[BORDER] To be Worthy (Maua x Hima)

[The Captain Britain]

Large paws kicked up the dust as they hit the ground, leaving behind soft tracks of giant prints. The ground was different here. The soil had changed subtly, as had the scent of the wind. The earth was soft, had more give, and was grainier, almost as if the ground was stuck between deciding whether it wanted to be dirt or sand. The wind was sharper, biting, and was significantly colder than the winds on the savannah. Or in the jungle, when the foliage was thin enough to let wind in. Everything smelled subtly of salt and what could only be described as moldy fish. He had definitely wandered too far east.
He was a big male, with the muscles to match. It meant that others avoided him, as many passing rogues were too intimidated to approach him. Most of the rogue who had come up to him, however, had seemed nice. Maua wished he had company more often. He wasn't the most social of lions, but it was nice to chat with one or two others for a little bit. Part of him missed the pridal life. Constant chattering of other lions, trying and failing to flirt with the young females running about with his sister, sharing jokes with his brother and friends...Maua sighed. It almost seemed like a lifetime ago.
The male stopped short, staring at the ground in front of him. Had he reached a pride border? There were lions who could put up with smell twenty-four-seven? He shook his head, chuckling to himself a little. The lions themselves must also smell. Best he turn back, Maua thought as he stood at the border, or at least try and angle himself in another direction to get away from whatever was making the air smell.  

[Depawsit]

Her paws fell gently across the sand with the grace of a swan, swimming peacefully through the water. Simply looking at her, one would never get the impression that she hated the stuff more than anything else in the world. No, one would merely have to try to speak to her to discover her distaste for it. Though she ignored her hatred as she padded across the shore. Trying to keep a polite and proper face in front of her new pride mates. She had still yet to find her sister, but she knew she was here ... somewhere, she could smell her. There were whispers of a lead mummer ... who seemed to match Nema's personality to a T, though she hadn't stuck her nose into anyone's business to discover anything else about it.

Now as she paced along the shore, the only thing on her mind was the annoying feel of the grainy sand between her toes. It was so disgusting! But she couldn't do a thing about it! No sooner would she clean her paws in the ocean, than the irritation would return with a vengeance. Instead she held her faux smile, dipping her head in greeting to the ridiculous lions she passed along her route.

Gods she hated this place. But she was here for a reason, and she would simply have to stick it out. Whether she liked it or not.

The Captain Britain

xD Hima doesn't really like it either.

 

[The Captain Britain]

Depawsit

Lol...they can bond. xD

Maua looked up, ears perking. Was there someone walking towards him? Well, perhaps not towards him, but in his general direction. Maybe he could ask for directions, or even just where he was. The male would certainly like to know what was making that smell. Plus it would be nice to talk with someone for a little bit. Traveling alone used to be a blessing, allowing Maua to suffer alone in his exile. But the lion was starting to come out of his shell more. He was starting to get over his sister's death, and some days didn't even feel guilty about it. Of course, other days he felt guilty about not feeling guilty. The male was in the odd space between grief and healing, but it was better than where he had been before; roaming the jungle, half-starving to death, an animal running on nothing but survival instincts.
He shook himself off, breaking that train of thought before it went too far. His pristine white fur, once perpetually covered in mud, ruffled around him. "Excuse me, miss?" Maua asked politely once the female was closer. "I don't suppose you could tell me where I am?" His voice was soft, but loud enough to be heard. The male didn't like shouting. It hurt his throat. He spent so long not talking at all that his voice got croaky when he raised it too high.  

[Depawsit]

The male's polite speech pattern and low tone hardly registered with Hima. Such acts of sweetness only served to show one's weakness, and that was not what she was interested in. Instead she merely shrugged off his words, taking a quick glance at the male before sneering to herself. He was absolutely pathetic looking. His bland pink mane covering his otherwise boring features. There wasn't a single thing about him that stuck out to her, and she wasn't especially happy about that.

"You're in the Kizingo'zaa" She muttered in a bored tone, not even bothering to lifting her head to look him in the eye.

"Lose the pleasantries shall we? We're not here to impress one another. Hell, we're not even here to interact with one another. So with that said, i'll just be on my way. If you want any further assistance, there are some much more ... eager lions down the way."

Nodding her head back in the direction from which she'd come, she slowly began to walk again. Without so much as a good bye to the male beside her.

The Captain Britain

XD Good luck with that!

 

[The Captain Britain]

Depawsit

Maua was taken aback. That had been rude, to say the very least. Also eerie, in a way. The lion couldn't count the number of times his sister had talked to him like that. The large male shook his head before getting to deep into those waters. Kizingo'Zaa...didn't really answer his question at all. He supposed that was the name of the pride? Perhaps he could ask one of those other lions she had talked about? The grey eyes scanned where she had come from, but Maua saw nothing. No scents, either, though that could be because all the male was smelling was rotten fish. He waited another second before bounding after the female.
"Well, hang on now!" Maua's voice came out as more of a growl, a product of raising it to call after the lioness. He caught up to her quickly, stopping a little ways in front of her. "I don't know what "Kizingo'Zaa" means. I'm sort of lost here, if you hadn't noticed." He kneaded the ground with his claws, angry at himself for being in this situation. The motion made the muscles in his legs ripple slightly, his shoulders flex. The male noted absently that he had become much more fit since leaving his homeland. He doubted anyone would recognize him now.  

[Depawsit]

To say she was displeased with his growl, would have been the understatement of the century. Though perhaps her scrunched up face and piercing orange eyes would give him the hint he so badly needed to get. "Excuse me? First you approach me, as a complete stranger. I answer your question, and you have the audacity to GROWL AT ME?" Hima's voice was raised incredibly high, so high, that she was sure those dopey pride lions would come running at any moment. That is, if they weren't wrapped up in all the silly drama going around the pride.

Hima's eyes pierced through to the male's soul, she wanted him to feel just how angry she was with him. The more she looked at him, the more disgusted with him she became. He was scraggly, obviously worn from a long journey, what use was he to her? He couldn't help her find Nema, so why should she bother with him?!

Hima heavily exhaled and rolled her eyes back into her head. "Oh right, you can growl, but you can't use common sense. The Kizingo'Zaa is a pride. A pride of Gypsies, so if I were you, i'd watch your pockets." The words slid from Hima's lips in the form of a hiss. She was definitely not pleased with her new unwelcome company.

"Tell me something - how is it that a big, bad male such as yourself can get lost so easily?"

The Captain Britain

 

[The Captain Britain]

Depawsit

Oh shiez. She is tearing him apart! xD

Maua shrank back a little, eyes wide with fright. This lioness had a temper! His ears fell back at her outburst, looking about from side to side. He hadn't meant to growl. He'd have to keep his voice in check. And his...pockets, whatever those were. Maua assumed that gypsies were some type of thief, the way this female was talking about them. He didn't have much to steal, however. In fact, he didn't have anything to steal. Unless these "gypsies" (An odd word, really. Why not just call them thieves if that's what they were?) were prone to murdering rogues on their borders, Maua was pretty sure he was safe.
That is, as long as this female didn't claw his ears off. He frowned at the thought. He wasn't too keen on that idea. Not to mention he felt a little insulted. Maua thought it quite understandable that he was lost. After all, he didn't know that area at all, and that rotten fish smell...ugh. It was so disorienting. "I guess that weird smell in the air got me all turned around." He turned his face in the direction it was blowing and made another face.  

[Depawsit]

Hima's ego took a big boost as the male cowered in front of her. Smirking from ear to ear, she had a strange gleam in her eye as she towered over him. Was he really this weak? How disgusting, a male so cowardly to a lady! She wanted to do nothing more than laugh in his face and be on her way. But then she had nothing better to do, why not waste some time on this sad excuse for a beast?

"Right."

She commented, rolling her eyes in complete annoyance.

'The briny sea and the fish got you lost. Well at least its an excuse I haven't heard before."

Growing bored of the male before her, Hima stopped towering over him and instead sprawled out on the floor beside him. He wasn't an immediate threat, probably wasn't even a threat at all! She could do what she wanted, and he wouldn't even bat a lash ... she on the other hand might bat a claw across his maw if he didn't lose that grown soon.

"You act like you've never smelled the sea before .... what's wrong with you?" Her lips turned up in a sneer, and her nose crinkled in disgust.

Most lions around here were used to the sea ...

Could this mean he wasn't part of these idiot gypsies after all?

For the first time since their encounter, Hima's interest was perked ... if only a little bit.

The Captain Britain

She uh ... definitely isn't a people person XD

 

[The Captain Britain]

Depawsit

Maua glanced around him, not sure of what to do. The female had just...sat down. Right after telling him she was going to be on her way. Maybe she had changed her mind? Maua sighed internally. He didn't understand females. Slowly, Maua sank onto his haunches, tail wrapping elegantly around his front paws. Thanks to his size, the male towered over her more relaxed form. It was funny to think that Maua felt intimidated by the female despite the size difference. "I, ah, haven't. Smelled the sea before, that is." The sea...the word sounded familiar. He must have heard it in passing somewhere. The lions found himself thinking of a large lake. That must be what a sea was, a large lake. It was have to be huge in order to house enough fish to make the very air smell. "I'm not from around here. Anywhere around here." Maua had been traveling for months. He couldn't imagine just how far away his birth pride was at this point.  

[Depawsit]

Hima snorted, completely unphased by the change in size that occurred when she sat down before him. A lion who had never seen the sea? Much less heard of it? What was he stupid or something? She didn't really care whether he was stupid, though it was obviously a downside to his boring personality. In fact the only redeeming quality he had was just that, he wasn't from here. Which meant he wasn't like these morons she lived with daily, he wouldn't talk to her about voices she couldn't here. He wouldn't try to teach her to steal ... he wouldn't approach her with weird buggy eyes either. Hima let out a sigh of relief at that thought. Though in no way was this sad excuse for a lion off the hook.

"So if you aren't from here, where is it that you're from.

The Captain Britain

 

[The Captain Britain]

Depawsit

Huh. I definitely typed a reply for this, but I guess for some reason it didn't go through. That's weird. Oh well. TAKE 2: the late edition.

Also, if you find some guy to break Nelly's heart, Asker would totes be up for breaking his face. DAS HIS LITTLE SISTER THEY'RE MESSIN WITH. NU-UH.

Maua cocked his head to the side a little, thinking about how to reply. Technically he was from his home pride, a group of lions made up of different family clans. Maua's family had been warriors, donning the pink, purple, and blue of the higher classes. But he had been exiled from his home for the death of sister. Once, the male had blamed himself for her death, but more recently Maua was starting to realize it really had been a tragic accident, not the cold-blooded murder he had been blamed for.
So then where was he from? The male had spent quite a long time in the jungle. It had served as his home during the time of his greatest grief, his darkest period. Though life had been tough and meals few, the jungle had seen him through to this new-found era of recovery and healing. "I come from a very dense jungle a long ways from here. It's kind of like a very wet forest, but the canopy is so thick that the sun barely shines through." Not to mention it had been pitch-black during the night. Not even his predator night-vision had done him much good. "Very dangerous place. Everything is trying to eat you, or will poison you if you eat it." Giant water-lizards, cannibalistic rogues, venomous snakes and frogs; Maua was surprised he had lived through all of it.  

[Depawsit]

The longer the two of them sat in silence, the more impatient Hima became with the entire ordeal. She was nearly at her breaking point, prepared to stand on her haunches and walk away. He wasn't all that interesting of a specimen anyway, definitely not worthy of mixing genetics with. A yawn rolled across Hima's features at just the same time as the male finally decided to speak up.

At first, she merely rolled her eyes. Who cared about your pathetic jungle? But then something more interesting finally came pouring from his mouth.

Dangerous ... cannibals ... Poison?

Well perhaps there was more to this male than met the eye ...

"So is that why you left then? Couldn't take the danger anymore?"

Hima laughed openly, not even bothering to hide her smirk behind a paw.

"Don't worry ... there are plenty of lions back that way, who are just like you." Still smirking, she flung her head sideways to indicate the positioning of the pride. Before looking back to see how he would respond to such a comment.

The Captain Britain

 

[The Captain Britain]

Depawsit

Maua laughed a little awkwardly with her. The male couldn't tell whether or not she was joking or making fun of him. It did seem as if she genuinely considered her pridemates to be cowards, which could explain why she seemed so grumpy and abrasive.
Of course, this was another question that was hard to answer, partly because Maua didn't know himself. Why hadn't he stayed? Sure, it had been tough to get by, but the lion had gotten the hang of solitary jungle life eventually. Given another year or two, Maua probably could have been quite successful as a jungle lion. "No, not the danger. I come from a family of warriors and fighters." Maua preferred not to actually use violence when he could avoid it, but he still had the skills if the need arose. "I guess I just wanted a change of scenery. Wanted to get out and see the world." See if he could find a new home was more like it. Rogue life really wasn't for him.  

[Depawsit]

Hima had not the slightest clue why this male was laughing with her. Was he really that dense? Could he really not pick up on the subtle criticism in her voice? Regardless, he still held her attention. Though admittedly, it wasn't a very strong attention span. She was teetering on the edge of leaving him completely.

"Warriors huh? Don't warriors usually belong to prides? Y'know where their skills can be put to proper use?" Hima paused a moment, genuinely interested in what he had to say.

"Its not like the rogue lands has much need for fighters." Shrugging her shoulders, she awaited an answer, and was really intrigued to hear it. But then, he had to open his big mouth and ruin the tough guy personae once again.

"No offense ... but don't you think that's a little ... uh ... pathetic?"

Of course, she meant every bit of offense by it, but the phrase had simply blurted itself out, as if from thin air. Or had it? Truth be told, she was quite sick of this lion, and the many weird quirks he was presenting to her.

"Y'know what, forget I said anything. I'm just gonna leave and we can pretend this whole thing never happened." Hima laughed her evil laugh, and swiped her tail gently across the male's jaw before swiftly taking her leave. It took a lot to impress her, and he just hadn't done a very good job of doing that.