-Welcome to:-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _____ __ __ /| | / / / / /_| | / /_/ / / | | / / / |frican|ails / /UCK ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- AfricanTails MUCK is the second largest, fastest growing TLK-based muck in existance. With four full-time wizards connecting daily, you can bet you won't have a problem contacting our Wizards and receiving a response within 24 hours. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ATMuck is also the standard-setting TLK-based muck on the internet. We brought you ANSI color before any other TLK-based muck, as well as having the distinction of being the first TLK-based muck with web-based programs generated live by the muck itself! Watch our MOTD for ongoing enhancements and innovations! ,---------------------------------------------------------, | Our homepage is under reconstruction, it will be back | | online soon! | '---------------------------------------------------------' Now online: Web-based WHO command to see who's online via the www! Check out http://www.africantails.org:1993/who Also online: Web-based character appliction! Check out http://www.africantails.org:1993/apply ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- To connect to your character use 'connect ' To connect as a guest use 'connect guest guest' Use the WHO command to see who is connected. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ January 13, 1999 ] Pride Land Plains The sun no longer shines down on what was once a endless sea of yellowish green grasses is now brown and grey is all that you can see. The herds that once grazed the grasses are gone. They've moved on. The boabab trees and aciasa trees that once also provided shade are covered with wilting leaves and are dying. The drought and over hunting has caused great damage to the once beautiful land. Exits: [Fr]ont of Pride Rock, [Ed]ge of gorge, [Gr]assy Hillside, [Ku]chekeska's Tree, [Br]ink of the Ganjo Plains, [Sa]vannah Set, [Pr]ide's Waterhole [zzz] Banjuri, male lion cub [IC ] Zinou, female hyena Zinou slinks from out of her depression in the dirt, ears back as she blinks slowly awake, grunting as she moves. Zinou Zinou; average sized female hyena, but by no means average. She seems to run on maternal instinct and denial alone -- yet one thing stands that she cannot deny: she's getting old. Yes, age is finally catching up to this creature - no longer does she hold the sharp, quick responses of youth, nor the looks. Her fur, a dusty sienna color, now shows increasing signs of grey. Where her 'mane' makes its peak between her sharply defined shoulderblades has turned from a jet black to a dark, powdery grey color. The same holds true for the locks of mane that hang over her forehead - no longer black, but a drab grey, streaked in several places by a lighter grey. Her spots, randomly speckled along her shoulders, sides and trailing even down to her flanks, are still a semi-deep black color, however. The black fur that makes up the colors for the 'boots' of her paws also has faded into a dark grey. Her eyes, which used to be a deep, sparkling, inscrutable bronze, now cloud with the faint milkiness of failing sight. The bronze is still well seen, however, and it will be a while, if ever, before they completly lose their sight. Her hearing is beginning to deteriorate in her age aswell; although not immediately obviousm those who would be around her would note that she doesn't react as quickly as she should -- or used to -- to most sounds. Her gait --posture-- and stiff walk also denotes her age. She carries a severe look of submission, and only rarely, in the face of certain circumstances, does any aggression manage to surface. However, when and if it does... On a different note, and in overall, her health is on the decline. She constantly neglects herself in such a manner thats she is quick to fall ill -- so being that almost all the food she finds or recieves going to her daughter, Kebi. She puts everything she's got into being the best mother she can -- yet she is known to often overdo it. Yet, if one were to query on any such matter -- she would deny any such problem of the sort. She's like that. SStubborn and stoic. Most of the time.... She's hurt. Her body is riddled in many healing -- but poorly so -- cuts and gashes. The wounds on her face look the worst, but also are healing. Her left hindleg is knitting -- slowly; she still cannot stand on it, but she can walk. Her body's thin from the lack of food -- for she can't hunt or forage in this condition. Zinou doesn't appear to notice Liata immediately. Liata turns her head from her lying position near Banjuri, slowly blinking at the Hyena. Zinou scents the wind slowly, ears perking a bit. Cub, is that what she smells? Her dim sight slowly scans the area, ears perked as she tries to identify the source of the scent. Liata swings her head, confronted by an unknown. Zinou's sight swings to the motion, bronze eyes narrowing a slight bit to look at the cub. She cocks her head and mrrs in low query. Liata mews in an echoing question, although motionless now. Zinou's brows furrow a little bit -- as if she can't quite clearly see what's she's smelling. She stands up with a few grunts and starts a slow saunter in Liata's direction, nose to the ground as she relies more on her nose than her eyes to see.. Liata freezes, this seeming to be her best option when faced with something she has no experience of. Zinou just continues slowly closer, -- not sure if she's actually /seeing/ a cub or not. Liata kreels, a pathetic uncertain sound. Zinou's ears perk all the way forwards, now almost upon the cub, nose quite certain of the scent. She pauses, now close neough to clearly see the cub -- by now which she is not only perplexed by, but interested in. Salisha walks up from the gorge edge. Salisha Before you stands a tall and regal Lioness, just into adulthood. Her muscular build has a slight roundness to it, making her look somewhere inbetween fat and thin. Her golden coat tops that, revealing her immense power underneath. Moving to her head, you see stern yet delicate features on her face, giving her a beautiful face with an angry touch. She must have gotten it from all the hardships she has gone through. Her voice is soft and seems to dance across the wind with a powerful grace. Her purr is also soft, but if you listen carefully enough, she makes a soft moan noise as she purrs, a trait she gets from her mother. She notes you looking at her and nods politely. Zinou is standing over a cub, squinting -- looking curious -- but not at all aggressive. Liata is lying near Banjuri, now blinking up at Zinou uncertainly. Salisha pads into the area, looking casual, though the casualness is the less- than-perfect cover-up for the worry she has. She glances about the area, blinking in surprize as she spots her grandcub near the hyena. She haults, ".. I hope you weren't planning to injure her in any way or form.." Zinou pauses and her gaze snaps to the voice -- and she freezes at the scent which she invariably knows as ..lioness. Her fur bristles in fear more than anything, and she skitters back a few steps, mrring in alarm, not saying anything. Salisha slowly moves over to join Liata, smiling very gently at the hyena, "Its ok, I won't hurt you unless you try to hurt me and/or hurt her." She smiles down at Liata, "You're pretty far from home, eh?" Liata says, "Yah..." Zinou backs away a few more feet and shrinks into the grasses, peering out at the lioness with somewhat-narrowed bronze eyes. Liata says, "Mom," then half-stands and turns her head towards the Gorge Edge. Salisha settles down enxt to the child, licking over her face, "You are far from home, but your mother is just over there." She nods, forgetting the hyena exists. "What's she doing out here, you know?" Liata wriggles at the tickling but remains silent, unable to communicate the little she understands. Zinou lies down in the grasses, puts her head on her paws, and watches the two quietly. Liata instead turns towards the sleeping Lion cub. "Juri," she states. Salisha smiles at the sleeping cub, nodding at Liata, "I see." Salisha sighs contently, smiling at Liata. Liata twists around, trying to locate the Hyena. Zinou is just quietly lying in the grasses, watching. Salisha lays her head in laced paws, "So.. how have you been, Liata?" Liata says briefly, "Good." Salisha smiles at how far Liata has come in speaking the language. Liata stares at the ground with a cub's lack of attention. Liata closes her eyes and drifts towards sleep. Salisha smiles at her, "Tired, dear?" Liata doesn't even answer as sleep claims her.