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 Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 7:01 am
 Now that she knew of the Shepherds and their role in keeping cubs safe, Harimau'tapi did not fear at all to go into the mists. She knew that somewhere out there a lion or lioness was waiting and watching, making sure that no ill would befall her on her explorations.
As far as that went, Hari was probably easier to keep track of than most cubs. No matter how she tried to be stealthy and slink through the mists like a shadow, she couldn't keep herself from drawing attention. It wasn't that she hadn't learned to place her paws with care, or that her movements were so awkward and obvious that they were readily apparent. It was more that she had a habit of singing. Lots of the time she didn't even realize she was doing it.
For instance, she was currently humming to herself, not really keeping to any one tune or key. The sound might have been a little eerie, but she didn't find it so. She wasn't even aware she was making noise. The way the mists pressed around the sound and distorted it made it easy for her to ignore things like that. Her concentration was entirely focused on watching where she put her feet. She didn't want to end up in one of the tiny streams which could be so well-hidden and yet also treacherous. Swimming was not one of her skills. Not yet, anyway.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:06 am
 Umoya'Othule understood what a Shepherd's job was; both of his Parents were Shepherds after all! He had never been afraid to travel into the mists; if it wasn't Mommy or Daddy saving him, it was someone else! The only thing he was hesitant about was the little streams. He wasn't a big fan of the water; his fur was already slightly ruffled from the water in the mists! Getting an imprompty bath was just never fun.
He did, however, really like trying to be quiet. He liked how silent most of the adults could move! So quietly, so perfectly! Umo always did his best to make himself stealthy, trying to slink through the mists like they did.
Sadly, he was a cub. Along with such a young age came clumsiness, and he had yet to figure out that he had back paws to worry about too. No amount of stepping over a leaf could fix his back paws always finding it. Darn it! But he was trying, and that's the best he could hope for.
Soon though, his ears perked; was someone humming? It sounded like fun! Lowering his chin close to the ground with his little butt in the air, trying to do his best to trail after the creature making the noise. If it was an outsider, a Shepherd would stop him, but if it was someone else he could play! Soon a smaller figure came into his view, distorted by the mist but still visible to him.
He was trying to stalk her by this point, very interested in the noise she was making; but he wasn't being very quiet. His front paws were padding along quietly, but as always his back ones were getting caught on or just stepping on things he managed to miss the first time.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:28 am
The fact that she was unaware of her own humming did not mean that Hari was oblivious to other sounds around her. The dampening effect of the mist, both physically and aurally, did not quite manage to obscure the sound of a poorly-placed hind paw. It did, however, make it difficult to gauge from which direction the sound had originated.
Her head whipped around - a motion her tail mimicked, but in opposing directions - and she tried to figure out where the other person was. They were either an outsider or another cub, since adults never made noise. Unless they meant to. Maybe it was an adult who had wanted to make sure she knew they were there? The possibilities raced through her mind, though she discarded the first thought instantly. The Shepherds wouldn't let her wander into a place where she could inadvertently meet up with an outsider.
So. Cub or adult? An adult would probably ask her if she was allowed to be out, if she knew where the nearest Shepherd was, and a million other questions she didn't want to answer. A cub, on the other hand, could be fun. She could play with them. She hadn't had a lot of opportunities to play with other cubs who weren't related to her, and just the possibility emboldened her and prompted her to call out.
"Hello? Who's there?" It didn't occur to her that she might not have been seen or heard. People always saw or heard her long before she noticed them. It had to do with her coloration and her mindless music-making.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:53 am
Umoya gasped to himself when his 'prey' stopped moving, spinning around to try and find him. He sank to the misty ground instantly, holding his breath to try and avoid being spotted. Luckily he was pretty lightly coloured! His cover semed to be blown anyway though, since the girl - and by then he realized it was a female in front of him - was calling out to him. Darn!
He glared back at his traitorous hind paws, before he crawled a tiny bit closer to her, still laying on the ground when he called out.
"Whassat song?" Was his only answer to her, still crawling a little closer to make himself at least a little more visible to her, if she were to turn around. Bright red eyes were staring intensely at her, nearly unblinking as he focused on her. "Do you always hum it?" The cub's voice was on the quiet side, but he was still quite interested in what she had been doing. That was his whole point in following her, after all! Or at least trying to, anyway.
Oh, but wait...she had said something first, a greeting perhaps? Mama taught him something...what was it? Hrm. Oh, manners! Right, he had to return her greeting!
"Uhh, Hi." He murmured quietly, looking and sounding sheepish.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:40 am
It was a source of endless frustration for Hari that her coloration was not at all conducive to camouflage in the mists. Her brown coat and dark stripes delighted her when she was in the den, but in the mists it was a pale coat that made the difference. She was at a disadvantage, and always would be. It was why she tried so hard to be good at stealth in other ways, though with mixed success so far.
Had she been singing? She scowled to herself at the thought. She still couldn't see the person addressing her, but the higher voice reassured her that she was at least addressing a cub and not an adult. Her scowl faded as she craned her head this way and that, looking for another cub, but it wasn't until she turned in place, her paws nearly tangling as she tried to make the tight turn, that she saw the other cub's glowing red eyes.
"I don't know," she said. "I think I just made it up. But, no. I don't always hum it. I hum lots of things. And I sing, too."
She didn't mind that the other cub hadn't returned her greeting. It hadn't exactly been meant as a greeting anyway. It had been more to see if anyone would respond. Like Umoya, she was learning to use manners, but didn't really see their importance at present. She just knew she was supposed to use them, and that it made adults happy. Not that she was dealing with an adult, but she hadn't known that at the time, now had she?
"Hi, back," she said.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:18 am
"Oooh." Umoya hummed when she explained she did it a lot. Huh. That was fun! He'd never really done that before...ever. Actually, he'd never hummed. It sounded fun, but he kind of didn't want to admit that to her. "Well it was pretty." He informed her in that quiet albeit pitched voice he possessed.
"Uhh." Well...what was he supposed to do now? He couldn't remember that, either. There was protocol to follow, he knew that. Mama and Papa told him so! They knew everything, they were so smart. But could he remember what it was? Until he did he just stared at the girl, wondering why her coat was so different than his or his Family's...but then it hit him.
"Whats your name?" He said a little louder than he normally did, like the words just flew out of his mouth without prompting. "I'm Umo!" It was much easier for him to say than his mouthful of a real name! The pale cub lept to his feet, sliding closer to sniff curiously at her nose. She smelled different than his Family, too!
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:42 pm
Hari made a noncommittal gesture. She didn't really think much about her musical tendencies. That is, she thought about them when she was trying not to display them, but whenever she did display them, it was largely because she wasn't thinking about them and remembering not to. It was a lot to hold in her head, and she hadn't been alive so very long to practice it.
"I guess. I could probably make something prettier if I felt like it." Her tone implied that she didn't presently feel like it, and if he asked she would refuse. Her ornery streak was putting in an appearance.
"I'm Harimau'tapi," she said, very pleased with herself for getting the entirety of her name out without making any mistakes. It wasn't really a difficult name, but it was very long, and sometimes her tongue got confused or she started thinking about it in the middle of it and forget which syllable she was on. "Most people call me Hari though."
Umo. She knew she'd never met anyone by that name before, or even heard of them. So here was someone completely new. And very strange. Why was he sniffing her? That wasn't normal. She shuffled backward, giving him an affronted look.
"Why're you sniffing me?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:09 pm
Umo did want to ask, he really did. He was interested in hearing her hum something else, especially if what she was humming before wasn't considered pretty by her standards. He liked it, and he could only imagine what it would sound like should she put effort into it. Her tone suggested he shouldn't ask though, so he closed his mouth and lowered his ears as if the thought didn't cross his mind, nope nope!
Umo seemed very surprised when she shuffled back. What? Did he do something wrong? With a baffled look and a tilt of his head, he sat down heavily, still staring at her. "'Cause you smell different?" Really, why else would he sniff her? He didn't seem affronted or like he was defending himself; as always he spoke quietly, though clearly confused. She did smell different! She didn't smell like Mama or Papa or his siblings. "M'sorry, is that bad?" She seemed so upset, did he do something wrong?!
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 7:08 am
"I smell different?" she repeated, adding an interrogative inflection. "I smell different from what?"
Hari gave the boy an appraising look, unsure as to whether he was simply unused to meeting new people or if he was actually odd. She wasn't really old enough to appreciate the difference, but she was learning to tell that there was one. She hadn't decided how she felt about it yet. After all, there were so many ways for a person to behave differently than everyone else without even realizing it. Hari frequently had to be reminded that some things weren't nice to do. Also the word "ornery" had begun to be used in conjunction with her. She didn't know what that meant, but it wasn't usually said in such a way that she could place it in the same category as "beautiful" or "brave" or "intelligent."
"I don't know if it's bad," she told Umo. "But I don't think it's really normal. I mean, no one else has ever come up to me and sniffed me like that. And how would you like it if I just walked over there and started sniffing at you?"
She took half a step forward as though she would actually follow through on her half-threat. If Umo said he wouldn't like it, she'd probably stop, but she might not, just to show him how weird it was.
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