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 Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:05 am
 Everything itched. No one had insisted on flea checking Jasiri yet, and there had been no talk about it since that first introduction to the pride. However, he couldn't quite shake the suspicion that Kamal might have managed to give him fleas. Gross. So very gross. He had settled in the pride, and he was getting used to his tasks, but every time he thought about the fight that had earned him his place he started to feel itchy again.
His pride prevented him from asking someone to check him over, but this situation was getting out of hand. It didn't itch all the time, but when it did it drove him mad. If he was near another pride member he didn't want to scratch, and the more he thought about not scratching the worse it got.
Today he was out on patrol along the borders of their current territory. He was supposed to keep rogue males out and make sure the scent markings were fresh. His other secret mission was to try to get rid of these fleas once and for all. Once he was sure no one would see him he threw himself to the ground and started to roll around in a puddle of mud. It would be hell to groom it out of his coat later, but he'd heard that a mud bath could take care of fleas...
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:25 am
They had been traveling for several days now, and though Asali was excited to find them a new home, it was also bitter sweet to the large lioness. She'd loved their rogue protector, and the quiet life he'd provided, but her youth screamed for something more. Something... she couldn't quite describe. It was with a heavy heart and much consideration that she left him, but the pale eyed Asali did her best to keep a happy smile for her sister. Her lovable, adoring, now growling sister? Asali's brows rose in question as she turned to look at the puffed up ball of ruddy fur next to her.
She'd spotted him a little too late. His golden coat must have aided in his camouflage, but it was the flash of white mane in the mud that had caught her attention. Her instant reaction was to growl at him, the fur on the back of her neck standing on end. Male. A rogue more than likely, and Damu would have none of his nonsense. "Don't even think-" she managed to hiss out before Asali went charging ahead of her, cutting her off from her statement.
Oh my! What a silly thing to come across, but she was quite glad they did. Her maw was pulled into a pleasant smile as she approached the mud hole, not a single ounce of hesitation in her stride despite her sister's warnings. "Trying to hide in the mud, are you?" she teased, friendly curiosity coloring her tone. "Well don't worry, we don't bite." It wasn't everyday you came across something as amusing as this, and the pale lioness was certainly enjoying it.
Damu could only snap her mouth shut in disbelief at her sister. She was kidding right? Walking up to a strange lion like that and chatting him up like a friend. She was slow to follow in Asali's footprints, and the closer she got the tenser she felt. Her ears folded back against her skull and her eyes narrowed dangerously at the stranger. "You don't", she reminded her sister in a growl, positively certain this was going to bite them in the a**.
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:06 pm
It felt gross, but good, to bathe in the soothing mud. Hopefully it'd get rid of any parasites. Jasiri wriggled around on his back like a playful cub, getting mud everywhere. It was a good thing no one was around to see him...
"Gaaah!" he cried as someone spoke to him, "This is not what it looks like!"
He was on his feet quicker than what should be possible. Two females were watching him. One rather friendly looking and one that looked as if she wanted to rip his face off. They looked like they could be related, but that was pretty common in this pride. He couldn't place their faces, however. They couldn't have approached him when he just got to the pride, and he was fairly certain they hadn't watched the fight. He tried to wipe some of the mud from his face.
"Hello ladies," he said with what he hoped was a winning smile, "What are you up to away from the others?"
He wasn't even sure they were part of the pride, but they would probably not be happy with them if it turned out they were. He was well known by now, even if he hadn't managed to learn the names of every female in the pride.
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:09 pm
"Well, that was enthusiastic", she laughed, settling onto the back of her haunches. How cute! Asali's smile widened as she watched the stranger right himself out of the mud, and she almost expected him to shake. Not that she wanted to be covered in mud, but it certainly would have been adorable. She could hear Damu's quiet growling beside her, but the larger sister paid it no mind. In fact, she was quite comfortable with the situation. His question got a curious look from her, but her demeanor remained friendly. "I'm sorry, you must have us confused with someone else. I don't believe we've met before." And if she had to take a guess, this guy probably wasn't a rogue like she'd originally believed. Hmm.
"Asali! Seriously?" the little lioness huffed, more than frustrated at this point. Dear gods she could not take any more. There was being friendly and then there was just plain asking for trouble. She was practically announcing they were alone and defenseless. Well, not completely defenseless, she thought as her claws slid out from their sheaths to scratch at the cracked dirt. "We'll be on our way now", she practically spat out, nudging her larger sister in the shoulder with her forehead. To her horror, Asali did not budge from her sitting position.
"Calm down, Damu", she spoke, managing to remain calm despite her sister's insistence. "We've been walking all week with hardly a chance to rest, and I'm sure he doesn't mind our company", the pale lioness chuckled, turning a grin on their handsome, albeit muddy stranger. She loved her sister, she really did, but not every male in the world was out to hurt them. And until this guy gave her a reason to think otherwise, she would remain friendly and open to his presence.
"You've got to be kidding me...", Damu muttered under her breath. They had just gotten rid of one male, and Asali was already talking up another one. And he wasn't alone! He'd admitted it! What could be worse? With her sister unwilling to move, and Damu unwilling to leave her, the ruddy lioness simply turned to keep an eye on the stranger. Maybe if she glared enough at him he'd leave them alone.
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:34 pm
Jasiri looked from one female to the other as they argued. Wow. They had to be related. They weren't Bonelands lionesses, that much was clear, but the brown one would fit right in with that mouth on her... Really, some of the females could be very... vocal... about what they didn't like.
"Soo... are you two sisters," he asked, trying to be as charming as he could with his pelt ruined by mud. He was just guessing, but 'sisters' should be a safe enough guess. If they were mother and daughter instead the mother might even be pleased, and if they were more distantly related (or not related at all) they shouldn't be too offended. He hoped.
"I'm Jasiri," he said, "Inselelo of the Ithambo'hlabathi."
If they were from his new pride and had just been away for a while they'd probably tell him now... He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do if they were strangers. His instructions had focused more on what to do with rogue males who dared get too close to the pride's females... He wondered if it was even possible to do some of the things Surtak had suggested he'd do to males who insisted on trespassing.
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:30 pm
"You can tell? What a wonderful sense of perception you must have", it wasn't sarcastic, nor was it meant to be mean, but Asali was most certainly amused. "My sister and I have been traveling for some time now, I wasn't aware we were near any pride's borders", she mentioned, taking a second to look around them. It was a bit of a barren landscape from what she could tell, did a whole pride actually live out here? "What's your pride like, Jasiri?" she asked, returning her attention to him. More than mild curiosity swept over features, she was definitely intrigued by the topic.
Wonderful. Her lips twitched upwards as the male gave his name, and the name of his pride to boot. It wasn't some small family group they would be dealing with if they didn't get out of here, now. "Asali, please. Do you really want to stick around with this guy? He rolled around in mud like it was 'fun' or something. Its weird. Lets just go." Seriously, whatever pride he was from, it wasn't worth the hassle.
Well, now Damu was getting a tad impatient it seemed. "Hey, he might have a good reason for it", she shrugged. "Plus it was kind of cute. Besides, he's obviously not trying to hurt us, so just relax for a little bit." She was afraid her sister was going to get overly frustrated with the situation, and try to take it out on the poor guy. It wasn't unlike Damu to try and throw off these sorts of encounters.
She huffed at her sister once more, this time shutting her mouth completely. Her glare went between the two of them for awhile but in the end Damu simply sat back on her haunches, feeling defeated for the moment. "It's still weird", she muttered to herself, mood soured.
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:50 pm
Jasiri refrained from telling the nicer of the two lionesses that it was easy to see that they fought like siblings... He decided it wouldn't hurt to stop here and chat with the two females. He needed to let the mud dry and fall off before he could hope to groom it out of his fur, and time would pass quicker with a bit of company. Half of the company was nice... the other half wasn't any worse than some of the females in the pride. It might be good practice.
"I met a nasty lion with fleas," he said with a disgusted snarl, "I just want to make sure he didn't hand some of them over when I chased him away."
It had been easy enough to convince Kamal that he better run. Hopefully Kamal's flies would be as easy to get to leave. If he had any fleas. Gah! It itched again, just from thinking about it.
"My pride moves with the prey," he explained, "So our borders change with the seasons. I'm in charge of marking the current border and make sure no low life tries to get his paws on our lionesses or cubs."
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:52 am
Her pleasantness faltered just slightly at the mention of fleas, and the larger of the sisters took to standing up rather quickly. Fleas were nasty business, and if he was infected, she didn't want any of them on her. "How unpleasant for you, though the mud should help", she conceded with a bob of her head. She'd heard that was one way to deal with them, but she was still reluctant to go any closer to the stranger; just in case. Despite her new hesitance towards him, Asali's ears pricked forward at the talk of his pride, and his job. A smile soon returned to her maw, and she passed a glance to Damu. "Your pride sounds like a wonderful place to make a home, Jasiri." Especially if she could convince her sister to take a chance on it.
Ew! There was no hiding the disgust on Damu's face at the mention of fleas. The way her lips turned into a snarl and her nose wrinkled, there was no doubt that the ruddy colored lioness was at all okay with fleas. They were gross, and notoriously difficult to get rid of; exactly the kind of thing she didn't want around her. She'd actually taken a few steps back when her sister surprised- no, she shouldn't be surprised with anything Asali said at this point. Was her sister actually considering joining this pride? "What if they all have fleas?" she questioned, once more glaring at Jasiri.
Asali shuttered at the thought, but Jasiri had said he'd gotten them by chasing off another lion. Maybe there wasn't enough time to infect anyone else, much less a whole pride. "I doubt that", was Asali's answer on the matter, but even she didn't sound so sure. It was going to be a tough sell on Damu if they found out otherwise, but Asali's was definitely interested in this pride and was willing to try.
Damu rolled her eyes at her sister's half-assed attempt to push the issue aside. Even if that wasn't the case there was still something else that bugged her. "So, you keep lionesses and cubs away from strangers", she said flatly, raising her head just enough to look him in the eye. "Like they're your prisoners or something? Is that it?" She'd had enough of male dominance from their previous life as slaves, and if that was the case for this pride she'd sooner claw his behind than listen to another word he had to say.
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:16 am
Jasiri could fully understand the faces he was getting. He wouldn't want to hang around someone with fleas either, and he must look ridiculous with all this mud in his fur. His ears tilted forward as Asali expressed an interest in living here, and then tilted back as Damu questioned the flea status of the entire pride. Jasiri was quite new to the pride, but nevertheless he was offended.
"No, no one has flies," Jasiri said, and he hoped it was true, "I chased away the one with flies, remember? I don't think he's stopped running yet..." he grinned at the thought, "This is just to make sure he didn't give me any souvenirs."
He tapped the mud caking on his leg to see if it was dry enough to get off, but it needed a bit more time and sun yet. Grooming it all out would truly suck.
"I'm probably doing them a favor," Jasiri grumbled, "Any rogue male trying to woo one of the huntresses would probably just be laughed at, and if he was stupid enough to try to harm the cubs they'd rip him a new one... But yeah. It's my job to fight off challenging males, just as it's their job to hunt and keep an eye on the cubs. And when they don't do that they enjoy taunting the males as much as they can."
"You'd fit right in," he said with a smile.Jovi of Shadows sorry for quote spamming you... I found a typo or three razz
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Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:15 pm
"Is that so?" was her quick and blatant answer. Truthfully the concept of jeering at males piqued her interest quite a bit, as Damu did so enjoy letting them know they weren't better than her or any other lioness. The little, dark pelted sister sat back on her haunches, her claws tapping rhythmically into the dry earth as she thought. As much as she hated to admit it, this Jasiri seemed to know his place well enough, and as frustrating as it is to consider getting tied down to another group, perhaps she could stomach this one. "So let me get this straight. The lionesses hunt and take care of the cubs, and you boys chase away any other male that tries to come into the territory?" It was less of a question and more of a mussing out loud, but Damu's attention was squarely on the mud-caked Jasiri at this point.
She hated being out in the open as they traveled, it made her nervous, as if around any corner one of the males from their old pride would jump them. She shuttered at the thought of going back to face punishment for running away, knowing full well what that would mean. Death, at best, she was certain. It was at that thought that Damu stood and closed the gap between herself and the blue eyed Jasiri, practically shoving her nose into his with all the haughtiness she could muster, just to stare him in the eye. Damu was a small lioness, much smaller than your average rogue, but that did not stop her from acting like someone much larger than herself. "If we can believe you, I think we'd like to join your pride." He probably wasn't lying, but he was male, and that's what they did.
She could hardly believe her ears! She didn't even have to try and force Damu into it, she came to the decision all on her own! Asali was so ecstatic about this she actually leaped at her sister, bowling her over despite her sister's attempts to stand up tall to Jasiri. Damu gave the most adorable surprised squeak, and Asali only laughed in response, licking her dark sister on the forehead while she had her on the ground. Unlike Damu, the lighter of the two sisters was actually quite large for a rogue and it was easy for her to pin Damu under her weight. Her happy weight that rumbled and purred in affection!
Asali was so happy about what her sister had said she'd practically forgotten all about poor Jasiri, or whether or not she was making him uncomfortable. Of course, when she did remember he was there, the lioness simply craned her neck around to offer a pleasant smile and a low rumble of a purr. "If that's allowable, of course. I know some prides can be picky." It would be sad if that was the case, but truthfully Asali was just happy to see her sister so accepting of the idea. Speaking of which, she should probably let her up now... nah. Damu could suffer her affection a little bit longer.
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Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:59 pm
"Pretty much," he said. He didn't have time to mention that males could be replaced by their challengers if they weren't able to fight them off before Damu decided to get close. To his credit Jasiri didn't flinch when he suddenly had a small lioness in his face, staring at him. Oh-kay... He did flinch when Asali decided to throw herself bodily into the mix. Riight... It seemed as if he had two new recruits. He hoped it'd give him some points to bring back two new females.
"Don't worry," he said in response to Asali's question, "You'll be 'Busisa'. That means lucky or something..."
He'd asked about the difference in ranks since some females were called Busisa, apparently. Jasiri didn't remember all of it, but he'd gathered that females did in fact join from outside at times, and that Busisa meant something good. He prodded the caked mud on his leg again, and found that it had finally dried.
"Finally," he muttered and started scraping the dusty mud off, "I need to get this off before I can take you to the others."
Hopefully they weren't in a hurry, because after scraping the mud off he'd have to groom out the rest of this nasty stuff. He refused to be seen in public with mussed up fur if he could avoid it.
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Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 2:28 pm
If she wasn't so use to Asali suddenly assaulting her, she probably would have thrown more of a fit, but that didn't stop her from growling and grumbling at her sister. Damu did not like getting pinned down in any situation, let alone with a strange male near by, but despite her attempts to wiggle out from under her sister she was stuck. As Asali purred Damu growled, only barely managing to respond to Jasiri with a distracted, "That's great." Lucky or something? She certainly didn't feel lucky at the moment.
As quickly as she had pounced Damu she was on her paws, ears flicked forward and tail tip swishing happily. It seemed as if the large female was considering pouncing Jasiri as well, but at the last minute she thought better of it. Still, she would like to get to the others as soon as possible, and that's when she decided to simply sit down next to him. "I'll help, it'll be faster with the two of us," she said pleasantly and decisively. If he did have fleas before, no doubt the mud trick would get rid of them, so Asali did no mind in the slightest.
On the other paw, Damu huffed and attempted to catch her breath. Asali was a bit too much on the heavy side! "You do that", she grumbled, moving to face her back to the two and grumpily place her chin on her paws. The sooner they were done with that nonsense the sooner she could stop worrying about getting caught by the ghosts from their past.Annchen Possible wrap for the girls. ^^
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Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:55 am
"I'd love some help," Jasiri said, smiling. He couldn't possibly turn down grooming help from a pretty female, and hopefully she'd enjoy what she'd find under the mud. He took pride in keeping his coat in perfect condition under normal circumstances, and he might be biased, but he found the color and pattern attractive.
Jasiri was actually starting to enjoy himself. Asali was very friendly, and it was much quicker work with her help. He'd have to make sure they didn't miss any spots. He didn't worry too much about the other sister sulking nearby. She'd warm up to him... Or not. It didn't really matter to him as long as some of the females in the pride did. Perhaps it would be easier to win over someone who wasn't raised here. Wouldn't hurt to give it a shot, right?-fin-
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