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 Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:18 am
 The young male lion was at a loss. Sitting atop a rock, surveying the plains before him, the fairly anxious yellow beast found himself at a cross roads. Not a literal one, of course, as there were few set paths in the savannah, but a figurative one.
For as long as he had known himself, Hadaya had been alone. He had always been walking, traveling, living with his own company and not going out of his way to meet others. He had grown accustomed to many things, knowing himself far too well, and finding faults as he watched, always from a safe distance, how other lions behaved.
He lacked any confidence in himself, though he did his best to fake it. He was timid, in his way, though not cowardly. He had his own sense of right and wrong. From years of living on his own he had grown to be critical, judging others, and himself by them, through their deeds and words. He did not have much frame of reference, his social interactions limited, but he was a bit of a jerk, and socially inept to boot. Sometimes awkward, sometimes shy, sometimes disinterested and sometimes irritated, he never quite knew how to treat companions, and thus had never been able to hold on to any.
Now that he was growing older, he found himself longing for friendship of any kind. He was lonely, bored of himself, and in dire need of associations that would teach him how to be a better lion, in every sense of the phrase. It was a lot to ask of strangers, so he very often shrunk away from the chance, doubting his own capabilities and not wanting to seem stupid.
So, sitting a top this rock, he was in the process of making a decision. It was either to approach the next lion he saw and finally engage himself in a proper conversation that, hopefully, would lead to some sort of acquaintance... or spend the rest of his life alone and give up entirely on seeking others. It was a drastic decision, one he would probably change his mind about in either case, but he needed to motivate himself.
Bowing his head, watching as an ant worked its way over his paw, he began to wonder why he was destined to be such an awkward, terrible, unskilled animal.
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:41 am
She jumped again, from the ground, and swiped at empty air. It was just too fast for her, she decided. But when it landed on a rock a small distance away, her ears flew up and she instinctively crouched, tail flicking, in the high grasses. She timed it almost perfectly.
Her running jump had alerted the butterfly of her presence and fast approach, and it flitted off a good many seconds before her weight hit the rock. With a groan, she slid down and sat on the ground, slumping, and watched the butterfly fly away, laughing at her.
Normally Omoa wasn't that much of an angry cub. She viewed life happily, as one would see it with a glass half-full instead of its opposite. She was gentle, friendly, and always looking for an adventure. If she had the choice, she would travel all her life, meeting new lions and perhaps other animals on the way.
She had no recollection of her parents, just the only memory of her mother saying her name. And as much as she treasured that memory, she knew that she couldn't grasp it and obsess over it for her entire life. She had to move on, find new things to do and new people to be around. The cub wanted a family badly.
And she finally had one, now. Jethro the lion had adopted her as his daughter, and she was so thankful and happy that he did. She loved him as a father, though they had not known each other very long at all. And then they were headed off to the ocean! It was an exciting journey that laid ahead of them, and she couldn't wait to start that with her new father.
Her ear flicked as a small breeze flew past, and she shifted her weight onto another paw with a sigh. She wondered if there was anything close by to eat, or drink. That chase after the butterfly had been a bit tiring.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:23 am
Hadaya lifted his head when he heard the vaguely far off sound of something moving through the grass. He was a bit of an anxious lion, and never liked to let his guard down completely. Even wallowing in doubt, he kept his ears perked and senses bristling. He did not like letting other animals get too close to him, figuratively or literally, even as he did his best to reach out and make a friend.
Sighing, looking around, it took him a while to finally see the cub pouncing its way after a butterfly. Cubs were not all that scary, and, as far as he could tell from watching them at a distance like some creepy stalker, they weren't all that annoying. Tilting his head, he watched as she missed one final time, the butterfly ending the chase as it flitted off.
Drawing a deep breath, gathering up all his conflicting thoughts and anxiety and storing them in the back of his head, Hayada climbed from the rock he was perched on and made his way over to the cub. He walked as casually as he could, though it looked as though he were trying to do just that, pausing every now and then to inspect an invisible bug or look at the sky before finally 'noticing' the cub when he got close.
The young lion knew two things about cubs: they liked to play a lot, and usually had some sort of supervision. The idea that an older lion, male or female, was somewhere near by, watching the scene made Hayada uncomfortable, so he sought for a greeting that might be heard and disarm the parents to any ill-intent they might think he had.
"Ah... hello, there," he said, awkwardly projecting his voice just in case, "you okay, out here on your own?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 4:14 pm
The butterfly had won this time, she decided, as she watched it fly innocently away. But next time it wouldn't be so lucky...
She wondered if she would see the same butterfly again. That was a different thought. Because so many looked exactly the same; how was she to know that the next one she saw was the exact same one she had just chased?
While pondering these thoughts, she sat, comically tilting her head to one side, as though that position would better help her brain function. It was curiously intriguing to think about butterflies like that, and she continued to do so long after the butterfly vanished from her sight. She was so caught up in her thinking that she didn't even hear the approach of the other lion.
Omoa jumped slightly at the new voice, turning her head to see the newcomer. He was slightly older than she, but not by much, though it certainly looked like it thanks to Omoa's small frame. He had strange line markings on his paws, tail, and face. She thought they were kind of cool.
"Yep, I'm fine! What are you doing out here alone, too?"
This wasn't the first time she had met someone her age when she was alone, but it was the first time when she met a not-so-much-older-than-she male. She didn't feel uncomfortable. Only that maybe they could be friends, just like what had happened with everyone else she had met on her adventures in the roguelands.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:11 pm
Hadaya blinked. He hadn't realized she was closer in age to himself than to a cub. She was small, and he frowned in confusion. Having very little experience with regular sized lions, he hardly knew what to do with the small ones. Swallowing nervously, casting a glance about, he dug his claws absently into the earth as he tilted his head.
"I'm always alone," he said, not meaning to sound so enigmatic, "I don't really know anyone or anything, so I just sort of... wander around in the background. I just thought I'd... say hi. You're older than I thought, aren't you? Not that... not that you know what I thought. That's odd."
He arched an eyebrow, shaking his head at his own awkwardness and inability to form coherent sentences, "I thought you were younger, is all. Anyway, sorry. Uhm... are you... going somewhere?" the end of his question ended in a higher inflection than the start, a small effort to change the subject with legitimate interest attached.
"Oh, I'm Hadaya," he said, smiling a bit, nervously, "I should have said that first."
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Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:13 pm
Omoa smiled in a friendly way, shaking her head. "Nah, I'm still a cub. I'm just small for my age, I guess. Everyone I've met so far has bigger than me. I'm used to it by now."
True.
Ithemba and the boys she met were all bigger than she, although boys tended to be bigger than girls anyway...so she couldn't really use that as an example. But it was true.
Her tail flicked and her ear twitched in the small breeze. For such a sunny day, it was uncharacteristically cold of the wind to have such a lower temperature than the sun's rays encouraged. The sensitive hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she shifted unconsciously to get out of the wind's immediate direction.
"I'm Omoa!" she returned, grin widening. "I'm not really going anywhere in particular, just 'sploring a little before we have to leave.
"What about you? Where are you headed?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:35 pm
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere, really,” Hadaya said, his voice a mixture of unwarranted pride and lonely depression. He wished he had a goal in his wandering, that his young life would some day take him somewhere, but for now the pensive lion was stuck in aimless wandering. “I don’t really know where I am. I just walk around until I’m tired. Then I sleep, and get up to walk around some more.”
Offering a vague excuse for a smile, he nodded at her as warmly as he was capable of, which was an awkward jerk of his head in her direction, “it’s nice to meet you though, Omoa. You said ‘before we leave’. You have a friend with you? If it’s not a jerk thing for me to ask, where are you going?”
He was only interested because he might want to direct his wandering in a direction, and if she could suggest him one it would certainly help. Not that he could ask that of her directly, since he hardly knew her, but if he followed them at a distance he wasn’t really doing any harm to anyone or anything. Just a lion walking the same way as another lion. And a friend, apparently.
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:39 pm
"Really? That's kind of what I used to do, too," she exclaimed, somewhat surprised. For the most part, though, it was true. Whenever she could, she would find a good place to rest for a night or two and then the next morning, she would continue on her wanderings. If she wasn't leaving, and if she didn't already have a planned journey, she would definitely invite Hadaya to join her on her wanderings.
But now she had a family, and therefore responsibilities.
She nodded warmly. "Yes, my father. He adopted me as a daughter, and now we're on our way to the ocean to meet his pretty lady. I hope she'll become my mommy, too, so I can have one of each. Have you ever been to the ocean before? I haven't, but Daddy has tried to describe it to me before. It's big, and blue, and smells like salt, he says. And the shore is made up of sand."
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Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:18 pm
Hadaya, despite himself, smiled at her story. It was nice to see that someone who had been like him had managed to find a life out of it all. There was some hope in it, really, and it eased him into a strange state of comfort to hear it. He nodded slowly, then realized she was asking him questions.
"Oh, no, I've never been. I mean, I've heard of it but I never really saw the point of me going there. I'd just have to turn around and come back, you know? Because it's just... a big thing of water. and I'm not much for water. I like it in small doses, and I like to float on my back in like a small lake or something, but..."
He shudder at the thought. He often had trouble keeping himself from drowning in standing pools, and dreaded to imagine what trouble he might get into at an ocean.
"But I'm glad you found a family. That sounds nice, like... like the guy that adopted you is nice, I mean. That's... a nice thing to do." he wondered how many more times he could possibly say nice. At least once more, "I bet the female'll be nice, too."
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:03 am
Omoa smiled and nodded as well, happy to share her story. In truth, she was simply happy that she had a story to tell in the first place. This was the first true good thing to happen to her in her entire life. She wanted to share her good news with the world. Maybe Hadaya would share her tale with others he met along the way of his travels.
Maybe that would give others hope that they can have a good life, too. They only have to wait a little while 'til they find it, or 'til it finds you.
"I'm excited to see it. Hey! If I find something cool there I'll bring it back and show you. Or if I find two of the same thing you can have one and my best friend can have the other. Wouldn't that be cool?" She grinned again, looking up at him.
"I hope she's nice. Dad says she is, so that's what I'm hoping.
"Where's your family? Do you know where they are?"
For some reason, Omoa loved hearing about other lions' family situations. Whether their parents were loving and always there for them, or if it was just their mother or father raising them, the other parent had left long ago. Or even if they didn't have any parents, like she used to.
It made her feel a bit of connection to hear this.
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:31 pm
Hadaya grinned, as much as his fangs allowed, nodding tightly at her comments. He wouldn't know what to do with anything she brought back from the ocean, since he was a wanderer and had no means to carry anything, and yet the sentiment struck him. To be thought of would be nice. Of course, it was easy, in the moment, to make an offer. Far more difficult was the follow through.
His grin faded, though he did his best to force a substitute. It ended up looking like a strange mix of a grimace and a smirk, his eyes belying his true emotions as he thought about his family.
"I don't know them, I guess. I mean. I think they abandoned me," he heaved a heavy sigh and, with the air that left his lungs, his rather grotesque expression vanished completely. Almost pouting he shrugged, "I wasn't much of a kid, I guess. Couldn't do anything right. Completely failed at life, that was what my dad used to say. So they told me to go gather some leaves for them: a ridiculously simple task that I could totally handle and was more than eager to show them I could do, but when I came back home they were gone. I waited for a while, but they never came back. Now I don't really like to wait anywhere. No point."
He lulled his head from side to side, closing his eyes as he tried to think of something else. He spoke without opening them, the peculiar motion of his body not stopping, "that's okay, though. They were right, anyway."
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:24 pm
Omoa saddened, a frown creasing over her face at her new friend's recount of his past and family. That was such a sad occurance to go through! Really. It must have been horrible to see your parents one day, go do a small errand in order to please them, and then they're gone.
At least Omoa didn't even know her true parents. She had never seen either of them; the only thing she remembered was her mother crooning her name when she was sleeping.
Part of her was glad that she didn't have such an emotional attachment to her long-lost parents.
But part of her wanted to know more. Wanted to know her real family.
"I'm sorry," she offered, though she knew it wouldn't help.
She would remember Hadaya, and look for something from the ocean to bring back to him. Even if it couldn't be carried around with him, she hoped the gesture would remain there anyway.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:52 am
The socially inept lion shrugged his thin shoulders, opening his eyes and offering a thin, feigned smile. He was more concerned with the conversation at hand than the memories of his parents. That failure he had made himself believe he was past, telling himself if he dwindled too long on any one failing he would drive himself mad. He was so frequently getting things wrong, messing things up, or breaking both the tangible and intangible things in his life that he could not afford to dwell.
He was perfectly aware of how apt he was at destroying pleasant moments, shattering moods and spurning friendships. This conversation, however, seemed to be going alright and he was becoming increasingly invested in the idea of getting this one correct. If he could make a friend that he would be able to talk about, or even just think about and know that he wasn't lying to himself to make the loneliness less bitter, then he would be a bit more happy. A bit more motivated to keep on searching.
It was like a bit of the puzzle: a small key to the labyrinth that had what should be his good life, his true skills and his purpose, locked away. Or if not a key, then at the very least a small step toward the front gate.
"Why, did you tell them to go?" he asked, his tone almost making him seem honest. He shook his head, his smile finally reaching his eyes,
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I'll find someone to be my replacement... my ward, I guess, when the time comes. Or I'll grow old enough to not need a parent any more. Either way, I'm better off without them."
He paused, then cleared his throat. He felt it was his turn to ask something, "do you remember much about your real parents?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:57 am
Omoa nodded, staring down at the ground for a moment of reflection. It was true; she couldn't do anything about it now. Not that she would know how to do something, mind, but she hoped that their similarities in the family part of their life would help him to connect and maybe find a friend in her.
Goodness knows she always wanted more friends.
"Nope, I don't remember anything except my mother's voice. I was too young to remember what they looked like, though I bet if I had seen them, I'd recognize them in an instant now." She gave a proud smile. "But my eyes were still closed when they left, so I grew up on my own. I learned how to talk and walk and stuff by watching other animals do it, and a couple other lions. They were good teachers, even if they didn't know they were helping me learn."
She shrugged again. It was all in the past, anyway. For both of them. She decided to change the subject.
"So do you like to play any games or anything? What's your favorite?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:45 pm
Hadaya nodded as she spoke, listening intently. He could not recall a time when his mother sang to him, but he could almost imagine how her voice might sound, bent in a lullaby. It struck him that he never heard her singing to his siblings, either, and he wondered what had become of them. He had been so young at the time, he could not remember how many there had been, or if they even had names.
The only thing he could really remember was the day they abandoned him. His father and mother, alone, were sitting in the den. They had sent him along, telling him not to come back unless he had succeeded in his simple task, promising to be nicer to him should he give them a reason to have faith in his abilities. He had been so blindly eager, he had missed to sorrow in their complexions. Sorrow that had not been for him.
This was a very new thought pattern for the young male, and he was almost floored. He shifted positions abruptly, sitting back on his haunches and stretching his legs out in front of him. Blinking, he realized it have been quite some time since she had finished speaking. His mind told him what she had said, his subconscious having kept track of the conversation even as he spaced out.
"That's pretty amazing, learning how to do it that way," he said offhandedly, picking up the conversation as if he had not dropped the ball, "I've never really played any games. I've tried, but I don't really understand the rules, and I'm not... physically... good... at anything. So people never liked playing with me."
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