[PRP] Surf's Up! (Alepo'i & Ume)

[Manda]

Alepo'i narrowed his eyes at the water in front of him, concentrating hard. Just at what he judged was the right time, he carefully stood up on his hind paws, balancing on the piece of driftwood that he had found. The water swelled under him, a huge wave carrying the driftwood - with him on top - back toward the shore. For a few moments, it was absolutely glorious. The movement of the water, the wind in his mane, the salt spray hitting his face... he closed his eyes in pleasure.

Mistake.

Something changed that he didn't see (because of the closed eyes mistake, whoops), and suddenly, he was flipping head over paws into the water. Worse, it was too close to the shallows, so he ended up with a mouth and nose-ful of sand. Pushing himself up into a sitting position in the surf, the lion spat and sputtered, sneezing several times. Then he stood and shook himself hard - flinging water and sand everywhere.

Pawing at his face, he noticed a bit of blood that was probably coming from his nose - but he didn't care. That. Had been. AWESOME. Laughing, he padded out of the water and up onto the beach to find another piece of driftwood so he could try it again.

Pollack

 

[Pollack]

Ume had been excited for this day for quite a while now. She had taken the time to clear out her schedule and make sure all her affairs were in order so that unless someone was dying or the world was ending she wouldn't be bothered all day. Today was her annual spa day. The one day she planned to take for herself to catch up on some much needed TLC and self care.


Her first order of business? Heading down to the beach ASAP. Even if she was a outsider to the pride there was something that drew her to the sea. Perhaps it was simply because she grew up in a tribe who worshiped water as a valuable resource, perhaps it was because the ocean had always been there as a constant grounding agent during her many highs and lows throughout her life? Perhaps there were just some lions born with more sea water in their veins than others. Even she didn't understand the true reasoning behind it, nor was she going to reflect too deeply on it either. She had accepted long ago it being one of life's great mysteries.

She had just managed to make her way down to one of her favorite spots to meditate due to it's normal quiet seclusion. However the sounds of deep laughter, followed by splashing gave her reason to pause. Oh, dear someone had gotten to the spot before her. Alright, well surely she could find somewhere that was far enough away to drown out their sounds if she went up the beach just a bit more.

But...wait. Once again she was stopped in her tracks by the stranger. Her nose wrinkled up as she turned back to the source of the cheerful sounds. Was that blood she smelled? Another quick sniff confirmed her suspensions. Before she knew it her feet had already changed their direction, starting to head back towards the excited male on their own accord.


Clearing her throat to catch his attention Ume raised her voice to shout out across the distance between them. "Excuse me! I apologize for intruding on your fun but I couldn't help but smell blood. Everything alright over here? Do you need me to get a Mwani?"

 

[Manda]

The male had by that point found another piece of wood and was dragging it toward the water with his back end sticking up in the air. So the sudden voice and question it asked surprised him. He opened his mouth to reply and wound up dropping the driftwood onto a paw. It wasn't all that heavy but he yelped slightly and stuck the sore foot into his mouth to soothe it. Then tried to answer. " 'M fine justh hit mah nohse on th' sahnd," his words came out garbled around the paw in his mouth.

Realizing he sounded stupid after the fact, he put his foot back down and grinned at the paler female. "Er. Sorry. I'm okay! I just wiped out and hit my nose is all. It'll stop bleeding soon!" He shrugged, seeming completely unconcerned with his (now two) injuries - minor though they may be.

Pollack

 

[Pollack]

She jumped back at his sudden yelp, her eyes widening with fear as she rushed over to him. Unfortunately she couldn't exactly see the fact that he had his sore paw stuck inside his mouth. The fact that he was now speaking in a almost slurred manner caused her worry to skyrocket. "Oh my gods what happened!? Oh, you really do need a Mwani, don't you? Come now, it'll be quite alright. I'll assist you over to one in a jiffy!"

Blinking Ume paused in her mad worried rambling. Her brows furrowed together as she put the pieces together. Ah, so it was just a simple misunderstanding. Letting out a sigh of relief she rested a paw on her chest to calm her fluttering heart. "Oh thank goodness. I'm glad to hear that you're alright and not seriously hurt."

Setting her paw back down the pale lioness began to smile mildly at the fellow. "I apologize for my panic. It's a bad habit of mine. Heh, I smell blood and -" To make her point she snapped two of her claws together to make an audible click. "I'm right into concerned mommy mode!" Chuckling sheepishly she shook her head at herself. She seriously had to start breaking herself of that when she wasn't busy babysitting the cubs. It had a nasty habit of getting her into sticky, awkward situations just like this one.

"I'm Ume by the way, it's a pleasure to meet you mister....?" Pausing she looked at him expectantly for his response.

 

[Manda]

Oh geez, she was really worried! Ale'poi kind of felt bad for making her so concerned about him, though he wasn't entirely sure why, since it was just his nose and sort of his paw. Obviously he had not realized that she couldn't actually see him yet.

"Eh, it's okay! You were just worried, that's probably a good thing, sometimes," he dismissed her apologies with a small wave of his not-sore paw. "My name's Ale'poi, pleasure to meet you! The waves are really nice today," he added seemingly at total random.

Pollack

 

[Pollack]

"Mmm, I suppose you're correct." With a short dismissive chuckle she shook her head gently. "Still, there are times I need to remove myself from nanny work mode and relax, so thank you for reminding me."

A mild smiled met his introduction. "Alepo'i? What a lovely name, it's fitting for one who seems to be caught in the surf a lot." She shot back playfully. Flicking her ears forward she stared at him confused for a few moments before her head slowly swiveled to the side to hear the sounds of the ocean better. "Ah, so it seems! I'm surprised more aren't out and enjoying this sort of weather."

Letting out a soft hum she sauntered her way over to the edge of the water, allowing the surf to lap at her ankles. "I suspect there is a storm rolling in with how powerful the waves feel." It would be a darn shame if her suspicions were true, after all her energy and time put into carving out this little break for herself only to be ruined by the very gods themselves! Lifting her head she gave a few testing sniffs. "The air smells heavy with rain as well. Tell me, if you wouldn't mind, are the clouds starting to darken?"

Manda