=--------------------------------------------------------------------------= ___ _ _ ___ ' | ` |__| |__` 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. =--------------------------------------------------------------------------= Administrative contact: TLK Admin Registered users: type 'connect ' to connect. Guest users: type 'connect guest guest' to connect as a Guest. For finding a name, type 'names' after connecting, and to apply for a character, read the rules and type 'CCS'. *If the MUCK is DOWN, please email the Admin so they can restart it!* =-------------------= NO HUMANS BEYOND THIS POINT! =---------------------= [ July 24, 1999 ] [ UTATU -WATER HOLE- ] ________________________________________________________________ After traveling a long distance through the tall, golden grass of the Utatu Lands, you arrive at a water hole. The water, which looks very cool and refreshing to your parched mouth and hot skin, is surprisingly clear and free of silt. Gazing into the depths of it, you can clearly make out the bottom and many of the aquatic plants and creatures which dwell within. Several gnarled acacia trees also suround the hole, providing shade and making them ideal places to rest yourself after a long walk. As you lazily take in the surroundings, you note the many animals which come from all over these fertile lands to this oasis to drink and rest. Pehaps you should lay down and 'rest', after you have taken a nice, long 'drink' from the water. Or, should you feel up to it, take a cool and refreshing 'swim' in the cold water to escape the blazing sun. [ (N)orth ] [ (N)orth (E)ast ] [ (E)ast ] [ (S)outh (E)ast ] [ (S)outh ] [ (S)outh (W)est ] [ (W)est ] [ (N)orth (W)est ] [ (SCAN) the Horizon to the (W)est ] [ (SCAN) the Horizon to the (E)est ] You can see... Water Hole [IC] DENDRINE, female ethiopian wolf ________________________________________________________________ CURRENT DAY CYCLE: Early Afternoon. CURRENT SEASON: The Rainy Season CURRENT WEATHER: Drizzle and a strong breeze DENDRINE You see before you a slender female Ethiopian wolf, looking to be around three or four years old and therefore still moderately young. Despite this she is not very pleasant to look at, even less so to talk to, as her fur is haggard and windswept and numerous scars can be seen under the scruffy fur on her shoulders, flanks and hindquarters. The tattered things on top of her head can only be called ears for want of a better word, and her tail is thin and slightly bent. Her build is very slight, her legs long and thin, and she could probably manage a considerable turn of speed, although lacking in strength and possibly stamina as well. Her face is also thin but slightly tufted at the sides, with a scruffy forelock between her ears. Her eyes are bright yellow with olive green irises, her nose is moist and black and the insides of her ears are a dull peachy-brown. Her windswept fur is mostly grey, with an indistinct dusty brown splodge along her back, which also covers her black-tipped ears and tail. Her paws are a darker grey, and her chest and stomach are off-white. She notices you, and gives you an automatic growl, regardless of whether she knows you or not. This is certainly not one nice wolf. * Cartoony IC pic: http://members.aol.com/dendrine/pics/dendrine.jpg (best in 24-bit colour) JICIN Jicin is a young female Ethiopian Wolf pup, so thin that her flanks shudder with each rasping breath she takes. The unkempt pelt that covers her is a light brownish grey, darking to a deeper slate color on eartips, spine and feathery tail. Her angular face, framed by overlarge ears, holds her one striking feature: a pair of yellow green eyes. These, and indeed her overall posture, hold an expression of nervous uncertainty, mingled with a pathetic eagerness to please. Her head is held low, her tail curled under, and any movements she makes slow and cautious. Young as she is, this pup has learnt her place well, and has far too little confidence in herself to try and gain anyplace greater. [ Picture at: http://www.crosswinds.net/~fevra/Jicin.JPG ] Jicin is shivering as she enters, from the cold drizzle of rain as well as her habitual nervousness. Her tail is curved under, in echo of the way the pup's head is held as well: low and occasionally twitching as she looks from one side to the other with quick glances. Dendrine is lying by the water, enduring the unpleasant weather steadfastly. She perks an ears and turns her head, rising to her paws when she sees her daughter. "Well, well. I wondered where you'd got to." Jicin stiffens, then, remembering all the admonitions she has recieved to speak when she is spoken to, answers hesitently, "Not far," although in fact that provides little information. Dendrine arches one eyebrow. "Where?" she growls, prompting the young pup, suspicious. Jicin shifts her already unsteady stance before responding in a low tone, "Forest. Seeing..." She trails into silence, not sure how to explain. Dendrine pads closer to Jicin, threateningly. "Where?" she repeats, louder, suddenly angry with the pup's lack of communication, even though she is responsible for it. Jicin cringes at the threat implicit in her mother's attitude. "Forest," she repeats, through breathing loud and quickened with fright. "Near. Dark, shadows, still dust," she adds, as if the desciption would pacify Dendrine. Dendrine snorts and turns away, somewhat disgusted, and lays back down by the water, tail tapping irritably on the ground. Jicin does not move, simply waiting, head hanging, for some further word from her mother, as she has done so often in the past, over her short life. Dendrine ignores the pup for several minutes, musing to herself. Then she turns and growls, "Here, girl." Jicin almost trips as she hastens to obey, moving near at a fast pace before drawing herself to a stop a short length away, head raised far enough to watch her mother from under lowered brows. Dendrine sits up, and begins to question the pup, as though testing her loyalty. "Who is your enemy, girl?" Jicin seems to stand the merest fraction straighter, as she knows the answer to this. Or once did, at least, if Dendrine has not changed the rules since that time. "Shekwon." The pup's answer comes quickly, yet without unseemly eagerness. Dendrine hmms, then taps a claw under Jicin's chin. "And why, girl?" Jicin swallows, and feels the pressure of the claw against her throat as she does so. "Why," she echoes, to give herself time to think, before saying carefully, "Took." Dendrine continues to hold the claw against her daughter's throat, gazing coldly into her eyes. "Took what?" Jicin's voice is very quiet, as any great motion of her throat would be...uncomfortable to say the least. "Land. Place. Rights." Dendrine holds the claw there for several moments longer, then removes it. "Good," she says, not sounding pleased at all. Jicin bites back a sound of distress, now completely uncertain as to what she can do. She is trying...but it seems this time that is not enough. Dendrine watches the pup flatly, waiting to see what she will do or say, studying her critically, muzzle wrinkled slightly. She perks a tattered ear, frowning somewhat at the pup. "What?" Jicin glances away for a brief moment, then back. "Just Shekwons?" she questions next, treading carefully around the thought. "Others too?" Dendrine looks a little surprised at the pup's train of thought, but it is quickly replaced by her usual scowl. "Any who oppose us." Jicin nods sharply at the clarification. Then shifts her weight, stirring dust, expression blanking as she looks away. Dendrine growls a little, nose twitching slowly. "Look at me, girl!" Jicin's turning to obey the command is slower than usual. For a moment or two, the pup's thoughts were far away--and something of that lack of attention is still visible in her gaze. Dendrine's paw whips out and she grabs the pup's muzzle, holding it tightly. "What are you thinking about, Jicin?" she asks, softly, quietly menacing. Jicin stills utterly, the only motion the flicking her pupils in fear-widened eyes. Opting for truth--too held-in and, frankly, too unimaginative to lie-- the pup answers, "Others...places...not dust, not rock." As well as being quiet, her words are pronounced somewhat strangely, as if she is uncertain how to speak. Dendrine snorts and pushes the pup roughly away from her. "You can dream, my girl, but you won't get your dream unless you do as I say, understood?" Jicin nods in solemn understanding, but again the action is only after a pause. Indeed, her behaviour might have been taken for defiance, if only that she had never showed a hint of anything but nervous willingness to obey. >>> WEATHER CHANGE: Downpour and violent winds <<< Dendrine appears unperturbed as the weather starts to worsen, a growl rising up in her throat at her daughter's seeming lack of obedience, her cold mind unable to see it as anything else. Jicin lowers herself with a dejected expression as the chill rain beats down on her, and the winds tug her fur in various directions. With the more violent weather taking up Jicin's attention, she looks down and away from Dendrine, as if sullen. Dendrine's growl becomes louder, furious that the pup appears to be ignoring her. She suddenly lashes out with the back of her paw, aiming to hit Jicin's nose, a sharp way of getting her attention. The blow connects solidly, and Jicin takes a few stumbling steps backwards, shaking herself. Her eyes tear from the sting of the blow, further soaking her facefur. Yet still the pup does not meet her mother's eyes. Dendrine's growl turns into a snarl, vicious and cold as she stands over the pup. "Look at me!" she barks, furiously. Jicin cringes, backing away further, casting flickering glances up to her mother's angry green eyes. But the thread of always buried discontent has surfaced now, and Jicin is not so quick to push it down again. Dendrine lowers her head, breathing roughly through Jicin's fur. "I said, LOOK AT ME!" She draws her paw back and strikes again at the pup, this time at her side, putting a considerable amount of force into it. Jicin trips heavily, almost losing her footing when the soild blow is added to the prevalent pounding of the rain. She whimpers, giving rare voice to her anguish, and, eyes narrowed to mere cracks now, stmbles back and back, retreating...or trying to. Dendrine snarls deeply, her short temper snapped. "Out of my sight," she growls. "Get out!" Jicin needs no second reminder to obey, and continues to back away at a nearly frantic pace, quickly obscured from sight by the pelting rain--weather that is all too appropriate for this sundering between mother and daughter. Dendrine growls softly, watching the pup disappear back into the hazy rain, hardly caring if she never sees her again, too caught up in her own anger.