It was another troublesome night for Ladislav. The same had been true of all his nights prior, and would, perhaps, be true of all the nights to come. His head throbbed and his body ached, but his travels had been uneventful, his hunts without strain. He was healthy, still physically young and strong and able... so why? Ahh, right. The Memories. The sort that could still be felt even long after they had passed. Those memories that he wished he could forget, but would not go a day unseen. Their images haunted him as if out of routine, every single night keeping him awake and slowly beginning to cripple his senses...
When a figure in the distance presented itself, the male would dismiss it as a trick of the eyes without falter. After all, Ladislav had seen them all before. Shadows of those he had once known, projections of what he no longer had. The horrors visited him frequently. He hated them, but all the same he expected their arrival.
To this evenings ghost, he grumbled and spat and cursed at the moon and the stars. As the figure approached, it would be their illumination that would prove him a fool yet again.
"Go on." He sneered, lips peeling out of anguish and rage. "Get out of here! You horrible demon of the night! You follow me everywhere I go. Aren't you tired of it? Aren't you tired of me, yet?!"
But unlike all the others, beneath the light of the sky, it's face was not of one he knew well. In fact, Ladislav had never looked into those golden eyes before. It was a female, small beneath the canine pelt she wore, cautious in her stance yet wearing a smile so warm and welcoming. She paused, as if to listen, before continuing her graceful slide down the slope toward him. He was a confident fellow. Not prone to bolstering his own ego nor requiring others do so for him. He knew of his own strengths, was modest about it, but he knew what he could dish out. Ladislav knew he would not need to fear the company of a lioness on her own, if indeed she wandered his way as such, and because of this he felt only curiosity. That said, the male had yet to learn the full extent of who to trust and who not to out on the free plains. A pride lion, spoiled by familiar company, rarely went without making mistakes on their own.
This would either be the first of many faults, or, a blessing in disguise.
As she drew nearer Ladislav instinctually tensed beneath his dark mane. Partially because he had not been so close to another in such a long time, and partially because she was undoubtedly a female; and a beautiful one at that. She slowed in her tireless trot and stood before the male with her head dipped low and canted to one side. It dawned on him only after several awkward moments of silent staring, that he had yet to rise in greeting.
And so he stood and bowed his head, to which she smiled. "Hello." Her voice rumbling almost in a purr, prompting him to turn his ears forward; desperate to hear more of it. "Hello." Ladislav would return, keeping his emerald stare pointedly on her lovely form.
She did not seem to turn bashfully from him, sport a shy smile and flutter her lashes as most females had done before. This one, instead, kept her mesmerizing stare on Ladislav's with hooded eyes, lifted her head just enough for it no longer to be a bow, and licked at her lips. He meant to say something, but the words were lost almost as soon as he thought they had come. She spoke instead, the tuft of hair on her head falling to hide a portion of her scarlet face.
"I hope I have not interrupted anything. I overheard you speaking with someone, and I thought you might be in trouble."
Ladislav suddenly felt the rush of embarrassment fill his face with heat. It was fortunate for him that a thick red coat hid what blush might have come about. "I was speaking merely to myself. I am in no danger, although... it's kind of you to have checked in." He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth as her smile widened, further squinting those glowing eyes. She did not let the silence linger like it had the first time, and Ladislav expelled a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in.
"My name is Rhoma. And you are...?"
"Ladislav." He stated quickly. "My name is Ladislav." What it was he had forgotten to say earlier then rushed into his head, and the male quickly followed with. "What would a lioness be doing out on her own at midnight?" Although, now that the words were out he felt perhaps they should have remained lost.
Rhoma chuckled. "Hunting." And it made sense. Yet, Ladislav had quite the position to see well across the grassland and had done so purposely in hopes that come dawn he might be able to down a quick and easy meal. From his perch, it had been quite some time since he last saw a wandering herd, those that had occupied the area having moved on to a safer resting ground. The direction in which Rhoma had come from might have held more prospects, but... he wasn't quite convinced that a meal was what she was after. He was sappy, but not stupid. The implications of others were not above his understanding... and so, a black brow lifted along side his intrigue.
"Why were talking to yourself? Something on your mind?" The lioness intrudes on his personal thoughts, although not quite ridding him of them. It was an inquiry that if she had any reservations about, it didn't show. Her features remained the same... or so he thought.
Ladislav had to give logic the stage to decide where the conversation would go next. While company was rare now-a-day, and he openly welcomed those who wished to share in his; his past was a private disaster he did not often wish to speak of. Not when he had to replay moments in time over, and over when alone in the dark. Rhoma did not seem to press him into an answer, but she did sit back onto her rear, tail gradually wrapping around her thigh with the tip of it tapping at the ground. She intended to stay to find out. This seemed to reassure him.
Ladislav had yet come across an individual like Rhoma on any of his travels. He had yet to feel so strong a pull to one individual... not since the first time, and even then this all seemed so different. She was charming even with so few words spoken. She was lovely and alluring by default. There lingered an air of mystery about her, secrets that he felt mildly uncomfortable with-- but if she was willing to ask, then she was willing to listen. It was unlike him to, for lack of a more appropriate word, lust after someone so soon after they had met, but Rhoma... There was something about her.
He hesitated a moment longer, then opened the flood gates.
The male delved into as much as he felt safe to share. The information that proved too touchy, Ladislav left out. Rhoma did not seem to notice, or if she did, she did not care to ask questions. The lioness merely did what he thought she would and listened. The more he spoke, the less of a resolve he felt; And this seemed to alter her facade greatly.
"She was taken from me." He mumbles abruptly in a moment of great weakness, just as the conversation seemed to have come to an end. Rhoma's ears flick forward, head tilting. Something flashed behind her eyes, a realization perhaps, but it goes unnoticed.
"Who was? Your mate?" She whispers softly, nearly in consolation. It was only then that the lioness moved from her seat, drawing closer. She watched him for any sign of discontent, and only noted Ladislav's swift jerk to follow her steps. Rhoma's intentions were becoming clearer, her 'hunt' one not of prey... not in the way most might think of it. He knew he should have stopped her from getting any closer, but a deep seeded urge seemed to fight off reason. Her purrs were loud as she briefly stopped in her tracks, dipped her chin toward her chest, and added. "I am sure you miss her greatly."
"I do." Ladislav responds stiffly. For all of his silent appreciations of her physical form, he had not expected to be so close that he could reach out and touch her. It had been so very long since the male faced a situation like this, where emotions were running high. He could no longer feel the pain between his eyes, only a sense of levity now. And that alone might have been enough for him to succumb.
"Was she who you were speaking to, earlier?." The lioness mused just as the gap between them closed, her forehead meeting with his paws first before gliding toward his chest. Ladislav shakes his head, but says nothing. His hairs are standing on end, his entirety falling still as stone; allowing her to do whatever it was she liked.
"You're still here, though. Right now. You know she'd want you to be happy."
Rhoma's test of cautious waters led her to press firmly against his side, head continuing its scale upward along his neck. "Let me help you." The briefest separation from his touch loosens the males stance and summons a low groan from within Ladislav's chest. She rises onto her toes to whisper in his ear,
"I can help you to forget. Just one night."
Before rolling onto her side in the grass.
(( W/C 1659))