Waldo ain't got nothin' on me! [Find me!]

[Cake]

She'd been lost for nearly two days now. Try as she might, she was beginning to get distressed. Never again was she heading West... whatever direction that might be. Or maybe it was East? They were opposite, yes? Oh who cares. It wasn't important now. What was important was food and shutting up those two damn birds -- especially that. Those little scavengers. They were just floating in the air waiting for her to keel over so they could eat her. Well they weren't going to touch her. Oh no. She was to eat them.

Feathers. Will. Fly.

It was a rarity to find this lion without a smile, and unfortunately this was one of those times. She had been in perfectly good cheer before those birds had decided to tag along like big, ugly leeches that fly in the air. If only she were scarier looking - like them. Then, maybe they'd flee, afraid of her mighty roar. Only, she had no mighty roar. A pity. Well, she'll just have to come up with another solution to save herself from those pesky annoyances. What was it her mother said? 'Cloud watching is always the best way to forget one's troubles.' The words spoken in her mother's voice brought a smile to little Pembe all anger and annoyance momentarily forgotten.

With a smug little smile the lioness halted abruptly and with a theatrical huff and puff fell onto her belly her limbs spread awkwardly around her. Her chin banged painfully onto rock. "Owwwww!" Pembe wailed, scrunching her eyes tightly closed. With a pout no one could see, the little lost lioness rolled over onto her side, her short legs tangling together.

It was too hot.

Her limbs spread out once again.

It was still hot.

Cracking one eye open, Pembe lazily tilted her head so that her lone opened eye could gaze onto the brightly, sunny-shiny sky. Unfortunately, the clouds were few and light, floating cheerily in the sky high above Pembe and the stalkers that had settled down about five yards to the left. Surely that was North.

"Flower..." Pembe mumbled after several minutes her eyes sliding away from the flower-shaped cloud and falling closed. She was beginning to become drowsy. It was such a perfect, too hot day. Nap time called to the lioness. Rolling over one last time, Pembe began to hum a little tune that really wasn't much of a tune. "You just wait, Pink-ee," the lion began her right paw reaching out to claw at the rock she was currently stretched out on, "you'll be found or become un-lost. You're too lucky."

Minutes passed and the ugly, dirty scavengers began to hop towards the lioness. She was small and skinny, but she was food. Asleep they could take her. Fresh meat was always a treat. She was weak. It had been so long since she'd eaten. They could take her. They would eat her. They hopped closer.

One of them made a mistake.

Too close.

With a great roar (which really more of a good, loud roar) Pembe jumped up and tackled the nearest bald bird. Some how, she was awake and aware. Two extremely rare things to be put together when she was stretched out on a nice warm rock. The ugly creature screeched and flapped it's massive wings trying in vain to get away. Pembe's jaws were clamped tihtly around the base of the scavenger's long neck. The other bird flew away it's squawk clearly telling the other bird 'better you than me!'

Feathers. Were. Flying.

Within seconds the bird was dead, elliciting a childish song to break from Pembe's lips. "I win! I win!"

[Vox]

The winding, torturous highways of Korongo were usually the haunts of the lost, the foreign, or those who knew their way, but where up to no good. The meandering paths brought death to the former two, and exception fortune to the latter. There were maidens, lost deep in Korongo, never to return. There were ladies with their children, who perished, deep inside the belly of this beast with it's many tunnels and passages. And there were the sorts of things that kept this place clean, and orderly, after the ladies, children, and maiden expired. 'No, my friend, I am terribly afraid that I cannot let you have me today...' Making this little statement, it was odd to see someone pacing the sinewy alleys of Korongo who was neither lost, nor devious in his intentions. It had been quite a time since he had been away from his home, as well, and so he supposed he shouldn't be called a foreigner. Perhaps and immigrant. But then that made it sound like he was here to stray. Forever.
Maybe he would, after all. The place was not bad, as far as living situations were. There were no reasons why he should not, after all, call Eiroka home, and retire to the scrublands. Except for...He was not one for staying put for too long. He had wandered far too long for that. He had grown accustomed to being still in his mind, while his surroundings changed, for him to welcome, or even accept, the idea of his never leaving this place. But it had become easy, living from day to day. And Truth was not the kind of man who resented easiness, or anything that swayed from the usual routine of a nomad, who half-died every dry season from hunger and thirst, and who half-drowned ever wet season, because of the floods and no safe place to go with all the good rest-stops taken by neighbouring Prides.
'I managed fairly well, though,' And that was quite true. Truth had stopped by a few Prides on his way here, from the far eastern lands of his birth, and taken some of their food and drinking water, and in exchange, he had taught.
Truth had taught the adults all the things he knew, from battle tactics to basic medicine and information about how to stay alive during drought. He shared his desert's man expertise, and they were thankful for it, and allowed him a small hole to sleep in, which he had refused. He had never held with sleeping in burrows, or caves. It was the night sky, for him; whether he made his bed out of muddy floodplain or parched scrubland was irrelevant.

He had taught the children, and he had enjoyed that most. Truth had loved those babes as his own, those younglings as if they had been truly his offspring. He had been 'Uncle Veritas' or even 'Grandad', to the younger ones, though he had been quite young back then, little older than three. But he had spoken of his times in the wars, and his imprisonment, and the time he had saught asylum after his escape. And they had sat, wide-eyed and listened, and counted the scars that dappled his hide. It had hurt him to have to part with them, and it surprised him not somewhat that he did not remember a single one of their names. He had called them all by their names back then, and never treated them like children, but as equals. That is what they had wanted most--to be considered important, relevant, for their opinions and questions to be thought of as valid, and not silly or meaningless. And Truth had given them that. But now...Now they were all grown, most of them dead, no doubt. And he was here, wandering about the lands which he had had to relinquish after his Pride had disbanded, wondering how long it would be before he could take them once more.
The lioness ahead of him had been the object that aroused his curiousity in the first place, as he had started to pace slowly toward her. He had watched her trip, and then slump over, and finally attack the bird that made the mistake of thinking she had expired, or was too weak to go on. Truth chuckled, his bright grey eyes twinkling with kindness, as he watched her leap about, howling her triumph. "I'd give that full marks. Very artful, my dear, you have proved yourself quite the cunning lass." His merry eyes sparkled with good humour as he settled himself in a sitting position about fifteen feet away from the young lady, curling his tufted tail about his powerful feet and their muscular legs, and allowing it to twitch in continued interest, and attention.

He was, despite his mature age of seven years, a virile, handsome sort of man. His sharp, witty eyes, and high cheekbones denoted intelligence, and his wide upper forehead advertised his wisdom. Truth's temples were delicate, but well formed, indicating his clear, sensitive conscience, and moral mind. But there was something about his roya carriage, a small dint every here and there in his features that hinted toward the fact that he had taken on many a role in his lifetime. He had been a boy, once, clear-eyed and fresh-faced. He had been a soldier, too, with no fear of bloodshed. And then a commanding general, with the steel in his nerves to prove it. But he had a kingliness about him, a grace and presence, that only a man born to a high throne can possess. But his philosophical glance, his questioning look, indicated both a touch of scholarly love for knowledge, and wiseman ardour for knowing. For knowledge and facts are not the same as knowing and wisdom. He both understood, and recollected. He had sympathy in his finely carved face, and sadness. The king, the soldier, the commander, the boy, the wise man, the fool, the philosopher, the poet. The endless contradiction of self. Yes...That was what he was. He was the Truth. Always right, yet willing to be wrong, and evaded at every turn, but never one to give up the chase. Duty was ingrained in him. But so was the great desire to love. And as he had come to learn after many years of trials and tribulations...Those who were the hardest to love, were often the ones who needed love most. And, as was in his strange nature, he found those who were most difficult to love, the ones he wished to love most.

out of crackers! Sorry it's rather short, but I'm rather pleased with the way I didn't describe him at all, but went on gassing anyway, pretending I was, haha.

[Cake]

The dead bird fell from her mouth in a heavy, smelly heap, the talons of the hellion scratching sharply on the bare rock of the maze. Pembe's ear twitch against the unpleasant sound. It was dead and it still grounded on the young lioness' nerves. Had Pembe been of the more negative and cruel mind, the idea of gleefully destroying the bird's infested carcass would be more than a little appealling. In reality, however, could never even cross the small lioness' mind. It was too gruesome an idea. Pembe preferred the more cheerful of thoughts. Long lazy days just lounging in the sun were a more preferrable day dream to the young feline.

Ugly in life, the bird was now quite hideous with it's long neck broken and nearly in two pieces. At one point, the scavenger had only been naked on the head, but now it was a patchy mess. A mange ridden animal would have had a more attractive skin coordination. It's eyes were open. It was staring at her, accusing her. Though she did not care for useless destruction, she felt no guilt. It was its own damn fault. Annoyed, Pembe shoved the head under a broken wing.

Such a sweet character Pembe was, if one could believe it. Right here and now the lioness of faded gold did not appear to be so nice. Maybe it was the fact that food had been scarce for her these past few weeks. Maybe it was the birds. Maybe it was because she was lost. Really, it was all combined with a few other odd little annoyances. The image she was currently giving off was far from her best, and were she to pause and examine her behavior over the last few days, Pembe would be quite appalled with herself.

And then, there was a voice.

"Oh no!" Pembe cried jerking her head in the direction of the first live being - those birds hardly counted. "Are you lost as well?" Large brown eyes widened into large circles, giving the lion with the crooked tail and destroyed right ear an even more innocent appeal. Of course it didn't take much create such an effect. Old wounds of foolishness hardly distracted from the still young-minded young woman. It would be near impossible to actually create an illusion of a battle worn, hard and mean lion. Pembe was too sweet and much too cuddly.

The compliment she'd just received from the older lion did not register with the younger one. The shock that another lion was here was over powering any other thought she could muster. Without thinking Pembe bounced closer, halting just inside the ten feet marker. Her prey was left forgotten. The excitment of seeing another living soul was a much stronger emotion than the satisfaction of dinner, though, admittedly it was a close call.

"If you are you shouldn't go that way," her head tilted to the left. It was the direction she had come from, the large area she'd been wandering around completely lost. Of course, Pembe could not claim she'd been walking in a straight line. In truth, it was more of a zig zag circle. There were several spots where she'd managed cross over two, maybe even three times. Her mother would be so proud...

With an odd sort of grace, Pembe pushed herself down into a seated postition with her fore limbs pressed up against her body. It wasn't a tense gesture, but it came with the sudden realization that she might just be a tad to close for the other's comfort. She wouldn't want to offend him. He was a stranger. He was a bigger strange. He was also a he. so the obvious answer was to take up less space. The smile returned to Pembe's face with lips lifting gentling and her jaw dropping just a bit. Her large head cocked to the right, almost hiding the tattered right ear. Though the old wound of foolishness added a sort of charm to the lioness, Pembe found it to be a mark of shame. It had nothing to do with the fight with the hyena. It had nothing to do with the embarrassment. She wasn't embarrassed. It just wasn't pretty. Some lions got lucky and their demolished ears gave a certain poise and grace that, in her eyes, just didn't come with her's.


||Ooh Ooh Cee|| So sorry for the delay. I'm visiting my dad and it was deemed that we were going to a basketball game and dinner. North Texas lost.

[Tyra]

Out of character garbage: Hope you don't mind me jumping in with Marimba. If you do I'll just delete the post.

Marimba
And I'll keep searching every day
The golden lion had set off from the pridelands in search of Truth and others, hoping for a reunion with the king who had been so kind to her when she was a cub. The king she had abandoned barely days after he had accepted her. But, as she kept telling herself, she'd done it for the pride's god. They had been best off without her. But now she only hoped he would take her back again. Except, when she'd gone to the pridelands, they had been empty but for Rhian. She had told Marimba she'd come with her but, if she hadn't, Marimba would live. She knew Rhian was an oddbod, but it was Rhian, and she made life that little less borings.
As she loped through the lands her senses were on high lert. She was waiting for a sound, a smell, anything to say Truth was nearby. Afterall, it was he that she sought so eagerly. A year and a half. Wow. A year since she had last laid eyes on the brute. But she had known then the Alethea was the right place for her. She had felt at home with them, felt secure with them, but had known she couldn't stay then. She'd have brought too much trouble with her. The pride would have faced so much trouble. She'd have felt so guilty. But those days were gone now. She'd changed, for the better.
So, tassel flicking slightly in borebom, choloate eyes scanning the horizon, ears flicking at every slight move, she carried on. Step after step in the intense heat. Muscles rippled beneath her pelt with each move, visible to the eye. A huntress, obviously, with great skill. But she wasn't hungry, and did not feel like spending the energy. Especially when she had noone to hunt for.
But Marimba was quickly begining to wnder if there was any point in this search. There was always the possibility that he'd upped and left. Always the possibility he'd disbanded the pride. She could always move on, find somewhere else. But she didn't want to. So, sighing she still continued.
It wasn't until she had been wandering for a good time she caught it. The scent was unforgettable, undeniably him. Her ears perked as she detected the direction it came from and, slowly, she moved in that direction, though she was still cautious. She could smell another,and wasn't sure exactly how friendly they were.
Upon locating them, she sat behind the ess, in sight of truth, watching him intently. Her ears were pushed forwards, eyes bright. She was smiling, but she wasn't rushing over. She was hoping that, perhaps somewhere she was there, engrained in his memory.
Then one day I'll find my way

[Cake]

||Ooh Ooh Cee|| Yeah... so I don't really have a post. -- Tricked ya'll with the whole 'Oh! New post!' but no, just an OOC. Heh. [:

Anyway, I really don't mind. Tis all good with me. *nodnod*

[Vox]

out of crackers! Post coming soon! Mymy, good thing I didn't bring Ed in instead of Truth, as I was going to, because it would've been disastrous to have him surrounded by so many attractive young ladies x3