Taking a Mud Bath

[Daze]

It all seemed too hazy for Raizel to think properly. The sun's rays were beating down on her golden honey-colored back mercilessly as her feet dragged her forward one baby step at a time like a marching soldier.

She hadn't had a drink in hours. Wait, had she taken a drink at all today? Her mind was fogged up, and her memories refused to tell. Whatever the case was, she tried her best to shut out the intense throbbing in her brain from the headache she had acquired back near the jungle.

Without realizing, her feet had stopped moving, and she was standing still at the peak of a hill, overlooking the boundless waves of amber grasses, as far as the naked eye could see. Wait, what was that? A tree?! Indeed. Raizel had never been so excited to see a tree in her entire life. But wandering through this grassy desert could change the desires of anyone...

Desires. Water. Now! Her throat stung as she swallowed what bitter saliva she could produce in her mouth. Her lungs felt like cotton ready to shrink, and it was getting hard for her to breath.

"Is anyone there?" her desperate plea came out almost in whisper form, still choked up from her dust filled throat and lungs. She hadn't heard any movement other than what came from the scurrying of lizards and insects.

Wet season. Psh. Psh psh psh psh psh. Definitely not in these parts. Raizel's name means 'rose', and this rose needed water or she was aboutto shrivel up and die.

Again, without realizing much, her feet had started up again, carrying their weary passenger back down the hill and toward the horizon.

Raizel's brain was now being intertwined with a tangled mess of thoughts, along with her neverending throbbing head. It had been a long past month. She had made the life-changing decision to leave her pride in search of joining another.

But her luck had run out past the first few weeks. Food was plentiful, but Raizel was definitely not a skilled hunter. Her lean and slender body was quick and agile, but strength was not a blessing she had obtained. Fowl and rodents provided easy targets, but they were never enough to keep her demanding stomach at bay.

That, and they were getting harder and harder to find. Birds and their migration, and rodents and their burrowing. All because of wet season. That blasted wet season.

Before she had time to even think, Raizel realized that she was seconds away from running into the very same tree she had been excited to see about twenty minutes ago. Swinging her head, she missed it by a narrow shot, and found herself almost tripping into a spring.

A spring! Her heart leapt for joy as she let her body collapse greedily into the lukewarm waters. Forgetting her hygiene and grooming, she actually allowed herself to get dirty, as she played around in the mud and the muck like a kitten, lapping up the water as it came. Her mind had forgotten all about the outside world, and any bystanders who may have been watching her act as if she were insane.

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[Coffee & Pickles]

Talkety Talkety Talkety Talkety
Talkety Talkety Talkety
Talkety Talkety
Talkety....

Annoyed yet?
Maji

Her subtle words clouded his thoughts, what wonders her voice did bring. He remembered her gentle coo's and soothing sounds she would always make them in the rain. Samaki like he, was a lover of the waters, the rain was always the best time of their life, the highlight of their days. He took in a breath. Sure. She would have been proud to live by her brother, Maji was stronger now and he was able to stick up for her if their parents had ever dared ventured to them again, but she had left when a cub and he had no idea if she had lived. He grunted at the thought as his light creamy sibling who'd almost been too frail to walk and continued his trudge to the Jungle. That was the place he could stand being, it was much too much heat for him and trees were littered along the land swaying gently in their blasted hot master, the wind.

He sat beneath a tree, his hips collapsing underneath him and his heart throbbing with the want for food. Maji liked his food. He licked his lips and began grooming himself. What's the point of grooming though? he asked himself honestly 'Look, I'd venture to say that all the lionesses are with their prides right now, sleeping under large savannah trees, and lapping up water holes from the new rains. They're relaxing with their cubs and the leader of their pride who's had much to eat and much to drink and is dosing lazily at the edge of the creek. So tell me once more… what's the point of grooming?' but he was much to much vain to allow that be an answer to his problems "Don't Groom" yeah, fat chance, there was still a small chance he could find a gal today, and if so, he needed to look his best, not like some strange … beastly lion.

The male shook his large mane, flecks of golden dust and sand drifted down to the ground, clogging his vision and making his sneeze. The wet season had come but nothing was wet, and it never was. Why was this day such a pessimistic seeking day? He grunted to unsure that he himself understood what he meant. His fiery mane rested slowly on his shoulders, fluffing at the very top but the black part under his legs and chest was still covered in more dust. 'How come it's more dirty then when I started grooming?' that there was a thought he'd think about. He stood up and shook his pelt, his muscles rippling beneath his light brown color, his burning red eyes gleaming in the sparse sunlight that burned through the leaves in the trees.

He pulled his hind side up lazily across the stubbles in the soft dirt where roots were to thick to be concealed by the thin mask of dust, and almost dragged the rest of his body forward, the want for food and water was high, besides the pesky bugs that the waters brought. He twitched his eye when a bug landed on it and he shook his head. He detested the grotesque little creatures that came up and landed on your face. One kind would eat you, the next would drink your blood, but he was sure that was a side affect of them just wanting to get on your very last nerves. He felt them crawling up his legs and neck and gave up, they were in his gorgeous mane, RUINING IT! He grunted but didn't do much to get rid of them, there was no ending to their horrible swarms, you could have every lion alive kill millions of them and a hundred million would come back. He knew this was true. As he shook, below him came the soft churning of sand and the pounding of legs, a small herd of elephant perhaps? No matter what it was, he was gone, a bolt of lightning in the sky.

He exited the small confines of the lush, yet stifling hot, jungle and looked over the desert's hill to a tree, a savannah tree! His mind began racing, so happy so very happy to see a tree with a wide expanse of leaves and branches. He picked up his pace slightly, but not to much, for he didn't want to exert to much energy and find out that the tree was bare and dry. He wondered if he could do any thing once there but decided not, he'd just lay in the ground beside it, maybe even dig his own little hole and engross himself in the cool surface temperature. As his eyes gave out, his hearing gave in, he saw things a little blurry with the searing desert sand in his eyes, but his ears picked up a sound. He stopped in his tracks, meters away from the splashing sounds. Where there were splashes there was water, he wanted to run forward. But what was the point of running into something that already inhabited the water? When there was splashing, there was some one causing the splashes.

He licked his lips and ignored his prudence, it was water that he needed and he wasn't going to give it up because of some snippy little warthog that had probably only just gotten there. He moved forward cautiously so as not to let his presence be known. He poked his head around the tree and saw a lioness splashing around. He raised an eye brow and pulled his head back looking at his paws. 'What in deus's name is she doing?' his eyes wandered to the stray female wondering what the point of her splashing around was and then started to walk away. He stopped, this was a female, and did Maji ever give up the chance to be around a female? I should think not! He sat and groomed his chest and shoulders and then shook his fiery red mane before he stood at the edge of the spring, staring at her.


Maji cleared his throat so that it could be heard of her all of her splashing. He gave her an odd 'are you insane?' look and then composed himself, drawing back slightly and giving his 'wicked' cool smile. Certainly he was a narcissistic, vain, 'cool' guy but he rarely ever pushed his … rudeness and insensibility. He mumbled something under his breath while looking at his feet and then looked back at her in that 'are you crazy?' way again. Then he gave a warm smile. "E-hello there." he stated briefly "Mind if I join you?" He decided that this time, he wasn't going to annoy the lioness as horribly as he had before for, she wasn't just pretty, she was absolutely stunning! And that was one of the few traits Maji was actually concerned about, true personality always helped, but every one knows that any male in his right mind would care just a small bit about beauty.

[Daze]

ooc// Post is coming soon. My internet time is limited due to something thats popped up in my family's life. D: Just letting you know that I haven't forgotten about you. =3

[Coffee & Pickles]

[That's okay, I know what it's like ^^ =3]