[PRP] Walking on the sky [Ethiopia & Jedi]

[wooga Paes]

Today Ethiopia was doing quite a good job of keeping the blues away, out on a walk with her bonded, Dire Dawa, perched on her back. Yesterday she had gone up onto the valley walls with Peke, and she was still rather content after all that, so the gray lioness was happy to just relax a little today. She had already managed to get a bite to eat today (actually, two hares), and though that was little for a lioness, it kept any real hunger away. She could get a decent meal later!

So now the goal was to get to the watering hole and just relax beside it while Dire Dawa found something to do, perhaps he would even fish. She liked watching him go fishing. The watering hole shouldn’t be far now.
 

[Syrius Lionwing]

He liked to explore away from his parents. As he got older and the fur on his head grew thicker, and his legs longer, stronger and able to go further, he explored. He loved home, home was where he had been born it was where his bonded had joined him, it was a place he could love live and frolic, he was still young enough to enjoy a good frolic.

Today was no different. Jedi pounced around the watering hile with his best friend, his companion, his bonded partner. Chewbaka was a carrion eater, so he ate at their table so to speak, he didn't really do the whole hunting thing but being hunted, well that was one of the downsides, of being bonded to a boisterous young lion.

Luckily for the chocolate raven he was tough and when the young lion pounced him he could more or less shake him off. He just hoped his friend would get over this obsession with pouncing before he got any bigger.

Just as the lioness padded around the rocky corners Jedi landed upon his bird and opened his jaws as if ready to take a chunk out of the feathered creature.  

[wooga Paes]

Ethiopia blinked at the scene before her, and might have been more bothered, really. It seemed strange to see a lion in this pride that would eat a bird, but she supposed it was possible. However, she was a smart lioness. She had seen lions playing with their bonded before, and had also probably pounced Dire Dawa once or twice when she was younger. Perhaps even not too long ago!

Dire Dawa, however, was horrified. "What are you doing?!" He shrieked loudly, and Ethiopia's ears laid back. He could be dramatic sometimes! And he was sitting on her back, did he really have to be so loud?

"Zay, I'm sure it's alright..." She began, but the bird bounced up along her back, scratching her with small talons and clinging to the hair on her head, apparently hesitant to fly at a lion who might be a bird-eater!  

[Syrius Lionwing]

The young pink lion raises a brow "Playing with Chewey." He tilts his head in a confused manner wondering why he was getting squawked at.

The brown bird clacks his beak and opens his wings hopping in front of Jedi. In a raspy voice he states "He likes to pounce." He chuckles and looks up at his companion "I think the hawk thought you were gunna eat me." He snorts a harsh laugh in amusement.

"Ohhhhh.." Jedi chuckles a childish laugh and grins. "I wouldn't eat him, he'd probably peck me dead fromt he inside." He grins his youthful grin at the lady and her bonded. "This is Chewbaka and I'm Jedi." He wrinkles his nose in a cheery greeting. "Nicetameetcha!"  

[wooga Paes]

Dire Dawa was actually, in some ways, a rather classy bird. So he disliked being made a fool of, whether it was intentional or not. He blinked, then shook his head and fluffed up slightly, but didn't say anything. Oh, how embarrassing!

"Sorry about Zay, he can be a little dramatic." Ethiopia nodded, which got her a pinch on the ear. She winced slightly, but didn't appear upset by it. "I'm Ethiopia! and this is Zay-- er, Dire Dawa. Nice to meet you." She nodded. It was nice to see a young lion about! In fact, Ethiopia couldn't remember the last time she had seen a cub. Perhaps since she had been one, herself! Being a scout, it wasn't odd for her to be a little more segregated form the rest of the pride.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Jedi smiles a wide toothy grin "I'v never seen you before, though, I suppose that isn't too hard, mum and dad do't let us wander too far." He rolls his eyes dramatically "Mums still scared there might be another shaker." He snorts a little over dramatically. "I keep tellin' her I'm old enough to wander now. Gunna have a mane before ya know it!"

The chocolate coloured bird clacks his beak "You shouldn't be so flip about it Jedi, it was a bad time." He bobs to the lioness and her bonded and shakes his head "He means it's nice to meet you." He clicks his beak and looks at the young lion with a clear smile in his eyes.

The young pink male snorts and sighs in exasperation. "Yeahyeah..okay..I'm sorry it was a big bad time but I wanna explore and it's not like the watering hole is MILES from where we live, it's just round the corner." He sticks his tongue out at the bird and pads at his back with a soft paw. "Plus if there was another shakin' I'd still have you and you'd get me home to mum and dad." he goes quiet for a moment, though he quickly perks back up again, his young mind only really able to hold on to any sort of melancholy for so long. "

"Do you guys wanna play? Me 'n' Chewey can beat anyone in a race."  

[wooga Paes]

"I'm a scout, so I tend to stay furthe rout." Ethiopia explained with a nod, though one of her ears drooped at the mention of the earthquake. She had not been a part of the pride at the time, but had nonetheless been affected, and it had changed her life. For some time, she had been convinced it had ruined her life! But things had worked out now.

Dire Dawa grudgingly nodded at the two, but felt no need to say anything because Ethiopia had already introduced him. He still felt a little sore about his won mistake. He hated being wrong.

The gray lioness smiled, amused. "A race?" She supposed it wasn't a bad idea. It seemed strange that a juvenile would challenge a fully grown lioness to a race, though. Ethiopia wasn't the confident sort, but she was quite sure she could beat him at this point. "Alright, I'm up for that. How 'bout you, Zay?" She'd probably just let the cub win, there was no glory in beating a kid.

The raptor on her head glanced at the cub and his bonded. He didn't really like competitive sport! But Dire Dawa wouldn't turn down a challenge now. "... Fine, where to?"  

[Syrius Lionwing]

The young lion gave a grin, he was good at running, his father had taught him how to run from a very young age. His father, though he was a fairly bad hunter, was a great runner and he had inherited this trait. He tilts his head towards the other side of the watering hole and beams "To the acacia tree there and back." He tilts his young head and beams.

The chocolate brown bird shakes his had and chuckles "I do believe our grey friend here is under estimating us Jedi." His eyes sparkled in an amused manner and he opens his wings.

The juvenile nods his head in confirmation "Totally, I think she thinks that cause I'm young I'm not fast. Best prove her wrong Chewey." He sticks his tongue out at the older lioness and winks. "You ready?" He tenses his young muscles and snaps "Go!" He takes off like a little pink shot racing for the lone tree with his tail flailing out behind him.  

[wooga Paes]

She was well built for this sort of thing. Ethiopia would forever be hopeless at many activities. She would never be a good fighter, for example. She even found it hard to take down large prey, which was why she always stuck to a few smaller meals at shorter intervals. Even this juvenile could probably knock her over. But she could run pretty fast, because she did it a lot. Being a scout could be rather boring, so she had to keep busy somehow!

Not to mention, she had the unfair advantage of, at least for now, much longer legs. So when Jedi launched forwards, she caught up to him quickly enough. She did have to admit, though, he was pretty fast for his age and size.

Though Ethi was doing pretty well, the same could not be said for Dire Dawa. He may have boasted about his speed sometime in the past, and it's not like he was a slow bird. But he hadn't been ready when Ethi had leaped forwards, and as such, his start had been rather dumb. And he wasn't even that enthused about this race! Such a silly little form of competition!

Not to mention, it just wasn't the kind of flying he was good at. Get him in a dive, he was fast as a bullet. Straight lines? Not quite! He flapped his wings wildly, his pride insisting that he should win, but couldn't seem to keep up with Chewbaka. Uuugh! Today just wasn't his day!

As far as the lions went, Ethiopia was keeping pace with Jedi, making sure not to kick it into high gear and speed past him, while still pushing herself. She didn't want to win, but she didn't want to make it look like she wasn't competing! She intended to stay on the outside of the curve when they reached the tree, that way he could definitely get ahead, and she wouldn't have to slow down, or anything like that.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

The young male laughed loudly as they sped towards the tree, his tail flapping around like a propella keeping him well balanced as they got to the tree. Rather than going around it though he did something his father had taught him, he leapt for the tree and bounced off it doing a sort of sideways summersault to get himself back in the right direction.

"Whoop!" He calls back, not glancing behind himself for fear that if he did he would slow down. He was convinced he was winning, even though Etheopia was much bigger and probably much faster than him, his young cubby ego had him streaking ahead of the gray lioness.

Chewbaka on the other hand simply cawed from above landing on a tree branch then launching back off again following the bright pink lion cub. There was one good thing about having a pink lion to watch over, you never lost him, he was too bright tomiss. His cawing laugh echos over head as he flapped towards the finish and waited calmly on the ground for the lions to screech to a dusty stop. It occured to him, a little too late to move as the soft dusty ground caused him to get covered in sand. "Who won?" He splutters, unable to see through the dust storm caused by the lions feet who had come first.  

[wooga Paes]

Now that was a cool trick. Smart of him, really! There was an advantage to him being smaller, such a feat was a little harder when you were older and heavier. She smiled, going around the tree instead and picking up the pace to catch up with him once again.

Once they arrived at the finish line, as planned, Jedi went ahead, though Ethiopia wasn't even a second behind as she skidded to a stop. The wind blew the dust they had raised over her, but she simply shook her head, not minding. About a second or two later Dire Dawa flared out his wings, stopping himself by perching on her back.

"You guys won!" She said cheerfully, though the avian on her back fluffed up irritably, and shot her a glare. He was more competitive than she was, and could hardly understand why she would have thrown a race like that!

"Yes, you did. Congrats." In his case, he had actually just miserably lost.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Jedi grins a wide cubby grin a look of pride on his maw. "My dad taught me that, he's..." He looks thoughtful for a moment "Mama says he's lanky, hehe, I think he's just a bit skinny is all." He laughs a little chuckle. "Maybe next time you'll win." He wrinkles his nose and flickers his tail his chest puffed out to show the pride he had in his race winning ability.

The young pink lion looks upwards and sighs "I better go home I guess." He looks pouty for a moment. "We can race again sometime right?" He beams getting to his paws, and looking up at the older lioness hopefully.

Chewbaka spreads his wings and nods at the other bird perched on the lionesses back. "I'm sure you guys will win next time." He clicks his beak and jumps to the pink lions back "Lets go home Jedi your ma will be wondering where you are." He flickers his wings and tightens his claws in the young lions back gently.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm comin'." He sighs and exasperated sigh "Later Ethiopia." He smiles and turns to trot back in the direction of his families den.