[PRP] The Desert Heat [Ali x Ardavan]

[Ririka]

The sun was finally starting to set on the great expansion of sand that a certain sad little B’alam called his so called home. This place that he had awoken in had no right to be called a home or anything close to it. He could not even understand how anything, great creature, bugs, plant life, could survive in such a harsh environment.

The sun always sat high in the sky, beating down on anything that dared to venture out into the night. And while the night was cool and greatly appreciated, sometimes it was just too darn cold for the male’s liking. Not the mention rain was a rare, almost as rare as a good meal. Does the Grand Weaver know how many lizards it takes to fill one’s belly? A lot. And they were annoying to catch, especially in the peak of the desert heat.

Ali needed to find a better way to survive, no a better way to live. He didn’t just want to live his days finding ways to survive each day. He wanted to LIVE, to prosper.

There had to be an easy way to live. He didn’t want to work harder, just smarter…while still working less.

“I don’t know, what do you think little guy?”

He looked down at the squirming lizard under his paw as if the thing could give him an answer. Ali was hungry, but he was growing tired of eating the reptiles every morning, noon and night.

“You’d think the Weaver would be more merciful in a place like this, but NOOOOOOOOOO~ No. Maybe I am just looking in all the wrong places. Maybe he hates me. Am I missing something here, little guy?”

Thalion

 

[Thalion]

"Watch your tongue." A deeper, heavily accented voice rumbled from just behind the dark-haired B'alam. Eyes the color of the last sun's rays narrowed in grave disapproval as he made his approach. The desert was where he had been woven. His first breath had seared his lungs, his first sight was an endless sea of sand and an endless field of blue up above. No cloud broke the horizon and no tree broke the desert's landscape. He quickly learned that his survival would not be an easy one. Some, those with a darker outlook, would see such an arrival as a curse. He, however, turned to the fortunate. He had woken with company. He had another set of eyes, ears, and paws on his side. Those things meant there was also a second belly- but they came with a second wit. Two sets of claws, teeth, and wits meant all the difference in the world.

But... Ali had his flaws.

"The weaver saw fit to give us something to eat. It is not our place to complain about what form it takes." He turned his head and dragged a small patch of fur from his back and tossed it to the other male's paws. A climbing hare- a beast that looked something between a rabbit and an owl - had been caught away from its burrow. Ardavan had been a heartbeat too quick for it and had managed to score something of more substance than a little stringy reptile.

"Don't eat the fur."

Ririka

I'll format my post whenI get home!

 

[Ririka]

A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Ali's stomach as his sworn brother approached. It was as if his heart skipped a beat and then ever so slowly decided to sink and dissolve in his stomach for reasons he knew but ignored. It did not help that whenever the older B'alam was around he felt as if eyes were burning holes into the back of his skull. Such annoyance. Such disapproval. But what was Ali to do? Even he could admit his brother's thoughts about him weren't completely uncalled for, but there was a difference between knowing one's flaws and actually doing something about them. Denial was just so much easier and less painful for the younger male, which in itself is another fault he was left to conquer, one day.

Ali slowly rose to his paws and watched as the small reptile took the opportunity to scurry towards safety. He wished he could do the same, but alas life didn't work that way, sadly.

With a sigh, he approached Ardavan and the kill, poking the limp body with his clawed paw.

"Tch, you always seem to speak to me as if I am a cub or an idiot. Sometimes both. I know the actions I take and the words I speak. I don't need you reprimanding me about everything. I'm surprised you have nothing to say about the way I breathe or sleep."

Pressing a paw on the climbing hare's neck Ali started the task of cleaning the kill, even if it was annoying to saw the least. He could feel stray puffs of fur and feathers trying to travel up his nose and stick to his tongue. It did not take long before he had to step back with a mix of annoyance and disgust, head shaking and tongue sticking out.

"Pwus..," he took a moment to gag and wipe at his tongue, "What if I do have complaints about his Weaver forsaken place, huh? Are you really content with continuing out lives out here, brother? Can you really say you have no issues, or that you do not yearn for something more, something better?"

Thalion

 

[Thalion]

Ardavan watched the small lizard scurry off to find a safe, sheltered place out of the sun. The thing wasn't worth any B'alam's time. It was hardly a mouthful. What little meat it had on its body didn't compare to the tiny little bones, the rough scales, and the contents of its gut. Bugs. If Ali was that desperate for food he should have just...said something. He wasn't willing to learn the basics of hunting, where the larger game liked to graze, how best to hunt for them, or anything other than what was strictly necessary...but Ardavan wouldn't allow his younger "sibling" to starve himself to oblivion or choke on lizard bones.

The older B'alam took a position on a higher rock and turned his back to give Ali some privacy in his dining and to keep an eye on their exposed flanks. The desert wasn't exactly the most populated place but they were fairly new to the world and painfully ignorant of what dangerous could lurk beyond the dunes and high cliffs.

The older B'alam glanced over his shoulder, eyeing his sibling out of the corner of a single eye. "Perhaps if you did not behave as a cub, or an idiot, I would speak to you differently. It wouldn't kill you to join me on a hunt or two...but I suppose that would put a callous or two on those soft paws of yours."

...well he could comment on how Ali slept. Breathing far too heavily, shifting too often, snorting when he really found himself in the depths of slumber. A nearby enemy could easily find them and take the upper-hand. For the moment, he kept silent on that little nitpick.

He shook his head and looked back out to the sands. "Did it ever occur to you that there was a reason why we were placed here? Clearly, the Weaver believes we are more than capable of survival. If there are others, we should seek them out." he glanced over once more, sneering at the bits of fluff hanging from Ali's maw. "Do you think there is anything different? What if the world is nothing but endless sands? What if there are worse places?"

Ririka