[PRP] Find a happy place (Wamblee&Banus/Rasul)

[Andranis]

A black nose twitched, inhaling the air around the lion it belonged to. The white lion paused, pink eyes narrowing for a moment as his lip curled back. This was the territory of a pride... It smelled something like a lion that they'd run into, some days back. After a moment, he looked back, letting out a call to the lionesses following him. They'd found it.

Padding along slowly, Mola'katiti looked around. The area was drastically different from the Pridelands, the lands of her birth. It wasn't nearly AS lush, though it was better than some places they'd passed. Walking up to the male, she let out a low 'hmm'. "You think this is it, Wamblee? We'll be welcome here with open arms?"

Following the sound and smell of her travel companions, Emera soon bumped into a warm body. A quick sniff told her it was Wamblee. The blind seer smiled, using her whiskers to guide her as she stepped around the male and onto his other side. "This is it, Katiti, I know it..." Through her visions, Emera had been able to see this land, long before she'd smelled it. Though she couldn't physically see it now, she knew it had to be beautiful. "I think we'll be fine here, if... Unconventional."

The male nodded at the two, then turned his attention ahead of him again. "No sense just walking on in, unannounced." He inhaled deeply, then let loose a roar. It wasn't a challenging one, but simply a roar to say, 'We're here, but we're not dangerous.'  

[Dulcea]

Rasul had been digging nearby, his paws a mess of the red underlying dirt. To the untrained eye he almost appeared to be coated in dried blood, though his smile spoke to the contrary. He had heard the roar and come running over, afraid that there had been some ceremony called and he had missed the announcement. He usually did, that sort of information never really stuck in his mind. "Wait up," he called as he approached, surprised when he noticed only three. Three he didn't recognize at that. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said quickly, coming to a rest nearby them, "I thought you all were something else."  

[Andranis]

The male's ears flicked, shocks of pink against a white mane. "No, we're... New here. Are you part of this pride..?" He tilted his head, watching the stranger. "Or I hope we're in the right place... Emera says we are, at least... A pride where a male may have as many female mates as he pleases.."

Katiti's own ears went back, eyeing the male. He looked like he was covered in blood... Dried blood, but blood. It made her... Leary. "Are you alright...? You look... Hurt..." Or like he'd attacked someone. None too keen on keeping blood around long enough to know what it smelled like dry, she had no idea if it was even actually blood or not.

Reaching around the white male, the blind lioness fumbled until she found the other lioness, patting her. "It's not what you think, Katiti, it doesn't smell like blood. It smells more like dirt to me." Having no physical sight, Emera'd made do with what she had. With one sense lacking, her hearing and smell had become honed, her whiskers sensitive enough to guide her through the world she couldn't see. There were still some fine points she couldn't master, though, including finding somebody on the other side of another.  

[Dulcea]

This pride? Oh, they must have come from the outside. He'd spent as little time out there as he could, some things were not always as nice as they seemed, he'd had to spend too much time hunting and not enough experimenting. "You're in the right place," he said with a laugh, trying to brush the dirt out of his fur, "I've lived here my whole life. And yes, it's dirt. Once you crack the surface around here it gets an odd color. Sorry about that." His father would have smacked him over the head if he'd accidentally driven them off. "Have you come to stay?" he asked curiously, shaking his paws so little dust clouds kicked off them. He wasn't exactly the best example of what the pride had to offer. Where was Litho when he needed her? She tended to be better at all of this.  

[Andranis]

"If we weren't here to stay, I wouldn't have projected our presence." His snide comment earned an elbow on each side. A look to the left got him a glare from Katiti. A look the right got him a smile and a head shake from Emera. He let out a huff at the two lionesses. Suddenly, he thought of something. "Um... Why were you digging in the dirt like that...?" And it was such a stunning coat under that dirt, too.

"Why NOT dig in the dirt?" Emera smiled happily, before digging her paw into the dirt a bit. It didn't go far, since she couldn't see to get the same spot over again. Finally the white and gray lioness stopped, leaning on Wamblee.

Katiti let out a snort at the other lioness. "No, there's got to be a deeper reason to dig in the dirt than 'just because.' Maybe something's buried in it..." She looked down, for the first time feeling an interest in the dirt. "Like... Giant bones or something... I had a dream once about a giant bone monster... It had a crocodile head, and front legs like a crocodile, but it ran on two legs and had giant bone wings and flew." She shuddered. Okay, it was more of a NIGHTMARE...

"You're both odd..." He shook his head, smiling. He still loved them both, though. His attention turned back to the other male. "So... What were you doing digging again...?"  

[Dulcea]

"My beybanu Litho loves bone stones, and I sort of-" he paused, getting the distinct feeling that this was something he would be mocked for later on, "Annoyed her, so I'm trying to find a present to make her not angry with me anymore. I've got to tell her that another banu will be joining us soon." The last bit was said with a bit of pride, as he knew the younger female would complete his little family. His father would have likely disagreed, seeing only two females as a sign that he was weak, but then this male had two with him, so he might understand the draw of limiting. He could truly love Litho as he did and Tasleem would help both of them to not be so scatterbrained and keep the den in order.  

[Andranis]

Now these were curious terms... "Beybanu? Banu...?" Wamblee tilted his head, stepping forward a bit. "Could you tell us a bit about this pride? Emera here mentioned a pride where males were encouraged to have multiple mates... I just wonder if this is it." What it sounded to him like was that the younger male had multiple mates. And they were okay with that, both his mates AND the pride.

Katiti thought for a moment about what she'd like as an apology item from Wamblee. After a moment, she smiled just a bit. "She might like the shiny stones... The right color can help bring a girl's eyes out, if they're worn right.." Oh but she had no idea how the pride worked...

"I'm fine without shiny things..." Emera smiled broadly, tail dancing just a bit. "Can't really enjoy what I can't see, can I? Not like Katiti does.." She actually envied the other lioness, now and then. The only time she ever actually got to SEE anything was in her visions, and then... She was pretty sure the colors might have been wrong. For all she knew, what she thought was yellow might actually be pink or purple.  

[Dulcea]

"Shiny stones huh?" he said with a bit of a pause, sitting down to think as he scratched some more of the dirt off his paws, "I think I found some of those, I threw them in the river though." Maybe he'd go back and fish them out later on. He turned to Wamblee, offering a bit of a smile. No one ever asked him for what he thought about the world, especially when it came to how the pride worked. He'd try his best. "Beybanu is what you call your lead female, our your love mate, depending on your situation," he explained, noting for himself that this male seemed equally at ease with both of the females with him, "Every other female is called a banu, including your daughters, unless they're wild, then they're kajira. No female ever wants to be a kajira. Males with harems are called pads, and the males with the largest harems are more respected." He certainly didn't qualify for that. "But you don't have to have any certain number, my father has many females in his harem but I only want two," he added, nodding thoughtfully.  

[Andranis]

Wamblee nodded, smiling at Katiti. He would have smiled at Emera, but... Instead, he licked her ear. "I do believe, ladies, we've found the pride we sought! Now to gain acceptance and learn the ways..." He bowed his head to the other male, smiling curtly. "Thank you... Um... I never caught your name... I'm Wambleeska. This is Mola'katiti..." He motioned with his paw to his left. "And this is Emera." He motioned to the right. He then paused. "Well I feel stupid, I repeated myself earlier about wondering if this was... The pride..."

Katiti snorted back a laugh, grinning at Wamblee's verbal faux pas. "Doofus.." She headbutted his shoulder, meaning well with the name. She could hear Emera giggling on the other side of the male, not so readily hiding her amusement at their shared male's slip-up.

"Methinks Wamblee rattled his brain walking into that tree even I knew was there last week!" She then turned her attention on the other male, whiskers twitching in his direction. "I am curious, if I may ask... What are YOUR thoughts on the pride...? How do you like it...?" Katiti had come from a huge pride that sounded as if it had few rules, few problems, while she herself had come from a more militaristic pride. Wamblee... Had no pride before. She felt curious, then, about other prides.  

[Dulcea]

Rasul thought for a moment about how to respond, feeling he might scare them off if he phrased something wrong. He scratched his shoulder with the opposite paw, one ear pressed down against his head as he thought. Finally he spoke, nodding first to Wamblee, "My name is Rasul, my beybanu is called Lithophoro, we live by the land cracks." Then he turned his attention to Emera's question. "My thoughts aren't those of the general population," he said first with a laugh, a sort of disclaimer for whatever he might say, "Many here believe in physical punishment for their females, my father included, but not all of us think that way. Females cannot leave, so sometimes those that are born here do not fit quite right, they can become unhappy." He paused, his mind drifting to the kajira's in his father's care. "But," he added, a bit more cheerful, "It is what you make of it. A large harem does not suit me, so I don't try to have one. The benefit of this place is you can ensure that your family is always taken care of. Even if a male is injured or killed, his banus and his family will work together to ensure the family survives."  

[Andranis]

Wamblee considered the other's words, before nodding. "I think I myself may stick to just these two for a while... I might take on another later, though..." When he noticed the look Katiti was giving him, the white lion leaned down. "Well, I'm not going to expect you to do ALL the hunting on your own. That'd be rude of me, especially if there's cubs to feed." He then smiled, running his tongue across her face.

The yellow lioness let out a huff, "She'd be inferior to even Emera, then..." She butted her head against Wamblee's shoulder, then looked to the other male. "It was a pleasure meeting you." She put on a bit of a smile, tail twitching behind her. Remotely, she wondered if all the locals were like this. They'd have to find others to find out if they WERE... And she'd have to talk to some of the local females, figure out how THEY liked it. She imagined she'd like it, herself, so long as she was with Wamblee and Emera.

Using her whiskers, Emera followed close as Wamblee and Katiti left. She only paused to smile in the young male's direction. "I hope you find what you're looking for, Rasul. We certainly found what we were!" She turned, then, trotting slightly to catch back up with her companions. This would be fun, being in a pride that encouraged two girls to share a boy!  

[Dulcea]

"Good luck to you all then," he called out happily, "My beybanu and I live near the land cracks if you ever want to visit." They seemed nice, nicer than some of the other folks he knew from around the pride. The girls' wing marks were certainly interesting, he'd heard rumors that they came from a god heritage, but the only god children he knew had no such marks. It would have been nice to conduct a little study, but that would require quite a lot of travel and he and Litho were only just settled.  

[Andranis]

Wamblee bowed his head to the other male, before padding off. "You know, something about him seemed... Almost familiar..." It was a weird feeling, like a sense of deja vu.

Katiti only shrugged, her smile being replaced by a neutral expression.. "Seemed no different from any of the males back home to me..." Then again, back home was a different place. Then she paused, smiling once again. "Back at my OLD home... Now THIS is home..." It made her smile quite widely, pleased with the conclusion. A place like this, where she could make Wamblee happy because he had two loves... Though Emera was blind, the white and gray lioness was also very bubbly, and she'd become used to it, like a sister she could stand far more than her actual sisters. Yes, she could get used to this pride.

Emera only giggled, smiling as she stuck close to Wamblee and Katiti. Oh, the things they talked about... Which, she'd have to encourage them to get more talk out of them later. Much later. For the moment, she was content with listening to the conversations that had no words, that came from the simple acts of moving and breathing as they walked through their new home.