[SRP] Where have you been? (Athena x Yofiel)

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Athena had to wonder what happened to his friend Yofiel. Usually he ran into her more often than he had lately. There had been times before of course when they traveled together and times when they did not see each other for long periods, but this did not seem normal. This was Yofiel being gone without warning and not even popping in to pick on the big fluffy lion she had grown up with.

Perhaps he was more worried now because he had cubs of his own, and they made him worry more, but it just seemed off that she was not around in so long. The big fluffy male paced and thought to himself as he waited for Yofiel to draw closer. The fact that he had spotted her this morning had just made him all the more anxious to see her and get some answers. He did not want to rush forward like a worry-wart when she seemed unharmed, though.

Yofiel was rather pleased with herself since having met Etihad and seeing his strange pride. She thought it had gone rather well with the male and she planned to visit him again and learn more about the odd things that came with being in a pride, especially that pride. There was something very odd about it to her even compared to some of the other prides she had seen in passing. Like the idea of colonies across the water.

Who could have imagined such things as having felines cross the water to get to other land? It seemed so odd to think about that colony across the water that Etihad lived on most of the time. She did hope she could visit him again. Her only fear was that when she went to visit again, he would not be on the mainland. She really did not think she wanted to try going across the water to visit him or risk the nobles being arses without his fluffy presence to keep them at bay.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Athena noted how distracted and rather smug the lioness looked as she approached. He had often seen Yofiel smug, but distracted? Something had to be up if the lioness was too distracted to notice Athena as she came. If she was not so inclined to notice her longest held friend, what DID she have on her mind? The lion really did want to know. The desire was a rather large and insistent one too.

The fluffy lion cleared his throat as Yofiel came nearly onto his position. "Good morning, Yofiel. How is my always beautiful best friend on this fine day? I have not seen you in some time. You have been greatly missed, I can assure you." His grin was bright and warm as always and he nuzzled her cheek affectionately. "You missed this fluffball finally becoming a father. It just was not the same without you to tease me."

Yofiel kept walking her intention was to try and find Athena and talk to him, but she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she did not realize she had already found him, and he had spotted her. She probably would have kept right on walking too, her mind caught on the handsome priest and his strange pride, if not for him clearing his throat right in front of her.

The lioness jumped a little and chuckled at herself. That is what she got for having her head in the clouds while walking. It was a good thing it was Athena rather than something dangerous that had sneaked up on her. "Well, good morning, Athena! I am quite well, if a little distracted. How are you today? You a father? I am not sure the world is ready for that, my friend." She grinned in return and nuzzled his cheek. She loved her old friend dearly.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Athena chuckled with Yofiel as she acknowledged her distraction. For the usually proud lioness, the fact that she was admitting to being distracted was amazing. Athena had to wonder exactly what had happened to inspire such a change, not that he was complaining about it. It certainly was a welcome thing to see his friend like this. He often worried if how proud she was would be a problem for her eventually. That she had seemed to overcome that flaw was delightful.

Not that the big fluffy lion really considered his friend flawed, he just was glad to see that she was improving on something that could cause problems for her. He also was slightly suspicious of it though. "I am very well, Yofiel, enjoying being a father. The cubs act nothing like me, so the world is safe for now. What has you so distracted?" Athena teased her just as much as she teased him. It was what they did.

Yofiel watched her friend closely and tried to keep her mind on what Athena was saying and doing rather than going back to the fluffy priest she had met. This was Athena's time in the spotlight, not Etihad's time. She almost missed the surprise in her friend's stance because of distraction, but she managed to wrestle down the thoughts long enough to see that. Athena's surprise made her wonder. What had he been surprised at?

It was probably nothing, so she would let it go for the moment. She would have to mull it over more later, though. There was little she and Fluffy did not know about each other so surprise between them was rare. His question made her smile. "I am glad the world is safe, I would hate for it to be otherwise, wouldn't be good for the cubs either." She chuckled again. "And I, Fluffy, was distracted by thoughts of a rather nice male. About as fluffy as you, and very nearly as nice."  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

"A male has you distracted?" Athena wrapped his tail around his paws as he sat beside his dear friend. The lioness meant quite a lot to him, as she was the closest thing to family he had growing up. He could still remember when he first found her, younger than he thought should be out on her own, no memory of any family. The big lion had to bring himself back to the present forcefully.

The idea of Yofiel being so distracted by a male made him quite aware of how much she met to him. He did not want her to be hurt, and obviously this male had to mean a lot to her. Athena looked over at his friend and smiled. He refused to get overprotective on her. It was not what she would wish him to do, especially not when this was the first male she had shown serious interest in. She always did say she wanted to find a mate and settle down, from the looks of it she found one to consider for it.

Yofiel smiled and tucked her head down a bit embarrassed to admit just how taken she was with the male that she hardly knew. "Yes, a male has me this distracted. He is... wonderful. I want to go visit him again..." She chuckled and had to wonder at herself. She needed to start from the beginning on this. She was going to lose Athena if she kept just rambling about Etihad instead of telling what happened.

"I went into pride lands to watch a pride that seemed a little odd to me and was watching everything. I was spotted by this male named Etihad and he was quite nice to me. He actually is nicer that just about any male I have ever met besides you. It is so sad, he had a mate and cubs but they were killed. I flirted a bit and he took it well, but really he spent more time talking about the pride than flirting back."  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Athena tilted his head to the side as he listened to the lioness go over her meeting with the male lion she seemed so taken with. Nothing really seemed odd about the meeting other than his friend being so taken with a pride lion. She had never really seemed interested in the idea of a pride before. This lion must really be something to have gotten her interested in him when he was in a pride. The fluffy lion was rather impressed really. "Well, I am glad you found this male so wonderful."

"He did not smell off then, I take it?" He waited for the lioness to nod before adding. "That is good then. I know your senses for such things are very keen. You have every reason to be delighted by this male by the sounds of it. So when are you going back to visit him?" Athena grinned broadly and nuzzled Yofiel again. "You should be off trying to catch this wonderful male rather than visiting an old fluff ball!" He meant that in an affectionate teasing sort of way.

Yofiel grinned at Athena's reaction. She had been worried that her old friend would get overprotective or lecture her about making such rash judgments of others. The fact that he not only was happy for her, but also told her he trusted her ability to judge this, really did make her quite delighted. Athena was like her older brother and the closest thing to family she had had growing up. His opinion of her meant a lot to her.

"I wanted to make sure the old fluff ball did not think poorly of me for this before I went racing off to catch a male that is in a pride. I might go visit him after I have had a proper visit with you. You are family, Athena, or as close to it as I have ever had. Catching myself a mate can wait until after we have had a proper visit and I have met these little fluff balls you have created." She nosed him and tried to push him along to show her his cubs. There was plenty of time to do other things after she got to see the cubs that her friend had. She was going to be their 'aunt' after all. She wanted to get to know them.