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Post by bakari on Feb 15, 2021 2:22:22 GMT
Bakari listened patiently to his elder, engrossed in the teachings of the lioness. It was interesting to hear the Circle of Life explained to him in a new way, and it made more sense when Sarabi told the story. Maybe they didn’t literally turn into grass like some sort of magic, but plants had to eat something in order to grow, he supposed. Though the idea of the grass taking the leftover meat and bones of animals and consuming them was a new sort of visual for him. Perhaps that would make more sense when he was older as well and got to see more of the world.
Sarabi’s talk of hunting strategies reminded the young brown cub how eager he was for his first hunting lesson. The way she mentioned the kindness and respect required when trying to kill prey resonated with him. He may not be experienced in much of life, but knew what it felt like to be hunted. The fear of death was traumatizing no matter how long it was dragged out for. A quicker death may mean less pain before the end, but if death was the same result would it matter? A quick death merely meant less of an opportunity to escape death, after all as long as an animal was still breathing they were alive. Would the thought of being able to keep living not be more comforting than a swift and hopeless one? The cub thought quietly to himself while looking down, not wanting to contradict the former Queen. He did take her instructions to heart, however, knowing that when he had to kill to feed himself or his pride, he would try to do so as quickly as possible.
When Maji asked his own questions, he looked at the lioness with an equal gaze of curiosity and a flash of horror. “Fish would eat lions!? I thought just crocodiles did that.” Of all of the concerns he had about prowling the savannah, the fish in the watering holes he drank from hadn’t been one of them. Now, he cast a sidelong glance at the pool of water beside them collecting beneath the falls.
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Post by bakari on Jan 18, 2021 0:38:20 GMT
"I'm okay, Sarabi. I saw you all leaving and thought it would be fun to tag along..." He felt a lot better now that he was among the other three lions than when he had walked the path by himself. The way they all seemed welcoming of his presence made him wish he hadn't tried to be so sneaky about following them and had just caught up with them on the way over. Now at least in the shade of the grove surrounding the falls everything felt peaceful and he was no longer anxious as he had been when he first ran into the bushes. Hearing Sarabi's stories about hunting interested him greatly as he hoped one day to help catch prey for the rest of the pride so they hopefully wouldn't make him leave as he got older. He liked it here, it felt safe.
His eyes widened as he watched Sarabi loft Moto into the cool water that pooled beneath the waterfall with an easy toss of her head. The water splashed towards him, sending a cascade of droplets that dampened his fur and he laughed while leaping away in case the lioness decided to throw any of rest of them in as well. He ran closer to Maji who introduced himself and his brother who was busy trying to tackle Sarabi. He had known their names but Bakari tried to stick with playing with the cubs that were more his size when he first arrived, the boisterous pair that they were had initially intimidated him. Maji especially seemed nice and much more easy going than his brother, but Moto had a charm about him as well, just with more energy.
"I'm Bakari... and I'm not afraid." Bakari puffed his chest out a bit, trying to not make himself feel so small among the group. Absentmindedly he couldn't help rubbing at the scars on his foreleg with his paw. The grooves in his pelt matched the one on across his nose and reminded him of the nightmares that plagued his sleep sometimes. "We're just talking about prey... That's just killing so we don't go hungry. Ma'at calls it just... justi..fly..." his brow furrowed, trying to remember the word the maned lioness had used, "justifiable. If predators didn't kill other animals to survive, all the predators would die since they can't eat grass... and if they all died then the herds would explode or... something like that. Like what happened when they talk about when all the herds left because of the hyenas. But I guess the opposite." The concept was a bit overwhelming for him to think about, but Ma'at always said crazy stuff that didn't make sense to him half the time. The only bad thing about there being a lot of prey animals around was if there were no predators around to take advantage of it and no one would go hungry. He supposed it had something to do with the circle of life they liked to talk about.
"Sarabi?" He addressed the lioness who was his elder and therefore the most wise and knowledgeable one among them to clarify things for him. "When they talk about the circle of life they say we kill the prey and eat the prey, so that when we die we become the grass they eat... but if there weren't any lions to die to become the grass, does that mean there wouldn't be any grass for the prey to eat? I thought water is what made grass grow since there's more of it when the rains come." His head tilted curiously, the riddle of how lions turned to grass escaping him.
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Post by bakari on Jan 8, 2021 0:22:57 GMT
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."
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Post by bakari on Dec 24, 2020 22:02:39 GMT
“Not really,” he shrugged with a roll of his broad shoulders. “I was just sunbathing since the other cubs are um... busy. A few of them found a mud puddle left over from the last rain to play in so the lionesses are making them get cleaned up.”
Pouncing his way down the other side of the rock pile to join her, he tried to stay aware of the different surfaces of the stones but still managed to lose his footing a bit when one of them wobbled under his weight. Squeaking a bit, he tried gripping with his claws steady his balance but they only found air and managed to roll off the last rock into the dirt. The impact didn’t hurt, but maybe his pride was bruised just a little.
He shook his head to clear the dust out of his face. “Erm… Gotta watch that last step,” he uttered, giving a slightly embarrassed chuckle as he got to his feet. He noticed she was focused behind him, and turned to see the butterfly he had chased disappearing into the sky. Maybe it had the right idea. There was nothing for them to do here, so why not explore a bit.
Looking back down at her, he cocked his head to the side and smirked, his green eyes gleaming with mischief. “So… since the lionesses and the other cubs are busy… maybe we can take a walk. It can’t be too dangerous if we stay near Pride Rock, right?” The adult lions were close enough by and they would probably be back before anyone noticed they were gone anyway. Ma’at had warned him not to wander of course, but if they knew where they were going it wasn't exactly wandering. He gave her a toothy grin as he added, “I know a great place to hunt locusts.”
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Post by bakari on Dec 24, 2020 5:22:13 GMT
Bakari rolled over onto his back, letting the warmth of the sun baked ruck soak into his fur while his mind wandered on what he could do to pass the time until Ma’at returned. He had seen her off that morning as she left with the rest of the hunting party, giving him instructions to “stay out of trouble and don’t wander”. Her tone was firm as usual, but the curtness was not unwarranted. He did have a propensity to find trouble, but what could she expect from a bored cub.
He didn’t like being alone, but she couldn’t hang around with him all day even if she wanted to.
He wasn’t allowed to go far from Pride Rock without being accompanied, but there was nothing to do when the other cubs were busy. Most of them were getting baths from their mothers, and Bakari didn’t feel like hanging around them while he tried to groom his own filthy fur. Sometimes Sarabi would offer to help him wash behind his ears, and while it was nice he didn’t like to trouble her.
A sudden shriek nearby made him jump, rolling clumsily over trying to find his feet. Feeling his heart race in his chest, he listened for any further sounds of distress, though the blood rushing in his ears made it difficult. It was like an echo from his past, and he almost wondered if he had managed to nod off while he was basking and slipped into a nightmare. He tried to do as Ma’at had taught him to control his breathing, sucking the air in through his nose and letting it out from his mouth in a pant until he felt himself calm down.
A moment passed, and a butterfly appeared a few yards away. Just the distraction he needed. Letting his body relax into a crouch, he did his best to mimic the lionesses would when they hunted. His big paws scuffed on the rocky surface, but he tried to move as quickly and quietly as possible. Soon the anticipation got the better of him and he leapt at it, the fluttering shape dodging his claws with ease and drifted up higher than he could hope to jump.
“Yeah, and don’t come back!” a cub’s voice growled from the other side of a pile of rocks.
“Huh?” Bakari wondered if it was the same voice that yelled out and startled him. Hopping up onto the rocks, he clambered over them and stood at the top where he could see over and saw Vitani on the other side looking cross about something, as usual.
“Vitani? Are you okay?”
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