[PRP] - Strangers [End!]

[Daffupanda]

-- AIM rp log Nyoni, Mundoo & Tau, Hadithi ((DFA and Kisoni))

"This way."

"This way?"

"This way, yes."

"I.... why THIS way exactly?" the voices contrasted rather hugely, the one with the other; one of them was calm, cheerful, female without a doubt, usualy acompainged with the tingling and chimming of what might've seemed like bells. The other voice was rough around the edges, perhaps slightly bitter, hardened by years of solitude; the later was defenately male.

It was soon enough that their bodies appeared through the jungle foliague, stepping out onto the beach; the female, brown hued, took a deep breath of the ocean air and let out a sigh, "See? I told you it was this way!" she proclaimed to her partner before she jumped out and onto the awaiting sand, taking just a moment before rushing up to the shore, "It's cold!" she skipped in the shallow water, chuckling, the bells tied around her limbs and head chimming randomly as she danced.

"Well d'uh it cold... lookit all that water. It's no wonder it's cold!" the male, white as snow, stepped out from the refuge of the jungle, his clear eyes squinting up at the sun briefly, "There's no way the sun'd ever be able to warm it all up, is there?" despite the negativity in his words, he stepped nearer to the shore and lowered his head, wrinkling his nose at the tangy, salty smell, "Salt."

"Of course!" the female told him, "It's the ocean!"

"Ocean, huh...."

"What else would it be?" a rather rude voice asked from the shoreline. Tau was sittingo n a rock there, partially hidden by some ferns.. but hiding wasn't something that a brilliant white and pink cub did very easily. He snorted at the pair, aloof brattiness reeking out his every pore. "It says its name incessantly."

The male of the pair raised his hed from where it'd lowered to sniff at the water, "Right..." the word was drawled before the female flicked her brown tail and smacked him softly on his maw, sending him reeling back a step, a scowl covering his face, "Hey!"

"That's rude, Mundoo... the kid probably lives here. He'd know better," she turned her head to watch the child, the tuff of hair cascading over the side of her head, partialy concealing the tiara of bells she wore, "Who might you be?"

"A royal brat, that's-" Mundoo was rewarded by another smack on his maw, and the white male took another step back, "Stop it, woman! That god-damn hurts!" snarls acompained the words, but the female in question seemed unmoved by the threat. Noting this, Mundoo sat himself down and grumped instead, ears flat, hidden within his dark mane. Despite the fact he wasn't a particularly large male, his pelt was healthy, and his mane thick. He was attractive, if one could set aside his lack of brute strength.

"My name is Nyoni'Imba, Pleased to meet you," she told the cub, then motioned behind her with a smile, "The grumpy, skeptical one is Mundoo. He's charmed too."

"Bloody well am not!"

"Yeah I am royal!" He had been learning a lot from his 'owner', though he didn't admit that she could teach him anything... or that she was his owner. Kapuki had told him to sit on the rock that day, though, and thus he was.. or he'd get in trouble. Stupid Kapuki.

"I'mma prince." He lifted his head chin a little, then dipped it. "Well.. technically imma Baharimba... but that means prince!" It really didn't, but they wouldn't know that. Tau sniffed, "I'm called Tau, but that isn't my name. And i do know more about it."

Mundoo was busy muttering darkly just what a royal pain in the rear end region a certain pink brat was, and thus, much too ocuppied to do any talking, or actual answering. Nyoni rolled her eyes slightly, despite the mild consternation behind her actions, there was also affection in her gaze, "Well then, Tau; if you are a prince, I'm taking it we've stumbled upon pridal land? Can you tell me where this is? What you call this place? Surely a smart Baharimba like yourself knows much about these lands; care to share?"

"I'd rather like to know if there are adults; where's you're parents, kid?" the words were dry from the male as he took another closer look at the ocean, "Also who the hell has a calling name that isn't their real name? What the hell?"

"Shhhh," the female scowled at Mundoo again, "That's very rude; specialy if we want to stay here a few days!"

"We DON'T!"

"I sure do! My paws are killing me!" a happy chirp before she turned back to Tau, "Could you show us the way?"

"Kids do!" He sniffed, "Of course! All kids have to have calling names. What would their parents call them until they got their real name?" He rolled his eyes in turn, just as annoyed by Mundoo as the male was him. Yet, the child remained planted to the rock.

"There are adults around, yeah. This is Kizingo'zaa land.. my dad is.... somewhere. Mom is probably at the pridal cave, back in the cove." Tau narrowed his eyes, "You're okay, ma'am, but he shouldn't go in. He's mean and dad won't like that."  

[Daffupanda]

"That makes no bloody sense," the male snorted somewhat, having turned to watch the child only briefly before turning to scowl at the water; it came towards him and then retreated, lapping, up and down, back and forth... it was strange. Granted, he'd seen lakes, but this was far from a lake.

"Makes perfect sense to me!" the gypsy girl arched a brow at Mundoo before addressing the child again, "Oh, don't mind him. He's not mean, he's just too deep set on trying to make others think he is. He's a big fluffy ..." she seemed fail at words at this point and dug around her mind till she smiled slightly, awkwardly, "Like a big fluffy cloud!"

The male snapped his head up from where it'd been, smeeling at the ocean, "I AM NOT!" he sounded horribly offended by such a claim, and bristled.

"Wouldn't hurt a fly, take it from me," a pause from the female as she concidered the words, "I think a talk to your dad would be better; entering the pridal cove would be very rude without an actual inviation.

"You take back the fluffy cloud bit!" Mundoo snapped at the female, whom happily ignored him.

In fact, she went as far as turning around and nudging him with her head, "Come now, let's go look for Tau's father," peering back at the prince, she smiled, "Would you like to come with us? I'd love some company, and you could help me keep this big .... fluffy cloud out of trouble."

"You take that BACK Nyoni!"

Tau watched them grumpily, his mood quite expressivly written across his face. It was at that moment that the bushes near him moved and Hadithi stepped out. He looked at his son, first, a loping grin stretching further as he laughed. "You haven't moved, have you boy?"

"No sir," Tau grumbled, ears twitching backward. He lowered his head and tucked his tail about him unhappily. "Why do I gotta sit here!?"

"Because Kapuki told you to," Hadithi was obviously fighting back laughter at this point, and at the subsequent face his son made. That said, he looked towards the newcomers then and dipped his head briefly. "Hullo there! I over heard a bit of your conversation with Tau, here... you were goign to look for me?"

The female seated herself as soon as Hadithi appeared, a delicate brow arching as she smiled faintly at the exchange; well, THAT all sounded faintly familiar, now didn't it? She chuckled mildly before turning to look at Mundoo, whom it was obvious was thinking right along the same lines as she was.

The male scowled dourly, watching Nyoni with flattened ears, his tail twitching nervously on the floor; so someone had told the child to sit there, and the boy'd done so. Didn't that sound strangely familiar? He'd met Nyoni one day, she'd insisted he travel with her, and he had. Why the hell was he even doing this?

"Yes sir!" the female dipped her head, looked behind her towards Mundoo, and when he didn't follow suit after her (he seemed to be drowing in thought), she nudged him, "Mundoo!"

"WHAT!" snapping out of his reverie, the small male blinked, looking over towards Hadithi, "Oh," he paused briefly, fidgeting slightly, his gaze shifting away from the other male, "Right 'lo there, sorry," if anything, it was obvious Mundoo wasn't the social butterfly his companion was. In fact, he seemed to feel awkwardly out of place.

"We're looking fora place to stay for a while; we're travellers. I myself am a story teller... a dancer. My companion is..." a pause as she looked at Mundoo, grimaced and seemed to dig around for words, "He's er... he's looking for himself. In a way. He's not bad, honest, jsut a bit... lost," The male mumbled something unintelligent but said nothing else.

"A storyteller!" Hadithi's grin split his face almost in half, it was so wide. He wriggled with excitement, unable to help it, "Welcome storyteller! We're always hoping for a visit from one of your kind!"

He nodded to Mundoo as well, just as obviously happy to see him. "I'm sure my son has told you of us by now, if you were looking for us. Travellers of all sorts are more than welcome here, so long as they obey the laws of the land. Though we may beg a story or two off of you, my lady."

"Aye!" she chirped back, "Not many seem to welcome a storyteller anymore! Too busy, too boring," she wrinkled her nose slightly in mild mockery, but it was good-natured despite the jest, "I'm glad these lands welcome us!" she chuckled slightly and nodded, "I'd love to tell you a few stories, some true, some... half true, and some pure myth, if you wish."

Mundoo perked an ear at the female; despite himself, during their travels, he had to admit he'd rather enjoyed Nyoni's cheerful nature, and above all, her dances and stories. If anything, they made him feel younger. Not that he was particularly old, however, he'd come to feel as such of late. He nodded curtly at the male, however, his pale eyes narrowed down a notch, as if unsure of just what was going on, "Does that mean we can stay? No strings attatched?" he was so used to being run out of lands, pride after pride had driven him away due to thinking him a ghost, a bad omen...

"Of course we are, silly! I told you so!" smiling, the gypsy turned to Hadithi and waved a paw, "Come, come, tell us more of these lands; the young prince," she motioned towards Tau, "Barely had time to; and if someone did tell him to stay there," she chuckled at this point, "We should let him do just that, without further interruption!"

"I believe we should." Hadithi agreed.

"DAD!!" Tau wailed, distressed at being left to his fate by Kapuki.

"Now now, she told you to stay there, Tau. You belong to her, remember? My paws are tied." Hadithi chuckled, more than happy to go along with it. It wasn't as if staying still was going to kill him. He gestuerd for the pair to follow him further along the shore.

"Stupid Ocean," Tau grumbled as they left him, and laid down to sulk further.

"Strings attatched?" Hadithi asked, ignoring Tau's lamentations. "I'm not sure what you mean, sir."  

[Daffupanda]

Though Mundoo scowled and did open his maw to answer, the female must've seen what sort of retort was coming up from miles away; she turned just in time and placed a paw over the white lion's mouth, "If you open that big mouth of yours, Mundoo, you're probably going to regret it, and it doesn't take a Seer to See that much," she scolded him, then turned back towards Hadithi, "You'll have to excuse him; he meant... if you weren't going to run him out of your lands, in the middle of the night, or if you were not going to ask an imposible or dangerous favour from him, in return for being allowed to stay."

The male in question whinced slightly then glared at Nyoni, however, as she frowned back at him, he huffed and looked away, "Whatever."

A sigh from the female, "Mundoo's been run out of every pridal land he's been to; they seemed to think that his pelt, white as snow.... and strange eyes made him look like a ghost. Like a spirit from Human tales," a pause as she eyes the lion then shock her head, "They seemed to think it was a bad omen, and rather than 'risk' themselves, they ran him out. He's a bit bitter, but he's nice inside, if given the chance. Smart too," she told him, glad the conversation had popped up once they'd begun walking along the shore and far away and out of earshot from the young prince.

"Ghost?" He pondered that. "I believe I've heard of those before but..." Hadithi shook his mane, beads clattering together as he did. "No, Ghosts do not exists, and we would not fear him. My mate is white pelted, actually. He reminds me more of her, in looks." That could be an insult, but Hadithi didn't know that and didn't realize how it might be taken. Instead, he smiled, "I know of no impossible tasks and would not be inclined to ask them of anyone if, unless it something I knew them capable of doing. No, stay here is free for any traveler--with the one condition that you do not harm any in these lands. We take onl y what we need to eat, and that is all."

"Well, that's good to hear, isn't it, Mundoo?" much like Hadithi, the female did not see the insult in the word mentioned, and instead moved slightly to bump against the pale lion's side, her bells chimming as she went, "I told you there were nicer prides out there; you just had bad Karma. Stumbled across a few superstisious.... paranoid ones, now cheer up, grumpy face!"

If Nyoni didn't take the words as an insult, Mundoo did, slightly, and his ears flattened back, hidding within his mane, "Oh, yeah, perfect. So I'm not a ghost. Instead I remind him of a female. Swell. Brilliant," whatever else he said was mumbled, and after a moment, he growled, shook himself off and took a step away from the pair, "I'll... be in the jungle, leave me alone," and thus said, he bound off towards the trees, no doubt to find some secluded space there, the lords only knew what for though. He paused just before the edge, turning his head to glance at them, "I won't break any of your bloody laws either, don't worry," he vanished after said words.

"Oh dear," the female let out a sigh before smiling up at Hadithi, "Don't mind him; he's a bit.... pesimistic. Still has a long way to go. When I found him, he wouldn't even let me near him. Now he smiles, when he thinks no one's looking at him. He just needs a bit more time, a place that treats him well enough," she looked off towards the ocean briefly, then towards the male, "He'll learn. I have... a hunch these lands would do him a lot of good; In fact, we came this way because of a song a bird sang for me one morning. told me about this place."

"The Birds are always our friends," Hadithi nodded, untroubled by Mundoo's actions. "There are many who come to us jaded, always have been.. but that is fine. He is respectful of our ways, and good at heart, and he shall be welcome here still." Hadithi merely smiled, his happiness never seeming to fade. "And until then, we shall have stories and dancing and songs, and we shall all be happy."

"Aye!" she smile closed her eyes; the birds had not lied to her. What they'd told her was true, and she had ... a feeling, more than a hunch, that these lands might just be what her partner needed to be healed, "May we all find happiness in these lands, and if we can't, we'll weave our own stories to find it there in."