[META] The Hlare's Call (Feb-Mar 2017)

[Pollack]

The moment the idea of a scavenger hunt was put out there Yukio was brimming with excitement. So much so she was left doing her bad habit of tapping back-and-forth her front paws. The gentle paw on her back reminded her to settle down, that they had to stay until they were dismissed. Oh but this was sooo much better than just playing in the surf! Already her mind was hyping up the competition tenfold, kindling a massive drive to do her best.



Huh. Well that's certainly not what she expected this meeting to be about. But she could understand the higher reasoning for why it was being held. She would most likely end up just making sure that the cubs weren't getting themselves hurt (especially the whirlwind trio) but that was alright for her. Running around madly gardening and hiding for treasure wasn't her cup of tea.

The decision for teams and the resulting back talk amongst the crowd sparked a drive to even in her to show their guests who was better. And hey everyone else was getting it on the fun, might as well join them!

The normally quiet and reserved lioness rose to her feet, mindful not to knock over the precious cargo she has resting between her paws. Clearing her throat before she called out a teasing war rally, "Little does Team Cap know we've already won, they're just here to make us look good! Let's go, Team Surf!"

With that she patted Yukio's butt, signaling her that it was time to go. Unleashing the whirlwind that was her niece shooting off into the distance to gods knows where. Ume calmly followed behind, easily being able to track her scent wherever she darted off too. Along the way if she ran across a necessary plant she'd paused to grab it. They would need all need to pitch in and help if they were to back up their smack talk after all.




The whole teams and competition aspect sparked an idea in the cub. With this many people running around and with people being able to be on either side it seemed like it would be difficult to tell who was teaming up with who. Her solution: War paint. Her daddy had told her tales about great battles where either side had vibrate colors painted on their coats to show their allegiances.

Hopping into her Aunt's den she carefully tip-toed past her sleeping father, climbing her way to the corner of the den that had been sectioned off for her. It was vastly different from the rest given that it had uncompleted craft projects lying left and right, toys, and the walls were covered with crude paintings. But there lay her targets; her jars of dyes lined the walls. Their contents sealed till they were ready to be used.

She plunked down, tapping her chin as she pondered over just what colors would be best. There are only two teams so two color palette should be good. Well, it was a no brainer that Team Surf would be be some sort of blue. OhOHOH! She had a really nice greenish blue! Her daddy called it turquoise if she remembered right. Peeeerfect. One down, one to go!

Team Cap though...Clicking her tongue she got up, going over to peer at the color samples on each of the jars, hoping something would jump out at her. Well they were Vikings, right? Vikings liked to fight or so her daddy said. So....red perhaps? It screamed confidant, outgoing, loud. Just like them! Yeah, red it was then!

Grabbing her little travel satchel for gathering shells Yukio stuffed as many of the jars as the bag could hold before slipping it onto her back. With that part of her plan checked off she exited the den, giving her dad a kiss goodbye along the way.

Now that she had her supplies there was something missing she needed to find before moving forward to the next stage. Or well, two things actually. Though they looked so similar and worked on the same brain wave it was hard to tell the two apart. She needed to find Huo and Shui ASAP!

 

[Epine de Rose]

The world wasn't ready for them - not yet, and probably not ever...

And yet the came in the same blaze of glory they always did, heard long before they were seen. Unfortunately they weren't about to emerge where Yukio had run off to, they were actually about to run headlong in to Ume. Had it not been for the fact that they were howling at the top of their lungs, Ume may not have had any chance of stepping out of the way before they arrived.

Nevertheless, no sooner had the voices drawn every closer than the pair of cubs plunged into view. Covered from head to toe in mud, they had somehow 'painted' themselves with it so that they were officially ready for battle. One could have gone so far as to assume that they had been heavily influenced by the visiting vikings given that a fair number of the burly figures began to laugh at the sight of the tiny cubs and their antics!

Pollack

He had assumed he would be able to work in peace, but as it were, he also realised that it was highly unlikely he would be left to his own devices. There would simply be too many creatures wandering about all over the pridal territories that they would unintentionally get under his paws. Besides, he had heard the doom twins running around earlier this morning and he knew, more than anyone else, that it would be advantageous to not give them a reason to come near the newly constructed foundations.

Thus, it was more sensible for the lion to involve himself in the pride's scavenger hunt. It would be constructive, but it would also serve to help the siblings that he had only just become aware of. He still didn't know them well enough, but his mother had been positively giddy with excitement at the prospect of the family being together. Perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity for him to get to know them?

Food for thought; it was something he pondered as he wandered closer to the group and caught the tail end of the explanation.

They were looking for what? He was the worst gardener ever, maybe he should just stick to finding starfish on this one!

"Bollocks," he muttered.

Mysses Greenie

Her brother was being ridiculous again, this was generally how things went during these types of occasions. Forget the severity of the situation and their entire reason for being here, when there was an opportunity to crack a joke he would do it. The more serious twin would never understand why he did this, they were here because the information they were seeking was critical to his success and yet he wasn't even acting like it was. Perhaps it was all a ruse to make everyone comfortable, but there was still a certain amount of urgency required.

It was with a wrinkled nose that the lioness directed her gaze towards a pair of the passing Reavers and cleared her throat. "Don't get distracted by the games," she instructed, aware that she was perhaps overstepping her bounds on this one, but it did need to be said.

"This is only to settle the nerves of this pride," she added. "Evidently they don't function under pressure," she murmured. It would be in a tone loud enough to be overheard by a passing lioness or two...

AstoriaFallen

Syrius Lionwing

Ram: 2 | Tethys: 2 | Shui: 1 | Huo: 1 | Dione: 1 | Solomon: 1

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

The chocolate splotched lioness heard some snide words from a lioness who she didn't know. She must have been from the other pride. She wanted to show them that the Bahari lions were perfectly good at handling pressure. "We hand;e pressure just fine thank you." The young female pulled a tongue and giggled happily bouncing off towards the jungle. She knew that there would be some good things in the undergrowth.

"You may think we are weak and silly lady but we are strong in many ways like the sea calm in one moment and a tumultuous demon in the next." She gave a nod and flickered her tail happily her golden eyes laughing. She wasnt going to allow anyone to underestimate her.

'Kota sat himself comfortably and listened to those searching around him. It seemed his great granddaughter knew how to hold her own if someone dared to under estimate her. He smiled, he had raised a good brood.  

[Pollack]

Well if the world wasn't ready for the two dastardly twins, Ume couldn't say she was any better prepared to handle their antics!

The howling rushing towards her caused Ume to drop what herbs she was holding and dart out of the way. She had already been hit-and-run over a few times this week by her own niece, she was quite filled on her accident quota for this week thank you very much!

The doomtwins made an appearance at last!

Oh she knew right away who had decided to show up. Every nanny in the Bahari (as well as every member of the pride she suspected) knew of the little whirlwinds of destruction. Though she hadn't gotten the chance to meet them personally she had heard a great deal from the horror stories of the other nannies who dared to try their luck against the two. All failed more spectacularly than the last. She also got to her them on a more personal side from the number of stories Yukio excitedly shared at the end of the day.

"Huo, Shui." She greeted cheerfully as she righted herself back to her previous position. Why she couldn't see their new war paint the smell caused her to pause, sniffing the air before wrinkling her nose. Ha! It seems instead of making a mess of things around them they had gone and made a mess of themselves. Setting herself down she had to cover her mouth with her paw to contain her laughter. Oh, she dearly wished she could see how ridiculous they must look. But, it was a hidden blessing not being able to. If she saw the two dripping in mud she wouldn't have the strength to contain herself! As is it was all she could do to push out her next question, "What can I do for you boys?"

Epine de Rose

Yukio will come back in the next post. She's busy running back right now.

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

Nuzhah made her way in to the undergrowth, the shadowed canopy dap-line along her coat. She started to rustle through the undergrowth searching for anything that might be useful here. She was coming to prove that her pride, her team was the best and that these new comers couldn't beat the ones who lived here.

Padding through the trees she kicked up some plants which caused a flurry of pollen to fly in to the air. She sneezed and giggled and carried on. Never mind the competition, this was just a lot of fun.  

[Kimaria]

[Dagr, Kari and Xochi - Team Surf]

"Come on," Dagr gave his brother a shove, "we'll show these strangers a thing or two about our abilities."

Kari looked a little uncertain but gave his more fiery brother a nod and moved up alongside him. The twins had rather different outlooks but all in all they got on well and worked together despite their differences.

The pair took a moment to size up the goings on. Some, it seemed, had already found something or worth...others, not so much. Still, there was plenty to find and they had a medic on their side. Kari, surely, would have some insider knowledge on where best to start.

"Come on, brother, get your thinking head on. We have to bring back as much as we can to Ram, okay?"

Kari looked a little more confident then and nodded assuredly, "let's go, then. We'll make our brethren proud."

"That's the spirit!"

Together, the pair of them began to make their way away from the centre of the hubbub and down to where the ground turned rocky and...sparse. Dagr, whose face had screwed up with concern, opened his mouth to ask where exactly they were going, when he caught Kari's glare.

Trust me, it said.

And so, on this occassion, he did.

The twins did not go unnoticed.

Xochipepe, who had turned to survey the area, had decided quickly that the locals would have the stronger knowledge and, as much as it pained her, realised that her best chance would be to side with Team Surf. It felt almost painful to do it and yet, at the same time she knew it would be looked upon well to take a calculated risk by siding against her own.

With a smile, she started after the twins, catching up to them just as they came to a halt amongst the stones - where the land dropped away a little to reveal a clump of grass and some sparse-leaved plants whose roots were partially open to the elements.

Peering over Dagr's shoulder she smiled wider and said: "is this what we're looking for?"

The red and black lion startled, turning to face her, his face instantly transforming into an accusatory glare. The other one simply blinked warily at her.

"Who're you? This isn't how the game is played. You think you can wrestle our findings away from us? Two against one?"

She eyed them up with a teasing smile, "tempting to try but...no. I decided to side with the locals. You have the advantage, right? And I want to win."

"So...you're going to shadow us and leech off of our victory?"

She laughed, "maybe."

Kari gave another wary smile and took a small step back.

"Don't be afraid of my face," she said determindly. "Besides, you've found a lot already and the game has only just begun. I can help carrying and I'll stay with you. Promise."

"No,"

"Dagr," Kari said quietly, "let her stay."

Xochi grinned and, with all the gusto of a teen, started digging at the roots.

"Careful!" Kari squeaked, realising only too late that he had been so forceful, "don't treat them too roughly..."

-----

Tömörbaatar, it seemed, had stumbled across quite a strange event. All these lions digging about for some sort of roots or...strange sea creatures. Looking on, he wondered if they'd gone quite mad. And what a strange collection, too. Young, old, male, female and even...he had to swallow back the bile and control his anger. He was Shuko. A spy. He had to blend in. Act as they did even though his urge was to unsheath his claws.

He took a moment to gather himself and then moved to pick away at the ground - pretending to look for whatever it was these creatures were hunting.

It seemed a rivalry was growing here. The curled fur lions deemed weaker, perhaps? They had something to prove to the others whom they were not familiar. So...the strangers, then. Were they a band of rogues? A nomadic pride? It would be useful to get to know one's neighbours.

 

[Pollack]

Crap, crap, crap!

Kaluwa had finally taken some time off to enjoy a well deserved rest. The large male had been happily snoozing in the sun when the call to arms rang throughout. It had jolted him awake and on his feet in an instant, ready to go and defend. Despite being half asleep and stumbling quite a bit he headed out to investigate what was wrong.

The only problem was nothing seemed out of order? Everything was calm as it could be. There actually seemed to be an air of excitement and childish joy throughout the area. Huh, just what the hell did he miss? Some sort of wedding that he didn't know about? Well with all the new strangers and girl's being swept up by their charms he wouldn't be surprised for a few shot gun weddings taking place.

Making his way down from his sleeping area in the sandy dunes Kaluwa stopped a pair of lionesses packed full of herbs, inquiring what exactly was the big commotion about exactly. What they explained honestly left the male thoroughly amused and as excited as everyone else.

A scavenger hunt...? With a little added friendly competition between them and the strangers who had taken camp in their lands? Well he might not be winning any awards on his gardening or item scouting skills anytime soon but this fun little game certainly was right up his alley!

Thanking the two lionesses Kaluwa parted ways from them. He started to make his way down to the beaches. Though they might be packed right now they had always proved to be a prime collecting spot. If he could give his new pride some bragging rights over the burly, boisterous strangers than he would give his all to the cause!

For team...erm, what exactly was their team again? Shell? Sea? Sand? Ah, no matter. Go home team!

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

Continuing on her journey through the jungle, the chocolate lioness found a great fallen log. She knew good things grew under old logs so without a moments hesitation she started to dig at the base, using her claws and then her teeth to pull away the rotten wood in search of more ingredients.

She paused for a moment to spit wood out and looked around, it seemed none of the other lions who were on the search had decided to come out and join in a jungle hunt.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Liviyathan padded down on to the beach, she was trying to be more social and that mainly involved her trying to take part in group activities. This was one of those times. She had passed another member of the pride as she had come down to the beach and ultimately she decided she could help the other team. She loved the sea and she had been here long enough to know nearly every inch of the Bahari, she felt it was a little unfair for the outsiders to be left to their own devices.

With that in mind she took a breath and stepped in to the throws of the beach. Looking around she tried to spot creatures she didn't know. The gray male with his rainbow mane caught her attention. He obviously wasn't from here "Uhm." She padded up behind him and cleared her throat. "C..Can I help you to search?" She stammered, she didnt mean to stutter, she really had to get better at this social thing.

AstoriaFallen

Nuzhah was still searching off in the jungle, her independent search was going well. She had shredded a log and dug a good hole and rustled through the long undergrowth. She was continuing inwards when she heard a few monkeys overhead. Her mind wandered and she decided to follow the little beasts deeper in to the jungle. Maybe they would lead her to something good, or maybe she would just forget about the search for a little bit and just enjoy the cool jungle air.