As another came to take his position at the border, Are'nui was traveling back into the heart of the pride. The day seemed to have drag on with nothing interesting to do. He had been by himself and saw not but a few birds here and there. It had been so quiet today.
It didn't take him long to come back to the shore, as he listened happily to the sounds of the waves crashing on the sandy beach. It was so soothing. He padded along the shore until he found his basking rock. As he sprawled out against it, he stretched and closed his eyes as he soaked up the warmth.
She was coming back from a failed hunting party, the whole team looked disappointed. But in these months, bigger game was hard to come by, fishing was better suited. Either way, it was failed and she was feeling a bit down.
Back in the pride, Feana made her way around, talking to various liones she knew as she made her way to the beach. She wanted her spot on a nice big rock by the tide pools where her sister used to do crafting. Since her sister's cubs were still cubs, Feana took advantage of her absence. But, when she got there, she noticed a blue spot in the distance. With a grin, Feana looked around and found a sea turtle. Now, she knew this sea turtle, she often talked to it and made friends with this turtle. It was big enough to fit in her mouth. So with whispered words, Feana picked the turtle up, waited for it to retract into it's shell before crawling on her belly to get behind him. Hopefully, he wouldn't hear her.
Blissfully unaware to the danger that a certain female was creeping up on him, he was enjoying the sounds of the oceans lull him into a slight daze. The sun felt so nice on his body, this was what made this place home! That and the pride. It was nice, close-knit and full of families! Gosh, he loved it here.
His ears swiveled around as his tail flicked, showing his happiness.
So, she managed to get behind him without him noticing. A grin on her face, she motioned the turtle to wait for her single. Crawling back behind some tall grass, Feana made herself unseen and motioned the turtle to do it's thing.
Now, the turtle saw no harm in this, so it nodded and looked to Are'nui before craning its head and latching on to the part of the tail right before the tail tuft. It quickly withdrew, because the turtle knew that tails lashed around, and lions clawed, into it's shell to wait out what was going to happen. All the while, Feana watched and laughed in silence, or attempted too, she realized too late that she was rustling the grass.
His blissful silence was broken at the sharp pain of something pinching his tail. At first he thought it was a crab, but it couldn't be! Not with this time of day and the tides, this isn't the right time for that! As he whipped around and spotted a turtle shell, that was not there before. He eyed it curiously before the rustling of the grass gave the perpetrator away.
His eyes narrowed playfully as he went to leap into the grass, and hopefully pin down a certain silvery-pink female!
Feana couldn't help gut laugh out loud when he turned around to inspect the shell. Cover blown, the female braced herself for an attack from the blue male. And she was not disappointed. Instead of being pinned though, she let him land on her at an angle and rolled with him, wanting to pin him! He wouldn't best her! "Fancy meeting you like this!"
Well, as soon as he felt his paws connect with a body that preceeded a laugh, his suspicions were confirmed. While he thought that he had her pinned down, she bested him by swapping roles. And she was rather strong at that, as he tried to stay on top but she had the element of surprise on her side and thus, got her way this time.
He laughed warmly and nipped at her neck playfully, "You know, I wonder who else would set a turtle on someone as a way of greeting them!" He eyed her pointedly.
And she gave him an innocent look at his pointed one and got off of him, stretching out and chuckling. "Only your best enemy, hmmm?" She purred out at him. The n** had taken her by surprise, but since she didn't know what it meant, she didn't react to it. It raised so many questions in her mind.
"Heard you had a run in with my sister the other day. Hope you didn't scare her too badly." She stuck her tongue out at him and gave him a wink. "I mean, Sabbia's so innocent, you know?"
Once she got off, he made sure to keep at least one eye on her. He never knew what was up her sleeve, and he needed to be prepared for anything! "Oh! How could I forget this!" He feigned a surprised expression on his face, which was far from the truth, of course!
At her tongue, he pawed at her playfully, "Oh yes, I did get the lovely chance of meeting your sister. Are you sure that you're sisters? I mean, she's so sweet and innocent, and you're so....you!" He teased her playfully before eyes went wide, "Feana! I am hurt! How could you say that I'd scare her? Don't you know me at all!" Brought a paw to cover his eyes in mock hurt, "I did get some juicy tidbits from her, so it was a nice, productive meeting. Perhaps I should meet the rest of your family!"
She snorted at his drama and rolled her eyes, a common thing she did with him. Feana's tail flicked and her ears pinned as she thought about what information Sabbia could have given him. Nothing came to mind right off the bat, unless Sabbia told him that she'd been through two other guys. But... she had a feeling he knew. She couldn't honestly remember if she told him or not, but most of the pride knew of her failed relationships.
"....Right.... Uh... Anyway. She told me you found me attractive." She smirked very smugly at that, pinning him with a 'look' as if to say try to deny it.
Eyes went wide in surprise, he should of realized that Sabbia would have told her older sister. I mean, who wouldn't want to gossip about juicy information between siblings after all? Even if he missed such luxuries, he was sure there were very few secrets kept between tight families.
With a large grin that spread from ear to ear he replied, "Did I say that? I must have been mistaken when I told her that....I should have told her that you are beautiful!" He returned her look with a smug look.
Her smug look was promptly wiped off her face with the comment. Her face took on a look of utter surprise and then her cheeks turned nearly as pink as the rest of her. Clearing her throat and looking down, Feana shifted from paw to paw before looking back up at him. It always managed to surprise her when someone complemented her. Her last potential mate didn't do it often. In a way, she missed him, being called kitten and his rough affection, but she was having more fun with this one. Not that he was her mate.
".....Oh, quit teasing. I'm not and you know it."
That look of surprise made him proud to catch her tongue. It wasn't very often, as she seemed to always have a remark for something. He looked at her curiously as he asked, "Why would I tease about something like that?" There were many things he teased about, but this was not one of them. Because that would be a play on feelings and emotions, something he'd not want to ever tamper with. And besides, if he said something was pretty or beautiful, he meant it.
He leaned forward to her and asked softly, "Is it hard for you to think I'd think you were beautiful?"
"No, but it was... ...I mean." She huffed and groaned. She hated feeling awkward. Feana hated feeling like Sabbia when she talked to people. This is why Sabbia was a hermit! "It's not hard for me to think that, it's just a little out there. You admitting it. But I suppose I brought that on myself. Whatever. Anyway!" The attempt to get the joking mood back had failed. She felt she had to complement him now. Not an obligated kind of feeling, but she wanted him to know she liked the complement and liked him the same. Or something to that affect, her brain shut down too long.
"I find you quite handsome, yourself. It's not every day I see a lion with looks and a good sense of play and humor. Quite a catch."
Awwww, he couldn't help but love watching Feana stumbling over her words. It wasn't very often that he saw her like this and this was a nice little victory.
He smiled and soaked in her compliment, "Glad to see that I'm rather eye-catching." He winked at her in a teasing manner.
"So tell me, Feana....what else have you been telling your sister about me? She says you talk a lot about me." He gave her a cheeky grin.
"I tell her everything about you, Are'nui. What color your fur is, how your eyes shine," her voice took on a mock girly tone and she batted her eyelashes at him, seeing to get over the awkwardness all at once. It was a good thing, too. "Like I'm going to tell you. Its girl talk, babe. Get used to it if you hang around with me." She smirked and got to her paws. Walking toward him, she brushed up against his side and thumped his nose with her tail, heading toward the water. She wanted to stand in it and get her paws wet.
"Do you talk about me? Hmmmm? Got some guy friends and just talk talk talk?"
As her tail went to thump on his nose, he was a tad too slow and wasn't able to catch it in his mouth. Ah well, he'd get her again, there would be tons of other chances! That he was certain of.
He gave her an innocent look as he replied, "Hm, I might have mentioned you to my aunt and cousin a few times. Perhaps to your sister....who knew exactly who I was talking about when I went to visit them. There aren't many pink and silver lionesses in the pride, afterall!" He winked playfully as he made his way to the water after her.
She moved into the water, wiggling her toes there and listened to him over the breaking waves. It was traquil today; she liked it that way. Feana's eyes twinkled before she laughed and nodded. "What can I say? I'm one of a kind, babe," her tail flicked again. "But, there are other silver lionesses. I know that for a fact."
As she got comfortable with the temperature, Feana leaned against him a little and then sighed. "So, your aunt, huh? And cousin?"
He grinned at her and then leaned back against her as he replied, "Yup! My aunt Sevati and my cousin, Kairav. They're more distantly related to me, but I call them that." He loved them so much, they helped him have a home afterall.
And then he raised his paw to flick a little water at her with a small chuckle, "Oh yes, silver I know. But pink and silver, that is all you, Feana!"
Feana flicked water right back at him and snorted. He was in her head! That's all that could be said about it; she was going to do that to him! It wasn't fair! Flicking more water at him, she moved further into the water and sighed. "Man, it's getting chilly out here.
"But... Sabbia ....told you something, didn't she? She told me she mentioned something about the way I talk. Then she trickled off and ran to her cubs because she got embarrassed." Nothing uncommon. "I don't have any aunts here. Just mum and ...step dad, my cubs, a sister, her cubs, my nieces and nephews." OK, she had a ton of family here.
He lifted his head slightly to the side to shield his face from her water attack. He chanced a glance to look back at her as she went deeper into the water. The water was cool, as a shiver went down his spine. But was it because of the cool water or because of how the water looked around the silvery lioness. He had to admit, it was rather lovely just looking at her.
His eyes widen slightly in mock surprise, "What? I don't know what you mean." A soft chuckle escaped from him as he swam over to her side. He raised his arm and draped it over her side to bring her close to him. Being this close, he purred softly at her, "Would you be mad if she let something slip?"
She didn't notice his shiver, because she was looking out at the reflection on the water. But what took her by surprise is that he pulled her closer like this and she let her cheeks pinken slightly, clearing her throat. "It.. It depends on what she just let slip.." Her ears flatten and then she looked up at him to actually nuzzle his cheek. Who could resist? He was there, she was there, they were close, it seemed like the best thing to do.
".....What'd she say?" She sounded almost shy and hesitant when she said that.
His cheeks were slightly pink at her nuzzle. The purr was soft as he listened to her speak. With a soft chuckle, he turned to look at her, "I don't think it matters too much what she says, Feana. What matters to me...is what you say." As she had allowed this close contact, he was rather elated. And besides, it was rather rare to see her so shy and nervous, as she was normally loud and rambunctious.
"But your sister was rather concerned that I might play with your emotions because of your past, and when I told her mine, she was rather embarassed. She means well, she really does," He paused for a moment before he went to touch his nose to Feana's. "If I were to tell you that you've invaded my thoughts, what would you say?"
Her ears flicked back and forth unsure about what what to say before Feana sighed deeply and pressed thier noses together again, tongue darting out to lick his muzzle. "I'd say.... ...You've been in my mind, too." She said it with hesitance and confidence before chuckling. "You've... actually been the highlight of my day when we see each other. It's like you're ...... my best friend. .....Or something more special." She looked him in the eye. "What... do you say about that?"
His face started to light up at her words. As if her actions alone didn't do just that. The waves rolled gently around them, as it was a rather nice scene, he had to admit. "Well, what do we have here? We're the highlight of each's others day!"
He looked back at her eyes as he replied, "Feana....I do think a truce might be in order for a moment. I would like to be with you, if you'd have me?"
A smirk spread across her pink muzzle before giving him a snorting laugh. Of course they were! Without each other, there was no war! But then he got serious and she did too, biting down on her li and nodding. But she wanted to say something smart a**. This serious air was a little too uncomfortable for her.
"I'll have you, but... why do we have to have a truce?" She smirked out at him. "I mean... it'd make the war more ... Mm... Intimate."
: He laughed at her remark, "Well...I just want to make sure that my words wouldn't be taken lightly." He held her close in the water as he nipped her nose gently.
"Although....you are my prisoner at the moment, so therefore, the truce probably was a moot point." He dipped his nose in the water, sucked some out and then proceeded to spray some at Feana.
Feana shifted hard to try to get out of his grasp, but alas! He was stronger than her right now, which meant she got a face full of water. She dropped to her belly, screaming as the cold connected to her underbelly and ran back to shore once free of his grasp. She shook herself off and looked over her shoulder at him before winking.
"I'm no longer your prisoner and the ball is in your court, Are'nui! I look forward to seeing what you do!" She chuckled and waited a moment, wanting to see his reaction. All the running she'd done today was catching up with her!
It was moments later that she had managed to wiggle from his grasp and make it back to the shore in no time. He turned his body to look at her. With a cheeky grin, he bent forward to scoop up a pile of seaweed. A few steps towards the shore and he flung a few slimy pieces in her direction.
"Oh Feana, we're just getting warmed up, I'm afraid!" He laughed playfully, meaning full well to butt heads once again. It was their game, afterall. And there was never a dull moment!
