Bijoux had crossed out of the lands of the Mire and into the Jungle instead without realizing it. Borders still meant nothing to her. All she knew was that the landscape was still the same. There was still muddy ground beneath her paws as she splashed about in the stagnant puddles of water. Some of that muddy water splashed up and clung to her pelt, though she didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Or even notice it really.

Bijoux ended up clambering up onto a piece of driftwood that was found lodged up on the bank of the river. She made a game of following a bug and dipping under or climbing over branches that were sticking out from the bit of tree. "You go too fast." She called out to the bug as she was having trouble getting over a branch that the bug hadn't the slightest problem with.

HEATWAVES

He is...mesmerized. Taken a back by the figure that frolics within the wilderness before him. For her frame dawdles within the whims of child like wonder before bending back to the safeness of imaginations, drifting further and further from the reach of the universes unforgiving hands. Beguiled he wafts amongst the corners of the banks, acute gaze watching each ballerina spin and wooing catcall that trickles from the child's frail lips. It is the first time he has ever seen someone so...so..similar to him and quite frankly, it felt as if he were observing some sort of extinct being from a far. But...watching children from a far was creepy. Yeah. Way too creepy and he wasn't a creep. Of course not, of any and all things Vienna was a gentleman, definitely not a creep.

What're you chasing? He can't see it, but there is a thickened accent that drawls from his lips as the growing lion trifles a bit too close to @Bijoux than a mother would like. Lifting his massive foot to gently nudge her figure forwards over the drifting wood providing she would allow him to preform such an action. Maybe I can help..? Yeah. Help, that's what he would do. That's what he was made for. Helping.

Sometimes all I think about is you

"I follow bug friend." The girl answered easily enough. Of course the bug was long gone by this point as it had continued on it's way while Bijoux had remained stuck and scrabbling to get over the branch. But then help was received and she was over the branch but the bug was still gone. "Where go!? She called out after the bug but clearly there was no response to be had.

With her playmate having disappeared Bijoux finally turned to look and see whom had helped her with her predicament. "Hey! You curse lots gone! How you do that?" Of course that would be the first thing that the child would notice. The male had a smaller amount of white patches on him than she did. He even had a few stripes himself but his curse hadn't affected his stripes the way that hers had.

@Vienna

HEATWAVES

The childlike innocence is something that aches deep within his heart. Bursting forth with a wildfires rage as tinted lips turn upwards unto a silly smile, admiring how sensitive she becomes to the world. How naive and futile that it would be for such innocence to be taken. Yet, perhaps it has already been stolen within the ways she bounds forward in punctuation. Questions that no child should ever seem to ask spilling from her lips with ease that is shocking. Curse? He wasn't cursed... It fuels a puzzling look unto the brutes features. Cheek bones contorting with a sense of confusion as Vie's mind tumbles throughout the wild to find exactly what she were referring to.

My curse? The towering figure turns, examining his frame with ease as if to somehow spot a blemish that would break all will from the perfect stature that has been forth. Curse. Oh. Spots. Spots. Spots! They...they had spots. Is this what she was talking about? It had to be...what else? There was no way that the murky figure could peel the exteriors from his mane to reach unto the depths of charred skin, now that he could understand to be considered as a "curse". These? A massive paw lifts to gently touch the white markings upon his figure, smearing against the fur as if to emphasize what exactly he were referring to. Well...when I was really little. Like you, I met a special lioness but she wasn't like you and me. She was magical. She told me a secret, something that would would help me with my curse, but she told me I could never let any grown-ups know. A pause breaks through his story as the brute glances the area in faux concern that others may be listening to their special secret. She told me that my curse, wasn't actually a curse. But it was a superpower, and it made me extremely special. I could do anything as long as I had my superpower, I could be as strong as an ox, or even as wise as an owl. Vienna shuffles, belly colliding with the ground in a way that ruffles his mane just right as his large crown comes to rest between his paws. Bright eyes gleaming up towards @Bijoux with such adoration that only could be described as child-like wonder.

She said that the older I get and the more I discover my superpower that my curse wouldn't be noticeable anymore. A lie, maybe a little but it's better than a marred truth. Vienna hadn't gotten rid of his spots, never had, never would. They would be there forever, but to sate the child's mind and level upon grounds with her would be more than enough. Special even as they share this moment between two, misfits amongst misfits - and it is within this moment that he seems to make a silent vow to protect this....this...child. We just have to discover your superpower. It's sweet and endearing even, to entertain the innocence with an equal amount of his own. What's your name? I'm Vienna.

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Sometimes all I think about is you

The girl nodded her head eagerly as the older male lion pointed out his own white patches. "I got lots curse." She said as she held up a mostly pale limb to show off just how much white coated her own frame. Of course hers was mud splattered from where she had been splashing about through the murky water of the Jungle, and that of her home in the Mire as well.

She listened to the story that she was being told. She wanted a superpower to get rid of her curse too! But first... "What superpower?" It was a terms that she had never heard of before. "Me curse die Mama. Papa and New Mama say so. Me born. Mama say I Bijoux. Mama die." The girl told her own story without a hint of emotion to it. It was clear that she was just repeating back something that had been told to her. Of course she couldn't be expected to remember being born. "Papa left to find curse cure. Gots Mama Maia and Papa Jafar now." And that brought things mostly up to the present. The girl had been abandoned but didn't seem to suffereing for it.

"I Queen Bijoux." The girl puffed up at the self given title. She refused to be acknowledged as a Princess simply because she had no idea what that even was. "I good Queen. I tell frog sing good."

@Vienna