The days were cooler and shorter now than they had been in the weeks leading into his birthday, and the mauve lion knew that winter would soon seep its way into the heart of the Mire. He may not have been a productive member of the pride — he was hardly more than a phantom — but he wanted to be prepared to help in someway, even if it was something simple, like stocking medicinal plants. Maybe soon he’d find the courage to finally introduce himself to the Lead Medic, to properly offer whatever service he could. That would be a challenge for another time though.

Presently, he had plenty to stay busy with. Tai’s search for useful herbs took him through the jungle that misty afternoon, his large paws leaving a trail of deep prints in the mud behind him. He wasn’t quite soaked yet, but the pale curls on his head were certainly heavier in the humidity that smothered the swamp that day. There was the threat of a thunderstorm — a certain pressure in the air — but he hoped it would hold off until he was back in his den with his supplies.

At least he’d managed to find what he was looking for: a gnarled crabwood tree, with some nuts that had yet to be picked off by any birds or monkeys. Tai knew he’d have to go up there to get them, but rather than get to it, he circled the tree while gazing upward, as if some other solution would magically present itself. He’d never been comfortable in trees due to his large size, yet there were no other options. Still, he circled once more, tail twitching in thought.

Medic - Double XP event
+10 Collect herbs (Crabwood)
+10 Collect herbs (Gnetum)
+10 Collect herbs (Akuamma)

@Bruno ♔

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"A monkey up there owes you something?" Bruno guessed from the brush nearby in his signature fashion. His own curls sat heavily against his face, petrichor clinging to his very mane like an overbearing mother. His mind wandered briefly with the pattern of this: Tai going out wandering, Bruno seeking after him, a tense debate, only for the lion to disappear once more. It had his stomach turning at the sight of him – never knowing where he stood. For a moment, he entertained the madness of asking Tai what he thought about the two lions he had met at the passage. He dismissed it the very next.

The young king pressed forward to try and close some of the gaping distance between them. His tail twitched thoughtfully, gaze drifting from towering treetop to the leafy gaze the lion wore. "We'll have our way with him," Bruno pledged.

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|| october y10 | three years | EM high sovereign | at aniadar jungle | @Tai ||

@Bruno ♔ was never far behind. The Mire King spoke, causing the mauve lion to look back and sigh, heavy and exaggerated. However, a small smile played with his lips as he was joined there below the crabwood tree. “I try not to make deals with monkeys,” he said in response to Bruno’s question and vow, the echoes of a chuckle rumbling in his voice. “I was just looking for some nuts. Crabwood nuts help clear chest colds and fevers. With winter on the way, thought it might be good to grab a few,” he continued with a shrug, almost embarrassed with himself for bothering Bruno with his explanation.

“But— ” Tai continued, “ — it looks like the monkeys got most of the ones on the ground.” He was dreading the thought of having to go up there himself, especially now that someone — Bruno — would be watching.

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He squinted with fond delight as the lion denied making deals with monkeys – a wise practice, Bruno could only guess. As he neared, Tai made clear the actual purpose of his forlorn circling known: looking for nuts. He swallowed back a comment about a fat squirrel preparing for winter.

"Plants are your one true love," Bruno noted thoughtfully. It was not a judgment for once – merely an observation. How many times now had he found the red giant in search of this plant or that? While he himself knew plenty about them, Tai had already established his unwillingness to venture into their more nefarious uses. A shame. He blinked and came back to the present moment in time to follow the lion's gaze to the jungle floor and then back up the tree, the lingering stench of primate still wafting hazily through the air.

"Get on my shoulders, then," Bruno instructed with an insistent nod and a lean. "I won't break." He braced himself for a comment about Tai not caring either way.

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@Tai

A smile answered Bruno’s observation. Truly, he enjoyed herbalism. He may not have been an accomplished warrior or hunter, but he had an eye for useful plants. He knew which ones to avoid, too. Though he tried not to think too much of it, Tai was amused that @Bruno ♔ has taken notice, that he cared enough to remember his hobby.

But at his suggestion, the smile quickly fell. Wide-eyed, the mauve lion quickly shook his head. No— he wasn’t about to do that. “I’d uh— rather not risk squishing the king,” he laughed — awkwardly. “Besides, I’m bigger. You get on my back.” There was a pause, and then, “If— if you’re serious.” He’d seen glimpses of cheekiness here and there, but Bruno usually meant what he said. There was nothing to suggest he was pulling his tail then, but Tai didn’t want to make a fool out of himself for misreading him either.

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Tai smiled. For a moment, Bruno was a privately awed observer. Had he ever made the lion smile, he wondered? In all their years of these short, quipping sessions, the scowling crinkle of Tai's forehead had become like an old friend in itself. He could not say he missed it. Or, perhaps that smile (glittering ivories almost shy with disuse) was merely a new friend to join their circle.

"Is he a king if he can be squished?" Bruno retorted with narrowed eyes. His pulse quickened at the notion of being taken out so easily – of others believing he could be taken out so easily. "I've got you. Get on," he insisted once more, shuffling to reiterate the stooped shoulders to the stammering medic. He had plenty to prove.

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@Tai

He wanted to argue. He wanted to inform him that accidents happened, especially in the slippery mud. It would only take a slip of the paw to dislocate the shoulders he insisted could support him. Tai hesitated at the thought of crippling the pride’s leader over some dumb nuts, but at Bruno’s urging, he finally sighed. “This is dumb,” he mumbled to himself, his voice worried and embarrassed. Still, he did as commanded, and took a skittish step towards his support.

“I’m going to slip and squish the Mire leader,” he continued under his breath, before stilling next to Bruno. He blinked, looking awkward with what he was about to do — but then he went ahead and did it. Putting one paw on Bruno’s shoulders, then the other, Tai hauled himself up, muttering, “This is dumb, this is so dumb.”

Trembling, partially from an effort to keep himself balanced on Bruno’s shoulders, yet mostly from nervousness, the white-maned lion carefully extended a paw to wrap it around a branch and give it and good shake.

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The primates in distant canopies overhead seemed to screech out their disapproval of the idea in tandem with Tai's own breathy protest, but Bruno remained steadfast in his stooped pose. He said nothing as the larger lion neared, only wore a smirk of satisfaction at having won out in the battle of wills. Such validation was only allowed to bloom for a moment before the (literal) weight of the situation settled upon him. Bruno grunted despite himself as tender paw pads pressed into the tresses of his pelt, carrying with them all the weight of that begrudging man. He had known there was a vastness to him. He had not known it would be enough to bring him to his quaking knees.

One moment, they were larger than life: two lions tall, stretching to the heavens and shaking the shoulders of that tree for what fruit it gave unwillingly. The next, Bruno came plummeting to earth as the poorly-equipped pillow to cushion Tai's fall.

"Uph!" He gasped as they tumbled and braced for warm impact.

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@Tai

The grunt did not escape Tai’s notice. He heard it through his own mumbling, but it was too late — he was already perched on Bruno’s shoulders. There was no turning back now. Tai had learned from an early age that Bruno was stronger than he looked, yet he was nonetheless surprised when it turned out that his companion really could prop him up. It seemed @Bruno ♔ was more powerful than Tai was heavy.

But no sooner than Tai started to feel confident in Bruno’s strength, it happened: a gasp from below, followed by a shake and a slip. No— ! A noise of surprise — a yelp — filled the air as his support crumbled beneath him, leaving his heart jumping into his throat and his paws scrambling for the branch. Desperately, he grabbed hold — but it was no use. The branch was too thin to hold the lion, and with a crack of splintered wood, he went down right behind Bruno.

Clutching the broken branch (and its nuts) against his chest, Tai collapsed on top of the Mire king with a heavy “Oof!”

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Some creature cried at them – a baby animal in danger, perhaps? It took a few moments for understanding to creep in, revealing to the mire ruler that the noise had likely come out of Tai himself. Bruno might have entertained smugness longer if not for the battering of their collapsing limbs colliding into one another, marked by the snapping sound of that branch overhead.

He grimaced as he felt the full weight of the lion on top of him – enveloping, overwhelming, asphyxiating. Pain throbbed across his flank in all the places hard bones jutted into his skin, more cumbersome for the moment than anything that would inflict lasting damage. It was no different than the tumbling of cubs. They had tumbled together, once upon a time.

"Still a king... just squished," Bruno remarked after a moment's hesitance with his baritone groggy and disoriented. He shot a glimmering, studious stare up at the lion on top of him, searching for hatred there.

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@Tai