|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:45 pm
Cubs. He'd never been spectacularly good with them, even before...that had happened. They tended to be loud, rambunctious, greedy things, and though occasionally useful usually made a mess of any plan. And yet here he was, sitting directly across from one, tail settled genteel on his front paws. He stared at the cub. Well, it was too big to be a cub, but it was no adult. A juvenile then, close enough to a cub for him to think it that way.
It stared back.
He cleared his throat and put on a smile. No sense in being mean to the kid now..."Hello. You seem rather young to be alone, are you lost?" There. Attempt at being a 'good citizen'? Check.Hadaya wandered listlessly, barely dragging himself along. He was not injured or tired. His body was in perfect working order, and he had more than enough energy to support the weight of his rather lanky frame, and yet his nose almost touched the ground as he trudged along. He was depressed, as he usually was, only this time he felt like he was never going to find a moment of happiness again.
Nothing had happened, specifically, to put him in this mood. It just happened sometimes, more often than Hadaya would like to admit, when his feeling of worthlessness peaked and over flowed. He sat down randomly, unable to go on. He looked up only when he felt someone staring at him. Frowning, he stared back, wonder what the lion could possibly want from him today, of all days.
“I’m not that young,” he said, feebly defensive, “I just don’t have a family. I’m not lost, because I don’t have any where to be. Why? Are you lost? Need directions?”Ahh. It was a lost juvenile. That could be much more interesting. Hak'Zhakuu felt himself moved to curiosity, and perhaps compassion, which surprised him slightly. Well. Regardless. "Ah but you are young. Only the young argue that they are in fact not young. Once you get older you wish you can only were young again." The boy looked rahter like how Hak had felt some of those dredful days he'd been gone from the land. A pity that one so unfettered by life would be so forlorn. "And you say you have no family...is that right? Or are you off to find them perhaps?"
He settled back on his haunches a bit more, tossing a bit of stray mane from his eyes. His tail swished curiously behind him, and he fixed the cub with an intense, but not angry stare. "It is not good for young lions to wander alone."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:11 pm
“Yeah? Well you’re old,” Hadaya growled back, scuffing his paws at the dirt. He would normally be a bit more polite, but he was so down in the dumps that what ever small lessons in manners he had studied through his short life were forgotten, “and I really don’t think I’m going to want to be this age again. I’d rather not be it now. Why would I want to come back to it?”
“I don’t have a family, no, but I don’t want to find them. They left me when I was a cub, because I was too much of a hassle to deal with.” It was a simple summary, but accurate enough. Looking up at the bigger male, he had to wonder why a complete stranger was taking such an interest in him. Suddenly uncomfortable, he looked back down at the ground.
“I’ve been wandering since then, so I guess I’m used to it by now…”
Hak'Zhakuu chuckled, then let out a full bodied laugh. "I am old. Much much older than you, at least." He reached out to ruffle the little juve's budding mane, smiling benignly. Kids would be kids, no matter how well taught, and he'd not begrudge the fellow his manners when he was in such obvious distress. His face didn't change, but his tone altered when he replied to the boy's wish to grow though, suddenly somber and distant. "You would be surprised. The troubles you have now may pale in comparison to those yet to come. There may come a day when you would give anything, ANYTHING, to be as you are now."
He blinked, then laughed again, amused at his own macabre mood. "You don't seem too bothersome to me, despite your melancholy. Given the chance, would you seek them out again?"
Hadaya looked up at the large lion as he got serious, a bit unsettled by the change in tone. Tilting his head, he swallowed hard.
“I guess that… makes sense…” he offered uselessly, not wanting to say anything that might upset the now much more apparently larger lion, “I guess it’s not so bad, being young. I make a life for my self well enough. When I’m not running into things or embarrassing myself. Which… actually… is not that often… when I’m not doing those things, I mean.”
He sighed.
Caught off guard by the question, he frowned thoughtfully, “I might. Just to know what happened to my siblings. I don’t remember very well, but I think I was alone when they got rid of me. They told me to go find something for them, because I couldn’t do anything right and they wanted me to prove myself. So I did, and I tried so hard, and I came back and they were gone. But I don’t know what happened to my brothers and sisters…”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:49 pm
Hak'Zhakuu nodded. The cub didn't have to believe what he said, he just had to agree. That was enough to sate the blue lion, and he sat back, smiling to show he was well pleased. "Being free to do as you wish is a gift many would gladly trade their lives for. And many have. And so long as you watch where you're going, and keep your head clear, you should be free of running into things. Look before you leap and you won't hit the rocks instead of the waves."
Again he nodded. It was logical to want to find them again. "Perhaps they were merely driven away while you were gone. Were there any violent prides in the area. They may have not wanted to go, but been made to. I doubt they would leave you alone, to starve or be killed, out here with no protection and cursing their names."
“I don’t think so. I remember my mom looking so sad…” Hadaya said, “but she might not have been sad about me. She was sad before that, too. I don’t know. Neither of them were very happy, I guess. Must run in the family.” He offered a thin smile that quickly vanished. Eyes heavy, he drooped his shoulders and sighed again.
“I try to keep my head clear, but I get these stupid visions and I blank out and crash into things –all the time-. It only seems to happen when I’m heading toward something hard, or something high. It’s like these visions, whatever they are, plan it that way. My friend says they’re a gift, but I’m more inclined to think they’re a prank.”
Sighing, he didn’t think this lion would be much interested in hearing him moan about the woes he found in being a Seer. He was sad now, even more than when he had found this lion, and could barely look up any more. Today had been an awful day, and this conversation was just making it worse.
Thinking about his parents was the roughest part. He had spent a long time giving them the benefit of the doubt. He had stayed at that cave, waiting for them to return, but they never had. For all he knew, they were across the world now.
Hak offered a slight sympathetic face to the bemoaning cub and dropped a reassuring paw onto his back, patting him with surprising gentleness. "Come now, I'm sure you're just as happy as any other young fellow some days. You can't be sad all the time." He listened, interest fluttering behind his otherwise secretive eyes. So the lad had visions? He may be of special use then. "Perhaps you should sit down when you have visions? Is there any sign they're about to come on beforehand, a tingling or..." What he wouldn't give to have the cub see on his behalf. IT would save the trouble of working out just whom he needed to...find...for himself.
The poor lad seemed depressed, and all the more from talking to Hak, but he couldn't be concerned with that. It wasn't his fault. Well. Maybe it was. But no matter. All for the better cause, especially if he could find reason to have the boy tag along. Sooner or later he would be of use to Hak. "Hmm. Perchance, as you are bereft of family, you would be willing to join another group? Were you to travel with someone they could stop you from walking into things mid-vision, right? And that surely would solve some of your troubles."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:54 pm
Hadaya expected the hit to be harder, considering how much bigger the adult male was, but was relieved to find it only a tap. Sighing, out of relief and depression, he looked up at this stranger and tilted his head. It was odd, hearing such words coming from someone he had never met before. Why did he seem so interested in cheering the yellow lion up?
“I never know when they’re coming,” he said, seizing the chance to complain, “they just hit me and then I hit something else. Or fall off something. Or trip. It never fails. I’m never standing or sitting when they hit me. It’s stupid. I swear, some one or some thing up there is laughing at me.”
Hadaya frowned, backing up instinctively. He was beginning to smell a trap, “no, I don’t think I’d be good in a group. I just end up insulting everyone, or they laugh at me, or I don’t talk to any one at all. I’m not good with other lions, or females, or any other species of animal: even the ones that don’t talk.”
"Come now, I'm sure you're joking." Hak let the cub slip out from under his paw, but his gaze remained as firmly on the juve as his paw could ever be, nearly pinning him in place with the stare. "You must get on well with someone. I for one find no reason to take issue with you, save for that your lack of self-confidence I find somewhat troubling and misplaced." It was true. Other than constantly downtrodding himself, Hadaya seemed completely normal and even useful.
"Have you tried to go along with others? If you simply turn others away out of concern that they'll leave you first, you may miss some of the most fascinating folk the world has to offer. Like myself." He inched closer. "Come now, we get along, don't we?"
Swallowing hard, Hadaya wanted very badly to run away. He had a good sense for when things were turning bad in a conversation, considering how often it happened, and this was definitely turning into a very bad situation. His legs wouldn’t move, however, except to wobble uselessly and threaten to give out on him. Biting his tongue, as if to startle himself out of this terror induced trance with pain, he shook his head furiously.
“I don’t get on with anyone. I don’t really want to. I don’t want to be disappointed again, and I hate failing other people, so I don’t see the point.” It was true, and rather personal, but the only thing he thought he could share that might dissuade the lion from wanting him to travel with. He certainly did not like the way the older male was creeping closer.
“I should go.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:20 pm
Hak's blue lip curled in a half-sneer sort of smile, showing brilliantly white teeth so neat and sharp. He could see the fear and agitation in the juve as well as if it was writ on his face, and he was unfazed by it. If anything, it almost encouraged him to go on. Fear was a wonderful motivator. All he needed was for the lad to give him some information, or agree to go along with him...
"You should stay." It was a sharp command, free of the feigned gentleness from before, instead dripping with cold bitterness. "In fact, you should come with me. I can help you, you see. Help you find your family, or what's become of them. You want that. And I want you to come. If you run, you'll be failing me." He leered at the poor male. He was decidedly accepting of the idea of keeping a few personal slaves...He could knock the boy unconscious easy enough, but given the choice he'd rather the lad go consciously, if not willingly. The sinister glow of his markings seemed to pulse stronger, and he reached out, meaning to drag Hadaya towards him. He twitched, and claws slid out of his paw, groping for the tawny fur...
“NO, I don’t want to be helped,” Hadaya yelped, his need to escape outweighing his desire to stay. The touch was brief, but enough to send Hadaya into a dizzying spin. At first he was blinded, a violent vision of the lion before him blurring everything that he knew. He almost thought it was happening in that moment, and that he had died because of it, but the vision faded and he was some how running.
It took him a moment to decipher the pictures of the vision, and when he did he felt like he was going to vomit. Yet he kept on pumping his legs, fleeing over the grasses as fast as his lithe, light frame would carry him. He ran every night, to build muscle in his body, and though it failed to produce results of that nature he had managed to become quite speedy.
He did not look back, not knowing where that brute was and not daring to find out. He did not want to look back only to see the adult male leaping on him. He focused on his running, heart thundering in his throat, ears still ringing from Hak’s evil voice.
Hak's claws had curled, trying to hook into fur, skin, or both, when the boy began to bolt, but at the sudden violent spasm his grasp had come up short. He slowly retracted the paw, watching Hadaya stumble, then fly from him, a look of pure disgust and terror plastered on his face. He considered for a brief moment giving chase, but in the end was left to watch the yellowy male fade into the distance and twitch his tail in interest.
Even as Hadaya faded from sight, still fleeing at top speed, Hak'Zhakuu remained sitting, watching absently. Slowly a wicked smile peeled his lips from his teeth, and he tossed his head back, depraved laughter echouing like thunder after the terror sticken youth. For his to have fled so far and fast, he must have seen something truly harrowing to the mind and soul in Hak'Zhakuu's future.
"Perfect."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
