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 Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:20 am
The golden light of dusk glared down through the thin boughs of a shrub that Rehema had stretched herself out beneith. The lioness stirred, squinting her eyes against the light as her mouth parted into a long yawn. Claws outstretched in front of her and long muscles working from her shoulders, down her spine, to her hind paws. The wounds had become pale scars along her chocolate pelt, hardly visable having had the time and safety to heal. She was a bit thinner, food wasn't exactally plentiful and in any case, a wounded lioness with a crippled limp for a few weeks would rarely catch game.
She licked at her chops as she stood herself up, padding through the rocks down towards a small stream, mostly rain run-off but enough to rid her of the sticky feeling the day's sleep had left her with.
Malik parted a single eye from where he'd been napping beside the lioness. He had remained with his friend to help care for her. Hunt when she was unable and do his part in teaching the stranger that had taken them in what he knew. He too was a bit thin but no less intimidating.
"Always gettin' up right with th' sun's goin' down." He yawened sleepily, curling his large paws under the thick mane. "I jus' don't get'cha."
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:59 am
He moved slowly, head pulled down with the weight of a kill in his jaws. He had been away all day and finally he had caught something. Pride glittered in his eyes as he moved towards the area his friends were staying, his silver and white mane rustling in the wind.
The sun was dipping now but his keen eyes picked out the muted silhoette of Rehema standing by the waterside.
His recent growth had brought with it more confidence and no longer was he jumping at his own shadow. Being with these two had helped him too.
He reached the arched, grassy ledge that looked down upon their position and dropped his kill - a scraggly rabbit - at his forepaws.
"Hungry anyone?" He asked, smiling softly in the dimming light.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:06 am
Rehema jumped a bit as a rabbit fell down to her feet. She lifted a paw slightly as she dipped her head, sniffing at the corpse shortly. "Well well." The lioness sat herself back, her voice almost seemed to purr a bit, "What do we have here?"
She turned her violet eyes up to the now grown lion. She couldn't help but feel proud herself at his progress, no longer a funny little cub bouncing along for hunting trips, he was making kills on his own.
"Eeeeey!" Malik smirked a bit from where he continued to lay, "Looks like our lil' hunter's gone 'n caught 'imself somethin' fer breakfast." He tossed some of the mane out of his eyes and looked pleasently over to the dusty colored lion, "An' yer mane's finally thick as mine, thickah mayhaps."
"I think thicker." Rehema nodded, "It looks good."
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:11 am
He seemed embarrased for a moment, tucking his chin against his chest and flattening his ears. It had been a long time since he'd gotten any compliments and from his new friends they meant a lot.
"Well...I had to learn someday. Otherwise I'd be useless!"
He moved over to the water's edge himself and glanced briefly at his reflection. He had indeed filled out, his stocky frame thick and muscular. His mane was fuller too, almost poofy. So much like his fathers.
"I'm...all grown up." He spoke as if he could hardly believe it.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:22 am
 "Bitta a shock at first." Malik stretched his paws out in front of him, his voice trailing off into a yawn. His golden form stood itself upright, shaking out his mane from the morning's nap. Thin as he was, he was still intimidating as ever, having his father's goliath frame. Very obviously a firekin decendan. "If ya want I can teach ya 'ow to treat th' ladies. If yer anythin' like me ye'll be beatin' them off with a stick." He chuckled a bit. Rehema rolled her eyes, "Only because they're trying to return the favor." She looked down to the rabbit, kind of rolling it over with a paw. It was a kill but a small one. Splitting it three ways would be only a mouthful to the three of them. "Well since you caught it, you get to have first pick on what part you get. It's only fair."
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:54 am
"Ladies?" He blinked. "Why would I want to be hitting them with sticks?" He turned his gaze towards Rehema and tilted his head curiously. Unsure what either were getting at, he continued. "I don't think they'd like that very much."
Then with a wide smile he dipped his head towards Rehema and gestured politely with a paw. "I brought it for you. A present."
He was thin but seemingly not as thin as his guests, though perhaps it was because he was shorter in the leg and body than they were.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:00 am
The lioness looked up slowly, her ears slowly rolling back. Not in anger, she had been taken offguard by the gesture, "For me? But aren't you hungry?" Her whiskers flared a little bit, a lion's equvilant of a blush. Well she'd not expected this... Malik looked between the other male and Rehema, slowly smirking to himself with a low purr under his breath, "Well well...maybe I don't gotta be teachin' ya nothin' 'bout charmin' no ladies den." He flicked his tail a bit, rolling his shoulders, "Mayhaps I'll go an' get th' rest o' us somethin' somethin' tah nibble on, hmm?" He winked over towards Rehema, to which she sent a steely glare back in his direction. "Jus' don't do nuffin' I wouldn't do, eh?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:04 am
Ona'raha stiffened and turned to glance at Malik with an expression of shock on his face. His jaw opened and closed a few times but no sound seemed to come out. He was clearly rather unsure of what to say or do and embarasment seemed to have set in deeply.
"Wh-wh--?" Failed.
He swallowed, turned back to gaze into Rehema's unsual coloured eyes and tried again. "Well you're still healing so you n-need your strength." If he explained his actions wouldn't it make things better?
He wasn't even sure if he understood what Malik was implying, though in his heart he did.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:12 am
The golden lion smirked, tossing his mane back as he turned on the two, strutting away and humming something under his breath. Rehema continued to glare after him, knowing full well that he was humming something to the effect of the childish song involving lions doing something in a certain tree. Her glare was only met by a cocky flick of his tail as he picked his way down the rocks towards the flatlands. Bah, lions weren't meant to live in the rocks. It was just downright unatural.Rehema cleared her throat and sat herself upright, rolling her shoulders back. "I'm fine." She commented proudly, giving Ona a soft smile, "One thing about my family, we don't stay down for long." She put a paw on the rabbit, nodding him over, "Come on, there's enough for the both of us. I won't have you going hungry because of a few scratches. They're hardly even visable anymore."
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:16 am
He laughed at Rehema's glare that was shot towards Malik's retreating form and nodded slowly at her words. "Nothing seems to get you down." He replied, "it took me a while to pick myself up after all that had happened, but it's much better to view the world in an optimistic life no matter what happens." Realising he was getting into one of his little talks again he cast a look towards the rabbit and finally nodded in agreement.
"Okay, maybe I will have a little." Pressing a paw on the rabbit to hold it still he tore himself a chunk of meat and raised his head to chew happily. Somehow it tasted better knowing he had caught it himself.
He gave a look to Rehema to encourage her to take her share.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:22 am
Rehema nodded slowly to his answer, "Well if you spend too much time moping around about your past you're wasting time that you could be spending on enjoying your future, or correcting your mistakes." She shrugged a bit, "I try not to let things get to me, things happen, there's nothing you can do about some of them."
She glanced off in Malik's direction again before dipping her head down to pull some of the rabbit off for herself. She was hungry, very much so, but she never ate like she was. Seemed she'd spent a good deal of time refining her behavior- dispite her tomboyish tendancies.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:35 am
"I agree." He replied after swallowing his food, letting his eyes drag over to where Malik had dissapeared to.
"Rehema..." His tone sounded suddenly serious and maybe nervous. "If I were to ask you to stay here, long-term I mean, what would you say?" He had grown to reply on the friendship he had formed with the both of them and to think of life without them here made him sad.
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:51 am
Rehema looked up from her meal, both ears perking forward in suprise. She sat herself upright, looking down at her paws as she turned the question over in her head. It was a difficult question to be sure. She had grown fond of this place...and the pridelands had become so crowded. She hardly knew anyone there anymoe. Her family...gods knew where they all were. Malik was all she had left from that old life- especially after Mwali's madness.
"It's a lot to ask." She noded quietly, looking up slowly, "But...I suppose it's as good of a home as any. I've never been overly fond of large numbers of lions." She smiled a bit, "If that answers your question at all."
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:01 pm
A wide smile broke out onto his maw and suddenly he was bouncing forwards, rearing back a little to wrap his forearms around her neck in a clumsy, lion hug.
"Oh Rehema! You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that!"
It was only a second after this that he realised he had perhaps been a little too happy about it and withdrew sharply, mumbling aplogies.
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:13 am
The lioness was taken completely by suprise as the large male threw his paws around her neck. Malik would do that now and then- normally it would result in a few hours of wrestling, running after eachother, and knocking eachother around with their paws. She looked off to the side a bit, half confused about the gesture. "It's alight...'
She cleared her throat, bringing a paw up to smoothe out the fur along her chest once he released her, "I'm happy to have made your day. You must be lonely out here."
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