Between Arindam and Jini


Arindam had been travelling for a few days, and the pace was, really, starting to bug him. He knew if he asked, Cirrhila would be more then able to keep up with him, but he didn't want to run her ragged before they could get to the pride. He wanted her to be perfect and acceptable as his Beybanu, his most favorite female. As it were, they weren't exactly travelling towards the pride. No, they were heading away from it, but he only explained his reasoning as to be 'looking' for someone. Whether that was a female or male, he didn't divulge, and Cirrhila hadn't asked. He was comfortable with not explaining why he was still searching for his brother after all this time, when for all he knew his sweet little brother could be dead.

Probably was, in fact.

He shuddered at that thought, and made a face, looking around. Everything was so quiet here. It was peaceful. If he hadn't had a plan in mind, why, he might even suggest they just settle there and make their own little 'group'. But no. They had a pride to go to. After all, he did want to see his friend Mzuka eventually. Yawning to himself, he started walking again, keeping his ears and eyes open and observing.

Jini was bored. She was always bored. A young cub, easy to please, but it was relatively easy for her mind to wander, an for something that was fascinating mere moments ago to suddenly become as boring as naptime. But it wasn't naptime now. The sun was high in the sky, but obscured by clouds, making it a relatively cool atmosphere as the cheetah cub bounded through the long grass, trying to catch a frog she'd seen mere moments before.

Where had it gone!? She could hear it croaking, even hear the rustle of the grass as it moved, but her juvenile mind couldn't quite process all the information into its exact position. Leaping to the left with a cry, she whined loudly as she realized it wasn't a frog she'd 'caught' - no, it was a lump of seaweed. With a yelp of disgust Jini tumbled backwards, trying to get the icky seaweed off to her paws. "Get it offfffff!"

Arindam heard the yelp from where he was, and grunted for Cirrhila to stay put as he went to explore. He stalked towards the sound with his belly practically dragging on the ground, eyes narrowed as he looked for whatever squealed like a little cub. Who could possibly be out here with cubs? A rogue, no doubt, he hadn't smelt anything that might indicate a pride. Though, perhaps there was a pride here who just hadn't fixed their borders. Hmmm. He'd hoped not, it would really suck to be ran out on account of a little mistake.

Bah, no trouble. Whoever it was sounded like they were in distress; perhaps he would help them and be allowed to stay in the imaginary pride for a few days of rest. Cirr would like that...

Jini growled at the seaweed, finally using her other paw to bat the last of it off, making a disgusted sound as she wriggled away from it, wrinkling her nose and turning the other way, running off in the opposite direction to the icky seaweedy stuff. It shouldn't even exist! It was icky and gross an--OOF!! Suddenly finding herself colliding with something, Jini rolled back, gasping as the air was knocked out of her lungs in surprise. Pale eyes glanced up , realizing she'd crashed into a big, huge LION.

He was MASSIVE!

And so, she did what seemed like the smartest option. As soon as she had enough breath, she opened her maw and screamed.

Arindam blinked when a dark blur suddenly ran right at him, and didn't have time to step aside before the poor thing collided right into him and fell backwards. He barely budged. It was definitely a cub; cheetah, by the looks of it. Arindam grinned slowly, amused with the little cub... Until she screamed. "Ow!" His ears flattened into his mane, and he fumed, reaching over and putting a paw on her head to push her head down towards the ground. "Stop that!" He ordered, exasperated. Why was she screaming? It wasn't like he was going to eat her, for the love of Mkodi!

"What're you doing, screaming like that? Yeesh." He sat down with a small huff, reaching up to paw at his ear. "Almost made me deaf, you."

HE WAS TOUCHING HER! No, wait...WORSE. HE WAS SQUISHING HER! Her screams of fear instead turned to screams of pain as she unsheathed her small little claws, scratching at his paw to try and get it to stop pushing her downwards. Jini was a delicate one - she had a fairly low pain tolerance, and despite Arindam pushing only gently...well, it hurt her. Since the claws didn't seem to be working, Jini decided she needed better weapons, so changed her tactics. So instead, she bit him.

"OW!" He snarled, yanking his paw away, and fumed. "What is wrong with you?!" He shook his paw, licking where she'd bit irritably. Honestly, cubs were so ridiculous. He'd only been coming to see if she needed help, but nooo. Instead, she ran into him, screamed, and then bit him! He hadn't even felt the claws, really, but those teeth... This was not worth it. They could've been gone already, but noooo, he had to be curious.

Unaware that salty tears had escaped her eyes, Jini began yowling. Her head hurt! The big mean monster had hurt her, and now he was screaming, and it was just too much for the delicate young cheetah. Wailing, she curled into a little ball, shaking gently as she just hoped the humongous lion would leave her alone so she could run off to Momma.

He blinked when she started crying, and rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Oh, come on, I barely touched you." He fumed a little, lowering down and putting his head by hers with a little caution. Didn't need her biting his nose or anything, did he? No, no he did not. "I heard you shrieking, I thought you were in trouble." He said idly, poking at her. "C'mon, stop crying, you're fine. No scratches or bumps or anything." He didn't care so much about crying boys, but crying girls were an entirely different matter.

He started talking, but the words were muffled due to Jini being curled into a ball. Feeling his breath on her fur she whined softly, beginning to shudder softly. One lightning-fast paw crept out from the bll of fur, firmly pushing against his nose in a clear signal to back off a little. And then the paw was pulled back in, just as quickly.

"It hurt." the ball of fluff stated quite firmly, still shaking a little.

He blinked, and sneezed when he felt her paw on his nose, rubbing it absently. "Well I hadn't meant for it to hurt." He said, scoffing a little. "I was just trying to get you to stop screaming. You were hurting my ears." He backed up a little like she'd wanted him to, but not by much. "Come on, what's your name?" He asked, tilting his head. "Mine's Arin." He offered, smiling a little.

A pale eye peeked out from the fur, regarding him carefully, but no more movement followed. It seemed Jini was quite happy in such a position - after all, she could very easily curl back up into a ball to protect herself if the lion was suddenly big and mean and attacked her. She supposed he did have a fair point...her screaming could have hurt his ears. But he didn't have to push down on her like that!

"...Jini," she eventually squeaked, still watching him carefully.

"Jini." He nodded a little, and smiled. "There, that wasn't so bad, right?" He asked, tilting his head at her. After a minute, he shifted, laying down proper now. It was more comfortable then crouching there. "You're awfully small to be out on your own, y'know." He frowned at her, lifting his head to look around. "Where's your parents at?" The whole concept of a cub on their own never even entered his mind. Cubs always had parents somewhere, at least until they were a bit older. She looked too young to be without them.

"It's dangerous out here on your own. You could've run into someone a lot less nice then me."

Why did he want to know where Momma was!? Was he going to hurt her!? She watched him carefully, not speaking, merely shaking a little as she never once blinked or looked away. She wasn't small! ...Much. And she didn't have a Papa, so parents, the plural, wasn't something she should have to answer, right? Well, she couldn't just say nothing...

"Momma's nearby," she mumbled quietly, not wanting to give too much away.

He nodded a little, looking back at her. "Well, so long as she's nearby, I guess..." He tilted his head, frowning at her. "Did you wander off on her?" He asked after a minute, arching an eyebrow. "She could be worried sick about you." He added after a minute, wrinkling his nose. He was trying to appear smaller then he was, certain that his size was what was making poor Jini so nervous.

Jini whined quietly, not wanting to give away that she was scared. Wander off? No, she hadn't! She'd been chasing Tamu, but then he'd disappeared so she'd gone chasing the frog and...now she was here. Why was Arin so interested in her Momma? Calculating a little plan there and then, Jini reminded herself which direction Momma was in as she shuffled around a little...

Before jumping forwards, biting Arin on the nose, and fleeing off through the grass, screaming all the while. She wouldn't be adventuring by herself for a little while yet.

Arin watched her shuffling around, and bilnked a little, frowning. What was she up to? Like that wasn't obvious she was planning something. Before he could react, the little cheetah had chomped his nose and ran off. He yelped, rubbing his nose, and fumed after her. Crazy little cub! He got up, shaking his head, and started heading back the way he came. Hmph. He'd have to be slightly pickier about who he attempted to help from now on. Jeez.