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Hearing another, the massive male focused his energy just enough to hoist his heavy head from the ground, tangled mane catching bits of twig and dirt, lifting it up along with him. Blinking slowly, the world out of focus, Jeraha emitted a warning growl. Deep and throaty, he aimed to frighten any creature that might have thought him an easy meal due to his condition while he awaited the return of his sight.

Seeing nothing but discolored blobs did him no good.

Eventually, the area fell into some lack-luster sense of focus, the blurred masses evening out just enough to provide him a needed understanding of his position. He was on the ground. How had he gotten there? There were no trees around him. Dirt. There was a lot of dirt.

And blood.

A voice. Lest his ears were playing the same manner of trick as his eyes, the gray, snarky beast was certain he had heard a voice. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about. Turning his head, Jeraha allowed his limited gaze to fall on the female now watching him from a distance. She seemed sweet, kind. Even concerned. The red of her eye was not of malice or evil. Battered though he was it was still something he could discern. Her eyes were more warm. The gentle glow of the rising sun. Be that is it may, his reaction to seeing her was anything but welcoming.

Snarling viciously, Jeraha allowed his fur to rise, ears pinning themselves to the sides of his head as he exposed large fangs in his defense. He could take no chances in his weakened condition. This female, small and frail though she seemed, was a stranger to him. Strangers were enemy. Thus, though transitive property, was she made his enemy. “Stay back,” he warned in a deep voice that seemed to hold nothing but malicious intent, “come too close and I’ll rip you apart.”

If he could find it in him to stand back up again, anyway.

One ear perking up in the likeness of an arched eyebrow with a human, Jeraha found himself momentarily stunned. Here he was, a large menacing lion with large fangs and ready claws, yet she refused to run? Boy, he must have looked really pathetic if she wasn’t willing to leave in spite of his threats. Completely pathetic.

That thought only made him more interested in getting her away from him.

“Foolish child,” Jeraha hissed in response, the slight awe consumed by rage, so blinded in fact that he failed to notice she was actually a full grown lioness, “how dare you speak to me in such a way! Learn your place, please. Females don’t have any right to own territory, so I don’t care what claim you say you have on this place. And another thing: I can do what I damn well please, and if you like having that throat to cough out pathetic comments from I suggest you remember that fact,” he said, throwing in a growl just to prove his point, “are you really so innocent that you’ll help a stranger? You’re dumber than you look. What if I decided to kill you when you got close enough?” He was actually curious. She could get herself hurt if she didn’t show a bit more caution. Or so he had been raised to believe, anyway.

She needed to be like him; no trust to anyone.

Taking on a bit more calm, Jeraha tried to get himself back to his paws. “Tch. In any case, these injuries aren’t that serious. I don’t need or want help from the likes of you.” Of course, he was only half-right about that. He didn’t want her help, but he certainly needed it. That much was clear as he toppled back over onto the dirt after his failed attempt to stand.

Jeraha, admittedly, was surprised by her outburst. He had pegged her for a timid creature easily made afraid. Getting her to leave him be had seemed a simple plan at first. As her combative words poured from her mouth, however, he understood that she would not be so easy to get rid of. Why she wanted to help a loser like him was beyond the gray and green animal; it wasn’t like he was even worth the trouble of saving. If he died, no one would mourn.

That was his life.

Cue world’s smallest violin.

He could but scoff at her, training his eyes towards a nearby rock so that he might avoid eye contact with her. At this point, looking at her for too long would probably prompt him to go for her neck. From the corner of his eyes he watched as she moved away from him, thinking for a moment he may have won after all. It was not to be. She returned shortly there after, to annoy him further no doubt.

“Giving big brutes like me the benefit of the doubt will get you killed,” Jeraha snarled in return, his words seemingly very real, “I’m the type to prove it, especially if you continue to work my last nerve.” He grunted, turning his head from the female to make sure that she knew he wasn’t going to be cooperative, though he knew in the back of his mind that he really needed to accept her help.

Stubborn by nature, that part of his thoughts went selectively ignored.

After a few minutes of tuning her out, the large animal lowered his head against the ground. He felt dizzy all of a sudden. Weak. The blood loss was getting the better of him, even he could see that. As much as he wanted to swallow his pride he just couldn’t find the means to. Not only because he was perhaps the most unrelenting creature on the face of the planet, but because he just felt too tired to try. Closing his eyes, he thought perhaps sleep would do him some good.

Block out the annoying female, if nothing else.

His eyes narrowed as she dared move her frame closer to his. She was really trying to test the limits of his patience. Which was a bad idea, considering he had no patience even when he wasn’t totally beaten to a pulp. “Suit yourself,” he muttered darkly, “but consider yourself warned.” Strange creature, this one. So bitter but still willing to try and help. What did she want from him? Some kind of reward? A dept he would have to repay, perhaps.

“As a matter of fact I -love- being in pain,” Jeraha retorted sarcastically, “it keeps me young. What about you? Do you like being an insufferable pain-in-the-a**?” He had raised his head again, looking over at her once more. She was keeping him from sleep now?

Fantastic.

He knew he couldn’t be the one to break the standoff. Mostly because he couldn’t find the strength to life himself off the ground. Still, it also had to do with the fact that he would never, even on his worst day, concede defeat to a female. When that happened he might as well cut off all of his mane and change his name to something feminine. Or, you know, jump off something very high. “Anyway,” he snorted after a pause, “what could you possibly do to ease the pain I’m in? Come to that, why do you even want to? You don’t care. You haven’t even asked what happened to me yet.” His tone had been altered, somewhat, though the rage still lingered there. It was just a bit softened by his fatigue.

As she laughed he looked at her, his expression straight and emotionless. The massive male wasn’t sure why she was laughing. Didn’t she realize he had just insulted her? Regardless, he wasn’t too perturbed by it. She had a nice laugh.

What? Shut up, Jeraha, you need a nap.

His frown deepening, he watched her carefully.

“Make me sleep?” repeated the male, skeptic of both the plant and the lioness, “and I didn’t ask for your life story. I just wanted to know about the plants.” In truth, he was actually a very good healer in his own right. But this particular area was somewhat new to him. He didn’t know what the plants were like or how potent they were. Though she hadn’t proven herself an enemy just yet, he still wasn’t sure he could trust her. It was entirely possible her means of “helping” him was putting him out of his misery.

Which he did not want. He was content in his anguish.

Listening to her, he chuckled. Her first comment almost made him too proud of her to be angry. It was something he would have said. Of course, she had to go and ruin it by adding in all the soppy crap about the main thing being his current condition. Sighing, he allowed silence between them again, feeling a little odd.

Anger was slipping away. Perhaps from his injuries, perhaps from starting to feel more relaxed around her. Whatever the case, he wasn’t as ready to ripe her face off. That didn’t mean he would want to be friends with her. Then again, that was never an option for him. The best he got was speaking without insulting someone in the process. “Very well then,” he muttered absently, having no intention to fill in any blanks if she didn’t want to hear about them, “though if any rogue lions come this way, you may want to take cover and leave it to me.”

“Humph,” was the response of Jeraha, “she probably told you that because you were small and she didn’t want to you to have more than your tiny body could handle. I’m, what, twice your size as of right now? I would need more.” That was the logic. The only thing, if one excluded the strong desire to do the exact opposite of her orders, that guided him as he moved his head forward and picked up the leaves in his mouth. He let the berries roll, deciding not to take his chances on something that would make him sleep. He probably should have thrown that concern into the whole deal, not just half the package.

Without concern, he ate the leaves, swallowing them with an almost pointed gulp.

Smiling smugly, he peered back at the girl. It was only then that he wondered if he perhaps should have listened to her. Nothing felt out of place just yet, but it was still early. She was the one going out of her way to help him and he had just completely ignored her warning. This creature was the kind that any normal lion would have trusted.

Why was he being difficult?

Oh, right.

Tragic past.

“I never said I thought you were anything of the sort,” he replied, “I think you’re an idiot.” He watched her, wondering why she had sort of stopped doing anything. Listening? The male wasn’t sure why she would take the time. His sense of hearing wasn’t anything to write home about, so he didn’t normally use it to spy on his surroundings like she seemed to be doing. Wasn’t a point.