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 Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:38 pm
 Jaribu happily rolled through the tall savannah grasses. This was one of his favorite things to do, especially when his joints were giving him problems. Take a tumble in the grasses and then soak in a water hole. Yessiree, that was the recipe for pure happiness that this old lion loved to fulfill.
His eyes were closed with pleasure, so he wasn't going to see anyone that came upon him. And his ears were currently filled with grass blades, small twigs, and even a few flowers, so he wasn't going to hear anyone either. But he didn't mind. If his size didn't intimidate someone, than his deep voice surely would one he realized that he was not alone.
But still.
Jaribu wasn't too worried.
He just kept rolling around, wiggling his body (while he was on his back) so that his whole pelt, already a deep brown, was sprinkled with greens and tans. Then he rose up, and shook himself slightly, though bits of grass still clung to his pelt.
There was a little watering hole nearby, Jaribu remembered. It would be the perfect ending to the day, along with soothing his legs and joints. That was one of the bad things about getting old, he winced, as he began to walk in the direction of the water. The older your mind grew, your body grew just as old. If not more.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:57 pm
 The best things about afternoons...There were too many to name!
Swimming, hunting, sleeping, swimming, lounging, swimming...Uhhh...Uhhh...yeah!
Smiling placidly, orange ears turned up straight, the bright-colored lioness seemed to bounce along the savanna. She didn't seem to mind the rough shoots of grass brushing her body as she went. If she did, she didn't show it. Life was too good to get down about that kind of thing; too short. And--
Pausing mid-step, the lioness' eyes widened, paw hanging as if she were avoiding stepping on a small child. In front of her were three rocks. Two were next to each other, one was on the side. Mandalululin regarded the rocks carefully, red eyes going from one to the other to the other. Then, she reached her paw out and slid the lonely rock over to the other two until they were perfectly aligned.
"There, little guy." she murmured, smiling at her handy work. "Now you're with your family!" Completely disregarding her blatant OCD display, the female left her rock "family" and continued her bounce along the savanna. But, being an afternoon as it was, good things were sure to happen; fun, exciting things. And the female hadn't gone two steps before she found something very intriguing just ahead.
There was one, lone, spindly tree amidst the savanna grasses. It had one broken branch hanging down; the only thing marring how perfect the tree could've looked. Hardly able to contain herself, the lioness grinned and trotted towards the tree. When she arrived at its base, she looked it up and down, then sat back to observe it for a moment, as if deciding the best root of action to take. As she stared, she breathed. And as she breathed, a scent filled her nose; the scent of a male lion. Eyes wincing wide open, Lulu turned her head over her shoulder, remaining seated. Behind her was a brown lion rolling in the grass.
Lulu stood and walked over to him, a frown on her face. She didn't seem to think about the fact that the male looked like he had no idea she was there. She didn't seem to even consider the possibility that her randomly walking up to him while he was unaware of her presence may startle him. Noooo, that didn't cross her mind.
"'scuse me!" she said loudly, a surprised, but somehow concerned look on her face. "Would you help me get that branch down?" she added, tail pointing behind her.
Yep. She was completely normal; your average, everyday lioness.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:12 pm
He was just pausing to stretch his leg out a bit more. A particular joint was giving him quite a bit more trouble than the others, and it was annoying. He was old, but surely not that old. A polite but loud request made a lioness known to Jaribu, interrupting his thoughts, and he turned around in surprise to see a very bright female frowning at him. She didn't look familiar; he was quite certain that he would remember a coat such as hers. He blinked at her in response. Had he unknowingly done something wrong to her? Insult her, perhaps? By rolling the grass; how on earth could he insult someone by doing a cub-like thing such as that...
Or had he stumbled upon her home territory? He winced at the thought, but decided to lend his assistance in hopes for apologizing. It was never an intention to trespass on a family land, or even one 'claimed' by a single creature.
"Sure," he replied. "Where is this branch that's giving you some trouble?" He added a charming smile just in case that his eagerness to assist didn't come off the way he wanted it to. You never knew with females. One minute they could be charming and sweet, but the next...
Well, you would never know they could be charming and sweet.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:23 pm
The female's expressions were absolutely no secret, and probably never would be so long as she lived. She wasn't one to hide what she was feeling, and maybe couldn't even if she tried. Upon the male's agreement, her face was positively beaming, paws kneading the ground where she stood as if she could hardly stand being in one place anymore.
"Wonderful! It's just this way~!" she chimed, spinning around. She walked back to the tree, legs stiff and stamping in some odd, distorted way of walking somewhat akin to an elephant's. She was in the habit of doing things that may have been deemed strange by most. But, like with most things when it came to the lioness, she was completely unaware of her own traits. Life was life, and she took things as they came to her. Like this male, for example.
He was pretty stunning!
OHNO OHNO BUT SHE WOULD NEVER SAY THAT OUT LOUD OH GODS WHAT IF HE COULD HEAR HER THOUGHTS?!
Pffffffft...He couldn't...Her mind worked a little too quickly for her own good sometimes...PAH! A lion who could read thoughts...
For a split second, the lioness stared at the lion very, very carefully over her shoulder, eyes narrowed to wary slits.
Then she turned around speedily and finally stood before the spindly tree. Once there, she nodded to the branch. She stood on the trunk and traced the air around the branch, seeming to size it up, or find out what the best way to cut it down was. She couldn't decide. She had decision issues sometimes...
"Thissssss~," she said sternly, glaring at the branch. "How to get it down...?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:28 pm
Jaribu was completely and totally unaware of the rapid thoughts bouncing back and forth in the female's mind. Nor did he probably even want to know about those thoughts. While she walked in front of him, it gave him a moment to look at her more closely. She was definitely younger than he, though that was no surprise. She walked a bit strangely and talked a bit strangely...
Overall, he had to say that she was probably one of the strangest lionesses he had ever met.
Soon enough, they came upon the tree with the branch in question. It hung down by the side of the trunk, limply, almost forlornly. It didn't look like it was giving up it's spot without a fight.
"What about if I just pull on it a little?" He took the end of the branch into his mouth and gave it a good yank. It didn't budge. That was unexpected. The lion narrowed his eyes and got a better grip on the wood and pulled at it again.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:09 am
Mandalululin's red eyes bounced back and forth from the tree to the male, tree to the male, and she watched steadfastly as the lion tried stubbornly to rip the broken branch down. It obviously proved harder than it looked, and the glowy lioness found a quirky half-smile tugging at the right side of her maw. It was all pretty funny, the more she thought about it. There she was, looking at this tree, then she saw a male, and then they talked, and the male came over to the tree, and now he was trying to get the...the branch down...for her.
The lioness frowned suddenly, something like guilt sinking into her stomach. Instead of just watching the lion go through all that for her sake, why not help him out? It seemed logical. When someone helps you, you help them. That was how the world worked, right? Well, at least in her mind that was how it worked.
Without a word, the fish-colored lioness padded over to the lion and grabbed hold of the branch with him and pulled at it with all her might. It was dangerously hard without thumbs, but her forearms managed to do a pretty powerful job of things. She tugged and tugged, eyes squinting tight shut in her effort. She was feeling accomplished!
It was only a few seconds later before the lioness realized she wasn't pulling the branch down, but rather holding tight to it, both feet dangling off the ground.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:20 am
This branch was absolutely infuriating him. It was being incredibly stubborn and would. not. break. off. And it wasn't a question of his strength, oh no. Because if that was the case, he would exhaust himself in trying to prove that his strength needed no questions asked.
So he was not wholly unwelcoming of her help, when the lioness wrapped her forearms around the twig right before him and tried to help pull. And he couldn't resist chuckling when he realized that she wasn't really helping so much as hanging on for the ride.
"Having fun?" he asked, letting go of the branch to talk to her. "That can't be comfortable."
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:32 am
Never having been one to fully understand the concept of sarcasm, Mandalululin answered the male's question quite honestly.
"No," she grunted, then released her grip on the branch. She landed heavily on her stomach, throat emitting a strange noise on impact. She remained there for a moment before she finally staggered to her paws. She tossed a quick glance at the male, seeming to check for something, then turned her attention to the tree branch once more. It was sagging more and some of the bark had lines in it--the same kind of lines the ground had after an earthquake.
Lulu's mouth formed a tiny "o" shape. They had actually made some progress in their endeavor to break the branch off! Maybe just a few more strong tugs...
"Hey, how about I stand on your back and lie on top of the branch, and I'll push it down, and then you grab it and you pull it down at the same time?" the lioness was beginning to act this out during her instructions, however, and had already been clambering closer to the male, red eyes scanning his back.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:36 am
Well, when you let go of a branch that's high up in the air and not yet broken and on the ground, that's what happens. You land on the ground pretty hard. He was about to ask if she was okay when a look crossed her face, and suddenly she was talking, moving closer to him.
Jaribu eyed the lioness for a moment and debated his options. If he said yes, she would climb on top of him.
Uh. To push the branch down, of course.
And maybe it would work.
If he said no, then she might be disappointed and they would still be stuck doing what they had been doing which obviously hadn't been working, otherwise they wouldn't still be trying to get the branch off the tree.
He wondered why it was so important, anyway. But he was a sucker for a pretty lady's plea of aid.
"Alright, let's try that. Just be careful climbing on."
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:50 am
The lioness didn't seem at first to react to the male's agreement, but her movements quickened and she seemed to study the male's back as if it were some shocking new species of animal. Her tail twitched behind her and she lifted herself from the ground, front paws landing on the large male's back. In her attempts to hoist herself up, her claws stuck out briefly and she quickly sheathed them, letting out a hissing sound as if she had stabbed her own flesh. Her body slammed against the side of the tree and she tried to use it as a wall of support, back limbs pushing against the ground until she finally stood on the male's back.
Face showing an almost startled grin of success, Mandalululin took a daring leap off the male's back and wrapped all four limbs around the branch. One way or another, however, the lioness flipped upside-down so that her tail and hair pointed down and the blood rushed to her head. Still, her limbs held tight around the branch like a boa constrictor. Her teeth ground against themselves and her eyes bulged in the effort to hold on. The branch squeaked under her weight and trembled.
"QUICK!" she grunted, teeth still clenched tight together. Though it was very unclear as to what she was telling the male to do.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:58 am
To stand on another lion's back was easier said than done. He winced slightly as she clambered on top of him, trying to hold as still as possible so she wouldn't wiggle and lose her balance or something.
Though he was a bit surprised when her weight left his back, and she jumped out in front of him to latch onto the branch..upside down.
Jaribu quickly grabbed the end of the branch in his mouth and tugged hard. Hopefully this would be enough weight and effort combined to bring the stupid thing down once and for all.
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