|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:22 pm
 |
|
|
 |
 Light up the Darkness
| Basic Info |
Name: Tapanga
Meaning: Sweet, unpredictable
Parents:
_____+ Mother: Nyunya (Kaytla)
_____+ Father: Tabbu (Felyn)
Siblings:
_____+ Amani (Kaytla)
_____+ Mirengo'Kauta (Leth)
_____+ Njozi (Felyn)
_____+ Tifu (Taejira)
_____+ Shabithi'Uchu (Swampie)
_____+ Shujaausi (tuesdayscat)
_____+ Kinyago'vitimbi (Krysin)
_____+ Tikiti (Ecavi)
_____+ Nchi'kijini (N0cturne)
Mate:
_____+ N/A
Offspring:
_____+ N/A
Pride: Kusini'Mwezi
Position in pride: Youth
Personality Overview:
"Normal" would be a good adjective for anyone to use for Tapanga. She's a sweet little girl, as her name suggests, who clings to her parents paws and does her best to keep on her siblings' good sides. All in all, one might immediately call her a "pushover" or weak-willed, for she'll give into the slightest request from one of her family members, and seems to prefer going along with the crowd rather than making waves. What they don't realize is how very little Tapanga actually says. Perhaps from her mother's side of the family, she's been gifted with a natural talent for acting. Even in a world were scent and body language make up a good portion of emotion and communication, Tapanga can lie with the best of them. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, she has little idea how powerful that talent could really be, using it more to keep the people about her as happy as possible.
As she grows, though, I'd like her to grow a bit more of a backbone for herself, learning to rebel at odd moments, then sinking back into her old ways every so often. All in all she's going to be a bit fickle and unreliable, having a sort of an uncertainty about which way (follower or rebel) is better until she hits adulthood where she learns how to be strong for the people around her.
Obtained: September 07 -- RP Contest |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:34 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:35 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:37 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:39 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:40 pm
|
|
|
|
Contest entry
Okay, so she knew she shouldn't have done it, but that knowledge didn't help when you were stuck half up a fallen tree far from home. It also didn't help to abate the apparently angry howls of a barely existent spectral figure that had chased you up said tree in the first place. Clinging to the dead lumber, Tapanga stuck her claws into the crackling bark a little further, brilliant eyes focused on the thing down below her trying to remember how on earth she'd ended up in this mess in the first place.
It was all Kinyago's fault! That arrogant, sadistic, stuck-up... Tapanga gave a little yelp and skittered further up on her log as the mist-like thing made a reach for her. Turning in place so she was backing up the tree rather than climbing it (this wasn't as hard as it should have been given the tree's slant) Tapanga hissed at the 'thing', the fur on her back rising as her tail lashed from side to side. If it weren't for the spots of colour on her fur she might have resembled a Jaguar up in the air as she was.
Kinyago had started the teasing that morning, though she'd always been an easy target for her brothers' jests and jabs. Being the one girl of a large litter wasn't very easy, though it had its advantages. Her mother and father stood up for her against the teasing, when they let the boys just duel it out, and she was the beloved baby sister to her elder brothers, when they were about. Still, there were times, like that morning, when Tapanga just wanted to hold her own ground against the boys. Thus, she had gone to prove herself in the one place she'd been frightened of since as long as she could remember.
Pretending that she hadn't been scared had been little trouble; indeed, she was finding out that hiding her feelings was something of a gift to her. If she didn't want her mother to worry, her body naturally picked up happy cues to go along with what she told Nyunya, confusing even the lioness's nose, no matter how upset Tapanga really was. It almost irked her that her brothers rarely seemed to understand how much she covered up for them; she never 'tattled' to her parents when the boys had unknowingly crossed a line with her, she just swallowed it and dealt with it privately.
So, when she'd gone tramping off into the forest, chin and tail held high, she pretended she could see the astonishment on her brothers' faces. It had helped when she'd crossed that first line of trees and disappeared into the woods, that they were in awe of what their "weak" and "pushover" sister could do. It was time, once and for all, to prove to them that she wasn't going to give in to their bullying anymore.
Only now she wanted to. Her mouth choked on a cry for her mother, who she knew couldn't possibly hear her now. She backed up a little farther, almost at the top now, where it was held aloft at the strange angle by another tree it had fallen and wedged against. The mist creature swam again about the base of the log, encroaching up the tree towards her when something far more frightening happened. There was a very loud, booming sort of crack beneath her.
Tapanga's eyes widened like bolders, the red pupils shrinking to pin points as her ears flattened back both in horror and by the wind as the log began to shift beneath her. The log hadn't really wedged well enough, it seemed, and a few trembling moments later the end of it splintered and began to fall.
"AAIIIIIEEE!!" Tapanga couldn't help the scream as she levitated off the log during her fall, eyes gluing more on the ground that the mist still moving about the area.
With a great 'crash' the log blew dust and debris up into the air, and Tapanga's feet hit the log once more, landing as perfectly as any cat would, save that her legs now felt as wobbly and boneless as four black, tan and pink slugs. She whimpered a little, eyes squeezed shut while the debris and dust settled about her. For a long time she crouched there, shivering, until finally one ruby eye dared to peek open. Rather than see the forest about her, or even the log she was on top of, her world was white and cloudy.
It took a moment to process, but a slow spine tingling sensation ran down the cubs spine as it dawned upon her what had settled over her body while she laid there. Though her legs still tingled and stomach still lurched from the drop, the cub gave another sharp scream and dashed out of the mist and off into the distance. Tapanga didn't know whether she ran towards the edge of the forest or away from it, but run she did and she didn't stop until luck sent her hurtling out of the trees and back onto the plains of her homeland.
She was NEVER doing that again! |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:35 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:17 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:18 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:20 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:33 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:34 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:16 am
|
|
|
|
...//History
--copying her brother's history for now-
Militant is the word that best describes Nyota's upbringing. His mother, a somewhat harsh lioness, was a member of a "traditional" pride in her younger years. She was chosen to bear a litter for the pride, but during her pregnancy a rogue male took over the pride. Rather than allow her cubs to be killed when they were born, Nyota's mother chose exhile and roamed away from the pride. Despite the hardships the rogue mother faced, she still gave birth to her litter and raised them as best she could.
The area in which Nyota and his siblings were raised in was not an abundant one--the only place they could live without danger of other lion prides or hyena packs. Because of this, the children were raised as soldiers might have been, each molded into strong hunters and fighters before their adolescent years were even upon them. While they were loved, physical and verbal signs of affection were few and far between. Perhaps because of this, when the cubs began to leave on their various ways their mother seemed completely uneffected.
When Nyota left, he never once looked back and since has given his family little thought. Nor has he found a place to settle down, and does not seem inclined to do so at any point in the near future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:40 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
