Mclain:
Interesting.
Mclain had never seen a group of lions like this. From what he had seen, there were a lot of females and fewer males. He had seen other lions do this before, but never in such a small area. The males' territories were much smaller in comparison and there were some males that seem to be of a higher class than others. The females looked to be... what was the word? Happy, that was it.
Feelings, he'd never understand them. Sometimes he was good at mimicking them, but he didn't get them. What was it like to be hurt or sad? Or happy? He was pleased with himself sometimes, he'd learned to smile in smug satisfaction over an experiment well-done. But in happiness? What was that?
He lay on a ridge overlooking the main pridelands. He was sort of in the pride, but he'd picked a look-out where he hadn't seen many go. Watching, just watching for now, his strange eyes missing very little.
Arezoo:
Time had passed.. How long she wasn't sure. Weeks? Months? She didn't think it had been years but who knew at this point. The once proud lioness didn't walk with the same stance she had used to. No, it was likely she wouldn't be recognized as herself these days. Her pelt had paled, only a little.. But the dark rich grey blue had gone to look darker grey. Mother said she needed to get more sun. Maybe she was right. So she was taking her advice today. Did she want to? No. Zoey wanted to do nothing anymore. Mirsa had robbed her of herself. Accusations, words, such angry words.. Her heart had broken.
Here she was dwelling again.. How she wished she couldn't feel. That was what she wanted. Just to go numb and drift away in a blanket of darkness. Not that she wanted to die.. But.. Oh she wasn't sure anymore.
Her paws touched the early, each step slow. Each step felt like pain. Like she had been ripped apart. The sun was warm, and she closed her eyes while she walked to bask in it. She wanted to be alone, so she left the main part of the pride and wandered closer to the borders than she would have usually gone.
Mclain:
What was this? A female on her own? That wasn't right, it was different. From what he had seen, the females were usually guarded or traveled in packs, this one was on her own. She was a big girl, but he was larger. Not by much, but whatever. His red and black eyes watched her draw closer for a moment before he stood, bringing himself into her view, his head tilted to one side.
"On your own? That's unusual." It was really all he said, no more, no less. She had a look about her that he couldn't place. She lacked the energy his brother had and the wildness of his sister. In a sense, she reminded him a bit of himself, but she lacked the wonder he couldn't deny he had.
Arezoo:
She couldn't remember the last time she had gone this far.. Very few came out this way, other than the scouts who would make sure no one was approaching that should not be. She found herself feeling even more alone, and she instantly regretted coming out this far. This is what Mirsajadi had preffered over her.. The quiet.. Suddenly she was starting to feel that..sick feeling im her stomach again.
Then the voice hit her ears and her eyes widened though she didn't jerk back. That wasn't good, she wasn't concerned with her own safety.. Zoey felt like she was in pretty bad shape. Then again, she didn't get a particularly bad feeling from the voice either.
"Is it?" She asked, a confused look hitting her features. She stammed a bit, before looking at her paws, then back up at him.
"Um.. Who are you? What do you want?"
Mclain:
"From what I've seen, your pride doesn't like females wandering about on their own. And you're here by yourself. Why?" Mclain asked, his head tilting just a little bit to one side. He voice was very neutral and yet somewhat cultured. Though he lacked the emotion needed for most inflection, it was clear whomever had raised him had at least taught him how to speak well.
His head dipped, going through the motions of meeting another individual.
"Mclain. I wanted to watch your pride."
Arezoo:
"I.. I.. You really shouldn't be seen with me." She said. Mirsa had not publically said those things. But inside she felt she had shamed him in some way. She had loved him with everything that was within her.. And she couldn't shake the thought that something she had done had been wrong.
"Why do you watch the pride?" She asked, looking up at him and genuinely curious. She had just told him not to be seen with her.. but.. she couldn't help herself. What was so special about her pride?
"I am Z..Zoey.." She said. She spoke slowly, not as if she was stupid but as if she was shy. Her heart was pounding like crazy in her chest, and she was positive it wasnt a good thing.
Mclain:
"Why shouldn't I?" Most others might have asked more questions, but Mclain didn't make assumptions. What could happen to him for being seen with her? Nothing that he could conceive. Of course, he didn't consider the fact that she could get in trouble. That was plausible, but he wouldn't really care.
He shrugged at her question.
"Because I want to see what your pride is like," he replied, not really having anything more to say on that one. He really just wanted to watch. A part of him did want to see what would happen if a few things in the system were tweaked with, see how it would affect the members if something happened, but he wasn't the tester, not like his sister. He was fine just watching things happen and observing the results of nature.
"Why do you speak like that? Do you have trouble talking?"
Arezoo:
She frowned, and shook her head. She wasn't sure who this guy was but he simply seemed a bit rude.
"No!" She answered. She was still frowning, and now she was glaring at him.
"And you certainly are not great with first impressions."
Had she met some sort of psycho? Maybe she should leave. Maybe she had a deathwish. Maybe she was simply insane now for all she knew. She took a deep sigh and looked away. She didn't like eyecontact, and he was sort of staring at her like a bug under a magnifying glass.
Mclain:
Mclain's eyebrows shot up in the most mildly curious way possible.
"Am I? I haven't noticed," he replied, watching her look away from him. He was making her uncomfortable, that much he could tell. Why? What had he done to upset her? Not that he cared much, but he wouldn't mind knowing what behavior it was.
His brother was so much better at this than he was.
"Why shouldn't I be seen with you?" She hadn't answered his question after all.
Arezoo:
"You are." She said. Though her tone had eased. She wasn't offended, not really. She deserved the question, and it wasn't like he had said it with any malice. She sighed and sat down.
"That is a long story. I lost someone very dear to me." She wasn't exactly telling the truth.. But it was close.
Mclain:
And that would mean he shouldn't be seen with her? He couldn't understand other creatures.
She had lost someone dear to her, what was the proper response to that? Sympathetic, but damned if he knew how to show that.
"I'm... sorry for your loss," Mclain finally managed to say, though he couldn't manage to change his face from the thoughtful frown that his expression had become.
Arezoo:
She knew it didn't answer anything. She decided to tell him the truth. He wanted to learn about her pride right?
"In my pride, being seen alone with a female is bad." She didn't add why it just made it worse that she had lost that someone. The pride didn't shun her. No one but Mirsa had yet. But it was all in her head. She truly believed that they whispered sometimes.
"Thank you." She responded, and gulped. She was trying not to think about all that stuff. Wasnt that why she had taken this walk?
Mclain:
Was that all? Mclain shrugged.
"I'm not a part of your pride, it doesn't matter to me," he replied, glancing back at the pridelands. He finally stood and took a few steps, towards her, but then past her, standing at her side, but facing in the opposite direction.
"Besides, I won't be seen with you, I was surprised that any of your pride would come up here. You shouldn't be uncomfortable by it," he added, glancing over his shoulder at her.
"Tell me more about your pride. Why are there so many in one territory, and why are some males more revered than others?"
Arezoo:
She felt a little relief when he said he didn't care, and she felt a bit better. When he stepped to her side she craned her neck to look at him. He was handsome. But he was incredibly.. Odd. Something about him and she didnt know what it was.
"What do you mean? Aren't all prides in one territory?" She asked. She had never been outside her pride and so that was her chance to ask him her own question.
"But we have ranks. Like my father, he's a vizier. He's more respected than just a normal male of the pride."
Mclain:
"I've seen prides like this, one male with many females who hunt for him, but he has a large territory, and it's just them. I've never seen... a group of them before," Mclain explained, sitting where he stood. If she leaned just a little, her shoulder would bump his, but he had such a small concept of personal space.
"He is? Does that mean you are more respected, being his child?" His sister was just as capable as he was... if she wasn't more crippled by her madness than he was. He had at least some advantage, in that he could set aside his need to test, to try and mimic those around him. It was frustrating at times, but at least he wasn't run out of places anymore, at least not as often.
Arezoo:
When he sat, she cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable but she didn't move. If she moved she was admitting his touch bothered her. She didn't want to be afraid of everyone. So she sat where she was and didn't move.
"Oh. That makes sense. I won't share again.. I don't want to belong to anyone again." She responded without thinkign. Thats what she got for always speaking first thinking later.
Mclain:
"To anyone? Don't you belong to your family?" he asked, tilting his head. Mclain could have sighed, he suddenly realized sitting there would be annoying. He wanted to see her reactions, what was he thinking?
So he stood again and walked back to sit down in front of her. There was more space between them now, but he was watching her again.
"Share?"
Arezoo:
"You know you ask me quite a bit, and I know very little about you." She said, growing suspicious. She didn't know why it had taken her so long to realize it but now that she did she was frowning.
"I know little more than your name."
Mclain:
"You didn't ask," Mclain replied with a shrug. He wasn't a secretive individual, but he didn't tell if others didn't ask.
"What do want to know?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. There wasn't too much to tell. He kept quiet about his inability to feel and understand others, how his sister was pretty much insane, and how in the back of his mind he really wanted to test this pretty female. And he could admit he found her attractive, it wasn't hard. He couldn't say that he had feelings for the females he met, but there were certainly ones he had ideas about, and she was one of them. Not that he had ever acted on those ideas, but not acting didn't mean he didn't have them.
Arezoo:
She shrugged. She hadn't thought that far ahead. She was just ready to be all grumpy and storm off. She really did want to storm off. But only because she was uncomfortable. However causing a scene was hardly something she felt like doing.
"Well, for starters, where are you from?"
Mclain:
"Out in the roguelands, inside a mountain. It was... much more stark than out here," Mclain replied, thinking back on it. He remembered having a mother, but he'd been taken away from her when he was young. An older male raised him, though neither had escaped the innards of the large rock until Mclain was grown and his surrogate father was dead.
"Have you always lived here?" That was right, wasn't it? She asked a question, he asked one along the same train of thought?
Arezoo:
"Oh, that sounds.. interesting. She wasn't really sure how someone could live inside a mountain but she didnt want to seem stupid so she refrained from asking.
She looked at her paws and wiggled her toes. She wished she could get out of this feeling. It was horrible, and she almost hated Mirsa for putting her through it.
"I have. I was born here." She answered, and grew silent.
Mclain:
"It's not. It was dark, cold, and hard. Though, it's different, so maybe it is interesting." He couldn't help but shrug again. This was a much easier place to live. Warmth and more food, for starters.
She had gone quiet again. It wasn't like he minded, but it would be nice to learn more or see more of her reactions. Even after all the effort he had put in, he was still having trouble trying to fake what others needed to see in him. And this female was much more interesting than other creatures he had met.
"I have a brother and a sister." Maybe that would get her talking again.
Arezoo:
"You do?" She asked, as she perked her ears and turned her attention back on him again. She was genuinely curious now, as she had her own siblings she was close to. Had he left them? Did others really do that? Leave their families wondering if they were okay?
"What are they like?" She asked, thinking about her own. They were decent brothers and sisters, loving and caring when they had to be. She didn't have the unfortunate experiences that some had with siblings. Though her mate-..er.. Mirsajadi, had hated his siblings. She imagined it was possible for more to dislike them too.
Mclain:
"I do," Mclain replied and then she asked about them. Oh, great, what should he say? His brother was fine, but he knew from observation that what his sister was like... wasn't very good.
"They're... My brother is a kind sort of helper and my sister likes... teasing others. I guess you can say I'm the neutral party between them," he replied, doing his best to avoid being too open about his family. His father had taught him to try and fit into the world, so being honest about how his sister was effectively insane and his brother was enigmatic was probably a bad plan.
"We're independent, and all sort of wanderers by nature. Do you have brothers and sisters?"
