Osk was happy to tend to her plants- she liked being able to be around them and feel content. Calm. Plants had a way of making her feel at peace that she had never found with lions. Sure, she liked lions as much as the next gal. They were nice and all, and she loved her pride, but they could be… loud. Not to mention aggressive. And annoying. Definitely annoying. Maybe it was because she was the only female in a family of males, but she always had a problem feeling at peace around other lions. She wondered if she just needed to spend more time with lionesses, instead of the males. Then maybe she would be able to see them as more than just annoying beings. Until then, though, she had her plants to help her tolerate things.
Plants that could be made into clothing, or used for moonshine, or even for medicine- she knew how to grow a little bit of everything. She imagined that made her a bit important, considering how much plants were used for. Then again, it wasn’t like she was the only plant care-taker in the pride. Others enjoyed it just as much as she did. That was good- the more the merrier. Maybe THEY were the lions she needed to start with in order to expand her horizons.
Work from those with the same viewpoints and expand out.
She had been willing, but her plans were quickly interrupted by a very pretty flower. It had been poking up from the ground, looking absolutely perfect, and she had wanted to check it out. So she had wandered towards it, smiling to herself as she examined the brightly colored petals. It was rare that such vibrant flowers bloomed in the pride lands, so of course she was going to look it over and see if there was anything very special about it that she needed to try and claim for her own garden. Were there any seeds she could steal? How she loved adding to her collection, and it was just so lovely. She would just examine it carefully and then-
She didn’t get a chance to think further, a large brown paw planting down on top of the flower, crushing it easily.
“Hey!” She huffed, before a defeated sigh escaped her. She would have been more annoyed if she wasn’t a fairly laid back lioness. Slowly, she looked up at the large male, frowning. “You stepped on a flower I was looking at,” she informed him, “that was very rude.”
“What? Why were you looking at a flower?” The male asked, arching an eyebrow, “that’s weird.”
“It’s not weird!” She shot back, “but you should apologize for being so rude! That wasn’t very nice at all, and neither was calling my hobby weird.”
“But it is weird,” insisted the male, “so I don’t really get it. And I don’t apologize. But if you’d like to have a fight about it, I think we could settle it with a good sparring match, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t think we could settle it with a sparring match,” the female replied, sitting down, “I don’t like to fight.”
“What?! Then how are you here?!” He yelped, “fighting is the best! You really are a weird one.” The large male sat down as well, raising his paw to look at the crushed flower sticking to it. Osk sighed heavily, shaking her head. He frowned. “Sorry,” he said at length, “I guess I’m being rude… kind of happens. Especially around, you know… your type.”
“My type?” She said. “What, because I like plants? Or because I don’t like to fight?”
“Because you’re a… female.”
“You don’t like females? That’s weird. I don’t like males that much,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, “ I guess we’re the same, but completely opposite.” It was a little amusing to think about, though it seemed a highly complex concept for her male companion. He looked at her with a scrunched nose, clearly having trouble processing the situation. “Nevermind it too much, alright. It’s not meant to be something to confuse the hell out of you like that.”
“Oh… well, I guess you’re not so bad for a female. Kind of like talking to a guy.”
“That really fills me with job to know,” Osk sighed.
“I’m glad!” Beamed the male so honestly that she actually felt a little guilty about being so sarcastic with him. But really. Who could be THAT stupid? Maybe he had taken one too many hits to the head with all the fighting he seemed to like so much. Whatever the case, she tried not to let it get to her. If he was stupid, he was somewhat agreeable because of it. She was actually surprised she could talk to him. He smiled and shook the petals from his paw, shaking his large mane about.
“The name’s Olaf,” he commented lightly, “who are you?”
“I’m called Osk. It’s nice to meet you, Olaf.” She wondered if that was true or not. She supposed she didn’t hate meeting him, but was it nice? He was nice enough, she supposed. A bit thick, but that was fine. She’d seen dumber. She’d seen smarter, too, but there was no need to be mean. Not yet, anyway.
If he stepped on any more flowers in front of her, she might have a problem.
“It’s nice to meet you too!” Olaf said, seemingly in high spirits now that he had found a female he didn’t hate speaking to, “so you like flowers, huh? Would you show me some of them some time? I promise I won’t step on them, and I won’t call it weird anymore, either!”
“Well, I suppose under those conditions I could manage it,” she replied with the faintest hint of a smile. This seemed to delight Olaf more, the large male getting to his feet.
“Fantastic! Will you show me now?!”
“Okay, okay,” Osk replied, also getting up, “my garden isn’t far from here. Come on, I’ll show you. But you really had better not step on anything else with those large paws of yours- some of what I make is used for moonshine, and I imagine you like having that, right?’
“You know it!”
Together, the two ventured off to her den, where her collection of plants resided by.
WC: 1063
