[PRP] False Sense of Security (Flounder x Kejeli)

[Rainhowl]

Flounder was on a mission.

The smallish cub had a plan, but her heart thudded against her ribs in a painful fashion. She was afraid, but she was doing her best not to show it. She wasn't as loud or as tough as many of her siblings and other lions in the pride, which sometimes caused her to be picked on. She didn't like this and felt a need to rectify the situation. She needed to be stronger, thus she was going to force herself to be brave.

Her pale paws picked across the dry, baked earth as she slipped further and further away from Maestros Del Mar's center and closer towards the pride's boundaries. She was going to be big and tough. She was going to help protect the borders. She didn't realize just how much danger she was putting herself in, or maybe she did and figured that facing said danger was the only way to become stronger. Regardless, she was putting herself in a precarious situation. All it would take for her life to be taken would be a stray raptor patrolling the skies or a far from friendly lion passing by.

She puffed out her chest, however, and in her mind she looked fierce and brave, like her father and the other pirates within the pride. She wanted to grow up to be just like them.  

[Talencia]

Kejeli had been wandering on his own for a while now. He found he preferred night traveling, since during the day the summer sun had super-heated his black coat, making him very uncomfortable and dehydrating him faster than he should have been. But now the days were shortening again, and the sun had lost some of its fierceness. He'd taken to resting in the shade during the height of the day, sleeping at night, and traveling morning and evening. He'd come to love dusk best, when the sky was afire with color and the land was softened by shadow. The crickets would chirp, the cicadas would sing, and sometimes a cool breeze would pick up with the change in light and heat.

But right now, he was resting, for the sun was getting high in the sky. He was sprawled languidly in the shadow of a massive boulder, his black coat blending well with the deep shadow cast by the bright sunlight. He didn't tend to nap during these rests, but spent the time thinking, often trying to remember who he'd been. What little he knew now, like his name and the kind of companions he'd been traveling with, were meager clues, to say the least. He was in the midst of yet again wondering if he had family out there somewhere, when a small form ambled right by his rocky shelter.

He stared after the furry little body for a moment before realizing it was young. Very young, in fact. Much too young to be out alone! He held himself back, though, waiting for a voice, a heavy pawtread, or another body to appear to follow or claim this wandering cub. But when nothing happened, and the cub just kept determinedly trotting onwards, he became too concerned to stay put. He leapt out of the shadow and called out. "Hey now! Come back here! You aren't alone, are you?" His voice was deep and resonating, matching his large, adult form. He'd learned that about himself at least... he was larger than the average lion. "Hey!" he called again, his voice louder than he'd meant it to be.  

[Rainhowl]

Talencia

Flounder was startled by the sudden voice. She had been so wrapped up in her own adventure and exploration that she hadn't noticed the dark furred male resting near one of the larger boulders that dotted the pride's boundaries. Her fur stood on end and she jumped, rounding towards him almost instantly. He was large and her blue eyes were as wide as saucers as she peered up at him. That resolve to be fierce and to prove her worth melted away as she realized how much larger than she this stranger was. His voice was loud. Deep.

Did she tell him the truth?

"I-I-I'm not alone. I have a lot of friends, family." She found her voice slowly, but her heart was thudding almost painfully, knocking against her ribs. She pressed close to the earth, watching him and ready to flee, should she need to. "They'll come lookin' for me, you know. If I don' make it back."  

[Talencia]

The cub looked terrified of him! His ears flattened in chagrin, and he immediately flattened himself to the ground in an unconscious mimic of the cub. He lowered his head so he wouldn't be looming over her as he spoke. He took her words as honest ones, and nodded his head solemnly as if it made complete sense. "That's good. I was worried you were all alone. It's not safe out here for you!" He tipped his head to the side inquisitively, for all the world like a cub himself. "Why aren't you over there with them?"

His expression, once one looked beyond his huge size, was clear and open, hiding nothing. Bright eyes gazed at her with interest, lacking that predator intensity that every feline gained when sighting prey. He laid his head on his paws and blinked slowly at her, a universal sign of well-being. "If you were looking for something, or playing a game, perhaps I could help?" He gave her an easy smile. "Sometimes being big is helpful."  

[Rainhowl]

Talencia

To say she felt relief at the older lion's display of honesty and good will was an understatement and she found herself growing more comfortable in his presence. He was older and bigger, but he didn't seem all that different from herself. She found herself grinning broadly, tail lashing in typical feline fashion as she inched nearer to him with all the curiosity a cub could possess.

"Cos I'm big an' brave an' am gonna show 'em I can be a crewman." She confided in him, her chin high as she stuck her nose in the air, an effort to show that she was a strong, proud lioness. Er, cub. She was still just a cub, even if she didn't like to acknowledge it.

"I was lookin' to show how big and tough I am. I was gonna p'rtect the borders from strangers." It was really a good thing that Kejeli found her and not some lion that would have ment her harm, like a viking.  

[Talencia]

Kejeli grinned at the little thing, his expression conspiratorial rather than the usual condescending look adults gave precocious cubs. "Oooh, you are on a mission!" He sprawled more comfortably on his side and laid his head on his outstretched forepaws. He seemed to be considering what she'd said, then gave her a quizzical look. "You know... I'm a stranger." After a brief pause, he looked more relieved. "But I'm not trying to invade your pride either." This, of course, meant they weren't 'enemies', and that she wouldn't have to fight him!

However... "But... they don't know that, do they?" He cast her a look from the corner of his eye, grinning sideways at her. "What if... what if you beat me up?" He looked honestly excited about his idea. Of course, he didn't mean for her genuinely to try to beat him up, but he hadn't exactly explained his idea well enough yet. He was too pleased by the idea to express it fully and properly. "Yes! You should beat me up!"