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 Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:11 am
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The rain was always hard on Simi lately. His old age meant that his bones and joints were older. The cool shift in humidity always seemed to make it harder for him to move, but the old king never let that stop him from his morning walks. The sun was out, warm against his back, encouraging him to keep moving. He had shooed off his grandson Tau earlier, determined to make the walk alone.
Besides, if something happened...well, the Pridelands were big enough he knew he would never be truly alone.
That was when he felt it. Just the barest bit of a splash. He glanced down at his own muddy paws, but realized that he hadn't stepped in a puddle. But there was some bustling and noise nearby, and that's when he noticed the younger female playing nearby. Just a touch of water had touched him, but the old lion chuckled instead of scolded.
"I don't doubt that mud won't be the easiest to clean off," he said to the...hm. She wasn't quite the right form for a standard lioness, and hybrids were rare out here. The Pridelands accepted all who wanted to come, but even then the non-lions were few and far between.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 4:18 pm
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"If a mud bath could reverse the affects of aging, I would probably take one ever day," the old lion laughed. They could be pretty nice when the bugs were at their worst in the summer, but Simi had a tough time getting himself decently clean after a mud bath (not that he had tried lately, really...).
"My name is Simi," he nodded, amused and almost grateful that there were those too young to remember him as a king. It had been a bit of time, but having the burden off his shoulders had been....a blessing.
"And I do live here! I was born here, quite a long time ago. My grandson is our current king," he said with a hint, happy to keep a bit of the limelight off of himself.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 9:41 am
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Meera gave a laugh at his words, "Maybe it does, but we just don't see it." Her tail flicked playfully as he continued on to introduce himself, blinking as he mentioned his grandson. Huh, that was interesting. She wondered was it was like having a relative who was royalty. She wasn't really sure how politics worked, so the cheeton didn't give much thought to the fact that he must be royalty as well.
Instead, she hummed in response, "Like, how long ago?" She perked up in interest, "Have things changed a lot?"
She bet he had a lot of interesting stories, and if there was one thing she loved, it was a new story.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 2:35 pm
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Meera seemed genuinely interested, so he decided to see how far he could let the story unwind. She wasn't too young, but wasn't terribly old either; he was going to have to word it in a way that she could follow easily. It reminded him of just how much he had changed over the years.
"It is," Simi admitted. "One of my sons moved to an entirely new pride, one that is pretty far away. My daughter that was to become the new king...well, we decided that she wasn't quite ready. Its not easy, to realize your child may not succeed where you once did." Indeed, even for him, the details were a bit fuzzy since it happened so long ago.
"I would like to hope I was a good king. I wasn't even raised as the crown prince, it just so happened to fall on my shoulders when my mother disappeared." He...hadn't thought about his mother in a long time. He wondered if she was even still alive at this point.
"I'm not quite retired. I am on the council, helping to lead Tau into being a good, strong king. At least, I hope he will be. Being young can be hard....unless it calls for a mud bath," he said with a wink.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 5:01 pm
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Meera nodded as he spoke, humming-and-hawing as she listened. The ways that royalty worked and moved on were a mystery to the rogue, but it sounded like it was difficult for those who were chosen. She could only imagine what it was like, growing up knowing you were to be king or that one of your own was to be king. And it sounded like his offspring just didn't... live up to it.
At least it sounded like his grandson did. She hoped that things turned out well for all of them. She liked the Pridelands, and wanted it to flourish.
Simi did seem like a good king though, so she believed that they would be. The cheeton smiled, "Well, with you on the council, I'm sure he'll turn out fine," and then she laughed, "and if not, maybe a mud bath is exactly what he'll need."
She proceeded to roll over in the mud, "Do you have any interesting stories?" She rolled over once more, this time with an almost starry look in her eyes, "Maybe a fantastic adventure?"
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:10 pm
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Simi was a bit pleased that she seemed to follow along with what he was saying. Enough that he was certainly entertaining him, even if she was probably the one that initially wanted to be entertained by stories. Truth be told, he didn't have too many amazing stories to tell; being tied to the ruling family meant that he wasn't able to get out much.
"If you're ever looking for a true adventure, I would suggest seeking out the Tianxian Empire," he said with a slow nod. "It is where my son lives; his name is Hanjari." Those lands were at least 2 weeks travel away; an adventure for her would just be to find that place, let alone step within its borders. Simi had only heard of the pride himself, but he was sure that once she was old enough to adventure out on her own, that in in of itself would give her a story for the future.
"Though, I would say that there was this time I tried to go on my own adventure; It was when I was still only friends with my mate, and she convinced me to head out into the gorge..."
Everyone in the Pridelands knew about the gorge; massive, dangerous, and always the forbidden place that youngsters ended up sneaking a peek at, at the minimum. But Simi would go into the story of how she guided him there, and how they certainly got themselves in trouble with some rogues, and had to get out of there and back home by the skin of their teeth...
Granted, Simi was spinning the tale to be a bit more exciting, but he knew that look in her eyes. The lure for future adventure was humming within her. He just hoped she would be quick and smart enough to perhaps bring herself back home to the Pridelands.
(fade to black type of end! C: )
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