Jicho gazed intently into the river. He was not looking for fish, as one might suppose. No, Jicho's eyes were fixed on something much more fascinating: his reflection. He turned his head slightly, rolling his eyes to get a look at his profile. Yes, that was wonderful. Very noble. One might easily mistake him for a king among lions. Nay, that was too simple. A king OF lions. Of all lions, certainly, for there could be no lion more handsome than Jicho. Entirely absorbed by his own magnificence, Jicho let out a dreamy schoolgirlish sigh.
The crocodile goddess was not hungry today, but she was dozing beneath the river's surface nonetheless. A herd had passed through earlier that morning, churning her riverbank into nothing but mud. So the crocodile goddess was taking her nap in the river itself. It was warm enough today to be more than comfortable. If she'd been hungry she would have pulled the lion at the water's edge down in an instant. As it was, she didn't even notice him. He was no threat to her. Her tail twitched lazily in her dreams, rippling the water above.
Jicho was gazing fondly at his thick black eyebrows when something moved beneath the surface of the water, breaking up and distorting his beautiful reflection. His initial reaction, before the panic that should have come from spotting a crocodile, was indignation. How dare that whatever-it-was! Then his eyes focused on the thing moving beneath the surface, and he realized it was a tail. A big, spiky, crusty old tail. Jicho blinked, pulling back slightly. Only slightly ... it was but a tail after all, and with Jicho's superior lightning-fast reflexes he could leap out of the way in a flash if the owner of the tail decided to turn around and snack on him.
Where was the owner of the tail, anyways? Jicho knew that crocodile were very sneaky, but he had spotted this one! He should be able to see some other part of it ... bright turquoise eyes scanned the surface of the calm river. Oooh, there! There! He hadn't noticed it, being much more interested in his own reflection, but there it was! It was a face! Half underwater, yes, but certainly a face! How exciting! Jicho squinted, trying to make out the crocodile more clearly, and suddenly realized the shocking truth.
It wasn't the face of a crocodile at all ... it was the face of a lady.
Throwing caution to the winds, Jicho leaped into the water, pouncing on the crocodile's tail. "I'll save you!" He roared heroically, coughing only slightly on the river water.
Mlinzi's eyes snapped open. What was happening?! There was something on her tail, something large, heavy, and LOUD. This wasn't something that usually happened to crocodiles, let alone crocodile goddesses. More bewildered than frightened or angry, she slapped her tail hard to one side, flinging off the clinging beast. Being half-underwater, he didn't fly far, but at least he was no longer trying to wrestle her tail like a mongoose fighting a snake. She raised her head above the surface of the water and turned to stare at him, utterly boggled.
"What are you doing?" It wasn't often that the crocodile goddess was curious enough about mortals to speak to them, but this was quite outside of her experience.
Ow! Jicho was flung to the side, through the mucky river water. Yuck! He hoped this strange female was grateful to him for saving her. Grateful enough to help him clean off, at least! This heroism was quite a lot of bother! She was looking up at him now, and speaking some gibberish. Shock, probably, from her terrible experience of being captured by a crocodile. Jicho was vaguely aware that crocodiles tended to eat people rather than simply hold them captive, but he wasn't very interested in the subject. Maybe it happened all the time. The brightly colored lion dog-paddled awkwardly over to her, holding his beautiful head as far above water as possible. "You are safe now, my lady! Come with me!"
Safe from what? Mlinzi floated in the river, staring at the lion swimming up to her. Was he ... trying to attack? Her mind boggled. She didn't react, just floated and stared as he approached. And then he was nudging at her, bumping at her shoulder, apparently urging her towards shore. Mlinzi raised one great paw and shoved him away from her. Her amazement was swiftly giving way to irritation. "Get out of my river, foolish lion!"
HER river? Maybe her brains had been scrambled by her little dunk. Jicho tried to grab her by the scruff of her neck and HAUL her ashore, but his teeth bounced off her ... scales?! In his consternation, he hadn't even noticed that she appeared to have a fine crop of spikes and bumps running down the back of her neck. Jicho shook his head. Well, so she was funny looking. She was still a LADY! "Follow me, then!" Jicho shouted, turning away from her and paddling towards the bank.
Mlinzi had ignored the wimpy bite at her neck. The lion wasn't aggressive, just incredibly stupid. She was really getting irritated now. The crocodile goddess kicked her tail and turned towards him, following him to the bank. She reached it before him and clambered out, turning to glare at him. The wings that had remained firmly folded to her sides shook out and fanned, spraying the already wet lion in the river below her with water. "What do you want with me?" Mlinzi hissed, her golden eyes narrowed.
Oh. What? Wings? Jicho shook his head once more to clear it ... and to get the water out of his eyes that she had so inconsiderately splattered him with. Her appearance was shocking, bizarre ... but Jicho wasn't frightened. More puzzled. He climbed onto the bank beside her before answering. Ah, he could see his mistake now. She WAS the crocodile! Jicho wasn't sure how that could be, exactly, but clearly it was. She was very strange looking ... but she was quite an appealing shade of green, and Jicho had always loved strong women. He shook himself to rid his gorgeous fur of water and put on his best smile. "I haven't seen you around here before," he said brightly, facing down the angry crocodile goddess.
Yet again, Mlinzi couldn't believe it. She stared at him blankly for several tense moments before replying.
"Are you ... hitting on me?"
Jicho's smile did not falter. "Not at all, not at all! I can see how you might be used to that, possessing such exotic loveliness --"
Mlinzi's golden eyes were bulging. "Go away!" She had mated with all manner of males in her time, indifferent to their personalities as long as they were providing her with cubs. This male, however ... this male got on her nerves in a way that she hadn't thought possible.
"I beg your pardon, madame, for interrupting your nap, but I believed you to be in danger. Now that I can see you clearly, I can see that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. Indeed, you are one of the most fabulous creatures I have ever laid eyes on --"
He was getting closer to her! He was actually sidling up to her! What? No! "I do not want to mate with you, you horrible little lion!"
So she was blunt, eh? That was attractive too! Jicho's smile faltered for only a fraction of a second before he rallied. "Ah, I can see that you are a decisive and powerful woman. Perhaps if I sun myself for a while on your riverbank, you will see that I am not at all horrible. In fact, I --"
Mlinzi had had enough! She lunged, snapping at him. The eye-searingly bright male staggered backwards, his expression wounded. "I will eat you whole!"
Obviously this lady was feisty. Jicho liked that, but those teeth were a little bit alarming. He backed up out of her reach, plastering the grin back on his face. "I suppose I could allow you just a little nibble, but --"
Letting out a roar of pure annoyance, Mlinzi charged at the annoying male. He turned tail and fled from her. Satisfied with driving him off, the crocodile goddess turned and stomped back to her river. Her nice snooze was entirely ruined. She shook her heavy head. Well, a swim would surely put her back in a good mood.
Standing a goodly distance away, Jicho gazed at the goddess. "Okay! I'll see you later, my jewel of the Nile!" Then he began to run in earnest, aiming to put as much distance between him and the goddess as possible. Things could have gone better, but the point was to plant a seed, wasn't it? He would just have to come back when she was in a better mood!
