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 Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:19 pm
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OOC Notes:
This RP is a free for all! Adults, adolescents, youngsters and even familiars are welcome to post here.
Discussion will be based loosely on the seriousness of the drought situation and what might happen if it continues.
--
Introduction post:
There was no more denying it. They had a problem and a big one at that.
Water levels were slowly decreasing; once life-saving and lucsious pools now nothing more than muddy mires puddling at the bottom of what had once been good and dependable sources of water. She had drunk a mere mouthful of that mirky, foul-tasting water to parch her dry throat and prepare herself for the journey back. She was not looking forward to reaching the lands, however, because when she did, she would have to confirm everyone's worst fears.
Suspicion would become cold, hard fact.
There was, indeed, a water shortage and the Firekin knew better than any other that without water there was no life. The thought terrified Vesta and as she took the last few, shaky and weary steps towards her homeland, the dread and fear weighed heavy in her heart.
But to bury their heads in the sand - so to speak - would be even more foolish than to face their fears and admit that there was a problem. No. It wasn't a job she had wanted. But the news had to be delivered.
Nodding to the guards as she passed them by, Vesta turned north-west to the site of the dens; set in the craggy dark rocks that sheltered them from even the hottest rays the sun could offer. There she would find most of the pride members, including the Regents, who would need to hear this news. Kidondo and No already suspected the worst so they would not be surprised to hear the word Vesta brought, but it would be unwelcome news. Particularly as the pride had been flourishing in recent years.
Any Firekin close by would see, just from Vesta's body language, that she had been unsuccessful in her task. She did not hold the posture that depicted a victory. Instead, she moved as one might if they were sleep-walking; slow and steady and sluggish; refusing to meet the eyes of anyone who was around, almost as if she didn't see them.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:19 pm
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"Do you understand, or don't you? I NEED water!"
Vlam supposed he should have been glad that Ea was talking to him again. After leaving him to lament her for weeks, the wild eyed cat had finally come around to allowing him into her line of sight. But perhaps 'talking' was a bit of an understatement. Ea was officially yelling at him again. And while he'd take whatever he could get from her gladly, no amount of screaming could get him to produce the water she was after. It wasn't a simple matter of just pointing a spot and digging.
When his expressionless face continued to stare back at her, the wild cat stamped her feet in the sand and growled. "This- this is your job, isn't it? Can't you even do that?! I'm not asking for a lot here, Vlam. I need the water. I have the right. I have sick people, and I-"
At about this point, Vlam caught sight of Vesta wandering in the distance. His bright eyes widened, and for a moment he almost seemed to be signalling her to run. Instead, Ea only took it as a sign that there was someone of importance behind her. She jerked around with the speed of a viper, and locked her wild eyes firmly upon the approaching water-seeker.
"Finally, someone not useless. Vesta! You! Hey, don't avert your eyes at me!" She demanded. "Where is the water? I've got sick people who need it, and everyone is giving me the run around. I'm tired of this, and I'm not going to take no for an answer. I have precedence, don't I?"
Vlam shrunk, his ears flattening against his skull. But on the bright side, she was standing next to him.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:21 pm
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Like anybody else, Kosuke was feeling the pinch of the shrinking water levels. After all, he had cubs that were thirsty. A lot of cubs... Sometimes he cursed his luck. Shula was becoming unusually testy, herself, and he was starting to wonder if his beloved was going to start acting like her brother. The tracker was just heading to bother Vlam, when he spotted Vesta. "Well, hello there, cousin... Any luck out there?" He curiously watched her pass. It didn't look good. "I was starting to wonder if I would have to go out there and find you.."
Not far behind Kosuke, a bright red ball of fur followed. He paused, watching the black, white, and gold lioness with intent, before turning his pale eyes on the great white lion blocking the medic. Boy but she looked angry... Tulipalo let out a light huff, before sprinting on tiny paws up to the white lion. As soon as he reached him, the cub reached up and pawed at a huge paw, opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out. He hoped it was clear enough - He was thirsty and wanted a drink. He just hoped the angry lady didn't say something to him...
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:39 pm
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"Doesn't look good, Da..." The striped lion murmured to his father, his unusually bright eyes fixed upon the familiar figure of his sister as she returned from the oasis. The fire in her pelt seemed dimmer, almost, like a reflection of her body language and the bad news that Atesh was sure accompanied it.
For the first time, the gravity of the situation hit him, and the dark lion felt a short, sudden pang of fear. Vesta's duties ensured that the pride would survive, even in the brutal heat of the desert, but without water? All of a sudden, the life he had taken for granted since birth seemed frail, near a breaking point of sorts, and he dreaded the thought of what would come if there was no water to be found.
Beside the striped lion stood a tall, heavily-muscled tan lion of impressive stature. His very posture suggested authority, and the steely gaze with which he surveyed the scenes unfolding before him demanded patience, attention, obedience. A small frown wrinkled his brow - a sure sign of worry, though perhaps some of Azarax's soldiers would have claimed that it was just his permanent expression.
"No, it doesn't," he agreed, his voice a low grumble. Any number of thoughts might have been running through his mind, though if any one in particular had his attention, he didn't quite show it. Without further words, he began to move forward, descending from the dune on which he stood with his eldest son and heading toward Vesta.
"What news, Vesta?" |
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:17 am
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Vesta drew to a lurching halt, eyes swinging to find the source of the demanding voice. Ea was most certainly a lioness that you couldn't ignore and Vesta didn't have it in her to blank someone who had directly addressed her. Darn manners!
Blinking, it took a moment for Ea's words to sink in, cowering a little under the weight of them. Vesta was a hard worker but for a Firekin she was rather timid. Water-seeker had been a hood rank for her. It was often overlooked and meant she was almost always out of the spotlight. She'd never considered that, one day, this might happen and she'd be reflected in all the eyes of her fellows.
"I...uh..." She swallowed nervously. Ea certainly was intimidating, even if she didn't mean to be. Luckily, at that moment, her father and brother arrived and their presence seemed to physically and mentally strengthen her. She raised her head a little, glancing across at her sandy-pelted father and striped brother. "It's...not good. Not good at all." Her voice was relatively quiet, but firm now. "I'm sorry, Ea...Dad." She glanced between the two of them. "It's really not good news at all. We've searched far and wide - further than even before. I've never seen the water as low as this before and what's left is turning murky. I'm...I'm really worried." Her head had automatically started to drop again.
"I just...don't know what to suggest. I'm going to go to the Regents and tell them but...we can't control the rains."
There was no enemy to slay, this time...
"Are the Regents around, Ea?" Without realising it, the small female had moved to lean against her brother, drawing from his strength as hers seemed to be failing. Perhaps if she just went further still...perhaps there would be something out there.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:57 am
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Vlam nodded his head stoically, as if to reinforce Vesta's comments. He'd been out most of the day himself, and several days prior with the other water-seekers. The truth was after the oasis had dried, the caches of water hidden about the desert had gone with it. What was left was murk at best. The same murk most of the pride had been frivolously digging around in a few days earlier. No matter how agitated Ea, or anyone else, became... there were no answers for them.
This wasn't the news Ea wanted to hear. She ignored Vlam's nodding and pushed him to the side with her paw. Her wild eyes focused directly on Vesta. If she was being overbearing, she either didn't notice or didn't care. "What do you mean there's nothing? Haven't you been looking hard enough? Water doesn't just simply vanish! There's always water, even in the bad months. You just aren't looking in the right places!"
Vlam winced, and shook his head again. This time there was a bit more force behind it. Ea glowered, and walked in a narrow circle. She was acting out and now there were others around them. But she was furious and nervous, and when that cocktail got together it made for a very irate lioness. "This... this isn't acceptable! Are you sure you're digging deep enough? Far enough?"
She paced again. She didn't know where her parents were, and the notion that she was somehow capable, or willing to keep tabs on them sent another flare of anger through her. This one she kept down, and resolved herself simply to stamp her feet in the sand. "I don't know where they are. Azar!" She snapped, noticing their older sister in the distance. "Why don't you find out where they are? I need water, this isn't some sort of exaggeration here!"
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:28 am
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:15 am
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There was an explosive, unsettling energy pervading the area that Azarax both recognized and feared. He recognized the same anger and fire in himself as he saw projected from Ea, the same distressing tendency toward violence. It made their situation seem all the more troubling, all the more apocalyptic.
It irked him that there was nothing to be done. No enemy to slay... that meant that everything he was good at, everything he had worked so hard to perfect was useless here. He couldn't simply swipe out with his claws and teeth and make things better, and the feeling of impotence gnawed at him. Here was a lion unused to feeling hapless, and he felt rather as though he was drowning in the uselessness that surrounded him.
"It's worrying news, Vesta, no doubt about that, but nothing you can or even should apologize for," he reassured the dark lioness. It didn't please him any that his daughter looked so sorry for something that nobody could control.
Atesh had inherited his father's size; Vesta, not as much so, and her small frame leaning against his larger one made him feel as though he could envelop his sister and protect her against everything. He only wished he could. The drought that faced them promised to take a substantial toll on them, spiritually if not physically, and it was a prospect none of them wanted to face.
"Something will give," he said, nuzzling the top of her head in the same reassuring manner as his father's spoken words. "It won't be the end of us."
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:48 am
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The great lump of a cat had been snoozing, storing his energy as best he could before the sound of brewing anger from the group of lions made his eyelids flutter and drew hhis weary attention to them. Most of his time was spent looking after cubs and making sure they stayed within a safe perimeter within the pride so as not to suddenly disapear into the dunes of endless sand that surrounded and made up their home.
But the tension that tightened like hunting limbs caught the male offguard for a moment as he watched on for a few seconds and finally brought himself to his paws, shambling off his sunning rock and noticing the water seekers and their forlorn expressions. This wasn't good.
Brow creased as he approached, shaking whatever sand had clung to his thick mane in the meanwhile, he noted the youngster approaching and his instinct to keep an eye on her soon perked up. That however, didn't disuade him or cause him to straife off his course as he looked amongst his fellow pride members, more oft, the males, seeing as the two that seemed the most informed on the subject were...urr...'conversing in a heated manner'. Or rather one was being conversed at.
Glancing to the pale and sandly colored male he recognised every now and then as the 'General', he dipped his head in a gentle bow of greeting before arching a thick eyebrow. Features calm, if somewhat tinted with worry.
"What's going on...?" From what he could see and hear, nothing good if a water seeker could bear that expression. But still...he didn't want to blurt out his thoughts and looked to Azarax patiently to hear if his fears were realised. |
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:17 am
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[go go iPhone post! Will fix errors when I get back.]
Ea watched as Azar left, clearly pleased that at least someone was doing something according to her volatile wills. Whether or not that was for the best had yet to be seen. "I'm sure there is some cache," the irate cat muttered. "it's just the matter of looking. If we dont have enough seekers, then we need to get more. I have lions that can't get to the muck that the lot of you left!"
"If were in a shortage of water, why should the infirm get it?" came a sharp, curt voice. It was Armada, as if to make matters worse. Vlam froze in horror. The strange eyed lioness strode forward, locking her stare with Ea's. "I mean, I dont mean to sound heartless. But shouldn't that water go to people who protect the pride?"
Ea bristled, and stormed towards the red cat. "We don't just chose between people!"
"yes we do," Armada tensed. "if the situation is as dire as Vesta says, I hardly think wasting all our water on invalids."
Ea was about to burst. But before she could, another voice resounded, cutting her rage into a strangled snarl. "she's right," Adiel said, her voice hesitant but firm. "We can't go unprotected! There are still enemies out-"
"shut up," Ea snapped.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:15 pm
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Vesta visibly flinched at Ea's words. Maybe...maybe she was right. Maybe she hadn't looked far enough or dug deep enough. Maybe if she'd kept going just a little bit father she might...
She leaned a little harder against her brother and glanced amongst the familiar faces of her kin. "I...I don't know. Father...Atesh...what if this doesn't just go away? What if...what if..." It didn't bear worth thinking about and she shuddered inwardly to imagine lions without water...fading away...turning to ash beneath the sun. What little water they had...it couldn't possibly be enough and without it they would quickly fade away.
Vesta blinked, watching Azar leave to find the Regents, and then turned her attention back to Ea. "I'm heading back out as soon as I've...reported in. I'll not--" She paused, interrupted by the words of a newcomer. Two newcomers, in fact. One of them she recognised. The other...not so much. They looked...fierce, and this was confirmed when Vesta absorbed what they had been saying. Wait. Prioritising water? That didn't sound right at all! Unfortunately, Vesta was not about to speak up to the two fierce looking cats and...well...Ea seemed to have everything under control.
Sort of.
--
Brushing past Damu and stepping up alongside her little sister, Aithne, came the hulking figure of Fia. She'd been sleeping quite peacefully - right up until the yelling - and now she was in a particularly bad mood. After all, she'd certainly earned her nap and it being spoiled by loud-mouthed lions was particularly grating. This mood was made even worse by the fact that it sounded like people were ganging up on Ea.
And no one ganged up on her sister.
Giving Aithne a small nudge as she passed, she moved straight up to the huddle of lions and snarled, hackles up, pacing back and forth as if sizing up every single lion there.
"What's all this about!?" She demanded. Her tail thrashed angrily, casting another look about for their parents. Where were they when they were needed? Her eyes brushed over the faces of those gathered and homed in on Vesta. Hm...if the timid water-seeker was here then...ah, this must be about the water situation. Clearly not good news, either. "Well...if you're here, we're all about to die of thirst, am I right?" She huffed, returning her sharp gaze back to the two lionesses who seemed to be the focus of her sister's attention.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:54 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:34 pm
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Armada bristled, her tail whipping behind her as Ea got some reinforcements. Of course, it would be the little copy-cat. To tell the truth, Armada couldn't tell the difference between the twins. Except that Ea had the big, ugly mouth. She clearly had something more to say, but the feeling of her young cub running up underneath her paws stopped her in mid-sentence. She glanced down at the child with her strange eyes, as if she couldn't quite believe it to be there.
Her son chased the words out of her mouth. Which was all well and good, because Adiel followed her thought with a rather stoic brevity. "Why waste water on a future guard, when you have parched guards and no means to protect the boarders?" Her nose turned up. "Protect the strong first, who protect the weak. Protect the weak, and you become weak."
Armada didn't respond. But neither did she speak against it.
If Ea had been livid, now she was practically boiling. She gave a thankful look to Fia, and stuck her nose right out in front of Armada. "So you'd go along with that? When you have your own cubs?!"
"I didn't say that," Armada said bitterly. "I said the infirm shouldn't get the water first. Soldiers and guards should. If I chose to share my water with my cubs, that's my own fault. But the girl is right. If we're in a crisis, we don't protect the weak. Otherwise we leave ourselves wide open to attack."
At those words, the honghsan lioness seemed to visibly shudder. Adiel's eyes darted away, for a moment lost in thought.
"We're not savages-" Ea snarled.
"I'm not saying I like the idea," Armada snapped. "But I'm not wrong. There's either two outcomes here. Either the waterseekers aren't looking hard enough, and we haven't found the water. Or there IS no water, and what we've got in that miserable mud pit is all we've got left. Unless you can predict the weather, we need to start making sacrifices."
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:03 pm
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