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 Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:02 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:10 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:14 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:59 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:03 am
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:04 am
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:06 am
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Simo's Entry Two is Better!
Username: Neon Fly
Prompt Number: One!
Entry: It was a lazy morning in the pride as the pair of cubs trotted shoulder to shoulder, searching for the most entertaining way to occupy their time. It’d been at least a few days since they’d been scolded for their last foolish stunt, long enough that the tongue lashing was further from their mind then what their next game would be.
As they wandered across the savannah, the rhythm of their movements in perfect sync, it only took one to notice the uncanny match of their steps before small paws were stretching further to reach just ahead of her companion. Just enough that they both knew she was leading by scant inches. Of course the other quickly took up the challenge, lengthening her own stride in an effort not to be beaten. After that it wasn’t long before they were both sprinting through the grass at break neck speed, the safety of the watchful gaze of the pride lionesses but a distant memory by the time they both careened over a sudden embankment accomplishing fantastic feats of aerial acrobatics before landing hard on the unforgiving ground below where a startled anteater peered at them, distracted from his mid-morning meal.
Dazed, the little lionesses scrambled to gather their wits, as usual Nikon was the first to pop to her paws, shaking the dust from her dark pelt and flexing everything to be sure it all still worked even as she announced proudly, “I win!”
“Do not! I jumped first!” Simo bleated in protest even as she lay on the ground wondering how her companion’s mind wasn’t as jarred by the sudden, unpleasant meeting with the ground as hers was. It’s because she’s got a rock for a brain, the pale lioness reminded herself quietly, finding the catty, but harmless, insult made her feel better. A smile dawning upon her maw though it fell quickly in the face of the confident and knowing gaze she was given, “But I got up first.”
She’d been bested, but only for the moment. The conversation quickly shifting to include the peculiar creature digging at an ant mound nearby. Ni’s sunset orange gaze growing wide as she leaned towards the anteater, nose wiggling at it. “What is that thing?! It smells weeird!”
Finally rocking off her hip to stand Simo tilted her head at the odd, long snouted beast and giggled, rolling her own deep brown eyes. “It’s an anteater, yanno cause it.. eats ants.”
“Eats ants!” She wasn’t sure if that was horror or fascination in her friend’s voice, but with her ego still damaged from the fall she was willing to try the odds. A rather coy smile crawling across her lips as her head canted towards the other. “Yeap. I dare you to eat one!”
“Just one? Haah, I’d barely taste it. Better make it a couple, like three or four,” Ni’s challenging grin made her flush and resist the urge to grimace at the idea of eating ants, but she’d made her bed and there wasn’t any way she’d let the cheeky female get the best of her! Matching that grin in an entirely unconscious way, Simo scoffed, “Go ahead and eat as many as you like! You’ll never be able to eat more than I can!”
Some how these innocent sort of games never do turn out exactly the way you think they will, however harmless they may seem. The Umama the two girls went running to after their tongues swelled up from numerous ant stings never did get the clear story of exactly how the pair had ended up looking like a couple of foolish little toads with their tongues stuck out. Not that she would let that stop her from recounting the amusing tale for the enjoyment of the younger generations of the pride. Even to this day the pair can’t seem to live down the event. Their ears burning with embarrassment at the little giggles that spill across the land always just around bedtime.
Do you already have a Bonelands member? -grins sheepishly- I do.. my lovely, Njalo.
Anything Else? I fell in love with the entry for these two and given that I had my eye on the light colored one from the start of the contest, figured it might be fun to give this a try. Besides all that, the idea for this entry kept nagging me.
Also, Busisa are rogue females that come to the pride, because of the fact that the males tend to be very accepting of these females despite their foreign origin they are considered “blessed".
Zephira's Winning Entry
Name of Dark Lioness: Nikonkoni
Name Meaning: Zulu name meaning ‘champion’, Nikon was named for her slightly competitive nature as a cub, and certainly grew into it!
Name of Light Lioness: Simosihle
Name Meaning: Zulu name meaning ‘beautiful feeling’, Si was named for the way her playful antics used to make her mother smile, though the playfulness has rather turned to mischief now.
Brief History of Dark Lioness: Born to the darker group, she has always been a smidge biased towards the color variation she matches. Her sense of superiority shows in the smug competitiveness she has exhibited towards what surely seemed like a childhood friend. And they were friends, bold little Nikon and sweet little Si. Mostly. But as they grew, their friendship slowly turned into a kind of rivalry that runs deeper than either seem to have actually noticed. Nikon, always strong and bold ever since her cubhood trek home, dares to tempt any kind of trouble to prove once and for all that she is the greater lioness!
Brief History of Light Lioness: Born to her mother in the ‘light group’ and a passing rogue, she has always felt that it was ones own strength that determined value, not color or heritage. Sweet and often friendly, she was also more than a bit of a troublemaker whenever she was with a certain darker lioness. And they were friends, bold little Nikon and sweet little Si. Mostly. But as they grew, their friendship slowly turned into a kind of rivalry that runs deeper than either seem to have actually noticed. Who Si seeks to prove herself to, she doesn’t know. But she must not lose to Nikon!
Story:
Rivals. They didn’t have to fight all the time, could easily work very well together. But in the end, when it all came down to it… there would only be one winner. Only one could stand out above the other. Day by day, the winner might change. But in the end, for there surely must be an end, there would be a victor.
Both were quite certain they knew which of them it would be. They simply did not agree. Never did the pair come to blows over this, though on a few occasions it seemed certain that they might! No, no blood shed by the claws of the other. But with the ‘anything you can do I can do better’ contest growing higher and higher in stakes, well. When they were cubs it had been simpler to find tasks. Jump all the way onto that rock. Catch that rabbit. Win this race.
But with most of the easier contests finished with, though there were a few that could certainly be revisited, it was growing more risky each time they tested one another. Risky indeed. The only time they seemed to work flawlessly together was in escaping trouble they’d talked each other into… that or when they were giving trouble to someone else. Most of the time though, risk was not a concern but merely another factor in their little…competition.
“I’ll bet a water buffalo would feed a lot of cubs.”
“Only if you got one of the big ones though. Like that one there.”
“The one with the nasty looking horns?”
“That’s the one. He’s the biggest in the group…or I think he is.”
A pair of lionesses crouched down in the grass in perfect sync, though there was no way the two had planned it. They liked to think themselves complete opposites, different in every way and surely so much better than the other. That they might actually be perfectly alike, that their similarities were what brought them to compete so, caused them to argue so frequently, impossible..
Smug dark Nikon had spoken first, taking the initiative to suggest their next competition in the most casual and teasing of ways. The pale silvery furred Si naturally responded by raising the stakes a bit. Adding a little more challenge, a little more risk. Because now that they could look after themselves, there always had to be a little risk involved. As if he knew they watched him, the massive preybeast tossed his head. Both lionesses tensed, and two pairs of ears perked forward with nervous excitement. It was one thing to go off on a hunt together and bring back a large catch. It was quite another to bring back not a weak or sickly or young creature, but a big, powerful, and potentially dangerous one.
So, naturally, that was what Nikon and Si were going to do. Their twisted kind of teamwork seemed to function oddly well at times, but strategy was never the plan. No, one did not drive prey towards the other to make the catch easier. They would both hunt, and both intend to make the killing strike. Whichever was the ‘better’ huntress would be the one to succeed, though they didn’t often show it off to everyone else. Not anymore, not since they were little more than cubs. Now the only person who had to know what the one had accomplished was the other, who had not.
“One...” Nikon said, eager to start their challenge.
“Two...” Si responded, picking up the pace as she edged them a little closer to commencement.
There was no ‘three’. There never was. As one, the pair stalked through the grasses, side by side neither giving acknowledgement to her competitor. Their struggle to out-do one another had honed both their skills, leaving them trapped forever as equals. But ‘equal’ was not ‘better’, and so ‘equally great’ would never do. As the herd seemed to sense their presence, both broke into a run. Nikon charged straight for the massive male they’d selected, while Si took her usual subtle side approach. Both were, of course, quite certain that their method was the better means of doing things. It was not because if Nikon’s charge failed the preybeast would run right into Si, nor was it because Si slipping up behind or beside their prey would prevent it from properly dodging Nikon’s attack. If that were so, it was merely coincidence. Nothing more, and precious little less.
Unfortunately, it seemed that this particular challenge had been riskier than they’d planned. Going after such a large and powerful choice had not been a good strategy, but Si had certainly not planned on her selection tossing the leaping Nikon several feet into a cloud of dust. Nor had the plan involved getting stepped on by the panicking herd. In mere minutes, their challenge had left them both bruised and unsuccessful, and exactly where everything had gone wrong was impossible to pin down precisely. It was probably all the fault of the other though. Definitely not theirs.
Nikon rose stiffly to her paws, limping painfully to where Si was just staggering to her feet. The two looked at each other, both panting slightly, both covered in dirt. And then, in perfect unison, both looked in the direction the entire herd had stampeded off in.
“I clawed his snout,” the dark furred lioness announced, sitting down a moment to lick a sore spot on her side.
“Right,” Si laughed scornfully, wriggling the toes on her left hind foot to make sure they all still moved, “I was far closer to actually catching him than you were.”
“Oh really?” Nikon scoffed, looking up from her bruised flank “When did that happen, exactly?”
“While he was giving you flying lessons,” the pale lioness teased, dropping down to stretch out pounded muscles.
“Well, I didn’t see it,” Nikon growled, shaking her head to see if that would make it stop pounding. It didn’t. In fact, everything spun for a moment once she’d stopped. But that wasn’t enough to keep her from shooting a dark look at her rival.
“Well, I didn’t see any blood on his nose,” Si sniped back, flopping to lie on her belly and licking her forepaw disdainfully.
“Catch up to that herd and you’ll see it!” But it was an empty sort of comeback. Neither of them quite felt like racing after their intended prey at the moment. Laying down and not moving again seemed more like a good idea. Or it would have been, had they not been out on a hunting trip. For a long moment they were silent, tending to various aches and pointedly ignoring the other. Then Si’s stomach growled. Nikon licked her lips.
“…I bet I could find another herd first.”
“You couldn’t find the ground if you fell on it.”
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