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 Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:06 am
As the sun climbed toward its peak in the sky, the copper-pelted lioness ambled through the tall grasses, making a bee-line for an inviting shade that stood nearby. The middle of the day was, by default, a rather drowsy part of her daily cycle, and to pass the time in a comfortable shade was all she could really have asked for.
Ducking under the cool shelter of the tree, Mzuza promptly allowed her rump to drop, and as she stretched out to lie down in the grass, she shifted her weight to rest against the (relatively) thick tree trunk.
"That's better," She muttered to herself, a small smile of contentment creeping across her face. "Now." Keen crimson eyes rose from where she rested so scan the lands for something on which she could focus her thoughts. Always, she felt the urge to find something to ponder, something to riddle through.
"How do rocks from?" Her gaze landed on a small boulder sitting nonchalantly in the grass not far from her, and immediately she recalled the small, round pebbles that she sought constantly to practice her magic with. How did they form? "They couldn't have risen from the ground... they must have..." She trailed off, and rose from her spot to unearth a small pebble she had eyed a step or two away.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:30 pm
 The pale, lean lion wandered aimlessly through the lands, staring straight up at the sky. He looked a bit put out, as though something up there had just insulted him, but at the same time he seemed unable to look away. Eventually, his lack of attention to his surroundings brought him within earshot of the female, and he reluctantly tore his gaze from the sky to see who was speaking.
"What are you talking about?" He asked curiously, walking toward her casually. Was she talking about rocks? That seemed a little silly to him, but then again, that's just because he didn't find rocks that interesting. The sun, now that was interesting, but rocks? Maybe a little, but not enough to cause him to wonder about their origins.
"Maybe they grow on trees." He suggested, completely serious, "Or from the roots. I know some plants grow big roots underground." He had no idea what he was talking about, at least in regard to rocks, but he was eager to start a conversation. As much as he wanted to stare at the sun all day, this female had piqued his interest, for no apparent reason. Then again, Chapa was easily distracted.
"My name is Chapa'Matlai, what is yours?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:34 am
The unfamiliar voice interrupted her train of thought - although to be honest, she hadn't had much of it going anyway - and she glanced up with interest, eager to locate the source. Her gaze landed on the pale lion, and she smiled. So. Somebody to join her in her musings? She didn't particularly mind sifting through the land's little mysteries on her own, but who knew; perhaps two minds together could figure things out much faster than one alone.
"On trees?" She echoed, turning toward the tree behind her and studying it for a moment. Hm. She suspected he could be right, but... perhaps she would have seen the rocks growing on trees when she climbed them? The thought made her chuckle inwardly. Ah yes, tree-climbing. One of many unique talents befitting a Lady such as herself.
"Maybe they rise up from the roots once they've formed?" She suggested, glancing down at the pebble that now sat between her paws. "They have to get out of the ground somehow..." She fell silent for a moment, staring at the pebble. The answer to her question was proving elusive, but then again, they rarely offered themselves up the moment she began to wonder.
"I'm Mzuza," She said, offering her own name in exchange for his. "It's nice to meet you, Chapa'Matlai."
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:28 am
Cha wondered for a moment, "Rocks don't float." He shrugged, "I don't think they could rise on their own." He paced back and forth a few times, staring down at a smooth pebble.
"Nice to meet you too." He smiled, looking up from the rock for only a moment, smiling, and then becoming completely focused on it again.
"Maybe they form in the ground, or on the roots of trees..." He stopped pacing and sat down, prodding the rock with his paw gently. "And then creatures dig them up?" His face lit up at the realization. "Yes, meerkats and other digging things could bring them above the ground, when they dig tunnels." He grinned proudly. The idea made perfect sense to him, so even if it was wrong, he was excited to have made some sort of progress on the topic.
Though the more he thought about it, the more Cha wondered if rocks could be eaten. After all, if they came from plants, surely they could be food for plant eating creatures? A lion would not eat a rock, of course but...
"Do zebras eat rocks?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:43 am
"Hm..." She ran his idea through her head quickly. Provided that rocks did form on the roots of trees, then his theory about meerkats bringing them up did carry through. And after all, it only made sense - meerkats would not want their tunnels cluttered with rocks and boulders, and to carry them out and unload them into the grass was a logical solution.
"That could work." She agreed with a grin. Chapa's logic had worked its way through the strange mechanism of Mzuza's mind and had come out the other end in one piece, so even if it was not, in fact, the right answer, it made enough sense that she was more than willing to accept it for now. Later, she knew, she would take the topic off the backburner and puzzle at it once again, but for now, they had come to a satisfactory solution.
So two minds did work better than one; she was glad that that theory, too, had worked out.
She blinked, and looked up at his question. It was an interesting query, after all. Provided that they were right, and rocks grew off tree roots, then... rocks would theoretically be plants too. "But... nah, they couldn't," she said after a moment, tilting her head to one side. "Zebras don't eat the actual tree roots either, do they? So if they don't eat the roots, then they wouldn't eat the stuff that grows on roots, would they?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:59 pm
Chapa smiled. She seemed to agree with his idea! That was rare for him, though it obviously didn't keep him from trying to come up with new ideas anyway.
"I guess that's true." He had never heard of a zebra eating the roots of a tree. He supposed that it was possible, but then again, a zebra probably could not get to the roots of a tree very easily. "Maybe bugs eat rocks." He added enthusiastically, "I find bugs under rocks all the time." He nodded, "And they live near tree roots too."
He glanced down at the rock again before asking, "Why are you so interested in rocks, anyway?" He tilted his head to one side. "Do you like rocks? I like the sun better." He looked up at the sky for a moment, "Well, I guess I don't really like it that much, but I do wonder about it a lot. I wonder how to catch it."
It was true, he had a rather love-hate relationship with that glowing ball in the sky. Ever since he remembered he had wanted to chase it down and ride it across the sky, but each morning he failed to catch it, so he was stuck on the ground. He was sure that he'd like it a lot more if he could catch it.
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:48 am
"Maybe they do," she nodded thoughtfully. It seemed as though they were hitting on more answers than she had expected, and certainly most of which she would not have come up with alone. "But... how?" Her gaze dropped down to the pebble again, searching for any indication that it had been nibbled at by bugs. Obviously, mere insects could not swallow pebbles whole... could they?
Mzuza grinned at Chapa's question. Indeed, she had a similar relationship to her pebble as the one he had with the sun. Since cubhood, she had been convinced of her magical powers, and since cubhood few, if anybody, had believed her and since cubhood, she had been trying to prove that she did, in fact, posess the powers she was certain she had.
As a youngster, she had settled on one task - to move a pebble without touching it. If she succeeded, she had decided, it would be more than proof enough of her abilities. And yet, the results eluded her time and time again.
"I'm tryin' to move it." She said matter-of-factly, as if she fully expected him to understand without any further explanation. After all, magical lionesses were oh-so-common in the Pridelands.
She followed his gaze, tilting her head back to stare at the fiery ball of brightness lingering in the blue sky. "Catch it?" She echoed, ears pricking. Hm. Perhaps once she had mastered her abilities to achieve her own goal, she could help him. Moving a rock couldn't be that different than moving the sun...
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:56 pm
Cha shrugged, "Probably just take tiny bites." He glanced at the rock. It was fairly smooth, it didn't look like anything had tried to eat it yet. "Maybe the jagged rocks have been eaten partly, and the smooth ones haven't been eaten yet?"
Chapa gave her an odd look. Trying to move a rock? That wasn't that hard. Unless she meant without touching it?
"Is that something that can really be done?" He asked, tilting his head to one side curiously. He had never heard of such a thing. "Can you show me?" He asked excitedly, suddenly staring intently at the rock again.
"Yeah, I want to catch it and ride across the sky." He didn't take his eyes off the stone, not wanting to miss it. "But it's really fast, I can never catch it. I have to get up early every day, but I think I'm getting close."
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 4:25 am
"Maybe," She thought of the flies that flocked to half-devoured carcasses without fail, remembering the way millions of them seemed to descend at once without ever leaving very noticeable dents in the meat. She supposed much the same would happen if any insects attempted to eat rocks.
"Of course it is!" She reassured him with a bright smile. Well! What a question; of course it could be done. She was living proof that it could be done, and the only thing that might render her assumptions false would be the fact that she had never managed to show anyone yet. But those damn pebbles moved when she was alone, she was certain of it.
"But well, my magic doesn't... always work in front of people," she admitted. "But I can try." She fixed her crimson eyes on the pebble, hoping that, for once, her magical powers would come to her aid when called and show Chapa that it was, indeed, possible to shift the pebble without physically touching it.
"Well, maybe I can help you one day," she offered, keeping her concentrated gaze on the pebble as well. "When I get better at this, that is. I always feel like I'm so close to finding the secret to controlling the magic but... I don't know what it is."
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 5:24 am
"Wow, that's amazing!" He said excitedly, "Is it something you have to be born with, or could you teach me?" He asked eagerly, taking his eyes off the pebble for just a moment to look at her inquisitively, only to see that she too was watching the pebble.
"Really? I wonder why that is..." He looked back down and then jumped, "Did you see that?" He could have sworn that the pebble moved from where it was since he stopped looking at it. Why had he looked away? "I think it moved!" Of course he could not be certain, but Cha very much wanted to believe that she could in fact move the rock with only her mind.
"I'll bet you could." He grinned, looking up from the pebble. He was satisfied with his assumed movement of the rock, and didn't feel the need to watch it any more. "Maybe if you can move things with magic, you can hold them still too. Just long enough for me to catch it!" He nodded.
He thought for a moment, "I can try to help you if you want. I don't know anything about magic, but if you need anyone to help you with anything I'll do it." He was eager to help anyone who could help him reach his goal of catching the sun, and besides that, this lioness would be his first real friend. "It would be fun."
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:13 am
"I supposed I was born with it," she mused. There had not been many instances in which Mzuza had pondered the origins of her magical abilities. "I've always known about them, that is. I'm sure I could at least try to teach you, but I've never tried before. I'm not sure how I would go about doing it."
Her eyes bore into the pebble, willing it to move. And then, then... Chapa leaped in surprise. Did she see? She glanced up, undecided. Was he right? Had it moved? The copper lioness dropped her gaze again, studying the pebble. No, he was right, she was sure he was right. She could swear the pebble had shifted! Even the dirt around it had shifted. "I think you're right! It moved!" A wide grin broke across her face. She had finally done it; she had finally moved something in front of somebody!
"We'll try it one of these days," she said, still elated at the thought of her success. "When I can do this every time I try to. Then we can try on bigger things, like the sun."
She paused to ponder what sort of help she might need. In truth, she had little idea. Moving a pebble was one thing - one that she was not very proficient at anyway - but moving the sun was another matter entirely, and there could be any number of things that required different sorts of preparation. "It will be fun," she agreed. "I'll have to think about it though, analyze it somehow and see what we'd need to do."
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:44 pm
"Oh." Chapa's face fell for just a moment. He had hoped that she could teach him, having magical powers could be really fun and useful, but he supposed that it couldn't be helped. He would just have to stick with his first dream, of catching the sun. Having magic powers would probably help with that too, but if Mzuza helped him it might be just as good.
"I knew you could do it!" He grinned. He hadn't ever doubted her, but then again, he believed pretty much anything. "I'll bet you will be great at this in no time." He couldn't help but think that he had helped out, at least a little. After all, she had never been able to make it work in front of anyone else, maybe he was special.
Maybe he made her powers stronger?
"I'll help out any time I can." He nodded, "I live nearby, so just find me if you want. Even if you just want to talk." He shrugged. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say to a new friend. "I'll bet you will get super good at your magic and I'll catch that sun faster than ever if we both work together."
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 12:31 am
His faith in her abilities gave her confidence and helped make her mind up to believe that she had, indeed, moved the pebble. How could two sets of eyes both be wrong? The notion that perhaps Chapa was perhaps somewhat more gullible than any other lion she had ever met never crossed her mind. Mzuza herself was not, after all, the most cynical of lions, and if she could spend her entire believing that she had magical powers, it wasn't likely that she would doubt anyone else who believed she did too.
"I'll bet you're really lucky," she declared with a grin. That had to be the only explanation - that Chapa was lucky, and his luck had allowed him to see her powers at work, which had, in the process, helped her move the rock. It was all making sense to her now.
"I'm going to hold you to that," she warned, still grinning. She supposed that the very next time her powers didn't quite seem to work - and she supposed that that would be some time in the near future - she would run to find Chapa to borrow a little bit of the luck she was now convinced he had. "You're right. With the two of us working together, we'll catch that sun in no time. Just you wait."
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:34 am
"Lucky?" He thought about it for a moment. It made sense. "I think you're right." He grinned proudly, as if he had done something special. He knew that being lucky wasn't really something he could control, but it made him feel good all the same. After all, a little luck could help anyone right? Though maybe he was just lucky to other people. He rarely had any out of the ordinary luck himself.
"I won't be hard to find." He laughed, "Just follow the sun and you'll find me." He nodded. "I have no doubt about it. That sun will never know what hit it!"
"It has been a great time, Mzuza." He bowed his head respectfully, "I can't wait until we meet again!" He flashed her another grin before beginning to head home, suddenly realizing that he hadn't eaten anything all day and was extremely hungry. Hopefully his luck would affect him for once and he'd be able to catch some food on his own.
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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 1:43 am
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