[PRP] A Random Meeting of Strangers -FIN-

[Dame NightFury]

Tanhipom slowly weaved her way through the large roots of a beautiful tree. The roots had created a small hut like shelter which reminded Ta'hi of her games as a cub. The adult she scared by lying down and napping under one.

She wasn't napping this time. Well, maybe later. Much later. Ta'hi had wandered this far into the forest for material and inspiration on the latest project stuck in her head, heart, and gut. It just wasn't coming out the way she pictured every time she attempted to start. Something was always off.

This tree and it's root hut felt good. RIght. Like she was finally getting closer to the beginning of her journey to complete the project. Who it was going to go to, Tanhipom had no idea, but that wasn't what was important to her. She just needed to get the project out of her head. The quicker she completed it, the sooner she could go swimming for another thought, another idea, another piece of inspiration.

Ta'hi smiled as she nosed around the floor outside the root hut hunting for something to stand out. As much as she was still afraid of the deep water, Ta'hi loved to swim, she had ever since she was a child. Now she had learned how to swim with her eyes shut, or the very least only ever looking up. The deep still trapped her even though she was an adult. She still fought it when no one was around. But when others were, blind swimming.  

[nessiaing]

Tsun was excited he was switching careers, he had been a hunter his whole life, and he had always hated it. He knew now that he was meant to be a baby sitter. The purple male loved to be around the young ones of the pride, and frankly he was a crappy hunter anyways. He had just gotten his harness to carry cubs around and he was pleased to know soon he would be carting a little one about with him.

Today though he was out and about not really doing anything he made his way deep into the jungle, deeper than he had gone since being a child when he and his siblings use to run about the forest trying to explore all that was their home. He paused when her heard the movement of another, his eyes looked around the jungle around him trying to figure out who was out there with him.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

nessiaing

Ta'hi continued to noise around the area unaware of her surroundings. She got like that when she was on the hunt for just the right part of crafting a piece. She lost focus in the physical world. She could compare it to her habit of getting lost in smooth water, but she always came out of it with crafting focus ... not so with the water. "Ah!" She shouted in excitement at a potential rock with a hole in it. A holey stone .... maybe. Ta'hi noised it around, pawed at it and finally picked it up with her teeth to feel the weight and material .... "Hmm ... no. Not right." Nope, nope, nope. Not right at all. "Maybe the next project," she told the holey stone as she respectfully put it back in it's spot among the roots.

Tanhipom sat back on her haunches and sighed. Here was the right feeling for that one trigger piece, but she couldn't find the right feeling among all the rocks and sticks and things scattered everywhere. She closed her eyes and tried to listen to the material around her. Listen for the pull that said it was the one thing she needed. Everything felt and sounded right. So why wasn't any one piece telling her it was destined to be a part of the crafting project she was working on.

She puffed out a breath looked around yet again. "I would greatly appreciate any one of you lot deciding to come back home with me to be a key component to my craftings." Ta'hi figured it could hurt asking the small scattered bits of forest. It never hurt to talk to the forest. It usually answered back in some way, shape of form. Sometimes it was heard to tell and hear the answer, but other times it was most definitely not. The one time Ta'hi had asked the forest for something, a beautiful twisted branch had fallen at her feet, almost falling on her head. Asking was sometimes dangerous, but obviously necessary. Since she was addressing the things already on the floor, Ta'hi hoped to avoid things falling and possibly hurting her or some poor unsuspecting creature in the woods around her.  

[nessiaing]

Tsun was making his way further and further into the jungle. He found himself getting lost in the noise of the jungle around him, everything thing here was breathing with life. As he moved forward he found his eyes adjusting to the various amounts of light, sometimes when you made it deep into the forest there was almost no direct light at all instead just a mystical green that seemed to come from all around you.

Tsun had lost himself in his thoughts when he heard the voice of another, he was a little surprised not expecting to come across anyone else this deep in the jungle. Just as he heard her call out to the jungle for the piece of the craft object that he was looking for. As her call ended Tsun found himself stumbling, after landing his face full of dirt he turned around to find a rock. It was shiny and had hole through it perfectly through the centre.

Brushing the first from his face he lifted the stone in his mouth and made his way towards the voice he had heard calling for the missing piece to her puzzle. Seeing her he smiled large, placing the stone before her. "Perhaps this is what you are looking for?" he said hoping that he had just brought the solution to her problem.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

nessiaing

Ta'hi all but jumped at the voiced answer. As she turned to find the disembodied voice, she half expected the forest to have spoken - literally and she was not sure if that was a good thing or not. The forest had a voice, after all, but it didn't have a VOICE.

Tanhipom broke into a few parts when she saw the lion that had approached her while in her creative fog and oblivion. The first part was the smallest and filled with disappointment. Then there was the relief part. The biggest and thus most outward part of Ta'hi didn't even focus on the lion. She - and it - jumped at the stone the stranger had brought to her. It looked and felt perfect, right, just the thing. "Oh!" Ta'hi gasped in excitement.

She pushed the stone with her paw; picked it up with her mouth; held it in her paws; nosed at it; licked it (yes the taste of a stone was very important. Ta'hi never wanted to give anything that tasted wrong or icky to any of the lions or others that would end up with her craftings. Especially if they had cubs.)

Babbling about the dimensions of the stone, Ta'hi engaged the lion in her grateful excitement. "Thank you! Oh, it's perfect. The weight, height, circumstance of the hole, as well as the stone. It's ALMOST a perfect circle, but more natural. It doesn't taste harmful for cubs or other innocent ones. Thank you!"

The project took off in her mind like it had never done before. Tanhipom started to collect vines, dead roots, fallen living twigs and branches. How she was going to get this all back to her creative space, Ta'hi had noooo idea, but she didn't care one wit. Rays and cresents and circles ran around in her mind putting everything together. This craft would be finished in no time!

"You are the most amazing forest voice I've encountered yet! The most surprising whill being the least dangerous, which I am also very thankful for! I'm Tanhipom, by the way. Ta'hi to my friends. And everyone else, really. I'm especially thankful that you didn't fall out of a tree and hit me in the head!" Ta'hi tried desperately to keep herself from hugging the lion for the piece he had brought. She didn't know if he was a hugger or even a lion that liked touching and she was very careful not to over step those boundaries with others, but it was very hard to contain herself when she was so happy.

Of course there was the last part of Ta'hi that was not focused on forest voices or stones for crafting, but on the lion himself. She just couldn't figure out what it was all about. It was almost like smooth water, but not nearly as consuming. Maybe the lion would be a good muse if they became friends?  

[nessiaing]

Tsun was overwhelmed by the females excitement. He was pleased that he seemed to have completely made the females day. He decided it was perfectly worth him tripping and falling with his face in the dirt to have her smiling and over joyed like this.

"I am glad that it was useful." he told her beaming with pleasure. "My name is Tsun'tswayson, but I prefer to be called Tsun most of the time." he said. He took a seat allowing her to finish her study of the stone that he had brought her.

"So what is a fine lady doing out here all on her own." Tsun gazed at the forrest around him. He loved feeling fully encompassed by the jungle but he could see how some may feel intimidated by it quite easily.

Dame NightFury

Sorry for the delay

 

[Dame NightFury]

nessiaing

"Oh! It's not just useful!" Ta'hi exclaimed still very excited, making bundles of her treasures. "It's going to be the center piece. The focal point and the one thing that holds the piece together! You did amazing!" Tanhipom beamed over at the relaxed lion. Ta'hi carefully piled everything together so it would scatter because of wind or animal or forest mischief, because she had no doubt that any of those things could cause mischief and make things disappear and send her into a frantic search to find all the pieces she needed from here again.

Ta'hi settled down across from Tsun, curling her tail carefully to touch her treasured bundle, keeping in contact with it. "When don't you prefer to be Tsun? And what do you prefer to be called then?" Tanhipom tilted her head in curiousity. Ta'hi preferred Ta'hi all the time. But she did know that sometimes Tanhipom was necessary. Like when she did something that got her in trouble or shocked someone close to her. She supposed she would have to have Tanhipom when being honored or praised for something official too. Goodness, she hoped not.

"Tsun, how did you find that perfect stone?"  

[nessiaing]

"Well I suppose I actually prefer it all of the time, however some of my family members insist on using my full name." he told her with a smile, "It doesn't bug me when they do, I just like having something a little shorter." he said. There were better things in life to do than say his name, short and sweet that was the way Tsun liked it.

"How did I find the rock?" Tsun asked his head tilting to the side a little. "Well I fell over it. It tripped me and I fell on my face and turned around there it was. All shiny and everything. " he told her. It was as if magic had occured.

"Are you going to be heading back to the centre of the pride now?" he asked. He thought perhaps he could escort her back, it seemed like the gentlemanly thing to do after all.

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

nessiaing

Ta’hi cringled guiltily. She really should be more careful when she asked the forest for anything. At the least, she could get hurt, but at the worst some else could as well. She was just lucky that this lion hadn’t gotten injured. Gods, image trying to drag him back to the centre? By veins and ferns, he was much bigger than her. She wasn’t sure if she could have managed it. At least not without hurting him more. She blushed embarrassed. ”I’m sorry that I wasn’t thinking when I asked the forest for it before. The forest provides one way or another.”

Nodding, Ta’hi sighed. While she was excited about the stone and her crafting, she had no idea how she was going t manage getting everything back. ”Yes, I think I am.” Standing up, Tanhipom nosed her bundle of materials. Well, obviously the stone would HAVE to be carried in her mouth, but the bundle wasn’t going to sit on her back without tumbling for more than a few feet. Well, no point in waiting around. This was going to be a longer trip back than it was to get here because of the slow pace she was going to have to keep. ”Next time, I think I’ll aim for a small craft project.” Ta’hi joked around the bundle as she lifted it to put on her back.  

[nessiaing]

"You don't have to carry all of that yourself. I can help carry things." Tsun told her moving to take her bundle from the back of the female. "I shall walk with you back to Mother Tree." he said with a smile.

Once Tsun had secured the bundle he gave the female a nod and began to walk towards mother tree, the centre of the pride where the life of all the lions in the pride centred. Tsun was happy to help another and he felt pretty confident that he had made a new friend. The day had been uneventful but good.

Dame NightFury

fin?