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 Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:55 am
 Things were so different here. As he looked around Yollalunta, whose mother had called him by another name, felt his blue eyes growing ever wider. This was nothing like the land he had called home until now, and he couldn't decide whether he was afraid of the differences or excited by them.
After taking him to this colder land by the enormous water, Yollalunta's father had more or less left him to his own devices, saying that he would be back later. That had been hours ago, and eventually Yollalunta had tired of awaiting his parent's return. Wearing a frown that he hoped was fierce enough to prevent any of these fighting lions from picking on him, he set out to explore.
His progress was not very fast, to be honest. He was fascinated by everything he saw, especially by all the lions he saw fighting. The lions in his home had been nothing like this.
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:35 pm
 "And then she said to me, 'No, Dyre, you can't wear that color flower because I'm gonna wear that color flower and we can't wear the same color flower because I said so,' and I just got so angry, Resi. I got so angry that I ... I bit her." The visibly upset dark-pelted cub spoke with an earnestness that belied her youth. She didn't seem to notice that she no longer held the attention of the little male cub she was walking with. "I bit her real hard. She's just such a jerk, Resi. Are you listening, Resi? Resi?" Dyrebar scowled prettily, narrowing her eyes at the brown lion cub she walked next to. "I'm trying to tell you about Heldig, Resi."  Resimus was kind of taken aback when his crimson gaze landed upon a strange face. The dark-pelted cub that he watched curiously looked... a little familiar. Maybe even a little too familiar. Their little family circle had been growing by leaps and bounds, it seemed. Well, not that Resimus would know, really - but this little lion looked suspiciously like his father's cousin Galning. "I'm sorry, Dyrebar," Resimus dipped his head, ever polite even as a cub. "I wasn't listening. We should go talk to him," he jerked his head towards the blue-eyed cub with the funny moon-marking on his nose. "We can talk about Heldig later, okay?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:22 am
Yollalunta didn't hear the other two cubs' conversation or approach. He was too busy staring fixedly at an unfamiliar plant. His mother had always seemed very young and yet she knew a great deal about plants. She hadn't been much of a hunter though. Yollalunta felt like he was betraying her by thinking about how much better he'd eaten once his father took him. But it had come at the cost of a new name, and that took more getting used to than a constantly full belly.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to realize that he was the subject of youthful scrutiny, and when he did it took a powerful effort not to crouch in the grass and hide. That wasn't the sort of reaction he was supposed to have. His father had told him it was important not to let other cubs bully him. His was a proud family, he had been told, and large. He had several cousins, apparently, and uncles.
Yollalunta never thought that he might be meeting one of his cousins now though. He only barely knew his father and had never seen his uncles, so there was no way he could make a connection between the blond cub and his family. The darker female cub with the striations was another foreigner to him. Though, he supposed in truth he was the foreigner.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:51 am
Dyrebar wasn't entirely pleased by the fact that her utterly important conversation had been effectively placed on hold. All she wanted to do was talk to Resi about important things, but he seemed far more interested in the cub with the blue bits all over him. Fine. Maybe once they got introductions out of the way, Dyre would have two attentive males that she could complain to.
That was a pleasing prospect, and so Dyre followed watchfully behind Resimus as the younger male moved forward.
"Hello," Resimus called out gently. In all honesty, everything about the boy was kindly. His tone of voice, the way he moved, the sweetness that burned in his bright eyes. His brother sometimes picked on him for his gentle nature, but Asper did not tolerate it. Asper did not tolerate anyone who might decide that Resimus was an easy target to bully - his true son was not half as large as most lions that lived within the pride, so as a father Asper always had one eye out for his beloved son.
"I'm Resimus," he went on to introduce himself, "and this is my friend Dyrebar."
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:01 am
The name Resimus sounded familiar, but the second name, the girl's name, did not, and so for the time being Yollalunta overlooked both of them and managed to forget that he had, in fact, heard Resimus's name before while his father was going over the names of all the family he'd be coming back to in the pride.
"Um. Hi. I'm..." Oh, gods. This was embarrassing. What was the name his father had given him? He couldn't remember it. All he could remember was the name his mother had given him, but which his father said he wouldn't be using anymore.
"I'm happy to meet you," he said, stalling and hoping his new name would come to him in the very near future.
In the hope of distracting the other two cubs from the awkwardness of him not being able to come up with his name, Yolla decided to just start in with questions: "You don't look much like siblings. You're not, are you? I don't know anyone in the pride yet, even though my dad says I've got a lot of family here."
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:14 am
"No, we aren't siblings," Dyrebar sniffed softly. Surprisingly enough the two familial lines hadn't crossed, but that was not something that three little cubs would find themselves conversing about. "Resi is my best friend, and he's got some brothers. I got a sister. I got a grandpa too but he's old. I also got a great-aunt and some stupid cousins." Dyre was obviously in quite the sour mood over her predicament with one of these family members, but she quieted when Resi sent her a pleading look, one that begged her to please be quiet.
"I have a lot of family here, too. I have my uncles, Atheris and Timorien and Galning.. and my dad, Asper. And.. my brothers, Sindri and Nitschei." Was that all? To the best of his knowledge, yes it was, and for Resimus it was more than enough. "What's your dad's name? I don't have a mom here, do you? Dyre doesn't either. She lives with her papa."
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:21 am
Yolla's eyes got really big when Dyrebar began talking. She hadn't said anything before and he'd thought maybe she was quiet, but it seemed she was only being quiet for that moment, and was actually a girl with quite a lot to say. Yolla knew nothing about girls. He only had a brother, Astraeus. Their mum didn't count. She wasn't a girl. And besides, he didn't have her anymore. He actually kind of wanted to sniffle at that thought, and so he tried instead to remember all the family she'd just rattled off.
"Wow," was all he could manage to get out at the end of her recital.
And then it was Resimus's turn to recite all his family, it seemed. Yolla hoped he wouldn't have to do that, too. He knew for a fact he couldn't do that. He couldn't even remember his own name right now. How in the world could he remember the names of people he'd never met? The fact was that if Resimus hadn't introduced Atheris and Timorien as uncles, Yolla would never have realized they were related. He didn't realize that his father, whose name was even more ridiculously long than the one he'd given his son, often shortened his name to Galning.
"Oh, hey! You and I have some uncles in common. Athos and Timmerin are uncles of mine, too." Names...really weren't Yolla's strong suit. "I wish I had my brother here with me. Or my mum. But it's just me and my dad and all that family he says I have."
He began to look glum.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:42 am
Dyre was more than ready to start talking about the unholiness known as Heldig, but Resimus seemed far more interested in setting family ties straight.
"My cousin Heldig is terrible and you mustn't ever play with her."
"I think we're related! What's your name?"
"She always wants to be the priestess and always makes Resi be the warlord."
"My brothers and I were brought here by our papa. We have two mamas back home."
"She's colored like poops, too. It's just... it's just horrible."
"Why do you look so sad? This place isn't so bad. I'll be your friend."
"Don't be friends with Heldig, though, because she is a terrible friend."
"I'm sorry you don't have your brothers, but... there are a lot of cubs to play with! And... we're almost like a real big family."
When they finally stopped speaking, the duo peered at the new cub. Expectantly. Very expectantly.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:55 am
Yolla was quickly reaching the conclusion that he oughtn't to pay too much attention to the girl. She actually had a great deal to say, but he couldn't see where any of it was worth knowing. Except maybe about her cousin Heldig, but he dismissed that supposition quickly enough when she started talking about warlords and priestesses and other nonsensical things that didn't exist in Yolla's lexicon.
"Um. My dad gave me a new name when he came for me. One he said was more fitting with the pride. But it's really long. He calls me Yellow for short." No. That wasn't right. He knew his name wasn't yellow. Yellow was a color. It was because the silly girl was talking about someone being colored like poops. Not that poops were yellow, but yellow was a color, not a name, and certainly not his name.
"No! That's not my name. My dad brought me here. I used to live with my mum. I only ever had one, and one brother. I miss them." He was beginning to feel overwhelmed and sniffly, but his father had told him he would have to be brave, and he didn't want to disappoint his dad on his very first day.
"It'll be nice to have lots of cubs to play with," he said finally. "I bet you play different games here than I did at home."
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:54 am
Dyrebar quickly dismissed the little boy cub that Resi was so intent on talking to. Instead she gave all of her attention to Resimus himself, staring at him, prodding him on the shoulder with a foot, sending heavy sighs in his direction as if she were being terribly inconvenienced by this whole ordeal. Talking about stupid family was stupid, talking to stupid boys who didn't know their own names was stupid, and ... well, all of this was stupid. Dyre had been having a much better time when it had just been her and Resimus. She sent ... Yellow-not-yellow a disparaging glance.
"Well, what's your da's name? And you can hang out with us. Me and Dyre.." He sent the little lioness a look that brooked no argument - an unusually bold action for the rather mild-mannered cub. Dyrebar wilted effectively under his narrowed eyes, and only then did Resimus turn back to ...
"And... what's your real name?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:14 pm
Yolla was nonplussed by Dyre's disparaging glance. He would have reacted in much the same way, had their positions been reversed. Well. Not really. He wouldn't have gone on and one about sisters and poop and things like that. But he wouldn't have been very impressed by lions that didn't know their own name.
"My dad's name is Screaming Galleon, I think. I don't know. It's really long, and where I come from we don't call our parents by their names. We call them mum and dad." He shrugged. It was hard to get his mouth around a lot of the names he'd heard in the past few days, and it didn't help that apparently his father spoke differently from most of the lions in the pride. With an accent or something. And everyone spoke differently than Yolla did.
"My mum called me Udel," he said. "But that's not the name I'm supposed to be using around here."
"I probably shouldn't go too far, in case he comes back and gets mad because I'm not there. But some other time, when I know for certain when he's going to get back and what I'm supposed to be doing?" He didn't want to miss out on a chance to make friends with his...relative.
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Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:22 pm
Dyre was fussing with Resi's mane and patiently the boy was letting her do as she desired. He'd learned long ago (or as long ago as a cub could) that letting Dyre do as she wished to him cut out a lot of crying and hurt feelings. She was very paws-on, and while Dyre fussed, Resimus continued talking.
"Well, we would be happy to walk you back to your den. I don't know any.. well, I don't know anyone by that name. But if we go to your den, I bet I'll know who lives there and I can make sure that you know their name before I walk Dyre home?"
Dyre took that moment to speak.
"It's kind of weird that you don't even know your own name, don't you think?" She patted Resi's shoulder with a dainty paw. "Don't you think, Resi?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:15 am
"That sounds good!" Yolla agreed.
He couldn't continue to ignore Dyre, particularly when she began to sound like she was insulting him. Yolla didn't like to be insulted any more than his father did, though he dealt with it less violently.
"I know how stupid it sounds that I don't know what my dad calls me, but it's not my name. It's not the name my mother gave me, which I've been answering to my entire life." He made an exaggeratedly awful face to emphasize how enormously inconvenient it was to change his name at this point in his life. So what if his entire life hadn't been very long up until now? It was still plenty long enough for him to feel strange answering to a name that wasn't the one he'd been raised to answer to.
"I bet you get to keep your names your whole life, and never have to learn new ones," he added. "Or ever have to get used to a whole new pride."
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:09 pm
Dyre made a huffy sound and opened her mouth as if preparing to speak, but Resimus placed a paw against hers with the sole intent to prevent that from happening. Once she got started it was difficult to get her to stop, and Resimus would much prefer to walk the two of his companions home in peace.
"We do get to keep our names - but I was brought here by my papa from a different pride far from here," Resimus replied soothingly. He shrugged a thin shoulder and offered a smile.
Dyre kept quiet, though she gave a displeased little snuffle.
"Ready when you are!"
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:16 pm
"Let's go then," Yolla said.
He was feeling very much overwhelmed and would really like to just go home and sleep. Maybe he would sleep all through the rest of the day and the night and when he woke up it would be tomorrow and tomorrow would be easier. That was what he hoped anyway.
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