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 Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:07 pm
 Wan stretched, enjoying the final rays of the sun as it sank beneath the horizon. Another thing she'd discovered about herself on this journey that was different than her parents...Wan loved the dusk and night. It was...more calming, soothing...And the voice inside her heart grew louder and easier to hear. No longer whispers, but a friend talking right beside her. Kucha would wake soon enough, but for now...Wan enjoyed the sunset from her vantage point on a hill. It was a shame such a thing could not be captured and stored in anything but memory.Coeur had mixed feelings about the waning day. Her white coat grew dim and dirtied by dusk, and maybe perhaps she preferred the high noon. She was nearly translucent in the wavering heat of the plains, however, the night was also a wonderful time, particularly in the phase of a new moon. Her white was then black, and only her bleeding heart was distinguished, and her silver eyes caught only the starlight in wicked twinklings. Her head, unlike Wan, was... Well, mostly empty. There was a voice, but she thought it her own thoughts. They might have been cruel, but she was no demon! No, Coeur was a lady. A pretty lady. Wan's ears perked up as an unfamiliar scent reached her nose. Odd...She hopped down from her resting place, large body lowering to the ground. With silent steps, she stalked forward, curious to see who else was out here. When her blue eyes caught sight of who the scent had come from, she smiled. What an interesting looking lioness. She stood, and started forward again. "Good evening! I don't often see others awake at this time!" It was true. Usually it was herself and Kucha and they ran into few others during their nights.Coeur's mouth instantly fell into a purse. She hadn't planned on interaction. And when she did, she liked to be the instigator. She tilted her head, her black-lined ears flopping a little, and she cleared her throat before she responded. "Uhm, hello! Haha, I'm not usually up this late." It was true, she wasn't very comfortable when approached. But she was now sizing up this lioness. Her coat matched that of the sky. It was gentle and pretty. Which Coeur wasn't a fan of. No one was as pretty as her!
In the dark, a sort of smirk crossed her face. "I'm Coeur. How... And who, are you?" Her silver eyes glinted, not sure just what was going through her own mind at the moment. Wan stayed perfectly amiable and polite. "Wanwa'hnwma is my name. Very nice to meet you. I am well, just enjoying the beginning of the night before my charge awakes." Despite her politeness, there was something 'no nonsense' about her words. And the way she sat, just out of claws' reach, screamed a fighter, though she made no move to strike at the white lioness. "How are you, Coeur? And what led you to being up so late?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:10 pm
 Coeur's mouth was agape for a second. Wawawawhat something. Mmkay. Wan it was. "Charge? As in 'ward'? As in a cub or a kid or a prisoner?" Of course she would have thought for the latter. The thought of caring for something living never occurred to her. There was no 'mothering' instinct in the lioness. It was a burden! Taking care of her own self was too, sometimes when times were tough. But oh, she didn't want to offend Wan. She wasn't the brightest, but she knew her manners, and in the nocturnal hours, it was typically wise to use them. "How fun!" She smiled, tilting her head, and offering what seemed to be a genuine smile.
Upon being questioned herself, she shrugged, "I guess the time just flew by, and here I am! Up and awake and wandering around, I suppose it's because I haven't found a place yet to spend the night, but I'm sure that'll resolve itself soon. It always does." Coeur seemed calm and collected, but her bleeding heart wasn't quite in her words.Wan chuckled. "A ward, of sorts. He was separated from his family, and I found him. Couldn't leave him." Such an odd female she'd run across. There was something not-quite-right about the way she spoke. "There's a few good trees and a collection of boulders not far from here. Or you could take the place my charge and I slept in. He'll be awake soon enough, and we'll be on our way." There was no reason for her to not offer some help in finding a fellow lioness a place to sleep.Coeur tilted her head in the other direction clucking. "Tsk tsk. It's always so sad when that happens. Very lucky of him for you to have come along." Bah, she didn't really care. She couldn't even remember her own parents that well, but it didn't bother the lioness any. However, she did recognize that she might be coming off as a little too... Well, for her 'normal', but to another, not quite with it, so she would have to be sure to watch her responses.
Thinking on Wan's offer, she wondered. "Hmmm." Both offers had their qualities, but she decided on the first. "Oh, I think the former sounds more interesting. Plus I wouldn't want to cause a hassle of any sort while you two are trying to get on your way." Huh. Be more normal! "Are you looking for his family?" Her interest sounded very near genuine, to her at least, and she hoped it passed on to Wan.Wan nodded. "He is lucky. He...wasn't in good shape when I found him." She remembered the dirty, hungry mess Kucha had been. It had nearly broken her heart to find a cub like that. She didn't question the almost...flat way the other lioness said her concerns. Not all could express themselves like she and Kucha. And...well, she didn't always express herself very well either.
"It's this way than." She started towards the area she had mentioned, careful not to move too quickly. "We keep an eye out during our travels, but...we mostly gave up a while ago." She drooped. "We just haven't seen a sign of them recently. Not even a cold trail to follow."Coeur pouted, "Poor dear." It did sound like an awful thing for a cub to go through. And that's why she would never be caught dead pregnant, because even if she did have them and ended up trying for the sake of trying, she'd no doubt feel at least a little bit badly about losing one or accidentally killing another.
The lioness followed Wan willingly, her pale eyes sharp in the fading light for the purple lioness. So they'd given up? Coeur didn't condone that at all. That was failure, and that was not an option. "Well maybe someday, just by chance, you'll find them when you aren't even looking. That wouldn't be so bad."
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:54 pm
Wan nodded. "It...it would be nice to run across them again. I've grown fond of him, but...I am no replacement for his family." She would not let her darker feelings show though. But...if they found his family, she would miss Kucha terribly. Perhaps they would let her stay with them? "We keep an eye out while we travel, just in case we do come across them or their trail." Or rumors of them. After all, the way Kucha described his mother, she was a very distinctive leopardess.The white female eyed Wan, perhaps she was fonder than she first thought, and maybe selfishly she wanted to keep and mother the boy. Well, if he'd been abandoned she didn't really see much wrong with the situation. She'd do the same herself, after all. But, then again, Coeur was a lioness that would justify getting what she wanted in any way possible.
She hoped she wasn't over stepping her bounds, but she was too curious... "Do you really want to find them all that badly?" Her voice was hushed, just in case it was a touchy subject, but those were Coeur's favorite.Wan smiled sadly. "For his sake, yes. I...I wouldn't really mind too much if we could never find them. But...he misses them. So his sake, I will never truly give up on looking." Her own family had taught her that if you truly loved someone or something, you would do what was right by them, as best you could. And so Wan would hold herself to that. "And I refuse to betray the trust he has put in me by simply...giving up for my own benefit."Coeur watched Wan intently. So she was right! To a degree. "How selfless." This statement was even quieter than the first, and her ears flicked back. There was no way she could ever do the same. A sigh escaped her red chest, and while walking, her shoulders rolled in a shrug. But they were two very different lionesses, on the inside as well as the out. Morals hadn't been instilled in her in the least, but it seemed her companion was good. Very much so. Something within Coeur admired that aspect, which surprised her more than Wan's answer. Wan would have blushed if she could. "I uh..." She ducked her head, then chuckled. "Well...enough of the deep subjects." She stopped, and motioned ahead of them with a paw. "We're here." She had enjoyed the conversation. But...well, she didn't really like talking about what her own motives were, be they selfish of selfless. She was simply a guardian, a protector. "It was good to meet you, Coeur. And the conversation was intriguing."Coeur bobbed her head, finding the shelter to be far better than what she'd been expecting before she'd come across Wan. "Thank you very much, and I wish you all the best luck in finding- or not finding the boy's parents." She smiled and disappeared into the natural den, black-tipped tail waving a final farewell to her new acquaintance.The end.
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