[ORP] Finding a Match

[Annchen]

Mogami

AstoriaFallen

Eld looked from Baise to Nkera and back again and you could almost hear him think. Perhaps it was all this talk about matchmaking, but he was slowly getting an idea. One joined rogue and one with parents who had joined... One male, one female... Not terribly old either... Both must be around his age, he figured. They should really save themselves (and their future offspring) some grief and hook up!

"Why don't you two," he paused, looked down at the cub and then back up at the two others. He tried to figure out how to say this in a way that would not be inappropriate for a small cub to hear, "You know, get to know each other."

It had seemed like a good idea when he thought of it...  

[Mogami]

AstoriaFallen

Annchen

Nkera looked stuck between feeling awkward and annoyed as he looked down at the cub, wondering if he was being chastised by a ball of fur barely out of the weaning stage.

"I never said you weren't strong... I just assumed you were... Huria." He said, quiet enough for only the group to hear. She'd brought up the unfortunate meeting but the last thing he wanted was to make a scene, especially if there were potential - angry - parents around. And then he took one step back and froze, mind going very much blank after Eld had spoken, eyes suddenly wide.

----------

"Sure, kitten. I'll show you lots of fun stuff." Baise said, her grin widening. A sudden, rather important detail came to mind. "You know, if your parents are okay with it." She was about to defend the cub's colors when...

She faced Eld and laughed and then laughed harder at the extreme reaction of the pale male who'd seemed almost desperate to step away from her at the mere suggestion of a possible hook up.

"Well... Nkera, right?" She said coyly, grinning too wickedly for anyone to consider her words sincere. "It's something to consider.... it would benefit the pride to have more lions unrelated to the old bloodlines."
 

[Meepfur]

Agni'hotra's initial response to the other lioness' assessment of her knowledge was just to grunt and shake her head. "It's a wonder we're not all inbred already, if no one else has been paying attention to the Historians."

The Guard was genuinely surprised that no one else had spoken up, and more than a little dismayed. She supposed it as understandable in the ones who hadn't been born in, or whose parents hadn't, but anyone from the old families needed to know these things! Hotra herself had ties to Makadari, so if she ever wanted to find a match of her own, she had half the pride to avoid.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Soleil gave a little hum of agreement. She was sure there was the occasional second or third cousin accidentally mating with each other, but sometimes it was hard to avoid. It was why she had selected a mate that had joined as a rogue, and to be quite honest she couldn't be happier.

"I think those that have concerns do their research, but knowing everyone's linage is a bit much for the average Soldier," she said with a small smile. "It's a very important role, to be sure, but also requires a very specific skill set."

She tilted her head a bit as the rest of the lions continued to murmur but no one else spoke up. Well then...

"You seem to be the only one with the answer. Is it a position you'd be interested in?" she asked with a curious tone.

Meepfur

 

[Annchen]

Mogami

AstoriaFallen

Eld would also have assumed that the cub was huria, what with that blue on her. However, times had changed with the new regents and rules were a bit more relaxed. As long as they were strong he didn't really mind more people getting to stay, but it would be a bit weird to see the new range of colours. Perhaps that would help with mates and such too, and hopefully it wouldn't make them weaker in the long run. He made a mental shrug. People cleverer than him were thinking about stuff like that all day so soldiers like him wouldn't have to. He was satisfied they would reach the right conclusions and give him and other soldiers the right orders.

"Exactly," Eld said and nodded enthusiastically to Baise, "It would be great for the pride!"  

[Mogami]

AstoriaFallen

Annchen

Nkera looked like he wanted absolutely nothing to do with both females. He was pointedly avoiding Baise's eyes and not really that interested in continuing an argument with a cub. He sent a betrayed glare at Eld, clearly deciding he was the one to blame and made a not-so-subtle attempt at changing the subject.

"Someone already gave the right answer. Can we just leave now?" He looked down at the cub and his eyes widened a fraction. Well, a solid blue pelt... there was no way that one was going to stay in the pride for long. Maybe because he'd learned something from the last encounter, though, he decided to keep his mouth shut this time.

----------

Baise chuckled at the Guard's obvious discomfort.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your delicate sensibilities, Nkera. You really need to learn how to take a joke..." Her focus, however, was on the young cub. "You can bring your sister along if you want. She will need the training for later." Her voice was lighter than she felt, Baise's mind filling with memories of her huria brother. She loved the pride but having to say goodbye to family was nothing short of tragic.
 

[Annchen]

Mogami

AstoriaFallen

"I'm Eld the Soldier," Eld said to the cub, adding his rank to distinguish himself from others with similar names. He looked around, unsure if there would be a grand announcement of the winner or how this would work.

"I guess we could," he said, "I don't know how these things are supposed to work so we might miss something. Lets hang around for a while longer."

He wondered if he could make sure Baise and Nkera left together somehow. Maybe he could invite them both to do something and then slip away. He furrowed his brow, trying to think of how he could accomplish that. This was hard! Perhaps he could snitch to whoever became Matchmaker and let them do the rest.  

[Andranis]

Hehewuti smiled when Agni-hotra spoke up. She didn't confirm what the lioness had said yet, though, wanting to see if anybody else voiced what they thought of the lions involved. What she heard instead were lions speaking up about how they'd not been born into the pride, or had a very short family history in the pride. It brought a frown to her face, as a joined rogue herself. Her ears folded back, eyes narrowing, as she started to open her mouth. A nudge from her son made her look at him, confusion flickering across her gaze.

Embarassment at his mother's paws was one thing. Embarassment about lack of family line knowledge was another. In anticipation of becoming a Magistrate, Na-atesh had studied the lines himself.

What he'd found was that in very few instances, the lines crossed back into themselves, but mostly they'd managed to NOT. He called that dumb luck. He, at least, didn't have to rely on dumb luck to avoid inbreeding. Unless one of his parents spontaneously had a sibling pop up with cubs of their own, or one of his sisters managed to either come home with a red pelt or sent home a child with the appropriate colors for the pride, he wasn't GOING to run into family he could accidentally breed with.

"The number of you that don't even passingly know the lines is a disappointment." His own ears went back as he stood up, looking at the assembled lions. "My parents joined this pride, my blood is as new as the blood of some of you, but I at least know the lines!" He glanced over at Agni-hotra, then at the others. "Before a call is made, does anybody ELSE want to make a statement about blood relations?"  

[oo Ded]

For the entirety of the events thusfar Urit'Alya lingered near the edge of the conversations. The lioness was silent but attentive. The soldier had no particular interest in becoming a matchmaker (it sounded so very dull and was far beyond her desires in the pride), but she understood the importance. Coming from a sometimes frustratingly large family, Alya saw the necessity of watching the lines. Some blood ran deep into firekin history. It was a miracle that they weren't all inbred idiots already.

Her paws knead into the ground and her tail twitched behind her, golden eyes watching the conversation as it derailed a bit. She let loose a breath and stretched a little. As the magistrate spoke again her eyes went to him. Alya spoke and she didn't look away until she was done. "Agni-hotra is correct about the relationship to Bodaway," she murmured. She didn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular and she spoke quietly enough to wear some could probably hear her but she certainly wasn't trying to draw all the attention. "Sendatzeko and Uri'anik have blood from Sinbad and Jau'taka." Alya continued. Sendatzeko had another line back to Azula as well. Azula, her mother. It was a pain to keep track of these. Alya chalked the broad familial lines to her reason as to not seek out a mate as of yet. She didn't have time in her life for that. Maybe that was another reason she was intrigued as to who would become the matchmaker. The soldier wouldn't really mind finding someone. It was just so damn difficult.  

[Andranis]

Listening to everybody, Na-atesh glanced at his mother. One eyebrow went up, as well as a slight smile. "Well, that was far more specific than we asked for, wasn't it?" Urit'alya was out of a branch of the Firekin that didn't often actually SEE activity, it seemed. The first Azula's offspring and descendants, he'd been told, didn't exactly do much gene spreading. Maybe some of them were just being incredibly picky, though. After all, take the wrong mate and your children had dismal mate prospects by virtue of relation to two thirds of the pride. "Does this make the choice harder, though?"

Laying down, the white lioness placed one elbow on her paw and her chin on the other paw, smiling. "It does, but in a good way, I suppose?" Her tail flicked, before she rose back up, raising her voice with her stature. "I think we're almost ready to pick, are there any other contenders for being our pride's first Matchmaker? Remember that your job will be important!"  

[oo Ded]

Alya opened her mouth to respond but closed it again before any words were spoken. Her tail twitched twice behind her and her gaze went from the Magistrate to his mother and back again before glancing away at nothing in particular. She supposed her response was a bit... specific. Some bloodlines were very broad, she found, and knowing the root where many pride members converged was useful information when looking for potential mate candidates. Being near the 'root' of her bloodline helped. Ayla herself had mostly half nieces and nephews (or great great grand-nieces and nephews, as it were) to worry about. Subconsciously, she took a step back away from the group to a position where she could better see everyone around without feeling herself particularly in the middle of things.  

[Excited Apathy]

Nuria found herself nearly as irritated as her niece by how few lions were stepping forward. Firekin lines had a crapton of connections, but by the Goddess, they weren't that hard to trace! Then again, she was quite possibly biased the relatively recent need to research her own family. Realizing just how much of the pride she was related to...well, she'd not tell Ruber just how much weight that had in her desire to make their pairing official. She had an attachment to him, yes, but...anyways. Moving right along.

To hell with it, she thought. It wasn't like saying her piece would immediately single her out for the job--and even if it did, someone had to do it. With bloodlines as intertwined as the Firekins' it was simply too necessary a function. And she'd ended up going far beyond her own direct bloodline in her research, oddly fascinated by how the bloodlines intersected at this branching and that. It wasn't like she was going soft if she ended up with a job doing that...or getting old...

"Agni-hotra is right," she began in a loud voice as she stood, giving those assembled a glare. Shame on them for shrinking away from responsibility! "Those three go back to Makadari; Ume'moto through Kidondo, the other two through Sinbad. So Ume'moto goes back to Kiu--the others to his brother Mwali." She paused, scowling. The next one would be a bit of a stretch... "But that's not all. Sentatzeko goes back to Kosuke, and Jyotika is Uruloke's mother. I don't think it's a direct relation, but Kosuke and Jyotika did have a litter together. That might be a concern to some."

A long sigh whuffed out of her. "And, yes, at least one of them is related to Bodaway. Uruloke. But, half of us here are." Herself included. She sat back down with a soft whump.