[FIN] - Shadow Dancing (Mrengo/Szürke)

[Epine de Rose]

Life had been quiet for her siblings and she but then again, such a thing shouldn't have come as a surprise given the prides inclination towards isolation. Without the risk of danger, she had grown up in an environment that had encouraged her rather airheaded behaviour... it wasn't that she was an idiot, but it would have been accurate to assume that she was foolish. Life experience would most likely set about fixing this issue, but one could hazard a guess that she would always be a bit of a jester regardless of how old she became - such were the consequences of being an individual who was regarded as eccentric.

You see, Mrengo was an individual who often thought outside the box. Rather than be nailed down to all trials and rules, she found solace in the bizarre, particularly when it came to her own hobbies. Admittedly she still enjoyed the occasional game of frog hunting, but she had less of an inclination to get herself covered in mud. Instead, she'd taken up slightly more artistic hobbies and it was for this reason, that this morning she could be found entertaining herself through one of those very hobbies.

From a distance, it would have been difficult to discern what she was up to, truth be told it would have looked as if she was simply staring at a wall. However, as an individual would draw closer, they would be given a real glimpse of what she was up to. Every now and then she would shift position and seemingly nudge or move leaves, her paws, twigs and various other objects before settling into position again - it was certainly an odd little routine, but pay close enough attention and perhaps you might see...

Through the morning light that invaded the canopies she was casting shadows and some of them, were really quite creative!  

[Tanakako]

Vandor, or rather, Szürke as he was called now, had come to the pride some months ago in search of his missing twin sister. He had been following a lead that had been unreliable at best but at the time, he had been clutching at any news that he could. In the end he had finally located her, safe in this pride and though seemingly shy and reserved, she was building a new life for herself. He had seen her from afar several times but as yet, she had not seemed to recognize him. Yet for the large male, just knowing she was safe and cared for was enough, and he had decided to stay in the Jini-msemi to remain close to her, even if he did not have a direct paw in her life.

He had spent so long hunting her down, desperately trying to find out what had happened to her, that now he was of the age where he should be starting to think of his own family, he had discovered that he no longer knew how to be 'normal'. His life had been so focused on his search that he possessed no friends and no other family beside his sister. Without the focus of searching for her, he found himself at a loss each and every day. He would rise with the sun and hunt, but after that, he had an entire day to get through before he could curl up under the tree he had claimed for himself and sleep again, until the next morning where his hunt gave him something productive to do for a few hours.

Sighing heavily he shook out his thick grey mane, aquamarine eyes lidded as he padded with a heavy step across the march. He hated feeling like this, lost and useless, but he had no idea how to fix it. What did normal lions do all day? He had tried watching the pride, but most of them seemed to engage in family activities, and that was not an option for him. He could hunt, but the meat would go to waste and that made something in him flinch at picking such a pastime.

Filled with melancholy thoughts, the large male pushed through the foliage with a ghost-like step, barely making a sound despite his size. But then something caught his attention from the corner of hi eye, a young female, doing something odd with leaves and mud. With no where else to be an not willing to disturb her by passing too close, he paused for a moment to watch, intending to slip away without being spotted once he worked out what she was up to.

 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

There was a bird, a cat of some description and a dog, but her next images needed a little more effort. Setting herself back down onto all four paws, the female leapt from one end of the tiny little grove to the other. Unaware of Szurke for the time being, she rummaged around in the undergrowth near by and then puttered back with a variety of items. Leaves, twigs and more piles of mud soon began to grow in number with the dainty lioness making numerous trips... Truth be told, to an observer it might even have seemed like she was simply hoarding as opposed to doing anything practical.

Fortunately, Mrengo eventually stopped her rather peculiar hunt for resources and came to a halt beside her acquired goods. Leaning back, she then took a 'seat' on her hindlegs and regarded each material closely. Every now and then she would pick one up in her paws, peer at it more closely and then set it back down again. If she had a true method to her madness then it probably would have been incredibly difficult to spot from a distance... Ah, but such was the way of things when it came to eccentrics.

She continued in this manner for quite some time and it was only when she had begun to set a few twigs and some of the mud onto her little 'pedestal' (a rock) that she noticed a little something out of the corner of her eye. It hadn't been there before, at least, she didn't remember it being there before. Unsurprisingly she paused in her work and turned her head to inspect who or what might have been hiding in the corner of her vision.

"...Hello?" she inquired with a hint of uncertainty.  

[Tanakako]

He had expected to move on shortly after spotting the youngster, but her bizarre actions defied explanation, drawing him in with her mysterious occupation so that he remained standing among the bushes as if trapped in some kind of trance as he struggled to figure out just what it was she was doing.

When at length her soft voice called out to him so hesitantly, he nearly jumped, startled from his thoughts by her address. Mentally shaking himself back to the here and now, he blinked at her half hidden shape before ducking forwards and stepping through the leafy screen that had separated them.

"Greetings. Pardon, I did not mean to interrupt you.." His deep, husky voice was strangely soft for such a large male, his tone respectful if a little distant. He paused for a moment, glancing at her mound of mud and twigs, expression perplexed. "Umm.. may I ask.. what was it that you were doing?"

 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

Well, she certainly was unique in her antics and it was unlikely that very many would dispute this observation. However, at the very least other individuals could appreciate that she was utterly harmless. Eccentric, but she was more likely to cause herself harm, than to anyone else around her. If he hadn't already realised this, it was likely the lion would cotton on as he bridged the distance between himself and her.

Fortunately, Mrengo was also not an individual who took offence at those who queried her activities. Mother and siblings alike had made a habit of such things and as a result, she had grown accustomed to it. Very few may have understood why she did it, but they could accept it after it was explained. Thus, when he queried her behaviour she couldn't help but grin and provide him with an amused giggle - why was it that they always crept up behind her rather than just striding in?

She didn't bite!

"Shadow puppets," she announced merrily and pointed at the completed 'figurines' on the nearby rock, the half built one largely ignored for the time being. "They don't look like much now, but when the sun goes down and the light creeps through the trees, you should see them," she continued. Seating herself once more, she motioned to each of the figures in turn. "They dance for me when the sun gets sleepy, it looks pretty neat."  

[Tanakako]

Her delicate giggle was sweet and light, certainly a pleasure to listen to after the shadows and darkness of his life until very recently. She certainly didn't seem like a treat to anything except maybe the bushes around her who's twigs she was using in her work.

Her giggle did manage to ease a kind of half-smile from the grey male, though it was as brief and as fleeting as the breeze. "Shadow puppets?" He repeated, tone confused yet strangely curious as he lowered his haunted blue gaze to study the piles of mud and leaves on the rock. After a moment he took another hesitant step forwards and bent his head to try and get a closer look at them.

"They dance?" Szürke had not possessed a cubhood like most youngsters, forced to grow up fast when he left home to search for his kidnapped sister he had largely missed the years of play and fun most others took for granted. It had left him mentally older than his years, but some small part of him still held on to the lost dream of cubhood. Her game and the promise of dancing figures was bizarre, ye he felt strangely fascinated by such a possibility.

Looking up at her again, expression almost uncertain, he nodded to the piles of mud. "Could.... I try?"

 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

Now there was a question she hadn't expected to hear! She wasn't accustomed to others wanting to join in and this left her just a touch taken aback. Fortunately she recovered quickly and her smile deepened as she motioned to the various shrubs, mud and stones around them. All in all he wouldn't be spoilt for choice as there were plenty of materials to play with...provided he wasn't afraid to get dirt deep into his claws - some didn't like that, while Mrengo wasn't a fan of being covered in mud, she didn't mind picking it from her nails at the end of the day.

"Of course!" she replied enthusiastically and moved a little out of the way so that he could seek out and select his own materials. "Just make sure you pick the deeper mud because it's stickier and helps hold everything together better," she explained. Pursing her lips, she regarded her own handiwork and the model she had left half constructed. Suffice to say that she was probably going to require more mud as the batch she had scooped up before was going to dry out very quickly.

"And plan what you want to make before you start building it otherwise... it doesn't work out so good," she mused, clearly voicing her own previous experiences. Ah yes, she remembered the messy blobs of indecisiveness, she'd wasted many days with them whenever she first started playing with puppets.  

[Tanakako]

For a moment he thought he had upset her, but then she smiled that pretty smile at him again and he huffed a mental sigh of relief. The last thing he had wanted to do was offend her.

Nodding at her words of advice he looked about a little helplessly, but then padded to the side and started to scoop out pawfuls of mud, his larger size making faster work of the job than she could manage. Having dug out a pile of deep sticky mud he eyed it almost nervously, but he had been the one to ask to join in, so he took a breath and scooped up a big mouthful to deposit it on a flat rock next to where Mrengo was working. Having spit the mess out he pulled a face and opened his maw wide before turning round and dunking his head in a near by pool. Having cleaned himself of the mud he returned to the mess he had made and looked at it in some confusion. How did one know what to make?
 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

He looked as confused as a baby bird did when it first poked its head out of the tree and realised it was miles off the ground. Utterly baffled, he seemed to have frozen in place and this was just a little bit funny to the younger lioness. She was so used to adults, especially males, being so firm and confident in everything they did. She'd never seen one out of their comfort zone before and it was certainly fascinating to watch. Still, she did have to wince a little when he put the mud in his mouth...apparently, he wasn't well versed at walking on three paws.

"Erm... For future reference it tastes less icky if you carry the mud in a paw," she murmured, her tone amused as she scooped up some of the mud and hopped along on three paws as if to demonstrate what she meant. She couldn't hold very much in the paw of course, but it was decidedly less disgusting!

"And uh..." she continued and then shook her head. Truth be told she wasn't used to the company, she didn't mind it, she just didn't know how to deal with it very well. "If you're stuck for ideas you can always try something simple, I used to pick things I could see and copy them..."  

[Tanakako]

Looking over again as she spoke he watched her hop along, then looked down at his own large paw. ".. That makes sense..." He certainly wasn't in a hurry to repeat the mud-in-mouth experience. He eyed her, impressed by how thought out everything was in this 'game' of hers. It certainly was a change from the games of stalk or tag he saw other youngsters engaged in.

Nodding his head slowly at her advice he glanced round, wondering what he could copy. But all he saw was mud, trees and pools of muddy water. Well... there was one thing of interest... Finally he sat down with his mud pile and started to work, though his efforts were clumsy at best and more than once the whole thing slumped to the side, forcing him to start all over again. Soon enough he was covered in blobs of mud and leaves all the way up to his elbows. A concentrated look on his face and every so often he grumbled to himself as he failed to get something right.
 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

Confidence, determined and stoic faces. She was used to those facial expressions, but the one Szurke possessed at this precise moment in time resembled something more suited to a child like her. He was so engrossed that every feature rippled with concentration and any second now she was expecting to see his tongue protrude from the side of his cheek. In fact, his behaviour was so unusual to the female that she seated herself beside her own unfinished creation and elected to watch him instead of completing her project.

Hehe, he even spoke to himself!

It was only after a considerable amount of time had passed that the lioness finally piped up again, her head tilted to one side as she continued to watch him work. "Whatcha making?" she asked curiously, still not capable of identifying exactly what it was she was looking at. Then again, the same could be said for her own creations until the sun hit them...  

[Tanakako]

So focused head he become on his little lump of mud that he never realised she was watching him until she spoke, making him jerk in place in surprise. Looking over rather sheepishly he glanced guiltily at his construction just in time to see it start to slide. Catching it quickly in his paws (having sat back on his rump by this time) he propped it up before carefully answering, though his gaze remained on the slightly oozing mud pile.

"Um well... I was hoping you might be able to see once the sun sets..." If she looked closely she might have seen the blush that warmed his face. Certainly not a very social lion he had never really learned how to interact with cubs or youngsters, or even other adults, and since the subject of his mud model was sat beside him, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted her to work out what he had been trying to make.
 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

Mrengo found it exceedingly difficult not to laugh whenever his creation started to slide. She found it even harder whenever he startled and attempted to right it when she disrupted his concentration. He looked so sheepish and she had obviously, indirectly embarassed him. She didn't know the exact reasons behind it and could only assume that it was because his puppet was drooping... Not that that was a bad thing, unfortunately when it came to lion shadow puppets, even her's drooped a little.

Something to do with paws and a lack of accuracy...

Actually, it was a lot to do with paws and a considerable lack of accuracy. Tiny details weren't the forte of any feline!

"Oooh I get it," she replied finally and winked. "It's a secret, right?" she continued and turned her gaze upwards to examine the canopy. By the way the light was tilting, it wouldn't be long before she would get to see it. "I can wait a little longer," she finished with a quick nod and returned her gaze to Szurke. "I bet it'll be totally AWESOME!"  

[Tanakako]

He gave his creation a sideways look. "Yeah.. a secret..." And it might remain one if it turned out half as bad as he thought it looked.. even he couldn't really see what it was meant to be, and he was the one that had made it.

Once again that tin half-smile quirked across his expression at her proclamation. "I'm not sure about that... lets just see if it looks like anything at all. I'm not very good at this." Pausing he looked over to where her own statuettes were all lined up neatly. "I'm looking forward to seeing yours."
 

[Epine de Rose]

Tanakako

"No need to despair!" she declared dramatically and motioned to her own blob creation that she had left incomplete. "Your blob shall have a fellow blob to dance with if things don't go to plan," she continued in a reassuring manner that only she could probably pull off. As if to reinforce the gesture, another of her smiles flickered onto her lips and she peered at his creation again, it really did look like a blob from this angle but strange things happened when the shadows came out to play...

"You shouldn't worry either cause my stuff sucked when I first started, it's the practice that makes you perfect, yep yep!" she added and sat back again. Alas, with little else to do than wait for the sun to set and the shadows to come 'out', Mrengo had settled herself comfortably into position. Her head soon turning to look at her creations and then the 'wall' they were facing, she knew it wouldn't be too long before they began to dance for her.

"If it helps any, I'm horribad at hunting games, every step I take I make the swamp go CRACK - there's twigs everywhere," she mused.