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 Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:09 pm
 He was going to say something, he'd opened his mouth to do so. But when she spoke he was completely confounded, and having forgotten what he was going to say, he simply stared at her in shock for a moment.
"What? You don't know what it means?"
He blinked, for once his surly tone lost, his question genuine. How could she not know that, he was certain he had even before he had grown to her age. And how was he going to answer that question anyways? Now that he thought of it...how had he been told? It seemed a difficult subject to tell a cub, maybe even cruel.
Remembering who he was speaking to, and unwilling to admit his softer side just yet, the adolescent shook his head to clear his thoughts, dark mane ruffling in the night breeze.
"Well...you're alive, and when someone dies they're not."
How did he ever let himself get into this conversation with a cub anyways?
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:40 pm
"No... I don't..."
Was that a bad thing? No one had ever 'died' near her, and she'd always been alive. Well... at least, she thought she had always been alive! But what if she wasn't, or what if she stopped being alive and disappeared too? How would she know?
... no one would ever see her again. Maybe she would never see them again! How sad. This must be why this lion's daddy was so sad.
"I don't understand." But she DID understand that it wasn't good. In fact, it seemed horrible. A sudden thought struck her. What if her family died and disappeared? What if her Mama or Daddy 'died'?
"You mean, it can happen anytime, to anyone?" Her ears folded, eyes wide with dismay. Suddenly the night seemed awfully wide and empty. She shivered. "To me?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:33 pm
"What? No! I mean..."
He paused, tail flicking thoughtfully, scratching at one dark ear with a forepaw. Now what? This cub had him totally lost for words and Shin didn't like it, he didn't like not knowing, and he didn't like feeling lost, and frankly it frightened him.
But what was he to say, and how could he explain it? He sighed quietly, rolling onto his back again, head turned to the stars with a forepaw laying over his eyes. Silently he made a note to himself to never bring up this subject with his younger siblings.
"I...guess so, I never thought about it. But it doesn't just happen for no reason. It happens when you get old or sick, you don't just disappear..."
He shifted, his head turned enough to look at the small purple figure beside him, the usually pelt looking nearly as dark as his own under the night sky.
"Look, your mom brings you food right? Gazelles and zebra n stuff right? Well those were alive, but they died so you can eat them."
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:48 pm
"Well... yeah. I see them running sometimes, in the distance, or near the water hole." Siri curled in on herself, her brow furrowed in thought. "And they aren't doing anything when Mama brings them back for us."
She wrapped and unwrapped her tail around her feet, her eyes far away. What was he saying? That these creatures they ate... that they went away too? But... where did they go? To the stars? If EVERYTHING went to the stars, then it must be pretty crowded up there.
"Are they mad that we eat them?" She wondered aloud. "Does it hurt to die? They stop being alive, then, so that we can eat them?"
These creatures stopped being alive... so that she COULD be alive. What a wonderful gift! It was the best gift someone could ever give another. Siri frowned.
"If anyone ever needs me to stop being alive for them, I will! Because then maybe it will be enough to make up for all the prey-things that stopped being alive for me!"
But only if they earned the gift. She nodded to herself. Yes. But she would have to be careful to stay alive until the time when she could give that gift. It wouldn't do to be not alive when it mattered most!
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:15 pm
The young male looked toward the stars, silently wondering which stars were his grandmother, which was the old king his parents had told him about, and which were other family that had gone on before? He wondered if they were really watching, did they see the tricks he played on his sister? Were they listening now to their conversation?
"Well, they don't want to die, no one ever does, but they have to. Because if they prey don't die, then we don't eat, and then eventually the prey don't eat either. Didn't anyone tell you about the circle of life?"
He sighed quietly, tail flicking in the grass, forepaws tucked against his chest. It may have been the circle of life, but that didn't make it any easier to bear. And though his father was at peace, happy with his family, that didn't mean he didn't miss his mother still.
"You know, you shouldn't think things like that, no one lives just to die."
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:07 pm
Siri followed his gaze, her thoughts following the same bitter-sweet track. Were her own ancestors up there, watching all the time? Maybe she could talk to them, ask for their advice. Surely after living in the stars they would have so much to say and so many stories to tell! And she was more than willing to listen to them.
"... the circle of life?"
It sounded familiar. Probably one of those lectures Mama or Daddy had given to her family. Which she never listened to, of couse! Lectures were boring, unless they were about hunting or fun things! Maybe she should have listened to this one more closely.
"I think Mama said something about that, but I was... uh, not listening." She flushed. His next comment distracted her from her guilt though, and all thoughts of lectures ignored fled from her mind.
"Oh." She peered up at him. "Alright then, I guess... but someday, if I ever need to, I'd be willin' give my life to someone to help them! Like the prey help me."
Because that was only fair, wasn't it?
Siri's gaze shifted to the dark lion next to her. "What's the circle of life?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:20 pm
"Well it's..."
He paused, tail flicking as if searching for the words within the blades of savanna grass. But no such words came, and he was left to think of them on his own. Sigh, his father was much better at this than he was.
"It's a cycle, like the rising and setting of the sun. It's how all life is connected, in life, and in death. Whenever we die, we help something else live."
His words finished, the lion rolled over to his side, facing away from the cub. One forepaw drug across the earth again, batting at the blades of grass and the small insects that rose as they were disturbed.
"But it doesn't make it any easier. When someone dies, it's still a very sad thing."
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:01 pm
"A cycle?" Siri wasn't certain she understood. But then... did that mean that they came back? Maybe her ancestors were all around her in new bodies! Maybe she would never really die...
... just, well - rest for a little bit.
After all, it sure was tiring to live! The cub heaved a sigh and flopped limply onto her side. The soft evening breeze ruffled through her soft pelt and stirred the grasses around her with a gentle touch. Her small ears caught the sound of night bugs and birds calling out softly in the distance. Around her, everything was softer, calmer, more ethereal than in daylight hours. It was tiring to live...
Siri smiled. She wouldn't trade life for anything... but she would give it for something someday, she knew. Even if it was only to perpetuate this cycle the dark male spoke of.
Speaking of which.
"What's your name? I'm Siri!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:02 pm
He was silent for a short time, simply staring at a sleepy beetle that had found his paw, orange eyes captivated by it's colorful shell, iridescent hues that sparkled in the moonlight. Like a star on earth...
"Huh? It's Shin."
That simple question had shaken the young male from his thoughts, and he suddenly ruffled his mane with his own paws to free himself of such thoughts. What was he thinking anyways? Talking about death with a cub? Argg...how stupid, it wasn't like him to think so morbidly, what had gotten into him? What was changing within him that was making him so moody, and why did he even care? Whatever it was, it needed to stop.
His frustration expressed with a snort, the dark male rolled from his back to his stomach, gaze shifting toward the cub once again.
"Isn't it a little late for you to be out alone?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:09 pm
"Aw, not you too!" Siri stuck out her lip in a pout. "Everyone always tells me it's too late, I'm too small, it's too hard, I'm too little!" She huffed and tossed her head, casting the male an irritated glance. ... but it -was- awful dark, even with the stars out. She squinted her eyes and could just make out the shadowy form of Pride Rock rising up against the night sky. Her parents would probably be missing her, and she was getting tired anyways. But.. but...
She wanted to keep talking to Shin! He was so smart, and she'd already learned so much about... well, not being alive, she supposed.
"Weelll, I gueess I should go." Siri hesitated for a moment, eyeing Shin sideways. Then, as though suddenly making up her mind, Siri darted forwards, nuzzled against his leg, and ran off.
She'd have to make sure to visit him again sometime!
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:38 pm
The young male blinked in surprise, orange eyes staring after the purple cub until she disappeared then shifting to his foreleg where she had touched him. The gesture had been unexpected, but not so much as his reaction to it, and to his surprise he found that he hadn't minded. And though he would have never admitted it, maybe she hadn't been so bad after all and maybe it would be nice to see her again, not that he liked her or anything, she was a cub and a girl, but maybe, just maybe she okay.
With a broad yawn and a rolling stretch, Shin'Jougen rose to his paws, tail flicking in the night breeze. It was getting late, and it was time he headed for home as well for a good night's sleep followed by a new adventure filled day with the coming dawn.
As he walked home, paws carrying him to the large hollow tree of his family's den, and with no one watching, a small smile crossed his maw. And he couldn't help but think, maybe, just maybe, his parents having cubs wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe he'd have a little brother, or even...a sibling like the cub he'd met tonight, not that he'd like that or anything.
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