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 Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:12 pm
 While there was much to be said for Xenia’s love of trees, after meeting Bhek she suddenly found herself attracted to the grasslands of Achana and lay awake at night thinking about the vast sky and green and golden waves. Her lack of rest caused her to snap at her siblings. Of course it wasn’t her fault she felt grouchy this early in the morning. The nannies promptly put her down for a nap.
An hour later, awake and ready to play, Xenia found that all her siblings had gone off to play elsewhere, leaving her by herself. Did it have something to do with her snapiness that morning? Xenia huffed in irritation. Well, she didn’t need them to have fun. In fact, she would have even more fun than all her siblings combined!
Without wasting another thought on her siblings, Xenia headed for the grasslands with a bounce in her step and found the big rock where she met Bhek the other day.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:57 pm
Bhekizitha was making his way toward the large rock he used as a scouting post only to spot a familiar purple form. The cheetah chuckled, causing the small brown chick on his shoulders to bounce up and down slightly. He moved as quickly as he could without dislodging Kitra until he stopped just behind his friend cub. "Why hello again, Xexe. What you doing out here all by yourself again?" The cheetah asked cheerfully as he grinned down at his friend.Kitra meanwhile stared down at this unfamiliar feline with wide red eyes before she gave her baby fuzz covered wings a shake. The hatchling jumped off Bhek's back and fluttered carefully to the ground. Kitra chirped softly as she examined Xenia closely, huddling against one of Bhek's front legs.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:33 pm
[pikchur goez heer]
Though it was true Xenia had technically been "alone" when she awoke, that wasn't to say she was the only one in the den. Adonis had been sitting right outside, absently watching a cricket investigate his tail. It wasn't exactly exciting, but he still smiled because the small glossy feet tickled in his fur. His sister bounced by without even noticing him, but that was relatively reasonable considering how quiet he was. She looked irritated, so he didn't bother trying to get her attention - she had been in a very bad mood earlier and didn't want any of that directed at him.
Still, the beautiful black cub couldn't help but be curious as to just what it was that she seemed so urgent to get away to, so he waited until the cricket hopped away before getting up to follow her. She was rather noisy as she loped away, and therefore not hard to follow. He couldn't help but notice the trees thinning out a bit, their mossy growths becoming less and less frequent. Adonis eventually spied her ahead, conversing with a rather large cheetah (at least, in comparison - he could almost have been an adult). Not that he knew what a cheetah was; he couldn't tell the slightest difference between a normal cheetah and his own half-leopard, half-lion self. As far as he knew, they were all borne from trees.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:37 pm
Xenia turned to say hello when the breath froze on her tongue, her mouth opened wide and her eyes bulged like blossoms opening in the spring. In her short time living in the jungle Xenia already knew the colors shapes and songs of many birds, as well as the look of many kinds of eggs, which she never ever disturbed or thought of eating, but she had never, ever seen a baby bird before. Her whole form prickled in awe, or rather, “Awwww.”
When the baby hopped off Bhek’s back Xenia thought for a moment that it was falling. She squeaked in horror at the thought of this tiny creature accidentally giving itself a boo-boo, but the bird landed safely and she let out a sigh of relief and inched closer. “Hello little bird,” she cooed sweetly. “Are you okay? That was a big fall. I hope you’re not scared.”
She was so caught up in concern over the baby bird that she didn’t notice Adonis watching.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:58 pm
The cheetah smiled at Xenia' fascination with his chick friend and lay down beside them to watch. "Her name's Kitra." He stated softly before his ear twitched at a soft noise from behind. Bhek's head turned and sharp eyes spotted a small form against the trees. Well, well, now who could that be? He stood again, turning around to call to the young cub. "Why hello there, squirt. Come on over here, I don't bite."
Kitra chirped again, giving a smile as Xenia spoke to her. "Fall?" She asked in a little baby voice as she waddled over to hop onto the lepon cub's nose. "I no fall. I jump." She squeaked cheerfully, giving her fuzzy wings another shake.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:24 am
Adonis padded forward at the cheetah's invitation, still a little wary of his sister. However, he saw that she was busying herself with some small brown puff, and could tell that there was nothing to be afraid of. Whatever the chirping little thing was, it had her full attention.
So he instead turned his blue eyes to the cheetah who had called him forward. He didn't say anything, but smiled innocently up at him as he sat down and curled his tail neatly around his paws. He looked and smelled unfamiliar, but Adonis wasn't one to be able to really tell the difference. The cub longed to introduce himself, but that wasn't likely to ever happen, so he just sat there, smiling, waiting for his sister to notice him there.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:45 pm
The baby bird’s already sharp claws pricked her skin, but she held herself steady and grew used to the sensation surprisingly fast. She lifted her head, just enough for the little bird to feel as if she were in the air, and giggled cautiously, doing her best to hold her nose steady. “You’re so cute! My name’s Xenia. You can call me Xexe.”
A black and pink form drew her attention. She caught herself, moving her eyes instead of her head. The sight of her brother gave her an odd feeling in her tummy. On one hand she felt glad to see him, on the other she felt irritated that someone else was trying to muscle in on her time with Bhek and his new friend. At least Adonis wasn’t ignoring her like the rest of her siblings. Satisfied with that, Xenia smiled and waved. “Hi Donny! That’s my big brother, Adnois.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:45 pm
Bhekizitha smiled down at the new cub, "Why hello, Adonis. It's nice to meet you." He greeted warmly as he lay down beside the pair and Kitra. "You can call me Bhek." The cheetah added, flicking his tail back and forth. "Were you out here to see what your sister was up to? Or were you just exploring?"
The little bird giggled softly as Xenia lifted her up into the air and flapped her small, puffy wings. "Xexe pretty name." Kitra complimented, peering down at the cub below her.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:13 pm
Adonis realized with a start that the small brown puff was alive as his sister raised her face with the little thing perched on her muzzle. He peered at it curiously for a while, unable to imagine what it could possibly be (it looked somewhat avian, but was somehow different from any bird he'd ever seen before), then warmly purred at his sister to show that all hard feelings had been forgiven.
Turning his attention back to the cheetah, who seemed to be bombarding him with questions, he awkwardly opened and closed his mouth, unable to give him a straightforward answer. He glanced over at Xexe meekly, trying to show that he was here to see what she was up to.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:50 pm
Distracted by the chirping bird, Xenia almost forgot about her brother. When she saw the desperate look on his face her smile suddenly turned to a frown. Even though she was having a lot of fun playing with her new friends, Donny looked totally helpless in front of Bhek. She tilted her head back slightly, indicating that Kita should move onto her head. When Kita was in a safe spot, Xenia walked toward her brother and sat at his side, bumping her muzzle against his in greeting before turning to Bhek.
“He doesn’t talk.” She never used the word can’t. Their nanny said Adonis might talk someday, but more importantly, she thought that can’t was a harsh word and didn’t want her brother to feel disabled.
“I mean, he does say things, just differently,” she added, feeling bad for leaving him standing there so long. She glanced at Adonis, studying his expression. Sometimes figuring out what he meant was still a challenge. “Like he says… he was following me… because we like to stick together. He… wanted to know where I was going.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:06 pm
The cub was mute? That silenced Bhek for a moment before he smiled warmly, trying to show that he didn't care. "Ah. I used to hang out with my brother all the time too." He glanced to Xenia then back to Adonis as he tried to think of a way to converse with the cub. "Have you ever been the meadows before?" The cheetah finally asked, keeping to a simple yes or no question.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:03 pm
Adonis nodded warmly at both his sister and the cheetah, glad to see they both understood. He often got a strange reaction when others were told that he couldn't speak, which was a little bothersome, but at least there was no trouble this time. But to answer the second question, he shook his head no. He typically just stayed in the thicker jungle - he and his sister liked trees too much. That's probably where their leopard blood shone, but the little cub's lion side had never seen open lands. His nanny didn't like him to wander.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:46 pm
“Adonis and I usually just play in the jungle. I didn’t even know we had meadows until the other day!” She grinned at Bhek. Meadows was a new word and using it made her feel a little wiser of the world, a little more grown up. She wished Adonis could say it, too.
“I was wondering if you could show us around. Is there another jungle on the other side?” Xenia glanced at Adonis, hoping he would come with her. Exploring would be a lot more fun now that her brother was here.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:35 pm
"There's sort of a jungle. Let me show you." The cheetah smiled and traced a circle in the dirt with his paw. "Say this is the grasslands, the jungle goes all over here." Now he waved his hand over two thirds of the circles outline. "But that part where there's not jungle, the grasslands meet up with Lake Victoria. Have either of you ever seen the lake?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:43 pm
The little black cub peered down at Bhek's little drawing in the dirt, trying to soak up the information. It was rather simple, but he didn't really bother trying to connect the dots. He would just follow his sister and the cheetah, if only to satisfy his curiosity.
Quite frankly, Adonis hadn't the slightest idea of what a lake even was. He cocked his head to the side with a charmingly curious expression, his lilac-tufted forehead creased with confusion. He slowly shook his head left-to-right, giving the universal gesture "no."
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