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 Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 10:11 am
Things seemed to be changing now. The young cub was no longer a young cub, indeed, he was very near to being called a young adult instead. Very near, but, luckily, not quite there yet. When he was... he didn't know how he felt about that. But he would take each thing as it came to him and do his best no matter what. That was all he could do after all. But he would try to do well, to be good.
It was just so hard sometimes.
Paws that had long ago lost the clumsy uncertenty of a child moved softly over the earth as Kayin sought the one thing he hoped he would never be forced to outgrow, through time or anything else. Kafele. His best and only friend. He'd do just about anything for the Atmaja lion, and he felt that his friend would do anything for him too. They were different indeed, in many ways, but that never seemed to matter. Tama and Atmaja, together they complimented each other more than balenced really. Two of a kind, however unalike they seemed. They always fit together just right.
Kafele had to be around here somewhere, this was where Kayin had always found him before. But he wasn't here now. Where was he? The young lion slumped to sit at the base of the tree they had once raced to climb. Kafele wasn't here. He wasn't anywhere that Kayin had looked, and now he wasn't sure where else to look. He hadn't heard anything about anyone being...killed. Just that thing about the Shatkona's heirs, whom he had very carefully been avoiding. But hadn't a lioness left the pride? What if it had been Kafele's mother? He'd said his family disliked Sahen. What if she had taken her cubs and just...left?
What if he was to never see his friend again?
Ears drooping with misery, he pushed himself to his feet and reluctantly started back the way he'd come, back to the den he shared with his siblings in the eye of the weeping lion. He was still some distance off, and at his pace it would take a long time indeed for him to make it back. But... well. He'd slipped away, though he knew Indira saw him go because his mother saw and knew everything, to go and play. But if Kafele wasn't here, he might as well be training still. He'd just...he just...missed him was all.
((Wasn't sure if you wanted juves or adols for this one, I can switch Kay's image if you'd like. Either works.))
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:30 pm
This was not something he could do very often. Kafele was closely watched and he tried to keep a low profile these days. One harmless escape once in a while would probably go by unnoticed (or mentioned) by his grandfather but Kafele didn’t want to know just how far he could push the limits just yet nor did he particularly want to for that matter. Aunt Fila had told them to be cautious and the red lion was taking her teachings a lot more seriously now that that he didn’t have his aunt with him.
But sneaking away to go see some of his friends had proven to be a monumental mistake. He wasn’t a coward. He wanted to show his friends he was still the same. Things had changed but he was still the same lion! He thought he was prepared to meet them but as he sneaked closer to the usual crowd, he could hear things, adult whispers of those who didn’t know they were being overheard by a quiet red juvenile. That cub’s father died, that one’s mother is now a slave, someone managed to run away, death, death, death… Kafele almost lost his nerve so he attempted to approach a one of his friends who was chasing a butterfly alone. His eyes told Kafele a lot more that he’d asked for. Why was did he give Kafele that nervous chit-chat? That stupid cat, how many times had they nearly scratched each other’s eyes out, pulled each other’s tails, gnawed on each other’s ears? The red lion had kept a smile on his face and left as bouncingly as usual, making up a quick excuse on the spot – sorry I can’t stay, this is the first place those stupid Ligi will come looking for me. It was true but not the main reason for his quick departure.
Now he really was lonely, slinking about once again. Maybe he should’ve stayed with the others. Being dragged back all the way to the bloody waterfall by a mean Ligi would probably earn him some favor – hey, it could be fun even! Despite the current mood, Kafele chuckled quietly. Nah, he couldn’t bring the Ligi’s interest into his small group of friends, that was a really stupid idea. The red lion raised his head to watch the blue sky. He smiled, letting the breeze play with his growing mane. This was his spot. His and Kayin’s. It was still close to the others so he couldn’t stay for too long which was a shame. He felt so calm here, after all.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:12 pm
It was strange, they'd not spent all that much time together really. But it felt as though they'd never been apart. How many times had they met here, in the trees along this path? Twice? Thrice? Barely a pawful of days out of their lives, and yet how entwined did their lives feel to be... But what if he really was gone now?
Kayin's paws felt heavier and heavier as he followed the trail back home. If that lioness who'd just left had been Kafele's mother... What would he do if he never saw him again? It wasn't like he could just run off and go looking for him after all. Besides which, the rogue lands were huge. He might search forever and never find...
"Kafe!" the young lion cried, spotting the familair red pelt not far from where he remembered trying to pin down the color he'd called in that game. The heaviness vanished all at once as he raced for his friend, his eyes shining with unabashed joy at having found him. "I've been looking for you!" he exclaimed eagerly, slowing so as not to bowl the other over, though Kafele might not have minded so much. Instead, he butted his head against the Atmaja's shoulder playfully before stepping back to look his friend over. Was something wrong? Kafele seemed...quieter than usual...
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:28 am
That voice! Kafele raised his head in disbelief, not quite believing who he was seeing. Kay… smiling. Didn’t he know about all the stuff happening? Or was it that he didn’t care? Kayin was a Tama lion and he didn’t usually hang around Kafele’s friends… it was possible that the cream-colored lion didn’t know Kafele’s new position. Kayin said he didn’t have many friends which wasn’t necessarily a good thing but so useful in this case. He didn’t know. He didn’t need to know. This meant exactly what Kafele wanted… nothing had to change between them.
“Kay! I can’t believe you’re here. I have pretty much given up on finding you, I never see you around!” Kafele burst into a string of words, gently admonishing his friend. He would definitely have enjoyed being rammed over or pounced but Kayin’s gesture did not go unreturned and the red lion patted his cream-colored friend’s shoulder rather roughly. “I’m so glad you’re here. Look at your mane, I guess we’ll be adolescents pretty soon. I better start behaving, huh?”
For what had seemed like an eternity, the red lion laughed wholeheartedly, the presence of his friend instantly stripping him of his worries. Nothing had changed, at least between them. And nothing had to change.
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:08 am
Kay's uncertainty vanished completely once again when the red lion returned his greeting. Maybe there wasn't anything much wrong after all. Maybe Kafele had just been upset by the idea of not seeing him again just as Kayin had been. His grin only broadened as his greeting was returned, the roughness of the action utterly accepted as just part of what was wonderful about having a friend. A best friend, in the whole of the world. Someone he'd always be able to count on.
"I was worried when I didn't find you," Kay confessed, stifling the urge to nuzzle his friend again. How could he explain how terrified he'd been that something had happened? Maybe it was selfish of him, after all, Kafele never seemed to be able to find him either. Maybe it was because he lived at the Eye rather than with the rest of the pride? Hastily, Kay stiffled that thought. He'd heard his brother mention how upset another cub had been, how jealous of them. He didn't want to make Kafele jealous, there really was little to be jealous of. Aside from...well. He didn't want to think about it. Not now. Not with him.
"Haha, yeah, we're both getting to be pretty big, huh?" the young lion laughed, "But we can still play games if we want to, right? I mean...they can teach us all kinds of useful skills..." If they needed an excuse that is. Any reason to spend time with the Atmaja lion was more than acceptable to Kayin.
((Gah, these two make me so HAPPY, it's absurd XD ))
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:08 pm
“I told you before. We’re going to be the toughest lions around!” Kafele stated proudly, standing straighter.
“Oh, I’ll never be too old for games. I’ll be an old geezer one day playing tricks on my grandkids.” The red lion chuckled loudly before he realized the seriousness of the idea. Grandchildren, huh? He’d have to be in a position where he was sure he could protect his family. The pride needed its balance restored and he needed a mate – oddly enough the idea wasn’t quite as repulsive as he’d believed as a cub and it was slowly growing on him. At the same time, he had enough weaknesses for others to use against him (namely his family) and raising a family was such a gigantic responsibility. He sighed. In the midst of such serious thoughts, something suddenly occurred to him. They were still pretty close to the other kids and someone might come take a closer look at the heir. Maybe he should get Kayin a little further away from here. Just in case.
“Hey, do you want to see one of the last things my aunt taught me?” he asked excitedly, lowering his front paws to the ground. Kayin didn’t have to know that it was probably the last thing his aunt would ever teach him.
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Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:42 am
Kayin nodded his agreement when Kafele proclaimed that they were going to be the toughest lions around. He wasn't sure he himself would measure up, but he knew he'd work hard to come close at least. His grin spread into a giggle at the image Kafele painted in his mind when he said he'd be an old geezer playing tricks on his grandkids, though he had some trouble imagining his friend with a bunch of cubs. Then again, he couldn't picture himself with a mate or cubs either. It was a strange, but interesting, idea really...
"Sure!" Kay agreed brightly when his friend asked if he wanted to see one of the last things his aunt had taught him. His aunt was a warrior, right? Like Indira was, teaching her nephews to be fighters. It was why Kafele was so strong, he reminded Kay of his brothers when they played. Except, unlike with his brothers, Kayin was a bit larger than the red lion. It felt like an unfair advantage sometimes, but he had a distinct impression that the Atmaja would be mad if he ever pulled his punches to let him win. It would be a hollow victory, of that Kay was certain. Besides, it was hardly like Kafele didn't win ever. They were more evenly matched really. And it was so wonderfully fun to play with him...
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Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:43 pm
“What are you giggling about?” Kafele asked his friend almost rhetorically, his grin growing wider as well. “You’re imagining me surrounded by kids? You’ll see, I’ll create an army of red noisy cubs that will make everyone’s life hell.” He was, very obviously, not serious about the whole matter. Even if he was reaching adolescence the idea of cubs of his own was still quite daunting. “Hey… do you have a girlfriend?”
The red lion watched his cream-colored friend intently for an instant before bursting into a string of chuckles, laughs and giggles. Of course he didn't... right?
“Hey, did I tell you my aunt was a Huntress?” Kafele’s grin seemed naughtier somehow. “She showed me some really neat stuff that’s not really about hunting! Well, a little but you can use it for sneaky stuff.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:31 am
"Yes," Kayin giggled when Kafele caught him. It was a fun image, though he imagined his friend's mane would never show how old he was. It was already white after all. "I hope they're all like you!" he added, though whether that was the threat his tone promised it was or wishful thinking was hard to say...
"...girlfriend?" Kay repeated blankly, his soft eyes wide for a moment. The idea was, at this point in his life, utterly beyond him. "No, why? Do you?" he asked curiously, watching as the Atmaja burst into chuckles. Did he? Really? And was it so strange to think Kayin might have one? Not that he did, he didn't really know anyone outside of his family well, aside from Kafele that is.
"Sneaky stuff? Like what?" the young lion asked, rising to his feet and stretching slightly, "I've never really been hunting before, not properly...it seems hard though."
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:13 pm
“Me?! Noooo!” Kafele’s laugh turned into a childish “yuck, no!” reaction that proved that perhaps the juvenile still wasn’t ready to think about that just yet. But now there was a game to be played and Kafele quickly dropped into a relaxed crawl to the dusty ground. “It’s about…” the young lion stopped for a moment looking thoughtful as he considered his words. “…reading the environment. And tracking, I guess but that part is still hard for me.”
“Like… do you know when everything goes quiet and you know something is up? You know, it just feels wrong?” he paused for a bit considering his initial approach. “It’s things like that. It knowing tracks and alert calls and bird behavior.” He hadn’t had many lessons in it though. With his aunt’s abrupt departure, Kafele doubted Fila would come back to teach him anytime soon and he’d probably have to learn the rest by himself.
“See this small imprint here? If my aunt was here, she could tell us what animal left it, what he was doing and more importantly, where he was looking at.” He looked painfully focused. “See, it’s small but not rodent small and this looks like fur so maybe it was a hare… you can see the grass blades are a bit chewed here so yeah maybe it was. And you can see more marks here so you can see that it was looking that way… where I came. Maybe I scared it off, shame.” Kafele giggled, tracking the soft imprints on the ground until he froze. “Aw, I lost it. It’s kind of fun when you can recognize the animals the prints belong to… and you can use it to follow them around or to look for things they consider threats… usually other lions.”
“But what I like is birds!” Kafele looked back towards his friend, grinning excitedly.
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 2:28 pm
"Tracking?" Kay repeated, obviously intrigued by the forward tilt of his ears as his friend spoke. That was one of the things he still needed to practice on. He could follow his brothers' tracks, and once he and his siblings had searched out their mother, but he was nervous about trying his tracking on prey. He didn't want someone to go hungry because he made a mistake, and he was bound to make a mistake.
Carefully, he followed Kafele, his eyes every bit as attentive as his ears as he listened. The small print he pointed out was examined with intense interest. "Wow, really?" Kay breathed when his friend explained how his aunt could tell so much. But it didn't seem that Kafele was half-bad himself, not hardly. "Hare?" Kayin repeated, frowning at the prints for a moment, before offering tentatively, "Some of them are a little differently shaped, don't hares have bigger hindfeet?" It looked like Kafe was right about it, and he seemed to have a really good idea about what was going on too!
"Birds?" Kay looked at his friend in puzzlement. "How do you track birds? They fly everywhere, they don't leave lots of prints or anything..." He supposed they might drop feathers though, that would be something.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:16 am
Kafele wasn’t sure he was explaining it properly – he was well aware that his aunt could do it a lot better – but Kayin’s enthusiasm showed him that he wasn’t doing that poor of a job so the red lion didn’t feel too discouraged. It seemed using examples was the best way to go in this case.
“Yeah, they are. You can tell the longer deeper marks are the ones their back paws make when they push the ground. So you can always tell which way they went!” Kafele nudged the marks gently with his nose. “But you know, if you can tell where the prey animals are looking, you can usually find something interesting. Like when my aunt was hunting too close to the border and she found the footprints of a herd and it seemed all the animals had been looking to a tree and didn’t graze for too long. So she circled the tree carefully and found a Ligi patrol resting on the other side. That’s what the herd had been looking at! But because aunt Fila is so smart, she never got caught.”
Even if the young lion was still in mild denial when it came to his aunt’s sudden departure, Kafele’s pride in his aunt was undeniable. Kafele actually puffed out his chest every time he said the word “aunt”. But Fila had left the Ashnai’le lands and the realization had a tendency to hit him rather violently at odd times. As such, Kafele made a note to avoid mentioning Fila again… at least for the duration of this pleasant encounter. He couldn’t help chuckling at his friend’s question regarding birds.
“You can’t track birds! Well, unless you have a bird that works for you and some lions do… so I guess it is possible but…” to the young lion, it seemed anything was possible out in the rogue lands just beyond the pride’s borders “Anyway! Birds are awesome but for different reasons. The thing is, everyone listens to birds. When they give warning calls, all the animals raise their heads and look around. We do, the herds do… birds are always higher so they see everything. Usually they don’t really care about what goes on below but they go quiet when something is about to happen, get excited when something interesting is close and if you bother them they can even give away your position and ruin a hunt.”
Was this getting too complicated? Kafele took a long breath as he considered his own words. Oh right, example!
“Like… if you’re stalking something and you happen to run across a ground bird or even a small animal in your path, they’ll either run away or show some signs of defiance if they’re protecting something like a nest or a burrow. In the end they’ll always run off but if you push them, they might screech their way out and every single creature in the area will know something is going on. So it’s safer to move around them, even if they’re just weak little things. You can tell a lot about an area just by looking at what all the birds are doing.” Urg! Enough talking! “Hey, do you wanna try to track me?” Kafele grinned. With a bit of luck, he’d find a way to surprise Kayin somehow.
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Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:09 pm
Kayin was absolutely fascinated with everything that Kafele was telling him. Some of it sounded familiar, he'd heard a bit of it from his mother after all. But a lot of it was new. All of it was interesting, and all of it was bound to be useful in some way. His tail swished excitedly behind him and he nodded as his friend explained different parts, his ears pricked forward with eager attentiveness.
He'd missed this. He'd missed this so much. Everything was changing it seemed, more than just his mane growing in. But this...this he could always come and find. Kafele wasn't going to go anywhere, right? Right?
"Track you?" Kay repeated, uncertain for a moment before that smile spread again. It was hard to doubt himself when he was with Kafe. It never seemed to matter what they did, he didn't need to worry about doing something wrong with his friend. "Well, okay. I'll close my eyes and count or...?" It sounded somewhat like hide and seek...only this was a more grown-up version it seemed. No matter, it was still fun, he was still eager to try. Anything he did with Kafele was worth it, was always wonderful. This was what having a best friend was like, and he wouldn't have traded it for anything.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:31 pm
It was always easy when he was with Kayin. He seemed genuinely interested in what the red lion had to say and always eager to play the next game. Surprisingly, Kafele found himself believing that perhaps Kayin would not desert him if he were to learn the truth concerning his friend’s heritage. Maybe. Not worth the risk though, testing out this theory was. He valued Kay’s friendship far too much to ever put it to the test in such a way.
“Ah, yes. You can count to...” Kafele started slowly, looking around for good hiding places. “...thirthy. Slowly.”
There was bush and tree and rock all around them but a good hiding place wasn’t exactly easy to find. “Okay, now. Close them now.” He said with a grin as he moved away, a plan already forming in his mind. He waited for Kayin’s eyes to close completely before moving a little further from his friend. In order to confuse him he first circled Kay, quietly trying his best to leave good decent prints. He then trotted off as lightly as he could, following the wind and carefully avoiding any bush, small rock or dry grass that could be heard by Kayin. And then he smiled in silence for he knew exactly what he wanted to do. There was a good deal of bushes ahead but hiding there would be far too obvious and certainly not fun. So he stopped on his tracks and sat right in the middle of the dirt path facing his right side, wiggling his bottom and front paws to get good distinctive marks on the ground.
He couldn’t afford to waste time – mentally he chastised himself for not asking for more – so he stood up carefully and kept walking forward on the dirt path with heavy steps. When he was satisfied that a good trail had been left, Kafele walked back lightly or over rocks until he reached the tree exactly to the right of where he had sat before. Time was running out but Kafele was almost done and that was left was to climb the tree quietly (which was easy thanks to its solid bark and abundance of branches, high and low). Feeling rather pleased with himself, the red lion did his best to hide his coat behind the thin foliage (thankfully he didn’t disrupt any bird nests) and waited for Kayin. This was the fun part now. Would Kayin keep following the trail all the way to the bushes or would he try to understand why Kafele had sat down right in the middle of the path and look to his right? If he didn’t need to be extremely quiet – and if it wasn’t rather childish – the red lion would certainly giggled his way out of hiding.
(I’m sorry, I don’t know how I missed your post!)
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:07 pm
Thirty. Okay, he could do that. Kayin nodded eagerly, his eyes following his friend's as the red youngster looked around before he shut them hastily. It would be cheating to try to find Kafe's hiding place before he'd finished counting! "Alright...one...two...three..." His counts were slow and even, like the smooth breathing his mother had once taught them. It was a calming sort of thing, clearing the mind and all. But it made it easy to keep count fairly. Or at least, Kayin expected this was how to count fairly...he never played with anyone else really.
"...twenty-six...twenty-seven...twenty-eight...twenty-nine...thirty. I'm coming now," the light splotchy youngster announced, blinking his eyes open when there was no hasty protest. Curious and excited all at once, he looked around. He remembered his young 'hunt' for his mother, but then there had been brothers for him to work with. It didn't take him long to spot the tracks his friend had left, and his ears pricked forward to listen as Kay advanced upon them. They smelled of his friend, and were clear and easy to follow... slowly Kayin stalked along the trail, looking to see if his friend was hidden anywhere along it...when the trail stopped.
Confused, Kayin looked up, peering around. Where on earth...? Perhaps over this rock? Or if Kafele had jumped to the flatish rock near the end of the trail, maybe he could have jumped to that bush? No, not there, or there, or there, there was hardly any scent of his friend in the bushes. So he'd missed something. Very, very carefully, Kayin backtracked. He'd seen a funny pattern in the tracks, but since they'd continued he'd followed them. But looking at it... The young lion circled. Had Kafele crouched to jump from here? Slowly, Kay turned to put his paws over the marks left by the other. It was an awkward sort of position to jump from. But maybe he'd been jumping up? How far could Kay jump from here? Tensing, he leaped forward...and nearly clonked himself on the tree before him. He hadn't realized he could jump that far. And if he could... surely Kafele could as well.
Remembering all the times he'd been jumped on by his friend, Kayin lunged to the side, whipping his head up to see if the red lion was indeed up in the foliage...or dropping down to land on him.
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