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 Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:51 am
Boipelo walked along beside her, keeping a weary eye on the horizon. So far there was nothing of consequence to be noticed. A few animals scurrying about to collect food or find shelter before nightfall much like Zalla and himself. This land seemed to carry a more peaceful air than his own homeland. It felt oddly nice and safe here.
"That sounds agreeable, though I would like to hunt with you if my paw will let me." It might start an argument but he didn't want to feel like a total slouch. He was used to pulling his own weight, even when he had been just old enough to hunt. It didn't seem fair to put all the burden on her.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:07 am
Zalla watched him for a moment, as if trying to detect any sort of limp or favoring of his paw. Finally she sighed and nodded. "It would be better if we hunted together. I can't take bigger prey down alone, and I would rather we not get separated." She admitted, glancing around. "If we're caught, I'd rather it be together then separate."
She fell silent for a bit, thinking to herself about Pelo. He seemed a well rounded lion, oddly gentle compared to the cubs she remembered. Hadn't his brother and him been much more violent and angry then the lion before her was? She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, then looked away again.
"Pelo...What was your life like? Once you went back with your father...?" She asked suddenly, frowning a bit as she stared toward the horizon. "He didn't hurt you and your brother, did he?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 11:55 am
"If we're caught, I'd rather it be together then separate." Already she cared so much even though she knew next to nothing about him. Did she still see so much of the little helpless and angry cub he had been? Boipelo noticed her watching him and he wondered what she was thinking of and not a moment later he received his answer.
"Heh. Truthfully he could've killed us or left us to die if he wanted to." The snake colored male shook his head, remembering. "We weren't father's favorites to be sure, but we were still of use." It was hard to explain being a mortal in a family full of gods, in the beginning it wasn't entirely pleasant but now that he and Zesiro were ignored for the most part it was far better than it had been. "We were taught to fight, hunt, defend ourselves and how important it was to survive. After I went home from here last time I've seen little of my family except for my father and Zesiro." He shrugged, not seeing his siblings never really bothered him. He much preferred being able to sleep at night. "Don't get me wrong though, I still respect my parents, my father especially."
Sure, his explanation didn't paint a pretty picture but his life sure hadn't been all sunshine and roses.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:10 pm
"But how can you respect someone so--" She cut off, her flare of anger poofing out before she let herself spit out words she couldnt take back. Perhaps she didn't have the right to call his father vile, dispicable, or evil. She knew nothing about Pelo or his family, only the impression she'd gotten from his father when the lion had come for his offspring.
But he had come for them. That had to speak something for the male, even if he were a Da'Lin. Zalla lowered her eyes, feeling slightly ashamed. Who was she to call him out on his life and family?
Still, she couldn't stop her curiousity. "Won't you miss them..? Your family?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:53 pm
"So evil?" Boipelo offered an ending to her sentence and tilted his head to look into her eyes. "He is my father, he could've killed me at birth but he did not, that's why I respect him. My brother and I are not like our siblings but he let us survive." That would likely make her ask more questions, but it was moot at this point. She was bound to find out about the rest of his family some time. "Besides, is it truly evil when you know no other way?"
He sighed a little, his eyes turning back to the path ahead. "Zesiro, maybe, the rest...not really."
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:47 pm
Zalla paused, tilting her head a little as she studied him. She felt bad for him, losing everything he'd held familiar and dear. She couldn't imagine what it was like to have nothing and nobody....
"What are your siblings like?" She asked, quickly resuming her walking, her eyes straight ahead. "They couldn't have been so different from you and your brother....You are all siblings, after all..." She gave him a small, encouraging smile. "You all had to share something."
Even if his life was dark, it would be better for her to know it now, she decided. She didn't need to help him and have someone try to shock her later on about the things he might have done in Da'Lin territory. "Besides, is it truly evil when you know no other way?" He'd said, and she honestly was not sure how to respond to such a question as that.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:43 pm
"My siblings were gifted by Da'Lin, as my parents are. Zesiro and myself are not." Boipelo's tone suggested that such gifts may or may not have been a good thing. Truly unique gifts were not common among lions so perhaps Zalla would know what he spoke of. "We may have been alike at one time before birth, but now all we share is parents and the fact that we are Da'Lin."
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:00 pm
"Gifted?" Zalla asked, blinking at him curiously. What kinds of gifts could Da'Lin have given cubs, but for their claws and strength to use them? She'd never heard of any lions being gifted by Zahina, and she never really net many other lions while she was wandering about, which meant only one thing.
Zalla was pretty ignorant about many things in the world, including the things that occurred with others of her own species.
Still, she wondered what gift they had that Pelo did not. Was it really something so special? "Gifted or not, I don't believe anyone to be better then anyone else." She nodded defiantly, a slightly cocky grin on her face. "We can take down anyone if we put our minds to it!" She exclaimed, pouncing on some grass. "Even someone who's 'gifted'." With a laugh she looked at Pelo again, her wide eyes shining innocently. "Right?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:10 pm
"If we were able to outwit them, maybe." Boipelo smiled at her sudden outburst of almost childish behavior as he closed the gap between them. He came close enough that she could feel his breath against her fur. "My family is made up of Gods, Zalla. They are very dangerous, even more so for someone like you. Since you haven't had to deal with them your whole life."
The snake colored male shivered and nuzzled against her neck as if he was cold. "Lets keep moving. The farther we are from the border the safer I feel, right now my family is a little...upset with me shall we say." He had said he was in trouble, but he never said with whom and now his own family seemed the most plausible option.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:34 pm
"GODS?!" Zalla exclaimed loudly, the fur along her spine sticking up. Pelo's father, the odd looking Da'Lin she'd met that day that felt so long back, was a god?! She froze, staring at him in shock. If Pelo's family were made of gods, that would mean he... She looked down, the realization hitting her at once.
"My siblings were gifted by Da'Lin, as my parents are. Zesiro and myself are not." The meaning behind his words now felt like a lead weight in her chest, and she couldn't help but feel some sort of sorrow for Pelo and his brother as well. To be the only ones in a family of gods, a family of Da'Lin gods at that, must have been a life of a never ending living hell.
She moved when he nudged her, awkwardly starting to walk again. "You...you're running from gods?" She asked softly, looking at him with worry. How could he ever really think to escape from a god? Let alone a whole family of them that could probably track his scent in their sleep. "Pelo...We have to move faster... If they catch up, you...." She looked around nervously, then quickened her pace.
"Away from the border....Okay.." She nodded, silently continuing on the way they had been moving. "They wont follow us in very far, I'm sure." She murmured, trying to sound more convincing then she felt.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:53 pm
"Once we're a ways away we shouldn't have to worry. I'm hardly worth going after. I am just a Da'Lin after all. Venturing to this side of the border, wounded none the less, is a sure death sentence as far as they are concerned." Boipelo sped up his pace to match hers and deliberately kept close to her. "We'll be safe, I promise, Zalla."
The snake colored male paused for a moment before speaking again. "After a time the offense will be forgotten, they'll move on and I might be able to show my face again there without being thorn to shreds." He looked over at her and smiled wearily. She must think his family monstrous by now, it was just as well, they were in some ways.
"How far to your home?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:10 am
Zalla looked around, trying to pick out the landmarks she always used to find her way back to her den. She didn't see anything for a moment, then her ears perked up and she smiled a little more easily. "It's another mile pass the bunny stone." She assured him, pointing one paw toward a bolder that had a very vague resemblance to a hare. "It's not much, just a hole in the ground really...But it stays dry in the rain and keeps cool when the sun is out."
She walked a few more feet in silence, then glanced at Pelo in concern. "They may forget but.....Do you plan on returning to Da'Lin territory, Pelo?" She asked softly. Her eyes darkened a little as she watched him, conflicting thoughts flitting through and filling them with unease. "You can't keep coming and going from Zahina to Da'Lin....One side or the other will kill you....." She murmured softly, looking down. "You should forget about your old life. Just start a new one here."
She raised her eyes to meet his again, her confidence showing again. "If you worship Zahina, you could stay here. You could join a pride, and have cubs and a mate." She looked down, then sighed. "I don't think you're safe out there...Nor do I think you can be happy in a place your life is always threatened." She looked at him again, frowning sadly. "Can't you just stay here, instead?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:37 pm
"Even if its not much, I'm sure its perfectly fine." Boipelo regarded the stone for a moment, before turning his gaze back to Zalla. She seemed uneasy, even a bit scared. "I don't know if any pride would accept me, given what I am." If he were no longer to worship Da'Lin, he still showed the signs of being one of them. He honestly didn't know such things could fade with time. "Most don't strike me as the type that would easily overlook prejudices as you have." The smile that was still on his face reached his eyes when she looked back at him.
"If I am able to stay, it might be best to stay out of the way, that way I don't ruffle any manes so to speak." He nuzzled her again when she frowned. Her looking sad tugged at his heart in an odd way that made him mildly uncomfortable.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:44 am
Zalla wasn't sure she'd call her actions 'overlooking' so much as 'easily forgiving'. She didn't like it when people held her faults against her...Why should she do the same to another. And beside, Pelo had come to Zahina's lands looking for safety and help, even if he didn't want to admit it outright. That, in Zalla's opinion, showed a form of trust in Zahina that the cub she'd met before had not shown.
He'd grown, she knew that and saw it in his actions. She just wished someone else could see that too. Given enough time, she was sure Pelo would turn to Zahina, would come to worship Zahina as his god. He just had to see her power, her blessings. He had to see not everything was based on anger and violence.
"Even if you don't join a pride..." Zalla started softly, giving him a smile, "You can still carve out a place here. I'm not part of a pride...haven't been since I can even remember. But I live just fine, and I'm sure you would too. It's not as easy living without a pride, what with territory issues, but....It's a good life, none the less." She assured him, before nudging his shoulder. "My den is just around this meercat hill."
She pranced forward, zipping around one side of the mountainous hill where a colony of meerkats lived, then appeared to vanish into the earth without a trace. It took a moment, but her head finally popped back out of what looked like an old burrow some animal had probably abandoned. "It's more spacious then you'd think inside. If you can make it through the hole, come on in~!" She disappeared again down the hole, which was big enough for two lions to squeeze in side by side.
Zalla hoped he'd take her taunt about 'fitting through' the hole as a joke. She didn't want him to run off angry now that they'd finally made it somewhere safe.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:32 pm
Even if he had really come here seeking amnesty and a new home Boipelo would never admit it. He was far too proud a lion to do so. It was his pride that often got into the way of his cunning and tripped up his plans. Hopefully his pride wouldn't get in the way of this particular plan. He smiled back at Zalla, hoping his expression didn't betray his thoughts.
They really are quite spoiled. I can certainly understand why they would be reluctant to give this place up. Someone like me even doubly so. The game here was more abundant so it would be easier to hunt without crossing into unfriendly territory. There seemed to be plenty of water holes and places to find shelter from the sun, cold or rain. A very nice place overall. It would be an enjoyable stay.
The snake colored male followed after her, pausing when she disappeared from sight. Now where could she have... His thoughts were cut off when Zalla reappeared from the hole, inviting him inside. "I think I can make it." He waited for her to duck back inside before following. "This place seems nice and cozy." He found a spot to settle down for a bit to rest his paw. "Just need a little break, then I'd be up for hunting."
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