Hadaya was feeling a bit mopey. He was waiting around their tree, trying to see if Lee would come back. He knew she hadn’t said she would be back, but he missed her. And there was something else. Something more physical that he couldn’t explain, and almost felt bad about. He wanted to try it again, make it less awkward, see if it could be better. But he had very little experience, and he didn’t know all the rules for… it. He had just met the other young lioness, and now he wanted to know if there was more to it than being someone’s ‘boyfriend for a day’. He wondered if Lee would be interested it than kind of stuff.
He sighed, feeling restless and heavy at the same time, his muscles sluggish and coiled as if they were just waiting for something to pounce on or chase or something.
Walking away from the tree, he knew Lee wasn’t going to show up. It had been a while. It would be a while. It might not ever happen. He sighed, lonely.
Sex.
Apparently, it was the only thing males were good for.
Having never met a male, what was she supposed to make of that? Just what was sex, anyway, and why were so many females going out of their way to have it with the enemy? She didn't understand why two females couldn't have this sex together. The fact that only a male could make it good pissed her off. So she was away from the pride, determined to find a male, if only because she wanted to have this sex with one first, so she could later prove that having it with a female was fine too.
Little did she know.
As she moved, she heard something ahead of her. Blinking, she progressed slowly. Carefully. Near a tree was a male. At least... it looked like a male. The poor thing seemed small, somehow, and sad. Tilting her head to the side, she approached. "You," she barked, "are you a boy lion?"
Hadaya nearly leapt out of his fur at the sound of a voice behind him. He really needed to start paying attention to the world around him. One day the thing behind him wasn’t just going to say hi to him. It was going to pounce and eat him and he would have no time to react. Not knowing what might be higher on the food chain than a lion, he wondered about the plausibility of this attack scenario, but only for a short moment as his panic subsided and he spotted a female lion moving toward him.
He blinked. Wait. What had she just asked?
“Of course I’m a boy lion,” he said, ruffled. His thick mane bristled, sticking out in all directions. His ears were flat against his head, lost in the soft, yellowish brown fluff. His voice was a bit high from his surprise, though he cleared his throat, “and you’re a girl lion. I’m uh, not really sure why you wouldn’t know that.”
"I do know that," Twiga replied with a grunt, "I mean, I know that I'm a GIRL lion. I don't know. I've never met a boy and you don't really look like how I pictured one. I thought they'd be... bigger. Tougher looking. My mother always said that males were big and strong and something to be feared. You don't look like anything more mom described." She moved forward without hesitation. Now that she had it in her head that he was nothing to worry about she wasn't afraid of getting closer to him.
She wouldn't have been afraid if he HAD been something to worry about- she would have just attacked him. Instead, she started to sniff him, taking in the strange, disgusting scent of a male. Or mostly male. Whatever he was.
"What's your name then? It better be something a male should have." That was unfair. She didn't know what kind of names a male might have- she'd never asked one before.
Hadaya opened his mouth to say something, but just let it hang there. He had no reaction for this kind of a moment stored in his brain, and his ability to improvise seemed to have shut down. He didn’t even know this girl, and she was calling him small and not-tough looking. He knew it was true, but he didn’t like it being pointed out to him so wantonly. Opening his mouth wider, he failed to produce any words again.
Huffing, he puffed out his chest and held himself up. He had long limbs, but his night runs made him pretty well muscled, though he was thin and lanky. His mane was too fluffy, but his face was handsome and strong enough. He squinted at her, his soft eyes not looking particularly dangerous.
His fake confidence evaporated when she started sniffing him, and he curled toward himself again, tail low.
“I-I’m Hadaya,” he stammered, watching her in bewilderment. He sniffed at her carefully, catching whiff of something that made his already sore muscles tighten further, “and it’s very male-y. What about you? Is your name something that means Rude?”
"What are you doing?" demanded the female, "why is your mouth hanging open like that? Are you collecting flies?" She wasn't amused- if this was some kind of male trick it really wasn't that impressive. No wonder males were thought so lowly of. They really weren't good for anything. Well, except this sex thing, apparently. Which was why she was there.
Now what was this supposed male doing? She raised her head, watching him puff out his chest. It seemed threatening to her, though poorly executed. Nonetheless she sank her claws into the earth as a bit of a warning. If he thought he could attack her he was in for a world of hurt. Luckily, her investigation alone was enough to make him back down like some kind of child. Or, as she had expected him to be, a girl.
"Hadaya? That's a girly name!" She matched noses with him for a moment, looking into his eyes when he made a comment about her name. "Were you just being a jerk to me, Hadaya?" she demanded, "I'm not very fond of that, you know. My name is Twiga, if you must know." She didn't mention that it meant "giraffe".
Hadaya looked miserably perplexed and offended. His fur was sticking out in every direction, and he had no idea what was going on. He shook his head furiously at everything she said.
“That is NOT a girly name,” he asserted, his voice cracking, “it’s very manly and you… your… you have a dumb name!”
Ten points, Hadaya. He frowned. It wasn’t the most mature or cutting of remarks, but he was getting frustrated. Both mentally, with her constant berating of his character, and physically because of whatever it was he was smelling and the way it was making him crawl inside, “I’m not a jerk. I’m a very good lion, thank you very much. Twiga makes you sound like you fell out of a tree.”
Which, he thought, was a great thing to say when trying to prove himself a good lion.
"It is not a dumb name! My mother took a lot of pride in naming me that and you'd best take that comment back right now before I MAKE you take it back!" Protested Twiga childishly, stamping one paw against the dirt, "My name is much better than yours! What's yours mean, anyway, since you were so curious about meanings. 'Idiot?' 'Loser?' 'GIRL?'" She watched him, frowning. Whatever he was, she didn't like him.
Maybe she needed to find someone else to have this sex with.
"It does NOT!" she continued to rage, growing even more furious with him. She thought she had reached the peak of irritation with this lion, but no, he kept proving her wrong. Putting the bar just a little bit higher. She stalked around him, looking him over from every angle.
No more time for talk. She was going to make him pay for teasing the name her mother gave her. Without her claws actually being out, Twiga sprang suddenly on top of Hadaya, warpping her paws around all the fur of his neck while she loosely bit into his back. It wasn't enough to draw blood, actually, more like a warning shot.
While she was riding on top of him like a cowgirl.
Hadaya stuck his tongue out at her petulantly just before he felt her on top of him. Opening his eyes, he chomped down on his tongue and let out a howl of frustration, fear and pain, bucking wildly to get her off of his back. He made a lot of noise while doing it, yelling at her to get off and roaring in embarrassment and anger. When he was finally free of her he whirled around to face her, his mane looked as if a strong wind were blowing it from behind, though the air was perfectly still.
“WHAT is WRONG with you?!” He yelped, eyes wild as he backed away from her. He sank his claws into the ground, his body screaming at him to continue with the action. It had felt great, he realized, the rush of adrenaline and the almost fight he had somehow stumbled into. He wanted more, of what he didn’t know, and he continued to inhale that scent deeply. He growled, which was rare for him and didn’t sound as impressive as he wanted it to, and pounced on her.
He tackled her full body, taking her to the floor and tripping over her, landing heavily on top. He knocked the wind out of himself with the action, coughing and panting as he tried to keep her pinned under him.
“I AM a boy! What do you know?! I’ll prove it!” he didn’t know how, but he was open to suggestions.
Twiga wasn't able to hold onto Hadaya for very long, all the thrashing finally knocking her off. To avoid a bad landing, she jumped off his back right when she felt herself losing her grip, bounding off to one side and easily landing on her feet. She was quite light on her feet when she wanted to be. All that yelling an belly aching hadn't done much to convince her of his sexuality. If he was a male, he wasn't a very good one.
When he faced her, she straightened, clawing at the dirt to get bits of his mane from her nails.
"You were the one who was picking on my name!" Twiga bitterly replied, huffing disdainfully and looking away from him for a moment. Only when he growled did she look back, and be then he was already moving to attack. Gasping, she had no time to counter, getting knocked over by the small, but still bigger than her, male.
"Hey!" she hissed, batting his face with her dainty paws, "get off of me!" She glared up at him, narrowing her eyes and pushing against his mane with both paws in an attempt to shove him off. He was heavier than he looked.
"If you want to prove it," she said, suddenly thoughtful, "then mate with me."
“You started it!” Hadaya roared back. He wasn’t used to standing his ground and arguing like this, but he felt like he was absolutely obligated to do so. To defend himself, his sexuality, and everything he had ever tried to accomplish. He was not some big loser, or even if he was it wasn’t anyone elses place to point it out to him like that. He wasn’t going to take it anymore.
He had caught his breath and was staring down at her with his gritted teeth bared. He wasn’t exactly threatening or menacing, but he was clearly angry. He snorted at her, shaking his head and looking ready to agree to whatever it was she would suggest for him to prove himself.
“Fine then I-what?” He caught himself midsentence, hauling himself backwards and letting her go. He blinked at her, his body on fire, his head muddled and his anger still boiling, “you want to mate, even though you don’t like me and I really don’t like you? In the middle of a fight? And that will prove to you that I’m not a girl?”
He just had to check the facts.
"That sounds about right," Twiga said thoughtfully, watching him retreat. She rolled onto her side, raising her head and watching him carefully. Her request took him a little by surprise, it seemed. Maybe that wasn't the way you were supposed to go about the whole 'sex' thing, but she really didn't know what else she could have done if asking wasn't the ticket.
Tilting her head to the side, she watched him take it all in.
"Is there something wrong with me?" she asked him with a frown, "am I not... worthy of mating with by someone like mighty Hadaya? I thought you wanted to prove that you're not a girl. I mean, if you think there's another way I'd love to hear. Anyway, I want to mate with someone so it kind of works out well for both of us, don't you think? Stop looking so stunned."
Hadaya squinted at her, pouting a bit in his anger and frustration.
“That’s not it. I mean. I don’t know. I’m not really…” did he want to say that he wasn’t really experienced? That he had only ever met one female before, and he had only been her boyfriend for a day? Plus, he didn’t know the mechanics of it all that well. Did it mean they were mates, like Thili and Sen were? He certainly didn’t want to be, not with this rude girl. But then, he had seen others, in the rogue lands, meet and then leave and he was sure they never saw each other again. Maybe it was okay. Natural. Just one more thing he was stupid about. He was tired of failing. If every other male proved themselves this way, then why shouldn’t he?
He swallowed hard.
“Okay, fine. If you want to, and if it doesn’t mean I’m stuck with you forever then fine. I’ll show you I’m a male, and you’ll have to apologize, okay? That’s the deal.”
Twiga watched him, tail flicking over the floor. She didn't know that this encounter would only leave her wondering more than ever if the creature she had mated with was male. Eager, she got to her feet, waiting for him to piece together a response for her. It was so infuriating to have to stand around and wait for this slow creature to answer her properly! That stuttering sentence that didn't even end wasn't enough to conclude a yes or no at her offer.
When finally he did respond, she nodded slowly. "Good," she said, not really sure where to take it from there. She knew nothing of the ritual that was mating. "Then let's... do it. Right now. Why wait? Show me what we're supposed to do and then I'll be on my way afterwards." She wasn't even thinking about mates and having to settle down- the two things weren't remotely connected in her mind. If she wanted a love, she would settle down with a female. This was... different. A test, nothing more.
She waited for him, for what would be a rather... interesting experience for the both of them.
End!
