Nighttime was getting so...boring. So few creatures roamed the night now that she was a ways from her birth-pride. It saddened, infuriated, and annoyed Anameleth to the point of wanting to actually strike out at something. Normally...she preferred less physical methods but right now...UGH. She snorted and flopped down in the grass, glaring up at the bright THING in the sky through squinted eyes. It was round like the moon...but a BAJILLION times brighter! She'd decided to stay up instead of go to sleep before the sun rose...but now the brown and black cub was regretting that choice. She was exhausted, hot, and half-blinded.
That just added to Meleth's BAD mood. She grinned in dark glee as a small furry thing skittered past her. Oh goody....something to take her frustrations out on. The cub proceeded to try stalking it, not realizing just how much noise she made and how unthreatening she looked to the rodent. She was, afterall, a little scruffy, definitely underfed, and dusty.
It had been a long day, for her family - everything was going well enough - Jamala told her that they were going to be close to where they were going soon - and this made her feel pretty good. If she wasn't so tired. Meandering in the daylight, her pelt glinting off the natural sunlight as she pranced forward, hopeless abandon to whatever was with her that day.
Hearing something much larger than normal off to the side, she stopped dead in her tracks for a moment, blue eyes piercing, watching for whatever had made that noise. After a few moments, she shook her head, throwing it to chance, or just co-incidence . . . heck, it could even have been her 'seering' going nuts. Taking back to her wild abandon, her time away from her parents, she took a deep breath in, enjoying the smallest of winds that the daylight allowed through. It wasn't much after this that she heard the skirmish again, turning around once more and calling out into the unknown. "I can hear you out there! Come out and face me like a man!" Yeah. That'll do it.
Meleth had tried pouncing the rodent a few times, only to end in failure as the creature dodged her. She growled and tried once more, only to be thwarted by an unfamiliar female voice. As the rodent scurried off in amusement (Meleth was CERTAIN she was the source of its laughter), the cub turned in the direction of the voice. Whoever owned it would pay for spoiling her fun! Forgetting any attempts to be sneaky, she just tromped in the direction of the voice, obviously very unhappy...and not at all scary looking.
"MAN? I happen to be a GIRL thank you! And you just chased off MY prey!" She growled cubbishly, red eyes narrowed. "What do you have to say for THAT, mis-colored?!" She didn't CARE if she wasn't in the Aikanaro'hini anymore...This...THING was bright-and-pale-colored. It wasn't...NATURAL. At least her pelt was a proper dark color...even if it was half brown.
It didn't take very long for her to find her source of confusion - it came to her. And it came to her fast and full of fluffy fury. Jerking her head back with a smirk on her face and an eyebrow cocked, she watched the cub trounce over, indignation in full effect as it yelled at her. A cub! A new friend maybe? She was very dark like Jamala was - a stark difference from her own bright blues and whites - just like momma was.
"Ah! I'm sorry princess, you were making enough noise for a small herd of gazelle!" she joked, face showing only pure amusement as the rage bared itself on the cub's face. It elated her, she wanted to know what kept her so angry! "I'm sure there's more than one little rodent or something around here, I could help you if you want? I'm a Hero for hire!" she chirped, raising her head high, pride glinting off of her. Her aunt would have been proud. Opening one eye, she looked down to the cub for a second. "And to me, you're a strange shade, I've never seen someone so dark~!"
Meleth was caught COMPLETELY off guard, to say the least. She blinked...and blinked again. She was angry and yet...this...this...non-demon was just...CHEERFUL! It made NO sense whatsoever. And how did this stranger know she was a princess?! A self-exiled one, but still of royal blood! She snorted and tried to hold herself proudly, anger dissipating a little. "Perhaps there are more..." But they seemed to take pleasure in staying away from her claws and belly. "But I'd spent quite a while tracking that one." Not entirely false. It had been a while...for a cub.
The stranger's next line would have angered Meleth again had it not been for the end of that sentence. Never seen someone so...The...THE HORROR! Not only was this thing pale like a Na'artu, it had been surrounded by pale things?! Meleth's face showed her surprise. "You...you are joking, yes?"
The emotions that graced the cub's face was a little amusing to the teenage lioness, her smile never wavering from her white muzzle, obscuring her wing markings a little in her elation. This little one was so proud - her aunt would have doted over her so much . . . and it was kind of exciting to meet a personality she had never seen before. Nodding with the first statement, she could only remark with hmms, and ahas, before thinking. "That could prove a problem, but I'm here for awhile, before I leave on our grand adventure again?" She offered. The cub had looked so lonely.
The second question had thrown her off for a moment, her head cocking to one side, face reflecting a sort of "oh" look at the cub. Was she in the dark? "No, I'm not joking. Jamala's the closest I know to super dark, but even he has whites and blues on him. I've never seen another lion as dark as the night time. It's kind of foreign!" she remarked, glad to have chalked something new up to tell her father when she returned to his side. "Is blue that weird to you?" This was new . . and yet exciting!
Meleth seemed to droop a bit. What sort of world had she ventured into?! It was nuts, that was certain. She sighed and shook her head. "Where I was born...such coloring as you have indicated a slave, whether you were born to a slave or not." She tilted her head, curiosity replacing anger and surprise. "We...do have some blue. But it is mostly dark, or with darker colors." Like the Sparda Aran'shale and his brood. "White is a very bad color for demons."
Her tummy rumbled a bit, reminding her that she hadn't managed to grab that damned rodent. "Perhaps...another rodent wouldn't be so...bad." She WAS very hungry. Fending for herself had been far harder than she'd thought.
"Demons! How interesting." She stated, curiousity perking up from behind her eyes - something that never died out in hre cubhood. "I've never met a demon! This is an interesting meeting, I mean, I'm the daughter of a god! It's like we're polar opposites, or something." How interesting! She never expected demons to really exist! Oh, what would Jamala say when she returned to his side, he'll be so curious. "Seems kind of funny that pelt colour can make your rank fall, thought." Nevertheless, she could see that the cub was starting to succumb to hunger - so in one fell swoop, she was back up on her black tipped paws, ready for action.
"Never fear, a hero's here." she murmured happily, when she heard that the cub was starting to hunger. It was pretty late in the day, so she figured that more rodents would be out and about to fend for themselves. She started to trot around, searching the grounds for any movement, head high - hunting instinct wired back into her head as she ventured around. But, she was still interested with what the cub had to say, and answering.
Meleth followed, hunger and curiosity speaking louder than anything else. "Daughter of a god?" Oh my! This was far more interesting than anything else she'd come across! "You know...according to my father, one of the demon-kings, there are demon-gods. One is the God of Demons himself. The other is the God of Nobility." It was one of the lessons EVERY cub born to the demons learned...whether they were demons or slaves. And she had been no exception. She bounced a bit, trying to keep in step with the older lioness. "It's because demon-souls don't like pale coats. And the pride IS a demon-pride." After all...demons came from deep within the belly of the earth. There certainly wasn't anything pale down there, definitely.
She watched her new companion carefully, and tried at times to imitate her. Older lions knew how to hunt, right? Did it matter if they were demon-colored or not? Meleth was getting tired of empty bellies. "What's....a hero?" THe blue girl kept using that word, but the cub had no idea what it meant.
Flickering an ear, Roho listened intently to the cub's chattering while she searched the land. The cub was kind of right, it was quiet for such a lovely day on the grounds, but it didn't bring her down. She was very patient. Turning her attention to the cub once again for a moment, she nodded happily, the conversation enticing her so. Who would have thought a demon and a god's child would work so well? "I wouldn't put it past them. Jamala is the God of Virtue, and my Aunt is the Goddess of Sin. You can really tell that they counter-balance, she's a little rough around the edges, and Jamala is pretty good about everything." She donated, smiling as she talked about her family warmly. "Gotta take the go~od with the bad."
As she was going to respond the cub's second question with a sense of shock and indignation, she spotted a bit of movement in a small bush, and instantly crouched down, trying to make herself as low as possible - it was kind of easy to spot a large blue feline from a mile away, unless she had skills. "I see it~!" she murmured to the cub, the little rodent unaware of it's demise in lion form, a little further away. "Would you like the honours, or shall I?" she offered. It was much better when one could take it's own food for itself - and the cub looked like she held her own pride high.
Sin and Virtue? Meleth found it rather strange the two would be siblings. But it...also made sense, in a way. "The good...and the bad..." She wrinkled her nose. It didn't really make sense to her...but she'd figure it out one day. And when she did, she was certain things would be a little easier. It just...felt that way. She was distracted from her next question by the arrival of food. Red eyes wide, she dropped as low to the ground as she could get, the dark grin returning to her face. "I would very much like to make the killing blow." That would clear the stain on her 'honor'. Her siblings had all killed such a small creature before her, after all!
Keeping silent, she started forward, freezing everytime the mouse might have looked her way...and then stepped heavily on its tail before crunching its neck in her maw. It wasn't a very clean kill, as the thing struggled a bit before dying, and it certainly wasn't the most graceful.
Roho raised her eyebrows as she watched the dark cub meander off to take the kill of the robot, the dark tone in her voice one that she was not used to - her mother at times did seema little deep and dark, but never like this. She guessed it was what being a demon was. This was all still a little new to her, but it kept her intregued. She couldn't help it - it was new. Lifting her bright blue body, she took a seat in her crouching spot, ears flickering back and forth while she waited for the finish.
"Now where were we. Ah! Yes you asked what a hero was!" she exclaimed over the small distance they had created, tailed flickering lightly behind her as a sense of glee took over. She loved talking about heroics. "I guess you could say a hero is the opposite of a demon. They're like . . " she paused, "The ultimate good! They go around and help those in peril. Like, I helped someone climb out of a quick-sand pit once. Jamala's always told me to go out and do good for everyone, ever since I was a little cub, tripping on his paws." She boasted, happiness and pride over her father pouring out around her.
Meleth ate as she listened, remembering the other's words well. "So...they go around helping others who are in trouble? Doesn't that...make it easier for you to get hurt?" Sure, Meleth liked CAUSING pain...but being on the other end...she wasn't so fond of that. "And what's so good about 'good'? Doesn't it change from creature to creature?" Despite the darkness in her eyes, the questions had an innocence to them...of someone who'd never known. She held up a bone from the mouse. "Like...drinking the blood of your kills is considered 'good' in the demon-pride. Because you gain the strength of your kill or enemy."
Roho shrugged at the first question, her face showing no change in emotion. This was interesting - never did she think she would find someone who could challenge a hero's way of thinking. "I would think it was the same way as being a 'demon'. You have to go against other demons, I'm sure. My aunt always has stories about going up against some serious brutes." she answered after a few seconds. "I don't even notice if I get hurt during my heroics - it's just another story to chalk up one day when I can tell my grandkids about gramma's awesome stories." she chirped, nodding sagely as she did so.
"Kind of interesting about the blood drinking. I always figured why not waste what you have, but the whole gaining strength thing is pretty smart. Kind of like a mental thing." She mulled, pawing her chin with one of her black dipped paws, smiling as she did so.
Meleth officially had a grudging sort of respect for this older lioness now. Not just because she was older...but because she thought about things while still keeping her own self. It was...a mindset Meleth had never encountered before. She liked it. A lot. She cracked something like a smile...nothing like her dark grin earlier. "I...never really fought much. My sisters and I were small, because of our mother. And I was always better with words and planning than with fighting." She thought. "But demons do fight one another. Some fight more than others." Those ones she thought to be fools. Serisouly...what use was a brain if it was dashed out on the ground? "You...you are strange." She nodded. "But I like you."
She couldn't help but gleem a little when the little one finally cracked the ghost of a smile, feeling that she had done some good today. It hadn't even been much, just a little philosephy and hunting, (even if she hadn't done much there. . .) She could come to like this little one - she was a lot different than what Roho had imagined a "demon" to be. She had always imagined more blood and scary claws and anger. It was kind of nice, actually. "Sometimes, all you need is words to win the battle, Jamala told me once." She mused, before taking her own spot to lay down, a big yawn showing her growing tire.
"You need the brains to controll the brawns or you'll find yourself making a mistake one day, driven by your power, I think." she finished, before smiling at the cub. "I think I like you too, I haven't had such a nice conversation in a while. You have a pretty good head on your shoulders."
Meleth liked this praise. Praise from someone that wasn't her mother. It made her...happy? Yes. That was the word. "Someone in my family had to get the brains. Besides Ri." Ri....the only creature from her family that she really and truly missed. She shook her head to clear it. "I like the idea of winning with words. Words...they have more impact than claws or teeth." Words stayed longer, and ran deeper. It was far harder to forget words than a healed scratch. The cub's mouth parted in a yawn that seemed almost too big for her small frame, showing her own exhaustion. The dark little one curled up where she was, around the mouse's bones. " 'm sleepy..."
Roho couldn't help but chortle a little, before taking a few steps over the cub before muttering "There's always one who has all the brains in the family, I know it," before winking to her and flopping down closer to the dark fuzzball. "Luckily for me, I'm an only cub, so I got it all." She finished that thought, grinning ear to ear in a lazy sleepy way.
Taking a glance around the area, she looked down at the cub, raising her eyebrows a little, "Um, do you have any place to go? You seemed pretty alone when you came here. If not, I'm sure I could stick around for a little longer - Jamala wouldn't leave till sunrise, anyways." She offered, flopping her tail over her legs, lazily. "Strength in numbers, they say."
She thought for a moment...then shook her head. There was strength in numbers, and she didn't feel like hiding from scavengers again. "I have nowhere to go." Not anymore. She'd exiled herself, in a way. She yawned again. "Someone else around would be...nice." And not so lonely. Even in the demon-pride, there ahd always been others around. "I'm Anameleth." Her liar's name. But she had every intention of making the meaning true...She'd show her mother wrong. "What's your name?"
Roho was taken aback - she had just realized with the little one's question, that they had never even given their names. But she was too tired to react as openly as she had before. Damn the setting sunlight - it was starting to take a toll on her energy. Smiling still, she looked down to the little 'demon', "Demani'Roho, but you can call me Roho," a quick response for her. "What can I call you, my little demon friend?" she queried - finding warmth in exchanging names.
Anameleth answered sleepily, nearly in the land of dreams. "Meleth. Can call me...Meleth." The nickname brought up a lot of memories...but it was hers. And no way was she going to let anything, even herself, take it from her. She wiggled a bit, getting comfy. "Nice to meet you, Roho." Soon after that, her eyes drooped closed and her breathing steadied to the pattern of someone asleep. It had been a good day, despite the start.
"Meleth, that's a very nice name." she murmured, even after the cub had drifted off to the next world, a world without worry. With a smile, she too found her head heavy, resting it next to the dark cub, her bright blues contrasting with the dark blood red that the other had claim over. Today was a good day, she had been a hero again, even if no one had seen. Tomorrow would be a new start.
