Maluuni'jambo was unsure of what to do now. She'd escaped Mwenye, and enjoyed her first true days of freedom...And now she had no idea what to do with said freedom. After her encounter with Indira, she felt a little better about her fur, so she wasn't scared of just about every creature on the savanna. Which, in itself, was rather scary for a lion born in the forests. Especially when the cheetahs were the same size or larger than you! She shook herself and jumped up a bit, to try and see over the tall grasses...and promptly squeaked when she saw black fur.
Haramu Pendu jumped up out of the grass, and tilted her head at the other lioness. "I haven't seen much prey around here... Have you?" she let out a huge breath of air, rather frustrated with her fruitless search.
Maluuni nodded her head at the other lioness, green eyes wide. This new lioness had the strangest coloring Maluuni had ever seen! She was black, oh that was obvious...But she also had YELLOW! She had the color of firefly light on her! "Rabbits. There's plenty of those here. Some are rather fat too."
Hara's eyes gleamed," Really? Why... a nice fat rabbit would be mighty fine right about now." She looked around, other signs of life still eluding her. "They must be hiding in the shadows I guess. This heat is rather intense."
Maluuni nodded. "They're rather good at hiding...but there's not as many hiding places out here as there are where I learned to hunt." She'd gotten very good at hunting the rabbits out here. Most didn't know she was even there until her paw had knocked them to the ground and her teeth crushed them. "Uhm...I'm Maluuni."
Hara nodded her head slowly," Ahh. I'm Haramu Pendu... whereabouts did you learn to hunt? Did you have a pride?" This girl confused Hara, as what she said did not go with how most prides were.
"It's nice to meet you Haramu Pendu. I learned to hunt in the forests far west of here." At the mention of a pride, she winced. "I did...but they are thankfully destroyed. Though...you would have given them quite a shock with your fur." In all the memories of the pride, she had never heard of a lion with the colors of disease AND the colors of firefly light.
Hara smiled at Maluuni," Why, whatever do you mean thankfully? Aren't the pride your family? And why would my fur have giventeh ma shock?" So many questions entered Hara's mind, but she didn't want to overload the poor lioness.
If she had met Haramu a few days before, she would have shied away and gone into herself. But now...Maluuni was obviously uncorfortable, but she could talk about it. "I was fated to die long before I reached adulthood. The red of my fur was one of the cursed colors...it represented the destroying fires. As for your fur...Black was cursed, like red, but yellow...yellow was the holiest, because it was the color of firefly light."
Hara tilted her head in curiousity," Really, how interesting... so what would they make of me?" Hara smiled, the prides were something of interest to her, and being two polar opposites, she found this fact to be highly interesting.
Maluuni felt a bit embarrased. "I...I'm not sure really. There was no tale of fur like yours. Though...because of the yellow, you'd at least be able to choose to stay and be a normal member...or leave." Maluuni really was unsure, but it was as best as she could gather, from the way others with minor bits of cursed colors lived when they had even a bit of the holy colors.
Hara shrugged, and began to pace around, unsure of what else to say.
"Well... I'm not one for prides anyway, I don't really get the whole cursed fur thing. Never have. "
She stopped pacing and sat down again, staring straight up into the sky, thinking about how many rules a pride must have and how hard it msut be to live in one.
"So why did you leave?"
"They were destroyed." Maluuni sat as well. "We weren't an old pride...I was one of the first born suited to the forest. Everyone, except myself and the heir, was wiped out." She knew she should feel sad...but she wasn't. Maluuni held too much against her birth pride to be sad for them. "And then the heir raised me...and I ran from him."
Hara nodded, looking at Maluuni once more. "That must have been hard." Hara began to pace again, she felt odd around someone who had been through such an ordeal. "Do you plan on finding another pride, or are you just going to remain a rogue?"
"I suppose it depends. If I find a pride that suits me, and welcomes me, I shall join it. Otherwise...I'm rather enjoying my freedom...Even if it is a bit strange to me." She smiled awkwardly. "And if it is far from my birth place, than all the better." Somewhere far north or west sounded perfect in Maluuni's mind.
"I see. That makes sense. I was born a rogue and i know no other way. I would think that life in a pride was rather constrictive... and I value freedom quite highly." Hara stretched out feeling tired after a long day.
Maluuni nodded. "I'd like to keep my freedom for a while." Noticing the position of the sun in the sky, she laughed softly. "Perhaps it's best for both of us to seek a place to sleep." It had been a long day. And a rather strange one for Maluuni.
Hara smiled in agreetment," Yes.. I do think you are right Maluuni. It was quite the pleasure to talk with you and hear about your past... I wish you luck on your travels." Hara bowed her head, turning to leave.
Maluuni bowed her head as well. "And I wish you the same. It was nice meeting you." And so she left trotting through the grasses. And she chuckled. She didn't care if fur was cursed or not, if everyone on the savanna turned out to be as nice as Haramu.
