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 Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:23 am
 Rukopa-eupe had been traveling for many days now. Her tired feet shuffled one after another, eventually leading her from a terrain of nothingness to one of a dense jungle. She walked through the foliage carefully, keeping an eye on her surroundings. One wrong move and she could find herself stuck in a sinking mud pile, or even lost under the thick canopy of the trees.
A small smile crept on her maw. When she was younger, her mother use to tell her stories of lions and leopards that lived in the Jungle. They would hang out in trees, or hide under the bushes. As a cub, she always thought how fun a game of hide-and-go-seek would be in the jungle, but now that she was older, her opinion had changed. She would probably get lost during a game if she tried that now.
She continued forward, observing the differences between the trees. There were thick, thin, short and tall ones. Underneath the shade of the trees was a different atmosphere itself. The air seemed thicker, and more moisture in it had caused her white fur to become a little damp. It didn’t bother her however; it was actually more of a comfort then being out in the sun. The skin under her bright pelt appreciated the coolness the trees had to offer.
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:36 pm
 It wasn't really Txuratan's job to patrol the borders of the pride, but since he wasn't actually patrolling he didn't feel that his presence out here was any kind of usurpation of of anyone else's duties. The thing was, he had been in the habit since his earliest days of exploring the lands in and around the pride, pushing farther and farther into the dense jungle until he was actually quite familiar with the area surrounding the pride for half a day's journey in every direction. Today he was indulging himself as he had not in some time, and traveling to the pride's borders, and maybe a little past them.
Some of the journey he made traveling through the trees, leaping confidently from branch to branch, or even jumping to cling to the trunk of a tree and then throwing himself backward into the lower branches of another tree. It was an exhilarating way to travel, even if it wasn't the quietest. He could travel more quietly, particularly if he stuck to the ground, but there was little for a fully grown lion to fear in this part of the jungle. He knew where he was and he knew what the potential risks were and how best to avoid them.
Just the same, it was also a high-energy means of travel, and sometimes he would drop to the ground and walk for a while to catch his breath. He was very near to doing so when he looked down and realized that if he dropped exactly where he was planning to drop, he would land on someone, which would probably not be much appreciated by that person. So he altered his course a little so that instead of dropping straight down he jumped and arched over the head of the unfamiliar lioness, landing with an audible thud.
"Oel ngati kameie," he greeted her, using the traditional greeting of his people. And then, because she was not someone who was known to him, he said in regular speech, "I see you."
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:28 pm
 Clermelli-Pie stalked the jungle creatures with skill. She very rarely missed her mark when she chose to strike. Today was a day when she was not finding marks she wished to strike at. She just didn't see any clear shots, and she was not one to risk a messy kill because she got impatient or careless. To her it was not fair to the prey to make them suffer because she wished to strike before she was sure of her target first.
The thud nearby caught the huntress' attention. She had heard a few light rustles, but thought nothing of them. Such were normal sounds of creatures moving about, but that thud was not normal. Clermelli-Pie crept closer to see if perhaps it was an injured animal she would need to help on it's way. Such would be an easy day for her hunting, though not what she preferred. When in the ferns close by where the original noise had come from she saw two other lions present.
The female was definitely an outsider. Clermelli-Pie smiled at the way the lioness moved and held herself. Clerm had fond memories of the outstide and how lions held themselves out there was vastly different than among the People. She debated just moving onward, figuring the others would not have seen her. But then it would be nice to speak to this female. She slipped out of the cover and bowed her head to the male. "I see you, Brother." To the female, it was instead. "Hello, stranger."
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:38 am
The site of a shadow and the sound of a small ‘thud’ caused the white lioness to look up, meeting the golden eyes of a purplish color lion. She took a small step backwards; where had this male appeared from? She stole a glance to the canopy above, noticing the branches that seemed to interlock the trees together. A trail in the sky? she thought to herself.
At the strange language, her attention focused back on to the male. Ru did not understand the language. Would this mean that he wouldn’t understand her when she spoke? She was glad he also interpreted what he said, or else this conversation would be very awkward. Her head tilted slightly, “I see you too?” she replied with a small smile.
When another lion made their appearance, her attention focused on her. Brother? she asked herself, glancing back and forth between the two. Were there more lions that lived in the jungle here?
“Hello,” she replied quietly with a small nod to both the lion and lioness. She shifted on her paws for a moment, “I didn’t think there would be anyone in here,” here, referring to the jungle. Most, if not all the other species she had met before had lived in the mountains, or on the plains; never in the denseness of the trees. She had always thought that it would be more difficult to catch prey when some many obstacles were in the way.
“My mother use to tell me stories when I was just a cub about lions in the jungle, but I always thought they were that.” By the looks of it, her mother may have been telling her the truth. When she was younger, she always imagined what it would be like to live like one of them. She had even told her mother that she would one day find them, but her dream was short lived when her mother had told her that it was impossible for creatures like them to live like that.
"Oh...My name is Rukopa-eupe," how rude was she not to introduce herself! "But everyone I have met just likes to call me Ru."
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 2:53 pm
Clermelli-Pie's appearance from the nearby foliage caught Txur by surprise and he smiled at himself, chagrined. The stealth with which the pride's hunters and huntresses moved was very impressive. Clermelli-Pie's ability to do so amazed him all the more, since she had been raised away from the pride and had to re-learn some of the ways of the People. At least that was what he was given to understand. Her cubs were being properly brought up, though, and that made him happy. He understood the necessity of her upbringing, but believed it best that people of the People be raised by their own.
"I see you, Sister," he replied to Clermelli-Pie.
His was a quick greeting not because he intended any rudeness, but because his attention was mostly captured by the strange lioness. He couldn't recall if he'd ever met someone not of the People. Oh, he'd met newcomers to the pride, but that was different. He didn't know if this lioness intended to become part of the pride or was just passing through. She evidently knew of the pride's existence, at least a little bit.
"I am glad to meet you, Rukopa-eupe," he said, guessing at the right way to greet people from outside. He'd never had to do it before, and he glanced at Clermelli-Pie to make sure he was doing it correctly. "My name is Txuratan. As you can see, we're not just stories."
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:23 pm
Clermeilli-Pie watched Txur as much if not more than the newcomer. This was something that put him more than a little out of his element and she was curious to see what he would do and how he would handle himself. She hoped that his father and perhaps even herself had helped with preparing him for encountering outsiders. She did after all speak to Txur and how she spoke and acted was probably about halfway between the people and the outside.
"You make too much noise, Brother, scare away all the prey." Clerm had learned to have a bit more use for her sense of humor from the People. And this just seemed the perfect time to make use of it. "I am surprised you do not scare away the newcomer making such a racket." She gave an amused grin that showed she was but teasing him a bit. She sat and curled her tail around her paws, a pose that she often took to put others at ease with her. It was one that was a little more difficult to strike from, so it had that affect.
"You too? My parents told me stories of the jungle when I was little... did your parents speak of Eywa?" Now Clermelli-Pie's attention was fully on the other lioness. She wondered if this lioness was like her raised outside by displaced members of the People. "My name is Clermelli-Pie. You may call me Clerm, Ru. What brings you to the jungles? A sense of searching for something perhaps? Or just idle curiosity?" Her golden eyes are soft and her manners from outside seem to kick in in full force. "You do not have to answer, of course, but it is rare I find another to speak to that is similar to myself in certain respects."
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:52 pm
Txuratan…Clermeilli-Pie… She noted in her mind to remember the names.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both, Txuratan and Clermeilli-Pie,” she chose the female’s formal name. Perhaps when and if she got to know the lioness more, her shortened name would come more into play.
“It’s almost a shock to see that you are not stories." She admitted. "I use to tell my mother I would one day find you,” blue eyes gazed at both Txuratan and Clerm, “and I actually can’t believe that I did!” Not that she was intentionally looking for them; all she really wanted to do was get out of the blazing sun. It was funny how some things worked out sometimes.
Eywa? It had been so long ago when Ru had been told the stories; she couldn’t remember the exact details. “My mother may have mentioned it,” Ru started, “but I do not remember the exact names that she spoke of.” After all, once her mother had said that the pride wasn’t real, she almost lost all the memories of the land that was told to her. When the question of what brought her to the pride was brought up, she focused on the lioness. “I wanted to get away from the sun originally…” she said, looking back towards her back. She could feel the slight tingling of a burn creeping down it. If she stayed out any longer, her pelt would surely be tinted pink from the reddened skin.
“…but now that I am here, my curiosity keeps rising.” This was her chance to find about the pride, the one dream she had since a youngster. However, just by looking at the two blue lions, she knew that she would probably already stick out amongst everyone.
“I know there are only two of you here now, but I assume there are more?” Txuratan had mentioned that ‘they’ were not stories. “What’s it like…? …to live here, I mean?” She addressed both lions.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:23 am
Txur listened with a pleasant, if bland, expression as Ru spoke of her surprise at finding that the People were real. His mind wandered a little and he wondered what Clerm was making of all this. She had been raised outside of the pride, too, but she had grown up knowing that the People were real, and that she was one of them by birth, if not by location, so her situation was both like and unlike Ru's. His own situation was very different, in that he had been born outside the pride to parents who had neither of them been of the People, but he had been raised in the Iknimaya, and considered himself one of them.
"If all you want is to get away from the sun, you've definitely come to the right place. A lion really has to work to get prolonged exposure in these lands. But as you've surmised, there is more to the jungle than just a convenient, omnipresent shade."
Her last spate of questions confirmed Txur's thoughts. Neither he nor Clerm had actually said that they were part of a pride, though he guessed the implication was there and the assumption was an easy one to make. Now she asked for confirmation, though, and Txur wondered what he was supposed to say. It wasn't as though the pride was averse to taking in lions who were willing to live as Eywa wished, and Txur couldn't object to outsiders being allowed in without being the worst kind of hypocrite, but he felt a great deal of responsibility settle on his shoulders suddenly.
"It's very wet," he said with a quick grin, ignoring the question of whether there were more than just he and Clerm at the moment. "And I'm told it's quite unlike the outside, but I have no memories of the time I spent out there. I was very young."
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:08 am
Clermelli-Pie tilted her head to the side as she listened to the others talk. She rather resembled a bird when she did this, but at least it showed she was intent on listening. Ru most likely was not quite like herself, but there were enough similarities to draw on, that if this lioness joined the pride, Clerm thought perhaps they could be friends and maybe she might be able to help the other lioness, who knew?
Clerm smiled at how Ru spoke of getting out of the sun. "Yes, the sun was awful in some parts. Where my parents raised us cubs was damp and the sun was bright but not quite so intense... we were on the edges of the swamps." She looked up at the trees around them. "This is much better than where I was raised... smells better too." She grinned and considered how to answer the question of what it was like to live here.
"There are a lot more smells to distract one's nose from hunting than on the Savannah, a lot more cover to hide in, comfortable trees to lounge on... a lot of handsome lions to watch when one wishes. I think that covers the major points..." Clermelli-Pie chuckled and wondered if this female would want to join the people. If so, she would probably be best to let Txur escort her back to the pride, but it would be nice to join them too. She would turn that over for a while and decide if the decision was needed later.
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Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:44 pm
Rukopa could not help but show a flashy smile as the male mentioned how wet it was. Compared to the areas she came from while traveling the rogue lands, she would more prefer the ‘wet’ to the dry any day. He body would probably thank her in the long run as well. The smile remained on her maw as Clermelli spoke her version of the jungle. She brought up many different points: the smells, the hiding places, the trees as resting points (unlike when many of the felines on the plains used boulders), and even the mention of a lot of handsome lions to watch. Even if Txur had bypassed the assumption Ru had made about there being pride, it was as if Clerm just clarified it; however, there was always that possibility this was all a coincidence, but in the white female’s mind it was the truth.
Sometimes Ru would still wish she was a child. She would have no fear bounding up to both the lions and requesting to stay in the land. Things seemed different now, she just didn’t want to blurb out if she could stay. She had to find a more…select approach to do so.
Although it had yet to be stated of the pride’s existence, the female would ask, “if an outsider like me wanted to request to stay in the lands, and become one amongst the ranks” she was slightly hesitant, not knowing how the other lions would respond to her question, “what would they have to do?” Maybe the approach was a little too obvious, but it had already been said, and Ru could not take back words. This could be her only chance to fulfill a once childhood dream. She loved the land just from hearing the stories, and she certainly was much more eager to find out just how much of the truth lie in them. And if she was accepted among the pride, there was always the chance of getting to know more.
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:16 am
Txur shot a very quick look at Clerm which might have been accusatory coming from any other lion, but Txur wasn't the sort to give accusatory looks. He was not a seeker of confrontation, and preferred to avoid conflict or disagreement whenever possible. With the exception of a season or two during his adolescence, when he'd been a complete and utter boor. But that was in the past, and he'd definitely grown out of it.
"An lioness like you, I think, would not have a difficult time finding welcome in these parts," he answered, deliberately eschewing the word "outsider." He'd heard plenty of that when he and his family were new to the pride and they had only just begun to allow outsiders in. It wasn't a term he particularly cared to apply to anyone who might be one of the People.
"Clermelli-Pie could probably tell you better than I, though. I have no memories of coming to these lands." He nodded to the paler blue lioness and allowed her to take over.
His training as a priest had hardly prepared him for a job recruiting newcomers to the pride. In fact, if he'd thought he would meet anyone coming this way, he probably would have chosen another path. The world outside of the pride held no interest for the blue lion, and he wasn't hugely interested in interacting with people from there just for the sake of socialization.
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Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 6:54 pm
Clermeilli-Pie saw the quick look and wondered what it was about. Txur was not an easy to understand lion at times. Clerm liked to think it was because he was a priest and she was not spiritual that made most of the difficulty. She rose to her feet and stretched before getting involved in the conversation again, though. It was looking like she would be the escort back to the pride afterall. Not that she minded anyway. Any travel was welcome to her, whether hunting or otherwise.
"Joining is not so hard... one learns the way of the people and their language, and finds a place among them. It is simple enough. For me, it was hunting, for you, perhaps something else. Most of the people are kind, there are exceptions to every family, but please forgive the others for the narrow-mindedness of few." She stood straight and tall and while she was a little taller than the other lioness, for one of the People, Clerm was a little smaller than normal.
"The first thing would be to take you to see our leaders so they might judge if you are fit to stay, which I doubt there will be any question on it, myself." Clerm looked to the others, not sure if Txur would even come along for this trip back. "I can lead you if you like, there are two ways to travel, the high path or the low one. If you are good at climbing, we will take the high path as it is faster. But if you are not, I have no problem leading you along the lower path, I know both well."
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:27 am
The white lioness nodded as she listened to Txur speak. Her attention then focused towards Clermelli-Pie, as the male had said she was likely a better source.
Learning the ways of the people probably wouldn’t be the hard part of joining, but getting to know the language…now that could prove a difficult task. She nodded again, “those that live in the southlands can be like that,” she stated, referring to the term ‘narrow-mindedness’ of some. Anywhere one would go would always encounter someone like that, there was just no getting past it.
Her light blue eyes lit up once again when Clermelli spoke about being led to the leaders. If as if she couldn’t speak, she nodded, once again. Now, the choice of the path was another adventure. She honestly wasn’t the best climber (there were not many trees in the roguelands, and those that were there were not as intricate as the foliage in the jungle. “The lower path,” she began, “would probably be the best…” One day she would learn the art of climbing the trees, knowing the path; but now, sticking with what she was more comfortable with would suffice.
This was potentially the start of a new life.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:11 pm
He was completely at a loss when Clerm and Ru spoke of lands outside of the Na'vi lands. Txur was perfectly familiar with the jungle and considered all of it part of the pride's lands, even if that wasn't technically the case, but really he had little to no interest in venturing outside of the pride. For a while he had entertained the idea of going in search of his mother, but had ultimately dismissed it because he couldn't see a way for it to come out to anyone's satisfaction.
The high path or the low. That was a very poetic way of phrasing it, Txur thought to himself. He would have to try to remember those words in the future. It made his tree route sound far less like the sort of thing cubs played at. Hunters used it, too, after all, as did many of the Na'vi. So it wasn't just a fun way to get around.
"If you have hunting to tend to, Clermelli-Pie, I can take her back," Txur offered.
It wasn't a wholly selfless offer. Taking Ru to Eytucan and Zelt'zin would give him the opportunity to visit with the priestess who had been in charge of much of his training, and might also afford him a chance to see Petra, who was sister to Eytucan's heir. He was thoroughly smitten with her, and had been since he was a young adolescent, but he had yet to say anything. He didn't want to lose her friendship by saying the wrong thing.
"We can take the lower path, too," he added, addressing Ru. "The high path is only faster if you're used to it. Otherwise it gets very slow with people falling and breaking bones and having to be dragged." He grinned quickly to let her know he was joking, though in reality he only spoke partly in jest.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:10 pm
Clermeilli-Pie was relieved at the idea of leaving Ru in Txur's paws, not because she did not wish to be the one to lead Ru back. It was more that she had hunting she was supposed to be doing, and while skipping it might be nice in a lazy way, she never liked doing so. Lazy days did not bring meat back to the pride after all.
She was glad that Ru was thinking of joining them. Another member was always welcome, and to Clerm it was nice to not be the only 'outsider'. Blood relation to the original pride members or not, she always felt like she never quite fit in with the pride. This would give her another person to discuss the outside with and not have to suffer odd looks for it.
She nodded to Txur. "Yes, I do have hunting I can do. I did not wish to take you from your errands if you had them." Clerm looked to Ru and grinned. "Do not worry, Txur will lead you true. He knows his way around very well." She was pretty sure he knew the jungles as well as any hunter. Which of course was saying something of him.
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