[PRP] Straight to the Moon! ( Renzi + Kavu )

[Hopefolly]

Long ago Renzi had gazed at the moon for the first time. In fact, it had been the very first sight she bared witness to in her life. Her fascination with it was like a tragic romance; fleeting, but parts of it were always there, and sometimes it came back. She'd been distracted the past two weeks chasing down that demonic baboon. She didn't really think he was a demon, and would stress this since she'd heard tale of nut jobs who really did think they were out and about. There were a lot of breeds of crazy roaming around these days.

Back to the point, she wanted to squash him for taunting her--or whatever it was he'd done, since she really couldn't remember by time she did catch him why she'd wanted to other than to prove she could. Oh, that wasn't the point? Oh! The moon. Right. "Tonight is the night!" the lioness declared. If the moon had ears, it probably would have heard her. Yelling was whispering for Renzi. Her volumes consisted of loud, louder, really loud and oh s**t my ears please shut up. The last one was what she used to threaten the shining orb in the sky. "You'll regret the day you insulted me!"

Speaking of, in the end she was grateful that stupid baboon had decided to start trouble with her. He was going to be the key to her success in this mission. Operation... Operation. Yeah, that was it's name. Operation Operation. If you didn't understand it, you just weren't genius enough like her.

Renzi eyed the catapult inquisitively, pushing down on one end with her paw just enough to check it's balance. The invention consisted of a tree on the ground, the half of another tree balanced on top of it, and a small pouch at one end Renzi had made of leaves, twigs and whatever she could gather. Confirmation of invention stability: Check! Success Rate: 100%!

The rogue rounded the other side of her creation, and began dragging the unconscious baboon, tangled up in various vines (a good substitute for rope, since she was a lion and didn't know what rope was), closer and closer. "Don't worry," she muffled. Tug. Tug. "You may die, but it will be in the name of greatness."  

[Basil Brett]

Kavu had found himself enjoying traveling at night recently. He traveled as he always did, without any real destination in mind. The nights had been mild recently, and he enjoyed the dark quiet. Things looked different at night. It made for a whole new traveling experience.

He didn't often meet others when he traveled at night, but he had had a few encounters, mostly short uneventful ones. Most of the world was asleep at night, adding to the mystery of the hour.

So Kavu found himself somewhat at a loss for words when he came upon a lioness yelling at the sky about insults or something. The interest level of her words paled in comparison, however, to that of her actions. It seemed she had built.... a catapult of sorts. And there was a baboon involved. Yes, this was rather high up there on Kavu's weirdness meter. His first instinct was just to hurry on, but curiosity somehow got the better of him. Besides, he was pretty sure that baboon was unconscious and thus unaware of the excitement going on around him.

"Er, hello?" Kavu said quietly when he was a few feet away from the scene.  

[Hopefolly]

Renzi's head and ears shot way, way up. Her posture suggested she had a mafia of lions trying to hunt her down, but once she got a good look at the speaker, she relaxed. There was no group tracking her, or even a single lion. Or a single anything. Actually, if she had died just then, the only one who would have noticed would have been Kavu, and only because he would have been there to see it. In reality, Renzi was nothing to nobody. In her mind, she was at risk of rabid baboon ambushes and attacks from the increasingly madman lions who might want to pick apart her brain.

"Hello there!" she responded, loudly. "You are here to witness the greatness of this day, I assume?! You're just in time!" She bent down again and grasped the edge of the vine netting between her jaws, with one swing of her head tossing the smaller animal into the 'basket' on the end of the catapult.

Renzi had never been one to respect personal space, and now wouldn't be an exception. She strolled over to Kavu and circled him, looking observant. "Hmm..."  

[Basil Brett]

Kavu didn't speak for a few moments, namely because he was just honestly speechless. What.... what exactly was going on? As he puzzled over this, he watched as the lioness circled him closely. He followed her movement with his eyes, one eyebrow raised. Finally, he seemed to find his voice.

"Er, the greatness of this day? What, may I ask, is about to happen? And while we're asking questions, may I ask why you're circling me?"

His tone wasn't harsh. If anything, it held a trace of amusement. Mostly, though, he sounded confused. He wanted to inquire further about the state of that poor baboon and what exactly she planned to do to it, but for now, he waited to see if he'd get an answer to his first set of questions.  

[Hopefolly]

The lions Renzi had encountered either shyed away from her, uh, awkward social tendencies or were such incredibly tolerant souls they took it all in stride until something else caught her attention and she left their company in favor of it. One day, her grandmother would have hoped, bless her dear old heart, she would meet someone who would teach her, gently, not to stick her nose where it didn't belong. Maybe one day. For now, she did just that, shoving her face in Kavu's really closely, looking him square in the eye, and whispering with such intensiveness one would have thought them her dying words, "I am going to capture the moon on this night, good sir."

She drew back and made another circle around him. She poked and prodded, examined his legs, at one point even sat up enough to paw at his back. Finally after she was done with... whatever she was doing, she nodded in approval. To herself. "Yes, you'll do fine. You seem to still have a lot of nice baby fat left on you, my boy."  

[Basil Brett]

Kavu was busy mentally digesting her first statement when she started poking and prodding at him, as if he were some ware on display for her to look over before purchasing. He nearly laughed aloud at her next words, though. He knew that some guys might be offended by her words, but he was more amused by the situation. Besides, it was true. He wasn't an aggressive lion, so he never really found himself building strong muscles. He could hunt, though, and had rather good endurance from walking so much.

"Catch the moon, did you say?"

His words didn't hold a trace of condescension, again, he was just curious to know if he had heard her right.

"And what, pray tell, will I 'do fine' for?"  

[Hopefolly]

Renzi gave him a look like he was crazy. She probably thought he was. It didn't take much for someone to land themselves in the "he/she is bonkers" category in her mind. Yes, she kept everyone in categories, sometimes in sub-categories, but no time for that! "Yes, that is what I said. Luckily, I don't need you to have decent hearing for this one."

She turned sharply and cleared her throat, drew in a deep breath, then called out, "To the moon on this greatest of days!" Her head tilted toward him, then toward the end opposite of the still knocked out baboon on the catapult, an obvious signal. "You can jump on that for me. When this baboon crashes into the moon, it will knock it down, and when it falls from the sky, I'll be there to catch it!"  

[Basil Brett]

Ah.... so that was this master plan. If Kavu hadn't already guessed that this particular lioness was crazy. Really, truly crazy. His gaze slid over to the unconscious form of the ill-fated baboon, a pang of pity striking his heart. He turned slowly back to face the lioness, not quite sure how to go about this. He wished now that he had kept walking instead of stopping to greet this lioness.

"Er, forgive me, for I am a bit hard of hearing," he fibbed smoothly.
"But you're going to fling that baboon into the sky in the hopes that he'll knock down the moon... And you want me to be the one to jump on the catapult."

Having said it aloud, he worked it about in his head. Somehow, he had to stop this lioness. He didn't know that baboon, but he himself wouldn't want to be flung into the air, unconscious or not. He wasn't about to let it happen to some innocent bystander.

"May I ask why?"  

[Hopefolly]

Renzi could not read minds, but if she had been suddenly struck with the gift and done just that, she would have then proceeded to ramble about all the horrors the terrible baboon had caused her over many sunrises. Not to mention (though she would mention it) he'd started it. She'd just been minding her own business. Pssh. Not that she cared a whole lot about looking just in the eyes of a stranger. It was the principle of the thing!

Her head tilted to the other side. Suddenly she bared a look of cub-like wonder, bright eyes staring at him. Then staring some more. Then more. Then, finally, "In the name of greatness!"

She faced the catapult, now determined. "Jump!"  

[Basil Brett]

Baffled still, Kavu tried to think quickly and remain calm at the same time. It was beginning to cause a battle in his head. Luckily, his voice always seemed to come out in the same quiet tone, no matter what stress he was under.

"But, if this is indeed in the name of greatness, shouldn't there be others here to witness it? Some may not believe you when you tell them, and if I'm not around, you won't have anyone else to bear witness to what has taken place."

If she was as crazy as Kavu thought she was, that may have some effect. He prayed the baboon would wake up soon and run off so Kavu could somehow sneak away.  

[Hopefolly]

Hm... Renzi had to admit, she may have underestimated this chubby male. First impression was the one thing about her she could always agree wasn't precise. Everything else, she was right about, and the sooner you learned it the better. But... he'd made a good point, and she hadn't thought about that. Even if she did get the moon, one could deny it was her who had actually accomplished the feat. Worse still, they may even call her a thief!

"You're right," she agreed. She peered at him again, then back at her work, and simply said, "Then I can never let you leave, so I'll always have a witness. Now, jump."  

[Basil Brett]

Kavu had seen a small ray of light, and grasped onto it. This was his one chance to save that baboon, and he had to try.

A sad look crossed his face and he looked down at the ground for a moment, scuffing the dirt with his paw.
"Ah, yes, that would solve things. But my family has a history of health problems, you see. We have a tendency to die young. I may even die tomorrow, or even tonight! And then there you would be, without a witness."

There, that was good, but he had to cover all of his bases. He looked up and spoke rather earnestly.
"And even if I were to live to see another year, the... research would be compromised. If I aid you in this endeavor, it will be said that I have a bias, and they will believe me no more than you!"  

[Hopefolly]

It took a lot to refrain from gawking at him, because it would make her look bad, and she didn't want that. Public opinion? Again, not high on her list. But come on, she did have a rep, people. What would they say if they'd known she'd been outwit by some chubby nobody? Horrible things, that's what!

--Except she wasn't, because nobody, not even a nobody, was smarter than her. She was the face of greatness! So there! The face of very baffled looking greatness. "I... know," Renzi began slowly, after that picking up her pace to the usual verbal speed. "I've thought of that! You are correct, Moon Child!"

Renzi cleared her throat and thought hard. "The solution is clearly..."

...Uhh...

Ah ha!

"Alright! I'll eat the baboon, then you can catapult me, then we'll take the moon back and prove it to them. No one is going to believe a witness who would catapult his superior is on a personal bias."  

[Basil Brett]

Kavu stared at her for a moment, resisting the urge to shake his head in wonder. Wow. What exactly went on in this one's mind? Actually, he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. It probably went out of the scope of his own imagination.

He furiously worked his brain around that one, finding the words not to difficult.
"Ah, genius, of course," he said, playing to her ego.

"But should something happen and the moon not be dislodged? You would be stuck and I, being the only one here, would have no way to aid you in bringing it down. You would have eaten the baboon, so there's no way he would be able to aid in the retrieval."  

[Hopefolly]

Okay, she didn't like where this was going. This was exactly why she didn't go out of her way to spend time with males unless she needed things moved around or someone to feel smarter than. As it was, she felt this odd feeling around this guy... She couldn't quite explain it.

The feeling in question anyone else would identify as confusion. Renzi had never felt it, and didn't understand it. No one had ever questioned or, Gods forbid, debated her schemes with her. She should have been able to render him speechless like she usually did, but the fact he even tried was enough to throw her off.

...Screw this.

She settled for just making a face at him and bounded over to the catapult, determined to get this done and over with. She leaped onto the other end of the invention, and... nothing happened.

Wait, what?

Renzi blinked a few times rapidly before she scurried to where the baboon had been. Had been. "My baboon!" Renzi wailed heartbrokeningly. "I spent weeks catching that thing!" She shot an annoyed look at Kavu--not angry, mind you, just annoyed.

"I hope you know you're going to have to help me catch him again."

For the sake of greatness, of course.