[PRP] Water water every where (Sliabh x Nasa)

[Tanakako]

It had been raining since the day he left the Kitwana. The dust that usually coated his blue and white fur when he visited the roguelands was gone, instead replaced by the cold, tickling sensation of water droplets sliding through his coat. A sensation that kept making him stop and shake, even though he was as wet as it was possible to be and no amount of shaking would get rid of the water that had, it felt, saturated right through to his bones.

He had rarely been as sodden as he felt right then, and it was not exactly a pleasurable sensation. After yet another attempt to get his soaked mane out of his eyes with a violent shake of his head (which utterly failed) he peered through the downpour and his fur to where he was certain he had spotted a clump of rocks. Altering his course slightly he struck out again, feeling the thick, cold mud squelch up between his toes, making every step slippery and difficult.

Finally he reached the outcrop and was immensely grateful to discover it was not only larger than first thought, but had a good sized cave inside, after he first squeezed his massive frame through the narrow ‘alley’ between the first two rocks. They reminded him of sentries. Settling down inside on the warm and thankfully dry sandy floor, he set about grooming his sodden fur. The faster he dried out the faster he would warm up.  

[Tanakako]

He had been busy grooming his forelimb when all of a sudden a dark shape rushed into the cave. Judging from the stranger’s condition she was there for the same reason he was… soaked through and dripping rain all over the place. An amused smile curled across his maw as she instantly started rubbing herself (for she was certainly a female) all over the cave wall. And he had to admit, it looked like a fairly decent way to get dry, with as wet as she had been.

By the time she calmed her frantic scrubbing and finally noticed his presence he had quit licking his now rather fluffy fur and was watching her. The sharp moment of fear made him instantly want to reassure her and he let out a soft cough of greeting. He remained where he was though, flopped on the sandy cave floor to one side. Though the cave was gloomy inside and it was difficult to see, he knew he was an awfully imposing sight even laying down, being far larger than any regular lion. So much so that had he not known both his parents were pure-blooded, he might have thought himself a hybrid. When standing he was a massive 12ft in length and almost 4ft at the shoulder.

Giving her a friendly smile he shook his head. “Not intruding at all ma’am.” He folded his paw over its partner, trying to look as harmless as he could. Gold eyes warm and welcoming. “Like you I came here to get out of the storm.” He kept his voice low and soft, hoping that despite the gloom, she would understand he was no threat to her.

“I’m Sliabh.” He added, another smile easily audible in his voice.  

[Tanakako]

As she settled close by, he shifted a little so he could face her without straining his neck. Giving a shake of his head when she asked about the local area he chuckled softly, the sound self-depreciating.

“I wouldn’t know to be honest. I am a traveller myself. I come from the Kitwana Anatara and will be going back soon.” He didn’t yet mention just what his life-long quest was. Over the years his trips out for fresh blood for the pride had grown less frequent. As he was kept busy with his now very large family and his official rank within the pride. But there were other reasons, and sometimes his heart simply wasn’t in it, not while Saoirse was so badly ill, so ill that he was afraid her time was drawing to a close nd he wanted to be there for her at the end, just as he had been for his son, the first of his large family to leave them. Each time was just as painful, it never got any easier watching his family suffer so…

This trip, far from bring a mission for new cubs, had simply been him needing some time alone, out here in the wild land that belonged to no one. Perhaps his years spent away from his pride had changed him, though he had always been a lion that travailed… He loved his family, and loved his pride, but every so often he just needed to breathe and those times found him here, in the vastness of the roguelands.

Giving her another warm smile he pushed his worries to the back of his mind. “An unusual band.” He commentated, though didn’t seem bothered by the idea. “I don’t suppose your hyena friends ever met another named Beo?” It was unlikely, but could have happened. Beo had come out to the roguelands to find pups himself, though it had only been the once as far as he knew. The hyena had brought back two fluff-balls, one of which was a close friend to his own family, just as Beo himself was.  

[Tanakako]

Sliabh nodded as he listened quietly. He was always interested in learning thing, about his environment, other captures, no matter the species. Smiling softly he tipped his head. "They sound like lovely, I am sorry they have had a difficult time." Pausing he thought of his homeland, and the disease that plagued them.

Blinking at her question he considered how to answer. It was always a difficult topic, many didn't understand how the pride could exist, or how they would want to keep existing. His quest for cubs had drawn some very negative responses, but how did you explain what it was like, the closeness the entire pride shared, how they supported each other, loved each other whether related or not.

Finally he smiled again. "We are not well known. Most of us don't travail outside the pride. We quarantine ourselves..." Pausing he shifts, resettling in a more comfortable position as he considered how to explain. "The pride is blessed by the Goddess Pestilence. So we keep apart to protect others from it. I am myself not blessed, and as such I am free to leave the pride. I am one of the few who can, and I protect the rest from hostile outsiders. If our curse ever got into the wrong paws... It would be disastrous."

Lifting his gaze from where it had fallen to his paws he watched her, wondering if she would now stay, or if he had just driven her away.  

[Tanakako]

Her reply surprised him and it was evident in his expression. After a long moment during which he appeared to consider her words, he slowly nodded, head tilting. “I had not thought about it like that before…. But, you are right. My son…. He begot cubs with our Goddess before he passed away… maybe….” He seemed to drift off, loosing himself for a brief moment within his own thoughts. What the lioness had said struck a cord with him, made the constant struggle to accept their curse a little easier to bear. And it helped ease the raw knife-edge of pain that Ruko’s passing had caused, and which had not dulled even with the passage of time.

Maybe… the Goddess really did need them.

Coming back to himself he offered a faint, apologetic smile. “I am not special.” He replied in his typically soft voice, trying to squash every feeling and thought, the complexity of his life as an immune pride member, into a word that made sense to an outsider. He was not special. He was healthy but that came with its own issues, and yet he did not see life or his role in it that way. He just was, and he did his best with what he had. He certainly did not begrudge not having the disease, what lion would wilfully take on that burden? And yet living on as those around you, family and friends and pridemates died… that was not an easy thing to handle. The weight of so many lives weighed heavy on a soul.

Pushing such thoughts away he tipped his head towards her again. “We do our best. Some do not understand why we persist. Others wish to take our disease for themselves.” He thought of the Nergui, and the death they would wreak on innocent prides if they got their paws on so deadly an illness. It would be a massacre, only one that would last years as lions gradually sickened and wasted away. Most would starve to death. Not a pleasant way to die. His pride had a complicated and complex system in place, the entire pride revolved around caring for the sick and making their short lives more bearable. Strangers wouldn’t have a hope of managing if it became an epidemic.  

[Tanakako]

He watched her as she spoke, surprised and pleased. She seemed to understand and he was grateful. Some were fine with who and what he was, but all too often he had been met with violence and derision. Not that he was scared, he was too big and too experienced a fighter to be worried, but it saddened him that others would hate what they could not fully understand.

Nodding slowly he thought back to his large family back in the Kitwana. “Ruko was from my second litter.” He replied softly, again feeling the stab in his chest from the loss of his son. But he would never regret Ruko’s birth just because his death hurt so badly. He had been a joy and his litter were also. He figured it was probably time to come clean, so to speak. Since she seemed open to ideas and judging from her words, may even understand, just a little, why he did what he did. And honestly, a friendly ear would go a long way… he so rarely got to talk honestly about his mission and all the many feelings connected to it.

“Back home… I have a very large family…” Pausing he glanced at her again, unusually nervous. Though he wasn’t sure why her opinion mattered so much all of a sudden. “What you said, about a pride dying off…. That’s what I do, I prevent that.” Again he stopped, struggling with the words, taking a slow breath as he corralled his thoughts. “I bring fresh blood back to the pride.” Glancing her way he tried to get a sense of her reaction. “Some think us cruel for continuing, for surviving. But who would look after our sick if there were no healthy lions left?” Sighing softly he dropped his head, resting his chin across a paw.

“Your pride, it sounds wonderful. To love and support each other is a joy and a gift. I could not imagine being without my pride, or my family. We may suffer, but each member has so much to give. I would never wish Ruko hadn’t existed just because he died early. He was my son and he brought so much joy to me. I miss him, but the memories are good ones.” Even the bittersweet memory of sitting at the pride’s boarder, watching over his son as Ruko slowly slipped away, just the two of them and the dying sun.  

[Tanakako]

When she leaned close and nuzzled against his thick fur, he smiled softly. It was nice to have a friend, a willing ear. She was warm and comforting. And it had nothing to do with their still slightly soggy fur.

Tipping his head to press his cheek atop her ruff he rumbled softly, a sound low in his chest. “He was, he was a gift and a treasure. Just like all my cubs and grandcubs.” Of course, none of them were actually cubs any more.. they had all grown up and he was feeling the loss of it. No more little paws trailing after him, no tiny teeth playing catch with his tail. No more willing ears pestering him for stories of the roguelands. He loved his family and longed for more cubs to get underpaw.

As she resumed speaking he lifted his head and looked down at her, gaze gentled. “My parents passed away when I was young.” He offered. He understood that trauma well. Both had been diseased and died within days of each other. But he still remembered them (their voices more than any faces), and their love. “For what it is worth, if your family ever want somewhere to settle, the Kitwana is always open to you.” Smiling he chuckled softly. “Though I will understand if you run the other way.” He gave her a lopsided grin to show he was teasing, but the offer was there if she ever needed or wanted it.

Resettling his head atop hers, for she was warm and soft and smelled of home (though he was not sure how) he let out a soul-deep sigh. “I know he did not, for I was with him at the end.” He agreed, happy to remember his Ruko even if the memory was painful. Talking about him kept him alive within the pride, and within Sliabh. That was worth any amount of pain.

Closing his eyes as her paw covered his, he shifted, settling closer, so their sides warmed each other against the encroaching chill of the damp night. “Love makes a home. No matter where it is found.” He returned, thinking of his family, that for all they were all born from different mothers, were his, and he could not love them more than he already did. Without them and Eva the world would be a horribly empty place.



(That could be the end?)