[PRP] Wayakesk & Margulis *FIN

[Sareibear]

Wayakesk padded along through the dirt, abesnt-mindedly. He had been thinking again about the things he had seen on his last pass by the coast. He had been close to but not inside of Bahari'mtoto lands, and the only reason he hadn't visited the pride was that he simply hadn't met anyone from there during his time on the beach, and he didn't want to just go knocking at their borders asking to come in. He didn't know much of them, but he thought that the beach was beautiful and hoped to return one day.

While he had been thinking, Wayakesk hadn't noticed that he had walked right into a large mud puddle and his paws were now suctioned to the ground underneath. He heaved a heavy sigh, his large belly jiggling a little as he did so and began to attempt to remove his front left paw by wiggling it bit by bit. "Of course. Nice one, Waya, with your head in the clouds again..." He muttered to himself, trailing off.  

[Dulcea]

Margulis had been resting inside the tree line, her shoulders aching from the effort of going this far. Her paws were visibly shaking now, and the world seemed a bit blurry. But she was certainly aware enough to notice the male's plight.

With a grunt of effort she lifted herself back up onto her paws, slowly making her way toward the puddle. "You have to be careful out here," she warned him, her bright eyes flashing as she crossed through patches of sunlight, "There are venomous snakes that make their home near puddles like that, they could strike at any moment, and then you'd be lost to time."

Stopping short of the puddle she gestured to his foot, "Let it sink in just a bit then give it one hard tug outward, it should slide out."  

[Sareibear]

Waya snorted as a lioness came into view. Now he looked like a big dummy. He couldn't help but smile a bit as he rolled his eyes, though the eye-roll wasn't directed at her. He stopped and listened to what she was saying about snakes. "Well that'd be no good, would it?" He chuckled softly, kind of like a nervous chuckle. She was pretty different looking than any lioness' he'd seen before. She seemed to be a little frail, but she knew what she was talking about anyways, and while Waya was no youngster, who was he not to listen to advice?

"Sure...sure. Let me give it a go." He started, and then paused, nodding in the direction of the lioness, "and thank you." He grinned, and then grunted as he hauled his paw out of the mud.

"Alright!" He cheered, chuckling, his big belly playing along. "Oh wait now..." He trailed off, holding his paw above the ground, dripping mud off it. He was just a little bit too far from the edge to be able to put it on solid ground. Uh-oh! "What now? I can't pull if I can't get my foot on the ground." He said, looking at the female, eyes full of amusement. He was a light-hearted fellow, and he was finding this situation to be rather comedic.  

[Dulcea]

"That depends very much on how well you can jump I suppose," she said with a soft laugh, narrowing her eyes to take stock of the situation. She didn't see very well in daylight so she tilted her head until she got a good angle.

"And if you can't jump then I suppose I ought to get you a branch." She scanned the trees behind her, looking for a decent softwood that wouldn't snap if she offered it to him. There was one just a few feet in and with a quick tug she pulled it free of a caught vine, dragging it toward him. "Now don't pull," she warned, "Or you'll just pull me in with you. Use it like a bridge to give yourself some leverage to the edge."  

[Sareibear]

The male watched her as she tilted her head strangely, and listened again as she spoke to him. He found her strangeness quite intriguing, really, and he carefully observed her motions. Waya was always excited to meet new kinda of creatures, and this was certainly turning out to be an interesting encounter so far. "Oh yes, I'm a little large for jumping." He laughed, still holding his paw up, watching as she grabbed a branch from the nearby trees and brought it over.

"Okay...if we get it in the mud I can push off it and put my other paw up, right?" He looked back to her, lifting a brow. As the branch settled, he put his free paw down on it tenderly, testing it's give. Slowly, Waya put more and more of his weight on it, feeling it bend under his strength. When he had a good push on it, he pulled hard, freeing his front right paw, and pushed off the branch to plant both of his front paws on the solid ground beside the mud puddle. With one final heave, the large male then used this hold to pull out his hind feet, which sent him tumbling like a goofball rump over muzzle into the bushes.  

[Dulcea]

"That ought to do it," she said with a laugh, relaxing as she saw him tumble free. Though as he did the thought occurred to her that he might not be so friendly now that he wasn't in a compromised position. She hoped she was wrong. He had been lighthearted so far so she figured she ought to give him the benefit of the doubt.

She settled on her haunches, looking over toward the bushes. Sometimes she had trouble differentiating between things that were similar colors, and at the moment she couldn't quite lock on to where he was. It unnerved her, and her fur stood on end as she felt the tremors in her front paws quicken. "What um, what is your name?" she asked, hoping the sound would help her locate him.  

[Sareibear]

"Oh yes, yes...thank you!." Wayakesk picked himself up off the ground where he ended up after his tumble and shook himself off, twigs and leaves and grass falling from him as he did so. He was glad she had enjoyed that little performance. Seeing others happy made Waya happy, simple as that. While he had felt like a bit of a dolt earlier for getting himself stuck in the mud, the fact that this lioness was amused was enough for him to brush it off. He laughed as well, and couldn't help but notice as her paws trembled.

"M'names Wayakesk, ma'am." He said cheerily, moving a bit closer to her and then reclining to huis haunches as well. "You wouldn't mind me sitting, eh?" He asked- after he'd already sat. He was banking on her not freaking out and attacking himm, but he figured that if she was going to do so, a better time would have been when he was hooped in the mud. He was still curious about her strangeness, but he wouldn't ask. It wasn't that she was scary or weird, just very different, and he supposed maybe it was possible even that she could belong to a clan of lions he hadn't heard of yet! That thought excited him, and he couldn't help but wiggle a little with excitement where he sat.

"It's a pleasure to meet you and many thanks again for helping me out. I must look like a silly cub, all stuck in the mud..." He trailed off, grinning widely at her, his tail flicking, his tuft was beginning to have mud dry on it. "My thoughts were somewhere else." He admitted with a chortle and a little snort.  

[Dulcea]

"Margulis," she said with a laugh, "My name that is. And never be embarrassed about thought. Without thought there is no reason for us to walk the earth. We'd all be mindless drones, no better than rocks with voices." She was glad that he seemed relaxed, it made her more confident.

"I've often found myself in a place I don't recognize, simply because I was following some trail of plants or thinking about a recipe I hadn't tried yet," she admitted, "Once it took me three whole days to find my way home."  

[Sareibear]

The large male perked his ears as she spoke. "Margulis, that's a different name. I've heard many names." He nodded insitently. "I actually pride myself somewhat on my knowledge of names and lineages within prides and families." He added, puffing his chest a little like a youngster. The chest-puff was only in jest, but Waya really did pride himself on his knowledges. "I've never heard yours before though..." He trailed off, tilting his head.

"You're right, I suppose! I'm glad that you are happy to talk with me, anyways." He smiled again, shaking his bangs from before his eyes and settling his gaze back on the lioness. "That must have been exciting!" Waya exclaimed as she mentioned having taken three days to find her way home. Waya had experienced something like that when he was a cub still- he had wandered off from father on a hunting lesson after a rabbit, and it had taken him two days to find his way back. Not quite as long, but he knew the feeling. For him, it had been dangerous and scary, but exciting, and he cherished that memory- especially the part about getting home to his family...they had been so happy to see him.  

[Dulcea]

Names and lineages, that was something she had never really considered to be an important field. Though, there would certainly be others that thought it was. It was something she thought she might bring before the other council members. She wondered how one might teach that, it seemed as if it would be simply a lot of memorization, and perhaps ventures to other pridal lands. Interesting, very interesting.

"You probably haven't met any of my kind before, we only recently well, ventured forth," she told him, and even that was tentative. If anything bad were to happen in the near future she wasn't sure the borders would stay open for long. "I'd be glad to talk to most anyone that will have me," she admitted, "If I don't keep my mind and my eyes open I may miss something that changes the world."  

[Sareibear]

Waya was truly incredulous as Margulis spoke on. It wasn't often that you run into creatures that speak in such truths and allow so much room for other opinions. Usually creatures just wanted to talk about themselves, and in fact that's what he himself had just done. Again, he felt like a little bit of a goof, and he chuckled to dismiss that feeling.

"Oh no, I'm sure I haven't. It is very easy for me to remember names, miss Margulis, and I'm sure if I had heard it I would have remembered. You must be from a special family anyways. But I suppose we all are in our own ways, eh?" He didn't mean to talk so much or so fast, it was just that he was the kind of creature who was always excited at a new friend and new conversations- and from the small amount of talking they had done already, he was convinced that this strange female probably had a lot of things to talk about that he didn't know about.

Though, that was never a bad thing.  

[Dulcea]

"Family is an antiquated concept, I think," she told him, hoping he wasn't the sort to be offended, "A cub grows so much stronger with the group backing them instead of just the ideas of two individuals." At least, that was the way it had always worked at home. She knew of her parents, of course, what their names and disciplines were, but she had never been any closer to them than she had been to any other member of the pride.

It wasn't uncommon for parents to favor their children over the other cubs, but it wasn't uncommon for them not to either. It worked best for all that way. "What of you, do you come from some family, some pride?"  

[Sareibear]

"Oh..." Wayakesk started, then trailed off, pondering, "I never thought of that before. You sure do think of lots of different options in things, don't you?" He inquired cheerily, his tail flicking of it'sown accord behind him as they chatted. "Not that I would ever mean that's bad, it's quite lovely actually...refreshing." He grinned at her, nudging her softly in jest.

"I'm from a family, yes, but not a pride. I have two brothers and a sister, but my parents are gone now." He added a small sigh to that thought, and glanced away for a moment. He really didn't have much of an idea where he'd wandered off to, and hoped that he didn't end up stranded when it came time to eat and rest. Ahh well, that wasn't important right at this moment- he'd decided.

"I've visited many prides though, and have learnt small pieces about the ones I've seen." He added, nodding at her and shifting his weight. "Might I inquire the same of you?" Waya questioned after, figuring it would only be fair to share same information, and such things were good, reliable conversation starters. He knew this well in his age.  

[Dulcea]

"Of course, questions are the most essential words we speak," she told him with a soft sigh, "Yet the answers to so many are questions in their own right. It's a never ending cycle."

"I come from a pride of scientists," she said proudly, lifting herself up so that her attitude reflected the feeling, "I lead them now, I suppose." It felt strange to say, she had been the most junior of the council members when the plague had struck and it had been hard to suitably fill their places since then. Many had tried but there were so many conflicting opinions it was hard to keep it all stable. But she made no final decisions, that much was important.

"We value the pursuit of knowledge above all else, and options allow us to work unrestricted," she added with a nod, "No true discoveries can come if one is restrained in their thinking." Or their actions, but that tended to be a more controversial subject. "I hope to visit many lands and prides, but until I am able to I must try and reconcile my kind with the closer world outside. Rogues, I suppose you could say, harmless enough when they are alone."  

[Sareibear]

The large male listened intently as his new acquaintance spoke. She had many interesting things to say, he had been right. This was glorious, and he reveled and basked in the information pieces she offered to him. He supposed that after hearing such things as she said, that he might likely get along with the others she lived with as well. He had similar ideas about learning and discovering new things. Maybe no so eloquently spoken or elaborated, but he had the feeling it was the same general idea.

"Well, well..." He trailed off for a second, poking out his tongue as he contemplated her words yet again, "That's all very interesting, I have definitely much to learn about you and your pride, if you don't mind. I am enjoying what you've told me so far, and it seems quite neat indeed. One would assume you are very organized then...?" Waya figured this was a valid inquiry, it sounded like they were all very articulate and intelligent, and he figured that generally intelligent, articulate creatures were organized well, or at least better than most others.

"You are doing quite well by my books of socializing, miss Margulis." He offered her another kind smile- in his own mind taking particular note of her use of the word 'close' in relevance to her kind, glancing about for a quick moment and then returning his full attention to her responses.