[PRP] Outside (Kal'eido x Tanhipom)

[Dame NightFury]

Tanhipom stumbled out of the area surrounding the Hammock. It was the farthest out she'd gone. Ever. And she probably wouldn't make it much farther if she doesn't rest. Her legs were wobbling a lot. And she was so tired. At least there was any deepish water around. Ta'hi looked around for a good spot to settle down for a little rest, maybe a nap before she would decide to keep exploring or go back to the Hammock area.

A small nook tucked her away between the roots of a tall tree. It looked so nice and comfy. She curled herself into it and listened to the sounds of the great forest around her. It was music to her ears. The sound of water, falling from the sky, the twinkle of a small waterfall, the flow of a stream, if calmed her. The complete opposite of actually seeing water, but Ta'hi didn't see any water, she heard it. She closed her eyes and swayed to the music of the forest slightly and the melody of water.  

[Talencia]

Kal was returning to the home tree after guard duty. He was tired, but his mind was alive with the odd buzzing that indicated he needed to paint. He hadn't had a chance to really work on the various ideas that had struck him of late, and it was frustrating to now be too tired to think of them, much less put out the effort to paint them. It was astonishing how much energy it took to produce art. It never failed to amaze him to find how exhausted he felt after a particularly intense art session.

So it was that he'd opted for just heading for home. So far, home was still a hammock all by himself, but perhaps... perhaps that would change soon. He was smiling to himself when he caught sight of a tiny body swaying in an alarming way in the roots of one of the nearby trees. Startled and alarmed, Kal left the trail, plunged over some foliage, and caught the very young cub's wobbling body in his paw. So small and so light! "Are you alright?" he nosed the cub cradled in his paw. "Are you hurt?" Other questions that bubbled into his mind could wait. First he had to make sure she wasn't hurt!  

[Dame NightFury]

Ta'hi jumped when a big big big paw kept her from swaying over, her eyes snapping open. She blushed. She had been half listening to the music and half falling asleep. And for some reason that was a little embarrassing. She kind of felt a little silly. Tanhipom nodded up at the big lion that had held her up. When she spoke, Ta'hi voice was very soft and very low. "Dank 'ou. I listening to de music. It sounds like water." Though Ta'hi was still very tired. She definitely explored too far from the hammock. "I tired dough. And de music makes me wanta sleep more."

Yawning, Tanhipom looked at the big lion again. There were so many questions that bubbled up in her mind, but she didn't know how to say it to the big male. After all, he wasn't daddy. Or any of mommy and daddy's friends that sometimes came close to the hammock. She wondered if the big male got as tired as she was at that moment. Especially since he was bigger. And he did more. What he did was another question. Realizing that she had been kind of staring at him for some time now, Ta'hi blushed even more. "I'm Tanhipom. My mommy, daddy, and siblings live in our hammock over dere." She gestured to the area where the hammock was.

Talencia

 

[Talencia]

Kal was at a complete and utter loss. He was barely grown himself, and was having an incredibly hard time understanding the baby's babble. How did he end up with interactions with cubs like this?! It really wasn't his thing at all. He took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind and think like a cub. There was something about water in there, as well as sleep. She certainly looked tired, so he assumed it was a matter of her being sleepy that she spoke of.

He didn't catch her name at all, remaining unaware that she'd introduced herself even. However, he caught the wrods daddy and mommy, and rightly interpreted the movement of one limp paw as a motion towards home. He sucked a deep breath, at least having an idea of what to do now. "Well, let's get you home then, shall we?"

His next move was stalled, however, by deliberation over how to carry her. Obviously she couldn't stay in his paw. He'd seen adults carrying cubs by the scruff of the neck, but it looked uncomfortable (nevermind that he himself had been carried that way when he was little), and he was afraid he'd hurt her if he tried it that way. So instead, he gently lifted her to the spot between his shoulder-blades where the last bit of his mane was. "Now hang on, little missy," he told her before heading the direction she'd pointed, stepping along the tree roots that dangled over the water's edge.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

Ta'hi smiled at the big lion, and if she hadn't been so tired she would have continued talking asking him question after question, but as it is she only had one as he transferred her from his paw to his shoulders.

"Dankoou, Beegma'. I don' min' naps unda trees and roots dough. Dey comfy. Like treehugs, 'ou kno?" She don't know his name, and he didn't give it to her after she gave hers, so Ta'hi just renamed him, like he had renamed her. But she didn't like her new name. "But my name not lilmessy, it Tanhipom. Or Ta'hi. Mommy, daddy, and my brothas and sistas call me dat. Do 'ou evea wonda why we don' call brothas broties or sistas sisties? Mommies are mommies and daddies are daddies but dere no brotty or sisty. Dat weird right?" She babbled around a yawn.

Ta'hi shut her eyes against a big yawn. With her eyes closed the sounds of water were closer. Like music. Calming and soothing. She smiled at the music the forest was playing for her and everyone in the pride and opened her eyes again, looking down at the ground. Except it wasn't ground. Water. It didn't just sound close, it was close. It was so serene. Nothing moved, not even a ripple. So calm~. So - so captivating. Like a big observant eye watching and communicating with you.

Ta'hi didn't even feel herself leaning over the side of the big lion trying to keep eye contact with the body of water so close to them. She fell over the lion's side and toward the pool of water, still staring at it in a trance.

Until she hit the water, and started sinking.

Talencia

 

[Talencia]

Dame NightFury

I fail so bad. Sorry hon!

Kal didn't need to focus much on balancing along the tree roots much. It came naturally. He was, however, gazing up into the trees the direction the cub had indicated, trying to puzzle out which tree he should ascend, and how he'd figure out which was her family's hammock. He didn't even feel her tip off his back, but he did hear the plunk of her body hitting the water. Curious, he turned to look for what had made the noise.

He saw her sinking body at the same time as he registered the lack of the light burden between his shoulders. He gave a strangled gasp of shock and dismay before he plunged off the root himself, hitting the water with a much bigger splash than she'd made. He had to keep his eyes squeezed shut at first against the foaming, bubbling water, but opened them as soon as he dared. Frantic, he looked around in the murky light for the little thing. Thankfully her coloration was pale, for it caught the light and reflected it back, making her easier to locate among the shadows of trees and water plants.

This time he didn't hesitate to grab her in his jaws. In fact, he practically encompassed her with his teeth, gentle but desperate to keep a hold on her. He turned towards the surface and struck out, but found one hind paw tangled in the wispy, curling leaves of a water plant. Alarmed, he gave a startled gurlge, jerking on that paw frantically before he made himself pause, think for a moment, and then use hise foreclaws to cut the tendrils holding him. Urgently he swam upwards and lunged back onto dry ground. He took three staggering steps away from the water's edge, then almost spat out the tiny body before breaking into wracking coughs. He'd at least had the presence of mind to drop her down on a bed of moss, though. After a few moments of hacking and wheezing, he sprawled next to her and peered down at her anxiously, panting and still raspy.  

[Dame NightFury]

Talencia

Ta'hi was far too young to understand how close she had come to drowning, despite the gallons of water she was coughing up. She only vaguly remembered seeing the water below them as the big lion had traveled to find the hammock with Mommy and Daddy and her siblings in it. And she barely understood why she had water coming up from her belly. The smooth and deep and ripple-less water put Ta'hi into a trace and she only just started to realize she could loss track of time and loss control of her movements. Water that didn't move with rushing intent captured her attention so completely that memory of anything but the water failed, faded, disappeared.

Until she was coughing up water. "Dat ..... was ..... no ..... vaer!" Ta'hi panted trying to get up and glare and - and something at the water. It was not nice! Not at all!

Tanhipom finally found the energy to roll to her feet but didn't have the energy to move from the bed of moss that she and the nice male lion had been lying on. He was very wet too. She continued to glare at the now rippling surface of the water. Ta'hi wanted nothing more than to go over there and tell it what was what. And then tell both her mommy AND the water's mommy what it did. It was a nasty unfriendly game it was playing. Instead she sat back down. Hard and looked over at the lion. "Beegma', Beegma'! Are you ohtay?" She gave a weak lick to the lion's cheek partially as a thank you but mostly to give comfort. That's what mommy did when others needed comfort, licked them. Altough mommy usually licked them on the top of the head. Ta'hi eyed the big lion's head and decided that she probably wasn't going to reach it without a little jump and she not only too tired now, but weak and exhausted. Because of water. "Warerr soudn't be so unripy! It soud move. It get me all de time and mommy or daddy or you, Beegma' have to make warerr stop playin' meany."  

[Talencia]

Dame NightFury

Well, at least she was alive and still feisty. It was a good sign, even if he couldn't understand her any better now than before. He blinked owlishly at her, but gave a rough purr at her attempt to comfort him. Her words might often sound like gibberish to him, but her intent was clear. His soft heart melted, and he found himself glad he'd happened along, rather than feeling anxious about looking after her.

Now, what came next? What would her mother do? Clearly he shouldn't just scoop her up, dripping as she was, and just take her straight home. She might catch chill! Ah yes, grooming. That's what a mother (or father?!) would do. Feeling only faintly ridiculous, he gently wrapped both paws around her and began licking her fur dry. It actually was less unpleasant than he'd anticipated, and had a calming affect on him. Hopefully it helped her feel a good bit better too. She was clearly indignant at the water as if it had somehow swallowed her on purpose.

Bemused, he paused to tip his head at her and nose her gently. "Yes, you should stay away from the water, at least until you learn how to swim!" He had no understanding of the trance that overcame the cub when she gazed into still water, but knew she just shouldn't be near it until she was capable of rescuing herself. He resumed drying her off, being careful to remember even the ticklish spots. "Now be still so I can get you dry, then we'll try to find your parents again." At this point, he was determined and mildly desperate to find them. They needed to seriously watch out for this little one! She could have been hurt!  

[Dame NightFury]

Talencia

Tanhipom sat still between his big paws and waited form bath time to over. Well, as still as a cub her age could be really. She turned her head back to continue talking to the lion that had become an uncle like person in her head. "Wen you dink I cans lern to swim? I wike warerr lots. Revrrs an' waerrfallings an' rainies an' an' dat waerrs are so much fun! They all rus'in' 'rond evawher an' an' movin' an' no still unrippy like dat warerr." Ta'hi nodded back at the slowly stilling pond, looking away from the lion.

She collapsed giggling and squirming as she turned, moving her body thus having her most ticklish spot groomed by a rough tongue that probably didn't even know she had been protecting that spot as he groomed. But Ta'hi had forgotten the spot as she talked about the good rushing waters that she really liked. She rolled around between the lion's paws laughing and unable to catch her breath. "TIckles! HAHAHAHA! Dat tickles! Ahhahahahahaha!" Ta'hi tried to move away from the lion and his tickly tongue as best she could.