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 Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:20 am
 It had come as something of a shock to Ruzanski that he was accepted so easily as one of the Stormborn lions just because he had won a single fight against one of them. Apparently that was all that had been required of him to prove his fitness to join the pride, which the young lion still found mystifying.
He had won a fight against another adolescent. Surely that wasn't impressive enough to gain him entry. Not that it had been an easy fight for Ru, but just the same, that should have counted against him. Instead, Ru had been introduced to the king of the pride, who was called Warlord rather than King, and that lion had welcomed him to the pride. He hadn't called him brother as the lion he'd fought had done - Lucivar was that lion's name, Ru reminded himself - but he had made it clear that Ruzanski was welcome and considered one of the pride.
The relative ease of it all really astounded Ru. While he recovered from the wounds he'd sustained in winning his entry to the pride he had begun to watch the pride's warriors as they practiced and he couldn't wait to try his claws against them once he was completely healed. Watching them every day as they sparred, he saw a lot that he wanted to try. He also came to learn which lions were better fighters, and observed that some lions never seemed to fight, only to watch and comment. He wasn't sure if that annoyed him or not.
"Do they ever actually fight, or do they just watch?" he asked in an undertone. He was addressing the lion beside him with stripes along his back and a dark red mane that faded to a lighter shade at his chest. Ru did not remember seeing the lion there before, but he had only been in the pride for a few days and there were a lot of lions.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:34 am
“Huh?” Olaf grunted, shaken from his own thoughts. Not that they had been particularly brilliant. He’d simply been wondering what type of meat he’d be eating that might. Sometimes he enjoyed the larger prey, but mostly he seemed to find the smaller animals the most juicy and tender. They were little bite-size bits of fun and he couldn’t wait to have himself a little snack. For the time being, however, he had to occupy his time through other means, not wanting to get himself fat on too much meat. Specific times were for food.
This hour was his time for observing. Seeing what his fellow pride members had to offer when it came to battling.
He hadn’t even noticed the kid beside him.
“You talking to me?” He asked faintly, though already knew his own answer. No one else was around, so of course he was the one being spoken to. Unless, of course, the kid enjoyed talking to himself. Wait. Who was he, anyway? One of the many newbies?
“Is there a problem with watching?” He asked after a moment, still observing the boy as though his identity would be revealed through staring at him alone, “it’s a good way to learn how the others move and react.” He didn’t answer the question, exactly, but mostly because he didn’t know the answer himself. It wasn’t like he had been in the pride long, himself. Mostly he was a guy to spend his time on the outside, looking in. Only when he had a story to brag about did he like to make himself the center of attention. When it came to actually saying something helpful… he wasn’t the lion to turn to.
Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to try. “What’s your name, kid? I don’t think I’ve seen you around these parts before.”
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:48 pm
Working on the assumption that Olaf was not stupid, Ru didn't dignify his first question with a reply. Obviously he was talking to him. He didn't say as much, though, or do anything more than nod because he didn't trust himself not to say something provocative and regrettable. Not the fun kind of provocative. The kind that got a person into fights, and while Ru wouldn't back down from a fight he didn't think it would be wise to make enemies in his new pride, and he didn't know how seriously these lions took their disagreements.
"No problem with watching. That's why I'm doing it," Ru answered. "But as you've observed I'm new and don't know how anyone here moves or reacts. I'd think they would know that though."
Maybe the pride had its own way of doing introductions and exchanging names, but Ru didn't know them and he didn't seem to need to use them in this situation anyway. Which was just as well. His mother had drilled into him so many ways of greeting people that the choices became overwhelming. He was happy to ignore them all and take the more direct approach.
"I'm Ruzanski," he said, answering the lion's other question. "You?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 6:45 pm
Olaf nodded, though missed the mark when it came to a sagely kind of look. Really, he looked more like a dork merrily nodding along to something someone far smarter than him had said. Maybe he was just in a good mood all of a sudden, or he simply didn’t care what the younger lion thought of him. Either way, he didn’t seem too inclined to make himself look like some kind of mature, respected individual. He was more casual than that, save for talk of his exploits.
That was where he liked to get serious. There and actually going out on said exploits. Not much to brag about if you aren’t very good at what you do, right?
Right.
“Name’s Olaf,” the lion replied easily enough, “nice to meet ya, newbie. I think it’s pretty smart you watching the others- looks like you really want to fit in around here, huh? I bet you have a problem getting along with others if you’re not prepared first, right?” He was only guessing, but it was fun to kind of assume things of other people’s actions.
Even if it did tend to get him into trouble. Hell, the trouble was the best part about the whole thing.
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:02 am
When the ruddy lion seemed to visibly relax, nodding pleasantly along with Ru, the younger lion felt a wash of relief that he hadn't said anything stupid so far. It went against his nature more than a little, but he wanted so very much to make a good impression on these lions so that he could learn to kill pirates as efficiently as they were rumored to do.
Grinning, his mood buoyed by Olaf's easy manner, Ru nodded and replied that it was nice to meet Olaf, too. A few seconds later he wondered if that was really true, though, when Olaf managed to gauge so astutely how Ru acted with others. It wasn't quite that he had a problem getting along with others. He just tended to make them uncomfortable if he didn't make an effort not to do so.
"Something like that. You don't seem to have that problem though. Maybe I should be watching you instead of them." He nodded toward the fighters.
"I can't be always fighting to make my point." Unless maybe he could. There was still a lot he didn't know about the Stormborn. He hadn't seen so far that these fights were used to settle differences, but it stood to reason that they could be used in such a way.
He turned his attention back to the fighters and asked with a playful smirk, "So, are you better than they are?"
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