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 Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 6:57 pm
 "This area is mostly dens," the white lion was saying, continuing the tour of the Mwezi'Johari lands. "A lot of Hunters and Guards live in this section. That's my den over there," he nodded to a smallish one over to the side. Yareha was actually enjoying himself. He didn't spend a lot of time with rogues, but Iei was good company, not to mention good-looking. Showing her around was a lot more fun than he ever would have guessed, and it made him regret that, being a low-class Hunter, he couldn't hope to apply for any of the special ranks, like Host Apprentice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Iei nodded silently, a smile playing around her lips. Normally she wouldn't think that dens were particularly interesting, but Yareha made it a lot more entertaining. Or maybe she just liked listening to him talk. A smile and a nod to show she understood and was following were all he needed from her, allowing her to observe quietly without having to say anything at all. As he pointed out his own den, she considered the typical responses she could make. Such as size, decor, etc. But she didn't want to offend him or anything like that. So she nodded again. "Is this a rowdier area then?" the grey lioness asked.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:06 pm
"Only sometimes," came a reply to the grey lioness' question. From one of the dens appeared a male lion, purple and pink in color, a sly smile on his face. Was that too crude? Perhaps, but that depends on the mind of the individual, he thought to himself, but better to make some sort of impression, than none at all.
"I'm Chander." Both the lions were ones he hadn't seen before, but that wasn't unlikely. Ever since him, his family and the others that had tagged along had joined the pride, Chander had been taking it easy. With all the drama that was going on, the lion had decided to play it cool and wait it out. It had put a dampener on the romance though.
Unfortunately for the lion, the females of the pride weren't as forthcoming as those he'd encountered in the rogue lands. Which was a drag.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:15 pm
Yareha turned at the unexpected and somewhat unfamiliar voice. "True enough! It generally depends on what's going on in the pride and how busy we all are. About a month and a half ago things were pretty crazy and we were all exhausted," he told Iei while trying to avoid mentioning all the recent nastiness in too much detail.
So he focused on the purple and pink male. The other lion looked somewhat familiar. A pride member he was sure, but no one he knew personally. Maybe another Hunter.
"'Fraid I don't remember you friend," he said bluntly. "I'm Yareha Afaer, Hunter. This is Ieiunium, a visiting rogue. I was just giving her a tour of the pride's lands." When in doubt, act friendly. Right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The grey lioness whirled around at the voice and stared at the stranger lion. She wasn't sure what to expect, but he seemed nice enough. Then again, all the lions she'd met here had made a decent first impression.
"Nice to meet you," she replied after Yareha had introduced them both. She wasn't sure if she liked him speaking for her, but he'd have to be pretty dumb not to pick up on her shyness around large numbers of strangers.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:22 pm
"Mmm, but it seems it's almost all over now." Chander nodded in quick reply. He didn't want to pay the male too much attention, not when there was a pretty grey lion in his company.
"I'm new, my mother, sister and a bunch of others joined about a month back." There abouts anyway. There were quite a few that had joined, so chances are the white male would know the group he was talking about. He didn't elaborate any further, his interest in the female outweighing the attention he was giving to Yareha.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ieiunium," he said, giving a nod of his head with another smile. "You're a rogue? What brings you here?" He asked, turning his attention towards her.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:32 pm
"True enough," Yareha agreed. Now that Chander mentioned it, he did have a vague mental image of the other male in a group of lions about that time, joining the pride. He hadn't realized the other was that new.
He also resented the fact that the purple and pink lion was so obviously focusing all his attention on Iei. But...he couldn't think of a way to butt into the conversation and continue the tour without being rude.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I, ah, needed a safe place to sleep last night," she answered briefly. Why did everyone want to know that? It wasn't like she was interested in joining the pride, even though there were plenty of nice lions here.
She had a feeling that the second male was interested in her. It was...not something she was accustomed to dealing with in such a populous environment. Random wandering rogues she would happily scratch and leave in the dirt. But here...here she was just a shy grey lioness.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:43 pm
"Fair enough," he said.
Was she nervous? Perhaps, he thought to himself. "When we lived in the rogue lands my Mother told us a lot about this pride. It's definitely different living with a large group of lions, rather than by ourselves. It can be very overwhelming," he said to her. He'd learned in the rogue lands that relating to a lioness was often a good thing. Sometimes even a very good thing. He wondered if it would make a difference here.
Chander continued to ignore Yareha. There were much more important things to tend to.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:52 pm
Yareha's lips tightened. He could see what was going on here, and he didn't like it one bit. If Chander was so eager to make up to a pretty girl, he could go to the border himself and find one.
"I think we should be moving on Iei," he told the grey lioness. "There's more to see, and I think Aysu should've calmed down a bit by the time we're done."
Chander could just go back to whatever he'd been doing and leave the two of them alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The grey lioness blinked in surprise. "You were a rogue?" It wasn't exactly what she'd expected to hear from someone living in a pride. She wasn't so sure she cared for the way he was completely ignoring Yareha. The white lion was a nice guy, and didn't deserve that kind of treatment.
Even so, she had to give Chander credit. She did find the fact that he'd joined the pride, rather than been born into it, very interesting. The rogue was afraid, however, that if he tried to sweet-talk her long enough, he might try to join Aysu in convincing her to join the pride.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:00 pm
"It was my mothers decision to come here. She was an original member of the pride, and she taught me and my sister a lot about it and their traditions." He replied to Iei.
"My sister was a nervous wreck when we got here. She still is." He sighed at the thought of his anxious sister, and wondered how she was doing now that some time had passed since they moved here.
Chander turned his attention back to Yareha at the mention of moving on. The purple lion didn't seem to notice the dislike on his face. He did, however, want to stay in the company of the grey lioness some more. "Do you mind if I tag along? There's still a lot I haven't seen, and it would be good to learn from someone whose lived here his whole life."
So Chander wasn't really interested in learning from Yareha, but if it meant staying in the company of Iei then he'd cope.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:12 pm
Yareha vaguely remembered hearing the story. Must've been courtesy Aysu, his sister was generally a reliable source of gossip. He didn't really care for the other lion's bold attempt to stick close to Iei. Honestly, what was he trying to accomplish? Well, yes, the white lion wanted more time alone with the rogue, but he was trying to not force himself on her the way Chander was.
"If you must," Yareha allowed some of his annoyance to show in his voice. He wondered how he could lose the other male, and how fast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iei's dark tail lashed once as she considered the situation. If they were in the rogue lands, she'd probably have dealt with Chander by now. But she wasn't sure how to do this in a pride. She didn't want to get herself or Yareha in trouble.
"If your sister's so uncertain, perhaps you should comfort her. Isn't that the role of the brother?" Of course, she'd just seen Yareha and his sister Aysu have a shouting match, but that was beside the point. It was a shame. The grey lioness might not see anything wrong with Chander if he wasn't so forward.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:22 pm
"I do, I have, and I try, but there is only so much I can do. I'm sure she will come around eventually. And I don't want to push her too much, otherwise she might end up worse than she already is." He responded to the grey lioness, a little annoyed. Just because he was here didn't mean that he didn't take care of his sister. He was the only one she really trusted.
Chander turned back to the white male. Hmm, perhaps he'd been too forward, or was it that Yareha was also interested in Iei? Perhaps both? Either way Chander gave himself a mental scolding. He'd obviously been too forward, all this time without female company had apparently made him rusty. But, perhaps he could remedy that as the tour continued. "Lead on," he said with a nod.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:48 pm
The white lion was looking distinctly ruffled. Chander just wasn't taking the hint. He had to figure out a way to get rid of the other male without causing yet another scene. Two in one day was a little much for anybody.
He could point out something about having a duty as a Hunter, but that would apply to him as well. And the sister bit, well, the less said there, the better.
Instead he led them towards the area where Lords and Ladies tended to choose their dens. "This is where the higher ranked lions prefer to live. Many of them are Hunters and Guards as well, but others have special ranks - priests and the like." Aysu had been right about one thing - a visiting rogue should speak to the King and Queen at least once.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He had a point. Save for the completely hopeless, people generally didn't want to be hovered over every waking moment, even if it was by their loved ones. That didn't mean she cared to be intruded upon so obviously. Iei had nothing against being courted - what lioness would? - but she would hope that any potential suitors would at least have the grace to wait for their turn.
So the grey lioness chose to ignore Chander the way he was ignoring her guide.
"Priests, huh? From what Mazin said, they'd be pretty important to your pride, wouldn't they?" She actually was curious as to what sorts of positions fell under the blanket of "priest". It would help her to better understand how the pride was structured.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:14 pm
Well, this wasn't fun. Now they were both ignoring him? Perhaps he'd been too full on. Chander knew from a lot of experience when the female wasn't interested anymore, and he was definitely getting some of those signals from Iei. Which is a pity, he thought to himself, as she was very pretty.
Instead, he tried to make some sort of conversation, at least that way he might prove that he wasn't such an annoyance after all. Since they were in the area of the higher ranked lions, he thought it only natural to bring up what he'd heard about Selene.
"So I've heard there's a wedding coming up?" He directed his question to Yareha.
"You should at least stick around for that," he mentioned to Iei.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:35 pm
"Priests include people such as the Historian, Nurse, Midwives as well as those who serve the Great Lion in less special ways," he explained to Iei. There were several other key ranks held by priests, but he felt he'd said enough for her to get the idea.
Annoyed, the white lion turned towards the purple. "It's just a rumor right now," he snapped shortly. Selene shouldn't have to marry Fuu just because he was a Prince in another pride and high class in the Mwezi'Johari. The Heiress loved Mazin and the two of them deserved to be together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ah, I see now," Iei replied to Yareha. If ranks like that were held by Priests, religion truly was a huge part of the pride's structure. She wasn't sure she could be comfortable in a pride that believed so strongly in something that seemedto run a bit counter to the facts she'd known all her life. Then again, the lions of this pride were almost certainly not taught things like that.
The grey lioness was getting nervous again. Weddings were good for two things - pairing the two in question, and driving other pairs to form. She certainly had no interest in being trapped that way, though given what she'd seen of Chander, he might have had that fact in mind when he brought the subject up.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:05 pm
"Sorry," replied Chander to Yareha with a raised eyebrow. The purple lion was feeling less and less welcome with each passing minute. Although he was curious as to why the white male snapped, was it because he was still around? Perhaps he'd outstayed his welcome.
Chander gave a brief look around before opening his mouth to speak again. "Well, this has been fun if short, but I think I need to get back and check on my sister."
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:14 pm
"You do that," Yareha replied shortly. Thank the Great Lion Chander was finally taking the hint and leaving! And if he never had to talk about the presumed wedding again it would be too soon.
Unless if it was Selene and Mazin. Then he'd be all for it.
"Let's keep going, Iei," he went on, smiling at the grey lioness. "There's still more of the pride to see."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I hope your sister is doing well," the rogue told Chander sincerely. She didn't blame the unnamed lioness for feeling uncomfortable, and she was apparently a blood member of the pride, though one who had lived as a rogue for a time.
Iei nodded to the purple and pink male and continued following Yareha. She wasn't certain she still wanted to see more of the pride and its lands, but she did want to avoid Chander for the moment.
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