Algani nosed through the brush, eyes almost comically fixated down her snout. Where was it? She'd caught a hint a moment ago but now it was gone again. Purple, she needed to find purple. Frustrating. She could do it though. Her tail wagged as she lifted her head once more to survey the area. She couldn't see it, but surely she could smell it if she tried hard enough. Though she didn't really know what purple smelled like. Maybe this was a bad idea. Her expression shifted and her ears pinned back against her head. This was dumb. No, not dumb, just hard. Her smile returned and she stuffed her snout down again, jogging along with no real concept of where she was headed.
Eventually, she ended up bumping into a rather large lion that was fast asleep on the ground. He was chubby, with light fluffy fur and spots. His size might make him intimidating, but Abiria was nothing of the sort. He was kind, and friendly, and an all around pleasant sort.
Yawning a bit, the male looked up from his nap and blinked at a very colorful wild dog. "Oh, well hello there." he greeted, turning away to stifle yet another yawn. Was it time to get up already?
The sudden jolt knocked her out of her seeking and she went crosseyed for a moment, blue eyes sparkling in wonder at her discovery. He wasn't purple, but he was certainly something interesting. "Hello," she answered cheerfully, taking a few bouncing steps to face him, "Have you got any purple? It's what I'm looking for." He was bigger, maybe he could see farther and know where some was. Lions liked purple, at least the one she'd met. Some might read her as rather dim, but it wasn't so much that she was simple as that she never bothered to think about more than a few things at once, and only very rarely were they less than cheerful.
The feline blinked at her a few times, tilting his head to the side. "Do I have any...purple? No, I'm afraid not. I'm all blue and white." he informed her with a shrug. "or do you mean a purple plant or something? Like a flower or a berry?" What a strange thing to ask for, or maybe it wasn't and he was just sleepy.
Abiria slowly pulled himself up to a seated position and rubbed at one of his eyes. Mmph, why would you search for the color purple anyway? That seemed a bit odd. Unless it was her favorite color. Hey, not his business if she liked that, right?
"I'm not sure what it is," she laughed, nearly falling into a sit near him, "I'd just like to find some." Her tail kicked up a small plume of dust as she watched him, trying to figure out what else he might have to offer. She could stand a rest she supposed, maybe he would let her stay by for a while. "I told an old lioness I'd find it for her." Well actually she'd never told her. The dog screwed up her face for a moment. Oh no, she'd never said she was coming back, she might be gone by then.
Abiria thought for a bit. She wanted purple? Well, there was one thing he could think of in that color anyway, "I know a hyena that's purple if that helps?" he suggested, "otherwise I cant' help you." He was a bit disappointed at being unable to help her - she seemed like a nice creature, if a bit odd, and that was a simple request to find, right?
"Oh? Why did she want it?" Maybe that'd help him figure it out!
"She's old," she told him bluntly, laying down with a thump. After a moment she began to pant, thinking over how she could explain it, "She wants to smell it." That did sound a bit crazy, now that she said it out loud, but she did like to help, and it was what she had wanted. But she wasn't here now, and she wasn't sure she would be there when she got back anyway, so perhaps there were other important things. Like what had brought him out here. "What made you nap all the way out here?" So she was a bit nosy.
An old lioness who wanted to smell purple? That was odd, for sure. "No, I don't have any way to help you with that, sorry." he repeated, shaking his head and laying down again so they were on eye level, at least a bit. He was a rather large critter and that made being eye-to-eye with others difficult at times.
"Oh I took a journey away from my den for a few days and I was resting before I started heading back." Abiria explained, shrugging a bit, "It didn't seem like a bad spot so I settled down and here I am."
The dog nodded, though she didn't know much about dens or homes, she usually preferred to dig out a little hollow beneath a tree or make a little nest of tall grasses. "Well I guess you're right then, but what if I were something big and scary?" She flexed her claws awkwardly, as if to illustrate her point. Scary she certainly wasn't, annoying perhaps sometimes. "And you'd be sitting right there all asleep and easy." Then again, she certainly hadn't seen him until she ran right into him.
Abiria laughed at her show, more in amusement than in mockery. "Oh I don't know. Most things don't scare me. There aren't many creatures about that'll actively attack a lion, even asleep." at least none he'd met. Anyway, he woke up to little enough and could probably fight whatever it was pretty well. "I'm not really worried about all that."
"So, wha'ts your name? I'm called Abiria."
"I'm Algani," she told him, her colored ear flicking awkwardly, "I don't know who called me it though." She hadn't had much for family, a fleeting encounter with a brother or sister maybe, and her father every so often, but aside from that they had usually spent their times alone and wandering. So no one would attack Abiria, plenty would still attack Algani, but she was fairly certain he wouldn't be one of them. "Do you attack creatures then?"
"Creatures? well yes, I have to. I have to eat." Abiria said with a shrug, "But I try not to get into fights unless I have to, and I don't mess with the same herd too often." He was a social creature, and tended to like everyone, even preybeasts. It wasn't really his fault that he needed to eat now was it? Anyway, he tried to pick and choose the creatures he ate anyway.
"Why, do you?"
"Are rabbits creatures?" Her question was entirely seriously, she couldn't be sure because she'd never heard them talking before. Maybe she just hadn't be listening. Maybe she would switch to fish. "Nothing I can talk to, I think. That's a good rule. I like creatures, if they like me." She licked her chops and stretched a bit, considering what she would do if she ever ran into a creature that didn't like her. Run, probably, she wasn't much for fighting.
"Yes, I think so." the male said with a nod, "Rabbits, Fish, they're all creatures. They just don't talk much."
Abiria chuckled deeply at her remark, nodding his head, "That sounds like a good rule. If it will talk to you, it's probably impolite to eat it." he commented, "Unless it's mean, but that doens't necessarily make it good to eat anyway." He'd met a few mean felines he'd never have fought or eaten. But then, eating another lion would be weird.
Algani nodded, "I don't think anything mean would taste very good." She liked sweet things, berries and things she wasn't really supposed to eat. Sometimes bark even, if she could pull it off the trunks. "Probably bitter." The conversation had taken an odd turn, she noticed, and she began to hope that all of this talk of food wouldn't make him change his mind and decide to taste her. She probably tasted like fish, or whatever others things were blue, flowers maybe. Her eyes lazed as her mind wandered, fixating back on him when she was done, "Is it just you you have to feed?"
"Yes, you're probably right." he agreed with another warm chuckle. "Or very very sour."
At that question, he blinked and nodded, "Yes. Just me. No family justy et and no pride. Just me really." Abiria somewhat wondered if the world was sending him a message, having almost everyone he met asking if he had a family or a pride. Maybe it really was time to see about babies. He should talk to that lioness he'd met about a few. She'd seemed to enjoy their time together, albeit she would probably have to be convinced to have little ones.
"Me either," she told him with a bit of a sigh, "I'd like to have a bunch, so I can visit them all and not have to stay in just one place." It was an odd aspiration for a female dog, maybe not so much for a male, but it seemed the best option to her. She'd love to have pups, but maybe not spend every minute with them. "I don't think I'd like a pack, too much staying in one place and doing the same things."
"All what?" he asked, blinking. "All of your family members or all of your pups?" he asked, not quite sure what she meant. Had he mentioned thinking of having cubs outloud? Well, that wouldn't surprise him too much if he had. Abiria did occasionally run off at the mouth without meaning to.
"A bunch of families," she explained, as if it were the most obvious meaning of her statement. "One to stay in each place I like to visit." She rolled onto her side a bit, soaking up the sun, "That way I don't have to be alone but its something different each time. Haven't you ever thought of that?"
"No, I can't say I have." the lion blinked a bit, scratching at a spot on his mane. Did he have too many places he liked to visit? "I don't think I'd have anywhere to put them, and I'd miss them all when they weren't around." He liked having company around, and if he were having cubs, he'd want them nearby. That'd be more fun!
"I have lots of places, and if they miss me they can come find me." She nodded, well decided on the subject, "Or they can come with me, but I think they might like having just one home. It's how my daddy used to do, but I guess it's easier for him." It wasn't for everyone she supposed, and it was sweet of him to want to know her family. She'd know hers sure enough, she'd just make sure she spent enough time with them when she did see them. That was a long ways off for sure. Maybe in between now and then she'd find somewhere she did want to stay.
"Well it's good that you -aaaaahmm, good that you have places to be." Abiria found himself yawning once again in the middle of his response and blinked. Mm, he still felt tired, from his interrupted nap, and now that the confusion and curiousity were wearing off, he was starting to realize he needed to get back to it. "I'm sorry, but I think I need to go back to sleep." he laughed at that, shaking his head. Long day ahead of him and all that. "Do you mind?"
Algani tipped her head to the side, did she mind him sleeping? "No, but I don't think you'll be too interesting anymore, I might go look for purple again." With that she got to her feet and stretched down low, her chest nearly touching the ground. "Maybe I'll try by the water, do you think there'd be some there?" It was enough of a break already, she didn't need to hang around much longer of she might well forgot what she was doing in the first place
"That's alright." Abiria agreed, waving a paw and nodding. "Have a good time." he told her, yawning again as she asked about finding purple near the water. "Mmm, sure. It could be fun to look there anyway." Why not? Purple could be wherever it wanted to be.
With a last laugh she bounded away, colorful tail flickering high above the grass. She should bump into others more often, maybe they'd be as nice as he had. Or not, but then she always had the option to run. "Sleep well Abiria the home seeker," she called out before disappearing into the brush in a wash of broken sticks and dust.
(Dulcea and DG)
