Oh yeah! He’d definitely feel it later once the adrenaline had left his body. Like when an army wanders off leaving bodies and chaos in its wake. Only when peace reaches the valley can you really mourn the loss. For the birds sing so melodically, such death seems impossible to grasp. But this was not the first time Eric had bled to impress a lady, and it would not be the last. Though perhaps, this would be the very first time the little lady bled for him. As the cub, so close to victory, also ended up taking quite a vicious tumble. In a blaze of black fur and golden grass, she brushed past his feet just as he crossed the finish line. Well, more like limped over the finish line. He needed a drink. “And he WINS! And the crowd goes wild.” Eric panted, man, he was really getting old at only two years of age. It’s the blond, right, it ages you. He turned around, teal eyes falling upon the whiny princess. “Come on, you’re so close, you gotta at least finish.” Eric stood before her; head cocked. “You didn’t break something, did you?” @Asteria But "Sentimental Boy" is my nom de plume Art by Swan, Code by Swan (fixed by Cala)

thankfully there was no blood. a bruised ego, sure, but otherwise she was uninjured. thank goodness for those soft and squishy cub bodies, am i right?

with a grumble she scrambled to her feet and stepped across the finish line, shooting @Eric daggers as she did so. the glare didn't last, though, as her face cracked with a tiny grin.

"you're silly," she said with something akin to a giggle, clearly having resorted to name calling in the wake of her loss. with a sigh she flopped on her bum, tired from the run. "i'ma beat you next time." said with a short nod, as if she had fully made up her mind on that fact. eric was going down!

just.... not right now.

"i jus need my legs to grow." she wiggled the offensive appendages in question and then peered up at the adult. "do you think it will take a long time?"

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Resilience. That’s what you gotta teach the kids these days. Resilience! Cause you never know when some unknown plot device might just come out of the nothingness and ruin all your carefully laid out plans. Or when something might happen that you’ll need to blame some unknown plot device ruining all your carefully laid out plans instead of your lack of necessary skills. If these quails could talk… Eric watches the cub as she does his bidding, “good job…how does the world look all the way down in second place, huh?” He jests, attempting to gently ruffle the fur on her head with one of his paws. “I’ll take that as compliment.” You could do far worse than silly. In fact, I have several suggestions which would be far too crass for children’s ears. And children-adjacent ears too. He sat beside her, spitting out the last bits of grass and dirt still left from the great quail incident. “Oh really,” Eric snorted, “because I was KILLING it out there!” He straightened up. “That little fall I had, that was obviously just a perfectly planned distraction.” Yeah, perfectly planned. Totally intentional! At her question, he paused. Again, really bad at cub ages. “Well, believe it or not. I was actually just about your size when I was a kid,” he mused, “my sister said it was because someone sat on me when I was really young.” Thank you, Freja! “but when I was around, what…eight-ish, seven-ish months I hit a growth spurt.” “I’m sure you will too, well, as long as nobody sits on you.” @Asteria But "Sentimental Boy" is my nom de plume Art by Swan, Code by Swan (fixed by Cala)

asteria dodged his paw before it could ruffle her fur and in a very childlike manner stuck out her tongue at the male. that's what he got!

he mentioned the fall and she tipped her head to the side. honestly she hadn't thought much about it - and had almost thought he did it on purpose to let her win (what was with adults and doing that anyway?) - but now she wondered. "are you okay? didja hurt yousself?"

she squinted at him and studied him rather seriously before determining that at least nothing seemed broken. that was all that really mattered, right? i mean who really cared about concussions or bruises...

he went on to say that he had been sat on and that she would have to wait SO MANY more months and she sighed. "that seems like FOREVER. i'm only... i fink 3 months." she couldn't remember exactly, but that seemed about right anyway.

she peered up at him. "how old is you?"

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Golden brows shot up as the little cub stuck her pink tongue out at him, and he stuck his own, albeit bigger, tongue right back at her. Shaking his head lightly in a teasing gesture. Hey, there are perks to this being man-child thing. Communication with the little peoplez. They’re gonna take over the world one day, you know! Eric shrugged and although the sore spots of his body didn’t hesitate to make themselves known he simply said: “Heh. It won’t kill me. I’ve got an important race to run!” He waggled his brows at her. “Correction. To WIN.” He went on to say that he had been sat on. UH! Exsqueeze me! He allegedly got sit on. They haven’t proven anything yet… “Wow, you’re pretty independent for a 3-month-old,” Eric frowned at her, “aren’t you supposed to be, I don’t know, looking cute and napping somewhere?” Again, nursemaids in the back, please just resist the urge to slap this man with some of your great textbook knowledge. And then she asked him just how old he was. Not gonna lie, it took him a second. He hadn’t forgotten his birthday, it’s kind of hard to forget the day you got stuff carved into your face. But he hadn’t…thought about it for a while. Do I feel an existential crisis coming on? Eric smacked his lips. “I’m three years old. I know, I look great.” @Asteria But "Sentimental Boy" is my nom de plume Art by Swan, Code by Swan (fixed by Cala)

@Eric seemed bound and determined to rub it in, but asteria didn't mind. it was fun to banter with an adult - most of them seemed unwilling to partake in such conversations. as he boasted about his win she lifted a tiny paw and swatted at him, aiming for the leg closest to her. A very not serious growl accompanied the playful attack.

a moment later she shrugged. or as close to a shrug as a lion can get. "i dunno. that sounds pretty boring though." sleeping and looking cute? how dull. "i like 'splorin'!

he divulged his age and she was honestly a little surprised. he seemed so young. asteria had only ever met adults that were serious and dull - eric reminded her more of a sibling than one of them. "is it fun being an adult?" maybe when she was grown up everybody would stop asking her why she was alone.

or maybe she wouldn't be alone. there's a thought.

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Yeah, he gets annoying sometimes. But here’s a little secret for you… He usually never wins. “Ouch!” The word tumbled suddenly out of Eric’s smiling mouth, with that usual dramatic flair of his. “Sore loser, huh?” He rubbed his leg as his face contorted into a pout. Her next answer made him laugh, it was so…different to what he expected and yet at the same time it made so much sense. “It does, doesn’t it?” Eric shook his head lightly. “I’m a bit of an adventurer myself.” If you count walking to and fro without much purpose adventuring, that is. Of course, now we got into the deeper questions. Questions he hadn’t even answered yet. Hell, he hadn’t even asked them. Sometimes it felt like he was…like he was just stumbling through life rather than actually living it. And honestly…he didn’t know what to make of it. “Sometimes. Depends on what you’re doing.” Eric’s gaze fixed on some spot in the distance, where the grass rustled gently. “There are some…really fun things you can only do as an adult.” He swallowed. Please, please don’t ask. “But people cut you less slack, and they stop caring about you as much.” It’s not that you are more or less alone, really. It’s that you suddenly realize…you’ve always been alone. @Asteria But "Sentimental Boy" is my nom de plume Art by Swan, Code by Swan (fixed by Cala)

asteria giggled and sat up a little more proud - he could boast but at least she could make him pay for it! he deserved it... right? "mama taught me it's not nice to brag." or at least asteria thought she did - though the lesson could have been picked up any number of places.

at least they both believed there were much more exciting things to do than sleep. asteria always felt like she was missing something if she slept too much.

but then he mentioned fun things and her ears perked up. c'mon, you didn't really think she wouldn't ask, did you? "what kind of fun things?' honestly she thought being an adult would be cool and all (she could kick all kinds of butt) but it didn't seem like something that would be very fun. asteria waited expectantly for his answer.

there was a tone to his voice with his latter statement that made her ears droop again. maybe being alone wasn't great, maybe she felt lonely all the time too, but she shrugged and glanced away only briefly as she said "well, i'm used to nobody caring, so i think it'll be okay."

whoops, that was sad.

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OOC: Warning! Mention of blood/blood drinking! “Well, your mom obviously never met me and my grandiose achievements.” There, that’s the last he’d say about it! I promise. We all have limits, after all. The whole “confident” act is only cute for the first few minutes. And oh…the moment her little ears perked up he knew he’d messed up. That was not the kind of conversation you’d wanna have with a complete stranger, albeit a very cool and hip one. Her mom was obviously very wise, or at least she very good at preaching. “Like uh…hunting!” Blood drinking. “You know, hunting really big stuff.” In order to drink their blood. “You get to be independent and do whatever the heck you want!” Pretend you are independent although you constantly crave attention. “And all the mushy gushy love stuff…if you’re into that.” He was. And if you thought the ear perking was scary, the drooping was even worse. The drooping was a punch in his gut, a stab right in that mushy gushy heart of his. Hey…lucky for you, I’m not 'people',” he offered, attempting to bump her softly with a paw. “As you know, I'm good at a lot of things.” Eric smiled. “And I'm particularly great at caring.” @Asteria But "Sentimental Boy" is my nom de plume Art by Swan, Code by Swan (fixed by Cala)

asteria listened with big eyes. big, interested cub eyes. eyes that didn't stray from the paler male for even a second. no pressure, though.

oh hunting! "i'ma be a good hunter one day. then i won't have to eat bugs anymore." not that bugs were all bad. some even tasted a little like fish. but something told her she'd like eating real meat even more.

her nose crinkled at the mention of love, though. "boys are icky." a little grin crossed her lips as she said it - she was in the company of a boy, after all. but they were good for racin' and stuff! just... ew.

their conversation was a little less cheerful and a little more serious after that, but she perked up again with the nudge of his paw. "you can be my friend?" because that's exactly what a full grown lion wanted, a pest of a cub for a friend.

@Eric

Table by Amanda