[PRP] I do not believe you. (Chizoba, Cor Oxidat)

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba had rolled himself out of the den to nap in the sun after eating his share of his mother's kill. He lay sprawled out on his back and rather blended in with the dried grass. Even such an energetic cub as he was needed a nap after a full meal.

Chizoba pretty much always preferred to do things outside. If he could spend every waking moment in the sun, he would. Once his nap was finished he was going to find someone to play with, he had a few on his list of possibilities but that could take care of itself. After his nap.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Cor finished grooming her ears - a task she had been assured was absolutely essential and must be completed every single day - and set off from her den in search of new people to talk to. Liraz, she had been told, was not feeling well and so she did not go to her best friend's den. She knew that Liraz would have been happy to see her, but she would have felt very guilty forcing her sick friend to use up her strength when she needed it to stave off the ravages of her illness. Cor herself sometimes found herself coughing in the mornings, but it was just dry air, she told herself.

She considered making her way to Litahti's den. The credulous little cub had been very complimentary toward her, and Cor liked that in a companion. She was still not interested in spending time with Haruma, who seemed to be growing much more quickly than she did. Cor was irritated by that and still recalled how badly their first meeting had gone. She had no desire to repeat the experience. Of course, one of the leopards in the pride had recently had cubs, but Cor hadn't been given permission to go meet them yet.

So off to Litahti's den she headed, hoping the younger cub would be allowed to come out and play with her.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba woke up when a paw hit very close to his head. It startled him enough that he rolled over and jumped up with a squeak. "Woah!" He was really glad it was just a youth and not a full grown lion. "Watch where you're goin' please!" He didn't yell or say it irritatedly, it was apparent he'd only been surprised. And what do you know it was a youth he hadn't met yet.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"What are you doing there? Haven't you a den to sleep in, or at least enough sense to find a rock so people can see you?"

Cor didn't bother biting back her automatic response to the cub who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Being relatively low to the ground herself and therefore quite able to spot things located there, it seemed impossible to her that a lion whose coat was so poorly suited to camouflage as this cub's was could have failed to attract her notice. That he had been still and silent meant little. She was not an unobservant person, and so her mind instantly assumed that there had been a conspiracy at work here.

The idea of being the target of a conspiracy didn't bother Cor nearly as much as one might think it would. It was a very exciting thing to be, in her opinion, and served to prove her importance. Only important people were the targets of conspiracies, after all. She just didn't know how placing a cub right where she was walking would further anyone's schemes. Unless she had been meant to step on him, and thereby provoke the wrath of his parents and siblings and perhaps...But to what point and purpose? That, she didn't get, and as she considered it her brow wrinkled into a frown.  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Of course I have a den to sleep in!" Chizoba stomped his foot cubbishly. "But it's more fun to sleep in the sun! And maybe you should have been paying more attention to where you were going." He pouted for all of two seconds before he grinned good naturedly. "But that's ok, you didn't actually step on me. I'm sorry if I startled you. I'm Chizoba. I haven't seen you before."

Chizoba was too good natured to be angry about anything for long. He also was the most forgiving of his siblings. It was probably time for him to stop napping anyway. He wondered vaguely if he would be playing with this new girl today, or if he'd tackle his siblings. Maybe he'd visit Liraz if this girl didn't want to play.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Cor wasn't usually one to admit that she was wrong, but she knew that it hadn't been fair for her to start in on the younger cub just for turning up unexpectedly in her path. It actually had the makings for a very good story, if she could work the plot right. Even if she couldn't, she could always tweak it so that certain points fit better into what she had in mind.

"I'm Cor Oxidat," she told him. "I think I've met one of your sisters, Litahti. But that was kind of a while ago. How's she doing?"

The last time she'd spoken to anyone from his family, it had been Litahti, and she'd been rather mystified by everything. Cor had been forced to come up with a number of answers about the heavens rather on the spot, as well as about the pride's sickness. It still amazed her that anyone could be born in these lands and remain ignorant of the plague that, well, plagued the pride, though she now guessed that Litahti had simply been very, very young.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba grinned, pleased that this stranger knew one of his sisters. "She's doing just fine. Still wants to play all day as much as possible." There was no family resemblance, nope. None at all. Chizoba hated playing.

"Speaking of which, I'd be up for a game if you're lookin' for something fun to do." He'd clearly already forgotten about the whole almost being tripped over thing.  

[Princess_Feylin]

That was different from the Litahti Cor remembered meeting. The pale cub had been nearly overwhelmed by the sunlight and the outdoors, and seemed too retiring and faint to be the sort to want to play. Cor would have to revise her opinion of the cub, shough she would also have to see for herself. Hearsay was not a thing to be relied upon, as Cor knew very well.

"It's nice of you to offer," she said, "but I didn't actually tell anyone I was going out, or where I was going, and I don't want people to worry. When they get worried they tend to scold, and it's so boring to be scolded."

Cor wasn't holding a grudge. Really she wasn't. One of the things she knew for a fact, having been raised in the Kitwana'Antara, was that life was much too short for a person to hold grudges over petty things. Oh, it was perfectly acceptable to hold grudges over serious things, like stealing someone's mate or infecting someone who wasn't infected, but there weren't too many offenses Cor could think of which were worth the animosity.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba pouted a bit. Playing was good. Playing and being with other people was what was so wonderful about life. Growing up in this pride had instilled the knowledge of death in him early though. He understood that not everyone was feeling well enough to play, or were busy with their duties. This is why he'd make a good babysitter when he grew up.

"Yeah, being scolded is boring. Really boring. Lectures are worse. 'Don't encourage your brother to climb that tree Chizoba...' Ugh." He planted his butt on the ground and peered at her. "I like your name." Never let it be said that Chizoba couldn't be a random little cub.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"It really isn't," Cor said feelingly. "And they always tell my father about it when he comes back, and then he tells me how it's not appropriate for me to make people worry, and how important the rules are, and...well. You seem know how it is."

She smiled a little when Chizoba complimented her name. She liked it, too. Her father had told her that he'd named her according to the customs of her mother's pride, and she liked that. Her mother was a princess, after all, and so she had a name that was like a princess, which fit very well into Cor's world view that she was, in fact, a princess as well, even if it wasn't a princess of the Kitwana'antara. She didn't mind where she was a princess as long as she got to be one.

"Thanks. I like it too," she said over her shoulder as she turned and began to head away from Chizoba at a bit of a clip. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten when she was supposed to be back. That was such a childish thing to do!  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Okay... bye!" Chizoba called after her. Now what to do? He could go torment his family with his unfailing cheerfulness, or maybe go visit some of his friends... Ah well, maybe the best road was to go back to his somewhat interrupted nap. Then he'd have plenty of energy to play.