|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:33 am
While he ate, Snaedis had taken between looking to and fro, and lying her head down. It was mere timing that had him looking over while her head was down on her paws and her eyes were closed. But she heard him finish just as she'd listened to him eat, and opened her eyes, lifting her head a bit. She simply smiled, and shook her head. "You say that far too much." She said honestly, stretching as she rose. "'I'm sorry'. For what, surviving? Eating for the first time in days, most likely?" She smirked. "Stop being so sorry; you're doing what's best for yourself." Snaedis sat down and started licking her paws, seeming entirely unaware of his inner termoil.
"You're right, I didn't. But I did anyway. You were hungry, I fed you. It's as simple as that." She said after a minute, looking up from her bathing. "So you're a messy eater. I've seen rogues with worse manners." She smirked a little, and got up, walking over to him and rubbing her maw against his cheek. An attempt to comfort; so she had noticed how he was acting. Or at least recognized his panic, she certainly couldn't know what was going on inside that big rock of a head.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:13 pm
He had opened his mouth to apologize again out of force of habit, but closed it just as quickly, gulping as though he was forcing the word back down his throat. The female had a certain air about her, he was noticing. She was a rogue, maybe, yes, but she carried herself with...he wasn't really sure what. Some kind of grace he couldn't exactly describe. And she was older, too - he'd noticed that with the slight graying around her muzzle that was not part of her markings. He found himself wondering, absently, if he'd get to her age and be in as good a state that she was.
Lost in admiring the female, he hadn't entirely noticed her moving closer. Well, no, that was a lie; he had noticed, but he found himself not moving away. Her action of comfort, however briefly, worked. He leaned into her cheek, and like the handful of others that had already happened, there was a moment of disconnect, a little second of calm before the storm.
The snarl came like a delayed instinct, his maw wrinkling as he pulled his upper lip up in a snarl. His ears pinned so close to his mane that they almost disappeared in the mess of fur, and he jerked his head away while moving to all fours in the same fluid movement. It wasn't that she had hurt him or even frightened him; he might have been able to stretch it to say that she had startled him. It just...didn't feel right. But it did. What was he even thinking? Was he thinking at all?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:26 pm
If Snae was startled by his delayed reaction, she didn't show it at all. Her eyes, instead, seemed to become clearer; a forceful calm in reaction to his less-then-calm one. She stepped back, but only a few steps. She wasn't backing away from him, and she wouldn't let herself be seen as submissive. For a brief second, as she thought about it, fire danced across her eyes, and her lip curled into a silent snarl. It was gone just as quick as it had come, and the calm stole over her expression again as she watched Jai.
"I suppose it's my turn to apologize, Jai." She said slowly, inclining her head. "I am sorry if I..." If she had what? Startled him? It couldn't have been that. He'd seen her coming closer, it wasn't as though she'd tackled him or some such thing. "I'm sorry." That would have to do, she doubted he was in the caring sort of mood.
"Are you alright, Jai?" She watched him, concern drifting into her gaze. The way he acted confused her; she'd never met a lion who acted so... erratically. Concern and curiosity fought for dominance on her face. A better understanding of what she was dealing with versus the idea of caring for her temporary companion. In the end, concern won out, and she watched him quietly, not daring to get closer. Not yet, at any rate.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:29 pm
"I..." Jai hesitated, taking a step back. What was happening? This female was being oddly...he wasn't even entirely certain what she was being. Caring? Concerned? Curious? He caught her brief snarl, but didn't pay much attention to it, instead favoring her reaction afterward. It'd been years since he'd seen that expression on anyone, but he remembered it clearly. To see it again was...refreshing. He had no interest in scaring her off, he realized. He wanted her to stay, if even just for a little while. Despite having put a good foot or so between them, he forced a smile.
"Sorry. I...it's...a thing." Some excuse. But even with his attempt at a smile, however, the sincerity in his apology was clear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:39 pm
"A thing?" Snaedis repeated slowly, arching an eyebrow at the lion. But even her disbelief at his excuse couldn't make the small smirk waver for more then a minute. She liked this poor brute, for whatever reason. He was confounding, but he was there and she was comfortable in his presense, even in his sudden... fits. "You needn't explain yourself to me, Jai." She said after her brief pause to think, inclining her head in his direction. "It's okay."
She had no idea why she felt the need to comfort this poor lion. Life had dealt him hard cards, certainly, but it was evident he knew how to survive. He wasn't starving to death, he had enough meat on his bones to survive a while. And he knew how to hunt, or at least how to stalk down a hunt and wait for those who killed the animal to leave so he could eat the left-overs. Why was this lion so important? She shook her head to clear it, and looked at him, focusing her baby blues on him so she wouldn't keep thinking. "It's getting late; I'm going to go." She said after a minute, looking over.
"... If you need a place to stay, you can come with me." Her cave wasn't by any means large. In fact, it hardly qualified at all for a cave. But she could make room for two if needed. Three'd be pushing it, but two might just be comfortably cramped. That was if he came at all. Getting ahead of yourself, Snaedis. Stop it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:26 pm
Of the things that other lionesses (and lions, for that matter) had said to Jai, It's okay was not on the list. Certainly he had told it to himself many a night, when his own assurance was the only assurance he had. Coming from another, though, the words sounded foreign to him. For a moment, he was skeptical - though for no reason he could really pinpoint - and gave Snaedis an almost disbelieving look. She did not give one back. She didn't look overly sympathetic or guilty. She didn't look irritated or disgusted. She just...was, and that was okay.
Jai's tense muscles eased once again after that brief moment, and he both looked and felt content until the female spoke again. When she did, his expression seemed to almost fall. It wasn't terribly surprising. He had acted so poorly. He had acted so poorly, even he wouldn't want to be in his own company. ...but what was this, now? She was inviting him to come along? In the same quickness as the flip of a coin, much like the way he had done so multiple times already, his expression shifted. Stay? With her? A female? Well, now, he wasn't so sure about that. It wasn't that he didn't know her, no. He had decided for himself that she was no threat to him. But she didn't know him, and that was more than enough reason for a...
"...no, that's...that's fine," he stammered, despite the reaction he wanted to give. "I'll just...see you around."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:46 pm
Snaedis's expression didn't falter when he gave her his answer, but her posture seemed to, for a split second, change from confident and comfortable Snae to... well. Lonely Snaedis. Her shoulders slumped a little, and her tail dropped just a fraction, but as quickly as the change had come over her it was gone and she straightened up, nodding slowly and smiling. "Zahina's world isn't that big, I'm sure we'll see each other again." She agreed, nodding to him quietly and turning from him.
It was disappointing, but that was the way of life. Not everything worked the way one planned, and Snaedis certainly wouldn't let it get her down. No... no. She would certainly see him again, Zahina provided her with food and sustinance, why would she take away a friend? She wouldn't, right? Right! She walked away from Jai, her stride slow and easy and seeming to just be the way she walked, but really, she walked as slow as she did just in case. Just in case... what? He'd changed his mind? He didn't seem the type. Something about him, or her, or the situation, made Jai uneasy and it was probably best that he didn't come along.
Still, she couldn't will herself to walk any faster then she was in the direction of the small little den she called home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:32 am
For a long while, Jai did absolutely nothing but stare after the lionness as she wandered back to wherever her home was. He had barely said a parting farewell when she left, only inclining his head in what might or might not have been a nod. For a moment there, she looked...almost like him. Well, he wasn't sure how he looked, admittedly, but that wasn't the point. She looked the way he felt.
But he couldn't be trusted, much less around females. Wasn't that what they had said? It had to have been true. His family wouldn't have lied to him. ...his family wouldn't share meals with him, either. His family wouldn't have invited him to sleep in a den instead of out in whatever elements Zahina decided best suited her mood. Snaedis had, though. And while Jai was admittedly not always the best judge of character, the female seemed like an exception worth making.
His gait as he followed after her was slow and uncertain, at first. Then within a few strides, his steps were falling into a loping run. "Wait!" He barely put the brakes on quickly enough, actually coming to a stop a few feet infront of the female, then turning to face her. "Wait, I um...actually..."
Well, now. It seemed like words, suddenly, did not know how to come from his maw. He took a step towards her, lowering his head imploringly. "Actually...actually, um... actually." He couldn't speak. The words had gotten stuck in the back of his throat, somewhere. Still, he could smile, and he did so: a faint, awkward, hopeful, warm little smile.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:17 pm
Snaedis had heard the paws coming after her, unsteadily at first and then, rather suddenly, he was running to catch up to her. He didn't stop at that, and she was suddenly face to face with the blind lion. She blinked slowly, and tilted her head, smiling a little encouragingly at him. Snaedis wasn't sure what she was encouraging; his actions, or the decision so blatantly written in his face. Still, she didn't press him. It was a testament to her apparently-infinite patience for Jai, any other lion would've been told to spit it out already or get out of her way. Her tail flicked behind her in an impatient manner, but she tried her best to control that. No need to go scaring him off just because she had the patience of an angry bee at the best of times.
"Actually?" She prodded finally. Because she could only wait so long for Jai to spit it out, and he seemed to've forgotten that special ability. The answer didn't come, but that was okay. Silence was a fluent second language. She returned his smile, and nodded. "Well, come on, then." She said, brushing past him as she took the lead. Here, there was no pressure. If he changed his mind, he could easily leave, but she started walking all the same.
Her ears flattened a little against her head, and she glanced over. "There'll be others." She said after a minute, eying him. "Not just me. It's not a lot of others, but... there are some." She smiled gently. "Just... So you aren't surprised when we get there." She snorted. "And whatever the big dumb one says, leave it to me."
Yes, that was about you, Caelan.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
