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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 2:28 am
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"Still, I'll go apologize to her formally after this all." Puzzle glanced at the crowd, noting more new arrivals. Two were from the pride's old days, lions he'd spied by the Dreamer's Cave often. One didn't often leave, he recalled, for reasons he wasn't sure of, but even at a distance Puzzle could see that the lion was nervous. "How's the brew coming, Brew Mistress?"
"Almost ready to steep." Carefully, she mixed everything together. Some of the flowers that had been growing around their little patch of coastal jungle went in, crushed and stirred into the bowl. Finally, she sat back, closing her eyes. "Now we wait. Any time you want to announce it, Puzzle."
Though he scowled and looked away, Flower Lord knew Starfire was right. Finally, he looked to the gathered lions. "I suppose you're right... But I'm still distrustful." Memories of his cubhood, of strange and dark lions attacking his small family, flooded his mind. He'd lost his parents and one sister in the attack, assuming his sister to be as dead as his parents. He and his two remaining sisters had, after all, watched their parents get killed. Surely Coaxoch had died with them. His claws dug into the log that was under them, eyes narrowing for a moment at the memory. He wasn't about to let that happen to his pride.
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:58 pm
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Starfire nodded slightly, still smiling pleasantly. "She'll appreciate that I'm sure." Turning her attention to the other two lions, she had to laugh a bit at Flower Lord's words.
"You wouldn't be Flower Lord if you weren't," she teased softly, reaching out with a paw to pat his tawny shoulder. "Don't worry. You're allowed to be. I know my mother will be right there with you." Fireheart wasn't a fan of the cave that had allowed the muses to return, and she knew this brew would be an unpleasant surprise for her as well. But she was getting ready to step down for that exact reason - she wasn't nearly the carefree and open queen the pride needed, where Starfire surely was.
"Go on then," she said, giving Puzzle's shoulder a nudge with her nose. "They're waiting."
---
Fireheart glanced over the cubs who had come to gather at Vanellope's paws, watching in amusement as they plotted to get the mischievous cub that was settled beneath his mother. Grandcubs. She really never thought about it before until she had noticed her daughter waddling around. Now it was very real and here. She had to agree with Taffyta and Nkan, that Lengo was being a bit of a coward, so she reached out to give him a shove from under the protection of Nelly.
"Not nearly this bad," Straw Dog said as he watched the goings on at his paws. Lengo looked a bit like his mother with the swirls on his legs, but the blue was certainly from him. It brought a little smile to his usually stern face. "But this isn't really 'bad' either. This is just typical cub play. Now your younger siblings...."
He trailed off, thinking about the much smaller litter he and Fireheart had had after Nelly's. There had only been two cubs, but it felt like there had been ten. They were incredibly hard to handle and he had been glad when they had grown up and moved out of the den.
Lengo huffed softly at his brother's comment, his tail waving back and forth. "It's called a 'tactical retreat', dummy," he said with a snort. "Completely not cowardly! And mom's not gonna help you," he added in a sing-song voice as Taffyta tried to plot a way to get him out. He would be safe here...at least that was what he thought. A large paw shoved him out from under his mother, leaving him exposed to two eager siblings. Looking over at the strange lioness with a look of betrayal, he froze on the spot, unsure of what to do.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:28 pm
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Puzzle smiled at Star Fire, then finally stepped up to the edge of the structure. "If I may have your attention, please! You're probably all wondering why you've been gathered here, and why Brew Mistress is up here with us. Recently, she's been experimenting with the flowers that have been sprouting around the jungle, seeing what they'll do, and has made an amazing discovery!" He looked over at the lioness, "Brew Mistress?"
For the moment, she left her bowl, joining Puzzle. "My mother, Soothsayer, and I joined long after the insanity that some of you older lions knew in your youth and loved, and now miss, left these lands. After some time, Muhali, our primary patron goddess, returned, and blessed a cave, the Dreamer's Cave, so that those who wished to continue to speak to their muses could do so. But it's been prohibitive, as you can only go so far and so long away from the cave before you stop hearing your muse. This is where the flowers come in! When ground up and mixed right in a brew and then consumed, you can speak to your muses again!" Excitement was all over her face as she looked from lion to lion. Would the significance of this discovery have an impact?
From his spot, Flower Lord watched. Would the lions of the pride accept these claims without proof? Or would they demand it? He glanced at the brew the dark lioness had made, frowning just a bit to himself. He knew exactly why she'd made it now - Talking gave it the right time to steep, and if anybody demanded proof before the pride, they could easily call a lion up to test it. They would be unable, then, to deny the notion that the insanity could be brought back, if controlled, by a brew from the flowers that grew in the jungle.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:25 am
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 12:58 am
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Pale, green eyes looked onto the crowd growing before her, it was bewildering to see so many faces in one place - let alone the number of outsiders. Kukesha hadn't been particularly active in her recent months, leaving alone her siblings and other family members, she simply didn't feel enthused.
Something was disrupting the normal atmosphere of the pride, plants that once spoke with her openly, now only in whispers, were doing strange things. These strange things both alarmed the lioness, but excited her just as much. Her tail swished behind her, an array of purple-red, yellow and primarily white which displayed her emotions outwardly. Ears shifted about, seeking out an idea of what was occurring, but being late to the crowd meant she was losing words in the rumbling noise of chatter.
"Hm."
She wondered about it all to herself, quietly. |
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:14 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:37 pm
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Mags spotted Poshum even before he tripped, and couldn’t help the giggle that came from her. She nudged Rabbit carefully, whispering in soothing tones. “I’ll be back. I’m going to make sure my brother didn’t end up with a nose full of sand again.” She slipped away, keeping an ear on the proceedings as she nudged ‘Fumblepaws’. “Come back home, hm? Back for good, or just visiting like me?” Knowing him, he was likely back for good. Not that there was a thing wrong with that! Before she could say much more, however, Puzzle and Brew Mistress made their announcement, and she nearly gave herself whiplash shifting to look up at them.
Wait...what?
Rabbit looked confused, shrinking into the two males that flanked her. What was going on? What was this about muses and talking to them? Blooming Steps looked just as confused, and Darkest Night resolved to find an older member later to ask. What was it that the pale lioness who had stepped forward called theirs?
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 10:24 am
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Kizi  The only time she had ever felt at peace, was with the dreamers. Those whom their muse had stuck with them, and she saw those without them on the flip side of that shell. Billiah, Firefoot was more than understanding. She felt out of place most days, except for hearing stories of the great muses. Her adopted mother was one riddled in muse, but she has since died for many years and to remember such a time. Pained her. If she had a muse, like her mother. Maybe she wouldn't feel so out of place among the general population. "I want to find my muse." The first time she had ever spoken up, a huntress that seemed to be mute up until this moment. "My mother, whom had since passed- she said I must find it. If these flowers can help. Maybe I can find my belonging." Having forgotten that so long ago she had been cubnapped here. This was her community... but there was something missing. Her ears fell flat. Pleading. "If the brew can bring them back, I would ask, to volunteer."
Bahari'Moto  After the exchange at the gathering of the now royal cubs, Kei was left with the regret of not coming to see Starfire before this. His hatred for the Kizi stealing his siblings had clouded his judgement and Starfire broke the mold of what his fears had lead him to believe. That encounter, along with the visions he had made him rethink and remodel his image. He had viewed them as thieves, viewed them as taking over and endangering but now in their lands, he saw the simplicity of a pride life, although much different than theirs, still a pride with cubs of their own, and community. A Mummer ball couldn't suffice for the beauty they had within their pride. His ears panned back, he wasn't quite sure where Starfire was, and a little bit hesitant on having visited. Maybe he should have sent a messenger of sorts before this. The crowd, the whispers spoke of , something of flowers. New leaders speaking, he hoped that he could find his sister and mother within the crowd that had begun to celebrate. Trying to find Starfire, he had lost track of his family and anxiety began to kick in. He had walked upon these lands before, only in his vision, as if he knew it-but not the lions. In his vision he had only known one and with the crowd growing he begun to feel drowned and his headache made him stop dead in his tracks and lower his head. A...vision.. He tried to stifle a grown of pain.
Bahari'Moto  Harmonia was excited, there was new leadership, and also the fact that she was abundantly giddy to find her best friend. So far, with no luck. The gathering upon a cave that her and her friend used to play in. "Woah.. those look so beautiful.." She turned back to her mother, "Mother-! Look at these flowers~" Leaning over and taking a smell. If they were anything like the Bahari caves, she loved to collect them. She'd have to ask her best friend of course. What she didn't know, was that he had since left the Kizi and disappeared without a trace.
Bahari'Moto  Israfel had been dragged along with Harmonia, the chipper one of the litter. The spring in her step, she took it that Harmonia was headover heels for this 'friend' of hers. Trauma from being stolen had subsided, and love blossomed. The misunderstanding was cleared once her daughter came back to say how much they cared for her. She was grateful, albeit worried in some cases. This time, she had come for several reasons. One, to accompany her son, whose anxiety and visions had nearly crippled him, to give him some support to finally take the step in realizing one of his many visions. If he can get this one to rest, she knew he could begin to master them. Harmonia, wasn't riddled in visions. In fact, she was gifted with visions once every blue moon, but when she had them, they were usually a learning of a new dance or song. Harmonia had always wanted to show her their neighbors and today was an opportune day with the changing of leaders. Israfel lagged behind just a tad from Harmonia, taking in the scenes, the lions here and the environment was quite welcoming and even more like her old home than the Bahari. Some part being pulled to the dance and song, the lands here just seemed, lively. Her tail wagging as she was summoned and came to her daughters side. "Oh.. these flowers are quite lovely." Looking back at her daughter with a smile. "Your collection would have some lively smells, just remember to ask, yes?"Which her daughter nodded in response and trotted over to those whom were whispering about the flowers.. |
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:13 am
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From somewhere in the crowd, Puzzle heard a declaration of attack. When he looked, he couldn't help but smile at the sight. Cubs at play, something that didn't happen much in the pride. There was a dirth of cubs, a fact that made him rather sad. It struck him as ironic, as when he'd been a cub, the Kizingo'zaa had bustled with cubs while the neighboring Bahari'mtoto had lagged behind in births. Now it was the converse, with their neighbors up to their elbows in cubs. As one of the neighboring lions would likely put it, the tides had shifted.
His attention suddenly shifted as a pale lioness stepped forward, followed by another. He looked to Brewmistress, one eyebrow up.
She had not, of course, missed the leotah's expression. What it was about, though, she wasn't sure. There were sure to be odd bits and bobs of creatures in the pride, they were a very open place about who joined and all that. Brewmistress also didn't miss the two lions questioning. One was a newer face, somebody who hadn't been in the pride in its heyday. The other was clearly an old face, somebody who remembered, and for Brewmistress, that part was important. "It WILL bring it back, I'm confident of it! And yes, volunteers are wonderful! At least two would be ideal-"
At this, Flowerlord finally rose, stepping up beside Brewmistress. "I'm going to interject that it should be somebody who was here before the insanity, as parts of the pride crave it, left. They would make the best judges of whether or not the brew truly works." He looked around, frowning only slightly. "Perhaps one of the Dreamers might step up?" And those who didn't wish to be Dreamers, because it wasn't quite the same, was it? He knew little of the effect, personally, only that it faded after either some distance or some time, or perhaps even both.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:48 am
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:55 pm
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Without hesitation the heavy, considerably disheveled male stepped forth, two birds flying close by, keeping watch of the situation. Halcyon wanted this more than anything, yes, at last he could perhaps finally find sanctuary from the miserable mess that had been his life post blessing. No more would he be dismissed as a coward, nor would he be shut away from the rest of the pride. He could function better with the muses than without them for sure, even his personality sparkled with them around.
Many argued with him after the blessing was lifted, saying he could speak with birds anytime, without the blessing. Sure, they were right, but not like it had been before and that cave.... that bird cage. He didn't want clipped wings, he wanted to fly! He wanted to see the birds that only his muse took forms of.
"Please. P-please let me give it a chance, I need this." |
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:13 am
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Dhoru and Nema had been watching and listening silently, resting on their haunches near the edge of the gathered lions. The news was quite a shock, and the mates quickly whispered about what it would mean. In moments, they both had made up their minds.
At first, Dhoru had to admit that he didn't know what to think; before the Insanity had lifted, he had been... well, he'd been a mess. When Hasi was a part of him and they shared thoughts and feelings, things were so jumbled and confusing. In order to cope, he'd lost himself in his muse to get away from it all - if all he was was his storms, he didn't need to deal with what was going on in his head. He'd become addicted and withdrawn, and the only thing that mattered to him was the storms, with their noise that could drown out the voices in his head.
While the chocolate lion was thankful for the drastic change in his relationship with Hasi, he greatly missed speaking to the storms. He was confident now, with Hasi being a separate entity and his new life with Nema, that he wouldn't let his muse consume him again.
Dhoru padded up beside his sister, lightly brushing his flank against hers, and raised his voice. "I'd like to try it, too. If it really can bring back my storms... I need to know."
He turned back to smile at Nema over his shoulder. The bright lioness had decided against being a part of the original testing. While she loved her stars as much as Dhoru loved his storms, the problem was that she wasn't so sure she could control it. When her muse was strong, she had spent all of her nights talking to them and was in an unhealthy state. Going back to them now might topple all that she had worked to build and she couldn't take that chance, no matter how sorely tempted she was. Instead, she had chosen to hang back and see how things went. Maybe she could try in the future, with help and supervision from Dhoru, but for now, she was just too scared.
Paranoia lay off to the side of the large group, several tail-lengths in between her and the nearest pride member. But, she was still close enough to hear everything that was going on, and much closer than she would have sat even a week ago. She was becoming more and more comfortable around her pride mates, but comfort to her didn't really look like comfort. She was just so anxious and... well, paranoid. And this news didn't help.
Of course, Paranoia had never known the pride pre-Lifting. She had no idea what this brew might do. Which in and of itself was something to fear! She tried to assure herself that her pride mates wouldn't pose a threat, but really, who knew? The word "insanity" isn't something that generally means "good", after all, and not to mention the fact that there was no guarantee this brew would work as intended!
Oh, there was just so much that could go wrong. Paranoia was surprised and confused when Dhoru stepped forward to volunteer. On one hand, if he was doing it, it couldn't be that bad. But on the other, what if he didn't know what he was getting himself into? Oh, this was not good. Change is just not good.
Slate and Eventide were lost somewhere in the middle of the sea of bodies - though, really, Eventide's pelt did stand out. The two had become fast friends since Slate had joined the pride, and they had already been together when the meeting was called, so it was only logical to attend together.
Slate had always been intrigued by the pride's carefree and slightly odd personalities - in fact, she loved it. She was a fairly "normal" lion herself but maybe that's why she was so into it. It would be fun to be able to experience what made these lions unique. She turned to Eventide with a curious expression. "Well, that's an interesting idea. Do you think you'd ever try it?"
Eventide hesitated. "Yeah, sure, it's interesting..." The gradient lioness tried to choose her words carefully, shifting her bright orange paws uncertainly. "But I can't help but consider that there's just too much we don't know. I mean, I've never had a muse before, and the Gods only know what it would be. Not to mention not knowing if that brew even works right..." She trailed off quietly and turned to meet Slate's gray eyes with her bright blues. Seeing that her friend seemed dismayed by her answer and not wanting to burst her bubble, she quickly added, "Maybe once it's been tested and we have a bit more information!"
Slate cocked her head for a moment and then nodded. "You do have a point. I'm still interested to try, though, if they do choose to let post-Lifting members give it a shot." She nodded again, mostly to herself, and turned her attention back to the leaders. Best to see how this played out.
Eventide nodded but didn't answer, giving Slate a look of deep concern before also giving her attention back to the stage. For now, she supposed, there wasn't much to worry about. Not until they started opening this brew to everyone. But she couldn't help the feeling of unease at the thought of allowing creatures who had never experienced the Insanity to take part. There was a lot that could go wrong with that introduction.
Hana huffed in shock at the news. The dark patroness was sitting close to the stage and outside the crowd - not because she wanted a front row seat, but because she wanted to be able to watch everything and everyone in the crowd. In fact, this was the first time she glanced up the leaders for more than a brief moment for the whole meeting.
Personally, the gypsy lady didn't care any more or any less about this brew than she did about the Dreamers. Provided you could keep up with your duties to the pride, your mental state wasn't her concern, and since the pride seemed to have functioned quite well when all of its members were under the spell of Muhali, she didn't think it would be so bad if some of them were now. However, her concern wasn't what was important here.
Pale eyes scoured the crowd, picking out those that seemed displeased with the announcement and sorting them based on their brand of discord - fear or anger. Both could be just as dangerous, especially when mixed. Her gaze landed and locked on the emissary from the Bahari'mtoto and her eyes narrowed. Concern entered Hana's mind as she registered the indignation and concern on the leotah's face. She made a mental note to bring this up to the Patron General when she had the chance, although, from the look on his face, he was equally displeased with the whole situation.
Hana was feeling less and less indifferent to this brew as time passed. While it mattered not to her if lions had their muses back, the brew itself seemed to be posing some other problems that she didn't think the pride needed. Even though watching and being prepared to react was more her thing than actually participating in these meetings, Hana had to speak up - especially when family members started to step forward volunteering to test the brew. She turned and looked to the leaders on the stage, bowing her head to each of them, then faced Brew Mistress and spoke.
"With all due respect, are you sure that this brew is safe? What about side effects?" She hoped her tone was gentle enough to prevent any sting in her words, but she'd never really been gentle in any sense.
Andranis Please exclude me from the raffle. |
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AstoriaFallen
AstoriaFallen
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 1:10 pm
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She could only imagine how they were as cubs and she did have to say that they weren't terrible cubs, just full of energy and life. Which was actually a good thing. At least she thought so. She watched as Lengo took refuge by her feet only to be shoved away from her and it made her laugh, especially when Taffyta pounced him. Nkan on the other paw had spotted Hana as she approached and spoke to the Brew Mistress.