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Grinsen was sure there were some gods smiling down on him. Sure he had lead a fairly rough but easy life, roaming the rouge lands with nothing much to do. But now all of the sudden he was traveling with a fantastically charming and amazingly gorgeous lioness who laughed at his jokes (even though they WERE hilarious...no one had ever laughed at them before, though) and complimented him on his hunting skills. The fact that she was easy company was amazing in itself, but the idea of possibly having a family to boot was blowing his mind.

The lion stirred after he realized he was alone in the cave and opened his yellow eyes to peer around. A huge yawn was followed by a large stretch, and a few moments later he was on his feet. Now where had she gone off to? A quick scan let him know she was off by the mouth of the cave, outside if the brightness had anything to say about it. He really did admire her appearance. He was fairly plain as far as lions went, and his coat was far from splendid. How she was such a successful hunter while looking as radiant as she did was beyond him. Perhaps all the prey just stopped to stare at her beauty.

"Good morning," he purred as he poked his head out of the cave. Another stretch later and he was outside with Dimu, shaking his mane free of any little bugs that might have decided to seek shelter there during the night. "What a fantastic day. Not too hot yet, a little cloudy, perfect weather for more walking."

He was blissfully unaware of their watcher hidden in the bushes. The wind was blowing in the wild dog's favor. Should it switch, though, there would be two feline eyes trained right on the spot in the grass, for certain.

"Ooh, easy and breakfast in the same sentence? Can't pass that up," Grin joked with a little laugh. He found himself laughing a lot more genuinely around Dimu than usual. His laughs usually had a sarcastic edge to them, but lately they had been pure delight through and through.

"Lead the way, dear Dimu," he said with a wave of his paw as she started forward. He had been calling her 'dear Dimu' for a few days now, liking how it flowed over his tongue. That and she had gotten flustered the first time he had used it, so now it was a bit of an inside joke between them. That and she really was quite the dear, very polite and always quick to help him when he needed it.

As he followed her, he heard a snap a few yards ahead of them and slightly to their left. He froze, ears perked as his eyes trained on the spot in the tall grass. "Did you hear that?" he murmured quietly, straining to catch any sort of movement. It was difficult with the breeze blowing the tips of the grass around, masking any animal that might be trying to break for it. Someone was over there, that was for certain. Was it possibly their breakfast?

Grin watched Dimu as she crouched and disappeared into the grass. He remained where he was until he heard her speak again, not wanting to get in the way. He tilted his head and lifted himself up a bit to try to peer over the tall grass. No such luck.

"A wild dog?" he said and, indeed, a yappy voice returned the statement. Oh, he had seen a few from far away, but never right up close. This could prove to be very interesting! He pushed forward through the grass in time to see Dimu step off the spotted canine. Aw...she was so small next to the lioness...how cute!

"Well hello there, little lady," he said with a wide grin, not bothering to make it a nice one. "And what were you doing sneaking around in the grass like that?" He had no intention of hurting her, but teasing her a bit certainly wouldn't hurt. He'd drop his little game soon enough, but it was always a good laugh to give a newcomer like this a little scare.

"Certainly not a very good idea when there's two hungry lions about."

Grinsen nodded in agreement as he lifted his head a bit, swishing his tail to move the tickly grass away from his legs. He was glad he wasn't starving, otherwise this little chat session would be cut short as he pressed on, looking for food. As it was, he cocked his head to the side in amusement as the dog fluffed up a bit in pride for being horrible to eat. Well, it certainly would keep other, larger predators at bay.

"Duly noted. Predators aren't my thing, either. There's a respect there that you shouldn't break." Just because one predator stole something from another sometimes, or they fought for the best hunting grounds, didn't meant that they turned around and ate each other.

"We're in the process of finding a pride," he said as the question was asked. "We're not too sure where to even begin looking, though...you haven't heard anything about a cheetah-racing pride, have you? Supposedly run by lions but accepting of all species, feline or canine." He wished he had more information than that on it, but all he had heard thus far he had just said. A pity, really. He wanted to know more about his potential future home.

The wild dog's bold comment made Grin laugh again, but this time it was weaker, slightly embarrassed, and he cut it short as he glanced at Dimu. She looked a bit bashful as well, and he wondered if she would end up being his mate. Up until this point he had always considered himself 'doomed' to live life as a bachelor. Females usually were either turned off by his flirtatious advances or found him to be rather intolerable with his jokes and mildly clumsy behavior. He could remember his father telling him there'd be a girl out there for him, but he had never believed him. Was Dimu really that lioness?

"What she said," he murmured, still a bit too shy to meet either of their eyes. "Just friends." More would be welcome, of course. Any lion would be honored to call such a sweet, gorgeous female their mate.

"Ah...Grinsen," he added. His manners had certainly improved quite a bit when dealing with strangers ever since he had started on this journey with Dimu. The sarcastic tone to his voice was very rare to emerge when he was around her, so to anyone they met he was fairly kind. "And you are?"

Grinsen cleared his throat a bit as the topic moved away from himself and Dimu. She had gotten a bit flustered at the assumption as well, he had noticed. Maybe this was a topic to talk about once they were on their way again. He had felt like she had been returning his flirtatious advances a bit more readily the past few days...that boded well for him.

He turned his attention back to Mitifu who was suddenly dissing his pride. He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes, his tail lashing back and forth in irritation. This little pipsqueak didn't even know what pride he was asking about and here she was bad-mouthing it! The nerve...

"We're lookin' for a pride to call home, and this one seemed pretty relaxed, which is what we both would like," Grin said with a sniff. He'd enjoy the laid-back lifestyle, and Dimu would hopefully find it a suitable place to raise cubs. Maybe their cubs. Ah, he could dream.

"And yeah, that was kinda a 'lake half empty' comment. Really don't need those, pooch. Not when we've been lookin' for this place for so long."

Grin snorted quietly at the reply and rather flippant tone in Mitifu's voice. Well, la te da, it was a good thing he wasn't planning on sticking around much longer. Dimu, bless her soul, did a good job switching the subject, but that darn dog brought it right back down into that defensive tone of hers. Grin wasn't impressed.

"Not to worry, little pup. We can't be bothered with a pack of dogs right now. And since you seem so keen to be left alone, we'll do just that. Let's go, Dimu. I'm getting rather hungry and if the only thing around is this eyesore, I might just change my mind about not eating other predators."

Of course he wasn't serious, but he wanted to let Mitifu know that any sort of backtalk to his dear Dimu wouldn't be tolerated. He turned to go, flicking his tail in annoyance as he headed back they way they had come through the grass. "I know a place where there's a bunch of cheetahs. Maybe we can go there and ask them. I'm pretty sure it's close by."

Once he was out of the grass he set off to the north, pausing to let Dimu catch up with him. He let his shoulder bump against hers and he flashed her a reassuring smile, his bad mood gone, and continued to talk about what he hoped the pride would be like as he walked on.