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 Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:03 pm
 It had been many long years since he’d known a homeland. Following his exile, Maji had found company in a fellow ex-pride member and a traveling vagabond. Both were young, reckless, and over-emotional. Kisulisuli and himself had known nothing outside of living within a pride, having a constant source of water, a constant source of food, and a constant shelter over their heads. Adjusting to the life of a rouge had been difficult. The whisper of waterfalls had been a constant comfort since before they could remember, it had been replaced by the humming insects of the savannah and the occasional laughter of the wild dogs. Maji had little experience with hunting prey beasts. For the first few weeks, it had been Kisulisuli who had done the hunting. The older lion had been spoiled to a diet of fish and smaller prey beasts- which well explained his smaller stature and lean frame. Suli had always been larger, and had been raised under a former rogue. Prey beasts were just that- prey. Unlike Maji, he only bothered speaking to non-lions that could either fend him off or had been untouchable altogether.
Tifu, a young female, had joined them months after their exile and had served as the laughter in the group. Suli was brooding, brash, and short-tempered, Maji was quiet, thoughtful, and distant. Tifu always managed to find light in whatever situation, she had a good paw with hunting, and always had an ear to lend to the two males in her company. Over time, she had grown fond of Suli, Mkodi knew why. More and more, the two would isolate themselves for a quiet talk or a hearty bickering. During which times, Maji would make himself scarce and leave himself to his thoughts.
During their travels they had passed through several prides, none of them having a place for the trio there. Some were peaceful, others not so much. While the other two saw their travels as a journey to find a place to settle, Maji had always kept his eyes out for her.
The playful banter between Suli and Tifu had only reawakened old memories of a silver lioness confidently trotting over the stepping stones and declaring herself to be royalty, memories of their own bickering and quit conversations by the waterfalls, the time they’d painted their own likenesses alongside the ancestors of their pride… perhaps he’d been foolish in his youth or foolish for clinging to it as he began to fade out of his prime. She had been with cub…which meant somewhere out there, he had a family. Daughters, sons? Did any of them survive? What did they look like? Perhaps he’d never know… the questions would plague him forever it seemed.
That afternoon, Suli and Tifu had slipped off to have yet another one of their hushed conversations- it would likely result in a bicketfest that he would have to calm eventually, but for the moment he was content to let the youngsters have their time.
The small party had found themselves a pond and a quiet place to rest. The raining season was well under-way and many such puddles had formed in the dips and grooves of the grasslands. For at least a few days, they had water to drink, soft ground to lay on, and potential game roaming through to take advantage of the green grazing. Maji laid himself in front of the pond, his paws dipped into the water and his head resting contently on one of his forelimbs.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:12 am
Her time as a rogue had not treated her well. The lioness's ribs were painfully plain to see under her skin: she'd not eaten well, these last few years. It was a daily struggle just to find enough food to survive, for Ciyari had never been a great huntress. The female had simply never been aggressive enough to make proper kills; she shied away from taking anything larger than a small impala. When she'd been a part of a pride, that had mattered little. Now, to find enough food for herself seemed an impossible task.
She'd left her sons, abandoning them as cubs - she'd abandoned her daughter when the girl had turned adolescent. Somewhere, somehow, she'd lost Hodari, as well ... and hadn't bothered much to look for him. Company, for a time, had grated on her nerves, and she spent most of her days simply avoiding contact with others, unless they could potentially feed her. Above all, she avoided prides.
The lone female was already at the pond; having drunk her fill, she'd crawled underneath some nearby brush to sleep away the hottest portion of the day. As afternoon started to turn into early evening, she'd woken with a start, her stomach painfully contracting with hunger pains, enough to drive her out early. Perhaps she'd be lucky and make a kill tonight - or, more likely, perhaps she'd be lucky and find a kill to scavenge. The silver-pelted lioness shifted out of the brush, alabaster ears curling back as she did so.
Thinking about food wasn't going to get her anywhere, she thought with a mental sigh. It was only making her hungrier. Better to get out there early, find what she could. She shook herself out - and froze, eyes wide. There, not ten yards away, a lion was stretching out -
Her world seemed to crash down on her in a flash of blurred images, some more clear than others, haunting memories of her past, and the past she'd shared with this particular lion. No ... it ... it couldn't be -
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:01 pm
It was the smell, not the sound, that had alerted him first. He'd remained still, comfortable on the cool, damp earth by the pond with the comforting feel of water against his skin. He rarely slept well away from water. The sound, the smell, and the feel were all he had left of his old life. At least the comfort was found nearly everywhere. Rare in some places at some times- but constant enough.
That smell... he knew it. A second companion from long ago. Brow creasing, the male lifted his head and blinked away the sleep from his eyes. It couldn't be... his mind must have been playing tricks on him again.
He turned his head and the breath caught in his chest, his eyes went wide. She had grown so thin, her coat had dulled, and the hardships of the wild had taken its toll on her beautiful features- but no doubt it was her...
"Ciyari...."
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:27 pm
The gray lioness jerked and froze again, then slowly flattened against the ground, ears splayed out across her head, light green eyes huge, as if she were the prey and he were the hunter.
<"M-maji - "> She heard herself stammer out, then mentally cursed. Idiot! If she'd played stupid, idiotic even, she perhaps could have pretended not to know him, or pretended to have lost her wit so that he grew disinterested in her. Instead, she'd just acknowledged that she'd recognized him, that she hadn't lost her wit, and that they'd shared a history - a very intimate history.
His form had filled out since their adolescence: his mane had grown thicker, even if he was still on the smaller side, for a male lion. It hardly mattered: he was still larger than her, and she had no idea how he'd react, upon finding her. He was shocked now, but shock wore off, and she was frightened as to what he'd do. After all, she'd lied to him - she was no princess, merely gutter trash, and she'd left him with her own bellyful of cubs. He could hardly have been happy with her.
Carefully, she took a step back, preparing to flee.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:47 pm
The male watched her, his mouth open in disbelief. In all his years of tireless searching she had found him. There had been a thousand things he'd wanted to say. As a younger lion he would rehearse just about ten speeches a day in his mind. As he grew older, they grew shorter and shorter- there were things now that simply did not matter. Where were the cubs? What had they been like? What colors were their eyes? How many cubs were there? Were they still alive?
She was tense, her body poised for flight. He froze in his own movements, ready to stand himself up but afraid of spooking her into oblivion once more.
All his questions, all his anger, all the sorrowful rants had boiled down to one simple phrase, "I... missed you."
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:12 pm
Of all the things that he could have said, she had not expected that. Her pupils dilated, the edges of her eyes growing wider in shock, and for a moment, she did not move: not a whisker, not a brush of fur.
The moment passed, and her ears turned forward - just a teeny, miniscule little bit. Although her legs were still stiff, ready to leap away at any given moment, she moved up a little from her crouching position. Her body remained decidedly subservient, however, and it was very clear that she considered him in charge. Confidence seemed to have fled entirely from the lioness, to be replaced by an almost paranoid wariness.
<"It ... it's been a long time,"> she said roughly, her voice sounding strange to her own ears.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:58 pm
"Indeed it has." He offered her a ghost of a smile and shifted his paws slightly, testing her nerves. If she were to run now, he wasn't sure he'd manage to catch her. While he'd learned to hunt- he was almost always used as the decoy while his younger traveling companions gave chaise. Ciyari had likely drawn on her own speed to keep herself fed. She had never been the strongest of individuals...
"Time, it seems, has not been kind to either of us. If you are thirsty, come here and drink. I'm hardly a threat."
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:06 pm
Her paws seized up a little as he moved, as if she were tensing for flight, but she didn't shift from her spot, fortunately. At his gentle offer, she hesitated a long moment, her dark tail-tuft lightly brushing against the tips of the grass, as if she were contemplating the sensibility of her next move.
Timidly, she crept down to the small watering hole, moving low to the ground. Whatever self-confidence the lioness had once had had shattered: she was wary as any rogue that lived on the plains, and perhaps more skittish, as she was a poor rogue. Keeping an eye on him, her ears nervously canting forward, she dipped her head to take a few laps, the water trickling down her throat. It gave her a moment or two to compose herself, try to think of what to say, but she felt completely at a loss. Ciyari had never thought she'd run into Maji again; she'd deliberately stayed away from the valley. Evidently, he'd left, at some point, to become a rogue ... or maybe a lion of another pride. She hadn't thought she was on pride territory, but perhaps she was on the edge of one. After a moment, she lifted her head, carefully licking her muzzle, to watch him.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:54 pm
He moved not a muscle as she bent her head and drank. His posture remained relaxed and passive. A stark contrast to Ciyari's leery, tight movements beside him. As she drank he only watched her in silence, his calm blue eyes taking in every detail of her weakened form. She was hungry... likely famished. He could see her ribs under the dulled gray coat, her face was much more boney than he remembered, and her eyes were leery. Whatever had happened...
As if reading her thoughts, he struck up a conversation with the one topic he felt she would want to know. Afterall, they had met in the misty valley.
"I fell into hardship when you left. A group of rogues following another lioness claiming a birthright over the land took control. I hear they're in ruin now... all of it but a distant memory of better days."
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:14 am
It certainly sounded familiar, except that Ciyari had not ever claimed to be princess of those lands, and she had left. The female winced a little, ears splaying immediately back against her head. There was no accusation in his tone, only gentleness, but perhaps that didn't mean anything. She'd been gone from him for so long.
"I'm sorry," she replied, trying to get accustomed to talking again. She paused, struggling to find words. "I know how much that place meant to you. You ... you are doing alright, now?" He certainly looked alright; he was sleek and well-fed, with no indication that he'd ever fallen on hard times.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:29 pm
Maji sighed. It had meant a lot to him... it had been the only home he'd ever known, he felt charged with its well-being and safety. Those first youths that had helped him re-form the beginnings of a new pride had selected him to care for them, they had trusted him...
His failure hurt more than anything. All those hopeful faces had vanished, one after the other. His sworn sister had been broken-hearted when her own mate had turned in favor of the supposed queen, as did Layla. Many of the cubs had been torn between divided families, many of them had left, others remained if only to see what had become of their pride. In time, they had dispersed, leaving Masika alone with the small handful of rogues that had gained her the power in the first place. Or so the scouts of the Chokwe had said.
"I've grown to learn that a place...isn't necessarily a home. It was those I lived among that made it special to me." He glanced over, his words weighted. "All of those...who had lived with me."
He shrugged his shoulders. "I've had hardships just as anyone, and I've been fortunate enough to find a few companions to keep me company, and fed, while we look for the next place to settle down. It seems you've not escaped the cruel paws of life." His next question was softened, his tone sincere. "How have you been?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:18 am
Her ears flattened at his words, and she winced away from his intense expression, uncertain of how to respond. She had, after all, left him, not the other way around. She'd been so frightened, so lost ...
He had companions? That explained the slight scent on him, of others; from what he suggested, they were not really a pride, not yet, but the nearest thing to one. She wondered, dimly, if he had found himself a mate, and wondered at the brief flash of jealousy and despair that rushed through her at the thought. Looking up again at his question, she replied, slowly, roughly: "I've been ... a rogue. Alone, these past few seasons." Dozens of seasons, maybe. She didn't even remember how long it had been since Hodari had disappeared, since she'd left her last offspring to fend for herself. "I get by." On scavenged food, mostly, but some last scrap of her pride refused to let her beg for anything.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:58 pm
"I can see that." Clearly, he added in the privacy of his own mind. She looked terrible compared to the firey creature she'd once been. Confident, sleek, and perhaps a little cocky. "You've not been kind to yourself. Perhaps you've forgotten how to be."
He padded the spot beside him. "If you are tired of a solitary life, you are more than welcome to join me. You and I are fading from our prime and soon our bones will be weak and our eyes fading. We won't survive on our own. It would be a pity to rob the world of our experience. For better or worse."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:29 pm
Her ears fell back in astonishment at the offer, eyes widening. For a moment, she said nothing, just stared at him.
"You mean that?" She asked softly, her ears flattening further as she added: "I ... don't hunt well." Barley at all, really; she was a scavenger. Part of her raged inwardly that she was being so honest; it was stupid, stupid to admit weakness, when she could just as readily take what she needed from this male and run away again ... but perhaps Ciyari was tired of running, or perhaps Maji knew her better than most. Maybe it was a little pointless to lie at this point. And it was a sad truth that she would not last much longer on her own; she was getting older, and soon she'd be killed in a hunt or by other predators, or through sheer starvation. It didn't really matter much either way. And if she was going to go ... a tiny part of her wanted at least someone to know she'd been honest with them at some point, and true to her own self. "I ... I might slow you down."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:56 pm
He laughed but it was a half-hearted sound. "Ciyari, at our age, neither of us hunts well and neither of us will set a very good pace for anyone. But at our age, we shouldn't be out alone in the wilderness, suffering and starving to death until we become food for the buzzards."
He shook his head. "I told you a few things a long time ago, and they're as true today as they were then. I swore to protect you if you would let me, and I hold to that now. I swore that there would always be a place for you. Now- that place is no longer an actual territory, but there is a place at my side if you'll have it. All I ask in return is that you accept it...and that you stop running."
He looked back out to the pond. "And maybe one day... you might tell me what drove you away."
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