HPU: Exotic Acres

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:26 am

"Delilah!"

Mario jumps from Jake paws into Delilah's arms. He nuzzles her before climbing back onto her head.

"I'm so sorry! Forgive me?"

"I do not know..."

"Delilah!"

The dhole giggled and grabbed him off her head and nuzzles him herself.

"Of course. You're my brother."

Mario sighs into the soft fur of her head when he's put back where he belongs.
----
Delilah is trying not to laugh at the roo brothers arguing. Mario was chuckling a little.

Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:21 pm

after watching the two roos argue for a while, Met stepped in. "How about we just say you're both Joeys?" Met asked jokingly.
"that sounds Jake," Maria added, dipping into some older slang for a pun.
(OOC: for those unfamiliar with slang from the 20's)

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:11 am

"erm...." Storm was really confused now , not knowing what to say anymore from the roos arguing , and even more confused when Maria stepped in with her pun

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:04 am

"But we're not both Joey!" the roos chorus.
"Shall we put them out of their misery?"
"I think we should put them out of their misery."
"Or should we have some more fun first?"
"Fun is good. I like fun." The pair grin at each other.
"Eh, I like mercy too though."
"Mercy is also good."
"Let's tell 'em." The roos flip their tags around to show their names.
"He's Jake."
"And he's Joey."
"So what kind of stories were you telling?"
"Stories are fun. Our mob tells stories too."

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:47 am

"Merely stories of how some animals came to be!"

Mario hopped onto her muzzle.

"Did you tell the one about the Fox?"
"Yes."
"Tiger?"
"Mhm."
"Ok, what about the one about how the about how the kangaroo learned to jump so high?"
"Uh, sure. I suppose that one is ok."

Delilah took the meditating-like form of a Charabuya story teller. She began to tell the story, Mario hopping down and notice the way the light from the pocket of lava made her shine so strangely perfectly.

"She seems to be oblivious to the fact I made her tell the kangaroo story to attract Jake's attention. I am oblivious to the fact I am taking to myself."

Mario shook his head and hopped up on Jake's shoulder. He got behind his head and looked at Delilah, finding the angle that made her appear glowing.

Mario began to move Jake's head, stopping when he was at the correct angle.

"Hey, Jake. Take a look at Delilah without moving your head from the position I just put it in. "

"Now that I said something, I have to restore my side of the bound," Mario thought, looking at his pet/clan-sister.

hypernovatic · Post by **hypernovatic** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:04 pm

Namine was sitting down, fiddling with her tag. "I'd love to hear some stories." she said.

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:28 am

Storm quietly listened to the story , still a little bit confused with all the commotions that just happened , the lioness wanted to ask , but.....perhaps later , someone else was talking after all

Hotep the psychic · Post by **Hotep the psychic** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:06 am

Cooper and bandit both sat together, they both had gone on to cover themselves in dirt and mark them selves like indians, sticks set behind there heads were like feathers held by their own collars. The two had emotionless and smug looks as if they both didnt like what they saw. "we too hear stories and share name of proud warrior people. And hold item which shares writing of soul word on metal." Cooper said in a deep tone. He kept his face flat as he looked at maria.

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:03 am

Distracted by Mario, the roos aren't paying the slightest bit of attention to Delilah's story.
"Hey, wha-?" Jake blurts in surprise as his head is pulled around.
"Oh. She looks like she's on fire. If we saw a glow like that on the hill at home we'd high-tail it in the opposite direction. That always meant trouble."
"Hey, let me see!" Joey jostles for a place.
"Hey, don't push!"
"I'll push if I wanna! You'd do the same! Don't hog the view!"
"I wouldn't and I'm not!"
"What were you looking at? I don't see it."
"You're not in the right spot."
"Then move."
"You move! I'm not done looking. I was gonna tell Mario about the bushfire a few summers back."
"But I wanna see! And that story's boring. You tell it to everyone!"
"Yeah, well, not everyone's heard it yet." Joey just rolls his eyes at that.
"So can I see? Can I, can I, can I?"
"Urgh, fine. Show him, Mario." Jake hops sideways out of the way, narrowly avoiding whacking his head on the roof.

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:31 am

Mario facepaws at his failed attempt and sighs as he hops from Jake's shoulder to Joey's. He positions his head so he can see Delilah glow. Mario watches Delilah laugh from what Bandit and Cooper did, smiling to see his sister happy. He hopped from Jake's shoulder to the ground. He began hopping away, Delilah's ear picking up on the little "pwip" sound he made when he jumped.

"Āpa kahām̐ jā rahē hō?" (Where are you going?)
"Maiṁ vāpasa ā'ūṅgā." (I'll be back.)
"Hīka hai, basa surakṣita." (Alright, just be safe.)
"Maiṁ lūṅgā, alavidā!" (I will, bye!)

And with that, Mario hopped off. Delilah sighed and shook her, pulling off all four of her bracelets and other accessories to polish them. She left and came back with a few dew-covered leaves, sitting down and began to polish them.

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 6:49 am

"That's some nice looking accessories" Storm said , trying to start a conversation "Where did you get those ?"

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 6:56 am

"Thank you. They came with age. First, one gets bronze. Then, silver. Then finally, gold! I shall be leaving soon to go with Mario to get his golden ones, then the year after that I shall receive mine."

Delilah smiles at Storm, putting her earring back in.

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 7:35 am

The roos sniff at the jewellery as Delilah polishes and adjusts it.
"Do the humans make you wear those?"
"That's a lot of tags... They must get really annoying after a while." To the macropods, the idea of body adornments is as foreign as the idea of dating.
"Where did the big mouse thingy go?"
"Mario? Good question. Where did he get to? He was here a moment ago."

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:16 am

Delilah can't help but laugh at what they called Mario.

"No, it's quite alright. The humans don't make me wear them. As a traveler, it offers a bit of culture of my land. India is a beautiful place."

She sighs as she thinks of the Himalayas.

"And Mario, the degu, went off to do something. He should be back soon. Now, how we met is a different story."
-------
Mario looked up from his gathering.

"Someone speaks about me."

hypernovatic · Post by **hypernovatic** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:37 am

"Well, how did you two meet?" Namine asked.

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:13 pm

"When I was a pup, I had gone exploring..."

*Flashback*

"I was messing with everything I saw."

Lil' Delilah was playing with bugs and some rocks.

"I was about to catch a fish for lunch, when I heard a scream."

Lil' Delilah has her paw in the pond, but yanks it out and looks around.

"I ran to the scream, finding a little degu in a pack of Bengal Tigers."

The degu laughed nervously. He gulped a bit and looked around.

"Gentlemen, please. We can work this out, can we not?"

"I dunno, can we?"

"We can."

"Yeah, we can just split you in two."

"50, 50!"

The two laughed while the little degu gulped. He backed up while the tigers advanced.

"I reacted immediately."

A rock hit them in the heads. They yelped and turned around to see Lil' Delilah. She threw a rock in her hand.

"You two may not be native to this land, but we have a few rules!"

Lil' Delilah jumped at the big cats.

*End Flashback*

"All I can say is, tigers don't bend that way!"

Delilah smiled a little, before continuing.

"I saved Mario and, by law and friendship, we were bound, but there are two sides to every binding."

"Of which I'll tell my side! And that is not what happened!"

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:39 am

"oh?" Storm giggled "So what really happened ?"

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:20 am

"But... If the humans aren't making you wear them..."
"Then what are they for?" The two roos listen to Delilah's story with some incredulity. Having seen some tigers in their short tenure at the zoo the roos are inclined to doubt anyone could beat them in a fight. They're not about to say that though. They do have some tact, after all.
"So... Does how you two met have any relation to the shiny things?" Clearly, Joey has a one-track mind.
"Oh, let Mario tell his story. I'm enjoying this."
"Oh, he's back. What did they say he was?"
"Goo-something, I think..." Jake makes a few goo-noies, trying to remember the word.
"You sound like a baby!"
"Wha- hey! You did that on purpose!" Joey just grins and pokes his tongue out at his brother.

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:50 am

Mario hopped into Delilah's offered paw. He hops off onto her head, ruffling her hair for a second.

"First off, I'm a degu, Joey and Jake. Second, Delilah, that's not the sorry and you know it!"

The dhole was snickering at the roo brothers when get own brother said something. She rolled her eyes with a smile.

"I know, brother. You can tell your side then I'll tell my side the right way, honest."

Mario looked at her one more time before clearing his throat.

*Flashback*

"When I was little, I had gone out to look for grapes."

Lil' Mario is hopping along, looking everywhere.

"When I finally found them, I began to climb the tree when something grabbed my tail."

Lil' Mario spots the grapes and begins to climb, but squeaks when a paw grabs his tail.

"It turned out to be two tigers."

"Look, lunch!"

They laughed, causing the degu to laugh nervously. His eyes darted around.

"Gentleman, please. We can work this out, can we not?"

"I dunno, can we?"

"We can."

"Yeah, we can just split you in two."

"50, 50!"

The two laughed, dropping the degu. They began to advance on him, while Lil' Mario backed up.

"That's when Delilah came in!"

Lil' Delilah jumped from the tree branch she had climbed to, landing in on all fours in front of Lil' Mario. She swiped her claws, striking one across the cheek.

"Leave him alone!"

"She put herself in danger by doing that."

The tigers growled and advanced on a growling Lil' Delilah. Lil' Mario saw this and hopped onto her back.

"Gentlemen! Wouldn't you rather have a nice bunch of grapes.

He pointed to them, hoping this would work.

"They are delicious and it's good for tigers to eat healthy! The grapes would help with your diets and abilities!"

The tigers looked at each other before telling the two to move on. They did and Lil' Delilah stood up, holding Lil' Mario.

"Good job! I am Delilah."
"I am Mario."
"Friends?"
"Sure!"

*End Flashback*

"That's sounds about right."
"Of course it does! We are storytellers!"
"I think the roos had another question."
"What is their question?"

Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:09 pm

"Wait, don't grapes grow on vines?" Maria asked, confused.
"And vines can grow up trees," Met answered.
"Oh, yeah," she said, feeling a little embarrassed.
(OOC: Met and Maria are portraying my inner monologue here, I forgot how vines work for a minute

)

Hotep the psychic · Post by **Hotep the psychic** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:27 pm

"says you both. Vines can also grow from pieces an travel like snakes. Also your Maria right."" Cooper said twirling a wallet around

Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:03 am

"yes. Why do you ask?" Maria answered looking at the wallet.

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:04 am

"What are grapes?"
"Our other question was why wear the shiny things if the humans aren't making you."
"Yeah, and are they related to how you met?"
"That too."
"I like Delilah's story better, just by the way." The two roos glance over to Maria and Cooper as they listen to the dhole and degu, trying not to get too distracted as they focus on deciphering the accents.

Hotep the psychic · Post by **Hotep the psychic** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 1:22 pm

"eh just curious dont remember seeing you earlier." Cooper said catching the wallet before his brother tryed to snatch it. Bandit pouted some before grabing his collar and opening it to pull out a small piece of jerky and eating it.

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 3:18 pm

"Our accessories are because of age."

Mario flaunted his, flipping his earring back over his shoulder. He whispers into Delilah's ear, the dhole nodding. She cleared her throat, talking slower and as clear as possible.

"At the age of seven in pets years, one is given earrings and two bracelets, one for each arm, made of bronze."
"At the age of fourteen in pet years, one receives earrings, four bracelets, two for each arm, and a ring for the right hand. All made of silver."
"The finger ring goes on ones tail if their fingers are to small for it."

The two showed theirs, Mario being carefully to not allow his tail ring to slide off.

"And at the age of seventeen, twenty-one for small animals, one receives two sets of earrings, six bracelets, three for each arm and rings for each hand."
"One also gets a necklace. All of these accessories are made of gold."

Mario hopped off Delilah's head, leaving and returning. He dragged a vine covered in little pale green balls. He dragged them over to Joey and Jake.

"Found them on my outing. Here you are, gentlemen. Eat these, not the vine they're on."

Mario set them down before hopping back to Delilah. He climbed back onto her head, sighing as he laid down.

"Kyā? Maiṁ aṅgūra nahīṁ milatā hai?" (What? I don't get grapes?)
"Maiṁ bāhara adhika sāmāna hai." (I have more stuff outside.)

Delilah shrugged and stretched, changing her position. She laid down, bringing her legs to her chest with her front paws crossed before her.

"Also, roos. We wear our accessories because it allows to bring home with us wherever we go. Humans don't make us wear anything. They aren't related to how we met, but I was at Mario's Coming Of Age Ceremony."

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:11 am

"That's an interesting background for jewelries such as those , where are you guys from ?"

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:11 am

To the kangaroos, status in the mob is a reflection of strength and not age so the idea of celebrating birthdays also seems strange to them. Again, they let if pass, attributing it to the influence of the humans. They sniff at the fruit presented by Mario.
"What are they?" Joey asks, poking one with a claw.
"Pridelands!" Jake exclaims suddenly. "Some of them wore shiny things in Pridelands, remember?"
"Yeah. What was that about, Met? Age too?"

Mickey wrote: "Also, roos. We wear our accessories because it allows to bring home with us wherever we go. Humans don't make us wear anything. They aren't related to how we met, but I was at Mario's Coming Of Age Ceremony."

Now this is a reason to which the roos can all to easily relate.
"I wish we had something to remind us of home..." Jake sighs wistfully as though if he only wished hard enough it would come true.
"I wish we could go home. Wherever home was."

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:55 am

"Those, Joey, are grapes. You eat them."

Delilah looked at the small pocket of lava.

"Start a fire, I might be able to do a Dhu'āṁ kahānī." (Smoke Story)
"Delilah, we can't do that. It's not within our abilities yet."
"Mario, we are Charabuya story-tellers! We might as well try."
"We don't know how! No one has taught us yet!"
"We shall learn when we return to India."
"So we can try then!"

Delilah sat still for a few seconds before standing up and walking out and collecting sticks. Mario growled and jumped on her head, the dhole paying no mind. She brought them back in and set them up in the proper manner. She pressed a claw to the bottom of the lava pocket.

"Jake. Joey. Don't be afraid of what is about to happen."

With that, Delilah pressed the tip of her claw through the dirt, allowing a bit a of lava to pour out and ignite the sticks. She covered back up with dirt and turned her focus to the smoke that started to fume. She swirled her hands around it, trying to form pictures for the story she was about to tell.

Wed Feb 04, 2015 6:02 pm

Hlaoroo wrote:"Pridelands!" Jake exclaims suddenly. "Some of them wore shiny things in Pridelands, remember?"
"Yeah. What was that about, Met? Age too?"

"I don't actually know," Met replied. "The books don't really talk about it much, and I think only the Princess wore anything like that, so it's either just for decoration or a symbol of status."

he then turned his attention to Delilah's actions.

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:29 pm

Mario watches Delilah, looking as she tried to maneuver the smoke to form pictures. He sigh and jumped down onto the back of her paws.

"Mario?"
"Please, sister. It takes two to preform a Dhu'āṁ kahānī."
"They must work together..."
"..To create something that seems like magic."
"It's not magic at all, though."
"I know."
"But with how it's preformed, it sure feels that way."

Mario uses his small paws to form the more minute details within the pictures, such as whiskers and eyes. The two work together to form themselves in the smoke. Though it wasn't as expert as an actual Smoke Story-Teller, one would still be able to tell it was them. They both smiled brightly and began to work together to tell the story of how Smoke Stories came to be.

"One day, a vain lion was marching proudly through the forest."

The two form a lion, Mario teasingly using Met's mane style.

"He came across a scrawny, young tiger kitten."

The kitten comes into view, thin as a twig.

"The kitten ask the lion for just enough gold or silver to buy himself a meal and in return, the kitten would teach him a great and beautiful skill."

Delilah and Mario tried their best to form both the lion and the tiger. They turned out crude, but still recognizable.

"The lion merely roared with laughter, doubtful such a scrawny and stupid little human's cat could teach a strong and powerful beast anything. The lion walked back to his pride, where he ruled as king."

Mario tried his best to add different details to the other lions, so none of them looked the same. He even secretly made one of the lionesses look like Storm.

"But the young cat was not pleased with the lion's behavior towards a starving child. So, that night, he light a fire by where the pride rested."

Delilah uses her paw to lift the flames up just a touch to show what the tiger had done.

"The lions were frightened and started to run, but the smoke started to form hideous creatures that spoke of horrid things."

This time, the siblings take advantage of their inexperienced skill and draw crude creatures.

"The lions beg for it to stop. The creatures tell them to leave all their gold and run away, or they will tell them of their futures."

Mario helps fan up the fire this time.

"The lions drop their gold and run off, the young tiger put the fire out and taking the gold. He bought himself and many others meals, showing the others his ability of telling stories."

Delilah and Mario draw the young tiger with many others in front of the fire he started. Scarps were all around.

"Many others adopted his skill and teaching, the skill spreading throughout India and other South Asia. It's not an easy skill, one has to be of the highest of teaching preform it."

They draw others preforming Smoke Story-Telling.

"But as you, can see, it's possible for others to do without such skill."

The two formed themselves and everyone else in the den, with Mario and Delilah preforming a Smoke Story.

"Such as ourselves!"

Mario jumped onto Delilah's muzzle as she threw her hands out, surprisingly cutting out the fire.

Hotep the psychic · Post by **Hotep the psychic** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:25 pm

Cooper and bandit rekindled the fire for there own favor. "so we are exchanging stories right?"Cooper asked his paws being slapped against each other in a dust ridding motion. Bandit layed asleep next to him

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 7:21 pm

"That was a very captivating story" Storm said "and yes I think so , do you guys have any stories to tell ?"

Hotep the psychic · Post by **Hotep the psychic** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:04 pm

"yes we could share our stories if that's fine, however let's do that at our house. It'll be a bit more spacious there"Cooper said

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 1:00 pm

Delilah gladly moves out the way of the two, Mario making his small "pwip" noise as he hopped up onto her head. She sits down with her legs crossed.

"We could go to your home. Right, Delilah?"

"Of course."

Post by **Serence Frostbite** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:57 am

"yeah I think that would be a good idea too , so let's go guys"

Hotep the psychic · Post by **Hotep the psychic** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 12:54 pm

Cooper and bandit waved for the others to follow them as they left the cave. Once outside they took a deep breath and waited for the others "this way" cooper said heading towards his and bandits home

Post by **Hlaoroo** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:39 pm

The roos are about to reply to Met when they're distracted by Delilah and Mario's small fire. To them fire is an enemy as dangerous as dingos. They're all too familiar with the speed and ferocity with which it can devour entire swathes of forest and hills of grass and they have been forced to flee for their lives as it seemed the entire world burned around them. This is a small fire but they know how quickly even they can get out of control. They turn and nervously hop as close to the entrance of the cave as they can whilst still seeing the show, just in case. The calmness with which the other pets regard the fire is reassuring but again their instincts are difficult to overcome.

As a result of their mental struggle the roos are unable to take in or appreciate much of the show but they do make appreciative noises once the story ends, and to the observant pet the relieved slump of their shoulders silhouetted in the daylight as the fire is extinguished is plain.

"Er, yeah."
"Their house. Right."
"Hey, we could tell a story too!"
"Yeah! Only, I'll need a didge and maybe clapsticks. What story should we do?"
"How about 'How the kangaroo got his tail'?"
"Yeah, I like that one. You guys wanna hear that sometime?" The roos follow the other pets out of the cave and into the bright sunlight.

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:41 pm

Delilah stands, stretching outward. She rolls her shoulders and slowly bounds on all fours to get the blood flowing again. She winces at the light of the sun, but blinks it off as she looks up at her degu brother.

"Mario."
"Hm?"
"Hang on."
"Wh-Delilah, don't."
"But my legs are asleep!"
"I do not care! Just walk around!"
"But-"
"No buts! I am your older brother and you will do as I say!"

Despite being the same age, Mario was considered the oldest of the two. Delilah crossed her arms and mumbled incoherent Hindi. She glanced up at her older brother before bolting off into a 30 mile-per-hour sprint. Mario screamed and gripped his sister's fur. She came back around, skidding in the dirt. Mario was a pure white color while Delilah shook her legs and laughed.

"There we are! Let's go!"
"Y-You are s-s-so in trouble when I t-tell Maria and Luther."

Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:10 pm

Maria saw how shaken Mario was at this. "Why are you so upset? I love when Met runs me around like that."
"Well, you know how to tuck and roll is you fall off," Met interjected. "and you're bigger than him so you don't have as farr to fall."

hypernovatic · Post by **hypernovatic** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:41 am

Namine giggled slightly. "That is true, but it honestly could've been worse." she said.