[PRP] EEK A Male! [Rrab & Jasiri]

[Cajanic]

Rrab was starting to think that she could do the whole 'living in the rogue lands on her own' thing. She had already met some interesting animals, and she had even spoken to them a little bit! Not very well, of course, but more than she would have been able to back in her pride.

Probably most impressively, she had spoken to a male, too! Granted, it was a leopard and not a lion, which was what she was really frightened of, but that didn't make it any less of an accomplishment. She knew she would have to take small steps before she got over her phobia of males.

If she ever got over her phobia.

The lioness had just finished a hunt, dragging a small antelope youngling along beside her. She dropped her catch down for a moment, licking her maw as she stepped towards a small collection of water for a drink. It had been an exhausting hunt, and she had only managed a small catch, but she was still feeling pretty content.

For the moment, at least.  

[Annchen]

Jasiri had ventured quite far out into the roguelands to see if he could find any traces of the rogue males that had attacked his pride not long ago. The Cinga and Enda was probably out looking too. If those males had any sense they would not come close to the Ithambo'hlabathi again, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. One of them had been killed and the others were both injured, so hopefully they wouldn't want to try anything.

He saw a bird circling and decided to check out whatever it had discovered. Vultures were more annoying than anything else he knew, but they had their uses at least. As long as he didn't have to talk to them or spend time around them he'd happily exploit their unique point of view. Jasiri jogged towards whatever the bird circled and soon enough he saw a pastel colored creature up ahead.

Cajanic

 

[Cajanic]

When Rrab saw a male appear ahead of her, she froze, all thoughts of getting over her fears out the window. Instead, she dropped her kill, taking a few steps away from it as if to offer it to the lion. She was so used to doing just that, as trying to hunt for herself usually meant getting badly hurt.

Along with that, she lowered herself down to the ground, her ears sinking down against her skull as she flattened herself out as much as possible while looking up at the lion.

She frowned as she watched him, her whole body starting to shake almost instantly. She didn't want to offend this male, whomever he was. While she didn't want to listen to orders anymore, she could at least find some middle ground. Maybe if he took the meal, she could run away! Then she wouldn't have to be bullied or attacked. It wasn't like she needed to stay there this time around.

There was finally the option to escape. Even if her old habits hadn't changed much, that never left her mind.

Annchen

 

[Annchen]

It wasn't out of the ordinary for females to offer him a kill, but they were usually not this submissive and scared. He was also fairly certain that this wasn't one of the pride females. Jasiri knew the pride members well enough to know who belonged or not, even if he did mix up close relatives at times. For some families he actually avoided calling anyone by name since he didn't want to get told off for using the wrong one. Sometimes it took some time to learn the names of new females, but since they were new and interesting he usually caught on pretty quickly. He didn't recognize this one, and with her unusual coloring he was sure she was someone he'd remember. She'd stand out like a giraffe in a family of warthogs among the browns, tans and natural colors in the Bonelands.

So why would she try to feed him? He took a few steps towards the offered meal when he noticed that she was shaking. Oh... Big scary male perhaps? He took a step back to avoid spooking her further, wondering what to do.

"Err... Do I know you?" he asked, just to cover his bases. There was a chance, however slim, that one of the other leading males had decided to take her in recently.

Cajanic

 

[Cajanic]

Rrab could have wet her fur when the male started to move towards her. It didn't look like someone who was interested in food. Was something going to happen now? Something bad? she wasn't going to go back to a pride that didn't allow her to talk!

But then, the male took a step back again, and she relaxed a little. He seemed to notice that she wasn't taking things well and actually wanted to keep her from getting too frightened.

That was... weird of a male to do. They weren't normally like that, right?

"No...." Rrab said softly, aware she was now speaking to a male lion for the first time in her entire life, "Rrab... not from here. Rrab hunting. No hurting Rrab!"

Annchen

 

[Annchen]

Jasiri tilted his head as the female finally spoke. She was either not familiar with the language, or simply not that bright. He got the message, however. The few words she managed to get out together with her body language made the message very clear. Now he just needed to get his message across.

"No hurting Rrab," he agreed, and then continued a little louder, "No hurting you." He then said the same thing in the traditional language of the Bonelands, just in case.

If she had trouble with the language, talking louder or randomly switching to another language would probably not help, but Jasiri wasn't really analyzing the situation.

Cajanic

 

[Cajanic]

Rrab tilted her head to one side. She had heard something new! Words she didn't really understand. Were they still the same language, or something different entirely? She had no idea, really, but it seemed to make her more interested in the male. It also helped that he didn't seem like he was going to bring her any harm.

"... Thanking you," she offered first, before scrunching her nose and letting her ears perk forward. She let her head tilt from one side, to the other, thinking over what he had said to her.

"No hurting you," she repeated, if only because she wanted to say the words, too. She smiled, feeling like she had learned something, and looked at the male. Perhaps he wasn't like the males in her pride- he already spoke differently than them. Though he probably thought she was quite an idiot. Most did. Told her so often enough, too.

"Rrab.. not good with speak," she offered to explained, "never... told. Couldn't learn. Had to listen... Learn alone."

Annchen

 

[Annchen]

The lioness was much more relaxed, and she even assured Jasiri that she wouldn't hurt him either. He had the sense to keep his mouth shut and listen to what she had to say next. Her speech pattern was diferent, but she got her point across, and he figured he understood what she wanted to say when he took the time to listen.

"Well, I understand you all right," Jasiri said when she stopped talking. "I was bad at speaking too at first."

He wondered if this was what he'd sounded like when he first tried to speak like the Bonelanders... The females had laughed at him a lot, so he wasn't about to mock this female for not speaking perfectly in the common tongue.

"I'm looking for two bad lions," he said, slightly slower than he normally would speak, "They hurt my friends."

Hopefully that would be put in simple enough terms for her to get it. He remembered having an easier time understanding when the other spoke slowly and clearly.

Cajanic

 

[Cajanic]

Rrab considered what the lion had to say. Bad lions? She had seen a lot of bad lions in her day, but that was when she had been captive in the pride, used for whatever they wanted and left on her own when they were done. She had not seen too many bad lions outside that place, though she was still nervous every time she ran into a male.

She frowned, shaking her head after she had giving the comment a good deal of thought.

"No bad lions," she told him, "not here. Not seen." She wanted him to know that she hadn't seen any males in the area, or any pair of lions of any gender, for that matter. She fidgeted slightly, looking down at her paws. She felt bad she couldn't offer him any useful information.

"Sorry..."

Annchen

 

[Annchen]

For whatever reason Jasiri trusted that the lioness told the truth. She seemed honest, and he had no reason to think she was lying or hiding something. If she did, she was the best liar he had ever met... But she seemed genuinely sorry that she hadn't seen the lions he was looking for.

"Don't be sorry," he said, "It's good if they are truly gone. Thank you Rrab."

He should probably think about getting back. While he would have loved to hurt them for what they had done to his pride and his son, this was not bad news. If he found no trace of the intruders they must have fled. Besides, he couldn't neglect his other duties for this vendetta. The pride still needed protecting from other wandering rogues. There would always be lions out there attracted to the large group of females.

"I'll have to go back to the Bonelands," he said to the lioness, "Have a good meal."

He started walking back the way he came from, not realizing that he had failed to introduce himself.

Cajanic