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 Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:02 pm
 This was Imara's... third? Official day in the Pridelands. She was both extremely happy to be here, and also a little bit horrified. Most of the lions she walked by... smiled at her. Really. Smiled. And the ones that didn't simply didn't because they didn't notice. When she saw cubs playing, despite them sometimes playing roughed games, they seemed somehow more polite.
Imara realized that deep down she envied this. Maybe not so deep down, otherwise she never would have asked for permission to become one of them. But this was still rather radically different from her upbringing, and she felt awkward. This was on her mind as she found a tree and flopped down beside it without even checking her surrounding.
"Everyone is so... happy here!" She mused out loud, marveled. How did this sort of thing even happen?
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:19 pm
As joy of his own was a little difficult to come by. Perhaps the result of an always calculating, always worrying mind.
The male came to a stop when he spotted a female he was unfamiliar with, his head tilting to the side. Moving towards her, he found himself getting a bit nervous, instantly thinking she might be some kind of an invader. Just one… who looked a little confused. She even spoke to herself, much to his surprise.
“It is a little strange sometimes,” he offered, “to see everyone so happy. Um… who are you? I don’t remember seeing you around here before.” Like that meant anything- recently there had been a million new members. It was impossible to know who was new and who was there to assassinate small cubs and eat their hearts in front of their parents.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:28 pm
When surprised, Imara's immediate reaction was to get into a defensive position, and this is exactly what she did. When at first she had been sitting at the base of the tree, now she was crouched, ears back and fur along her spine prickled. She even almost growled.
And then there was a very awkward moment when she realized what was going on. "... Oh. Oh! Um." Awkwardly, she raised her head again and tried to recompose herself, then looked down sheepishly. Outside she probably would have yelled at the lion for startling her, but this was her new home and she was determined not to make a mess of it.
"Well, it's good that people are happy. I think. And sorry, I didn't.. Uh." Old habits die hard, she wanted to say. "And yes, I don't think you have seen me before! Or, I haven't seen you before so I guess it's mutual," This was a new side of herself, she decided. The Imara-that-rambles-when-nervous. "I mean I just joined. The pride. I'm... not an intruder." She offered tentatively, just in case her somewhat aggressive reaction made her look dangerous or something.
Really, she was working on this! It just might take a little time.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:45 pm
When she reacted, so did he, his body tensing as he felt his claws suddenly gripping at the dirt. Maybe this female wasn’t a new member after all, but one of the threats he had been working so hard to prepare himself for. Now that he was in what he thought was the start of his first battle, he found himself completely terrified. Not exactly the attitude to have going into a fight, he imagined. Would it look too weird if he suddenly ran the hell away?
Thankfully, she didn’t attack, and seemed to relax after a moment. Apparently he had just startled her.
Heck of a reaction for something like that!
“I’m sorry,” he offered with a bow of his head, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just a little surprised seeing someone new… I guess I’m still not used to it, even with all the new faces. But that shouldn’t excuse my rudeness.” Now he was a coward AND rude.
Great.
“My, uh, My name’s Shangwe. I’ve been in this place for quite some time, so if you feel you need some help with something, I would be happy to assist. I should make up for making you jump like that, anyway.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:53 pm
"Sorry? For wh-- oh, okay." At first it had never occurred to her that he should apologize for startling her, because that didn't really happen very often. In fact, Imara rarely remembered being apologized to, but it's not like it was something she missed. Some niceties others bothered with had just never seemed useful or desirable before.
She felt a little stupid now. She had been feeling stupid quite a lot for the past few days. "My name is Imara." She said, though even when she was being sheepish her voice was rough and she might seem grumpy as she talked. "Who are you?"
At his offer for help, the dark female continued to be surprised. The Pridelands were a strange and kind of wonderful place. She wondered why she had ever resented them. "I'm okay." A short pause, and then she remembered. "Thankyou."
She probably wasn't actually okay. But it's not like she could think of a specific thing to ask for assistance.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:11 pm
Imara- he would have to make sure he remembered the name. That way, he wouldn’t see her again later and think the same thing over again. How embarrassing it would be if they just ended up going in circles, right?
He needed to keep himself from messing up a second time.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said easily enough, though he always found it difficult to sound happy. His was a more even, less enthused tone. Something that could be considered indifferent on most days. Unintentional on his part, though.
Since she didn’t need any help, he would just have to find some other way of making things up to her. Or maybe he could help her later on, when she did have a question. In any case, there was no need to dwell on it too much- little things could eat away at him if he let them.
“So… you were commenting on the lions here being happy. Is it… not something you’re used to? From your life before coming to this pride? I don’t mean to pry, of course…” Well, he did a little.
He wanted to know.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:19 pm
She would have told him it was nice to meet him too, but, once again, Imara fumbled at that and then it was a bit too late to add in. So she just nodded and pulled back her lips in what might have been a smile. If you turned your head upside down and squinted a little, anyways.
When he asked her about where she was from, Imara wasn't so sure she should answer, because she didn't know what Pridelanders thought of what used to be the Outlanders. So she figured she could just leave it without a name.
"The pride I grew up in was a bit... uh, tougher than this one." She realize da bit too late that it might make it seem like she found the Pridelands a weak pride, rather than just a friendlier one. "Were you born here?" She asked, mostly in hopes that a question might distract him from her little mess up there.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:28 pm
It seems she wasn’t that used to talking to others. Or maybe he was the one who was bad at it, and she didn’t know how to respond to him. It really could have gone either way- he wasn’t very good at getting to know other members of his pride, new or old. The only ones he had really been close to were his siblings.
Now, even they seemed distant to him. Maybe he was just making her so uncomfortable she couldn’t relax.
Oh Gods.
“I see,” Shangwe said, “well… I hope this pride makes up for its lack of toughness with more pleasant memories for you.” Or something. But he couldn’t say or something, or he’d probably make it hard for her to respond again.
He managed a bit of a smile when she asked him if he had been born there, nodding almost dumbly. “Yes,” he replied, “seems like an eternity ago now.”
He was so old.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:34 pm
Yep, he had caught on to her accidentally insulting the pride. Imara felt a little angry at her own stupidity, but for the sake of one of those soft-- er, nice Pridelanders, she didn't express her frustrations. "Yes." She agreed awkwardly.
Well, all-in-all, this was going pretty well.
Who am I kidding. She thought. Imara frowned slightly at his question. "Eternity? You don't look that old. I mean. Uh. Wow! That's great." Smooth, so exquisitely smooth. So smooth you could grate a potato on it. That's how smooth Imara was.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:59 pm
Any other lion might have laughed at her awkward bubbling. In truth, he did find it charming. She was clearly trying her best, and she seemed as bad as it as he was. The whole talking thing, anyway. But he wasn’t any other lion- he was Shangwe. A lion who really needed to take the stick out and just relax.
He responded by tilting his head to one side, watching her with a confused kind of look. Even if he thought she was being funny, he didn’t really know how to show it.
This was as close as he could manage.
“Well… you know… it’s a nice pride. I grew up here with very few problems. I, uh, I hope you’re happy here, too. Maybe we’ll be seeing more of each other around, right?” Not that he thought she would want to see him again after this. He was such a spaz.
“I should go… I have some training to get back to, and I don’t want to disturb you much longer than I already have…”
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:06 pm
"Oh, uh, yeah!" She nodded, slightly relieved that this was ending. Then feeling bad that she was relieved it was ending, because she felt that a decent Pridelander would like to chat more, and would be politely upset when the person they chatted with left. "Yes, I hope I'm happy here." At least she could say that and some sincerity would come out in her voice. "Sounds good, yeah." And Imara could even be a little sincere at that. Maybe if she ever met Shangwe again she'd be a much better pridelander and he wouldn't think she was an idiot.
"You didn't bother me." Well, that was mostly true. He didn't really bother her in the sense of annoy her, but he did disturb her in the sense that this was probably the most awkward encounter Imara had ever had.
Oh, wait! Now was her chance to make up for earlier!
"It was nice meeting you."
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