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 Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:10 pm
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It was a fresh day with a new rising sun. Thulile sat upon the silver beaches of her new home, for once without her nose tied up in some hide scroll she was carrying around. Most other lions at this hour were still fast asleep, which meant she could be out and upon the beach peacefully. Her anxiety always got the best of her when she was around others, and she could never really explain why. It just... Was what it was. She didn't necessarily like it, but for some reason, the moment she was around others, she would get the shakes and stutters and jitters. It was rather embarrassing... But she was used to it. Maybe some day she would better learn to control it, but that was not today.
Today instead was a day to practice fishing. She had never done it before and it was how the pride got their fill of food. Normal inland hunting wasn't a common practice here, for the rainy weather made the rocks caging the beach off too slick to traverse on an every day basis. So, fish it was! Just... Having never fished before, the pale blue lioness wasn't even sure where to begin.
It was early.
Samedi yawned loudly, his tongue rolling around and his bright yellow eyes looking around sleepily. Why had Niite INSISTED that he take such an early morning patrol? Ugh... It was too early for him. She knew he liked his sleep... SHE KNEW. But no. Go out and do the early shift, she said. Go make sure these quiet silver beaches are all fine, she insisted. Sam grumbled to himself, just being a tired and grumpy lion. He was still going to do his patrol. He was a lion of his word. He just preferred to sleep instead.
As his white toes padded along the silver-lined beaches, Samedi saw what appeared to be a lioness just kind of... Sitting there, staring out unto the horizon. He cocked and eyebrow, questioning it. He had seen this exact scene once before, with a lion that wished to be called Jellyfish. That encounter had gone interestingly, so maybe this one would as well. It was his duty to investigate, after all.
As Thu stared out at the rising sun upon the glittering horizon of the oceans waves, she wondered if she was truly ready for this. She was completely out of her comfort zone... And she didn't like it. No hides, no gems, no caves... Nothing. Just her and the open ocean. She was so small and delicate that she wasn't even sure if she could catch a fish. What if it was too big? Would it pull her away? Eat her? The pale lioness began to shake and tremble, encountering every single possible worry within her own head, unsure about any and all of them.
Taking a deep breath, Thu suddenly plunged herself forward, the whole front half of her body falling into the ocean, seemingly swallowed up by it. It was quite a daring move for such an anxiety-ridden lioness, but having never fished before... Well... This is what she thought she had to do.
She had just been sitting there. Maybe she was a relative of the white and black lion that had done the same thing? Although, their pelt colors and designs didn't really match in any regard, so the odds of them being at least closely related wasn't very high or probable. So why was she doing what he had been? Just staring out into the ocean?
That's when Samedi got his answer, sort of.
With the pale blue lioness suddenly just kind of throwing herself into the ocean, the burly black lion instantly freaked out and dashed forward. His paws split apart the silver sands as he rushed. Upon reaching the spot where the lioness had been sitting, panicking yellow eyes gazed into the oceans waves, desperately searching for any signs of her. Upon finally spotting her, Sam dunked the whole front half of his body in, grabbing whatever scruff of fur he could manage and pulling backward and back onto the silver shores.
Everything had gotten so dark. Maybe she hadn't done this right? She thought this was how it was to be done. How else were you supposed to get the fish out of the water? As her light body began to be pulled away by the rolling waves of the sea, something grabbed her. It grabbed her with force! She tried to fight it, but between her anxiety and her sudden plunge into the absolute unknown, she couldn't. She was instead dragged away, to what she could only assume was her death. She had indeed done something wrong, but she would never be able to rectify it. This situation was exactly why she never took chances or dares or leaps ahead of what she could see and what she knew of.
This had been her final mistake.
With the sopping wet lioness now dragged a few feet away from the ocean and it's soft roar, Samedi continued to panic, his yellow eyes darting around to all different corners of her, checking for any injuries or even signs of life. The ocean could be a beautiful thing, but not when one just THREW themselves into it. Nudging her over and over and over again, the black male called out to her.
"HEY! Heeeeeyyyyy wake up!!"
She didn't move.
"Come on, come on, come on! What were you frickin' THINKING?!"
He nudged her a bit more, some roughage added in an attempt to get her to move on her own. Finally... Finally! She did! She coughed and hacked, some of the sea water spilling out of her mouth. Sam's eyes lit up with such a spark of happiness. No lion was dying on his watch! Niite would NEVER forgive him if they did!
"Oh thank goodness... Are you okay...?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
Thulile wheezed as some awfully salty water came pouring out of her mouth, coughing as she tried to breathe. She had inhaled so much water, her lungs and throat absolutely burning from the salt. She grit her teeth together as she continued to struggle to breathe, the pain being searing and such an awful reminder to never do that again.
"I... I... I w-was fishing...", she managed to get out, her scarlet eyes so red and strained from the salty content of the sea. "I... I h-had to pr-practice..." The pale lioness coughed again, some more sea water spilling out of her mouth from her flooded lungs. By the gods it burned! She was never going to try to fish again... Not if this is was how it was done.
Sam blinked. She had been fishing?? That was not fishing. That was a suicidal lioness who had just casually thrown herself into the ocean! What if he had not been around? What then? She would of been swept out to sea, never to be seen again! Or even worse... Washed back up onto the silver beaches, lifeless. He shuddered, shaking his head and getting those ridiculous thoughts out of his head. He didn't know who this lioness was, but apparently she needed not only some fishing lessons, but lessons about the place they all now called home as well.
"What is your name?" He put a paw around the back of her, nudging her with his nose as he helped her sit up. Lying down was not going to help her body evacuate the sea water that she had swallowed, and in order to feel any better, that's exactly what she needed to do. It wasn't going to be a fun experience, but in order to get well, that's what she was going to have to do. "Come, let's get you back to the caves. We need to see a healer about you, and I know of just the one."
"I... B-But..."
As the black lion had helped to push her up into a now sitting position, she had another awful heave, spitting up some more water, it coming out of her nose nose, the burn being absolutely painful. Her fur was now becoming crusty, the wind off of the ocean drying it out, the salt remaining and keeping it still instead of free flowing. Taking in a deep breath, she nodded to the male, who was much larger than her, shakily attempting to stand up.
"O-Okay... A healer..." She took another breath, trying to help clear her lungs and nose, wincing as she did so. "M-My name's Thulile."
Samedi nodded, making sure to help Thu stand up, bracing himself against her side as his tail wrapped around the back of her, making sure she didn't fall over to the side or just suddenly collapse. She was weak, but she would make it. She might of ingested a ton of water. No doubt that she was going to feel this for weeks to come, but it served as a lesson and a reminder, for which she obviously needed.
"Thulile. Okay. Let's get you back now, okay?" Sam paused for a moment, not sure if he should say what he wanted to. The lioness was quite weak and beaten, but maybe she needed to hear it anyway. He was after all, quite blunt most of the time. "Just so you know, that was not fishing. At all. That was stupidity." He cocked an eyebrow at her as she looked up at him, her eyes all puffy and her nose running. "But... That is for another time. Come on. Let's go."
With that, the two lions began to trend back to the caves. The morning was still quite beautiful and quiet, even after such a dangerous and deadly practice.
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Word Count: 1,630
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