[Meta ORP] Doom Upon All the World

[ThePridelands]

The black creature snarled into the sky, frustration hitting a tipping point. He could hear the voices of those below him, but it seemed like none were bothering to answer him. "He is here! I know it to be true," he howled into the sky. His brows were furrowed, but it seemed like his eyes were almost...glowing with the rage that kept him sky born.

"Anyone?!" he snarled again, his wing beats growing a bit more labored as he kept himself in the air. The breeze had died down to nothing, and there was little else to keep him afloat other than the sheer anger that surged his adrenaline. A streak of white snatched his attention away from the main gathering of lions, the red-maned hyena lost in the surge of panicked bodies. He didn't care that there was confusion and that it appeared no one knew what he was demanding; he was the interloper in control here.

Except....

The white lioness drew herself close to the body of Lumina, and a surge of selfish rage escaped from his chest. She wasThat was his, dead or not, and he was going to determine what to do with her at this point. Ignoring the fact that he had tossed her like a ragdoll, nearly forgotten, he still had that sense of ownership, some small semblance of loyalty to the lioness he had spent so much time with.

"Don't touch her!"

And then a searing scream tore through the sky. Less angry, and more full of pain. One of his black firey wings suddenly seemed to be very much on actual fire, a hole seared right through it. More streaks of red flew past him as he continued to scream, his claws reaching out towards the white lioness that dared to steal from him.

The stars were shining far too brightly now. Though the after affects of the unknown war in heaven hadn't reached these lands yet, it had finally arrived. The stars were falling on the Pridelands.

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((Welcome to the danger aspect of this ORP! Please let your minds stretch a bit, but there is a meteorite shower hitting the Pridelands! I have a few options for everyone to try to make this as enjoyable as possible.

Roll one 6-sided die. The following are what happens:

1-2: missed
3-4: hit by debris (i.e. broken shards, dirt, shattered branches, tripped on by another lion, etc)
5: grazed by a meteorite (minor to moderate damage)
6: (wildcard, i.e. not hit up to direct hit)

If you have an intention of harm/death, you may skip the roll but please put in a number at the top of your post so I can correlate the damage to your SoA. This is more for those who want to write a mild or severe hit). Please keep in mind that PL has a decent amount of healers!

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Mwisho crashed near where Lumina's body was, his yellow eyes flashing with fury as he tried to crawl towards the white lioness that shielded her from him. The pain in his wing was excruciating, and the blood began to pool around his form as he pulled himself, inch by inch, closer. "What do you...think you're....doing?!" he snarled.

The white lioness felt the shock of the black god crashing into the earth nearby, and she nearly lost her nerve at that very moment. She could just run back to the pride, to the cover of bodies and anonymity. But there was something that was calling out to her, screaming at her to heal this wound that was festering. She couldn't just ignore it; it was like every hair on her body was vibrating with need.

Another smash into the ground, and she startled. He was getting closer now, still struggling. His large fore paws smashed into the ground as he pulled himself up, his shattered left wing dragging against the ground. His sides heaved, eyes dark as he took a moment to brace himself.

"I will take her away from you," she said shakily. Her small white form was like the pure opposite of him, dark and angry and stained with blood. She took another step towards him, feeling more certain than ever that this was right.

"She doesn't belong to you."

And the illusion fell. It took everything within her to not run. She could feel herself shaking from fear, for anxiety, from not knowing what she was to him. But the resurgence of rage that re-lit the fire in his eyes was telling her that she was in the right place; she was where she needed to be.

Mwisho's form struggled to surge forward, renewed purpose setting his jaw. "You! You have always taken everything away from me, mother!!" The last word dripped like acid from his voice.

-----

Everything had happened so fast. Vitha could still feel the dampness in her tears, her heart torn to pieces as she tried to understand the events that were unfolding next to her. He was here, but was he really the one that had nearly killed her that night? It was all so...hazy...

And then another scream, this time one that truly seized her heart. A scream full of pain and surprise, and she gasped when she realized that something had struck the winged creature before them. He began to fall, fall downwards in a spiral towards the ground....

And with his form no longer blocking out a large chunk of the sky, she suddenly realized why the stars had been so bright. They were falling. "Fath-" she turned to see her father's face, wishing for him to explain what was going on, to run away, to do something, anything....

But Mwovu was dead. A giant wound had pierced through his chest, blood splattered over Vitha's side as she watched his form fall to the ground. A small meteorite had struck him square in the chest, and he had died instantly. Her eyes went wild, unable to process what had happened. "F....father?" All around her, shards of broken meteorites were streaking across the sky. One or two landed near her as she crawled towards her father's body, her eyes glossing over in disbelief.

"F....father....this isn't happening. Please, this is just one of your stories that has seeped into my dreams, right?" she whispered, burying her head in his mane. This wasn't real, this wasn't happening....


((Summary: Meteorites! Mwisho is badly injured, Momo revealed herself as she tried to take Lumina's body from him, and Mwovu just died from a meteorite.

OOCly: Danger, danger! You have a degree of control over what happens to your SoA, but please have fun and participate! You may add extra characters if you'd like, but please remember that PLs actually has trained healers, if you roll a hit/your SoA is injured.))  

[MangoMeow]

((First roll will be Mei, second roll is Noct, and third roll is Car.))

This was getting a little too chaotic for her liking now, though that wasn't saying much. They'd reached that point a long time ago.

The pink lioness whipped her head back around as her companion screamed, but she was blinded momentarily by a cloud of dust and dirt that was thrown into the air. She cringed, closing her eyes to try and shield from the debris, before opening her eyes slowly to see what had happened.

It would have been beautiful had it not been for all the blood and screams and death that was accompanying it. Mei hadn't even known it was possible for stars to fall from the sky, and any other day, she would have been curious to see why. But right now the lion next to her was injured, though thankfully still alive, and they were still right in the crossfire.

"Are you okay?!" Stupid question, but focusing on that was helping her ground her thoughts again. "We need to find cover!"

AstoriaFallen

Well, it certainly wasn't nice now. A part of him pitied this pride that just happened to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. Before he could say or do anything though, he startled as a white form careened past him. Who would be fool enough to run towards the angry god?

Noct's eyes narrowed as he stared after the lioness, and anyone who would have known to look for it would have noticed the slight glaze to them. Car did, he was sure, judging by the curious hum from below him, but the lion ignored his friend for now.

That lioness... wasn't what she appeared to be. Oh boy.

Of course, before he could mention anything - not that he was sure he would have said anything anyway; a god's business in mortal form was their own - all hell broke loose.

Quite literally, in fact.

Carbuncle let out a started yip as the confrontation went from one unexpected turn to another in the form of meteorites. This was a terrible place for them to be, and he was sure that it was only about to get worse!

Lifting his head up, he started nudging at Noct's chest, "Noct! Noct, we should run and hide!" And then things took an even worse turn.

It was only because Noctis had turned his head to the other lion when he'd growled that he'd seen the rock careening towards them. While he was sure that he could have jumped out of the way, Car had no such forewarning, and making the split second decision, the black lion dove forward to cover the jackal.

He would later consider himself incredibly lucky that he wasn't dead like so many others, but at the moment, with pain shooting down his back, he couldn't do much more than swear up a storm as he collapsed to the ground, almost squishing the very person he'd been protecting.

Luckily for them both, Car scrambled out of the way and then whined in horror, "Noct!"  

[Andranis]

(To be clear, roll 1 is for Madaha... The rest are for Kushindwa)

They were probably two of the last to arive, having been waylayed by Kushindwa's constant tripping. They had recently both taken to sleeping in a den down where he couldn't trip over anything, and yet still kept Madaha close to the pride. After all, injuries could happen at any time, from anything, and anywhere, but most often they happened close to home. "Come on, we're almost.... There..." Her words trailed off as the rust-orange lioness came to a stop, eyes wide. "What in the name of the circle of life is going on?"

For once in his life, Kushindwa managed to not come to a tripping stop. he rocked forward for a moment, threatening to fall over, but moved his hind legs and sat instead. He breathed in and out, red eyes wide, taking in everything. There were... There were things fallen. There were lions with wings. There was CHAOS. He swallowed, looking at Madaha, "This is... This isn't good, is it?"

"No, no it's not..." She took a deep breath. "Come on, let's go! We need to make sure nobody's hurt!" Not waiting, she took off, intent on reaching the group. But before she could, pain seared its way across the right side of her face. "AH!" For one of the few times in her life, Madaha stumbled, crashing to the ground. Her right eye throbbed, as did part of her cheek, the pain burning hot. She could feel moisture trying to seal the eye shut already, and looked with her slowly-focusing left eye. "A rock...? Kushindwa!"

"M-Madaha!" When Madaha hurried off, Kushindwa was left momentarily mentally flailing. He got up, fumbling his steps as he tried to follow, only for a falling and burning rock to just miss him. He looked at the spot in horror, then up at the sky. "The stars are falling!" He backed up a moment, then took off running as best he could coordinate. It went about as well as usual, up until a falling meteor shot across his left shoulder. He let out a pained yell, his run turning into a fast hobble. This was... Amazingly more stable, actually. But it did nothing to stop another from hitting his right flank and down his leg. Still, Kushindwa remained determined until he got up to Madaha, "We need shelter!" He paid no mind to her eye, focused instead on everybody's well-being. Just what was going on, and what did it have to do with the winged lions?!  

[Epine de Rose]

(Outcome: "Grazed by a meteorite (minor to moderate damage)" )

So this was the so-called prophecy? She'd heard whispers of it, doom and destruction, all that jazz and yet she hadn't bothered to listen. Nevertheless as the sky now rained down upon them, plunging the very beast that roared in fury towards the ground, she found herself less frightened and more angry. If this was what they were supposed to placate, if they were all to fall in line behind whatever this so-called prophet declared as a 'life', then she would sooner find herself dead than bow to anything quite so horrific.

Oh she couldn't get close enough to yell that, she couldn't express how she truly felt, and yet she found herself gazing towards the spiralling deity in absolute disgust. His mere existence, and by extension those who had decided to follow this disastrous being and his prophet, had fallen so far from grace that she would never forgive them if she ever met them face to face.

Had they called him, had it been them who had decided this was how they'd reshape the Pridelands?

She had no time for them, she'd always been a tolerant sort and she found herself transforming into something rather different. If those who had decided their doomsday prophet was still in the right then she wished great harm upon them, the very destruction that they now brought to her peaceful home. It should have been their blood spilled, not the innocent and they, with their stupid notions, had no place here.

Alas her descent into anger and disgust was enough to distract her to the extent that while she knew the sky was now raining down, she hadn't quite taken note of the dangers. Shards of rock now seemed to be littering the ground around her and by the time she had come to, it was too late... No sooner had she glanced towards the rocks by her paws and her ears had given a single twitch, than a rather large shard pluned into the side of her neck.

Her eyes opened in surprise, but no sound came out, it seemed the shock and impact had rendered her silent as she stumbled and fought to keep her footing...  

[SilverLutz]

Mto's hoofed feet pawed nervously at the ground, itching to flee but remaining by her bonded's side. She lowered her nose to try to urge Tuwa to her feet so they could run, but the lioness was as immovable as Pride Rock itself.

"We need to go," she urged, chaos erupting around them as lions began to run, scream, and try to make sense of what was happening. "Tuwa, come! To your feet, we must-"

But she was cut off by a cry of pain from above. She turned to gaze up at the massive lion in the sky only to see glowing balls of fire growing larger and larger as they rocketed towards the earth. She gave a bleat of fear, her tail flicking up to alert all those around her to the second danger, but it was too late. Huge rocks fell among the lions, some striking living creatures, others falling harmlessly to the dirt below. Instinct took over at the gazelle bounded off, dodging rocks as they fell.

Tuwa was still pinned to the ground, her eyes wide with fear as she watched the rocks fall from the sky. Someone fell to the ground dead, others cried out in pain as they were struck, and still she couldn't move. Mto was gone somewhere, she realized belatedly, and as she rose shakily to her paws to try to find her friend, a smaller rock smashed into the ground between her paws. She gave a yelp of fear and tumbled over backwards, scrambling to her feet to run. She had only gone a few long leaps when burning pain struck her shoulder, sending her to the ground with a cry.

---

Chionesu held his ground until it became clear that the king and the old monarch weren't going to stay in place. It was becoming a free for all and the disorder made his chest tighten with fear. This wasn't how an attack was supposed to go! The soldiers needed to form ranks, to put themselves between the threat and the pride, but he could only see chaos and destruction around him.

Then the world began to explode. Burning rocks plunged into the dirt as if it were water, tossing up debris and dust like waves. The dark male turned his head as a cloud of dirt was thrown into his face and finally he knew he had to flee. He couldn't fight flying rocks and as dangerous as they were, it seemed the god wasn't immune to them either. Perhaps the strange happening would help them in the end. He turned to flee, head down and body low to the ground.  

[Midnightglow18]

Businge was frightened and shocked at what she was seeing the stars themselves were falling the kings of the past were falling from the sky all she had been taught since she had been brought to the pride lands as a cub was being dashed on the ground as she heard the screams of the other lions around her. She was struck in the behind with one of the falling stones. She cried out in pain it hurt badly, but she didn't think her tail was broken. She was lucky compared to many other lions who were suffering around her.

Nyimak was just looking up at the sky it was an amazing sight to see stars falling from the sky she didn't think of them as the kings of the past, to her they were just stars beautiful to watch and look at. She was lost in thought and hardly heard the others around her who had been struck and others who were killed. One of the stones struck Nyimak in the face and she was unable to see because of the blood that was streaming into her eye. She was likely to have a scar after this. She tilted her head down and pawed at her face trying to clear the blood from her eye pain filled her body.  

[Krysin]

(( Round 1. >> Adols coming soon.

Shaji - 5
Na'resh - 3-4 ))

Nights like this one had become rare over the past few months. The growing cubs had kept them from sharing these peaceful moments with one another. Shaji loved his children, and admittedly his newest ones were the most spoiled of all. The children had taught him to appreciate the time alone he got with his mate. For once, he allowed himself to be doted on. The elder golden lion allowed himself to be pinned to the ground, letting Kiasi fix his unkempt appearance. It was too easy then, to start to drift off towards sleep. He was, after all, starting to get a bit up there in years.

The sound of a loud roar in the distance startled him back into awareness. Shaji instantly shifted off of his side and back onto his stomach, his ears flicking forward to try and hone in on the sound. There was a brief, odd moment of silence, and then the sounds of screaming sent a sharp pang into his heart. His mate was quicker to react, and when Kiasi mentioned their children Shaji felt the air rush from his lungs.

Their children.

Shaji bolted onto his feet, and ran after Kiasi. He was larger and slower, but he did not expect his mate to wait around for him. Their children were their only priority in the heat of the moment. He had to find them, had to make sure they were safe.

"Kiasi!" a sharp yell, a warning as around them the sky seemed to fall. He had never witnessed an event like this in all of his years, but he was too focused on finding his cubs to think of the implications. Suddenly, his shoulder burned, and he felt his limb buckle down underneath his weight. The golden lion roared with pain and tumbled forward, blood smearing over the ground. Ignoring the pain, and refusing to look at the giant gash across his shoulder he pushed himself back onto his feet.

'Don't worry, keep going...'

Through willpower alone he kept himself moving, trailing farther and farther behind his mate. She could do it, though, surely she could make it to their cubs. Kiasi had always been the smartest and strongest lioness Shaji had ever had the pleasure of knowing, and the honor of falling in love with.

---

"We stay, and it will see us," Na'resh answered through gritted teeth. Either option risked harm to his daughter, his only daughter, the only family he wanted to claim as his own. What the creature in the sky would do, he did not know. But, he did not want to stay here and find out. He glanced back to his daughter, and the reflection of fear in her eyes and her diminuitive posture broke him. He had never wanted his child to be placed in harm's way, haqd never wanted her to witness the cruelties of the world.

He had failed as the father he had wanted to be, but he would not fail her now. Na'resh would keep his child safe, would protect her with every ounch of life and love he had to give. "If we sneak away we might be able to avoid detection," he whispered lowly to Amaryllis.

Na'resh was so focused on the creature above them that he did not notice the lion slowly making his way towards them. The sound of another voice nearly made Na'resh jump out of his fur, though instinct drove him to try and place himself between the stranger and his daughter. A Pridelander, clearly, and normally Na'resh would not trust anyone he had not encountered before.

But he needed to trust this one, for Amaryllis' sake. "Okay," Na'resh agreed. He turned back to nuzzle his head into Amaryllis' cheek, hoping to provide her with some brief comfort before they tried to escape. "It'll be okay, I'll keep you safe," he promised.

Suddenly the winged beast fell from the sky with a scream - had someone hurt it? He looked up towards the sky, and his dark eyes widened with shock as he saw what was now hurling towards the Pridelands. The sky was falling. A meteorite struck the ground a few yards from where the group stood, spitting dust and debris up into the night sky. A ripple of pain rolled through his body, and he gritted his teeth against. He would not yell, he would not scream... he would not scare his daughter.

Small shards from the meteorite had grazed over his back, some bruising, and some cutting through fur and skin. The wounds were fortunately superficial. "Amaryllis?" he gasped, looking back behind him to make sure his daughter was okay.

Felyn

 

[Krysin]

(( I accidentally bumped Kayode up to 5. Fite me. ))

The world around him seemed to grow silent - all he could hear was the sound of his heart beating, the rush of his blood moving through his veins. He had encountered death before, but that was all a part of the Circle of Life. Life continued because of death, yet here was a life that was taken carelessly. Age had not claimed her, nor had disease or predation. It was just... death. His young mind had a terrible time of wrapping around what happened, and more importantly what was happening now.

The others spoke around him, and the world continued to move while Kayode was stopped in his tracks. An adult had come to their rescue, but he did not even notice Uzuzi. Whatever words were spoken were heard as only undertones against the loud beating of his heart. Then, he felt a gentle bump against him, and for a moment his fixation over the cruel death of Lumina dissipated. 'Oh', the voice had said.

Another adolescent, one he did not recognize. But, that hardly mattered now. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice cracking. Obviously, he was not okay. He looked at her, into the darkness of her eyes and found something startling as the world seemed to fall apart around them. Her eyes seemed to shine, those dark depths reflecting the night sky above. Stars, bright and beautiful played on the canvas of her eyes.

The stars moved, and he glanced up to realize then that the sky was falling. "The Great Kings..." Kayode whispered with shock and fear. They were falling. The meteorites began striking against the ground, blowing debris and dust up into the air. It was dark, too dark to see all that was happening. Frantically, he looked towards his sister, "Where do we go?"

A meteorite landed nearby, close enough that he felt the force of its impact. Dust billowed into the air, and he cried out as a shard embedded into his shoulder, deep enough to strike against bone. Without thinking, he twisted his head to pull the shard out with his teeth. As he removed it, blood poured down his front leg, staining his fur.

It hurt. He tried to rest his paw against the ground, but it sent a sharp pain trailing up his leg. "Mom, dad..." He didn't care how stupid it sounded. Kayode wanted his parents to be here now more than ever. As the dust cleared, the tears streaming down his face were plain for anyone to see. Kayode lifted his head, looking around to make sure that everyone else was okay.

They were not.

He could hear the loud crack of rock striking against skull. "...Hey," he croaked, looking down at Uzuzi's motionless body. "Hey!" Kayode called out, trying to get some reaction out of the limp lion. He knew Uzuzi was gone, but he did not want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. "We need help!" The conflict of the gods began, but all Kayode could see was the danger his friends and family were in now.

---

"Don't touch me!" Kore hissed at Asili, though his action had actually worked. She stopped screaming, snapped out of her panic by the slap against her shoulder. "There's no where to hide!" The anger had faded from her voice, replaced by worry and fear. Though she tried to order the thoughts of her mind so that they made sense, she couldn't. Kore could barely hold herself together.

"It's in the air, it'll see us no matter where we go..." she whimpered. The young adolescent shrank into her sister, burying her face into the comfort of Natia's shoulder. "We won't be able to hide, it'll find us, it'll find us! We're dead, we're all going to die." She sobbed into Natia, her body trembling. "There's no point, it's useless..."

She was too far away from the King to hear his orders to evacuate. His voice was lost amongst the chaos that had suddenly filled the air. An adult, however, had found them. She did not recognize the yellow male, but to have anyone older than her around gave her some hope. "Let's go," she urged her sister softly as the adult ordered them to leave. But, before they could get anywhere at all the winged beast in the sky screamed in pain and fell. The space in the sky he left revealed the sky suddenly moving.

The stars were falling! A sharp scream pierced the air, before she had the forethought to clamp a paw over her own mouth to keep from making such noises. The beast was on the ground now, and a white lioness had moved to confront him. What sort of madness was this? As she watched what she was sure would be another murder, the white lioness' form shifted and changed. While the black creature was horrific and frightening, the winged creature that faced him seemed to be nothing like that. "I don't understand," she whimpered.

The sky finally met the earth.

Dust and debris was kicked up into her face, causing her to choke. She could taste the earth on her tongue, and blindly stumbled back from where she thought would be the direction furthest from the gods. She tripped over on her own tail with a little yelp, falling down onto her rump next to Uzuzi.

A very dead Uzuzi. "HE'S DEAD!" Kore screamed.  

[Z o m b i k ii]

Equi’s golden gaze had glazed over, struggling to make sense of the scene that was playing out before her. Her breath caught in her lungs as her half lidded eyes closed, the young lioness counted down from ten slowly; trying to wake herself up from the nightmare she had found herself in. Reassuring herself that she would soon wake by her siblings side and all would be well with the world.

The dark lioness could hear her sister screaming and an all too familiar voice calling to her, telling her to move, begging her to take action. The adolescent was crippled with anxiety, waves of fear hidden below a face that always seemed too serene.

When her count reached zero and her eyes opened; her heart sank. Suddenly all too aware that this was not a nightmare - that the sky was actually falling above her head. Then a sharp pain shot through her ear and the girl yelped, her head jerking sharply as white fangs pieced her skin. Giftigg, curled across her shoulders as he always was, hissed sharply, the taste of iron lingering on his tongue.

“Equi, we need to get out of here.”

The darker twin’s heart twisted as she sought out her other half; though she knew her companion spoke the truth, she was unable to escape without rescuing all of herself. ”Solsti!” She called out, golden eyes darting upwards as she saw something ‘move’ above her. The youngling, brought to action through worry for her twin, rushed out of the way of a falling shard of rock that hit the ground where she had been stood a moment before.

Her roll turned into a swift run, her snake clinging to her the entire time as his cyan eyes scanned the area to find the lighter mistress. ”Solsti!” The girl called again, her tone most desperate than it had been. She would not leave without her; she would not move to safety unless they were safe together.  

[Epine de Rose]

(Please note she's in a mortal form, it's not a subtle mortal form but her wings and horns aren't there, just in case anyone spots her!)

Why was it raining? It had been dry a few moments ago and the quizzical cub stared up from her place upon the lion's back. She'd gotten better at this mortal thing, the whole 'fitting in' part had been a struggle to begin with but as she'd been told more than once...the more she practiced the better she'd get. Thus, the young deity had been able to shroud her features and appear as a fairly normal cub, unusual markings to be sure but based on her recent travels and what she had been exposed to by Adar'Malik... nothing completely out of the ordinary.

"It's raining?" She seemed to require some level of confirmation as she peered back down at her companion. "Why is it raining? It wasn't raining a second ago..."

She really could be oblivious on occasions but sure enough, even the scream of a god had missed him as well. Somehow he appeared to have tuned that out in between much of her standard chitter. It was to their detriment though, given that his lack of awareness (unusual for him) had now resulted in them being pounded with the rain as she put it. Alas, the longer he continued on this path the more he realised it wasn't rain and it most certainly wasn't pleasantly cooling.

Combine that with the shrieks of fear that were now reaching his ears and he shook his head, right at the moment that both he and the young cub had the opportunity to see several lions meet their end, and yet more injured. One in particular caught his attention and based on her injuries she was caught in a stupor of shock.

"It is not rain," he uttered darkly as he bucked the young cub off his back and caught her in his mouth. "It is rocks," he said in a muffled tone as he plunged forward and squinted against the spattering of shards. It was a small fortune that the shards in question were much too small to cause significant damage, but that didn't mean the circumstances would remain the same.

"Oooh I didn't know it could rain rocks!"

"It can't!" He snapped, almost dropping the cub as he flung himself underneath the shelter of an outcropping and deposited her.

"Then why is it -"

"I do not know yet," he placed his paw on her snout to silence her and took a breath as he surveyed the shards raining down from above and then out towards where he intended to go. Ah, but who would have thought he'd be the hero in this day and age, either way if he let her die now then all their efforts to save her the first time would have been wasted and everyone knew he disliked having his time and effort wasted. "Wait here," he ordered.

"But I want to see -"

"Wait. Here." His tone was forceful enough to give the young deity pause for thought and she shrunk back obediently in to the outcropping with a puzzled expression. She hadn't yet noticed either divine party, but in time there was little doubt that she would...  

[Meepfur]

((Shinda: 6; Aziza: 6; Maji-tuli: 3))

Aziza had been one of the many to to choose to ignore the cult, no matter how many joined or how loud they grew. She was too old for that nonsense - not that she was old, no, she would never be old! She wasn't any less hale now than she had been in her youth, she would swear by that and mean it, and vehemently deny to herself and anyone else that sometimes her joints gave her a little trouble, especially when the weather changed. It certainly didn't mean anything that her kids had kids, and some of those had kids...

Bah. She'd never been a very maternal lioness, and in fact her own mother had done most of the motherly things for her first litter, but since she hadn't been around for the subsequent two, well...but they'd turned out fine, more or less. They were pretty good kids, she supposed. And though she'd deny it all day long, and dismiss that fact that she was a grandmother and more, she enjoyed the company of her further descendants, when they happened. She'd been thrilled when her son Ngao had revealed his mate to be expecting, particularly because said mate had a swagger and attitude Aziza appreciated, rather than being some soft, silly little thing. Her grandkids could use a little fire in them.

But that excitement had been snuffed within days, when her daughter Kohaku had been found dead. Murdered. The shock had run deep and taken hold, and for months now Aziza had felt numb. She'd never been warm and fuzzy, had hardly ever bothered to tell any of her children that she loved them - had she ever, even once? - and to lose one was...indescribable. She'd continued to function with little change on the outside, and pushed away any sympathies thrown her way, even from family members, but nothing felt right. The arrival of her newest grandcubs had helped a little, or at least offered a distraction, but everything still felt wrong somehow, no matter what she did. She'd started paying more attention to the cult's antics, though she'd not joined, not really. She'd just...listened a little.

She mostly just saw to her duties and watched her grandcubs now and then, and otherwise kept to herself, which could be a difficult task in such a large pride. The evening gathering would definitely not have been her scene, had she not been hunting a wayward grandcub. Shinda had left the lot of them with Ngao for a few hours, and one of them had slipped away from the inexperienced male. No great cause for concern, not in the heart of the Pridelands, where cubs often roamed as they pleased, but Ngao was a bit of a fretter, and Aziza found it a bit disconcerting, herself, so off she'd gone to bring the wayward blue cub home. She'd tracked him to the gathering, and arrived just after the real commotion started. She didn't witness the cause, only the fallout, and immediately, finding her grandson became a critical priority. She had to find him, and get him away from this, whatever this was.

But it was Shinda she found first, watching the events that unfolded in open-mouthed, horrified fascination. Aziza had to shove bodily against her to get her attention, earning a snap and a grumble. A grim part of her had been almost...enjoying the spectacle, and it was jarring to be snapped out of it. "What?"

Any other day, Ziza wouldn't have brooked such a tone, but it wasn't important right now. "Tuli got away from Ngao, and he's here somewhere. Help me find him!"

"He- That stupid-" the younger lioness swore, and it was anyone's guess whether she meant her son or her mate, or both of them. "s**t."

"Come on. We'll split up and-"

Shinda never heard the end of that sentence. Aziza could only watch in horror as her daughter-in-law was struck down by a piece of the sky as it began to fall to earth. Blood and worse spattered her pale coat as it was her turn to stand frozen in horror for long moments, but the cries of others finally shook her loose. She had to find Tuli. Now. She ran through the chaos, shoved where necessary without a second thought, looking for the scrap of foolish blue that was her grandson. Those minutes were an eternity, and when she did finally spot him, she dove, pressing him down hard into the ground beneath her, no mind or time for gentleness. It didn't matter if she hurt him, didin't matter if he cried, as long as he lived.

And that was the last thought Aziza ever knew.