=--------------------------------------------------------------------------= ___ _ _ ___ ' | ` |__| |__` oooo | | | |__, .ooooo. o 88 ---------------------------------------------------- o8" `"o8 88 ooo oo888oo ooo ooo ooo oo ooo ooo ooo d8' " 88 8 ,8' `8. 8"8 8 8 o8' 8 8"8 8 d8 88 8 88 88 8 8 8 8o' 8 8 8 8 88 oooo 88 8 88 88 8 8 8 88o 8 8 8 8 88 di 88 ,o 8 `8. ,8' 8 8.8 8 `8. 8 8 8.8 `88. ,8i o88ooooo'o8o `"ooooo"' o8o o8o o8o `8o o8o o8oo o8 (c)"88oood' =--------------------------------------------------------------------------= The Lion King is copyright 1994 by the Walt Disney Company. This MUCK in no way constitutes a challenge to this copyright. =--------------------------------------------------------------------------= [ September 18, 2005 ] ~~ Uzima ~~ Patchy Grasslands An extension of the hunting grounds, the grass in the area is much the same. Soft and springy, it provides an excellent area for sunning, relaxing, and playing. Patches of tall, dry grasses, some barely large enough for a rabbit and others large enough for several lions, dot the area. It is because of these patches that the herds tend to avoid the area, making it more ideal for lounging than hunting. A small river snakes through the grasses in the distance. Towards the [R]iver You can see... [ZZZ] Tahlili [ZZZ] Kizingo [IC ] Balana, full of life, and yet almost lifeless... Balana Balana has definitely seen a fair share of life. Her features show signs of age, the few grey furs intermixed into her pelt and the look in her eyes suggesting she's nearing the end of her prime. A tawny color covers her topside, a lighter tawny/off white on the underside, as well as the inside of her ears. Her eyes are a deep brown, almost the same dark chestnut as her tailtuft. Despite her age, this lioness is in excellent physical condition, of average build and standing slightly taller than most lionesses. She has a few visible scars, all of which appear to be minor. She carries herself with a certain confidence and nobility, even though her days as a ruler have long since passed. Some habits stay around for life. Currently, her rounded belly has shrunk, though she still carries evidence of being a nursing mother. Chanika A newborn Lioness cub, Chanika is small but strongly-built. She is rounded and fluff-edged, and there hardly seems to be much shape to her just yet. Her ears are folded back against her head, and her eyes are still closed, looking a little slanted. Her fur is the white-tinged tawny of dry grass, marked with ruddy and brown spots from between her eyes all the way to the base of her barely-tufted tail. Ahhhh. Cubs are born, nobody else has come to bother her... Such luxuries! Balana has finally taken the opportunity to get some sleep, stretched out on her side. The three boys are nestled up against her belly, and she has her forepaw resting across her daughter. Chanika has been asleep for some time, and now is easing towards wakefulness, her small, rounded form a-wiggle under her mother's paw, her soft fur ticking against the Lioness' pads. She sticks her head out to yawn hugely, showing off her pink maw and curling stub of tongue, smacking her muzzle closed with a sound that suggested she has been having misty-new dreams of suckling. It's only the slightest of movements, but Chanika's wiggling is more than enough to wake her up! She's definitely in mommalion mode. Blinking her eyes awake, the lioness looks down to see her daughter moving about. She carefully scoots the girl over towards her with a paw, tongue flicking out against her side when she has Chanika close enough. Chanika looks faintly surprised as she rolled over by a comparatively-huge paw, though how she manages this expression without open eyes or ears she can yet angle is a mystery. She fetches up on her back right in front of Balana, her paws up over her chest in the classic cute pose, and continuing to rock back and forth with the joy of being alive and well cared for. "That's my girl... I bet Haiba will be glad to see you when I take you back to the pride, won't she? Of course, that won'e be for a while yet. But between you and me, if she stopped by, I would probably let her see you." The lioness smiles, tongue flicking out to groom over her daughter's fur again. "I do hope Kyoko has at least one girl, though, or you might end up playing rough and tumble with the boys all the time. Sometimes they can play a little rougher than we like, but we won't let that bother us, will we?" Chanika can hardly respond to the speech, but she goes right on moving, enjoying the grooming and, of course, this attention, and her three brothers--rough tumblers though they might be in the future--all asleep to not distract from her. Possibly she'll be one of those quiet ones with all content in a parent's attention rather than running about with other cubs. Then again, considering the protests she set up earlier while her last brother was being born, it's hard to see that quiet will be her natural habit. Balana can only hope that some of them turn out to be like the previous batch of Natamba cubs, although they were all the cubs of others. Ghedi was never a rowdy one, and Mdha often preferred to converse than to play. Haiba was pretty good... and then there's Sheba. Hopefully Balana won't have to threaten to throw any of her cubs in the local body of water--or wose, actually /do/ it! "Now you're going to help me keep them all in line, right? And win over Tahzhoo with your adorableness? Your brothers might not be too keen on playing the part of being adorable." Chanika yawns again, this time ending with a bubbling noise as she tries to mew and finds her tongue is at the wrong angle. This one can probably pull off adorable, if she stays in contented moods. Hopefully she won't find herself a reason to protest her circumstances with this Tazhzoo around her. Chances are that her yelling like that wouldn't be winning. Balana gently nuzzles Chanika again. "Aww. Yeah, now who could not fall in love with that? It might take a little time, but we'll win him over. You'll see." Chanika makes a second little bubbling sound, this time on purpose, as she waves her head about. Soon her head lolls to one side. She may not have been particularly active, but that doesn't stop her doing a young cub's thing of falling almost instantly asleep--and that, too, is rather cute. Time will tell how much she continues to be. =--------------------------------------------------------------------------=