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 Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:06 pm
It was rare that Kule was away from her family, but today was just one of those days. Everyone else was just lounging around or doing their own thing, and the cub didn't feel the need to be a part of it. She had decided that today she was going out to make contact with the locals, so to speak. After all, her family had just moved in to the neighbourhood, and while they would probably be leaving shortly, it was nice to make peace with those around them.
Thus, the yellow cub had set out this morning into the African savannah to look for other felines. She had promised her mother that she would not stray far, and that she would come straight home if anyone said anything threatening. Promises in mind, Kule stopped to take a drink at a nearby stream, thirsty from her uneventful morning. She had yet to meet anyone, and she was not going home until she did. How was she supposed to work on her social skills if nobody came along?
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:40 pm
Kimanda was out hunting. It was his turn, especially having left Tuli on her own for a few days. He felt like he owed her. After all, he was with his pride practicing dancing and Rhythm and making necklaces (something he still wasn't very happy with) and she was off trying to hunt. Poor cheetah. And so, as his male ego dictated, he was here. Hunting. Or at least, he was trying to. It appeared the game was rather sparse in the area. The cheetah had to wonder why. Had someone just made a kill, or-
Oh. That was a cub right there. Where there were cubs, there were usually grown lions. Sometimes, there were even prides. So maybe that meant it was those lions that were scaring all the food away? That seemed pretty likely. Kimanda broke into a trot and jogged over to the youngster, seemingly unafraid. (He just had to keep telling himself there was no way she was as bad as Kitambi, who actually turned out to be his friend in the end, and that he would be fine.)
"Hi. I'm Kimanda. I was just wondering, do you and your family live around here?
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:45 pm
Golden ears perked when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and Kule paused in her drinking. Aha! A strange skinny creature had arrived! He must be one of the locales. Or... she thought it was a he. It looked feminine enough to be a girl, but there was something about the way it moved that made the cub think it was a boy. Ah well, she would find out soon enough.
Kule sat up neatly the moment Kimanda approached her, blue eyes watching him closely as he approached. She wasn't afraid of him – she had a feeling her father was probably hovering nearby in a bush somewhere – if only because he came up to her without hesitation. Surely someone who meant her harm would be stalking her, not approaching her with a friendly air.
"Pleasure to meet you, Kimanda. I'm Kule. My family and I are only staying in these parts for a short while, before we will be departing. Why, is this your home?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:50 pm
Quite frankly, Kimanda probably didn't look that threatening anyways. When he wasn't being mistaken for a prey animal, someone took him as a very, very skinny lion. And now he had this nice necklace on, something that affronted his masculinity (but at least it did look good on him), so that probably confused the cub even further...if she had even ever seen a cheetah before. Right.
"Oh, no, I don't live here," he said, continuing to be friendly. This one seemed sweeter than Kitambi. He had to be careful, or he might scare her off. "I'm just a traveler. I was just wondering why the herds seemed to be so wary around here. I'd be wary too, if there were a bunch of lions hunting me." He cracked a wry grin. One day, he might actually find himself in a position like that. Good thing today was not that day.
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:54 pm
Aaaw, he didn't live here? Too bad. Still, he was someone to talk to. And if traveled through this area, it was quite possible that not too many others lived here. Otherwise traveling through here would be a problem for this poor scrawny creature. Surely he would get snagged by any real pride for trespassing. That made her feel better. She didn't have to worry about her sisters being attacked at night if there weren't any dangerous groups around here.
"Oh we're not a big group, it's just my parents and my sisters. Nobody too big. The herds might have just moved on to better places to graze. Do you travel through here often?"
Kule had her usual, polite smile on her face, watching the cheetah intently. He was her only source of information, so she was going to make use of it.
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:58 pm
Kimanda shrugged. "I'm not really sure," he answered honestly, "thought it does look familiar." He failed to add most grasslands did look the same. But how was he supposed to know if he traveled through here before? He just went where his feet told him. There was never, ever any sort of plan, not even with Tuli in tow now. "I don't really stay in one place much more than a day if I can help it," he explained. That would be just...boring.
"What about you? Are you and your family travelers too?" She was very easy to talk to. Kimanda wondered why. Was it because she was small and nonthreatening? He should fall for that sort of thing. Cubs were evil, remember, you silly cheetah? She might be plotting something! (Though, he had to be honest. She didn't seem quite as capable of a hostile takeover as Kitambi.)
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:04 pm
Oooh, so he moved around a lot. Kule had moved around quite a bit with her family, so she knew what that was like. She had always been on the edge of prides or in the middle of nowhere, but never actually in a pride. But the cub had never really desired being in a pride. She had her family, and that was enough for her. With two parents and five sisters, they were practically a pride unto themselves.
"We move around a lot, yes, but it's because my father likes to be on the move." It was a partial truth, so technically it wasn't a lie. Other lions just didn't like her father, and so he was always on the move with his family. Kule didn't understand why they found him strange, but it was just a fact of life. She would rather be on the move than know that her father was being ridiculed. "One day we'll settle down, when my father finds a home he likes. Can I ask you where you got such a pretty necklace?" Kule had to admit she was rather curious. She'd never seen a cheetah wish a necklace before.
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:10 pm
Oh, his necklace? Kimanda preened despite himself (and made a mental note to tell Kitambi when he visited her and Nsundu). "It is pretty nice, huh? My friend made it for me. Her name is Kitambi, but she lives pretty far from her, with the Nchi'mahadhi pride. That's my pride," he added proudly. He never thought he'd be happy to be associated with a large group, but the Nchi were different. And hopefully, Kule wouldn't take it like he was the leader, because honestly, that would be just silly.
Well, it's sort of my pride. I don't have to stay there with everyone else. But I can dance and I have Rhythm like them. And I can play the drum," he added. Not well, but still. How many other cheetahs would this cub meet that could play the drum? That's right. NONE. HA. Victory for the small, spotless cheetah, thank you very much.
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:14 pm
"It's very nice," Kule praised, admiring the black and white. Perhaps she should ask her mother if she could get a necklace like that. She knew one of her sisters wore some very pretty jewellery, but the cub had been a bit apprehensive to ask for anything herself. It was hard getting heard when you had five other sisters. Sometimes her mother was so busy that Kule felt it wasn't right to demand time for herself. Oh well. One day, when she remembered, she would ask for such a pretty necklace.
"You live in a pride? I thought prides were for lions," the cub asked, tilting her head to the side. She'd never heard of a cheetah pride before. Or maybe he was joining a pride of lions as a cheetah? Was that even possible? Kule could only blink at him as he explained what he did, not entirely sure what he was talking about. "That sounds... interesting," she replied as politely as she could. "Far away from here you say?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:20 pm
"Maybe I could ask Kitambi to make one for you, if you like," he offered, feeling generous as this cub was quite lavish in her praise. (Yes, you stroke that ego, Kule.) Honestly, he wasn't sure what Kitambi would say, but it was worth a try. Besides, why would Kitambi say no to sharing something about her pride with others? Well, she could- Wait, Kimanda. Just stop thinking, or this will get too complicated for you. Kimanda shook his head and just grinned at himself foolishly.
"It is a pride of lions!" he chirpped, unfazed. It didn't occur to him a lion might fight a cheetah in a pride odd. He'd seen it happen before. Why assume it was some sort of rarity? Well, that aside. "Yep. About a day or two worth of traveling," he said. And his traveling was pretty hardcore. He and Tuli hunted on their trail and only stopped when they needed to sleep. It would definitely take a family with a bunch of cubs much longer. See, cubs were a pain. He'd have to remember to bring that up to Tuli later.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:26 am
"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to do that. It's quite far away, and there's a chance I'll never meet up with you again. I would hate to have to go all the way out there to get me something, only to find out that we've moved again." Kule was very much against other people sacrificing their time to get stuff done for her. She would rather just go with the flow, knowing that one day what she would get what she wanted. It was part of life when you had five other sisters constantly vying for your parents' attention. Someone always had to take the back seat, and Kule was willing to do it.
The cub blinked when he said it was a pride of lions, unable to help but ask, "So if it's a pride of lions, how can you be part of it? No offense, but I didn't know cheetahs could live in lion prides." She really didn't mean to be offensive, but the idea was so foreign that she had to ask.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:45 am
Huh. Kimanda blinked at the cub. She certainly didn't talk like a cub. A lot of cubs he met were all about getting things, especially when they had siblings. Having the most stuff made them the best, clearly. That aside. "Alright, I guess." There was no use arguing. If she didn't want a pretty necklace, who was he to stop her? And as long as she never had any intention of joining the Nchi, it wouldn't really present a problem.
"But I'm not living there, am I?" he replied, grinning. It was true. He'd never live with them, either. He just learned from Nsundu and Kitambi, befriended the pair, and that was that. He was just a scout, so he really wasn't that important. And since the pride wasn't in any sort of danger, they didn't need him hanging around, so he was free to keep traveling with Tuli. "I can go wherever I want."
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:51 am
Kule had to have good manners. It was something that her mother had impressed upon her when she was very young, but also because she was used to dealing nicely with adults. This cheetah had not been impolite to her, and so she saw no reason to speak to him rudely. They were just talking, and so she was supposed to be nice to him. Otherwise it would reflect badly on her family, and she didn't want the locales thinking badly of her family.
The cub tilted her head at him when he explained, not entirely sure what he meant. "Well if you're traveling now... how can you be living there? Is it a traveling pride then?" She really had never heard of such a thing. Prides tended to stay in one spot, only sending out small sections of their numbers to go and hunt. Were there actually such things as nomadic prides with cheetahs in them?
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:59 am
Kimanda had been a bit of a brat, himself. He had one mother, and a lot of sisters. Three, if he remembered correctly. So while his mother tried to keep the girls in a line, the spotless cheetah was allowed to run amuck. It was no great loss, if she lost the little boy, anyways. He was lazy and only just one more mouth to feed. So when he thought he was old enough, Kimanda wandered off, no one came looking for him, and he didn't even try to wander back. A mutual thing, but he was happy with the way it turned out.
"No, they don't travel. Just me." Hmm. This was turning out to be harder to explain than he thought. "See, I don't live with them. I'm just part of the pride. Me and the pride leader are good friends. Actually, I'm friends with the heiress too." He shrugged, not sure if that counted for anything, but maybe it would help all this make sense to the cub?
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:08 am
"...oh." Kule decided that it was best to just accept what this cheetah had to say, and not worry too much about the details. Life was probably different out there, outside her little family group. It was very possible that there were prides with traveling cheetahs in them, even if Kule thought that they were weird. To Kimanda, it was probably just normal, so she felt she didn't have the right to comment on it. She would just accept it, and return home to ask her mother.
"Well it was a pleasure meeting you, Kimanda, and I hope if you ever come across my family again we will be on good terms." With a small nod of her head, the cub turned and headed back the way she came. She had a lot of questions to ask her mother now, if she wasn't busy.
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