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 Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:28 pm
 Gable left behind his home, his authority, and his fish. The Nergui would stand strong without him, but his rank? His pets? Those were frangible things he need return to without a second spared for leisure. Eminent lions like him were expected to marry sooner or later. The later would pass him by if he weren't careful.
Gable was usually careful. Not afraid, but prudent. He'd stalled his journey time and again in the name of keeping things orderly, telling himself day after day he'd go when his work allowed until at last he came to terms with the truth of the matter: Nergui were creatures of organized chaos and there would never be enough of a lull in his life to justify leaving.
This left him with three choices:
Option One: Shun tradition and expectations and live the bachelor life for the rest of his days. On the bright side, he'd have fewer of them left if he chose this route.
A plethora of well-trained offspring would make it less likely he'd be assassinated in his sleep, given his aggressors would be wary of revenge from the Muvokol's kin. Granted, there was the risk of a son born too much like him, getting too much of an ego, scheming against him... But there were ways to deal with that. Cubs were prone to accidents, after all.
Option Two: Take a wife within the pride.
This would have been the easiest option initially; however, by choosing a female already at his disposal, who may caught the attention of another male, he risked forming a love triangle. Was there any worse headache than one with origins in infatuation? He doubted it.
Option Three: Leave anyway. Find his wife. Return home.
He choose this course of action. A female from the outside would have no ties to the pride. He could select she who was perfect for him, but not necessarily perfect in the eyes of the Nergui. She'd need one or two traits they most coveted, but not all of them, to help ward off potential suitors.
Just in case, he sought a lioness proven to be fertile. Nergui law didn't permit duels for females due cubs or already nursing them, so he would keep her impregnated and take advantage of a loophole. They wouldn't bother with her then and since she was an outlander there wouldn't a case of preconceived unrequited love come to bite him in the a**.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Gable had felled many enemies in his life. The weather could not be so easily bested and continued to prove it. A passing storm had him holed up in some frigid cave all through the night. He awoke to water trickling in from the rocky ceiling, dripping one irritating drop at a time, landing just between his eyes.
Gable rose with a grumble, damning nature. These downpours always left his head aching. He stepped outside. A verdant forest stretched out before him, the trees thick enough for shadows to blanket the ground below them. A passing bird had told him a pride used to dwell here. Why that was no longer so, the avian didn't know.
Midday, judging by the position of the sun.
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Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:29 pm
 These lands were familiar to Hersilia. Agonizingly so. She didn't bother traveling much these days. Seen no point to it when she had no where to go. When her family had departed, they had all departed in separate ways. No one had wanted to go the way she had wanted to go, so she had gone alone. She didn't regret the decision. A family would have held her back from finding a new future. Get in her way. Argue against her when she told lies. She was from humble beginnings, but strangers didn't need to know that.
Mud slapped under her paws no matter how slowly the lioness took her steps. Was there nothing more vile than mud? Blood was only slightly more tolerable because it tasted good. It was becoming a delicacy these days, difficult to find when all she did was scavenge after leftovers. She could taste it on the meat, still, but it wasn't the same as a freshly broken vein. When she started to grumble over it she would tell herself it was better this way. Blood would only stain her beautiful fur more than the mud did.
Not that it was so beautiful now. Hersilia felt like a drowned rat. The tuft of fur on her head kept getting in her eyes, sticking over them like an eye patch. Though she knew this land well, it didn't make her any faster to reach a more suitable hideout than a cluster of rocks and a tree. It was enough to shelter her only when the wind didn't blow against her. The rocks high behind her had only served for a time until the direction changed. Her already bright red eyes seemed to flash redder in her anger at the weather. Mud covered her paws and halfway down her legs no matter how hard she tried to stay clean. As she walked her curses and mutterings rang out on all sides of her, her tail suspended in the air behind her.
On top of everything else she was hungry. Neither she nor most other predators were going to hunt in this soggy weather. She supposed, if she really wanted to, she could stalk rodent holes or trails, wait for the unsuspecting creatures to cross her path and dart a paw out to grab them. No matter how hungry she was, however, Hersilia was not going to eat a rat. Or a mouse. Maybe a rabbit. Rabbits were not as filthy as rats or mice. A tiny deer would be wonderful. A ratel, even. If she could get it quick.
The menu swam before her eyes until she shook her head, the shake traveling down her body and ending with a flick of her tail, sending water spraying in all directions. Maybe later. She wasn't hungry enough for her stomach to growl or ache. She walked up towards a tree for a vertical stretch, digging her claws into the bark. It was than she realized she was no longer alone. The majority of the time this area was quiet of other felines. Even canines. She had not expected to see anyone. Less so someone colored so similarly to herself.
She always did love her coat color.
Claws still dug into the tree, Hersilia leaned her chin on one forearm. She stared at him a few moments before speaking. "I've not seen you before. Or I would have remembered a face like yours." Her neutral tone made it impossible to determine whether it was meant as an insult or a compliment.
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Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 6:40 pm
Her coat and eyes were written off as acceptable almost immediately. The finer details took a second, closer look. Gable utilized those moments of silence by formally examining everything from her paws to her nose. By the end of his inspection, she was certified healthy. All in all an ideal find -- so far.
Gable had two disparate agendas when he crossed into the roguelands. Find a wife was his influence, but serve the Nergui his goal. This included scouting for potential converts worth the effort it would take to drag back. As several days went by Gable experienced first hand how many rogues wandered without purpose -- the poor, stupid fools -- and he realized to convince or capture them all would take far, far too long. The higher ups wouldn't care for his superior logic. They'd only focus on his missed opportunities.
He preferred not to lie. He never said he wouldn't.
This lioness need not be misled more than required to insure his survival, though. Gable was a warrior with the scars to prove it, marks of enemy claws and bites marring the flesh and fur all over his body. Yet he knew that one lion against many would not leave the odds in his favor, and it was not yet his time to go out in a blaze of glory.
He needed to find out how many with her. Where they were.
"All remember my face," Gable agreed. His accent was harsh and his tongue clumsy at first. Common was not his native language and he preferred not to speak it when he could. The lack of practice was evident until he cleared his throat and sounded out the words with just a hint of a drawl. "Where are your kin?"
No point in wasting time.
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Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:16 pm
Hersilia continued to all but glare at him, her eyes never leaving his despite the way his roamed. She made no reaction, no sound or gesture to indicate she was bothered by this. It would have been a lie to have. She wasn't bothered. Even wet she was a pretty lioness. Though her markings were not as pronounced and her color a little dim. And since she had shaken herself she was sure the fur stood up in all directions. No matter. She would soon be dry and back to her usual splendor. By that point he should be gone, leaving her back to how she liked it: Alone and undisturbed. She couldn't imagine what any lion nowadays could offer to her to keep her company for more than a few minutes.
When he spoke, however, his rough speech made her lip curl upwards at one corner. She had never heard anyone speak quite like that before. Like he wasn't used to it. Despite herself, it did make her curious about where he came from. Or whether he had lived in a hole in the ground to warrant this clumsiness.
Letting go of the tree, the pale lioness dropped down on all fours and sat where she landed, tail curling around one hip. She regarded him with little expression on her face, as blank as the night sky when covered with clouds that covered all the stars.
"We shall see if I do."
But when it came to the question, emotion flickered across her features. Confusion. She was taken aback by the randomness of it. Nonetheless, she cleared her throat dramatically and answered, her voice as devoid of emotion as her face had been moments ago.
"I would not know. We parted ways many years ago. They could be dead for all I know." Or cared.
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Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 2:22 pm
No kin?
Hail Graos Oma.
He had only her tone to go by as the attention paid to her face was minimal and thus her expression cues (or lack thereof) squandered. Gable heard both what she did and didn't say: I don't know and I don't care. There was no one out here she would miss and that would make convincing her all the easier. This wasn't an everyday convert he could beat bloody and drag back. She'd be raising his sons -- and daughters -- and he'd prefer them to not resent their father.
The color of her coat was of more interest than the condition of it. Nergui were only vain in a certain way, typically. He'd appreciate her grooming habits when he discovered them, but the impression she gave now of being untidy didn't deter his decision.
His gaze leveled with her eyes and held steady there. He knew the social niceties and normalities of these lands. "My name is Gable," he provided, as was customary. Less typical was the follow-up: "I search for a wife."
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:19 pm
Now Hersilia choose to put some expression on her face. A smile creased her face, not so much one of friendliness as amusement. She did find the whole thing quite amusing. As if he had told a weak joke that wasn't worthy of laughter, but was still funny in its own right. The way he went straight to business. Like that was a normal occurrence. Or he was just impatient to get it over with. No time to romance a lioness, this one. Or interest. It was rather difficult to tell.
But it wasn't like she enjoyed romance. If anything, the blunt comment would work better on her than being coo and cute. She had no time for coy and cute. To play the game of love like an adolescent fresh out of cubhood.
As that was very obviously why he hadn't just continued on his way when he spotted her.
The smile stayed on the pale lioness' lips as she almost purred, "Is that so? Do you wish me to help you find one? I am afraid I don't know where my sisters are."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:32 pm
Speaking as if to demean him riled from deep in his belly a sultry sensation that shot through his blood until it burned. Gable could never quell his resentment in the face of mockery and disobedience. But he had learned to censor words even if his thoughts ran wild, raged free. She was nothing compared to Rapha, the slaves, the Warlords...
Gable inhaled through his nose and the breath became words. "We will conquer this land, the lands beyond, and the lands beyond those," he explained. In seeking evidence of doubt, a listener would find none. The lioness before him, the trees, the sky, Graos Oma... all of them could hear only certitude, as though he was speaking of the past rather than the future. He told her, "I can keep you safe. There is food, water -- knowledge." Not once had his stare wavered. "You will come with us now or come with us later."
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