[PRP] Sticks & Stones [Krisis x Solomon]

[Ctrl F Greenie]

Sticks. Stones. Mud? Some other questionable debris.

These were the 'ingredients' that Krisis had collected over a fairly short period of time and with little guidance (save for what she could over hear here and there) to begin work on her most recent challenge, a house. Since she didn't now the area well, but had particularly enjoyed the beach she chose to build nearby and made likely her first and only smart choice. "Sand or dirt." She muttered to herself, thought on the choices and ended up with a spot of dirt she decided to refer to as 'home'. "I am going to build the best damn home." Thus the spot soon became a heap - heap of sticks, some stones and mud to act as an adhesive. It was looking sad, twigs sticking out here and there, rocks not entirely supported and though she ended up rolling over what she would consider a boulder or two she decided against using them and calling them 'decoration'.

Soon she had a half dome formed, something large enough that she could crawl into an curl up, perhaps her nose stuck out and her foot couldn't stay in.. nor her tail, but she had made it! The pathetic build was completed just in time for a down pour. Her red-orange eyes watched on at the sight of just how angry the ocean seemed to become, she hadn't thrown to much water at her, but she assumed that was mercy for what her house was becoming. A drip here or there wasn't alarming, but with the mud (even after some hardening) she soon felt water pouring onto her and worse the water wasn't running clear. The sticks, rocks and mud had come together to batter her, some of the structure remained tall, but alas that just made her look even more pathetic.

She closed her eyes, a last ditch effort to try and erase what was happening.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

He hadn't caught them - he'd given it a go, but they had already been on their way back to their den. It seemed they had realised their curfew was approaching and rather than suffer the wrath of either parent, they had made a smart retreat. That didn't mean the fight was over though; oh no, Solomon had ideas and he intended to utilise them. It would take some careful planing but he was a skilled labourer and he had the entire damned night to get everything set up.

...He just had to get passed the rain first.

It wasn't as heavy as it could have been, but it was certainly leaving him a touch damp and the sea had taken a turn. Only the strongest hunters would be out in that, and even they might deem it appropriate to fish from the shoreline. Given that fishing wasn't his greatest forte, he only tended to do it when they needed help, or when he was peckish. Nevertheless, you could have imagined his surprise when he spotted what could only have been a peculiar hybrid of mud and sand on the shoreline.

Oh boy.

Was this who he thought it was?

He could tell as he drew nearer, her nose was poking out, as was her tail and paw. Actually she probably didn't have much room at all to move, but he'd given her bonus points for trying now that his anger had moved more towards villanous plots. He'd have his revenge against the kids, but for now his temper was settled. It was with this in mind that he slowly edged his way round the uh... mud hut, and peered in to the hole. He was greeted with a rather sorry sight, the lioness's once beautiful pelt reduced to sludge. Ah, but at least he'd spotted those wings at last, no wonder she was a touch arrogant.

"You know a long time ago this pride was almost wiped out by a tsunami," he mused and gave her hut a gentle pat; it dislodged further mud from above her. "There's a reason we don't really build on the beach," he added and shook his head.

"Bonus points for trying though," he conceded and nudged it again, if only to have more mud fall down and smack her in the face.

"But if you want somewhere nicer to stay the actual dens are this way..." he finished and began to pad away again. She might want to remain in there for the sake of her pride, that was her prerogative, but he was going to get himself dried off while he plotted the demise of a pair of royal cubs.

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

A couple of silent tears fell free from her closed eyes as she wallowed in the disaster she had brought upon herself, she appeared as pitiful as the house that surrounded her. Krisis was painfully reminded that she had been welcomed to spend some time in a den prepared for her mother, a warm and well constructed home. Unfortunately she had been to full of pride and ended up making a poor choice to attempt and 'move out on her own' so to speak. Where they came from her mountainous home sheltered her comfortably with a den that sat within the wall of the mountain itself. Something about being within those walls set her at ease, in this precise moment she was feeling every emotion but at ease.

"A tsunami?" She sniffled slightly and opened her eyes at the sound of a voice that she didn't immediately recognize. When her vision cleared enough to get a good look at her company she wrinkled her nose, but still couldn't muster attitude immediately. "Well, maybe I like a challenge." She sneered a small amount and looked away to the coast. Krisis tried hard to maintain the sneer when mud dropped from above, not just once as the white lion took advantage of her poor ability to build.

At first she watched his smug a** walk away, at least she saw him as smug, of course her pride was clouding her judgement. Yet she felt compelled as her little shack began to collapse even further. At first the ceiling collapsed in, mud spreading through her hair and coating her tiara then trickling to her eyes. The pain she felt in that moment caused her to rise up and forget the pride she had been feeling. Rising up as quickly as she did she took out the rest of her shack, destroying the evidence as though it had never existed, then found a small source of water to clear up some of the debris (certainly not all) before she made her way to follow after her 'savior'. The thought that it had to have been him to come across her made her stomach turn and emotions to go wild with anger. Of course he had certainly done nothing wrong, but just existing in this period of time was enough.

Every ounce of her being screamed at her to curse him out and encourage him to slow the ******** down, but she remained a silent party that at every chance was looking away only occasionally glancing his way to make sure she hadn't entirely lost him.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

He was taking his sweet time, all things considered he would already have been home by now if he'd had his own way. In fact every now and then he seemed to pause to inspect something nearby in an attempt to let the lioness close the gap. He knew how this game worked, she needed her pride and given her dignity had taken a hit he was going to have to let her regain it. If that meant that she followed at her own pace while he subtly made sure she was going the right direction, then that was fine with him.

...He was, however, not going to get into a tit for tat war of words. He'd never win, she was the sort who seemed to get the last word always. Far be it from him to fuel that fire, it was so much easier for him to work away! If she wanted to buzz around his ears like an incensed wasp then she could absolutely do that while he tuned her out. He was male, he could do that incredibly well, it was a part of their genetic code!

Still, he did eventually lead her towards the area where the vast majority of the pride clearly lived and slept. Sheltered by the cliff side and the rows of trees from the jungle, the wind didn't cut quite as keenly here. The rain remained the same, but the 'ferocity' that she might have expected wasn't there, if anything it was warmer. It was here that rows upon rows of dens, all of various shapes and sizes resided. Little awnings seemed to hang out across doorways, all carefully decorated by whoever happened to live there. At a glance one could tell which were built for families, young couples, and single lions.

What was clear however, is that everyone took pride in what they owned.

No doubt she would pause to inspect the handiwork here, probably find some fault, and potentially remark on it. He didn't stick around and instead continued in much the same fashion as he had before, navigating the little 'streets' towards his own home. Given his size it was appropriately large, but he seemed to have customised it himself to add a few other quirks. They hadn't been for personal use, if she asked she'd have discovered that he often experimented on his own home before applying the request to the Bahari's homes.

...If they wanted a feature he had to make sure it worked!

Consequently, he had a variety of little irrigation systems around what looked like a garden patch, several rock pools that filtered in to them, and his awning had a peculiar device on it that seemed to 'chime' when the wind hit it.

As for the inside...? Well, she'd just have to wait and see...

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

"Stupid rain."

"Stupid mud."

"Stupid sand."

"Stupid white lion."

Krisis had managed to remain silent for a fraction of the time that she had hoped before her hate began to leak out - her blame was centered on the lion whom had caused her to even hatch the idea of building her own home. Deep down she knew that her frustrations stemmed from the fact that above all she had failed at completing a task she set out to complete - that was devastating.

It was obvious when they began upon the real dens, the actual homes being lived in by the prides members. The view had silenced her complaints and helped her to momentarily forget her failure. The dens were well kept, and made in such a way that she could tell who had a family, who may have been single. Her eyes weren't as well trained to identify new couples as she couldn't imagine what that may look like. The wind was noticeably weaker here, but the rain continued yet she felt warmer and certainly more relaxed.

Having been returned a to much nicer part of the pride she didn't feel a need to follow him immediately as he walked away, instead she took the time to continue admiring the decorations that seemed to be so carefully selected as though they were there to be admired on purpose. It all made her smile, just a small smile. Her smile didn't entirely fade when she started to follow the white lion again and in time they seemed to arrive at a destination - his home? She wondered to herself and then out loud. "Is this yours?" She indicated the den with a paw and curiously looked over the various 'improvements'. "Are you over compensating, you seem to have a lot of extras?" A smirk lifted her lip briefly and settled back into the small smile.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

There it was, he knew it was only a matter of time. However he was going to let the lioness have her hissyfit, she seemed to need this in her life at the moment and he was comfortable in his own skin. If she wanted to cast her insults to make herself feel smug and strong, she could have at it. In fact, he'd even play along to a degree - it was for this reason that he glanced over his shoulder as he stepped inside and gave a shrug.

"Definitely over compensating," he confirmed in a deadpan manner. Turning back round to face the interior of his home he soon disappeared from view. What followed next was a loud splash and a small sigh. It certainly wasn't the sounds of a disaster, but it made it very apparent that the irrigated water she'd seen outside, also appeared to be inside too.

Truth be told, Solomon's home was one gigantic experiment.

One the one side there was a bath, the water heated by the fact it was sheltered from the foul weather, but fresh due to the manner in which it cycled in and out. All around there lay little contraptions, some that looked like weird decorations, others like customised awnings, and even piles of stones that seemed to have been constructed into little model houses as if he had been trying to work out a new design.

All in all, it was a house that seemed to indicate that the lion liked to keep busy, he was a problem solver, and with problem solving came a lot of mess and a lot of theoretical constructs.

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

When her comment was agreed upon she lost a small ounce of oomph in her step and she fell into a silence that ended with a snicker at the sound of a splash. "Here I was hoping for a dry place to sit for a moment." She called from outside, her tone had become casual as she relaxed into a calmer demeanor. Then, without welcome, she stepped paw into his home.

"Oh my, what happened?" She inquired, almost genuinely concerned for his home - which was interest at best, but of course she couldn't say much considering the piles of what some might call debris in her own den. Thinking of home tugged at her heart a little bit as she thought of the cold stone walls she had been used too, this was much warmer - even with the leak.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Her change of mood was sudden, the last question being genuine as her red-orange eyes sought out something to help dry the area where he had stood.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Solomon's eyes and nose were only visible above the water as he regarded the startled female. He was more than content to remain in the depths of his bath while she judged his home bit by bit. Oh but if her moods didn't change on a whim, she was already regarding his home with something akin to, well, shock? He wasn't quite sure but it was certainly a far cry from her apparent disgust at the foundations she had thought were a completed home.

"Nothing happened?" he offered and finally pulled himself up so that his forelegs were resting on the ground out of the bath. It allowed him to point here and there to various bits and pieces she might have regarded as debris. "If you're referring to all of that, they're just plans, they don't need tidying as they aren't finished yet," he added. Perhaps if she looked closer she would discover that she was indeed surrounded by little houses and little contraptions... some more ridiculous than the other, but in his defence many of the contraptions weren't his idea.

...They were requests.

"But if you want to do something to help, pull that vine by the door," he ordered and pushed himself back into the bath, once again sinking into its depths. If she pulled it she'd discover that large fronds, carefully strapped together by something most definitely not lion paw, would fall across the den entrance and block out the worst of the cold air.

Beat that mountain top caves, ha!

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

To say the young adult goddess felt stupid would have been an understatement as she realized that the water wasn't a mess, but instead part of a bathing area - what a nice idea. Her thoughts were likely conveyed by the look of contentment on her face, were she given the chance she'd like to try one of these den bathing areas out for herself.

"Oh?" Krisis was taken from thoughts that were leading towards sharing the current bath with an individual whom she didn't even know the name of yet. How was it that in two encounters, including this one, that she hadn't even bothered to ask for a name? "This?" She asked, instead of speaking her mind, she raised a paw and pointed towards vines and without a follow up response she gave a tug that, to her surprise caused a chain reaction.

"My goodness." She muttered softly.

"Did you make this? That handiwork.." Her red-orange eyes were wide and her expression clearly dictated just how impressed she was. "Incredible." Se marveled at the work done on the cover. "It's so much cozier, so much more private...!" Krisis said excitedly, when her eyes finally returned to her company he had returned to the depths of his waters in such a way that reminded her of a white crocodile peering from its watery home.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Amazing what a finished home can look like, isn't it?" Solomon chuckled as the lioness appreciated the finer details. His home certainly wasn't the best out there, by Bahari standards it was an absolute mess, but he had never really had a need to decorate it in the same way others had. Bahari lions had a habit of decorating their homes with great gusto and personalising each thing the way they preferred. Given he was forever annihilating little areas of his home to rebuild them or try out a new feature, he certainly lacked for the more 'homely' feel.

"The concept isn't mine, it's an old one," he said finally in reference to the 'door'. He wouldn't take credit for concepts that weren't his, even if he had traded for them. Those who passed through gave invaluable information every now and then and the door had been a stroke of pure genius in his view. "We traded for it," he explained and cleared his throat. "Negotiated some handiwork from the denizens in our jungle and they completed the weaving," he added. She might not have met the baboons but when they were considered allies they were invaluable.

...Horrific temper now and then and fiercely territorial, but invaluable.

"Put it all together and you get a door," he finished and offered a wry smile. "But none of it is built in a day," he paused.

"Perhaps you should get yourself cleaned up," he said finally and pulled himself out of the water; he gave a shake and soon strode towards one of his largely incomplete models. On closer inspection it looked like it might have been the very same home that had fallen on top of him! "That soft fur of yours isn't quite built to take sticky sand," he observed over his shoulder and chuckled. "Much too delicate."

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

"Absolutely amazing." She agreed with a graceful bob of her head to go along with her words. "I figured there was someone else involved in the manufacturing of this piece." Krisis smirked, feeling a touch smug that she had thought correctly - still the fact that he had taken the time to complete such a task was wonderful - even better was when he explained it.

"Wow." Her wonder was genuine as he finished his explanation.

"Well the piece is absolutely wonderful and so useful as well. You can barely tell what it's like outside." That part was perhaps the most distinct change she noticed when the door blocked the entrance. The chill from the weather had gone down considerably, likely in part to the pair of them I the den chattering away.

It was only when he spoke up, offering a suggestion for her to get cleaned up, that she realized just how filthy she had truly become. Mud stuck here and there, sand built up even worse than that and to put it simply she likely looked awful. When he was free from the bath she didn't hesitate to take the plunge as gracefully as she could allowing the water to rise slowly up her legs and soon she lowered herself into it's depths. The comfort of it soothed her aching body that she didn't even realize was aching. "This is just what I needed." Krisis said, ignoring the delicate comment.

"I'm not sure I'll ever leave here." She said with a small laugh. "But I'd likely only stay if I was able to get one of these included in a den." Her laugh was followed by a content smirk.

After a moment she opened an eye, that had seemed to close on it's own, if she wasn't careful she'd end up asleep in his bath and that wouldn't be a good thing for a whole number of reasons. When she popped open that eye she noticed the model he'd moved towards. "That looks awfully familiar." She remarked after clearing her throat in an attempt to remove the groggy tone that tried to take over.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Then request one if you happen to want to stay for an extended period of time," Solomon replied without turning round. The Bumani of the pride were incredibly skilled and often prepared to take on extra work when it was quiet. If it wasn't, they had no problem with people making requests and then they would make a list. Eventually things were done, it simply depended on just how busy the architects happened to get. When new adolescents often came of age they experienced a spurt of activity as they set up new dens, but generally these were predictable occurrences and they had begun to plan for them in advance.

...It mean they were generally available for certain reconstruction efforts.

"That is generally how things work here," he added as he inspected his little model. "If we can't do something we'll let you know, but the bath isn't a particularly difficult thing to build, it's just a long task," he added. It did require quite a lot of digging after all, and a careful diversion of water so that it didn't impact on the river too much. If she thought a house was complicated to build, wait until she saw the little aqueducts!

However when she recognised the model he did glance over his shoulder at her and raise a brow; he didn't initially respond, he was too amused by the fact she may drown in his bath, but he did eventually answer her question.

"I'd hope so, it was the one that fell on my head," he stated in a plain tone...

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

"I think I'll do that."

"Now."

"Where can I find one, now?"

Krisis was prepared to sleep for the evening, her day had been filled with much more than she had anticipated and even though she had tried to trick herself into thinking she'd accomplished something - she really hadn't.

"I don't need anything fancy, just a place that didn't look like my faulty attempt would be nice." She said, having found a ledge to rest her chin upon while the rest of her body drooped in the water - it seemed like a great solution to her current predicament of possibly passing out and drowning in the process. The lioness barely managed to snicker at his statement.

"Well that sounds like a crumby day."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"If you're asking now then it's too late," he replied without looking away from his model. "You can stay here tonight," he offered. Whether she deemed to take him up on that was entirely up to her. If she wanted to fall asleep in his bath and turn in to a prune then so be it, at least her fur would get a headstart in curling towards a more 'bahari' style...

"The vast majority of those here at the moment are taken by our Viking visitors," he explained and rolled his shoulders. "We have more that should be finished but they still need final checks - if you can wait until the morning then I will check one for you post haste," he offered. She might not like him, but unlike her, he did happen to have some manners and he was generally a hospitable creature when it came down to it.

...She'd just caught him on a 'death to all cubs' rampage.

"Then you can decorate as you see fit," he added.

If she truly wanted to stay for an extended period then he had no doubt she'd end up decorating hers in much the same way as the other fashionistas did. She certainly had that way about her to say the least. For now though, it seemed like he had finished his side of the conversation as he fiddled with his model and drifted in to his own thoughts...

Mysses Greenie

 

[Ctrl F Greenie]

She groaned, but knew he had to be right - it was far to late in the evening. "Here?" Krisis asked, a little bit shocked that he'd allow a total stranger into his home for the sake of having a warm place to stay. "The Viking visitors?" Her curiosity peaked and she seemed to gain a second wind which helped her to get up and out of the bath. Once free from it's cozy embrace she gave a light shake and stretched a little bit. She wondered briefly if the visitors were who she thought they might be, but for the sake of how late it was she decided not to ask to much more about it - tomorrow was another day in that aspect.

"I'd like that, if you don't mind?" Krisis seated herself, opening her jaws into a large yawn that shook her entire body. "Decorating would be so much fun." She said while peering about for a place to lay down. "Where may I sleep?" She inquired lightly, feeling odd about imposing and yet if she could choose to stay she'd have done so many times over - sure there were some quirks, but it was warm and dry (to a point).

Epine de Rose