=--------------------------------------------------------------------------= ___ _ _ ___ ' | ` |__| |__` 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. =--------------------------------------------------------------------------= [ January 03, 2005 ] _( the pride lands )___________________________________________________________ In Front of Pride Rock You stand in the middle of the vast Pride Lands, and as you gaze upwards the familiar monolithic shape of Pride Rock towers above you. As you look around yourself, you see several examples of the denizens of the Pride Lands milling slowly around the area: giraffes busy among the leaves of the baobab trees, a small herd of gazelles cropping the grass and peering around interestedly, and several lionesses lying lazily in the shade below the Promontory of Pride Rock or sunning themselves on nearby flat rocks. You see a path running up the side of the Rock, leading into a dark cavern's mouth above you. The night sky is overcast, with windy winds out of the west. It is currently raining. South [S] Northern Savannah [N] In [F]ront of the [P]romontory [Pa]th in Front of Pride Rock Endless Savannah [E] You can see... [IC ] Upepo [IC ] Itikadi [LRP] Royathi Itikadi Stubborness, arrogance, a pugnatious willingness to take on whatever portion of the world presents itself to her--all these glimmer in Itikadi's pale greenish-yellow eyes. The attitude is somewhat incongrous, as the Serval is one of the smaller cats, and hardly intimating in sillouette. Itikadi's kind are anything but stocky, and this one is true to form, long curves of neck and body atop stick-thin long legs. A minimal freckling shows on this Serval's round cheeks, sharpening the contrast of white around her lips, black nose, and eyes. Dark smudges trail upwards from around her eyes to between those large ears, the pattern sharpening to long streaks on either side of her supple spine, edged with a color near to rust. More scattered spots mark her tawny flanks, but there are larger blotches as well, on shoulders and legs, finally gathering to rings on her relatively-short tail. Royathi Royathi is a young natural serval, standing around twice the size of a big housecat and reaching above knee height. As a serval she's fairly tall, but especially lithe/thin, her body is covered completely in a short, but thick and plush, layer of fur; Mostly a soft sandy brown in color, though its covered in little black speckled dots all over her body. In particular a series of black marks are dotted close together just under neck, creating the impression she's wearing a necklace of natural markings. As she's nonmorphic she walks around on all fours in a digitigrade stance, all four of her limbs ending in a neat set of toes with heavy but soft padding underneath them. Her legs are long and slender though surprisingly lean looking despite some inherit strength, the rear legs are longer then the front legs meaning her thin rear stands about the same height as the tip of her head whilst both sets of legs contain a sharp set of sheathable claws. Behind her body is her tail, a fairly long one as it trails near the floor, also being round and fairly thin it spends most of its time in the air to some degree, either held aloft or curled upwards since it's agile enough. The end of it ends in a black tip with extra fluffy fur. Being a healthy female serval her body is slender though a little lanky looking, her rear hips thicker set then her front limbs, while underneath her lower underside hangs trimly with her soft fur covering it up. Her neck is fairly short, ending in a surprisingly small, almost dainty, looking head. Atop of it, and easily one of her most noticable features, are her ears as they are twice the size of a normal cats, being especially long and rounded; They also twitch and swivel about to pinpoint sound and are filled with a plush layer of fur to keep them warm, often giving them a cute effect. Her muzzle is fairly short and flat, though the sides of the bridge of her nose have thin lines of black markings defining her face. Her eyes are suitably feline, an odd pale gold with a black pupil that contracts or the reverse due to the light; Each eye is also lined with black. Her mouth, joined to her nose by a thin line like any felines, is soft, almost always mirthfull looking. Her nose is flat and rounded, almost 'buttony' and cute in a way, while the sides of her muzzle and face are covered in extremely long, fluffy white whiskers. Upepo This female cheetah bears all the usual traits of the common cheetah. Her fur is a light gold, thin and short to offer little resistance against the wind while being covered by a multitude of black dots that lagely define her kind. This only changes on the tip of her tail which has several rings at it's tip and on her stomach which is a creamy white. Upon her face, as well, at a pair of black tear marks down each side of her muzzle leading up to her yellow gold eyes. Although unique in many ways, defining who she is, these signs are so subtle it's easy for the untrained eye to find her no different than any of the other common cheetahs of the world. Itikadi stretches herself at full length next to Royathi, and sets to grooming one of that female's ears. So much for the usual rounds of greeting today. Royathi mmm's slightly and raises her head, the ear in question giving a swivel as her attention is returned out of some reverie by the tug of a tongue, "Hey.." Not that her voice really contains a scolding edge. Upepo continues to set higher standards in the profession of wanderer... well, no, not really.. though she does tend to spend a lot of time meandering past this huge rock structure, her lanky, spotted figure seen on most days during the mid to late day striding along at a casual pace, always going in a different relative direction and never in much of a hurry. Presently she can be seen strolling along over the crest of a not-too-far-off hill, minding herself and gazing off ahead as if there where coming facinating there that is in no hurry for her to reach it. Itikadi daringly nips the edge of the ear, an act which must be taken as her reply, as she doesn't offer any vocal comment. She's purring quietly, the sound juddering into silence every few breaths only to be picked up again. Pleasant company. Royathi murrs at the nip and swivels her ear right back, this time both of them drawing back in partially flattening. "Young un'..", Royathi accuses in amusement before turning her head to stare 'down' at Itikadi for the purr, though her own tail curls along the tip in a slow, sinous flick. Her attention partially diverted in noticing a movement, occasionally turning her head in trying to follow. Itikadi puffs air against the top of Royathi's head, along with a sound of scepticism tainted with amusement. She drapes one long forepaw over the other Serval's back, involuntarily pressing slightly harder as she senses Royathi's shift of attention. Upepo takes notice of movement not too far off her path.. she can't well make out the two smaller mini-cheetahs (She knows they're called servals, but they look too much like cheetahs with strangely stunted growth to her) so she ignores her phantom target off in the distance for now and alters course to approach the disturbance for a closer look. Royathi's polite self brings her to dip her head to Upepo in seeing her approach and offer up a smile, "Hey.." This even coming as she twithes at the puff and produces a low murr towards Itikadi; not one of outright warning, just one because she has the feeling the other serval will simply delight in it. Itikadi draws her foreleg not-occupied-with-Royathi closer in, half sitting up as the Cheetah nears; she looks a little more formal, thus, and has for the moment desisted in nosing at Royathi, but she doesn't actually offer a greeting. "Oh.. hello." the cheetah is slightly startled to be greeted so shortly after she finally moves past the obstruction that was blockering her view of the two.. the one that greets her seems familiar, but she's uncertain of that and the other.. well.. the other one looks a lot like the first one. She comes to a stop, noting the current state of the two and thinks she might be intruding on a mated pair's affections, not yet realizing both are female, leaving her looking a bit bewildered and uneasy looking for a moment. Royathi chuckles softly, getting some revenge in turning her head to the side to nose at and then return nip towards once of Itikadi whilst her down is hopefully down in behaving. The nip followed by a more vocal, "How goes?"; the latter simply to the cheetah she hasn't seen in such a long time. Itikadi opens her mouth to reply--things are going just fine, as usual--then closes her muzzle, looking a little put out before she hides that under a blank expression. She sits up properly and works on an itchy patch on her side with one of her hindpaws, hardly awaiting the Cheetah's answer with much show of interest. Upepo continues to be unsure of many things other than that the speaking serval seems to recognize her as well, given the inquiry, while the other one seems more or less indifferent of her presence.. she sways her weight uppon narrow paws, rolling the boney lumps in her foreshoulders and rump. distrting the spots of her pelt, "Alright, I suppose." she states, still sounding a bit sheepish, "Sorry if I'm disturbing... something." Royathi smiles and shakes her head, "You weren't interrupting, we were just sleeping together under the stars." Then as an afterthought adds, "Well, were, though I suppose we're obviously awake now. Seeing social servals is rare, y'know." She can't surpress a small chuckle now, the line alone apparently causing her more private amusement then anything. Itikadi lets her back paw drop to the ground, and turns her head to lick the place on her side back to smoothness. One tall ear swivels, indicating that Itikadi is keeping some track of the conversation, but she still shows no inclination to join in with it. Upepo finds the notion of them being partners to be boosted by the words of the non-distracted serval, but she's made the mistake of assuming such things before and being totally wrong, so she tries to hold back judgement, especially since the second serval hasn't even said anything. She lowers her head a notch and ventures to stride slightly nearer, taking a quite slow pace so as not to cause undue stress. "Seeing m-.. servals at all is rare... or anything other than lions for that matter." Royathi doesn't seem to mind Upepo's approach and instead turns to smile at her again, offering up, "I'm Yori.. I'm sure I've seen you before, but it's been some time. This spottier one here is Itikadi, though she's a quiet one." Giving a slightly toothy grin at her description of th eother serval even as she rolls her shoulder and draws out both her forelimbs infront of herself, both stretching her slender form and giving up spots to be licked. Itikadi shakes herself, getting a little of the dust from her paws and what of her fur has been brushing the ground, then resettles, propping her chin between Royathi's shoulders--she fits quite neatly into the dip there--and once again having one long front leg over the other Serval's side. Well.. that clears some things up... then again there are some strange things in the world so Upepo doesn't leave anything as a certainty just yet. Her head dips further with a soft chirrup as she's introduced to the still silent one, whom has taken up a rather... curious position. "Yori.. that sounds familiar.. it has been awhile if that's the case. I'm Upepo... nice to meet you both." she comes up to a stop again after halfing the distance, still unsure about Itikadi's feelings about her being here. Royathi's head dips forward in feeling a forelimb reslinging over her, just in case it bumps up too high. Her long ears instead tip forwards now, perhaps preventing themself from hindering the view. She mews though, a simple clear noise causing a small movement through her body to follow up the chirrup given by the cheetah. "A long while, fortunately we're all unique.. Though I guess my non-serval idiocres help." Itikadi makes a querying sound, although the characteristic head-tilt doesn't show in her current position. "What idiosyncrasies?" she asks, more clearly, with a faint frown directed at Royathi. She respects the idea of manners enough to give Upepo a nod, but is evidently distracted. Upepo's head raises slightly as her ears pirk up further when the second one finally speaks, leaving her a bit less 'sulkish' looking as she stands there on her four paws, angled towards the two with tail hung low and swaying lightly behind her. She remains quiet a moment to let their conversation continue since the question is clearly directed towards Yori. Royathi snorts in amusement at the curious sound up behind her ears. "Oh, like you can't think of one or two .. things that I do that are different from the norm?" Her tail giving a flick at the tip as she suggests one, "Like my talking outside the species..", even sharing what could just be a conspiritoral smile with Upepo since Itikadi can't see it. Itikadi turns her head and opens her muzzle just far enough to delicately run her teeth along the edge of Royathi's left shoulder: barely enough to stir the fur, let alone hurt. She appears to be mulling over the statement. Upepo's head tips to the side slightly, observing the mannerisms of the second serval, leaving her still wondersome of their relationship.. but then again some animals are just plain affectionate by nature and she's just prone to overreading a situation... or she could just plain be paranoid. "Well, nothing wrong with talking is there?" she inquires, head raising further, still holding her ground. Royathi smiles sweetly enough, "Servals don't often do that. Well, we don't actually pay much attention to anything outside our world. A world filled of mystery and intrigue!" Adding an overaly dramatic effect to her tone even as her foreshoulder twitches under the attention. Though then she goes to burst the bubble to confess, "Actually it's mostly variations of 'Mine!'." Itikadi chuckles, amused by that, and lets go her minor hold on Royathi's back, nuzzling her on the way, as she rolls off and stretches out, belly up and showing grey in the starlight. "We do that," she says to the sky, with a flipant edge. "Well... just about all felines do that, I think." The cheetah indicates with an upward tip of her head.. goodness knows leonines do it and she's certainly apt to being greedy herself. Her weight sways slightly, tail bobing and twitching more actively behind her, "You seem to be an exception.. for the moment at least." she states towards Yori while observing Itikadi's actions. Royathi chuckles and twitches her whiskers, a habitual expression of her amusement, "Well, I wouldn't want to appear non-feline.." Pausing a moment to outstretch a forepaw to press it at the upturned Itikadi, placing it down upon the other serval's chest before declaring, "Mine!" She falters though, just bursting out into a soft and merry laugh before she succumbs and that paw is withdrawn, the older serval instead remarking, "No, you're right.. Besides, it's the other way around. She's the one who bites." Itikadi rocks back and forth, holding in further laughter, but clearly smiling at Royathi. She sticks the tip of her tongue out at that last comment, yet there's clearly affection even in that somewhat rude response. Upepo tips her head up and to the side slightly, churring with a soft click of her tongue, taking to striding closer as the mood seems to be rather casual now for both of them, figuring it wouldn't hurt to get a better look at them and be more personable... plus she's quite curious about the evident affection going on between them, "Well.. I can bite too." she quips in a playful tone. Royathi laughs and splays her ears out instead, "Well, I don't think everybody should bite me!" Itikadi suggests, "Just me?" She says it lightly enough, though Royathi, being familiar with her, might catch an undercurrent. In any case, Itikadi seems quite comfortable in her splayed posture, and is unmoving save for her slow-flicking tail. Upepo's ears are well atuned and focused on the two directly enough to catch Itikadi's comment while her experiences in the past catch onto the tone of it making her even more... curious... She doesn't comment, meerly twitching an ear as she chuckles softly at Yori's remark, steping closer still, "And why not?" Royathi raises her head up almost imperiously, answering at first with an openly warm glance towards Itikadi, "I didn't say the bites were bad now.." She pushes herself up a step to one side out of the immediate way, "However, for now, I think I've been bitten enough, I'm still sore.. So I think I'll just watch and make sure you two play nice." Again, just teasing as she lies herself out, resting her head between her forepaws to observe. Itikadi can't quite turn her head to comfortably look at Upepo, and after some futile twisting, rolls onto her side. Her back is against Royathi, fur lightly touching, and Itikadi closes her eyes partway in content. She sounds relaxed as she mentions, "Being bitten takes it out of one." Upepo's head lowers and tilts as she observes Yori as she shifts away then settles down, seeming to be dozing off now leaving her to interact with the other serval whom seems a fair bit less thrilled at her company. She holds her ground again, this time at only a couple body lengths distance from them, churrling inquizatively, "Oh?" she murmurs after your remark. Itikadi lifts one of her forepaws and waves it around airily (though the gesture might not be obvious in the dark). "Not wanting to move, falling asleep after," she says, by way of elaboration. Upepo's feline eyes makes any such movement easily enough seen, though she's a bit out of her element in the darkness since she's a daytime huntress. The cocking of her head indicates her confusion around these words, "Hmmm?" is all she can come to murmurs, tail tip wavering side to side, looking too much like an overly curious cub. Itikadi huffs, but doesn't seem to be particularly annoyed; perhaps she's warming up to Upeop, or merely making the best of the conversation available, with Royathi having fallen asleep. "I'm not going to demonstrate on you," she informs the Cheetah. "So if you don't already know, you don't." "And why not?" the cheetah inquires, head raising upwards, seeming to be a bit more at ease than the smaller spotted feline and, perhaps, not entirely the awestruck cub she seems to act like. Her tail wavers side to side more animatedly, a light trill uttered in the back of her throat following the inquiry. Itikadi tosses back, "I don't want to bite you." She wriggles around a little, the better to watch Upepo steadily, rather than the glances she's been giving her up until this point. She checks over her shoulder to be sure that her moving hasn't disturbed Royathi. "That's too bad." the larger feline murmurs, head lowering and ears tiping back as though sadened by this.. she never the less continues to peer at the serval, tail's movements remaining active, perhaps still hopeful she can get a rise out of the smaller feline to do more than just lay there. Itikadi answers, dryly, "Sorry to disappoint you." But as she is, at this point, actually smiling, she does seem to be enjoying this exchange, even without finding it necessary to move around much to deal with it. Upepo's right ear snaps at that air, uscertain of how to interperate what is said in relation to the way the serval looks, with the smile touching her muzzle and the lack of the earlier disinterest about her. "Appology accepted... but perhaps I might bite you?" she offers, steping a forepaw forward a half step as if making it something of a threat rather than play, though her narrowed eyes suggest that it is indeed play. Itikadi shakes her head. "No thanks," she replies, with dignity, matching overextended-formality for the same. Her eyes aren't open wide either, which is the Serval's case has something to do with her becoming sleepy, influence from the one slumbering beside her. Upepo utters something akin to a soft 'tsk' before then continuing the step and moving further till she's about a body length away, putting on a display of boldeness. Here she lowers herself down, laying on the grass. She casts a glance towards the now soundly sleeping Yori then back at the second serval, letting silence rule for a moment. Itikadi allows that silence to extend. The surroundings provide muted background, of course, the swip of grass moving and the occasional scampering-sound or call of another animal. Yet, largely, it's quiet, and indeed dimly peaceful. "So... how do you and Yori know each other?" the cheetah finally asks, having settled herself fully, head raised up high as she's not yet sleepy herself, too curious to doze. "We met here and about," Itikadi answers, somewhat vaguely. There's a certain slow deliberation to her words that suggests this Serval is drifting towards joining the other in sleep. Upepo's head bobs once.. clearly details are not going to be shared here and now so she'll have to remain curious for the time being, "Same here.. though it was quite awhile ago for me." she murmurs, head sinking downwards a touch, the displays of weariness starting to affect her somewhat. Itikadi says, "I heard that," gradually trailing off into further quiet. She shakes her head slightly, still disconcerted by Royathi's willing raport with other species. Idiosyncrasies indeed. =--------------------------------------------------------------------------=