Devya was wandering aimlessly through a forest ... jungle ... he really wasnt sure. He was so tired he had not even realized he had walked into the jungle until it was too late. Now he was even more lost than he had been, not to mention, cold, hungry and miserable. He could hunt fine in on the savannah, but with the little energy he had and the odd layout of the land it was near impossible for him. Devya decided he'd better stop and rest for a while, so he looked around for while until he found a tree with root that twined to make a small cave and climbed in to rest. Most of his tail and bottom were exposed and flicked his tail frequently to ward of bugs.
Persephone had gotten bigger since her last expedition to the pride’s borders. Her dreams hadn’t gotten any better, and she still got a slew of visions when she was touched, but she had grown. The red lioness was currently making her way through the jungle heading towards the pride’s borders. She stayed alert as she moved, eyes wide and always on the lookout for others. She didn’t want to accidently run into anyone and get flooded with visions.
She was so busy looking at the area around her that she almost stepped on a tail that was sticking out from a tree root, but luckily she saw it at the last moment and with a strangled cry she jumped back, tumbling over herself in her rush to not touch it. That had been a close call. She laid on the jungle floor breathing hard and staring at the tail, who slept under a tree root?
Devya jumped at the sound of the cry hitting his head on one of the tree root and tumbling out of the his little whole. "Ow," he moaned his head now aching. He rubbed his head with his paw and it was a moment before he realized where the scream came from, after turning around and coming face to face with the female who previously been starring at his tail. "Uh, hi," he said giving the female a curious look before his face lite up. She was his way out or at least he hoped she was. "I'm a little lost, could you possibly tell me where I am please?"
Persephone continued to stare at the male as he turned around her eyes wide. Not only had she managed to run into another lion, it was a male lion. She had never met another male except her brothers and that had been brief before they were taken to another pride for raising. It took her a moment before she could process his request. Slowly she sat up from her lying position and nodded. She was far enough away that she wasn’t trembling but she knew when she opened her maw she would stutter. ”H-hi…” She glanced around getting her bearings. ”Th-th-these are th-the Antianeira p-p-pride’s land.” She wasn’t sure if he was trying to reach the main pride, which wouldn’t be smart since they didn’t like males, or get out of the jungle, which would make more sense. ”Are y-y-you trying to fi-fi-find your w-way out of the ju-ju-jungle?”
Devya frowned at the girls speech, he hadnt meant to frigthen her that badly. He hoped she would calm down, he was having a hard time understanding her. "Antianeira. I've never heard of that pride. Sounds interesting, but yes I am trying to find my way out. I need to find my way back to back to my pride Matembezi'Wasakaji, but I think I am very far away from it." Devya sat back and smiled. "I'm sorry if I scared you before. I am a little tired and I just wanted to have a little lie."
She nodded when he mentioned the pride sounded interesting. She was very proud of her pride but they were different being full of females with no males allowed. Her breathing had slowed back to normal but her stutter was still there, she couldn’t help that. ”I-I’ve ne-ne-never heard of th-that pride, but I know the w-w-way out of the ju-jungle.” She tried to return his smile but her own was wobbly. She spent most of her time awake and paranoid that she was going to be touched so she didn’t relax very often. At his last words she shook her head. ”E-e-everyone scares m-me, it’s n-n-not your fa-fa-fault.”
Devya smiled and made to nuzzle the female in excitement to be free of the jungle, but stopped short for fear he might startle her again. He was just barely caught her saying everyone scared her. He smiled again. "You know the way out? Could you possibly show me. I would be very grateful." He thougth about his sister Nyx and Shu'reh and how he missed them. "I really miss my mom and sisters. I really want to go home to them."
When he made to move closer to her Persephone quickly shuffled back, her body beginning to tremble. She didn’t want the visions to come, not now, not ever. It took her a moment to calm herself and keep her body from trembling and she nodded slowly. ”I-I can, as l-l-long as you d-d-d-don’t touch m-me.” She knew her stutter was getting worse, but she couldn’t help it. It got worse when she got stressed. Pushing herself onto her paws she began to walk towards the edge of the jungle, staying a ways away from him, but still easily in sight and hearing distance. ”H-h-how’d you ge-ge-get lost?”
Devya felt guilty when the female shuffled back from him, he'd never seen a female who did not like a good cuddle. He frowned slight, "I wont touch you, I promise. And thank you for helping me." When the female started to walk away he followed keeping his distance. He flushed at her question and the answer came out in a mumbled jumble of words. "I followed a herd of gazelle, realized I was lost after they snuck off while I was napping, the wandered into the jungle and here I am now." Devya now knew it wasnt a smart thing to do he was no tracker and he was still young.
She wanted to tell him it wasn’t personal that she didn’t want him to touch her, but she wasn’t sure how to do that without having to explain everything about her visions and she honestly didn’t want to get into all that. Especially since some lions wanted to know their future and so they tried to make her see it. Hearing his words she nodded. ”Th-th-thank you, a-and you’re we-welcome, it’s h-hard finding y-y-you’re way through th-the jungle if you d-d-don’t live in i-it.” She listened to him as they walked, nodding at his words. ”W-well luckily f-f-for you the gr-gr-grass lands aren’t t-t-too far a-a-way.”
Devya was happy the female seemed more at ease even if she was still studdering. He moved up to walk beside her still giving her a good amount of space, so even if he tripped he wouldn't touch her. "It hard to find your way around anywhere if you don't live there," laughed Devya, "but its probably the hardest in the jungle," he said grinning. His smile seemed only to grow, "Thats good news, soon I will be home and I can practice my hunting and be with my family." He figured if the border was too far away then he must have been walking in circles for some time.
Persephone nodded at his words, she supposed that was true, if she tried to navigate the grass lands she knew she’d quickly get lost. She wasn’t sure if the jungle was the hardest to get around, at least in the jungle they were landmarks that let you know where you were. She imagined on the flat grass lands everything pretty much looked the same and would be harder to get around. ”Y-yes very s-s-soon.” She continued to walk, keeping an eye out for landmarks and for other lions. After a couple minutes she found the path she was looking for. It was well used and led out of the jungle. Turning towards him she gestured towards the path. ”I-If you f-f-f-follow this p-path it’ll l-lead you out of the j-j-jungle.” She didn’t want to take him all the way to the edge of the jungle, she needed to get back to the pride before mother started to wonder where she went.
Devya was very happy there was a path knew he'd be able to get the rest of the way on his own. He turned to look at Persephone, he wanted to thank her but realized he did not know her name. He sighed and decided it really did not matter. Her slipped her rabbit bracelet from around his front paw and placed it on the ground before her. "Thank you for helping me," he pushed the bracelet toward her still not getting to close to her, " a present for you. It was very nice meeting you, I'm Devya by the way. I hope we get to meet again someday. Goodbye." Devya turned and started off on the path she showed him.
Persephone didn’t realize that they hadn’t exchanged names, it was little things like that that tended to escape her notice. When he offered her his bracelet as a gift she managed a small smile. ”Th-thank you.” Carefully she reached out and dragged the bracelet closer to her. ”I-I’m Persephone, g-g-goodbye.” She watched him walk off for a moment before she looked down and wiggled her paw into the bracelet. It was pretty enough. Turning she headed back towards her pride wondering what her mother would think of the bracelet.
'Persephone' mouthed Devya. It was a pretty name for his helpful new friend and he really did hope they would see each other again someday and maybe she'd even speak without stuttering. Devya continued on his was practically running to get out of the jungle. [Fin]
