[log] destiny is made up of many paths (Chan x Niyati)

[Lethrossen]

It was just starting to head into evening, classes were over and for once he was able to get some free time with his mother. Of course, she seemed to be fairly tired so she was laying in a spot of shade. Chan had already spoken about his day, different things he was learning and about the other day how Arusi had tried to make him eat a scoripian. She was probably going to get in trouble for that, but he didn't want his sister to try and force him into something like that again.

Every once in a while a guard would wander past, doing their rounds diligently. Chan felt safe, this was the only world he knew. He still didn't understand much about the rogue lands, or how their could be other prides besides the one he was born into. He was always troubled when his sister began to babble on and on about adventuring in the world. His tail flicked and he grinned, nose almost touching the ground as he followed a bright green-blue beetle. It was so pretty! One minute it was blue, the next green and sometimes it even seemed to be black as night. He'd wandered pretty far away from his mother, not realizing he was doing so.

 

[Lethrossen]

How long had it been since she had run into one of her brothers or her sister? Probably too long, but Niyati was hardly concerned. Her family knew how to take care of themselves, almost as well as they knew how to procreate. She had never been particularly bothered with being on her own - Niyati fancied the free sort of lifestyle. Besides, if she wanted company, Niyati was good enough at charming strangers. The bright pink lioness had grown up this way, was comfortable and happy with this lifestyle.

Where she was now, she had no idea, and she liked it that way. The only constants in her life was the fact that she'd eventually run into one of her siblings or their offspring, and the stars in the sky. It was all she really needed. Niyati, however, wasn't expecting to run into anyone for quite a while. She wasn't in the mood for company, and the sort of company she was about to run into wasn't her normal choice. But, it was hard for her to ignore a young juvenile all alone in the nearly dark time of day. Maybe she was bored, that was an easy way to dictate her decision making, whether it bored her or not.

She wasn't exactly obvious in her approach, and the mostly white juvenile seemed interested in a beetle more than the pink lioness heading his way. Niyati intercepted the beetle, scooping it up between her claws and testily giving it a squeeze. "You're a bit young to be out alone, hmmm?" she looked past the beetle to the juvenile with an arch of her brow.

 

[Lethrossen]

Chandran wasn't really expecting another lion to approach him, many lions stayed very close to the temple and though it wasn't unheard of for rogues to cross the boarder it was also a rare occurrence. It wasn't that they were unwelcome, certainly not, but they were usually escorted by a guard soon enough. When the beetle was scooped up he squeaked and stumbled backwards, falling on his rump. His wide, mismatched eyes focused on the lioness. She seemed to glow in the dying light, it was like she was one of the precious stones many of his pride liked to decorate themselves with. In a way, she reminded him of his father. Her fur was captivating, she glittered. His mouth fell open, as he tried to work on an answer and finally he blinked and looked around. He went as far as to stand up and do a little circle. "I... was with my mother..." He said uncertainly, then turned back to her.

He'd never seen her around the pride before, he knew almost at once that she must have been a rogue. He was sure he'd know most of the members on sight, even if he did not know many of their names. "Y-you're a rogue." His statement teetered on the edge of being a question, then nodded because he realized he hadn't answered her question yet, which was rude. "But yes, it isn't good to be out here alone... we're not supposed to go around by ourselves." He took a few steps back, unsure how he was supposed to react to a stranger, normally cubs did not meet strangers. He wondered if his mom was worried yet, or if she'd noticed that he had strayed too far. He wondered how far, exactly. "Um... you... you didn't squish him right?" He said, nodding to her cupped paws.

 

[Lethrossen]

"How silly of you to have wandered away from her," Niyati commented, and for a moment seemed more interested in the beetle in her paw than the young lion. The beetle was more than likely very distressed at this recent development - sharp claws were bitting into his abdomen! "Doesn't your mother tell you stories about theee..." she tilted her head from one side to the other, trying to decide on a decent name. "...Youth Snatcher? There are tales about this grizzly old lioness who wanders through every pride, looking for young lions to trade places with. She steals their youth, and in turn they get old and ugly, and that would be a crying shame for such a cute lion as yourself."

Niyati reached out, as if she would pat Chandra on the head, but thought better of it. She imagined he was past the age where he'd believe such silly little stories, but she couldn't help but try to poke fun at the little lone lion. "How very astute - I am. What, may I ask, gave it away?" There was a smile on her face, friendly enough, though it didn't take away from the fact that she was a total stranger, and he was alone without his mother. "Sit down, you're making yourself look even more ridiculous. I'm not going to hurt you." She gestured to the spot in front of her, nearly flinging the beetle out of her paw in the process.

"Hmm? Squish what? Oh. Not yet. I'm considering if I'm hungry enough to eat it, but I'm not sure that I'm quite that desperate."

 

[Lethrossen]

Chan frowned, unsure of the females words. "I didn't mean to." He said honestly, though his eyes went wide and his mouth clicked shut when she continued to speak. He was stunned, he'd never heard anything like that! Did magic like that exist? He gave a frightened little look around, expecting to see the old, grizzly lioness that the glittery female was speaking of. "N-no, I've never heard... a story like.. that.." This lioness was weird! He frowned, trying to think of what to do.

As she reached out her paw he felt himself pull back just slightly, but she placed her paw down just as easily. "I.. you just haven't... I haven't seen you in the lands before." It took him a minute to work out what he wanted to say, though he was slightly comforted by her smile. "It's rare not to at least know another member by face." He explained, but then thought about it. Maybe this was more true of the children of the pride? He was with other cubs every day, for long hours.

As she ordered him to sit he moved forward and did as he was told, without even a second thought. "Right, of c-course not." He stuttered, wondering why he was so nervous? Ah, because he'd never met an outsider before! But his eyes widened again, "You can't!" He said loudly, bounding back to his paws and getting closer to her, as if he might like to bat at her paws. He didn't try and touch her, of course. "I was studying him! He's very pretty and shiny... just like you! You wouldn't want someone to just scoop you up and eat you, right?" What sound logic, hm?

 

[Lethrossen]

"Ah, perhaps your parents didn't want you to live in fear, then. That may have been foolish of them, you never know when she will show up and try to steal your youthful good looks." The juvenile, in Niyati's estimation, was sickeningly adorable, in the pinch-his-cheeks sort of way. This was why she did not have cubs for herself, she'd imagine she'd get attached to them. Procreation was natural, getting attached to little balls of fur was not so natural, in her sincere opinion.

"I could be new, and feel terribly insulted that you don't know me." But, the gig was already up with that. She was definitely a rogue, but she couldn't resist trying to mess with his head. Something about picking on and teasing cubs was endlessly fun, or at least it was with this one. Normally, Niyati would not go out of her way to associate with children. "Your pride must be very close, then. I've never liked prides, I've never been one to be bound by rules. Besides, what's the point in being in a pride when you're not the one leading it? Wouldn't I make a pretty Queen, a grand Warleader?" There was a wistful tone to her voice, and that made it clear why she was a rogue. She had to be on top, or not a part of anything at all. Ruling sounded much better than being ruled, and being free sounded much better than being ruled too.

Niyati chuckled as the young lion obeyed her, how endearing! Cubs were not so terrible when they did what she wanted them to. "Whoops!" She raised her front leg high in the air, out of the young lion's reach. "Well, aren't you sweet? But you know that empty flattery doesn't always get you what you want? And, I doubt anyone would try to eat me, not in the way you're thinking at least." The beetle's life, apparently, was still up for grabs. Niyati likely wasn't going to eat it - she'd either squish it for fun or hand it back to the juvenile.

 

[Lethrossen]

He blinked, wondering what she was talking about. He knew he was different from a lot of cubs in the dawnwalkers, especially because of his starry 'mane', though he thought his sisters were much more beautiful with their dark fur and starry pelts. In fact, he felt a little weird about the fact that his parents both had dark pelts and he had a snowy white one. "Do you think she'd come here?" He whispered, totally eating up her story. "I mean... it's pretty rare for rogues to... enter..." he trailed off, realizing how silly the sentence might end up sounding because she was a rogue. "Are you lost?" He questioned innocently, wondering why she was in the lands. Or... had he wandered out of the lands? He gasped as he thought of that, suddenly terrified of the idea.

He swallowed. "B-but you just said you were one... did you want to join?" Maybe that was why she was here? His pride must be very close? So he had crossed the borders! "Oh no!" He wailed, suddenly very upset. He was barely able to focus on what she was saying, but the parts he did catch didn't make much sense. "Why wouldn't you be part of a pride?" For such a young mind it was simple. He was part of a pride, so he wanted to be part of it. His family was here, his friends were here. "Oh... a ... a pretty queen, sure." He didn't want to comment on the warleader thing though, that sounded bad!

He scowled at her, head tilting. "I wasn't doing empty flattery!" He wasn't even sure what flattery was, really. "Well.. well.. killing a beetle wouldn't be nice! Who eats beetles anyways?"

 

[Lethrossen]

"Perhaps she is already here, and look at you, with only me as your defender." Apparently, Niyati was not much of a defender to begin with. In all likelihood, she'd get out of a dangerous situation, no matter if her friends were in danger. It was a self-perserverence attitude that rogues commonly had. Most of the time it was survival of the fittest, and Niyati had a fair few tricks up her sleeve to be considered one of the most capable at surviving as a rogue. "I hear that she just shows up out of the blue, there's no way to predict when she's coming, or from where she'll come."

Niyati had to laugh again. This cub really knew how to appeal to her sense of humor, though she doubted he was doing it intentionally. "I am hardly lost. I go where ever I want to, whenever I want to. I hardly think I'll stick around this place, too many cubs that'll attract the Youth Snatcher." The pridal life was something she just wasn't suited to. It was a good place to tie oneself down to, but Niyati was not the sort to be tied down. Her lifestyle was completely different, and she rather liked it that way.

"You weren't? Then I must truly be flattered, but I must turn you down still. You're too young for my tastes. I have to applaud your attempts to go for more... mature women, though." She knew she had probably lost the juvenile's attention by now, but it was hilarious to her! The poor thing had unintentionally hit on her, and Niyati wasn't the sort of lioness to let it slide. "I doubt the beetle has feelings. You can find another one just as pretty. It's a good theory of ilfe. You can always find someone else just as pretty."

 

[Lethrossen]

He suddenly scooted closer to the female, the stranger. He didn't even know her name, but she definitely seemed preferred over some old lioness who stole youth and traded her oldness for it! Chan didn't like the idea of his youth being sucked away... and he believed it all to be very true. "Y-y-you wouldn't let her get me, would you!" He'd practically tried to shove himself under her, she'd terrified him pretty badly with the thought of this 'youth snatcher'. "Even in prides? She's t-t-terrible!"

But why was she laughing? That story hadn't been funny! Oh, because she wasn't lost? Maybe that was a silly question, of course adults didn't get lost! He frowned though, wondering how she knew about all of the cubs in the pride. "Are you a spy then?" He asked slowly, peering up from her at his rather close position.

She was going to turn him down? Down to what? Where? "What?" He asked, confused. "No, no! But that beetle is special! Because it's the first one I did find!" He pouted, but his ears twitched. Had he just heard his name called?

"Chandran!" The spotted lioness called out again, sounding stressed. Aagiro felt... terrible and scared, and angry. Both at herself and at her son for wandering away! She'd only closed her eyes for what... two minutes? But that had been all it'd taken for her to lose sigh of him! Okay, so maybe the little nap had lasted longer than that... but taking care of seven cubs was tiring! Even when they spent half the day at lessons... she wondered how the hell her mate did it, dealing with cubs the whole day. If not their own, other members of the pride.

 

[Lethrossen]

Niyati now was the one who was nearly backing away as Chandran tried to hide himself from the Youth Snatcher... by using her as a shield. She stood up, her front leg lifted slightly into the air so she wouldn't accidentally squish the prized beetle. "Of course she's terrible, she'll stop at nothing to be eternally youthful. I may find enough kindness in my heart to keep her at bay from you, but I wouldn't bet on it, cutie."

The things cubs thought up, though! A spy certainly would be an entertaining field of work, but not quite something Niyati was up for. It had a danger factor in it that she found distinctly unpleasant. "I'm just a wanderer, like the Youth Snatcher, but less vicious, and less youth-snatching." She would, however, find it highly amusing if the juvenile did suspect her to be the Youth Snatcher. It wouldn't be a terrible profession, she had to admit. Being young forever was terribly appealing, though she wasn't that old to begin with.

"Ah, so Chandran's your name. Perhaps I'll tell you mine if we meet up again." Niyati was in no mood to deal with a worried mother. The only female she could usually stand to talk to was her sister Makri. "I suppose that is your mother calling for you. You should go, and ah, don't bring the Youth Snatcher up with her. It'd only worry her more if she realized that you knew." As an afterthought, she glanced down to the beetle in her paw. "Here, you can have him back. Be happy, you've saved his life." She dropped the insect back down onto the ground, deciding against tormenting the juvenile more.

 

[Lethrossen]

She wouldn't save him? But it was an adults job to protect the youth! Of course, she wasn't from his pride... he decided that rogues sounded very bad. What sort of adult would let the youth snatcher just snatch someone up?

He started to back away when she spoke, his over active imagination turning. What if she was the youth snatcher and she'd just gobbled some unsuspecting victim up? Only maybe they weren't young enough for her and she wanted seconds! His thoughts alone was causing all of the fur to stand on end, and he looked rather comical at this point.

"O-oh, y-y-you d-don't..." Dear, he could barely speak! No, there was no way she could be the youth snatcher! But night had finally fallen, he was not with his mother and she was a stranger telling him all of these weird stories, how could his imagination not overwork itself with information like that? Chandran! Oh but he was saved! His momma! She'd come looking for him after all! "Oh!" He stumbled back a little, the beetle landed with a barely audible 'plop' in the sand. "T-thank you." He said softly, but he was just staring at the female, only having given one glance to the beetle. He was afraid that if he looked away from her she might gobble him up.

Don't be stupid! Don't be stupid! He kept trying to think like this, and kept trying to tell himself she was not the youth snatcher. Finally when he heard a second call from his mother his mismatched eyes dropped on the beetle and he scooped it up, turning and dashing off.