Samwel Igwe
PRIDELANDERS
Human Prince of the Pridelands
Posts: 536
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Post by Samwel Igwe on May 20, 2021 21:30:13 GMT
Kabili listened to the idea about the mother.
On one hand he didn’t want to walk into a trap. But on the other hand, what could possibly go any more wrong than it already had? He paused a moment and eyed Fuli, but didn’t get too much from her, so he guessed that was that. So instead he decided to put on his best game face and step forward.
“If your mom could help us we would be very grateful,” he decided to use some of his “attitude” lessons with this one. “I’m sure my father will be too. Last thing we need is him worrying.”
He gently nudged Tara about “if his mom is helpful”. Knowing that the last thing they needed was to offend the jackal. “Give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s better than no lead at all.”
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NOBU
Administrator
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Post by NOBU on May 25, 2021 22:53:12 GMT
"Yeah" the jackal pup spoke again "Mom knows 'bout everything! She sure knows how to get to this... mountain thing? Or back to the Pridelans!" He didn't seem to grasp what Tara was trying to understand, but he seemed quite positive about his mother's ability to understand. In fact, so much so he just nodded at Kabili's words. Did he know who was that boy's father? Or did he just want to help anyway?
"No needs!" He answered Bandit, turning to the place he came from and resuming his walking "Mom's gonna be happy I'm home, she'll help ya! She might even invite y'all for dinner!"And the pup went ahead, leading the team towards another bifurcation and going left without thinking twice.
Fuli kept an alert stance during the whole walk and... Well. You didn't get to se- wait, what was that? Some dust came down from the ravine's edge. Maybe this would explain the sensation of being watched..? It was weird.
They could see, after a sharp curve, a clearing where a rocks, supported by each other, made a couple of domes, and adult jackals could be seen walking from one side to the other, as well as tons of young ones as well. "Mah! I'm home!" The jackal screamed as soon as he put his first paw in the open-er area in the ravine, and a head popped out of some of the rocky huts: An adult jackal.
"Dogo!" She let out loudly, making the other jackals stop whatever they were doing, lift their eats and look towards the group. The supposed mom approached them, reaching a paw to the cub and ruffling his head. She turned to... Well. She turned straight to Bandit with a smile on her face "Thank you for bringing my kid home. I've been looking for him for hours now! What can I do for you?" She smiled up to the rest of the group, but it was clear that she assumed the other jackal was the brains behind the good deed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2021 5:33:04 GMT
Bandit naturally took Fuli's silence as approval, though he had a less favorable impression of Kabili, who doubted Jackal genius. He would show him a thing or two. He snorted at Tara, she admitted that she thought he was dumb! Though that was what he was playing up to poor Njaa, could he fault her for him being good? Naw!
"Hear that? His ma knows everything!" he said, playing into the 'dumb' perception of course, "Oh ya we could use a meal." he licked his chops sloppily. "These pridelanders, if only someone would teach 'em a thing or two about sharing." He said, snickering. He was sure the pup and his family had similar... ideas.
The group followed, naturally, and Bandit gave Dogo's mom a smile! "Oh it wasn't no trouble at all ma'am!" he bowed his head to her, just being a gentleman. "Call me Bandit!" he gave a goofy grin. "Dogo, huh?" he put his paw to his chin in thought. "You don't have nicknames 'round here then." he snickered. "Anyways. These... humans we calls 'em, are looking for some weird place! So I'm trying to help 'em, ya know it?" he sat down on his rear, scratching at his neck.
"Then our leader gets taken out, ain't none of us seen it coming! Now the spots we does have, she wants to go back home. The humans want to keep the mission goin'. I'm over here like, "We gotta do what the spots that got taken out said and find the place!" he frowned. "So could ya help us get spots home and uh, humans! Tell 'em about our mission!"
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Fuli
PRIDELANDERS
The Wanderer
Posts: 131
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Post by Fuli on May 26, 2021 16:24:04 GMT
While the others were walking and talking, the cheetah was on high alert. That dust probably wasn't just from the wind. But, as they did have more important matters to attend to, and no further activity showed, she decided not to alert anyone about it. They were tense enough as it was, or rather, everyone but Bandit.
As they approached the collection of jackals, Fuli couldn't help but feel uneasy with all the potential hostiles surrounding her. She carefully inspected each jackal, asserting whether they were a threat or not. They didn't seem to be, but that could change in a moment. She stood a few feet away from Bandit, Dogo and his mother, waiting for them to get their talk over with.
Her ears perked up when she heard Bandit explain his own intentions. Fuli goes home, everyone else continues. Well, that wasn't going to happen. No one was splitting up and risking their lives to see this potentially nonexistent place in the Outlands on her watch. Fuli was about to say something, but then decided to just let this go through, as she'd get the directions back to the Pridelands anyways. She listened closely, waiting for the jackal mother to explain the route home.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2021 21:06:01 GMT
Despite what Bandit said about her being in charge, Tara still felt she and Kabili were equally in charge, yet with him more so for his prince status, and had really only stopped fighting it when she noticed his hesitation. She got it, she didn't want to be responsible for more going wrong either, how more so if you were the son of the lion king of the Pride Lands?
That was still an odd thought, just his whole family now being animals. Talking animals at that.
So she gave an encouraging sort of smile as Kabili stepped up and spoke what she would count very princely indeed. In all the ways that mattered anyway.
She nodded at the Benefit of the Doubt thing. "Right", she agreed and reminded herself. She didn't want to be suspicious, but they were also dealing with someone trying to kill them potentially. Probably not the jackals and nice pup though, she reminded herself. Still, she hoped they were on the right side of dinner...though she wasn't sure if there was one between being on it and eating raw meat...
Dogo? Tara's smile strained a bit in holding in amusement for the sake of diplomacy, and she acknowledged it as her smile loosened and she glanced over to Bili, trying to communicate her thought through just a glance. His name was dog...?
Ok, not really, but close enough! She wasn't going to argue who brought the pup home, and another jackal giving Bandit the credit actually made sense to her. Tara wasn't sure about Bandit spilling everything, but it was now done, so she sighed and stepped up, nodding to the mother. "We're looking for a structure that...would stick out", she again tried to explain a temple in animal terms. "Not be just another mountain of rock around, but made of a slick material, maybe, or...maybe inside a cave?". She glanced back to Bili, curious if this was accurate to the notes they had. She was going off anything verbal that the expedition group had said.
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Samwel Igwe
PRIDELANDERS
Human Prince of the Pridelands
Posts: 536
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Post by Samwel Igwe on Jun 2, 2021 20:26:54 GMT
Kabili let Bandit do some of the talking.
After all, she was of his species. And he was a stranger, so the last thing he wanted to do was offend her. After all, Simba always told him to keep himself proper and polite when dealing with the other animal species, right? The last thing he wanted to do was open his mouth and be snarky about anyhting.
Oh, tell her about their mission!
Straightening a bit, he nodded his head. "Sorry for intruding like this by the way m'am. I'm uh... Prince Kabili of the Pridelands, and this is Tara," He decided he'd do some introductions since well - he wasn't about to be "the human". "Before we came here, a bunch of us were looking for a place called Zion..."
Flipping through his mom's journal, he came across what he was looking for. It was only an artist rendering based on her research. But all the same it would give at least *some* idea of what they were looking for. Now that they had an adult instead of a kid it may be more useful. "It might look a little like this, we don't know." He said as he set it down. "But it's really important to us... And to my father that we find it."
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NOBU
Administrator
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Post by NOBU on Jun 7, 2021 23:39:33 GMT
The female jackal noded. "Dogo is his nickname" she informed Bandit, but if she understood or not what was his point with the nicknames talk was still to be discovered. "A... meal?" The jackal's eyes went from Bandit to the entire rest of the group, and then back at the male Jackal. She looked... puzzled at least. "I am sorry to hear about your leader, Bandit." but she proceeded "She's from the Prideladns, right? They are in the direction you came from..."
"Of course, what are the humans after?" And she turned to Tara. "Stick out... like a Volcano?" But as Tara kept explaining, the jackal elaborated her thoughts. It seemed like she was actually trying to help! "Slick material... There are a couple of rocky pillars to the Northeast." she rationalized "But I must warn you that is hyena territory. Most of the caves are also there, including the Volcano and the Geko Cave."
The Jackals in the background gathered and seemed to watch the group. In specific, Fuli. Some whispering stuff about the mark on her shoulder. They seemed not extremally happy to be seeing it but they sounded more cautious than aggressive.
"Prince of... the Pridelands?" her muzzle rounded the corners as if she was holding up laughter. But Kabili's serious tone made her gulp down the laughter. "The Prince of the Pridelands is a human? What happened to the golden cub?" and the Jackals'; in the background got their ears up when the golden cub was called upon. She paid attention to the journal, taking a couple of steps closer to Kabili. "I've never seen anything like that. But I've seen really sharp and straight stones like that in the hyena territory. Can't say where. We Jackals don't go there a lot. It is rather dangerous, but it is in that direction" And she pointed with a par to their right, where another path leads out of the clearing in the ravine.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2021 8:00:17 GMT
The male raised his brow, "Nah...?" he shook his head, "We'll talk about it later, ya know, jackal-to-jackal." he winked, he was definitely hiding something, but what was it, and was this an excuse to get alone with his own kind, or a secret conversation? He didn't seem confident he would do so soon though. He gave a frown about Njaa, but he kept his... own style of focus.
He looked to Fuli as she remained silent, but especially as the other hounds were whispering. He had a feeling it was about the mark. Heck, he had his questions too! He gave the cheetah's shoulder a solid push, "Fuli! Speak when yer spoken about." he advised. "The direction we came from? You sure about that ma'am?" he left his tongue hanging out after his sentence. "I guess that's up to Fuli 'cause that's the way she wants to go, and we go... thatta way." he pointed the same way she was pointing, but didn't hold his paw in place.
"Ladies first then." he said, moving to stand just beside the female jackal, and bowing to Tara; and possibly Fuli, waiting for them to proceed or to speak their minds. While he was there he would whisper to the other jackal "Where I come from, we got two names, your parents give ya one, you earn the other one. The first one you gotta do what whoever calls you it, tells ya. The other 'un you use around people you don't trust." he pointed at the group as he ended the whispering.
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Fuli
PRIDELANDERS
The Wanderer
Posts: 131
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Post by Fuli on Jun 8, 2021 13:03:24 GMT
As the jackals begun to chatter amongst themselves, Fuli began shifting around uncomfortably, having to split her attention between the crowd and her group. Worse yet, the others seemed dead-set on going to Zion, even without a guide. And from the sound of things, they'd be going into hyena territory to do it. But the more immediate problem needed to be addressed first. The cheetah didn't know much about Jackals, but Bandit was one himself, so she decided to take his advice. Fuli turned to the yapping crowd and stood as tall as she could before addressing them. "If anyone has a problem with me, then come on up here and say so," she said, an angry frown on her face.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2021 13:52:48 GMT
Tara nodded in further greeting as Kabili gestured to her amidst his introduction of himself and explanation of the mission. It just seeming proper to do so even though she'd already spoken.
Bili did one better than her explanations and showed a picture from his mother's journal. Oh please let that help and let the jackals know what they were talking about...
It would be a bit too easy for a grand adventure such as this, and as a million comic book and serial heroes had gone on, but she held out hope real life could be simple, sometimes, maybe.
Not always, and she wasn't really surprised to hear about Hyena Territory. Gecko's didn't sound so bad. "Well we'll make sure not to disturb the Geckos" she smiled, thinking that would be the only thing they would have to worry about.
They didn't owe these two too many answers, even for their help, though. It was Kabili's business how much about himself he wanted to tell, but all out asking about where that brother of his, Kion, was seemed suspicious to her. Though the other Jackals mostly seemed almost awed at the mention.
Hmm...what was up with that? Oh well, she'd see about that after this whole Zion thing was behind them, and however that ended up.
Dogo's mother gave them directions and Tara nodded, though she'd been speaking to Kabili, "Thanks a lot, Ma'am". Bandit gestured for them to go forward, and it seemed they were...except when Fuli took insult to the whispers among the other Jackals.
Tara rushed over, hoping to avoid an incident, but aware she could make Fuli more agitated when she was already not set on going the way they were and now Tara was getting in her business perhaps, though she didn't mean to. "I'm sure that's not what they meant, um...are you coming?. She asked and suggested, rather than demanded she follow, and since Fuli wasn't set on going to Zion, though Tara still thought sticking together was the best solution.
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Samwel Igwe
PRIDELANDERS
Human Prince of the Pridelands
Posts: 536
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Post by Samwel Igwe on Jun 11, 2021 8:22:53 GMT
Kabili straightened a little.
Of course, on one hand he wanted to feel a little offended by her response to his comment. But at the same time - he knew that he sometimes had to break it down, and didn’t mind. “Nothing happened to Kion. Simba adopted me into his family. It’s um... A long story,” he shrugged a little. “But I guess there’s three of us now: Kion, Kiara, and me.”
He listened intently to what she said. Hyena territory, great. Simba was not going to be happy about this one - especially after what happened the other week. “Thank you very much for your help m’am. Anything even close helps,” he admitted. Standing to his feet. “We’ll try our best to not y’know make any scenes.”
He turned his head toward Fuli, nervous. “Fuli, let’s go,” he tried to encourage. “They don’t mean anything by it. I think.”
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NOBU
Administrator
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Post by NOBU on Jun 11, 2021 14:34:25 GMT
As Fuli barked- meowed? Screeched... As she made aggressive-sounding words echo towards the jackals, they had a mixed reaction. The smaller ones, and even some of the big ones, seemed to lower their ears and backstep. However, a certain number of bigger ones let out a low snarl, even if they were also still backstepping and lowering their ears. The female leader of the jackal pack, apparently, tried to explain things "We have... bumped into the Lion Guard once or twice in our territory and things have not always ended up nicely. But we were not aware of a... cheetah in the Lion Guard. We ain't havin' a problem since you are on your way out, right?" And the inner tips of her eyebrows lowered as she singled out Fuli with her eyes.
She seemed surprised to hear those whispers from Bandit. "We don't that here anymore... Haven't for generations. Where are you from?" She whispered back, as if taken back with a costume that old.
"I am not sure you can promise that" she answered in a louder tone to Tara "You'll have to go through the Gecko Cave to get to the hyena territory. They should be asleep this time of the day so it should be rather safe!" She said with a warm motherly smile, with a hint of something behind it. "But yes, the Pridelands are in that direction. Did you not come from it? The other nearer exit there would be... going through the volcano, which is dangerous!" Perhaps not for the lava itself.
"I'm happy to see that at least one of Simba's children is well educated!" Said the jackal mother at Kabili's try to calm the vibe between cheetah and jackals. "Lemme give you this bit of advice. You don't want to be alone in the outlands after the sun has set. You should probably keep going"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2021 21:13:20 GMT
Bandit looked at Fuli, with distrust that the Jackal leader would certainly recognize, but the others having not heard his words may not notice as cleanly. He whispered to the jackal first to answer her, "Huh! Rabia." he smiled, "It's a new place, run by my pops. Ceasar, unless you knows him as Kaisari?" he took the gamble to learn about this chick.
Speaking of chicks, he turned his attention to Fuli, "Well now ma'am, I'm sure she would want to be on your good side, so long as you don't start trouble neither, ya hear?" he said. "Whatever his reasons, putting a lady on the guard can only be good!" he grinned, "We won't disturb no geckos or no jackals!" he smiled, "'cause they know if they start trouble with jackals who mind their own business,we might be declaring war instead of friendship." he said, open about his motive...if these jackals were good ones too, he'd pounce on the opportunity!
"Oh yeah Kabili's got a long story..." he rolled his eyes, "I ain't afraid of no dark. It's the best time for stealin'!" he chuckled. "But now we gotta decide now don't we? Are we a-gonna go home with our tails between your legs and tell the hyenas what happened to Njaa?"
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Fuli
PRIDELANDERS
The Wanderer
Posts: 131
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Post by Fuli on Jun 12, 2021 18:49:19 GMT
Fuli looked over the jackals. From the fact that they were backing down, as well as from the female's advice, Fuli drew the conclusion that they weren't any immediate danger. As long as the Pridelanders were leaving, which they were.
"Well I plan on getting out of here the moment I'm able to do so, so you don't have to worry about me," she said, approaching the female jackal. "We just need the directions back to the Pridelands. The way we took in is blocked, and we need another way." Fuli tried to put on a neutral expression. If the jackals weren't starting anything, she didn't want to either. But this conversation was getting more drawn out than she would like it to be. If what she said about the night was true, then time was of the essence.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2021 19:13:35 GMT
Tara continued to watch merely for not rushing any disastrous results, but she tensed as some of the jackals started growling. Checking a loop of her jacket to make sure she still had her make-shift slingshot just in case, she also spotted some stones, but didn't bend just in case, and Fuli thankfully didn't push anything.
Her glance came back to the hyena matriarch as she answered. Tara had been meaning just in common courtesy. "Safe? Gecko's are...dangerous?", she asked half rhetorically.
Though given luck so far of course they were...
"Um...thank-you ma'am, we'll make sure to do that...being careful I mean". So dangerous Geckos then Hyenas. Great.
Their decision aside, Tara sighed as Bandit mentioned telling the hyenas of what had happened to Njaa, "We do have to do that eventually, don't we...".
That and Fuli was making it clear she was not continuing. "We're not...giving up, or I know me and Bili aren't but...Fuli we won't let you go back alone either, let's just...", she continued to try to think and listened for any options or opinions the other had while a nagging thought bothered her. "Dad would have known exactly what to do, I'm not...", she muttered to herself, then broke off, partly because thinking about her father was not going to help them right now, but it was true, even as it was evident all was lost and the plane going down, he'd been muttering through options, trying dials, trying to salvage the unsalvageable.
She wasn't much like him much as she tried.
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