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 Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:22 am
Chidubem'sylar lazed on a stone the same color as his pelt. It was hot and arid, away from the waterfall, and while surveying the lands, he panted. He had just been so... bored lately, his brothers and sisters, and himself all having outgrown play-fights and games. He needed something to stimulate his brain. Something besides these flies... He shook his head, scattering the insects away.
That was one reason he'd took to wandering the pride's borders. That and his warrior rank, it was his duty to protect the pride, and it was the only reprieve he had. However, there wasn't always much protecting to do, as though some external force showered the pride in protection. He sighed. Heavily. There just was never anything to keep him interested in this pride. He'd thought of leaving it before, but he couldn't stand the thought of his parents' reactions. So he was trapped here, in a sense. And he snarled at the rogue lands, as if they mocked him in their freedom.
She'd figured out a lot of things, in her life, not that she was old. Two and a half summers old, a brand new adult. She had the muscle to prove it, but the height and body mass, she lacked. But she made up for it with her brain, if she could be bothered. Lipi was a very lazy lioness. That much was proven by how she walked, hardly picking her paws up, at a slow rate, a neutral expression on her face.
Some noise caught her attention and an ear flicked towards it. Was it a snarl? Interesting... But so troublesome. She turned her walking path towards the snarl and sighed at the sight she was greeted with. Why bother with the flies? They didn't hurt, exactly. Sure, maybe made her flinch, but the had to eat too, right? Then again, he might not be mad at the flies. Should she find out? "What's your problem?" She asked, her tone lazy, voice like cool water over warm skin.
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:44 am
Chidub glanced down at the lioness from his perch. He hadn't the faintest of who they were or what they wanted. But this juvenile or whatever wasn't hardly worth his time, after all, what harm could they do to the pride. Or maybe they were a member. He couldn't really be moved to care. But, alas. It was his job to care.
"That's none of your business. What's your name? Where are you from?" He barked out, stretching his forelegs as he did, hoping for satisfactory answers that would leave him be, or if a foreigner, to scare her away with his cold demeanor.
Chidub's tail whipped back and forth, as he grew more agitated, simply brushing aside her question and her cool tone of voice.
His barking questions, cold voice, the way his eyes looked over her. She didn't care. If she did, at least, she didn't show it. With a yawn, Lipi laid down on the spot where she had stopped and looked up at him, tossing her bangs from her eyes. Those golden orbs studdied him, looked to his tail and then a smirk curled slowly around her mouth.
"I'm Lipi and I come from nowhere, really," she answered in time, tilting her head to start bating her shoulder. Her own tail curled up around her, showing just how many shades of brown were on this small female. "What about you?" Tone forever lazy; raising her voice was a waste of energy she just didn't want to do.
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:08 am
A moan inside. Chidubem closed his eyes and rolled them, another deep heaving sigh. She was trouble already, though she didn't act the part. He stared down at her, mouth a hard line. "Well... Lipi... Where's your mother?" He stared beyond her, looking for himself. Of course, her young age didn't really mean that she was with anyone. She could have been abandoned.
What a pity. He didn't really care.
He didn't think he would care if she were his. He crossed his paws over one another, and laid his head on them while he waited for her response.
"Presumed dead. I'm two and a half summers old and I do not remember her." Of course Lipi knew what he was getting at. Yes, yes. She looked so young, and acted like a lazy cub. Still, she knew better than to actually put up a verbal argument it made her sound stupid and childish; or it did the last time it happened. She didn't care if he didn't believe her, but her voice gave away the truth and only the truth. Her tail swatted to and fro, waiting for some kind of response to that.
"I was abandoned, raised by an elderly lioness that died when I was but a juvenile, but it was her time. I spent my time watching prides hunt, and then figured out a way to hunt for myself. First only catching small rabbits," she sighed. This part of the talking thing, she hated. It was more than a sentence. Usually they asked how someone so young could survive on their own, and she was explaining that before hand.
"Don't go sympathetic, either. Just told you the truth."
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:24 am
His eyes went wide, she was as old as him. Hmm. He wasn't filled with sympathy, no, but more of surprise. He stood, and walked down from his lofty perch, treading carefully down the steep slope, until he was at her level. Closer up, she did look bigger, yet with him standing next to her as a comparison, she was even smaller. He watched her, calculating that her lean life would explain her size. Something in his dark golden eyes sparkled, as she just barely woke his interest.
After all, he'd never actually met someone from out of the pride. And no less a female of his own age... Deep down, he was still much of a cub, but he wasn't oblivious... Such thoughts bothered him, and looking startled, he shook his thick, white mane. Chidubem glanced back at her, took a few steps away, and sat, further sizing her up. But for what purpose? He wasn't sure.
She rose when he neared, much to her surprise. Lipi just wanted to stay laid down and comfortable. It was getting way to hot out here for her darker coat. She realized, in fact, she was darker than him, but she still didn't know his name. Her own golden eyes watched as something waged in on that head of the strangers and she cocked an eye brown, sighing quietly. His mane matched her underbelly and lower jaw, she noted. Still, she wanted to know, at least, who she was talking too. So she'd repeat herself one more time.
"What's your name? You never told me." She let the words slip out in a lazy drawl, not caring if he thought of her as one lazy female. Hey, the other females she ran into were such busy bees. That lie wasn't for her, she didn't want to be on the run all the time. She liked taking things slow. She didn't miss much that way.
Lipi also realized that he had different colors on his back legs. The markings were interesting. Attractive? Maybe? Did she really know what attractive was? She'd been on her own for so long, she didn't find anything attractive anymore. All the scenery blurred together to create one big background of her life. Now she studied his face. He had a nice face, she guessed, with simple patterns on his cheeks, nose.. that matched the stripe going down his back and his back paws. Hm. Maybe he was attractive, in a weird way, anyway.
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:00 am
"...Chidubem'Sylar. Chi, Chidub, Chidubem, Sylar, whatever you will." He almost hated introducing himself. Or at least he did this time. He accredited it to his parents having always done it for him. Something else about her unnerved him. Maybe it was the way she spoke lazily, it made her sound like she had the upper hand. Like he was the nervous one. Again, he frowned in her direction. Maybe what really was getting to him was the manner in which she seemed to be sizing him up as he moved. It wasn't really threatening, like she was trying to find his weak point. Her's was her size, obviously. But it was awkward. Or at least that was how she made him feel.
"Just what are you looking at?"
He returned her gaze in a way, but he wasn't quite sure what he was looking for. But he noticed the shimmering tones and shades of brown that changed and shifted in different life, her white stomach and the circles around her eyes. They gave her an interesting expression, like the appearance of the whites of her eyes when her lids were heavy. He smirked and continued without thinking. The stripe on her sides... It was delicate and unnoticeably, he quirked his head. And her eyes, well, they were a richer gold than his own, Chidub's like wet sand in comparison.
Why was he so nervous all of the sudden? He didn't like that. He may have liked her looks (he wasn't sure), but he hated this foreign feeling.
"An interesting male with gentle markings upon his face, though he seems nervous about me looking," she drawled again, a rich laughter filling the air following her words. Nervousness wasn't something she knew very well. Nothing really got to her, because she didn't let her. "Why don't you just relax, Sylar? It isn't like I'm going to hurt you or anything," she explained, sitting back down, tail curling about her front paws. Why was he so nervous? She wanted to know, that, and what nervousness felt like.
The workings of the body was something she was just learning how to study, that and expressions. His expression confused the hell out of her, but she didn't let it show. Other than the laugh, and small smiles, she remained neutral. She didn't have to impress him. Her tail flicked again as she watched him study her, her eyes following his own.
Yes, his eyes were the color of wet sand, but she loved that dull color. "I've never seen a coat such as yours, color wise, or with your markings. They stand out, yet blend so well with the rest of you." She'd elaborate fo him, so he wouldn't question what she was talking about.
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:56 am
He stood, more uncomfortable still. What he gathered from her words was that frankly. He was cute. No one had said anything like that since his younger days, while he was still a fraction of his size and his parents doted on their newborns. He hadn't thought of anyone to be cute in just as long. He turned away from her, letting her get a load of his butt. Like there was anyway she'd think that was cute. He lowered his head, white mane covering his brown eyes, and he pretended to sniff at the sand or some invisible traces of another lion, when really, he stared back in her direction.
It was frustrating! He didn't like being in a position like this. And why was he so tense? It just made him all the more unnerved. He scoffed. "Hurt me? You couldn't if you tried." He surely wasn't issuing a challenge, but somehow he felt he had to regain the upper hand.
"Lipi, I am sworn to protect these lands. What is your purpose?" There it was, distract her. After all, he really was in charge here.
No, she didn't think she could hurt him. Quite the opposite in fact. He'd hurt her if it came down to it. She knew hot to pick and chose her fights. This one, she wouldn't even bother starting. HIs size and weight meant he'd do more injury than she could. She was quick, but she didn't do a lot of damage. Over time, maybe, but if he got one good swipe on her sides or her underbelly, she was a goner.
When Sylar turned his rear to her, she arched a brow and moved over to him. It was rude, what he did, but she did get to see that tail of his. She saw where the stripe ended, saw the rings around the middle of his tail and noticed that, like her, the tuft at the end was a different color than his mane. A smile appeared on Lipi's face as she listened to him. He was so nervous, and it made her want to make him even more nervous, as bad as that seemed. Would she put the effort into it, though?
"I've no reason for being here. I'm just wandering. I decided, despite how bare it is in this area, I am going to explore. In the back of my mind, something tells me the rain will fall soon, leading me to the rich waters that lay hidden within a cave or something." It was true. When it rained, Lipi always knew where the most water would be and usually lounged in the pools that gathered, bathing herself of the dust that was, no doubt, coating her fur already.
"Why do you ask? I'm not a threat."
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:54 pm
Detaching himself was soothing, and he stood tall and proud. "Any intruder to the En Gedi is a threat. Size isn't always a factor." He thought, as she spoke, of the thundering water fall at the heart of the pride. Maybe if she was tired, he could lead her there? Just for a break before sending her on her way... But no! What was he saying? His thoughts and words were in conflict, and it was driving him mad. Maybe she would like to take around, consider staying for a while...
There it was again! Without staring at her, he made a face, and shook his head, flicking his ears, and his pelt shuddering.
But he turned over his shoulder again to look at her, and with a slight sigh, he asked, his voice more gentle than it had been in quite some time, "There's such a cave in the pride lands, if you'd like, you may refresh yourself and stay for a while. I'll escort you there... If you'd like."
Curse this Lipi and they way she made him feel.
A place she could rest and bathe. That sounded.... right up her alley. Lipi was feeling the weight of her journey getting heavier upon her as she talked to him. Thinking his offer over, Lipi nodded a bit and gave that same lazy chuckle. "That's mighty nice of you. I'd like that, actually..." She said with that tone of hers. She couldn't change it if she wanted too. The brown female knew she sounded like she was high on catnip or something. It was just her natural speech.
"Lead the way, Sylar." She wouldn't comment on his shuddering and the inward battle. That would be plain rude, and she might not be able to stay in the pride. For once, Lipi wanted to sleep somewhere safe and slightly warm. Besides, the promise of rain was strong in the air though the clouds hadn't gathered just yet. It would rain by late tonight. Before the sun rose.
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:19 pm
Chidubem nodded, and turned to walk back around the perch he had once held. He hoped he didn't get in any trouble for bringing Lipi in. But surely he wouldn't. She was no danger, and the pride was small, it could use more members, even if they were only temporary. He was proud, almost that she would follow him. But his ears lay flat on his head as he thought of what his parents would say. Hopefully Tzi and Kingu'jua wouldn't jump to any conclusions about him bringing back a lioness...
He looked over his shoulder to see if she was following... Chidubem would make sure of it.
Lipi followed him where he led her and yawned a few time the whole way there. Apparently it was hitting her harder than she realized. She'd have to bathe after she got a nap in. Really, her naps was actual sleep, but she just called it a nap. She didn't look like she'd run or anything, so he really had nothing to worry about. Her eyes did glance around, looking at things, trying to spot other members of the pride to see how they looked. Maybe it was a pride that only let a certain type or color of lion it. It wasn't unheard of.
When they got to the cave he promised, she gave him a small smile, muttered a thanks, and slipped into the darkest part of the cave, out of his sight. If he wanted to join her, she wouldn't protest as long as he didn't get to close. But she had a feeling he had to get back to patrolling the borders.
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