the fog of illusion

11-18-2020, 05:36 PM - Word count:

Kyarri,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Amanda

@Hecuba

The child grew bashful beneath the compliment to her name. A quick smile heated her cheeks as the orphan averted her gaze from the kind woman. It was the only thing she felt she still had from her mother. Such a fleeting memory the warrior would likely become soon enough, but her name was something Kyarri would forever cherish. "Thanks," the dusty girl offered sheepishly before seeming to recall her manners. Turning her gaze more fully onto Hecuba, the child sought to correct herself. "Uh, I mean, Thank you," Kya spoke quickly this time, though with a more formal tone and nod. So impressionable at this age, it was as if the cub could not shake the teachings from the old queen who had tried so persistently to mold the orphan into the perfect little princess she was never destined to be. Such a contradiction to seek while always keeping that title just out of reach for the youth, but appearances and manners were important to those of her old pride. Maybe it was for the best, then, that the pride was no more.

Kya let herself get distracted by a few last scraps of the fish before the ashen woman began speaking again. Honeyed eyes looked up in attention. So this lady had a husband and lived on a beach? Interesting. And it would probably even more interesting if she knew what a beach was. With a tilt of her head, confusion was again on the child's face. "Um, I don't think so.... what's an ocean?" How could she know if she'd seen one before if she didn't know what it was? Her short life had been spent entirely land-locked with probably only a lake being the largest body of water she had ever seen. Time to blow the kid's mind.

Table and Reference by Amanda | Lion Base by Vivial | Background from unsplash

Hecuba · 11-20-2020, 12:52 AM - Word count:

Hecuba,

Lioness of Junior Member

Played by

The flustered girl seemed out of sorts, didn’t she? No sooner had she expressed her gratitude did she correct herself and.. express.. Gratitude? There was the obvious difference in the terminology, of course, but nothing Hecuba would have considered worthy redoing. “Thanks was just fine, Kyarri. You don’t need to be quite so formal, it’s just little old me.” Not that it was the worst thing on the planet for her to have some manners, it was just.. Different. Different because Hydra and Cassandra had been so venomous and full of anger, whereas Kyarri seemed downright docile. Hecuba was eager to interact more with the cub, almost scientifically studying to prove or disprove her hypothesis that it was merely Tollaire children that were raging asshats.

So far, she was going with yes.

“The ocean is a large body of water in constant motion. It washes up on the shore in waves and retreats back into the sea. There’s a lot of fascinating creatures out there, from what I can tell, and you can’t see the other side of it.” Truth be told, the ocean was a place of nightmares. The fact it spread for hundreds of miles, fathomless depths and water so rough it could easily drown a lion -- not to mention the beasts that lurked within. Hecuba was oblivious to most of these, thankfully, and lived her life merrily on the edge of the abyss. “I like to swim in it, myself. It’s just.. very peaceful, you know?”

Of course she didn’t. She was a child.

image by peter mitchell | art by irish

@Kyarri