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 Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 6:51 pm
 Ayizan found his way back to his hammock late in the day, when the sun was just fading as it filtered through the dense trees. The light in the jungle was always low at night, although moonlight made things glow in odd ways. Liked these times but now that he was a hunter, he had to get his rest. There was no more time for playing around for him, he had to prove himself. He yawned, shaking his head and feeling his measly mane flop around on his neck. It hadn’t grown in much yet, but it would. Maybe when it did he would get braids in it like some of the other hunters had! He liked the idea, and also couldn’t help but feel that if he had something to wear on him that was obviously a part of the people’s culture, the others might stop looking at him so strangely for his bright red eyes. Red was an ill omen to the Iknimaya, and he felt bad about it sometimes. Making his way over to his hammock, he flopped into it, careful not to overturn it, and prepared to go to sleep, listening to the hum of the insects and the occasional cry of night birds.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 7:08 pm
Clermelli-Pie was happy with what she was seeing with her two cubs. Her son was learning to hunt, and he was turning into a handsome young lion if she did say so herself. His patterns might be that of his father but his colors certainly were not. She had noticed on occasion that someone would shy away from his red eyes, but not too often. For the most part she thought everyone had pretty much gotten used to her cubs and their oddities that marked their outside blood.
Clerm stretched and leaped up to her hammock after a good day's hunt. This having a hunting partner thing seemed to be working out rather well. The snake incident was still well remembered, but now more fondly than at first. Most of the pride seemed to be more proud of her for her sound head in the situation now that they had had time to reflect on it, than they were at first. Her competence as a hunter had never been in question, but her sanity might have been.
The fact that the warrior that had helped her with the snake had become a close friend of hers now probably helped on that reworking of thoughts. Clerm looked up as her son came in and pretended to be asleep until he got settled into his hammock. Just as he got himself settled she leaned out of her hammock and whispered in his ear. "Good day hunting, Ayizan." She really could be as bad as her cubs sometimes for pranking and trying to startle people, but only with them or close friends.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 7:21 pm
Ayizan was startled when he heard the words in his ear, so much so that he nearly flipped out of his hammock while trying to jump to his feet. With his mane still bristling from the shock, he glanced over to the source and saw is mother grinning at him from her hammock. He couldn’t help but smile back, she had gotten him all right! That would teatch him not to check and see if everyone was really asleep when he came back. Well, maybe from now on he’d just make sure his mother was, so she couldn’t prank him like that!
“Oh, thanks,” he muttered, pretending to be annoyed but really just amused, “Did you have a good day too? Maybe tomorrow we can go out together if I don’t slow you down too much.” Ayizan was a humble boy, and he knew that although he was getting better, he still had room to improve before he could be a great skilled hunter. But he was learning. Of course, he also worried about his mother a sister a little too… he knew they could handle themselves, but after the snake incident, well, it made him realize just how dangerous it was out there. And in his manly way he wanted to protect his immediate family.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 7:42 pm
Clermelli-Pie grinned down at her son and chuckled to herself. She really was good at sneaking up on just about anything, including her children! "I am not due to go out tomorrow, but I see no reason why you and I could not go out together to work on your hunting if you like. I am sure there are things you have learned from the pride I do not know as well as things I picked up from the rogue lands I could teach you. Let us just avoid any snakes, though."
She gave him a good natured grin and stretched out a paw to ruffle his little mane tuft. "You are soon going to dwarf your mother, young one." It was true too. He was already nearly as big as she was and he was only an adol! Had they still been in the rogue lands he would have been as big as most adults. He looked like he was going to be as big as anyone else in the pride. It looked like her Na'vi blood which had skipped on her for size, had shown back through.
Not that his father was small. The demon Roth had been nearly as big as the Na'vi but a lot bulkier, neither of Clerm's cubs seemed to be taking on quite that much bulk, thankfully. "You will never slow me down too much to hunt with me, Ayizan." The lioness figured she might as well reassure him now before he was 'too big' for such things. "You are my son, and I am proud of your abilities, and only wish to help you hone what is already good into greatness."
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 7:55 pm
Ayizan tried to dodge his mother mussing up his mane but he was too slow. He smirked at her and smoothed it flat with one paw. May as well keep it looking nice, you never knew who might be looking! So far in his life, Ayizan had no love interest, but he was beginning to get more interested in those things. He was often too busy to talk to the females his age in the pride however, since he was usually hunting and trying to get more skill in that. He tried to tell himself that being a great hunter would bring the girls eventually, and it never really occurred to him that he might be able to skip that step. Anyway, being a hunter and earning his honor was more important to him right now.
“Well I hope I end up bigger than you, I’d be a pretty sorry male if I didn’t. Although ‘bigger than you’ isn’t saying much is it mother?” His mom got to tease him, so he decided to tease her a bit too. He made sure when he said it to stay out of her paw’s reach though, just in case she tried to smack him for it! Grinning, her added, “But I’d love some hunting tips if you have time. Maybe that friend of yours would like to tag along, and then if we DO run into a snake we won’t have to worry?” He was sort of kidding, but not really. His mother have a male friend didn’t bother him at all, since he’d never really met his own father and had always felt that she should have someone in her life that she could depend on. Children didn’t count for that, not the same.
After a moment’s pause, he asked her, “Do you really think I will be great? I would love to be, but I have much to learn…”
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:07 pm
Clermelli-Pie watched her son flatten his mane with a smug look on her face. Ah the wonders of growing up! He was starting to worry about who might see his mussed fur and what embarrassing things his mother might do to him while they were watching! She did love the fact that he was taking an interest in such things. It meant she must have done something right raising him. Had he not be worried over such things, she would blame herself and how she had the litter for it.
"You are quite right you would be a sorry male if you were not bigger than me! And in this pride, no it is not. Though your grandparents dwarfed me a good bit, in the rogue lands where I was born, I was still a little above average size." She grinned at the teasing from her son. "And even there I was a wonderful hunter. The trick is learning to use what you have to your advantage." She grinned smugly. "In my case that is being small enough to sneak up on just about anything, including other lions!"
She blinked at his suggestion of taking her friend along. She knew who he meant just because of the reference to the snake. "I am sure Koehro has duties to attend to... he patrols for days on end afterall. We could have your 'uncle' Kaym'itan come along if you really want. Ruin his sleeping all day routine." Clerm grinned playfully. Kaym was really like an older brother to her and his place as a night scout was a source of teasing from Clerm. He would have been glad to make sure they were both safe, but Clerm was not going to make him get up in the middle of his sleeping time to do it.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:20 pm
“Sometimes I wish I could go back out to the rogue lands, if only to tower over all the other lions there! That would be funny. I wonder how much bigger I’m going to get?” He imagined himself standing many heads taller than a pride of other lions and found the image in his mind hilarious. Wherever he walked others would have to get out of his way… maybe they should be afraid he’ll step on them and squish them!
“Being small does have it’s advantages,” Ayizan agreed, for he was small once too, as a cub. But now he’d have to figure out how being big would play in his favor. Again he thought of stepping on average-sized lions, but that was just a joke.
“Hmph, well, as funny as it might be to disturb Kaym'itan’s beauty sleep, I think we’ll be alright! Another time it would be nice to meet up with him again though. Perhaps if I start hunting more at night…” Ayizan yawned again and didn’t relish the idea of getting used to a brand-new sleeping schedule, but being awake at night was more fun for him anyway. He liked the glow of things in the moonlight, and it was cooler, which was a definite bonus. “Besides though, if I’m going to be a good hunter I should be able to handle anything that’s out there… well, with help. But hopefully without having TOO much help!”
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:42 pm
Clerm smiled to herself and shook her head. "I used to wish I could go back out there... but the dangers far out weigh the benefits when one is alone. It was familiar once, and there was a time there were others I could travel with... like Zimo and Naide, if you remember her from before we came here. But now, I would miss it here if I left." She would miss her cubs and Koehro if she left, but she would not admit to that last bit.
"Being big has it's advantages as well, dear. No matter one's size there is always something that one can learn to use it to one's advantage." Just as Roth's large size had made her more willing to just let him have what he wanted rather than fighting him. "You will be able to pounce and topple a much bigger prey than I can with just the force of your body, so that is something that we will have to adapt your hunting to use." She just hoped her other two cubs were learning as well as the ones she had in front of her to teach.
"Yes, Kaym'itan needs that beauty sleep, especially with his new mate. But we will have to see if we can catch him one of these days to bother him. Maybe we will make the time to go on a night hunting adventure one of these nights... then we can bother him to escort us in case of snakes." Clerm yawned as well. Hunting was tiring work even for her. "Remember the People hunt in pairs, unlike your crazy mother that did not until she ran into a snake and was introduced to her new partner." She grinned down at her son.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 9:04 pm
Ayizan nodded, listening to his mother’s words and feeling as she said them that it would be the same way for him. He’d hate to leave this place, even for a while. This jungle and it’s people had become his home, and now he could barely remember the time when they’d been wandering. It had been long ago to him, and he’d been just a cub then. “I do… sort of remember them,” Ayizan confessed, reclining in his hammock as he thought of them and tried to recall what they looked like. “But I agree with you. I guess it’s dangerous… and I’d miss here. I’m glad we came here when I was little, or I might not know what I was missing if we hadn’t.”
Ayizan rolled and snorted, fixing his mane-tuft again and thinking of things he could do with his size. He was a little slower than a smaller, lighter lion, but he might work on that. A hunter needed to be silent above all, and that was an obstacle for him. He was still getting used to being so big now, it seemed to him that he grew quite a lot very quickly.
“Hmm, yes, so if you and uncle Kaym'itan can’t come with me I’ll just have to find a friend,” Ayizan joked, winking. He certainly had friends in the pride but none he hung out with much. He was too serious, and too focused on hunting practice. Other his age found him a little dull, but it didn’t matter much to him. These things would come later, when he was a great hunter.
Ayizan yawned and stretched, his tiredness catching up with him, now that he was laying down. “Yes, we’ll go hunting… I want to know all you can teach me.” He closed his eyes, dozing but still listening.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 9:21 pm
Clermelli-Pie gave a huge yawn and smiled at her son. "We are lucky that Zimo decided to join the People too. But there was also Dare outside the pride... I do regret leaving him, but I think it was for the best in the end. You and your sister have done well here... and this is where our family came from originally. We were meant to come here." She wondered as she said that if some of the spiritualness of the people was seeping into her or something.
She was usually all practicality after all. Ah well, it would be good for her cubs fitting in if it was, she guessed. "I am sure you can find plenty of friends willing to travel with you. If no one else, Jubes might be up for the adventure, you used to play with her a lot when you were younger. She may be all grown up now and have a mate, but I think she would still consider it fun." There were others she could think of as well, but Jubes was a good start she thought.
Another huge yawn and the lioness laid her head down on her crossed front paws. "You will know all I can teach you, Ayizan. I wish you to be as prepared for everything the world has to offer you as you can be." She smiled proudly down at him and her eyes drifted closed. Above all else her cubs made everything in her life worth while. That was what had driven her for so long.
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