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 Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:35 pm
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Hemea was new the the East House- to pride life entirely, in fact- and so far she had no regrets. She wasn't cut out for the kind of life her parents seemed to keen on, and how exactly she ended up here was hard to say but she was already learning a great deal and she was loving every minute of it. Lucky for her, what came most naturally was the social aspects of being in a pride.
"It's nice of you to hang out with me," she said, glancing over to the lioness who walked with her.
There were a couple reasons, all of them rather pathetic, that Mei was around to meet one of the newer Students in the house. Despite her enthusiasm, Mei wasn't always the brightest lioness and so she had been sitting in on the same introductory lessons that Hemea had been to. It was hard not to notice the brightly colored and eager new face, so she had determined very quickly that they ought to be friends.
And Mei didn't need to be particularly bright to notice that the concept seemed somewhat foreign to the other lioness.
"Don't be silly, I could tell I liked you the minute I met you," she replied brightly, "And I know it's more fun learning your way around here with a friend."
"That's true!" Hemea agreed, smiling, "It's definitely less intimidating."
The key was to walk like you're supposed to be there but getting used to where you were supposed to be could make that hard. Worse, she wasn't yet to a point where all the different habitats that made up the common areas. Her day had started surrounded by trees and now she could barely see any trees in any direction as Mei led her to the southern lake.
"That will pass," Mei said confidently, chuckling to herself, "If I can get the place figured out then anybody can! I haven't lived here as long as some of the others and I can find my way around just fine." |
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:55 pm
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Yinse was walking to the lake as well, still debating on his future. Ever since the wild dog had planted the idea of changing careers in his head, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He knew that he needed to seek out more information regarding a change, but it was hard to see himself giving up all his lessons. He wasn't a great student, and he didn't see himself working up the ranks, either. He wasn't ambitious, but sometimes he just wanted to feel comfortable in his life...and right now he was not very comfortable being a full-time student.
He heard voices...lady voices. Upon further listening, he recognized the voice of his sister. His stomach tightened a bit, as sometimes seeing her made him miss all their siblings and parents who were living in other houses. He still didn't quite understand why he couldn't stay in the Central house, but it was also hard knowing that four, four! of his siblings went to the south while he and Mei moved into the east.
Distracted by his thoughts, he didn't quite realized that he had kept walking, except he had changed directions towards the voices instead of towards the lake. Before he realized it, he was within plain view of the two lioness...and his stomach tightened again. There was Mei, with the pretty new student that had come to the house. Ah...ah....he couldn't run, but the stupid male just knew that he'd screw this up. |
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:34 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:24 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:35 pm
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Hemea followed after Mei, biting back a laugh when she was close enough to see the look on Yinse's face at their approach. He looked rather uncomfortable-- she had no way of knowing why that was, though once he greeted them she guessed it might be that he almost wanted to say her name but apparently didn't know it.. but it was funny because so far Mei hardly seemed like a worrier.
"Wanxia," Mei said brightly when her brother hesitated, snickering but moving on very quickly, "We were just headed out to the lake, she doesn't know her way around really well yet and I thought, hey- I do!"
She beamed.
Then she started.
"Oh!" she said, turning to Hemea and nodding to Yinse, "This is my brother, Yinse Shen."
It took a couple seconds for Hemea to realize that Mei was introducing her- she wasn't used to having another name yet. She had been just Hemea for so long, and it had been all she really had that came from her parents.. it was going to take a while to start thinking of herself as Wanxia.
"Pleased to meet you!" she said suddenly a second after Mei introduced her brother, realizing she had gone very quiet for too long.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:57 pm
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Well, it seemed like everyone was going to share at least one awkward moment. He thought about it for a moment...but weren't most introductions a little awkward anyway? With a soft sigh to himself, he remembered some of his previous meetings with newer members...usually with him failing at his lessons. This only cemented his resolve to change careers into a guard. It may not be the same noble position that his and Mei's father held, but it couldn't hurt to have a little more protection in the house of the East.
"Alright then," he said with a laugh, the shared awkwardness making him feel a tiny bit more relaxed. "Wanxia, then. I'll...try to remember that, but don't hold it against me if I forget it again. Sorry." Well, at least that part was over with. He sure hoped that he wouldn't forget her name again, anyway!
"Oh, the lake. I was actually on my way over there too, but I suppose the three of us could walk together? We're almost there anyways.."
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:11 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:03 pm
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"Woah, well then," he said when Mei brought up the subject of what to know when living here. It was hard to think about what she would need to know when he had been born in the pride, even if it had been a different house. Hell, they had grown up as playmate with the royal litter, though that mattered little now at this point in their lives.
"Well, I guess its just to know that if you're here in the East, everyone likes to learn...even if we're not all that good at it," he added with a flush. "B-but I mean, as long as you're respectful to everyone and you're aware of who really runs the house, you'll be fine. I don't think we run into that many strangers, either, if you think about it..." For how long they'd been here, the few strangers that came in contact with them here were just new members. Yinse hadn't heard of many travelers or traders trying to pass through these lands, but he was still just a student too.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:30 pm
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She listened while she walked, her eyes on Yinse as he tried to describe life in the house. She smiled at his remark about not being good at learning, wondering if the other members of their family were of similar intellect or if this somewhat out-of-place pair were the bright ones.
"The Lady Wu Yin Yue was one of the first things I was taught about, of course," Hemea offered thoughtfully, "But she supposedly has a big family, too.."
She had seen the lady, she hoped that was enough to make it easy to identify the nobles-- or that she wouldn't be in a situation where her lack of experience in that area would be showcased.
"Yeah, there are a lot of Dukes and Duchesses," Mei offered with an unconcerned smile, "I think that's true of every house, too. The house lords and ladies tend to have the biggest families- at least, they have the biggest families that stay together!"
Truthfully, Mei didn't have much information to go on making such a claim but it seemed to be the way things were. Her family was big enough but they were spread out. Heck, she would never know if her parents had more cubs at this point- and she wasn't sure how she'd find out.
Maybe someday a random little sister would show up in the East.
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:25 pm
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"Oh man. I've heard that the head family of the West is huge." Yinse shuddered a bit. "That would be hard, if only because I'd fear that every time I turned around another duke or duchess would be there staring at me!!" The grey lion laughed, making a mock-horror face as he imagined himself to be confronted by one.
Well, hopefully he wouldn't get caught with that joke, but he wasn't that high up in the class system, either.
"Anyway, I guess life isn't too bad...I'm sorry I can't think of anything to mention right now. Maybe I'll think of something later..." Yinse felt stupid, but it would give him another reason to see her again. If Mei was becoming good friends with her, he'd see her more regardless, and though she was a really pretty female, it would be nice to just have someone else to visit with and talk to. Yinse did get lonely sometimes, even if he was used to living in smaller houses.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:20 pm
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Mei snickered at Yinse's comments about the West and always running into a noble. She wasn't so nervous about that, but she didn't need to be while in the East. She might be more worried if she really knew how bad she was at recognizing the high classed members of the house.
Hemea tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Should I worry about running into a Duke or Duchess?" she asked, wondering if they were easy to offend or something, "I hadn't even really thought about that much."
Of course, she had been busy learning the basics. Social conventions would come with more time!
"Naaaah~"
Privately, Mei was grateful that her brother couldn't come up with anything else to tell her new friend- she hadn't been able to think of much, that was why they were headed for the lake.
"I think the easiest thing to do is work on learning your way around, anyway," she said confidently, mostly because this was something she could do, "Right, Yinse? You can pick up all the other things once you know where most of the goings-on, are."
Hemea nodded, looking back and forth between the brother and sister.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:19 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:30 pm
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"Well, you'll know where one of the lakes are," Mei said brightly, "There's another one farther up north, I just picked this one because it's nicer in the grass."
Hemea started when Mei mentioned another lake, she hadn't mentioned it before.. and she couldn't immediately recall if she had been told about the other one.
"Oh," she murmured, then she smiled, "Will you guys show me the other one, too? It doesn't have to be today, after all, I have another lesson to get to later."
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:46 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:57 pm
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"Oooooh! I bet the teachers would have some really interesting stories to tell about the lakes," Mei said at the idea of treating a tour of the house as a field trip, "We should ask! I'll come with you tonight, Wanxia. I bet I can talk the teachers into it."
Hemea was surprised by the sudden enthusiasm coming from Mei when Yinse suggested a field trip, even though he almost sounded like he was joking. So far, she hadn't gotten the impression field trips were common.. but maybe it was still possible.
"You think they'd go for it?" she asked, "And are you sure you really want to attend a lesson meant for a newbie like me?"
Mei kept on smiling.
"Of course," she said, "I was already in a lesson with you, remember? I wasn't planning on another one today but more never hurts!"
That was pretty much how Mei lived. More lessons, constantly.
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