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 Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 12:14 pm
 Several teams of females had been hunting today, and they were lucky enough to return alive and with a few kills to feed the pride. Jasiri had found a patchy spot of shadow under a scrawny tree and was reluctant to move from the comfortable place, not even for food. Besides, the leading males would be offered food first so he wasn't going to miss out. His nostrils moved as the scent of the fresh kills reached his nose.
It was nice to have his meals brought to him like this, he mused. This part of being the newest Inselelo was not bad at all... However, Nguvu had told him about a strange custom the other day. Apparently the males all hunted for the females one day every year. For fun, apparently, and to thank them for doing all the hard work the rest of the year. Jasiri couldn't say he looked forward to it, but he was pretty sure he could manage one hunt a year, provided he'd stick around that long. It was far better than fending for himself in the roguelands, that was for certain. He'd have to pick Nguvu's brain later to try to find out if there were more odd little customs he should know about.
He watched Gakere and Surtak tear into the gazelle that had been delivered to them, but decided against going over there. More huntresses were coming in, and he had learned from experience that it would be more peaceful if all males didn't eat from the same kill.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:09 pm
Next to Igazi was her larger sister, Uju. They had taken up new names for themselves since joining with the Bonelands lions, and so far she liked how they sounded. It wasn't the first time they'd changed names either, and to be honest she hardly remembered her birth name at all. Igazi was being quiet next to her, so Uju let some of the antelope slip from her maw, allowing Igazi to carry more of its weight.
The little lioness tripped slightly as her sister let go of part of their kill, and she shot her a glare as she rumbled. "Dats' nhot fhair", she grumbled between her teeth. What really wasn't fair though, is that as soon as they'd bring it back the males would get first dibs at it. Igazi wasn't so keen on that part just yet, but it had been made abundantly clear by the other females that this is how things were done in their new home.
Uju merely smiled in return at her sister's remarks. "We'ere a'most dere", she said back, her voice muffled by the antelope that swung between them. In truth Uju did not mind letting the males get first pick, it made her happy to know someone was going to enjoy her hard work. She paused in her step, golden eyes scanning the area for who might be near. Hmm. She saw two of the pride's males already tearing into a kill, and then one lone, white maned figure not far from that. Her lips curled into a smile as she recognized him. "Dis whay", she urged Igazi, and began to drag the meal to the white maned Jasiri.
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Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:49 pm
Jasiri recognized the two females heading his way, and he grinned as they approached. Asali and Damu, but that was not their names anymore. Another odd Bonelands custom, to give new females 'proper' names... He'd asked Nguvu about it when he first noticed that some new arrivals mysteriously changed names after some time in the pride. Luckily no one had tried to rename him, so perhaps it was a female only thing. He knew they found his name odd from the reactions during the first few days of intense questioning and good natured harassment.
"Hello," he said when the pair drew close, "Are you settling in all right? I hear you got new names and all. Did the other females name you?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:47 pm
She dropped her portion of the kill as Asal- no, Uju paused to take a look around. The smaller female stretched her jaw as she waited, working the stiffness from her muscles after so long of dragging the beast closer to the pride. As Uju moved forward Igazi hesitated, olive eyes locked on the direction her sister had chosen. She still wasn't entirely comfortable around their new pride, much less the males, and took the time to zero-in on who ever they might be heading towards. Accessing the lone lion as Jasiri, Igazi moved to catch up with her sister; head low and tail sweeping in a wary uncomfortableness. At least they knew this one.
Her sister might have stopped, but that did not hinder Uju in her approach. Both larger and stronger than her dark twin, the lioness had no problem dragging the antelope to Jasiri, a broad, bloody smile on her maw to greet him. She dropped the beast at her paws before stepping away from it, a clear message that he was to eat first. "We're settling in alright, inselelo", she spoke with a purr, pleased to have remembered one of the pride's titles.
"Sort of", Igazi half grumbled her answer to his second question. "We'd gotten some suggestions, and some less-than-suggestions." She shrugged at this, olive eyes falling on the white-maned male as she watched him. "Eventually we settled for something that had a similiar meaning to our old names", she told him, measuring him at length before easing back to her haunches. This wasn't the first time they'd met Jasiri, and Igazi felt more at ease with him than she did with the others. At least he hadn't proven to be a liar. That was something.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:53 pm
Now this was easy to get used to! Jasiri tucked in, but made sure not to hog all the best bits. It was his right to be greedy if he wanted to, but it wasn't the smart thing to do if he wanted to stay on the good side of the huntresses who fed him. He paused and looked up, blood on his muzzle.
"No one's tried to name me," he said, "But I did get some comments about my name at first... Foreign... Girly..."
He could eat more, but he was past the point of jealously defending his meal, and some company would be nice. Besides, the ones doing the hunting should get their share too. The status system when it came to eating in the pride seemed so complex to him, but luckily he only had to keep track of himself and the leading males.
"Why don't you join me," he asked to the sisters. "Tell me more about the name suggestions they had for you."
He kept worrying at one of the legs, more to have something to do than because of any real hunger. It gave the girls plenty of room to eat from their kill without getting in his face. Everyone could get a bit growly at meals after all...
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:59 pm
"Girly? I can't imagine why." She could, at a stretch, see how someone might think to take it as such; but, it was a just a name. Names hardly meant much, at least in her experience. She'd had, well, 5 at this point in her life. Uju was more than happy to allow her sister to do the talking for them. It was a rare occasion, and she rather enjoyed hearing her sister's opinions. Mostly. It hadn't exactly won them any friends among the Bonelands just yet, but she was certain Igazi would warm to them... eventually.
She couldn't really blame her dark twin for her resignations, as they'd both grown up in the same nightmare, after all. Uju couldn't help but chuckle at his request to hear some of the names they'd been suggested, and Uju was quick to take him up on his offer to eat with him. "If I remember the word correctly, someone had been insisting on calling me 'Izwikhulu'," she paused to settle her weight onto her belly, sniffing the carcass for a good and juicy lump. "Apparently, because I talk too much or too loudly-" her words dropped suddenly as a small warning growl passed her throat, a lip twitching in her sister's general direction.
Igazi had made the mistake of targeting the same chunk of meat Uju had sniffed out, and with a low growl of her own reluctantly left her larger sister to the prime cut. She shifted further away from where Uju had chosen to lay down, which happened to place her a little closer to Jasiri than she had originally intended. She spent a moment studying the pale male's bloody maw as he worried at a leg, and warily decided she'd be safe enough at her current location to enjoy the meal. Any subtle movements or noises from the male, however, had her pelt twitching with tensed muscles or eyes darting to glance at him.
Regardless, she was feeling chatty, and decided to pick up the conversation. "That's because you do talk too much", she commented, licking the blood from her lips. "Though they seemed to want to name me things like Imfenencane, Isilwindini, and Isifebethuka." Igazi seemed to have more of a handle on the language than her sister, as her distaste for such names curled her lips into snarl. "I don't think I'll be talking to those two if I can help it," she commented, more off-handedly than she'd meant to, while resting her head on her paws. She'd eaten her fill, which seemed to be less than Uju's.
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 3:21 am
"Yeah," he said, "I'm not sure what she meant about that." Jasiri liked his name well enough, and had never thought about names as disposable. You got one from your mother, and then that was what you were called. Changing names to somehow fit better was just another one of the strange customs of this pride.
"It is rude, even if it should be true." he said, trying to be diplomatic. Uju could be pretty talkative, but that didn't mean she should be named for it.
To be completely honest Jasiri hadn't made much of an effort to master the language, so he wasn't entirely sure what the suggested names meant. He wasn't about to admit that, however.
"That's just horrible," he settled on, hoping that it was an appropriate comment. "Well, it's a good thing they don't insist on calling you that."
The bone cracked in his jaws, and with one more crack he had managed to expose the fatty marrow.
"Have you heard about the Kwa?" he asked, between bites. "It's another interesting custom here..."
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