[PRP] How Does This Go... (Isi and Ronan)

[Light Atago]

((He's going to put holes in the gourd, so it's not that hard. It can be harder than normal, but they DO need to be able to put holes in it somehow. XD))

She sat and waited for Ronan to retrieve the gourd he'd been eyeing-- yes, she had thought it would be that one. She rose smoothly to her paws as he approached and started padding back to the drum circle. "So here's how it's going to go down- we'll get back and about 8 holes need to be carved into it, I'll show you how. Those'll help for securing the drum-head. We'll stretch a piece of leather over the top and secure it with teeth or claws into the holes we will have made..." She said as they approached, getting closer and closer. She picked up on his pride- that's what she was aiming for. Every lion should be proud of their drum! She padded up to one of the bigger drums in the circle and pulled out the one and only full set of "ingredients" to finish off the drum. One pelt, 8 teeth and claws. She made a mental note: Restock these things later.  

[MoonRazor]

((Oh, whoops. Should fix that. xDD))

He nodded his head to show that he understood, padding alongside her toward the drum circle. He was glad he had picked out a gourd that was not all too heavy - at least not enough to tire him out on the walk back to the drum circle - and in fact he found he could almost frolick about joyfully while carrying it.

He was already imagining that different looks that could be produced using teeth or claws to secure the leather. He was greatly looking forward to being able to assemble the drum and then go about decorating it. The little lion was perhaps more prone to paying attention to details than most lions of his age, and whether he liked it or not, how pretty his drum turned out to be did matter to him.  

[Light Atago]

She returned and set down the remaining pieces. "So, ready to get it done? This is the hardest part of making a drum, so far all we've done is selected a gourd. Now the real work begins, but it's not all that hard." Isithunzi said cheerfully. "We've got 8 teeth or claws, so we need 8 holes to hold the drumhead on. You can carve them out with your teeth or claws, whichever works best for you, claws normally do alright, but if it's really stiff, you may need to get it started with your teeth. After you've put the drumhead on, you can decorate it as you see fit!" Isithunzi said happily, sitting down to watch Ronan get it started. She'd be there to correct him, if need be.  

[MoonRazor]

Ronan glanced down at what she had brought him, picturing the next steps in his mind's eye. Yes, he could do that quite easily, he supposed. He nodded his understanding as he eyed the gourd for a moment. It didn't look like it would be easy to carve holes into it with his claws, so he skipped that step and simply launched himself onto it and began gnawing at the gourd for the holes.

When it felt as though it was thin enough to pierce with a claw, Ronan did so and was rewarded by the making of the first hole. He grinned as he lowered his eye to the hole's level, then moved to the other side of the gourd to begin on yet another hole.

Before long he had his eight holes, and he stepped back to admire his handywork. There was nothing like making things to satisfy one's boredom.  

[Light Atago]

Isithunzi watched as Ronan made holes with his teeth, then his claws. He must've picked out a hard one, and had known it when he started in with his teeth. She assumed that he knew what he was doing, and he was doing a good job. The holes looked meticulously perfectly placed, despite the fact that the juve hadn't spent any noticeable time making a big deal out of it.

"Great! Now, all we've gotta do is add a drumhead, decorate, and add a strap. I'll be right back, you can tack the drumhead on if you want, it's pretty easy." She padded off to get the long strip of leather to make a neck-piece from the drum circle. It had slipped her mind before. She quickly grabbed a good-sized one and came back, trying to peek over Ronan's shoulder as she approached to see if he'd done it yet or not.  

[MoonRazor]

He nodded his understanding. "Alright!" He grabbed the drumhead and brought it over as Isi left to fetch the leather. He placed it over the open mouth of the gourd, placing it perfectly. Then he took a claw and tacked one side in place, and proceeded to stretch the drumhead taut on the other side, fixing that in place with another claw. Then, alternating between tooth and claw, he tacked the drumhead in place, nice and smooth. He admired his handiwork again with a little grin, seeing the neat spacing between the tacking and the drumhead, placed to near perfection. He touched it lightly with a paw. The noise that resounded was perhaps a little to the low side for a gourd of such average size. How perfect.

He heard Isi return behind him and turned around with a grin.  

[Light Atago]

Isithunzi heard a quiet tap on a drum as she returned and took it that he had chosen to make use of the time she was away- that was good. So few of the cubs and juves in the pride wasted much time, it made the lioness happy to see. "Very nice!" Isithunzi said as she approached. "You know how to make a drum now, all you need to do is learn how to hunt! That's how you get the leather and the teeth and claws, but I'm sure you knew that," she said with a clever wink. She set down the leather strap and some extra teeth.

"These are for you to try on your own, you know what to do, I'm sure. This one's for a neck-strap," she said, holding up a piece of leather that was carefully assembled to already be in a hoop. Isi sat and pushed the last materials forward for the juve to finish.  

[MoonRazor]

Hunting? Ronan grinned. Hunting, he was sure, would be something he would be fantastic at. It was easy for him to see angles and lines of sight, and where best to take a run and where best to not. That stuff came naturally to him, quite unlike this music thing that he was still desperately attempting to wrap his head around.

He took the neck strap and pulled the extra teeth closer with a paw, then set about adjusting the hoops so that, when attached, it would let the drum hang at just the right spot so he could easily reach it with his paws. The little lion had yet to fully understand the concept of drumming, but it made sense to him that the top of the drum would be a comfortable distance from his paws.  

[Light Atago]

"Once you've got that attached and decorated if you want, you'll be ready for your drum quest!" Isithunzi said cheerily while the juve worked. "Do you know all about that, or do you need me to explain it to you?" Some cubs hadn't heard of it before, she knew, so she didn't want to send him off without a good idea of what was going to happen.

She'd probably have a rough time explaining it in a way that Ronan could understand- she didn't know about his difficulty with music yet. She always had a little bit of difficulty explaining something in more than two ways. (Normally she could easily come up with a second way, but after that it took her some time to think.) Still, Isithunzi had an amazing ability to be patient with her "students."  

[MoonRazor]

"Drum quest?" He echoed, looking up from his drum. Now that he thought about it, he had heard it mentioned once or twice, but he had never given it much thought. He probably should have - it sounded like it was important.

He nodded his head. "I'd love for you to explain it," He said, wondering what it would be like. A quest sounded amazingly adventurous. Being such a young little thing as he was, adventure sounded perfect for him.  

[Light Atago]

Isithunzi nodded, she'd hate for any of the pride's youths to head off without an idea of what they were going to go do on their drum quest. "Once you've got your drum here all travel-ready and decorated as you want, you're going to venture out with it into the jungle to find your rhythm, your song. When you feel you've got it pretty well, you come on back and we have a ceremony in celebration. After that you can choose who you apprentice under, if you wish. It's really... The start of finding your place in the pride." Isithunzi said with a nod. It was the longest of traditions of the pride- and very important to many members, it was a time to find oneself. Most everyone enjoyed it and held the memory with particular fondness.  

[MoonRazor]

Take drum. Find song. That sounded simple enough. Granted, he had been alive for all this time and hadn't come close to even understanding music or rhythm. But that wasn't to say that he wouldn't be able to find one, given some time. It couldn't be so difficult that it eluded him for the rest of his life, he reasoned. It was just a song or a rhythm or something similar. He had heard others beating out what they called rhythms on the drums. Though to his ears, they had only sounded like random beats that threw off the steady pitter patter of walking, they had sounded simple enough.

He nodded. "I think I got it," He said, as he added the final touches onto his drum and began to wonder who he would want to apprentice under.  

[Light Atago]

"That's great!" Isithunzi said excitedly, giving Ronan a gentle ruffle of the mini-mane that was starting to form on his head. "Looks and sounds to me like you're all ready to go!" Isi said happily, pretty sure that her work here was done. She didn't up and leave yet, since he might have questions, but she did rise to her feet, if nothing else, to stretch.  

[MoonRazor]

((Ahh, very sorry for the late post. But I went 5 days without Internet in early April and then for the next three weeks I had to slowly reintroduce myself to Gaia xDD;; ))

"So..." Ronan started, looking up from the drum he had just finished and was admiring. "I'm... s'pposed to go out and find my song or something like that?"

That was the part he wasn't entirely sure about. Going out to find music? He understood that it was part of the pride's rituals, but he had no idea what it really meant. Was he simply supposed to wander about until he actually found what he was supposed to be looking for?

Or would he wake up one morning with a tune stuck in his head that he fell in love with? Perhaps it was both, he mused.  

[Light Atago]

"Well..." Isithunzi said, biding some time as she finalized the best way to explain it in her head. "You go out into the world, beyond Nchi borders. Your song, your rhythm, it's a representation of who you are, so in a way, you go out to find yourself, discover who you really are. And along with it will come your rhythm. You'll find a song to represent yourself, and when you have, you've done it!" Isithunzi said with a happy nod. "You'll have your rhythm and have completed your quest. Of course, as time goes on, I'm sure you'll tweak it to perfection, but the hardest work is getting the main part of it done and figured out.