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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:39 pm
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This was awful. This quest was awful, being alone was awful, the whole wide world was awful, and Laanfa was sick of it. She was done with all of it, frustrated and frightened and on the verge of angry about it, and she just wanted to go home. She wanted to go back to the mountain where it was safe, and where she could see her mother and her siblings again, where everything could be the way it was supposed to be.
The more she thought about it, the worse she felt, and the worse she felt, the more she thought about it. It was a vicious cycle, and she was completely stuck in it. Thinking about her mother made her feel guilty for being gone for so very long, and thinking about her brothers and sisters made her worry about them. Had any of them made it home yet, or were they still out here alone like her? Had something terrible happened to them? Was something terrible going to happen to her?
Laanfa had taken Apanthi's warnings about the world being a dreadful place to heart, and stumbled over her fear at every turn.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:49 pm
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By comparison, Suon was enjoying herself immensely. Enjoying herself in a calm, relaxed, and utterly unhurried manner, anyway. She was not and never had been the exuberant type, bouncing around from one experience or discovery to the next like some, but she was quite content to meander her way through her pilgrimage, taking her time and taking everything in. What was the rush, after all?
She'd have the rest of her life to sit around the mountain and be a proper 'swampie'; in the meantime, she intended to take full advantage of the freedom of being on her own. Sure, it wasn't all smelling the flowers and making nice with everyone she met. It was hard, surviving on her own, harder than she'd expected, and not everyone she encountered was friendly or even agreeably neutral, but it was life, and it was...sort of exciting.
And dirty. The greenish lioness had gotten awfully dusty, and she desperately wanted a bath. Not necessarily a safe venture, since there was always the risk of crocodiles in anything much bigger than a puddle, but it was hot and she was sick of all this dust! It was getting a bit itchy, quite frankly. So, good sense be damned, she sought out a watering hole to quench her thirst and maybe take a very quick little dip in.
Very quick!
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:56 pm
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Laanfa lay what she had deemed an acceptably safe distance from a busy waterhole, 'acceptably safe' meaning really quite far, by most standards. It wasn't just crocodiles that worried her, but everyone and everything else! She'd taken a quick drink, refusing to so much as look at any of the other creatures for more than a second or two, and then darted away to rest. She just hoped she'd placed herself far enough away that no one would pay attention to her, or even worse, try to talk to her! She didn't trust them, no, not at all.
It was while lying there, glaring suspiciously at the shapes in the distance, that she took notice of an approaching figure that was far more interesting than any of the others coming and going. At first glance, she dismissed it as another lioness, but as her path towards the water brought her closer, Laanfa recognized her. She knew those colors! That pattern!
She didn't know them well, having never cultivated any real friendships during her awkward youth, but she knew them, and that realization was thrilling.
"Hey!" she called out, "Hey, over here!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:03 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:06 pm
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"Not really, no, but, um-" Now she felt silly, calling this other lioness over when she didn't even actually know her, and maybe she was bothering her, and oh, she should have thought about this more, but she'd just gotten so excited! "We're both Jini-misemi. I think. Right? Maybe I'm wrong. I just- I thought you looked familiar, but- but it could just be wishful thinking, I guess. I'm sorry."
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:09 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:12 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:14 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:15 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:18 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:19 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:23 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:25 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:26 pm
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