Anakaa:"I know I've said this. I'm fairly certain I said this over and over again. But I'm starting to think your hearing's a bit bad. I don't. Need. A bodyguard." Anakaa crouched low in the grasses as she hissed at her almost constant shadow now. Hook had been a veritable thorn in her side ever since she made that silly trip to see the sea. She now knew the direction she needed to go in to find her quarry, but having a pirate tag-along wasn't helping.
Granted, he wasn't hindering her, either, and sometimes a part of her didn't really mind having some form of company- No! No, no, she wasn't giving in on that. She didn't need him around, and would be much better off on her own. If she was on her own, she could get this done quick and be back home.
She slowly shook her head, her braid tucked over her ear. Her attention returned to the herd not too far away. She didn't need him to help her hunt.
Jay’mes / Hook:
He smiled, careful not to be too loud. The red lion blended better than one would think in the grasses they were crouching in. He was going to help her hunt, if only to share the spoils. But he was following her for another purpose. He thought it was endearing that she thought he was following her out of desire to do so. Rather than his deep need to find the crocodile Braedi that had taken so much from him already.
"Ah love. Good thing I have no intention of baby sitting you, aye?" He asked, grinning again. She didn't need his help, but none the less, she was going to get it. He was hungry too, and he damn sure didn't feel like finding his own herd to take down.
Anakaa:
Ana huffed and her ears flicked back. Fine, he wasn't going to leave her alone. It was probably time she just give up and try to ignore him. It'd been too many days already that he'd been following her. Of course, it didn't feel right, she thought he might be keeping something from her. But... Ana sometimes wondered that maybe she was starting to become paranoid, that she thought everyone might be keeping something from her. Bitten once...
She mentally shook the dark thoughts away and crept closer and closer, slow and patient.
Her attack was swift and methodical, a true, proper huntress. Grown to hunting in the desert, her skills were magnified considerably out on the savanna. It wasn't all that difficult to bring down an large antelope, maybe just big enough to share if they didn't mind a somewhat lean meal.
Jay’mes / Hook:Though Hook had other motives, he'd have been lying had he said he didn't enjoy her company..or the view. He thought she was a pretty little piece, but she was a hardened piece at that. She had a story behind those bright blue eyes that he just couldn't figure out.
When she began the attack, Jay'mes could only stand and stare with appreciation. The wenches did a lot of hunting at home, but he wasn't sure he had ever seen someone move so gracefully. It was like a dance, her bringing down the antelope. The antelope looked like it struggled for a minute, and then it drifted away. Going back from whence it came and giving new life to the grass and animals. He strolled casually towards her, a grin on his face.
"Nice work. Quite a skill you have there."
Anakaa:
"Mmm, huntress back home. Much more difficult in the sands," Ana replied, part of the explanation with her jaws still around her kill's neck, just to be safe. When she was sure it wasn't going to struggle back from the brink, she lifted her head a fraction. "I see you left it to me to do the work."
But a half-smirk had found its way onto her face and she just shook her head, almost like a disappointed teacher might.
"This should be enough, we should eat before scavengers show up." And with that she dipped her head. It wasn't that she was necessarily afraid of wild dogs or vultures or hyenas. Just that it was easier to let them have it than pick a fight. At least, from what she'd learned the last... time... She banished those thoughts again and focused on her meal.
Jay’mes / Hook:
"Quite the masterful work indeed, then." He responded. The huntresses of the pirates generally tended to get to hunt in the savannah.. It wasn't far off from the ocean, and the ocean didn't really give them much of a banquet. They could scavenge crabs and fish sometimes, but that was few and far in between and did little to soothe the pains in your belly from hunger.
"I didn't think you needed my help. Besides. It was nice to see you hunt. It was like a very nice dance." He said with a grin. His grin was his trademark. It could mean very good things, or very bad. Though when he used it around her, it held only mischief and amusement.
"Much appreciated, love." He responded, and begin digging into the belly of the creature. He would battle scavengers just for the point. He hated them, hated that they took meals from those who worked to achieve them. So he'd enjoy killing them if he had to. But he wasn't going to offer that up.
Anakaa:
Ana ate in silence, until she was full enough. Old habits, she left half of the kill for him and set about cleaning the blood from her maw.
"I've seen dancers before, I wouldn't really call hunting a dance." She couldn't argue that there wasn't a sort of macabre grace to it, but she couldn't really call it a dance. A fight between lions, equally matched foes, that could be a dance, but not her race against a preybeast.
"I really wish you wouldn't call me that," she said, looking off. It shouldn't be too much longer, a few more days of travel maybe. Would he stop using that word before then?
Jay’mes / Hook:
"You should appreciate the art for what it is. Hunting is an art, even a plain ol' pirate knows that." He chuckled, sitting back from his meal, his belly full. He licked his lips, cleansing his muzzle and paws much like she had done.
"If only wishes could be made on stars, then, aye?" He asked. Amusement tinging the words. He was teasing, merely playing around. Though he was about as likely to stop calling her pet names as he was to just let himself drown at sea.
Anakaa:
"I have a name, pirate," Ana shot back and stood. She was full and lethargic for it, but the annoyance she had been having trouble keeping at bay was enough to fuel her into wanting to move on. If he was done, they could get going again. The sun wasn't even halfway into the sky yet, there was still plenty of time before it got much too hot.
Why he insisted on calling her pet names, she'd never know. But that one... It cheapened the already cheap word. She knew what love was, saw it every day of her youth in the eyes of her parents. They didn't have to put it to words, it was there in a phrase, a gesture, even just a look. The only times she'd really ever heard it had been empty. Especially now.
"Do all pirates talk like that?"
Jay’mes / Hook:
"Ah, yes. Yes you do. However calling you by your given name is far less poetic." He wagged his eyebrow at her, before smiling.
He was okay moving on. The faster he found Braedi, the quicker he'd fulfill his revenge. He had eaten far less than he usually would. If only to make sure he could move and quickly. Something he was used to doing, small meals meant you were more on guard. A full belly made a pirate reckless.
"Indeed. If love offends you so, I could call you 'Pet', or 'lass.' But I'm afraid I'm much too used to not using names so much as nicknames." Which was true, as he thought on it. All pirates had a pirate name, a name to prove their worth as a pirate.. Except the one he knew.. 'Pink Panther'. He couldn't help but think that guy should have just kept his real name.
Anakaa:
"I'm not sure either of those are much better." Ah, but they were, she just didn't want to actually say so. Pet she'd heard and knew and it wasn't all that endearing. Lass, now that she was unfamiliar with and that made it unknown territory. For all she knew, it was worse than calling her love.
There was always another option. Her name might be Anakaa, but her family called her Ana. He could call her that, it had been how she'd introduced herself to him as a cub. Hell, she could even tell him to just call her Anakaa, stop being an a*****e and use her name. But the words stuck in her throat. It was her true name, her family's name, not even he had called her that. He'd had his own pet-name for her. One she'd cherished, for a while. No, she didn't want to share her name with Hook.
She sighed in exasperation. "What does lass mean?"
Jay’mes / Hook:
He watched as she thought intently on whatever it was that was going on behind those eyes. For a brief moment he thought he caught the look of sadness on her features. But before he could read it, it was gone behind guarded territory. Then she spoke, and he cleared his throat.
"Quite simply...girl." He answered, prefering any other name besides lass to use. He didn't know why he had even said that, because he didn't intentionally call her love. It was habit, mostly.
Anakaa:
Really? That was all it meant? Geez.
"Seems like that one's the best out of the choices given. Can't imagine why you just don't start with that." The second statement was said more to herself than him. Of the three, it didn't have anything behind it. No endearment, no ownership. Just a female name for a female creature. Granted, it wasn't mature, like lady might be, but that didn't matter to her. Her braid was a heavy reminder that she still didn't feel like she had grown up enough. Maybe she would take it down when she neared home again. It wouldn't do for her family to see it in her mane.
"Where did you learn it from? I've never heard the word before."
Jay’mes / Hook:
"Not one of my favorites." He answered simply. Most women were loot to him, and respecting them was hardly something he ever intended on doing. Oddly though, Ana seemed to demand that respect. He found himself giving it to her, without even really meaning to.
"It was a word I heard the pirate King say quite often to his favored wenches." He looked back up at her, offering her another smile.
"The pet names just came from most of my travels otherwise."
Anakaa:
She wasn't entirely sure what a wench was, but context clues were enough that Ana decided it was better not to ask. Clearly it had to do with being female and probably being somehow attached to the pirate king. No need to embarrass herself by having to ask what that meant, too.
"How far have you traveled?" It was a safe, easy topic and maybe if she kept him talking about himself, he'd stop calling her names.
Jay’mes / Hook:
He paused, pondering her question. How far had he traveled? The better question was where hadn't he been?
"I've traveled the desert sands, seen the jungles, and met lots of strange creatures, to boot.." He responded, remembering when he had run into the most colorful bird he had ever seen in his entire life.
"My favorite place though is the ocean. If I could travel all the vast ocean, I'd do it in a heartbeat." He rambled a bit.
Anakaa:
"Explored deep caves where the creatures within light up like stars?" Ana asked, raising an eyebrow as she glanced at him. Sands were her homeland, that was no secret between them. Deep jungles and swamplands had made her skin crawl just a little. She had liked the sea, but it had only been for passing moments. She might have stayed if it wasn't for Braedi having taken her bracelet. Then again, running into Jay'mes, she might have just turned around and gone home.
All things considered, though, she liked... There had been a place, she'd only been there once, and very briefly, but... It had been where a forest was edging up against the savanna. There were trees, many trees, but it hadn't been as thick as the jungle had, the trees spread out for their own areas. There had been a watering hole nearby, that had been her paradise. She'd had dreams, short-lived though they were, of settling down in a place like that, having a family. That dream had died long ago.
"Strange creatures?"
Jay’mes / Hook:
"They twinkle just like stars. Glittering in the darkness as if they shine just for you. If you let out a sound, they echo for what feels like ages." He answered. The caves were his least favorite, mainly because he didn't like small dark spaces if he could help it. But he did what he had to, and they had chased many a vigilante or thief in the darkness.
"The creatures in the jungle, usually have big old eyes, and they stare at you. It's kind of unnerving, but they've never been dangerous that I've noticed. You do get monkeys that throw coconuts at your head sometimes." He said, grunting a bit. God he hated monkeys.
Anakaa:
Ana lapsed into silence for a moment, remembering the caves she'd been to. That had been a short trip, too, most of the time she'd spent away from home had been traveling across the savanna. But it had been magical, somehow that memory hadn't been tainted with the bitterness that so many others had. She could still close her eyes and see it through her adolescent wonder. Not a place she'd like to live but... the magic was still there.
"I wouldn't say they aren't dangerous. It's hard enough to see crocodiles in rivers out on the savanna when the sun's shining down. Under the shadows of a hundred trees?" Ana shook her head. Braedi had saved her from just such an incident. She hadn't even seen the huge reptile in the muddied water, not until the strange lion had jumped onto its jaws, snapping them shut and giving her a chance to run to freedom. Crocodiles were not one of her favorite things in the world.
Jay’mes / Hook:
At the mention of crocodiles, Hook's good mood wavered. His face was serious for a moment. Before he cleared his throat and shrugged.
"I suppose you are right. The jungle can be pretty dangerous, indeed." His mind went directly to Braedi. The crocodile that had ruined his life.
"I share no love for crocodiles. They could perish in the worst way possible and I'd probably still rejoice." He said, and sighed.
Anakaa:
"My mother would argue that they have a place in this world just like we do, but I'm fairly certain something else could easily fill the gap," Ana replied. Hook had gone quiet, somehow she'd touched a nerve and she wasn't even sure what it was, really. Her gaze flicked to him, down at his paws. Had a crocodile been the cause of it? But this... seemed like something more. Still, she wouldn't ask, she didn't want to know.
Even if a part of her did.