Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a sunny, cold day when Jens awoke to find himself alone in the den. He stretched his small paws and yawned before getting up to head out. His mother and father were more apt to leaving them alone now that their eyes were open and they could eat actual food. Everyone knew them by sight and even with the snowy stigma against those with wintery pelts, those pride members knew better than to do anything to the queen's children.

Blinking his golden eyes in the sun, Jens decided he'd follow the tracks in the snow to wherever they led. He was sure his siblings had bounded out before him and the tracks were evidence of that - they were small and there were areas where the snow had been flattened, indicating their playful behavior.

Trudging through the fresh powder, Jens found the going a bit slow. He was still a bit small, after all, and it seemed a bunch of snow had fallen overnight. He paused under a tree where the snow wasn't quite so deep to catch his breath. This was hard work!

Jens sat chewing at a snowball between his toes for a few minutes before deciding to just leave it. It would come out eventually, right? Lifting his head, he spotted a blue cub not far from where he sat under the tree. He tilted his head a bit before realizing he hadn't seen her before. Well, his mother had always told them to be friendly towards new lions, so he decided this would be a good chance to do so.

"Hello," he said as he plodded through the snow again. "I'm Jens. What's your name."

He sat down in front of the blue female, golden eyes unblinking. He could be a bit unnerving at times, but he was trying hard, honest!

Jens waited patiently for her name, and when she gave it he nodded. Rin Kokoro. It was a bit long, but he knew some lions had longer names. One of the guards that oversaw his mother, Ezen, had an incredibly long name that he had only heard once. After the encounter he had asked his mother why his name was so long, and she had simply chuckled and told him to call the massive lion by his nickname.

"That's long," he stated as Rin got up to stretch. "Can I call you something shorter. Long names are hard to remember."

His voice was flat and monotone even through the questions, no indication that they were questions at all except for the wording.

"Rin. That's better," Jens said, licking his lips as the wind blew some of the fluffier snow into his face. It made his little whiskers tremble a bit as the chilly melted snow dripped from the, but almost as soon as it had come, it was gone.

"Talk like what," he asked, blinking slowly before tilting his head to stare at the other cub once more. "I'm talking like I always do." When he was older he'd be able to notice the difference between his rather expressionless voice, but for now he didn't hear any difference in tone between himself and his more enthusiastic siblings, let alone other lions he'd never met.

"Where do you live," he continued, looking around. "I've not seen you before." Then again, he had only just started exploring the island they called home.

Confused but not caring too much about how his speech patterns were different, Jens shrugged his little shoulder before reaching down to chew on his paw again, breaking up the snowballs that were finally melting between his toes. How the heck did the bigger lions walk around without getting clumps of the stuff stuck between their paw pads? It was a talent he was sure he'd never get.

"Oh." Lifting his head, Jens trained his gaze on Rin once more. "Is your dad that leopon mom talks to all the time. She said something about him finding cubs." Jens really didn't know much about the rest of the pride, but when it came to the lions that checked up on his mother while his father was out and about, he knew those well.

Jens tilted his head a bit as Rin scoffed at him. Didn't everyone know his mother? He hadn't been told just how important she was to the pride, but in his mind, his mother was the greatest lioness and his father the greatest lion and everyone must know them.

"My mom is Elsa," he supplied helpfully even as he stood. His butt was getting kind of cold. "Yeah, I will find a warmer place." Shifting a bit, he wobbled out through the snow to head back to the den.

"Bye Rin. Nice meeting you," he said as he went. "Don't get a cold butt."