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Theluji stretched her long white form languidly, taking solace in the cool green shadows of the leafy jungle dusk. Her bright golden eyes had turned to palest yellow in the falling darkness, and her ghostly body was beginning to show signs of being able to blend into the shadows soon.

The white lioness closed her eyes momentarily and gave a sigh of comfort. Full belly, empty mind; there was no better feeling than this. She'd been tagging along with the lion named Matifu all day, and oddly enough had not grown tired of his company and banter the way she often did with others. He'd wandered off for a moment as she rested on the ground lazily and she wondered when he would return. She liked him, she thought, the way he never balked at her blunt questions and his permanent easygoing smile. He was certainly handsome as well, and in hindsight, Theluji had noticed her slight change in body-language when she was around him. Her mind found his words pleasing, her body found his shape alluring.

Folding her front paws, she flicked an ear, curling her tail about her flanks as a hint of a smirk crossed her face. Theluji, Theluji. She mused. Don't build these castles in the sky. The white lioness had never taken a mate and for good reason. She had never liked the idea of being tied down. She worried she would not flourish in one setting. Still, part of her couldn't help but wonder if the other might feel similarly.

Theluji smiled as the pale colored male with the sun streaked mane padded back into the clearing, his form pushing aside large jungle leaves as he moved past the treeline. She arched her back her body curving naturally toward him as she laughed softly at his comment. "Mmhm," She chuckled. "Cat napping, that's all."

Her eyes met his and held them for a second too long, lingering in a way that was almost suggestive, but suddenly a fat drop of rain hit the lionesse's head. Her ears folded back in surprise and her smile evaporated. Glancing back to Matifu she had the gall to pout slightly. "I hate being wet." She complained in mock dismay, her tone verging on melodramatic.

Theluji roused herself quickly, for truly, she did not fancy being soaked at the moment. At his urgings she took off after him at a run, pelting through tropical foliage as perfect true blue coins fresh from heaven's mint tumbled from the sky in droves. Water was everywhere, splashing off the trees, trickling down the leaves, and the small protection that the thick canopy offered was rendered useless when sprinting out from under one tree to another, or when one of their bodies pressed against some kind of plant, shaking off all the water in one fell swoop.

"This is hopeless!" Theluji cried in desperation, but her annoyance quickly gave way to a boundless amusement mixed with a sudden, rushing happiness. The exhilaration of her paws beating across the ground had set off a flow of endorphins in her brain, and the close proximity she was forced to follow the male with, leaning against him when the path narrowed, made her hormones bubble contentedly.

Suddenly the lioness was laughing, not the subdued elegant laugh that came so naturally to her, but great peals of childish joy. "Where are we going!" She called, voice constricted by mirth.

Theluji had followed dutifully in his pawsteps at the promise of a shelter, breathing hard, and still laughing whenever they ran out into a particularly strong part of the downpour. It was no use pretending she wasn't already soaked. The cave would be of little service, but it would be welcomed anyway. She would be able to clean herself and pull the droplets of water from her fur with her tongue--but that was the least of her thoughts at the moment.

Never had Theluji felt such a way in the presence of another. Encounters were mildly entertaining, and Theluji was not antisocial by any means, but she always seemed to tire quickly of company. This was different. She was happy, and she had never felt such freedom while being in the presence of someone else.

"Race you--" She gasped as the cave came into sight, a huge uncharacteristic grin on her face. She bounded forward in a sprint in one last burst of energy, momentarily pulling herself a couple paces in front of him.

Theluji flew towards the cave, her paws barely seeming to touch the ground. Her heart had swelled with want as he'd swatted playfully at her flanks, his form grazing hers for a half second. She swished her tail about her heels in a telling gesture, and at his next question tossed her head back over her shoulder to call out playfully: "--Me!"

Her eyes focused on the dark of the cave, her mind wandering down a similar lane of thought as his. Honestly, what was more romantic than a rainstorm? Despite her lack of love for water, she couldn't deny the way it swept the world into a flurry of excitement.

Her body slowed slightly as the energy from her sprint left her form in tangles of heat. She wouldn't mind if he overcame her. Wouldn't mind one bit.

Theluji's spirit soared as Matifu fell perfectly into step beside her, and she would have laughed yet again had her breath not been coming and going too fast with the exhortation. The dark enclosure of the cave was a welcome refuge, and as the jungle rainstorm poured outside, a symphony of nature's percussion, Theluji swirled her ghostly white body around to meet Matifu's.

Without thinking, as he touched her, she began to purr. Likely the other would hardly be able to hear the noise in the downpour that echoed through the small cavern, but he would feel the happy vibration in her throat. The lioness arched her back, curling around Matifu the way a housecat might curl around its master's leg, her eyes glowing a dull yellow in the darkness. It was clear from her expression that she was ready without too much foreplay, and clear from the rumble of passion in her chest just what it was she wanted.

A glimmer danced in those dim golden eyes, a glimmer unlike any other that had ever been there. Somehow, this was already different than the one night stand she'd known it could be...