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Finding lush oasies was definitely something Bashira could appreciate after a long week of traveling through hot sun and hard land. The female had no problem with being on her feet for long periods of time, but hot weather and a coat as dark as her's often left the female overheated and slightly less cordial than usual. But a beautiful section of plants and cool water, after a journey like that? It was heavenly!

Presently, the lioness was stretched out on a rock, in the shade of a tree, and investigating a blue flower that had grown near the bottom of the rock. She didn't see plants like that around much, so far as she knew - but then, the feline supposed she travelled a bit too much to remember every plant she'd ever come across.

Fushigisou was pretty sure he had died and gone to heaven. Was there something like heaven for lions? He didn’t need to know the concept, or the idea of going some place good when he died, even. He just knew that a place like this couldn’t possibly exist in reality. Maybe he was dreaming. That was it. He was imagining himself in a great place that was made specifically for him. A paradise fantasy.

Perhaps he had hit his head somewhere.

He was sniffing at some flowers that surrounded the clear water, enjoying their color and scents, when he spotted a lioness nearby. Her scent mingled with the flowers, which distracted him from his exploration. Tilting his head, he padded over to her, wondering if she was part of his dream, or if she had hit her head and knocked herself unconscious to join him here.

“Are you awake?” he asked obscurely, watching her.

Bashira looked up, a teeny bit startled by the intrusion on her lazy doze, "Hm? Oh! Yes, as far as I know I am." she smiled brightly, voice smooth and calm as she spoke. She was a sleek creature with bright orange eyes that danced with mischief and amusement at everything.

"Why do you ask?" So far as she knew, Bashira hadn't been snoring. Or maybe she'd started to doze off and hadn't realized it, not that that happened a lot.

Fushigisou looked a bit confused, not sure how to take the news that she was awake. He shook his head slowly. So if she was awake then this couldn’t be a dream, unless she was simply an awake figment of his imagination, but that would just be strange. Wouldn’t it? Or was he being strange by over thinking this so much? He wasn’t sure.

He decided they were both awake. He had never had a dream where he could really smell things, after all.

“I was just checking,” he said, offering her a grin. He looked around, indicating with his head toward the clear water and the pretty trees around them. “I didn’t think this place was real, since it seemed like such a perfect little spot. So I thought we might both be dreaming, but the more I think about it the less likely that seems.”

"Oh, well all right," the dark feline laughed a bit as she said this, a friendly look upon her features. She smiled some at his comment, "I know what you mean - I was rather amazed when I first came upon this place too. Such a change from the outside, really. It does seem like a dream."

Sitting up a bit on her rock, the lioness decided to introdue herself, "I'm Bashira, by the way. Who might you be?"

“I’m Fushigisou,” the blue and green lion said, grinning at her broadly.

He was glad she agreed with him, as he wasn’t dense enough to not realize how strange his comments sounded. If she had just stared at him then asked him to leave it wouldn’t have been too surprising. He thought himself weird for thinking that way. Why would he be walking around while unconscious or asleep? Stupid thoughts in a bored mind were dangerous, he supposed.

He was getting distracted by those thoughts again now.

“So, you just came to this little patch of beautiful to cool down and relax?” he asked, thinking that was about right: it was what he was doing, after all. Though, he didn’t have reason to stay for long. Just to explore the trees and flowers a bit, get a drink, then move on.

"Good to meet you, Fushigisou." she replied, the name rolling off her tongue oddly at points. She hadn't spoken names in that language before much, so the combination of sounds came out funny, though she did put obvious effort into it.

Luckily, Bashira was the patient sort that could wait through bouts of bored thoughts. She'd met all manner of strange lions and other creatures, and she'd put up with quite a lot of waiting and stumbling over points for the friendly sorts. Now the rude ones, they were another matter. Fushigisou was one of the former, so she was more than willing to let him zone out during points in the conversation and not comment on it.

"Yes, something like that." the lioness agreed, "I like to travel about and explore, and came upon this after a few too many long hot days in a row, so I'm taking the chance for a rest."

Fushigisou knew his name wasn’t the easiest to say, though he didn’t know how he had gotten it or why. It was just his name, and sometimes even he fumbled over all the i’s in it. It wasn’t his fault, it was just a strange pronunciation and he sure it wasn’t from around these parts: it certainly didn’t sound like many of the names he heard.

Bashira was much easier to say, and sounded more like the African names he was used to hearing. Not that he knew his wasn’t African. Or even what African was.

“I know what you mean. I hate going days without seeing anything green. It makes me sad, really, because I think plants are really beautiful. More than that, walking in the sun tires me out a whole lot faster than in the shade of the trees, and the hot earth is more of a pain to walk on than cool grass.” He sighed, apparently having thought about the usefulness of plants quite a few times.

“I’m not really stopping here, though. Gonna get going again soon. Just wanted to make sure it was real.”

Bashira laughed again, amused by his behavior. He was sweet, in his own way, and seemed a bit flighty. "Well it is quite real. Now you know where it is in case you decide you ever want to return." she told him, stretching back out.

With a nod, she flicked her tail a little, "Myself, I think I might take a nap while I'm here. The sun and my coat just don't agree, but if I'm to head out again in a day or so, I should rest up and enjoy this while I can." After all, why squander the chance to enjoy a wonderful new place?

Fushigisou grinned, nodding.

“I’ll make sure to remember this place, when I’m passing through here again. I’m sure I will. I seem to walk in circles. And maybe you’ll be napping here again, too!” He laughed at that, doubting that it would be very likely. But still, it would be cool if it happened. And there was no harm in playing around, maybe half hoping. Good company was hard to find sometimes, right?

“Well, enjoy you’re nap. It was nice meeting you, Bashira,” he said, nodding as he moved away from her. He would leave her to enjoy her sleep, while he went off to find the next oasis to explore. He wondered if there would be more like this one. A new goal! He always liked adventure. Smiling as he padded off, he swung his tail behind him and started to hum a song to keep him company.