[PRP] Exploration (Ilena x Cassian)

[Kimaria]

He was getting about a bit, was Cassian. He liked exploring, liked adventure, liked wandering around despite the fact that it was probably rather dangerous. One reason for his obsession with travel was the fact that he hated his home. The jungle was humid, wet and tangly. Out here a lion could breathe! He loved it. The freedom, the dry heat, the sun dappled on his back as he padded beneath trees that gave him shade but no hassle.

He wasn’t quite sure where he was now, however, somewhere new. Somewhere peaceful and beautiful. It was tranquil here, a place where he felt that he could really get some alone time.

So now, he tracked along the river side, watching frogs croaking, blinking their giant, amber eyes at him with barely a care in the world. For once, Cassian felt rather at ease.  

[Nuxaz]

Nervously dark red eyes darted back and forth from behind the safety of the trees that littered the Kusini. Pale ears were flattened back against her head as she peeked out of the blanket of shade. Inhaling deeply and having seen that no one was around she happily pranced out of the shadows. A small smile decorated her lips as her paws lead her to the river which she promptly plopped herself down by and dipped her head to the water.

Illena loved the feel of the cool water as it slid down her throat successfully taming the wild thirst that had bubbled up while she carefully avoided most of her family. It was a difficult job to do since she was practically related to everyone in the pride. Pulling her maw from the water she tilted her head back to gaze upon the bright sky. Closing her eyes her smile broadened. "The sun feels so nice..." She mumbled to herself enjoying the warmth of the sun against her light colored fur.

This day possibly couldn't get better.

 

[Kimaria]

Walking on the opposite side of the river, keeping his eyes to the water, Cassian moved as stealthy as possible. He was short legged and thick through the limbs and moved with a slow, steady gait. He was a ‘chunky’ looking individual who would most likely grow to be a formidable creature in adulthood.

His dark mane flopped across a strong, furrowed brow and his silver eyes were tense with concentration. He was following a fish downstream, watching the play of the sun on its scales, desperately trying to keep sight of it. And then it disappeared in the murk and he was left alone.

Well, not quite alone.

His eyesight might have been poor but his ears were sharp. He heard the mumbled voice and looked up to see a whitish smear against the green. He narrowed his eyes to bring the white thing into focus and found that it was a cub, pale and quiet in the sunlight.

“You, over there!” He called, his voice rough. “Where am I? What is this place?”  

[Nuxaz]

At the sound of another's voice her eyes fluttered open and she stumbled back quickly looking around. Her heart pounded in her chest as her eyes darted back and forth looking for whomever had addressed her. Panic had welled up inside of her threatening to spill over and make her dart away but it started to recede when her eyes finally found him. Biting down on her bottom lips she glanced over her shoulder, he was on the other side of the river and the trees weren't too far away but...he had asked her a question. Shouldn't she answer it? Or should she run while she had the opportunity to?

Thoughts swirled about in her mind as she struggled to decide what she should do. She was taking to long, she could feel it. She didn't want this stranger mad at her. That would be just as bad as having one of her family members upset with her. "Ah...um..." She began stumbling over the words that danced on the tip of her tongue. "You're by the river. T-this is the Kusini'Mwezi lands..." She managed to finally spit out. "A-are you lost?" Her voice was meek and uncertain.

Suddenly an idea struck her and she straightened herself a bit. If she could help this male then she wouldn't have to be so self-conscious right? She would have been able to do something right...At least she sure hoped so.  

[Kimaria]

He arched a brow. What was wrong with this girl? He'd only asked a question, it's not like he'd said if she didn't answer he'd swim over and give her a cuff around the ear. Besides, he hadn't even done any swimming before! He might drown.

And then she answered and her voice was quiet. He hadn't met anyone that stumbled over their words before. It was...annoying?

"No." He replied darkly. "I'm not lost. If I was lost I wouldn't know how to get home -- which I do." He added hastily. Then puffing up his chest he flicked the growing mane from his eyes. "I just wanted to know what this land was called - if anything. It's one of the best places I've seen so far. Better than my dump of a home in any case." He rubbed the back of his paw across his nsoe and squinted slightly, but she was too far away to bring into much focus.

"You shouldn't be out here all alone." Cassian continued in a lecturing tone. "Someone might get you."  

[Nuxaz]

Illena waited in silence for him to reply, to give her answer and with every second that ticked by she felt more and more uncomfortable. It was one thing when she was around her family, she was more comfortable with them, slightly. However when it came to someone she didn't know she was just a nervous wreck. That was something that was clearly irritating the boy across the river.

When he did respond to her his tone was dark and unfriendly making her wince just a bit. "I..I'm sorry, I just thought..." Illena attempted form a sentence but it just didn't seem to be working out that well for her. Wrinkling her nose she took her gaze away from him and settled it upon her reflection in the water. "Well...these are Kusini'Mwezi lands." She managed to tell him without stuttering. "It's nice but...crowded." She mumbled more to herself than to him.

It was crowded, to her at least. The reason was because every where she turned she ran into someone she was related to and if she wasn't related to them then...then she was going to be related to them and it was frustrating. It was even suffocating. It was one of the reasons she had such a lack of self-esteem or confidence because it seemed like everyone around her could do what she could do only better and that if she had confidence that she would be copying someone else.

Blinking she was pulled from her thought as he lectured her. "Most of the pride here is my family...I...I don't think s-someone would try to get me unless they...w-wanted a large family of lions coming after them." She stated stuttering once again.  

[Kimaria]

What was with this girl? Seriously! Couldn't she talk without all that jittery-ness? It was beginning to irritate him, beginning to make him feel like he wanted to shake her in an attempt to bring her out of herself.

He huffed a little at her reply and then cast a look around to see if he could find a place to cross the river. There were a few rocks jutting from the surface that he might be able to jump on, but there were hardly any on her side of the river...it'd mean getting wet, then again, was he going to let a little fear stop him?

He leapt to the first rock, wobbled precariously but managed to gather himself before tipping into the water.

He lifted his tail to keep it from getting wet and put on a frown. "Why are you talking like that, eh? I ain't gonna waste my time 'getting' you so you don't need to worries, right? I dun want none of your family getting all in my way."

He readied himself for another leap, narrowing his eyes to help him focus on it. Then after a second he leapt again.

This time his jump was a little too short and his hind legs splashed into the water. With a mrewl of fright he pulled himself up onto the rock and hunkered there for a moment, catching his breath.

"If it's so crowded, yah could move out, right?"  

[Kimaria]

Illena couldn't help herself, she hated speaking the way she was, stumbling over her words, but sh was nervous. When she was nervous she stuttered. She was nervous a lot. Her ears flattened back against her skull as he started to jump onto th rocks to cross the river. What if he fell? He'd get hurt!

Opening her maw she almost called out to him to say that there had to be a better way to get across, but it was too late. He was already on the rock, it'd be better just to keep going forward. His words made her frown deepen as she sank down to the ground. "I-I d-don't know...I just am." She said in response to his question.

He acted like it was something she could he, when it clearly wasn't. At least to her. She fell silent quickly as he jumped again and missed. Her eyes widened and she sprang to her paws almost darting to the water's edge. Just because she didn't know him didn't mean she wasn't worried that he would get hurt.

At his words she stepped back confusion decorating her features. If it was so crowded why didn't she leave? It was the only thing she knew. She couldn't just leave, after all where would she go? "I never thought about it." She replied shaking her head, unaware that sh didn't stutter once in that sentence.

He gathered himself again and focused on the next rock. This one wasn't too hard to reach and he made it with a little hop, grasping at the rock's edges with his claws. He felt somewhat accomplished now, as if he was doing something that noother lion had ever done before.

He was crossing a river!

He looked up and saw that the girl was slowly coming into better focus. She was pale coloured like him and there was concern on her face. Concern for what? Was there a crocodile lurking up behind him or something? He turned to see if this was the case but the water held nothing withbig, terrifying teeth.

He turned back to look at her, confused. "What are you all worried for, eh?" And without warning he leapt again. This time there was no rock to keep him from getting wet. The water, however, was not so deep that it soaked him completely. It sloshed up against his belly but no further and he took a moment or so to crawl up the bank and up to dry ground again.

There, he shook himself and continued speaking. "Well maybe you should start thinking about it, right? I mean, I'm out there all by myself and it's great. No family to get in your way or stop you from doing anything, yeah?"

She blinked and jerked back a deep blush flooding acros her features. "Ah well..I..I didn't want you to get hurt..." She mumbled casting her gaze to the ground. She shouldn't have felt embarrassed but this male just made her feel like everything she did was just so silly! She wasn't sure she liked the feeling at all. Slowly she raised her head to get a better look at him. She didn't have poor eyesight but she still didn't really know what he looked like. He was pale with orange markings, they looked nice togther. Then his question filtered into her mind as she had to think about it.

"I don't know what I would do...where I would go if I left." She told him heaving a rather heavy sigh and shaking her head. It was hard to even imagine herself out in the world. "I...I w-wouldn't want to go all by myself but...I don't know a-anyone that would go with me..." She admitted almost sadly. She was growing rather fond of the idea but her nerves would prevent her from ever doing it. She would need someone to push her out there into the wild or she would never take that first step.

"I wasn't going to get hurt." He insisted, typical boyish ego shining through. He wasn't that clumsy! Besides, the water wasn't exactly going to hurt him now, was it? It wasn't that deep and the current wasn't strong enough to drag him under. At least...he thought it wasn't. In any case he was on land now in one piece.

As he watched her and her odd behaviour he realised he'd never met a creature like this. She wasn't arguing back, insulting him or running off. She was somehow timid... She reminded him of mice, of something small and vulnerable. Somehow she seemed more dependant than he did, even with his disability. And all that was keeping her back was nervousness, fear?

Cassian wasn't usually a selfless creature but he was beginning to think that the girl was being ridiculous. What was the point on not going out into the world because of fear? Yes, he'd been nervous at first, but no harm had come to him yet.

"Go wherever. There's plenty of stuff to see without being tied down to a stuffy old pride, right? I hated my home so I left and I dun regret it one little bit, see?" He huffed. Then his stern expression faltered slightly. What was wrong with him? Was he feeling sorry for her or something? Then his mind lit with an idea. A lioness to hunt for him, a lioness who wouldn't say no. Could she be the one? She wouldn't have to know about his eyesight. He'd just tell her what he'd told that other one. Hunting was girl work.

"I guess yah could always come with me for a while."

"Still!" Illena exclaimed before falling silent again, she hadn't expected herself to suddenly blurt something like that out. "Maybe..." She mumbled when he told her to go anywhere, wherever she felt like going. It sounded nice but at the same time that's all it was to her, a bunch of words. "You might not but my..." She trailed off shaking her head. Maybe they wouldn't mind if she left. There were enough of them that they didn't need her. She was growing up and leaving the pride would probably be good for her. Maybe she'd finally get over her timidness.

As she continued to ponder these thoughts he made a suggestion that she almost jumped for. He wanted her to come with him? Sure they had only just met but he didn't treat her like she was fragil and easy to break. Which helped her feel better about herself. Should she? She didn't actually know him but what better way to get to know someone? "I...I think that I would like that." She told him standing up a little straighter and nodding her head. "I'd need to tell my parents that I was leaving..."

He sat with his tail curled around him and a frown on his face. Yet the frown had eased slightly and he seemed to be listening to what she had to say intently. Both ears were turned towards her, preparing for her to shy away at the idea.

She surprised him, however.

His eyes lit up and he stood, taking another step towards her. His fur was still damp but the sun was warm enough that he would dry quickly. "Fine, fine. Go let them know and do whatever else you have to do. So long as I don't have no angry lions on my tail, it's a good idea to let 'em know. Just don't take too long else I might get bored and leave without yah.

He huffed and moved over to lie against a nearby tree.

"Go on then, get going." And with that he closed his eyes and prepared for a short snooze. Family goodbyes could take a while.

A small smile spread across Illena's maw as she stepped back glad that she was going to have someone to join her. To show her everything. It was exciting, something she probably would have never thought of if he hadn't come along. She turned about to run off and tell her parents that it was time for her to go out and see the world. Then she stopped and glanced back realizing that she never even learned his name and that she had never given him hers. "Oh...My name is...is Illena." She told him with a nod. She stood there waiting for him to give her his name before she would run off and tell her family.

Hopefully they wouldn't mind, because even if they did she was still going to go. For once she felt like she could do something and she'd be damned if anyone took that away.

Cassian hoped that this gamble was going to pay off. On first impressions she seemed sweet and timid enough. Hopefully she wouldn't mind if he didn't help her out on hunts. And hopefully she had actually been practising with her hunting skills. If she turned out to be useless he might feel a little guilty at leaving her alone in the wilderness.

He opened an eye as she gave him her name and lifted his head slightly to look at her. "Cassian." He replied gruffly. He didn't often hand out his name to others, so that was a good sign at least.

Well...he'd found himself a travelling companion. Unexpected but rather pleasant, he had to say.