[ORP] Inqina [Open; Cubs/Adolescents]

[Tanakako]

Quote:

1. You find a bone from a small animal! What animal/bone is up to you.
2. You don't find anything. :C
3. Feathers! 0 / Only two, but still, at least they look neat!
4. A scrap of hide...looks like it came off of a zebra. Pretty fresh too, still bloody.
5. A really neat beetle. It's shell's iridescent! <3
6. A really round...rock. Maybe Uju will want it anyways?

Musa: 1 | Ishaka: 6 | Cashile: 4 | Sizani: 5


Having lost the Stink Bug in the tall grass, Musa had continued his search hopefully. The brief dunking he had gotten when he'd tripped down the bank of the watering hole had helped with some of the smell, but Ishaka was still keeping her distance with a disgruntled look on her face. Nose down, the soggy, smelly little male cub was still searching for his bug when he practically fell over something hard. After some scratching and pulling, he unearthed the partially over-grown object. "Ishaka! Look!" He yelled loudly, making the blue-tailed female wince. She was standing right next to him after all.


Ishaka'sil scowled at her companion, lips drawn back as she attempted not to take a too deep of a breath anywhere near him. He might not smell as bad as before, but h still smelled. At his yelling she grudgingly padded over, sticking her nose down to where he pointed. Frowning she looked back at him, puzzled. "Why the fuss?" She asked, head tilting. "Its just a rock." At his sudden affront and after he had shown her his long white bone, she huffed. "That’s great Musa.." His smirk annoyed her so she picked up the rock and stuck her head in the air. Her rock was better than his silly bone any day.


Cashile was carefully carrying the flower and a few leaves still attached to it. Having been told of its useful properties, the tiny cub had decided to keep it. A few roots were even still attached, as she had tried to dig it up carefully. Her idea was to re-plant it nearer where her mom was. That way it would be close at paw when they wanted it. Pleased with herself she wasn't looking where she was going, she couldn't see her paws even if she tried, not with the large spiky plant in her mouth. Suddenly her front paws went out from under her and she landed hard on her chest before promptly topping to the side. Her red sister stopped beside her and peered down with a grin. "Nice find." Sizani offered with an amused giggle, her voice slightly muffled by the shiny golden stone she held in her teeth, as she pawed lightly at the stripped patch of fur her sister was now laying on. Movement just to the side of the torn scrap caught her eye and she suddenly pounced, trapping a shiny bug of some kind between her toes. "Oh!" Carefully looking at it without loosing it, she grinned. "Pretty!" Eyeing the squirming beetle she wondered how to keep it without flattening it. "Cas, look!" She called as her sister climbed back to her feet, her plant now resting on the scrap of hide.  

[Neon Fly]

[ Definitely don't have time to write a post now... gotta head to work, but will fill in later. At some point. -sigh- x_____x; ]  

[ShinosBee]

A drink sounded just right by the time they got to the watering hole, but she'd seen Zuko get grabbed up, and hung back until the all clear was called. She gingerly picked her way down to the water, skirting the area where several cubs had gone splashing and falling in, and doing her best not to tumble and join them. She wasn't against playing a bit wildly, but she didn't want to have to go dripping along after the rest later. Her roundabout route didn't quite pay off though...one leg sank to the shoulder in mud before she could spot the difference between it and the harder dirt, and then another...and soon enough she was a much darker brown from her toes to her chest, the thick goop clinging to her fur even after she'd scrambled free of the little bog. "Bleh...!" She pouted, trying to shake some off with each step.

The strange...creature...that appeared then had made her want to pounce it. Of course, it was rude to do that when people were talking, and it was way too big for her to try to take down at her age and size, but still. Trading? Weird idea, but okay. The muddy cub was rustling around quick enough, and let out a pleased little 'aha!' when she unearthed the remaids of...well, she thought it was a bird. There wasn't much left, but one long, mostly straight bone seemed nice enough. She snatched it up by the end with her teeth, then came trotting back. "I've got this...!" She chirped around the bone, startling when the moving air caused it to make a faint whistling noise.  

[Tanakako]

Quote:

1. You find a bone from a small animal! What animal/bone is up to you.
2. You don't find anything. :C
3. Feathers! 0 / Only two, but still, at least they look neat!
4. A scrap of hide...looks like it came off of a zebra. Pretty fresh too, still bloody.
5. A really neat beetle. It's shell's iridescent! <3
6. A really round...rock. Maybe Uju will want it anyways?

Musa: 4 | Ishaka: 3 | Cashile: 2 | Sizani: 1


Grinning broadly around the long bone, Musa was content to prance along with his prize. It was old, as it was pure white with hardly any colouring on it. He had no idea what animal it had once been, but he felt sure it was something big. Like an Elephant! Looking over at his fellow explorer he forgot the bone was sticking out both sides of his maw and very nearly clobbered Ishaka with the rounded knobbly end. "Hey!" She yelled at him, ducking rapidly to avoid getting smacked. "Watch where you swing that!" She hissed, annoyed at him. Musa tried to laugh around his bone but ended up making a snorting-choking sound instead which had Ishaka giggling. "You sound silly!" She laughed, snickering at his put out expression. Suddenly something bright and colourful caught her eye over his shoulder and she sprang forwards, determined to capture whatever it was. Sadly she forgot about the stone she was kicking along and promptly went tumbling, landing in a heap. Slowly the bright colourful thing drifted down from where it had jumped into the air when she fell and she watched it spiral slowly to land almost on her nose. "Oh.." Two feathers lay still and silent near her rock. Picking herself up she gathered them carefully up in her mouth and turned round, ready to kick-roll the stone back in line with the other cubs. Only to spot Musa looking smug. Musa’wenkosi was stood looking back at her, smirking. Looking down she saw he had collected something new... a black and white stripped bit of.. something had joined his bone between his paws. "Oh shut up." She sniffed at him, stalking past with her head held high and trying not to fall over her stone as she kick-rolled it along.



Somewhat further back down the parade of cubs, Cashile and Sizani hadn't seen the commotion up in front where Musa and Ishaka were arguing. Instead the two sisters were trying to work out a way for Cas to carry both her spiky aloe plant and her scrap of fur. Sizani eventually worked out how to wrap the plant in the fur, so all her sister had to do was to bite the two ends of the fur and lift. So long as she was careful, she wouldn't drop it. Once Cashile was walking along properly, Sizani picked up her amber piece and the beetle, both covered in copious amounts of drool now, and continued on. But she didn't find it very pleasant to feel the beetle crawling up and down her tongue. Or what felt like it, despite the fact that she was sure the beetle had stopped moving some time ago. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up from her toes and she yowled. Dropping both the bug and the stone, she peered down at the white thing in the grass. She had stumbled quite literally, into the same remains that Musa had found. Only this time it was a skull she had stubbed her paw on. Grinning she tugged it free of the overgrown grass and, after turning it upside-down, she dumped the beetle and the amber stone into it, picked it up by an edge, and resumed walking. So much easier!

Quote:

Notes, so I can keep track of which cub has what:
Musa: Stink bug stink, 1 Bone, 1 scrap of hide
Ishaka: 1 round rock, 2 feathers
Cashile: Aloe plant, 1 scrap of hide
Sizani: 1 Piece of amber, 1 iridescent beetle, 1 Bone

 

[Quaji]

Soon enough... The cubs were able to trade their found treasures to the 'fairly large' badger that had come introducing herself to the wandering Inqina. Many walked away with a memory, and a trinket to call their own. It would be a reminder of their time together as young cubs, of their Inqina and for the male cubs that were waddling along with them--their home. While Ukwazi was less than pleased by the idea of trading with a honey badger of all things, their goods had been nice. That was for sure. Perhaps she'd actually discuss the idea with the Abaholi. Perhaps.

The two groups parted ways, some with teary eyes, and once against the party of lions continued on their quest to show the quickly growing cubs the world around them.

Much to the lioness' surprise, the rest of the day and into the early night was significantly less eventful than the earlier morning and afternoon. While they saw the occasional vulture and even a hyena once, it was clear by the presence of multiple adult lionesses was enough to keep the scavengers at a distance.

As the sun vanished as the stars began lighting up the sky, it was just the right time for the group to watch and observe Udaka and Ukwazi hunt--while Njalo watched over the cubs like a hawk beneath a small cluster of acacia trees. They had also stopped on the outskirt of a small migrating zebra herd. It wasn't long until the two lionesses had vanished into the golden grass and the squeals of the zebra filled the night air that was otherwise only as quiet as the chirping insects had allowed.

A successful hunt. At least they wouldn't need to hunt tomorrow.

As the group feasted on a plump zebra, relaxing in the cooling night, that was when Ukwazi began giving lessons on the constellations the pride's lionesses sometimes used. There was the zebra,a four star constellation of the equine prey rearing. Followed by the lion--of course--which was simply in the shape of a grown male's head. It however consisted of six stars: two for the eyes and the other four in a diamond for the mane. Lastly was the elephant, a four star constellation that showed a profile view of one. While it was more crudely shaded than the other, the one that represented the top of it's head shone brighter than any other star.

It was if on cue that a trumpet sounded, carrying farther than just where they were camped out. In one swift motion Ukwazi's head rose. She knew that sound. One trumpet, two, three...all in unison. Elephants. A small herd for them, maybe seven, all female. The Umama's golden eyes scanned the black silhouettes, the only indicator of what they were besides their distinct sound. A heavy breath--a breath she hadn't realized that she had been holding--came rushing out of Ukwazi's mouth. No calves. That was surprising, but comforting.

"Cubs, look." Came the call from the golden Umama. At least there were several places the cubs could climb to get a better view, namely the trees and the few scattered rocks that poked up just high enough to look over the grass and give them the cubs a nice vantage point. "Those, those are elephants. They are giants, ones we scarcely hunt, only in desperate times. They live longer than three of our generations, but when they too die, their bodies are feasts worthy of stories. My mother once told me of prides that would tear eachother apart for the last bite."

There was a solemn fondness in the way Ukwazi spoke, her eyes never breaking away from the slow moving silhouettes.

___________________

[OOC]

I'm leaving this bit open-ended so that way people can still continue for a little while longer if they still need a few more posts.

Due to a buuunch of IRL reasons (that I won't go into detail about), I'm having to cut this short in favor of moving on in the pride's next meta and to prevent this ORP from holding anyone's character(s)! I apologize for not being able to stay more on top of this, but I do hope that everyone enjoyed the bit that I managed to provide. <3 The Inqina went off without a hitch, with mothers and the lionesses' who supervised the expedition being able to breathe a sigh of relief with how the last one went. The cubs all returned to the pride safely,

Above is a simple summary for what happened after the event with the honey badger. Prizes will be distributed soon. <3  

[Annchen]

When it was time to get some sleep the sand coloured cub blinked sleepily, not sure he wanted the day to end at all.

Sandile would have much to tell his mother when they came back from the Inqina. Trading with the odd looking badger, watching the lionesses hunt, eating the zeba, learning about the stars. And don't forget the elephants! It was hard to decide what was the best part. Maybe just the fact that he had managed. He was strong enough to go with the other cubs on this great adventure.

But there was only so much he could do to stay awake with a full belly, and soon the little male was fast asleep.