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 Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:10 am
Trick the Sky ((Above the Ground)) Above the Caverns of the Mistweavers is a rocky terain near a steep emankment. The River here, which flows almost constantly, save in very dry weather, carves itself directly into the stone, eventually vanishing into the ground and so deep into the earth not even the most dedicated Anansi explorer has discovered how deep it goes. Here also, on the rock face, can be seen handfulls of tunnels and openings, and even a few on the flat earth above the embankment, these often hidden by rocks and tall grass that, on careful inspection, may have been encouraged to stand where they are, the better to conseal the mouths of Anansi caves. The caves themselves are dark, and smell forbodingly of earth and strange mixes of 'lion' 'clay' and other things.  As per usual, Layilme had chosen to scout above-ground, slipping out of the caves as the sun sank slowly toward the horizon. She wove around one of those rocks and through the grass there, low to the ground. Not that she really expected any prey to be around this close to the mouth of the caves, but, well. You never really knew.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:14 am
 Phye'li had wandered away from her new mate...again. She was a good ways away this time, curiosity overcoming caution as it usually did with the brown-pelted lioness. Her tail flicked to and fro as she stared with wide-eyed inquisitiveness at her new surroundings...this was all very different from where she'd been raised.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:17 am
But then Layil -did- see something moving ahead and froze, crouching down a bit farther. What ... ah. Another lioness, she could see now. And one younger than herself though obviously by no means a cub. Her tail flicked back and forth a bit, as she thought about what to do.
Nothing at all said that they were supposed to -keep- other lions away. But others also were not supposed to discover or enter the caves. So it would probably be best to distract, or even lead the other away. So thinking, she stood, and waited there in the grass.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:22 am
Her ears went back, and then forwards again, head swiveling as she looked for the faint sign of whatever it was that had distracted her. And that's when she saw Layil... and that wide smile crossed her expression.
Phye'li knew, of course, that there were unfriendly lions in the world, but she'd never been so unfortunate as to meet one, though she had heard tales...in fact, now she was practically family with a few of these unpleasant individuals...Nogea's brother being one.
But that aside, she was incredibly outgoing...and therefore padded up to within a few feet of the older female, green eyes obviously curious. "Hello!" She greeted brightly, always out to meet new people.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:26 am
Layil bobbed her head in a sort of approximation of a nod. "Hello, there," she replied, then ears perking toward the other. She wondered where the other came from ... but well. She didn't want to sound rude, so she introduced herself first. "I'm Layilme..."
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:32 am
Oh, a name, and she hadn't even had to ask for it! "And I'm Phye'li!" Her exuberance was dreadfully obvious, though she wasn't annoyingly energetic, it was close. Inclining her own head, she studied the other female a moment longer, apparently somewhat taken with the star-like patterns on Layilme's coat.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:37 am
"It's nice to meet you ... though I do have to wonder what you're doing way out here," she replied, one ear turning backward before swiveling back toward the younger lioness. She was well-aware of that scrutiny but didn't comment on it. She knew her coat was unusual but wasn't at all ashamed of that fact.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:42 am
"Oh?" She looked decidedly embarassed at the lioness's not quite question. "Well...you see...I and my mate are wandering. Eventually we're going to meet up with a brother of his and some other lions...I guess you could call us a pride." Phye'li had never given the whole idea more thought than, well, she wanted to be with Nogea. "And I haven't ever been far away from home, so we're just out to see new things for the moment."
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:44 am
"Ah, you have a mate?" she asked, sounding just a bit wistful. The concept wasn't foreign to her and was, in fact, something she had been thinking about a lot as of late. She just wasn't that close to any of the males in her own pride ... and wasn't sure how an outsider would react to ... well, everything.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:01 pm
She nodded quickly, "Yes...his name is Nogea and he has a lovely red and black coat." A mild frown was on her face a moment before she continued, "He thought his pelt was ugly when I first met him..." Phy laughed softly, "But I, for one, would not at all mind red-coated cubs."
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:03 pm
"Well, I can't really say much about whether bright-colored coats are ugly or not," she replied easily. Then she thought about that a bit more and her ears laid back just a bit. What if that was her problem ...? That other lions thought her coat too strange or even ugly and so that was why ...
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:09 pm
"Yours is lovely..." Phye'li nodded sagely, eyes flicking to those patterns again... "You look like a starfield..." There was a slight bit of awe in her tone, obvious admiration. "Mine's rather plain, all told, but I suppose it's all right." As long as Nogea thought she was beautiful, she had not problem.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:18 pm
Layil blinked, startled out of her thoughts and surprised for a moment ... it was almost as if Phye'li had been reading those very thoughts. Her ears perked foward again, tail flicking just a bit. "Thank you ... you really aren't all that plain yourself," she complimented in turn - though it was true. It was interesting how the solid brown turned to spotting on the other's rump.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:25 pm
No, Phy couldn't read minds, she'd simply gotten better at gauging expressions since she'd been with Nogea. "You think so?" Emerald eyes sparkled happily, apparently she was quite easy to please. "I've never had a problem with the way I look, really." In fact, she'd never given a great deal of thought to how she looked.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:40 pm
"I can see that," she replied, though it wasn't intended to be mean - almost more of a compliment. It was better not to worry about such things, and she still wasn't quite sure why she had even thought about that. No one she had ever met had acted as if she was ugly, after all.
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