The hissing of the geiysers still made him jump. Tuna eyed the graveyard, ears back. The brown hyena had been venturing, every so often, into the lands of death. After spending a lifetime as a rogue, he was now seeking out a real pack. He'd at least found a friend in the alpha's youngest grandson... The question was, would he impress the alpha? Jumping over a fissure in the ground, the brown hyena was suddenly started by the hiss of the geiyser behind him, and then... The smell of his tail burning. Letting out a startled sound, he went running blindly to try and get the fire out.
Trotting around blissfully, Ameki had a definite skip in her step. She was humming a happy tune, looking up at the sky. Pleasantly gray. The ground, it's usual ashy look. Although the sight might seem depressing to others, to Ameki, it was home. Now all she needed was a male hyena in her life. She had been an adult for a bit now, and she really just wanted someone to love. She had tried to find one before, but she was so awkward, most just mocked her. But she wouldn't let that get her down, she believed with all her heart, that there was a soul-mate out there for everyone. Happy and ignorant, that was her in a nutshell.
She had a strange urge to go to the sulfur geysers today. She did think that the smell was disgusting, but the mysterious look of them was enough to draw her in. She would just have to remember not to touch them... again.
When he'd finally put the fire out, Tuna looked at his tail. A whimper escaped. It was all blackened now... He let out a sigh, beginning to walk. As if the comos were proving him to be inept in a boneyard, he stepped on a bone and went tumbling, right over the edge of a slope. Through the world spinning, he could see a chasm below. This was not good, this was VERY not good! Doing his best to right himself, all he succeeded in was turning. At least he wasn't going for a chasm... No, he was heading right for another animal!
Now nearing the sulfur geysers, she knew her way around. She usually didn't even open her eyes, like right now. Ameki usually left herself to her fantasies of her perfect mate, her perfect day, basically just blissful fantasies. Humming her cheerful tune, she actually usually didn't hear what was around her. She would only open her eyes occasionally to check to see that her paws were still taking her in the right direction. She took a quick look, only for it to be cut short by a blur of brown and her collapsing.
She looked up to see who had seemingly tackled her into the dirt, to see a handsome brown hyena. Blushing, as she usually does when she stumbles upon a cute hyena, she only managed to stutter, “I... uh... er... hi.” Ameki examined the crash, only to see that he had landed on top of her, his stomach on her back. She blushed deeper, not sure if he had realized the compromising position he had put them in.
“Uh...”
"Stop the world from spinning, please... I wanna get off now..." Slowly, Tuna got up, stumbling and crashing into a pile of bones. As the world finally came to a stop, he found himself staring at what had stopped his roll. Another hyena? He tried to focus on her, but found the world blurring. While his physical vision faltered, his other vision became clearer. The male closed his eyes, trying to keep himself grounded in the real world. Finally opening his eyes again, he stared at her. "Um.... Hi.... Er..." Trying to get up, Tuna promptly plumetted back to the ground. "Erf... I hate getting visions..."
Still blushing deep enough to be seen through her lilac fur, she saw him get up, stumble around a bit and then collapse to the ground. She wasn't sure what to say, especially because of the fear of messing up, and saying something stupid. She stood there for a few moments, rehearsing what she was going to say in her head. She looked at him with a confused look. What had happened? She was just walking, and then she was on the ground with this random, cute hyena. Though he seemed klutzy, he had a certain quality about him, possibly similar to her, in his awkwardness? She stood near him and tried to say what she had in her mind, “Are... are you ok?”, she asked with concern. She had done pretty well, only one repeated word.
"Yeah..." Almost hugging the ground, Tuna's ears went back. "I think I stepped on a bone and came downhill..." Then a vision had struck... Great combination, first everything was on a spin cycle, then an energy-draining vision. "Just gimme a moment... Visions knock the umph out of me..." He looked up, and felt his face grow a bit warm. "So... Um... Did I crash into you...?"
She was still looking down in worry, he had taken a pretty hard hit. She would know. Her shoulder was a little bit stiff, but it seemed like he was the one that needed attention more. He seemed... so similar to her, with his good nature, and clumsiness. “Are you a seer?”, she asked curiously. She hadn't met a real seer before, so she had no clue how they affected the body.
As he looked up at her, she saw he had a nice, sweet face. “Yes, you kinda, sorta... landed on top of me...”, she finished in a slightly softer voice and didn't meet his eyes at the end. He certainly was strange, but he seemed genuine.
The brown hyena nodded, slowly rising. Though he stumbled a bit, he was starting to regain his strength. "Yeah... I'm a seer..." He wobbled, simply staying in one place. He looked at her, eyes a bit big. "Oh, geeze, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" Starting to take a step, Tuna crashed to the ground again. Nope, not strong enough yet...
“Wow, I've never met a real seer before! I've always heard of lions that were half-gods were seers, but never a hyena.”, she said, deep in thought, as much speaking to herself than to him. He was so interesting; a seer, and apparently a slightly uncoordinated one at that. But she did not judge him, he seemed nice enough. She looked downwards at his legs, seeing them wavering. “Are you sure you're ok?”, she asked uncertainly. Looking back up, she said, “Oh, no no, don't worry about-” She was cut off by him falling back to the ground. Looking down at him, she finished, “It. This sort of thing happens all the time!”, she said, trying to lighten the mood, and trying to reassure herself as well. “You really should come with me back to my pack, you seem to be having trouble... walking.”
"Yeah, there's hyena seers.. We're just not as common as the lions..." Were there any gods for the hyenas? At all? Carefully he stood again. "Okay, I think I can do this..." Moving one paw at a time, he began to walk, still wobbling. He didn't fall again, though, which he was glad for. "Alright... Lead the way... Just... Please go slow..."
With a warm smile, she turned and slowly began on their way back. She turned to him and said sincerely, "If you need any help, you can lean on me.", as she trotted to his side. Poor thing, he seemed like he was seriously hurt, but what struck her as odd, was that he wasn't as weak, it seemed, from tumbling down a steep slope, as much as that he had a vision. She honestly didn't know how it felt to have a vision, but if it was that hard on someone, she was thankful that she never had one. How hyenas become seers, she wondered, she didn't think there were any hyena gods... Or at least none that she knew of.
The more they walked, the better Tuna felt. He was soon moving at a lope, ears no longer back and eyes once again clear and bright. Despite the gray sky and the gloom of the bones, life felt great about now. Until he stepped on another bone and crashed into a pile... Sitting up, he blinked, a skull covering his head and bones hanging off of him. With a shake, he cleared them away. "Oops..."
Happily, Ameki continued with him, seeing that he was obviously getting better. Before long, he was up and running again. With a chuckle, she called after him, "Well someone's feeling better!" She quickly ran up beside him and joined him at his mid-paced lope. Smiling and closing her eyes, she forgot that he was unfamiliar with this place and heard a crash. That couldn't be good. She skidded to a halt and looked to see what had happened; he had crashed into a gazelle skeleton. She couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, you gotta watch out for those.", she said playfully.
Stepping carefully, Tuna grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I... Noticed..." He cleared his throat, then started to walk. After a moment, he looked over. "So.. What's it like living here...? Permamently...With a real pack..." Where males were subservient to females by the laws of nature.
She returned his smile. He was so pup-like, yet so mature at the same time. He didn't seem to be one of those obnoxious males that the second they saw a pretty hyena, they would start hitting on her. He seemed more honest, more sweet. "I-", Ameki started, but was interrupted by a pestering itch on her side, and continued, "Um, excuse me.", before she let her leg scratch at her side. Ah... so much better. "Well anyways- Could you excuse me again?", she asked, as this time she turned her head to her side and quickly began to gnaw at it. What was with this incurable itch? Aw, just forget it, she thought. "It's nice.", she said, this time still scratching with her leg. "Everyone does their part and everything works out. With a pack this big, if you get sick or injured, you won't starve."
"That sounds nice, actually." He watched her scratching, then reached up with a forepaw, scratching at her side. "Hm, one thing about the wild... Fleas..." He tilted his head a bit. "Where I come from, my pack was taken care of by hairless apes called humans. We were fed, bathed, given water, shade, and a place to sleep." He made a face. "The pampered life wasn't for me, I left that behind when I helped Kito get out." He paused, ears flicking. "Kito being a friend I had back there... She's a cheetah. She's in a pack of cheetahs now."
"It is! It's also nice being able to socialize with all the other hyenas, make some friends, go hunting together...", she trailed off "F-fleas?", she asked, shaking. She had never had fleas before. Ew... they were such disgusting little creatures. Ameki and let out a shiver and promptly began to roll in the dirt wildly, in the hopes that it would shake or squish them off of her.. "Fleas! Gross, gross GROSS!" I've never had fleas before! That actually sounds kind of nice too. You wouldn't have happened to find out how to get rid of them did you? And that's good for her... Ugh! So itchy!"
Tuna shook his head, offering a smile. "I don't have them, I don't think. They'd just bathed me against them before Kito and I left." He sighed, then looked up at the bones. "Wow... I wonder why they come HERE to die..."
After scratching for a bit, she looked back at Tuna, only to see his charming, gentle smile. She couldn't help but stare for a few moments, before shaking her self out of it. “Hm... What? Oh, yeah, you probably don't. Chances are, someone in the pack just brushed against me that had them.”, she finished with a shiver.
She followed Tuna's eyes to the bones. “Well, actually, sometimes that's our fault. Occasionally, a herd will just be crossing over, and we ambush them, or maybe they just want to be alone to die. Either way, their choice usually is good for us.”, she said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
Tuna let out a pleased sigh, delighted that he hadn't passed fleas onto anybody. After a moment, he began to climb an elephant skull. As he struggled to the top, he got as good a look around as he could. The view was, to him, spectacular. Ears lifting up, he felt his fur prickle just a bit. Stunning, just stunning... There were many places for him to poke his nose around here! Looking back down at Ameki, he grinned wide. "I think I found a place to stay!"
Scratching still as she watched intently while Tuna scaled a sizable elephant skull, she couldn't help but wonder why. When she was a pup, her and the rest of her playmates would mess around on the bones, using the tusks as slides and whatnot. But her question was answered quickly after he was up there and took a brief look around. He was looking for a place to stay? She didn't know him that well, but she was fairly sure that Tuna didn't know the ways of the boneyard, and sometimes the Mava'Bunda didn't always play nice with animals who ate their lack of food. Especially strangers.
“Er... Tuna? Maybe it's a better idea if you came with me and joined my pack.” If she could avoid it, she wouldn't tell him about how harsh it was to find food here, let alone fresh food. Something told her that he wasn't used to scavenging.
Sliding his way back down, Tuna tilted his head. "That's actually what I meant. The pack. You all live in a place like this... It's a great place! I want to stay here! With your pack!" His tail wagged a bit, almost like a puppy. "Where is you alpha? To see if she'd allow me to join." Even in the sanctuary, natural order was kept. The hyenas were ruled by the females, not the males, and he assumed it was the same outside the fences and gates and walls.
“Oh! That's great! I'm sure you fit right in.”, Ameki said excitedly. Her new friend/crush/whatever-the-heck-he-was was joining her pack! This was a great day for her. She would finally have a chance with an nice, sweet, hyena. Ameki had a habit of idealizing any male with potential. She already thought she knew Tuna, his entire personality, his hopes, his dreams, and she often in her head would have conversations with the poor sucker she decided to obsess over.
“Oh! You mean Mafa? She's a bit cold-hearted at times, but I'm sure we could convince her to let you join. After all, you are pretty difficult to dislike”, she finished with a giggle. “The pack is over this way.”
Ears still perked, Tuna kept a smile on his face as he followed. Somewhere in another skull, he felt a pair of eyes bore into him. He paused, tail lifting slightly, to look. Just like that, the sensation of being watched was gone, and he hurried after Ameki.
