister. Family was a very, very important thing. Maybe the most important thing, and to know that it was growing more and more was a wonderful thing indeed.
Nap disturbed by the loud squabbling of birds above her head, she turned herself onto her stomach and sniffed lightly at the leaves scattered across her back and all around her. If she'd laid there much longer, she'd have been completely covered! An exaggeration? Most likely. Even still, it was an amusing thought and she laughed as she stood, shaking her fur free of loose soil, leaves and twigs.
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 12:24 pm
Tsiya was in all actuality the equivalent of what his sister used to be. Energetic and adventurous, he more often than not was the one who convinced his brothers or sister into coming and playing with him, in places that often got them bathed later as "punishment". Especially Howi. His little pale brother was probably the easiest to bring along and they often had lots of fun playing in the mud.
But today he was on his own, because he had a special mission in mind.
Tsiya wanted a special friend, just like his papa's bird.
The not-so-little Ela cub padded about, trying to be sneaky so that he wouldn't find something but scare it away. Like what happened when he found a lizard and a mouse and all the birds he ran into that wasn't Papa's bird or one of the other pridemember's companions.
Of course, he wasn't a very quiet cub, so he made a good bit of noise as he moved between the trees, finally coming within sight of his big-big sister, Eeva. He didn't spend much time with his older-older siblings or even his older siblings. They could be busy, especially Eeva, and he didn't want to be a bother.
But she didn't look busy today.
"Hi-Eeva!" he exclaimed cheerfully and bounded over to nuzzle her front paws.
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 12:53 pm
She startled at the voice calling her name and turned to see one of her many, many brothers running over to see her. "Little Tsiya!" She called, moving forwards a step to meet him, before lowering her head to n** at the fur between his ears. Had she really been that small? Had she really? And this was Tsiya a few weeks old, growing every day! She'd not visited this litter or the litter before them until they had opened their eyes and come out into the wilderness. How tiny were they when they were first born?
"What are you up to, today, Tsiya?" Her ears twitched suddenly. "And does Mother and Father know where you are? You know how Father worries!" She laughed at that. Ona'raha was certainly far more timid than his ex-pridelander mate, though he had mellowed out somewhat this past year or so.
Even still, the Clan was big enough now that the cubs could roam without too much worry and she'd never come across anyone who might want to harm a cub, even when she was a cub herself. The land was safer than most, or so she liked to fathom.
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:02 pm
Tsiya nodded energetically at his sister's questioning, laughing a bit when she nipped at his little mane-tuft.
"I told Momma I was gonna look for a friend like Papa's bird today. I promised I wouldn't go too far, an' I haven't, right?" At least, he didn't think he'd gone too far, but he tended to get carried away when he was playing. Maybe he had gone out a bit farther than normal, but Eeva was here, so it was okay, right? He wasn't alone.
His attention was caught by all of her tattoos and he pawed at them a bit.
"Eeva, what's this one mean?" he asked, pointing to the one on her shoulder. It looked like a jackal or a wild dog or something like that (Not that he really knew what those animals looked like as he didn't venture out that far) . He liked hearing stories about as much as he liked playing with his brothers and sisters and he really liked stories about their tattoos. Eeva was the one who gave the Shadow Clan their tattoos, which made her even more interesting. Part of him wanted to ask her how she made them, but he decided to wait rather than asking more questions just yet.
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:11 pm
"Nope, nope. It's fine, you're still inside of the clan borders, besides, I'm here now and you'll be safe with me around." Though really...if a fierce rogue did come looking for trouble, Eeva - being small and never having snarled in her life - would probably not be much of a match. But, she didn't consider that. Family was her life and she would fight to protect it. That was all that mattered to her.
"A friend? Have you found one yet?" She asked. It seemed like the trend for 'familiars' within clans had caught on, though come to mention it, the Shadow Clan didn't actually have anyone 'official'. Perhaps that was something she ought to see to. Maybe Tsiya would like to help.
But then he was asking about her tattoos and she allowed herself to think about that later. Tattoos were very important in Ela'wadiyian society and something that she absolutely adored talking about. She'd even given Laka her new set of tattoos recently and was very proud of being a part of something so important.
"That one..." She replied, glad he had picked that one. It was perhaps the most prominent and the most important. "Is a wolf, little Tsiya. I have a friend, you see, a very, very dear friend named Wingu Waya. He is an Ela'wadiyi lion, just like us, but he isn't of Shadow Clan. He is of Wolf Clan. This tattoo represents him and how he changed a little of who I was growing up."
She smiled. "There are many ways of reading into the tattoos upon our pelts. They may seem confusing at first, but you'll learn quickly. And, in no time at all, you shall be able to glance upon an Ela'wadiyi and know his or her history. It is...a wonderful thing."
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:36 pm
Tsiya listened to the story with rapt attention. He liked stories, especially ones about tattoos. They fascinated him, the marks his pride carried proudly upon themselves, marks of achievement and pieces of their memory, wearing history upon their coats.
And they were pretty. He liked pretty things, and the designs in the tattoos were so intricate and detailed. He knew the clan leader and the nwvati were the only ones that did the tattoos, but that couldn't stop him from playing in the mud, tracing sloppy designs and symbols there, or sometimes even taking Howi and muddying up his fur with symbols of the wet dirt.
"Sister, can I learn to make tattoos someday, too? I wanna make pretty things and keep the stories, too," he asked, pawing at the spotty and swirly designs around her feet. His were similar, only black and much fewer. They swirled around his eye and leg and dotted around the toes of one paw. He couldn't wait to have more adventures and stories to keep in the marks.
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Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:35 pm
She smiled, reaching out to tap him on the nose with a paw. "Of course you can, Tsiya. I expect Mother and Father would be glad that you're taking an interest in such things. If you want, I could even teach you, then we can paint more of your fur together. How does that sound?"
And she grinned a little mischievously. "Buuut, you'll have to have some more adventures first, so we can paint some really fun tattoos on that handsome pelt of yours!"
She smiled. "But compared to Father's, my tattoos are nothing. You should ask him about the stories written there on his own fur. He's had quite a life." She pondered on telling him more but decided that it was Ona'raha's story to tell. Besides, the details were blurry and she didn't want to tarnish the memories by poor story-telling.
And then she had a thought. "Perhaps, if you decide you like drawing tattoos, Mother might let you put some on her pelt. She's yet to receive hers."
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:36 am
"You'd teach me?? Oh, thank you, Sister!" Tsiya exclaimed happily and hugged her, snuggling into her fur. To learn how to make the tattoos and to make symbols for the stories of the pride, it sounded like a wonderful experience!
He looked up to her when she told him he would need more adventures before they could put fun types of tattoos on his pelt. He really wanted that. Not much of an adventurer at heart, Tyisa still liked roaming about, looking for new friends and fun times. Maybe soon he could have a mark that represented finding his special friend.
"Papa has lots of tattoos, but yours are pretty, too," he added, pawing at her leg-tattoos again. He liked swirls more than jagged or branching lines. "But I'll ask him for stories, too. I like stories. Mama told me one the other day 'bout where she came from before meeting Papa and if lions were big like her there, too, and stuff. Was a good story."
Putting tattoos on Mama? That sounded like a great honor, but he wasn't sure he would be that good enough at it to be able to give his mama her tattoos. Maybe a couple, but not all of them.
"Maybe if Mama said okay, but you'd help, right?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 3:12 pm
"No problem, little Tsiya. That's what big sisters are for, right? To teach their siblings?" She grinned, glad to have made him happy. She understood where he was coming from, too. Tattoos were a special thing and to be a part of their creation was an indescribable feeling.
"Thank you!" She replied, glad that he liked the markings on her pelt. She was terribly proud of them. "And as you grow, you'll gather more markings and by the time you're an adult, you'll have quite a piece of art upon your pelt! You just wait and see!" She preened. "Our parents have lots of stories. Mother, especially, since she came from a place not of the Ela'wadiyi. I used to want to see places outside of these lands, but not any more. I think I'm content with this now."
She smiled. "Either way, they both love telling stories. They'd jump at the chance if you asked."
She lowered herself to look closer at him, nudging at the tuft of hair between his ears. "Of course I'll help. As soon as you've started practising, we'll ask her if it'll be okay. I'm sure she'll be fine with it, especially since you'll have such a good teacher, right?" Her smile widened. "And you know where to find me, right? Either my den or around the lands. I'm never too far away."
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 11:57 pm
Tsiya's smile grew at all of the fun ideas Eeva was suggesting, but he latched onto her comment about once wanting to go exploring outside of the Ela lands. His pink eyes grew wide and he looked up at her with great interest on his features.
"You wanted to go exploring outside the pridelands?" he asked, putting one paw against her leg and leaning slightly.
"Why'd you wanna do that? Why didn't you? Didja ever leave the pridelands just a little bit? Didja meet rogues?" He was a fountain of questions, mostly about other lions. While he was very comfortable in his home and didn't like wandering too far, he loved meeting new creatures and finding new things. A bit of a contradiction, yes, but he was too young to notice, let alone care. He always wanted to make new friends.
Just as long as it wasn't too far from home.
"I don't think I could ever really leave, nope. I like to go find new friends and fun places, but I don't wanna go far from home," he added in a rush with little shakes of his head, causing his feather to wave back and forth.
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Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:04 pm
She nodded, smiling as she thought back to it. She had so wanted adventure and yet...she had grown up and that chance had slipped away. Really...it had never been there. Her parents would never have allowed their heir to go wandering out where she could get hurt.
She laughed at her brother's questions, quite happy to answer them. "I wanted to see...new things...track down new monsters with my friends! I guess I wanted to prove myself and have fun at the same time. Mother and Father never would have let me go, though. You know how they worry and since I was the eldest, there was pressure on me to learn about our ways so I could take the reins from Father when I grew. It was pressure from myself, though, since they never pressured me, ever. I guess my desire to make them happy outweighed adventure in the end."
She smiled softly. "Maybe one day, though."
"As for meeting rogues! I did, only in passing and they were never all that bad. Even still, I was never alone when they came by, so I wasn't in too much danger at all. Some rogues are bad, but most are good, that's what I think, anyway."
She smiled warmly at his last remark and reached out to give him a light hug. "And I'm glad. I like having my little siblings close by!" She purred warmly. "So, you want to go and see if the hunters were successful this morning?" She chirped, feeling a little hungry now.
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:13 pm
Tsiya listened with wide eyes and even wider ears. He wanted to hear more stories of his sister's life, what all of her tattoos meant, who gave them to her or if she did them herself. But he knew he shouldn't press her. She had already answered so many of his questions and promised that she would teach him how to make tattoos. He felt a little bad for his big sister, since she put so much pressure on herself. He thought it might be interesting to be an extra important part of the clan, not her job of course. He knew there was the shaman, the nvwati, the lion that gave the tattoos, who knew the stories of a clan member's life and transcribed them into the intricate designs depicted on their pelts. He would love to be able to listen to the stories of his friends and family as he picked designs that told the story. To have that kind of responsibility, to be that helpful in the pride... It gave him something new to aspire to.
First, find a friend, like papa has.
Then, try and be the best he can be so maybe he can help his sister tattoo the Shadow Clan when he grows up.
But a morning meal certainly sounded like a better idea ahead of all that. And when his stomach made a soft grumbling sound, he realized that it agreed with Eeva. The young cub grinned and nodded.
"Sure!" he agreed and jumped into motion, heading towards where meals were usually taken, an excited bounce in his step, though that was really nothing new.
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