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 Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:33 am
 Home wasn't far off. In fact...they would likely reach it by the end of the day. Juu could smell the long traces of familiar scents as he waited for Gaelia to wake up. It was a little strange waking to a female so near him...but it was kind of nice. Gaelia acted a bit contrary....but she was a wonderful traveling companion otherwise. And really...after the females he had grown up with, Gaelia's behavior didn't perturb him.
Blinking, he finally realized exactly where he was. Standing, he looked about again, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't. With a sad smile, he trotted towards a large rock and went around it, to the side where time had worn a space into it where shelter from rain could be found. And where a partial set of bleached bones lay. "It's been a long time Mother."
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:48 am
Gaelia twisted over to lay on her other side, still blissfully unaware in her dreamland. But then the lack of warmth beside her, which was usually the great big body of Juu, was missing, and she woke up a bit grumpy. Her eyes blinked open and sure enough, he wasn't there. His scent was fresh, though, so she knew he couldn't have gone far. With a sigh, the lioness pushed herself to sit up, and then stood, yawning and stretching first before she tottered out of their shelter.
The last few days of traveling hadn't really been so bad. Really. They hadn't. Once she had learned to become a bit more patient with Juu's strange tendencies, it hadn't made for any more awkward conversations. They were a good pair to travel together.
She heard a voice and she followed it; her paws and ears led her to where Juu stood, in front of a little den with a set of sun-bleached bones laying there. They looked like...lion bones. Gaelia narrowed her eyes and sniffed at them.
"What are you doing here?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:54 am
Juu started a bit, having been lost in his memories rather than paying attention. He smiled at Gaelia, though it had a tinge of sadness to it. "This place...it isn't far from where Mwindaji found. And the bones..." He sighed. "They're my mother's. I recognized this place not long ago, after I woke." He looked back to the bones. "Did I ever tell you about my early days? Before Mwindaji found me, and took me home?" He wasn't sure if he had or not...it was one of those topics that liked slipping from his mind. It was a time that he, at times, wanted to forget...but he knew he had to remember it too.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:04 am
Oh, so they weren't too far? That was good news. She hadn't expected to have been so close to the lands in the first place, but then it made sense how they were taking their time while traveling.
"Oh. I'm..sorry." Gaelia wasn't too sure what to say to that; it wasn't every day that she encountered a friend's mother's bones just laying around like this. "No, you haven't. Yet."
Juu was good at telling stories. And she had learned to like them a lot more than she originally thought she would. He couldn't help himself, often enough, and told stories without even realizing it. So before, when they had first met, all she had wanted to do was to tell him to shut up and let her sleep, or have her quiet time. Now she had realized what a valuable skill that was, and she liked to hear the tales he would tell.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:15 am
Juu wasn't really aware he told stories. He just...let his memories, and the things others had told him out, when they needed to be said. Like now.
"My father died before I was born, killed by the rogues who overtook the pride. My mother, wounded and heartbroken and pregnant, fled the pride lands...but didn't go too far. I think my birth must have been hard on her, since she probably couldn't hunt well, and she was barely strong enough to catch rabbits while I was with her." He smiled at the bones. "But even though she had little strength, the love of the pride never left her. She would tell me stories of it at night. She'd gather me close, and whisper about it, since she hadn't the strength to do otherwise."
He chuckled. "She always hoped the pride would reform, and that I would get a chance to be part of it. It's sad she never got to see it happen. She died one night...her body just couldn't live any longer. I did my best to keep myself fed, and hidden from things bigger than me, and protect her body from the carrion feeders." The dust-colored lion pat the diagonal scar on his nose. "I got that one from a vulture who took offense to the fact I wouldn't let him feed on my mother. Soon after that...Mwindaji found me, much scruffier and thinner than I am now." The last line was said with a chuckle. Despite the sad reality of it...he couldn't help but find it humorous when he compared himself to his cub-self.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:29 am
Gaelia was, of course, very quiet during the story as it was told. Her eyes went to his nose as he mentioned his scar, and the imagery he painted allowed for her to truly see the scene before her: a small Juu, a cub, growling and fending off the vulture so it couldn't get to his mother's decomposing body. How long must he had stayed here, watching and protecting her, before he was found?
"Mm, so it seems like you learned how to hunt better, then," she commented with a small grin at his last comment. It seemed that when you were little, you could always eat so much but never gain any weight. And now, once you were older, anything and everything that was digested put fat on you somewhere else.
"I'm sorry," she said again. "My mother died protecting my father and me, and not soon after that, he ran away with another lioness." She guessed that's how she had grown up feeling the way she did about males, and being so harsh to everyone in the first place.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:34 am
He chuckled again. "Not really. Whenever I managed to catch a rabbit, I was ecstatic. Mostly...I fed on leftovers from others' meals." He gave her a sheepish smile. "And as you've found out...I'm still not a very good hunter. 'M much better at fighting." Even as a cub, he'd loved it...because it meant he could protect those he cared for.
His ears drooped a bit. "Seems we both lost our parents." He wrinkled his nose. "I rather hope your father got what was coming to him." To betray one's family like that...Juu found it very, very distasteful and dishonorable. "But...at least, we are here now."
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:52 am
She smiled and nodded, chuckling. "Well, then that's a good thing, as you no doubt do your pride and family proud. Besides, lionesses are better at hunting anyway. We don't have those big, fluffy manes that get in our way and scare off all the prey." She playfully poked his with a paw, gently.
"Yes, it seems like it. My father was dead to me the moment he left us, and I'm glad that I don't know him now." If she did, the lioness couldn't very well promise to play nicely and not rip her own father to shreds. It was one of those things that females had a knack for: holding grudges. And this applied.
"True. At least we're here now. But, now what? Do I just waltz right on into the pride with you? How do we go about this?" Even though she had said she was interested in learning about the pride, it was never promised that she would stay forever. Think of it as a little 'trial,' or something. She would be shown the ropes of the pride, what she would be doing if she joined, and what all went on and when. The basics, the foundation, the introduction.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:18 am
He couldn't help but laugh. "Ah yes...but they are useful in looking bigger than you really are." As if to emphasize, he struck a 'fierce' pose, deliberately looking more funny than fierce. "Which keeps poachers away~" Ugh...poachers. He knew hunting was hard work, and other predators poaching on the herds made things harder.
"Well...after we get into the pride lands, I introduce you to the kings. They determine if an outsider to the pride can stay...or just visit." He doubted they would refuse Gaelia, though. She was a nice lioness, strong and swift. And he'd been growing fond of her. At the very least, she was becoming a good friend. "If you're accepted, the kings tell you who you need to talk to after them."
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:29 am
She laughed as well, shaking her head at his silliness. Then she poked him again, his mane and shoulder. "Well, if you're looking like that, then I think others would run away laughing more so than in fear," she teased lightly.
Ah, so the kings...she would meet them, then. Gaelia would probably have to be on her best behavior for that, she supposed. Royalty was something you didn't really mess with unless you had a damn good reason to. Otherwise you were just asking for a death wish, unless the king in question liked that sort of thing. But to be on the safe side, she wasn't going to do anything silly like that.
"I see," she replied. "Well, that makes things a bit more easier. Are you ready to go, then?" The sooner they got there, the sooner she would know something more. And although half of her was hoping to be accepted and the other half wasn't, she knew that she would be just fine with the offer to live in the pride anyway. Juu would be there, and as good as a friend he was, she wouldn't mind that in the least.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:49 am
He smiled broadly, and nudged her in return. "All the better to catch them off guard." It was one of those half-serious, half-joke things he tended to make...he never could quite loose all his seriousness.
"Ready when you are, Gaelia." His smile turned into a smaller one of reassurance. "You don't need to be completely stuffy with the kings, by the way. Respectful...but not stuffy." He wanted them to see a glimpse of the Gaelia he'd seen as they traveled. Not all of it, though. In that respect, he was a little selfish...but that sort of selfishness was okay, right?
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:05 am
Gaelia giggled and nodded. That was true. The better chance one had of surprising and catching someone else off guard yielded the better chance of you winning.
She listened to the tip of advice with all seriousness, and put it in the corner of her mind for safe-keeping. "I see. I'll remember," she added, smiling up at him. "Thank you." And then she wanted to elaborate on that, because she knew and felt like he deserved a bigger explanation to why she was thanking him, exactly.
"I mean, just, thank you for everything. I know I wasn't all so nice when we first met, and I'm sorry about that. But thanks for putting up with me and helping me out anyway. It means a lot."
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:23 am
Juu blinked. "I...your welcome." He...hadn't been expecting that. He'd just been...well, himself. He'd never really thought he'd been doing anything worth thanks. In fact...he should have been thanking her.
"And thank you. You've given me something that I haven't really had..." He smiled again. "A friend. It...was hard to make friends, since there weren't many cubs my age, and the ones that were my age...were in fairly close-knit groups." And he wasn't the type to intrude. It...just wasn't nice.
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:53 pm
That made Gaelia laugh again, and she shook her head. "You're welcome, then. I didn't grow up with many friends either, so I'm glad that you found a friend in me. And I'm glad I found a friend in you, as well." She grinned at him.
"And, as far as being friends goes..." she trailed off and glanced around again. "Just make sure that I don't do something stupid. And if I do, tell me so I can apologize for it. I gotta admit, for all that I act like I don't like strangers, meeting important ones scares me to death."
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