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 Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 5:06 pm
 Ume had always been told she was undesirable. That she was ugly, and strange looking. That her spots were imperfect, and a leopard of her breeding should not have been cursed with such dark blotches. The black on her fur stood out like a she had been burned, or so she was made to believe, from the time she was a cub.
Her mother had not been kind to her, but Ume never knew better. She cared for her mother, and after the older lioness was injured in a fight with a hyena, Ume still only a cub at the time, she needed a lot of attention. But her mother was never satisfied with Ume's efforts. She hunted too slowly, and brought pathetic meals. She would never be strong enough, pretty enough, or good enough to make an honorable mate and be a prosperous leopard.
Ume felt terrible guilt when her mother passed away, but only because she was slightly happy about it, deeply buried beneath her tears.
Still, those hard lessons clung to her, and she felt the truth in her mother's words, without ever hearing otherwise. She was shy, and quiet, and even when she saw other leopards, or even cheetah or lions, she tried to stay away from them. Not burden them with her company.
Who would ever want to be seen near her? Talking to her?
She was hoping to find a home, though. Perhaps a place where she could quietly serve, as she was accustomed to, but maybe without the verbal abuse that came with it. Still, she was groomed for that, too, so she could handle it.
Sighing, tired from her searching today, she sat herself down under one of the few trees in this area of the savannah, looking up at the mostly bare branches and finding it peaceful and pretty. Maybe other trees had beautiful leaves, but this one, she decided, was just as good. She did not put together the irony of being able to think that of a tree, but not herself.
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 5:57 pm
Baik'hati didn't know where the little wild dog had ran off to. It was rather disappointing, he had finally found company he could actually enjoy. And now, he was walking along in the sweltering heat without any shade in sight. He thought it was the way he had come from, had thought he followed the directions perfectly well.
Had it been a left or a right at the oddly shaped rock?
Sighing, his head dropped in disappointment. He needed a break. Out of the sun, preferably. He was usually used to the temperature, used to the climate of his birth land. But... he could not deal with it at the moment.
Dark lavender eyes lifted, sweeping over the savanna, searching for an outcropping or some sort of shade... such as the small amount of trees nestled to the north. Well, he thought it was north. Squinting at the sun, he couldn't quite tell which way it was going. Or remember which direction it set. Pushing aside the trivial matter, he set towards the trees, excited to finally to get out of the sun.
And disappointed when he found it already occupied. Once the small feline became visible, Baik's stomach dropped, feet stumbling a bit. Was she big? He couldn't quite tell from the distance but she didn't look too big. He slowly approached, warily. He didn't see any other source of shade with his brief search and he was really looking forward to the break. If she was too scary, he could just continue. Hopefully she was small. And, as he approached closer, he noticed she was, in fact, a leopard. Considerably smaller than him, though not as comfortably as a wild dog.
Nonetheless, tension ran out of his shoulders and, with head lowered and hesitation dancing across his expression, he crept forward. It wasn't until he was several feet away that he realized he was crawling on his belly, nerves vibrating through him. "I... uh... I-I... can I sit here?" he asked in a slow stammer, eyes focused on the leopardess. She wasn't that big. She wasn't scary. She may be quite pleasant. And he had to admit, her coloring was rather mesmerizing. He found darker colors to be quite a sight, coming from a rather long line of large and pale colored lions. His eyes roamed over the interesting pattern, nervousness momentarily forgotten.
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:11 am
Ume watched the lion approach, tense and debating her options. If she took off running, he might give chase, and she was not much of a fighter. She was probably slower than he was, anyway, because she had never been able to run fast enough to hunt things in a way that pleased her mother. It told her that her legs just weren't made well enough for running fast, and she never really tried to take real notice of how effective they actually were.
Words stuck with her much easier than experience: no matter how many times she chased down a prey beast, she felt inadequate and heard the echo of anger and disappointment in the back of her mind.
To be honest, though, it did not seem like this lion was trying to hurt her. He was crawling, she noticed, though she tried not to look in case it embarrassed him to be stared at. It was just such a weird display! Was he scared of her? Maybe because of her black splotches. She nodded her head feebly at his question.
"Of course you may, sir..." she said, mostly to the ground because she was too shy to lift her eyes to meet his. She felt him staring at her, though, and could only assume he was doing so in distaste. "I can leave, if that would be more comfortable for you..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 9:45 am
Baik's eyes snapped back to the leopard's face at the sound of her voice, eyes wide and embarrassment sweeping through him as he realized he had been blatantly examining her. Silent for a moment, he settled at the edge of the shadows, unsure what to say. It was awkward. Especially since he kept looking at her from the corner of his eye.
He jumped when she spoke again, feeling as if he had been caught staring. "W-what? Leave?" he processed the sentence before shaking his head, ducking it down low in slight apology. At least, in his was of apologizing. "No, don't leave!" he blurted out, ears twitching nervously. Did that sound to weird? He watched her, attempting to gauge her reaction. "You were here first and I-I would like a bit of company." He seemed to feel more confident. Was it because of how meek she was? He wondered if he had frightened her, actually. Guilt stab him and he laid his muzzle on his front paws, watching her. "Unless you want to leave..." he murmured softly, not enjoying the prospect. She was a potential friend, now that he was starting to feel a bit more comfortable. It would really be a shame but... he couldn't force her to stay.
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Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 3:02 pm
Ume was unused to talking to others so informally. Really, she tried not to talk to others at all. With her mother, that had been a necessity, just to avoid the awful fights that always followed whenever she tried to have a conversation with the older leopardess. Then it just became habit, bowing her head to others and just hoping they passed without her doing anything to upset them.
He surprised her by his quiet, humble response, and she almost smiled at him. At the last moment, she remembered her place and there was only a flicker of a smile in her eyes before she glanced down at the floor again. They both seemed to be staring at it now, but if he had found something to look at he was doing better than she was. There was nothing of note in the dirt.
She could see the top of his big, at least to her, paws, though.
"I don't think I'm very good company. I'm... not used to it. And I know... well. I-If you get tired of talking to me, I don't mind you telling me. I don't want to leave, though. Uhm. My name is Umesahau. But... now that I can, I go by Ume."
Her mother always used her full name, even though Ume never liked the sound of it.
"It's... it's very pleasant to meet you..."
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:06 pm
This wasn’t so bad. It was peaceful. There was shade from the blazing sun. And, the company was rather soft spoken and polite. Baik’hati hoped she was kind as well but the head rabbit’s lectures on naivety had him only skirting the possibility. Shoulders relaxing, his guard slowly began to lower as he listened to her soft-spoken manner. It was a lovely to listen to. Like wind drifting gently.
”Ume,” he repeated, trying out the name. And felt a wave of bashfulness, sheepishly ducking his head. ”My name is Baik,” he responded to the ground, almost shyly. She had said some curious things. Several curious things. She’s not used to it? What, being company? She knows… what? And goes by Ume, now that she can. Several curious things. Straightening up his head, he grinned at her widely. Nerves still rattled but it wasn’t so much out of intimidation anymore. ”I don’t want you to leave, either,” he responded. It would be a shame, not finding out her mysteries. And the more she talked, the more he wanted to befriend this gentle breeze of a leopardess.
”I’ve rarely seen coloring like yours,” he pointed out bluntly before eyes going wide. Was he being too forward? Was it a common thing to comment on appearances when first meeting? Probably not. He was probably being terribly rude. ”I-I-I’m sorry,” he stammered.
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:01 pm
Ume watched the lion thoughtfully, still surprised that he was wasting any of his time on her at all. Maybe her mother had been wrong about some things. Not that the thought stayed in her head long: she had been raised knowing her mother was right, and it would take a little while for her to shake her self doubts out of her head.
"Baik is a very nice name," Ume said timidly, ears still drawn slightly backwards. Not in fear, but simply because she was nervous in company and was not quite sure how to conduct herself. When he started speaking of her fur, though, she visibly winced. Sometimes, the insults she bore felt like she was being hit, so she came to tense up when she thought someone was going to say something mean. She'd learned how to sit and take it, of course, but that did not make it hurt any less.
"I know...." she said, drooping a bit, "it's not very nice. I was told my fur was stained because I was born bad... and it was a marker so no one would mistake otherwise..." Maybe once he understood that he would agree, and leave. She was hopeful for otherwise, though, and even looked up at him for half a second before dropping her gaze again.
"I hope it's not too bad... uhm. Are you... traveling through here?" Or maybe he lived nearby. Either way, she could offer to help him. She really missed being able to help someone, even if her mother had been pretty horrible to her.
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:10 pm
Baik smiled widely at her comment about his name. He wanted to remark how he enjoyed saying her name. It wasn’t harsh to say, very simple. It was refreshing. However…. It seemed she got the wrong idea. He listened with wide eyes, confused. She was told her fur was stained? Purple eyes narrowed, attempting to spot the literal stains. No.. all he saw was the black and orange. Splotches and splatters and absolutely magnificent. He quickly shook his head.
”I think it looks nice!” he blurted out too loudly before ears flattening in embarrassment. He nearly looked at the ground but Baik didn’t want to back down quite yet. ”I don’t know how you were born bad but I don’t think you look bad. And you don’t seem bad,” he gave a shy grin, before shaking out his mane. ”My... Well, the lions I grew up with were all pale colored. And my family didn’t have colors or markings like yours. It is stunning,” he almost whispered in awe before actually looking away in embarrassment, head ducking. His mouth was running away. But the fear was slithering away, replaced with nervousness. Nervousness he assumed he would have felt with a girl, he would assume. He didn’t bother clarifying that who he considers family were, in fact, rabbits.
Baik pondered over the question. ”Well. Yes and no,” he replied, glancing at her nervously. ”I, uh. Thought I came from this way. But I probably didn’t. I am trying to head east.” He was wrong. Baik had been heading west, mixing up his facts about the rising and setting of the sun. ”I’m in no hurry to get anywhere. Are… you travelling? Or need somewhere to be?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 10:18 am
Ume's ears drooped back when his voice rose, but she found herself confused that he was saying nice things while being loud. Usually, she was just yelled at and the words matched the tone: unpleasant to go along with being loud.
She blushed furiously under her fur but, for the first time in a long time, a small, pleased smile appeared on her face. She never got compliments, and spent so long thinking her fur was ugly and literally repulsive, she had never expected anyone to like the look of it before. It made her feel... warm.
Happy. That was new.
She barely knew the different between being content and being happy. She had been content with her life for so long, taking the bad for what it was and finding a way through it, she had almost forgotten what being happy was. Even for just a moment. That warmth, though, was really nice. She quickly realized how much she missed it.
"I don't have anywhere to be... the leopard I was caring for finally passed away, so I don't have much of a purpose any more. If you... would like a traveling companion. I'm uhm. I'm very good at hunting and fishing, and I can find water and healing plants and make myself useful. Unless you think it would be a burden, which I... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... have asked. I don't know what I'm thinking...."
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:56 am
Baik's eyes got wider and wider as Ume spoke, hope and joy swelling inside him. A traveling companion? He hoped he didn't make her second guess herself, what with his excitement that was surfacing and couldn't be capped off.
"I would love if you came with me!" Baik'hati rushed out, worried once she started backing up verbally. He stood, smile wide though eyes slightly sheepish. "Ume, I would love to travel the lands with you by my side” he pointed out, albeit more shyly now. ”If you don’t mind… we could leave when the sun has sunk a bit lower.” Baik settled back down, a tad bit closer to Ume than he had been before. Any uncertainty he had now wasn’t over the fact that she was a large feline, though not nearly as big as him.
Lithiasaur Idk if you wanted to end it here or respond back again. I can make another rp for them though. ' v '
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