[PRP] Disturbing Thoughts (Kaleth/Tarina)

[Talencia]

The older he got, the more one thing weighed heavy on his mind. His father. He had caught his mother looking at him oddly from time to time, though more often she cast those looks at his brother. Her expression unnerved him and usually made him skitter off to find somewhere to hide from her. Often this involved going near the water, which seemed to fascinate him. He found the glare of the sun on the softly rippling water mezmerizing, and this often made him forget what had troubled him in the first place.

He wasn't so lucky today.

He was perched on a low rock, staring into the water, but the sun was going down. The water reflected the brilliant colors of the clouds, but lacked the dazzlingly bright reflection that he relied on to blank his mind. Instead, it got him thinking even more.

He was coming to realize that he must look very much like his father. The mysterious entity that had never been a part of his life. His mother wasn't much help on the subject, being vaguely evasive about how he could be their father, but not be here and part of the pride. It didn't make much sense to his juvenile mind. Instead, he was left with misty impressions and wild imaginings, which didn't help the situation at all.

So tonight he sat and stared moodily out at the water, smoothing to a flat mirror of the sky. There was no wind, and a hush had fallen over the area where he sat. He could hear voices and calls behind him, near the dens, but out here it was much less noisy. There was only him and his dwellings on a lion who was half of him, but whom he'd never met.  

[fenshae]

Tarina was many things.

Stealthy, wasn't really one of them. At least, it wasn't at the moment -- though an argument could be made, perhaps, that she was doing it on purpose. Perhaps she had seen the youngster, looking so pensive and troubled, and decided not to startle him. Or, perhaps she thought he could use some cheering up.

Or maybe, like so many other things the spider-marked lioness did, she hadn't thought about it at all.

Whatever the motive, Tarina made her appearance known by bursting through the undergrowth nearby, wearing a crudely-fashioned headdress of leaves and branches that roughly resembled the horns of some mutant antelope, and dancing in a heavy-paw-stamping sort of way that suggested that her sense of rhythm was not quite so developed as it should be.

The leaves of her headdress rustling as she shook her head, paw-thuds kicking up small clouds of dust in her wake, the lioness paraded quite nearby the green cub, apparently oblivious to him -- except for a slight flicker of her orange eyes that suggested she was watching him for a reaction.  

[Talencia]

He turned at the noise, of course, and stared at the oddly stamping lioness. Any lack in her rhythm was lost on him, as his own sense of music and rhythm was very very basic. Others his age had excelled, but he found it frustratingly difficult most times. He eyed her mask and rotated his ears back in irritation. He was in no mood for theatrics and drama. He turned back to the water, edging his body to turn his back to the dancing female, his ears pinning more and his shoulders hunching ever so slightly.

Maybe it was just that noone understood him, he mused. How could he even understand himself, having never met his own father? How could he know what he was supposed to grow up to be like? He and his brothers had pondered about what their dad was like, many times. But Kaleth was really beginning to feel the bite of his lack of knowledge. Growing up with only a mom was not as easy as it might sound, no matter how loving the mother.  

[fenshae]

She watched him out of the corner of an eye, noticed that he turned away from her, and, oddly, her smile grew even larger. She danced, if possible, a bit more erratically, shaking her rump from side to side with each jerking step forward, tail swinging behind her.

She shook her head, rustling her headdress. Now that she was a bit closer to the cub, perhaps he could hear her -- singing? muttering? chanting? -- under her breath, but then again, it sounded a bit like nonsense.

Then, without warning, the orange-legged lioness leapt into the pool, creating an unavoidable splash.  

[Talencia]

He gave an outraged gurgle as he was doused thoroughly, lunging backwards too late. He stood there for a moment in shock, which swiftly turned to anger, perhaps as a reflection of the mood he'd already been in. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded rudely, feeling all the more exasperated with his life and the place where he lived it. Water dripped from his face, trickled in uncomfortable rivulets through his fur along his shoulders and chest, and puddled around his forepaws. He glared sullenly at the weird female and her feathers. What was her deal, anyway?! Outraged, he stepped down from his rock and got onto warm, dry dirt before shaking the excess water from himself.  

[fenshae]

Feathers, branches, and leaves slid off of her headdress and floated around her in the rippling water. She bobbed up to the surface, messily treading water, and grinned at the green youth, water dripping in rivulets from her eartips and whiskers. "Oh. Sorry," she said, paddling toward him. "I didn't see you there."

She climbed up onto the shore, shaking herself vigorously. "I was trying to make it rain."  

[Talencia]

That was it. He lost his temper entirely, despite being so young. "You most certainly DID see me!" he shouted, discarding all rules about respect and politeness. Adult or not, she shouldn't lie to his face! He shouldn't be expected to accept that meekly! He slammed one paw down in fury. "You didn't do it for rain, you did it to soak me!" His eyes blazed, and he only felt more out of place than he had before she'd shown up. What was wrong with him in this place? He was like a hyena pup in a cheetah litter!

His tail lashed, and he growled angrily before spinning around to place his back to the bizarre lioness. "Just... go away!" he snarled in a more quiet voice, though he still was louder than normal. "Leave me alone and go play your weird games somewhere else. I'm too old to pretend like that anymore." His ears were flat against his head, though whether in anger or in woe it was hard to tell from behind. His tail still lashed, however, and a growl still rumbled in his chest.  

[fenshae]

For a brief moment, it occurred to her that perhaps she had misjudged the young lion. Then she shook off the notion. She'd make him smile eventually. Nobody could stay mad at her forever.

"You're never too old unless you want to be," she said, after a moment.

"I know your mother, I think," she said, then, brow furrowing, giving him a long hard look. Though some faces were unfamiliar to her since her return of the pride, Tarina had made it her goal to know everyone. "Vinca, am I right? The patches around your eyes, they're the same shape as hers."

Ahh, yes, that seemed right. She tried to think back to what she knew about Vinca, and her brow furrowed as she came up with pitifully little. Clearly, she needed to learn more about her pride. "I don't know your father, though," she said, thoughtfully. Maybe she was going senile.  

[Talencia]

fenshae

((If you could manage to post once more, we can call this rp finished!))

He tensed up so much that he trembled and shook, though his tail finally froze. There, perhaps that was the heart of the matter. His father. That mysterious and distant individual who had never been here to teach him how to be a proper lion, never taught him the ways of the hunt, nor been there to confide in about... girls. All his frustration and growing sense of not belonging finally found a focal point, and his fury hardened into a dense pebble. It was all his fault. It had to be.

"Noone knows my father," he finally ground out between gritted teeth. Had his mother seen him, he'd have had his tail shredded for being so rude and angry with a fellow pride member, and a grown-up to boot. But right at this moment, he didn't care. "And I do want to be too old to pretend. It's called growing up." He lifted his head and squared his shoulders. Yes, it was time to grow up. Angry he remained, but he resolved to make plans. If he didn't fit in, so be it. He'd find a place where he did. He'd start the process now by not saying to this bizarre lioness what he was thinking, which was that some people never did manage to grow up. Instead he rose to his paws, gave her a blazing look, nodded his head in a mockery of polite farewell, and stalked off into the darkness.