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 Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:30 pm
It was funny how the world worked. No matter how long you lived, and Usiku'busu wasn't really old anyway, you never stopped seeing now things. Sitting in a tall, gangly tree he looked out at the horizon. The land here...it was so flat! Even in the savannah he had never been able to see so far. He could almost make out the strange ecosytem that covered the distant area. It wasn't something he had seen before and, with the wind blowing in his face, it vaguely smelled like water. A lot of water. How odd!
He remained where he was though. As a traveler he knew that rest was often the keey. He'd get to see the strange land before him soon enough. For now he was happy enough to watch from his perch. With the view he had...he was bound to see something interesting sooner or later.
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She was on the last stretch on her way home, she could just smell the swamp on the winds, and it pushed her that last distance though she hadn't been feeling entirely herself since the morning before. She was hungry but too weary to hunt, so she thought she'd wait till she was on familiar ground instead.
She would, however, have to stop soon to rest to make up for lack of nurishment. The tree up ahead seemed a good place to rest at first glance, if she could just get permission from that leopard to share the "living space" for the evening. As the lioness drew nearer she craned her head to look up at the black shadow. This would be the perfect spot to spend the hours of the day and evening indeed.
"Pardon me, but would you mind too much sharing this space with a stranger for a while?"
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Usiku had spotted her as he turned his head, ears perking slightly. When she caught his notice she was still a ways away. But he was a curious fellow and he waited for her intently. When she arrived he was looking down and meeting her gaze full on, a smile gracing his maw easily.
"Of course not. It certainly isn't my tree, so you are more than welcome to it. Besides...the more the merrier, right? Though this old tree might not agree," his eyes twinkled with humor, but no hostility. If she wanted to stay, she was welcome. Who was he to turn off company? He had been the one hoping to see something interesting. Well now he had it, so to speak.
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"I appreciate it." She smiled all the same as she settled down to rest by the tree's trunk. She couldn't help but yawn wide then afterwards, feeling the weariness of the journey already seeping in slowly. "Mmm, do you live near here? I didn't see you the last time I traveled this way."
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"No," Usiku chuckled. It seemed to be a common question and, since he was a wanderer, he got it very often when he met new people. Staying in one location just never appealed to him. But that seemed to be a trait that ran in his family, so there were no guilty feelings ove it. It felt natural.
"I travel, actually. But, you've been here before? Tell me, what's the land like up ahead? I can see a lot of it, because it's so flat, but I'm not sure what to make of it," he sounded amused by his own ignorance. It wasn't something he faced often, realistically speaking. He was usually the knowledgeable stranger, not the other way around
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:43 pm
Chaka glanced in the direction that he was referring to. They shouldn't be that far off from the pride, she had passed this very tree on her way out into the heart of the rogue lands. Indeed, she made out the familiar landscape of home, the tangled trees and the foggy landscape.
"Yes, actually that's my homeland. It's all swamp."
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"A swamp?" he repeated, as if testing the word aloud. He had never heard of it before, actually. It was a funny thing. He had heard of deserts and jungles before seeing them...so it was odd to think word about these swamps hadn't spread. Interesting.
"What's it like there, if you don't mind me asking? It smells like a lot of water, but that's about all I'm getting," He laughed at himself and his inability to understand the landscape that was so visible before him.
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"I don't mind at all, it's been a while since I was there so I'd be glad to remember it in detail." Chaka smiled back, grinning actually at his laughter. "Your nose doesn't lie, there's a lot of water there, and thick, old trees with large, generous roots. That's where most of the lions of the pride chose to den if they can find a dry batch. It's protected by spirits that roam there, everywhere, really."
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"Trees," he said with a small grin, "Sounds like my kind of place." There was no denying that climbing was one of his favorite pass times. It was obvious by his current perch, or maybe simply his species. The other aspect of it, though, was a bit of a puzzle for him. She said IF they could find a dry one, hmm? That meant that she wasn't kidding when she said there was a lot of water.
"Sounds like you need to know how to swim though," he said in good humor, still trying to picture the amount of water it took to cause the densites of often be too wet to use.
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"It certainly helps." Chaka laughed, feeling genuinely rejuvenated again, though she still felt sleep creeping in gradually. "These lands seem so tame compared to our pride's. It's so strange." She admitted with a slight shake of her head, glancing around as if to let this fact again burrow in. "I don't know when I'll see this place again, but when my cubs are old enough to go on their naming quest I hope they'll find it as fascinating as I did."
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:49 pm
"Oh? Don't plan to leave again anytime soon I'm guessing?" He asked casually. He knew not everyone traveled. It was a personal preference he understood, even if he found he couldn't relate well to those who wanted to grow roots. But everyone was raised different.
"And what's a naming quest?" He felt very nosey, but he didn't seem to mind. He didn't mean any harm and he didn't really suppose he could offend her. "I've never met someone without a name before," he teased lightly.
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"Oh, I've had all the travel that I can handle for the time being, at least. I left home not too long after I was old enough to be on my own, and I'm only now returning. There's still much about my own home and our traditions that I want to learn and I doubt that anywhere else, as beautiful as these other lands are in their own ways, could ever hold my heart like there. That's where my family is." She answered with a slowly growing, fond smile. Indeed she had been raised different. Even that aside though Chaka just didn't have the wanderer's spirit, as others did.
One of her legs she stretched out before her now and began to groom it lightly, pausing to take his question into consideration. It was a tradition that only they practiced it seemed, from the very few lions she'd spoken with about it at least.
"Smart alec." She stuck out her tongue at his tease, smirking afterwards and feeling in general very light hearted still. "A naming quest is meant for us to discover our true names to guide us through life. Our adult names, you would call it. My baby name is Chaka, so now that I've found my true name it's time for me to return home and share it with the rest of the pride so that I can be accepted back as a full fledged member and adult."
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"Mmmm, I see," he murmured, though it wasn't a completely honest answer. He was emapthetic to some degree, but he didn't really understand fully. But that was ok. He thought no less of her for it, nor more of himself. They were different. Life offered variety and that was what was so great about it. If everyone was the same well...it'd be boring.
"Sounds more complicated than I'd like, but if you like it then I'm glad for you...and your new, adult name," He smiled, lifting white whiskers that contrasted his dark coat and orange eyes.
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"Thank you, I do appreciate it. I hope you don't think me rude, but I think I'll go ahead and get some rest while I can. I still have tomorrow ahead of me before I make it back home." The lioness managed to get out before yawning wide.
~So much black in these lands...~ She thought tiredly as she recalled the vast surplus of the color on other creature's pelts when traveling, when her world was normally dominated by browns and greens and whites and oranges. Such a strange place this outside world was, but she'd be home tommorrow, and this journey, just a memory to recall and retell some day.
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