a time to relax [open]

As the sun had climbed higher into the sky, the pride seemed to be content with spending the hottest hours of the day sleeping. Ma'at had gone out again to pick roots and herbs since hunting was no longer an option in the scorching heat, as she was never content with lazing for the day which would have delighted Bakari as it felt like since they came to the Pridelands he never got to see her much. She was always trying to prove herself as an asset to the pride, but no matter how he begged to go along and prove his own worth as well she would give him a lecture about how he was too young to help. So she left him with the rest of the lionesses and cubs who were either dozing or amusing themselves. Meanwhile, he was left thinking about how much better it would be when he got bigger and could help hunt and wander wherever he wanted without being told not to. As a grown up, no one would need to protect him, he could do it himself.  

In the midst of his poor attempts at repeatedly trapping a beetle under his paw pads, he noticed with curiosity as a couple of the other cubs snuck away into the grass trying hard not to be seen as they followed Sarabi's form shrinking in the distance. It was Maji and Moto, who were a bit older than him with their manes already starting to grow in compared to his own curling fluff on his head. They at least had no problems leaving Pride Rock without supervision on whatever adventure they had planned. He had considered his options for a mere moment, before deciding that whatever the other cubs were up to was far more interesting than the beetle that he had taken its chance to fly away while he was distracted. Looking over his shoulder to make sure the rest of the pride was too preoccupied to see that one more cub had disappeared from the group, he scurried into the grass after them. 

At first it hadn't been difficult to trail the others considering how much noise the other cubs had been making. But he was worried about them seeing him following and make him turn around so he tried to drop back to let them get further ahead so they wouldn't hear him. At some point before long he realized that he had done too good of a job and he could barely hear them rustling about. Around the same time he began to notice how tall the grass was around him as he tilted his head back to see the sky over head and barely able to peer over the waving foliage. The boldness of leaving the safety of the rock was starting to wane once he began to realize that he was alone as he walked the path left by the other lions. Sounds of hooves pounding the earth and birds screeching over head head made him twist his head in all directions and pick up the pace a bit. Somewhere off in the distance he thought he heard a large animal give off a sound like a bellowing roar and he couldn't tell if it was prey or predator. Isolation made the normally confident cub lose all of his senses and he drove forward, running in a straight line trying to figure out which way the cubs or Sarabi had gone. 

There was grove of trees up ahead and the grasses thinned out to where he could see more of the space around him, alleviating some of the claustrophobic feeling tightening his chest. He was fine, he told himself. He was safe in the Pridelands. The young brown cub's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of water running nearby, and with it voices that were familiar to him on the other side of the bushes. Taking a deep breath, he puffed out his chest and did his best to calm down. He came out here so he wouldn't appear weak and helpless and he let himself get startled by prey. How would any of the others think he was anything but a useless coward if they saw him panic over nothing but things he imagined in his own head. 

Crawling through the path made through the bushes, he saw freshly broken branches with bits of lion fur stuck to them and assumed this was where Maji and Moto and gone. Finally feeling some relief that he hadn't gotten himself lost after all, he padded through the underbrush, following the tracks left in the earth that felt damp from the nearby water source. Poking his head out the other side of the gap in the foliage, he watched as the two cubs approached Sarabi and found himself hesitating again. Sarabi was the former Queen, and while he did like spending time with her around Pride Rock as she was nice and reminded him of his own mother, Bakari hadn't really thought it through that if she found that he had followed them all if she wouldn't be pleased about it. But he hadn't come this far to just hide in the bushes the whole time so taking his chances, the cub exposed his position and grinned sheepishly, "Um.. Hey, Sarabi." 
 

So absorbed in his victory, it took a moment for Moto to come down off of his high horse and actually turn around and listen to his elder. He was notorious for that. Maji was the calm, quiet and down to earth cub, whereas Moto was far loftier, more confident, more self-absorbed with an absolutely shit eating grin on his face. But as Sarabi explained the rules of the hunt, Moto slowly went from overzealous cub to a suddenly quiet almost starstruck little baby. He looked up at the lioness with wide eyes, his imagination going wild as he thought of all of the different ways that a big strong male lion could take down even the biggest prey. His mind showed visions of lions tackling a giraffe to the ground or stealing a baby elephant from its mother, hell what was stopping him from taking down the full grown elephant as well! If Sarabi was right, that going for the throat or nose was key, then in theory, he felt like that was the secret to killing everything.

But she made a good point, that respecting the prey was important, not letting them suffer, not letting them rot. Moto didn't care much for the Circle of Life stuff that really floated around the Pridelands. But it made sense to him not to let prey suffer or experience pain, their sacrifice was needed and was noble of them, their death was a gift to the pride and they returned the favor when they died and became the grass that the exact same prey animals would then eat and enjoy. It all made sense to him and he nodded vigorously. Maji on the other hand, went from slightly bored to intrigued to skeptical over the course of a minute or two. Something about the conversation was not sitting right with him and he cocked his head to the side briefly, lowering his hind end to the ground in a goofy sitting position, his legs straight and his pawpads exposed. He blinked his blue eyes.

"Suffer? We're killing them, ending their lives, leaving their families to miss them and stuff when they are gone, why does it matter if they suffer? We all suffer..."

The cub trailed off, suddenly looking away for a moment and taking a deep breath. Moto noticed his brother's sudden unrest immediately, and he was probably the only lion who knew what Maji had gone through, who knew where his scars came from. He tore away his attention to Sarabi just long enough to back up and sit supportively next to his brother, shoulders touching supportively and beaming his brother a toothy smile when the smaller tan male looked up at his larger brother.

"It's all about the Circle of Life man." Moto butted in with a broad gesture with his paw, as though tracing the circle in the air in front of him. "The meat we get from the animals we hunt are a gift, I think. They're like... 'yeah we're dead but at least you aren't'.... you know? They sometimes volunteer to be eaten, to feed the royal family, they deserve at least something in return, right?"

Still quiet and stuck in that dark place in his mind, Maji only looked up when another voice joined them at the edge of the falls. Both he and Moto looked over at the smaller cub. He was pretty recognizable. His pelt was a weird almost slightly yellow shade of brown and his skull was topped with a curly kind of wavy type hair that no doubt would become the little man's mane once he grew up a bit more. Engrossed in their new arrival, Moto yelped when his momentary distraction cost him his dignity. The waters of the falls were pretty shallow and though he was completely soaked by the waves and pretty gentle rapids, his usually spikey mane falling flat against his neck, weighed down by the water. He was completely drenched but he just stood up and walked back onto dry land, the shallow water just a smidge higher than his chest, somewhere around elbow level. At first he was a little shell shocked but then that shit eating grin returned and immediately forgetting the new comer, Moto chased after the lioness, laughing fondly and looking determined, leaping for her again. But he had no tact, he just ran up and tried to jump on her from the front, where his moves were obvious and telegraphed. His first attack missed, his paws hitting nothing but air. But he turned and tried again, laughing.

"I'm going to get you for that!" He shouted, laughing playfully.

As Moto and Sarabi romped around a bit, Maji looked to the newcomer, the brown cub with the wavy head of hair. He gave the younger male a brief once over, trying to figure him out. Maji was a smart little lion, too smart for his own good really. But he could not get a good read on the new guy, who Sarabi had outed as being named Bakari. They had not really met before this, but they'd definitely seen each other in passing, he knew that the little guy was not native to the Pridelands because of his weird coloration but he wasn't from the Pridelands either so who was he to judge? He offered the timid cub and warm smile, trying to be friendly.

"Sorry... Probably shouldn't be talking about killing and violence right now huh?" He paused, shifting his weight to be more comfortable. "I'm Maji. That's my brother Moto. He's an idiot, don't ever do what he says, he'll march you right over a cliff if you let him."

He paused, laughing softly.

"Well maybe not off of a cliff but he is really dumb, you'll probably end up someplace with snow and humans and stuff, take what he says with a grain of salt."