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 Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:40 pm
 "I hate this."
Frankly, Tala didn't like it much either. Tezcacoatl was far too long for her to carry properly, even if he wasn't very heavy. As it was, the snake was wrapped loosely around her neck and chest, with some of his tail occasionally still dragging on the floor, which would make her slip. This was such a silly travel arrangement! But the reptile had complained that he'd get tired if he had to run over to meet Sar, and then still follow them around.
She had said she would be back, though, and so she had agreed to carrying the snake. And ow he was the one complaining! Still, they couldn't explore without him, he was part of the reason they were even allowed to explore! So this awkwardness was required, even if it made running very... er, weird. And the wrong lion might think she was getting killed.
"Saaaar!" The red cub cried out, once she reached the area they had last met. She didn't know exactly where his den was, so was forced to resort to such things. She stopped briefly so Tezcacoatl could get off her, and coil up on the floor, then tried to find a good rock to climb for a vantage point.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:59 pm
 Sar was running toward Tala even as she carried Tezcacoatl into the not too far. They looked odd. But then there was some kind of good explanation. Of some sort. He was sure of it.
As she called out to him, he was already at the buttom of the some rock that he'd decided to call Simi's Stone after his uncle, since it was so close to the too far zone when he was alone. "They let you come! Why were you carrying, dragging Tezcacoatl?" Sar asked when he was close enough not to yell. He looked down at the snake and carefully nosed the snake checking for wounds. "Tezcacoatl, were you hurt when you two went back to Tala's den?"
Tala may be Sar's first friend outside his family, but he considered Tezcacoatl just as important a friend as Tala. He didn't want him to be hurt. Maybe he could find a plant or insect that would help the snake feel better?
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:27 am
"Oh, there you are!" Good, she wouldn't have to go find his parents and ask for him, that might be a little awkward. Kids often prefer just dealing with other kids. "Oh, I was carrying him because he asked me to." She knew a longer explanation, but since Sar had asked the snake himself, she'd let him answer.
Tezcacoatl inched slightly away from the cubs touch, because, as a snake, wasn't quite accustomed to such things. He was hardly a very warm creature, and didn't usually talk to lions besides Tala. But he figured it was inevitable now. "I am not hurt. We ssnakes just tire more quickly than you lionss." Short and sweet, he didn't want to talk much more.
"...So he asked me to carry him, so he wouldn't be tired for our exploring." Tala amended, for the sake of a more complete answer.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:21 am
"Ahhh. That makes sense." Well it did, kind of but Sar was more excited to learn more about his new friends. He turned to Tala and rubbed his head against hers. "What else do you know about snakes, Tala? I don't think I'll ever be able to study them the way I want to, and you seem to know so much more."
Sar walked over to the line drawn with the so-called words he'd written in the ground to mark the too far from the not too far lands and delightedly, carefully crossed over it to sit on his haunches on the too far side. He beamed at Tala and Tezcacoatl. "Where do you want to go exploring first? I don't think it's really safe to go to the cliffs because Uncle Simi said he got hurt there once or twice while he was exploring, but there's got to be a hundred other areas we can find and explore and examine!" He bounced a bit while he thought about all the things he could now learn with Tala by his side. The places they could go together.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:40 am
What Tala knew about snakes, it was mostly just from her experience with Tezcacoatl, since she hadn't really 'met' any other snakes beside him. "Well... I know they do shed, even if Tezcacoatl hasn't shed yet. And there are lots of different kinds of snakes, and not all of them are poisonous." She remembered that bit because it had been sort of funny to learn, Tezcacoatl didn't seem to like the snakes that weren't poisonous much. And she had a good bet that the non-venomous snakes felt the same way about venomous ones!
"They don't do very well when they're cold. I dunno, they're not warm like us, so to get warm they have to be out in the sun." That was a thing she found very weird, but couldn't really know how to explain. She glanced briefly at Tezcacoatl, just to make sure her facts were straight, and the snake nodded slightly.
At the subject of exploring, Tala's ears perked with interest. Hmm, she didn't even know they had cliffs! She also laughed at how satisfied Sar seemed at crossing his little border. "Maybe we can explore the cliffs when we're older." She said, because cliffs seemed cool to explore, but maybe they shouldn't if Sar's uncle had gotten hurt.
"We could go over by the river." The Tamu'maji was a large river thatcrossed the pridelands, and though she had been there once or twice, had never really gotten the chance to explore it more thoroughly.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:57 am
Sar stored all the information Tala told him away for examination later. And to have time to observe the facts as well. Even though he viewed Tezcacoatl as a friend, that didn't mean Sar couldn't watch him to learn more about snakes in general. Poisonous and non-poisonous may take more than the elementary examination of watching, but that would have to be at another time, if any.
Sar popped to his feet, the excitement of not being bound to the line he'd etched into the ground bubbling through him. "That's a great idea Tala! There are sooooo many things to see there. Like the fish or the lizards or the dragonflies or the river plants. So many things to examine! I hope we'll be able to learn about the river's history too! That would make this the best day EVER!"
Sar gently nudged Tala's side. He couldn't seem to stop touching her ever few seconds. Either he nudged or rubbed up against her or he was blushing. He'd have to analyze himself later. Maybe he was coming down with a cold? It wasn't important right now, because they were going off to explore the new not too far territory, but when he got home later, he'd need to examine himself. "You lead Tala! It was your idea!" Sar beamed.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:30 am
She liked Sar, because he liked her ideas. It was good to know he was smart enough to like her ideas, and not silly and somewhat dumb like some of her siblings could be sometimes. In fact, he had yet to even give her the slightest impression of being dumb! As for the touching, Tala was just starting to understand that was a characteristic of his, and she didn't really mind. It was kind of nice!
"Yeah! And I bet a bunch of prey animals go over to drink." She wasn't old enough to be a hunter yet, and it was dangerous to get too close to wildebeest at this point, but they were still pretty neat to see.
"Okay." And so she quickly started off in the direction of the river, keeping a quick pace that, once again, she found Tezcacoatl could keep up with rather well.
Thanks to her actually knowing where she was going, the river not being too far, and the fast-enough pace, it didn't really take too long to get there. "There it is!" Tala exclaimed as they came over a small hill. This particular stretch of the river didn't have too much plant life, besides one surviving tree and a few measly bushes off to the side. What was really interesting were the tracks. "My mom said that when the wildebeest migrate they cross the river here."
Tezcacoatl hissed slightly, because he didn't like wildebeest very much.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:00 pm
Sar followed Tala, keeping a pace or so behind her as she lead. And Tezcacoatl, he was kind of surprised to see kept up without any trouble. In fact, it looked to Sar like the snake could have moved faster if he had chosen to. Instead he kept pace with Tala and his trout with ease. Yep, there was much he needed to learn from watching Tezcacoatl.
Sar thought about the prey animals when Tala mentioned it and his thoughts wandered to the hunting plan that he still couldn't understand. The translation from the drawings on the ground to the actual animals still didn't make any sense to him. And he really wanted to understand because it was his older brothers that had started it. At least that's what he assumed. He didn't doubt them.
"My mom takes me and my littermates to the part of the river that is exetremely slow, in the south. But this looks so much more exciting! Look at all the prey animals, drinking and eating and stuff! Do you think they know we're here? Aren't they supposed to be afraid of lions? We're lions." Sar asked tilting his head and staring at the scene.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:08 pm
Tezcacoatl was the first one to say something. "Pfft, no."
Tala glanced at the snake, who didn't really provide a good answer to Sar's question. But this was something she had already thought about before! And had even been warned about, at least once. "I don't think they saw us yet. We should probably keep it that way!" She nodded, which made the cub realize they should probably find a less open spot to observe the creatures. This wasn't a migration, but there were still enough animals to be troublesome.
She began to slink to the side, heading for the bushes as she explained. "They're afraid of grown-ups. Because grown-ups can kill them. But since we're cubs, they're not afraid. And they might try to trample us, if they see us!" It was actually perfectly logical, if you thought about it.
"So we should probably explore more downriver." She didn't think even Tezcacoatl could scare off a large prey animal if it came running at them, it probably wouldn't even see him!
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:29 pm
That was why he loked Tala so much, Sar decided. Because she was smart and practical. Smart as smart was! Especially since a part of him wanted to go pounce on some of those prey animals and examine how their insides worked. Or try and talk to the older ones to get their stories. That probably would have been breaking his promise. Or at least close to it.
Sar nodded and started to slink away with Tala. Getting trampled would have definitely been breaking his promise! Uncle Simi would not have been happy if Sar did something like that! "Let's get to those bushes, Tala! Then we can watch them from a relatively safe area!"
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:54 pm
Once they got to the bushes, Tala was quick to find a big one to duck under and hide, but lost track of where Tezcacoatl headed off to once they arrived. Snakes vanished sometimes in places with more foliage. "Maybe he went to catch a mouse." She mused out loud, then turned her attention back to the prey beast upriver.
There were perhaps thirty wildebeest, and several zebra. "They look scared, don't they?" The animals looked rather tense as they drank water, though desperation for a drink seemed to get a few to step in up to their knees.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:26 pm
Once under cover of the bushes, tucked next to Tala, Sar stared at the prey animals through the branches and leaves. Tala was right. They did look scared. "Maybe its because they know they're being watched? Or because their in the middle of the pride's territory so a hunting lion can pop out at any moment to eat them? Or maybe a crocodile or a hippo was spotted? Aren't those animals suppose to be dangerous too?"
The zebras looked the most scared in Sar's opinion. But Zebra meat was always the tastiest when it was brought home to him and his littermates. Sar ideally wondered if it was the scared that made it taste good. And wondered how to test that theory.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:40 pm
"I don't see anyth--" Her timing was, of course, impeccable, because just as she spoke there was a big commotion! From the bushes she hadn't been able to see the log-like thing floating towards a few of the wildebeest, but it was hard to miss a gigantic lizard when it leaped up for the kill.
"Ah!" She couldn't keep the surprise off her face, and even though it was all a fair distance away she still crouched closer to the floor, and her fur prickled. It was so fast! And now all the other creatures were rushing back away from the water, but fortunately not towards them.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:48 pm
Sar jumped, startled at the lizard's sudden attack. When Tala huddled closer to the ground, he pressed himself into her side as comfort. "Crocodile. Or alligator. I don't really understand the difference yet. I will, but that will demand more study of the creatures and that might not be smart."
Sar looked around for Tezcacoatl, but didn't see him. He hoped that the snake wasn't anywhere near the water. "Tala, are you okay?" He kept a wary eye on the beasts that rushed away from the water, knowing the danger could come from them or from the reptilian predator.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:01 pm
"Crocodile." Tala agreed, because alligator seemed weird. It was so big!
A silly part of her brain was irritated with herself for seeming like she was scared, so she quickly fixed her posture to demonstrate otherwise. "I'm okay, it just startles me." She nodded, being scared wouldn't be smart. The crocodile was all the way over there!
She watched as it struggled with the wildebeest, having grabbed it awkwardly by it's stomach. Apparently it had managed to turn a bit before getting caught! It bucked and flailed, and even though she was a predator herself, Tala felt a little sorry for it.
"So inelegant." Tezcacoatl hissed, apparently materializing from a perch on one of the tiny branches of the bush.
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