Why he was out near the borders he didn't know, well yes, he did know, a whole bunch of young whippersnappers had walked so close to him he'd nearly had a heart attack and for once he had managed to bolt. It wasn't very often he managed to run and now he was paying for it. Every part of his frail old frame ached, from the very tips of his ears to the fluff at the tip of his tail.
It was going to take some time to get back in to the centre of the pride, dangit! Flopping down in a dusty twiggy sort of heap the old lion closes his shadowy eyes, black as the ace of spades once those eyes now harboured a silvery film that still allowed him to see but made his world all the more shadowy.
At least out here no one would bother him and he could have a good rest before he started to make his way back to the centre of the pridal lands. Smiling a content, smug smile that he had managed to evade all of those long, young, scary shadows he closes his dark eyes, maybe being out on the border wasn't such a bad thing after all, the main problem was that he knew he was hungry and he was useless at hunting. He'd have to make his way back to the main dens for a meal before the night was out. But for now, he could just savour the peace and quiet of the borders.
-
Don't get her wrong, she loved her family. She did, but there were just so many of them. She had warned her daughter that she was leaving for a while, that she wanted some time on her own. That was days ago now, and Ecaterina was savouring her solitude. She was a social creature, and there were times when she laid her head down in some strange place, that she missed the hustle and bustle of living with her daughter, but she was happy with her freedom.
She sighed to herself as she walked, her paws light and carefree but her shoulders were slumped. Her figure was as plump as a young lioness, but her eyes were old. Light blue and once sparkly and light, they had dulled in age and the smile which had always been on her face, was now only a small quirk of the mouth.
Stop being so dreary, she told herself firmly, tilting her jaw up. She was not in her dotage yet! She was still young, and could be just as bright and cheerful as she had been in her former youth. She began to hum, purposely breaking the silence around her and her hips swayed to the rhythm as she moved.
-
His dark eyes lifted as his ears caught the sound of the approaching lioness. Just typical really, you relaxed for moor ethan a minute and someone turned up to disturb your peace. "stop making that infernal noise! don't you know people are trying to sleep?!?" he grumbles, turning his smokey eyed gaze towards the lioness though at the moment all he could see was flashes of blue, bloody grass obscuring his vision, who invented grass any way? It was always in the way!
"You best be staying back there madam, I don't have no food here and theres no room for your shadow. off with you!" he grumps shuffling slightly to raise his twig filled, dusty, scraggly old body up in to a more vertical position. Upon doing so he finally laid eyes upon the pale blue beauty. Both brows raised he snorts. Despite his age and his paranoia he could still appreciate beauty when he saw it and this, well this was beauty, but not a young beauty. She'd ripened and become a beautiful old flower ripe and lovely.
“I don't know you." he states in his usual blunt manner his dark eyes moving over her frame, cautiously, glancing to her shadow, it was an old shadow, he couldn't be hurt by old shadows. "Do you live in the kizingo'zaa? You look very fishy, are you here to eat my food? I don't have any!" He blinks owlishly calming back down and flickering his tail. Clearly this lady didn't need any scraps he usually scraped up she was in very good condition for an older lady. "I definitely don't know you, do you live here or not?" he humphs, still eyeing the blue lioness wearily.
-
Ecaterina hadn't even noticed the figure of the male, not that she had been paying attention to the grass but she bristled at his angry tone. Why! How rude of him! How dare he snap at her, for humming? It was an enjoyable pass time and she was trying to portray a bright mood, and make herself feel better. She huffed, but she paused, in the middle of opening her mouth to retort, when he spoke of shadows. No room for her shadow? A shadow didn't ake up any room. She paused again, but her face gaining an insulting look, wait, had he called her Madam? That she took offense too. She was a miss still, not madam.
When he raised himself up, she paused. Oh. He looked so much like her Neculai...the same colour, but no...his markings where differnet, and her Neculai was gone. Long go, she had seen him pass on herself, though it had not been her choice to. This male was old, certainly older than her, scraggly and skinny, as if he hadn't had a decent feed in weeks. What a strange sight, most lions were well fed and plump, almost too plump at times.
Finally, she seemed to break her silence. “Kizingo'zaa?” She asked, sounding confused. “What is the Kizingo'zaa? I have no interest in your food, I can catch my own.” He was telling the truth though, he didn't seem to have any food. “You're right,” she said, shooting him a smile that made her look younger, amused by his behaviour. Men flocked to her usually, and this man, though he had seemed to take in her apperance, did nothing of the sort. “I don't live here. I live...nowhere.” She gave an airy shrug, as if unconcerned by her lack of home. “Do you live near here?” Was the Kizingo'zaa a pride? Shouldn't he be better fed if it was?
-
"The kizingo'zaa is the pride lands you are stepping in to madam." He grumbles looking her over once again. "I used to live no where until I cam here, now I live here." he grunts, stating the obvious facts was a part of who he was. He caught her smile and it made his lips twitch just a bit, it had been a long time since he had smiled at someone, he wasn't about to start now, certainly not when she had interrupted his nap, even if her smile was devastatingly pretty.
"Yes, I suppose you can find your own food, you are rather plump." moving to stand the the old lion drags his overly slim carcass up, his bones creaking, a few audible cracks sounding on the still air as he managed to get to his paws. This of course only showed how skinny he truly was and unkempt, bits of twig and leaf and anything else stuck out of his fur and mane at odd tangled angles.
"Homes more that way" he points in the general direction of the dens with a flailing paw. "Had a bit of a fright, thats all, came out here to get some peace only you had to come along with your humming." He grumbles teetering a little as he takes a creaky step towards the lioness. "You're not scary though, fat sure, but scary no, do you want to live here? I'll show you the way if you do, need more old people about, this place is full of young annoying fluff balls." He huffs his nose twitching a bit, as he took few more steps to close the gap between them, she was beautiful for an older girl, he could certainly appreciate her appearance she was a breath of sunshine, someone he could sit almost close to unafraid of her elderly shadow. "Whats your name? I'm Rai, and no you can't shorten it any further than that!" he mumbles, having been annoyed by some young cub at some point who'd tried to shorten his already stumpy name.
-
Ah hah! The Kizingo'zaa was pride lands. She was right. She preened a little, glad she had guesed corrected and shot him a curious look. Why would he want to be part of a pride if he had formerly been a rogue? Rogue life was much more fuffling. Utter lies, she knew, but it was how she thought of her rogue life.
Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped slightly, she barely seemed to notice him getting to his feet. PLUMP? What? Her? She glanced down at her figure. She huffed, and tilted her jaw up proudly. “Just because I am not made of skin and bones like you, doesn't mean I am fat. I am simply fed.” She scowled, looking older now, and perhaps a little self conscious. She wasn't fat, dammit.
She blinked at him. He was...like no one she knew. So blunt and honest and so frustrating. She shook her head, and muttered, “you want to invite me into your pride, so you call me fat and old?” Really, he must have been crazy. That was not a way to invite someone into your pride. It was the way to getting slapped. “Rai,” she murmered, her voice almost a purr as she tried to remember his name. “What? I'm not allowed to call you Ai? Or Ra? What about Ra-Ra?” She teased lightly, trying to annoy him, since he had insulted her about her weight and her age. “I'm Ecaterina,” she tacked onto the end, considering it was only fair that he knew her name too.
-
"You keep telling yourself that, well fed, just means gone soft." he grumps, though he secretly envied those who's stomachs didn't growl and of course who's muscles weren't wasted because of a lack of proper feeding. "I joined this pride to be safe in my old age, safe and looked after, am in better shape now than I have been in years." He puffs out his chest, another slight lie, he was too afraid to join in the mass cafuffle that was feeding time in the pride so relied on the kindness of others or the scraps of large kills.
The old male snorted "Ra-Ra?" he raised a brow, he was almost tickled by her "never heard that name before." he grins simply "how about you do you like to be called Eca, or Rina?" he rolls his dark eyes "Kinda hard to shorten a name thats so very long." He huffs twitching his scraggly tail.
"Well, do you want to come? I'm not standing around here all day, need to go and see if those young-uns have finished eating yet, might get a nice bone today, kids these days, don't think about their elders and betters when it comes to meal times, just too busy stuffing their chubby faces." he starts to turn away from her then, though he pauses "Are you coming?"
-
Ecaterina huffed, and shot him an unamused look. “This is you in your better state? You need a keeper then, Ra-Ra,” she purposely used the nickname, but it was not said in a mean way, mostly just to pay him back for the 'soft' comment. She was well fed, yes, but she wasn't big!
“Eca? Rina?” She crinkled her nose, a childish gesture on her. “Well, I suppose those are better than Kitty or Cat.” She didn't like it when people shortened her name to Cat. It made her sound like some wild animal, when she was quiet well behaved, thank you very much.
She quirked her head at him. “Why wait for the young-uns to finish eating? You obviously need more than scraps and bones. Why not take down something of your own?” She sniffed, looking disapprovingly at his skinny figure. He was practically wasting away. She had moved to follow him, though did not answer about the pride. Well, she didn't want to give away her mysterious air just yet, but he certainly was interesting...
-
He gave a little quiet grunt and looked at her with a slightly bemused look at the fact that she kept calling him Ra-Ra, he found it amusing that she would not really shorten, but infact lengthen his name. "Rina it is then, be easier for me to remember." he snorts continuing to walk though his movements were rheumy and slow, he was making a beeline for the dens and the potential meal that awaited him.
"Can't hunt, haven't hunted for an age, bones too creaky and the shadows are too big on prey. Just have to wait, it's not like I need to eat a lot, am old, just eat what ever they leave behind." He nods a little quirky nod at his words, they were the truth in a sort of half cocked way, he was too frightened to hunt, but a dead thing was already dead so it's shadow could't hurt him. "Are you volunteering your services Rina?" he scoffs shaking his head."Haven't had a nanny since i was a little cub, can look after myself, I eat I sleep, I do my job what more is there to do in this life hmm?"
-
“Will you need to remember it for very long?” She remarked, sounding faintly curious. She was not brought down by her age, probably by sheer mind powers that her bones hadn't begun to creak and she hadn't struggled to move yet. Perhaps denial was useful for some thing. She was curious though. He had sugested she join his pride, but would they actually see each other, would he have to remember her name if she did stay? She didn't know how a pride worked. It could be so huge they would never meet again. A slight frown worked across her face at the thought.
“Old age shouldn't stop you from hunting,” she huffed. “You're not in your dotage yet. You're still young enough to fend for yourself.” The day you stopped taking care of yourself, you stopped being alive. She looked a little flustered at his comment of offering herself for his minder. “Well, it would be years until I am as old as you,” she remarked dryly, before glancing at him with a frown. “How about life?” She pointed out. “What about enjoying yourself, or having fun, or just...sitting around, and being happy? There's more to life than surviving.”
-
*Prides fairly big sure, but I see the same people often enough." He looks to the blue lioness, her coat a very striking colour "Not like I could miss you, your coats very, bright. yes bright." He snorts a bit, the pride was full of brightly coloured lions but none like her. "could see you from a mile away, how do you manage to stay so pudgy when you're so brightly coloured?" He raises a curious brow, he turned his attention to the road ahead though, they'd be closing in on the dens soon.
"I have the rheumatism and can't see so well these days." he mumbles, he always had an excuse to not hunt. "Just can't run any more and the little fluffy bunny things are just too fast. Besides i'm not a hunter, thats not my job around here." He huffs plodding in a slightly different direction now. "You can come and stay with me while you'r here, if you decide to go, it's no skin off of my nose." Giving an affirmative grunt and a quick nod he moves a little faster. "Haven't got time to be sitting around happy, got a job to do and I have to avoid the shadows. They are always out to get me them shadows." he huffs "Obviously, you have nothing to worry about, healthy and fat, don't have to worry about any shadows at all, me I have to be careful make sure the shadows are gone before I eat."
He looks at the blue lioness for a brief moment then. "nearly there now, you can stay with me if you want to, you'll ilk the kizingo'zaa, it's a good place to live, you'll have to get a job and change your name but you could do with something shorter, it'll be easier for me to remember if you get a shorter name."
-
“For goodness sake,” she muttered, sounding highly irritated. “I am not pudgey. I am well-fed. Say it with me,” she said, purposely saying very slowly, “well fed.” She was pleased with his comment about her coat though. She loved her bright fur, and she tried hard to keep it. “I tend to stun prey, shocking them into not moving,” she said, with a faint laugh. “My daughter does it too, but her coat is not quite as bright as mine.” She smiled, thinking of her daughter tucked away in her den, with her cubs. It was a fond smile.
“What is your job in the Kizingo'Zaa?” She asked, sounding curious, and then looked flustered again at his offer. “That is...very kind of you, Ra-Ra,” she murmered, peering at him from the corner of her eye. So odd. “What are these shadows you talk about?” She asked, fastening her pace as well, so she could keep up with him. She didn't want to have to talk to his rump because he was moving quicker than her.
“Just for that, I'll have to chose a very long, complicated name,” she teased him, tilting her head. She may have just commited herself to staying, she realised. She would have to send word back to her daughter, or she would think she had gone the way of Neculai. She would worry, she thought, trying to sort out her life before the pride. Well, she reasoned with herself, someone had to stay and take care of Ra-Ra.
-
Rai rolls his eyes a little "finefine, well fed, personally I would say over fed but where ever you want to put yourself in is fine." He snerks sitting himself down before the mouth of a den."This is where I live, it's not much but I live in it." He looks to the lioness for a brief moment. "You'll have to excuse the mess." he wondered why he said that after he had said it. Ridiculous, it was his den it could be as messy as he wanted it. Females and their influences!
"I'm an usher, I take care of the dead." he waits for a moment for her before plodding in to the den and flumping down just about any where on the bare cool floor. It had been a long day of walking and he was exhausted, he was going to be sore in the morning that was for sure.
Pointing at her shadow he grumbles quietly "that shadow, yours is safe, it's an old shadow, old shadows are weak, but theres bloody hundreds of young shadows around here and they are very dangerous, get bloody bigger all the time." He snorts, his voice perfectly serious.
"Just plonk yourself any where Rina" he chuckles a little, though it was a dry un-amused laugh. "you'd make your name long just to spite me? Typical woman, alway trying to make males lives harder. Get some sleep, we're probably too late for the afternoon meal now, have to wait until tomorrow. doesn't bother me one jot, can go another day without a meal."
-
Ecaterina hide a smile at his comments over her weight. She wasn't taking as much offense, though she still maintained she was just well fed. Pausing at the mouth of his den, she glanced around the surrounding area. In the distance, she could see other pride members and ducked inside the den. What if someone saw her and thought he had taken her in for naughty things? She felt like such a child at that thought, and stiffled a giggle. “All men are messy, it's just part of their charm,” she murmered to him, glancing around his den. It wasn't horribly messy. She could clean it up. She quickly stopped that thought. Ridiculous.
“What a wonderfully happy job,” she said, slightly sarcastically, watching as he flopped onto the ground. She frowned lightly. He seemed so old, but he was not passed his prime yet. “Have you always seen shadows as frightful things?” She asked, sounding curious. What an odd thing to be afraid of. Shadows were unthreatening, really.
Rina. She hated nicknames usually, but she put up with that one. She could have been prim and proper, sitting by the mouth of the den, but instead she moved in comfortably and sprawled comfortably near to him but far enough away that she would not be considered lying with him. “I can go out and catch us something later,” she suggested, stiffling a yawn. “I think I'm catching your old age, Ra-Ra,” she murmered, as her eyes fluttered and wanted to slip close. She wasn't old! She didn't need an afternoon nap! A yawn slipped out.
-
The scraggly male looked at her as she lay down, he could comfortably reach her from where he was laying but it wasn't in his nature to touch, "if you like, you clearly need to be fed on a daily basis." he stated in a sarcastic manner his large scraggly maned head falling on his paws.
"it's a good job, a noble one for someone like me." he snorts, he was proud of his job, it kept him busy and out of the way of too many live things. "shadows are dangerous Rina, you'd know that if you could see them the way I do, always out to get you." he huffs, as if telling her these things was stating something insanely obvious.
"Afternoon naps are for everyone, just close your eyes and you can go and see someone when you wake up. Need to change your name, can't have an old baby in my den." He huffed closing his dark eyes. and before very long at all a long noisy snore escapes from the old male, it really didn't take him very long at all to just fall asleep.
-
She watched him through sleepy eyes and looked amused as his noisy snores filled the den and distracted her from her tiredness. She didn't think she would ever see shadows as he did, but it was an interesting idea. She was, however, confused about his comment of having a big baby in the den. She supposed she would have to ask him about it later.
He seemed old, and tired and, she yawned, maybe she could do with a nap. That didn't mean she was old! It just meant...she was bored without his company. That was it. She kept watching him, amused at the noisy snores. She wondered if he knew how loud he was at night. She shook her head, giggling to herself as she closed her eyes.
Sleep now, she would tease Ra-Ra about his snoring later. She would deny shifting closer to him as she went to sleep though. She was simply trying to get comfortable.
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