Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kumbo felt like an idiot, more than he normally did. It was not like he did not know there were thorns on that specific tree, because he did. His back had just been so incredibly itchy, and the bark of the tree was nice and rough and soothing to the intense tingly feeling on his shoulder blades. The mustached lion just had not realized that there were thorns on the truck of the tree along with the branches. He should have looked more closely at the thing, but relief had been so close.

The tree felt good until the sharp stings of thorns in his back took over. He yelped at the pain, his loud voice booming in a less than intimidating noise. He fell forward almost instantly, making sure none of him was touching the tree anymore. He glared back at the offending plant, even if it was not the plant’s fault. His embarrassment only continued as he tried to wrap his head around enough to pull the thorns out. It only served to make him look like he was chasing his tail. He next tried to use his hind legs to get to them, reaching as close to his shoulder blades as possible. His paw caught one thorn! But as he tried to drag it out, his paw was too heavy, and only pushed it in further.

Kumbo whimpered. He was going to need help with this. It was terrible.

The lion was mostly huddled in on himself, hoping if he was a tight enough ball he would be able to get a thorn or two out of his pelt. It was not working; he was nowhere near flexible enough. That is when he heard the beckoning call. Perhaps one of the pride medics? Anyone would be helpful at this point if he could convince himself to actually ask for or accept help.
With just enough resolve, Kumbo uncurled himself and sniffed the air, picking up the scent of a wild dog from the direction he heard the voice. He nodded once to himself, building up that tiny scrap of courage he had, and headed that way. It was not hard to find the canine; she was not hiding or anything.
Being the shy beast that he was, Kumbo crouched down when he saw her, his belly grazing the ground. He crawled like that to her, tail wrapped tightly around his legs. “I could use an extra set of paws, if it is not too much of a bother?” His voice was next to silent. He was not good at initiating contact with people.

Kumbo yelped out in pain as the first thorn was pulled from his back. He was completely unprepared for it; he expect some kind of introduction, or at least an informative little lecture on what was about to happen. But no, this wild dog clearly had the worst bedside manner in the history of medics this pride has ever had. She just plucked out the thorn like it was nothing. What kind of an animal did that?!
He had to say something as the second thorn was yanked out. He screeched in pain. “That hurts!” the announcer cried out; it echoed around them, the full force of his voice coming out this time. But once the offending object had been removed (there were still plenty more to go), he had to admit was finally starting to feel better. Still, this canine needed to slow down if Kumbo was going to survive this, “Lady, you’re a medic, right? Don’t you have a less crude way of doing this? Or at least something to dull the pain?”

The lion's head sank. He felt bad. It wasn't her fault that he scratched up against a thorny tree. Resigning himself to more pain, he mumbled something about saditst and nodded. "Sorry, do your worst, I guess...."

Kumbo hunkered down after that. He was rarely so aggressive, and was completely embarrassed by his previous actions. He crossed his paws, pulling one of his claws into his mouth to gnaw as he waited in anticipation for the rest of the thorns were removed.