[SRP] - Kindred Souls [End!]

[Daffupanda]

Jua had swiftly come to realise just how... ******** up the world was, really; not only that, but he'd noticed that his way of thinking had put him on the side, highlighted him against the other pride members. Not like he cared all THAT much; he was a genius, while they... well, they were... ...

His mind halted, and the cub wrinkled his nose in thought. What WERE they? Cute? Amusing? Strange? Well, strange was a given; anyone that thought they could talk to rocks, the ocean or the wind HAD to be strange. The amusing bit was that the whole pride seemed to share this ideal, while he knew it was beyond impossible for such things to be true. He knew if could be; not only had he never heard a rock talk, but it just sounded CRAZY in his mind.

It was also cute, though, he had to admit. For some odd reason he'd yet not put his finger on, but then again, he figured he'd have time enough to put his metaphorical finger on such ideas. So thus, the cub lay languidly at the border of the jungle, near where his mother had kept them secluded in the den, not that long back, and waited. For things to... happen. Nothing EVER happened though.

Mundoo on the other hand, had gotten quite used to the pride; he couldn't quite hear the things some others did, but there were night he not only could have sworn the moon talk to him, but it actually berated him for being an idiot. Not that long ago, he'd have frowned and asked himself how such a thing was even possible, but now, well, he'd gone past the stage of caring and straight into the stage of believing without a single doubt. Why shouldn't he? The more time he spent in these lands, the further... things made SENSE to him.

Needless to say that the moment his eyes caught sight of the lithe cub, he was rather surprised; the small (extremely blinding thing) was all alone. How come? "Oi," he called out as he neared the cub, looking down at him, "Why, exactly, are you all alone?"

The cub in question blinked lazily up at the adult, the frowned, "Uh, 'cause I WANT to?" the answer seemed obvious to him; didn't take a genius to figure out that if he'd WANTED company, he'd have set out to find the purple and black girl; the one that seemed so bloody insane (and yet, so oddly fascinating). As it was, Jua had decided that morning that he rather spend the day thinking to himself, because there was just no better company than his own thoughts.

At least his thoughts were SANE. The pink male refrained from rolling his eyes at the notion and instead arched a brow at Mundoo, "And you? What exactly are you doing here? Should you be... protecting the place and stuff?" of course, they'd never talked to each other before, but in such a small pride, it was impossible not to know each other.

A frown crossed the adult's expression at the cub's attitude; snappish little thing, wasn't he? "Yes well, I'm on my day off," which he wasn't, really, but he disliked the way the cub's eyes had sparkled when he retorted, as if he knew better. It was odd, to say the least; there were quite a few cubs nowadays within the pridal lands, including his own baby girl, and none of them were quite so... what was the word he was looking for?

"Slacker," the cub replied with a snort.

Obnoxious. That was the word he was looking for.

Instantly, Mundoo scowled, his strange vacant gaze fixed on the cub, "Aren't you just a tad rude? Is that necessary, kid?"

The cub in question blinked, and then a smirk appeared sketched upon his maw, "Necessary? Nope!" he claimed with a chirp, "Amusing? Always!" this was right about the time he was usually forced to make a hasty retreat due to getting onto others' nerves just a BIT too much. He kept his gaze on the adult, smirk still in place, watching him blink at his words.  

[Daffupanda]

Mundoo opened his mouth, and then snapped it shut, fearing that what was about to come out of it wasn't precisely child-friendly. Then he took a deep breath in, only to release it slowly, as if timing himself, "Okay then," he voiced out loud, closing his eyes briefly, only to reopen them and glare at the cub, "Just WHAT is your problem, kid?" a pause as he watched the cub arch a brow and open it's mouth, "No, really," he interrupted, "WHAT is your problem? Why can't you go off and talk to the flowers, or the ocean, or the trees, like the other cubs? Do you HAVE to be this obnoxious? Specially when I just came here to check on you!"

The cub had closed his mouth as the adult began to rant, "They don't talk," he said rather bluntly suddenly, as soon as he was allowed to speak again. When the adult merely stared back at him, Jua rolled his eyes, "The trees, and the flowers; they can't TALK," he told him, and refrained from adding the snarky tag along line that his mind was practically demanding he add 'Are you INSANE?' Because obviously, he was. Him and this whole pride, now weren't they?

Lifting his head up proudly, the cub frowned and practically seemed to silently dare Mundoo to prove that inanimate objects could speak. He'd love to hear them talk, honest to god, he would! It'd make his day! But Jua knew the truth.

Again Mundoo had to take the time to wonder what in the name of the GODS was wrong with this cub. Sure, not all cubs knew how to listen to the muses at first, and it'd taken him... a while to figure the whole thing out (and still had much to learn, apparently), but he could hear them. He could hear their whispers, and their taunting voices when he tried to impress Aviva and failed rather miserably due to his own ego.

He could hear their soothing voices when he grumped over the events, and could even hear the moon berating him for not outright telling the lioness how he felt. Why couldn't the cub? "I beg your pardon?" it wasn't so much a question as statement of disbelief.

A snort from Jua as he watched Mundoo. The adults words were, in his perfectly brilliant opinion, quite the poetic irony, "You're pardoned indeed," he let the adult know, however, before the small flicker of annoyance that crossed Mundoo's features could change into something further, the small male rolled his eyes, "I'm just saying I can't hear them, and it's insane to think they can talk. And unless I get physical evidence that they talk, I won't believe it," a pause, "They don't have mouths, you know."

Again Mundoo found himself at a loss for words, "They don't NEED mouths, you.... dumb lil thing!"

"Of course they DO, you big oaf!" countered the cub as he jumped to his feet, "You can't asked something of those muses; they can't talk to you, you can't hear them! You're just insane! You're ALL insane, that's what!" he yelled, "And I'll show you!" this said, the cub turned and made a mad dash for the beach, as if about to prove himself and his own words.

"And good riddance!!" yelled the white male after the pink cub's retreating form, however, no sooner had he voiced his frustration, that he stiffened; the cub was climbing up some rocks and had stopped at the edge of a particularly deep rock pool. He knew of it because he'd taken his daughter there; she rather liked to stare at the water plants and the fish as they zipped through the water.

It was only then that the cub turned towards where Mundoo still stood, and stuck out his tongue. Then, he turned towards the water and dove into the rock pool.

"You DUMB sonofa-!" came the adult's yelp as he dashed towards the rock pool; granted, it'd come out more as a squeal (which he was glad no one had heard, not only due to the content of his words, but due to the girly tone he'd somehow managed to give them), but Mundoo thought that at that precise moment, he was in his bloody right to squeal, thankyouverymuch. No sooner had he reached the rock pool that he dove within the water, grabbing hold of the cub's pelt, dragging him up into the surface.

His bad luck had only just started though, for no sooner did he push his feet against the floor to try and resurface, that he stepped on a sea urchin, causing both the white lion, and the cub he was carrying, dangling from his maw, to stumble back. The landing was less than successful, for Mundoo managed to crash into a small anemone that had taken refuge on the rock pool's wall; upon entering contact with the plant, the male squealed and managed to grip the wall, starting to climb out.

The ocean had other plans though, for a sudden wave came crashing from the outside of the pool and over them, covering both males with seaweeds, "Brilliant," came Mundoo's breathless hiss as he carried the cub out of the water, "Bloody brilliant."  

[Daffupanda]

Jua would have found the whole procedure utterly hilarious; had he not been dangling from the adult's mouth. As it was, the child clung to the adult as best as he could, sputtering water, rubbing his paws across his eyes, "Oh, wow," he said, followed by a pause as Mundoo tumbled over the side of the rock pool and landed on the sand, both ruffled up, wet, salty and decorated with sea weed, "Wow," he repeated.

"Yeah, wow, WHAT the bloody hell were you trying to prove there, you moron?!" the adult was hissing the words between the mouthful of pelt, twitching as he shook his hind feet, much like a wet house cat.

"That the water wouldn't let me breathe inside it just by ASKING it. And it didn't! So there!" the cub crossed his arms over his chest and snorted softly.

Mundoo twitched again, hissed and turned around, making his way towards where he knew (hoped, rather) Aviva was resting. He needed to see her; her presence always soothed him, and as it was, he was going to kill the kid if he spent more than a second further with him.