|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:28 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:30 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:35 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:36 am
 |
|
|
 |
A Mask to Hide the Fury
| Basic Info | Family Tree | Roleplays | Photo Album | History | Pride Info |
When the great plague hit Mteo'nyungu, the death toll was large. So large the ancient ritual of thought-blood letting upon a lion's death led to a red stain permanently left between the trees to mark the entrance to the den. Many lions worried for their health, and that of their children or mates.
Embama was a frail lioness, so frail she had never been allowed to hunt, and fears for her health were extreme. As a cousin of Warithi, the heir, she was of royal blood, and after the deaths of Warithi's sisters, next in line should Warithi die of the plague. Her mate, Ndege, asked, and was permitted, permission to take Embamba away until the illness passed, swearing to return. With them they took Angusho and Chuguu, a Shujaa to keep them safe, and an Msaka to feed the party.
Unfortunately, they got lost, never having left the Mteo'nyungu lands before. Though now on their way back, their prolonged absence has meant that the rest of the pride thinks them dead, and have mourned their passing. It is time for their return, both to the pride, and to life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:41 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:52 am
|
|
|
|
A Mask to Hide the Fury
| Extra |
Quote: It was bitter-sweet, wasn't it? The silence seemed to agree. Embamba's ears flicked back against her skull and her tail twitched with the impatience in her heart. It wasn't the Msaka she waited for, or her own cubs to return from their play with the unsettlingly dark twins her cousin's mate had birthed, that was the reason for her impatience. No, the reason was much closer than that... one could say she was right on top of it. Laying beside the tree of the Msaka had seemed like a good place for thinking, especially considering the topic her thoughts continued to return to. Beneath her, the red stain of those gone before burned into her flesh to fuel the mind-numbing whispers of treachery she'd begun to hate herself for.
How she wished she could hunt.
Maybe she could. Embamba's tail lashed against the earth and rock, though she was careful to keep it from touching the stained sand and sacred tree. They had never given her a chance to find out, had they? The resentment of that had been hers to bear for as long as she could remember. True, there was the fact that she got dizzy at random, usually inconvient, times, and there were times where she hadn't the strength to lift her own body, much less an antelope carcass. That didn't mean there weren't good days, too! Today was one of them, and Embamba wasn't in the mood to be kind about her musings.
If she were hunting, she wouldn't have time to ponder things such as where her life was going, or what use she was to those she loved. True, she had given Ndege a strong son and two beautiful girls--the one thing she'd ever done that she could be wholeheartedly proud of. But one act in an entire lifetime? What was one thing in comparison to the knowledge that she would be forever doomed to the mercies of her relatives. Especially now that what should have been her greatest glory was stripped from her... by a pair of half-bloods.
The growl that issued from her throat startled even her into lifting both head and ear in surprise. Silence--glorious silence--settled into her head, remaining there for a long moment. A stray wind blew, wrapping itself about her and blowing her fur to remind her that she wasn't a statue. Twitching one of her ears away from the sudden chill it brought, Embamba lowered her head once more over her paws. Though she didn't close her eyes, she certainly wasn't focusing on anything before her, and once more those treacherous thoughts returned.
She wished her cousin dead.
No, more than that. She wished the death of him, his alien mate, and both their ill-begotten young.
The horror of that truth, even one admitted so privatly, was one that made her fur stand on end and skin prickle with disgust. Was she so power hungry as this? In truth, Embamba had never had no desire to be Kaimu, her only desire in all of this had been to be something. She'd found that wish fullfilled in being sent to insure the continuation of their pride. For the long time they'd been away, that was what had kept her going. The times she had held their group up for days because she had been too weak to go on, she had had the knowledge that she provided hope for them, rather than being a burden. When she had been pregnant and unable to travel at all--no matter that they were surrounded by heathens and lesser beings at all turns--the knowledge that what she carried in her was for her pride as much as her family had saved her from the darkest of internal shadows. Now what did she have?
She had her mate, for that she was grateful, and three wonderful children who were accepted readily into the pride though they'd not had the benefit of birth rights. But what purpose did she play? A whisper behind her ear told her that she was being ungrateful. Everyone was looking out for her and protecting her out of love. They had no reason to carry her, as useless as she was, but they did. That thought should have been comforting, but it wasn't.
A sigh ran the course of her lanky body and her eyes closed. She was feeling sick again; those loathed waves of nausea lapped upon her body like a familiar shore, slowly eroding away the sands until nothing but the smallest island was left. Soon, not even that. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:55 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:56 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:57 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:00 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:03 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:07 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:10 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:17 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
