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 Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:42 pm
 When she walked, she still went pretty far from the others. Imara knew that this was hardly an ideal thing, but old habits died hard! This was hardly an ideal situation, she should be trying to... er, be more like a pridelander. Or something like that.
As you could imagine, though, thinking about how she was failing at such a thing hardly made Imara any more happy than she was, and perhaps made her even grumpier! She wore her semi-permanent scowl as she wandered near the borders of the lands, and pondered over whether or not she really should have bothered.
"Stupid pridelanders, being all happy." She grumbled, ears low.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:43 am
Hadaya was having a day.
It wasn't a good day, per se, and he couldn't say it was a bad day. Not much had happened to him since he left his pride. Or rather, his pride left him. Well. There was no pride any more. That was the bottom line. In any case, after that happened he had taken up a very old habit, from ancient times long passed, of simply walking aimlessly.
His paws were burning, whatever day it was now in this endless trek, but at least he wasn't being chased or forced to run.
And he didn't have to remember where he was. Which was good! Because he had no idea.
He heard a voice and looked around, spotting a lionness nearby. He tilted his head. She looked rather angry, but he had no one else to talk to and he was rather desperate for company.
"Hello there," he offered with a smile, padding closer and swishing his tail behind him. He at least had a very easy air about him. There was absolutely nothing threatening about the male, and it had taken many years of cultivating his fail oriented personality to project this kind of calm, almost controlled air. But that was the extent of it. "Are you okay?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:16 am
Oh, great. And here she thought she wouldn't be meeting any pridelanders out here! Imara just assumed that's what this lion was, by the way he walked and his apparent friendliness. He obviously fit in with them more than she did! She briefly attempted to adjust her posture, a bizarre little idea she had that maybe she could imitate him and thus be more like a pridelander.
Of course, the result ended up being her simply looking rather dumb, and somehow more tense. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She said, in an attempt to be polite, but Imara didn't manage to get it out in a way that sounded sincere. "Are you okay?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:16 pm
Hadaya was one that could be easily intimidated. He had grown a lot, but that didn't mean he was a fighter. He wasn't a lover either, if they were the only two options. He was just... Hadaya.
He looked at her with widening eyes at her attempt, then he smiled softly.
"I'm... ah... I'm good. I mean. I was a little lost, but I guess I must have found something, bumping into you. I come from the sea. Well. Not in the sea. Near it."
He frowned. He was nervous, and hadn't noticed until all the words tumbled out of his muzzle. He shook his head, his fluffy mane poofing around him as he did so. Sitting down abruptly, he sighed.
"My paws are burning a bit, but other than that. Uhm. Where am I, anyway? You said something about a pride before? Unless I wasn't supposed to see that. In which case... I heard nothing."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:53 am
Oh, wait. This was a rogue! Oh wow, Imara couldn't quite think of how she should deal with such a thing. Was she supposed to chase him away? She squinted at the other lion, pondering this. No, she probably didn't need to chase him away, no one had chased her away when she came. But if he started doing dumb things she might chase him away. She could do that. Might relieve some stress.
Hey, why was he nervous, anyways? Imara wasn't going to attack him or anything. She was just normally this grumpy looking, and bad at doing nice-talk.
She let out a small huff of hair that might have been a snort when he plopped down on the floor like that. She could tell he was nervous, and yes somehow he seemed... well, not nervous. "If your paws are hurting, get off of them." Not exactly good advice, to be honest, but at least in her own way she was trying to be nice. It was a shame Imara's nice wasn't very nice.
Oh, he had heard her. Damn. Her ears laid back at that, because it probably wasn't good calling your new pride mates stupid. "...You heard nothing." She agreed, lamely. "You're in the Pirdelands." She supposed he was just barely within them.
She might be reacting to this a bit slow, but the bit about the sea did get Imara curious. Before living here, she had lived in the Outlands, and they didn't have a sea view, either.
"What does it smell like? The sea." Instead of asking what the sea was like, she asked how it smelled. Good going, Imara!
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:43 am
Hadaya watched her. He had been attacked by random lions before. Of course, he was very good at getting attacked by anything. Lions. Leopards. Hyenas. Trees.
It didn't really matter, most days.
"Well, I would," Hadaya said thoughtfully, looking at his paws, even lifting one up to regard it thoughtfully, "but I can't really stand without them."
He smiled at her, seeming to catch on that she was trying to be nice to him. He could be nice to her, if he didn't let his nerves overcome him. It was easier when he thought he had to work with her being grumpy with him. For some reason, that put him more at ease than dealing with someone who was actually nice as well. Now he started thinking they could be friends, or she might expect more out of him than he was capable of, or something equally embarrassing when he inevitably failed.
He nodded his head slowly when she told him he had heard nothing. What was she talking about? There was nothing to have heard. Her following question seemed to stump him. He opened his mouth, held it there for a moment without words came out, then closed it as a confused look passed over him.
"The sea... smells like the sea," he said, then shook his head. "I mean, I'm not saying that to... to mess with you. I mean it does smell like the sea, and I... uh... I haven't found anything else that... that smells like it... err. Maybe you can go there some time. I remember the way back, I'd show it to you so you can sniff it yourself! Though. It is water, so... I wouldn't... put your nose in it."
The fluffy male looked flummoxed and ordered himself to stop talking.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:09 pm
"Then float." Really, what did a rogue want? If he was a rogue and walked a lot, he'd better just get used to the idea of aching paws. But Imara grudgingly reminded herself he had only mentioned them because he asked. Sadly, instead of apologizing for her dumb 'suggestions', she just scowled a bit more.
Her nose wrinkled at his reply to her question, because growing up in the Outlands one was used to insults and probably having to defend your 'honor', or something like that. So she did immediately think he was just mocking her! Fortunately, Hadaya explained himself quickly enough, so she relaxed again. If anyone could ever look at Imara and call her relaxed.
She even allowed herself to be a little amused, as amused as she could get. "I want to go there." She mused out loud, and childishly imagined playing in something that was a gigantic lake. Maybe killing some fish. Ideally, very big fish. "Can't right now. Just joined the pride." She shrugged, even though Imara hadn't been raised to have manners, it still seemed rude to just go off on an adventure after having been welcomed in to such a place.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:22 am
Hadaya watched her and wondered about her comment to float. It seemed like she meant it, but of course they couldn't float. Right? Or was this pride...
No, no. Lions couldn't float. Unless they were gods. She wasn't a god was she?
His frown deepened thoughtfully.
Hadaya forgot all that when she said she wanted to go to the sea, smiling and nodding his head. He would always live up to his promises, no matter how much he managed to fail on the way to that goal, because he did, in the end, like seeing other people happy. And if he had managed to do something right for once and bring a smile to someone's face, then he'd take that as a small victory for himself.
he didn't get many of those.
"What is this pride, anyway? Mine, unfortunately, no longer exists... I miss home and family." He sighed softly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:33 am
She didn't quite understand what he meant by the question. What is this pride? A pride is a pride, it seemed simple enough to her. Maybe he meant what the pride was like. Or maybe he hadn't understood that Pridelands was actually.... sort of the name of the pride, in a way. Or was it? Maybe the pride didn't even have a name. Maybe the only thing that had a name was the land.
Imara also frowned slightly at his comment about family, and nodded. As different as her upbringing had been from what most lions here was like, it had been family. she also missed it. "Er... it's a pride. Lions here are nice. They got lots of that home and family stuff." She shrugged. "And a giant rock." Pride rock was visible from most points of the land, but from here only a small tip of it peeked over the horizon. Still, she indicated it anyways.
It was a cool giant rock, Imara thought. One day she'd work up the nerve to perhaps climb up it, and see everything from up there. But not yet, too many lions, too much royal family.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:45 am
Hadaya had come from a pride with a name, and they often referred to their lands as the pride lands. There was a bit of a pause there, a space, but he hadn't really given thought to that as common as it was to hear them run together.
It didn't matter now, though, as the pride was gone and if he did take her to the sea it would just be to those vacant shores and not the lovely, peaceful home he had once lived in.
"A giant rock?" Well that sounded. Pleasant? Well, it sounded like something he could fall off of and hurt himself, if he were honest. He and rocks didn't get along. Of course, he and many things didn't get along. Even absolutely flat ground could trip him up, quite literally, on a particularly bad day.
He smiled at her and nodded his head.
"Well, it seems like a nice place. Do they let lions come and take a look around? I mean. I... I really miss calling some place home and I would maybe like to..." Basically shop around for a nice home. He was very easy to please, though, and if this place was as nice as he was finding her company, even if she was a bit gruff, then he would likely want to stay.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:18 am
She nodded. "Yes, a giant rock. That's what I said." Imara couldn't help being a little snippy, especially because she was, ironically, starting to relax a little. She held her tongue a lot nowadays. And her paws, because sometimes she still wanted to smack a few pridelanders over the head for being so happy, and making her jealous. When she realized her rude tone, she gave a slight shrug, in an attempt to diffuse any tension there.
She was actually a little surprised by his question, because Imara figured meeting her would probably make lions want to run off, or something. She was hardly a lioness to be made an example of and represent the pridelands. "Uh... yes. They're pretty nice. Just no trouble." She frowned, hardly expecting this lion could be troublesome if he wanted to.
"I can show you the rock, if you'll take me to the sea some day." Seemed like a fair bargain, to her. Imara was okay with bargains, because they weren't favors. And she probably would never see the ocean without a guide, she didn't exactly have the best sense of direction.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:39 am
She was right about that. Unless by accident, Hadaya was no trouble.Though, that by accident thing could be profound and ridiculous sometimes. His ability to fail was matched by no others, save perhaps his Uncle.
The God of Failure.
Still, he had forged a happy enough existence, and he functioned rather well despite his genetics and his personality, as it were. He didn't blame who he was family with for his failure. It was part of him, it was who he was. He had accepted it some time ago.
It was getting others to accept it that he worried most about. At the moment, he was waiting for that moment where he would do something profoundly dumb, and chase this lioness off. He was having a nice conversation with her and found her oddly charming for her grumpiness.
He didn't want to embarrass himself or, worse, her, and make her run off.
"I think that's a fair deal," he said, smiling at her and nodding his head with excitement in his eyes. "I would like that very much. My name is Hadaya, by the way."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:57 am
Okay, that was a good deal. Yes, in exchange for just walking this rogue over to pride rock and saying 'that's our giant rock', she would one day get a trip to the ocean! Imara was quite pleased with her ability to bargain now, she had certainly gotten the upper paw. "Alright, come on." She had been standing the entire time, so there was no need to do much more than turn towards pride rock and wait until she knew this lion was following.
"My name is Imara." She told him, because it seemed fair. But she didn't bother with saying anything like it was nice meeting him. It was, in some ways, because she had gotten a good deal out of it, and he hadn't seemed too off-put by her, which was good to know. But that just wasn't the sort of thing Imara said.
So she went ahead and led Hadaya deeper into the Pridelands.
-Fin! 8D
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