[PRV] Sand where it doesn't go

[Andranis]

Ogon enjoyed his job, he really did. He liked helping lions, even if some of them still grumbled about his bloodline. He enjoyed being useful, and making sure nobody, you know... Died. It was part of why he'd been happy to become a medic, and why he maintained his course of action in spite of any grumblings. Nergui blood or not, he was good at what he did.

What he wasn't so good about, though, was all the sand getting where it usually didn't. The near-endless sandstorms were going to drive even him up the wall, and Singh had called him one of the calmer lions in the medical dens. For the upteenth time, he shook sand from his coat, grumbling about it, and peeked out to see if the sandstorm had died down yet. When, he wondered, would the weather calm down? And when would the search party get back?  

[oo Ded]

It wasn't enough to say that Bahudama disliked the current state of things. She actively loathed it. If sheer will and hatred were enough to manifest in reality, the soldier could probably move mountains by now.

It wasn't just the delayed return of the foray. It wasn't just the strange sightings around the pridal lands. It wasn't even just the sandstorm. It was all of it compiled together that made for an uncomfortable feeling of trapped helplessness that made her stomach turn and her skin crawl. Or maybe that last effect was just a result of sand having made its way everywhere. Everywhere.

The lioness grumbled, muttering obscenities beneath her breath as she paced about for the umpteenth time that day. She made her way towards Ogon not purposefully, but simply allowed her incessant need to move around take her to his side. "Is it done yet?"

Andranis

 

[Andranis]

Ogon let out a huff, watching Bahudama pace. Being one of the more sheltered parts of the central pridal lands, the medic dens had become a favored spot for a few lions to hide from the incessant sandstorms. "If only..." He looked back out, flopping onto his stomach. Usually a calculated and careful lion, Ogon's will to hold up to his usual self had all but been scoured away by the sand, as surely as several lions' skin under their fur had. White lions were tinging red from it... "The sand is becoming so bad, I begin to worry that the hunting parties won't be able to hunt enough. We will surely begin to starve..." His first thought from that went to, of all lions, Alamea, who was already a lean and wiry lioness. And brash... And rude... And.... He had to stop that path of thought. "I wonder how the foray party is doing out there..."  

[oo Ded]

A groaning breath left her maw. Most of Bahudama's mind had been preoccupied with the distress over being pent up herself. Over being a soldier trapped in a cave and rendered essentially useless. She hadn't spent much thought worrying about the obvious concern of food. Duh.

'We will surely begin to starve…' The phrase made her uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the hopeless certainty of it all. So she pushed the train of thought away and instead focused on the latter of the lion's words.

"I assume they're not stuck in an endless world of sandstorms so they have at least that going for them," she returned. Two of her sisters were out there in the foray. One was with the Bonelanders, now. Bahudama never found herself worrying about her sisters—they were the daughters of the regent and the first 'rogue-bred' Firekin and had overcome all the social adversities that their parentage had brought. They were certainly capable. Instead, she just found herself wondering what they were up to. What were they seeing? Had they achieved greatness yet, as Bahu was sure they would one day?

The train of thought brought her to giving a thoughtful look to the wing-marked lion. "Have you ever been out there? To the lands outside the pride?"
 

[Andranis]

"I envy them, then." He shifted, folding his paws up under his mane, watching the sand beyond the entryway of the cave swirl and dance. He was pleased that, at least, Alamea hadn't gone out with the foray, nor had either of her parents nor her uncle. Which really was a... Thought... The only family he really had, that he knew of, were his littermates and the majority of his own children. One was out there, far from the desert...

What was Led up to, his little blue ball of flame? What was her mother up to?

His attention turned to the lioness, regarding her and her question. "I have not... But my parents have." He looked back to the sand swirling outside, "They were born out there, beyond the borders..." He didn't say the part everybody his age and older knew, and those younger had heard in whispers - That his father, Miah, was Nergui.  

[oo Ded]

"Hmmh," she replied, a distant acknowledgement of his words as she continued to think. Bahudama had heard the whispers of the wing-marked lion's parentage. She found that she couldn't care less about who the family's ancestor might have been or to whom he might have been allied. Being the recipient of some more… 'traditionally'-minded lions' distasteful looks and side-comments had given her that, at least. And her father had been an ally to the Firekin. She couldn't imagine what snippy words would have been given to someone of Nergui blood.

"I wonder what it's like," she mused quietly, squinting out into the sands. Not that she was envious of those that had volunteered to go. There were plenty of ways to prove herself here at home. Though, with how idle things were around here, maybe her sisters had made the right decision…  

[Andranis]

Watching the sand for a bit, Ogon, too, wondered what it was like out there. He never had had a desire to go beyond the border, or even NEAR it, in his life before. Now, though...

Walls of blowing sand were NOT conducive to wanting to stay home, as it were.

He sighed, stretching his legs and whole body out, looking much more like a cub. "I think that surely... Surely... We will probably die of boredom long before we starve or die of thirst, because..." He flopped onto his side, then rolled onto his back. More sand lodged into his mane. "Even those of us who prefer to remain in here, working on curing what ails lions, are being driven stir-crazy." He covered his face with both of his paws, pulling the skin of his face downward.  

[oo Ded]

"No kidding," Bahudama replied, catching herself walking another pacing path. She took her time with each of the steps, thinking about the flexing of her muscles and letting her claws scrape lines into the sandy ground. All this sitting around, how many of them would get rusty with their skills? Sure, there was some room to train here and there, but you could only do so much confined to a shelter. And with all the strangeness happening around the pride, sandstorms aside, what if their skills might become… needed?

This led to her next thought. It had been one she had tried not to dwell on for too long—focusing on things that one couldn't change, after all, seemed like a quick path to madness—but the mix of frustration and boredom seemed to pull it out of her.

"…Why do you think this is happening?" she murmured with a low voice, as if the words were ones she wasn't allowed to speak. Different lions had their different ideas. It just… none of it made any sense.
 

[Andranis]

Idly, Ogon watched Bahu's pacing, frowning, then closed his eyes. Maybe he could... Nap away the sandstorm...

The notion was interrupted by her question, making his eyes pop back open. He blinked for a moment, staring upside-down at the sand outside, then leaned his upper body up a bit, watching the lioness. "Well, if that one family is to be believed... Perhaps the old goddess the pride used to worship is mad." What was her name, though...? Ogon, ever the product of the pride's changed ways from what some others believed yet, didn't personally believe in any gods. Even the one hunting party's stories of a giant shark(What even was that?) out in the desert, attacked by a giant hawk, had done little to sway him. "Angry for how the pride has changed, I think... Though which part from the old ways, I don't know, since I don't fully understand the old ways..." He'd have to actively ask one of the older lions from the pride's earlier days to find out.  

[oo Ded]

Bahudama's nose wrinkled. She made no effort to suppress the scoff that escaped her as a response to Ogon's words. "Old ways, huh?" she repeated. "Sounds like some excuse made up by someone who's butthurt about the direction that progress takes." The lioness muttered the words but didn't speak in a tone that would imply that she was hiding or ashamed of the belief, regardless of who might be in earshot. Her mother was a source of some of that progress. She and her sisters were a result of some of that process.

Still, it wasn't like she had any better reasoning. All of the ideas that were thrown out there seemed pretty far-fetched, anyway. And besides, it's not like she really knew that much about all of said 'old ways,' besides some of the more recent development.

Then again, Bahu wasn't one to mull over the details beyond the fact that she felt very strongly on the matter.
 

[Andranis]

Shrugging, Ogon rolled back over and stood up, shaking away the sand. "Well, some of the old ways are best left in the past... So if there is an angry goddess out there, she can tantrum all she likes." He looked at the lioness, just a touch of mirth in his eyes. "If all the old ways remained as they were, you and I would not be here, nor would a fair chunk of the pride, and they would have died out from incredible inbreeding." He looked, then, to a couple of the other medics, sleeping away in the back. One was Singh, the sand doing nothing kind for his old bones, another being one of his sons. "I think they may have the better idea right now... There's nothing else to do but try to sleep the sandstorm away."  

[oo Ded]

Bahudama watched him as he spoke, acknowledging his words with a simple nod. There wasn't more to be said. She agreed whole-heartedly. The lioness followed his gaze towards the back of the sanctuary and sighed.

"You're probably right," she relented, looking from the sleeping lions to the blowing winds outside. "It's not like there's anything else to do."

The soldier looked to the medic, giving him a wry smile. "Go rest somewhere comfortable and maybe sandless. With all that's going on it seems like your talents might be more needed than mine in the immediate future." Red eyes turned out towards the whirling wall of sand. "I'm happy to keep an eye out… just in case."