[ORP] Strangers and Kings (Done)

[Meepfur]

And just like that, her brother had better things to do than sit here with her. Hmph. Still, she had no objections to his upsetting their mother, at least not on any kind of principle. She wasn't close to the rough-edged, rough-everythinged lioness, who valued physical strength well above most other traits, and was bloodthirsty in thought if not in action, mostly because there was little opportunity for a lioness of the Bonelands to brawl outside of 'training' at the Firekin outpost. Uheshe was lucky that she'd inherited little besides her markings from Ukuthula; her grandmother Wodi's intelligence had apparently skipped a generation and come to her instead. And don't get her started on the way she looked, ugh-

Oh, someone was talking to her. One of the Busisa. Safura. Hmm. What did she think of this 'new development'? What kind of question was that? Her brother was Umholi, what the hell sort of gossipy answer did she expect to get? The dappled lioness almost said something snarky, then realized that it was possible Safura was unaware of that relation, since she looked very little like her brother. "He's my brother," she answered with a shrug. "He should be a good Umholi. The other two? I guess we'll see."

belloblossom

 

[oo Ded]

Ahlaq continued down, listening to Nike's words from a little way back. He held back the smirk that threatened to tug at the edges of his mouth. There was something about the lioness' personality that he appreciated—some sort of comfortability that he hoped wouldn't be lost in this particular crowd. His eyes ran over the group and he silently told himself not to get his hopes up too high.

For a moment Ahlaq felt exceedingly aware of the various sets of eyes studying them. He, too, found himself thinking of his homes of past. The Burkuteshti had its fair share of gossip and social behaviors, but nothing like this. The Impibutho, on the other hand, was on an entirely different level. Sure, there was a structure, but things were simpler. Less walking on eggshells.

As Umkhombo rose and moved towards them the sandy lion's expression finally softened. He accepted the head bump with his own nudge. Ahlaq understood the need to make a good initial impression about his role alongside Umkhombo. Still, it felt a little unnatural about the physical display, especially with a lion with him he shared a history was at points complicated (to say the least).

"Home," he repeated, trailing his eyes over the various members of the gathering.

Another new home. With all that had happened during the fall of the Burkuteshti, settling into the Impibutho for a while like squeezing into a poorly fitting second skin. This was a different case, though, and he was certainly glad to have Umkhombo and Faust at his side. Even Nike brought the comfortable feeling of something familiar.

"You look like you've been quick to make yourself comfortable," Ahlaq said to the dark male, his voice low and perhaps a bit aloof but not unkind.

Meepfur

SilverLutz

 

[oo Ded]

Yithemba stretched her legs out before her before shifting to lay on her side. All the while, her eyes remained on the group of males as they interacted. As they bumped heads, the dark lioness let loose a quiet 'hrmph' noise. She turned her attention to the brown lioness that sat nearby, smiling ever so slightly.

"I suppose, if anything, if means we have more freedom of choice, hm? Though I must say that, off the bat, I do have some preference for mister big strong and dark." She spoke softly and casually, her head motioning towards Umkhombo as she spoke to Isobana, a lioness that certainly wasn't objectionable when it came to company and conversation.

Not to say that there wasn't anything glaringly arguable about the two new males. Umkhombo brought some perks with him, though. He had the size. The pelt color. Not to mention, he had some familial connections already that couldn't hurt.

In Good Faith

Emeka couldn't help but be curious about the arrival of new Umholi. Sure, the thought of having children wasn't hugely on her mind at the moment. Even if she were, the lioness didn't feel particular towards the previous Abaholi. It was pleasing to have Umkhombo as Umholi, but she was made suddenly aware of the pool of possible sires that was suddenly shrunken.

The tripod lioness was slowly but surely becoming comfortable maneuvering around, especially in a populated group such as this one. Emeka had settled into the shade beside her striped companion but got to her feet as Yithemba started to converse with another. Her eyes watched the males as they interacted, then moved over the group to rest on the figure of her mother. The dark lioness stood and made her way over, bumping her shoulder gently and affectionately against Buna's before settling in beside her.

It had occurred to her how this change of rule would affect her sister's expected children. Still, the cubs would be her nieces and nephews. The state of their sire would make no difference to her.

"Hmmh," she started, her attention turning once more to the new males. Unobjectionable. But she would wait to make any sort of judgement. "Not ugly, I guess. And I guess they fancy themselves fighters…" her voice trailed as she finished, looking over the various scars of the new group.

Annchen

 

[Puhterodactyl]

Quote:

Ibe’nenkinga didn't much understand or care about what was happening, but she knew that there were other cubs around, more interestingly, ones besides her siblings. Her pale eyes darted around curiously at all of the faces, trying to memorize them.

She had not been at the brawl where the old abaholi were ousted from their position in the pride, but she understood that something very big was going on. Her ears were pricked forward as she glanced around. She stopped near Isobana, almost replacing Thabisa.

Quote:

Ikenna followed his bouncy sister with a little bit of hesitation. Being rogue-born and a male put him at a lower rank than her for life made him a little timid because he was beneath all females. Ibe ate a little bit better than he did, but he wasn't truly wanting. However, he was quickly learning his position in the pride.

Ibe was not shy in pushing past legs and stepping on tails, but he kept his head down and apologized to any lionesses he squeezed past. Though he was a little bit restrained, the big gathering was too appealing to pass up.

Quote:

"I don't know, at least Kuhasa has been in the pride longer and we know him, even though he is pale."

Uzuri'wa'porini inserted herself into Isobana and Yithemba's conversation and flopped down next to Yithemba and flicked her tail in the lioness' face as a playful hello.

In Good Faith

oo DeD

 

[In Good Faith]

Isobana grinned down Yithemba, appraising the darkest male again. "Yes, I have to say I favor him over the others as well." She imagined the cubs Yithemba and he would have--beautifully dark cubs for certain. She herself was lighter and would provide shades of browns to any cubs she'd might sire with 'mister big, strong, and dark.'

She then smiled at the little cubs as they joined her, leaning down to affectionately bathe the head of the dark and orange female cub. Ibe, she believed. She smiled at the other two, to make sure they knew she welcomed their company--espeically the male cub. Because Isobana wasn't raised in the pride, she did not hold the same view of males as did many other of her sisters. She cared for each cub the same whether they were male or female. Secretly, she hoped when ( or if ) she would have cubs, they would be all female. She couldn't imagine being forced to never see a son again. The idea made her heart ache and she reached out to butt heads with the little male she believed was called Ikenna.

Isobana then gently bumped heads with Uzuri as a welcome, familiar with her. "I'm said Kuhasa is no longer inseleo." She frowned as she spoke. "I would have loved to have beautiful cubs with him." She sighed wistfully. She didn't have a strong preference between dark or light, honestly. A male could be either and she just as attractive (or unattractive).

oo DeD

Puhterodactyl

 

[SilverLutz]

As they drew closer, Faust could feel the eyes falling on them. He didn't pay it much mind, though, focused only on walking with Ahlaq and Nike to reach Umkhombo. The darker lion had risen already and was walking towards them to meet them in the ever-growing sea of lionesses and for a moment it was a bit overwhelming. There were so many females and cubs...and now their safety rested squarely on the shoulders of the three males meeting up once again.

Faust returned the friendly bump, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. He was sure he had a lot to learn before he felt comfortable in this pride, but his friend was here and he'd see that they didn't fail. Ahlaq was here too and, while not as close as Umkhombo was to him, Faust knew he'd get to know the other lion better than he had back in the Impibutho.

The comments between the other two lions had him chuckling softly, his tail swishing in amusement. Yes, Khombo had looked quite comfortable lazing around all the females gathered. A bit tense at first, perhaps, but now that he was standing and with his friends he seemed far more at ease.

Nike, on the other hand, was still on guard and stared at the females that looked her way. While the males weren't keen on making eye contact for now, Nike had no qualms about asserting herself in a new place. She had been in line to inherit the title of queen in her home pride, after all. A certain amount of confidence had to go with that. She was pleased to find that many of those gathered had scars from battle, and while most of them didn't seem as battle-worn as herself, a bit of calm settled within her. She had been born and raised to fight and coming to a new pride was always a challenge. She didn't want to be in a place where fighting wasn't a part of life, after all.

"Home," she scoffed after Ahlaq. "We'll see." 'Home' didn't have a particularly fulfilling meaning to her any more. Not since she had been banished from her first home, that is. Now it was simply another word, like antelope or tree or darkness.

"Come on then," she added with a huff. "You going to let them just stare at us or are you going to introduce us?" If he wasn't going to do anything she'd do it herself, of course. But since he was supposed to be 'in charge' of this whole operation, she'd let him have the chance of breaking the ice with the pride.

oo DeD

Meepfur

 

[Tanakako]

Nkosenye followed on the heels of her two siblings. The dark cub looked about, stepping directly between Ibe and Ikenna and flopping down with an 'omph'. "So, whats going on?" She pipped up, looking from her sister to her brother and then up at the adults all around them, her golden eyes expectant.

Puhterodactyl

Across the gathering, a certain pale-hued family was resting. While not the perfect all-silver litter Amakhasa had craved, her clutch of pale cubs was displayed proudly all about her. After all, even the two darkest could easily be called steel-coloured. The fact that one was a boy was more frustrating to their mother but she bore it with reserved dignity, or as much as she could muster around the broad and very selfsatisfied grin she wore. Her companion, the flightless and equally pale vulture Kazi, was settled near the cubs having found a comfortable clump of grass in which to nest temporarily.

Kosan, the dark male cub who was the biggest disapointment to his mother, was sat near the bird, watching the goings on all around with wide, worried eyes. Kazi looked over and clicked his beak at the boy. "Calm down, it's perfectly safe here." He murmured softly so Amakhaza wouldn't overhear. He felt bad for the boy-cub. Amakhaza wasn't a bad mother, but she also wasn't that good at hiding her preferances, and poor Kosan was well aware that his gender was a hurdle. Kazi wondered how the boycub would handle life as he grew older. Probably by leaving at the earliest oppertunity, he mused. Beside Kosan, sat his sister, her fur as white as pure snow, with only the barest hint of silver on her tail. She was everything her mother had desired, but so far the little girl had proven just as stubbon as her parent.  

[belloblossom]

Kgabu was content to be laying with her mother and siblings.
In her mind, there was little reason for fuss. If her mother said everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about, then it must be so. All this curiosity that she saw in other cubs, and even some of the lionesses, she observed,
would only bring about stress. Kgabu, while young and not familiar with the notion of being stressed or worried, had heard quite uncomfortable things about it and had no notion of experiencing it early on.

Content was she to ignore the pains of others and serve her own self-interests.
Whether this was anything inherited through her parents was unsure of, but the cub wouldn't worry about that either. She just knew that she loved her mother and that her father was, well, he was her father, so that was something, she supposed. Her father didn't have as much direct contact with her and her siblings, so she didn't have much of an opinion of him yet. That was fine with her. Almost everything was fine with Kgabu. Until it wasn't.

"Kosan, for goodness sake." She said suddenly, her fur prickling as she met eyes with her brother. "Does it look like anyone's coming to hurt us? No, it doesn't. So, just come over here and let me lean on you, or I'll flatten you instead." She threatened. She didn't like feeling anything that made her fur prickle and watching Kosan and his large worried eyes was doing just that. Hopefully, her words (and if she had to her follow through)
would put an end to it.

Tanakako

 

[Meepfur]

"Comfortable?" Umkhombo huffed out a breath of a laugh. "You should have been here earlier, when my mother was telling me off." He rubbed at the fresh scratches on the side of his face, shallow traces left not by another male, but by Ukuthula. He'd allowed her the one blow half out of respect for their relation and half for the sake of looking respectful, but he'd be less tolerant if - when - she tried it again.

Meanwhile, Nike was very predictably Nike, and he snorted. Watching her integrate into the pride (or not) was going to be entertaining. "Too shy to introduce yourself?" he prodded, but had to cede that it probably fell under his duties. "Very well then."

The dark male cleared his throat and spoke up so that the gathered group could hear. "These are my fellow Abaholi, Faust and Ahlaq sim Sungus. And this is Nike...who will be Busisa, of course," he added, lest anyone think he had utterly lost his mind and tried to bring in a female Umholi. Not that he had any objections to females holding power - he had, after all, served under females before - but given that an Umholi's duties included siring cubs, well, a female in the rank simply wasn't a possibility. "Now you can stop asking me about them."

Another little twitch of a smile, and he sat back on his haunches.

oo DeD

SilverLutz

 

[Meepfur]

Though she had greeted Umkhombo with brief affection upon returning with the hunting party to news of his arrival, Sinir had since stayed mostly away from the day's commotion. She was quite fond of him, as he had occuppied the role left vacant by her father, a lion she'd never known and whom her mother still had some difficulty speaking of, but she was not the clingy or overtly affectionate sort...and besides, he'd been damn busy. She'd get a chance to catch up with him eventually, once some of the hubbub died down. Her cousin Khazine was, as expected, thrilled to have him back, and she assumed it was so for most of the rest of their little group, although Sinir had gotten a glimpse of her confusingly irate mother marching away some time ago.

There had been serious temptation to follow her and see what the reason for her anger was, but she knew better than to bother the one-eyed lioness when she had that particular look about her. She might get answers, but she also might get a thrashing. Instead, she lazed about awhile while curiosity ate at her, until finally Umkhombo's back-up arrived. Why hello there... Sinir sauntered her way beside Kasirga to get a better look at their new leading males, and made a thoughtful sound when she heard the name of the sandy-coated lion. He had a name like he was one of theirs, and it was halfway to sounding familiar, like maybe she'd heard it before, but she hadn't always paid as much attention to tales of their Qyrhyeshti lineage and history as she should have.

She shrugged it off and quipped, "Well, sis? What do you think? Are your ovaries just bursting with the need to make cubs yet?"

Ecavi

 

[Annchen]

Buna returned the gesture of affection to her daughter, but avoided looking at what was no longer there. The older lioness hadn't coped well with Emekas injury, but she was less visibly bothered by it by now and their relationship had started getting better again. When the accident happened she had mentally prepared for watching a daughter leave on her Ukufahamba, but somehow Emeka had pulled through and found a way to be useful again. Buna wasn't so sure she would have managed that, and it filled her with conflicting emotions.

"It took three of them, and they even let them live," Buna said, watching the new arrivals. She narrowed her eyes at the one with the long complicated name. "That one is a little pale."

She wasn't very impressed by the scarred female, the new Busisa. Perhaps she'd fit in with the other scarred group. Umkhombo comment about her being a Busisa seemed a bit superfluous. Of course she would be a Busisa, what else? She sincerely hoped that he wouldn't go inventing needless new ranks in the pride.

oo DeD

Buna has issues, heh...

 

[Meepfur]

Sinir flicked her crooked tail, gaze travelling from the males to her sister and back again. "I don't think he did need the help," she decided after considering it for several moments. Perhaps it was simply attachment to the dark lion, the one prominent male figure in her life, that had her so convinced of his capabilities, but she simply couldn't imagine him having any trouble dealing with the old Abaholi. "He's got a reason, I know it. He has to."

The idea that he just wasn't good enough on his own was unacceptable. The young lioness smoothed out her thought-crinkled brow, happy with her assumption that there was a reason Khazine's father came with two smaller males trailing behind him, but soon she wrinkled her nose instead. "Crocodile-whisperer, really?" Sinir cast a look around for the gray lion before turning her attention back to the newcomers. "I like the one with the white, and all the scars. He's got a name like he's one of ours, Umkhombo must have found him somewhere while he was gone."

And that held a great deal of appeal, the thought that he could be one of theirs. If he was Qyrhyeshti, he had to be a fighter.

Ecavi