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Deep in the shady jungle, a tufted tail swayed back and forth from a tree branch.
Chikalawingu, as her memory served to be her name, lay stretched out across a thick branch, her red eyes half closed in a doze. It was true that normal lions didn't climb trees, but the smaller-than-average lioness was anything but normal.
Firstly, she was small. Only about ten or eleven centimeters shorter at the shoulder than a normal lioness, but that was still a significant difference. But still taller than a leopard and she took pride in that. Her adopted siblings could never make fun of her for that one!
Secondly, she wasn't raised by lions. Leopards, in fact, had adopted the little lost cub, and taught her to live as a leopard, hence the being in the tree.
And lastly... Well, that was her little secret now, wasn't it?

She hummed a soft little lullaby to herself as her tail swung back and forth... Back and forth...

At the sound of a voice below her, Chikala's eyes slowly opened and she looked down over the side of the branch, her red eyes blinking softly.
"Oh, hello!" she replied and stood, stretching her back until something popped. She grinned, sighed, and hopped down, fairly agile for her species.

She landed on the ground in front of him, her ears pricked forward and fluff-tipped tail swinging back and forth. She flicked her "mane" out of her eyes and smiled at him. She always was very comfortable with leopards, acting very friendly towards them, even though the males were of similar size to her.

Chikala's smile faded a bit at the momentarily confused look on his face, wondering what in the world he could be confused about, because she had only said hello and they were speaking the same language and- Oh!
"Oh, you must be wondering what a lioness was doing in a tree, huh?" she asked and looked upwards, her tail flicking back and forth.
"Well," she began and returned her red-eyed gaze to him. "I had been about to take a nap when you came by, but I didn't really need the nap, so you weren't really interrupting anything," she finished with a shrug. She really didn't mind being taken from her nap, as it WAS just a nap and company was very welcomed, especially by a handsome leopard such as this male.

Chikala smiled broadly again and shrugged.
"I'm not surprised, I've never met another lion before, either!" she laughed and realized she should probably explain a bit of what she meant by that.
"Well, I was found when I was too little to remember much of my real parents and a nice leopard family raised me here," she explained, sitting down and raising a paw, pad-up, as if to help her "it's really very simple to understand" tone.

"Anyways, I'm Chikalawingu, but my friends call me Chikala. What's your name?"

Chikala bowed her head slightly, cocked a bit to one side, and the smile still present on her face.
"And it's a pleasure to meet you, Ororo. So what brings you 'round here?" she asked brightly, her tail bouncing back and forth on the ground behind her. She was a very cheerful lioness, happy with life. There wasn't much to be sad about. She had had a loving family, this wonderful jungle to live in, and most of the other creatures she had met in her lifetime were very friendly. She liked meeting new people, unless they were much bigger than her (then she was usually hiding in a tree).
And especially meeting leopards!

"Oooooo, hare's are hard to catch. They're really fast and around here they can get into lots of places," Chikala replied, her eyes going wide for a minute before breaking back into her smile.
"I can't even catch one during the day. You need a pretty green and brown coat to fool a hare long enough to grab one," she added. Oh, she'd manage to catch them before, especially when she was a bit younger, hunting with her older sister. She raised a paw, waving it back and forth a bit, waving off the sleep comment.

"Nah, just a little light dozing. Had nothing really better to do. But if you're hungry, we can see what we can round up? I've learned that two hunters can be better than one, sometimes."

Chikala followed him for a moment before he broke the silence and nodded.
"Yeah I do. You know, I know this place where the fishing's pretty good. I think it's easier to catch a fish than it is a hare. Would you rather have that?" she asked pausing in her stride and tilting her head to one side. She remembered, her older brother had taught her how to fish when she was still just a cub. It was their special bond, fishing with one another. It seemed like she had one thing that she did only with one of her siblings, and it was like an unspoken bond between them that it was a pastime between them. It was times like these that she missed them.

Her features had drooped a bit in her remembering, but she immediately perked up and looked back at him, waiting for his opinion.

Chikala giggled and shrugged.
"That's why you scrape them off and take a bath when you're done eating," she replied rather matter-of-factly. She looked at him and made a thoughtful face. "Do you... know how to fish?" she asked. She hadn't thought of that possibility when she suggested it, but now that she thought about it, she wondered whether or not her cub-hood past-times were an anomaly in and of themselves. Which made her wondered what other habits she had that weren't exactly normal.