[PRP] Toy Soldiers

[Asparegus]

A white youth stood on the edge of a cliff in the highlands. He wasn't supposed to go here normally but he'd seen guards standing up here, looking out as though they spotted something interesting. He wanted to witness it too. But other than the great expanse below it, there was nothing fascinating to witness.

Ashiking'ala was his birth name but it sounded so fictional to him. They all had names like that, names that would be given solely to strangers. He was called Mo Goon or "school" and his mind was quick. While rational, he was still imaginative. For his paws could barely remain restless, a reflection of his busy mind. From looking from this vantage point, he was already thinking up ways to invent a method of getting across to the other side. He didn't know why they might need to just that they might one day. And it did not so much matter if his invention worked as it did that he came up with something. If he failed, he'd think up another one unless commanded not to or until he was successful.

He backed away from the cliff carely while submersed in thought. He gathered a mental list of what he would need while simultaneously trying to figure out how his little body could accomplish it.  

[PhiferWolf]

Another day and the young Duke was up to no good. He had once again passed through the entrance of the Zhi Ming, walked along the river, across the stepping stones, and toward the cliff faces. He was curious what was out here. The older lions would leave and come back with food. Was there food out here because he was not finding anything but the roaring waterfall and the open savanna below. For someone of high rank, he found himself getting into trouble, however, he had a very good reason to; his mate.

Lahn said he was being too old for his age, he was too mannerful and polite. He was just a juvenile, he wasn't like that! He would show her that he was a male that she will come to love, even if it meant breaking a few rules here and there.

Sneaking past the guards, he slide his way down toward the savanna, hoping that he wasn't caught too easily this time. The white male turned his gaze back toward the cliff faces to see if any of the guards had spotted him or if Fukuaji, his father's advisor, had noticed his absences. It was then that something nearly bumped into him.

"Hey!" He shouted in a rather whispered tone.  

[Asparegus]

When he was in the zone, he was really in the zone. While he could see, it was as if a curtain was pulled over his eyes. He could function well enough to move around obstacles but not enough to interact or to even realize what they were. Just that they were in the way. But as he had not seen this obsticle, he was forced out of his thought process by physical contact.

He scrunched his face at the other, trying to bring up a name or anything else on the other. He scratched at the door but no one opened. That was, a name did not come to mind. He knew that he knew who this was but could not quite remember. Feeling foolish, he flushed a bit - aside, of course, from the fact that he was bound to get in trouble - and bobbed his head in greeting. "Hey..."  

[PhiferWolf]

"What are you doing out here?" He questioned, immediately picking up his composure to seem higher than this one. He was a Duke and this one... well, he was not. Xun did his best to seem to have a little authority but it would not last long since it was just them. "How did you get out here anyway? Did you sneak out like I did?"

Maybe it was not the smartest idea to say that, but it was true and he wasn't going to lie either.

The Duke turned his gaze in the same direction as this white lion was.

"What are you looking at?"  

[Asparegus]

Mo Goon stopped and tried not to look stupid as the other addressed him. He was put off guard by the authority the other displayed. Not insulted that was. But simply shocked that another his age would address him with such superiority. Then again, the other didn't display that much superiority but enough to make him question. The other had to be of importance or surely he'd be humble enough not to.

"I'm... sorry," he replied. Now while he had snuck out, he didn't remember sneaking. Really, his mind portrayed him almost waltzing out. In truth that was a comical picture but he had been so deep in thought, he couldn't remember sneaking. It was his flaw, that he was so singularly focused. "Um, sort of?" He went with that. Hopefully, he wouldn't be scoffed at for such an answer.

He looked over his shoulder at the other's question as though to double check what the other thought he was looking at. But snapping to the point, he looked back. "Oh, I was just looking at the other side of the cliffs. Just thinking about how to get across. Simple stuff like that, really." Of course it wasn't simple. But he was hoping to play it off into not a big deal. He didn't much like getting into trouble as it was.  

[PhiferWolf]

"It's fine. Anyways, we're both out here, so whatever." He looked at the other cub and turned his head. Wasn't this one of the Mistress' cubs? And wasn't this one of his siblings' bonded mate? It took a moment to register in his mind but he did not want to assume. Did not want to make an a** of himself if he said it and he was wrong.

The Duke looked at the cliffs and listened to the male as he spoke about getting to the other sides of them.

"Why would you want to go over there? You're a Zhi Ming member, if my dad found out you were out here thinking of crossing the territory..." However, that got him curious. What was on the other side? How would he get to the other side? Was there food over there too?

"Got any idea how?"  

[Asparegus]

Mo Goon flushed and found himself stuttering. The other had him feeling embarrassed like a foot soldier being criticized by a Lieutenant General. "Well I... uh.. you see. I don't really want to cross it. It's just.. you know... if you ever needed to get to the other side to uh.. like explore or be aware of your surroundings. That sort of thing." He hoped that made sense. He had stumbled through it and of course, it had sounded a lot better in his head. He turned to look back once more at the cliff. "Well I was thinking like a big tree. Could knock it over and use it as a bridge. But there aren't any trees nearby. I could use a bunch of tiny trees but I don't know how I'd get them to the other side. I'm still working on it but yeah... that's a start right?"

Of course, Mo Goon didn't want to leave. He just had to think about things and this place had drawn him in with temptations. He needed something to ponder over and it supplied itself nicely. But from being interrogated for even such a short time span made his paws begin to twitch. They wanted to touch, to work, to invent things. He bit his lip to try and ignore them. "Well um, you're right though. Maybe I shouldn't be thinking about something so big. I could just... make a fly-launcher and fling things across. Since well, the only thing that'd be over there is enemies right?" In human terms, a fly-launcher was a sling-shot. And while Mo had the same idea, he did not have the vocabulary to give it such a name. He just knew that it would launch things into flight with momentum. And the only one he could imagine was quite small until he could think of things in nature that would allow him to make a large one.  

[PhiferWolf]

"If there is a tree around here, I don't think there are a lot around here that would be too big for it. And the bees, well, we can find a hive somewhere! I think I saw one the other day by the waterfall..." He chuckled as he laid down beside his fellow House-member. He had his own ideas. Having Shu throw them across, or flying across if he could find some birds that would help. With Mo Goon's thoughts and comments, he got his mind rolling as to what could be on the other side and the ways of getting over there.

"No way, you got to build one! Now you have to make one and shoot something across. I am sure I can get Fuku to volunteer. What do we need to make it? Can I help?" He questioned with great enthusiasm. He wanted to see this, he wanted to help make this fly-launcher. The way it sounded made it seem so interesting.

He paused.

"Maybe we should make a small one to make sure it works..."  

[Asparegus]

Mo smiled after finding himself encouraged to build it. "Well we could use vines... but they might snap. So hmmm well if any of the hunters have a dried hide about, we can use that to make one. Just cut a thick square of it and then cut a long stripe of the leather and twist it so it's like a vine but sturdier. Then the tension of pulling back should launch it." He tried to think of who Fuku was and how they could launch a lion. It seemed a little impossible. But then he remembered a meerkat hanging around the dukes and duchesses. That must be Fuku. "Well... maybe if we found a big enough piece of leather, we could launch him. It's probably take both of us unless I could figure out how to anchor it back so that all we have to do is move the anchor and it launches." His hands began to move as though he were building it right now as his mind went over how he could build it.

"Yeah," he said with a quiet nervous laugh. "We probably should. And then we can just use rocks as our ammo."  

[PhiferWolf]

"The leather is a good idea, it is strong. We gotta just find some that isn't completely eaten yet. Could just ask my Dad if we can hunt down an elephant for us. That would be perfect. How about that?" He questioned his thoughts to make him think harder. To think, someone like this was in the House for strength. However, who was to say that the strength of mind wasn't a strength? A smart warrior knew how to overwhelm one who did not think at all. "But the problem, I am thinking of, is the leather going to flexible enough to hold whatever is put into it?"

The Duke doodled, rather horrible one may add, what he was thinking this object would look like in the dirt. At first glance it looked like a triangle. At second glance, it looked like a triangle. For all intent and purposes, it was just a triangle with a stick figure representing Fuku. "Leave Fuku to me, I'll take care of him. Just make sure that if we do use him, we gotta run away fast and think up an excuse..."

"We should practice aiming too, we don't want to be shot into the cliff..."  

[Asparegus]

Mo Goon nodded. "Yeah, we should practice so that we don't have to worry about plunging us into a dark valley or ravine. Um... but I do think that leather'll work best out of what I can think of. It might not be too flexible but I think we'd have the advantage since we're stronger, right? So if we can use it, outsiders probably can't?" At the utensils and supplies at his disposal, he couldn't think of anything more useful although there easily could be something better.  

[PhiferWolf]

"Well ... who's to say that an outside cannot get inside and use it? Doubtful since we are the Zhi Ming, but on that off chance ..." Xun pondered a moment and looked at the distance between them in the targeted area. Would it be possible to dismantle the contraption easily by pulling something and being able to rebuild it quickly by putting that said piece back in? It would take them a second or two to do it since they would know what they were doing, but the outsider(s) would not.

"Yeah, I think this would definitely work. I'll get the leather and Fuku, you just focus on building it. We'll test it out then. Uh ... I'll leave the calculations and stuff to you, I'll probably just screw it up or something."  

[Asparegus]

"That gives me something to do," he declared eagerly. Sitting back on his haunches, his paws began to move again and his eyes seemed to glaze over as he imagined building it. "We could surprise everyone with it. Make your father proud," he added in a whisper as though it had taken him great effort to talk through where his mind had gone." He blinked out of it. "And maybe one day, we'll invent wings. Then we'll really have an advantage." His adult self would know full well that there were no wings invented that could support a mortal lion. That the gods flight was a gift of magic and not science. But his child self was full of dreams, hopes, and goals, the thoughts of a brainiac inventor who couldn't stop thinking.  

[PhiferWolf]

Xun laughed as he nudged the fellow House member. "You are so weird, Goon. Just focus on one project at a time. Our Lord will be proud of us as long as he tried. Well, I would think so." The young Duke stretched until a soft pop echoed from his back and he let out a soft purr. Looking over his shoulder toward the entrance, he was starting to wonder if anyone was actually paying attention to the younger members of the pride to allow them to wander around as they are without any protection.

"I should move on, can't sit still for too long or I'll be screwed. If Shu or my dad find either of us, they'll find the other. I'm not ready to be caught yet so I'm gonna head off. But remember, you build it and I'll take care of the rest of the stuff," Xun smirked.