Hermes was very proud of himself. Not only had he met Wari, but he had been accepted in to the pride and whats more he had been given a rank. He smiles broadly as he pads through the pride lands. His prides lands, he was aprt of this place now and he was bursting with joy to tell his daeze. His Daeze would undoubtedly be very proud of him.
He chuckled to himself, he knew he was kidding himself, but he liked to think of the dusty rose lioness as his. After all, she had snuggled him and she clearly liked him. She just didn't want to admit it.
Taking a breath, he purses his lips and starts to sing "Daeze, daze, where the heck are you? I'm half crazy all for the searching for you, I know you're sound here some where, so come on out and give me a snuggle, cause I am sweet, and on my feet so come on out won't you..oh!" He chuckles, changing the words to the tune he often sang to his lady.
Basking in the sun as she usually did, Daeze was right then rolling onto her back with a large stretch and yawn. No sign of Hermes today. Perhaps the Shujaa had finally decided that he was a pest, just as she had thought of him. Maybe he was long gone, in the desert, searching desperately for food. As much as she wanted to convince herself to smile about this thought, she instead frowned deeply and ruffled her brow. Normally when she wanted to be especially cruel, it intertwined with her character fora moment and honestly felt that way. But was she actually WORRIED about Hermes?! He was only a rogue, and she shouldn't care. Telling herself this, she settled back down with another stretch and laid on her back, feeling the warmth seep into her fur.
Daydreaming aimlessly, she thought about her friends, her mother, her father, all her siblings, and then... it all melted away when a minty green lion danced on the edges of her imagination. He was chasing after her, his cotton candy mane flopping in his face. She couldn't help but giggle. And then she heard a faint song that he seemed to insist on making her lullaby. It seemed so vivid. Almost too vivid. She pressed her eyelids shut a little harder and rolled over. Ears perking up, she realized it was real. She sighed under her breath, “Hermes...”
"Daeze my lady love! You remembered my name!" He chuckles padding up to her and licking her cheek before she could move too far away or protest at his advances. "I knew you'd call me by my real name eventually." He purrs settling down and puffing out his chest, his soft pink mane falling in to his eyes as he sat there, smiling widely.
"Now my sweetest of flowers, ask me why I am smiling, I do beleive you will be ever so pleased with my news! It's so wonderful I think you'll simply smile all the day long." He chides, his palest, pale blue eyes resting on the dusty pink femme. He was convinced she was his lady and he wasn't about to be argued with, even though he knew she would most certainly protest at him for various parts of his statement. he waited for the barrage, looking forwards even to her venomous tongue.
Turning her head towards him, Daeze responded, “Well, of course I remembered your name. I never forgot it, I simply chose not to address you by it until we made our deal. Note the fact that you also spoke to me with the name I requested. However, you know as well as I that I am in no way your 'lady love'. I have gotten to the point where I can remotely tolerate you, so you might as well try not to piss me off.” Just after she had finished her long lecture, Hermes walked up to her and licked her on the cheek while she wasn't paying attention. “I...”, she started, but just let out a long breath out her nose. There was no real point in arguing the fact that he licked her. It happened so frequently, it probably had become habitual for him. She just wanted to think of it as a friendly, instead of flirty greeting. Looking at his proud stance, Daeze inquired, “Why are you standing there, puffed out like a peacock?”
“I told you, I am NOT a flower! I am a lioness, more specifically, I am Abeba'Adaeze, Msaka of the Mteo'Nyungu!”, she sped through her words hot-temperedly. “And very well, what is it? Since you say that I will be 'most pleased', am I to assume that the Shujaa are fed up with you and are going to throw you out on your butt?”, finishing with a tone mixed with sarcasm, curiosity, and a slight bit of hope
"Haha! My darling dusty rose, you're ever so grumpy today, but I am most certainly sure you will be ever so pleased with my announcement." Leaning in closer to her he puts his nose to her ear and whispers "My name is Hermes, Shujaa of the Mteo'Nyungu." The smile on his maw broadens as he sits back and puffs out his slender, muscled chest. He knew she would be pleased. Well actually, he knew she would be annoyed and he was waiting eagerly for her wrath.
He knew secretly she liked him more than she was letting on, but he liked to tell her everything, liked to see her reactions, he liked to direct her anger to make it easier to get closer to her. For every little smack and claw she put to him, the closer he felt to her, the more he wanted her. She had been playing hard to get from the beginning, but he knew she was softening towards him. "Well my love? Aren't you happy that we can be together in our pride now?"
Her ears perked up when he seemed to insist that she would enjoy the news he had for her. Perhaps she was correct? Was he actually leaving? A small frown crawled across her face. If he was indeed leaving, then she would miss him, but how could she miss him if he never left? Interrupting her thoughts, he leaned in towards her and began to speak. She listened anxiously and closely to find out if he was indeed leaving. Instantly, her eyes jolted open and she jumped away from him as if she had been shocked. “Shujaa?! What do you mean Shujaa of the Mteo'Nyungu?! Surely you must be joking! You must be, because Elimisha would NEVER let a rogue, let alone you join, let alone have an actual rank!” Her head snapped up pointing to the sky and she shouted, “Really? Why do you hate me so much? What did I do?!”
Relaxing her neck, she massaged her temple with her paw, as she tried to let this all sink in. Hermes had actually gotten into her pride, and not only by the skin of his teeth, but also managing to get an equal rank to hers. Hopefully he was ignorant to their customs, so maybe if she played her cards right, she could convince him that his rank was so low compared to hers that it was inappropriate for him to like her. Turning to him, Daeze put on her most degrading voice as she paced in circles around him, “Poor Hermes, only getting the rank of a Shujaa! I mean, that's honestly kind of sad, that you got that rank. I mean, cubs are generally considered higher up than Shujaa. And of course, the my rank of Msaka, there is NO possible way that I could be your mate, even if I wanted to.” She put on a good show, but it all came down to if the elder that let him in had explained the pecking order.
“This is hardly our pride, Shujaa, you are merely here, but you are simply a resident, while I am a part of this pride.”
"Well my lady, Wari has agreed that I will make a wonderful addition to this pride, especially as a mighty warrior." He smirks, he knew he would catch her out with that one. He knew he wasn't below her, and he knew it would only irk her more to know that he wasn't as foolish as she thought he was.
"On the contrary my little rose coloured flower, we are perfectly compatible." He takes a few steps closer to her, his soft blue eyes dancing happily, with a quick, almost invisible movement he wraps a fore leg around her shoulders and pulls her in to his chest "You can use me as your comfy pillow and I will protect you from all whom challenge our beautiful pride!" He puffs out his chest, he did so enjoy seeing her so wound up. She was hard work, but he enjoyed the challenge more than she would probably ever know.
"The world doesn't hate you my love, it brought me to you after all. Can't you see just how, perfect the world with us together in it hmm? I know you can, just admit it."
“Wait, Wari, you said? You went to Wari?”, she turned away from him briefly and cursed under her breath. He went to Wari! That was admittedly a good move Elimisha would have surely turned him down, while Wari was much more lax. She could already tell that the whole 'Warrior' thing was going straight to his head. Just what she needed. A more confident Hermes. As he went on speaking, she realized that her plot had failed. He seemed to have no thought in his mind that he was any lower than her. And he was correct.
Before she knew it, she was under him, Hermes squishing her into his chest. Daeze was strongly tempted to stick her claws deep into his stomach for the sudden invasion of personal space, but she remembered that he was now a member of her pride, and she is not supposed to hurt her pridemates. “Hm! Last I checked, squishy pillows don't really make the best fighters. Note how they are used in fights to avoid hurting anyone? Such a soft one as yourself would surely become a pathetic pile of feathers within a few moments of fighting a rival pride lion... And oh yeah, I'm not a flower.”
Hermes gave a chuckle and tilted her lead up with a claw, looking deep in to her eyes."You know you want me to protect you my flower. I know you can't admit it because you are so stubborn. But you want me here really, and you know I will be a great warrior, pale fur does not denote lack of fighting skill. After all, I fight for you every day don't I?" he grins a cocky grin still holding on to her with his other arm, his pale, dusty blue eyes sparkling happily.
He did so enjoy poking the bear, so to speak. He liked it when she reacted with venom in her voice, he could even hear the undertones in her angry rants. "Wari knows I will be a great warrior, and it's okay, you can admit it, you know too. It's okay to love me I know I am fantastically fabulous and perfectly suited to a wonderful flower such as yourself."
Too amazed and annoyed to care that Hermes was touching her, she did not resist him lifting up her head. In fact, she was almost unaware of it as she was deep in thought, trying to imagine any possible way to resolve what was clearly a mistake. Was Wari blind? Although Hermes looked as if he were strong, he seemed too laid back to care about protecting his pride, let alone anything else. But then again... he did seem committed to her. Perhaps he would be a successful Shujaa after all. She felt her stomach briefly cringe with worry. What if he went out to battle and never returned? She would actually, probably miss him. Irritating as he was, now that he was in the pride, she would have to see him around no matter what, so Daeze decided that she may at least make him a friend. She didn't mean she would be all sunshine and daisies, but she would try to tolerate him and be civil.
Trying to follow her own vow now, she responded uncharacteristically, with an unusually sweet, sugary voice, though it was shaking from her concentration to keep it that way, “Yes, I am sure you will be a wonderful Shujaa, Hermes.” It was usually not difficult at all for her to be civil with other lions, but he just rubbed her the wrong way so many times, it was a challenge to not lash at him. She gritted her teeth as she tried to fake a warm smile to him.
Hermes almost released her as she spoke in a civil voice to him. She was being..nice? Licking his lips he moved his paw to her forehead, moving back the fetlock of her fringe, and resting his paw pad on her forehead, he bites his lip and frowns. "Daeze my love I think you are surely ill, you have just spoken to me like a normal lion!" He looked almost panic stricken, though it was a mocking look that dashed across his face and left laughter in his eyes.
He could hear the struggle, hear the energy it took for her to speak to him in any manner that wasn't rude. "You don't have to be civil to me my rose flavoured darling, I know you only know one way to show your true and daring love for me is through the venom in your voice. My darling rosy shrew, though I agree that I will be the most wonderful shuuja ever to have existed." He prodded, touching his nose to hers "How ever will I hone my skills if you do not challenge me with your wit and iron will on a daily basis?"
As Hermes held her to his chest, she got a mischievous glint in her eyes, but only for a split second. She had a new plan. This would possibly be her greatest performance yet! Being the little actress that she was, she had perfected the art of playing sick. She had sharpened this skill ever since she was a cub. Her signature, her fake cough: She pulled it off brilliantly by first denying that she was sick. “Why Hermes, it's lovely to know that you care, but rest assured, I am not--”, she interrupted herself with a small cough to start. “Er, excuse me, as I was saying, I am not sick, I am merely--” she threw in a much larger cough leading to a fit of coughing. Daeze turned away from Hermes, “I'm sorry, excuse me.” Now all she had to do was put on her 'sick eyes'. She lowered her eyelids and didn't look into the sun, so they looked lifeless.
“I think I need to lay down...”, she moaned with a sniff. Looking back up at him with her paw holding her head as if it ached, she said, “Why of course Hermes, you will be the best Shujaa the Mteo has ever seen, you”, she made a strange gurgling noise and finished, “waste of skin. Why are you even here,” she gargled again, “darling?”, as she finished, she put a genuine smile on her face. She had learned that all she had to do was smile to avoid cracking up. And then the finale, with a face of worry, “What's wrong,” she made the garbling noise again, “you pathetic excuse for a lion?”
Hermes blinked owlishly, as good an actress as the dusty pink lioness was. He knew full well she wasn't ill. Still, it might be fun to play along. An almost evil grin spread across his maw, which he quickly wiped away when she looked at him, replacing it with a shocked look, a genuinely shocked look. "Oh lord, my rose must surely be sick to be saying such odd things to me. We should get you away to the trees quickly. My mother once told me of a mightily powerful concoction which she told me how to create when I was but a cub. It is said to banish away the evil sickness spirits."
He paused dramatically for effect, nuzzling Daeze, roughly, towards the trees. "We must make haste my daeze, or you will surely die of this evil disease. Though, I seem to remember that the potion is poison to anyone not really ill. Oh but why would my wonderful lady love tell such lies to me? She surely would not risk days of agonising stomach aches, surely only my mothers miracle medicine will cure my lady love and bring her once again in to my loving paws!" He posed dramatically one paw lifted and his gaze turned to the sky "Oh lords do not take my flower from me, she is the only part of my life that is worth living!" Lowering his head he produced a fake sort of sob, lifting his gaze to look at the dusty pink femme.
"Too much right? I know I never was much of an actor." He grins and takes a step away from her. "I need to go and eat my stomach thinks my throat has been cut are you coming?"
Looking wide-eyed at Hermes' performance at first she snickered and then burst out laughing. “Wow, Hermes, that was terrible. WAY overdone! 'She told me how to create when I was but a cub.'”, she continued to laugh. Wiping away a fake tear from her eye with her paw she finished, “Hoo...” She had actually had fun with that show. It was quite enjoyable watching him put forth a strongly overdone scene. She was actually having fun? With Hermes? Well, maybe it had worked then. He was now her friend. She would still tease him, but she wouldn't actually mean it... most of the time.
“So how did you know that I wasn't really sick? I thought I did pretty well for not playing sick for a couple years.”, she inquired. And then she realized. She was actually talking to him as she talked to her other pridemates. He was actually a part of the Mteo'nyungu, even in her book.
Hermes shrugged and nudges Daeze playfully "If I had found you coughing when I approached I would have believed you, but, you only put on that little act of yours when I claimed you must be sick." He grins a cheeky, playful grin, something had clearly just happened between them, something he wasn't sure how to describe. Casting away the thought he nodded back in the direction he had been heading.
"Well are you coming you rosy shrew, I haven't got all day Daeze." He grins, a very roguish grin at her, a brow raised, he wanted to let her know that not everything had changed between them, he still expected the wrath of her tongue. "Warriors gotta eat yanno?" He smirks taking a few more steps away from her, though he was waiting for her to follow, he didn't want to leave her alone right now and he had a feeling she would follow if he encouraged her. Something had definatly changed between them, but not too much.
