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 Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:52 pm
With a sigh she finally plopped down where she had last seen him, leaning her shoulder against a boulder. She knew he had probably just gone off to find something to eat while she was sleeping, but it didn't make her any less agitated with him for being gone so long. She finally leaned her head against the boulder as well, the scent of moss filling her nostrils. It had been a long time since the earthquake at this point and many of the rocks that had fallen were beginning to settle - like this one, with the grass and moss growing half over one side. It was pretty in an odd kind of way and she liked this spot.
"Kota, you stupid bird," she muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes up to the sky. Convinced that he wasn't going to come back anytime soon, she relaxed into a laying position with her head and shoulder reclined against the big rock, simply waiting for the feathered fiend to return to where he'd left her.
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:04 pm
Umoja felt awkward, walking to where Mfalme had told him to go. He didn't feel like he was stalking, but the lack of confidence in his step made him realize just how nervous he was. As long as he didn't sit and talk about Nyonda, everything should be ok. He had really started to cope with her loss, enough that he was taking to dive to find someone else to walk next to.
Getting closer, and seeing she was laying down, he wondered if he should wait for another time. She seemed comfortable, and worried that he might disturb her. Aw hell, just dive right in it.
"Hello, Lamkana," he said smoothly. He was composing himself better on the outside than the inside.
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:16 pm
"It's about time you showed back u-" Lamkana's sentence cut off as she brought her eyes back down and they landed not on her feathered companion but instead on a much taller, darker male. Umoja, of all creatures!
"Oh, Umoja I'm sorry!" She gasped and pushed herself up to her feet in a hurry, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks beneath her tan fur where he at least couldn't see her shame. "I thought you were Kota. He's been gone since I woke up and I'm a bit irritated with him, I really didn't mean to snap at you!" Her words were bubbling out now in a rushed, hurried apology, but by the end she just smiled apologetically and kind of pursed her lips together once she realized she was making a crazy fool of herself. She fell to silence then and tried to collect her thoughts, mostly to prevent herself from saying something else ridiculous.
"I'm sorry, uhm, did you need something?" When she finally spoke again (after completely and utterly embarrassing herself) she was at least a little calmer than before.
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:31 pm
Umoja had held back a laugh at her stumbling, but he found it charming. She had enough grace to take a moment to compose herself, and in this he admired her. He was one to just keep going, but not in such a nice manner. Especially if it was with Mapatano.
"Don't worry," he laughed, unable to resist when she had gone silent. He felt a little bad that she had rushed up, so he sat himself down, hoping she would let herself relax and not be too worried.
"I was just looking for you," he replied, the laugh letting the worries stores in his gut disappear. "Mfalme pointed me out to here, hope you don't mind."
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:48 pm
"If you're sure," she said a little nervously, but his smile made her smile and she was feeling the nervousness ebbing away. When he sat down she followed suit, all too happy to be in a less awkward position and instead in one that let her feel a little more comfortable.
"Oh, looking for me?" What was left of her nerves seemed to vanish with sudden surprise, her brows shooting up a little. What on earth could he possibly be looking for her for? Her brows furrowed after a moment as it suddenly occurred to her that something might be wrong if he'd gone so far as to have Mfalme look for her. "Is everything okay Umoja?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:37 pm
Umoja grinned sheepishly. "Oh, yeah, everything is fine." Sort of, anyway. "I just didn't want to look for you without help, since the valley is so big." He had heard it was larger than some other prides, but he would have to take their word for it.
"I just wanted to talk to you a bit, if you don't mind," he said, not really wanting to rush. Hopefully she wouldn't guess it right off the bat, but one could never tell with females. His daughter was enough of an example of how...extreme they could be. He had enabled her too much, but at least Ufunuo had been there to help balance it.
"Got a little time to spare?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:24 pm
"Oh, well, that makes sense I suppose," she laughed a little now that her nerves had died away and she knew there was nothing wrong that needed her immediate attention.
"Why ever would I mind you just coming to talk?" She smiled and relaxed from the sitting position she was in back down to the laying position she had been in before he'd stumbled in on her. "Besides, I'm not doing anything here but waiting for Kota to come back from.. wherever he flew off to without me." She frowned slightly at this, her concern over her companion apparent, but it was fleeting and her smile returned quickly. It was obvious this wasn't the first time.
"He'll be back soon enough, and until then I've got plenty of time."
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:30 pm
Umoja paused again, easily covered by the fact that she was shifting around again and continued talking while doing so. His mind was racing, even as his smile remained calm. He needed to do this soon, as he wasn't too good at the little chatting that others seemed to do so well. He might start talking about stupid stuff that shouldn't come out of his mouth, and poor Lamkana had dealt with that enough already.
"Anyway, I was just thinking it might be a nice idea to get to know you better," he said, his words slipping a bit. Proof that was a little nervous. He paused to smile, his scruffy chin always apparent. It helped him calm his nerves, his legs feeling a bit jittery even as he continued to sit still. "And if Kota might not be back for a bit, and Mfalme wandered off, now might be a good time."
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:45 pm
Now that she had calmed down she was a little more aware of what was going on - namely, the nervousness that he seemed to be radiating himself. Were his words slipping? She had no idea why that would be, but his question made her own heart skip a few beats to say the least.
"Get to know me?" she asked a little slowly, her voice raising a little in volume. It was a silly cub's dream to keep thinking that her prince charming was going to come sweep her off her paws. This was probably just some effort he was making to try and get to know the pride members better.. right?
"That sounds like a.. good idea. Uhhmm," she trailed off as her brain took a momentary break without consulting her. "What, what did you want to know?" Great, now she sounded like a lovesick wild dog puppy.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:58 am
This was going about the same for the both of them. Not well. But then, there was a lot that could potentially happen, and he suspected that neither one of them wanted to mess it up. If they both were thinking the same way, why should he keep skirting around the issue?
Unaware where this surge of confidence came from, he smiled and took another step forward before reclining on the ground to join her. Perhaps it was how she seemed surprised, perhaps Mfalme's words ringing in his mind.
"Anything and everything," he said, knowing how silly the words sounded, but he meant them. "I was thinking that we could give each other a chance..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:09 am
At that particular moment, a thousand things were firing off in Lamkana's head at once. A thousand thoughts, a thousand ideas, and in the end it just left her staring at him kind of wide-eyed and slack-jawed. She was pretty sure her brain had just overloaded and she for a moment she was afraid that she wasn't even going to be able to speak for at least the next five minutes, if ever again.
"Uhh," okay, not exactly speech but it was promising! The next obstacle was trying to decide if that had really been happening or if she'd just lapsed into a daydream in the middle of talking to him. Stupid self, it wasn't the time right now for daydreams! She closed her gaping mouth and took a carefully measured swallow to try and get rid of the lump in her throat, though it didn't do much of anything. Her skin was prickling all over from jumpy muscles, making the fur stand up just a little - it was a good thing she wasn't aware of that or she would have been horrified of him seeing her not at her tip top best.
In the end, she tilted her chin up a little, drew a couple of deep breaths, and managed in a slightly strained voice, "could you repeat that?" It was best to make sure she hadn't imagined that, she didn't want to look like a fool if he'd just been asking her something mundane like 'what's your favorite food'.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:54 am
Umoja was a little startled at how it had seemed to set her off. Though she seemed okay, there were small subtleties that alerted him that perhaps being so upfront might not have been the best tactic. It would be silly to backtrack now, and perhaps might be more damaging than to continue on this path.
Chuckling, he looked straight at her. "It's what I said," he answered. "I am hoping that you would give me a chance, if you're willing to take it." Hopefully she would take it a bit better this time, but maybe not. Instead of letting himself worry, he was going to enjoy it. It was charming, and made him forget the weight of the pride and his people at the moment. He was just Umoja, nothing else.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:02 pm
The soft laugh from Umoja spread over her like a warm wave, settling down her jumpy muscles and nerves, until she felt a little more at ease. Not completely of course, but she felt like she could actually hold a conversation with him without completely jumping out of her skin.
Still, when he repeated what he had said (she was sure he had said it this time!) she stared at him for a long moment before she found the words she was looking for. "You mean.. a chance as in.. give us a chance?" She narrowed her eyes a little, confused, and hoping that she wasn't misinterpreting what he was saying and making a complete fool of herself. "You want to try and be with me?"
She realized that her hesitation could be misinterpreted as resistance so she offered him a weak smile to reassure him. "It's not that I don't want to, believe me, it's just that this seems kind of seems sudden and unbelievable to me."
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 3:26 pm
"Yeeeah, see" he started to explain, looking a little off put as he didn't even know where to begin. "I guess it seems sudden, but...I've been thinking about it a lot. Probably more than I should..." He paused, a little bit worried by what she had to say. Had he rushed it? Hmm, probably. He never was the best at being subtle, though.
"And I thought it would be silly to just kind of take a back seat and see what happens. Since...nothing might happen if I do that." She was much too polite, and really, everything Mfalme had said was obvious. He had just been too pompous to ever admit it. 'Til now.
He edged a little closer to her, unable to resist. Maybe it would make his words seem more believable? "I'd love for you to believe me," he added on at the end.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:14 pm
"Yeah, nothing might happen then," she said quietly, rubbing her paw against the ground beneath her idly as if it might distract her from the sudden awkwardness of this situation. She had thought about this happening so many ways since she was younger and this was definitely not one of them. The Umoja in her head was much more romantic and smoother talking than the Umoja in real life - but that didn't make her heart beat any slower.
"It's not that I don't want to believe you, quit the contrary actually," she laughed nervously here and drew a circle in the dirt with one claw. "It's just, uh," she retracted her claw and looked up at him then, forcing herself to look him in the eyes instead of taking the coward's way out and glancing away to try and mumble her way through this. "I've kind of had a crush on you since I was a lot.. younger, you know? So this is kind of like a very strange dream come true."
She smiled awkwardly, laughed slightly under her breath, and even shifted a little as he scooted closer to him. She felt like she might start laughing hysterically at any moment, just to break the tension in her head. "It's just hard for me to believe it's actually happen after I've psyched myself up so long and this is jut so embarrassing that I'm telling you this at all." Her words began to smush together by the end of her sentence and she could feel the heat in her cheeks yet again. She glanced down quickly and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth so she could chew on it as a distraction.
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