AW that's what you get

Demetra,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Rico

---

It seemed like a millennium had passed since the young lioness witnessed anything that even remotely resembled structure or comfort or warmth. For days and days and days the youth observed nothing but stark white snow and the occasional outcropping of steel-gray rock, glistening sharply and uninvitingly with crystalline ice. It was all the same, a monotony she had gleefully flung herself into and now she was stuck trying to figure her way out of. Demetra would not admit that she was lost, not yet and perhaps not ever, even if she were to perish in this forsaken tundra although she had no plans for such an event.

Her golden eyes hurt from squinting against the bright topography, and her snow-caked paws were (bizarrely) both numb and sore from her travels but still she pressed onward. She was at least protected against the genuine danger of frostbite and hypothermia by the thick sun-kissed coat that wrapped around her growing frame, and Demetra knew in the back of her mind that she had been lucky to stumble across the abandoned carcass of some large antlered creature, although she was reluctant to admit that luck had anything to do with it.

Nevertheless, the fallen beast had sustained her for a few days before she abruptly decided it was unwise to remain by such a tantalizing source of meat. And she would claim that her decision had nothing to do with the large and overly aggressive birds of prey antagonizing her or the suggestion of other predators on the wind. No sir. Instead she turned her thoughts to the task at hand; attempting to navigate out of this frozen wasteland in an effort to make her way towards more habitable landscapes. Step by step the teenager moved forward, her head bowed rebelliously against the bitter wind and teeth gritted in frustration and determination.

Alain,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Naboo

---

Though this was not his first venture into the tundra, he questioned why he'd decided to come back. He hated the cold desperately, the chill that sunk into his flesh and cut through his coat; like long fingers that pulled apart the hairs and exposed him to the elements unabashedly. There was something here that was exciting and different to the other places, something in the way that the snow blew across the tundra and wiped away all traces of those whom had passed - and with this came the dangerous double edged sword of being a child. Sometimes losing your path meant that you were lost.

It was somewhere between his 4000 and 4500 step that he realized the pads of his paws were beginning to get seriously cold and almost burn, the feeling in them was a mixture of pain and numbness depending on where he stepped and how much crunch the snow had beneath his meager weight. Onward he ambled, pretending that this pain was nonexistent and that his reason for coming here had contained some sort of purpose. Though as he moved forward he swore that there was something he was closing in on, it wasn't until the winds died down and the flurries cleared, so that the sun beat against his back, that he noticed her.

Oh my, she didn't look particularly older, but she was gigantic compared to him. His stout and slender frame was petite against her goliath frame; even in youth she eclipsed him. "Whoa, hey." His voice rolled slightly as his surprise at coming across a monolithic beast subsided, breath hitching in his jaws as the cold began to hurt his lungs. "Whatcha doing out here?" Somehow she didn't look like she'd been wandering for the day, but he still wasn't sure what to make of her, what to do with what he had to take in; a little inward jealousy bubbled at his small stature in comparison.

@Demetra

talking

lion by Kalyan Neelamraju| manip & code by twesh

Demetra,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Rico

---

The flip side of wandering in an endless sea of expansive white terrain was that the color palette made any sort of inconsistencies easy to spot; an outcropping of rock, a copse of pine trees, or a wayward wanderer whose path one was about to cross. However, this positive attribute depended heavily on one paying attention to their surroundings, and the young sun-kissed teen was not doing the best job with that and would therefore not reap one of the few benefits this tundra had to offer her.

So, his sudden voice permeating the tundra’s wailing ballad took the girl by the surprise and had her paws not been so numb and laden with the ice and cold, she might have leapt into the air in reaction. The best her half-frozen figure managed was a shudder through her neck and shoulders as she swung her head to face him, golden eyes alighting on his small, shadowy figure only a few paces from where she now stood. Where had he come from? Was he a spirit? Had he come to rebuke her for wandering in his snowy kingdom, or – he was so small – maybe he was a minion for a larger being? Demetra stared at him as her thoughts buzzed and whirled in her brain; she couldn't recall if she had ever met another lion before, but she was certain she had never seen one smaller than she, and the girl did not know quite what to make of it.

Puzzled and perplexed and with her inspired imagination making leaps and bounds, she stared at the small cub for several moments after he finished speaking, her golden eyes wide in a tandem of fascination and fear. “I um, I was just looking for a way out of here, a warmer place…” She answered, hesitation and uncertainty betrayed in her voice and the way her eyes finally slid from his figure to dart over the flat expanse of white that seemed to surround them endlessly in all directions. Her gaze darted back to him, curious and probing – he seemed too earthly to live up to her imaginations wild speculations, the way his breath had hitched in his jaws, so surely he wasn’t a spirit. Still… “Who are you? Do you live here?” After a brief moment of silence, the questions tumbled off her tongue one after the other, her confidence snow-balling as she shifted slowly to face him, her expression brightening with interest.

Alain,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Naboo

---

There was a long time - so it seemed - that she take to acknowledge his presence and mull him over. For a bit he wondered if she was scrutinizing his size as he had done about hers. She was simply massive, and while their size may get closer as they aged, he doubted that he would ever surpass her. It was also unlikely that he'd ever weigh as much as her, but he had taken his size in stride most of his life (barring a few moments uncontrolled napoleon complex), and had simply decided to ignore it. Very adult, right?

The way she acted made it difficult to read her, bright yellow eyes stared from behind a face that looked more bold than the tentative voice. Even her questions gave him a moment of pause and wonder that was even acknowledged with a very mild tilt of his head. Green eyes peered somewhat calmly but he did have to shift his weight back and forth a time or two as his toes began to get uncomfortably cold. "A way out? How'd you get in if you can't get out?" For a moment his mind hadn't thought to the rolling whiteouts when the flurries picked up and even he occasionally lost his way, but he'd found a cheap trick to getting back home and he would hesitate to admit that it was only through sheer luck that he'd discovered the stars could guide them - too bad it was still sunny outside, and the night would bring cooler temperatures.

"I'm Alain... and who are you?" His eyes narrowed for a moment but his lips offered a more relaxed almost-smile, it fell more into an awkward grin. "I'm not from the tundra, or here really.. I came not long ago." It felt strange to talk about himself, to interact with someone else that was young but he wasn't sure quite what to make of it. Did kids play? Did you do that around here? Instead he gave a small shudder as the wind whipped to his skin. "If you know where you're going I can help you get there... but we'll have to wait a little while until night. If you want, that is." Trying to bury his shortcomings he hoped that she'd be willing to wait, maybe they could even play a game thing? Or discover something nearby that would keep them occupied.

@Demetra

talking

lion by Kalyan Neelamraju| manip & code by twesh

Demetra,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Rico

---

His volley was not what she had expected but hit a little too close to the truth for her to be entirely comfortable; she had barely acknowledged that she was “lost”, after all it wasn’t her fault that these cold, snowy plains stretched infinitely in all directions. This place was clearly designed to entice unsuspecting lions or lionesses into its grasp by using innocuous looking snowbanks that one can jump into or dense peaceful-seeming snowfalls that one can frolic under… only then to swallow its victims whole and erase all sense of direction so they can never leave. Demetra’s eyes narrowed, golden depths glinting stubbornly, and her tail twitched behind her in both anxiety and agitation. “It wasn’t like I thought it would be like this,” She protested, skirting evasively around the smaller lion’s question as she gestured with lifted chin to their snowy environment.

Alain. “Demetra,” She answered pithily, her earlier fervor replaced by curiosity as she tilted her skull to peer at the smaller feline. Alain. This was the first time the young teen had encountered another of her species that she was unrelated to – at least as far as she could remember. Him having his own name made him more relatable (in that she was now 90% sure he wasn’t a snow monster/minion), but more foreign as well. She knew families outside of her and Mother existed but to realize this in the flesh was a new experience altogether. It helped that he seemed good company: the awkward smile that emerged onto his expression was recognized only as being quick and easily given, and his continued speech carried their conversation forward without Demetra having to say much as she reoriented what she knew about her current reality. She wondered if she was glad to have encountered another like herself, or if she was simply surprised. Probably both.

One facet of his words that she immediately attached herself to was his reassurance that he knew the way out, and for a moment her expression illuminated with hope – only for him to explain that this path to freedom was not immediately available and they had to wait to take it. Her brows furrowed again, and a frown pulled at her mouth as her tail resumed its anxious, agitated coiling. “I suppose so, but waiting doesn’t seem very nice… this place gets even worse at night.” She grumbled reluctantly, her golden eyes darting away from the other to glare unhappily at their surroundings before a resigned sigh pressed from her lungs in a puff of white mist as her gaze moved back to him. “Do we have to go somewhere specific? I only want to go where its warmer. I don't care where.” She asked him then, wondering if his assistance would be dependent on her knowing where she was going. She hoped not, but she was confident she could make up a place if absolutely necessary.

@Alain

Alain,

Cub of Prideless

Played by Naboo

---

Well he hadn't truly expected her to want any sort of guidance, and while he pondered her responses he took the time to look around as her paw swooped in the air. Of course the tundra was a place of magic and unknown, how the snow swirled and the banks formed and fell all in the same day. Sometimes the ground was crunchy and hard, sometimes it was soggy, wet, or dense. But his favorite was when the snow was fluffy and it was easy to create a path and bounce around between the snow. Places where you could get buried or otherwise lost in the enchanting surroundings. Today seemed like a day for more frigid and ice-capped snow, that didn't mean that there wasn't some good fresh snow or powdery build up nearby, but it certainly made the whole experience less pleasant.

Demetra. To himself he thought that the name sounded pleasant, almost otherworldly, but he simply offered her a nod and the small twist of his lips into an awkward smile. once more, for clearly he knew not how to handle his own emotions or express them without looking like an absolute goon. To be honest he wasn't quite sure how to handle her reaction or even her questions. With a tilt of his head and a mild shift of his expression to perplexed, he sighed. "It's... it's much worse at night but there's less things that want to eat you here. At least, if there are, I haven't met them yet." Backpedaling quickly and scrambling once more he sighed, unsure if what he was saying would be of any comfort to her. "There's a drift nearby we can use in the meantime, but when the whiteouts come, I can't get us home until the stars come out." For he knew directions only by the stars, and eagerly he turned to walk her towards a nearby drift, shaking his head so that she'd follow.

"We'll be out before the cold comes. But.. do you mean you want to go to the warmest place? I could take you to the desert, but I don't think you'd like it there either, too hot." As they walked on he pondered where he could take her, before excitedly exclaiming. "We could go to the jungle! That place is loaded with cool stuff." Of course, yes, the rain forest was naturally his favorite place here, and it was warm (albeit humid, but she didn't need to know that). In the meantime after a little while of walking he pointed ahead of them towards the drifts. It was like dunes made from snow, where the winds had blown several different layers and peaks, but they were soft. "If you catch it right you can slide all the way down, quite fun!" You'd think he'd still remember how to get out from his last trip here, but it seemed the dunes migrated around the tundra, for once he'd thought the same thing and wound up almost hopeless lost again.

@Demetra

talking

lion by Kalyan Neelamraju| manip & code by twesh