[PRP] Unsteady

[mouselet]

Lutum was getting more comfortable with the idea of living in a pride as he got older. He still remembered Aestivus, his father, but most of those memories were blurred with the exhaustion and knowledge of walking day after day, hour after hour. Here and now, he only needed to walk so long as he chose. And if he didn't always have a destination in mind, it was no long a mind-numbing march into the unknown.

He'd decided that as far as that went, living here was better. And even if he still didn't understand all that Nawiri wanted of him and his sister, at least the lioness cared how they did, what they did, and where. Lutum might not remember too much of his father, but he didn't remember Aestivus asking a single question of either of them.

The juvenile was distracted from his reverie by the sight of a lioness, not yet adult but still older than he, walking carefully through the pride. The direction of her steps seemed to be towards the watering hole, but the manner was...odd.

Being young and still not completely understanding the disease the pride lived with, Lutum supposed that she was doing this on purpose. It seemed a strange choice to him, but many things were still strange to him and what was one more to those?

The young prince walked over and sat down on the path, in front of the adolescent. She'd either have to stop and talk to him, or walk around. He supposed that he should say something, Nawiri having gotten that much of manners into him.

So... "Why are you doing that?" the boy asked.  

[mouselet]

"Walking weird. Almost falling," he replied simply, watching her. The lioness' body language was kind of odd, and she seemed cautious as she moved, but nothing her her voice made her shy. Lutum had the sense of a puzzle that he could try and put together to answer his own question.

Maybe...maybe she wasn't choosing to walk like that? But if that was true, why would it be so?  

[mouselet]

"Yeah," the response was startled out of him. He hadn't expected that this lioness would know his sister! Well, he supposed it couldn't be that weird, after all, Eione lived here too and Nawiri had been on both their cases to get out, explore, and meet people. Actually, more on the "meet people" than the "explore", but Lutum wasn't as good at that. Eione was the more outgoing of the two of them. So he really shouldn't have been as surprised as he was.

But the older lion had said she was dizzy. And dizzy wasn't good. He felt like there were more reasons than just the obvious why dizzy was bad, but the boy simply couldn't remember them at this time.

"Maybe you should sit down?" he asked. He himself was still sitting on the path, where he'd set himself not too long before. If she sat, maybe her eyes would clear and then she'd be okay. That's what happened for him after he ran in circles for a long time and got dizzy, after all! So it should work for her.  

[mouselet]

If Lutum was more conscious of social norms, he would have offered to lend the lioness a shoulder and help her get to her destination, recognizing that she was having trouble moving. Unfortunately for Nyesha, the boy in question was still an outsider in the civilized pride and his manners were a thin veneer over a young savage.

Even so, Nawiri had managed to instill some semblance of awareness into him and Lutum knew that he should do something for the older lion.

"I'll go with you then." Lutum hadn't been going there before, but he was a little thirsty, now that he thought about it. To suit actions to words, the lion got up and turned himself around.  

[mouselet]

The boy blinked. Sure? Why did she say that. He hadn't really been asking a question or anything like that, he'd just decided he would go with her. Why did that warrant a Sure? Sometimes people made no sense at all to the brown lion.

Then she told him her name. Nyesha. It sounded familiar, like he'd heard it before. Not sure where, but the fact that he did already know it in some context made the Prince feel more comfortable. Belatedly, he remembered that when someone told him their name, he was supposed to reply in kind.

"Lutum," he replied, starting to walk towards the water. The juvenile looked back over his shoulder to see if the lioness was following.