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 Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:02 am
She hid amid the bones of some long-dead lion, finding some comfort in the rib cage that surrounded her. Like many others, it had died of the disease, miserable and coughing. Not that she knew that, the bones had been there a while. She sighed, and then coughed. She'd seen the signs in other lions... She had the disease. It wasn't much now, just a cough now and then. But she was worried, naturally, that it would eventually progress and kill her.
She flicked an ear, blinking a bit. Did she hear somebody coming? Maybe it was one of the healers, come to check on her. Or a nanny come to find her. She crawled out of the bones, stretching.
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 6:26 am
 Cor was most definitely not a healer or a nanny, and neither was she looking specifically for anyone else in the pride. She was, in fact, mostly just trying to find a place where she could sit and think. She'd met someone new - brand new - a few days ago, someone who had never heard of the pride and had come upon their lands accidentally. Atticus, he called himself.
It had been very exciting hearing all about his pride in the Swamplands, where they could apparently talk to spirits. That would be a really useful skill in a pride like hers. However, he spent a lot of time with her and Cor sort of wanted to get away from him for a while. She told herself she wasn't being mean or abandoning him, but simply letting him explore on his own and meet new people.
She was almost startled to see a dark-coated girl about her own age pop out of a rib cage, but she recovered pretty quickly, greeting her with a friendly, "Hello. Are you hiding, too?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:56 am
Taya blinked, noticing Cor. "Oh... Hello... I thought you were a healer or nanny." She flicked an hear, padding over to the other youth. "What brings you out here to my lonely little bone pile?" She hoped it wasn't to PLAY. Taya didn't think she was up to more playing, it was taxing on her as it was. "I can't imagine it's..." She paused, coughing a few times. "All that exciting." She cleared her throat a bit. "Sorry about that..."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:08 am
Cor shook her head, confirming Taya's suspicions with a denial that she was either of those things. "Not me. Too much work being a nanny, and too much remembering to be a healer. Also, I think they wouldn't let me do either 'cause I'm too young. Probably."
She was a little surprised to hear the other cub refer to the bone pile as hers. Cor wasn't used to thinking of things in terms of ownership except for her dad, who she claimed completely and had absolutely no interest in sharing with anyone. That wasn't why she found it surprising though. She was more surprised because it was the first time she'd actually heard someone speak in the manner she usually did, and it was fascinating to hear what she must sound like to others.
"I actually came here escaping from a handsome foreigner who just won't leave me alone," Cor confided, naturally embellishing the truth a little to add interest. "I've had as much interesting as I can stand right now."
For a moment she was confused about the cause for Taya's apology. She had heard and seen her cough, of course, but like many in the pride she had developed the twin skills of noticing it and also ignoring it. With so many lions in the pride being ill, it was just silly to take note every time one of them showed a symptom unless it seemed in some way out of the ordinary. Extraordinarily prolonged bouts of coughing, or coughing up things that should stay inside the body would have gotten Cor's attention, but still wouldn't have warranted an apology, as far as the dark-furred cub was concerned.
"Nothing to apologize for," she said dismissively.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:17 am
"If you insist on no apology, then..." She cleared her throat again, trying to get it to not sound so scratchy. It wasn't working any time soon. "So, handsome stranger, huh...?" She sat down, tilting her head. "Where's he from...? Besides outside the pride..." She glanced toward the distant borders, wondering what it was like out there. "I wish I could go out there... Maybe... We'd heal..." She let out a sigh, her ears going back. "It'd be wonderful to not cough..." Her gaze turned to Cor. "What about you? Have you got the sickness in you yet...?" It was always just a matter of time for anyone to get sick. It was them healing or not that was the question.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:04 am
Cor nodded. "Yep. A handsome stranger. He says he's from a pride called the Jini'msemi, which is pretty far away. There are swamps and spirits and things. It sounds like a very, very strange place."
Cor had managed to get Atticus to tell her more about the swamps and she wasn't sure she'd ever want to go there, though she shared Taya's desire to explore beyond the boundaries of the pride. It was impossible, of course, unless she could prove that she was truly immune to the disease, and also not a carrier, but so far she had not shown any symptoms.
It wasn't true, actually, that she hadn't shown any symptoms, but the symptoms she did show she either ignored or convinced herself were unrelated to the pride's disease. She wanted to be one of the rare immune lions who could go out on adventures and be special. She didn't want to be diseased. She didn't want to die young like so many of the lions she knew had or would.
"You think maybe there's a cure out there?" Cor asked. The thought actually had not occurred to her. Not seriously, anyway, for she accepted that it was the lot of those in the Kitwana'antara to be sick, and that they would probably never recover completely unless they all died out or a god took some action.
"I'm not sick," she said. "But a lot of my friends are. It'd be really wonderful if there was a cure out there that could make them better.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:16 pm
Taya contemplated the idea of other prides. She hadn't actually thought of that beyond the borders... It hadn't occurred to her, as it were, that there was more beyond the borders than... Well... 'Beyond the borders.' "I wonder what other prides are out there..." Maybe there were others who were suffering disease.
The dark youth stopped to cough, whole body shuddering as she did so. When she finally stopped, she cleared her throat. This time she didn't say sorry, knowing that Cor didn't mind and it was unavoidable.
Her attention turned to the idea of a cure. "Maybe there's a god or goddess who can take pity on us and save us all... Or some of us..." She looked at the border again. There was some silence, before she shook her head. "But if we tried to leave, we'd be stopped... And then we'd still die out there, and if nobody else has ever run into this disease before, they'll die from it, too." She hated the idea of making others die because she wanted to see more of the world, more than being confined to the pride's lands.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:27 am
Cor turned her mind to the task of imagining the other prides that were out there. She knew of at least two now: the pride her mother came from and the pride Atticus came from. Neither of them seemed to have the cure the lions of the Kitwana'antara needed, but that didn't mean there wasn't some pride out there that did.
"Well, there's a pride out there where they worship strange, evil gods and sacrifice their own children if they're born the wrong color. Sometimes they steal cubs from other prides if they don't have enough to make the proper sacrifices from their own blood. It's probably only a matter of time until they use up all the cubs in the areas surrounding them, too, and have to start looking farther afield. They might even come here, and if they do, it won't be bringing a cure. But they'll be sorry if they do." Her grin was most unpleasant as she thought of using the Kitwana'antara's illness as a weapon against their enemies.
Obviously, the fact that Cor only knew of two prides for certain didn't stop her from making things up about other prides. There was nothing wrong with supposing as far as she was concerned. Even if she didn't use phrases which would indicate supposition rather than certainty in her statements. She wasn't even lying, which would have pleased her minders a great deal, the young lioness was positive.
She waited out Taya's next coughing fit patiently so that she could go on to her next point: "I don't think there's really much to see out there anyway. When we're supposed to get better, we will. Maybe it will be a god that comes along and saves us, or maybe some lion with a magic herb or ritual will come along, or maybe we'll just all become immune over time. But there's not much reason for us to leave. And like you said, we'd be stopped if we tried."
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:13 pm
Taya let out a rattling sigh. "It'd be nice to not cough..." If only thinking positive could cure everything. She flopped onto her side, more out of boredom than illness. "Say, Cor..." She rolled onto her back, staring up at the sky. To her, it almost always looked red and gloomy. "What do you wanna be if you grow up?" She didn't imagine a 'when,' but an 'if.' She wasn't bothering to deny it, or even sugar coat it - They'd be lucky to see adulthood. Taya scratched her chest a bit with a forepaw. "I wanna be a healer... Try and help others..." And herself. If she helped herself, she would be better able to help others. Hopefully.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:25 am
Cor didn't have a persistent cough like Taya did, but she could still agree with the other cub's statement that it would be nice not to cough. For her it would be nice not to hear everyone around her coughing and know it meant they would meet an early death. The thought wasn't exactly a cheering one, after all, that anyone who coughed as Taya did was likely to die young. The change of subject was welcome.
"When I grow up," she began, emphasizing the fact that she believed she would reach adulthood. Others might not, but she knew she herself would. "I want to be a bard I think. Tell stories and keep the pride's history alive."
She knew she would make a horrible healer. She didn't have a great deal of patience for a healer's tasks and duties. It was an important profession, however, and she was glad someone else wanted to do it. It meant she wouldn't have to, and that was a good thing. She was much better suited to the life of a bard.
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:24 am
Taya couldn't help but smile and chuckle, the sound almost like a gurgle. So optimistic... It cheered the bone-marked cub up, actually. "When... Yeah..." She let out another rattling sigh, closing her eyes, and imagined for a moment herself as an adult. "I think I'll try to grow my own herb garden... That way, I have everything I need... Right there at my paws..." She contemplated this a moment, then got up. "I think I may go work on that now. While I'm still able to." She smiled, nudging Cor's shoulder with a paw. "Thanks. You showing up cheered me up a lot!" With a light flick of her tail, she turned and padded off, a small smile on her maw.
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:41 am
"That's a really good idea," Cor had to admit.
"My mum kept an herb garden when she knew my father. Now that she's back to being a princess she keeps two gardens. One for herbs and one for flowers. Sometimes my dad comes back with flowers from the one." More lies, but Cor wasn't even aware of speaking them. It was the way she was.
"I'm glad you're feeling happier. That's an important part of getting better." At least that's what the healers were always saying. It made Cor feel very proud that she'd been able to help Taya with that. She would definitely make a very good bard, which wasn't quite as good as being a princess, but was still pretty good.
"I'm going to get going, if you're all right then. Lots of people to see and things to do, you know." She suddenly wanted to talk to Atticus was all and ask him about the gardens people kept where he was from, or if they even kept them.
"Bye!"
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