[PRP] Casual encounter ( Kocoi, Kiel, and Dar'fuku )

[I Lady Kiya I]

Kocoi was getting use to how the pride was, he was trying to make sure he ran into all the pride members to get more known. He didn't like to be mistrusted, and this was the best way to become trusted in a pride who was seemingly very cautious. He had run into a couple males who were little less than mean to him because they had no clue who he was. Being new to a pride was a bit rough, he realized.

He made his way around the pride, greeting those who he had already met and looking for faces that he hadn't recognized. Things were going as smooth as they could, of course, he still wished they were going better than that. He wanted to be friends with everyone, even if he hated to put the effort to do such things. He was use to the rogue lands where he could easily become the center of attention just by saying a simple joke.

Kiel had warned him things wouldn't be as easy, but he never listed to her. She landed on his rump, even though he always hated that. He had grown more use to it lately than before. Seeing other lions with their birds on their rumps probably helped a lot. She'd have to remember to thank them later for it. She did like taking a bit of a rest when needed, and sometimes Kocoi's head wasn't the best place for it. "So what's on the agenda today, Ko?" She asked him as she ruffled her white, blue, and gray feathers.

She matched him, but she didn't think that was too amazing. It was just meant to be. She had noticed a few other lions with matching birds, and some that didn't match as well. It didn't matter, really, it was just an interesting concept. She wondered how it went. She also saw some lions without birds. Hearing some sad stories from those they had met, it almost made her want to weep, but she had stopped herself.

She couldn't dare to imagine what Kocoi would be like without her.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

[ Lady Kiya ]

He'd grown up in the pride and knew most of the individuals by name. Admittedly, he didn't know them all and would only recognise others by their face or stance, but he could at least say he was familiar. However, over the course of the last few weeks there had been a steady flow of traffic and newcomers into the region. They came baring their own companions and their own friends, yet had elected to stay within these lands under the good graces of their king.

It was a little confusing.

Fortunately for the newcomers, Dar'fuku was not the most hostile of individuals and while he hadn't introduced himself to many, he hadn't treated them miserably either! It was something that Osmunda had actively schooled in him, to show consideration for that which wasn't understood. As his companion had heralded from the roguelands, he'd seen and experienced much... the male lion elected not to take this for granted.

This afternoon was of no exception, as he gazed absent-mindedly towards the ever growing pride and the new lions. Some had a permanently lost expression on their faces and Kocoi was of no exception, even if his companion seemed relaxed.

"Another one," Osmunda observed on his behalf, nesting comfortably in the large lion's mane. It was the ideal perch when he wasn't in the trees, warm, comfortable and with enough to grip so that he didn't lose his balance. "Perhaps we should consider greetings this one? Or are we still pretending that we are as distant as the rest of the pride?" Osmunda mused, turning his gaze down towards the lion, although all he could see was his nose from this vantage point.

"No, I'll say hello," Dar'fuku murmured agreeably from where he was lounging, nudging himself away from his perch so that he could approach the male in question. "Not as if they aren't our allies now."

"Ah, I'm so impressed, you're learning!" Osmunda announced with a small smirk which just about lifted the corners of his eyes.

"You sound so surprised... I do have a brain you know," Dar'fuku remarked before sucking in a breath and calling out to Kocoi. "Hey, lost boy! Stop looking so dazed, it's like you ain't never seen a mountain before!"  

[I Lady Kiya I]

Kielistaniloplas ruffled her feathers at the sound of someone's voice. It had been a while since someone actually came forth to talk to them. Kocoi was the one that normally went to them. He tried his hardest, she admited, to be nice to everyone and try to fit in. Though, she didn't know that he had looked so new. Soon, however, she knew that would change.

She chirped with a bit of pleasure seeing that perhaps maybe they had met someone worth talking to. She was getting fairly sick of all the rude pride members, distrust went along way. She hopped from Kocoi's rump to the top of his head. She heard him grumble at his displeasure of her claws digging into his back.

"Will you watch it," Kocoi snapped as he tried to look at his feathery friend upon his head. "that doesn't feel nice when you do that." He wasn't afraid to admit when she hurt him. Of course, it was just one more thing he could complain to her about. His ears had perked kinda as he heard a voice, though he wasn't exactly too pleased at what came out. He wasn't a boy anymore, nor was he completely lost...

"I've seen plenty of mountains." He was almost confused at the other's words, but he decided he didn't want to start an argument. He hadn't ran into someone who'd willingly come up to him for a while. The last one was a yellow lioness. "I'm trying to get to know everyone," however hard it may be. He decided not to add that part. He had given a rather big task, and he wanted to be accepted. It was harder said than done.

In time... In time.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

[ Lady Kiya ]

"I think he may have missed the joke," Osmunda observed, shaking his head in a gesture that he knew couldn't be seen by Dar'fuku. However, the telltale sign of a headjerk could still be detected in the bird's movements and Dar'fuku was aware of it all the same. Suffice to say that when you were raised with a bird your entire life, things had a way of making sense, they became another limb in certain respects.

"No kidding," Dar'fuku replied smoothly as he cast his gaze briefly upwards. He could just about see Osmunda's beak, though he didn't keep himself in this pose for long and soon returned his gaze back to Kocoi. Unsurprisingly, the pale lion looked somewhere between confused and unimpressed... It was no wonder the rest of the pride struggled to connect with the newcomers, none of them seemed to understand them.

"That awkward moment when - "

"It wasn't a literal observation," Dar'fuku interrupted Osmunda before he could make the situation worse and pursed his lips. "It was more of an observation regarding your utterly lost expression, gazelle caught midhunt, that kind of thing," he explained. Aware that the joke had already been lost, he took pity on the lion in front of him and elected to explain what he meant. At least in the future Kocoi would recognise the phrase if someone else said it to him!

Plus one karma to Dar'fuku for that one.

"It was politer than calling you 'newblood', at least," he mused.

"Although he probably would have understood that one," Osmunda pointed out, extending a wing to provide both the lion and the fellow avian with a small wave of greeting.

"If you're trying to get to know folks it's probably best not to assume we're insulting you," he offered and motioned with a slight nod of his head to Osmunda. "This is Osmunda -"

"Ozzy," Osmunda corrected.

"And I'm Dar'fuku, how long you been here? We've had quite a burst of new blood in the last month or so..."  

[I Lady Kiya I]

Heat crossed Kocoi's face. Perhaps he should have thought of it differently than what he did. No matter, what happened was now passed, and it seemed like these two were more understanding then he would have expected. They seemed to be very talkative too. Even better for him and Kiel that way. He gave a weak smile. "Sorry..." He gave a little shuffle of his paws in the grass below. He must have been use to most everyone being rude to him, he guessed.

"Normally I'm the one cracking the jokes." He told them honestly, he wasn't use to it the other way around. He gave a light shake of his mane before lightly jerking up to his feathered friend. "This is Kielistaniloplas."

"You can just call me Kiel." She gave a little squeak. "It has a nicer ring to it, and less of a mouthful." She spread her wings a bit before sitting up a bit. It was apparent now that she wouldn't get any sleep which didn't bug her at all. She enjoyed meeting new faces.

Kocoi rolled his eyes, he didn't have a problem with how her name was, though he was lazy most the time and just called her Kiel. "I'm Kocoi" He finally said once she had stopped talking. His tail flicked a bit. "it's nice to meet you." Though it wasn't something he could normally say truthfully when running into some members. This one, he decided was true. They seemed like good fellows.

Kiel felt like she needed to be more part of the conversation. "We haven't been here that long, 7 moons passing." she said with a light nod. She knew that Kocoi wouldn't have the slightest clue, he always left that up to her to remember. She did it quite well too. "We just kinda stumbled upon this area."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

[ Lady Kiya ]

Osmunda and Dar'fuku exchanged glances with one another as Kiel introduced herself. Dar'fuku had always been horrendous with names and when it came to Osmunda, he generally wasn't the sort to forget, but didn't really appreciate having to take up more memory than necessary to recall who someone was. Suffice to say that neither of them were going to try saying Kiel's full name again and it was even less likely that at least one of them would remember it.

"We'll stick with Kiel," they replied in unison, before exchanging yet another glance in amusement - lion casting his gaze upwards and avian casting his downwards. Perfectly in sync as it were, but that was what tended to happen when you'd grown up with one another... or rather, Dar'fuku had grown up with Osmunda. Osmunda had been an adolescent by the time Dar'fuku had been born.

"Much easier," Dar'fuku smiled sheepishly and then offered a wry smile. Kocoi's obvious discomfort at being in the presence of another who had a reasonable sense of humour was amusing... but Dar knew better than to tease. Evidently Kocoi's initial stay hadn't been an easy one, the least Dar could do was fix that.

"Wouldn't worry about it though, there are plenty of tricksters around, they just need to get to know you," he said reassuringly and motioned to himself. "I just happen to be the greatest ambassador in the history of -"

"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous," Osmunda interrupted with an exasperated sigh, reining in his companion so that Dar would return to the actual conversation at hand. "Seven moons isn't really that long a time at all, what made you stay?" he asked curiously.

For him, the bond he had developed with Dar had been a pull...but for Kocoi and Kiel it was obviously different.

"I was born and raised here, I didn't really have a choice," Dar pointed out wryly.

"Well yes, but I didn't ask you, now did I?" Osmunda replied briskly and offered a smile to the pair.  

[I Lady Kiya I]

Kocoi couldn't exactly say he liked the members of the pride too well. Well, at least the rude ones, but he was sure they'd grow on him and he them. He thought about it for a moment. "Not many understand why I don't eat Kiel." He finally said. It was true, most looked at him funny for having a bird as a friend, and some even went out of their way to try to hurt her.

"This place seems to understand the true companionship of ours." Even if every pair was different, he was sure they all had similar understandings. "I just didn't want to live where others had issues with our friendship." He continued, "I'd hate to wake up one day to someone eating this ball of feathers." He said looking up towards Kiel, who was still on his head as comfortable as ever.

Kiel grinned as much as a bird could, "Can't say I'd be much of a snack, though." She wasn't the biggest bird, she was a small falcon, but was very fast. "Though, I do say they'd have trouble catching me." Though, one had come close to catching her, but she hadn't been fully awake.

"Don't get cocky, Kiel." He said with a grin. "Plus, we won't have that problem now." he looked back to the lion. "Tough times the rogue land presents." he paused, "Sometimes you just got to know when running is enough."

"But enough of that, we're here and that's what counts." Kiel said with a nod. She blended well in his mane, but she made herself as visible as possible for the other two. "It just happened to be faith that we ended up here, and it seems as if we'll get along quite well in this place." She looked from the lion to his companion. "So, what do you guys do for fun?"

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

[ Lady Kiya ]

He'd heard stories of the rogue lands yet he'd never been so bold as to enter them. Eventually there may come a time when he tried though, or at the very least ventured close enough to the borders to run into these roguish lions. It was true that there had been an influx of lions as of late but that still didn't satiate his curiosity in certain respects. Alas, all things in good time, he'd find an opportunity for adventure at a later date.

Nevertheless the lion had posed another question and the pair exchanged glances. In an instant they knew their answer and with impish 'grins' both leaned forward as though they were about to bestow a very special secret on Kocoi. There was a beat of silence, a paw step or two forward and then Dar finally spoke again.

"We fly," he replied, just as Osmunda raised a wing and pointed upwards towards the highest peaks.

"Jump off, take in the sights etc etc," Osmunda continued without clarifying exactly how or where it occurred. More importantly, neither of them seemed to want to explain how Dar didn't die while partaking in such an activity!

"Otherwise we just play a few tricks," Dar mused.

"Or learn how to braid," Osmunda cackled and folded his wings, bouncing across Dar's head to admire some of the handiwork in his mane. They weren't fantastic braids but the tiny ones Osmunda had experimented with were showing vast improvement.

"Can seem a little bit of a quiet life until you find your niche, you know?"  

[I Lady Kiya I]

Kocoi wasn't exactly sure if they were making fun of him again, but he tried not to show his confusion on the flying lion part. He gave a small chuckle. He was sure it would take a bit before he found his place in this place, but that was half the fun. He looked at the braid the other's were showing off. "They're fair better than I could even attempt to do." He said with another chuckle. It was true, and he wouldn't try to say other wise.

Kiel was less likely to ignore the other's "Secret". She raised an eye brow. "How do you fly?" she asked looking at the lion. She really didn't want Kocoi to learn to fly if it was possible. She'd have to stop making fun of him if that were the case. Of course, she totally missed the joke that was hidden there. "I mean, if Lions could fly, then I guess I'd best watch what I say around some." She eyed Kocoi for a second before looking back at the others.

Kocoi didn't want to sound stupid, but it was the question he was curious about too. Though, he was glad that Kiel beat him to it. He was all for letting her look stupid, it made him look better sometimes. He chuckled. He didn't want to sound to eager to know. "Kiel...."

"What?" she asked.

Epine de Rose