[PRP] Necklace for the Manly [Kimanda + Kitambi] - FIN

[Chibi Sheepcat]

It was lesson time again, and they were one step closer to getting Kimanda good at dancing. The Rhythm lesson had gone... well, it had gone. The cheetah wasn't as heavy-footed as those born of the Nchi'mahadhi pride, so drumming had been a bit difficult. Still, Kitambi hoped that he had at least gained some sort of knowledge about Rhythm and dancing. You couldn't just flail about to a random non-beat and call it dancing. While members of the pride were allowed to express themselves through dancing, they all had to learn the basic moves first. With the Rhythm lesson out of the way, Kitambi had decided that today would be a jewellery-making day.

Dancing, as she had learned from her mother, was something fluid and beautiful. All of the jewellery wore by the Nchi was such that it could make noise, as well as be pretty. Thus, Kitambi had decided that Kimanda needed a wrist instrument of his own, made of shells that would compliment his fur colour. The cub waited at the edge of Lake Victoria for her pupil, brown eyes staring off into the distance. The small waves of the lake rolled over her toes, however Kitambi seemed to take no notice.  

[soutou]

Kimanda could take the blow to his pride about his Rhythm. When he was completely honest with himself, he only spent one afternoon with Nsundu working on it. So when Kitambi more or less shut him down, he finally convinced himself he understood. Besides, he was a cheetah. Being heavy-pawed was a very difficult concept for him, being fleet of foot all his life. But he could work on that.

...jewelry, however? The cheetah had issue with that. First and foremost, he was a male. Males do not wear jewelry. Period. And yet, here he was, at the edge of the lake, meeting up with Kitambi. Again. He didn't even like her that much! (It was nothing personal. It was the principle of not trusting cubs. Cubs were sneaky and full of nasty plots.) "Fancy meeting you here."  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Perhaps the lack of males in the pride had been something that had influenced the jewellery. Kitambi knew that Juke didn't mind wearing a bit, but considering the rest of the pride was pretty much made up of females, it hadn't been a problem before. The cub wouldn't have even assumed that wearing jewellery would be a problem to anyone. Kimanda had come here to improve on his Rhythm and his dancing, and jewellery was just part of the deal. He'd have to suck it up if he wanted to impress Nsundu.

Kitambi wasn't the type of cub to "like" anybody, but it was safe to say that she didn't dislike Kimanda. In her mind, that meant she would tolerate his presence and would even go so far as to teach him things. Consider yourself lucky, Kimanda. The cub simply raised an eyebrow at his greeting, deciding to go right into today's lesson. "Right, so we went through Rhythm. A lot of lions have trouble understanding how to move when they dance, and so we give them something that makes noise to help them. We're going to be looking for shells and stones for something for you. Got any favourite colours?" The cub was already wading into the water as she spoke.  

[soutou]

Kimanda was having a lot of issues swallowing his pride when it came to this cub. Not only did he see her as a know it all, she did know it all! No matter what kind of question he came up with, Kitambi had an answer. A good answer at that, not just something she pulled out of her ear. Not only that, but the cub also had better everything than him. Rhythm, dancing, the works. She was Nsundu's daughter, though. Should he really be surprised? No. He needed to suck it up.

Kimanda's ears swept back for a moment, watching as Kitambi starting into the chilly lake. "Are you really sure this is necessary?" he complained, even as he stepping in. He shivered. Oh gods, it was cold! Or maybe he was just sensitive. And then something struck him. "Do I have to wear these all the time? Because I have to still hunt, you know." He had a travel mate now! Oh! That was a nice rock. How was he supposed to get it? "I look best with black and white."

Seriously, don't ask. It's best if you just don't know.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

"Positive," Kitambi answered immediately, without looking up. To her, it sounded like he was being wussy about it, for reasons she had yet to discover. Jewellery was just something her pride did, like drumming and dancing. You just did it. She had yet to discover that out in the real world, away from the summer camp that was Nchi, things don't go like that. One day it might be a shock to her that nobody lived like the way she did in her pride, but today is not that day. She's still living in her own little world, where everyone wears jewellery and has an ear for music.

At Kimanda's second question, Kitambi finally decided that she had to figure out why he had such an issue with this. "It'll just be a necklace, so it won't bother you for hunting. What's so bad about wearing jewellery anyways? Everybody does it." She raised an eyebrow at him, before going back on her hunt. Black and white, black and white, got it.  

[soutou]

Kimanda frowned when she answered so firmly. There was no way around this, huh? He sighed in defeat, shaking his head as he continued to wade through the water. He found a nice, black pebble near the shore. He could go down and get that. Making a quick, diving motion, he swept down and scooped the rock up in his mouth, trotting back towards shore to deposit it. He made a face when he dropped in. Eugh. There was sand on the rock.

He trotted back to the water and stepped in carefully, trying to avoid making ripples. No sense in making Kitambi angry, or something. "Okay, I guess..." he answered slowly. That didn't make sense. If it made noise while he danced, wouldn't it make noise while he hunted? And surely, the beasts would flee when they heard something strange like that. He blinked and looked over at the cub. "...no they don't. In all my travels, your pride is the only one I've seen that wore a lot of jewelry." Sure, he'd met others with jewelry, just never a whole pride who put so much value into it. Now. Rock hunting.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Nope, there was absolutely no way around this. Kimanda was her pupil, which meant that she got to dictate what went on. He would just have to go along with it, and make sure to wear the necklace whenever he saw her. What he did with it when he wasn't with her was up to him, but he had better make sure he had it when he was with her. Otherwise she might give him an earring or something. Have fun getting that off and losing it.

Kitambi dragged her claws along the ground, hoping to pull up an interesting rock or shell. Hmmm... nothing here. She continued wading about, one brown ear listening to what Kimanda was grumbling about. "Well you want to learn about this pride, so you have to do the things that we do. If you don't want to wear the jewellery, you're free to leave and go study in someone else's pride." Kitambi sounded slightly miffed, even though there was no evidence on her face. She paused, giving a shell a poke, before sticking her head under and grabbing it. When she emerged she tossed it up on the beach, before glancing at Kimanda. "How's that?"  

[soutou]

Kimanda was taken aback by the bite in Kitambi's answers. Jeez, she didn't have to get all offended like that! His ears swept back and he gave the cub a studious look. She asked why he thought it was such a big deal, so he answered her honestly and now she was all mad at him? That wasn't fair! Besides, he had nothing to do with the other prides and their lack of jewelry! He huffed, turning around to look for rocks and shells in silence. He had no intention of talking to Kitambi for the rest of their little excursion, he honestly didn't (sometimes the cub inside him still had a say in things), but when she asked his opinion on a shell, he shrugged and nodded.

"That's fine," he muttered, spotting a white shell of his own. He stepped over carefully, trying not to disturb the sentiment too much before he could swoop down and pick it up. He tossed it into the pile growing slowly and looked back at the little lion. "How much do we need, anyways?" he asked sullenly, moving towards a round, black rock. He hoped it wasn't too much. This could get pretty boring quickly.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Insulting the jewellery of her pride was the same as insulting her pride to Kitambi. That was really why she was so miffed. Kimanda could have just said that he wasn't used to wearing jewellery, but he would try to get used to it. That probably would have gone over better. While she didn't quite understand it herself, the cub had a strange attachment to the pride that she would inherit. It was part of the reason that she had refused to step down and let Waseme take her place. Something about the Nchi'mahadhi made her want to keep it, and she would most certainly not take anyone insulting it, friend of her mother or not.

Kitambi, likewise, would have liked to ignore Kimanda, but she was supposed to be teaching him. She couldn't very well do that without saying things to him. The cub nodded when he said it was alright, before wading out a little deeper into the water. Hmmm... that little black rock would do nicely. She fished it out and tossed it back on the beach, glancing over when Kimanda spoke again. "That's up to you, friend of my mother. How big do you want the necklace?"  

[soutou]

Kimanda sighed. Just as the inner cub that told him to stop talking to Kitambi, it was now telling him silence was really, really boring. At least when they were talking, he could tease Kitambi. He hadn't even meant to insult the girl, he just had a big mouth! She should stop being so sensitive. But the cheetah said nothing, because this cub was his teacher and if he wanted to get any better, he'd have to be on her good side. And more importantly, she was Nsundu's daughter. No sense in making that angry.

He pulled out a white rock and black shell while she spoke. He glanced at her and shrugged. "Not too small, I guess. But not so big it will fall off and I'll lose it?" he suggested. Trust him, he could, too. Losing things came naturally to Kimanda. "And you can call me by my name, you know. Kimanda." 'Friend of my mother' was really kind of weird. It was almost like she didn't see him worthy to be called by his name.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

"Okay, then that should be good enough."

Kitambi waded back out of the water, pausing to neatly clean off her paws. There. Much better. She couldn't very well be the heir if she didn't look her best all the time. She chose to ignore Kimanda's final comment for now, instead studying the items they had brought out of Lake Victoria. A few shells, a few pretty black and white rocks... yes, these would do nicely. Thus, she set to work making them into a necklace, using the reeds that grew near the water. It was a difficult process, but eventually Kitambi got something she was pleased with. Not as good as what Vinya would be able to do, but it was good enough. It would hold, hopefully for as long as Kimanda decided to come back to the pride.

"C'mere Kimanda," the cub said, having decided that she wasn't too angry with him anymore. He was just a silly cheetah. It was understandable he didn't know anything about her pride. She slid the necklace over his head, stepping back to admire it for a moment. "There. Nobody'll be able to resist you now." It might have been funny, if Kitambi hadn't said it in such a monotone.  

[soutou]

Kimanda just shook himself when he strolled out of the water, having none of the finesse of Nsundu's daughter. He quickly decided he couldn't help Kitambi make the necklace (Thank the gods! His manly pride wouldn't have survived actually having to make the jewelry before he wore it.) and flopped over into the sand. Mhhm. The sand was nice and warm and inviting, so nice he could probably curl up for a nice nap and forget about this all together.

He didn't of course, waking up as soon as Kitambi spoke. He lifted himself and quickly padded over. "Mhhm. What a manly cheetah I am. I come complete with a necklace!" he remarked, not really sure what else to say. He quirked a bit of a smile. He couldn't really stay mad at her. She was just a cub, if not a mildly evil one. "I didn't mean to insult you earlier," he muttered. That was about all the apology his already wounded ego could muster.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Mildly evil indeed. Kimanda was lucky that he had met Kitambi instead of her sister. Waseme would have done more than just hurt his manly pride a little bit.

"Indeed you do. You'll have all the ladies falling all over you," Kitambi dead-panned, though this time she sounded a little more amused. He didn't sound sarcastic, so that had helped him on his path to forgiveness. Personally, she thought the necklace didn't look so bad on him. She only had one herself, but one day she would have much more. Not being a huntress, she was allowed to wear as much jewellery as she so desired. Kimanda would have been a sentinel, which meant he too could wear as much as he liked, manly pride or not.

Kitambi had turned to glance back at the lake when Kimanda spoke again. One ear swiveled to listen, lingering on him. "No offense taken," she announced finally, turning to look at him. "The necklace suits you."  

[soutou]

Kimanda just shook his head. The fight was over, it seemed, but was the pseudo-compliment Kitambi's attempt at apology? Well, his apology wasn't that great anyways, so he was one to talk. He settled down again. Was this lesson already done? Awesome. He hardly had to work for this one. (Though, he did take the most verbal abuse from this one, didn't he? Weird, how that worked.) "I'll have to ask my travel mate how it looks on me when I go back," he said. Heh. What would Tuli think of this?

Anyways. "So are we done here, teacher?" The last word was only the slightest bit sarcastic. Just enough to spare his poor little ego, but hopefully not enough to actually offend Kitambi again. He wasn't sure if he could handle another fight, as short as it was. The cub was excellent at those sorts of games, and the cheetah did not want to challenge her again.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

"I'm sure she'll the same thing," Kitambi responded, raising an eyebrow at the cheetah. She wasn't offended, but instead rather cocky about it. After all, she had made the necklace. His travel mate should be very pleased that her friend came back with a spiffy necklace. It would make him stand out against all the other cheetahs his travel mate knew. See, Kimanda, necklaces have their benefits!

"We're done for today, but I want you to come out with me tonight into the woods near the mountains. I have something to show that'll help." She was, of course, talking about his dancing. It would be her final lesson to him, and one that she hoped he would take in. Kitambi gave her student a small nod of dismissal, before turning and heading back in the direction of her tree. It was time for reflection, and a little nap if she was going to be staying up tonight.

She could only hope that Kimanda would enjoy what she was going to teach him tonight.