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 Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:08 pm
 It was one of those unbearable days, where the sun basked down so greatly, that one was willing to post themselves under the most bare of shade, if only to keep oneself from dying of how hot it was outside.
Leboya, unfortunately, was a victim of the heat, and had found that in that very area that there was a slightly rocky overcrop that left enough shade for at least thee adult lions.. which of course, for one lioness, was more then enough shade for her, and possibly company.
Not that she'd complain too badly about having to share the shade, having others out of the heat would bring Leboya a certain degree of contentment.
Staring off blankly over the lands, the lioness purred, tail thumping against the ground idly. Why had she wandered so far away from the watering hole?
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:43 pm
 When raising a young cub, one doesn't have much time for themselves. It was tiring. End of story.
Not that Uten was complaining, of course. He loved little Mfuto, and it was greating having someone other then Maguezo around all the time. (Not that he didn't like Mag, too. But she got a little crazy sometimes.) However, he couldn't say that he wasn't a little relieved when Mfuto decided he wanted to go chase birds.
So there he was, wandering around, looking for a good place to rest. He'd been to the areas around the Pridelands before, but that was a while ago, and he could've sworn there was a shady spot around here somewhere..
And there it was! A huge smile broke out on his face as he spotted the rocky area a little ways ahead of him. Finally, out of this terrible sun..
..Or not. He was almost all the way there when he noticed another lioness laying around in the shade.
He went rigid. Was she a pridelander? Had they expanded their territory since the last time he was here? Oh man, he thought, they probably did. They probably did and now I'm going to get killed and leave poor Mfuto without family again.. Good job, Uten.
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:55 pm
The lioness laid her head upon her paws boredly, her eyes half closed, and shut out to the presence of the other lion, almost as if she were dozing off in the beating down heat of the sun, her tail flickering idly.
"So hot out.." she mumbled in complaint, opening one eye, only to see the blur of..wait... the scenery wasn't that color last she checked!
Lifting her head lazily, Leboya blinked a ocuple of times to get the exhaustion out of her expression, and stare at the male whom stood there with a look of fear on his face, before laughing.
She'd never seen that look from another lion, and she must not have been -that- scary, that she knew of, as she brought other creatures such as the pups of a wild dog to her.. hmm...
"It's hot out, young stranger. It would do you good to get out of the sun. Come, sit with me." she invited, motioning to her side.
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:05 pm
Oh. She was lauging at him.
Uten looked down, he could FEEL his cheeks getting hot. He was trying to be better around other lions, he really was. After all, Mfuto helped show him that maybe, just maybe not all of them were huge bullies who picked on other animals for no reason.
But.. Old habits do die hard.
He looked up again, hoping the hint of pink had left his face. "Oh, um, sure, thanks. I actually was looking for this place.. or a place like this to sit." There. He WAS getting better, right? After all, Uten was beginning to realize that he should've be predjudice against any species. It simply wasn't nice. And he really wanted to be nice to everyone.
Once in the shade, he let out a sigh of relief, it was so nice to be out of that sun. He shook out his always growing mane and turned to the lioness. Just be nice. "Sorry about.. you know, staring before. I thought maybe you were a Pridelander and were going to hurt me for being close to the land.."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:12 pm
His awkward mannerisms hinted to her that she was.. definately not socially well-apt with .. well.. at least the female kind, she could guess. She shook her head at his verbal appreciation for her offer.
"Not at all~ It is not a place of mine to be a shade-hog. Besides, plenty of space here, no?" she chimed in reply, moving ever so subtly as to allow the young rogue his own space, should he have required it, before nodding.
His sigh of relief gave away that indeed she wasn't the only victim of the hot weather, which gave her more reason to suspect that places of shade were starting to become a memorized part of the landscape.
"Oh? Pridelander?" There was a pause, before a look akin to 'OMG' came over her expression, before she laughed.
"Are these the pridelands?" she inquired obliviously.
"I would have had no idea~!" she added, laughing at her own naivety. "I'm no pridelander. I'm simply a wandering rogue." she looked to Uten, motioning a paw towards herself. "I'm Leboya. Yourself?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:28 pm
"Thank you again." He laid down and stretched his arms out in front of him. It was nice to not be walking for once, especially not in this terrible heat. "Yes, there is a lot of space. I think I was here once before when I was younger.."
He lost himself in his thoughts for a moment until the lioness spoke again. "Oh, actually I think this is just close to the border.. I haven't been here in a while and wasn't sure if maybe they expanded their territory or not.." Uten had been just about everywhere and for the most part, knew where most of the prides were, either just by wandering around or by asking other animals.
"I'm Utengemano. My friends just call me Uten, though. So you're welcome to as well. I'm pretty much a drifter, too."
He paused for a moment.
"Those are some groovy colours you've got there. I haven't seen anyone with a coat like that since that Goddess I met when I was a cub."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:36 pm
"Utengemano. Mm.. it's a rather nice name. Perhaps something I'd like to have a cub of my own named someday." the lioness laughed a bit. "It's suitable towards you. You seem very peaceful from what I see."
Looking down at her coat, the lioness purred. "I've gotten quite a few remarks about it in the past. Yes.. I love my coat. It may sound vain of me, but I'd rather love it, then hate it." Leboya smiled. The comparison to a goddess brougth about a strange look from the lioness, whom looked at the bright shades of almost neon hues that adorned her body.
"Mm... I'm sure my colors are a lot brighter, though.. I've met a couple of... out of whack lions whom were drawn to it like it was.. well.."
She struggled through her mind for the word. "I dunno.. they were just entranced by it. It does cause some problems, I would guess..."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:55 pm
Peace? "Is that what it means? I've never known. I always wanted to find out, though. Thank you for telling me." Wow.. peace. Maybe his mother had something in mind when she named him that? Maybe he was supposed to bring peace to others..
Oh, he was drifing off into his thoughts again. "There's nothing wrong with loving your own coat. I do.. I think white is a very calming colour, and maybe shows that I'm not going to hurt anyone if I happen upon others who might be scared of me." The thought of anyone being scared of him depressed Uten, he wanted to make people happy.
"Well, I can see how some might become 'entranced' by those trippy colours.. But if it makes you feel better, I'm not?" He kind of half smiled and shrugged as well as he could lying down. "You know, in the jungle I saw some flowers that would look nice with those colours. I'm heading over there soon. I should make a flower crown out of them.."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:06 pm
Leboya seemed rather surprised at the response her mentioning of the name's meaning, before smiling. "Yeah. Peace." she repeated, just so the meaning was confirmed. She watched as the gears in his head turned ever so subtly, at least metaphorically, before nodding.
"I'm glad to see you are content with yourself, there are not many who think so..." she looked over his coat appraisingly, before laughing.
"I'm sure you know that white is one of the colors of peace as well, correct?" she inquired, sitting up a bit to look off over the landscape..
"Peace is what we all need in these plagued times of war and conflict... "
The lioness seemed to ponder over the notion of the 'flowers' in the jungle, recalling them quite well before nodding. "Ah yes, I've seen those flowers... they're very lovely, are they not? I was just in the jungle a couple of nights ago."
She looked at Uten with a certaind egree of curiousity, before laughing. "A flower crown? You can make such things?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:21 pm
"Oh, wow.. I never really realized that.." He glanced down at his legs in front of him. The deep purple diamonds stood out like anything, but the white was overpowering. That settled it. It was Uten's duty.. No. Destiny to help bring about peace among the different creatures around them.
"Very lovely." He remarked, getting back on topic. "I love flowers.. They're so calm... And perfect." He added, nodding. If only the animals that lived among them were more like the flowers. Everything would be fine.
He too laughed. Perhaps it was a little odd to think of a lion braiding together flowers. "Yeah, I taught myself when I was younger. I've been meaning to make one for myself for ages."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:27 pm
"I agree. Flowers... have a simplistic beauty that enhances everything aroun dit, even if it is a single flower, it makes something much more beautiful."
When Uten explained the ordeal with the flower-crown, the jellyfish lioness nodded. "Ah." Leboya preened, pondering how bored the child had to have been in order to teach himself such an odd task. She'd leave it to speculation only, however, and only nodded.
"I think it'd an admire-able thing, to have a talent that nobody else really shares with you. It's a unique thing, is it not?" she posted as more of a statement, then a question.
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:32 pm
"Pretty unique, I think.. I don't know anyone else who can do it. I'm going to teach Mfuto how to make them when we get to the jungle, though. He's excited." He smiled, that cub wasn't the brightest but her certainly knew how to make his way into Uten's heart.. He did realize, however, that Mfuto was going to grow up eventually and leave him.. But for now, he ignored that. "I'm going to show him how to climb trees, too.."
"Oh!" He laughed a little. "You don't know who he is, sorry. I'm just talking about him and you're probably lost.. Mfuto's a stray cub I found. O.. he found me and Mag."
..And again.
"Oh, Mag's my crazy genet friend."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:43 pm
A sort of bright grin, unlike the other maternal smiles that came over Leboya's face suddenly struck it's way across her expression, her ears perking up.
"Oh? Now that's a sweet thing of you to have done.. taking in a stray.." Leboya nodding. How many times had she been tempted to do the same, only to find that they didn't need her?
Ah yes, Leboya was simply fine without any children to tend to at this point in time...
"You seem to be surrounded with all sorts of fun friends, aren't you?" the lioness then noted, nodding.
"I..." she paused for a moment, before shrugging. "I've gotten myself no tag-alongs in my venturing, simply some few and far-between friends whom I haven't seen in a while."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:54 pm
It was sweet of him, wasn't it? Plus, it would've broken Uten's heart to leave him alone any longer.
"Well, I felt like I had to.. He was talking about his parents not waking up and I had to be the one to tell him that they were probably dead.. It felt terrible." If there was anything Uten did NOT like at all, it was unneeded death. It never did any good, only hurt poor animals who didn't deserve to be hurt.
"Yeah, I suppose I am." He mused, picturing Mag's reaction at being called 'fun.' He laughed aloud. Well, I've known Man since I was a cub. I only just met Mfuto recently."
Travelling alone isn't as fun as travelling with others. At least in Uten's mind anyway. "I'll bet you get lonely.. I know I used to. You should find some fun friends to travel too."
.."Oh, unless you like travelling alone."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:05 pm
A frown came over her expression as Uten explained the conditions under which the cub came under his care, nodding a bit with understanding.
"Ah.. poor child. It was well of you to tell him the truth, as opposed to letting him believe a fantasy." she complimented, while sitting up, sighing a bit. What was with all the spontaneous instances of lions just.... dying?
It was sad. Orphans always made her sad.
Leboya shook her head. "I wander as I please, perhaps having another with me may interupt the rythmn the drum I follow beats at." She shrugged a bit after the made the statement, before sighing.
"So perhaps it's only when I decide that there's a place worth staying at, I'll decide to gain myself life-time companions."
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