Eff Em
These four SoAs are connected somehow. It's up to you and three partners to figure out how!
There are a few requirements. You may only keep one per person, so you -must- have four people in your group. You also must use at least two of the following four themes in your story/backstory!
Murder
Unrequited love
Trickery
Prejudice
There is no prompt! You simply have to tell me how these four SoA are connected to each other. Give me details! Give me a story!
There are a few requirements. You may only keep one per person, so you -must- have four people in your group. You also must use at least two of the following four themes in your story/backstory!
Murder
Unrequited love
Trickery
Prejudice
There is no prompt! You simply have to tell me how these four SoA are connected to each other. Give me details! Give me a story!
*dies happily* I was terribly excited when Samuel Carlin contacted me about being part of his group for the story contest, especially when I heard who the other two members were. They're all great RPers and I must say I leapt at the chance to have some fun writing and brainstorming with them. And we won! 8DD
Oh, and after entering this, we found out that Zitomoya actually is a true seer (ah, the irony! xDD), so I guess she's a seer who believes that she's a false seer while everyone else thinks she's a true one? And Tamaa's a seer too, so things can only get even more interesting from here on out...
You can probably tell that we wrote this in parts and so I only wrote the part from poor Tamaa's perspective, of course, but I thought I might as well clarify that anyway.
Lion's Name & Owner: Mir - Mila Farrel
Lioness' Name & Owner: Kijani'tati - Samuel Carlin
Hyena's Name & Owner: Tamaa - dragonfire_kaen
Cheetah's Name & Owner: Zitomoya - Adona Benedicta
Backstory:
Note: While Zitomoya claims to be a seer, she isn't at all. She's merely delusional. Also, this is told in four parts. It's the same story, just different perspectives. We apologize for the length.
My name is Zitomoya. I am the Seer of my pack, and because of that, I have a great deal of power over them. I can see the future, I can touch and talk to the Gods... This is what happened.
I don't favor myself among the breeders. While the youth that are brought up to our ways are smart, fast, strong and perfect in every way, having to raise a brat of my own isn't in my plans. Oh, I have plans. Lots of them. You can never have too many backup plans in case one blows up in your face. So to speak.
Sometimes literally. That wasn't fun at all.
See, this particular story all started with Mir. Oh, Mir. He was everything a lion should be. He was strong, fierce, a real leader of a guy. Problem is... when I met him, at least... He had a mate. And a little cub. Just like her mother, that one. She looked nothing like Mir. If she did, maybe I'd like her more. And that mate. She's pathetic. A lazy good for nothin' romper! He deserves more then that. He needs more then that.
And me, being the charitable girl that I am... well. I decided I'd give him more then that.
Approaching Mir and his mate wasn't a hard task to do. It seems they were having some trouble with the human tribe nearby. I said I'd help them out, being annoyed by the humans myself (but mostly because they were just there.) but only for a price. That price, naturally, was to be negotiated between myself and Mir. Yes, sweetie, I wanted that little lioness out of the damn picture.
And I wanted it bad.
While Mir and I negotiated my price, I started to weave my web. Offering all my pack up to him, promising utter loyalty... If he did one thing for me. Got rid of that lazy little lioness. You know what I should've found funny at the time? He didn't seem to fight me much on it. Sure, a couple surprised and stuttered excuses, but...
He agreed. He agreed. This plan of mine was working much better then I thought it would. Of course, there was one small problem... That little brat, Kijani. I don't trust her as far as I could fling her little hide, but I have a feeling this particular brat is non-negotiable as far as killing her off, too. It'd be nice, but I don't want to break poor Mir if I can't fix him up myself.
The night was picked, and it was a clear, beautiful night. Good omen for things to come. There was a hyena Mir knew and since he didn't want dear little Kijani seeing her Mommy taken down, he agreed that Kijani would take this Hyena for a walk. The little brat, too stupid to know any better, went along with it. After they were gone...
You know, here's another funny thing. I don't really remember what happened. All I know is we were lunging at her from two sides so she couldn't bolt, and then I just... I blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm standing in the middle of a river cleaning blood off my paws before Kijani and that hyena (I don't even know if he's got a name, honestly.) come back. Mir's nearby. Nearby, single, and mine.
When the cub comes back, she sees the body, and we spin some bull spit story about humans coming and killing their mother too. We "chased them off" before they could drag away the carcass. It's then I decide to leave Mir to tend to his daughter. It's about time I go tell the pack what's going on now, anyway. Especially if we're gonna make a move. I'm a cheetah of my word, and going back on it now wouldn't exactly give me the shining image I'm going to want Mir to see if he takes me for his mate.
My name is Mir. This is how it really happened.
The arrangement was, like most marriages in the pride, determined from birth. I had no say in the matter; my parents were too low-ranked to even be choosey, and the lioness I was given as an adolescent was quiet and, frankly, boring. There was not love, but there was duty, and that was enough. Within a few seasons, I had two children. A worthless daughter, Kijani ... and a magnificant son, Kijan, who looked like his dark grandfather. I took him out constantly as a child, to learn the ways of the savannah, so that he would be fast, and strong. In a world where we constantly lost children to disease or famine or other predators, he was always healthy, always tough.
It happened later that season, that food started to wane, so we snuck into the nearby human settlements at night and started harvesting their cattle. The creatures were stupid and ridiculously easy to pull down, but their death came with more consequence than even Zito could have predicted ...
Human weapons were sharper than claws, and they used a poison that would slowly rip you apart from the inside. Within a moon's passing of time, they had killed several of the older lions in the pride. On one dark night, they crept into the grassland clearly where we spent our nights; I was out with the hunt, leaving my mate to care for our two offspring. It had been a good hunt; we had finished taking down a magnificant wildebeast, I at the throat of the creature, watchign it's life ebb away. When I looked up, several wild-eyed members of the pride - not the hunting group - had surrounded us, their eyes wide and fearful, gasping for breath. Several of the lionesses had cubs in their jaws, including my mate, who had our girl-child. I and several of the warriors raced back to the clearing, to find a scene of carnage and cruelty there ... no father should outlive his son.
My mate had saved Kijani. Kijan was dead. Fury blossomed in my heart, and, returning, I struck her to the ground. But the pridal elders would not let me go further. They drove us out of that place, to camp a night's journey away in the mountain hills and determine what was to be done.
There was no way out. I was stuck with a sniveling mate who had allowed my son to perish and a pride who was not strong enough to take revenge; they wanted only to live in peace. Neither were worth my affections, but this was the pride of my life, my ancestors. Furious, I held my peace, not having enough standing in the council to say anything.
I took to wandering outside the pridal territory, brashly coming into contact with rogues and other creatures alike. It was on one such foray that I met a very unusual cheetah ...
She said that we could triumph over the filthy creatures, remove them from the earth, and that she could help. She added, at the end, that I also desired and needed something more; my mate was worthless, and since I could not divorce her, I must find some other way to rid myself of her. We must be quiet, she said, so they would not suspect ... for Kijan's memory, for my future, I was willing to do this. My mate had been loyal, however, which made me uneasy, but the words Zito whispered were alluring, and her description of the future even moreso ...
I did not want Kijani to know. Worthless as she was, Kijan's death was not her fault, I knew that .. and she was my only child, a blood relative. So I had an old companion of mine take her for a walk, to get her out of the way that night. It was easy enough to lure my mate away from the pride, where Zito and I dealt with her. I was surprised at how simple it was ... I didn't even feel any regret for her life. It had been a waste, anyway.
Unfortunately, Kijani came back after, but Zito's tongue came to the rescue again: humans, she told the child, had killed her mother. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. She'd come in handy, this cheetah ...
The problem was neatly solved, and I now had a pack of my own to assist me ... Soon, we shall move in on the humans ...
Soon.
My name is Kijani'tati, and I'm not as stupid as everyone thinks. Adults, no matter what species, forget that cubs have eyes and ears. They forget that we see and hear things and we remember.
Once upon a time, I had a brother. His name was Kijan and he was my father's favorite. Everywhere Father went, Kijan followed along. He was the one Father took out hunting. He was the one Father whispered his secrets to.
He was the one who died.
Father was angry that Mother saved me. When we ran from camp that night, I knew nothing would be the same, but I promised myself that I wouldn't give up, no matter how Father ignored me. No matter what happened next. He'd lost a son but he still had a daughter. He still had someone to live up to him, who would learn from him if he'd only let her. If he'd only open his eyes and see me.
I should have known something was happening when Tamaa came to visit. The hyena only came when my father needs something done and the rest of the pride refuses. It's usually dirty or smelly or sticky or all three. To tell the truth, I was sometimes glad to see him. He could be fun, even if he isn't very smart. That's all right. He didn't need to be. He just had to do what I say.
"I'm going to lead the lionesses one day," I told him that night, busy with my own schemes. "And I'm going to need someone I can trust outside the pride. Father trusts you," I lied, "so I can trust you too. And if you help me and come when I call, I promise that I won't let the lionesses hunt your territory and if you get in trouble, I'll protect you." Unless it suited me to let him take his licks and teach him a lesson, but he didn't need to know that just then. All I needed was to get him to agree and I could start building up an inner circle that would make Father proud of me and show him that I was just as worthy as Kijan had been. I could be an heir. "Just say yes," I prompted Tamaa, "and we can go do whatever Father told you." I would even pretend to have fun.
I didn't realize how wrong everything had gone until we got back to camp and I smelled blood. I left Tamaa to catch up as I raced past the rocks surrounding our land and spotted my father, dirty. He looked exhausted, and that cheetah sat beside him. Zitomoya, the one who'd been haunting the edges of our territory for days. She made my whiskers curl, but there wasn't much I could say. And it didn't matter now. Something had happened. "...where's Mother?"
The cheetah told me. The humans had come back, she said. They had blowstick poison and metal claws in their hands and this time, it was Mother who fell. Father wouldn't look at me. The cheetah's tail didn't so much as twitch. Tamaa sat and listened, ears drooping.
And I? I knew that it wasn't the truth, but it would be the only one they told until I had the power to find answers for myself. So I nestled against Father and I wept for her and made a silent vow that I would have my revenge.
We’ve been with this pride a long time – us hyenas, I mean. My father, and his father, and his father’s father, and his father’s father’s father – when Chukwuemeka and his sons first stumbled upon this land, it was a hyena who guided them. My da’s made sure I know good and well how important this is whatever some of the lions say, and I’m proud of my history.
But I didn’t hesitate to leave it all behind when the time came, all the same.
My name is Tamaa, and I live – lived – with my da, my three sisters, and the rest of our pack on the lions' borders. As the only boy I guess you could say I’m his favorite, not that I let it get to my head or anything. Anyway, I was just a lil cub when Kijani was born, but as soon as she blinked those big deep blue eyes at me, I knew we were going to be the best of friends. Me and Mir, too.
See, Mir and his mate are a great couple. Even though they didn’t have a choice about who they would end up with, it worked out all right. Now he loves her and knows her so well that he doesn’t have to ask what she wants: he just knows. I’m a pretty good judge of character, if I do say so myself, and I can just see that love hiding in their eyes.
I know it’s still kind of far in the future for me and all, but I hope one day I’ll be lucky enough to find a mate like that.
Oh, that rumor about how he lashed out at her after finding poor Kijan dead? Hah! Anybody who knew Mir like I do wouldn’t give a second thought to some nonsense like that. I hear it was Nagi who started it. I never liked Nagi…
But everyone believed him for some reason. Hmph, good riddance. If they were all that gullible, we didn’t need them in the first place. But… well, Mir was driven out, and I followed. I couldn’t help it. Mir’s just like my big brother, and I knew he’d take good care of me. Not to mention I could tell poor Kijani was absolutely devastated over the loss of her own brother, and Mir means well, but he’s not real good with she-cubs sometimes, see. I wanted her to have a friend. My da’ll understand.
“Tamaa…” She turns to me, dark eyes suddenly serious. Mir suggested that we maybe go for a walk or something tonight since the weather’s so nice for once, and I’d leapt at the chance to get her alone and see if she’d open up some. It’s no good to keep all that stuff bottled up, my da says. This here is the part where she breaks down and confides in me, I know, and where I comfort her and promise that things will be okay. I can feel the tension in the air – but I’m kind of surprised by what she says instead, I have to admit.
"I'm going to lead the lionesses one day, and I'm going to need someone I can trust outside the pride. Father trusts you, so I can trust you too. And if you help me and come when I call, I promise that I won't let the lionesses hunt your territory and if you get in trouble, I'll protect you. Just say yes, and we can go do whatever Father told you..."
Heh, protect me? We hyenas are supposed to be the jokers, but she’s a real kid sometimes, Kijani is. If anything, she’s the one who needs protecting now – but I didn’t protest, dunno exactly why. Maybe it’s easier just to play along.
“Sure, Kij. You can count on me.”
It’s about time we should be heading back, I guess, what with those humans on the loose. I’m sure I could fend them off long enough for Kijani to escape if it came to it, but hey, who wants to take a needless chance? ‘Cos maybe we’ve been driven off, and maybe Kijan’s dead, but we’ll stick together, and get through this together – because that’s what we do. That’s what our pride was founded on, right, people sticking together?
Everything’s gonna turn out all right.
