"Either run from it, or learn from it" [Private: DGF & TW]

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Amira was fully aware that her water-loving antics were very peculiar, but growing up in a land where rivers and streams and waterfalls were common, you could hardly escape it. There was no danger in swimming. Unless you couldn't swim of course, or if the river was travelling too fast. Crocodiles were not a welcomed species in the Tambara so Amira hadn't had to deal with those either.

She watched Mjuvi with amusement at his reactions to the water. She chuckled at his first entry, and when he slipped over she couldn't help but laugh loudly. Kosa's laughter was heard too, she flopped onto her back in sheer delight. Mjuvi's poor expression when he resurfaced was something to remember. Amira waded towards him, now sat in the water beside Mjuvi. His wet mane was causing him so trouble, but Amira thought it was cute. "Come here you silly thing" she giggled, raising a paw and pushing his mane out of his eyes. She stopped laughing.

Amira gazed into those hazel brown eyes for a moment, before looking down and smiling at his wet exterior. Kosa had manouvered onto her belly now, and as she looked at the two lions in the water, she thought to herself, how nice they look...as a pair. She had noticed their growing likeness for each other. It was plainly obvious they considered each other friends, at the very least.

[TheWhistlerify]

Trying his best to ignore Amira and Kosa's uncontrollable laughter, Mjuvi continued attempting to blindly remove his wet mane out of his eyes, though without much success. As the cream lioness came to assist him in his predicament, he sat still with a somewhat grumpy look on his face until the nuisance that was his own fur was finally cleared. Opening his eyes at last, the male froze slightly as he found Amira's sapphire blue ones to be staring directly into his.

Just what was it about this lioness? Why was she the center of Mjuvi's thoughts and even dreams almost all the time? How come he felt so much at ease with her around and, assuming she went to hunt, for example, felt eager for her to return? What was it that made him feel like he was getting lost in those eyes? Before he had a chance to once again fruitlessly try to come up with an answer, Amira broke the eye contact.

Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head with a paw, the young lion cleared his throat nervously. "Who are you calling silly thing?" he asked jokingly. Her soft voice was something he enjoyed listening to, especially whenever she said his name. "Anyone could have slipped here." Amira, in turn, seemed very much amused by what he was saying, causing him to frown playfully. "What?"

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Spoiler: show

I'm tempted to bring Jasiri in soon to get the plot moving along, unsure about when DGF is gonna post though and whether I should do it before he does or not

Amira smiled and laughed at his words; she found herself just sitting and watching him. "I believe only the extremely rare species, there's just one in existence as a matter of fact, known as a Mjuvi have the natural ability to slip on a rock" she joked light-heartedly. She raised her paw and ruffled the top of his damp mane again, causing it to go fluffy. She could hear Kosa giggling in the distance, presumably still at Mjuvi's downfall. "And what do you think you're laughing at?" Amira said with a playful growl.

She was quite close to the water's edge, so splashed up some water that hit Kosa. The adolescent leapt back in surprise, before giggling again. "I'm almost tempted to splash you back Amira, but it'd mean having to get so..." Kosa replied, flicking her tail. Amira laughed and was about to convince Kosa to try it out, but at that precise moment, she felt a chill go through her body. She stopped smiling, a single shiver took hold for a second. Struck by the peculiar feeling she just experienced, she hopped out of the water.

"Are you alright?" Kosa asked, suddenly concerned. Amira was distracted for a moment, but snapped out of whatever trance she was in a gave Kosa a small, yet false, reassuring smile. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just being silly, had a funny turn" she said unconvincingly. Kosa gave Mjuvi a confused glance. "I'm going under the tree to dry" she murmured, slinking through the tall grass. She felt as though something had happened, as if someone had walked over her grave.

[TheWhistlerify]

Mjuvi was about to reply to Amira's raher amusing choice of words calling him a one of a kind rare species that had the gift of slipping on rocks at he bottom of waterholes, but he was distracted as the cream lioness splashed at Kosa, as if to punish the grey adolescent for still laughing at his silliness. This new idea he was getting as a result was far more brilliant than that response he'd come up with, as it would not only teach the teenager a lesson but was also guaranteed to get a laugh out of Amira for sure.

Before the young male could ran at Kosa in surprise and throw her into the water, he suddenly noticed the drastic change in Amira's expression. Her amusement was gone entirely and, if Mjuvi had to describe it, he'd almost say that she looked as though something dreadful happened to her. If anything, the way the female dismissed Kosa's question ad to whether she was alright only emphasized the fact that she wasn't.

They've known each other for only a week, yes, but that didn't matter. Mjuvi knew Amira was a very cheerful lioness. There wasn't a time where they talked when she didn't smile or didn't sound like she was in good spirits... The way she was speaking now... Something was clearly not right. But what? As far as the young lion was concerned, there was absolutely nothing that could have caused this...

Walking out of the waterhole as well, Mjuvi shook himself dry before walking after Amira through the tall grass. He found her already resting under the tree, having said that she wanted to dry off, but also noticed that she was still soaking wet. She hasn't remembered to shake herself dry after leaving. Yes, something was up. "Amira?" he asked softly, walking closer and sitting down next to her. "What's the matter?"

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Kosa watched Mjuvi leave, his concern was evident. She lay beside the water, Mjuvi could handle the situation, and she didn't want to overcrowd the lioness. Amira sat beneath the tree, facing away from the tall grass. She still didn't know what to make of it; lost in thought, she did not hear Mjuvi say her name. So when he sat beside and spoke again, she jumped. "Oh, you startled me" she said, trying to smile. When he asked her what was wrong she really struggled to say. She had no idea what happened. "I...don't even know" she mumbled, looking down to the floor with a frown.

"It's like, something bad has happened. I feel it" she added after a pause. She groaned a moment later, "It sounds so silly. It's probably nothing" she said looking up at Mjuvi, trying to convince herself more than anything. She sighed, a cool breeze hitting her, making her cold from the damp. She stood up and shook herself off before slumping back down onto her haunches. "Sorry to put a downer on things" she said, trying to chuckle.

[TheWhistlerify]

To Mjuvi, the way Amira only realized he was there upon being spoken to a second time was yet another reason for him to be concerned. It showed just how confused and distracted she was by, well, whatever it was that had caused this sudden change in her to begin with. In a way, having the lioness tell him that she herself also didn't know was odd but, at the same time, it appeared to make some sense. After all, the way she'd instantly lost all her cheerfulness and just left still seemed completely out of the blue. Also, if it really was nothing, the more quickly she was likely to go back to normal.

Smiling, the young male slightly shook his head. "Meh; it's fine." he said reassuringly, offering Amira a smile. "Besides, you didn't really put a downer on things. Our own mood was affected because we choose to care about you..." Mjuvi chuckled. "So don't worry about it." Wanting to change the subject and hopefully leave this little incident behind, the lion scratched the back of his head with a paw before using it in an attempt to tidy up his mane and get it to look the way it did just before his... accident. "Do you know how much time I spend into this thing?" he asked jokingly as if it was actually a bother. Well, it wouldn't be so hot for him without this extra hair around his neck, head and chest of all places...

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Spoiler: show

Can you do the time skip TW? Do it to another week later at night time. Maybe Amira and Mjuvi are alone while Kosa goes for a night hunt? Star gazing maybe? Something nice ^^ I'll have Jasiri interrupt them, not before a nice little cute scene though aha

The fact that Mjuvi cared made Amira smile more than ever. There was something about the young lion that made her smile a lot recently. It felt like she had known him for longer than a week; she enjoyed his company and his humour in equal measure. "Thank you for caring" she murmured, still smiling as he tried manoeuvring his mane. The cream lioness giggled. "Oh, I suppose you spend hours, right?" she joked back, moving closer to him so she could ruffle his mane with her paw. She took the time to sort it back out again, at least at the front. "It just looks a bit...fluffy" she said with a laugh. "I suppose it'll smooth out eventually".

Kosa had begun to make her way back, peering curiously at the two between the high grass, but not lingering as she'd hate for them to think she was eavesdropping. She stepped into the space under the tree with a smile. "Needed the shade" she said, flopping over onto her side. "Are you feeling okay now Amira?" she asked kindly. The cream lioness gave the adolescent a nod and a more convincing smile. She wasn't exactly okay, but she knew it wasn't something to worry about. Surely, nothing had happened. "I'm going to have nap" Amira declared, lying down. Kosa spread out on her side "I think I might join you" she responded.

[TheWhistlerify]

Mjuvi shot Amira a playful glare as she joked back with him about his mane, clearly teasing the way he supposedly spent hours to get it to look the way he wanted it to. Well, he may have made it sound like he was just goofing around with what he was saying, but he really did care about how his mane looked. "What if I don't like it fluffy?" he asked with a fake frown. "You better hope it'll smooth out. Otherwise, there will be hell to pay." The young male was obviously still kidding, but he knew there would be some putting up with how long it would take for it to stop looking so ridiculous.

Oh well, it couldn't be helped. On the bright sight of it all, at least he's discovered that being inside water wasn't so bad. Actually, slipping face first because of some stupid rock was, but what Amira was so fond of doing wasn't. It was kind of pleasant and refreshing, especially in the middle of the day when the heat usually became unbearable. He would be sure to join the cream lioness again in the future (without making a fool of himself, hopefully). Maybe then he'll get the opportunity to teach Kosa a lesson for laughing at his misery... Until then, though, a nap sounded nice.

••••••••••

Another week has gone by as quickly as the first one had. It has been two weeks in total since the rather odd trio had decided to stick together and, despite supposedly traveling with one another, they were still sticking to that small waterhole and the few trees nearby that provided some much appreciated shade when needed. Their water source was now smaller than it had once been, yes, but it still seemed as though there was some time before they would run out of water.

Besides, there was really no telling if it might rain sometime before that would happen. Although, that would present them with the trouble of finding some proper shelter... It was a shame, knowing that they couldn't stay there forever, because Mjuvi was really fond of the place. He was much more appreciative of Amira and Kosa's company, of course, Amira's in particular. Perhaps the reason he didn't feel like leaving their current location was because it was where they'd first met. The odd way he constantly felt when around her has only gotten stronger and all the more unexplainable throughout the course of the previous week.

Kosa was currently out on what she liked to call a night hunt, something Mjuvi always found as odd because herds were bound to have hidden themselves in order to sleep and were not moving around in the open as usual, but oh well... The lion has never denied the fact that the grey adolescent was a far better huntress than he was. He even admitted it to her face more than once. It seemed out of place for him to criticize what the younger female was doing, especially because she often returned successful from these late night strolls of hers.

But with her gone, though, it meant that Mjuvi and Amira were left alone back beneath the tree. Much to his annoyance, despite thoroughly enjoying being with the cream lioness, he's found himself beginning to get a little bit nervous around her whenever Kosa wasn't around. Since when did it require effort for him to have an actual conversation with her? "So..." Having said that she liked doing that more than once, Amira had suggested that they stargazed together. "We just... look at the stars, then?" They were lying side by side on their backs some distance away from the tree where the sky was more visible.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Another week had passed; it had felt slow during the days, them being spent lazing around, or messing about in the pond, or hunting perhaps. Though once she thought about it, Amira realised it had gone fairly quickly. Amira had felt fine after her weird turn, though she often thought about it and how odd it was. It made her think of home, somehow. The cream lioness enjoyed staying in the trio's current location. The tree offered shelter from the wind but not shelter from the rain; there hadn't been any, but Amira felt it would arrive soon. The pond was dwindling, but if they did run out of water they could move on, perhaps visit the Tambara lands, as Amira was thinking of her family.

Currently, she was spread out on her back on the comfy bed of leaves that had blown slightly away from the tree. Mjuvi was by her side. The stars filled her eyes. They were beautiful, and comforting, the Kings of the Past. Her grandfather, and his father, and his father before that..."Yeah, we just look at them" she said with a chuckle.

"Did your mother ever tell you about the Great Kings of the past in the stars?" she asked curiously. She hadn't thought until recently that it may be a pride tradition, and that not all lions may believe in it. Each star was a monarch, from the Kings of the West, North, East and South. Her father told her that the brightest star belonged to an old King of the Pridelands, and land she had not visited since she was a cub.

[TheWhistlerify]

Mjuvi turned his attention back to the stars as Amira confirmed to him that yes, all they were supposed to do was just look at the stars. She did say it in a way that made him feel a little embarrassed, yes, but this was something he's never done before. Well, of course he'd looked at the stars, but not like this. The young male often used them for directions, but just gazing at them was new to him.

There was no denying that the stars were beautiful, though, and as Mjuvi looked at Amira again he couldn't help but feel almost awed. Her eyes were even more dazzling with the stars reflecting off of them... "Uh..." he blinked a few times. "No, I don't think she has..." Great kings of the past? In the stars??? What was that even supposed to mean? Like... physically inside them?