[PRP] Better Days {Noxolo, Mazuri, & Safura}

[Big Hobbit]

Noxolo was relieved to see that things were looking better in the pride's lands as of late.

The period of the drought had been a scary and uncertain time when their immediate future was looking rather bleak. Her own mother and sister had been injured in their collective struggles to survive during that time, as had several others. The young lioness had grown since then, having thrived with the arrival of the rains and the new herd.

With the steady presence of prey in the area, she had begun to improve her skill as a hunter, doing what she could to help out. That particular day, she was roaming through the pride keeping tabs on everyone, making sure that there was no new news. In her opinion, no news was good news.

Things were quiet and everyone was enjoying a moment of contentment.

belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Mazuri lay upon the new grass that came from the rain fall and reveled in it. It was so much better than the hot, dry ground she had grown up with. She purred and rolled over in it happily, before coming to a stop at a pair of dark paws. Looking up, she smiled at her the sight of one of her litter-sisters, Noxolo.

Rolling over onto her belly, she stood and flashed her sister a grin.
"Hello Nox!" She chirped and rubbed her cheek against her sister's. "Wonderful weather we're having, isn't it? You must be enjoying it, since you and Mthunzi were given darker pelts than the rest of us." She waited for a moment and then went on. "It seems so long ago already, that we had so much strife within the drought, and with the newcomers and those dreadful hyenas." She shuddered at the memories, which were cloudy as she saw them through a cub's eyes. Now she had been briefed by the adults in what happened, but she very nearly wished she could have just kept to her ignorance.

Big Hobbit

 

[belloblossom]

Despite her love of gossip, Safura hadn't managed to keep up with the local news. She had been far too busy courting Kuhasa, the new eligible male in the pride. So determined she was to find herself a suitable lion to sire her cubs and gain her more esteem within the pride, that she let the minimal social interaction she had within the pride fall away.

Now that it seemed she and Kuhasa were at somewhat of an agreement, Safura was trying to worm her way into conversations of the latest news or older tidbits that she may have missed out on during her impromptu courtship.

She, too, had been enjoying the new weather when she overheard some very interesting words float to her ears. Hyenas? Newcomers? Goodness, it did seem like she had been missing out. She had vague memories of the destruction that a crocodile had reigned, or had it been several?-within the pride. She didn't know the specifics of that either and now she was going to go get caught up.

"I beg your pardon, ladies." She said as she approached the two who were speaking, sidling up to them and sitting close. "I was wondering if you might enlighten me on all that has occurred over the drought. I know the herds moved on and everyone was parched, of course, hard to ignore that, but I seem to have been distracted for many of these events. I would be incredibly grateful if you could catch me up."

Big Hobbit

 

[Big Hobbit]

Noxolo grinned as she came upon the sight of her sister Mazuri enjoying the plant life that had sprung to life with newly available resources. She watched her sister, waiting until she was noticed rather than end the moment. It warmed her heart to see that her family and pride were able to relax for the time being as opposed to struggling and stressing over their future. There was nothing better than peace and security.

"It is wonderful, and you would probably do good to find yourself some shade if your getting too hot," she responded with a small laugh. "The time of the drought is but a memory now, but its one that we shouldn't forget in case we find ourselves faced with a similar situation in the future."

Her mind wondered off for a moment, before she was brought back to the present by the arrival of another lioness. "Hello," she said pleasantly,"well, a lot happened during that time, I'm sure you heard about everyone that was injured during the dangerous hunts?"

belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Safura, as it happened, only vaguely remembered hearing about the hunting gone wrong, but she was a firm believer in getting the full story, even if it made her look the fool in not knowing. She had had better things to do at the time, like preparing for her future cubs. She had already gotten one of the males of the pride to consent, so clearly that was where she ought to be focusing her attentions, she had thought, on her future, not the problems of the drought.

Now that all had been set in motion however, she was coming to get the latest and the latest she would get.
"I-I believe so, but just in case... Refresh my memory?" She asked the others with a sheepish smile.  

[belloblossom]

Mazuri nodded along to what her sister had to say and nudged her a little at the jest.
"At least we can have shade now, with the foliage returning to the trees." She replied with a happy sigh. "It's strange to think that future litters won't know of the drought, but in stories, while we lucky ones," She smiled and rolled her eyes towards the sky, "got to live in it."

It was then that they were approached by another lioness, one that Mazuri had seen on the metaphorical sidelines for the majority of the drought. In fact, if Mazuri thought hard enough, she was fairly certain that she'd seen this lioness shadowing Kuhasa as of late. Hmm...

As the question was for Noxolo, rather than herself, it seemed, she turned her head to her sister and shivered at the memory. It was one of many, she thought, that she didn't like to remember, even if the memories of such may make her a wiser lioness for it.

Big Hobbit

 

[Big Hobbit]

"It was terrible!," she said toward Safura. "At least four lionesses were hurt trying to take down a zebra out of pure desperation. At that point, some of the lionesses had even begun to hunt the hyenas," she spoke this with distaste. The dark lioness would truly have to be starving to consume one of those beasts.

"When the water rationing was in effect, some of us had to fight off a crocodile from one of the water holes that were left. Our own sister was injured from trying to help!"

"Its a good thing that the cubs now don't have to live with things like water rations. Even though everything can't be great all the time, it makes me happy to see them carefree and without worry. It is not for young ones to have such worry," she said to her sister.

"But we do have some good stories to tell that make us more interesting," she laughed.

belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Safura's eyes became very wide when one of the lionesses turned to her and told her about the zebra accident.
"I assume the zebra got away?" She inquired, before making an 'ugh' sound at the notion of eating hyenas. Of course she knew that hyenas were the enemy of all lions and she assumed it was vice versa. But the notion of eating something other than a prey-beast was not something that Safura would ever care to try her paw at. Bleeech.

She became even more interested at the notion of a crocodile fight and she asked.
"I thought the new Inselelo, Kuhasa, had a crocodile familiar?" She asked. "Why wasn't he there to prevent the harm that came to us?"

Well, now she was able to understand why other lionesses appeared so bitter and put out by her when she was flirting with Kuhasa during the drought. Oh bother, she had gone to all the trouble of making him the male her first litter was with and now she felt like she may have made the wrong choice. Well, at least she knew to pay attention to the popular opinion in the pride now.  

[belloblossom]

Mazuri listened with a saddened expression as her sister grazed over the details of the big events that had occurred during the drought. Seeing it through a cub's eyes... It hadn't seemed really, well, real at the time. Even as an adolescent, she was able to keep out of most others ways and survive. She thought if her striped sister who had been injured in the time of the crocodile attack and shivered. It had been so frightening to see dear Khethiwe return home with a bleeding paw and a heavy limp. Mazuri had been so scared for her...

"Hm, what?" She raised her eyes from where they had fallen to the ground to her sister's gaze. "O-oh, yes. I agree completely." She said, processing the tail end of the conversation and then smiling at Noxolo's comment about their having something to make them more interesting.

"Yes, when we're the older lionesses, cubs will crowd around us begging for stories of our heroics. Ah, I can see it now..." She said, before breaking out into a small fit of giggles.

Big Hobbit