Ment had settled into his new home, his new pride, rather well since his arrival. He made a friend out of a young male who ended up being as big a Casanova as Ment tried to be. He met another male who enjoyed a game of tag with him before collapsing to the ground with his age catching up to him, and a rather hot looking lioness who was far older than himself, not that it didn’t stop Ment from trying to hit on her.
He had also adapted rather well to his new roll as a crafter. He had a small knack for it when he lived on his own in the Rogue Lands, but when you’re running away from bigger lions or catching your meal from day to day, you don’t exactly get the ability to hone in on any natural talents or hobbies that don’t allow you to stay alive. Now within the pride, he got all the time in the world to practice his craft and with everyone bringing him materials to make trinkets for themselves of their loved ones, he knew his natural talents would flourish greatly.
This didn’t mean he was a calmer lion, that’s a great understatement. If anything, the stability of Ment’s new life gave this lion more room to play than he had previously. Along with the familiarity of everyone within the pride, Ment knew exactly who would play with him and who would turn into a grouch and curtly refuse. That mattered not as today was not a day for play, but a scavenger hunt for materials.
Ment had arrived in the pride shortly before the old Kifuko had stepped down and the new one had risen. Knowing their new Kifuko was a lady, Ment figured he could put himself in her favor with a gift to celebrate her new reign. Yeah, he was being a bit of a sly dog, setting his sights high and hoping to possibly get into Ekundayo’s ‘favor’, but what can you say? Ment liked to dream big sometimes. He knew she probably would have very little interest in him, but he wasn’t going to let that sour his attempts at starting off in the right foot with this new Kifuko, even if the right foot flourished from ill intentions.
Trotting along the waters edge, Ment looked high and low for shells to weave into a necklace with some hide and a large, albeit smooth, chunk of black rock he had found. He figured it went well with Ekundayo’s coat colors and she’d appreciate something that would play up her natural beauty. Granted most women were pretty in Ment’s eyes, but Ekundayo was especially pretty considering her natural colors. The last pretty thing he had been with was of natural colors, mostly natural colors, and she was, well… she was amazing, to say the least. Oddly enough he didn’t remember many of the details from that encounter, but he did remember how amazing he felt afterwards.
“Shells, shells, why are there never any whole shells?” Ment mused to himself, a small frown on his face. He was striking out wherever he looked and was only finding small or large broken pieces of shells, and while he could use them to make a necklace, he didn’t want her to take the fact that he would have been using broken shells as if her reign would be nothing more than broken attempts at something. He wanted nice whole pieces in his gift to her.
Ment noticed a nice big shell in the shallows of the ocean and his eyes gleamed as he went to grab for it. Before he could manage to blink a very tiny blue and white striped bird dove before him, snatching the shell out from under Ment’s paw. The little bird had startled him and caused him to jump, slipping in the water and onto his bum with a splash.
The tiny bird laughed heartily as the lion, a squeaky feminine voice coming from the bird, “Such a silly, silly lion! Did I take something from you, lion?”
Ment starred up to the hovering bird, wet from head to toe in the sea’s salty waters, a sowl present on his face as he spat some salted water from his mouth, “You tell me, bird.”
The giggling little bird dropped the shell onto Ment’s head with a smile and starred down at him, “Don’t frown, lion. You can have your shell. You saw it first after all.”
Ment realized why exactly he had found birds so tasty during his time in the Rogue Lands; they were damn annoying. Eyeing the bird for a moment, he took the shell and shoved it in the small pouch he was keeping around his neck, which held a couple other shiny things he had found while looking for the whole shells.
“What is your name, bird?” Ment asked, noting how it was starring down into his pouch. It was no doubt the bird could see everything in there, even with the little amount of light that seeped in, it was also very interested in the contents, so Ment got the sudden idea to possibly use this bird. Use it to spot the things he couldn’t always see.
The bird quirked her head at him as she hovered in the sky and blinked a moment before answering, “Chopoa, why lion?”
“Chopoa. I noticed you liked the shiny things in my pouch, here. Would you like to help me find more of them?” Ment asked, giving the birdess a cheesy little grin, hoping for her help.
Chopoa’s eyes brightened at the notion that a lion actually needed her help. It was a laughable predicament, but she was a courteous little bird, so she wasn’t going to directly laugh in this lion’s face, especially considering that for a feline, he was quite handsome.
“I suppose since you asked me so nicely, lion, that I will help you. I do have the advantage of being able to fly, after all, and as a responsible bird I should make my services available to those who truly need it,” Chopoa preached cheekily. She was quite the confident bird, now wasn’t she? Lording her ability to fly over the grounded lion. It was only understandable how other birds might find her a bit too high and mighty for her own good, but it was no matter. Looking down to the lion, Chopoa grinned to him, “What is your name, lion?”
“My name is Peremende’Ment, but Ment is shorter and easier to say,” He stated, glad to have peaked the birds interest.
“I do not like Ment, I am sure all call you that. I am far more special, so I shall call you Peremende,” Chopoa said, bobbing her head as an air of self-proclaimed speciality exuded from her, “Now. We shall find your special shinies lion.”
Word Count: 1151
