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 Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:14 pm
The space under the trees on the lower slopes of Priderock, in the cool and pleasant shade, was packed. Nannies with cubs, full families, random pridemembers...all gathered to share the afternoon. From the edges of this usual gathering, Tufah could really observe the pride. From these elevated rocks, she could also spy the further off lions enjoying the warm sun. And even the far off specks of colour that were the hunters after the passing-through zebra herd.
Half were what she'd been told were traditional colours. Soft reds, coppers, bronzes, golds and tawny brown. Sunlight and the dried savannah. A few darker shades like waterhole mud. She and her family - being of royal blood - fitted into this group. This land was in their blood.
Then there were those of rogue origins. Newly joined or settled here for generations, they stood out. Brilliant white and stark black. Green as new grass. Yellow as the flaming sun. Blue as the sky, red as blood. Noyana had proven with her intelligence that rogue blood wasn't bad - and the Pridelands kindness was clearly an asset.
And all were lounging in a pretty peaceful way, younger cubs playing or getting bathed, lions chatting away. How could such a glorious and loving mix of lions have let Taka be scorned? It was not so long ago...to look at them today, Tufah could hardly believe it...
(Mini-note: She's a juve here XD' )
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:11 pm
And another one with royal blood was romping his way through the mass gathering that the morning held. It wasn't an everyday event, but often enough that Simi looked forward to the days when the areas around Pride Rock were a bit more quiet in the morning.
He slipped through all the adults as best he could, knowing that most would know who he was, since who wouldn't know about the royalty of the pride that they lived in? Thankfully he wasn't an heir, though, and thus he had a lot more freedom to do what he wanted when, though he knew that most of the time there was someone keeping an eye on him.
This morning, though, his itch to go out and explore was driving him nuts. And the urge to go somewhere a bit more quiet was also eating at him, though that was the tricky part; finding a quiet spot. He had been going out a bit too often recently, and for fear of getting caught, he did his best to keep himself close by. So instead of exploring what the lands he was born in held, he decided to try and meet more cubs. Since maybe then he would have a friend to explore with!
He scampered past the deep-brownred cub, though she was bigger then him, before sliding to a halt to take a second look at her. He recognized her as a relative, one that had been pointed out to him. He had no idea how she was related to him, but she had to be from that family. Since, well....there weren't that many that had that colour coat that weren't related to the royal family.
"Hi!" he shouted, hoping to take her attention away from whatever it was she was looking out. It couldn't help to say hi to someone, right? Besides, family was important!
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:25 pm
"Hello."
She'd glanced at him as he went by but turned to look at him when he greeted her. Tufah pushed herself up with her front legs so she was sitting rather than lounging. She recognised the cub as one of the royal litter - the darker smudge on his back was a dead giveaway - though she wasn't sure which one. As they said, 'know thy enemy'. Though she wasn't as sure the two litters were enemies these days...'learn from the past' was another saying, wasn't it? Conflict hadn't done anyone much good.
"You're...Alphons?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:07 pm
Simi's head cocked to the side curiously, surprised that he was mistaken for his brother. He didn't think he looked that closely to him, but maybe when you were so used to your huge family you never really thought about it too much. "No, I'm Simi." His ear twitched, and he brought his head up straight to look at the juvenile cub. "But I guess there's so many of us, it's hard to tell." He blinked a bit, unsure as what to say next.
"Uhhh....what's your name?" Innocent enough, since he didn't know any of the names of that litter, cousins that were going through a growth spurt. Which probably wasn't good, but he had time to really grow into the proper young prince that he should be. If he ever grew into it, anyway.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:20 pm
"I've seen or met your other siblings, so you were either going to be one or the other." She explained and gave a shrug. Matlai was too golden, she'd seen the two heirs and met the male, and both Simi and Alphons were the same kinds of brown. Neither had she seem up close before so Tufah considered it a good guess.
"I'm Tufah. Nice to meet you." Though she wasn't sure it was. She hated these lions, she was angry and yet she always found herself being civil to them. It was smarter to try to be pleasant and win herself a high position in the pride, but still. Being twofaced was such an effort...
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:32 pm
"Oooooh," was all the cub said at first, curious. She seemed so proper, and very uncub-like. Simi did find it a bit off, but then again, sometime he felt like others were even too childish, so to each their own, right? He bounced around for a moment, antsy, and the etiquette that his mother taugh him chirpped in his mind. He sure wasn't being very polite, but he wouldn't really hold still, either.
"Nice ta meet you too, Tufah! So what are you doing out here alone? Are you bored?" Simi chirpped away with questions, curious with this pridemate of his. He was always curious about everything anyway, so it couldn't hurt, right?
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:47 pm
Mildly irritating cub, she decided. It didn't keep still, as if it had termites in it's fur. By far the most childish she'd met yet and that was including his sister Semine. Was this how she was supposed to be? Tufah was glad she wasn't if this was an example of a standard cub and was suddenly grateful she'd had her manners drilled into her from day one. Though, maybe playing rather than training would have been nice.
She glanced over the pride members she could see once more, thinking. Nothing else to learn here. It still didn't make sense to her, how they could be so...so...wonderful yet apparently so cruel or stupid as well. It was like hunting a butterfly and getting bitten!
"Yes, I'm bored. What about you?" Tufah offered a smile.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:39 am
"I was going to go out exploring today," he said. "But I don't know where to go, so I was just walking around. So yeah, I guess I am bored!" An innocent lie, since Simi had never felt too terribly bored in his whole life. There was always so much to do, so much to see! And, well, so many to talk to. He didn't quite like having to talk to everyone, but it was something that seemed expected of him, especially when he grew up, so we was trying real hard to practice right now and get it right.
"Why are you bored, though? Don'tcha have brothers and sisters to play with?" He always tried to play with his siblings when he got just a tiiiiny bit bored, and that always fixed everything.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:57 am
"Yes, I do, but they're all off exploring and stuff." She waved a paw vaguely, unsure where they'd all be by now. Undoubtedly the twins would be together. Tiah she could see from this position, distictive with her spots down her back...otherwise she had very little to go on.
"You could always try the graveyard, or the gorge. There's the caves...or even the top of Priderock." She flicked her tail, thoughtful. Save the graveyard she'd been all those places. They were fun or beautiful or simply interesting.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:49 am
"Err," Simi started, the normal bright cub shying suddenly. "Mama said to never go to the graveyard..."
It was a common warning to all cubs, though it seemed that only a handful listened anymore. He had seen the dark area from far away, and decided that he never wanted to go there, not if he could help it. And she mentioned to gorge? She must be really brave, or really rebellious.
"Maybe I'll just stick to the caves....they've got lots of fun stuff if you look hard enough! Did you wanna come?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:28 pm
"I always wondered what was so bad about the graveyard. But if you'd rather caves..." She shrugged - the nannies who'd warned her against the place usually were wise about such things but still! Tufah had never seen a hyena. And what made them so awful? She'd never heard of cubs being stolen beyond stories.
"I'll come with you. Could be fun." A smile. It could be fun...or atleast, less boring than sitting around and wondering about the nature of the pride.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:31 pm
Simi's whole body language popped up into one excited rush, happy that he would have someone to play with. "Wow, really?!" he exclaimed, a bit of surprise hinting through his voice before bouncing around the juvenile cub. "Let's go then!"
He scrambled away from the morning gathering towards the caves. Though the pride was quite full now, not every cave was taken as a home, and the ones that were furthest from the royal caves had better chances of being empty, since most wanted to keep within the heart of the pride as best they could. Simi had been here a couple times before, but only when the sun was past it's highest point. Sometimes it was hard to get away in the early morning, and on the days he could, he would rather venture out into the unknown grasses and lands instead of the caves that were so close to home.
Tromping through the worn paths that most lions took, Simi kept peeking back to make sure that Tufah was following him. He was so happy that someone near his own age wanted to play with him, since he usually only came across stern adults instead of fun cubs. "D'ya think we should go out a bit further?" he asked, wanting her opinion on where exactly to go. He didn't know what they could find, but there was always something new to discover, right?
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:21 pm
"Might as well, Simi. See what there is to see." And smell. Tufah was only just getting good at identifying scent marks though she was no adept. It gave everything another dimension, though not as much as a canine's nose would, being able to tell who'd past this way by smell. Because of this she stopped ocasionally at an interesting scent and lagged behind the cub - only to bound forward quickly to catch up with him.
"Maybe we'll find something secret or precious hidden back here somewhere."
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:01 am
"Okay!" he explaimed, happy that he was going out with someone, so just in case his parents found out, he could say that he was with Tufah, and that the buddy system was intact. With a determined snort, he trotted on up again, but slowed when Tufah mentioned something.
"You mean like treasure?" he gasped, the ideas of things that could be found flooding his mind. He didn't know what he might find, but this ideas of shiney rocks and pretty feathers filled his mind as he kept walking. He wasn't paying enough attention and he nearly bumped into a wall, one that was just outside a cave. He saved himself from damage, though, and gasped as he looked up. This cave's entrance was really big, as if the weather had made it larger over the many years it had been here. It seemed empty, but it was hard to tell because it went in so deep.
"Wooooah."
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:43 pm
"Yeah, like treasure." Tufah wondered about what counted as 'treasure' anyway. She assumed it'd be trinkets like the some lions like. Unless it could easily be worn, shiny pebbles weren't worth much. Nor were pretty feathers as they grew dusty and bent out of shape easily. Pointless. Maybe the rare picturs painted with mud on the walls? She'd heard a story about those but never seen one. Some pride somewhere was supposed to make them alot.
The big cave was interesting, though maybe not a treasure. Tufah grinned at Simi, and took a few swift steps forward to stand in the enterance. Now, now...would it echo? It was always fun, playing with echos and hearing her own voice call back.
"Heeeello?"
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