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 Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:11 pm
She glanced over her shoulder, back at the dwindling mountains of her homeland, unsure how to feel about leaving them far, far behind. She knew she'd be back in a few days or so and nothing would have changed during that time.
And yet...
But no. No, she couldn't start getting homesick now! They'd only been gone a couple of hours and after all this dreaming and hoping, she was not going to let anything get in the way of her enjoying this adventure, no matter how short it was going to be!
She quickened her pace to catch up with her companion and nudged against his shoulder to distract his attention. "So how do you learn your way? The world is awfully big!" She paused to glance all around them. "I think I'd end up walking in circles without even realising!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:18 pm
Taku was staring at the sky - it was so blue, and so vast. Were there edges to the sky, just like there were edges to the world? Did it never stop, and just end in darkness? Kinda of like when the blue turned to navy turned to black at night, with the twinkling stars. Taku liked the stars.
Suddenly his attention was diverted as he felt a nudge on his shoulder, turning to look to Laka with one of his usual goofy grins. How did he learn his way? Taku frowned thoughtfully for a few moments, before giving a shrug, "I know my way to the Bahari'mtoto - thats where we're going - pretty easily, just because I've been there lots of times. Most of the time, though, I just...keep walking and end up somewhere. The stars are good at guidance and stuff, too."
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:21 pm
She smiled up at him, eyes sparkling with slight amusement at his expression. How would she describe it, exactly? Cute, maybe?
She nodded. "That's such a romantic notion! Just letting your paws take you in an unknown direction, not knowing where you might turn up! To never know what's around the next corner!" She sighed dreamily at the idea.
"The stars are very pretty." Laka agreed. "But...how would they guide you? They sparkle in the dark but...I'm not sure how they would tell you where you were in the world."
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:25 pm
Romantic? He wasn't sure that was exactly how he'd describe it, but each to their own, and the lion merely smiled. He did like the surprise element of it - sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always very, very exciting. A quick glance forwards ensured they were heading in the right direction, Takuma just continuing to put one paw in front of the next, in front of the next.
"Well, like..." he started to explain, trying not to sound stupid, "Like the stars stay in the same place all the time. So if you know where one star is one time, then you walk, and you can find it again, you can relate your positions...does that make sense?" he frowned, not sure it had. He didn't know how to explain it, it was just something he did.
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:31 pm
"They do?" She asked quietly, glancing upwards as if she might see them despite the fact that the sun was up and it wouldn't be dark for a good few hours yet. "I can't say that I've noticed before. They're very pretty, but...they all look alike to me, you know? All sparkling. All beautiful. Like thousands of little, glowing eyes."
She paused. "It sort of makes sense, I guess. Stars could be like...I don't know...the trees of the upper, unreachable place. Trees don't move." She smiled, thinking her explanation had been completely wonderful.
"Maybe when it gets dark later, you can show me the differences between them?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:36 am
Taku nodded with a wide smile, spreading to an open grin as she glanced upwards. It was the middle of the day, she wouldn't see anything, but he knew what the urge to look up anyway was like. "It's not something you notice until you're, like...desperate. Like I was really lost and just...noticed." He nodded, "Yeah, they do look similar. But when you start looking closely you can see little differences. They are beautiful, though."
He grinned at her explanation. At least he understood it, unlike his own. "I'd love to show you them. Sometimes, if you imagine lines between some of them, you can make pictures. When I was little, my mom used to tell me stories, about how all the great kings of the past, when the died, went to live in the sky, and you can see them in the stars if you look closely enough."
Wow, that had been a long time ago, he'd heard that story. He'd only been little, in the Pridelands. ...Wow, time sure did fly.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 12:02 pm
She nodded, planning to pay more attention to the little things like that. She'd always taken the stars as nothing but something to admire. Not lights that could guide you home if you got lost in the world! She wondered what other things she would learn on this journey with Taku. A lot, hopefully!
"Pictures! Like...how you can see pictures in the clouds sometimes?" The Ela'wadiyi believed their ancestors lived in those clouds, similar in a way to how Pridelanders believed that their kings were the stars.
She nudged her head against him again. "Takuuu, if the sky is clear tonight, can you show me?" Eagerness and impatience. Two qualities this female bore.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:14 am
"Yeah, kind of," he responded, frowning as he tried to figure out a good way of explaining it, without confusing the younger lionness, "You've just gotta use your imagination, to imagine the lines between them. It's not as obviously as pictures in the clouds."
She nudged her head against him and he looked down with a warm smile - he was growing quite fond of the lionness already. She was sweet, curious, ever-impatient. She'd make a really good friend, he was sure. "Of course I will - it looks like it might be cloudy tonight, though. But I promise I'll show you, sometime."
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:04 pm
"Ooo, I think I'd be good at that, then. Mother is always telling me I have a wild imagination." She grinned, laughing. "Though sometimes I think that isn't always considered a good thing."
She gave a little rumbling sound deep in her chest. "Well, if there are no stars to see because of the clouds, we'll have to cloud gaze instead!"
She gave him another nudge and quickened her pace, loping across the ground, more eager than ever before to set out further from the lands.
"How long do you think it will take to get to the ocean?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:08 pm
Taku grinned with her, "Nah. Imagination is never a bad thing, it's always good." His mother had told him he had an over-active imagination, but he didn't mind. The mention of cloud gazing made his smile only grow wider, and he nodded eagerly. "I'd love to!"
Her quickened pace only made him chuckle, Taku padding forwards to match her pace with a playful growl, "Shouldn't take long, only took me a few days."
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:51 pm
"Well, I'll try not to slow us down too much! My legs might be little, but I'm sure they'll be okay! I don't feel tired yet and we've been walking for..what, maybe an hour?" Not really a long time, but it seemed like it to her.
"I hope my sister got on all right, talking with my parents about coming with you. I wish they wouldn't worry so much. I mean, we're not going far and I'm not by myself. I feel bad leaving her to do with all their...their worries."
She shook her head, laughing a little. "But then she is the leader, she could do with the practise."
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:55 am
"Probably a little longer than an hour, but not by too much," Taku confimed with a nod, and another of those goofy smiles of his. At the mention of her parents, he began to feel rather guilty once again - he didn't mean to upset anyone, by inviting Laka along. He almost understood their worry, being a father himself. He hadn't particularly been happy with leaving his...well, his children in the Swamplands with their mother, but he knew they'd be far happier and better looked after there than they ever would be with him. That litter had been an accident, anyway - he hadn't wanted to upset Anguma anymore than he already had.
"I can understand why they're worried, though. Letting their daughter go off with a weird, strange lion," he offered, before pausing in his stride, expression surprised as he looked to Laka, "...Your sister's the leader?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:20 pm
She laughed. "Taku, you're not weird. You're amazing! You're an adventurer whose seen lots of amazing things and I think after this, I'm going to make you my bestest friend." She purred. "So long as that's okay with you, of course."
She started, her eyes widening a little. "I didn't tell you? Oops, sorry! But yep, Eeva is Alu'nadi of the Shadow Clan. She was the first-born daughter so she inherited the rank. All Clan leaders are female." Laka nodded. "Our Clan is small at the moment, but hopefully it'll get bigger, especially if my brothers find rogue mates."
She smiled. "But don't worry. Eeva is just like the rest of us. She might be leader but she really doesn't let it go to her head."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:50 pm
Amazing? He blushed again, a somewhat embarrassed grin on his face. He wouldn't say he was amazing... "Bestest friend?" he repeated with a blink, expressin surprised before melting into one of sheer happiness, a deep purr beginning to rumble in his own body. He really liked Laka - she was easy to talk to, sweet, naive. She must be one of the nicest lionness' he'd ever met, she didn't have a bad bone in her body. Her parents didn't have anything to worry about - Takuma was sure he'd rather die before letting any misfortune fall on the younger lionness.
"I'd like that, Laka," he purred back. He'd never had a best friend before, not if Amanzi didn't count. Now, he turned his attention back to the fact that her sister was leader. Woa. "So does that make you, like...royalty?" he asked, a little confused by the fact that it was a pride, but with separate clans, "The Pridelands was never as complicated. It was just one pride, none of these clans or anything."
Female, eh? He smiled, he supposed different places did it differently.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:56 pm
Laka hadn't had a best friend before, either, unless you counted the pretty songbird that used to wake her with its singing every morning. Other than that, she had played with her siblings a lot, but they were family and as much as she loved them, siblings couldn't really be best friends, could they?
"Hmm, royalty? I...I don't think so." She blinked. "The entire pride is ruled by a male lion called a Wanidatsi. I guess he'd be the closest thing to royalty you can get in our pride. There are many clans that form our pride and each of them is ruled by a female. If there aren't any females then a male rules until a daughter is born to take his place. My Father did that until Eeva came of age. He was the last surviving member of the original Shadow Clan before the plague." She seemed very proud about that.
"But really, I'm just me. My sister is ruler but I'll never hold that title. I'm a huntress cross adventurer now!" She grinned. "And to be honest, I think I got the better deal."
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