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 Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:57 pm
 It was still baffling to think that the pride had changed so much in such a short period of time. Not only had they uprooted themselves to a new location, but... oh my if still felt weird to think of it! An Umholi had been replaced by its own offspring, and Matifu was no more. Dina hated to admit it, but that meant at least part of the seer's prophecy was true. How very unsettling to think about. It left Dina with a disturbing amount of animosity towards the outsider, but there was nothing to be done about it now. The time had passed, and there were other things to keep the Cinga occupied. Since her return from a brief visit to the rogue lands, the lioness had talked her vulture partner Bora into continuing their relationship. Which now meant Dina felt it was her duty to scout out good hunting grounds for her pride sisters. If nothing else, then to at least keep a good eye out for danger, and rogues.
Her fur crawled as she shook the disgruntled memories from the foremost of her mind. The lionesses time in the rogue lands had been brief, but the feeling of being vulnerable without her pride had stuck with her throughout the entire venture. After some time pondering, Dina returned herself to the pride's common area, amidst dens and other vaguely worn patches of ground. With a flop the lioness went to lay down, pleased that the first rains had tempered the dusty lands so it no longer shot dirt into her face for doing so.
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 12:52 am
 Sekayi was laughing and playing with his siblings, carelessly running between the legs of unfortunate adults nearby. It had been a day much like any other in the short life of the yellow cub. It was beginning to fade from his memory, but he remembered when he met his father before Matifu died.
Being so young, he hadn’t understood much surrounding his birth, but he had know that his father was important. He also knew that his father’s death had more than a little to do with the looks he and his siblings got. Still, he kept a constant smile lit upon his face.
It didn’t matter to him. All that mattered to him was his family. Running alongside his siblings, he quickly dodged as one of his brothers attempted to tackle him. Unfortunately, he lost his footing, slipped, and went careening into one of the lionesses. Lowering his ears, he slowly looked up to the lioness that he’d run into.
“Uhh, sorry,” he said pitifully, lost as to what to say. Inwardly, he huffed as his siblings ran off without him. Go figure. Giving her his most sheepish grin, Sekayi hoped that he wouldn’t get in trouble.
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:58 am
It was nice to relax without the constant jabbbering of Bora into her ear, whether the vulture had simply taken to the sky once more or had perched herself in a nearby tree, Dina was still quite pleased. For as much as she appreciated the work of her feathered companion, a lion could only take so much pestering before it wished to simply bite down on the one that annoyed it. Speaking of which, she felt a heavy thump against her back that shocked her into nearly rolling over the poor thing in her attempt to jump to her paws, but luck was on the little guy's side as Dina managed to still herself fairly quickly.
While still laying on her side the lioness craned her neck around to come face to face with the tiny yellow cub. Those leg markings were unmistakable. This must have been one of the son's of Matifu. "As you probably should be," the lioness told him, rolling over to her stomach to get a better look at him. "Tired lionesses like myself don't appreciate getting run into." She may have gone on to lecture him, but her mood swiftly changed as she could not resist the cub's sheepish look. For all her desire to rest, Dina had found herself being more and more interested in the pride's cubs lately. Why? Well... she was fairly certain she knew why. Her time would be coming soon, when she would have cubs of her own. Perhaps that's what tempered the lioness from further lecturing.
Eventually her expression softened and Dina extended a large paw to enclose the cub and pull him closer to her, a quick rub of heads and a small purr to show him that she was no longer angry. "What is your name little one, I have not yet had much time with you and your siblings," she asked him, wondering if all of siblings resembled the late Umholi so strikingly.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:49 pm
Sekayi sat nervously in front of the lioness, hoping that he wouldn't get into too much trouble. He quickly glanced around in hopes to see one of his siblings nearby, but they had run off, unaffected by his absense. Well, maybe they hadn't noticed he was gone yet, he thought.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, "I didn't mean to run into you." As she softened toward him, he felt a little less anxious about getting into trouble today. My name is Sekayi!" he answered her question readily. Now that he was sure that she wasn't angry with him for his carelessness, he was curious about her.
Having spent the majority of his time with his mother and siblings since their birth, he hadn't really gotten to know many of the other pride members. The ones that he was familiar with were other cubs his age. Looking up at her with a silly grin he asked ,"What's your name?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:13 pm
He was all manner of adorable, at least in the lioness' current condition she seemed to think so, for now. And so quick to answer her question! What an obedient little boy, other than running into her he didn't seem like much trouble- as boys were apt to be. Dina didn't much like dealing with the male cubs or youngsters of the pride, and dearly hoped her own condition wouldn't produce any of the little monsters. Her purr broke off in time for her ro speak, the Cinga's large eyes focused on the little cub she imprisoned with her paws. Oh, he wasn't getting away, not until she had her fill of cuteness for the day. "Well I'll be certain to remember that, Sekayi. And hopefully I'll get the chance to meet your siblings as well and learn their names." She knew who their mother was, so perhaps she should pay her a visit some time soon? It had been a few cycles since Dina had produced cubs of her own, and she was curious about this younger generation.
With a quick musing lull, her voice rumbled in her throat as the boy asked her name. He certainly wasn't shy. "My name is Dina, I am a Cinga for the pride", she replied, the word having stuck to her quite easily. As much as she liked getting away from the chatty buzzard, she had to admit that Bora had made her significantly more useful for the pride- a duty that Dina embraced. Speaking of the vulture, Dina cast blue eyes off over her shoulder, attempting to spot the bird. It should have caught up with her by now.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:21 pm
"Oh them?" he giggled at the reference to his siblings. He wasn't sure as to why she was interested in them, or himself for that matter. "I can tell you their names! My sisters are Thuli, Ora, and Matifa," he chattered on, not thinking to give her Thulisile's and Orabela's full names," and my brothers are Machozi and Laini."
Beaming up at her, he was curious as to what she would do with the information. Most of the interaction that he'd had with adults were primarily being fussed at over their young rambunctious nature. Sekayi felt special knowing this lionesses name.
"Cinga? What do Cingas do?" he asked curiously. As far as he was concerned, all of the lionesses were hunters. He hadn't really heard of the ranks and pride members other than the Umholi and the Umzingeli.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:27 pm
Dina returned her gaze to the little cub, ears flicked forward as she listened to him happily chime in with his siblings names. It was too bad really, but there wasn't much she could learn from just their names, not without a face to put them to. The lioness didn't think to scold him for his over eagerness, but she wasn't particularly pleased at the conclusion of his list either. Nonetheless, Dina shifted moods without a hitch as Sekayi asked about her. The lioness couldn't help but rumble a little purr that quickly faded as she grew sore of laying how she currently was. Rather suddenly, she shuffled her paws and pushed herself upright, walking a few paces around and once more settling back down to her belly near the young cub. This position was much more comfortable.
"As a cinga, its important to track down water sources for the pride", she explained, as if there had been no pause at all in their conversation. "I have help with this," she paused to motion with her muzzle toward the descending white buzzard as it angled itself to land near the two felines. Perfect timing. Any longer and she would have begun to wonder what had kept Bora from their afternoon ritual. It was sad to say, but Dina was getting use to having the bird constantly at her side.
It had taken longer than expected to circle the territory due to some unusual thermals and headwind that managed to catch the vulture unawares, but once adjusted to they weren't anything difficult to manage. It wasn't hard to spot Dina either, the lioness always managed to stand out with her splotchy coloring... which was strange. They all use to look the same to Bora, regardless of species. Feline was feline and lion was lion. It bothered the bird that she was now able to tell one of them apart from the other, but it was hard to argue with free meals. In a flurry of wings, feathers, and talons the vulture dropped to the hard ground with a thunk and a hop. Upon seeing the tiny creature that sat near Dina the large white bird squawked in its screeching voice and jutted its long beak in an accusing fashion towards the cub. "What is this morsel doing here?" Really, the last thing the cranky bird wanted to do was play babysitter to kitty-cubs.
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:57 pm
Sekayi hadn't known of those like cingas in the pride. Come to think of it, he had never really considered where the pride got it's water from. He supposed that was pretty important. The small boy was about to ask where one went to find water, but then he was caught offguard by the sudden appreance of the bird. Sekayi yelped in surprise at the odd sounds the large buzzard made as she landed near him.
Sekayi had never seen such a large predatory bird this close up. "H-helps you?," he stammered incredulously at the lioness. How could one recieve help from such a scary creature? The orange eyed cub ducked behind Dina at the mention of him being refered to as something tasty. "Don't eat me!," Sekayi cried out.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:25 pm
If she had the mind to, Dina probably would have laughed out loud at the cub's reaction to Bora, but that luxury was quickly stifled by her disappointment. She was use to the vulture's foul temperament, and still entertained thoughts of simply eating the bird for a snack every once and awhile. It was almost shameful to see the lion cub, a male no less, scrambling out of sight - but then, he was just a cub. She couldn't expect him to know about vultures, and so Dina decided to do what Dina did best: it was time for a lecture! "He's about to be educated", Dina replied to the buzzard mildly, ignoring her partners flustered feathers and bobbing head. Bora was a good scout, but her attitude could definitely use some adjusting.
The large bellied lioness then turned her attention to Sekayi, gripping the nape of his neck between her front teeth, as lionesses tended to do with cubs, and placed him in front of Bora, once more. "Boy, there is nothing to be frightened of. Do you think I, or one of the others would let you get eaten by this feathery bag of bones while lying right next to you? That's insulting." She began, keeping her head close to him and her blue eyes keenly on Bora, displaying the appropriate protective behavior while explaining it all the same. It was the best way to teach cubs, she believed, otherwise words tended to go right through their ears.
"Bag of bones?" the vulture screeched unpleasantly, ruffling her feathers further. She wasn't certain what Dina had in mind, but the buzzard quite remembered her 'kidnapping' that landed her in this very situation to begin with and took a few uncertain hops backward, her bald head ducking closer to her chest. She didn't like the look in Dina's eyes and the way they steadily kept their position. It suddenly felt very vulnerable to be on the ground right now.
The lioness remained where she was, holding her position near the cub and keeping her hunter's gaze on Bora. She may even succeed in doing both of her objectives with how Bora was reacting: the bird definitely needed to be reminded of a few things. Dina kept her voice low, and almost a hum as she spoke to Sekayi once more. "Soon you'll be bigger than Bora here, and it would not do to have you frightened of her. Vultures are a part of the world, they may look strange with their bald heads, but they are scavengers, eaters of the already dead. As long as you do not count yourself among them then you'll be fine, Sekayi," she paused to give the cub a short bump to his shoulder before she stood on all four paws to stretch out; once again tired of staying still. "Is that understood, boy?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:02 pm
The little cub let out an embarrassing squeak as he was suddenly picked up and put in front of the large bird. As the lioness lectured him, he began to relax a bit, but kept a wary eye on the bird. Peaking up at the vulture, he replied apprehensively,"No, I guess not." When Bora spoke next, he wasn't as startled as he had been at first, his fright beginning to replace itself with curiosity. Standing to his feet, he cautiously approached Bora, lightly sniffing her and he gaze at her in wonder. She was covered in feathers instead of fur, had a beak, and hoped around on her two legs. What an interesting creature, he thought. Feeling more confident, he laughed a bit as she ruffled her feathers and hopped backward, thinking that it looked funny.
Moving back to sit by Dina, but no longer behind her, he looked up at her as she began to speak. Sekayi listened with rapt attention as the lioness taught him about vultures. They didn't sound so bad after all, so long as he wasn't dead he would be eaten. Hearing that he would one day be bigger than the buzzard made him laugh, and he thought of a tiny Bora. Still, as small as he was at the moment, he couldn't yet fathom being so big. "I understand!," he quipped.
As he was about to ask more about vultures, he heard a familiar voice. "Sekayi! What are you doing? come play!," came the voice of one of his siblings. Seeing that Dina seemed tired of sitting there, he thought that he would go back to his siblings so that she didn't have to sit there with him. Turning to her, he said,"I gotta go, thanks for showing me your vulture. Bye!" With that, he proceeded to skip off to his waiting brothers and sisters, thoughts of large birds flyer around in his head and the lioness' words. He grinned to himself and thought, 'I can't wait til I'm big!'
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