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 Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:57 pm
Things were bad! They were oh so very bad!
Nahmba was frantic, pacing back and forth in front of a crevice. It was deep, and down there, stuck at the bottom, with his back paws above his head and his head in who knew what direction, was a gangly little black cub.
The strangest looking thing Nahmba had ever seen, all contorted like that. "Hang on!" she called down to it, worry all over her features.
"I'm okay!" it mumbled back. "Someone will rescue me." Seer powers and all, Alla had gotten quite the idea in his head: whatever he thought up was going to come true, and so people shouldn't go out of his way for him.
Unfortunately, for some reason, they always came true quite a great deal later than he always imagined they would. This prediction stuff was strangely lame.
"Not okay!" Nahmba argued with him, and then was gone, her little feet running as fast as they could carry her in search of help.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:03 pm
 Maktaba was just passing through the rogue lands, as he eternally was, when he heard some strange noises in the air. Tilting his head, perking his ears up, he realized they were cries for help.
And he just happened to have a bit of a hero complex.
The brown lion bounded toward the source of the sound, spotting a lioness looking around nearby. He imagined she was the one in trouble and he moved over to her, his face etched in concern.
Of course, Maktaba was not the most useful lion. He wasn't the best fighter, and usually his penchant for talking or over thinking got in the way of things. Hopefully this wasn't a physical problem, or he might be more harm than good.
"Are you okay, miss?" he asked, as he padded up to her.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:06 pm
Nahmba had to stop and think for a moment. Was she okay?
"Yes! I am okay," she told him. To affirm this fact, she made a quick circle around to his back and bumped him meaningfully in the rump with her head.
"You need to help. Hurry!" Her voice was firm, for Nahmba, and she was going to leave no room for option, headbutting him two more times to enunciate her point.
"If you don't hurry, he'll die all alone and thirsty." There was a brief moment of remembering what something dead and thirsty looked like, and Nahmba did not like it. This male was going to fix it.
"Hurry, hurry," she encouraged, bounding ahead, showing the way, and fully expecting him to follow.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:09 pm
Maktaba waited with bated breath for her answer, not sure if she was trying to think up some excuse, or maybe try and trick him some how? Was this a game? Why was he being so suspicious all of a sudden? Usually he just rushed in to helping others and thought about everything else. He tilted his head at her when she nodded, though.
He let out a high pitched, less than flattering sound when she bumped his bottom. It really wasn't what he had been expecting. Just what did she need help with, anyway?
"Okay, okay!" he yelped, bumbling forward at her urging, not sure where she was trying to make him go. But she said someone was dying, so he paid attention. He followed after her as she moved off.
"What's going on?!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:16 pm
"I will explain on the way!" she told him, her movements a distinct trot. She kept glancing back, not sure if he could keep up. Men always lumbered along in her pride. It always surprised her when they could run and did it well.
It seemed that her helper could keep up, at the very least.
"There's a biiiiig crack in the ground," she explained between breaths, her tail swinging madly to the side as she ran. "A funny little black cub has himself planted at the bottom."
She came skittering to a halt, dirt and rocks flying forwards, some bouncing into the forementioned space in the ground.
"I do not know what to do," was the whipser of her voice as she peered down into the hole and then turned back to Maktaba.
"Fix it."
From down below, there was the sound of scratching, but Alla couldn't dislodge himself, nor was he sure what he was going to do if he did. "Maybe you should find my mother?" he suggested.
"Shhh!" Nahmba hushed him. "We are helping you."
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:20 pm
The frazzled lion followed after her dutifully, bound to help her by some silent promise. He couldn't very well back out now. How wussy would that look? Not to mention rude. And if there was one thing Maktaba was not, it was rude.
"A cub is down a crack in the floor?" Maktaba called, trying to keep up mentally, since he wasn't having a very difficult time keeping up physically. He nodded at the explanation, his mind already turning over possible escape options even before they came upon the crack and the stuck cub.
He came to a slower stop, not wanting to add to the cub's apparent troubles by raining dirt on him. Though, it seemed his companion had already done that.
Blinking, he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again and looked puzzled. Fix it?
"O-okay."
He looked around. "We should find something he could grab on to. Oh!" Maktaba turned around and sat down at the edge of the crevice, swinging his tail down and glancing over his shoulder to see if it was long enough for the cub to reach. "Can you grab onto that, son?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:26 pm
Alla could see nothing because Nahmba's face was in the way of the light. He writhed and squirmed again, not happy with the visual.
The echo in his ears was promising however and he strained his eyes to look for swaying light.
Ahah! He strained himself, feeling pain go up through his leg, but managing to sink his teeth and one claw into the male's tail. He hoped that it hadn't pained Maktaba too much.
Nahmba gave an exited gasp of delight when she saw the cub hook himself on, and she backed her head from the crevice, sneezing dust as she went. "He's on, he's on!" she told Maktaba as though he couldn't feel it himself.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:29 pm
Maktaba made a silly face when he felt the cub bite onto his tail, not needing the female to tell him about it, though he really shouldn't have expected it to feel any better. He looked over his shoulder again, though he couldn't really see anything, before tugging at his tail. He had to make sure the cub had a firm hold before he pulled him up.
This was probably going to hurt a lot.
He took a breath and moved to stand, yanking on his own tail. He whimpered in pain as he tugged, moving slowly but with purpose to get the cub dislodged and out of the hole.
"Try and climb out if you can!" he called back, his voice an octave or two higher than it should have been. "You'll be up soon."
He hoped so, at least. His poor tail was regretting this immensely.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:34 pm
Hurt was an understatement. Whether or not there was a rule for young male cubs screaming, Alla did not know and did not care. He let out a loud, anguished yell and dug what sharp impliments he had in further.
His back legs and spine felt as though they were being torn apart one by one. At the moment, he wasn't thinking about how his savior felt.
Nahmba seemed to be frantic about this, too. "It's okay! It won't hurt long!"
Alla wished she'd just shut up. Even as a cub, he'd been blessed with the miracle of bitterness and sarcasm.
When he'd reached a point of escape, he used his front paws - all bloody from the tug - to grasp onto the edge of the ledge and wiggle and pull himself up. Nahmba grasped his scruff and heaved him the rest of the way, and it was with an exhausted sigh that Alla let his body go limp in her jaws.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:37 pm
Shutting his eyes tightly, Maktaba focused on the help he was providing, and not the pain shooting through his sensitive tail and up his back. He knew the cub was just scared, and probably hurting, so he was just doing what came naturally.
Still. Ow.
Suddenly, though, the tension was gone and Maktaba's tugs weren't being balanced out. He fell forward, landing on his chest, face in the dust and butt in the air. He huffed, a cloud of dust getting kicked up again from the action, then pushed his front paws under himself and got righted.
He looked at the lioness, seeing the black cub in her jaws.
"Is he okay?" he asked, concern flooding his friendly features, green eyes softening.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:42 pm
Nahmba strained her eyes down, but couldn't tell if he was okay. From her throat came a low, cooing growl, and the cub responded to this by vagluey popping open one eye.
His gaze ended up on the horizon, and what he saw there didn't please him. Ears going back to his skull, he wiggled dramatically and looked over at Maktaba.
"I'm okay, I'm okay! Let's just hurry up, before --"
Unfortunately for all of them, his words really weren't said powerfully enough, or fast enough.
On that horizon, having snuck up with a stick in her mouth while they were digging the cub out of the hole, was a lanky lioness with one ear back, one ear forwards and her brows narrowed indefinitely on her forehead.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked the pair of them. Behind her, a red-tipped tail swished and cracked.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:47 pm
Oh Gods, Maktaba thought to himself, more trouble.
He was really starting to wonder why he continuously gave in to that hero complex part of his nature. It only ever got him into trouble. Endless amounts of trouble.
Swallowing, he looked at the second lioness who arrived on the scene, frowning at her thoughtfully. He offered her a very shaky smile, trying to look friendly but unable to hide his worry. This wouldn't end well, he could already see that.
"This boy was stuck down a hole. We were helping him get out. He's a bit tired from it but, ah... everything is fine... miss..." He flicked his tail, which hurt and made him wince.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:52 pm
The shaky smile from the male caused the angry scowl to warp. The corner of her mouth twitched up, revealing a few sharp teeth as she smiled.
"I know where he was." The sound of her voice was low, but sharp. She did not tolerate scared fools.
Her eyes flicked to the lioness that was with him who looked equally as puzzled and ill at ease. Nahmba took a step back, ears swiveling.
"He's mine," the red female explained as she took a step forwards. Her tail gave another whipping snap. "I'll have him back, thank you."
The black cub didn't seem to like this idea, and neither did Nahmba. She inched closer to Maktaba, leaning on him. Her blue eyes were wide as she stared off at the new lion, but she had not yet let go of the black cub.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:56 pm
Now what had he gotten into? Cubnapping? He looked at the lighter lioness as she moved nearer to him. Did she expect him to be protective or some kind of defense? He was silently whimpering about his tail: he was not the kind of male made for taking stands.
Still, he looked at the darker lioness and shook his head.
Reason and logic could prevail here. He hoped.
"He's been through quite a lot. I think he needs some rest. You should be gentle with him, and let him recover a bit," Maktaba advised, "I'd keep a better eye on him, if I were you. Though, I don't think he's liable to get himself stuck down any more holes."
He offered another smile, this one more legitimately friendly, his awkwardness fading the more he talked. Maktaba was always the most comfortable when he was surrounded by words.
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Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:06 am
The words seemed to make her pleased. Maktaba even received a small chuckle in response to his statement.
With Paiya, logic and reason never applied.
"No, he won't," she agreed. "Now, hand him over." Another step forwards was taken. Paiya's toes were just at the edge of the crevice the cub had found himself in and her head was lowered just enough to show how serious he was.
Nahmba, however, was not having any of this. She took another step backwards, brushing along Maktaba as she went. With a shake of her head, there was yet another step, and this received nothing but a calm stare from the lioness.
It would not remain that way for long.
"Your companion seems a bit uncertain. Kindly explain to her that I would like my cub back."
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