[PRP] So far that we can't get back

[Pandorus Sphinx]

"What my dad doesn't know won't hurt me." He had to tell himself that multiple times in order to muster up the courage to make his way to the border of the Outlands.

Truth be told he had never left the pride's territory, he was born here and he would die here... but wonderlust had taken over and all he wanted was to explore the unknown, taste the taboos, experience the rush of sneaking out and disobeying his father's others. Something about it was too exciting to deny. So he didn't. Taj tasted the air and smirked, stepping into new lands for the first time. He had heard stories of the pridelands before, so many stories his head was almost filled to the brim with them, but this would be his first time acutally seeing them with his own eyes. Feeling them with his own paws. He was equal parts excited and afraid, but he would dare tell anyone this.

He was lucky, he didn't inherit his father's red pelt, he didn't look like an Outlander. Fitting in would be easy, right?

He took in a deep sigh and wandered deeper into the Pridelands, sticking closely to the border just in case he needed to bail quickly. He was on high alert, overly so.  

[Krysin]

"You've got to be kidding me..." the young golden lioness mumbled underneath her breath as she paced the borders of the Pridelands. She wasn't supposed to be out this far, and especially not by herself. A murder had recently happened right on these very borders, and a lioness was dead while another was missing. At one time, she had done everything within her power to stop her rambunctious siblings from venturing out this far.

Yet, here she was, breaking that very rule she had set for them. What a terrible example she set for the rest of her family - her mother relied on her to be the responsible daughter. Belkane had to keep her head on straight and her family on track. Her mother was too busy with Council business, and there were simply too many of her siblings for her father to handle on his own.

"Msako!" she called out, red eyes scanning the horizon for her pale sister. Msako had been missing since yesterday, and Belkane was loathe to admit that she was the likely cause of Msako's rebelliousness. The two sisters had never got along well.

Msako was a diva, a self-righteous pompous brat of a sister! The missing sister had always been small and lean, and compared to the visage of her sister she seemed sickly. Belkane possessed all the beauty and vitality the Pridelands had to offer. She was tall and well-built, larger with a more vibrant coat. With age she'd be a strong lioness, her soft curves and fat would wither away and be replaced by muscle.

But that would only come with time - right now she was a young, panicked lioness looking for a sister who wanted nothing to do with her. "This isn't funny, Msako!" she yelled, and when she got no answer she growled with frustration and turned around, intent on heading back home.

She only stopped in her tracks because she noticed an unfamiliar male with a soft brown coat. Belkane should have expressed caution, but there was none as she strode up to the male. "Hello. Can I ask you something?" At least she remembered her manners and greeted the male.

Pandorus Shinx

 

[Pandorus Sphinx]

“Excuse me?” He glanced her up and down, his eyes narrowing on her soft features. This would be his first interaction with someone outside of his own family, so he smile and did the best he could to pretend as if he belonged here.

‘Oh yeah- what can I do for you?” He was anxious and nervous and he could feel his stomach dropping she moved closer. He wasn’t really sure what to do, what if she knew he didn’t belong here? What if she knew he was in Outlander? Was he going to have to kill her? He felt his chest flutter at the thought. He couldn’t do that.

.... could he?

“Are you lost?” His tone was probably more timid than it should’ve been... but to be fair, he was really nervous.  

[Krysin]

His demeanor caught her off guard, and subconsciously she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why would I be lost?" She knew her corner of the Pridelands well, even if she was out further than she liked to be. The male seemed nervous, but she couldn't comprehend why. Even though a Pridelander had been murdered, she still naturally assumed anyone in the Pridelands was from them. To her credit, the pride was very large and it was so hard to keep track of even her own family.

"I am not, but I think my sister is. I was hoping you had seen her?" Msako was a bit boy crazy, and if she had disappeared it was probably to fling herself at the first handsome male she wasn't related to. It had been Msako's biggest gripe about her home pride - they were damn near related to everyone within it.

Belkane hadn't been hit by the same bug that put her sister's hormones into overdrive. Rather, she was serious and determined when addressing Taj. "Her name is Msako. She is smaller, leaner than me with a pale pelt. Her eyes are red with a yellow sclera. Uh, she is very forward, so if you have seen her you will know it."

Pandorus Sphinx

 

[Pandorus Sphinx]

She was so well spoken and lovely that he felt his heart sink even further into the depths of his chest. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of her overall demeanor, he just knew she was really pretty and that made his anxiety little more intense.

“I’m sorry to say I haven’t seen her. Honestly you’re the first new face I’ve seen in a long time.” Crap! Why did he have to say that? Was he trying to blow his own cover? This is a terrible idea, he was hopeless. His father would denounce him for sure. s**t.

“Anyway- if I see her I’ll make sure to let you know.” He pulled away from her slightly, inching him self a little further away. He felt so completely embarrassed right now... it is just the worst feeling. Some tough guy. He didn’t even offer his name. What an a*****e. His red eyes lowered to the ground as he did his best to remove himself from the conversation. He was so paranoid about being figured out that he was basically giving himself away.  

[Krysin]

"I... am?" What an unusual thing to say. Was he some sort of recluse? It would certainly explain his behavior around her, but it was hard for her to believe that someone from the Pridelands would not be exposed to plenty of new faces. For a moment, the mystery entirely distracted her from the truth that her sister had disappeared.

He inched back, and she stepped boldly forward to counter him. Like a hound that had picked up a scent she closed in on him, as if to uncover what secrets he had buried. "You know," she started, and paced around him almost methodically. She was still a growing lioness, and not larger than him yet, but she carried herself with confidence and just a fair bit of youthful swagger. "There was a murder on these borders not too long ago. A Pridelander lioness was killed, and her daughter is missing. It's why I'm worried that my sister is out here alone."

At least she presumed she was alone - it was too scandalous to think otherwise. "It's not safe to be by yourself out here..." She didn't think he was the murderer, but he was certainly up to something!

Belkane was determined to find out what it was.  

[Pandorus Sphinx]

What the hell was she even doing? Was she trying to make him uncomfortable? He could feel the fur on the back of his neck bristle as she moved closer, he wrinkled his nose and frowned at her as if it to let her know he was very displeased by her actions. He was still her elder right? Why did he feel so small in comparison? She was cute but intimidating. Just his luck.

“Look, I don’t know anything, okay? I don’t know anything about any murders and I don’t know anything about your sister and I sure as s**t don’t care about some big bad monster murderer that doesn’t even affect me.” Of course it didn’t, this wasn’t his home after all.

Okay, so maybe he was a little annoyed it now, but he felt like he had every right to be. She was getting pretty aggressive with him so he flexed back.

“I’ll be plenty safe trust me. Maybe it’s you who should be afraid of being alone.”

That wasn’t a direct threat but that might’ve come off the wrong way. He realized this only after the fact.  

[Krysin]

The more she pressured him the more he seemed to talk, so in some way her tactic worked. In most ways, it did not. He had little information to provide her, and she still sensed that he was hiding something from her. Dissatisfied with the turn of events, her tail twitched behind her as she faced him. She had to lift her chin to lock her sight with his, which for a moment made her feel more small than she'd care to admit.

"It should," she told him firmly. "It should very well affect you! Someone died wrongly in this area, and the Council won't tell us who did it. I'm not even sure they know." The last bit was grumbled, a petulant remark of a daughter frustrated that her mother would tell her nothing but 'stay away from the borders'.

This male was ridiculous! She couldn't understand why her sister was so obsessed with males. Belkane in many ways was more mature than her sister, but in this one area she was woefully behind. "Oh," she answered, her tone mocking, "and who's going to hurt me out here? You?" Belkane didn't perceive it as a threat, but rather a challenge.

She was not afraid of him! She was the strongest in her family (and usually among the most level-headed, but that quality seemed to escape from her at that moment).  

[Pandorus Sphinx]

“You’re really starting to annoy me.” He muttered under his breath, tilting his head to the side as he watched her struggle to meet his gaze. He had almost forgotten for a moment that he was a spy in this territory, speaking to her like this. He shuffled his paws together and moved to self closer to her this time, his larger frame towering over her own as he smirked. Atleast found his confidence again, even if only for a moment.

“If I wanted to hurt you, you would be hurt. If I wanted to make you bleed, you will be bleeding. If I wanted you dead...” He paused for a moment and licked his upper lip, the beauty marks under his right eye pulled up to meet his narrow gaze. His tone was extremely condescending even though a part of him knew he needed to stop at his last sentence in fear of actually scaring her. It wasn’t like he wanted to hurt her but if she was going to call his bluff he had to put on a bit of a show. For a split second his anger escaped him.

He was a warrior after all. Sure, being around a pretty girl made his heart feel crazy but deep down inside he knew he was a killer. Maybe not a murderer but he a killer none the less. Where he came from, who he was, he knew it it down. His eyes escaped her own as he sighed and glanced away. He didn’t want to actually fight her. He just wanted to taste freedom for himself.

“Look I’m sorry. I don’t wanna fight with you.” He spoke in a softer tone, he felt a little defeated.  

[Krysin]

His words, she felt, were not a game. Belkane's confidence dwindled quickly. Her ears pressed flat against the back of her head, revealing that in that moment he intimidated her. If her fur was not so sleek and smooth it would have stood at the back of her neck. To her credit, she did not back away. If he wanted to hurt her, running would do her no good.

The standoff was short, but intense. It got her blood pumping and her heart pounding so hard in her chest that she could not only feel it but hear it too. There was that rush of adrenaline, but she held fast through it. Her paws were planted firmly to the ground, and her gaze never wavered from his even as anxiety played at the end of her thoughts.

Finally, he seemed to back down, but Belkane was too nervous to breathe a sigh of relief. Flustered, she finally broke her gaze from his and stared away over the bountiful Pridelands. "Okay, I don't really want to fight either." Belkane admitted with a soft, small voice. It did not suit her. "We're Pridelanders, right? We're not supposed to instigate one another," she offered a tentative truce. The laugh that followed was nervous, uncertain. She couldn't tell still if he had been serious or if he had been bluffing.

It had been very convincing if he was bluffing. "I just want to find my sister - we fight a lot but never like this. She's usually home within a couple of hours, whining for someone to take care of her."  

[Pandorus Sphinx]

"Maybe she needed some space? I know personally what that can feel like, crawling out of your own skin." He offered some offhand advice as he threw himself back into her personal struggle and quest. He felt a little guilty snapping at he like he did.

"How long has she been missing for?" He smiled a little, trying to give her a friendly face to confide in. He didn't know what it felt like to lose a sibling, even if for a short while but he had lost his mother a year ago. Even though it wasn't because she ran away he still tried to relate that feeling of dread with what she could have been feeling. It was an awful feeling.

"Look, let me help you look for her for a while, that is, if you want." He didn't want to make her feel small, nor was he looking to step on her toes or personal space. It was a friendly offer to help cut the tension from before.

"I'm Taj, by the way..."  

[Krysin]

"...Maybe," Belkane answered dubiously. Her sister thrived on attention, just not the attention that Belkane gave her. The golden adolescent was not the type to cater to her sister's games. Msako would never get what she wanted out of Belkane, because Belkane believed that her sister would eventually grow out of the need to be in the spotlight.

"She's been gone for a little over a day. It's very unlike her." She had even checked at her grandparents' den to see if her sister had wandered that way. But, now that her grandparents had new cubs of their own, Msako didn't get the same amount of attention that she had used to receive. "She likes to be doted on and adored, so she's got to be somewhere that there are lots of other lions at."

His offer felt genuine, and despite the tense moment between them earlier she felt herself inclined to trust him. She smiled, an expression of relief washing over her face. She hadn't wanted to worry her parents with Msako's disappearance, and had been looking for her sister on her own. Any help would be greatly appreciated. "I would like that, actually," she agreed amicably. "Oh, right. Sorry, bad manners. I'm Belkane, it's nice to meet you, Taj."  

[Pandorus Sphinx]

“I don’t have to be home for a while yet, so lets see how much we can cover together. She couldn’t have gone far, and I know for a fact she hasn’t trailed off to the Outlands...” He stopped for a moment wide eyed. Well, he couldn’t keep the lie up for long, it really wasn’t in him to lie so much. He felt rather torn about keeping himself so hidden from her, especially now that he was offering true help.

“look, I may as well say this and get it out of the way...” His tone had changed to something softer and more firm, his body stood still. He felt his heart sink back down into this throat.

“I’m not from here, okay? So, just....” What else could he say without giving himself away? What if she turned on him and told someone? All he wanted to do was help....  

[Krysin]

Her red eyes landed back on Taj warily, the apprehension she felt over his words clear in the posture of her body. She was young, and perhaps a little foolish, but she had a good head on her shoulders. Belkane could be empathetic, and she felt like he had been hiding something from her that he was finally ready to tell her.

Considering the dangers at their borders, and even the display of anger he had shown earlier, Belkane should have been more worried. But, she didn't sense that he meant her any harm now. If he had, he wouldn't have confessed something like that to her. She shook her head, as if to toss away any anxiety she felt over the revelation. "Well, okay then." She turned her back to him, as if to say that right now she trusted him in her blind spot.

"We better start looking before it gets too dark out. If I'm lucky Msako will make her way back home before mother gets back from her Council meeting." Belkane looked back over her shoulder, offering Taj a brief and reassuring smile.  

[Pandorus Sphinx]

Taj felt much better being honest, the weight of that lie was really starting to mess up his confidence. He smiled a little at her simple response and nodded in return. Maybe today was going to be a good day after all.

"...."

His ears lowered at her talk about official councils. What had he stumbled upon? Who was she? His eyes quickly went from relaxed back to concerned as he glared at her for a moment before mustering up the courage to speak again.

"What council?"

His question was an honest one. He had no idea what she was going on about, but something inside him felt a little on edge. What would his father or brother say about this? He was the weak one, after all. The coward. he stood still frozen in his own tracks. What was he going to do?