Regnav had tired of making sand sculptures. They tended to slide away all too soon, destroying his hard work and making his vision a thing of the past rather than a thing of beauty. It was entirely too frustrating to continue. He needed something fresh, something new, something no-one else had ever considered. Truth be told, he disliked his idle life, and although it gave him plenty of time for flirting with various females, he found his lack of purpose, aside from art, rather telling. However, his only other options were either becoming a reaver, or a lawspeaker. Ick!
This was what led him to wandering the pride's lands. He was surprised at how much territory the pride actually covered. In fact, he was even now exploring a section of salt marsh that he hadn't any idea had existed! It was here that he ran into one of the strangest lions he'd likely ever met... which was saying something when one was in such a self-indulgent pride.
Jama sat beside a trickle of stream, surrounded by various aspects of his trade. Close by his paws lay a knotted, woven net of strong and flexible grass stems and prey sinews. It presently looked entirely like what it was.. a sturdy, fashioned-by-paw item. This was not at all acceptable, of course, and he was endeavoring to remedy that. In front of him rested a curious stone, wide and thick with the middle hollowed into a bowl. On his other side ran the stream, from which he occasionally dipped a gourd full of water and dribbled it into the bowl's contents.
Despite all these details, Regnav's first impression of Jama was all about his headgear. Now, he'd seen lions wear skulls as helms, seen feathers, beads, and all sorts of trinkets braided into manes... but this trumped it all. He padded quietly up and peered at the strange greenish lion's head with a highly puzzled expression, fondly believing himself unobserved.
"Dun think ye kin sneak up an steal m'slop," Jama drawled calmly, not turning to look at the younger lion. His eyes remained on the sludgy mixture in his makeshift bowl.
"Erm," the brown lion replied ingeniously, startled at the weird male's perceptiveness. "I'm... er... sorry... uh... what... what is that on your head?" He felt like such a fool, but he simply could not tear his eyes away from what looked like... well, it looked like a bunch of moss and leaves all mashed together and smushed atop the other male's mane. Why in the world would anyone choose such a decoration? He was frankly baffled.
"Eh?" Jama finally looked up from his concoction to peer suspiciously at the brown male who stared so rudely off to the side. "Ah, that." He straightened in what was clearly pride. "Tell me, fella, would ye think anythin' amiss iffen you saw this bit floatin' in a pond?" He tapped one extended claw on his moss hat, which draped dramatically over his ears and nearly across one eye. He was quite proud of it, and was more than happy to explain it to an ignoramus such as this fellow.
"I.. suppose not," Regnav answered cautiously, still staring at the lump of plant materials in fascination. "That's what it's for? Floating in... a pond?" He blinked a little and managed to refocus his eyes on Jama's eyes instead of atop his head. His expression was confused, though. What would he want pond scum on his head for?
"That be the ideer," Jama replied smugly, turning his attention back to the slop in his bowl. Yup, seemed about right. With complete abandon, he scooped up a large pawful of the goop and slapped it onto the knotted net, smearing the muck along the strands thickly.
Deflected from the hat issue by a flying glob that landed on his paw, Regnav lifted the paw with an expression of further bafflement. He made to groom it off his paw and froze, his nose less than an inch from the splattered bit of... wait, what was this stuff?! It smelled... his nostrils pinched in disgust. It smelled like a lot more than just mud, that's for sure! Was that... poop he smelled? Ugh! "Wait, what are you doing anyway?" he demanded indignantly, shaking his paw to try and dislodge the offending much off his paw.
"Camer-floj," the odd lion answered succinctly. Regnav just stared uncomprehendingly, so Jama sighed and stopped slapping the much about. Turning more towards the uppity youngster, Jama tried to explain patiently. "Look, when yer wants to sneak up on sumpin, ye kin just sneak, or ye kin use yer noggin." He rapped his own moss-covered head sharply with a smirk. "This here helps ye hide, ye kin?" He suddenly kicked a pile of leaves that had been behind him onto the sludge-smeared net. The debris immediately adhered to the damp, sticky stuff, though only where he'd been able to apply the goop.
"Now look," he instructed the other male. "Which do ye see furst?" He slid one paw under the net where it had no much and leaves, and slid the other forepaw under the sticky, messy side. Regnav frowned and looked, uncertain what he was supposed to notice. Perhaps he was just feeling particularly dense that day, but it took him a moment to realize that he really couldn't see the paw on the messy side. In fact, even the paw on the other side was less easy to make out under the knots of grass.
"Ooooh," he said slowly, the light dawning in his brain. "You can do that with just this stuff?" He gestured vaguely at the natural materials that surrounded the other male. "Just this kind of thing?" Granted, he'd used natural materials to some extent in his art, but this sort of thinking took his idea to a whole new level. "That's amazing!"
Still looking smug, patient Jama pulled his paws out from under the unfinished net and began scooping the clay, soil, feces, and water mixture onto the project again. "Yep," he agreed laconically. It was so satisfactory to have his work appreciated, even if the admirer was a wee bit slow in the head, like this fellow.
"Now... all this could have some use in my art," Regnav began thoughtfully, reaching to touch the knotted stems thoughtfully, though he avoided the poop muck. That.. was a bit extreme even for him. He caught the odd look the older lion was giving him and shrugged defensively. "You have your way, I have mine," he huffed. "I dun... I mean, I don't make... whatever it is you called this." He flipped an edge of the net in illustration. "But I could make some interesting things myself," he mused aloud, mind spinning.
"Here now," Jama growled, rising to all four paws. He wasn't a terribly large lion, but well muscled in his own way. "Dun yew come in here, stealin' m'ideers!" He glowered at Regnav from under the shadowing edge of his moss hat. "This be m'fambly's biznis. Yew can't go muckin' about, takin food from m'kids' mouths!" He was starting to work himself up into quite an irate fit, which didn't happen all that often. However, this touched on a sensitive subject for old Jama... his family. They were his life, and he'd not stand idly by while some lazy idiot came along and took their secrets!
"Peace, old boy!" Regnav backed away a few steps, ears canted in dismay and tail curled defensively close. "I don't mean for your camer'flaj. That's your thing, not mine!" He looked around for some inspiration on how to reassure the looming anger of the strange male. "Watch, I'll show you." He snatched up a discarded bit of grass stem and, eyeballing the knots in the net, began to clumsily knot the stems himself. Curious yet wary, Jama waited, withholding further judgment until he saw what the boy was getting at.
Before long, a rough but mostly recognizable figure of a giraffe rested on Regnav's paw. He held up a paw to show he wasn't done, eager tos how the old codger that he was in earnest about not stealing the family business. Wincing at the necessity, he stuck one paw pad into the brown mixture, then dabbed muddy spots of differing sizes and shapes on the little figurine. He held it out to Jama then, while surreptitiously wiping his befouled toe on a tree truck behind himself. "See? It isn't useful, like your net. It's just something pretty to... make the girls smile." He tagged this last bit on, true as it was, in an effort to cajole the older lion. It seemed to work, for which Regnav was grateful.
"Herm... female stuff, eh?" He gently took the miniature giraffe from the brown lion, examining it. "Yep, I kin see how this cud appeal to them females." He nodded, all his previous ire dissipated like mist beneath the sun. "Okay, yew hav a deal, cub," he said gruffly, offering his paw to be slapped in the manner of his family at a deal struck. Regnav looked with disgust at the grimy, sticky paw offered him, and gingerly tapped his own paw against Jama's. In for a mouse, in for a waterbuck, after all!
