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 Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:52 pm
 Thuli was being very quiet as she crawled into a small cluster of tall grass blades, hoping her light coat would be able to hide her from the Umzingeli who was keeping an eye on the cubs as the others discussed the arrival of the red giants and the compromise that had been reached. A low growl told her that the lioness had her eye on the sneaky cub and Thuli came out of the foliage looking both annoyed and defiant.
It was hard enough to wait until her brother Laini’s attention was on something else before she could even consider trying to sneak off and eavesdrop on the Big Discussion. It was even harder when her fame preceded her and the Abazingeli already expected her to pull something and were usually prepared for it. She wanted to know what was going on! She felt like a prisoner, trapped in a cave while everyone was having fun outside.
As soon as Laini had moved to talk to Orabela and the Umzingeli had turned her attention to a group of cubs that had started what appeared to be a brawl, Thuli dropped low to ground as she were stalking a bug and started crawling away from the group.
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:27 am
 Sekayi had been talking to their brother, Machozi, who was likely to burst into tears at any moment with all of the ruckus going on. He tried his best to remain his usual optimistic self, but things were looking rather shady in their homelands at the moment. Sighing to himself, he looked around to see what his other siblings were up to, and saw a familiar tail disappear into the tall grass. Sekayi knew that that tail belonged to a certain sister, who was likely up to something. Well, no use of him staying here while the lionesses were clearly distracted. Making sure that Machozi would be alright, he crouched into the grass and used his small stature to sneak after his wayward sister.
There was a lot happening in the Ithambo right now, and Thuli wasn't the only one who wanted to know what exactly was going on. He too had seen the huge red lions, and they had made him more than a little nervous. Sekayi couldn't help but wonder what would happen to them all. He wasn't sure what the strange new lions wanted, but he was sure that it wasn't anything good by the way the lionesses had been guarding all the cubs. Gradually catching up to Thuli, he gently grabbed the end of her tail to alert her of his presence.
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:04 pm
Thuli whirled around like a snake when she felt the tug on her tail. At first the blue-eyed cub thought she had been caught by the Umzingeli that was in charge and was prepared to blurt out a series of apologies that – though not particularly heartfelt in nature - might keep her from getting in trouble somehow. Instead, she saw one of her pale brothers standing right behind her.
“Sekayi!” she let the name of her brother in a fierce whisper before her relief became fairly obvious. “You scared me to death! What are you doing?!” Her coat was still a mess of bristled hairs as she lifted one paw to give her brother one light tap on the face.
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:39 am
Sekayi grinned and suppressed a giggle at having startled Thuli. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said lowly with amusement in his voice, "I saw you sneaking off, so i thought I'd follow you." He had grown a bit more confident as an older cub, and didn't spend as much time at his mother's side or that of one of the other lionesses. Before, when he knew that his sister, or any of his other siblings, was getting into something that could potentially cause trouble, he would steer clear and would usually be sitting by while they got caught doing whatever they were doing. It seemed that he had begun to develop his own sense of mischief as he became more bold.
"You're trying to see what they're talking about aren't you? I want to know what's going on to," he said quietly, "I saw those big lions when they came here, and looks like they aren't going to be leaving soon." Sekayi had been alarmed when he'd seen one of the strange lions in their land shortly after they had arrived and he had asked on of the Umzingeli about what was happening in their home. However, the lioness had only shushed him and sent him back to where the cubs where being watched, leaving him with no answers.
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:17 pm
“Oooh…!” the blue-eyed girl looked pleasantly surprised now. “I thought you were trying to stop me.” Laini would. Oh yes, her dark brother probably wouldn’t approve of them seeking trouble like this. “It’s so unfair! Why can’t we hear what they’re talking about? I mean, I was there, I already know what happened. All the cubs know by now! So why can’t we join?!” It truly made no sense to her. She could sit quietly while the adults argued. She knew how to keep her mouth shut when needed… most of the time.
“We need to be careful ‘cause that Umzingeli has eagle eyes and dog ears. And…” she had a mischievous air about her now as she grinned. “She probably already knows that I’m up to no good.” And she seemed quite pleased with that.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:53 pm
Sekayi shrugged, what could he say? He felt that this was their home as well, and he was nervous about the big lions. "I know, this is our home too. What if those big lions stay here or something bad happens?" Really. Adults could so silly at times. If something bad were to happen as a direct cause of what was going on now, then none of the younger ones would know what to do, since they didn't know what was going on in the first place! Sekayi huffed to himself, but quickly put a smile back on his face. It didn't matter, they would find out what was happening one way or another.
"Oh, okay," he knew the exact lioness that Thuli spoke of. He had seen more that a few cubs being caught getting into mischief by her, and he recalled his sister being one of those cubs. The pale youth didn't worry too much though, he was sure they could pull this off.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:04 am
Thuli was rather pleased at how easy it was pulling her brother into mischief today especially when she considered how troublesome the same task would be if she were attempting it with her dark brother Laini.
“Yeah, they’re really big. Even the girls. And did you see that crazy one with the weird eyes?” her voice carried a mix of surprise and awe. Despite the red lioness’ general attitude - or perhaps because of it – the young girl had been truly impressed with Armada. “Even their name is weird. Firekin. Firekin! Like they’re on fire or something. Weird...” Her look of wonder didn’t exactly support her words though.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:27 am
A wave of excitement filled him at the thought of being 'bad'. Needless to say, he didn't really do this kind of thing very often. In general, Sekayi preferred to have a life with relatively low concerns, and staying on the lionesses good side had been an easy task. Being a cute and happy cub that didn't really cause trouble had it's perks, but he with his sister this time and his home was potentially in danger. Sometimes he wished that he could do more to help his pride, but he wasn't his father or his big brother, so he didn't know how he could.
"I did," Sekayi said solemnly in response to Thuli. Moving forward a little, he briefly looked to see where the adults were talking before ducking back down. "C'mon! Let's go see whats going on," he whispered to his sister as he crawled through the grass. Unfortunately, Sekayi had failed to spot one lioness that stood between the group of interest and where he and his sister were crouching.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:49 am
“She was weird but kind of cool-looking. And scary! She almost attacked Gakere, she was crazy.” She couldn’t get the image of Armada making a move for her big brother only to be stopped by one of her own. It was the strangest and the most interesting thing she’d ever seen in her life!
“Alright, I think mom went that way. Let’s g-…”
“THULISILE! Where did you go? Come back here. RIGHT NOW!”
The young lioness flinched, one paw in the air and a ridiculous expression on her face. She had little time to waste before the Umzingeli sniffed her out so she turned to her brother quickly.
“Maybe she won’t see you! You can still find out what they’re saying.” she whispered quickly. She should’ve known her absence would be the easiest one to spot. She came out from the grasses looking like a mildly confused – though clearly innocent – cub.
“Me? I was just playing hide-and-seek. Do you need something?” Her act probably wasn’t fooling anyone though at least judging by the lioness' angry expression.
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Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:48 am
Sekayi absently snorted a laugh at his sister as he only agreed with the last assessment of the lioness that had nearly attacked Gakere. She must have been considered to be crazy even by the standards of her own people. The young boy couldn't imagine why she would be brought along anyways, she seemed less than predictable.
Sekayi jumped as he heard the voice calling Thuli, but he nodded to his sister anyhow and leapt away into the yellow grass and quickly ducked down. Hopefully he wouldn't get caught here, but the lionesses were skilled hunters and didn't have any trouble sniffing out wayward cubs, so he had to act fast.
Crouching down as much as he could, he army crawled towards the adults as fast as he could. He'd managed to get within hearing range of the adults and he sat there completely still and he listened to what they said.
Unfortunately for him, the lionesses of his home lands were in fact skilled hunters that had no problem catching naughty cubs if the shadow looming over him said anything about it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:11 am
The very suspicious-looking Umzingeli watched Thuli with keen eyes – obviously not fooled by the young lioness’ innocent expression- before asking who she’d been playing with. Well, that was a very good question but it posed a dilemma for the cub. Giving away her brother’s position might prevent her from getting into trouble but then she would never know what all the adults were discussing – and she wasn’t a snitch anyway! Unfortunately, her choices were greatly reduced when another lioness zoomed in on Sekayi’s location.
“See? I was hiding with Sekayi.” Which made absolutely no sense since the two of them had been hiding in the exact same place. She needed to grab another sibling for help and Ora was close enough. “And Ora was looking for us, right?” She had to give her sister some credit. Her confused expression disappeared in an instant and she was already nodding with a pleasant smile before she even knew what was going on. If that didn’t get them out of trouble, she didn’t know what would.
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:28 pm
He hadn't even noticed the lioness creeping up behind him. So rapt in listening to the conversation going on before him, he wasn't aware of her presence until it was too late. At the sound of a strict 'What do you think you're doing?', he nearly leapt into the air in surprise. Fortunately, she only shooed him away with a warning to stay where he was suppose to be.
Trotting back to Thuli with an uncharacteristic frown on his face, he saw that she was still cornered by the Umzingeli. "Yeah, we were just playing," he promptly placed his usual smile on his face, agreeing with his sister. When the adult seemed satisfied enough with the explanation, Sekayi immediately nudged Thuli back towards their other siblings.
When they were relatively out of hearing range, he turned to Thuli and said in a low voice,"I heard some of what they were saying. I think those big lions are going to stay here! They came here for the water." Sekayi hadn't heard much, but he'd heard enough. What was going to become of their home?
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:52 am
Thuli hid a grin when her brother joined them and bailed her out of trouble but she was intrigued by the frown he wore. She didn’t remember ever seeing him with such a serious expression but the cub mimicked him when she heard what Sekayi had to say. She’d hoped he’d found some secret information that they could proudly share with all the other cubs in advance but it seemed nothing new had come up.
“Aw, we knew that already.” She had been there, after all. “Did they say anything about what they were going to do? How long they’re staying? Were the Abazingeli angry? I really want to go talk to the weird lions!”
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Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:08 pm
Shaking his head, he said,"No, I mean staying, as in for a long time." Sekayi tilted his head to the side in though before he finally said,"Oh yeah. I guess I didn't really find out anything else," he said sheepishly, grinning at his sister. His smile faded and he became somber. "I wonder what the ones that come here will be like," he said, referring to the Huria. The thought of those strange lions living among them made him just as curious as it made him unnerved. "I'm sure you'll get to talk to one since they're sending some of them here." Thinking about what he'd heard, he added,"Of course some of them were upset, but no one really sounded angry. Otherwise, they're still just setting up a post and training theirs and our members there." Sekayi was beginning to have the feeling that something might be about to happen in their home.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:55 am
“Maybe they’re staying… forever!” Thuli said, looking fairly excited. “Oh, don’t worry, Sekayi! I bet they’re super cool!” She thought her brother was talking about the warriors that would arrive at the outpost soon but it made little difference. She considered her brother’s last words and finally grinned, turning quickly on the spot.
“Well, it doesn’t matter if they’re angry anyway. If our big brother says we have to do something, then they’ll just have to accept it, right?” she chuckled, delight filling the cub as she imagined the expressions of the lionesses who might not agree with the decision. “C’mon! Let’s go tell the others how close you got!” And with a cubbish giggle, the young lioness started running towards the other cubs. - FIN! -
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