Dormin let out a fierce yawn as she paced the borders of the pride she belonged to. How many times had her paws worked to wear away another layer of dust on the trail here? She'd lost count. Things had been interesting lately, some strangers had come by, but that was days ago now and she was again finding herself bored out of her mind.
The purpose of the pride was to grow strong and protect people. But when everyone was strong no one needed protecting. She longed to see what was beyond the pride, maybe she could round up a group to go out on a wide patrol! For all they knew someone needed help just out of sight and they weren't doing anything...She growled at the thought. It was her father in her that made her restless and eager to fight, though her mother had given her the idea of what to fight for.
"Isn't ANYTHING interesting going on?!" She cried out as she did another sweep. At this point she'd even welcome back the snotty cheetah from the other day! At least then she'd have someone to talk to.
The soft blue eyes scanned the land, small scraggly bushes that seemed to barely escape the boney grasp of the bare branches of trees. Faline was slightly bored, no matter how many times she looked at shades of various land marks they never seemed to get any more interesting than the last one. The light colored lioness shook her head, she had heard from others that a pride had lands not far from where she stood but where that was at she had little idea of where that was. Though observing prides where interesting, she was weary of getting to close, she belonged to no one, no prides, no mates, not that she minded really. Traveling was what she preferred over the amenities of family but sometimes company was better than being alone.
Her ears flicked as a voice sounded, someone yelling in frustration. Her curiosity peeked she made her way looking for the source of the voice her presences known only in sound.
At that exact moment the breeze shifted towards the green and grumpy lioness. She froze, the distinct smell of 'outsider' making her nose tingle. Someone was there, nearby! She held terribly still save hunkering down, and soon enough she heard the pawsteps of the approaching...whomever.
Gee, I just had to wish that dumb cheetah back, didn't I? He'll probably just insult me again. But it wasn't the cheetah. She caught a glimpse of something pale moving in the brush and her ears laid back. It must be tha lion again then! The one who'd fought with her!
With a growl she sprang, crashing through the shrubs towards the unsuspecting lioness. As she flew, unable to stop, she realized...hey, that isn't the same lion!
Oops...
As soon as the sky blue eyes had noticed the source of the voice, Faline realized that she had found the pride’s land. However, she made a rather faulty mistake in letting her presences known because as soon as the brilliant colored lioness had spotted her in her sight she moved. Flattening her ears Faline’s body for a second felt like dead weight, battling was never her forte however if she remained pinned to her spot the lioness was sure injure her in some way if she met it or not.
Moving in rather cowardly like movement Faline’s knees buckled letting her body hit the ground, pushing she rolled herself way. Sure it was the most inefficient movement in fighting especially if the lioness decided to attack again but it was the only thing she could think of. Not paying any attention to where she was going she felt a poke in her rump from a jutting root.
“Oooww” escaped Faline’s lips as she remained laying there on the ground, her eyes looking for the lioness.
Thankfully the lioness ducked and rolled away, a split second later Dormin crashed into the spot she'd just held. Staggering, she barely managed to catch herself before falling. She shook her head and backed up a few steps. Her ears perked and she reminded herself to look a bit less scary--the poor stranger might attack her back, but maybe she could look nice enough to be forgiven.
"Ahh...heh..." She panted. "Sorry about that...thought you were...someone else." She gulped and noted the lioness' 'ow'. "Hey, are you okay? It looked like y'rolled away fast enough. You should be more careful getting on others' land you know! You could...uh...get attacked!" She finished lamely. Obviously the newcomer'd figured that one out by now.
Well that was one less worry to think about, Faline thought as the lioness apologized for mistaking her for someone else. True as she had said it was partially her own fault for being so near another pride’s land but at least she wasn’t aiming to lob her head off on purpose. Looking over her rump hoping that it hadn’t punctured the skin she turned her attention back to the lioness and stood up shaking the loose sand from her fur.
“I’m fine thank you,” she replied with a bit of a smile “it’s just a small bruise nothing to worry about too much, and I’m sorry I didn’t realize I had gotten so close to the pride’s land I knew it was around I just wasn’t sure where.” Faline felt a bit of heat rising in her cheeks she was sure she had looked like an idiot in front of this lioness, like a cub first exploring knowing little of what she was doing.
Dormin offered a sort of half-smile at the lioness. "It's fine. Our pride isn't hostile, really. I guess I made a bad impression...It's just been boring lately, and I met a rather rude fellow here recently. He was pale, like you so..."
She stepped towards the gal and nosed at her to help her back to her feet. "Again, sorry." She huffed. "You weren't looking for our pride, were you?" She brightened, thinking, Ooh, maybe someone finally came to get help! Something to do! Ugh but I scared her, I bet I won't be allowed to go now...
"Are you here for help? Other rogues making trouble for your family? Your pride invaded? Something like that?"
Faline rose a bit of a brow as she mentioned someone was as pale as her, though she had no little reason to be surprised that someone would resemble her somewhat in color. It was true that she was a little naive in all of the colors seeing mostly dark colors such as Kai's black coat or Alona's darken brown fur. Giving a nod to the lioness as she helped up a bit Faline could feel the wet nose against her fur, she wasn't used to being touched.
“I was and wasn’t looking for you pride,” Faline replied as she gave another small smile to the lion reassuring her she could stand on her own four paws again, “I was just curious to see what sort of pride was here, than again… I guess I am always curious.”
“Hmmmm…” Faline thought as the lioness continued to ask a series of questions, “I don’t have any family nor pride, however as for others in the roguelands I guess you could say I come across trouble though…” Trouble was never the word to use, Faline always seemed to get herself in to something she shouldn’t be. She was like a cub curious and willing to learn anything, and her tactics in talking to others, well lacked she was told she was always rude.
Huuuh. Well that was a disappointment. It felt weird to be disappointed that someone else didn't have any trouble, but she did feel that way. If she had been there'd at least be something to do. I guess I should just be glad.
"Well, our pride's one that trains to make people stronger, and teach them to be good. We protect those weaker than us, and try to keep peace in teh area. I guess I'm a bad example, haha! It's a pretty welcome place, but boring lately. No one needs any help, a lot of us have too much energy."
"I suppose the life of a rogue would be hard. We've had a few join up with us, but more say they don't want to. I guess they like to wander." She seemed more interested now that she knew the girl was rogue. "What's it like, being out of a pride? You go where you want, stay where you want, right?"
Faline’s ears perked as the other lioness asked her about her life as a rogue. True, she could go where she wanted and stay where she wanted to an extent however there were some places that no rogue would go in fear death. It wasn’t easy there were days she was sure she would die from the lack of food, other days where rather enjoyable seeing things that she would never be able to see in a pride, tasting things she would never get hunting with others.
“I do like to wander I guess that’s probably why I’ve never joined a pride either. There’s just so much to see in the land that you don’t get a chance to while you a part of something larger. Though it hasn’t been easy at all, some days you get so sick of hunger you start to see things like large bugs or oasis that aren’t there. Sometimes, if you’re like me and your instincts of fighting are second rate, you can’t even keep your own food before something larger, or in a larger group comes along and takes it from you.”
Faline shook her head and gave a bit of a smile it was grim but she didn’t mind still. “So your pride is one who protects that interesting. I don’t think I’ve met a pride that has done something like that before…”
Dormin listened with interest. All this talk of things that Faline had seen without a pride...it made her all the more antsy, knowing she herself was tied down to her home. It was a good place, yes, and they'd made her strong, but there was so little needing done. Would they miss her if she up and left, even of it was only for a little while? Hmm...
What would she see if she left and went it alone? Would she get enough food? She had no doubt she could protect herself...
"Yeah. It's a good pride, and since we're the good guys not many people come to bother us. But at the same time, the bad guys don't wanna stick around here." She thought a bit. "Maybe my pride should like...split up. In two. Send half to where the bad guys are now, keep half here. If we kept making enough little good guy areas, maybe the bad guys would have to give up, they'd have no where to hide." She had no clue of that would work, but it was somethign to think about .She really was just so bored here...she needed excitement! At least today she'd found someone to talk to. Which reminded her.
"Hey, if you're hungry I could help you catch something. Or you could stay with us for a while..."
Leaning her head to one side she stared at the lioness for a bit, “but if you got rid of the bad guys near here then what would you do afterwards? You wouldn’t have anyone at all to worry about defending against except for the few random stranglers….. I think being antsy would be even worse then.” Faline replied as she gave a bit of a reassuring nod. Chasing away all the bad guys would be something good but if the pride was too antsy for too long then a few ruffled feathers would start to emerge within the group and before they would know it the entire pride would be in its own uproar. There was nothing worse than losing one’s own pride because of its own civil battle.
Faline’s ears perked at the thought of free food and a place to stay for the night was offered to her, and as the small bit of rumbling erupted from her stomach she knew it wasn’t much of an offer to pass up. She was good about keeping quiet observing and then leaving before the dawn could even cast it’s light across the darken sky so there was little worry about others questioning her, that was as long as the lioness in front of her had no intention of her expecting to stay, but the thought of staying anywhere she didn't fit seemed a little less appealing.
