The next morning he'd woken up alone.. but that was to be expected. Lefika had departed at some point--he vaguely remembered her doing so, so he must have half-roused when she'd slipped away--during the night, and when Chizoba woke it was with the sun warming him instead of the other's body. He didn't really mind, to be honest, and probably would have thought it odd if she had been there in the morning, rather than the other way around. As it was, he thought back fondly upon what was now a mere memory and stretched himself upon the ground with a great yawn.
An ear flicked at an errant fly and Chizoba wondered if he should bother mentioning the incident to Teja. Likely not, for what harm was there in this? It wasn't as if the Queen demanded to know, or even wanted to know, what the male did with all his hours. Such a thing was improper and below her sexual status, much less her political one. With that happily settled in his mind, the lava-marked lion head towards the nearby stream for a drink.
Nerida sighed softly, pale eyes flickering up towards the sky with more than just a touch of irritation. Why did Tau - she paused, correcting herself in her mind - Panu have to be such a.. brat? She and Maua had been looking everywhere for him and the brat just wouldn't show his face. She'd decided to forgive him, and here he was making it impossible for her. Stupid.. stupid!
Coming upon the stream, having taken a little while to think by herself while Maua slept a bit, Nerida noticed the other. A brow quirked as her eyes followed the pattern of his coat, but she didn't make any comment at the moment. With a serene face, she leaned to take a lap of water, then brought her eyes back upon him. "I've never seen you before." Blunt as that, really. She knew he wasn't a part of either of the sea prides.
Chizoba's ears pricked. He hadn't noticed the dark female--probably because of her colouring--and that made it twice in two days that he'd been startled by a strange female inside his prides' own lands. Once more he concluded that the girl must be a gypsy, otherwise she'd never been allowed to pass the border, but that didn't make it any less... well, surprising. The second thought, far more unjust of him, was wondering why all the gypsy women were so remarkably ugly. Not that it was their fault, and the girl did have some brilliant reds to redeem her, but other than that she was simply so incredibly bland. It was a wonder they bred at all.
Not that coat counted for everything, as he well knew himself, but meeting more than one of the same horrendous affliction was enough to startle anyone. Yet, Chizoba offered the young girl a smile, as if there was nothing uncouth in her appearance or blunt nature. "Aye, lass, and I've never seen you out here either, I'd think. Come from up the shore, have you?"
Nerida had no real ideas about what Chizoba was thinking, considering she had no idea that she was 'ugly' by the standards of his pride. In fact, Kapuki really wasn't the type to wonder what he was thinking at all. Why did it matter what he was thinking? He wasn't the ocean, Maua, or Panu and hell.. his opinions really just didn't matter all that much. He was just something to help pass her time - and maybe he'd seen Panu?
"Have you seen a white male with pink and green bits on him? I've been looking for that fool for days." She frowned, staring back towards the direction she and Maua had been traveling from, eyes narrowed. Then, of course, she realized he had been talking. "What?" she asked, turning back to him, a frown on her mug. "Yes, I'm from the ocean prides." Prides, because she still sort of belonged to her mother and father's, but thought of herself as belonging with Panu and Maua.
He lifted a brow. 'Ocean pride's'? Well.. that was new, he thought, but didn't bother to pry. At least, not just yet. Chizoba shook his head, "No, lass, I haven't seen any of your menfolk down this way. If I do see the wayward boy I'll send him on back, though. I'm afraid the only of yours we've seen recently was a smart, brownish lioness by the name of Lefika. She headed back up the shore last night, I believe." It wasn't as if that information was secret, after all.
She frowned at him, narrowing her eyes somewhat. What was he talking about? Who was Lefika? This wasn't helpful in any way. How was she supposed to find Panu if he just talked about some brown ninny she didn't know? "I don't know anyone named Lefika." She said, shifting to take another drink of water. That was enough information, in her opinion. If she didn't know, she didn't care about her. Not unless the ocean said she should. "So.. how do you lions live this way where there's no ocean?" she said with a sudden frown, realizing that he must live out this way. Living away from the ocean seemed so.. wretched.
He raised a brow, but did not persue that wave of conversation. If she claimed to know no Lefika, then she could be telling the truth.. but if she were lying it wasn't his place to call her on it in any fashion, and thus his tongue was tied. Taking in her age, though, she was just a small chit--young and impetuous.
"Amusingly enough, we ask ourselves the opposite question of your pride. Ours lives on the fresh water found in streams and in the basking heat of the jungle.. Though i'm certain the salt and wind is fine for many."
"We have streams and jungle," she said, huffing slightly as she drew herself up. Although, the basking heat of the jungle didn't seem very nice at all. She liked the open air, the wind, the breeze. "The ocean is beautiful, and it provides so much. I don't see how you could live in the heat of the jungle." She shook her head, looking utterly confused for all she was worth. She was only now parted from the ocean because she had promised Maua that they would find his stupid brother.
"Well... there is water and food.. just as you said, you too have jungle by your shores." Chizoba attempted to explain gently. It was always harder with females! Try as he might, Chizoba could only admit how little he understood the 'fair' sex. Especially the young ones, such as she. "Why should there be no jungle without the ocean? the ocean kills the jungle, after all, for it cannot survive in the ocean's salt."
She frowned at him, glancing away towards the direction she knew ocean lay. Was that why the jungle stopped before it reached the shore? No, that was just to make room for the sand. There had to be sand where there was ocean. She snorted, looking back at him, but for the moment said nothing. The ocean didn't kill anything. There were fish in the sea, weren't there? Why would the ocean choose to kill the jungle and not the fish? She sat slowly, eyebrows furrowed, before she finally looked back up at him. "The jungle still cares, though. It comes as close as it can to the ocean. I can sit under the trees in my lands and here the ocean whisper."
"Which is a great thing for one who loves the ocean," He agreed with a tip of his head, "But for one who does not, it would be a disconcerting thing indeed."
She turned surprised eyes upon him, furrowing her brows to add to the effect, and stared at him for a long hard moment. Then, as no solution came to her within her own head, she let out her question in the most baffled tone imaginable, "how could anyone not love the ocean?"
"There are those of us who think a large body of water a thing of.. well, nightmares." He chuckled, unable to help herself. The girl's expression was amusing, to say the very least. As odd a character as she was, and hard to deal with, that sight really did make it worth it.
She groaned at him, turning her eyes away from him. What nonsense was he talking about? "The ocean is not a nightmare," she said softly, though she was starting to take a bit of offense to it. She didn't like to be told things like that about the ocean. "If you think it's a nightmare, perhaps it's only because you've never seen it's glory."
What could he do? Arguing with a female merely wasn't done, even when she was being... well, pigheaded. He hated the thought, but it was there. Lefika, he thought, was far better company--and he'd certainly never heard of a gypsy that acted so...... boorishly! He dipped his head, "As the lady says," he replied, thinking that the easiest way to handle the conversation from that point on. It wasn't exactly an agreement, but close enough to be taken for one.
She quirked an eyebrow at him, letting her thoughts fade away. Well, she'd certainly never met anyone quite like this male before. She flicked her tail, watching him, for a moment simply letting the silence resound. "You are't anything like Panu," she said suddenly, tilting her head. She'd never really met a male that just.. gave in. Well, except for her brother, but Chozi was a nit.
His brows rose slightly, but there wasn't much of anything Chizoba could say to that, not having ever met the salmon male in question. Unsure of what to do, he decided to lower his maw back to the water for another drink.
With a lack of conversation now looming before her, she pushed herself up onto her paws. "Well, Maua and I need to get going, Panu won't find himself." She gave him a nod, and turned, walking away and back towards where her friend was sleeping. That was that, really.
"Good luck," Chizoba replied, and watched from the corner of his eye as the strange little girl left. Odd.. very... very odd. He frowned a little, then rose to his feet and headed back towards the inward lands of his pride.
