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 Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:56 am
The day's training was done, and Ramla reveled in a moment of peace. The vultures always watched, keeping an eye on the pride, just waiting. But she wouldn't give them that chance, oh no. The lioness kept her eyes on the vultures, always waiting for an excuse to go at them. It gave her pleasant chills to think about it. Her usual thoughts, plans of driving vultures away, were interrupted today, though. Something was on the sand on the shore, being lapped at by the waves. What was this, and why was it here? As the lioness hurried over, she found... A cub? This was unusual, and it didn't look like one she'd seen in the temples before. It was a new cub...
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:03 am
Mother had always told Itsaso to stay away from the sea, that she could be washed away. And she'd swum hard and fast to try to save her when she'd disobeyed. The current had been faster though, and the waves washed them apart. To the cub, it was as if the whole world had been submerged in a great surge of swirling green-blue, and then everything had gone dark. Later the sea had deposited her on a far off beach, and she lay in the sand dreaming of her home.
Of course, dreams weren't real, and she was started from hers by a pecking...The desert beaches weren't a good place for a cub, especially a half-drowned one. There were vultures. She cried out and stirred, groggily trying to get away from the feathery menace. She spotted a larger form, pale below and dark above--mother? Her eyes were still swollen and blurred from the sea's salt. She ran towards her, wobbling this way and that from exhaustion.
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:29 pm
Whatever the cub was up to, it didn't look in a state to move. The lioness' lips curled back before she charged, roaring at the vultures. "Filthy vermin, be gone with you!" The feeling of her claws sinking past feathers to flesh was a wonderful feeling, and the birds left with a great caucus. Sides heaving, Ramla grinned wide. "Teach them to come picking on a defenseless... Cub!" She turned around, looking for the cub. It wasn't hard to find on the sand, and she went trotting over to meet it. "Hey, kid... Are you okay...?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:01 pm
Itsa tumbled towards the lioness, half-blind, covered in salt and sand, tired, hungry, and sore from being pecked. She knew the lioness wasn't her mother--being tossed about at sea had come back to her, but for now this lioness was scaring off the birds, was keeping her safe. She thumped into one of Ramla's legs and clung to it, shivering.
"Guh...I...I..." She looked up at the stranger and then around at the odd landscape. "...Where is this? Wuh, where's the trees?" She gulped and peered back at Ramla. "I...I'm lost! The sea stole me from home! Momma...momma's gone! I...I..." She spluttered to a stop and buried her face in the leg she was clinging to.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:17 am
The lioness' ears went back for a moment, before she put a paw on the cub's back. "There, there... It's okay... You're safe now..." She looked up, glaring at the vultures. The birds kept a distance away, not wanting to get close to a lion that wasn't afraid to attack them. Silver eyes narrowed at the birds, before the turned to the cub, softening. "Why don't we get you up to the inner temples and cleaned up? The sea is no place for a cub to be." She paused in thought, one ear flicking. "Can you walk, or do you need a lift...?" She couldn't carry the cub in her mouth, but she could at least let the cub climb on her back.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:58 am
The lioness' comforting gesture went a way to soothing the cub. She hadn't been particularly highstrung before being washed out to sea, though the trauma of losing her family and home certainly wasn't something to be shrugged off. She nodded at the idea that they should move away from the mean birds that had pecked her...she'd only seen ones like that from a great distance, flying down to eat dead things...Had they thought she was dead? WAS she dead? No...being dead wouldn't make her as sore as she was now.
She sniffled and let go of Ramla's leg. "I can walk. I'm just all crusty...and slow." It was true, the cub was rather pudgy. She showed off being able to walk--waddle really--and then looked expectantly up at the lioness. "Do you think someone there will know where my home is? And...do you think I can have a snack?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:26 am
She watched the cub, then sighed, starting to walk. There'd be work to be done on this one's pudge... "I'm not sure... I only know you came from the sea..." That would be quite the story to tell. Maybe whatever lions popped up that lacked in inteligence would believe cubs came from the sea... Or she could just tell cubs with too many questions that. "You'll be safe from the vultures, though, that's for sure... They're aggressive around here." Ramla scowled, ears flattening back. "Before Pharoah Muroki came back with many of the lions that make up the pride now, the accursed pests had actually managed to drive the pride out! But he returned, with numbers, and drove them out!" The smirk wasn't hidden on her face, or the pride in her ruler.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:38 am
The cub frowned but nodded. She had no clue where she'd come from, which way the sea'd taken her, so how would someone else know? She couldn't give up hope though. What would she do if she couldn't go home? Stay here with strangers? Better than the birds at least...
"What's a Fayrow?" She asked as she trundled along half under and half beside Ramla. "Is it something you can eat? And...what's a temple? I don't think we had those back home. We had jungles and caves and funny sideways-crawlers though! Heehee, those were funny AND good to eat!" t least her spirits were improving.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:43 am
"A pharoah is a ruler. I think in other places, he'd be called King... Or... Leader." But their word sounded so much more... Elegant. "And a temple is a collection of stones, formed into a building." She looked up at the horizon, nodding to the north. "You see that tall structure there? That's one of the temples. We live there, in them. Cubs..." She looked down pointedly. "Such as you... Stay in the temples, always watched by the adults. You get to learn about the pride's ways inside, and basic hunting and survival outside!" Her thoughts made a stop at the station. "Come to think of it, they'll know you're not from the pride for that reason... Because there's no way for a cub to sneak away from us all..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:52 am
"Ohh I see. My home had one of those! She was really nice, I played with her cubs sometimes! She was really smart, everyone told her their secrets and stuff, cause she remembered the best!" She puffed up her chest, proud of her native ruler. "Huh...those look like caves, but not in the ground or in a hillside! How'd you make them?" Being from a pride that was known to hoard information, she was naturally a questioner. Poor Ramla was probably figuring that out too. "It look like there used to be more of it...that part looks broken!" She peered at one spot where time and sands had chipped and worn away portions of the ruins.
"Are...are there lots of other cubs? Do you think they'll make fun of me for getting pecked?" Uh oh...'Saso wasn't sure she wanted to be the new cub on the block. Maybe the vultures weren't so bad...
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:58 am
Ramla couldn't help chuckling, smiling to herself. "We don't know where the buildings came from... Or I don't... But a lot of the walls have paintings of strange two-legged animals on them, so one can only guess... They're really old, that's all I can say for sure..."
Glancing at the cub, the lioness nodded. "Yup, LOTS of cubs. Big litters seem to be increasingly normal... I think it's something in the water here." It was odd, that was for sure... "They won't say anything about the vultures, those things go after even grown adults. You're just a cub, so you can't help getting pecked on. Where as if I were pecked on by them... I'd be laughed out of the temples."
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:47 am
Well that helped her feel a little better. Dropping off into silence the cub tried to remember anything beyond being pulled out to sea. Oh why hadn't she listened to her mother? Tears threatened, but she gulped them back. She was going to meet people and she didn't want to look a mess for that. She had to be brave, be a good ambassador for her home. Not that she'd ever see home again...
As they came over the rise to the temple she ducked half under Ramla and peered in at the slew of faces looking out. Her nervousness lasted only long enough for her to spot a fresh kill that several cubs were gnawing at, then with a joyful cry she was off, waddling like her life depended on it to plant herself face first in the tasty food.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:16 pm
Ramla offered the cub a comforting smile, then sighed, watching her waddle off. Tomorrow... The cub would start learning. Lightly trotting over, Ramla formed a bit of a plan in her head. She'd make the cub work hard... If she didn't lose ALL the weight, she'd at least lose SOME of it. She'd have to explain this to her fathers, though... She hoped they didn't mind being called 'Grandpa'...
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