[PRP] What a Puny Lioness [Orlan, Frigga and Ripoti]

[Cajanic]

Orlan and Frigga were spending the time together. It had felt like they hadn't in some time, though Orlan was a little unsure of why the cranky female even wanted to meet up with her. More than that, they were in the rogue lands, too! they never spent time in the rogue lands- it was a horrible place with horrible lions and she was very nervous just being there. It didn't matter that they really weren't that far from the pride lands.

A casual stroll and they would be home again.

"What are even doing outside the pride borders?" Demanded Orlan after their silent walk had gotten the better of her. This was all much too weird.

"Shut up," hissed Frigga, reminding Orlan whom she was speaking to, "I'm just curious about the rogue lands, that's all. I've been hearing a lot about it recently." she took her time looking around, eager to find someone to speak to. Since the male she had spoken to had been born in the rogue lands, she found herself more interested in them. Not that she was going to tell Orlan that, of course.  

[Lithiasaur]

Ripoti was pretty sure this was not where she wanted to be. She liked areas with thick bushes and high grass, and this place did not seem to have too much of either of those. She liked to hide, because her purple fur tended to stick out against the green and yellow grasses. If she did not have anything to hide behind she felt very vulnerable.

She was very tiny for a cheetah, even if cheetah were known to be small. She was not particularly strong, either, and she was fast mostly in small bursts. She attacked like a snake, as she had mostly been raised by them, and spent most of the time trying to adapt how they moved to her hunting.

So far she was able to keep herself reasonably fed, so she did not feel inclined to learn the 'proper' way to do things.

Hearing someone coming, she moved to hide as best she could, which meant ducking behind a small rock and staring at them with very large eyes, proportionally to her reasonably small head. She kept her paws tucked under her, as if trying to look like a purple stick.  

[Cajanic]

Both lionesses spotted ripoti almost instantly, despite her being such a small cheetah. They exchanged looks for a moment, neither one quite sure what they were looking at. Non lions were welcome in the pride lands, of course, but there still weren't that many, for some reason. Neither had ever seen a cheetah before.

It was Frigga who moved first, letting out a loud huff. "What the heck is that? A little cub? It doesn't look like any lioness I've ever seen before!"

"Don't be mean, Frigga," Orlan admonished her quickly, before taking a few careful steps towards the rock Ripoti was failing to hide behind, "don't worry little cub, we're not going to hurt you. And you can ignore Frigga- you look lovely even if you're not totally normal."

"Humph. Maybe it's one of those hybrids," Frigga commented, "Look at that fat tail! What a strange thing for a lioness to have! And such spindly little legs, too!"

"Frigga, come on!" Orlan snapped, "she's never going to come out if you keep saying things like that! I'm sorry, little cub. Frigga is very rude. It's okay to glare at her- we all do."

Lithiasaur

 

[Lithiasaur]

Cajanic

Ripoti stared at them for a long moment, crouched down as close to the ground as she could possibly be, eyes wide as saucers. Uh oh. They were coming closer, and she had no where to run to that would offer her better protection than this small rock. She panicked for a moment, shifting one way and then the other, but ultimately failed to move anywhere.

"HEY," she yelped out of fear, not used to talking to others and not too great with the volume control. "I'M HIDING OVER HERE. YOU STAY OVER THERE."

There, that would do it. She was sure they knew she was here now but with her clarifying why she was behind the rock they would likely not come near. That was how snakes worked, after all, and it always seemed to work for them. Of course, they had those rattles on the ends of their tails, and the noise they made came from there. She only had her voice, and was not the best at growling.

Yelling was as big and scary as she could get.

She huffed at them both, though, swinging her tail behind her in irritation.

"I am not a cub!!" she yelled, in an exact approximation of a petulant cub.  

[Cajanic]

Both Frigga and Orlan were extremely surprised by just how loud the cub was. Neither had expected such a small animal to produce such a loud noise. However, it didn't do much to dissuade them from thinking that she was a cub, given how silly the things she was yelling were. Orlan smiled warmly at the cheetah, while Orlan rolled her eyes in irritation.

"It's okay," said the blue and white messenger, "you don't have to worry about looking tough in front of us. We know you're probably VERY grown up!" She wanted the cub to feel like they would treat her like an adult. Maybe that would bring her out of hiding?

Frigga, meanwhile, had completely lost interest in the cub, or freak, or whatever it was, and wanted nothing more than to continue on her exploration with her friend.

"Just leave it, Orlan. Clearly there's something wrong with it! Maybe it thinks we're going to eat it or something."

"Don't call her an 'it', and I'm sure she doesn't think that! She's probably a very smart cub." She looked back at the cheetah, frowning thoughtfully. "though if we are bothering you, little one, we can leave you alone! You just have to let us know. And maybe... less loudly..."

Lithiasaur

 

[Lithiasaur]

Cajanic

Ripoti felt irritation bubbling inside her. They thought she was a cub! That was ridiculous, she was clearly an adult, she was just a small one. She was not exactly sure how to go about convincing them of the fact, though, and she continued to stare at them from her hiding place, shuffling her paws under her in a huff.

"I'm not a cub!" She yelped again, finally standing up. She seemed to grow legs from no where, the long limbs unfolding from their perch beneath her and bringing her up to her full height. It was not much, but she was a cheetah and did have those long legs of hers.

She swung her long tail behind her, looking from one lioness to the other. They were both much larger than she was, so she was still very nervous about this encounter.

"My name is Ripoti and I am a cheetah! An adult cheetah!"

She tried to stop yelling, clearing her throat and crouching down a bit more, tail lowering between her legs. Hopefully they would not take her standing up as a threat toward them. She could not take two large lionesses, and certainly did not want to.  

[Cajanic]

"Oh!" Yelped Orlan in surprise, "you're a cheetah! Of course! I'm so sorry, I thought you were a lion cub because you were so small! But cheetahs are small by nature, right? Oh, now I feel silly," she chuckled lightly, her tail swishing as she tried to fight the desire to stick her head in the ground and pretend she wasn't there anymore. What an embarrassing thing to get wrong! No wonder she had been so angry with them.

"Humph, well you should have said that from the beginning, instead of hiding and acting like a baby!" Countered Frigga sharply, her attitude finally enough to get a bit of a growl from Orlan. She grunted in response, turning her head away from the two. She was only being grumpy because she was embarrassed, too. After all, she had been mistaken as well.

"You'll have to forgive us! We come from a pride, you see, and we don't have too many cheetahs around. I'm afraid I didn't recognize your species right away!" Still, she seemed very small, even for a cheetah. Maybe she was still young, and just wanted to be seen as an adult? Whatever the case, Orlan wasn't going to push it anymore. She was going to treat her like an adult and hope for the best.

"We were just exploring a bit," she continued awkwardly, "do you live around here? Our pride isn't far from this area. We're like neighbors!" And like any good neighbor, she knew absolutely nothing about the animals living next to her. Wasn't she a charmer?

She took some comfort in knowing that Frigga had made a mistake, too, so she wouldn't have to worry about getting teased by the cream lioness.

"I guess I should properly introduce the two of us- I'm Orlan, and this is Frigga. It's nice to meet you, Ripoti!"

Lithiasaur

 

[Lithiasaur]

Cajanic

Ripoti watched her and then moved toward the nicer female that was speaking, bumping her head against Orlan's shoulder in a gesture of trust. Ripoti was scared of lots of things, but this lioness seemed pretty friendly, and that was enough to put her a little more at ease.

She did not like the other one, though, and frowned at Frigga with her big eyes and silly pout not making her look too tough.

"I was not acting like a baby! STOP BEING MEAN. Please."

She shrank down a bit, ears flattening, and looked at Orlan for help. Clearly the nicer lion would be able to control the meaner one. Maybe Frigga was just upset because she was not as easy to like as her friend, and was lonely because of it? That would be sad, and Ripoti did not want to add to that problem... she was a little torn between her desire to be friendly and her urge to run and hide.

It was hard being a sweet coward.

"I don't live anywhere," Ripoti said, after a moment of thought. She didn't, as she was always wandering around. She made some dens along the way but nothing permanent so far. They were probably homes to others now.

"It's nice to meet you Orlan. And... I guess I met you too, Frigga..."  

[Cajanic]

Frigga huffed when the female snapped at her, absolutely shocked to have someone talk to her in such a way! It would never happen if they were back in the pride lands. How rude. With a bit of a growl, she looked away, saying nothing only because Orlan looked at her with that expression that told her she was being too mean.

But the cheetah didn't need to be so emotional about it!

Orlan couldn't help but laugh at the way she responded to the greeting, while Frigga looked all the more frustrated by it. "You hear that, Frigga? She met you. That's probably the best way to describe it, I think."

"Humph!"

"Anyway, I'm sorry for all the confusion, Ripoti! I think it might be best if we left you alone now, huh? Perhaps if we meet again we can have a better conversation! Until then, I hope you enjoy the rest of the day, and please don't hold us against our own stupidity in not knowing you weren't a lion cub!" She felt it was best to leave now before they really upset the poor cheetah.

She looked ready to explode, all things considered.

Lithiasaur

 

[Lithiasaur]

Cajanic

"Yeah, maybe," she eeped out, when Orlan offered to leave her alone. As much as she liked the one, the other was just not someone she wanted to spend more time with. Frigga was so mean!

And Ripoti was running out of defenses. She felt very much like a small cat backed into a corner by two much larger cats. It was an oddly fitting personal analogy, though she was not literally near any structures that made a corner...

"Okay, bye," she said after a quiet, awkward moment. She turned and skittered away from them as fast as she could while staying belly down to the floor. Her long tail made her look like a snake slithering through the grass, except four lanky legs really took away from the graceful look snakes had when they moved.

Not that she was going for grace. Just speed and cover. She found a bush to slip into, rustling every leaf as she picked her way through the branches to settle back down into a comfortable hiding spot.