“Hello, my odd friend. It’s been a little while, hasn’t it? How are you doing?”
Rizardon grinned ear to ear at the sight of his friend, if one could call Saidia that. This was a strange lion he had met on the edges of a pride, isolated from the rest of the denizens of this place and living by his own rigid schedule that, Rizardon had learned, was very difficult for him to break away from. And Saidia was not inclined to do that, really, because he found that keeping to his schedule had got him through his life almost completely trouble free. Until recently, at least, when all manner of strange beings and lions had been coming by his home. Gods, strange lions and even members from his own pride that completely baffled him. Everything was happening all at once. And for the first time, Saidia had no plan. So when he saw Rizardon approaching, he nodded his head in greeting, but did not seem that surprised or put off.
Which was odd, for him.
“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. Are you lost? Or going back?”
“Heading back home, but I think it’s easier to follow my foot prints than try to make a new path back. Less chance of me getting lost for a while, which I am… prone to do.” Rizardon shrugged his hefty shoulders. He felt he was pretty sure where he was going, and seeing this familiar land was at least confirmation that he was going the right way to head back toward his home. He was glad of that, as he had not been exactly sure when he turned around to head back this way that he had, in fact, turned around the right way.
He smiled at Saidia, who nodded his head and glanced away in distraction, back toward where Rizardon knew the others den was. He had learned from their last encounter, though, that it was probably better not to ask what was going on in this lion’s head, as Saidia was not the best at explaining himself, and even when he tried it did not… exactly make sense. At least not to Rizardon, who did not live the same way, or even close to it.
If Saidia wanted to share, then he would. If not, Rizardon was not going to push.
“Well you are welcome to stay in the den you stayed in last time, if you want to,” Saidia said after some heavy thought, looking over at Rizardon again with a gentle smile. He looked a little worried, if the red lion was any judge of character, and he wondered about that. What was going on, in such a relatively short amount of time, that had this relatively tough and serious guy looking so worried? He really wanted to ask, but he had resolved not to pry and he had to stick to his decision, because that was who he was.
Saidia was glad, really, that the other was not asking what was wrong. It would be very hard for him to explain his situation at the moment, as even he did not understand it. With all the different strange things going on around him, he was having trouble keeping them all straight as well. He just wanted to fall off the radar for a bit, and pretend life was normal. Thankfully, he had gotten used to Rizardon the last time he had visited, and it was actually nice to see a familiar and friendly face return to his home.
Maybe he needed company more than he thought. He had been alone for so long, he had gotten used to that life style. Now that he actually made friends, experienced what Gods were, and even met a female that interested and intrigued him, he found he was thinking about them more and more, and his schedule and routine life less and less. Though he missed how predictable and easy it was, he found these random challenges were… rather interesting.
It gave him a shake up that he had not known he needed.
“I think I should be good if I keep on going today, there is plenty of time left in the day and I will get more out of my journey if I don’t slack off. But I appreciate the offer, and I’ll take you up on it another time, probably, the next time I come out this way. A lot of cool stuff, and nice lions, out this way.” Rizardon smiled at him, meaning he included Saidia in on that. And why not? Sure, the guy was a bit of an odd ball, but he hadn’t attacked anyone, and he had helped Rizardon out when he needed it. That created a bit of a debt, which Rizardon intended to repay, one day, if the other lion ever needed help that he could provide.
“Well it was nice to see you again, anyway. If you don’t want to stay, then do you want some food or anything, to keep you going on your trip? I had a hunt earlier and there’s some left, I can take you to it.” Saidia found it was easy to just be friendly, though he was unused to it, and offer what he could, when he could, because he had very little else to offer anyone. He was not a mean or angry lion by any means: just because he was solitary did not mean he was a bad guy.
At least, he did not want it to mean that, not now.
“Nah, but I appreciate the offer. I’m going to head out now. But you’re a good lion, Saidia. I’m glad to have met you and I hope I meet you again, okay? Stay safe and keep doing what you do.”
Rizardon smiled and gave Saidia a friendly bump with his shoulder, though he was a bit stronger than he thought he was and the other lion wobbled a bit. It made Saidia laugh, though, and the two nodded at one another as Rizardon moved to walk off. Saidia watched him go, feeling a strange sadness in his chest. He had never made many friends before, and he found that now that he had he did not want to say goodbye so soon. It was sad, and a new kind of sadness he was not familiar with.
Hopefully they would see each other again soon.
Word Count: 1,075 in Google Docs
