[PRP] So, Like, I Heard This Rumor [Borachio & Derasan]

[Cajanic]

Borachio was enjoying his time with the others in his pride. Being able to sing and dance and make a fool out of himself, and have it be his duty within the pride, still seemed like a dream to him. How could anyone think to pass up something like this for nobility or hunting? Honestly, the others had the wrong idea- this was the best job in the pride.

It came with more than the obvious perk of entertaining the others. Sitting in the center of all the action, he was able to talk with all members of the pride, from the lowest to the highest. They all enjoyed a show every now and again, and could always be caught before leaving for a little bit of light conversation. Granted, not everyone seemed to enjoy speaking with the illegitimate heir of their king, but that never seemed enough to stop Borachio.

He was perfectly happy to ignore their discontent as he sniffed about for the latest gossip.

However, there were no performances that day. His lust for information, and the truth, would have to be sustained within the group of players. Thankfully, everyone had their stories, so it wasn’t like there was nothing to ask about. He’d been hearing rumors of late, of some scandal between the classes. Lions ignoring the ranks of their fur and… mingling with one another.

He wanted to find out if it was true of not.

What he needed to do was find Derasan and figure out what was going on.
 

[MoonRazor]

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily depending on who was looking into the situation, the object of Borachio's search was near at hand. Derasan rarely made any effort to make himself scarce, and most days, he was readily available in or near the theater for anyone who needed him. Indeed, he had never been particularly gifted at hiding, and had only sad memories of being discovered in games of hide-n-seek as a child.

But he wasn't trying to hide on this particular, fine day. Perhaps if he had been, he would have felt a little less bored. The days on which there were no plays to be performed usually left him feeling somewhat lost. Of late, it seemed to many as though his newest form of amusement came in the form of a lady friend, of whom he said little but who he also did little to hide.

Then again, there was no... explicitly incriminating evidence that there was anything more to it than friendship. Of course, she did seem to spend an inordinate amount of time at the theater, especially for one of coloring as indicative of nobility as hers. But again, Derasan had neither confirmed nor denied the rumors in the presence of his fellow Players, and for all they understood... it was just a friendship. It hardly surprised him that many seemed to be more than a little suspicious, though.

"Ah, Borachio," he called out suddenly, having caught sight of the familiar purple Player not far away. Derasan had nothing but respect for the other lion, whose rejection of nobility in favor of acting seemed to the pale lion like the ultimate testament of the power of theater. There were those that seemed to think, at times, that perhaps Derasan's own mane carried a hint of purple, but those claims he did his best to deny. As far as he was concerned, he was completely and utterly un-purple. "Fine day, is it not?"  

[Cajanic]

“Derasan!” Hummed the male in return, happy to see his target had come to him instead, making the whole ‘fine the source of the gossip’ thing a hell of a lot easier. Now he could easily find out what was really going on. Or not, considering the amount of tact he offered when trying to gather information was, at best, minimal.

He had all the subtle grace of a mallet to the face.

“So what’s with these rumors I’ve been hearing about you, my friend?” He asked lightly, slinking himself up beside the male, grinning as he began his prodding for information. What he lacked in tact he more than made up for in relentless prodding. Come hell or high water, he was going to find out what was going on. After all, the best part about gossip was finding out how much of it was really true. A story was only that until confirmation could be heard.

And he wasn’t really that interested in the stories themselves- he liked it much more when things ended up being true. Particularly scandalous or outrageous things. While he didn’t really feel two lions interested in one another from different classes was all that amazing, the rest of his pride seemed to. Through them, he would find he interest in it. The need to know the truth.

Vicariously, it was all still there inside of him.

“I’ve been hearing some strange things. About a certain female always showing up around here. For you. Know anything about it?” He asked with that same grin, waiting for some kind of reaction. Anything would work.
 

[MoonRazor]

Borachio had a face - more like a wide grin - that seemed to suggest some sort of trouble was coming down the road toward Derasan. There was something a little too... eager about it, an eagerness that Derasan himself could relate to well enough to recognize. But it was a game that he enjoyed playing as well, so he couldn't very well blame the purple lion. Not that he wanted to. Gossip in all forms, whether he was on the receiving end or the dishing end, suited the pale lion just fine. It was all in the exchange, and the camaraderie that came from shared secrets and rumors.

A smirk came to settle on Derasan's face as Borachio approached, and he shot his fellow Player a careful sideways glance with his sharp amber eyes. "Rumors?" He echoed, feigning surprise. "About me? Why, there couldn't possibly be." He suppressed the urge a laugh. But of course there were rumors. In a pride like theirs, with a situation like his... something would have been terribly wrong if creatures hadn't started whispering.

Unlike his friend, Derasan's views were rooted quite deeply in the class system that they had. Except that he was as proud to be a commoner as any Noble might be of his status. There was nothing impressive about being born into a purple coat and a cushy life, but down in the theater with the other Players and costumers and artisans and whoever else, where creatures like himself turned in an honest day's work for a living... that was where respect deserved to be.

And besides, he was happy. The nobility, it seemed, was singularly capable of living life without joy.

"Oh, well I don't know, friend," he replied, quirking his brow in amusement. "But if you're talking about that little brown bird that wakes up every morning to sing to me... in my defense, it's hard to eat something that sings so beautifully."  

[Cajanic]

Borachio chuckled. So Derasan seemed eager to hide whatever was going on from him- that was fine. It wasn’t like he couldn’t figure it out with a bit more prodding. Or, heaven forbid, maybe he had been wrong. Misinformed.

How could such a dreadful thing even come to mind? When it came to gossip, he was never wrong! He always knew just what leads to follow, and what comments were nothing more than bitchy nobles being bitches. Which, unsurprisingly, happened a lot. Many purple-coated lions were annoyed with their lower-status pride mates. They liked to come up with all kinds of nasty little comments about them to pass around the upper class.

So far Borachio was an assassin out to kill anyone who believed in the class system, out for the throne, and possibly even some kind of demon lion that came from the forest, pretending to be the son of Bwana to get close to other lions and slowly suck out their souls.

At least the nobles were creative in their horrible rumors. Borachio loved it.

“You can tell meeeee,” he whimpered, sure he was not wrong, “when have I ever told anyone about anything? You’re my friend! I just want to make sure there’s nothing wrong, because I’m so very kind and caring. You should be nicer to me and not keep secrets.”

He was pouting, clearly putting on an act to try and get any kind of information from his friend.

 

[MoonRazor]

Cajanic

((Eeep, just saw this XD;; They're talking about Derasan's secret love affair with a noble girl, just in case you forgot biggrin ))

Oh, but two could play at this game too, and Derasan certainly knew the game well enough. Gossip was another little hobby of his, and the pastime had clued him in on just how dangerous little rumors could be. Not that it would be entirely possible to stop them from springing up, but the less he fed the fire, the better.

On any other day and any other topic, he would have been happy to share with Borachio, and even this one... Well, which lucky fellow didn't want the world entire to know about his girl and how incredibly beautiful and utterly perfect she was? Who didn't want to see the envy flickering across his friends' faces when they realized how good he had it?

Because Raziela was, indeed, perfect and there was nothing he wanted more than to let everybody know that.

But that would have been too dangerous, and they had both known going into it that this would have to be kept as closely under wraps as possible. She still had a reputation to protect, and no doubt she might lose her family over a matter such as this, and he... well she hadn't wanted to consider what might happen to him if the wrong people found out.

"Ohh, but I can't, dear friend," he said with a chuckle. Putting a nonchalant air on it might have been the only way Derasan knew how to deal with it. Pretending the consequences didn't exist wouldn't make them go away, but it did make them seem less... persistent. "Her mother would have my head if she ever found out."

Or... something to that effect. Perhaps he shouldn't have mentioned a mother. "I, uh. I mean, there's nothing to tell."  

[Cajanic]

“So then at least I know the rumors have a bit of weight to them!” Laughed the purple lion merrily. “A mother, hm? You sly beast! So it’s someone from the upper class, isn’t it?” He moved around his friend, circling him like a vulture over a fresh kill.

There was nothing he liked more than gossip, but this stemmed far beyond that. He wanted to see what was going on with his friend, not just what was going on. It seemed like he really had been poking around with some noble female. But who? How old was she? How noble was she? Was she slumming it, or was he playing for some higher class goodness? Either way, it was more than he knew and it meant he needed to dig a little bit more.

Hopefully it wouldn’t end in anyone getting mad at him.

“Well, seems like you’re having lots of fun,” he laughed, “I just hope you’re not getting into something that’s really going to get you into trouble later! Especially if there’s a mother out there who might want you head.” Along with wanting to know everything going on around him, he did still want his friend to take care. No point letting him fall into trouble.

Then who would he talk to?