[PRP] Underground (Dievo & Amalie)

[Princess_Feylin]

Dievo Träger was excited to be out and about in the pride. He liked his pride, the way everyone had a role to fill and how it was all to do good things. The whole idea of making and dedicating them to the gods just appealed to his innate sense of what was good and right. He couldn't wait until he was big enough to help out. In the meantime, he was content to keep out of the way of those who were allowed to do work.

Though that wasn't to say there wasn't anything a cub his age could do besides keep out of the way. Dievo was absolutely sure of that fact, and for the past few days he had been considering what sort of things he could do to help the leader achieve her goal. He thought he had settled on something that someone his size could handle, and that needed doing, and felt very self-satisfied at having done so. He would hang around the carvers while they worked and clear away the dust that would come from their scraping.

Another thought which occurred to him as he lounged near a partially completed shrine and its carver was that carvers' paws must get tired, and they must get very hot. It would be nice, he thought, if they had something cool to dip their paws in to relieve some of the soreness. Or they could drink it if they got hot. He could help with that, if he could just find a container to hold water and find a way to bring it to them.

With a polite nod to the carver, Dievo set off in search of something suitable. He hadn't said anything about his intentions to be useful. He wanted it to be a pleasant surprise.  

[MoonRazor]

It was one of those rare days when Amalie had decided to award herself with a break. She had managed to talk herself into it while singing softly to a shrine, and that had seemed like enough of a sign to the pale lioness for her to take action. Now, her duties lay as close to the back of her mind as she could keep them, and she wandered through the pride lands enjoying the view.

It didn't matter how many times she had seen the features that marked her home; every time she paused to pay attention, something blew her away. The trees, the grass, even the deep azure of the sky above made her feel overwhelmingly glad to be alive and witness to the beauty that surrounded her. If only she allowed herself more time to be swept up in the breathless wonder of her home.

But it was easier said than done. Even now, thoughts of duties left undone irked her, and gnawed at the back of her mind, and it was all she could do to stop herself from turning around and returning to the shrines.  

[Princess_Feylin]

The motion of a larger lion moving through the forest caught Dievo's golden-eyed attention. He noted pale fur and a walk that reminded him more of his mother than of any of the males around the pride, and so probably the larger lion was actually a lioness. The lack of a mane was another clue. He smiled at the joke he didn't make aloud. It wasn't a very good joke, but it was amusing to him.

It occurred to him that she could be helpful to him. She was older and stronger than he was, and could carry more water. She might also have some better ideas for how to transport water, since Dievo hadn't gotten as far as thinking of a way to transport water, that was fairly important, actually. There were so many more parts to his project than he had initially considered. Definitely he needed an assistant.

"Excuse me," Dievo said, trotting over to the lioness. "Come with me, please. I could use some help."

He widened his eyes and then decided against it. He didn't need to act like a cute little cub. He was doing something good and grown-up, and when he explained what he was doing, she would see that and silly ploys would be unnecessary. Dievo was absolutely certain of that.  

[MoonRazor]

The unfamiliar voice drew her attention, which had previously been focused on nothing in particular. She was glad that a distraction had come her way, if for no other reason than that she no longer felt as aimless, and she altered her course to acquiesce to the little cub's request without quite thinking about it. After all, help was help, whether it was solicited or not, and if it was then Amalie was more than happy to provide it.

She regarded the young lion as she neared. He couldn't have been more than several months old, she guessed. Very much a cub still, with a rich, sandy coat much darker than her own. It reminded her of some of her own siblings, none of whom had coats nearly like her own.

"Hello," she greeted when she had arrived within earshot. "What do you need help with?" For a moment, she had been tempted to speak to him as one would usually speak to a child, but decided against it. He certainly wasn't acting like a typical child, and he had spoken in a tone that suggested more maturity than she would have expected in one so small.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"I've started a project to help the carvers and make their job easier, but it means I need to carry water to them."

It was harder to articulate what he needed that it had been to visualize it. It was frustrating that she couldn't just read his thoughts and know what he wanted, but that was the way things were. He would have to find a way to describe what he meant to do and make it make sense to her.

Or he could just sound so certain about what he was doing that she wouldn't need an explanation.

"So let's go do that. You can move larger objects than I can, so you should go find something to carry the water in. I'd like to come because I don't know where to find them, and I'll need to know that."

He tried to sound very authoritative and like he was doing something sensible and mature. It was not all that easy, actually. He felt a bit silly issuing orders to someone older than him, but it had to be someone older, or at least bigger, to help him achieve his goal.

"If you're not busy?" He couldn't help adding that onto the end. It was just too rude otherwise.  

[MoonRazor]

"Oh," The lioness said, considering the proposition. The carvers certainly did put considerable effort and hours into helping their pride, and Amalie didn't imagine that their jobs were easy at all. "That sounds like something they would appreciate." She said with a smile. How adorable. So young, and already this cub was thinking of helping others. That was something Amalie herself could definitely appreciate.

"Oh, not at all, I'm on a break," she reassured him. So thoughtful. She was already taking quite a liking to this young fellow, who seemed unbelievably helpful and considerate of others... quite an admirable trait for somebody so young. It was so important to foster such charitable thoughts in youngsters, and even if she had been busy, Amalie imagined that she would have pushed her own duties aside for a little while just to help out.

"I wonder what we could possibly use to carry water..." She mused. That seemed to be the biggest problem, being able to transport the water from one place to another. Perhaps a properly shaped rock, but... those would be difficult to find unless they had some specially carved, but that seemed to be working as much against the plan as it was for.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"That's what I thought," Dievo said, puffing up a little bit with pride. "But it's turning out to be a bigger job than I though it would be."

A frown creased his brow as he contemplated the unpalatable idea of failure. It simply wasn't an option, he decided. Now that he had an assistant things would go much more smoothly. Particularly since she was larger and presumably stronger than he was. Oh, she was hardly a shifter or anything like that, but still. She would be good enough, he hoped.

"You have to tell me when your break ends. Since my idea isn't a real thing the pride asked me to do, you have to do your other work first when it's time to. That's important."

It wasn't really that Dievo liked the idea of sending his helper away at an unknown time, but his sense of civic responsibility told him that her task was one that she had to do before she could commit herself fully to his project. "Or, if it's just that there are things you need to do, I could help you get them done faster so that you won't be distracted when you're helping me with this."

He really was a pretty insightful cub, but that didn't mean he didn't still have a tendency to make assumptions. Like assuming that he could be helpful, or that she would want to help him after she'd done all her own work, or that he'd even remember his idea after helping her with her assigned duties.  

[MoonRazor]

"Oh, don't worry about that. For today, anyway. I've done everything important, and anything left can easily wait till tomorrow," she said with a reassuring shake of her head. "But thank you for asking." She added with a bright smile.

He was certainly a considerate child. There seemed to be fewer and fewer of those around, but the fact that Dievo was seemed to mean that there was hope yet. Still, Amalie had never really been one to judge. She loved children, no matter what they were like, and she was under the firm opinion that it was never too late to turn them around.

"Now, should we go look around for something to carry water? I don't have any ideas, but maybe if we go hunting, we'll find something useful." All sorts of useful materials lay around. It was only matter of seeking them out.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

"Good, good. It's important to finish your chores before starting on anything new, even if it's in a good cause," he lectured. Without meaning to Dievo was becoming pompous. He couldn't help it. Pompous was sort of his default mode and he always returned to it after a while.

He would have agreed with Amalie's opinion that he was a considerate child. He liked to imagine that he thought of everything and weighed the relative importances involved. The fact was, however, Dievo tended to give more weight and importance to his own projects and interests, assuming that if he took an interest in something it had to be worthwhile by default.

"Yes. We should do that," Dievo agreed, trying not to become disgruntled by the fact that she'd suggested it first or by the fact that she didn't have any ideas. That was part of the reason he'd recruited her instead of someone else, after all. She was older and ought to know more than he.

"But let's hurry, yes? I have to be getting home for food soonish."

If they didn't find anything quickly enough he could always ask his mum, but he didn't want to have to resort to that. He wanted this to be his triumph. With due credit to Amalie, he supposed.

Want to end it with them going off to find this vessel thing? I'm kind of running out of steam for this RP.