Primitus was not often so far from the Aegnor anymore. From inspecting members to watching Chil or checking on Hakuna and her young, or his own, he was busy. Still, he roamed for his mates and to avoid subordinating himself to anyone, and the male knew today was no different, paws touching down lightly on soft grass as he stretched. At least new places were interesting.
It had been many years since Uurmi had last left the safety of the jungle or the bay, but there had been a pulling in her heart recently. It had started with the discovery of the small islands offshore from their lands, but had only grown stronger the more time she spent staying in one place. And as much as she loved her pride, she itched to explore. It was an annoying, insistent itch that had crawled under her skin, driving her to her beloved ocean on her day off so she could throw herself to the mercy of the waves.
She swam the whole way to one of the nearest and lushest islands, carefully keeping her head above the waves. The water stilled, the further out she got, and by the time she finally stepped onto dry land once again, she was soaked nose to tail. Not that she minded, of course. She was going to get her adventuring finished today so she could go back to telling stories to the pomboo of the pride tomorrow!
Primitus has not seen ocean in a long time. Waves washed upon the short idly and the scent in the air was heavy with salt, leaving him to stretch as he walked, studying the water before watching a figure swim toward shore, and he blinked, approaching.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
Uurmi had just begun to stretch some of the stiffness out of her paws when Primitus approached, and she stopped mid-stretch, eyes growing comically wide at the sight of him. She'd never seen a lion so big! Or a lion with wings either... After a moment she gingerly lowered the paw she'd been busy stretching, cocking her head to one side and flicking her ears towards the strange lion.
"I'm just fine! It's been a while since I've taken such a long swim, but I feel delightful. The ocean took good care of me on my way over here. She must be having a very good day," she chirped happily, returning to stretching out the rest of the stiffness that had started to set in from the long swim. It wasn't too bad, but all that repetitive motion had taken its toll.
.....The Ocean god was a girl this time? ......Sometimes Primitus worried about being born female again and decided to shake his head.
"So I see. I've never seen someone swim, though." He admitted. "Do you do it often?"
"Really? You've never ever seen a lion swim before?" Uurmi was in complete disbelief. She knew, of course, that not all lions swam. But sure he must've known at least one lion who did... Right? The thought that he really couldn't think of a single lion had completely baffled her, enough that it took her a long while to think to answer his question. Which, unfortunately, had the side effect of leaving her standing there, staring at him with a rather bewildered look on her face. And right as she'd been silent for a concerning amount of time, she seemed to come to her senses and shook her head. "Well! I can't say I swim all the time. Mostly, I only ever really wade in the shallow water. It's swimming to the cubs, and that's what really counts."
"There's others?" Primitus' eyes went wide in surprise, and his head tilted. "I never thought anuyone visited the beaches like this. I live inland."
AWAY FROM WETNESS.
"Of course there are others!" Uurmi was getting more and more baffled as this conversation went on. Surely the other lion knew of her pride, most of which lived on the coast. There were some who'd chosen to make their homes on the islands after their discovery, but even they were still part of the Bahari'mtoto. Could it be possible that he wasn't aware that he was technically in another pride's lands?
The thought made Uurmi hum curiously, squinting her eyes towards the god standing before her and leaning forward. She was giving her best interrogative face, which only really amounted to her looking slightly goofier than usual. But then again, she made goofy look good.
"You do know about the Bahari'mtoto, right? Because you're technically in our lands. A big scary intruder with flashy wings who doesn't even swim. I mean, really. When you count off everyone nearby, you're kinda the oddball here." She nodded her head decisively after making this declaration. Yes, he was the odd one. Not her. Definitely not her.
"Actually no I haven't." Primitus said calmly. "It's a large place. And besides, I normally don't fly this far." He admitted.
Uurmi huffed at his response, shaking her head and pacing forward a few steps. She leaned up, stretching and craning her neck until she was finally nose to nose with the stupidly big lion, squinting at him with increasing not-suspicion. He was most definitely, without a fraction of a doubt, a weirdo. And she very much liked weirdoes. Her expression lifted with little warning, eyes brightening as a big grin stretched across her face.
"Well! These islands are part of the Bahari'mtoto. So, welcome to the Bahari'mtoto! My name's Uurmi, and I'm a pomithi. I swam all the way out here because I felt itchy all over and needed some adventure." She paused, cocking her head to one side and blinking owlishly right in Prim's face. "Does meeting you count as an adventure?"
"Probably." Primitus admitted, bowing politely. "I'm Primitus." He spoke softly, and looked around. "Mmmm. I see!" He was entirely clueless, but he did smile back, cheerfully.
"Nice to meet you, Primitus!" Uurmi chimed, bumping her nose against the god's playfully before withdrawing. She turned away then, brushing past him to head further inland on the little island, towards the vegetation and the trees in the distance. After a moment she stopped, turning to look expectantly over her shoulder at Primitus. "Well? Are you coming or not? I bet we can find something pretty amazing hidden in all those trees!"
"Perhaps!" Primitus followed, head tilting in curiousity. This could be interesting, at least.
