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Maji:
It felt strange to be so far out of the valley. To be out of the valley at all, in fact. Sinc ethe day he was born, the farthest he had gone was perhaps a few miles to hunt during the drought. He glanced back over his shoulder for the thirteenth time since they had left, as if the valley would magicall vanish at any moment. He was unaware that he'd done it so much.

At least it was somewhat dry now... his mane wasn't plastered to his back and neck, falling into his eyes, or weighing heavily around his throat. That was a plus... as good as the rains were for the land- he didn't like being drenched in it. "So...how is your home? What's it like?"

Mishenka
"Like this..." Mishenka shrugged as they walked through the dry-ish, though fetile, jungle. Around them the birds called out and there was some movement of animals about them. it was all thethings associated with a normal, healthy jungle and so Mishenka never thought twice about what was going on. Instead, she just continued the leisurely walk through the foliage.

Maji:
"Well yes, obviously." He looked forward again and glanced about, "But I mean...where do you live? A cave, a den? How are the raining seasons, the dry? That sort of thing...."

Mishenka
Mishenka chuckled, "Then you should have been specific," She teased and nodded slowly. For a moment the female merely thought about this, as she lead him towards a ridge she knew of that would let them see out over the lake. "I live wherever I end up at night, for hunting keeps me roaming about the rim. I've been in a small .... i suppose you could call it a cave, but its more of a den if anything, for the past few sennights. I may leave anytime, though..." She shrugged, "And it rains when it rains, but its never really dry, not this close to a body of water."

Maji:
"It sounds nice...lonely but nice." He paused to look around himself. Much dryer than the valley, but not horribly so. The humidity down below was always something that kept him fussing with his mane. Not so much recently, but when his appearence had been something he felt obligated to keep up with. "You must be quite the fisher."

Mishenka:
"Fish?" She blinked, then shrugged, "When nothing else is around, sure. The bones are annoying, though, and they're never really... filling. There's plenty of okapi and gazelle about, though, especially as this is a central water source. I just have to fight with crocodiles sometimes."

Maji:
Maji chuckled a bit, "I must admit I would take a few fish over a gazelle.... though they don't fill me up the way they used to." Now that he thought about it, his diet could very well be why he was dwarfed by other Mistweaver males like Kisulisuli.

Mishenka:
"There used to be fish down there?" well, that made sense. Some had to get washed over the waterfall, after all. Mishenka lead him up the ridge and out of the forest line. At the top she sat, overlooking the wide bearth that was Lake Victoria. "I never much liked the taste, but its all personal preference. Buffalo, actually, is very good.. but its difficult getting your paws on one without a pride to help, and even then the larger animals are tough and stringy. You have to go for the babies... freshly dropped, if you can."

Maji:
Maji winced. "...aye... but it seems a shame." He averted his eyes from her. Many lions considered him 'too soft'. Suli included. "I still have difficulty taking the life of some grazers. For a time I thought I was the only lion." He chuckled a bit, "But as a cub, you only know what you can observe or are told."

Mishneka:
Mishenka laughed, and then realiezd that he was serious. The sound trickling to a stop, she then coughed, "Ahh.. well... If it helps, I was always taught that this is our place. We are what we are.. and lions are carnivors. We eat the the grazers, and when we die our bodies become the grass and the grazers eat the grass. If it were not for us, there would be too many grazers for the grass to sustain, and then they would all starve. It is all a part of the Great Circle."

Maji:
"That may be." He nodded a bit, "But a life is a life. If I can kill a life that's had its chance to live and see the two seasons than I feel no regret, it was their time and they simply did not manage to escape my claws...however... I know it is...common for a lion to kill the young." He shook his head, "But I was never taught that. I'd rather go for the old ones or those that are sickly."

Mishneka:
The birds whistled around them, but there was no further sound as Mishenka stared silently at her strange companion. She couldn't help her disgusted look, even if what he said was.... well it was soft and childish in her eyes. "you must eat rarely, and be infected with disease, then."

Maji:
Maji chuckled and glanced back, "I'm not a large lion... my body has been punished for my hunting style. But I'm lucky to have learned how to hunt at all. I'm grateful for what I have. And if my time comes before I have a chance to grow old, I won't fear it either. I don't regret the way I am. No one should."

"I've been accused as worse. But I'm still young, I have time to correct myself." He shrugged and started forward once more, "Besides, if we were all the same, it would make for a boring existance wouldn't you say?"

"Running away, are we?"

"It is not the place I grew up in. The family I had scattered." He huffed a bit. "And there may be cubs... out there."

That caught her off guard and Mishka nearly laughed. She managed to catch herself in time, and yet couldn't help an incredulous look at him. "Cubs?" Was there a mate, then as well?

She shook her head, "Its up to you to decide if this is a retreat or if you're tucking your tail between your legs, I suppose. You may want to think long on that, though.. just because the place has changed, doesn't mean it isn't for the better--just that its changed. Given your attitude about it, I'd even wager you haven't given those newcomers the time of day, once you realized their ideas were not your own."

"...almost a mate I suppose you can say. Not truly. She had lost her friend and I was there to comfort her. Once she discovered she was heavy with a litter she fled." The memory still gnawed at him. It was partly why he had such a distaste for Masika. Both lionesses had come into the lands declaring themselves the true queen. He'd dipped his head to once and found himself burned. He'd not make the same mistake twice in a lifetime.

"I have no reason to join them." He snorted. Part of it was he feared the rank they'd bestow on him at this point. He was a b*****d- as they'd mentioned. An accidental cub. A hunter at best, and as they'd already pointed out- that area of his talents left much to be desired.

"Except that a part of you wants to." She replied, "else you'd have left by now. You would have followed that girl, if you had cared enough to--and you didn't."

It was heartless, the way she pointed this out. Heartless and cold, but Mishenka had never been one for softened blows or holding her tongue. It was partially why she chose to live as isolated as she did--she'd met few lions who could take her company more than a handful of days. "You're not like me, Maji, and that is blatantly obvious. You're the kind of lion who needs a pride... more than that, you want it. You need to have people around you, to talk to, and you need their guidance--no matter how barbaric you think that the rest of us, your birth race, are."

She smirked, a hint of laughter in her eyes, "And make no mistake, I saw your reaction to my story."

"...she was afraid of me." He explained softly. "I saw her eyes... it was like a gazelle moments from death. She fled. I -did- run after her, but she begged me not to." His brow creased, "They say if you love something- you let it go."

She was right- in a way. He did want others around him. The best years of his life were spent with Kela, his sworn sister, laying at his back as they watched the sky and talked. Simply talked. There were others- Laana, Layla, and at one point in time- Enki and Ramses. Ramses he had raised from a cub... now he was a stranger. "It depends on the quality of the company."

"I'm sorry...but such ways seem... barbaric, yes. I've only heard of such things from the stories of the firekin. Butchery, savagery...unnecessary all of it."

She snorted, "But who are you to condemn them?" The girl snapped, gruffly and obviously offended. "Who are you to say that someone else is a barbarian when you know nothing of them? I, the one whom it was done to, have long since forgiven--but more than that, I understand too. I still love my mother, as I know in my heart she loved me even when she condemned me. To her, death was better than what I am now, and she did only what she thought was right. You'll notice, also, that though they objected, they did allow my father and uncle to take us--when they could have easily over powered two ailing lions and a pack of cubs."

Mishenka glared at him, though she did not move to hit him or run him off as another might have. "I don't know what happened between you and her nor do I claim to, or even care to, but I can tell you right now that all you're doing is being a sulking brat. You condemn these creatures who have returned to their pride, likely after a long and painful ordeal if what you said about the invasion was true. You condemn them for wanting to return to their home, and yet sit up here and tell me that my family was horrid for wanting to save me from religious blasphemy.

"Obviously your choice of company wasn't well in the past, from what you've said of treachery and the very fact that a girl you chose to love ran away with your own children, so perhaps you need to rethink those that you choose and those you cast aside."

The male made a rumbling sound in the pit of his throat, though it might just have been an attempt at a growl. He refused to believe that someone could kill out of love, would want to see their own offspring die. It seemed such an alien concept to him. Perhaps they were right, the valley was blurring the line of reality.

"As you said earlier....everyone is different. I cannot say that I would share your views if I stood alongside you in your life, and you cannot say that you would not share mine if you stood along side me in my own... Or am I mistaken?"

"Yes I am upset, and yes if this is 'sulking' than so be it. My future, my family, my home- all of it has been taken away or skewed from what I knew. My life of normality was what I was used to, so much change all at once is hard to tolerate with a grin and open paws."

"I cannot say for certain," Mishenka replied and shrugged, "But i do not need to, because 'ifs' and 'would haves' do not matter. All that matters is the present and how it might affect the future.. the past is something to be learned from, not something to live in."

She shook her head, "That is true enough, but it seems to an outsider, at the least, that you're using that as an excuse not to try--not as an explanation for trying slowly."

"This change is not something I am willing to accept." He glanced her way, "But I have removed myself from them to spare them my bitterness... and that of my two companions. I did not say I would not try... I said I did not want to." He shifted himself a bit. "...I....am afraid of change. I do not trust a female in charge, not one such as her anyway... I've heard the same tale come from a different maw once before. Yes I'm a coward."

He glared over. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"At least you're being honest, now." She replied steadily, meeting his glare eye to eye, though she showed him no malice. "You trust not a female in charge and yet, is it not the females whom are normally the leaders of the hunt? The females that bear the children, and the females that outnumber the males? Not always, but normally, this is so in lion prides--AH! but you know nothing of lion prides, you've admitted as much yourself. Being raised out of one, and never having left this land, how could you know anything about how a pride is run?"

Her words weren't mocking, but they were filled with some ironic humor. "And I dare hope that you did not mean to imply that all females are liars, because that statement of yours just came fairly close."

"I wouldn't say that." He pulled himself back onto his paws and flicked the end of his tail sharply. "Kela was a wonderful creature... one I wish, if anyone else, was still here."

His expression had dulled once more. He looked almost weary. It was true, he knew nothing of how a 'real' pride should be run. The markings on the wall gave some clue, but the writer assumed that the reader would already know the structure of a pride.

"I should head back...."

"Perhaps you should." She replied emotionlessly and turned her head from him. If he wanted to go, she would not stop him. He was, after all, just like every other lion she'd met--unable to handle her attitude, or face the truth square on. To her, at least, it seemed he would rather wallow in his own misery than attempt to find a happiness in that he could not change. "The darkness will come soon."

He paused and looked up to the sky. Darkness... he hated walking back in darkness. By the time he reached the cliffs it would be dark. While he could see fairly well in the dark, the others would be emerging right about then. "....damn."

Mishenka rose, stretched herself, and turned to make her way back to the den she called 'home'.. or the closest thing one such as herself ever came to it.

Maji glanced over his shoulder then back to her. "...w...wait." He turned himself around a bit. "Would it be too much to ask... if I can stay here? Just until sunrise?"

The lioness's head turned enough that she could see him over her shoulder. She tilted her head to one side and gave the slightest shrug. "I do not own this lake nor its surroundings. You can sleep where you choose, I'm certain. Unless you're asking to stay with me, which is a different question entirely."

He glanced around shortly. There wasn't any real shelter... but hopefully there'd not be any rain tonight. To ask to share her den was a little bit....much.

"I wouldn't impose like that..."

"Then I don't know why you're asking," Came the short reply and Mishenka continued off on her way. Pissy? Just a little, but likely not for reasons the male would understand or even guess, given his attitude to many of the things they'd discussed.