M - On The Job, [Open to Majabalians]

[Skips]

The bright midday sun shone down on the mountain side, and Asima was lying in the shade of a tree. The middle of the day never quite agreed with the lioness, and a part of her mind toyed with the idea of taking a short nap later on. However, Asima had to fight the urge to yawn as she was currently on duty and had to stay on constant alert.

That day, Asima had been tasked to watch over the little ones of the pride. She rather enjoyed the task actually. It made Asima feel good to be able to allow the cubs to enjoy themselves without any worries. Perhaps it was because Asima never allowed herself to enjoy her childhood as much as she should have, or perhaps some sort of maternal instinct that gave her pleasure with the task, but the lioness didn't know for sure. At any rate, if the cubs were happy, she was happy, and she didn't want to lose focus on her task by thinking to hard on why. Besides, she thought, the topic would probably be brought up by her companion anyways.

Naturally, when she was assigned the task of guarding the cubs, Asima managed to drag along her friend Tembo to aid her and keep her company. It may have been an odd sight seeing the silent lioness near the chatty elephant together watching over some cubs, but to those who knew them the sight seemed perfectly natural. Asima considered the elephant her best friend, and there never seemed to be a dull moment with him around. Together, the two friends were watching over the cubs below.

[Kita]

"...and then they made me go hunt with them!" Tembo rambled on with a roll of his eyes. He was in the middle of explaining a long, somewhat pointless story about one of his more recent Majabali experiences. He would lift his trunk up in the air occasionally, but it wasn't just for emphasis. The elephant was shielding his eyes, and providing a little bit of relief from the glare of the sun. It was the middle of the day, and the large elephant was sitting out on the normal plateau, near a particularly flatter piece of land.

Flat land was especially helpful when you were watching a few cubs--cubs! How the elephant loved them. Tembo was so glad to be there, watching the Majabali's fluffballs, and his enthusiasm was easily picked up in his voice. He'd barely stopped talking since he'd arrived; he was so happy.

The elephant shuddered a bit, continuing with his one-sided conversation. "I'm not sure why they thought it was a good idea to bring ME on a hunt, though." Tembo said, shaking his head. "I can't hide in the grass, and I can't attack! All Airya did was make me drag back the body. It was a zebra, too! I like the Zebras! In fact, I talked to one this morning. He was a bit of a skittish guy, though." He paused, scratching his chin with his trunk. " He didn't have much to say. I accidentally bumped a stone and then he took off without even saying goodbye. The nerve!" He said, before switching back quickly to his previous train of thought. "Carrying back dead bodies isn't my idea of fun. I really don't see how you lions can eat all of that meat. Leaves are much more appealing, really."

"And this is a lot more fun, anyways." He said, glancing out over the shorter grasses. Thankfully, the cubs were staying in sight, and were leaving their two 'babysitters' in peace. At least, for now.

Tembo glanced over at Asima, wondering for a brief moment just what she could be thinking. Generally, he did all of the talking, so he rarely got to hear what she had to say. It was odd, really. He wondered why she didn't speak up more often.

[Skips]

Asima listened in on her friend's story as she watched the cubs. She couldn't help but smile a bit at his adventures in hunting. She had already heard the story earlier, but she had not gotten Tembo's take on the events yet. Quite honestly, she found his takes on events amusing. She tried picturing the elephant stalking prey as a lion would and hauling back the kill, and she was sure the sight would have her laugh. She almost laughed just by picturing it. Almost.

She quite agreed with Tembo. Why would Airya bring Tembo along? The elephant may have been Asima's best friend, but she would never recommend him to go on a hunt. However, it was not Asima's place to decide that, and she was sure the Lead Huntress had her reasoning. Asima merely nodded in agreement and smiled to what he said.

Tembo then brought up the subject of meat. She understood his aversion to it, and the irony he pointed out with the zebra illustrated the point well, in her opinion. She too liked Zebras. She thought they were delicious. She smiled at that thought. Of course Tembo would think it's odd eating meat like that, she thought, he's an elephant. It was about as odd as Asima eating leaves. Asima glanced quizzically at Tembo, who was still talking and glancing at the cubs. Asima realized that she never actually tried leaves, and she wondered if it was that odd of a concept at all. Sure she was a carnivore, but there had to be something good about leaves if the keep getting eaten by Tembo and the zebras and the giraffes. Asima never really thought about it. Not wanting to shoot down Tembo's idea of eating leaves without trying it herself, Asima quietly got up while the elephant was focused on the cubs. She used the tree nearby to push herself up to reach the lower branches, and she managed to pull off a small bunch of leaves with her teeth. She went back to her spot without Tembo noticing and started chewing.

It was probably the oddest thing she ever ate. It was nothing like meat at all, just like she expected. They were bitter, slippery, and the texture was just wrong. The worst part was, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break them apart. Her teeth weren't made for grinding leaves like Tembo's were, she reminded herself. However, she didn't want to spit them out. It wasn't like Asima to give up on a challenge just because she didn't like it, even if no one really challenged her to eat those leaves. Oddly enough, Asima did find the leaves a bit refreshing. Perhaps there was something to them after all.

"And this is a lot more fun, anyways."

Asima glanced at her friend, still attempting to break down the leaves in her mouth. She lost track of the conversation when she went to go get leaves. She wondered what was fun compared to what. And then Tembo turned back to Asima with a pondering look before she thought too much on it. She then gave the leaves a couple more chews before swallowing them as is. They went down rather rough. She kept looking at Tembo wondering what it was he was wondering about. "What?" she asked before it got too awkward. Was he thinking about why on Earth she just at a bunch of leaves, or did he have something else on his mind?

[Kita]

Tembo continued with his story, and made sure to delve into the details. He explained just how the hunt had started, and how he'd been forced to walk around casually, as if he was just another elephant walking the savannah. After all, Airya had said that he had to stick close by. So what better place to stand than in the middle of a herd? The elephant was certain that he would have blended right in. No one would have noticed anything wrong, right?

He would glance over at Asima occasionally, just to make sure she was still listening. As far as he could tell, the lioness had yet to say anything to say about his recent misadventure. Well, then again he didn't really care if she was actually lisening or not. As long as she looked the part, he didn't care.

So the elephant once again glanced in the direction of her companion--but all he saw was the lioness-shaped imprint in the grass where's she just been moments ago. "Asima?!" He asked, hurriedly swinging his head around to search for her. "Where did you...?" He said, then finally looked up to see her jumping out of a tree, with a small bundle of leaves stuck on her claws.

The lioness easily landed back in her spot. If Tembo had been more absorbed in his tale, he would have bet that he never would have seen her go up and down the tree.

What? The lioness finally asked. The elephant couldn't help but notice the flecks of green staining her teeth, and a small clump or two stuck on her gums.

"Are those leaves?" He asked, unbelieving. The evidence was right there in front of him, though. It was hard to deny the green on her teeth, as predatory animals couldn't quite process leaves. They didn't have the flat, grinding teeth that he had. Hers were made for sinking into meat, not leaves.

[Skips]

Asima just stared blankly at the elephant. She raised her paw with one of the leaves in it and examined the green piece of plant matter. She let it fall to the ground and shrugged, believing the answer to his question was clear enough without any more input from her. Instead she just just turned her attention back to the kids; it wasn't good if both of the them had their attention on each other instead of the cubs. There were bits of leaves still stuck in her teeth, and she found it to be a bit annoying. The lioness did her best to unstick as many of the bits as she could, and she swallowed them down.

Asima glanced back at her friend who had looked at her in disbelief. It may have been odd, but surely it wasn't an unbelievable sort of occurrence. It was odd for Tembo to be involved in the Lionesses hunt, but it was entirely believable to her. Perhaps the two friends just thought differently, Asima thought. After all, Tembo does his best to get his voice into as many conversations as possible, and Asima did her best to avoid them. They were quite opposite really. So, she thought, it would stand to reason that what was believable to her was just as unbelievable to Tembo.

Thinking about that, Asima wondered if what she thought to be an acceptable response to the elephant's question was actually inadequate to her friend's perspective. All this opposite sort of thinking was starting to confuse the lioness, and she didn't like being confused. She figured it would be best to give Tembo a definitive response just to be safe and be done with it. She glanced back at Tembo, she said finally, "Yes. They're leaves." She turned back to the cubs and hoped that she cleared up any ambiguity in her friend's mind if there was any at all.

[Kita]

"You ARE eating leaves, aren't you?" The elephant's eyebrows rose and his eyes widened in surprise.He lifted up his trunk in a sort-of smile. "That's fantastic? Aren't they the most delicious thing that you've ever tasted before? Well, that tree up there isn't really known for having the best tasting leaves, and that's why it's got so many." He laughed a little bit before glancing up and confirming that, yes, the tree did appear to have a few more leaves than the others around it.

"Still, though, I bet they tasted amazing. That's why you still look like you're eating them, right? I think I would savor the taste if I were you--tasting the food I live on for the first time. You've got to admit that it's kinda nice to have food right above your head, right? No hunting, and stalking, and running around. This is much easier."

Tembo raised up his trunk and tugged at a lower branch. He yanked at it easily, and sent a small flurry of leaves down on Asima's head. He glanced down at her and hoped she wouldn't get too angry with him. Well...at least now she had a refill of leaves! If Tembo's assumptions were right, the lioness would start raking the leaves in now with her paws and begin stuffing them inside of her mouth. By tomorrow, she would probably give up meat altogether! Now that would be a sight to see.

[Skips]

Asima just stared stared at Tembo as the leaves rained down upon her. She couldn't quite tell if she should be amused with this gesture or annoyed. She decided to split the difference and remain neutral. She shook herself trying to get all the leaves on top of her to fall off. She looked at the pile of leaves around her, back at Tembo, down at the leaves, back to Tembo, the leaves, and then Timbo once again.

"Seriously?" she asked. Sure leaves were most definitely an acquired taste in her opinion, but that didn't mean she liked them after one mouthful. In fact, she couldn't see herself eating one more plain mouthful of leaves again. They were no where near the most delicious thing she's ever had. No, that distinction goes to the first large prey she ever took down. That was sweet, savory, and the most satisfying meal she ever had. No, these leaves were bitter, slimy, and hard to eat. She only ate them as a personal challenge and so Tembo wouldn't feel so bad in having to help with the lioness's hunt.

"Though, you know what these would go good with?" she asked after a little bit. "A good wildebeest." she answered matter-of-factly before Tembo even got a chance. "The bitterness might actually go well with the fresh meat." Asima made a mental not that if she ever got some fresh wildebeest near a tree, then she would test this out to see if it would really work.

[Kita]

Tembo grinned. Well, he tried to grin. His mouth curled up a little bit at the corners, but it was almost impossible for anyone to tell. His face was too far up, and unless the lioness was looking directly at his face, she wouldn't pick up on his smile.

"Yeah," said Tembo with a vigorous nod of the head. More leaves shook down, as his trunk was still wrapped around the low hanging branch. "I thought you'd appreciate that. Since you're too short to go up and get those leaves, I thought I'd give them to you."

"Leaves go excellently with other leaves, I must say," Tembo said, not even noticing that Asima had already cut him off. He lifted his head up. "Wildebeast? Ew," he said. "I really don't understand you carnivores. Leaves are SO much tastier."