(( AIM log between Iroh (Lithia_Brandon) and Tezo (me) ))
Mteketezo'dubu was lying in the sand a little ways from her cave that she shared with her mother. Moja was off taking care of the other cubs in the pride and while Tezo went with her sometimes she didn’t feel like going today. She never felt too close to the other cubs because she was always off to the side, it wasn’t very fun. So instead of enduring that she just lied in the sand, green eyes staring out at the endless dunes. The occasional lion drifted past but not too many noticed her; she was a cub after all.
She was also extremely bored. Pushing herself up to her paws she paced back and forth, what could she do? She could go exploring in the desert again, she was getting better at walking on the sand now- she didn’t stumble nearly as much as she used too. But she didn’t really wanna go off exploring on her own, that was getting boring. With a sigh she sat down. ”Why’s life so boring?”
Iroh was contentedly walking through the sand, his head high and his gentle eyes turned towards the sky. It was an absolutely beautiful day, though a bit hot. His light fur kept him slightly cooler, though he knew if he stayed out in the bright day too long his skin would start to burn. Padding along, letting his slow pace sink his paws into the shifting sands as small breezes pushed loose grains over his toes, he was certainly in no hurry to go anywhere. In fact, he was moving so slowly it was doubtful he would get beyond the sight of his den by the time the sun was at its highest.
Or that might have been the case if he didn’t spot a small red form in the distance and pick up his pace to go see who it was. Not shy in the least, Iroh was always eager to meet new friends. Trotting now, something close to a canter, he approached what he now saw was a young lioness.
“Hello there, little lady!” he called jovially, not imaging his words were in any way off putting, “how are you today?”
Staring out ahead of her Tezo started to drift off into her daydreams. She was so zoned out she didn’t see the white cub until he was right upon. Snapping out of it she jumped slightly and took a better look at the male, realizing he wasn’t actually a cub but a bit older. She stared at him for a long moment, not answering his words. He seemed to not want to attack her, and seemed nice enough but she hadn’t had too much interaction with other cubs. She figured she might as well give him a chance.
”I’m not little or a lady.” She wrinkled her nose before continuing. ”I’m just great, bored out of my head with nothing to do, but just great.” The cub rolled her eyes before standing up again- she didn’t like to sit still. ”Seems like your doing better than me.”
Iroh tilted his head to one side, waiting patiently for the other cub to respond. He didn’t seem impatient, just smiling in a friendly, sincere way and even letting off a soft, faint purr under the sound of the shifting sands. It was a strange sound, like he wasn’t very good at purring at all. It was broken and interrupted with huffs and breaths, but it was the way that was natural to him, so he didn’t notice how different it was to everyone else. Smile widening when she finally spoke, he nodded.
“I apologize. I just meant that you’re a female and you’re smaller than I am. I guess I shouldn’t make nicknames up on sight. If someone did that to me I’d be… white and pudgy, I suppose.” He grinned, shaking his head and letting his creamy puffs of mane flop about, “you don’t have anything to do? But the desert has a lot to offer. You can’t have explored it all already, have you? Or listened to everything it has to say?”
He watched her move, nodding, “I’m having fun, but I think it’d be more fun if we played something. Do you know how to play tag? We could play that, if you like.” Iroh certainly wasn’t shy about leaping into friendships.
In the back of her head the red cub registered that the other lion’s purr sounded almost broken. It would have been comical if she found those types of things funny.
She supposed that she was smaller than him but she’d never admit it. She was stubborn like that. ”Or just Pudgy, it’s shorter.” She smiled a little bit before settling back down on the sand. Catching his question she nodded her head. She had absolutely nothing to do. ”I’ve explored, but you can only go so far on your own.” She didn’t mention that the last time she went too far she nearly got lost.
She perked up a bit at the word tag, something new was always nice. Tilting her head to the side she looked at him. ”Tag? How do you play tag?” She hoped it was actually a fun game, she hated boring games like hide-and-seek, all you did was sit there in a shrub waiting for someone to find you. She never got to be the seeker when she and her sisters played.
“That’s true,” Iroh said with a nod. “I wouldn’t want to make you go too far, and have you be in trouble for it. Since I’m older now I can wander a little bit, but not too far. There’s so much left to see.” He was glad she looked eager to play tag with him, though, because he hadn’t had a good game of it in a while. He had been focusing so much on learning and training, it hadn’t seemed to come up. Play, however, was just another way to learn, so he grinned broadly and crouched.
“It’s really simple. If I tag you,” he lifted his paw and tapped her gently, “then you’re ‘it’, and you have to chase me until you tag me back, and then I’m it and I have to chase you again. It just goes back and forth, but it can be pretty fun if you’re good at running and dodging. It’s a lot of running, though, but I know this area pretty well, so I don’t think we’d get in any trouble if we played?”
He grinned, his regular careful common sense taking a back seat to his desire to play.
She held her head up when he talked about getting in trouble. ”I’m not afraid of getting in trouble.” Tezo was a proud little lioness. She relaxed a moment but then mimicked his pose as he explained tag.
She flinched slightly as he tagged her, not expecting the touch. It wasn’t bad, just unexpected. She nodded as he explained it, getting the gist of the game. It didn’t really seem all that difficult. She hoped it would be fun though.
”Well, it sounds like it could be fun. I’ll give it a try.” Thinking for a moment she realized that he had already tagged her. Smirking she reached out and batted him gently on the shoulder. ”You’re it!” With a small smile she whipped around and ran off towards the dunes, away from the caves. If they were going to play it might as well be somewhere exciting.
Iroh let out a laugh and took off after her, relatively big paws hitting the sand rather hard as he tried to catch up. She was fast! And he was, too, despite his doughy exterior. He chased her, laughing the whole way, not running out of breath too quickly. It was good to be a kid, that was for sure. They could play for a long time without running out of energy.
It took him a while to notice where their game was taking them. The dirt around this area was harder, craggy, like the earth had dried and split, and not sand could stick to it. It was a bit difficult to see, that loose sand being blown around by breezes and thus never settling, hanging like a cloud of mist. Only a bit more dense and difficult to breathe in. Tasting the sand on his tongue, he shut his mouth but continued to run after her, closing the distance and letting out a challenging call.
“I’m going to get you!”
He didn’t notice that the cracks in the earth were getting bigger, or that there was a bit of a drop off up ahead.
She heard laughter following her and she picked up the pace pushing herself faster. This was kinda fun! She didn’t really understand why running around was so exciting but it was. She started laughing as they ran through the sand, bursts of it being kicked up behind her. This was nice, finding someone who didn’t make her want to scream. She wasn’t sure how long it would last, almost everyone got on her nerves eventually, but she figured she’d enjoy it while she could.
Tezo didn’t notice the sand hardening either, even though she’d never been this far out in the desert before. This was the area where she usually stopped and headed back home. Of course since she was being chased, stopping wasn’t exactly an option. The cub coughed a bit as the sand was whipped into her mouth and she felt her eyes beginning to water. She squinted trying to protect her eyes.
Hearing his challenge she looked back behind her and laughed which was her undoing. ”Only if you can catch me, Pudg- Aaaaaah!!” Not looking ahead of her she didn’t see the large gap in the earth and ran head long into it. Her voice faded as she fell, tumbling against the side of the crevice until she hit the sand with a thud. ”Uuughh” She was laid out on the sand limp and covered in cuts and bruises, she could feel something wet trickling into her eyes as well. She didn’t like tag anymore.
Iroh skidded to a stop. Pudg-aaaah? That didn’t sound right. He blinked, noticing that the little red dot he had been chasing had suddenly dropped out of sight. He moved quickly, but carefully forward, finding the edge of the crevice and peering down. Squinting, the white cub spotted the form of his new friend a good distance down. He frowned, looking around for a way down.
“Are you okay?” he called, projecting his voice so she could hopefully hear him. The last thing he wanted was for her to be hurt because he had insisted on a game of tag. He should have been closer, and keeping an eye out. It was never easy on him, when bad things happened on his watch. Growling to himself, though it sounded more like a normal purr than anything else, which was ironic, he prowled the edge for a while before he decided to climb down.
Not thinking about it too much, he made his way down as quickly as he could. Though his movements were not too graceful, lots of slipping and scrambling, he managed to get down without causing himself injury. He didn’t know how to get back up, but he needed to focus on one problem at a time. He quickly ran to her, sniffing and moving his head close to hers. Licking at her wounds, he murred.
“I’m sorry, are you okay?”
Tezo heard some sound coming from the top of the crevice and not being able to distinguish the words she just groaned in reply. She wondered if she could move she hadn’t tried yet and was a bit scared to in case she couldn’t. So instead of attempting she just laid there and waited for him to come to her.
It wasn’t too long until she felt a muzzle pushed against her and then a tongue cleaning her wounds. Blinking her eyes open she stared at him, green orbs showing a mixture of pain and annoyance. ”Am I okay? I just fell down a gaping hole in the ground! Of course I’m not okay, maybe you can’t tell because I’m red but I’m bleeding all over and everything hurts. So no, I’m not okay.” She rolled her eyes, not believing his question.
“Well, maybe we should do something about that?” Iroh said, smiling softly. He wasn’t the kind to panic, and he sat down once she looked like she was ready to hit him, blinking at her for a long, quiet moment before shrugging his broad shoulders, “I don’t think sarcasm is going to help you. I was watching and waiting to see if it did, but you still look like you’re all banged up. So I guess we should try something else.”
He looked around. There was nothing around them except sand and rocks. No leaves that might contain some soothing oil, or even sticks for him to drag her on, like a sort of sled. Frowning, he looked back at her and offered he a shrug and then a silly expression. He smiled, but his eyebrows didn’t unfurrow, so he just looked like he was making a face. Drawing a breath, he nodded slowly.
“Can you get up, or did you hurt your legs?” He moved closer to her, standing right at her side and lowering himself a bit to offer her a brace in case she needed the help to stand, “This crack can’t go on forever, so on one end or the other we should be able to climb out, right?”
Well maybe we should do something about that? Who was he Sammy Sunshine? She wanted to smack him but everything hurt too much to try it. When he continued she closed her eyes and growled lowly. Well of course sarcasm wasn’t going to help, it was sarcasm not a miracle. ”Obviously” Shaking her head slightly she rested it back on the sand waiting for him to figure something out.
She looked up at him again as he spoke. Now that was actually a good question. ”…I don’t know” Tezo gathered her strength and then slowly tried pushing herself onto her paws. ”Ow!” Wincing she lifted her back right leg off the ground, trying to balance on three legs. She probably would’ve fallen over but Iroh’s side kept her up. Hearing his words she shook her head. ”That’s if we find the end before we die of starvation or get thirsty or tired and collapse.” Yeah, she wasn’t very optimistic.
Iroh offered a chuckle at her pessimistic response, shaking his head. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried, but he just showed it in his own way. He didn’t like to let his head create endings for him, and instead trusted the moment to take him to the place he wanted. Smiling, not looking condescending or with any trace of derision, he shook his head and sighed.
“I think we’ll be out of here before any of that. I’ll make sure of it, in fact. But you don’t really look like you can walk that well, so that collapsing thing might happen a bit sooner than anticipated. Don’t you think? To avoid that, I think you should get on my back. I think I’m big enough to carry you.”
He moved down then, using his position to his advantage. She was already putting some of her weight on him, so as he lowered himself he was able to slide her on top of him. He then navigated his head between her front legs and, his back leg also sliding in to place between hers, literally bumped her up onto his back, so that her front arms were around his shoulders and her head on top of his. Yes, she was heavy for him, but he was a strong, sturdy little lion. Plus, he was determined to keep her safe. So he hardly felt it.
“How’s that? Not going to slip off or anything, are you?”
Tezo sighed again, why’d she have to end up with a lion who was in a permanent state of happy? It was increasingly annoying. ”Really? I thought I could walk just fine, only having three good legs and all.” At the notion of getting on his back her eyes widened. ”What?! I’m not some…some animal skin you can just toss over your shoulder!” Riding on someone’s back wasn’t exactly dignified and she already felt embarrassed enough for falling down the crevice.
Not that it seemed like she had any say in the matter. Before she knew what was happening the older cub had managed to jimmy her onto his back and she was looking around the crevice from her perch. Even though she wasn’t happy with being carried around she wasn’t going to struggle. She didn’t exactly feel like falling again, even from a short height.
”Yes, yes I’m fine…Can we get this over with as soon as possible?” She shook her head and then rested it in his fluffy mane. ”This is so humiliating.”
“Didn’t we already agree sarcasm was no good?” He asked, humming wistfully. He trotted along carefully, moving smoothly and quickly but not wanting to drop her off his back because he was being careless or rushed. Though she had put it in his head that the crevice might be a lot longer than he hoped, he tried not to worry too much about it. After all, she seemed well suited to be the negative half of the venture. He, then had to stay the positive side. And it was something he was good at.
“We’ll be out of here in no time, and no one can see us anyway. Besides, wouldn’t it be more embarrassing for me? You’re riding me around, like a queen atop a lowly slave. Seems like a nice way to travel, if you weren’t all banged up. I guess this might color your opinion on tag. Usually, though, it’s not that bad. Sorry it went wrong today.”
He just spoke like that, idle but positive and constantly changing topics, for a while as he moved on. He slowed when he saw the ground around them changing. It seemed like the area was getting wider, and sloping upwards. That was a good sign! He was tired, so he stopped for a moment, just standing with her on his back.
“You still doing okay? I hope you’re not bleeding too much, or in much pain.” He sounded like he meant it. Mostly because he did.
Tezo rolled her eyes at his words declining to respond to them, all the responses she thought up to them were sarcastic anyways. As he began to head off to find the end of the crevice she held on to him the best she could with her two front legs. She couldn’t believe that she had gotten herself into this situation, she wasn’t going to be playing tag again anytime soon.
As he spoke she calmed down a little, she supposed he was right. It almost was more humiliating for him. That made her feel a bit better. Lifting her head a bit she glanced down at him. ”I suppose so, it’d be better if I wasn’t bleeding and hurting all over though.” Yes, Tezo wasn’t very positive when she was in pain. When he started talking about tag she nodded, laughing coldly. ”I would hope it wasn’t this bad, unless of course your master plan is too hurt everyone you play with.” Now she was just being mean and she knew it, she’d most likely apologize later when she wasn’t hurting so much.
She closed her eyes as they moved along the crevice, tired from running around and the fall. When they stopped moving she opened her eyes and looked around, curious to why they weren’t moving anymore. It was starting to look like the crevice was sloping upwards, it seemed like the crevice wasn’t as long as she had feared. His words made her look down at him. ”I’m fine, it doesn’t feel like I’m bleeding that much anymore, and I’m starting to get used to the pain.”
Iroh walked carefully, making sure not to bounce too much, or to go too fast. With the change of slope in the ground he ran the risk of her slipping off, so he was sure to compensate for the incline by bending his legs a lot more than a normal walk would call for, just to keep his back as straight as he could until the floor leveled out again. His young, pudgy little legs were beginning to wobble from all the effort, but he was determined and, in an odd way, happy to push himself onward. They were almost out now, as far as he could tell.
Purring soothingly, the affect slightly dulled by the odd way in which his purr came out, he shook his head. “I’m not really an evil mastermind, I promise. I don’t like hurting anyone, strangers or friends. Not unless I have to, anyway. But, seeing as I’m still pretty young, there really isn’t any need for me to hurt… you know, anyone. Sorry about that, again. I didn’t want for you to get hurt.”
He frowned a bit, feeling guilty, then tried to boost his own mood by glancing around. The walls were all but gone now, some rocks and a slight slope all the separated them from the open sands. He sighed, his paws welcoming the feel of the small, soft grains beneath them.
“We’re out!” He said, too excited to keep himself from pointing out the obvious, “I can carry you home, if you tell me the way.”
As they started moving again she closed her eyes once more, he was so careful carrying her she almost fell asleep on his back. It was nice being carried around and cared for like she was important. She wondered if all this meant that she and Iroh were friends now, he’d be her first friend. Even though her mother watched over the pride’s cubs she didn’t really make friends with any of them, she felt like an outsider when she watched them all play together.
She just grumbled a bit when he apologized, it wasn’t a positive grumble or a negative grumble, it was more of an ‘I’m acknowledging that I heard you’ grumble. She supposed that after she got home and healed up a bit she would forgive him for getting her hurt, since it really wasn’t his fault. He didn’t put the crevice in front of her after all.
Tezo finally opened her eyes as he announced that they were out. Glancing around she smiled just a bit. ”Well good, now we just have to get home.” She sat up a little bit more so that she could try and get her bearings. Being new to the desert she didn’t know it as well as one that was born there. When he asked her to tell him the way she looked around one more time before she waved roughly in the direction that they had come from while playing tag. ”I think it’s that way.”
Iroh nodded, moving in the direction she indicated. He hummed as he walked, a jovial little tune he hadn’t heard from anywhere. It was just what was in his head and throat, a sort of natural theme song for the moment. From his point of view, anyway. He imagined her song might be a bit darker and slow, if she had the will to come up with one. Happy to fill the silence with his own tune, however, he just continued on contentedly until he started to recognize the area, and imagined he knew where she lived.
“Boy, I hope your family are out,” he said with a laugh, head turning slightly to address her, though he had no hope of seeing her, “I don’t think I could really explain myself well enough. The truth only goes so far. I think I’ll be in a lot of trouble for this one, but that’s okay. I hope we can still be friends though? I think it was still pretty fun… you know, minus the falling and you getting hurt part. I haven’t really had any adventures like this before, though.”
He smiled, sighing tiredly, but still purring, “I think that makes you a friend of some kind. Special, I think, and someone I was supposed to meet. Though, if that’s true, it makes me feel bad to think that I’m the one that was supposed to get you hurt. Ha.” He paused thoughtfully, then shook his head, “oh well, we’re almost there now.”
Listening to him hum seemed to calm the little cub down, surprisingly she didn’t mind the humming it was nice in an odd way. She started to hum along a bit until she realized what she was doing and stopped. Why was she humming? She had no reason to hum, she was in pain and upset with Iroh…wasn’t she?
At his words she lifted her head out of his mane again and glanced around. She had a feeling that Moja was off cub-sitting. She usually never came home until night fell. She was going to tell him that but he just went off on another topic, he seemed to do that a lot. She just nodded a bit, even though he had gotten her in a situation where she got hurt she thought he was a friend.”I haven’t had any adventures at all, I suppose this is a good first one….even if I did have to fall down a giant hole.”
When he called her a special friend she smiled a bit, she supposed she didn’t mind getting hurt if it made her a special friend. That meant she was more special than all of his other friends. Glancing around she spotted her cave not that far away. Lifting her paw she pointed towards it. ”It’s right over there, I don’t think mom’s home, she’s usually watching cubs until the sun sets.”
Iroh smiled, nodding and moving to the cave. He padded up quietly, still concerned despite her words of assurance that no parents would be there to yell at him. He didn’t mind getting yelled at, of course, because he knew when it did happen he deserved it. He just didn’t like earning the punishment, considering he tried so hard to be good and helpful to everyone. Sighing, he carefully entered the den and lowered himself to the floor so his rider could dismount.
Smiling, he laughed a bit, relieved at last that the strange events were finally over, with no great harm done to either. Or not lasting, anyway. Still sorry to see her wounded, his ears flattened against his head apologetically and he kept his body language low and submissive. He knew it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t started their game, and hadn’t gotten them to run away from the familiar area of their homes.
“Well, I guess I should head home before I get you into any more trouble. Or should I wait around to explain to your mom what happened? I’d be happy to do that, if it keeps you from getting into any trouble. It is mostly my fault, though you’re the one that fell.” He grinned sheepishly, playing.
Tezo sighed happily as they reached her cave, finally she was home. When he crouched down she carefully shimmied off his back, balancing gingerly on three legs. Looking him over she frowned, her blood had dripped down onto his pale coat staining it red. She didn’t mention this to him, not wanting him to become upset with her.
Seeing him crouching in front of her she did feel a bit bad at how bad he seemed to feel. Leaning down she gently butted his head with hers. ”Sorry for being mean after I fell….I can get like that sometimes.” She looked away sheepishly a bit ashamed that she had behaved badly.
When he asked if she wanted him to stick around she shook her head. ”I can explain what happened, it’ll just get more complicated if you’re still here.” When he said she was the one who fell she made a face, sticking her tongue out at him. ”Well it was your idea to play tag.”
”No need to apologize!” Iroh said, smiling jovially, eyes closed as he purred contentedly. It only took one small show of affection to settle it in his head that they were now friends, “I’d be pretty upset about it, too. It was pretty far. We’ll just remember the next time we play to avoid that area. And maybe choose a game that isn’t tag. I’ll let you pick, since then it’ll probably be my turn to get hurt, right? Only fair.” He grinned goofily.
Standing, looking around for a moment before turning toward the cave entrance, the white cub hummed his little song for a moment before looking back at her.
“I’ll see you again soon, then! If your mom does get mad, you can always blame me. Apparently I’m easy to spot in a crowd of cubs, so she’ll know which one I am if you tell her,” another silly expression, “feel better! I’ll come back soon to see how you are, okay? Okay. Bye for now!” He said, not really letting her have the time to tell him he didn’t have to come back. He wanted to, after all, and it was the right thing to do. Trotting off, he happily made his way home, wondering how long he should wait before visiting her again.
She nodded at his words, ”Definitely not tag.” She smiled slightly, watching him. She wondered how he could be so happy all the time. It seemed like a lot of effort to her.
She watched as he left, about to say that he didn’t have to come back but he was already gone. She blinked a couple times before shaking her head a bit, he sure was a strange one. But…he was her first friend, it was nice having a friend. She watched as he walked away from the cave and then she limped over to a crook in between two rocks settling in between them to wait for her mother to come home. She had a lot of explaining to do.
