|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:21 am
It was early morning and Kokoro was several weeks old now. She looked around sneakily her body resting close to the ground as she began to crawl out of the ruin her and the other little cubs where being forced to stay in. Once she successfully slipped away she moved over to the large ruin steps as she stared at the before walking away only to charge at them leaping into the air to climb onto the large one. It was easy enough she got into her feet on the first one feeling charged and excited as her eyes twinkled a little as she moved to get the next step.
She sat there the longest time her tail flicking side to side as she tried to work how she would get up that when she saw a large rock. "That." She muttered to herself as she moved over before carefully using the rock to get to the second step. She did this before finally getting almost to the halfway mark her limbs tired from working so hard as she collapsed on the step panting heavily.
For an adult, going up and down the steps of the temple ruins was easy. They had the legs for it, as well as the stamina built up. Like a ghost, Nava padded through the archway of the temple, having spent some time pondering the current status of the colony. Not many leopards, and only one litter of... Cubs... He stared down the steps, watching the cub. Now this was out of place...
Tail curling, the white leopard padded his way down, heading for the cub. "Hey, now, why are you out and about, Kokoro..? You should be with your brothers and sister!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:21 am
The little female lifted her eyes to look at her 'uncle' letting out a yawn as she stretched. "Mmm I didn't want to be with those babies." She said bluntly as she moved to stand but fell short as she sat down on the step straining a little to look at him.
"What are you doing here?" She asked curiously her head tilting to one side before her eyes widened as she began to tumbled down the stairs. "Ahh no!" She yelled out with a pout falling down a few of the steps with a sigh.
Letting out a sigh, Nava went down the stairs to right the cub. "Maybe you should wait until you're bigger or stronger to climb the stairs into the temple. Try as much as you can to climb them without taking a running start." That was the only way he could figure she got up them in the first place. "When I was a cub, and the keepers would let everybody out for the day, I always had so much trouble climbing the same things older leopards climbed with ease..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:23 am
"I can climb a tree just fine but these stairs!" She yelled out loudly. She huffed a little looking to him with a pout. "I want to be a grownup already!" She yelled out a little with it being laced with a growl.
"I want to climb things be alone when I want to things I want!" She yelled as she looked to him with a growl before sighing a little. "I want to be a good girl for Momma and learn about the colony but not from the Nanny." She said with a small grump.
"I want to learn first hand on my own how to be like her." She told the white male her eyes finally meeting his.
Nava let out a laugh. "Yelling gets you no where, little one!" He put a paw on her head, ruffling her fur a bit. "Stairs and trees are very different. The steps are made out of stone, something we can't sink our claws into. Trees, on the other paw, are made of wood, which we can readily climb on." He motioned with a paw, off into the jungle.
"To learn about the Usufi, to be an Usufi, first you must learn the lay of the lands. Explore the jungle and learn its rythem, before you explore the temples. There are many dangers in the jungle you have yet to learn, including hippos and gorillas."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:24 am
She blinked to him a moment before nodding a little. "I guess I was being a bit cubish." She said with a small smile before looking to him. "Take me!" She exclaimed.
"Take me out to see the jungle an the ippo...and orila?" She said her little cub mind getting the best of her since she had no idea these two there where the most dangerous things to their land.
"Gorillas and hippos." He closed his eyes, remembering his days in the zoo.
"Gorilla gorilla and hippopotamus amphibius, the gorilla and the hippo... Native to Africa and Africa only..." He paused, waiting for a couple of Okapi to pass by.
"Gorillas live only in places like this, in jungles... And hippos, you'll find those almost everywhere. Both are very dangerous. A hippo will attack ANYTHING in the river section it calls home, and gorillas..." He frowned. "You can't trust anything with opposable thumbs."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:25 am
She listened to him nodding as she went. "...wait what are thumbs?" She asked cutely as she looked to him not sure what they where. "An are gorillas the big things that took momma's momma?" She asked softly as she heared her mother and her aunt talking about Nthanda the female she supposedly looked like.
He nodded, keeping quiet for a moment. Looking at the cub, he tilted his head just a bit. "Yes, they're what drove your grandmother to an untimely end... And thumbs are..." He lifted a paw, flexing his claws.
"You see this claw, up here near my wrist? Imagine that as long as the other toes on my paw. That's what a thumb is. Gorillas, chimps, orangutans, humans, and a few monkey species share them. It's a characteristic of monkies and apes."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:26 am
She made a gross little face. "Eww! why would they have those!" She said as she looked at her own paws. "Our paws do just fine." She said with a small little nod before looking to the older male with a small smile.
"Do they have claws like us and sharp teeth?"
"Gorillas and chimpanzees have teeth you don't argue with. And they have thumbs because they use tools to get the foods they eat." He thought a moment, then made a motion.
"They also eat foods from the trees, but they can't just eat it off the ground like okapi. Think of it like the trunk of an elephant, but... On their legs, not their face."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:27 am
She giggled a little thinking of a monkey with trunks for arms and legs. She then looked to the male with a smile.
"Nava what happens if someone did something bad and comes to the colony." She said softly loosing interesting in the bad things she needed to worry about outside.
"Bad how?" He paused, looking down at the river. "Bad like Mkorogo's first offense... Killing someone...? Or bad like his second... Being with a lion?" He looked back at her.
"Remember that killing, and having relations with a lion or cheetah, are very bad." He thought a moment.
"And leading humans into the heart of the colony. Never do something like that."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 12:28 am
"Well what if you killed someone only because they where trying to kill you? But yes the second No one seems to talk about it. What if again it wasn't your fault?"
Nava looked at the cub, black ears twitching just a bit. "Well, that's different. Then it's self defense. That is an understandable kill, and you are tried accordingly. The worst most leopards get for killing in self-defense is a week in isolation, so they can recover from the trauma of it."
He moved some branches aside, revealing the river. "Be careful, hippos live in this stretch." A hiss of water was heard, as the bull of the herd peeked from the water. Leopard and hippo watched each other warily, Nava making sure Koka stayed back.
"You mean if a leopard was forced by a lion...? I don't see one being forced by a cheetah... We can break their bones easily. But by a lion..." He nodded, still watching the hippo. "If they have proof it wasn't their fault, then they are forgiven with a purification ceremony."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:47 am
She listen closely to her 'uncles' wors as she watched the water before staying closer to the mostly white male as they navigated threw the trees till finally they where back down on the ground.
"Nehneh! Nava whats a puurif...purfication ceremony?" She asked as her large knowledge hungry eyes watched him eager to listen to his words.
"A purification ceremony is a ceremony to purify a leopard who has commited the crime of being with a lion or cheetah. It usually pertains to a leopard who was forced in some way to be with the lion or cheetah, but it can also apply to those who thought they were fine before, but wish to renounce what they now realise to be a sin, and purify their soul before the gods." He paused, looking at a giant jungle butterfly on a flower.
"When the ceremony begins, they are dressed in a mask, arm braces, and a neclace, all made of wood, bone, and stone. While wearing the mask, they cannot see, and must rely on a pure partner to lead them around and acclimate them to the sounds and smells of the jungle. They are, essential, like a newborn."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:48 am
The little female stopped as she grew silent as she seemed to think the over before smiling a little as she looked to her 'uncle'. "Nava...are there special leopards that are considered pure?" She asked curiously a moment before thinking over her mother suddenly as her eyes widened.
"Momma!! She's gonna go through it isn't she!!" She demanded to know as she watched her uncle started to get a little fearful the thought of her mother being weak and defenseless kinda scared her.
"Those who have had no cubs, perhaps..." He smiled, almost tiredly. "I'd be unsuited, though, for a female impure. It must be the same gender." There weren't many female leopards in the pride, when he thought about it.
He looked down at Koko, eyebrow going up. "If she wants to. She would have to be paired to maybe Sayuri, since she's the purest right now." She was pregnant, but there were no cubs yet. And they were sired by a leopard...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:49 am
She nodded a moment before smiling as she she began to fidget about she wanted to go play now she had learned a lot about her colony and was just itching to run tell someone else. Anyone for all she cared it could be a rock. Then it hit her she knew where she would go she would go. She bowed a little looking to her uncle.
"I'm gonna go play now!" She yelled out a little before running off quickly to the colony ruins as she tried to sneak into her mothers old den.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
