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 Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:40 pm
 It had been a while since Sepoko had last seen the den he had once called home. Though they still walked the jungles where he'd lived since he was a small cub, nothing here was familiar, and home was far behind. He'd never felt more lost, though he supposed you could never really be lost, per se, when you didn't really have anywhere to be or anywhere to go. His mother had simply picked a direction and started walking. She said she had been doing this for a long time, long before he was born, but he couldn't help but have his doubts. The world was huge, and navigating it seemed terrifying to him.
Currently it was nightfall, and his mother slept soundly beneath a large tree. As for Sepoko, he could not sleep. His mind was racing, and he was frightened of the unfamiliar territory. He sat on a fallen log a short distance away from his mother, surveying the territory. He sat completely stiff and completely alert, aware of every noise and every movement, flinching at every passing fly and every rustle of the leaves. He just didn't know what to do with himself.
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:49 pm
 "Da dum, de dum... de dum... de dum... de dum, da dum... da da....da DAAAA..." Ilori whispered as he snuck around the unfarmiliar jungle, moving away from his parents while they slept. He had grown a bit tired of whispering in his parents and brother's ears, and messing with their dreams, so instead the playful cub had moved onto chasing fireflies. Of course, his playful song was doing a fairly good job of chasing them off, and anything else that came near him.
He was rather unafraid of anything that might appear to try and harm him. He knew that his mother was less than a scream away, so the idea never really occured to him that he could be hurt by drawing so much obvious attention to himself. It could be called cub naivety, but mostly Ilori just didn't believe that anyone would come after him. He hadn't bothered anyone, though he did understand how anyone who might be sleeping would be upset if he woke them up.
He knew it always put him in a bad mood. He wasn't a morning lion. He was barely an afternoon lion really.
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:22 pm
Sitting stiffly upon his perch, Sepoko soon became aware of an approaching ruckus. At first he had simply thought he was being paranoid and hearing things. However, it gradually became clearer and clearer until it was quite obvious that some approaching thing was... singing.
And it was making quite a fuss too, whispering it's little song and leaping about. Sepoko could hear the crashing of someone wrestling their way through the undergrowth and froze. From the sounds of all the noise it made, it seemed to Sepoko to be a much larger creature than it actually was.
Once he'd finally gotten over his frozen-in-terror mode, Sepoko turned about and hissed to his sleeping mother, "Mom... mom, wake up." But it was no use. His mother's name meant 'rock', and accordingly she slept like one. Whining helplessly, Sepoko settled for Plan B: diving behind the log he sat upon and cowering there in terror, waiting for danger to pass.
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:23 pm
Little Ilori crashed thoughtlessly through the jungle, going after the fireflies without paying a whole lot of attention to where he was headed, "De da, de dat, dum dat, dat dat DAT," he continued to sing to himself, before he stepped in a ridge and slid down, falling head over heels in front of the log where Sepoko hid, creating even more of a crash then he had been making before.
He landed with an ungraceful 'thud' and lay there for a moment, almost seeming dead, before he sat up and shook off the leaves and that like from his coat. He sat and blinked for a moment, as though he wasn't quite sure whether or not he should cry, but then he shrugged to himself and giggled. The fireflies had come back to check and see if he wsa still chasing them.
That of course, made the little lion laugh harder, almost to the point of tears. He usually made a point of only laughing when someone else was around, since it seemed silly to sit there all alone and show any one of the larger emotions when he had no one to share it with. But it seemed perfectly reasonable to laugh at himself now. After all, the fireflies were watching him.
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:47 am
Sepoko hunched down lower and lower in the place where he hid, huddling up tighter with each rising incriment of approaching sound.
There was a brief, split second pause as the singing stopped, and Sepoko almost let himself relax before the great crashing came, roaring straight towards him. The juve shrieked and bolted from his hiding place, bounding straight up the tree underwhich his mom, inexplicably, still slept. He found a good sturdy branch and clung to it for dear life, eyes clenched shut, trembling such that the tree's leaves rustled with him.
He continued to cower this way through the noise and the odd silence, until it was then broken by a child's laughter. Curious, Sepoko cracked open one silver eye and glanced down. Why... it was just a cub! Just a little boy, probably somewhat smaller than Sepoko himself... or maybe roughly the same size (Sepoko had always been a bit of a runt). He stared down at the cub in wonder, then anxiously cleared his throat and said aloud, "Um... I'm sorry, but... you make an awful lot of noise for just a little boy."
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:08 pm
Ilori let out a small 'eep' of suprise and looked straight upwards, large black eyes opening on Sepoko, but he calmed almost instantly when he heard the other lion speak to him. He calmed down so quickly that it was almost startling in fact, but he couldn't help but see instantly that Sepoko was a little scared of him, "Sorry... did I wake you up? Were you sleeping? I didn't mean too, I promise! I didn't even know there were other lions out here. Are you all alone?"
His eyes flickered around, trying to find any other lions lurking around. Here he had been thinking that it was just him and the fireflies. Maybe he had laughed because he had known that someone else there, but he couldn't say for sure. All he knew was that he hadn't meant to suprise Sepoko. The poor other lion actually seemed scared of him! That made him feel awful, but he showed it by smiling to show how little, and essentially harmless, he really was.
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:53 am
Sepoko furrowed his brow, curious. This boy seemed to be... a rather strange lad. His emotions fluctuated rapidly, or so it appeared from the look on his face, and this unnerved Sepoko. He was used to being around steady, consistant people... not like this. He listened briefly to the little cub's apologetic babbling and shook his head. "No no, don't worry, you didn't wake me," Sepoko said, it being in his nature to be rather apologetic himself, "But I must say... you did scare me an awful lot. I was keeping watch here. I thought you were some kind of great beast, all the noise you were making." He blanched a little here, fearing that this comment might be somewhat insulting, then amended, "N-no offense, of course. I see now you are no beast at all."
Being asked if he was alone, he sighed. He considered briefly answering 'yes', because he often felt rather alone, but he knew this to be technically untrue. So he shook his head and pointed down below him, murmuring, "No. My mother is asleep down there. She sleeps really soundly." He sighed. He wondered about his mother sometimes, he really did...
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:37 pm
Ilori blinked and giggled a little, "You thought I was a big scary beast? That's so funny! I'm so glad I didn't wake up you or your mother though. I would have felt so guilty... I didn't mean to hurt anybody, or your ears or anything like that. I'm so sorry I scared you though! I didn't realize I was being... well, scary. But you never know, maybe I scared off some really big scary lions with all my noise, so now they'll all leave you alone." He mentioned hopefully, wanting Sepoko to at least smile at him, "That way your mom wouldn't have to get up either... I wouldn't have wanted to dissapoint her by not being very dangorus."
He sat down and tilted his head to the side, smiling brightly agaian, "I should introduce myself. I have no manners, my parents say. I'm Ilori. What's your name?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:33 pm
Sepoko frowned. He didn't think it was particularly funny. But he was greatful enough for the appology from the young cub. "It's alright, you didn't mean it," the juve muttered to his companion. The kid did have a point, though... maybe he had scared off some predators making all that racket. And he smirked a little and told him, "I don't think my mom would have been too disappointed... she likes kids."
When it was time for introductions, Sepoko bowed his head politely... as best he could while still keeping his balance in the tree, anyway. "It's nice to meet you, Ilori," he said, although he honestly wasn't sure whether it was nice to meet him... yet. "My name's Sepoko."
And when he lifted his head from the bow, that's when it occured to him...
He was in a tree. He hated trees. Ever since the... incident.
"Uh oh," Sepoko squeaked and, suddenly terrified, clung to dear life onto the branch with his three good limbs.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:22 am
Ilori was immediatly concerned when he looked up and realized that Sepoko seemed to be less than happy that he was in a tree. He had looked alright almost a moment before, which confused the cub a little bit, but none-the-less, he didn't want anyone around him to get hurt, "Are you okay? You don't look so good up there. Maybe you should come down with me."
Ilori wasn't afraid of much, since in general he trusted his mother to beat down anything that might hurt him, but he was aware that some lions were scared of some things, and other lions wern't. Was Sepoko afraid of trees? If so, it was silly for him to be up there... had Ilori really scared him that much? Guilt sprung like a trap on him. If anything bad happened to Sepoko, it would be all his fault for being so noisey!
"I'm really sorry if I scared you, but I'm little, I promise that I won't make any more big noises if you'll come down Sepoko!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:41 am
Gritting his teeth, Sepoko addressed Ilori without looking at him. He couldn't bear to look down any longer. "I'm... I'm really not okay," he said with a half-delirious laugh. "I, um... I'm a little afraid of being up in trees. And I... I don't quite know how to get down. Or... get down safely." It was true. The only way he'd ever gotten out of a tree was by falling. He didn't think he could climb down, not with his lame leg, and if he jumped he ran the risk of screwing up his leg even worse.
He sighed as Ilori appologized yet again for making such a fuss. He shook his head, and was immediately alarmed at the way the branch swayed when he did so. "It's okay. Really," he insisted, "But... could you do me a favor?"
As best he could, he pointed down to the sleeping earth-toned lioness beneath the tree. "Do you... do you think you could wake up my mom?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:28 pm
Ilori nodded furiously before turning and bolting before the lion, near tears as he thought of what might happen to Sepoko all because he had been fooling around in the dark. This was all his fault! But the lioness was bigger than he was, and she was Sepoko's mother, and if she was anything like Ilori's, then she would be able to fix everything. Everything would be better soon.
"Excuse me... excuse me!" Ilori lightly shook the lioness, then he shook her shoulder as much as his small body would allow, "Miss! Miss big lion Sepoko's mom! Sepoko is stuck in a tree! Please wake up, you need to help him! He's stuck, I don't want him to fall! But he'll be okay if I wake you up! Oh... please wake up!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:09 pm
Lefika heard a voice, and felt a presence nearby. She didn't discern the words immediately, but that was because she wasn't really listening. However, she was on her feet almost immediately as soon as she sensed someone near--Ilori barely had a chance to touch her. Having spent a long while living alone before having a family, Lefika learned to be on her feet in an instant when she had to. She might be a deep sleeper, but her instincts were strong.
Glancing down, she saw the worried looking cub. Briefly she just stared at him, confused, but then she smiled softly at him. She hadn't heard a word he'd said, of course. "What is wrong, child? Are you lost?"
And then she glanced up.
And she sighed.
She tapped her paw impatiently as she looked up at Sepoko and frowned. "Sepoko, my dear... what have I told you about going up into trees?"Up until this point, Sepoko had been in panic mode, clinging desperately to the tree branch and near to tears.
But the instant he heard his mother speak, as unconcerned as she seemed to be, he relaxed. He went slack on the tree branch. "Um... don't?" he said in response to her question.Lefika nodded in agreement. "That's right. Remember what happened last time?" When Sepoko nodded miserably, she smiled sympathetically at him. "Alright. Hold on just one more moment, dear."
With that, she turned back to little Ilori and looked down on him. "So... do you want to tell me how my son got up in that tree?" Her expression was blank, unreadable... it was impossible to tell whether she was interrogating him or just asking.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:26 pm
Ilori hung his head, "It's all my fault! I was being really noisey in the bushes and he thought that I was something big and scary, but I'm not! So he jumped up into the tree to get away from me. I didn't mean to scare anyone! I was just looking for fireflies!" Ilori promised before he looked back up at Sepoko, "I just don't want him to get hurt because I was being stupid! I'll help you get him down however I can!"
Ilori was genuinly sorry. He had never really been in a situation like this before, and he was worried about Sepoko. He had liked him, he had been nice when Ilori was being his usual silly self. Truth be told, the lioness didn't scare him at all. Again, because Ilori was young, and thus believed himself immortal, and also because he was more worried about Sepoko getting hurt than he was about the possibility of the other lion's mother hurting him.
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:21 am
Ilori didn't need to worry about Lefika anyway. She might seem cold sometimes, but she was warm underneath. Her blank expression softened a bit, and she chuckled and playfully tussled Ilori's mini-mane. "Relax, hon. This isn't your fault, you need not blame yourself." She rounded the tree to stand beneath Sepoko, looked up at him and smirked. "My son is just terrified of everything, that's all. If you hadn't scared him up the tree... something else would have. Isn't that right, Sepoko dear?" She looked up at him expectantly, as though the question were serious... and it might've been, too. There were some things she wished her son would consider.
But Sepoko just scowled down at his mother, utterly unimpressed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, mom," he muttered. It was rather unlike him to be this outwardly bitter... but this was not his night.
Turning his attention back to Ilori a moment, he too pitched in his own reassurance, yet again. "It's okay, really," he told the cub. "You didn't mean to, I know. Please don't be so upset." Honestly, Sepoko had been a little irritated by the cub, but all the same he hated to see anyone upset, especially on his account.
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