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A lion with a mission. That's what he was, and he knew it. Though, at times he did find himself questioning whether his decision to join such a troublesome pride was a good idea. In the long run, he was confident that his painful loneliness would one day dissolve as he found himself surrounded by those who could tolerate him for the lion he was. And it was that yearning to be free of his cruel fate, that gave him the strength to continue through the roguelands in search of the one.

But today his strength was running low, his paws were tired, and his fur seemed far heavier than usual. It wasn't that it was excruciatingly hot, but being so stubborn as to go without breaks - even for water - was proving to be a very stupid idea.

'Such a stupid, STUPID idea. Never should have thought of it....'

The words silently echoed through the male's mind as he trudged forward, past his problems. Barely taking any note of the small watering hole as he stumbled by, lost in his own thoughts. Truthfully, he quite possibly wouldn't have noticed at all had it not been for the light splashes that slowly caught up with his hearing. Questionably, Ulimi paused in his tracks, fighting with himself inwardly to push on, but his body would have none of it. He needed the rest, but more importantly he needed sustenance. He wouldn't be finding anything if he wasn't around to do the searching...

With a growl of irritation, and a large ruffling of his mane he forcefully turned his body around just in time to see the female wade right past his line of vision.

"Great, this is just my luck.." He groaned. Loud enough for the female to hear, though whether intentional or not was something yet to be determined. "Of all the places I could have picked to stop... I just had to choose this one." Ulimi's knees began to wobble as he stood staring, oddly transfixed by the lightly marked lioness; figuring argument was no longer a viable decision, he glanced around quickly for a shady area to rest in. But came up with nothing all that suitable..

''Too Sparsely shaded...

Now that ones got too much shade...

And the leaves on that one are too close to the ground....'

There he was doing it again! Nit picking every single detail he could, without even thinking about doing it! Too frustrated to worry any longer over a shaded area, he merely plopped down where he was and lay his head on his paws still staring at the female's swimming techniques.

Didn't she know she was doing it wrong? She shouldn't swim like that! If a strong enough curr-

AGAIN! Ugh, he hadn't even spoken to this female yet, and already she was wearing on his nerves..

Busted.

And for what? Quietly critiquing her swimming movements, or simply spying on her for reasons even he didn't quite understand? None of which mattered now anyway, she'd seen him, and wait - what was she doing? Was she - No she wasn't - Yep. She was coming over.

Caught off guard, Ulimi quickly began looking for something else to stare at, but immediately tiny ridiculous problems began to pop into his head. Perhaps it really was just better to face the music and deal with her? But then, what would he say in his defense? 'Oh no, I wasn't looking at you, I was looking at your posture.... did you know you're a really bad swimmer?' Ulimi groaned at himself in defeat, knowing sadly that would most likely be the case. But he didn't really see another option in sight. Sneaking another peak, the male noticed her shake her coat dry. "Pft, can't even dry herself out correctly ... Look at her! She's still dripping from the tail..."

Closer, she was coming closer.

Then she was speaking. Oh gods she was speaking Then, not only was she speaking, she was stating the obvious! What was wrong with this female? Well, besides her obvious lack of instinct or skill.

"It's nuffing..

Well, no it's sumfing.

Know what, you don't want to know..."

Ulimi paused in his stuttering, attempting to continue holding his tongue with he teeth, causing his odd form of speech. But his teeth were pretty sharp, and soon the pain just wasn't worth the bother anymore, instead he tried to focus on other things. Hoping this, Nefertari, would quickly bore of him and move on to something else she could be mediocre in. But instead, he found himself concentrating entirely too much on her tail. It was oddly mesmerizing too watch, yet it's interest quickly faded into irritation, and the male rolled his eyes. Letting out a highly exaggerated sigh, he began to mumble.

"Stop...Just stop...."

All the while, his eyes hypnotized by the tail, like someone hypnotized by a pendulum.

How did he know she didn't want to know? Well that was a pretty simple question, that he would gladly explain though he doubted the female would stick around after the first couple of hours in. Instead he merely huffed his mane from his eyes and grumbled slightly. "Lion's intuition. Yeah, that seemed simple enough, and perhaps she would be just clueless enough to accept that as answer. But oddly he found himself hoping she would question it, but then again he prayed she wouldn't. Call it a double edged sword - If she didn't accept his answer, then she was interested in conversation with him, and gods knew he needed the social interaction. It had been so long since someone had accepted him - tongue and all. But then, with the same breath, if she didn't accept his answer, she'd probably be so fuming mad at his response that she'd storm off. Just another lioness on the prowl, with nothing but bad things to say about ol' Ulimi'Siri.

Ulimi was hopelessly lost in his own thoughts, inwardly nit picking at his own wishes when the tail lightly tapped at his nose. Which quickly brought him out of his stupor, and allowed her previous words to finally sink in.

"Yes, it is quite a nice tail, though it would be much more marvelous if it contained even a hint of your white."

The words slipped out of his mouth, before he had time to take them back and immediately the regret began to soak in. But perhaps since she was such a big girl, she'd take the comment as it was meant to be taken. As a compliment. But then again, she was a girl... Who knew with them.

As Nefertari quickly put a halt to her tail's movements Ulimi's attention was forced to go elsewhere, which this time happened to be the ground; counting each tiny grain of dirt he could pick up...

"Huh?

Oh, well since you're such a big girl I guess I could tell you. But don't get yourself all worked up, i'm not here because of you..."

Ok perhaps that wasn't entirely true; normally when Ulimi ran into lionesses he would force himself to leave the area immediately. Yet this time seemed to be different, and she was driving him even more insane than normal!" Perhaps it was his yearning for company, or perhaps it was something more, but did she really need to know that? Nah.

"In fact, if it weren't for my own ignorance, I wouldn't be stuck here with you now. But, for a long story short, i've been travelling for days on little to no energy and my body finally decided it's had enough. So here I am lying before you, unable to move, and thanks to you - unable to rest."

There it was again that rude, slap you in the face, brutal honesty that he had grown to loathe so much.

"What exactly are you doing here? Y'know besides being the highlight of my day."

Ulimi snorted as he rolled his eyes in mock irritation. His figuring being that since he'd already made himself out to be a jerk, actually being interested might be a little strange at this point.

"Heh, Mismatch? I think you've been misinformed, you see in my travels I have seen more than my fair share of lionesses who weren't so easy on the eyes. I wouldn't place you in the category." Ulimi snorted, continuing to count the grains on the ground, rounding up his courage to sneak another peak at this curious female's face. So far, his resolve was strong, his courage though, still needed some work. But her next comment caught him off guard, did she really not catch the rudeness in his remark? Should he take advantage of the situation, and try to save his own skin? Could he? Or would he stick his paw in his mouth again?

"I think you misunderstood me....." Before he could open his mouth and say anything else, he quickly clammed up. Focusing once more on the ground and picking up where he had left off... '76,77,78,79' Sure, he heard her offer to leave, he chose to ignore it, hoping that as conversation continued she'd forget having offered in the first place.

So she was looking for the place she was meant to be? Ah how familiar that feeling felt, it was normal. To him at least, not to have the sense of belonging that you so desperately wanted. He could relate to her plight, and empathized with her; nodding silently as he continued to attempt to count the grains of sand... 'Why on Earth did the sun have to shine so brightly against the sand?'

Finally the lion gave up on his nervous, frantic counting and gave into the lionesses request. But before he could even open his mouth the begin, she cut him off with her rather unexpected, but completely understandable line of questioning.

So she had noticed, and apparently it seemed to bother her. Though he was even more surprised that she hadn't realized who she was speaking with yet. How could she not know all of the terrible things about him? He was infamous in the roguelands, by just about every female he came across! More than once he'd been approached by a random female, only to receive a scratch across the face or an evil word. No doubt friends of lionesses he had unwillingly harmed in the past.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard of me before. Exactly how long did you say have you been traveling in these lands?" The question wasn't necessarily meant to divert the conversation back to Nefertari but if it did, it couldn't hurt.

"I'm, Ulimi'Siri, though don't call me by it. I'll leave it up to your presumed sharp wit to decide which I prefer. And as for your question, I don't really think I could give you an answer that wouldn't sound phony, but since you requested I will oblige.

I'm a perfectionist, and a terrible liar. I find it impossible to hold back the things I find bothersome about others. Even if it's something I would much prefer to keep to myself. I find it, almost painful to hold them in, and as a reflex to such an odd feeling, my mouth simply exposes my inner thoughts, regardless of the impact they may have." Ulimi paused a moment, taking a breath, "But the trouble here is, you would think, that can't be so bad, how many bad things can you think? Being a perfectionist, and a very strong one at that, I see imperfection in everything. Including myself."

Hmmm, only a month? The new revelation sent Ulimi's mind into a spiral of possibilities. She was either extremely young, a run away, an outcast, or just a lioness looking to escape the stress a pride saddled you with. But oddly, as he scrutinized her once more, he couldn't really perceive her as any of those things. Except young of course, she seemed very innocent and polite for an older lioness of the roguelands. No for the most part, the older lionesses around these parts were snippy, independent, and argumentative. Nothing like Nefertari seemed to be. She also didn't seem so heavily stressed, no eye baggage, or slouching.... just a very distracted look in her eyes from time to time. That little action was really beginning to gnaw at the male, but for her sake he attempted - at least for now to hold back on it.

'Ulimi'

Through his bitter scowl, the burdened male managed a small smile. Though it was kind of hard to tell, he really wasn't all that used to the gesture. He probably just looked like he was in some sort of pain. But as much as his perfectionist innards wanted to make it clear that he was indeed smiling - wouldn't it be just a little awkward to say - "This is a smile by the way." Yeah, it definitely would. But, he quickly lost sight of thought process when questioned about his name. "Because i'm not proud of it." He mumbled, waiting a moment to judge her expression before continuing. "I was born, under a different name, of which I no longer remember. But, as I grew my parents noticed a certain trend in my behaviors which proved to be troublesome for the pridal lives. So when it was time to formally introduce me to the pride, my parents renamed me - Ulimi'Siri - I am told it means Hidden Tongue. Which isn't exactly something I pride myself in. Plus it's such a tongue twister. Half the lions I run into can't even say it properly. Why bother?" He laughed slightly at his own breakthrough. He'd never been able to talk to anyone this freely, not even his own parents.

"I thank you for your kind words, Nefertari, you are quite a different lioness than the others. Your parents must be proud of you." His gruff pained smile reappeared as he continued. "I know it doesn't sound like much, but it is a compliment. Trust me, as you travel these lands more, you will realize your personality is a tough one to come by. And you have such a way with words - it's almost poetic - deeply poetic and incredibly smart. You may be surprised to hear, that are the first creature to ever see me that way. But after a bit more traveling perhaps it will surprise you no longer"

Ulimi stopped once more, noting the expression still seemed stuck in her gaze, and he felt oddly guilty for having ignored it for so long. He only hoped she'd see it his way, and not take it incorrectly.

"Now it is my turn to question you, because I can not stand my own guilt any longer.

When you talk - you have a far off, distracted gaze in your eyes, as though you wish you were wherever you are thinking of. Is there something you are running from?"

So it wasn't necessarily a lack of commitment that held her back, but more a need to be herself that propelled her forward. While the concept was noble, it did have quite a few less than smart sides to it. She left her home unknowing of what awaited her outside its walls. Leaving herself open to the dangers of the real world, and for what? A chance at true love?!

Ulimi let out a small snort as he continued listening to her story, though he knew she'd take it offensively he couldn't help but shrug his shoulders while urging her to continue. As she finished up, he began a tally of the many things he wanted to make a fuss over. Though he knew his intention wasn't to scare her off, so again - he would hold back - ATTEMPT to hold back.

"While I can understand your viewpoint on arranged marriage and the prison it locks you into. I can't help but think if think if it was the smartest decision you could have made. Leaving your protection zone? A very brave move for a fragile female." He smiled slightly and continued. "I do agree with you though, an arranged marriage is a very foreign concept to me. Though I have run into a few others who find themselves caught in the arranged marriage web. From what I have come to understand, many of them only do it due to pressures from their family. Ulimi shook his head in disappointment as he finished up.

Watching Nefertari's tail flick back and forth, Ulimi focused onto it once more, though again he really wasn't sure exactly why. Attempting to focus back on Nefertari, he shook his head in concentration and grumbled for a moment, his attention now focused on her once more. She seemed somewhat lost in though for a moment, and he nearly questioned her on her thoughts. But just before he could open his mouth, she began speaking once more. With something he hadn't really expected her to ask, though a promise was a promise and he would answer them.

"Well, I imagine the pride I came from has dissolved by this point. They weren't really all that great to begin with, a terrible leader, weak undisciplined defenses, and irritating gossip. None of that really help them much. I left when I was but a youth and made a name for myself here in the Roguelands. Mind you, it's not a very pretty name, but it is a name." Ulimi looked up to see if his companion was still interested in his story, once he was satisfied he continued. "I've pretty much lived most of my life here, and just recently i've come to realize, while convenient, it isn't the life I want for myself. So I found somewhere new, it's a fraternal type of pride. The males there believe in multiple mates, and a somewhat big difference in genders. Though I don't agree with all of their rules, they welcomed me and tended to some wounds I had at the time. For that, i've decided to give their pride a chance. It could turn out well for me, who knows." He shrugged, and slightly winced as he mentioned the male dominant pride. Hoping the idea wouldn't completely disgust her.

"And yes, that is a very polite way of putting it, and i'm sure some of them would thank you greatly for using it. But there aren't very many innocent lionesses out here, it's sort of a rare thing. Which puts you in a bit more danger than you may have originally thought...."