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 Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:21 am
Jibwa'jamani shook his streaked mane to help it to dry faster after his impromptu bath. He'd just made a failed attempt to bring down a zebra, which had dashed through a waterhole to evade him. Though he swam very well, swimming and bringing down prey at the same time complicated matters a little. So now he was not only hungry, but tired and wet as well. Honestly! It was like adding insult to injury.
The young lion had acquired his new name several days ago, courtesy of a curious, spontaneous friendship he'd found with a wild dog. They'd kept each other company for a few weeks, but now he was on his way home. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure he was looking forward to it. After the death of his mother, shortly before his departure, the swamp had just seemed...empty.
After another shake of his mane, he sighed.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:53 pm
Sniffing the air again, the lioness made a slight face. Wet. The scent of a wet cat was very distinct, much different from a preybeast. Their scent usually included manure as well. This was...well, cleaner was the best way to put it, but probably not something she would ever say verbally. It was just different.
Curiousity gripped at her heart as she lingered around. She had finally decided to migrate away from her home and her parents she had always known. It was time to write her own story. If she had only known how difficult it would be, she probably wouldn't have ventured out on her own. Determination to no turn back kept her forward, even if her paws felt shaky from fatigue. Living like this was rough. How some did it all the time, she would never under...s.tand...
"There it is," she said under her breath, her voice usually soft was barely audible to her own ears. She was sure she had found the origin of the wet scent. How odd, one that would willingly jump into the water. Or was it so willing? She just had to find out.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:15 pm
Ugh. Wet wet wet. The best way to dry off was to lay in the sun and just have a nap, but he really ought to keep moving. Unsure or not, it was high time he headed home to whatever awaited him there. Would any of his siblings be back? And how was Nari doing? And Jabali?
...but that was neither here nor there, at the moment. There was someone headed his way! Head tilted curiously, he offered, "Hello."
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:21 pm
Her ears swiveled forward, and quickly flattened against her head. She had been curious, but she hadn't been expecting a real conversation. Suddenly a little shy, she took a few more steps closer to him, craning her neck a bit as she glanced around to see if any others were with the handsome male.
When it seemed clear, she let herself relax a bit. There was no point it getting keyed up over a wet lion.
Stifling a giggle from her thoughts, she bobbed her head in acknowledgement. "Hello, there," she said with a touch of hesitation. "No offence to your hygene, but I could smell your wet coat from a while off." Continuing her smile, she added; "And I couldn't help to see just who it was that made a fall into some water."
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:43 pm
Jama's ears fell a little at the stranger's observation. There was nothing wrong with being wet! Well, depending on the situation, anyway. It was fine at home, when you were pretty much consistently wet, but there was something uncomfortable about it when you were out in the dry savannah.
"I was just taking a bath," he explained, a little grumpily.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:09 pm
She laughed again, his explanation quite amusing. She had never known a lion to take a bath, at least not like that. Maybe grooming themselves with their tongue, but never an actual dip.
"Where do you come from that baths are a normal thing?" she ask curiously, padding forward to get a closer look at the still-wet lion. "In my homeland, a bath consists of your mother torturing you for about an hour."
Her tail swished behind her as she took a slight step back, and sat down. "I'm Fiammetta, by the way."
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:15 pm
"The swamp," he answered, plunking back onto his haunches. He hadn't actually been taking a bath, of course, but it sounded better than 'failing to catch lunch.' Clearly under observation, he tossed his head in an attempt to flick the hair out of his eyes. "I'm M-"
...no, that wasn't right. "Jibwa'jamani."
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:23 pm
"Nice to meet you," she said brightly.
She furrowed her brows for a moment. Swamp? She didn't know that much, but she had heard many stories through the loose lips of the Pridelands. Swamps meant water, so perhaps it wasn't so odd that he had taken a dip.
"So you're used to the water, then. Sorry for laughing at your earlier," she said apologetically, though she didn't shy away from the fact she had been wrong.
"Is that far from here?" she asked, looking around at the dry savannah. Well, it couldn't be that close, but...well, unless he had left home like she had?
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:23 pm
"Nice to meet you, too," he replied, as reflex kicked in. He'd been taught to be polite, especially to females, and he couldn't forget that just because he wanted to mope. His mother would certainly not approve.
Jama considered her second question for a moment. He hadn't exactly gone in a straight line, but had done a fair share of wandering. Finally, he estimated, "A week or so, I think."
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:13 pm
Her ears flicked forward, amazed, apparent shock on her face. Wow! Walking away from home for a week? She felt a little childish, being proud of herself for wandering away for a whole two. Today would be the third, once the sun fell. She knew that it would take quite some time to really see anything besides the lands she had always known, but the realization that she had been so naive on how large the world was outside of her shamed her, somewhat.
"I would say that's far," she said in mixed amusement and worry. She wasn't the best hunter, and she wasn't the best at finding a watering hole. Hopefully she would still survive...
Her eyes flickered up for a moment, a small thought creeping into her mind. She would see if she could ask to stay with him, at least for a little bit. Maybe she could pick up a few tricks from him, especially on the account of water. An unfair attachment of a sterotype, but the young lioness couldn't quite help herself.
"Further than I really realized anything could be."
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:56 pm
"Really?" That seemed...odd, almost. How did you not realize that things could be so far away? It was the world, after all. "I've been gone for awhile, a couple months or so. I was looking for my name, so I'm headed home now that I've found it."
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:11 pm
She was doing all right so far, but when he mentioned finding his name? That was really more than she could imagine. She knew that it would be better for her to keep herself reserved, if inquisitive, but really?
"I lived in one small place my whole life," she tried to explain, but it really just sounded childish. All the stories about the adventures her mother had gone on were interesting, but they never made her curious until she was old enough to take care of herself. Even then, she was still scared about being all alone.
But then what he said next shook her from any change of thought.
"Did...did you lose your name?" she asked, feeling a slight warmth in her cheeks. She was embarassed that it blurted out of her mouth, but now that it was said, there was no going back!
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Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 5:32 pm
The swamp wasn't terribly big, either, and technically he'd always lived there - well, except for now, but the whole quest thing was temporary. He might have commented on it, but her question came first.
Jama chuckled a little, unable to help himself. By now, he was quite used to others finding his pride traditions strange, and had learned to enjoy the reactions rather than take them as an affront. "No, I didn't lose it. It was Maradufu, actually."
Finding a new name had been bittersweet; his mother had given him his first one, after all. "It's something my pride does. When someone's old enough, they're sent out to find their own way, and a new name."
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Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:40 am
She wasn't troubled by what he had said, but it was vastly different from any other pride tradition she had heard of before. Granted, it wasn't that many, but the lioness' of the Pridelands loved to gossip, and others like to show off all that they knew. Fia found it funny that in reality, they didn't know that much at all.
"I see, kind of like a rite of passage." She had heard of many other stories of things like that, though for her family it was mostly learning how to hunt. She could hunt, just not well on her own. "I'd guess swimming might work, but if you live in a swamp you are used to it by adolescence."
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:42 am
"Yeah, like that," Jama confirmed, nodding. It was nice that she actually seemed to get it right away, instead of asking why or just plain thhinking it was ridiculous of something. Not everyone could understand why you'd throw a young lion out into the world like that, which was fine. He could get that. But they could at least...keep it to themselves or something.
"Yeah. It's hard to stay dry, really. Or clean. Most everybody just gives up after awhile." Which probably made it odd that he'd claimed to have been taking a bath, but uh...
"So are you going somewhere?"
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