_ _ _ | | | | ____ [ ] ______ _ ___ | | | |OO / ___|[ ]_ / ____ \ | |/ _ \ _ _ | | | |OO / /__[_ _]/ / \ \| / \/| | | | | |____| |__ |__ | [ ] | | | | / | | | | | ____ | | \ \ [ ] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \ \[ ] \ \____/ /| | | \___/ | | | | | |____/ |[ ] \______/ |_| |_____ / |_| |_|__|_____/ [_] _____/ /_ / ___/ /__/ / /__/ / __ __ ___ _ /______/ / \|_ | |_||_ \__/| | | ||_ ______ _ _ / ____ \ | | _ __ _ | | ____ | / \ | _ ___ OO | | _____| | _ / || | | | / ___| | |____| || |/ _ \ OO | | / __ \ | /_\| |\\| | | | / /__ | ______/ | / \/ __ ____| | / /__/ / | //_\\ || | | ____| | |__ | | | | / | |/ ___ |/ _____/| | / ___ \|| | |/ ___ | \ \ | | | | | | | | | / | | / / \ \| | | | | | \ \ | | | | | | \___/ | \____/|| |/_/___ |\_\ \ | \___/ | _____/ | |_| |_| |__|\______/\______| \______/ |_||__/ \______/|______/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ May 16, 1999 ] +------------------------ Maisha -------------------------+ | | | "I was bruised and battered | | I couldn't tell what I felt | | I was unrecognizable to myself" | | --Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia" | + ------------------------------------------------------- + | | | Young, this Lioness, having only recently entered the | | adolescent stage of her life. Long limbed and awkward at | | first glance, ribs showing along her flanks. Yet despite | | the gauntness of her frame there is a glint in the deep | | amber of her eyes which marks her as being able to fend | | for herself. | | | | Those eyes are her most, perhaps only, striking feature, | | set in an area colored more lightly than the rest of her | | thin, dust brown coat, matching instead her paler throat | | and belly. A slightly darker tone lies along her back, | | breaking into a few looping rosettes, hardly visible, | | which are all the remain of her cub spots. That pattern- | | ing follows a sharply sloping spine that ends in a long, | | whippy tail, tufted with longer hair little darker than | | the rest of her pelt. | | | | Battered she is indeed, young as she is, marred by a | | crusting of blood dried black in awkward loops over her | | back and sides, a chilling parody of her own, faint | | markings. That crusting serves to partially conceal the | | scrapes and gashes that mar her form, but not the slow, | | awkward movements that betoken serious bruising not yet | | fully healed. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ You move from the shelter of the overhang into... ~*~Ibilisi Ahari~*~ Pridal Caverns The cave you enter is well-lit, the product of a large hole in the center of the roof, though an overhang prevents wind or rain from entering too much. The walls form a roundish area, with an upcropping of stone to the back between two arches. This shift of rock is large enough for a fully grown male to sit on, but has the distinct scent of female only. Several small caves seem to branch off of this junction, which is why it was given the name Pridal Caverns. Exits: Misuki's [Den] Taka'Moto's [Cavern] Zira's [Little] Cavern Out to Maisha's [Overhang] Into the [Royal] Caverns [Back] to the Pridal Cave [IC] Luzzatto, male lion [IC] Sukutu, male adol lion [IC] Misuki, female lioness [Zzz] Isilahi, female white lioness [IC] Zimwe'Malaika, female black lion [IC] Taka'Moto, male juve. lion Zimwe'Malaika snorts softly, slitting one eye. She looks at the upsidedown Luzzatto for a long moment, getting a nice bit dizzy from the odd way she lies, upsidedown on her throne, head nearly touching the ground. "Am I hurt.. Am I hurt, my dear Moto?" she queries her son in a silky voice. "Is your sister hurt? Your Aunt? Tell your father if we're hurt." Definately not one of her best moods. Without waiting for her son's compliance, she shifts to her paws and slides dizzily off her upraised rock. "Do I look fine to you? I got kicked in the face. How fine am I?" Taka'Moto looks over at Zimwe as she speaks. Luzzatto moves with undefinable grace, his quick movement smooth as silk as he comes to her; "How fine are you?" He delivers the question aloud, easily heard by all. He then comes up to her, his eyes examining her features, her expression; He whispers, softly at her; "It seems, obviously, that you are injured...But wounds heal." He circles her, still keeping his voice low; "But of course...Even with the wound, you're mind and body are finer than most creatures can ever hope to be..." Luzzatto's voice is slow, soft but not gentle. It has a cunning edge to it, delivered with a sharp ease that in no way betrays the lion's actual thoughts. Maisha pokes her head around from her overhang again, feeling rather more alert this time. At her mother's words, she pulls herself fully into this main cavern, responding to an inner urge to show off her 'battle scars'. Taka'Moto watches Luzzatto walk away. He stretches some, eyes turning cold. After the stretch, he walks into his cavern. Taka'Moto goes into Taka'Moto's Cavern. Sukutu silently picks his head up off his paws, already fully awake by the time it is in its normal position. He looks around, neither yawning or stretching as he surveys the area and the changes that might have come over it while he was asleep. Zimwe'Malaika mmms softly, her eyes lidding at Luzzatto's attentions. "Yess..." she murmur-hisses, voice like liquid honey. She flicks her gaze toward Maisha upon hearing her enter, and raises a paw toward her. "Your daughter.. Her first attempt at a hunt. Vaguely successful." she adds, flicking her ears. Misuki lifts her head groggily from her forepaws and peers about, her stony gaze scanning over every fur here. Lifting her bulk to her feet, she stretches her long, sinuouy body, growling to herself as dust has settled into her wounds. A wry grin crosses the face of Luzzatto for a moment, though he quickly washes it away. He moves his gaze upon Maisha for a moment, before returning it to Zimwe, eyes as solid and cold as always; "Oh really...?" He waits to hear more before he comments. Maisha does her best to sit up, an awkward and painful action, but better that than face Luzzatto sprawled weakly on the cavern floor. Misuki grins darkly as she notices Luzzatto here and then turns her gaze to Zimwe. Padding over to her, ebon claws clacking on the ground, she nods her head. "How is your head, dear sisssster?" she hisses softly, watching the face of the black lioness. Her long tail weaves daintily through the air, snaking and curving to a dance only it can hear. Zimwe'Malaika nods slightly as she watches her daughter's appropriate mannerisms.. she has been trained well, hasn't she.. points for Mai, she learns quickly. Ruby-rimmed eyes flicker across her sister's approaching form, and she nods with a slight smirk. "Just purrrrrfect.." The black shadowed one settles to her haunches beside her familyblood, resting her eyes on Luzzatto once more. "Unfortunately," she continues after a moment, "It was.. interrupted. Of course, she had the -best- of intentions.." She rolls her eyes slightly, affixing them upon Isilahi. Maisha narrows her own eyes at that cue, directing a stare to Isilahi that is full of smoldering anger. She has not forgiven that one, and likely will not be prepared to do so for some time to come. That too is part of her training. Luzzatto's eyes are quick to move about, steadily roaming, catching everything. There is no detail they fail to miss, no color or movement that escapes them. Ever haunting, there is no change this evening. He finally comes back to Zimwe, watching the lioness as she speaks. He nods once; "Of course..." He eyes Maisha, neither with approval or discouragement at her attitude. Zimwe'Malaika follows Luzzatto's gaze once more. "Of course, Maisha was doing just perfect, until the beest charged her.." A perfunctory glance at her sister, and then, "We are sure that she is, most likely, capable of bringing down such prey, though more practice is required.." She shrugs, dropping the faintly respectful tone she had taken on while talking to the king. "She'll do better after she's healed. I've no doubt of that." Misuki takes a seat next to Zimwe and she too locks her gaze onto the disgraced white one. Hooded eyes dart with crimson fire and her tail thumps the ground angrily, but she hides all this from everyone. Twisting her head about, she stares at Mai and approves silently at the attitude of the young one... her niece. Hearing her sister and feeling the gaze on her, she turns yet again and nods her head. "Yesss. She will succeed... next time." She sneers at the thought of one other nasty occurance to their day. "Have you told of the kitten?" she asks, her voice low. Sukutu rolls his eyes slightly at Misuki's comment. He decides that sometimes his sisters have no common sense whatsoever. He sighs in irritation, then speaks for the /second/ time today. "...not learned your lesson?" he asks of her rather pointedly. Luzzatto nods slowly, thoughtfully. He looks upon Misuki, brown orbs neither with fire nor water. Indifferent, uncaring. His thoughts are the lioness are indecipherable. He then turns his eyes upon Maisha; "I trust you plan to try hard and practice, and become a good huntress?" The question is stated solidly, his gaze fixed coolly upon the juvenile lioness. Maisha nods, a single decisive motion, not the overeager, fawning agreement she indulged in when she was much younger, that her sister seems at times to indulge in still. "I will," she states, her tone even over the rasp of her breathing. Yet not defiant, certainly, it would be too soon for that even if the mishap of the hunt had not reminded her of her own youth. Her head is lowered, eyes lidded just enough to show submission to her kin. Misuki turns a scorching gaze on her brother and smirks. "My lesson? Why, what do you mean brother?" she adds a slight mocking tone to 'brother' and watches his expression, her ears pressed back and her tail tucked firmly to her side. She frowns ever so slightly, the smirk still playing at her lips as she regards the younger lion with stone cold eyes. Sukutu snorts slightly then decides further oration is needed he takes a deep breath then says "Pushing her into something she could not handle was what caused the three of you difficulty. Remember that." He nods slightly after his veritable speech, looking to Misuki afterwards. After such a long oration, he cannot be expected to speak further tonight, detesting need for it in the first place. Instead, he simply returns his sister's gaze impassively. Luzzatto gives the young lioness an approving nod; "Splendid." He murmurs, almost to himself. He shrugs his shoulders softly, as if there is something he wants to push away. He then remains where he is, but goes silent. He listens, he observes, but for the moment...He does not participate. Zimwe'Malaika blinks a few times, her gaze, slightly startled, turning upon Sukutu. Sukutu looks to Zimwe, less impassively than Misuki, since she has not directly insulted him today. He decides to make one final sacrifice of the evening and tells her "The young, in their own time; grow strong. Not before." after saying this, he almost seems to be tired, and not just a bit disgruntled. Zimwe'Malaika shakes her head slightly, piercing eyes looking directly at her brother. Though he is one of the few she tolerates well, even likes, she smirks. "Don't forget when you were her age, dear brother.. You were just as eager to learn.. I remember it well." She glances down at her paws, letting claws slip out to be looked at. "Perhaps I was in the wrong.. perhaps it -was- too early... But there were things learned, were there not?" Luzzatto keeps his own thoughts to himself about this matter, though one could hardly see he has opinions about it. Sukutu nods slightly in agreement with Zimwe. 'True,' his gaze seems to say. Put in context with his speech, the warning that lies there seems to point to a need for a balance between satisfying the need to learn, grow,... and kill; and cautiousness because of the fact that Maisha is not yet strong enough to handle some things. Zimwe'Malaika looks at Sukutu for a long moment before she, too, nods. Standing, her darkened paws take her toward her daughter. She lays beside her, beginning once more to groom out the fur. Maisha relaxes a fraction, then backs to the outside shelter of her overhang to be cared for as a mother is so kind to do. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -