[PRP] An Outside Friend [Gren/Krieg/Nokhoi/Keir]

[Kimaria]

Gren, looking particularly miserable for so fine a day, was stomping ahead of her small patrol group which consisted of herself, a hyena and a boy who really wasn't ready to leave his mother's side. To make matters worse, the hyena with her was the sister of the poor soul who had given his life for Gren in the battle against the Firekin.

The situation was awkward to say the least and though it was very un-Nergui of her, Gren could not help but want to form some sort of apology and try to make it up to her and the rest of her family. Still, every time she tried to open her mouth to fumble out some poorly constructed words, the young male would pipe up with some complaint or wearisome observation that would have her edging just a little further ahead. He was the type who might mock her if she gave him the chance to and she really didn't want that. She wasn't even sure why she was still here, either. Her mission had been completed, Qara had delivered the message and there still had been no word from the Graos Oma. Was she no longer wanted back at the Crovrems Rurda?

Nokhoi, true to his nature, paused in step to voice another complaint. "There's nothing out here. I thought rogues swarmed like flies out here. I came to fight, not to walk a thousand miles with a hyena and her ugly companion."  

[SilverLutz]

It had been a hard decision to leave the Stormborn, but it was one Keir knew needed to be done. He left without telling anyone, sure no one would miss him. It wasn't as if he were the son of the Warlord or a Thrall. Just another Reaver going out for a Viking....that would never come back. Stranger things had been known to happen to Reavers that went out alone, but it was a risk some of them took. Some were killed, others lost, others that found a mate that didn't want to return. In his case, he was curious, Curious about the Nergui and how they ticked. They sounded a bit similar to the Stormborn, although very different at the same time. Ever the one to seek out new things, Keir turned his paws in the direction of the Viking he had gone on just a few days prior and began to walk.

It took him days to get back to the cracked stone ground that he remembered, but it all looked the same to him. Their scents were long gone and he had nothing to guide him but the sun as it crawled across the sky.

Walking along with the two lions, Kriegerisch sniffed the air. She wasn't sure why they were out, but her orders were clear: kill anything that attacked them. That was easy enough, but there was nothing that looked remotely threatening out here. Why the male was with them was beyond him, as he was both useless and annoying. Still, it wasn't her place to ask questions, but to follow orders. Her father had taught her that much, even though her curious mind begged to know what it was they were doing. Just a simple patrol?

"Oh, shut up," she muttered, glaring at Nokhoi. "Did you ever think there are rogues out here, and your talking every five minutes is alerting them to our presence? For all we know they could be circling behind us to cut us off from home."

As she spoke the wind shifted and her nose twitched. Her annoyed expression turned to one of interest and she swung her head forward, staring in the direction of the wind. "Something's there," she murmured quietly. There was a dark speck ahead of them, shimmering in the heat waves that were leaving the ground. "Lion, from the smell of it."

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

In truth, Gren had requested to go out if only to clear her head a little. She had no reason to think they would come across trouble and even less reason to think they might come across someone familiar. Still, her quiet scouting trip had been rather hijacked by the adolescent. Was he truly the son of the great Muunokhoi? Maybe if his father had still lived he might have turned out differently. She was sure that if the warlord had been here he would have struck out at his disobedient child by now. But...it was not her place to do so.

At the hyena's declaration, however, Gren lifted her head from where it had been hanging and turned back to look at her. "Lion?"

"Ah ha!" Nokhoi exclaimed, "see, there's our rogue. I didn't scare that one off. That might mean he's up for a fight."

"You do not fight. You are under our protection. If you are killed out here to a rogue, where is the honour in that?"

"You think I can't fight?" the young male bristled.

Gren gave him a withered look and turned back to try and scent the air and pick up the scent that the hyena had. She was a little more than shocked to catch the familiarity that clung to it. What was he doing back here? Had he brought others?

"Are we sure this lion is alone?" she asked. "Eyes open."

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Krieg bit down on her tongue to keep from snapping at Nokhoi again. Gods above, did he ever shut up? The answer was obviously no. She kept her focus on the dot moving closer to them, nostrils taking in the scent, large ears forward to pick up any sounds it might make. At Gren's order she quickly trotted forward a few paces, scanning the horizon for any other sights, sounds, or smells.

"No...it appears to be alone," she said quietly. "Nothing that I can sense, at least." She glanced over her shoulder at Gren, a frown on her face. "What should we do? Meet it head on? Split up?"

Keir, in the meantime, didn't know that he was causing such a commotion. He couldn't smell nor see the little group ahead of him as the wind was blowing his scent their way and the sun was so bright it was hard to see too far into the distance. He thought he heard a noise, a male voice exclaiming something, but he played it off as a trick of the wind. He continued on until movement caught his eye up ahead, even in the glaring sun.

He paused for a moment, wondering if he should press on or call out to whoever it was. Had he really found the pride this quickly? The female he had met had said something about them being strong, and he knew that if someone trespassed onto Stormborn territory, they'd realize their mistake very quickly.

"Well met, stranger," he called out, hoping they understood his language. "I don't mean you any harm."

Krieg, who was bilingual, snapped her head around quickly to catch the voice on the wind. "He says he doesn't mean us any harm," she said, ears flat against her head. They had been seen. So much for being sneaky.

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Gren could not think or respond near quick enough to Krieg's sensible suggestions. This was strategy and she was no leader, not good at making snap decisions at a moment's notice. Still, even if she was, maybe it would have made no difference. The stranger had seen them and his greeting - carried to them on the wind - seemed promising enough.

She nodded at Krieg's translation and shifted a little closer to the hyena. "Let's stick together. We outnumber him three to one." Or was it two-and-a-half to one? With the boy, she couldn't quite tell. "If he tries anything, we'll kill him."

She waited for a brief moment before pressing on, hoping that he wasn't here to cause trouble - hoping that their meeting hadn't potentially put her people at risk. But why would he be here now if not to stir up dust? She was still unsure how well their conversation had gone - what with her limited ability in the common tongue - but maybe she had done better (or worse) than she had first realised. Her face certainly hadn't charmed him, that was for sure.

"Red and black," Nokhoi observed, pushing up alongside the females, eager to be there in case all went to hell.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

There was no reply from the distant animals, but Keir wasn't terribly worried. He remembered how the female he had met hadn't had the best grasp of his language, so perhaps they hadn't understood him. They had certainly heard him, though, as the strange pack began to move towards him. Ah, good. He continued to walk in the direction of the three, curious as to what exactly was coming to meet him. Nergui? A random group of rogues?

Krieg's eyes flashed as she picked up on the colors of the approaching male. Now that Nokhoi had called them out, she could easily see a red mane and a black pelt. "Firekin," she growled, her hackles raising as she bared her teeth. The Firekin had met them on their return glory hunt and one of her brothers had perished in the fight. She sang his praises whenever she could, as without him the mysterious objects they had brought back might have been lost. Indeed, the lioness beside her might have been lost as well.

"He dies without question," she barked, starting to trot forward faster. "There is nothing he needs to live for."

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Gren, quite suddenly, found herself being left behind as the hyena and the young male hastened their pace. Nokhoi looked totally invigorated now, the excitement emanating from him as if this were some cub's game. She doubted he would be smiling like that when he received a face full of claws from an angry rogue.

Oh, wait, except that lion wasn't a Firekin! He was...Stormborn!

Huffing, Gren hastened her pace to try and catch up, her heavy bulk making the task more difficult than it should have been. When it was clear that she wouldn't make it in time, she raised her voice and called out:

"Srek is o mistake!"

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Keir paused as he noticed two of the shapes moving towards him much faster. Finally he could make out what they were - a young lion, just growing his mane, and a hyena. Past them there was one more shape, a lioness. A large lioness at that. He relaxed just a bit as he recognized the voice that carried on the wind, even if he didn't know what she had said. It was the lioness from before.

He started walking forward again until he realized the hyena and lion didn't seem very friendly. He frowned and narrowed his eyes. Did she not recognize him?

"Friend," he called out, hoping they'd hear him

Krieg snarled as she heard Gren call out to her, then the lion before them in return. She wanted badly to sink her teeth into his throat and rip it from his body, but he wasn't presenting a dangerous stance as they drew closer. She slowed her charge to a trot, finally coming to a halt although her fur was bristling.

"Wrae ek es o keksoda? Ha ek sra cururk uk sra Feradem. Wrae duak ra koae ra'k o kreamd?" she demanded, glad that Gren wasn't very good at Common. This way they could converse without the lion knowing what they said, now that they were closer. Her ears twitched just a bit, green eyes burning with hate. She would avenge her brother, but it didn't seem that day would be today.

Kimaria

Krieg says 'Why is it a mistake? He is the colors of the Firekin. Why does he say he's a friend?'

 

[Kimaria]

Gren ground to a halt, sputtering momentarily. She wouldn't exactly call him a friend. They had met once and parted again without turning fang or claw on one another. But still...she knew he wasn't Firekin. She'd rather not let innocents pay for the crimes of the true perpetrators.

"Stormborn," was all she managed to grind out. Perhaps she might even have said more if she hadn't caught sight of the warlord's son continuing on the warpath.

Nokhoi, apparently seemed not to have heard or noticed that the hyena had stopped her attack nor that Gren was trying to tell them something of importance. The young male charged up to Keir, grinding to a halt a few paces away and eyeing him up expectantly.

"Va will kesrs now, rusia," he challenged, laying bare his teeth. "bae the srurae of tra urd omak!

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Yes, it was the lioness from before, he could confirm. The hyena and the other lion...well. He could only assume they were from her pride. The hyena and lion didn't seem very friendly and the female wasn't doing much to deter them from their assault, although the hyena did stop in her tracks. The male, however, continued up to Keir who simply raised a brow at the unfamiliar language. The lion before him was still a cub in his eyes, his mane patchy and not grown in yet. Although Keir was average for a Stormborn, he made the other lion look like an actual cub still.

"Right...I don't understand you," he said to the male, not at all intimidated by the display. One sound whack to the head from his paw would send the male sprawling, he was sure, but the hyena and the female...well. He wouldn't do that unless he was attacked first. He turned his gaze to the female that he had met, a confused look in his eye. "Why are they aggressive?"

Krieg, turning to look at the male, narrowed her green eyes again. "Because you are the colors of those who killed our kin," she snarled. "She says you are Stormborn, but I don't know what that means. I do see you are red and black and that is enough to tear out your throat."

Keir blinked in surprise as the hyena spoke, her words unaccented but harsh all the same. He was quiet for a while before looking down at his dusky fur. Strange...these two he had never met hated him because of his appearance? Well, if a black and red lion had killed their pride members he could see why they might be angry, but surely they didn't think it was him that had done the deed?

"Stormborn...that is my pride," he said, addressing the veiled question. "I am quite sorry for your loss but I've killed no lions or hyenas, or anything that could be considered a predator. I came here expecting a much different welcome than this." He glanced at Gren again, a tiny frown furrowing his brows. Would the whole pride treat him like this simply because of his fur?

Krieg growled quietly, shifting her weight on her paws a few times. She didn't like the way this lion spoke to her as if she was dull. She didn't know any prides other than the Firekin and her own home, so the new one had sounded threatening to her. Where were the Stormborn? Why was he here? If he didn't kill anyone, why did he look so troubled? There were too many questions that she knew wouldn't be answered, so instead she stood stewing beside Nokhoi. At least he was ready to fight.

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Gren stammered for a moment, shuffling back on awkward paws, dipping her head. Krieg's grasp of the common language was a relief, to say the least, and she was content to be quiet whilst the young hyena explained all to the nameless lion she had met once before.

One ear lifted as he declared that he had expected a different welcome. Had he come back to see their pride? To forge...friendship?

Unsure what to say, she decided to speak to Krieg, drawing slowly up alongside her as she did so. "Met rek a kav weeks osu. We kvuda. He sarrk me ek from sra Stormborn. Naor big vosar. Couldn't kesrs him oruma so porsad ways." She shook her head, frowning deeply. "He duak not kkarr of dakars

Nokhoi growled, his tail flicking wildly behind him; clearly ready to start a fight and eager to be the one to make the first move. This lion had come far from his home. He deserved to be taught a lesson and maybe they could even tell the lions back home that he was a Firekin. The glory it would bring them would make the lie worth it.

"I say va kill rek.

SilverLutz

Gren says: they met a few weeks ago and spoke. He told me he was from the Stormborn, near big water. Couldn't fight him alone so parted ways.

Nokhoi wants to kill him XD

 

[SilverLutz]

Krieg glanced to Gren as the lioness moved forward, a grumpy expression still on her face. When the lioness explained what had happened, though, the expression fell a bit to one of disappointment. This wasn't a Firekin. There would be no avenging her brother. She doubted a true Firekin would lie about their heritage. That and even though he was big, most Firekin were bigger than him, and he wore his strange, fluffy mane in odd braids. No...she had been mistaken.

"Very well, Stormborn. What is your name?" she asked before turning to snarl at Nokhoi. "Ik aeui rork rek aeui verr brems kroka su aeuir kokerae omd uir vreda. Ha ek duems musrems bis ksomdems srara!" she spat, teeth bared. There was no honor in simply killing, especially one that seemed so unwilling to fight. Through it all Keir sat there, watching with a rather interested expression.

"I am Keir," he said, hoping all three would understand that much. "And perhaps my original thoughts of staying here were a bit inflated. I don't with so cause a ruckus, so perhaps my home is back where I came from. But," he added, focusing on Gren again. "I do hope I have not overstepped any boundaries. As volatile as this young lion is, it interests me that you three are working together. I do hope I can learn more about you and your pride, perhaps from a distance."

Krieg looked back at the lion suspiciously before translating for Gren. She wasn't about to run forward and rub up against Keir in friendship, but there was something oddly sincere about his tone of voice when he looked at Gren. Like he actually wanted to be friends with her, of all lions.

"I sremd ra vomsk su ba aeuir kreamd," she said with a sneer before laughing eerily as all hyenas could do.

Kimaria

Krieg says 'I think he wants to be your friend' XD even she can't believe it

EDIT: Oh, and she's telling Nokhoi he'll shame his family if he attacks someone who is just standing there doing no wrong XD

 

[Kimaria]

Nokhoi set his jaw, growling fiercely under his breath the whole while. Stupid girls! Did they truly wish to stand by and let this rogue go free? Where was the fun in that? Would his father have done the same? He was pretty sure the answer was no and yet, despite it all, he held his ground and did not move.

One day he would be fully grown and no one could tell him what to do.

Gren, blinking her bright eyes rapidly, glanced up at Keir with a look of surprise and bewilderment. A friend? Something tightened in her chest, making breathing suddenly difficult. It had been a long time since she could say that she had had a friend and never one outside of the horde. Speechless, she gave a sluggish nod, dropping her eyes sheepishly as she tried to deal with what this meant - even if it was only a little thing in the grand scheme of things.

"I...Gren," was all she could manage.

Nokhoi, who understood not a word of common, increased the volume of his growl but nothing more. He truly had no idea what was going on between them or why the dark one would want to even be friends with the glowering female.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Krieg continued to laugh as Gren took the news just as she expected she would have. Confusion, surprise...ah, she obviously wasn't used to the request, let alone from a strange male. Nokhoi's growling was getting so loud it was hard to think, though, so she turned to the male and snapped her powerful jaws at his paws. She didn't aim to make contact, just enough to startle him out of his rather pointless display of dominance. Out of all of them here, he was the lowest on the totem poll. Had he helped kill a god? No. Had he brought the relics back to the pride? No. She didn't know the credentials of the Stormborn, but he was bigger and therefore had that going for him.

Keir's expression softened just a bit as Gren gave him her name, and he nodded to let her know he understood. He gave Nokhoi a glance out of the corner of his eye before standing and bobbing his head.

"I don't want to cause trouble, so I'll be on my way. But," he said, looking at Krieg, hoping she'd translate again. "If you could tell Gren that, should she find herself in trouble near my home, or even just passing by, I would be glad to see her again." Perhaps he could make a few more trips out this way as well to see her, although if she kept company like the hyena and the young male, he wasn't sure he'd be so eager to do so. He could take them on one by one, he was sure, but if all three got it into their heads to attack he'd be done for.

Krieg's laughter turned to a sigh, and she glanced at Gren to translate. After she was done she gave a little sniff, nodding her head in the direction they'd been traveling in originally. "We should go before Mister Manly over here ends up missing a limb."

Kimaria

 

[Kimaria]

Nokhoi jerked sideways to avoid snapping hyena jaws, turning his head to narrow his eyes on her. Still, it seemed no one was really paying attention to him now that the dark male was speaking and, after a moment, was translated by Krieg.

Friend? Friend? Why would a Nergui be friends with an outsider? He scoffed, not liking how Gren looked so embarrassed and happy. Well, with a face like hers, requests of friendship probably didn't come around all that often. Poor creature. Still, despite her looks, she was big and strong. Maybe he could win her someday. Sire some huge sons and finally get his mother off of his back. Well, it might be a start, anyway.

Gren only nodded in agreement, casting Keir one, lingering look. "Suudbaea, Keir." It was all she could think of saying. A simple farewell but perhaps not a forever one. If she had come out here alone, would they even be saying goodbye now? Or would he have been accompanying her? Well, what would be would be. His home was the Stormborn and hers was the Nergui.

Still, she hoped that someday their paths would cross again.

/fin

SilverLutz