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 Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:27 pm
No one Rudo knew had ever been down there, or if they had they did not mention it around the boy. Such was wise, as they knew what kind of event things of that nature were likely to inspire. In the end it wasn't someone that he knew that had put the idea in his head to visit this place, but rather a passing cluster of babboons whose gossip he had over heard a few days past. They had been discussing the death of one so-called "mufasa."
Young as he was, Rudo hadn't been alive or even thought of during this legendary king's reign, though the name had been said in whisper often about him. Many, if not all, the lions of the Pride Lands seemed to revere this now-departed creature, and so bad things surrounding him were rarely spoken of. By the lions, at least. Baboons had no such qualms about Mufasa's name, though they were often friends of the lion prides. It was from them that Rudo had overheard not only the location of the gorge, but tale of the gruesome events surrounding Mufasa's death.
Instantly, he'd wanted to see this place for himself; a place where such a famous, wise leader had met his end at the paw of a barbarian. But despite its depth and girth, there really wasn't much to be said about a gash in the ground. Rudo had, secretly, been hoping for some sort of magical bloodstains, so tainted with evil that they would not leave the ground they'd been spilled upon. Or, he considered excitedly, a silvery ghost of the great King which would give him a quest to... to save the pride from some great force which only he, Rudo, could stop!
Spurred on by this idea, Rudo began to look around for the quickest way down the cliff's face. He'd only reached the rim, he thought, and it wasn't likely that anything interesting would happen there. He needed to go in further, to go to the very bottom of the gorge and see what was there. Who knew, maybe there'd even be a skeleton!
The boy grinned to himself, hopping down to the closest bolder. From there he descended slowly along the cliff wall, pausing every few moments to plan his next few moves. As much as he wanted to get down there, it wouldn't do to get stuck.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:53 am
It'd been a few days already, since her Father had brought her to her new home. He liked to refer to it as the 'belly of the earth', whatever that meant. Kala had decided to call it 'that long twisty cave-laby place thingey', and personally, she felt that her description was much more fitting than the spider's. As it was, however, she often-time found herself playing with the wind and the sun, just outside the cave mouths; being the daughter of a God was quite nice in the sense that he'd let her roam and explore outside their home as much as she wanted, while being able to keep an ethereal eye on her someway, somehow.
Of course, Kalama knew none of this, or if she did, it didn't quite register in her mind. As far as she was aware of, her father was perfectly normal! As normal as a spider-lion could be, really (she'd learnt recently that he wasn't a 'thingey', but rather, a spider - this had helped her name him spider-lion, alas, logic aside), and had someone pointed out that Anansi was far from normal... she'd have never understood why.
The God in question had remain within the cave, either sleeping, eating, or dully watching over one of the many entrances as the small, black-hued cub played. Kala was perfectly fine with this; she loved and reeled in the feeling of complete safety that her new home brought to her. No one usually braved the canyon, and thus all the small little animals inside it were hers to play with and learn from. Thus was probably why she was so startled when the sound of falling rocks reached her ears; slowly peeking out from a random boulder and tree, Kala watched as another lion carried itself down the wall of the canyon. For someone whom had dealt with Anansi's apparition with little to no fear, she was making quite a fuss over the small boy that was slowly approaching her.
She had good reason to, however. Upon her arrival to the underground pride, she'd been told that she may roam as she wished, but that it was probably a very good idea to keep away from other lions. There was no telling if they would be friends of foe, and as a cub, Kala was told to be skittish whenever in such a situation; to seek refuge as soon as ever possible. Her pelt stood out against her surroundings; black and red against the pale browns of the canyon and gorge. Eepping loudly upon the male's approach, the small female dived out of her hiding place and dashed towards the first cave entrance she saw, stopping only momentarily to turn her head and gaze directly into Rudo's pink eyes. This done, she vanished into the darkness the cave inside had to offer. She was harmless, really, but for all Rudo knew, she could have been a firekin, what with the color of her pelt.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:51 am
"Awww man!" Rudo whined at one point, having turned around to try a different path he'd seen a moment ago, he'd realized that he was too far down and couldn't get back up the same way he'd come. So, he had to continue on this way and hope that he could find another way back up to the top again. Just as he turned around he saw a flash go across the cliff a few feet ahead of him. At first Rudo wasn't sure what he'd seen; a bird, maybe?
It seemed to be that way, until in a cave a little further down he noticed that a cub had stopped there, looking back at him. Though it must have only lasted a minute, he thought of darkness--for she was standing in an equally dark tunnel--and red. Blood red. ... A GHOST! He knew there were ghosts up here! Rudo's maw broke into a grin, then the ghost disappeared.
"HEY! Wait!" Rudo called out. When she didn't come back, he took off after her, though he wasn't entirely certain it was a female he'd seen. Skittering down a slight slope in the cliff, he came up to the cave entrance he'd seen her at. Without any further thought to it, the male continued on into the darkness, running after the sounds inside, though they echoed. He thought, as his eyes adjusted, he could make out a moving bit of red against the dark background. "I just want to talk to you! Did you die violently?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:37 pm
Skidding to a halt as two tunnels came into 'view' in the darkness, the female paused. Which way was it? Right or left? She'd forgotten, and Daddy wasn't there with her, which meant she had two choices; she could either face the stranger, or pick a tunnel. Something at the back of her mind told her that getting lost in the tunnels would be a worse idea than braving this other cub that had followed her inside, so thus, she turned to face Rudo in the darkness.
The dim light that filtered through the cracks and openings did not allow for much to be seen, however, Kalama tried her best to not appear scared (which she was; horribly so), instead attempting to sound brave (which she... wasn't, really), "Who are you?" even though she'd tried her best, the question had come out as a ghost of a whisper, her golden eyes wide, gleaming at him before she frowned.
Died?
She wasn't dead, was she?
Frowning deeper, the cub looked around, almost as if to make certain Rudo was in fact, talking to her. As there was no one else in the near proximity, Kalama decided that yes, he was talking to her, and no, she wasn't dead, "I'm not dead..." she didn't even seem all that sure of what she was affirming, "You should leave, before Daddy-Anansi gets here and sees you; you're in our home."
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:47 pm
They were headed deep into the cave now. Already most of the light from the entrance had faded, and all he could see was the gleam on her eyes when she turned to face him. Unfortunately his paws slipped on some loose pebbles that had long since made themselves a home on the slightly sloped floor of the tunnel. "what do you mean you're not dea--WOOAHHH!"
He'd tried to skid to a halt, but more pebbles sent him skidding across the dark floor and straight into the female in front of him. It would have been fine, had it not been for the angle. Left had been the actual choice the female should have made, but now the careening cub sent them both flying to the right... and straight down the slope, tumbling down a "rabbit hole" into pitch black darkness.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
The twin screams of terror rang out through the network of caves, bouncing from rock to rock and magnifying until it stung Rudo's ears and he had to try and stop screaming. The floor worked wonders with that.
A small dust cloud set up when the two cubs hit the ground, rolled a bit, and finally stopped on the first even floor they'd come upon. Then a shower of pebbles hit them as well and the dust multiplied exponentially. A few deep coughs later, Rudo's voice groaned out, "What do you mean you're not dead?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:56 am
It all happened to swiftly for Kala to really muster out a reaction; there was nothing she could do but stare as the older male tripped and smashed into her form, sending them toppling down one of he many slides that the caverns possessed. Much like Rudo, she opened her maw and screamed, long and steady, her paws flinging around the male's form, clinging to him, pressing her smaller body against his, for no other reason than the fact he was the only thing she could cling to.
Unlike Rudo, Kala screamed on, her eyes shutting tight before she turned her head, even mid fall and buried it into the male's chest (thus in a way, managing to quell the scream, if minimally); her ears had flattened back against her head, and truthfully, her mind had probably stayed at the start of the slide, while her body had fallen down. It was either that, or the series of events had snapped her poor brain in two. Either way, the cub wasn't thinking all that clearly, otherwise she'd have had the grace to let go of Rudo's form in order to prepare herself for the inevitable stop of the fall, where she'd hit the ground.
Had she let go of the male, she'd have probably managed to land on all four, gracefully, like her Daddy-Anansi had taught her, alas, as it was, she never let go of Rudo. Thus resulting in an awkward landing, during which she still refused to let go, even as they hit the floor and came to a stop in a cloud of dust. Coughing and whimpering, the female finally released Rudo to wipe at her face, however, she remain pressed up against him with fear. It wasn't till he spoke that large golden eyes turned to glance up at his own pink ones; her mind had probably not caught up with her yet, as for the longest of moments, she stared on, watching him with an obviously confused expression.
Blinking the confusion away, the female opened her maw, only to close it, frowning, "I'm not dead; I'm alive... I'm..." she paused and tried to remember one of the stories her Daddy had told her, then reaching out swiftly, she grabbed Rudo's paw and pressed it to her chest where her heart was still beating wildly from the fall, "I'm not dead," she confirmed, for some odd reason not all that amazed that this boy, even after having fallen down a tremendous slide-of-doom, was asking her such a silly question, "And now I'm lost and... and... and... I don't know where Daddy is," it was clear she was trying her best to swallow down her tears (her Daddy had told her that in bad situations, crying never helped, and that she should be Brave Little Kalama), alas, she was doing a poor job at it.
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:28 am
Rudo coughed, and sputtered a bit in the dust. He was having a hard time getting it out of his throat and, of course, he couldn't see a blasted thing. Oh, he knew the girl was there, he could smell her, but everything else was thrown dramatically out of balance. The most obvious issue was that he was blind. Cats had wonderful night vision, true, but that counted for naught when there wasn't even the smallest amount of light present. The second thing that was problematic, and which became more and more obvious as she spoke, was that there was a slight echo in the cave. It wasn't enough to boom every word spoken, but rather echoed whispers rang off the walls and down the tunnels, wherever they were, until it was hard to tell where, exactly, the original had c ome from. Somehow it made him very, very dizzy. "SHHhh." He waved a way at her, but only got air. His hiss echoed even worse and Rudo's ears flattened back against his skull.
When the last of the echoing finally faded, the male cautiously lifted his ears. He hated to admit it--indeed, he WOULDN"T admit it aloud--but he was scared and scared good. "Yeah, i kinda got that," He snapped in a hushed, sarcastic tone, "... your dad lives down here?"
Her own ears flattened down, back against her skull, her body, smaller than his, pressing down against the floor in fear, ears looking around and seeing... nothing. Clamping her mouth shut, she frowned up at him, having half a mind to tell him he was a big mean-head, however, no sooner had the thought passed through her mind that she bated it away, instead allowing one ear to perk in an attempt to listen to something. ANYTHING that would tell her where Anansi OR the queen were. When both cubs remain silent though, no sound came back to her and she whimpered, lowering herself further against the ground till Rudo spoke, "Yeah..." she fixed her eyes where she thought he was, her voice hesitant, "Daddy lives here... I live here. And the queen too... we all live here. But I'm new, and young, and don't know my way and you PUSHED me!" she waved a paw in his direction, aiming to poke his chest in her distress.
"you RAN!" Rudo protested in kind, then 'umphed' as her paw ended up in his mouth. he wasn't sure how that happened, really. After a moment of sheer shock, he jerked his head back and made a face, sticking his tongue out to wipe it off. "EEWWWWW girl cooties!!"
"I did not!" she squealed, sounding offended, "I RETREATED. And you CHASED me!" blinking as her paw hit something furry, she was surprised by the long screach he let out, her ears flattening back, her paw jerking as if she'd been burnt; she'd been aiming for the chest! "And it doesn't change the fact you pushed me! And I'm LOST! And you got me here! And it's YOUR fault!"
"And you're trying to poison me!" He accused, still raking his paws over his tongue. "Cooties!! I'm gonna die now!! Or worse, i'll start being froofy and liking pink and and.. and.. kissing BOYS now! UGHH!"
"You touched me first!" she accused; in the face of fear, blaming someone was just so much easier; it couldn't be helped... she was young after all, and the fact she was beyond panicked was clear, "You PUSHED me first!" a pause followed them, for even in the face of fear and panic... what he was saying didn't make sense. Kalama had never been one to care about sense; she believed all of her father's stories after all yet.... "Are you insane?" she said suddenly, her maw grimacing before she looked around her, effectively blocking him out for a few moments, "Oooooh.... Daddy told me not to come here alone... not even him, with 8 eyes, can see in this darkness..." if anything, either he'd think SHE was the insane one, or he'd have figured her 'dad' was one weird creature indeed, "Follow the wall..." this was said more to herself than to him, for she padded away from his form, attempting to find the wall; which she did. By running face first into it. She whimpered as she sat and rubbed her nose.
"It was an accident! Accidents don't cause cooties!!" He protested again, sniffing at that. Her question-accusation caused him to stiffen, fur standing on end though niether could see it. "I AM NOT INSANE."
"insane.. nosane..nsane.. nane.. nane..nannneee.." Said the echo.
Rudo's ears flattened again, only perking up when she whimpered. Voice softer now he hesitated only a moment before asking, in a much more controlled tone, "Hey... are you okay?" The boy slowly, carefully rose to his feet and moved towards where he thought she would be. He found her, bumping into her, then sat down and put a paw on what he thought would be her shoulders.
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:03 pm
Her head came to hit softly against the wall, time and time again, gracing the rock, without harming her an inch, "Nooooo..." she whimpered softly at his question, "I'm not; WE'RE not..." she turned then as she felt his paw on what was actually the top of her head. Huffing softly, she blew a breath against it, mostly to get the tuff of hair out of her eyes, "I don't know how to get out of here; Daddy's never taken me this deep," moving away from him, she pressed her right paw to the wall and attempted to find her way by following it, her tail seeking him out in an attempt to curl around his arm; she didn't want to leave him here, "I can't yell for Daddy here.... and the Queen's never this deep. We need to find surface," she gulped, scared to death, but amusingly enough, that small ounce of touch he'd offered her, had sovered her enough to get her to try and move.
"The queen?" He asked softly, now that they'd both managed to calm down a little. "But the queen is... at p ride rock? I didn't think she ever came down here." Rudo didn't really know her name. If he'd heard it, it had eluded him, but he did know something about the royal family; such as they had a queen now, instead of a king. He got up to follow her, the tail bapping against his leg a good indication of where she was.
She frowned then, "The queen never leaves the tunnels... she's blind; Daddy told me that the sun hurts her. She can't go out," not to mention she had no idea what he was talking about, "What's pride rock?" she padded along with her paw on the wall till suddenly there was a depression in the wall, indicating a tunnel, "This isn't pride rock; these are the Anansi pride Tunnels."
"Anansi?" He frowned, "What are the Anansi? This is the Pride Lands.. we're in the gorge, arn't we?" He didn't understand. The gorge was a part of the pride lands, so how could they be in another pride? Tel truth, he wasn't entirely certain he'd mind if they were in another pride--he'd always thought about going on adventures one day... but this was rather weird.
"Daddy told me that the underground belonged to no one, so his children took it as theirs, because most had been born blind... and unable to venture out in he sun. No other lion comes here. Only us. The underground is ours. It's Daddy's territory," still she advanced through the tunnels, her ears flattening back as she wiggled her nose; it was obvious she was trying, at least, to determine.... which way was up and which was done. It wasa hard task, at best, in the darkness, "Daddy's stories are not always 'true', but... he told me that this one was."
"This way smells... old." Rudo, who was perhaps a bit older than her, frowned as he wrinkled his nose. "Your daddy sounds weird." He wasn't sure how else to put it, though that perhaps wasn't the best choice of words. He wasn't exactly a lady's man..... of course, he was only a cub, and a very aptly named cub at that. "I've never heard of the Anasai before. My mom tells me a lotta stuff, and she never told me this was here. My brothers didn't either."
"Old?" she stopped as soon as he spoke, her nose wiggling, "Old can't be right.... shouldn't it smell fresh if we're heading up?" indeed, Kalama was young; young enough that she should have never ventured away from her mother in the first place. Alas she was a free spirit, and longed to run with the wind and talk to bees. She longed to be free and now that she lived here with her Daddy, she was able to do as she wished; her soul rather liked it, "Which way smells new?" she turned to him, gripping what she hoped was his arm in the darkness, then flattened he ears back, "Daddy's not weird just.... unique," she paused then, for just a brief moment, "Daddy says the Anansi keep themselves hidden. No one bothers us if we keep to ourselves. And most of us can move in these tunnels, even if someone followed us here; I'm... not a very good Anansi; I need daddy to guide me still."
"You're still a baby." He shrugged a bit, regarldess of the fact that he wasn't terribly much older than she was. He nipped her ear to guide her, his nose working. He found one tunnel, eventually, at... well at least it didn't smell old. "This way.. " He refrained from adding 'i think' to the end of that and isntead used his tail to lead her as he felt his way cautiously forward in the dark.
She was old enough to be mildly offended by that claim, "I'm not a baby... just young... there's a diference," feeling the n** at her ear, she turned and followed him through the darkness. Her maw opened then and clamped softly over the tuff of hair that endded his tail, almost like a baby elephant would have a grown up and moved on that way, allowing him to leave, "I hope daddy finds us..." of course, due to the mouthful of hair, it came out as "mrrppph mmmmmmm.... phhhh..." but still.
Rudo winced when the teeth clamped down on his tail. Ewwwwwww... He didn't jerk his appendage away, though, and instead continued to lead her along slowly. It was hard never knowing wether or not the ground would open up beneath you--just like it had already done to them--or whether it would rush up to meet you with a suden twist in the tunnel, or growth connecting the floor and ceiling. Eventually, though, he realized that there were dark grey shapes in the blackness. He stopped dead for a moment to confirm this and hope dared to grow again. "Hey.. i can see!.. somewhat, anyway."
As they padded along, her frame had hunched down somewhat, her head held low, her eyes hooded, tears begining to form in them... for despite how free she wanted to be, the idea of being lost in the darkness forever was not appealing at all. Obviously, she'd no been paying attention, for when he stopped walking, she stumbled right into him, her maw still holding his tail, ears perking somewhat; he was right! She could see! ...barely. But still! Instantly she let go of his tail and had to refrain from actualy dancing in place, "Do you think the exit is nearby?"
"oof!" He winced as she ran into him, then turned a little to where he could make out her grey shape behind him. "Maybe! But... lets go slow. I don't wanna miss it." Rudo took the lead again and sniffed softly as he walked along, pausing at each tunnel branch to figure out which route seemed the msot likely. The light turned out to be the biggest help of all and finally they emerged into a .. Dome-like cavern with a hole at the top that let light and some plant life in. Through the middle of it was a stream, moving at a modern pace out another hole in the opposit side of the cave.
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:06 pm
She followed him without so much as another word or a protest; he'd proved to be a great help so far, and had been guiding them the right way after all (even if this WAS all technically his fault). The moment they arrived at the dome however, her eyes grew wide and she sidestepped his form, jumping a couple of times, adding a twirl here and twirl there, doing an odd little dance, for she was too happy to contain it; Anansi had told her that whenever she felt too happy she could not sit in place... she should dance. So dance she did. Rather awkwardly, but that wasn't precisely the point, "I know this! I know this!" she chirped, "This is where Daddy tells his stories to us!" and this said she dashed for an opening in the rock, running through it, pausng only briefly to look back at him, "Come on! Come on!" it was chirped, no trace of her fear left now that they'd found their way back; she dashed through corridors, left and right, up and down, for this part of the maze she knew by heart, always pausing every so often to see if he was still following, and soon enough... they reached the mouth og the cave. The gorge stood before them and she smiled."HOME SWEET STARS ABOVE!" He crowed at the entrance to the gorge, ahving followed her at lightning pace. It was so nice to SEE! and the Sun! He rolled out onto the cliff to lay in the dirt and sun. It felt SOoooo so good. After laying there, panting, for a few minutes, he finally turned his attention back towards the female with him. "Heh.." Now he didn't know what to say.
She tilted her head, first to one side and then towards the other, but said nothing at first, merely smiled down at his playing form, her tail waggling erratically behind her; tell truth, his attitude when he'd rushed out did not bother her. She was known for displaying similar behavior, "You can go now," a pause as she pressed a paw to her maw, almost as if pondering something. After just a moment or two, she lowered it again, "If you want to."
"Huh?" Rudo's ears perked and he looked up. After a minute he snorted, "I guess i can!" The male climbed to his feet then.. paused. He wasn't entirely sure what to do, and stared at her for a minute. Should he say something? He guessed not, and after a minute he turned to try and climb his way back up to the top.--End
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