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 Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:04 pm
Ekundayo found herself splashing about in the small creek, chasing a couple of the birds that had chosen to stop there. Of course...trying to play tag with birds was like trying to beat her brother in inching; it just didn't work. The birds flew off, and the cub was left without a playmate again. Not that it mattered to her. She knew she'd find another one later. But for now...the water was perfect.
It was cool and refreshing in the middle of the day, and Ekundayo didn't mind getting her fur wet. Of course...her paws got a little muddy too. But it wasn't like she minded that either. After all, she'd stuck her nose in a hare's den once. Almost got bit for it, but she'd done it.
Suddenly her eyes caught sight of another bird, this one on the land, facing away from her. She grinned and decided it was a perfect time to practice her sneaking skills. And thus she stepped out of the creek and proceeded to try and sneak up on the bird.
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:43 pm
 After a long day of doing absolutely nothing of particular interest, it was always nice to find a small pond and get a drink. So long as said pond wasn’t too wide and Jethro didn’t stick around it for too long a time frame. The male lion, silly as it was, didn’t much care for water. It was just too bad water was essential to life, lest he would have given up the stuff a long time ago. Cold turkey, baby.
Working up the courage, the fight between his throat and his thoughts won by the former, Jethro carefully moved towards a small pond. Though a small distance away, the male could already see he wasn’t alone. Birds were scattering like their lives had been uprooted and he could hear the faint splashes of paws against shallow liquid.
Company only made him feel ashamed of his fear.
Still, upon closer inspection, Jethro discovered it wouldn’t be too bad to stick around in the face of his humiliation. It was a small female who had been making the commotion. Jethro would have turned tail had it been an adult, but felt children and their innocence were easier to deal with. Plus, cubs had an attention span of ten seconds; she would just forget about anything he might let slip.
Watching her sneak up on a bird, the large gray said nothing, not wanting to ruin her fun. It seemed like she was practicing. More than that, it seemed like she was rather enjoying herself.
So he held his position and watched, almost eager to see if she triumphed or failed.
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:05 pm
Ekundayo continued to sneak up on the bird, but failed to notice the small rocks at her feet. When her paw pushed up against them, they shifted and clicked together, causing her to freeze and the bird to turn around. They stared at one another wide-eyed before the bird squawked and flapped its wings. Hoping to get it before it flew off, the cub quickly ran at it, not bothering with pouncing. Of course, she was rewarded with just a few feathers as the bird flew up and away.
She pouted. Something always seemed to go wrong while she was practicing. But...she supposed that was why it was practice. She would get better, Ekundayo was certain of it. After all, she was still little. She stretched and rid herself of the pout, deciding to not let it get to her. At least she never made the same mistake twice...well, except for forgetting to pounce.
Ekundayo turned and trotted back to the water, feeling a little better than at the start of her little fiasco. She was rewarded with seeing something big and gray at the pond that was connected to the little creek. It was too small to be one of those ely-fants, and it looked furry...In fact, as she got closer (following her curiosity rather than common sense)...it looked like a lion with lots of fur on its head!
She blinked. Well that wasn't quite right. She trotted closer, determined to rectify her mind's 'what the heck?' state.
"Uh...Hullo! You're a lion, right? How come you got so much fur on your head?"
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 6:37 pm
Observing from his spot by the water, the spirited male allowed himself to smile. Seeing the young thing try and catch the bird was entertaining. Cute too. He wondered why she was out alone, with no siblings around to keep her company. If she happened to be like he was when he was a cub, she had probably just wandered off for a spot of fun.
Back in the day, he was always scampering away from his den in search of something fun to do. No doubt there were other youngins out there who shared a similar mind frame.
When she spotted him, he kept in his spot, hardly intimidated by her. He allowed her to venture over, nodding a quaint hello as he shifted his head to look down at her.
Tilting his head to the side, Jethro was more than a little bewildered by her question. Had she never been in the presence of a male lion before? Well, she was young. Perhaps she just hadn’t ventured far from her home before. There was the chance that she only knew young, mane-less males as well. Or maybe she was messing with him. Or… well, maybe he had something on his head that he needed to be concerned about.
A quick glance into the reflective water relieved him of that last concern.
Smiling welcomingly, the male sat back on his hind legs, looking down at the much smaller lion. He didn’t want to frighten her away. Partly because he wanted to find out why she would ask such a silly question, but mostly because he adored cubs and often found them to be much better company than adults.
“Guys have a lot of fur on their heads when they get older,” he replied thoughtfully, “why? Do you think it looks silly?” he shook his mane, letting the fluff twist about in the breeze. "My I ask you something? Why are you out here all alone?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:16 am
Ekun blinked. "Really?" She wrinkled her nose as she thought. It was hard to picture Dakarai with a mane, though she supposed if he ever got one...it would be the same red as the rest of him. She looked back up to the big male (now that she knew it was a male lion). "It dun look silly...just diff'rent."
She sat down, her tail twitching back and forth on the ground. "I'm explorin' and playin'! And I'm not REALLY alone. Mama and my siblings are over that way-" She pointed back to where her family was, toward a hill a good run away. "Over the hill. I'm good at 'membering where they are!"
She puffed herself up a bit, looking highly proud of herself. She thought her near-perfect sense of direction was one of the best things about her...that and the fact she looked so much like her Mama.
"I like to play away though...lots of other creatures to meet, and places to explore!" She bounced up so she was on all fours again. "One day...I'm gonna stand where the sun rises and sets!"
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:54 pm
“Well, that’s good,” Jethro chuckled, “I’d hate for you to think it looked silly! Seeing as I can’t get rid of it.” He tried to picture himself without a mane, but couldn’t bring himself to go through with it. His whole childhood had been spent in wait of a mane. There was no way he could let go of it now that he finally had the mountain of fluff he had always dreamed about.
Following her gaze, Jethro was glad to know that she wasn’t alone. Quite distanced from her family, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved after a sprint. Smiling, he nodded, looking once more at the cub. “Good! When I was your age, I had trouble remembering things like that. I would always get myself lost!” he chuckled lightly, looking around. Had he been here before?
Uh oh. Lost again.
“Now that’s a cool goal!” Jethro laughed, tails playfully banging against the dirt, “so you like to go exploring do you? Me too! I’m Jethro, what’s your name?” he asked lightly, happy to engage in conversation with a child. So long as they had similar interests, they were equal.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:51 am
Ekun couldn't imagine not being able to find her way around. She'd had this....innate sense of direction since she was smaller! She nodded at Jethro.
"It is! And Mama thinks it's awesome too...but I'm gonna wait until I'm bigger to go looking. Don't wanna make Mama worry!" She sat and purred happily.
"My name's Ekundayo...but my Mama and siblings call me Ekun!"
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:10 pm
“Let’s a good idea,” Jethro commented, surprised that the little creature would be so thoughtful. A lot of younger creatures, cubs or juveniles, tended not to care about what their dreams meant for mommy and daddy. To see that she was thinking about her parents was very admirable.
Jethro couldn’t remember if he had been so kind when he was younger. Maybe he had made his mother worry a couple times more than she needed to.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ekundayo. Do you mind if I call you Ekun as well? It’s such a cute name!” He would have offered a nickname for her to use, but his name really didn’t lend itself to one as most would.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 5:46 pm
"I don't mind, Jethro! I like Ekun better anyways. Sounds less stuffy." She wiggled a bit. "Hey...You're a grown-up...So are you good at pouncing? I'm not really all that good..."
She smiled up at him, red eyes curious and hopeful. She wanted to be as helpful to her Mama as she could before she got too big. After all...if Dakarai thought he was big enough to help, Ekun certainly was!
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 5:55 pm
“Actually, yes,” laughed Jeraha, “I’m very good a pouncing.” Not to brag or anything, of course. He just really liked to hunt. Watching the girl, it seemed to take a moment for the larger animal to understand that she wasn’t merely asking a random question and that it was leading to something else.
Blinking, he soon smiled.
“Do you want me to teach you?” he asked, though he wasn’t really the best at teaching others… anything. A lack of teaching skill, however, couldn’t keep him from attempting to help.
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Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:32 am
Ekun's expression lit up like the noon-day sun. "Really?! You would teach me?" She nearly squeed, and she did stand up and purr. "Thank you SOOOOO much!" She nearly had stalking down...pouncing was the hard part!
And if she had someone teach her pouncing, then she would be covered! It was a flawless plan!
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:38 pm
“Sure!” Replied Jethro with a smile and nod, happy to see the little creature looking so delighted by the prospect of him tutoring her for a little while. Wouldn’t be much of a lesson, but at least it would be something. He could only hope he wouldn’t get her hurt in the process or something.
Throwing other lion’s children in danger was kind of frowned on in most places.
“Alright, let’s find a nice area to practice in, shall we?” he asked.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:28 pm
A good place to practice..."Oo! Someplace with lots of grass would be good, right? There's an area like that not far from here!" Not waiting for an answer, she started off, trotting with a bounce in her step and her head and tail held high.
She would get to be a good pouncer, and then her Mama wouldn't have to worry about food for her and her siblings.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:24 pm
Jethro nodded, though he found he was doing it in front of no one once he opened his eyes again. The little cub was already off for the area, leaving him feeling a little stupid for not being able to keep up. Ah, to be young.
As if he was so old.
He moved after her, letting her guide him to the grassy area. Once they arrived, he smiled. “Alright, this looks great. There are plenty of bugs to practice on around here too.” No need to start big, after all.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:10 pm
Bugs were perfect! She knew how to catch bugs...but to catch them with pouncing, she'd never tried that! Once they were in the grass, not too thick or thin or tall, Ekun looked to her new teacher with her bright smile.
"Ta-da! What first?"
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