[PRP] Chasing birds (Irmak/Tilifika)

[Andranis]

Living in a desert, there were things Irmak had not really seen. They were JUST close enough to the western sea to get the odd gull, but nothing like this. She stared from the trees at the birds, whole body seeming to vibrate. Growing up in the pridal environment she had, cubhood was often not something lions experienced. They were trained almost from the get-go how to fight, encouraged to play at fighting in their games instead of typical cub games like tag or hide and seek. The idea of chasing things for the fun of it had been strange to her as a result, until she had witnessed others doing it.

With a final glance at the trees, worried she might look stupid, Irmak took off across the sand. Her muscles bunched and stretched as she charged, taking a breath and roaring at the various sea birds covering the beach. They squaked in indignation, taking off as she cut a path through them, only to land again behind her. It didn't matter, though. The lioness only turned and charged again, finding a cubbish glee in the activity.  

[Tisiphone]

The ocean had healed something in her she hadn't really recognized was broken, she felt at home here and safe. She'd never felt safe from people leaving, never felt like it was okay to let loose and be okay. Here she could search for shells, be helpful when needed, and relax.

A part of relaxing for her was walking through the trees and onto the sand, she found the sand to be a good omen of sorts. It made her feel happy and calm even when she wanted to tense and run.

Just before stepping onto the beach she heard a roar and it caused her to pause. What in the world was that? Cautiously she peered out at the lioness as she chased...birds?

Tilifika watched intently and wondered why the adult was chasing birds. The lioness looked like she was enjoying it as much as a cub and that made Tili burst into full belly laughter before she could stop herself.  

[Andranis]

As she slowed to make another round at the birds, Irmak stopped, ears shifting. She looked to the trees, eyes growing wide, before she hunkered down. The birds did little to hide her, even when a few landed on her back. She'd been spotted and watched, and now she was being laughed at! With a shake of her body to rid herself of sea birds, she began slinking back to the trees. What if this lioness, who was laughing at her, told others? Tough little Irmak, chasing after birds, the mighty warrior acting like a CUB. She was so embarrassed, and not paying attention as she wound around trees, until she managed to run INTO a tree near the other lioness. "OW!"  

[Tisiphone]

Tili stopped laughing when the other lioness started toward her and she back pedaled quickly as the brown lioness collided with a tree.

"Oh! Are you alright?" Tili moved awkwardly to the lioness' side. "I didn't mean to laugh at you, it was just such a different sight!" She planted her feet firmly and looked down at the stranger.

"Were the birds trespassing? Do we need to scare them away for some reason? I'm new here and don't know if that's a custom or not." although she thought perhaps Aten would mention such a custom, perhaps he'd over looked telling her.  

[Andranis]

Rubbing her head, Irmak grimaced. "Yeah, I'm okay..." She sat down, looking away with a pink tinge to her face. "I was, um... Just chasing them... To chase them." There was no real purpose to chasing the birds, only the want to do it. "I know, it looks stupid, a grown adult chasing birds like a cub!" But it had felt good, had been FUN. She finally glanced at the other lioness, frowning. "Are you new? I still can't tell who's new and who's old around here. I'm Irmak bint Melek."  

[Tisiphone]

Andranis

"It doesn't look stupid," Tili tried to console her, although it had looked pretty silly, it also looked like a lot of fun. She didn't have a cubhood where chasing after strange birds would have been acceptable.

"Since moving here I've done some very silly things, the other day I had my head underwater looking for seashells, that's something I could never do in my old life!"

She sat down near Irmak Bint Melek and nodded, "I am Tilifika. I like it when other call me Tili. It's nice to meet you. Yes, I'm new, a seer told me to look for the sand so I did, and I landed here. I started looking in the deserts, but nothing there felt right, continued my search and the sand of the ocean led me home." She often kept out the part that she was the seer who saw the vision.  

[Andranis]

Irmak inclined her head. "You can call me just Irmak. Lions back where I'm from didn't usually call each other by their FULL names." Her maw twitched into a slight smile. "Essentially it means Irmak, daughter of Melek, much the same as my mother was Melek bint Nasreen - Melek, daughter of Nasreen." It was a way to distinguish each other, but still easily trace family.

"I suppose we're not much different, then. I only knew fighting games as a cub, since that's what we did in the Qyryheshti." She nodded off in a random direction. "there's an older lioness, with three band-stripes across her hind legs, Umut bint Canan. She was Burkuteshti, they grew up pretty much the same, same culture... Now that I look back, I think we were really the same pride, just at war with ITSELF over some petty reason." Irmak became silent for a moment, thinking back on the history of the prides. Really, if they'd gotten along, life would have been much easier for everybody, and maybe the pride wouldn't have been decimated by plague.

Tisiphone

 

[Tisiphone]

"Irmak it is," Tili said with a cheerful note in her tone. See, she was meeting other pride members already, she'd met Yawo and that was nice. Now Irmak, everyone here had a story or a history. It seemed as she met people others were all called to the sea as well.

Tili wasn't going to pretend she understood most of the words Irmak spoke, but she listened because the other lioness wanted to tell her story. It seemed there was another lioness, Umut bint Canan, wow that's a name too! Who was from a similar pride or the same one at civil war.

"I have always been a rogue, I have family in the Pride Lands, and in some other lands as well that I have not met, but truly they are by blood and not necessarily my family." A twinge of sadness spread across her face with that statement.

"Is everyone called to the sea some day?" The wing marked lioness mused allowed.  

[Andranis]

"Suppose they are." Irmak looked back at the beach, the birds covering it. After a moment, she tilted her head, looking at Tili. "Family's what you make it, I guess. Same as home." She looked back to the birds, one ear twitching. Finally, she looked back to Tili. "So, want to go chase birds? Nothing else to do at the moment."

Tisiphone

 

[Tisiphone]

A wry smile spread across Tili's face and she stood ready for action. She could always collect seashells another day.

"I'd love too...as long as we don't have to eat them!" She laughed and ran toward the beach and the weird gulls. The thought that another pride member might come along never crossed her mind, she wanted to play, something she hadn't had before, with a new friend, someone else who had found the sand along side the sea.

Fin?