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 Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:16 pm
Azar'bijan stomped across to the dens in search of the only sibling he seemed to keep in touch with now-a-days. Whether this was because of the accident and some odd sort of guilt to try and make it up to Vlam, or whether it was simply because the lion could not respond verbally to anything Azar said was not known. Most would probably think the latter. They would probably be right. Whatever the reason, Azar's company was not often seen as a good thing. Azar, after all, had always would been and always would be...a total a**.
His brows were furrowed down over dark eyes; his jaw jutted forwards so that it was clear - just from looking at him - that he was not in a particularly good mood. Whatever had been the cause of it was likely to be the topic of conversation within the next few moments, unless of course, someone saw fit to silence him.
Moving with short, sturdy strides across the sand, he hopped up to mount the slightly higher level of ground before crossing the short distance to the hospital dens. No doubt, Vlam would be skulking around here somewhere. Azar just hoped that mad-eyed medic was not. He'd never been much of a people person, but there were certainly those he tended to avoid more than others. Ea was among one of them, as well as her sister, and their father and...actually quite a few others. The 'dislike' list was certainly a lot longer than the 'like' list, in any case.
With a loud snort, the large lion dipped his head a little and prepared to step into the shade of the den.
A small voice halted him.
"Halt, lion!"
Azar, arching a brow, turned his head to see who had interrupted him.
He would find Nur'yu sitting on sentry duty just a few steps away, sat upon a rock with his tail curled about him and his head up and alert. His dark pelt was stark against the gold, his eyes bright. A small smile curved the corners of his mouth.
"You don't want to go in there." The youngster continued.
"Shut up, kid. You can't tell me what to do."
"There's a dee-zeeze!" The cub exclaimed, waving a paw at the hospital den. "Down there. Bad, bad! You might catch it." He nodded matter-of-factly, curling his tail. "Only white lion has it at the moment."
"White? Wha-? Vlam? Is it Vlam?"
Nur'yu cocked his head, thinking for a moment. Yes. Yes, he thought it might be. "Uh huh. Vlam. Real sick. Almost dead. He has a dee-zeeze, but no one knows how to make it better."
Azar hesitated, grimacing, and took a small step away. Okay, so this kid could be lying, but did he want to take that risk? Uh...not really.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:28 pm
Vlam did not, in fact, have the disease. Although given the work and run around Ea had subjected him to that afternoon, he might as well have. The water troughs were drying up faster then ever these days, and the area around the wards seemed to have been rendered a series of intricate pot holes as he chased water around what was once a viable source. He suspected Ea was out complaining about it now to her parents- although the temperamental medic had not exactly specified what she was leaving them to do.
She had left one message though, loud and clear: don't let the rogue escape.
Now, that would have been an easy plan if the white lion had just stayed unconscious like a good patient. He certainly had a high enough fever! But ever since late that night, Veru had been acting...off. He seemed to be delerious, and had a vexing habit of stumbling out among the rocks looking for 'his friend'. Ea informed him that the friend was a bird, and not to listen to him.
Not that Vlam had much of a choice.
"Hey! I am not...sick!" Veru staggered, hearing voices in the distance. This seemed a perfect time to try and escape again, so the clumsy, half dead fellow started to crawl his way out. "Brother, is that you?"
Vlam blinked in confusion, putting a heavy paw down on the struggling lion's shoulders. Veru continued to paw away at the earth, but with Vlam's weight, he wasn't going anywhere. Noticing HIS brother in the distance, between Nur'yu and Veru, he gave all he could in greeting: a simple nod of the head.
"Notsick," Veru rambled. "They're keeping me prisoner!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:36 pm
Vlam. Veru. Same difference. Nur'yu gave a little shrug and - at seeing the pair of white lions appear - hopped onto all fours and bounced up and down with excitement. "See, see! Told you! It's the dee-zeeze!" He slipped from the rock, landed ungracefully on the sand, and picked himself up, tracking across to stand beside Azar'bijan. He was a curious little cat and ever since he and Fia had come across Veru at the borders, he had hung around to watch how events played out.
After all, it wasn't every day that you met a lion who had died but then...had come back to life...
He was maybe...also avoiding the fact that he had not yet settled on a decision about his future and was trying to hide away from his parents in case they questioned him on it. He was, after all, beginning to feel a bit of a let down by not instantly wanting to sign up to be a soldier or a guard, though the thought of doing either job was fine, too...
Azar made a disgusted face and flinched back, clearly believing the tales of the youth now that he could see the pitiful mess that was Veru, sprawled on the sand. Even still...his brother certainly didn't seem to mind about close contact or about catching anything off of the sickly runt he now pinned to keep from...from escaping?
"You look sick to me." Azar grumbled, taking a few hesitant steps forward. "Vlam, shouldn't you have...I mean, wouldn't it have been kinder to just...let him...go. Don't want the whole pride to get what he's got."
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:54 pm
Vlam glanced down at Veru. Truthfully, he had to agree. Had it been left to him, he probably would have let Veru die out in the desert. It wasn't like the pride to just let in any fool they came across, let alone someone who could be carrying god knows what. Ea didn't seem to think him contagious, however. And Fia seemed to think he was worth the effort. And crossing Ea's judgement, was never advisable.
Personally, he had a feeling Ea just liked to have a new project to work on. She'd been trying out a variety of different herbal remedies, even going so far as to send fledgling huria, An, out into the wastes for some rarer stock. One had turned out to be poisonous! At least if it was a rogue, Ea would get some practice out on him before he turned into a pride member.
If he lasted that long, anyways. Vlam adjusted his weight as Veru continued to slither out from under him.
"What I got? What do I have?" Veru rambled, his words slurred. "You don't even know. You know? I was walking, and then they just stuck me here."
There was a long pause, as Veru seemed to be distracted by something only he could see. "Have you seen a bird? Yay tall?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:04 pm
Azar, reluctant to get much closer, sat heavily in the sand and swept his tail briskly across the ground, stirring a cloud of dust that had Nur'yu stepping sideways to avoid getting it in his eyes and nose. He wrinkled his nose in distaste at Veru's mad rantings and cast his brother a baffled look. "Vlam, seriously, I think he's lost it." He growled. "The heat obviously fried his poor little outsider brain."
Nur'yu shook his head. "No. No. There was a bird! I saw it! A big black bird! But it flew away when we rescued him and I haven't seen it since. It must still be around here, though! Maybe if we found it, the lion might feel better..."
Azar shot the cub a look. "Don't you have somewhere to be, brat?"
The cub puffed out his chest. "I'm helping Auntie Ea."
Ah, Azar thought to himself, that was why the kid was annoying. He was related to that lot. Surprise, surprise. With another growl, he gave the cub a shove with his paw and got back onto his paws. "Vlam, just knock the rogue out, will you? I came here to tell you about what the latest act of idiocy by Kidondo, you know? I can hardly tell you the story with that creature trying to escape all the time."
Nur'yu - though he said nothing - perked his ears up at the mention of his grandfather.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:09 pm
Not that Vlam could have responded, but before Vlam could even make a movement to silence the bedraggled lion, Veru started to ramble excitedly. "Yes! The black one! She talks to me, you know. Did you know she talks? Like, all the time really. I usually get ladies to talk to me but never birds. That's odd. I always thought it was odd."
Vlam put a little more weight on the rambler's shoulders, and Veru winced in pain. For what it was worth, he shut up. Although, he continued to mouth words at Nur'yu, like they had some sort of secret code. At least, he thought they had a secret code. Ignoring the fact that, until five seconds ago, the little cub had been just as much his captor as Vlam.
With Veru [mostly] silent, Vlam hoped that would be enough to abate Azar's annoyance. While the idea of knocking the white lion out was certainly tempting... he honestly didn't want to make Ea upset. And truthfully, Vlam probably didn't have the heart to do it. He craned his head expectantly, his ears swinging up in interest to hear what Azar had to say.
As the two talked gossip, Veru started to trace weird shapes in the sand with his claws. It was a message!
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:24 pm
Nur'yu flattened himself to the sand and crawled forwards a couple of steps, wincing as he tried to imagine what it must be like to be stepped on by a bigger lion. Vlam didn't talk much - or at all, really - and that made him scarier, in a way... The cub tried to divert his attention between the lions, but in reality, such a thing was impossible. So, he opted to speak with Veru. After all, the cub didn't think his 'mad rantings' were all that mad. If the bird existed, it was likely other things the white lion was saying were also true.
Truth certainly could not be madness!
"She talks? Really? I never heard her talk but maybe because I scared her. She got mad, I think, and flew away. Is she close by? Will she come back?" He crawled a little further forwards, tilting his head to see what Veru was drawing into the sand. "I could go and look for her and bring her here...maybe she knows what's wrong."
He blinked, pressing himself even closer to the sand and spoke in a hushed voice. "What was it like...when you died, Mister?"
Meanwhile, Azar had begun on his ranting. "Well, yesterday, my son - you know the one, uh, Heti - well, yeah. He comes trotting over to me with this big grin on his face and is all: 'Dad, guess what happened to me today?' So, I put an interested look on and ask him what happened and he tells me that Kidondo came to visit him on patrol." He wrinkled his snout again - a common expression on his face, seemingly. "Apparently our wonderful leader doesn't have a lot to do with his time if he's out speaking with the lowly guards, right?" He waved a paw. "Anyway! Guess what? He told my kid that he had a potential apprentice for him. HIM? He didn't even bother coming to find me and asking whether I would be willing to take on an apprentice!" He began to pace, clearly infuriated. "I'm clearly better and more experienced, right? Right?" He paused, shooting a look at his brother which was something akin to pleading. "Now my son is going to get an apprentice and I'm stuck with nothing. Nothing! I'm telling you Vlam, I ought to take this further."
He blew out his breath and, rant done, sat heavily.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:01 pm
Veru kept quiet, apparently focusing intently on what he was drawing. Unfortunately, the delivery of the message was lost in translation. Nothing the white lion wrote down even resembled a coherent thought... unless that thought was utter madness. Squiggles and shapes collided and overlapped with one another in a manic pattern. Satisfied with his secret message, he pointed to it [not so subtly]. Surely Nur'yu would understand!
While Veru made attempts at his prison break, Vlam listened to Azar's rant. Heti would be taking on an apprentice? It was hard not to feel his own pang of regret. He couldn't even share Azar's anger. His career as a soldier was effectively over... and that troubled him. The lion's eyes drifted to the side for a moment, mulling the thought over. He would have been happy enough just to be rejected a request for an apprentice. Now, he was lucky just to have people ask him to dig holes for them.
But he did appreciate Azar's position. It seemed improper, or at the very least rude, for Kidondo to select Heti over his father. Vlam shook his head to show his mirrored disgust, and then shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know how to rectify the situation. Well, short of making look Heti look bad, and he wasn't about to imply that either.
Veru didn't seem to be making headway on his message. So he started to ramble again in what he [thought] was a whisper. "She does! All the time, saying things. She..."
His voice trailed off, as thought he was a bit tired. Or had just realized something. "...she did this to me..."
Vlam was conveniently not paying attention.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:14 pm
Nur'yu shuffled around so that he could view the squiggles from Veru's perspective, tilting his head curiously from side to side. What was it supposed to be, exactly? He couldn't really make out any pictures and they didn't look at all like the odd markings that the Historians made on the rocks. He wrinkled his little nose and gave a small sigh.
Maybe if he squinted a little...
Nope. No good.
He opened his mouth to tell Veru that he was - in fact - not a very good drawer at all, when the white lion started speaking again. Nur'yu drew forward one large ear and canted his head. "Did what? Wait, the bird? She made you sick?" He wasn't sure how that was possible, but why would Veru lie about this? Of course he wouldn't! And, if this was true, something had to be done! His Aunties had to be told! He reached out with a little paw and patted Veru on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Mister! I'll go and find Fia and Ea! They'll know what to do."
He stood and, tail curling, glanced between the two brothers, wondering whether they would even notice if he abandoned his post and headed off in search of the twins.
Azar was speaking again. "I knew you'd understand, bro. I don't know. No one else seems to. They think I should be proud. Peh." They were right of course, but Azar's competitive steak often got in the way of normal emotions and right now his son was going to be higher up the hierarchy than he was!
"Um..." Nur'yu tried to interrupt, but Azar wasn't paying any attention.
"I think I should just go talk to Kidondo myself. Tell him he's made a mistake. You think that might be a good idea, yeah?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:30 pm
Veru tensed. Rather than rejoice in his discovery, he curled inward. As though the truth of it hurt him. He wasn't in the right frame of mind, surely? No...no. He knew. She'd done this. The moment the idea popped into his mind, it seemed to aggravate the pain in his chest. As if the sickness itself was confirming it for him. He forlornly glanced down at the scribbles in the sand. No plan of escape could free him from this, could it?
Completely missing Veru's turmoil, Vlam leaned more weight down on the poor fellow. Vlam's own problems seemed just as dire that moment. He didn't exactly want to stir up problems with Ea's father... not that anyone could trace it back to him. Ea seemed to be content yelling and screaming at anyone, parents included, when she was agitated. But he was still their regent, and it was enough to give the big lion pause.
But not much pause. Vlam nodded sternly to Azar's idea. It wouldn't due to be disgracing their family, after all. Perhaps Kidondo wasn't even aware of the insult? That seemed unlikely. He didn't doubt the regent cared much for Azar... or Vlam, for that matter. His tail twitched, as he considered it. What was the right way to approach it?
And then, he got a bit diabolical. Maybe Ea was rubbing off on him after all. He couldn't speak, but he could mouth simple words with some success, if the other person was watching the shape he made. So he mouthed a simple word: [No]. If the regent had denied him... why not take it up with the other regent? Divide and conquer? After all, if Kidodno had truly slighted Azar, then surely No would be displeased. From what Vlam knew about the regentess, it was that she seemed an honorable sort. If not a bit strict.
Veru wheezed under Vlam's weight, and glanced towards Nur'yu. He felt dizzy. Wait. He was going to say something. "Sometimes, it's really too bright..." No, wait...that wasn't it. Veru groaned. "Wait, no. That's not what I mean. Don't worry about the bird it's...it's not important."
After all, if she could make him sick- why put the kid in danger? "Dangerous," he added. His head shook weakly. "Uh...yes, it...is too bright outside."
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:43 pm
Nur'yu watched the exchange between the brothers with a confused sort of curiosity, drawn from the conversation only when Veru's wheezing voice interrupted. He hopped a little closer to better hear him and shook his head, not quite understanding (or choosing not to understand).
"Don't worry. We're used to the sun." He patted the lion on the nose and, with a grin, danced backwards, calling a farewell as he went. "Don't worry, Mister! I'll be back soon!" He turned on his paws and wasted no time in dashing away. He didn't exactly know where either Ea or Fia were, but he was hoping they wouldn't be too far apart and that they'd be close by. The sun was bright, after all, and he didn't want to be dashing about under it for too long if it could be helped.
Azar didn't even notice the cub had gone. "Right then, Vlam. It's decided, then. I'm going to go and talk to that Kidondo about this." He shook the sand from his pelt, fluffing himself up in an attempt to look more intimidating. "But I ain't going by myself. You're going to come with me, you hear? So, when that mad-eyed witch comes back to do her job, you come back and get me, right?" He threw his brother a grin and took a step back, casting one last wary glance at Veru.
That lion was definitely sick.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:52 pm
And Veru felt sick, watching Nur'yu run off before he could even formulate another sentence. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd say. After all, the kid had believed him, amidst his fevered ramblings, that a bird had somehow had something to do with his plight. The irony of it wasn't lost on him. He had to stop him!
...but it was so hard to focus. He felt tired already, and the lurch of pain hadn't done him any clarity. Weakly, he tried to crawl another step forward- but the brute of a lion that was his captor stopped him. Didn't he even notice the kid running off? Veru tried to gather his thoughts. Think. "Aren't- you going to stop him?" He struggled out.
Vlam simply glanced at him curiously, before turning back to Azar. Who, at the moment, seemed much more sane. The white lion nodded his head in agreement, and then again at Veru. He'd be over to see Azar as soon as Ea returned. Or An. Whichever happened first.
Veru sighed, feeling his own weakness overtake him. The bird was likely long gone by now, anyways. Surely she wouldn't linger. And she certainly wouldn't want anything to do with some cub.
At least, he hoped not. He wasn't sure what he'd brought down upon the pride. But he suddenly felt incredibly guilty.
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