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 Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:24 pm
Oh no! Here was his chance to act like a man! And he was ready to gobble it up; as best a cub could, anyway! He shook off the initial stun of the hit, shooting off a smile as he looked back up at Janja. "I'm fine!" he said, his small white teeth looking quite good, if it wasn't for the bit of green still stuck in them. He didn't notice; one of those awkward moments where you don't know what to mention. His tail popped right up behind him as he pulled himself up on the rock, hoping to get a better view of what was around him.
That....might of worked if he was a bit taller, and if the grass wasn't so tall, either. He could see over the line of most of the grass, but just barely. "I think...I see something over there." His voice directed towards something in front of them, something kind of...white. Another rock? He wasn't certain, but only by looking would he, and Janja, find out! The thought that Janja might not want to explore even further (since the discovery of the rock might not make the grass seem so inviting) never cross his mind; cubs sure had a one-track mind!
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:42 pm
Janja smiled at Simi as he declared that he was fine, more concerned with that fact than the grass in his teeth. She did notice it, though, and hesitated in pointing it out while he climbed up onto the rock to get a better look around. It was a simple but useful idea.
She was quickly distracted from telling him about the grass when he pointed out something nearby. She looked to where he indicated, and then glanced back to Simi to let him take the lead and go to investigate first. Janja was not one to get bored of this type of activity quickly!
"Let's check it out," she said, nodding for him to go first.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:21 pm
With a deep breath, the let out a very loud "Yay!" before continuing on towards the white thing. He did learn from his previous mistake, though, and slowly made his way through the grass, sticking a little limb out in front of him before sticking his head through the grass. This way, he wouldn't run straight into another rock, 'cause boy did those hurt! Sure, this way was a little awkward and slow, and probably quite silly looking, but Simi cared more about not banging his head again then looking like a proper little lion.
His tail flicked up as he saw that the grass began to fade out a bit, and the ground grew harder. Oooh, he could kind of see now! He let out a small squeal as he pounced forward, skidding to a halt as he finally came across that big white thing he saw; a skull! It wasn't a very ordinary skull either; one of a rhino.
The little cub carefully peeked at the skull, nervous that something might pop up from behind it. Or even in it. It was obviously that it had been here for a very long time, or at least long enough for someone to break it. Half of the skull was broken in, the horn the only thing seemingly intact from the skull. It was washed out from time, the weather, and the sun beating down on it, and might also be the reason as to why the preybeasts didn't come over here.
"Ooooh," Simi said as he peered closer. "This is kinda neat and scary at the same tiiiiime." A little lizard slinked away from the cub's unsuspecting paws, however, and startled the little cub into tumbling back towards the line of taller, thicker grass, his little heart pounding. Alright, maybe a little more scary then neat.
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Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:07 am
Janja followed along after the little cub, grinning at how cautious he had become after the run-in with the rock. It was evidence of having learned something from it, and however awkward it might look it was a valuable lesson to have. You couldn't run into too many rocks before you really got hurt, she figured. She could get a decent view of what they were heading for before the cub, being so much taller than him, and when she started to guess what they were looking a she had to work to keep herself from going forward.
When they finally reached it, Janja examined it with as much curiosity as the cub but considerably less anxiety over it. She'd never seen an animal that looked like this, not up close anyway- what was it? She wasn't even looking at Simi when he spoke, but nodded her agreement.
"What is it from?" she asked curiously, just before Simi suddenly tumbled away. Startled herself, Janja hopped back a bit and looked over to where the cub landed, "What happened?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:11 am
Simi pulled himself back up onto his paws, a bit embarassed that he stumbled again. Princes should be better then that! He puffed up and tried to look tough, glaring at the spot where the lizard had disappeared. He wouldn't be so scared next time, nope!
His attention soon turned back to Janja, though, and he looked back over his shoulder up at her. "Ummm," he started, not wanting to say that it was a little lizard that startled him so much. "I think it moved!" Well, that wasn't a complete lie, since something did move. "Well...maybe it was just a lizard...." His tone dropped, disappointed, but he didn't want to lie, either. Mother wouldn't like it if she found out he had been lying.
"I dunno what it is though," he said, his fascination retuning. His eyes widened as he dared to inch a bit closer again, hoping that nothing else would scurry away from him. The big horn that was on it's nose looked a bit familiar, but the cub never conversed with the preybeasts, nor saw the large ones too often, so he really didn't have an idea as to what it could be. "Sure is funny lookin' though."
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:42 pm
Janja watched Simi pick himself up, not at all worried about how he should look but more if he was OK or not. She had no idea he was a prince, though, and even if she did it might not change anything since she didn't have too great an idea what it meant. When he made an obvious attempt to look tough and turned back to the skull, she was able to shift her own attention back to the strange thing herself without worry.
"I don't think it can move," she murmured, almost without realizing how disagreeing so easily could make the cub feel but she quickly added on, "Not on it's own, something else could make it move. Like a lizard." There, she agreed with him in a round about way at least. Bravely, she stuck a paw out and gently pressed at the horn, which seemed the sturdiest part of the skull.
"It is rather strange," Janja agreed, wondering if either of her parents would know what it was if she asked them. Pressing a little too hard, the skull made a cracking sound and the lioness instantly drew back her paw.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:14 pm
"Oooh." Simi's bright brown eyes watched as Janja poked at the skull. How brave! He admired her for that, and was feeling very pleased with this expedition until it made that creepy cracking noise. He flinched, but didn't move back, just froze in place, staring at it. "W-well, that was kinda s-scary."
He peeked back up at Janja, noticing that she looked a little startled, but ok. Well, obviously it wasn't like a snake, and hadn't snatched up and bitten her paw, so Simi relaxed a bit more. He would of felt just aweful if Janja got hurt because he was being such a reckless kid!
He puffed his chest up again and took another step forward, listening intently for another cracking noise, but he didn't get one. He took another step, and another, until he was nearly on top of it. It seemed very brittle as Simi poked at the top of the skull, where it cracked a bit again, and a small piece fell through. "Oops," he said, hoping that no one would get mad at him for breaking it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:01 pm
Janja glanced over at Simi and simply nodded her agreement when he said the sound was scary. It certainly had startled the both of them, and wasn't a very pleasant sound- hard to disagree entirely with his opinion of it. When he reached out and cracked another part of the skull, Janja stifled a laugh.
"It seems rather fragile, doesn't it?" she commented, and reached out to touch it again. This time she purposely pushed hard and caved in the top of the already mostly-broken skull. Sometimes it was just fun to break things.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:55 am
"Eeek!"
Simi wasn't expecting Janja to purposefully smash the skull in, and with the sudden crack of the skull, he scurried around Janja and peered around her, looking at the skull again. It didn't even look much like a skull anymore, though the horn was still intact. It must of been there for a looooong time.
He took a step out before peeking back up at Janja, wondering why she did it but not asking. She probably had her reasons; adults did weird things all the time that they said they needed to do. Maybe someday he would find out what all those important things are.
"Is it all broken now?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:26 pm
Janja glanced over at Simi when he squeaked and ran off to her other side. She giggled quietly, and chose to explain, "I was just testing it, and sometimes it's just fun to break things. I think must be kind of old, it was awful easy to crush." She nodded matter-of-factly, and took a moment to look at the horn.
"Just this horn is left unbroken," she said with a small nod, "Horns are a lot thicker than the rest of it, though."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:36 pm
Simi's eyes focused on the horn now, full of curiosity at just why the horn was really left standing besides the base of the skull that rested on the earth. "Woooah, so it's hard to break?" he questioned, something that he probably could of figured out on his own, but Simi was always full of questions.
"Hey, do you think it's like an elephant's horn?" The thought had just crossed his mind, and maybe thought that this was an elephant! Well, a really small, ugly elephant, anyway. He inched closer to it, closer, closer....and when he was close enough, gave the horn a tap with his paw. There wasn't a sound, not even a thunk; must be thick! Neeeat, Simi though. Too bad I can't take this home to show my family! Thoughts of adoration and fascination with what he found filled his mind, and his ears perked up at the thought. He needed to make friends with a biiiig lion, so he could take his friend with him on these explorations to help bring things back. Isipho helped him with the feathers, but that was just the tip of the ice berg to Simi. He wanted to bring everything neat back.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:17 pm
"It should be, unless it's really old too," Janja said with a small shrug, and pushed at the horn. It proved much harder to break, even to just break away from the rest of the skull. Feeling that was proof enough, she simply shrugged again and looked back to Simi.
"An elephant?" she repeated, looking back at it. Elephants she had seen before, but only at a distance and on very few occassions. It was the right shape, Simi certainly had that, but it didn't look like it was placed right- or big enough. Janja didn't have enough information or knowledge on the subject to know for sure, but she suspected it wasn't an elephant.
"Maybe, but don't they have bigger horns? And more than just the one?" she asked, trying not to shoot down the cub's idea thoughtlessly.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:46 pm
"...oh. Yeah, you're right Janja." He wasn't sad that his guess was wrong, but he was a bit bothered with how wrong he was. He would have to figure out what it was someday. Then he'd tell Janja, full of pride that he figured it out.
"Hey Janja," he started, a bit shyly. "Thanks for playing with me today!" He felt the sudden urge to thank her, like he had been taught to do. It felt good, though, to have an adventure with someone and learn a lot too!
Plus he was ready to grow up a bit more, so he wouldn't be so scared of everything as well, like Janja.
"I've been gone for a long time..." he started, hoping that she wouldn't seem too upset. Hopefully not, though. "And I'm sure my family might be looking for me...or even other pride members." He didn't know how to say it, how that he shouldn't be gone for long because he was a prince of the lands, so he didn't bother.
"Do you think we could play again sometime though?" The thought that Janja might not stay here forever didn't pass through his mind; as far as he knew, most of the world was the Pridelands.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:56 pm
"Thank you for playing with me," she replied brightly, a little surprised that he would thank her for playing with him. Janja thought she should be more grateful than he should, it was lucky to find someone so willing to include her in such a fun little game. She wasn't particularly grown up, but it was nice to play and think like a cub again.
"Ah, you have a protective family as well, do you?" she asked sympathetically, knowing how it felt when her family was being a little wary of going too far through the Pridelands just yet. As a cub, she'd had a long enough leash to permit exploration of the Jungle but even hinting you'd been near the border got you scolded and watched.
"I'd love to play with you again, perhaps we'll know what that horn belongs to next time, hm?" Janja smiled, glancing back at the horn and then to Simi once again.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:00 pm
Simi brightened up, energized now that he had the word of perhaps seeing Janja again. "You bet! I'll make sure I know what it is the next time I see you!" And he certainly meant it. His family would certainly soon grow annoyed at Simi asking everyone he knew what it could be until he found out. And then he wouldn't stop until he saw one with his own eyes. But that would have to wait until he grew older, stronger, and would be allowed to do such adventerous things like that, going out even further and perhaps into danger.
"Bye Janja!" he yelled, his tail swishing behind him happily as he bounded through the grasses (if a bit carefully, he didn't want to run into another rock!), towards home. Home being the large array of rocks that many knew as Pride Rock.
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