Sinzia loved his naps. He spent a lot of his time napping, in fact. It was a very big part of his personality. In fact, it was so much that way that his parents had seen it, and had given him a fitting name. Drowsy. Still, somehow, he had never been as content, waking up from a nap, as he was in that moment. He yawned and stretched, looking over at his companion and shaking his head. He had never met anyone like her before. He could lie to her, but she didn’t seem to believe him. She played along with him. She made it fun, but not meaningful. She didn’t make him feel bad about it, like it was just a game, as he always thought it was, and she didn’t care. He wondered if he would be able to legitimately lie to her, or if she would just somehow continue to see right through him.
That worried him a bit.
Standing he poked at her with his paw, tilting his head, “up for some food?” he said, through a yawn.
Auri was sleeping peacefully, she felt safe with the bulk of Sinzia next to her. She usually just slept for short periods of time before getting up and traveling again. It was nice to not have to worry about anyone sneaking up on her in her sleep.
Luckily she was already beginning to wake up so when Sin poked her it didn’t take long for her eyes to open and she grinned up at him, giggling a bit. ”Yeah, I’m pretty hungry.” Smiling she pushed herself up to her paws and stretched before she looked towards him. Her smile turned into a grin and she leaned forwards, licking his maw. ”Let’s go.” Chuckling she turned and started off, smelling the air for any prey animals.
He nodded, smiling back at her without realizing he was making the expression. He blinked, then shook his head and laughed stupidly.
“Alright, I think I saw some rabbit dens around. Unless you wanted to go after something bigger? I’m not too hungry, but if you are we could hunt something more substantial,” he cleared his throat, feeling weird. There wasn’t really a lie in there, and it made him uncomfortable, so he added, “I can probably take down a zebra on my own if I wanted to.”
Hyena, being pack animals, weren’t known for their extreme hunting prowess and Sin was no exception. He usually stuck to small prey and scavenging, though he felt compelled to try and impress her this time. Someone elses kill was just not going to cut it today.
Hearing him laugh she grinned, she liked a guy who could laugh. At his words she paused her walking and looked to him. She chuckled of his claim of taking down a zebra. ”Really, a whole zebra?” She giggled, her tail swishing back and forth. ”I bet I could bring down a rhino all on my own.” She grinned, this was a fun game. She didn’t really know if he was telling the truth, she highly doubted it, but she liked to play the game.
But really, a rabbit seemed like it would be satisfying. ”Well, I don’t think I’m hungry enough to eat a whole zebra, but a rabbit sounds delicious.” She grinned, of course if he really wanted to bring down a zebra for her she wouldn’t stop him, but it was a little much.
“A rhino? What good would that be? We wouldn’t be able to eat through that thick skin they’ve got,” he winked at her, grinning a lopsided, cocky grin. He flopped his mane, the tuft of fur over his face smacking him in the eyes. He had to shake his head to get the fur out of his eyes and he grinned. Trotting forward, flicking his tail at her, he shrugged his lanky shoulders.
“A rabbit you want, a rabbit you shall have. I’ll make sure of that, and you can be my backup. We’ll be a regular hunting duo. If we don’t catch something, though, I’m pretty much going to say it’s your fault.” He flashed his teeth and then moved to where he had spotted the dens, crouching down and sniffing. It definitely smelled like rabbit.
He waited quietly for a moment until one poked its head out and he leapt at it, catching it by the head and pulling it out of the den before it could disappear. He brought it to Auri, holding it to her, because it was still alive and he didn’t want to put it down.
“Foo youph.” He said.
Auri laughed, he had her there. ”Oh shush,” She shook her head, her mane falling back into the same place it had been before. Chuckling she followed after him, it seemed he wanted to be the hunter for today and she didn’t mind to be honest, hunting for yourself got tiresome after a while. At his words she grinned, ”My fault? How would it be my fault? My only job is to stand here and look pretty.” She smirked, watching as he began to stalk the rabbit den. She settled down into a sitting position, waiting silently for the rabbit to come out.
She was just starting to grow bored when Sin caught the rabbit. Grinning she got to her paws. ”Nice catch!” Giggling she stepped forwards and reached out taking the rabbit’s neck in between her powerful jaws and biting down hard. The poor thing barely knew what hit it as its neck snapped, and it hung limply from her maw.
”Fank yoo” She spoke around the rabbit before she dropped it and lowered her head, ripping into its flesh.
Sinzia grinned, watching her eat for a moment. He was glad he hadn’t done anything stupid while catching the rabbit. It would not have been good to look like a doofus catching a simple thing like a rabbit when he was boasting about being able to catch a zebra and take on six lions at once.
He then went back into the brush and caught himself a rabbit. Returning to her, he ate his catch, which was a bit smaller, contentedly. When he was done he lifted his head and yawned, ready for another nap but doubting that was in the schedule.
“So, what do you usually do? I mean. Are you a loner, like I am, or do you actually have a life and a family and stuff like that?” He asked abruptly, albeit a bit awkwardly.
For once Auri was silent, no laughter or chatter coming from her maw. Eating was serious business. It didn’t take her too long to finish the meaty portions and then she began to crunch the bones up and eat them too. She glanced up at Sin a couple times while she ate, she wondered what it would be like to see the same hyena day after day. She’d never traveled with anyone for any decent amount of time, she’d always been a loner.
She was just finishing off the skull of the rabbit when he spoke to her. Swallowing and licking her muzzle she looked up at him, chuckling. ”I’m pretty much alone, I had my parents once, but that was a long time ago.” Smiling she couldn’t help but be a bit happy that he didn’t have a mate and pups hidden away somewhere. She was starting to like him. ”But now neither of us are loners.” She grinned moving to stand next to him.
Sinzia nodded. He didn’t think about his parents much at all. They had never liked him, really, because he was always slacking off. They told him he was destined for more, capable of more, but he never lived up to their words. They grew as tired of him as he had of them, and their parting ways hadn’t been that sad. He wondered what became of them, but he didn’t worry about them or have any dire need to see them again.
He looked at her, smiling as she moved to stand near him. He nodded.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. If you wanna hang out some more. I don’t know, though, sometimes I can move cheetah fast,” he grinned, lying. He licked her cheek out of no where, blinking. There had been some blood on it, but he didn’t know if that was what had prompted the impulse, “uh. You had some. Rabbit. On your face. Gone now.”
She laughed at his words, now that she didn’t believe. She had seen cheetahs run and she had never seen a cheetah run as fast as that. ”Oh, I’m sure I’ll find some way to keep up.” She grinned back at him, she really did enjoy spending time with him. When he licked her cheek she giggled at his awkwardness. ”Thanks,” Leaning over she licked his cheek, smirking as she pulled away. ”There wasn’t any rabbit on your face.” She winked at him playfully.
He opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again quickly, grinning at her. He nodded. Yeah, she was alright.
“So, what do you want to do now? I figure we could… take a nap or go wander some where and just hang out and talk some more. As much detail as I put into the second option, I’m really leaning toward the first,” he chuckled a laugh, knowing that much was at least true. At least that’s what his body said.
He wouldn’t mind just wandering with her. It was better than going alone, and he was very interested in learning more about her. It didn’t seem like a good time to part ways just yet, and he didn’t want to leave before it was the right time. If it had to happen, he would rather put it off. He started to pad leisurely in a random direction, hoping she would follow him.
Of course Auri followed after him, she wasn’t just going to let him wander off by himself, who knows what trouble he could get into with his lion hunting and zebra hunts. She tilted her head to the side a bit thinking of what they could do. ”Well, we just took a nap, sleepy head.” She laughed a grin on her face. ”I know of a water hole not too far from here, we could head that way if you wanted?” She wondered when he would take off, she didn’t particularly want him too, but most of the creatures she met had taken off after not too long. They usually mentioned something about her constant laughter bothering them, she never noticed.
“I like naps,” Sin said conversationally, grinning wistfully, “my name means drowsy, you know. I guess I’ve always been a sleeper.” In more ways than one, he thought ruefully.
He nodded, letting her shift into the lead so she could show him where it was. Really, he imagined he knew which watering hole she meant, since he had been hanging out in the area a bit, but she didn’t need to know that. He wanted to watch her walk, anyway, and that was easier to do when she was ahead of him. Was that creepy? He didn’t think so, but it gave him some pause.
“Yeah, we could just… hang out by the watering hole and talk,” he was really stuck on that idea. If he could learn more about her, he imagined he might not be so lonely in the future, even if they did part ways. At least then he would have someone to think about.
Auri laughed at his words. ”Well you’re name definitely fits,” She grinned as they walked along, her own name meant gold fish, she wasn’t exactly sure what a gold fish was or why her mother named her that, but she hadn’t really stuck around long enough for Auri to ask her.
The female easily took the lead, shifting their direction slightly so they were headed towards the water hole. As she walked she could feel his eyes on her and she looked over her shoulder at him with a grin, ”Are you checking me out?” She giggled and looked forwards again, watching where she was going so she didn’t trip or get lost.
She nodded at his suggestion. ”I’d like that, maybe you could tell me about your lion hunting expeditions.” There was a smile on her maw as she teased him, her tail swishing back and forth as she walked. At least she had found someone interesting to spend her time with.
“Yeah I am,” Sinzia said, then coughed. He hadn’t thought about his answer first, so the truth just got blurted out. He was too distracted, it seemed, to stay on his toes. He looked bewildered, then shook his head, “I mean no. I’m not. Why would I be checking you out? That’s pretty self-centered. No, I’m just sizing you up, just in case you turn on me. A hyena with as many talents as I have can never be too careful.”
He frowned inwardly, a grumble in his throat as he chided himself for being that obvious about things. He padded up beside her, to bring an end to the situation that was getting him in trouble.
The watering hole wasn’t too far away, and they were soon there. Just as he had wanted, they spent the day just talking to each other, playing in the water and learning more about the other. He couldn’t help but feel like he had found something special in this companion, and he smiled like a goon every time her eyes caught his staring at her. The day waned and they hadn’t parted company.
It looked like the start of something good to Sinzia.
End!
