Kiti was starting to think she was a magnet for weird situations. Still, at least this time it wasn't a particularly bad situation. She met up with a strange lioness along her path, and had allowed her to travel along with her until they got to more familiar territory. The lioness didn't seem to know how to speak very well, though she did her best. Kiti had, of course, felt sorry for her, and had asked her to come along mostly so she could try and teach her a more proper way of speaking. It seemed she learned just from having conversation.

So a lot of conversation was just what the lioness was going to get.

Rrab was happy that she had met Kiti, even if communication was still kind of difficult between the two of them. She was doing her best- and it seemed like Kiti was happy to help her out. She spoke slowly and helped her understand the words she was saying, like she was trying to teach her the proper way to speak. That made Rrab very happy. She knew females were the nicest of anyone- she hadn't been wrong to team up with the lioness.

Meanwhile, Zuka was patrolling the rogue lands, looking for potential fighters to bring back to his pride. Those who had a desire to battle, and expand their movesets beyond just smacking other animals in the face! What was wrong with adding a little flare to things?

There had to be others out there who agreed with him. Or maybe others who liked to go exploring! Both aspects of the pride were welcome. Fighting and exploring- the two key things to keep someone alive in the rogue lands. Surely everyone liked them, right?

So why had he not found anyone who was interested in the same things he was?

Kiti was walking next to Rrab, heading through the rogue lands. They had entered a place she wasn't quite familiar with, though she didn't know if her travel companion knew the area. If she did, she was doing a good job of looking confused, too. Actually, she looked a little scared. She sighed softly to herself, nudging Rrab gently in the shoulder just to give her some comfort.

"When we get through here, we can find a place you're familiar with, alright? Then I'm going to need to head back to my own pride," she said slowly, so Rrab would understand her. Luckily, it seemed she could comprehend a lot more than she seemed to be able to speak.

Rrab gave her a nod, smiling faintly. "Rrab understand," she said warmly, "we getting out of here- no like quiet. Think place reminds her of old home." She shuddered at the thought of it. A pride where she had been nothing but a slave meant for breeding. Where she hadn't been allowed to speak or act on her own. She had been nothing more than an object, there. Breaking free was the best thing she had ever done, but now she was very awkward and unprepared for the world around her.

It was like a cub learning things for the first time.

Zuka continued to walk over the unfamiliar lands, until he spotted what looked like two females ahead of him. Once looked bright and like a rainbow, while the other was a dark green. Neither looked like warriors, if he was honest, but that didn't mean he couldn't be friendly to them. Maybe they liked exploring instead of fighting!

"Hello there!" He called out warmly, heading over to them without skipping a beat. He wore a large grin on his face, clearly happy to see them both.

Kiti looked over at the voice she had heard, smiling when she saw a large purple lion heading their way. "Oh look, Rrab!" She hummed, motioning towards the large lion, "It seems like we're not alone here after all! Perhaps he knows where we are and what's around here." She smiled and stopped, waiting for the lion to get closer to them. She then took a moment to look at Rrab, who... didn't seem as pleased to see the male as she did.

"Um, Rrab? Are you alright there?"

Rrab was not alright.

She watched the approaching male with nothing but fear in her eyes- it was clear she was super bothered by him getting closer to the both of them. He looked huge! And so purple. Not that purple was an evil color to her or anything, but all colors looked menacing when they were on a male. She whimpered softly, sinking down against the ground in submission. She didn't want to be taken back to a pride, but she was too frightened to fight back.

Males were very scary to her- this wasn't fair! She hoped Kiti would be able to defend them, but she didn't look like she knew about the threat at all!

Zuka slowed and then came to a stop when he noticed that one of the lionesses didn't seem that pleased to see him. He blinked, tilting his head to the side. Like Kiti, he didn't really understand, though he thought perhaps he had upset her sometime in his past. He had never attacked anyone with killing intent in his life, but maybe there was some reason he had upset her. Why else would she be cowering from him like that?

"Is she alright?" Zuka asked faintly, keeping a good distance back from them just in case.

"Um, I'm not sure," admitted Kiti to the male when he asked if Rrab was alright. She knew the lioness was a bit weird, but she hadn't expected her to flop on the floor and act frightened. Was it because she knew this lion? If that were the case, he probably should have looked like he recognized them, at least from the start. But nothing like that had happened.

She frowned, looking down at the female. Slowly, she crouched beside her, trying not to frighten her more than she suddenly seemed to be. "What's wrong?" She asked softly.

Rrab whimpered weakly as Kiti got down beside her, looking at her with a deep frown. She shook uncontrollably, clearly displeased with what was happening. She looked at the lioness, fear evident in her eyes. "He... males.... bad... must... be good..." she offered weakly between what started to sound like pathetic sobs. She hated males. They always made her so afraid. How she longed to be back to normal again! Or rather, back to normal for the first time. A lioness who wasn't afraid of males!

Zuka sat himself down where he had stopped, not wanting to get any closer to the couple. He frowned, tilting his head sideways as he watched the fearful lioness. He had never seen her before, he could tell that. Thinking he might have upset her in the past was absurd. He knew nothing about her! So he sighed heavily, trying not to look frightening.

"Don't worry," he offered in a soft voice, "I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Zuka- I'm a good male! I'm not going to do anything bad to you, I swear it. You're safe, my dear."

"See?" Offered Kiti warmly, "you're going to be okay. This lion doesn't want to hurt you, and neither do I! We're both your friends, you know?" She smiled at the lioness, hoping she could relax. If not, she would have to ask the male to leave. Though, judging from the concern on his face, she imagined it wouldn't be difficult to get him to go. It was clear he didn't want to hurt her, either.

They just didn't know what was going on in the lionesses head, so it was impossible for them to really comfort her more than attempting to prove he didn't mean to hurt her.

But Rrab was too frightened. She looked up at the male, and all she saw was one of the males who had attacked her in her old pride. They weren't the same lion, something in the back of her mind knew that already, but the rest of her brain, and her body, didn't care. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, she had made a run for it. She could hear Kiti calling for her from behind, but she didn't stop she just had to get away before the male could harm her again.

"Hey wait!" Zuka yelped, following after Kiti and Rrab. The lioness looked at him, frantic. "She could hurt herself, we have to stop her!" He motioned for her to follow, the two rushing to catch up with the lioness. But fear could really make someone take off- she seemed to be a heck of a lot faster than the both of them. Before either of them could see where she had gone, she had disappeared.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare her off. I'll help you look for her," Zuka offered Kiti, who nodded at the offer. She could use all the help she could get.

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