|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:21 pm
 Vizuri'maana was taking it easy lately. She and her mate did not know for sure if she was carrying another litter of cubs, but one couldn't be careful (and even if she wasn't, he was certainly making sure to treat her as if she was: very, very careful). She was mostly doing it for his sake anyway. He was such a worryhog. Zuri giggled as she picked her way through a small stream to the other side.
She had promised Lio and Ula, her daughter, that she would speak to Mahina, her other daughter, about the possible siblings both girls could look forward to have. She knew Mahi wouldn't be pleased with the idea; she was a spoiled Daddy's princess. Zuri couldn't help but smile and think how different her daughters were.
Zuri was excited for another litter. She and Lio missed desperately the sound of little paws scampering about the den.
As she walked through the stream--it was more like a river, really, since it was so wide--she stepped on something sharp and pulled her paw back with a surprised, soft yelp. She looked down and spotted something half-hidden in the sandy bottom of the water. Curious, she began to dig around to unearth it.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:39 pm
He was sprawled in the shade of some low trees not far from the water, napping lightly in the heat of the day. A feminine cry of pain woke him instantly, however. His eyes flew wide and he was on his paws in moments. Quietly but quickly he approached the source of the sound from upwind, scenting the air for any danger. He could tell there was a lioness there, smelling wet so she was in or just gotten out of the water... but he could smell no other animal presence. Still cautious, he padded within sight of the female.
She was doing... what? He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. She was pawing intently at the bed of the wide stream, looking nothing like a hurt female he'd expected to find. Puzzled and intrigued, he stepped out of cover and moved closer to her, though stopping at the edge of the water. "What are you doing?" he inquired in a deep voice, his expression still vastly baffled.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:00 pm
At first she didn't realize that a stranger had begun to talk to her. "I'm looking for the pointy rock that I stepped on," she replied absentmindedly, still continuing to dig. "My daughter makes jewelry sometimes out of rocks, and I thought it would be funny if the one that pricked me could be used in something she could make..oh!" Then she realized that she had no idea who the voice belonged to.
She stopped mid-dig, with her paw still in the water and half-buried in the river's bottom, as her head tilted up and her eyes flitted to the lion who was speaking. Zuri blushed at her mistake.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize," she laughed it off and shook her head. "I was, really, pricked by a little rock that now I'm trying to find. Did I bother you? Was I too loud? I'm sorry!" She must have been too noisy, in some way or form, if he had come over here specifically to ask what she was doing.
She continued to dig a little bit while she was apologizing and her paw touched something solid, and smooth.
"Ah ha!" she said triumphantly, and began to dig out the little piece that she had been searching for.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:19 pm
He listened with great interest as she babbled on about what was going on and what she was doing. There even was a why included, which happened to be a pretty sound reason to his thinking. He blinked though when she suddenly turned and tripped over her own words to apologize for the familiar way she'd spoken. Not that it had bothered him one bit.
He shook his shaggy head, letting his mane ripple pleasantly. "No, you weren't too loud, though I feared you'd been seriously hurt," he replied in explination. Her exclaimation made him p***k his ears and edge a little along the bank of the stream. He didn't wade out in it though, and kept his toes out of the lazily moving water. He didn't eye it warily or otherwise indicate it, but he truly did not like getting wet. He tolerated it when it was necessary, and without complaint even! But he preferred to stay dry if at all possible. Consequently he was stuck on the dry land where he couldn't see while she continued to paw animatedly into the soft silt of the stream bed.
Craning his neck, he attempted to get a glimpse of this mysterious and important artifact that could be used for jewelry. Actually, it made him a little curiuos about how such things came to be jewelry. He'd seen other lions and felines with ornaments, but had never considered any for himself. He tended to feel his markings were ornament enough. Even so, the odd bit of trivia about how such jewelry was made niggled at him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:31 pm
"Oh. Well how sweet of you to worry about lil' old me," she beamed at the lion in response to his explanation of why he had come over closer to her. Zuri didn't notice that he didn't step in closer to her, to see what she was doing. She didn't mind at all if he did or did not.
Finally her paw scooped up the right stone, and she tossed it out onto the bank he was standing on. Then she padded up closer to it, pushed it around with a paw, and grinned again, victorious.
The stone in question was a beautiful, radiant black color, with one small streak of green running through it. She knew Mahina would be thrilled with it. And Zuri even thought it could be used as a peace offering to her daughter when she came to break the news of possible siblings.
"Oh, it's beautiful! Mahi will love it," she turned and bestowed her grin of victory upon him as well, even though he had been a mere spectator.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:29 pm
He listened to her reply, bemused. She certainly seemed like a light-hearted, happy-go-lucky sort of female. In his opinion, this indicated better nature, but a possible lack of depth. Not that it mattered to him, a stranger passing by. He just merely knew this wasn't exactly the sort of female he'd want for his own mate. But all this was background thought, swiftly banished by her paw suddenly flinging not just the small stone to shore, but also a glittering arc of water droplets.
He skipped back a step in surprise, feeling several spots where water had struck his fur. His tail gave a weird curlique quirk of a spasm, then he was determinedly grooming those spots out of his fur. One on his chest, one on he forepaw, and another on his shoulder. He licked stridently, his rough tongue rasping on his short fur. The task was quickly done, however, and soon he was peering at the stone that had begun this series of events. He had to admit, it was interesting looking, still gleaming and wet.
Curious, he looked back up at the lioness. "What will she do with it?" he inquired. "Your daughter? How does this become an ornament?" You never knew when a bit of tidbit of knowledge or a wisp of trivia might come in handy, and since he had nothing better to do, he figured he'd learn a bit about what this lioness' daughter did with such things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 1:15 pm
He was more right than he knew when he thought 'lacking depth.' Vizuri was a kind lioness, but not one of the smartest. She had been lucky enough to find a mate that didn't challenge her intelligence, so she was happy enough to keep on chugging through life as she did.
She couldn't help but giggle as she had accidentally sprayed drops of water on him; he had reacted so quickly to drying himself, too. "Sorry! I didn't mean to splash you," she offered in apology.
"Mahi will probably wrap some special branch around it. She's good at finding the thinnest pieces, and they're so flexible, that she wraps them around a stone and makes a necklace out of it. Sometimes, stones will have a hole in them. Straight through one end to the other, and she'll poke a stick through the hole and make a necklace that way." Zuri eyed the stone that lay so innocently on the bank. "I'm not entirely sure what she'll do with this one, but I think she'll like to add it to her collection anyway." With a smile, she pushed it closer to her paw so she wouldn't forget it.
"I have two daughters!" She beamed at the stranger with pride. "Mahina and Ula. They're all grown now, but I still think of them as cubs."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 10:47 pm
He was, quite frankly, out of his element once she got started talking about her offspring. To his knowledge, he had never fathered a litter, and didn't exactly have any plans to do so. Not yet, anyway. Romance didn't quite seem to be part of his gameplan. He wasn't adverse to it, but no real prospects had ever presented themselves for his perusal. Most that he met were male, or mated, or old, or young... he seemed to have luck such as that. Or they were an entirely different species.
So this rattling on of the female had him looking bemused and caught with his tongue in a knot. What to say in reply to such a thing? He hummed and hawed to himself, glancing around. "I wonder if there are more rocks like that one in the streambed?" he finally inquired in random hopefulness of both being helpful and not looking like a total idiot. It wasn't even that he was uncomfortable with females. He generally felt quite as ease. But when they began prattling about their offspring, he generally very nearly tuned them out. He did not care to know the poop schedule of their infant cub, or how Junior was just discovering girls. Nor did he need to know the varied accomplishments of other such under-age individuals.
To him, cubs were an amusement and nothing else. Worth talking to sometimes, depending on age and maturity, but certainly not worth gossiping about with motherly sorts. Deciding to ask another polite question as well, he added, "Are rocks the only thing she uses, or does she include other things?" He mulled for a moment on what else might be used. "Bones? Leaves? Sticks?" He couldn't think of much else.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
