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 Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:48 pm
Motomilia trudged across the Motoujamii pridelands, the leather of her pawpads scorched, cracked, and sore. She knew from experience that those who had lived here their entire life had grown calluses on their pawpads, the dead skin building up and acting as a heat-resistant kind of protection from the hot sands.
She'd been gone entirely too long, she reflected, settling down under one of the many cliff ledges to get her weight off her paws and seek solace from the sun. Not that the shade offered much shelter from the heat, she soon realized, turning over one of her paws and licking the pad gingerly. It wouldn't take long before she was used to the heat again... as a juvenile, the heat had been nothing. It was nothing to most of the lions here. Moto made a silent wager with herself -- it would take two weeks, give or take, for her pads to heal over. Two weeks to be able to walk across the pridelands and beyond without panting, or take down a lone oryx or such as an offering to the Blood and its King.
But until then, rank or no, she would feel foolish and weak, and considered such by the eyes of every lion and lioness here who had stayed through thick and thin. Except for the eyes of Mpaji, who she'd practically though unintentionally raised; and Keeni, who still watched her. She considered him one of her few friends, although she knew he wanted more. She wouldn't give him more, not now, perhaps not ever.
She wasn't one to bond to someone that quickly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:19 pm
One who shared that last ideal, the lack of intrest in bonding with the bulkier sex, was already sunning herself on one of the ledges when she was unintentionally joined by the other. Azula did not miss the tentative cleaning that the other female used for her paw pads, and being of a similar plight herself decided to investigate.
She lowered herself meticulously until she was at last able to draw closer to the other, easing forward onto her belly to lie beside her as if she'd been given an open invitation.
"The first few days certainly aren't what I'd call the most plesant." She observed aloud, a conversation starter, as she turned a paw to examine her own tendered pads.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:53 pm
Moto didn't move, surprised as she was by her sudden aquaintance. She should have been able to smell the other lioness, but then, there was little to no wind here. Not even a breeze to ruffle her fur. It didn't help matters much.
She grunted in response, intent on her work before looking up and tucking her paw in closer to her body. She'd been caught showing a sign of weakness.
By the tail of Finar-si, did she want to be cast out?
"Not the most pleasant, no," she agreed somewhat guardedly, looking the new female over with a critical eye. She was different from most Firekin -- instead of the solid red, perhaps some white (such as the white throat and belly Moto herself boasted), and minimal patterning, this lioness was liberally black-coated, with the Firekin red and some gray patterning. That must be hell in this heat, she thought.
"It will heal over in time, though," she continued in an effort to save as much face as possible.
"I am Motomilia, daughter of Kiu and sister to Kimeti. You are..?" It was her way of nosing into the other lioness' lineage without being obvious about it. Delivering her parentage and relation to the current king was, to the Motoujamii, like commenting on the weather.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:56 am
"Azula, daughter of Moto'Roho and Moto, half sister of Chomo." She responded, completely unshaken and unphased as she lowered her own paw back to the ground. Azula was not one easily caught off guard, perhaps that even being her most dangerous invulnerability. Likewise, her confidence made her someone that most had to be cautious and wary of, because she was not thrown off track with insults or having flaws pointed out to her. She knew well where her strength lie, and that was all she needed to get what she wanted. Right now? She wanted some companions, someone to call friend in a place so unfamiliar, yet someplace she wanted to try to make home.
"So that would make you the princess, or at least one of them from what I've been told. I've met your sister, niece, and nephew briefly." Azula purred in a bit of small talk, aiming to let the conversation flow from there.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:40 pm
Motomilia nodded in silent acceptance of the lioness' introduction. Moto was a name that was familiar to her, not to mention her namesake. Moto'Roho was not, but both were before her time anyway.
She said nothing to confirm or reject Azula's assumption; it was an obvious point, and Azula had made it a statement rather than a question. Instead her attention was fixed on her next comment.
"Niece and nephew? My siblings have begun their own families then," she commented, with more than a hint of irony in her voice. "It's not surprising, I just never thought about it..."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:06 pm
"You've none of your own yet, then. Are you not planning on having any...?" She questioned easily as she watched the other with blood red eyes, though it was clear that she wasn't really looking for confirmation. Moto had already given that by saying she'd never thought about it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:47 pm
This was a question that, however redundant, Motomilia would answer. She snorted derisively, the air from her nose making a dent in the sand between her paws. "No.
"Males and cubs are both things I don't get along with well."
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:29 pm
"A woman after my own heart." Azula replied with the same soft smirk, an almost smug expression that held far too much mirth to be of an malicious intent. It was cool, aloof, if anything, and the words were heartfelt. "However, both can be used to further your gain, and what are the prior if not dispensible?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:27 pm
Moto eyed the other female as if a spotlight had suddenly been lit to reveal her. It seemed that whether intentional or not, Motomilia had just made a new friend.
"I hadn't considered it that way," she admitted with a smirk of her own.
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:39 pm
"That's because it's mostly a male's way of thinking, it's a shame that more women aren't aware of it. It's something that I managed to pick up from my mother." A momentary pause, a manipulative smirk-- "It's because it's unconventional for a woman to think that way that the men never see it coming. They're easily played if you just know how to pluck their heart strings the right way."
Her smirk became much smoother somehow, silky as she lifted a paw and extended a claw, plucking at imaginary strings between them.
"It's especially useful if you find a male soft enough to actually want a family." She chuckled as she mused, finding this topic to be of particular entertainment in discussing. She found that she certainly didn't mind sharing this wealth of knowledge with the other female, though her gaze eventually wandered to where the shade did not shed it's mercy. "They'll do anything to make sure that you're happy, if it means you'll stay. Even kill."
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:40 pm
"Interesting," Moto comented after a moment of thought on Azula's words. What would it be like to be waited on, hand and foot? To be loved -- even if you didn't, couldn't, love back -- and appreciated like the goddess Finar-si herself?
"Interesting that you should bring that particular point up, I mean. I met a male of the Blood on my journey here," she explained, "and he grew... rather attatched to me."
She was almost never this open to anyone, but she found herself not really minding. She was interested in this conversation, and found herself clinging to Azula's every word.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 11:55 pm
"That's very interesting, Motomilia, is he strong in body?"
The lioness did sound truely interested, though from her tone she also held a level of detachment. She was interested alright, but mostly for the sake of curiosity, and the fact that she could offer some advice to this other female certainly did help. Her title meant little to Azula personally, but having her for an ally would certainly gain her some benifit later on, and truthfully Azula was enjoying the company. She enjoyed sharing this topic, offering advice. Now, she was just curious to see what would come of it.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:26 pm
The words might have come off as bored, or at least uninterested, but Moto didn't notice.
"He's strong enough, I suppose," she mused, wondering why Azula had asked that particular question.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:32 pm
"Hmm... he may make a good starting point then, if you care to see for yourself..."
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:49 pm
She considered it a moment, having figured that was where the conversation would eventually lead.
Moto didn't want a family. She hardly thought she could take care of a litter, much less truely love them.
"And the cubs..?" Perhaps she could just... avoid that aspect? Somehow she doubted it.
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