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She didn't know of his inner turmoil for a few moments, lost in the thoughts of a decent sized meal. It wasn't until he kicked hard that she even noticed he was moving. A nightmare? Well, she knew what to do about those. Golden eyes looked ahead as she walked toward him again and she bent her head. What she did was lay back down against him and push his head up with hers in an almost caress. She wouldn't lie and say she didn't find him handsome. In a way, Lipi had wanted to do that since she had met the male.

Despite her attitude, she was still female. "Wake up, Muscar. You're having a bad dream." Her voice wasn't soft, but she tried to make it as gentle as she could. If it was working, Lipi hadn't the faintest clue.

No sooner had Lipi's body been reinserted beside him, and her head used to nudge hers than Muscar was instantaneously more peaceful. Just the touch of another was enough to calm Muscar's restless mind and still his fitful body. His tail continued to twitch, however, a sign that all was not as calm below as it might appear on the surface. Muscar was used to having someone to share his insecurities with, but in this case his confidante was the source of his insecurities, and so it was left to his subconscious to sort things out. The poor thing wasn't used to being put to work like that.

A voice managed to pierce the veil between states of consciousness. He thought at first - because what other instinct could he have? - that it was Gliri waking him, and he opened his eyes quickly, relief written plain on his features. Looking on Lipi he couldn't help but display a modicum of disappointment. It wasn't that she wasn't beautiful and wonderful, but she wasn't his sister.

With a great deal of dismay, he realized what that must have looked like to Lipi. He began apologizing immediately, "I'm so sorry, Lipi. I didn't expect to see you there." Realizing how that must sound, he clarified. "I thought you would be my sister."

He hadn't wanted to get into the matter between himself and Gliri, but it seemed some explanation might be in order, if she asked. He hoped she wouldn't ask. It would be nice, for once, not to have Gliri filling his every thought. There had been a few moments like that as he'd been falling asleep, smelling Lipi's fur.

"I said I didn't care, Muscar. You don't have to explain." She huffed it out and laid where she was, getting comfortable again. She needed to talk to him about two things. But, before the hard part of hunting, she'd ask him about his words last night before she drifted off to sleep.

"And pretties, hm?" She asked, arching her brows. "That's what you said lastnight, wasn't it? That I was beautiful?" Her tone didn't sound condesending at all. She said it like she was talking about the weather, with a hint of curiousness. "...Why did you say it while I was falling asleep?" She looked up at him before leaning against him as if she would fall asleep on him again. He was comfortable and warm. And it was still night. The waterbucks wouldn't be out yet, would they?

"All right," he said mildly.

Muscar continued to feel guilty, but she'd said the night before that she didn't want to talk about her own problems, and so presumably she wouldn't want to talk about his either. He wouldn't force her to listen to him gripe, then, though it would be nice to get a feminine perspective on the whole affair. It was possible - just barely - that he was looking at things all the wrong way.

His eyes widened at the sudden change in topic. He certainly wasn't prepared to answer that. A human would have blushed and stammered. Muscar only stammered, "I...That is. I didn't think you would hear me say it. I thought you were already asleep"

He'd said it then because there was no way he could say it seriously to someone while they were both conscious.

Ah. So the answer finally spilled forth. She shook her head a bit more and gave a short lived laugh. "Muscar," Lipi started, "if I would have thought that, I wouldn't still be talking to you. So just.... relax, take a breath, and help me figure out what is around here to eat." Like lways, Lipi was starving. She might be short, but she knew how to pack away raw meat.

She stretched her leg muscles out as she moved away from him, intent on hunting this early morning. "Since there's two of us, perhaps a buck of sorts. It's the only thing worth eating with two." Her ears turned this way and that, trying to get a lock on any kind of rustling in the trees or grasses.

Muscar offered a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I just worry. It probably happens to you a lot, and I really didn't want you to think..."

He trailed off and very deliberately took a breath, grinning a little as he went about it. "This is me, taking a breath and relaxing. As ordered."

As for things to eat, Muscar wasn't sure. It was still a bit early for most prey animals to be out. At least most larger prey animals. The smaller ones which had enough sense to learn predators' habits and emerge from hiding before their arrival might be out. Muscar had fed himself and Gliri from those small creatures many, many times.

"We could probably bring down a buck," Muscar acknowledged. "But I'm not sure any would be awake this early. We're more likely to find hares and other semi-nocturnals."

He wondered if she'd heard him at all.

Oh, wonderful. It was left up to her and she was the lazy one. A grin appeared on Lipi's face as she silently laughed at that.

Weighing her options it was, then. She sat on her hunches while looking at him, her head tilting as she thought. They could always go walking and find where the herd was sleeping, then get one of the smaller adult ones. That was always a good way to eat this early. They would just have to be very, very quite for that plan to work.

Or, they could sit and talk more until it was late enough to go and seek out a herd. "Well. We could always go find the herd, take down an adult while they're sleeping and then eat well. Or wait and talk more until it's late enough, then take down an adult and eat well. Either way, I'm determined on getting full."

The choices she presented were both acceptable to Muscar, who was finally beginning to feel a little more comfortable with the fact that Lipi was a beautiful lioness who had chosen to remain in his company for part of a night, at least, and who had allowed him to fall asleep with her. At times like these he wished he had more practical experience of life, rather than just his sister's stories. In Gliri's stories, Lipi's behavior would have signaled that she liked him - more than liked him. This was real life, however, and not a story, and he couldn't base his actions on that.

Not for the first time he wondered how Gliri seemed to know so much about real life, when she seemed to spend so little time living it. Then he remembered the whole affair with Shazidi and had to stop himself from scowling. That had soured his mood right up. With a shrug he said, "Let's find a herd. I've never tried hunting with another lion before."