Private RP - (AmyMarie + Thegunner18)

[TheGunner18]

Characters:
Nishati - Thegunner18
Jayma - AmyMarie
Khari - AmyMarie
Katania - Thegunner18
Tamra - AmyMarie

Basic Plot:
After a group of poachers attack and kill a number of lions in a pride, the five children of a lioness who was also murdered split of from the pride and begin begin a journey to find safer pastures and to make sure that their mother's sacrifice wasn't in vain. It isn't all plain sailing, though. There's the possibility of danger and death around every rock in the Serengeti.

Life was never easy, but now every hour of survival is an accomplishment.

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Waking up today felt different. Usually it would be the sign of another day of fun, relaxation and exploration; a day where the sky was the limit and many different shenanigans abounded. Now, though, Nishati felt as if the world had suddenly frozen in place and had begun constricting him and forcing every drop of negativity to come into fruition. Where he’d normally wake up and be greeted with loving affection from his mother, Nishati found himself only to be welcomed by the cold shoulder of silence.

He took a few moments to get his bearings and for his eyes to adjust to the sudden invasion of light. Over his shoulder, Nishati noticed that his four younger siblings were still sound asleep. In the back of his mind the young lion could only imagine what nightmares had taken over their dreams. But he had to stay strong no matter what; it was what was going to keep them alive now. It was his responsibility…

…It was what she would have wanted him to do.

Nishati crept away from the little huddle they had made to keep themselves safe and warm, but didn’t wander. He was never going to let himself get too far away from the other four. Especially not Tamra. Instead, he sat on his haunches a few metres away from the rest, waiting for someone else to wake up before he went anywhere. He couldn’t help but glance in the direction of the place where the humans had killed so many of his friends. They had to get out of here as soon as possible.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Unusually, it was Jayma who woke up next. Even though she was only one from the oldest, she enjoyed her lie ins. However, after an almost sleepless night and her mind riddled with the problems she knew her and her family would have to face, she was glad sunlight was back again. She rose her head to look around, seeing Tamra curled up against her and Katania and Khari snug and warm made her feel a little calmer. She glanced over their sleeping bodies and saw Nishati sat up a small distance away.

Getting up carefully to not disturb the others; she crept away from them and walked tiredly towards her older brother, glancing back at her siblings for a moment. It didn't seem real though. She couldn't believe her mother was gone for good but she knew the younger one's were going to have a harder time.

When she reached Nishati, she sat next to him. She was silent. What could she say? She didn't want to talk about mother, not yet. She managed to catch his glance and she looked into his eyes, he had inherited the exact colour of hers.

Sighing, she finally let slip some words,
"Nishati...what are we going to do? I've been thinking all night and I-well...I don't know". Her words were mixed up, but it was the first time she had spoken to him properly. Last night consisted of shouts, screams, roars and running. Just thinking about it made her shudder. The fear in everyone's eyes, her mother's pain stricken face as she told them to get out of there with the others. Her eyes glazed over with tears but she fought them back, crying would only make it worse.

[TheGunner18]

Nishati closed his eyes and swallowed what felt like a boulder. His mouth was dry. Very dry. His whole body felt dry, in fact; dry and drained of any hope or optimism. It was an expected feeling, but a massively unwelcome one at the same time. His ears twitched slightly after hearing something pad along the ground behind him, but before he could turn to face the sound a lioness appeared in the corner of his eye and sat beside him; it was Jayma.

Nishati looked away and glanced down at the floor. His frown only seemed to get even bigger after Jayma had spoken to him. He knew that, as the oldest of the five, he'd be looked up to as some sort of leader who'd be able to offer advice or guidance whenever necessary. It was difficult to take in, but he had to try.

"We'll be okay." Nishati turned his attention to Jayma. "If we stick together and stay strong, then we'll be okay." He tried his best to look and sound positive about it all, but that was proving to be easier said than done.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Jayma could almost sense that Nishati was apprehensive, but she understood. The two were a season apart in age, but he was more developed/mature than her, even though she could be seen as the more clever of the two. She closed her eyes tight, letting his words play over in her mind as the cool morning air ruffled her fringe.

"I'm just worried about the others", she replied. Glancing behind her and then back at him, "Especially Tamra, she's still so young". Tamra herself was stirring from a restless sleep, whining softly as her paws began to move. She had various cuts and bruises though. She had got lost in the blurred trauma of last nights events, she had almost been killed by the poachers when Nishati had found her and carried her off.

Her eyes snapped open, obviously awaking from a nightmare of some sorts, eyes now full with panic because she couldn't see Jayma next to her. Still weak and sore, she jumped up onto her feet. "Tamra hunny?", the cub almost jumped out of her skin. Jayma had walked up behind her to see if she was ok, "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you I-". Tamra was hugging her leg tight, like she wouldn't let go, Jayma's soft voice was what she needed.

[TheGunner18]

There wasn't really much any of them could do at the moment other than comfort each other and start their journey to...well...Nishati had no idea where they'd go. If he was being honest, he didn't know what he was looking for, either; he had never gone far from the pride before because he felt so safe around his family and friends. Now they had to deal with all of this. It was a change of epic proportions and he could understand why Jayma was so worried about it all. He was, too. He couldn't deny that.

Nishati quietly sighed to himself and stood up again. There was a small lake only a short walk from where they were. Once everyone was awake they'd go and get a drink then set off. Unfortunately, going to the lake also meant wandering through the place where the poachers had struck so abruptly. The dead were still there...Nishati didn't intend to spend too much time around there, though.

"Jayma? What are we going to do now?" A young, female voice was suddenly heard just behind Nishati. He looked over his shoulder to find that Katania had opened her pearl-white eyes and was now staring at Jayma. She was still lying down in the same position she had fallen asleep in and had only tilted her head slightly towards Jayma. She was scared; everyone was at the moment. Katania had a strong personality, though, and she was determined to show it.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Jayma was cradling Tamra gently, she could just tell Tamra was going to be the hardest to look after. She was young and traumatized, and in this state, her mother was the only one who could really calm Tamra down. She glanced up and around when she heard Katania's voice. She looked at Nishati, and looked to the direction of the lake. A reassuring look from his eyes told her that they were thinking the same thing.

"Well...we're going to go to the lake to have a drink first", she replied. After a moment of silence, it was Khari who spoke. He had recently awoken and sat up, moving out the way of his sister, a twinge of fear in his eyes. He had obviously been effected by last nights happenings too.
"But, doesn't that mean going back through...". It was surprising he was the one to say it, especially with the chip on his shoulder that hardly ever wore down.

Jayma frowned a little, and looked again at Nishati before addressing her younger brother,
"I don't think there's another way there Khari...". The younger male bit his bottom lip, he bet their mother would've of known another way...once he realized he was looking weak, stood up and stretched. "Lets go then". He began walking away when Jayma called out,
"Hold your horses, give everyone a moment to wake up fully eh?". Khari rolled his eyes, but sat on his haunches and waited.

Tamra looked up at her older sister, whom she looked up to often as a role model. She was an excellent huntress and a pretty lioness, two things Tamra wanted to be. Jayma had inherited their mother's abilities, but got most of her features from her father. The cub edged away from her sister and began taking steps, but her paws pained her already. The pads were sore from running.

Her sister could tell something was up when she limped, and instinctively said, "Don't worry hunny, I'll carry you". Tamra managed a small smile, out of all her siblings, she was closest to Jayma, with the exception of Nishati for they shared the same father and had a closer bond.

(OOC: Off for the night, it's going well so far ^.^)

[TheGunner18]

Nishati wasn't too keen on hanging around at the moment, even if they did just spend the night here. They were relatively well hidden from any danger for that night, but he was certain that it wouldn't last nor did he want to find out whether it would last. It was better to be safe than sorry as far as he was concerned. Anyway, he knew that Khari would be eager to get going rather than be cooped up around here; that mischievous little brother of his never could really learn how to control himself...

"For once, I think Khari might be thinking the right thing..." Nishati glanced at his energetic younger brother and managed to eek out a small smile for the first time in what felt weeks. In reality, it had only been a couple of days, but those felt like a couple of lifetimes to him...

Despite this glimpse of a more upbeat Nishati, he was still apprehensive about the place and nervously paced around for a moment. "We should go now. When it comes to it just do your best to ignore the..." He trailed off and looked to Tamra who still seemed a little drowsy. He didn't want her to hear any of this. She was too young. Then again, she'd have to be told at some point. "...the dead."

Katania watched her older brother closely, albeit with relatively tired eyes. She wasn't looking forward to getting up and walking around already. She wasn't used to it. She was used to being woken up quite late in the day and then getting up when she wanted. She'd do what Nishati said, though; him and Jayma knew what to do, she was sure of it.

After shakily getting to her feet and yawning, Katania wandered over to Khari and sat next to him. "Don't run off or do anything stupid, okay?" It may have seen like she was stating the obvious, but Katania knew what Khari was like, and she wouldn't be surprised if he actually did do something like that. 

((OOC: Sorry for any spelling errors; I'm on my iPod :3))

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Khari and Jayma gave a nervous gulp at Nishati's words. Neither were looking forward to going there, but Khari was determined not to let it show. He could easily cope with that sort of stuff...he doubted himself deep down though. Jayma hastily picked up Tamra in her muzzle. She was lucky Tamra had always been smaller than average. When Katania spoke to him, Khari gave an impatient sigh,
"You can't tell me what to do ok? I'm not gonna do anything stupid, don't worry". Jayma overheard and managed to mumble to him,
"She's right Khari, stay close please".

The younger male sighed, but didn't say no. He wasn't going to get into an argument, now wasn't a good time, not with emotions running high. The five set off, walking at a reasonable pace. Tamra was looking around, taking some interest and soon wriggled and told Jayma she could walk now.

Jayma reluctantly put her down and the cub only managed to keep up with their pace. The closer they got to their old territory, the uneasier they all felt. Tamra was almost glued to Nishati's side at this point, Khari was a little distance away from them all and Jayma had his eye on him.

[TheGunner18]

Katania knew that the attitude Khari had was going to get him into some seriously sticky situations at least once in his life. She rolled her eyes and got up a moment or so after her brother, following the steps taken by Jayma and Nishati. As they walked closer to the lake, it took her a few seconds to adjust to the sights that lay before her eyes. She tried hard to ignore everything around here, but it was like the the negative aspects of life were highlighted even more than usual. Her gaze was constantly being pulled towards the dead bodies; the faster the got out of here, the better it would be.

Looking back over his shoulder briefly, Nishati noticed that for the first time in his life he was almost fully responsible for 4 other lives. Well...it definitely felt like that anyway. In reality, he knew that Jayma would always be there to help out but the weight of the world really was on his shoulders. Surely things could only get better from here on. Nishati couldn't imagine anything worse than this. In fact, he didn't want to imagine.

Finally, after what seemed like an eon, they all ended up next to the lake. There was one dead lion unnervingly close to where they were drinking from, although Nishati managed to convince himself that it was stupid to be worrying about those that were already gone.

"Alright everyone. As much as I don't want it to happen, there are going to be scavengers coming over here, soon. That means hyenas and hyenas would seriously outmatch us if they attacked." The eldest sibling of the group looked around at each of the others and nodded once. "So let's make this pretty quick, ok? Before Nishati turned around he used one of his paws to affectionately ruffle the fur on the top of Tamra head. He then made his way over to the lake and leaned down to gulp the water down. Katania quickly followed Nishati's actions.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Khari plowed through the area, not bothering to glance around to look. He didn't want to seem weak, but the truth was, he just didn't want to take the time to look. He ended up being ahead of Nishati for most of the relatively short journey. Jayma on the other hand was looking properly. As much as it sickened her to look around, she wanted to make sure mother wasn't still out there.

Much to her relief, her mother's body wasn't lying on the ground anywhere. She noticed it was the older and younger lions left. Gulping, she focused back on where she was going. Tamra took one glance at a body, whimpered and stuck even closer to Nishati. They walked past a few of the cubs she had been friend's with, Jayma was thankful Nishati found Tamra when he did.

When they reached the water, Khari had no hesitations and went up to the water's edge and began to drink. Tamra, still next to Nishati, began to lap up the cool liquid. It brought the cub some relief to thirst, but she felt uneasy, especially when she glanced at the body at the water's edge. Jayma also began to drink. She had her fill pretty quickly, and sat up and looked around. Just looking for danger...