|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:10 am
It was strange. At one point, Kefilwe’s closest friend, Rangi had been waiting for her family to find her. They never came. And then Kef came around and the two made a pact to wait until his mother came back for him. She never came. And then… and then finally, Rangi went off on a hunt, while Kef recovered from an injured paw. She never came back. It was heartbreaking, it really was. It had taken the young male a while to realize that his friend was… was gone. He wasn’t sure what happened to her, but he could only imagine that she had died. Surely, that was the only thing that could make her break a promise, right? Right. Of course…
Now the brown juvenile wandered, looking for either a sign of his lost friend or his mother. Or even his siblings. He’d had siblings, right? His brow furrowed a little as he struggled to remember. Yeah, he could vaguely recall warm squirming bodies on either side of him, while he fed from his mom. Siblings… they were out there somewhere, most likely. Kef nosed hopefully at the bones of some long-dead creature before turning away from it. There was nothing to be gained there. Ah well, he’d caught a rabbit just the other day. The once fat and happy cub had gone through quite the transformation after Rangi’s disappearance; all of his baby fat was gone now, simply because he was still just learning how to hunt anything bigger than mice.
He paused once again, taking stock of his surroundings. It was long past nightfall, and the moon was a silver sliver in the velvet sky. Stars studded it like diamonds, lending a bit more light to the moonlit world. Wind rustled through the grass, bringing to him all the scents of the nightworld. A beautiful world, really. The world by day was bright, golden, and gaudy. The night… it had its own elegant appeal, especially in this jungle. The trees were rather thick, like nothing he had ever seen before. Being more used to open savannahs, this world of moss and trunks was strangely fascinating for Keffy. And the bugs!
He’d never seen some of these things before… bright yellow eyes watched as a curiously colored beetle buzzed past and he instinctively began to follow it, hoping to catch it and possibly even make a meal of it. When you were used to looking after yourself, you ate whatever you could, slept when you could, and you didn’t complain.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:18 am
They slept by day, rose by night, and hunted other creatures for their blood. Their eyes were bright in the darkness and fangs were slightly longer than normal... and very sharp.
Even here, though, there were younger ones, though they were perhaps not watched over as carefully as in other prides and groups. For if they had been, one lone red cub might not have been wandering at the edges of the jungle this night.
So far as he was concerned, though, 'Tani owned the night and nothing and no one would challenge or hurt him. He was currently stalking a mouse just for the fun of it, having 'eaten' earlier - when that same beetle buzzed by him, distracting him for a moment.
And in looking up to follow the flight of the beetle, he also spotted the other young lion. Ooh, a stranger! 'Tani instantly puffed himself up and walked toward the other in a confident sort of fashion. "Hey!" he called out, "Who're you and what're you doin' here?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:21 am
Keffy screeched to a stop as another lion came into view. Frowning just a little, the brown juvenile considered simply running away. Such an action was rarely a bad idea… but, it was strange to see a lion in here, wasn’t it? Well, he was there, obviously, but he didn’t feel like he really counted. Lions didn’t live in jungles, did they? Maybe slept in them, but didn’t live there like for real. Besides, this other lion looked a little younger than him and could hardly be called a threat.
The beetle flew on, completely forgotten by the lions who had apparently decided that the other was more interesting than some dumb ol’ bug. “My name is Kefilwe,” he introduced himself in clipped precise tones. Very… polite tones, actually. Yes, that was the word for it, the kind of tone one would use with a stranger who they weren’t completely confident about. “And I’m just passing through. I figured that this could be my only chance to see a jungle, so… well, I’m not one to abandon new knowledge. I didn’t think there were any lions in here.”
He considered the phrase and quickly amended it. “Well, besides myself, of course.” Cautiously, he approached the younger lion, looking at him with a sort of scientific interest. “Who are you? Do you live here?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:41 am
'Tani blinked at that and then laughed at the other obviously not much thinking about the size comparison between them. He didn't care who he met, he'd always be just as good (or better) than they were. "Whaddaya mean you didn't think there'd be lions in here? Haven't ya heard of the greatest, scariest pride ever?" he asked, preening a bit as he spoke of his pride.
Seriously, geez! How could there be anyone who hadn't heard of the vampires?
"As for me! I'm Morwa'Shetani, but most end up just callin' me 'Tani for short."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:49 am
At that laugh, it was Keffy’s turn to blink in surprise, wondering just what sort of pride this was. Oh dear… he hadn’t insulted someone, had he? Life would be much easier if he managed to avoid insulting others, especially while in their pridal lands. Hopefully he wasn’t trespassing… unpleasant things could happen to a lion, even a young juvenile who didn’t know any better. “Umm… no, I haven’t… should I have?” he asked cautiously, some of that clipped tone slipping away into uncertainty.
It returned soon enough as the young male regained some of his composure. “If I’m trespassing, ‘Tani, I’m terribly sorry about it. I didn’t know. I just didn’t think there’d be any lions in here. I thought lions only lived in the open plains.” Not that he had seen many back in his little clearing. Mostly it had been just him and Rangi and a few other abandoned cubs, left to make the most of what they had. There had even been a leopard cub! But all of that was behind Keffy now.
“Why does your pride live in the jungle? It doesn’t seem like there’d be anything to eat, beyond mice and rats.” And adults, naturally, needed to eat bigger things than that, right? Of course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:14 am
'Tani gave the other a look that, but made no move to run off and report an intrusion, or attack Kefilwe or anything like that. He'd rather just sit around and boast about the pride, maybe tell a few scary stories. Besides... they weren't technically on the pride's lands at the moment, though the border was just a few tail-lengths back behind him.
" 'Course you should've!" 'Tani blustered in reply, grinning so his little fangs showed. "Have you ever heard..." and he dropped his voice lower, so it was scary, "Of vampires... Kefilwe?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:31 am
‘Tani was probably extremely disappointed by Keffy’s reaction to his grand speech. Those big yellow eyes slowly blinked and failed to look anything even remotely close to impressed or scared. Vampires? What was that supposed to mean? Undisturbed by this word he had never heard before, Kef merely scratched one ear idly, patiently waiting for ‘Tani to explain further. When it became clear that the red cub wasn’t going to explain any more, the brown juvenile finally spoke again.
“No. What’re they?” It wasn’t often that Kef came across words he had never heard before, and this was one of them. Without a mother to tell him scary stories, he and the other cubs had been reduced to telling each other their own made up scary stories. These were invariably… well… different. Instead of stories of Vampires coming to suck their blood, they would make up tales of giant bugs as big as they were. This failed to frighten them, since they generally considered bugs to be food.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:43 am
Blink. Blink blink. "Geez, don't get out much do ya?" 'Tani muttered then, with a bit of a disgusted look for the other. Come on, what kinda weird cub hadn't heard of vampires??
Assuming what he figured was a regal-looking pose, 'Tani went into a sort of lecturing tone of voice, nose in the air.
"Vampires get their food from drinking the blood of other creatures. We live in the dark and the shadows an' the night. Can't go in the sun a lot or it burns us up. So we live in here 'cause it's dark a lot. An' for when you were talkin' about food before ... there's lots of things here to hunt. If ya know what you're lookin' for." And cue a superior sort of smirk.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:54 am
“Quite the contrary, actually. I live out, so I’m always out,” Kef corrected the cub, apparently not at all insulted by his ‘not get out much’ comment. He was well aware that there were parts of his education that were… lacking. Nothing to be ashamed of; the only shame would be if he didn’t do anything to solve that problem. Head tilted to one side, he listened to ‘Tani’s explanation, rolling it around in his brain to see how the pieces would fit together.
It sounded… well… more than strange. Lions who drank only blood and couldn’t go out in sunlight? That last part at least explained why there was a pride in the jungle. Even Kef could see that the trees only became thicker from here on out, even to the point where they blocked out all the light. Actually, it looked a little scary, now that he thought about it, all those shadows of trees reaching up for the sky like claws… “So… is that your pride?” he asked curiously, looking ‘Tani up and down.
He didn’t look very scary. He looked, more or less, like every other cub that Kef had encountered. Different colors, obviously, but not amazingly different in size or shape. A little smaller than some, perhaps… and the fangs looked bigger than normal, but Kef was fairly confident that was just his imagination.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:01 pm
'Tani just kept right on smirking at that, noticing the other's look back toward the rest of the jungle. To outsiders, it might be scary... but it was the only home and playground that 'Tani had ever known. The young vampire knew this jungle just as well as he knew his own four paws and nose and tail.
"Yup!" he answered, a proud note in his voice. "I might be little but I'mma vampire too. So don't mess with me!" he informed Keffy with a little growl.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:14 pm
Huh. Well, this warranted a moment’s speculation, that was for sure. Keffy sat down promptly and tilted his head to one side, looking the other young lion up and down, mentally trying on the words for size. This concept of ‘Vampires’ sounded scary, actually. A group of lions who fed on blood? Only? Kef had drunken it a few times from his prey, of course; you couldn’t be picky about sustenance when you were all alone in the world, but it wasn’t very tasty. Certainly not something you’d want to live off of all the time.
“Why?” he asked eventually, once he had given the other male’s words a careful think. “I mean… why’re you a vampire? And why would a lion burn up in the sun? It’s not pleasant to be under the sun all the time, but it’s not dangerous. From what I can see, you’re a lion, just like me. So why would sunlight affect you but not me?” Well… maybe because the cub---and the rest of his pride---had been raised in this shady jungle since birth, they’d be more affected by it? That sounded plausible… but, Kef still wanted to know.
“What’s it like, being a vampire? Is it amazingly different from being a normal cub?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:48 pm
Uh. Well.... those were all really good questions, and not really anything that 'Tani had ever thought about before. He'd just always accepted the way things were, gone with what he was told and moved on with his life - short as it was at this point. He couldn't act like he didn't know what he was talking about though! That would look bad.
"I'mma vampire 'cause... my parents were. I dunno how it all started, I dunno if anyone does. But it's been like this for a long time!" As for the sun, "Duh, it's cause the sun hates vampires, that's easy! It might not be dangerous for you cause you're not a vampire, but I am."
Hmph. Really, he needed to find somebody older and ask them these questions so he would have better answers!
"What's it like?" he repeated then. "It's like ... well, it's really cool. Or I think so, anyway," 'Tani said with a smirk. "But I dunno what being a normal cub is like either." He finished with a little shrug, as if to say it couldn't be that special.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:07 pm
It wasn’t important that the answers made sense or anything. The important thing was to never, ever look unsure of yourself. Ever. And always have an answer ready, even if it doesn’t make sense. That is the way of the Discussion.
Kef frowned at the sun explanation and looked up at the tree-tops. If it hadn’t been for the trees, then he would have been looking at the night sky, which he felt rather spoiled the effect… ah well. Things couldn’t always be appropriately dramatic. “Does it really hate anything? It’s not alive, that’s all I’m saying. How can it hate when it doesn’t think?” Damn logic. It always got in the way of the cool answers, didn’t it?
Speaking of logic… only a moment after he had asked the cub question, Kef realized it wasn’t a particularly smart question. Oh, adults liked to claim there was no such thing as a stupid question, but there really was. That was one of them. Of course ‘Tani didn’t know what being a normal cub was like… and without that to compare it to, how could he describe what being a Vampire was like? “Well… I’m normal. So I can tell you what it’s like,” Kef volunteered, wondering just how typical his situation was anyway. He was pretty sure that most cubs stayed with their parents… “It’s alright. I get to live on my own. And I’m not held back by any pride. I wander where I want, when I want,” he said proudly, puffing himself up a little.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:52 pm
'Tani rolled his eyes slightly. "Of course the sun thinks. There's gods for everything out there, right? We've got one that's in charge of blood or whatever. And there's a god of the sun. Well, that god hates us. So the sun hates us." Hey, it made sense to him!
"Hm... that's not that different," he said with a sniff. "I've got parents and all, but they don't care if we all wander around, long's we don't go walkin' out into the sun like idiots or something."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:43 pm
“Well… yeah. Sure. I guess there are gods,” Kef answered slowly, not really sure of this himself. He’d never met a god or a goddess, so their existence was still a vague thing. The fact that just about everyone said that they existed wasn’t proof enough for him. He was the sort who wanted constant evidence of everything. At least with the wind around him, he could feel it; he knew it was there. But gods and goddesses… they were tricky. “But, that’s just a god; it’s not the sun itself, is it? Might as well say that trees hate you.”
Huh. Apparently, being a vampire cub and being a normal cub wasn’t that different. How disappointing… but Kef wasn’t ready to give up yet! “Well… I can do whatever I want, including walk out in the sun!” Damn one-upmanship. “What’re your parents like? Like… are they nice or what?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
