|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:13 pm
Intombi had mentioned three things worth visiting. The termite mounds (check- Janja had gone with Intombi), Pride Rock (a bit too soon for that, she figured) and the water holes (clear winner). Janja was confident enough to figure she could track down a good source of water, and if she was lucky she might get to meet some of the locals. She just had to hope that if she did, she didn't accidentally meet some of her estranged family since it was obvious that that was meant to wait.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:23 pm
After quite the exploration in the morning, the young brown cub called Simi was off near the watering hole, making sure that his fur didn't have any sort of abnormalities, or dirt, that his parents might notice. They seemed to just see right through everything, no matter how hard he tried! Well, if it was on him, anyway. He knew better then to explore too far from Pride Rock, but there was so much out here for his little brown eyes to see, and his paws were certainly willing to carry him as far as they could go. His thirst for knowing what was in his birthland could hardly be filled, though he knew better then to be home for too long. His parents were too kind to do anything mean towards him, but he wasn't dumb enough to ignore their concern for his saftey. He was a prince of the lands after all!
Whatever that meant.
Anyway! He splashed a bit in the water, doing his best to keep for stirring up the dirt too much, just in case anyone else wanted a drink. With that thought, he glanced around, curious if anyone else was around. He didn't really see anyone, but then again, he didn't look all that hard, either. Humming to himself, he patted down his paws on the grass, hoping that some of the water would come out and he'd dry off faster with the least amount of dirt as possible. His mind was thinking about the pretty birds he saw today, and how he would be so excited to tell his mother about them. And uhhh, not mention how far he went out today, either.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:53 pm
The rogue lioness walked peacefully, keeping an eye out for changes in the vegetation, activity and sounds that might indicate she was going in the right direction. It wasn't too long before she was off in the right direction and saw a growing spot of blue in the distance, and the closer she got the more she could swear she heard something splashing around. It didn't look like there was anyone around the water, but the closer she got the clearer the view of a little lion near the water's edge became.
Hm, perhaps she would get to meet someone else. Maybe this time it would be an actual pride member! There wouldn't be many rogue cubs this far in, right?
"Hellooo?" Janja called out in a cheerful and friendly voice, willing to take a chance on approaching the youth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:01 pm
Pop! That was the sound of Simi's imagination wandering off, the image of him and his sibilings playing around disappeared as soon as they appeared. Though he was certainly an investigative little fellow, his attention span wasn't much better then any other cub out there.
His head popped up just as his attention drew to a big (well, to him big) lion padding his way. Well, no huge mane, so either they were young, or a girl! His tail swished, thinking about how nice Isipho was to him, so maybe she'd be nice too. He jumped up to face her, giving himself a little shake before returning the greeting.
"Hiiii!" his high-pitched, young voice echoed. His eyes shined brightly as he perked up. He kept himself from rushing up to her, though, because he couldn't be entirely sure she would be nice. And he didn't want to cause any trouble for his parents either. The thought nearly made him shiver. Nope nope! "Are ya thirsty?" An obvious question, since why else would someone come to the watering hole? But the little cub was too excited to really think too smart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:15 pm
Janja came to a stop when the cub jumped around to face her, making sure to give him enough room so as not to make him uncomfortable. She might not feel so threatened by the cub, but he might by her- and she had to assume that someone protective might be nearby anyway. The rogue was still just learning about pride life. The greeting and the excitement radiating from the small stranger made Janja smile.
"Hello," she repeated, and glanced out to the water when asked if she was thirsty. With a shake of her head, she looked back to the cub, "I'm not too thirsty, I'm just taking a look around. Are you from around here?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:30 pm
The cub still smiled, but his head propped over, a bit confused. She wasn't thirsty? How weeeird. Not that he'd say that, he didn't want to be too mean. He plopped his butt on the ground, straightening his neck out before answering her question.
"Yep! I live here, along with my family. We live..." he started, turning around the point at where the really big rock was, "there, at Pride Rock. It's biiiiig. That's why I'm here, much quieter." He smiled at her as he peeked back at the lioness, curious.
"My name's Simi. Can I have your name?" He asked a bit shyly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:38 pm
Janja smiled despite the confused look on the cub's face, deciding that he must not get a lot of tourists around or he might understand the desire to just take a look around. She looked off to where he indicated Pride Rock to be, and grinned. It certainly seemed that luck was on her side for her little trip out this afternoon, someone who actually lives at Pride Rock!
"Well, that's very impressive," she managed to comment before he began introductions, "My name is Janja, and it is a pleasure to meet you, Simi. I live out near the borders right now, that's not nearly as interesting as anything I've seen closer to your home."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:48 pm
"Ohhhh," he mouthed, a bit of disappointment in his tone. "Less exciting?" He thought that things seemed so much better, at least a bit further from where most of the pride lived. As long as he could avoid the scouts, he'd be able to spend a decent amount of time away, looking at all that cooooool stuff.
"Well, it sure seems cool to me!" His tail swished curiously, and he couldn't quite hold his tongue back. "So whatcha here for? Just loookin'?" He peered up at her, curious, hoping to hear a little something interesting to absorb.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:01 pm
Janja was caught between a smile and frown at the disappointment in Simi's tone when she mentioned how the border wasn't as interesting as the more central pride lands. She didn't want to give him the impression it wasn't exciting, she thought most places were exciting the farther you got away from home. Part of the thrill of coming here was how her family was trying to keep her from wandering around too freely just yet.
"Oh, it is! I'm just very excited about being here," she tried to explain and return the excitement to the world surrounding the area they were in now, "I came to the water just to get a look around, I guess. I'd love to see Pride Rock up close, but I'll just have to wait. Do you know anything fun to do around here?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:38 pm
"Huh?" He questioned her, but he didn't persue it. It sounded like she would come visit sometime, and he assumed he'd just have to wait until then. No worries, he'd show her around the...watering hole!
"Fun?" He echoed, thinking to himself. He actually didn't, since he didn't hover around the watering hole for too long; too much risk at getting caught doing what he shouldn't be doing. Buuuuut. It would be alright to show a nice stranger around, right?
"Janja," he said with a tad bit of trouble. "Janja." There, that sounded better. "Well, I don't really know, but let's find out!" He jumped up and bounced off to the left, peeking over a bit of a crest of a mound that he couldn't quite see over because of his height, but an adult would barely notice the ground level's difference. He saw a groud of dead trees with some very tall brush; it was obvious that the preybeasts didn't much explore over there. Simi wondered why, but peeked back over his shoulder to see if Janja was there with him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:56 pm
Janja's confident smile never wavered, her experience with tour guides had so far been wonderful and it seemed very unlikely that the cub would provide a poor source of entertainment. The least she could do was humor him if she didn't find it interesting, but she didn't expect to need to.
"Alright," Janja replied brightly, letting Simi take the lead and following after him. She almost stepped right over him when he stopped, but came to a quick stop just in time. She glanced down at him, and followed his gaze out to the dead trees. Worth investigation? They would find out!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:21 am
Simi's tail flopped behind him, his ears perked up at he glanced back to where the patch was. It intrigued him, and soon his was up on his paws, scampering down the small grade. His little paws couldn't carry him too fast, so he wasn't too worried about Janja not being able to keep up with him, he knew better then that. He jumped on the ground with a playful growl, the dead trees slowly starting to look overhead. A flash of regret grew in his mind, but he soon shook it off. Janja was here, she was big! And he was sure that if anything was kinda scary, they could just run back to the waterling hole. Or something.
"Ooooh." The sound escaped him as he looked at the trees, their hollow trunks obviously a fun munch for many insects, as most had holes all over them. He could see little beetles peeking through the holes, but nothing else. Suddenly the grass got super tall around him, and he jumped around, trying to flatten it out. He glanced up and was still able to see Janja, though, and so he didn't worry toooo much. "Grass is so taaall," he whined.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:40 am
Janja kept to walking as Simi trotted ahead, her long strides keeping her close behind him as they approached the odd trees. Even to a visiting rogue, they looked somewhat out of place- what she'd seen of the Pridelands so far had been so bright and full of life. Janja wondered how these trees had come to this situation, and her curiosity drew her close enough to inspect the little holes in the trees. Her nose wrinkled at the sight of all the insects, and she wondered if they had something to do with the tree's death or if they were their because it was dead. Her attention returned to the cub at the whine about the tall grass, and she laughed quietly.
"It is sometimes, huh?" she commented, and leapt forward to help flatten out the grass so Simi could get around and see better. "The grass here is the tallest I've seen," Janja informed him conversationally. There was a lot of green in the Jungle, but this was almost everywhere here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:10 pm
Simi grew a bit frusterated at all the grass, and he began to chomp at it, trying to pullit out so it wouldn't be so tall. Of course, that might work with something like a preybeast, but Simi wasn't built for eating grass, and he promptlyspat it out. "Pbbt! Ewww, gross." He coughed a bit to get all the grass out, stumbling across the grass as he tried to recover.
"Gross," he repeated, glancing back over to Janja a little embarassed. Well, that was a stupid move. At least he didn't eat any bugs with that grass, that would of been gross!
He stuck his nose towards the ground, his tail up in the air so it would be easier for Janja to see where he was, though she seemed to help out in keeping the grass a little more flat. He was doing quite well until he ran head-first into a rock. "Ouch!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:33 am
Janja stopped her stomping through the grass when Simi suddenly coughed and stumbled from eating some of the grass. She giggled quietly, recalling when she had tried a taste of something green and found that it was most definetely best left for the preybeasts. At least, she wouldn't whine about not getting any- yuck.
"Not too tasty, is it?" she asked with a small laugh, and then went back to work flattening the grass around the cub so he could see better. She was looking off in the other direction when Simi head-butted a rock, but the sound it made and the cry made it easy to guess what happened. Janja turned around immediately and hopped over to him.
"Are you OK?" she asked, sounding mildly concerned. Janja had little experience with cubs other than when she was one, but she figured he should be just fine. "Maybe I should make sure you're not working around the rocks, huh?" she suggested with a small smile, that would certainly make sense since she had a better chance of picking them out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
