[PRP] What's your story? (Brauna, Jabez) -fin

[Annchen]

The faint scent of disease that clung like mist to these lands tended to discourage visitors, but Jabez liked to patrol far outside the borders. Signs of their curse were less obvious out here, and it was always better to try to turn wandering lions around before they did anything stupid. Those that exposed themselves to the disease had to stay, and they didn't always like it. Luckily Jabez couldn't infect others so he had never been put in a situation where he needed to force a lion to stay. He liked it that way.

The strangers threatening their lands hadn't been back, but the pride was still on high alert. He was a fit and healthy adult leopard, and he pushed himself on each patrol. There was no way for him to match an adult lion in combat, but he fully intended to give his home pride the advance of an early warning system. He moved like a shadow through the coarse grass, keeping ears and eyes open for anything out of the usual.  

[Talencia]

Brauna was quite oblivious to the pride that lurked nearby. Her life was rather gypsyish, wandering to and fro like a seed fluff blown by the wind. She hadn't yet found her adoptive father again, but was to a point now where that was okay with her. She made friends easily, hunted well for herself, and spent only short amounts of time in any one place.

She had just blown into the area, and was currently gathering bits of twigs and leaves, weaving them together into a crown for herself, and singing while she did it.

"Ever close your eyes
Ever stop and listen
Ever feel alive
And you've nothing missing
You don't need a reason
Let the day go on and on

Let the rain fall down
Everywhere around you
Give into it now
Let the day surround you
You don't need a reason
Let the rain go on and on

What a day, what a day to take to
What a way, what a way to make it through
What a day, what a day to take to
A wild child

Only take the time
From the helter skelter
Every day you find
Everything's in kilter
You don't need a reason
Let the day go on and on"

She finished the little crown and perched it atop her head, smiling and humming to herself as she scattered what was left of the leaves. Today was a fine day, crisp and clear, full of potential. Good things could happen on days like this! With her heart full of brimming joy, she began pulling up pawfuls of grass to begin weaving together, softly repeating the song to herself.


*song lyrics by Enya  

[Annchen]

Jabez heard the other leopard before he saw her, and he pressed his belly close to the ground as he crept closer to investigate. Sometimes that was all he did. If the rogue he encountered never headed in towards the border he just followed them, trying not to be seen. It wasn't a very social way to scout, but he wasn't a terribly social creature either. He knew some scouts would interact more with creatures they met on their rounds, but he didn't need small talk with strangers to keep himself entertained Stalking without being seen was something he enjoyed. It was a fun challenge, and it kept him on his toes. This wasn't much of a challenge, however. He raised his head and tilted it a bit to be able to see her work with the headdress she was making. She seemed to have no care in the world.

If she looked his way she'd be able to see his dark ears sticking out of the grass, but he made no move to hide better. When she started making something out of grass his head rose another notch and his ears tilted forward. Jabez was obviously interested, but he would never admit that.  

[Talencia]

She twitched her ears and glanced around, still singing to herself, her eyes seeming to scan the horizon, passing right over the ears and eyes that peeked over the grass at her. Apparently oblivious and abstracted, she kept right on braiding the grasses into bands. She knotted the ends, and let them trail off as strings, then started another. She fell into humming, then stopped that too as she finished the second one. "You should come join me," she called above the hiss of grass in the wind. "I don't bite, and I have a present for you."

Her voice made it obvious she was talking to the stranger hiding nearby, but just in case it wasn't obvious enough, she angled her eyes back over her shoulder with a laughing smile. "Though it would be silly to be afraid of me biting, you know. Not only do I not bite, but I doubt my bite could possibly do anything against someone like you!" The laughter danced in her eyes, glistened on her sharp teeth, and vibrated through her whole body. She wasn't feeling threatened, but she was no warrior, and being of the small leopard sort, she figured pretty much every feline out there could overpower her without putting out much effort.  

[Annchen]

Sloppy. But there was no need to stay hidden or try to sneak away now. He silently approved that she had noticed him, but rogues probably needed to stay alert if they wanted to stay alive. There were many dangers out there. Jabez was a very capable leopard, but he was convinced that something terrible would happen if he ventured too far into the rogue lands. He wasn't sure exactly what, but that irrational fear of the unknown was the strongest emotion binding him to his pride.

He rolled is shoulders and slowly walked closer to the laughing leopardess. He couldn't quite figure her out, but it looked as if he'd get the chance to try.

"Greetings," he said and inclined his head, "I'm Jabez, scout of the Kitwana'antara."

It came out much more formally than he had intended, but most of his border meetings had been very formal ones. Small talk didn't come easy.  

[Talencia]

Her smile remained, warm and genuine, and she nodded her head pleasantly as he introduced himself. The formality of it didn't seem to impact her much, for her smile merely brightened. "Scout Jabez," she said with a nod of her head, "I am Brauna, a nomad." She rose to her paws, scooped the two strips of knotted grass, and padded right up to him. "Here, this is for you." She deftly looped one around his forepaw and knotted it in place, comfortable against his fur without being loose or uncomfortably tight. "Now that we know one another's names, we can be friends."

She promptly held out her own paw with the second bangle of grass dangling just above it, a clear request for him to knot hers as she had his. "I wasn't aware there was a colony here," she added calmly. "It's hard to keep track of all the prides, colonies, packs, and coalitions that sprout up." She waited patiently for him to tie it securely. "I haven't heart of... Kitwana'tanara?" She fumbled the name, but looked to him for help in the pronunciation. "Is it a pleasant colony? Do they welcome strangers?" The assumption that it was a leopard colony was a forgivable one, considering they both were leopards. It just made sense. There honestly weren't very many prides out there that accepted all species, not even all felines.  

[Annchen]

Jabez was puzzled by this leopard. She was very open and friendly, and he wasn't used to it. His peers among the scouts knew him as a silent but competent scout, and they didn't expect him to open up or show any weakness or emotion. It was easy to fit in that role, but Brauna didn't have a pre-formed opinion about who he was or what he was like. When she tied the bracelet around his paw he didn't make any motion to stop her. For a moment he felt a warm glow in his chest. Friends.

When she held out the second bangle, he stared at it for a while before gingerly taking it from her. He approached this new task with great seriousness. His solemn expression was ruined by the pink tongue tip that stuck out as he concentrated on the task at hand. When he was all done he looked up at her, finally able to answer the questions.

"We keep a low profile," he said, "Lion prides have targeted us in the past, because of the..."

He paused. Blessing? Curse? Disease? For some reason he desperately wanted Brauna to understand them.

"Our patron Goddess bless many of the lions and lion hybrids in this pride with her disease," he said, "But it is of no danger to other species."  

[Talencia]

Lions and lion-hybrids? Well well, this was an unusual pride indeed! But her ears swiveled with mild confusion at the terminology the other leopard was using. Blessing of a divine disease? She wasn't sure whether to take that as a colorful way of referring to a god's influence, or whether they really considered sickness a blessing. She took some time to mull over what he'd said. Why would this blessing only fall on certain species? It really was very curious.

But more importantly, to Brauna's mind, was..., "Why would lions target a pride with a particular divine blessing of.. disease..," she put careful emphasis on the word, as if uncertain how to use the concept, "if it only affects their own kind in the first place?" If it truly was a disease, that seemed like risky behavior for a healthy lion to engage in. It made more sense if it wasn't actually a disease, but she was getting a vague impression that the questionable meaning was on the word "blessing", rather than the word "disease".  

[Annchen]

"Well," he said, starting with the most recent threat to his home, "Lions that called themselves Nergui wanted to take the disease and use it as a weapon. We don't want that. We were chosen to live with the disease, but it is deadly so we wouldn't want it used for a war. The infected can't leave our lands, because we try to contain the plague. We welcome anyone to join willingly, but they are told that if they are infected they can't leave again."

Jabez frowned, trying to remember what he could from his history lessons and from what he had heard from the priests of the pride. Most of the time he didn't have to do much explaining to rogues. He usually just warned about the disease if a rogue strayed too close,

"There have been mistakes in the past," he admitted, "Desperate times caused desperate actions and as a result the pride was attacked. Those lions knew they might very well die, but they were angry enough to try to kill as many as possible first."

Jabez wasn't even born during those dark times, but he shared the collective shame. The memory of their cub napping had started to fade in the roguelands, but Kitwana remembered.  

[Talencia]

That certainly clarified whether this blessing was a true disease or not. What he had to say was sobering in the extreme, and the bright expression faded from her face. "That certainly sounds difficult." That was putting it mildly. She mulled on all this for several quiet minutes. "It sounds like a deadly disease," she finally commented. "Does it make everyone with lion blood sick?" She was unwillingly having visions of sprawled forms everywhere, with non-lions drifting among them, tending to the dying. It felt like a chill breeze had crept under her fur and ran up her spine.

However, as she focused her eyes on him again, he didn't strike her as someone who only looked after the dead and dying. He just seemed too lively for that, though he was by far not the most animated person she'd met. No, he was... dignified. Sober, but without the taint of depression. There was much more to him than just that, of course, but that was only as far as she could grasp, having only just met him.

Curious, she met his eyes directly before asking another question. "If someone was to ask you to give them a reason to join, what would you tell them?" It was a round-about way of finding out why he was here, but would also reveal what he liked best about his home. She felt the need to prompt him to praise his pride, now that he had had to convey such unhappy information about it. Her soft heart felt for his difficult position of having to actually warn folks away from the place he called home.  

[Annchen]

"It is," he confirmed, "It's not instantly deadly, but it's always fatal. Everyone with lion blood is at risk. There are those that appear to recover, but they can still spread the disease. The only ones allowed to roam are the lions that are proved to be completely immune."

He fell silent again, and watched Brauna watch him. He wasn't prepared for her next question. Jabez had never tried to coax anyone to join. He had to think before answering. It was different being born here than to make the choice to live here. He had made the choice to stay at one point, and he returned to that moment. A great deal of the decision had been made out of fear, but if he dug deeper there were other feelings and other reasons. This was home. This was safe.

"Everyone is welcome," he finally said, "We take care of our own, and we take in anyone in need of a home."

It was his home, and it could be a safe haven. Safe-ish if you were a lion, perhaps. But lions and lion hybrids still joined willingly and with their eyes open. It was unfortunate that some outsiders that were visiting or trying to cross the lands ignored the quarantine rules and got themselves exposed... But those were unfortunate exceptions. Many stayed because they wanted to, and because they were welcomed and accepted.  

[Talencia]

She nodded as if this confirmed something to her. His words held weight, the kind of weight that hid more meaning, the kind that couldn't be put into words properly. Though his answer was simple, it rang as absolutely true. "It sounds like a worthy place to live, a worthy pride to call home," she said softly. she fell into ruminative silence. Prides were not really something she'd considered. Coalitions with her own kind, perhaps, but a lion pride that also welcomed other species hadn't come into her musings before. Naturally her kind would be wary, that the lions were overbearing or cruel. Jabez, however, had very clearly ruled those situations out. He did not feel oppressed or enslaved.

"May I...," but she paused, for the first time looking uncertain. Her request wasn't really the normal sort of thing one asked a stranger, though of course he was actually a friend already. Even so, she didn't know him very well, nor him her. So this was going to sound odd. "Might I follow you around, see how the pride works firsthand?" She looked rather shy about this, but also very eager. She honestly wanted to learn more about... Kitwana'antara. She took the time to ensure she thought of the name properly this time.  

[Annchen]

It was. He wouldn't have been able to put words on it, but her description of his home made him proud. It was a worthy place to call home, and he was glad that he had been cured of the itchy feet that had plagued him when he was younger. He had heard stories about other places from visitors and new pride members. There were some interesting places out there, but this was his home.

He looked up at her, and it was obvious that he was surprised, perhaps amazed even, at her request.

"I... of course." he said after a brief period of stunned silence, "I will patrol the border until the sun touches the trees over there. Another scout will be out here by then and I'll meet him and give my report."

He should really keep doing his rounds until then, but perhaps it wouldn't be too bad with some company as he did. She might not be interested in patrolling the outskirts, however, so he decided to give her a choice.

"I can show you the meeting place," he said, "If you want to wait there. Or you could join me while I check this part of our border."

He hoped she'd want to join him, and if she'd rather wait he hoped she would still be there when he returned.  

[Talencia]

She beamed at him as he answered with a startled but apparently pleased assent. She had a feeling that she too had found her home here among the sick lions, but following him around would help her confirm that. Plus, she'd get to spend more time with her new friend, which was definitely a plus. When offered the options, she shifted a little. She moved slightly closer to him, as her expression turned wistful.

"I think I'd rather join you, and see what it is that you do," she answered softly, "so that we can talk. I want to know more, both about the pride and about you." She smiled sweetly then, not moving any further but exuding a sense of happiness and affection. Yes, things were going to be very wonderful here, she was sure, especially with a special friend like him to spend time with. Her future suddenly seemed much less insular, with not only a home but also, just maybe, love.