[PRP] Life in Death? (Eeru/Johtun)

[Epine de Rose]

Johtun had rather had his fill of the traditional rumour-mill and the doom and gloom that game from the elderly. He had at least learned some of the pride's history by now, but the way in which some of them clung to particular elements of it was proving to be distasteful, not least because he was most definitely 'part of the problem' given the colour of his fur.

They meant no harm of course, fear was a peculiar motivator, but in light of recent events one had to consider that it might be possible to take stock of the situation at hand and discover that something else might be at play here. Alas, those he had spoken to would hear nothing of it and it was with a disgruntled snort that he had stalked off to find answers of his own.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this non-scientific lion was going to attempt science.

No promises on the measure of success he would have, but if he didn't try something he was going to go absolutely stark raving mad.

It was for this reason that he found himself in the company of several almost oil-like plants, succulent and yet ill for want of a better word. When he poked at them they certainly didn't crumble in to dust, but even he knew that their colour was off. This was where he could be located for the next hour or so, batting at the leaves thoughtfully with his paw.

Weighing up his options.

Pondering.

If he ate one would it kill him? Generally he knew when something was a bad idea but one did have to consider the possibilities right?

Quote:

1. The dark, blighted plants are still very much alive--not at all dry and brittle. If you grind the affected plants down into a paste, the paste attracts flies.

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

It was coincidence this time that crossed Eeru's path with that of Johtun. Somehow she wasn't surprised, though. This wasn't the first time in recent history that she had found herself coming cross the pale pink lion.

She swore it wasn't intentional.

The Nganga lioness had harbored a quiet curiosity about the mysterious plants that were cropping up around the pride. She had been here for a fair amount of time, now. Enough to know that these sorts of things certainly weren't normal. And enough time to know that her pridemates were suspicious enough to make a tremendous deal of it all.

Maybe there was some merit to it. Eeru was starting to come around to the beliefs and customs of the Death Keepers, but even still she didn't have nearly as many superstitions as some of her brethren.

So she supposed it was curiosity itself that brought her out there. Eeru wasn't particularly surprised that someone else had beaten her to investigating. And to be honest she wasn't particularly surprised that it was Johtun that she was meeting here.

The lioness made her way towards him, unspeaking until she was close to his side in that quiet, eerie way that she tended to move.

"You look like you're thinking hard," she said in a quiet, nearly monotone voice once she had made it to his side. "Not too hard, I hope." Was that snark? From Eeru? She must have been getting more comfortable with him.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Not enough to suffer the fate of a headache," he replied smoothly, casting a glance towards the lioness. Had she crept up on him? She did have a way of moving that made her particular difficult to detect, then again, one might say most lionesses had that skillset anyway, but she was hauntingly good at it. Mayhaps that was why she fit in so well with those who consorted with the long dead, hm?

His brow lifted and he turned back to the plant.

"You know if these things were actually dead, they wouldn't be this wet," he stated. He understood this much at least, the basics of how things existed and how one could tell alive from dead were generally taught from childhood and while some things did get 'squishy', a plant wasn't typically one of them (at least not in the Serengeti, maybe it was different in a caldera).

"So if we are to believe the musing of a set of disgruntled pensioners, then the very idea of what 'dead' is, has now been opened to debate," he remarked and gave the leaves another bap of his paw.

"You would think they would be experts in this but actually[i]noooo[i/]," he added.

"What are you doing out here anyway?"

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

’Not enough to suffer the fate of a headache.’

Eeru gave a quick snort. For the generally subdued lioness, it was the equivalent of a good, hearty laugh.

“Maybe a little bird told me to come make sure a certain someone doesn’t unleash some sort of deep dark curse upon the land,” she mumbled, glancing down at the plant with him. She gave one of the dark leaves a nudge of her own for good measure. “Out here for the same reasons as you,” she continued. After a pause she gave him a pointedly suspicious side-glance, “Presumably,” she finished, as if to say ‘as long as you’re not doing anything weird.’

She gave a breath and shook her head, dark eyes turning once again to the plant in front of them, then towards the others that speckled the area before them.

“So. Not dead. Anything else you’ve noticed, oh master sleuth?”

Eeru touched the plant again with her paw. He was right, the plant was surprisingly soft. She pressed one of the leaves against a rock beneath it and smeared it under her paw. It left a black streak on the rock, like how smearing grass might leave a green streak.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"I did that already, haven't you heard? My kind are an omen and not to be trusted," he drawled and rolled his eyes. Try as that young king might, there would always be some who regarded him with distaste. Until the old farts passed on into the afterlives themselves he'd be subject to scrutiny and blamed for everything that went even remotely wrong.

Well not him specifically, but certainly anyone like him with rather loud fur and a penchant for not exactly fitting in with some of the more bizarre beliefs that the elderly happened to have. He could understand and appreciate some of the philosophy, some of their religion and culture, hell chunks of it made a lot of sense.

...But last time he checked, Death wasn't colour blind.

"And don't rush me, genius takes time," he added, pursuing his lips at the streak on the rock and within moment, a sign of interest from some of the more irritating walks of life. Much like fruit, whatever the black juice was had attracted flies.

That however, was inconclusive.

Flies ate anything.

"Well if they're eating it, it's clearly not so toxic as to wipe out all life in the universe."

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

’My kind are an omen and not to be trusted.’ She squinted at him and paused a moment, as if deciphering whether or not he was joking around or if was genuinely affected by how some might have treated him. Her pause was noticeable. As was the quick sweep of the eyes that she gave him, as though she was taking a moment to give the lion a little more thought.

There certainly still seemed to be some that were wary about ‘outsiders,’ even if they’d been around for multiple seasons at this point. Hell, Eeru was as monotoned as they got and even she got weird looks, so at the end of the day she suspected that it wasn’t really about the color of their fur. After all, she’d noticed that there were some old blood brethren that were pretty… colorful.

Even still, Eeru wasn’t one to pry into someone’s feelings, but Johtun piqued her interest enough to at least turn an ear. Maybe she’d ask him about it later.

“So the apocalypse isn’t upon us. That’s good to know, at least.” The lioness’s voice was still a low mumble as she leaned down and gave the plant and the dark smear a sniff. It smelled… well. Like plant. Surprise surprise. If anything this plant spelled particularly herbal. Maybe even a little sweet?

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"We don't know that yet, there's still time," he remarked. After all, she could have performed some untold outsider ritual that had summoned horrors from the beyond to punish them for their transgressions! If only they had both hauled one of the pensioners along with them to observe the fact that things really weren't as bad as they seemed...particularly when she decided to lean in and sniff at it.

He waited.

She didn't keel over.

All right so it didn't release any potent fumes so perhaps it was time to be a cave man about it all. After all, in times gone passed individuals had to try things to know they were safe. At some point they and other living beings had attempted to consume everything, that didn't mean they all made it, but that was sort of the point. Thus he unceremoniously snorted the flies away from the vicinity and promptly gave the rock a lick, black 'stuff' included.

She might have gotten 'sweet', he very much got something a touch more bitter and sharp. His nose scrunched at that one, but it didn't seem like he was about to die either.

"Oh now that takes me back," he gagged. "Definitely not the apocalypse, more 'mother fed me this s**t when I had a cold' vibes," he muttered.

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

When Johtun leaned in she assumed that he was going to go in and smell the plant as well. That seemed like a fair assumption, right? Like that would have been a reasonable course of action to take?

Turns out that expecting a reasonable course of action wasn’t at all the appropriate mentality.

When the pink lion instead gave the plant matter a taste, Eeru instead felt her jaw go slack. Oh yeah, the mysterious black plants that have been growing in the lands of the Death Keepers, better to give it a taste! What could possibly go wrong?

To be honest Eeru didn’t know whether to be horrified or impressed. She supposed that someone would eventually investigate what would happen if the plants were eaten. But she figured that that would come after a reasonable course of investigating. Seeing what happened to other creatures that ate it. You know, baby steps.

“I-…” She found herself lost for words and, despite herself, she gave a laugh.

“So…” Eeru started again, squinting and watching him closely. “You… feeling okay? Nothing weird?” Nothing weird beyond having the gall to just eat mystery plants, at least.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Well if it had any particularly toxic properties I imagine I'd be dead by now, or at least having a seizure," he mused. He still couldn't quite remove that medicinal taste from his tongue and that would probably remain for a while, but he certainly wasn't in any pain either. In that respect he was fairly certain that whatever it was, wasn't necessarily a threat, it just wasn't pretty either.

...If all it attracted was death then he could imagine those who took their roles seriously in regards to tending to the living would be unlikely to be happy. After all, Death was an important part of the cycle but while alive one was meant to live to the best of their ability and this was certainly an immediate contradiction to that.

Well, sort of.

"If it's slow acting then I guess we'll find out in two to four days," he added. No sooner had he moved away than the flies had returned, given they ate anything he wouldn't judge them too harshly, they weren't the fussiest of eaters.

"Pretty sure I would need to do more than just lick a tiny amount of goo to see anything happen though, maybe eating a chunk of it might change that." He paused briefly. "Not feeling quite so adventurous though, if I'm honest."

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

Eeru gave a quiet and thoughtful ‘hmmm’ of consideration as she looked him other another time. He was right. At least they knew that there weren’t any immediate effects. Maybe the plants were just plants. Ominous, sure, but not outright harmful. And this was the land of Death, so something eerie like this seemed apropos.

“Suppose we’ll just have to keep an eye on you for a few days then, hm?” She tilted her head thoughtfully. The lioness gave another snort and looked once again at the speckling of black plants. There didn’t seem to be a huge amount of them. Not here, at least. And they didn’t seem to be spreading at an alarming rate or anything.

Still, there didn’t seem to be any immediate harm in further investigating.

“Hmh. Well. Maybe we’ll work up to that level of adventure,” she murmured, squinting at the rest of the plants. The lioness didn’t seem completely put off of the investigation, though. Instead, she continued on towards the next path, giving a pause to glance back towards him as if beckoning him to join.

Her quiet, silent way of saying: ‘Shall we continue?’


-fin-

Epine de Rose