Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kicheko had been seething throughout the day. She hadn't been able to approach the King nor the Queen yet, because once their cubs had been spotted - with a disappointing amount of heads, if you asked her - they'd all been crowded so much that they'd stuck around long enough to get some things sorted before seemingly retiring again. She just hoped that their absence wouldn't be nearly as long as the first three days.

More to the point of her anger, she'd found out the names of the cubs and had been complaining to her beloved, and her brother the moment she found out.
"Surely she couldn't have been named after him! I didn't think he was so beloved by the Royalty - oh, Haha, what if he is favored by the King or Queen, then I go and complain about him? I don't want to be kicked out of the pride!" She had bemoaned to her brother the night before, for all that he would hear of it. On the flip side, she barely heard anything that he may have had to say to her in response. She'd gone to bed early that night, tucked between her loved ones, but slept fitfully, with dreams of an anger male lion barreling down at her.

By the time that she woke up, she looked dreadful. She went on a hunt, as was her dawn duty and stumbled through the patrol. By the time she'd been excused, she decided it was time to take Hamdan up on his offer to join him at his waterhole. Surely some time with her friends would perk her up, or maybe she could nap through the more boring parts of their conversation, or if they stared too deeply into each other's eyes...

Shaking herself when she spotted Hamdan's notable pelt, she headed straight toward him and plopped herself at the water's edge, her front two paws sloshing into the water.

"Hamdan, did you hear? One of the cubs has his name! If it turns out that dung-shaped lion is a favorite of the King or Queen, they'll never hear me out about my complaint and I'll be as good as dead the next time I see him!" She wailed, splashing her paws pitifully around in the water.

Ikarta finaly made it to the watering hole, her chest heaving from her doing another quick scouting and running her fuzzy tail off to get here. She came trotting over and did a flop in a classic Sphinx position beside Kicheko and huffed out “ what did I miss? “. She opened her jaws to pant for a moment, her heart rate was still high but she was missing all the juicy gossip and she came as fast as she could. Her eyes look between them with a subtle back and forth, she feels like she missed something really juicy, her ears were perked forward with interest as she splayed her paws out in front of her. She hadn’t heard what the names of the cubs were, just saw they had only one head each and none looked like Hamdan thankfully.

Kicheko looked to Hamdan with some relief at his touch; she felt reassured knowing that he was so relaxed about this... but then again, of course, he could be, because Kiburi didn't seem to pick on other lions. Still, she cracked a grin and nodded along.

"True enough, having it be a princess shall surely put him in a stupor. How I wish I could be a bird in the air when he finds out. Maybe we'll hear his scream of frustration all the way out here." She said and perked her ears up, leaning her head to one side as though listening for the wail that didn't come. She turned her gaze back to Hamdan and giggled. "Yes, please do. I am not brave enough to antagonize him, but he may actually take it from another male lion." She sighed, laying down fully and rolling onto her back.

"I would not change my life for anything, of course," She began. "But I do wonder what it would be like have been born a lion, sometimes." She tilted her head back to look at Hamdan. "Then at least I'd be able to smack the smirk off of Kiburi's stupid face." She said and slashed a sheathed paw through the air above her to make her point.

She rolled over as Ikarta came over.
"Not much so far. Mostly dung-talking Kiburi and his stupid lioness-hating attitude... and how joyous it is that one of the little princesses has his name. Hamdan thinks he'll hate that most of all, and if that's the case, then it brings me joy." She raised her chin. "I do not think I've ever disliked a lion more than that brutish male." She inclined her head to Hamdan. "I wish he could be more easy-going, like you are Hamdan. Or a silent type, like my dear Kemet. Why, even a soft-heart like my brother, Furaha would be fine - but instead, he seems content to be a bully, and so I shall be content to loathe him." She said to the pair, looking between them.

When Makaa joined next, she curled her tail in delight. They were creating quite the group now between the four of them.
"I'm pleased to hear you've been helping the Guards, Makaa." She announced. "It's about time we had some structure in this pride, after our royals nearly toppled everything without a backup plan." She crossed one paw over the others and looked to Makaa with a polite smile. "I don't know, Makaa, what have you heard?" She asked.

Kicheko didn't have it in her to look abashed at Makaa's accusations, if anything, she was the perfect posture for a demure lioness, though there was something sly in her gaze, and a hint of mischief in her smile. She hummed her contentment when Ikarta ran her tongue over her pelt and blinked fondly at the other lioness.

Turning her head back to Makaa, her tail curled in her contentment. She was surrounded by friends here, but even among friends, she was weary to be her entire self, as she might among her mate or brother. Smiles and grooming only went so far, and gentle teasing today could become vicious rumors tomorrow.

"I have stated to the Heir Apparent himself, and I shall say to every lion that questions after: I was taking a walk. My paws led me briefly in the direction of the royals den, but I had no intention to enter and was turning around when Prince Moyo found me. I appreciate that he took the time to check in on my well-being during such a moment of strife, and I do not fault him his anxieties, when his own parents were absent." She said calmly, perhaps hinting at how many times she'd rehearsed this, or even said it to others before. "My issue I take is purely with Kiburi - you were right in what you said, he attacked me unjustly and threatened to send the Guards after me, which as a Hunter he had no power to do so. Moreover, he kept coming after me until my male companions, you know Kemet, of course, and Furaha, my brother, interposed themselves between us. If they were not there, I fear it would have turned into a physical altercation." Here, she shivered and this was not an act, for the memory of Kiburi roaring in her face was something she would hold with her for many seasons.

"Potopoto has clearly only heard the male perspective if he thinks I am at fault. I could just as easily criticize him, for not being there when I, defenseless, was being screamed at. Is it not the job of the Guard to protect the pride?" She sighed deeply. "Really, it is my wish that I should be able to approach the Guard with my concerns about pride members and how they act. I am not the first lioness that Kiburi has antagonized, and I doubt I shall be the last. You said he may not have been so harsh on a cub, but I doubt that, too..."

She shook her head, her expression now deep with concern.
"Something needs to be done about him." She insisted to the group.