Chobi:
The rushing waters of the river were always intimidating. Crossing said waters were even more intimidating. Mtambaazi had watched wildebeest cross earlier, or try. Two of the herd had been picked off by crocodiles. Crocodiles were predators. Mtambaazi was a predator. But there was something disturbing about the way the crocodile tore its victim apart with its death roll.
Lions weren't that gruesome.
The crocs were there. Still. Lurking in the murk of the river. Mtambaazi could sense it. Part of him wanted to live up to the crossing challenge but most of him was terrified of what failure would mean. He was prey the moment he set paw in their turf. This scared him.
He stared. And stared and stared.
The lion knocked a large rock in to the river. Nothing moved. But it was not safe.
Mouse:
S'chor was heading for the sound of water. Water was good. It kept you alive, attracted prey and, until she had left as a Pilgrim, had been an integral part of her daily life in the Jini-msemi. She hadn't realized how much she would miss it until she was unable to find even a small stream to quench her thirst on her second day out.
Since then the adolescent had learned better, and how to ignore the thirst until it was actually necessary, but that had been a bit of a shock. Finding that the world was so much different from the swamps she'd grown up in...and that she didn't know nearly as much as she thought she did about it.
This was probably what the name quest was all about. But the black and white lioness was no closer to finding her true name than she had been.
Still, she picked up her pace, hearing the roar of a large body of water ahead. Stopping on the edge, she grinned in exhileration at the sight of so much of the good blue stuff. She didn't notice the older lion on the same side of the river as she.
Chobi:
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
The lion was surprised at the volume he used. But he was glad for it. Mtambaazi was rushing to the females side. He gave her a very stern look and frowned making him look a little older than he actually was.
"You must not drink now. It is not safe," He did not explain the actual why. Mtambaazi figured any lion this females age would have survived knowing the why.
There were beady eyes still popped up in the river watching the two. The crocodiles had popped up at the sound of Mtambaazis warning. There they sat in wait looking more like timber then an actual living creature. Mtambaazi kept his eyes on the darker female.
Mouse:
S'chor's ears flew back in alarm at the unexpected shout. She turned, brown eyes wide, to face the stranger who had yelled. Why was he telling her not to drink? Did he think that just because she wasn't full-grown she couldn't take care of herself? Did he think that she was blind and that she couldn't see the menacing figures lurking in the waters?
She hadn't been about to drink, not from such a powerful current. That was tantamount to tempting the gods to pull you in to drown. But he was acting as if she was too stupid to realize!
"And who are you...the guardian of the river?" she sneered.
Chobi:
"Guardian of the river?" The lions ears went back. It wasn't really an insult but the sarcasm was not lost on him. Mtambaazi choked a little on his words. Come backs were not really something he was good at. Instead he stared at her.
"You know what. So what if I am," He decided. "Yeah I am the guardian of the river. Whats it to you if I am. " He looked down at her. With out realizing it his chest had puffed out a little. He'd nearly forgotten about the crocs.
Mouse:
The younger lioness rolled her eyes. Spirits, he was as bad as any of her brothers! Well, if being the only girl in the litter had taught S'chor anything, it was how to recognize bluster. This lion didn't have anything behind him but words and hot air and there was absolutely no reason for her to listen to him. The lioness was tempted to dip a toe in, just to see what he'd do, but common sense reminded her about the current and how swift it had to be, rippling the river's surface like that.
"It's nothing to me if you are or aren't," S'chor threw back at the stranger. "But even if you are guardian of this river, which I doubt, I have absolutely no reason to do as you say."
She wasn't spoiled, per se, but the young lioness knew how to get away with quite a bit.
Chobi:
He was grumbling under his breath by this point. This young lioness was a real piece of work. Mtambaazi was actually finding it hard to put his frustrations and disbelief in to words.
"Girl are you not blind to the dangers that awai... You know what," He was in a huff now. "Forget it. Just. Drink from the water and enjoy having no head after wards. I tried." He turned his back entirely on the female. "I tried." There was another displeased huff.
The waters below were still as ever.
Mouse:
Good. He'd given up trying to boss her around fairly easily. That was pleasing. But seriously. He thought she was stupid enough to try drinking from these rushing waters? He obviously didn't trust adolescents or lionesses to know anything practical at all!
"Well, no one asked you to try," S'chor taunted the older lion's back. She knew she probably shouldn't, but the girl was enough of an adolescent to want to rub his "loss" in his face. Repeatedly.
Chobi:
He grumpily winced at the comment made by the younger lioness. It was true though. No one had asked him to try. So he was the one at fault. Not that he was about to ever admit that to this piece of work of a lioness. She wasn't even a full lioness yet and if she was she sure looked young for her age.
"Well no one asked you to point out that no one asked me to try with ... the.." To be fair it sounded way more comeback like in his head. Now he was back peddling his thoughts trying to grasp at straws to find some kind of a come back. In the end he only drew a blank.
Mouse:
S'chor snorted. "Guardian of the river, my tail. Probably just made that up to try and impress me. Well, I've got news for you, I'm not. Impressed that is. So you can go back to whatever hole you crawled out of and leave me alone," the black and white lioness told him smugly. To further elucidate how meaningless he was to her, she turned her own back and sauntered off.
Boy did that feel good. She usually got in trouble back home when she let loose her mouth on her brothers like that. But being out here on her own, there were no parents to punish her! Maybe being a Pilgrim wasn't so bad!
Chobi:
The dark male was at a lose of words which seemed like a common theme around this lioness. He wasn't replying to her comments mainly because he could not think of something to say. He just merely watched her go wordlessly.
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