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 Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:59 pm
 It'd been days since he finally broke free of the jungle, and it'd been days since he'd made any sort of contact with anyone pleasant enough to talk to. All he'd really encountered was prey and lots....and lots and lots of open savanna. To some extent it really was a good thing, but being alone was definitely taking its toll on his sanity. Roozani was slowly returning to his consciousness, affecting his attempts at successful hunts and keeping his awake into the early mornings. All he needed, he knew, was contact with someone. Anyone.
It was a rather calm day, particularly pleasant if he had a tree to laze around him. It was his favorite time of day paired with his favorite type of weather. The sun wasn't quite at high noon, and there was a very light breeze, enough to bring just a soft, soothing tingle that put him right to sleep should he be fortunate to be up in a tree somewhere. But even if he couldn't take a nap, he still stopped and closed his eyes to enjoy the gentle breeze. And even if he was a long way from home, it still brought a smile to his maw.
After a moment he sighed, and got back to his feet. "A wanderer can't get homesick as often as I do...." he mumbled. Chui was on his way to a rock formation he spotted from a long distance off, and he'd finally arrived. The young leopard hopped from stone to stone in search of a spot to take shelter in for a while. He was tired of walking...maybe he'd get lucky with finding company if he stayed in one place for a day or two. It was a long shot, but maybe a better chance than if he was constantly moving.
So when he found his spot, he took a seat and sighed again. There was a great view of both the eastern and western horizons, a time of day he could never pass up when he was awake. The thought brought back memories of his old home and he grunted to himself. "Perfect. A great reminder of my favorite tree." And he lay down and lowered his head to his paws, a pouty look on his face.
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:25 am
 "One doesn't normally find leopards climbing all over rocks," a sweet, almost sultry voice said from nearby. If Chui would turn, he would see a dusty brown cheetah resting in the shadow of some other rocks slightly higher than he was, her golden spots gleaming a bit and marred only by the crimson bands on her paws. She smiled and tilted her head a bit with the friendly gesture. Her tail flicked back and forth in an idle gesture. "Homesick, I take it?" Kweupe asked, though she really had no experience in the area. One didn't get homesick if one didn't exactly have a home. Perhaps restlessness was similar in feeling. Then again maybe not.
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:54 pm
Chui looked up from his spot, ears twitching at the sound of a voice. Someone else's voice. The young male had an odd look on his face for a bit, then he loosened up and sighed. "You could say that, yeah," he admitted. "First time I left my home since I went back to it, so...yeah. It's been a while since I couldn't sleep up in a tree.." Chui sighed again, then thought to cheer up. At least part of his day had gone right - he ran into somebody.
"Uhh," he muttered, and smiled up at the femme. "I'm Chui. Nice to..meet you?" It was a little awkward, since he hadn't had any sort of social interaction for days now. But...well, at least he tried.
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:16 pm
Kweupe stood, stretched, and hopped down to the leopard's level. He was a bit bigger than she, but she was never afraid of things bigger than she was. She wasn't afraid of anything!
"I still don't understand what you leopards find so fascinating about trees, but I guess one can't know all of the secrets of the universe, can they?" she asked smiling cheerily. She sat down beside him and her smile broadened slightly.
"I'm Kweupe, though the pleasure's all mine, Chui," she introduced herself and stood straight and proper, though her tail never stopped twitching.
"So where is home, exactly? Someplace with a lot of trees I expect?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:29 pm
"Ah, yeah. A jungle, far..far away." He chuckled, a little surprised at himself. Maybe it was the sudden company that made him a little more cheerful that before. That, and she seemed to lighten his mood up with her own upbeat one, so he offered a small smile.
"And if you could climb up trees, you'd know why we leopards love it," he replied to her initial comment. "Imagine being able to sleep almost completely positive that no other animal could attack you while asleep. Of course, another leopard could, but it hardly happens."
And the thought of a good nap among the branches of a tree made him sigh, deciding to change the subject the next time he spoke. "So what about you? Do you have a home someplace?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:06 pm
"Nah, no home for me," Kweupe replied with a shake of her head and pushed herself up so that she could show him the pads of her paws, tough from travel.
"'A nomad haveth no need for a home, for thine heart is with the wind.' My mama-Tumbui taught my brother, her son, and me that saying. Told it to us whenever we would ask why we traveled. I think the three of us enjoyed it too much," she ended with a little giggle. True, she missed mama-Tumbui and abu-Moto and Zi-zi, but the wandering spirit in her heart was just too great.
"Oh, I can climb trees. It just doesn't seem the effort. I'd rather lie on a lovely rock cooled in the shade," she added, dropping to her stomach and rolling onto her back to grin up at Chui.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:47 pm
Chui only glanced at her paws before feeling a very small amount of sympathy for her. It was hard enough for him to feel homesick, he couldn't imagine what it would've been like to never have a home. He tried not to show it though, as he felt she might not appreciate it. "Well..." he started slowly, and thought for a moment before continuing. "I guess as long as you like it, then it's not a big deal that you don't have any one place to call home."
Chui looked curiously at the femme, random questions popping into his mind. Why she loved travel so much? Why she preferred to have no home? Why she was...grinning. And he quirked a brow. "You can?" he then asked, when she said she could climb. "Never heard of a cheetah that could climb." The male smiled and sighed. "To each their own, though, I guess."
A bit of silence fell between them, and he shifted a little uncomfortably. "S....so, how's life on the road then?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:21 pm
Kweupe nodded and looked up at the sky.
"Most of my family couldn't stand being in the same place at one time, especially my abu-Moto and his son," she explained, looking back from staring at the sky to Chui's face.
"Yeah, I can. I grew up meeting lots of other animals. It was funny, I learned to climb and my leopard friend didn't," she giggled and waved her paws a bit in the air from her odd position on her back.
"I like it. My brother and I get to see lots of others..." she paused here, her grin dropping a bit. "I do miss my family, but it's too late now. The world is too big to search for them..."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:58 pm
"Yeah? I don't think I'm cut out for a rogue's life," he admitted, looking down at the ground. "I've left my home for only a little while and I already miss it." And Chui sighed again before looking back at Kweupe curiously, and small chuckle escaping him. "A leopard that doesn't climb, that's interesting."
Chui then went on to thinking about his own...unknown family. It was probably a normal thing, though, so he decided against bringing it up. But he figured it was odd, to want to leave your parents. Perhaps because of his own lack of a parental figure...
"Well it couldn't hurt to try looking," he offered, a small smile still lingering on his maw. "And at least you've got your brother. Must be nice to travel with family as company."
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Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:28 pm
"Well, Weupe was older than Mafunde and I and his mother, our seer, was blind. They were the only leopards in our clan, so he never learned. I spent some extended time with another leopard and she taught me how so that I could flip out of it or hide from my brother," Kweupe explained, bobbing her head back and forth with the pleasant memory.
"It's difficult to find someone when both of you are constantly on the move. And Mafu's not always very fun. He's always telling me to calm down and stop running around so much. He needs to lighten up," she added. Mafunde had been more energetic as a child. Oh, yes, she had found the conclusion to getting her brother to become more like he used to be, but Chui didn't need to know that bit of information.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:38 pm
The male listened intently to what she had to say, though his eyes were wandering from here to there. He fidgeted much less now, having encountered more of the opposite sex in recent times. But that didn't mean he was entirely comfortable, so he still needed time to get used to their company and be...more of a male. "I see," he offered at the end of her recollection, then offered his usual shy smile. "Yeah, climbing can be really convenient. Especially when avoiding those you don't wanna run into." He chuckled lightly, then quickly glanced back at the cheetah femme when she commented about her family.
"I guess that's true..." he replied, then couldn't think of what else to say. So instead he sighed and focused on a nearby rock. "Who knows, with all the travel," he finally went on. "You might run into them again."
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:00 am
Kweupe thought about what he said for a moment before nodding her head.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I might very well run into Zi-zi sometime. If I remember him right, he wouldn't settle in one place for all the gazelle on the savannah," she replied with a little giggle. She liked this leopard. He was a little shy at first, or something of that sort, but he'd loosened up since they'd been talking and she was generally enjoying the company.
She had picked up earlier that he traveled alone, which wasn't a surprise as leopards and cheetahs were supposed to be solitary creatures, but she'd also noticed that he sounded... sad over it. If he didn't seem to like travel so much, she might have invited him along. It HAD been a while since she'd last visited the jungle. Perhaps she could con Mafu into going there.
"That is the biggest problem, though. Zi-zi, Mafu, and I didn't get to have a lot of friends other than each other and Wuepe didn't have any friends his age because we never stayed around long enough and no one really ever came with," she added with a shrug before stretching.
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:19 am
"Mm.." he murmured, finally taking his attention off the rock and looking back at Kweupe. "Well that's the trouble with traveling too much as a kid." He paused and thought a moment, choosing his words carefully so as to get his message across. "Uhm..sorta like a double-edged sword, you could say? Traveling at an early age instills your love for it as you grow, but at the same time it's lonely if you're a single cub and have no one your age constantly around." Chui smiled, surprised that he managed somehow or another.
"I guess that's how I lost my interest in traveling," he finished, then sighed again. "It's nice, every once in a while though. To see something different than the day to day sights." Another sigh, then he lowered his head and focused on the dirt directly in front of his face.
"To each their own preference for it," he said silently to himself, but cleared his throat soon afterward and lifted his head. An idea had struck him, just now, that might relieve him of his loneliness until he was home again. By now he figured he'd had too much travel for coming months, perhaps even years, so it probably couldn't hurt to ask..
"Hey, you don't happen to have any particular place to be, do you?" he started slowly. "Because...well, I don't really like traveling alone. And, if you don't, then I was wondering if you could join me on my way back to the jungle?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:33 pm
Kweupe nodded as he more or less dissected her way of life and how it had been affected by her upbringing.
"Most creatures tire of it easily, hence why the lions are so territorial. I remember certain places that my family wouldn't go because we'd be treated like outsiders and my abu-Moto feared that he couldn't protect all of us against an entire pride," she replied. Of the places they never went, abu-Moto was most against the Firekin lands. Kweupe wasn't sure if Mafu or even Zi-zi or mama-Tumbui knew, but when she was very little, her real father told her nighttime stories of the battles he and Zi-zi's father had fought in side by side. He had even told his spunky little daughter that with the light of battle in his eyes, even the battle-scarred cheetah feared the dulled Motoujamii fire passed down from father to son for a few generations within his friend's eyes. Kweupe wondered if Zi-zi knew of his heritage or not. Not like it mattered much, she remembered that he hated to fight.
The dusty-colored cheetah shook her head to return her wandering mind to the conversation at hand.
"No, I've nothing to do and wouldn't mind accompanying you to the jungle. I haven't seen it in so long, it'll be a lovely adventure!" she exclaimed, her ears perking up and eyes becoming alight with a cheery enthusiasm.
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:14 pm
Chui listened intently to what she had to say, mind wandering back to his encounter with an odd lioness named Shaitani and how she belonged to a pride that was situated in the jungle. He shivered, but only very slightly, at the memory and nodded in agreement. Lion prides were definitely no leopard's best friend.
"Great!" he then said excitedly, feeling his loneliness gradually ebbing away. It'd be nice to have company on the walk back, and more so than that, he'd finally be back where he felt most at home. The jungle. Of course, once he was on his feet and ready to go home, he remembered she didn't travel alone. So, before taking another step, he turned to her, a smile on his maw, and asked, "Um...do you wanna go get your brother first?"
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