A few weeks before Avya’s life changed dramatically, she was lazing on a rock, staring up at the sky and enjoying another lazy day in the middle of no where. She had no home, no obligations, no one to look after or care about. She just had to keep herself alive, and that was it. That was easy, really. A burly lioness, most did not bother fighting her because she looked like a tough fight. Of course, that was a silly assumption, simply because since no one fought her she and no experience in it.
And thus, she was rather inexperienced. Not that she had any reason to care about that.
Poromoko was much the same. A lithe cheetah, she relied on speed to keep her out of danger, and her wits to keep the idea of danger far at bay. She was a nice, flirtatious creature, and had no problems with anyone at all. And if she did, she never stuck around long enough for them to become serious. Of course, the same could be said of her good relationships, as well. But that was all beyond her, and not something she worried about. She just did not attack others, and did not give them a reason to attack her. A simple philosophy for a simple way of life for a simple lioness.
So when the two bumped into each other, quite literally, neither seemed to react… at all.
Avya was just getting up from her rock, yawning profoundly, when the cheetah plowed into her. She had been running across the savannah, as she was wont to do, enjoying the wind in her fur and hadn’t even seen the lioness before she was literally right on top of her. And even then, it took some neck craning and scrambling to finally see that she had run into a much larger lioness. They stood there, both seemingly expecting the other to be angry about it, and neither getting a reaction. Avya blinked after a long, tense, but awkward moment.
“Did you just run into me?”
“I did. I’m very sorry. I must have had my eyes closed again.”
“You run with your eyes closed?’
“Sometimes.”
“No wonder you ran into me, then. I’m surprised I haven’t heard tale of the serial runner into lionesses around these parts.” Avya smiled, and with that the tension was cut. Both sat down abruptly, laughing without a care. Poromoko had apologized, and her light frame had done no damage to the much larger lioness. Avya made a joke, and that told Poro that everything was just fine. It wasn’t every day that she ran into another creature as laid back as she was, though they did differ in the key details. Poro, for example, was extremely flirtatious and a bit of a thrill seeker, while Avya liked to spend her days lazing around.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Avya laid down again and yawned, stretching her legs and back so she could settled down for another nap more comfortably. Poromoko stayed where she was, flicking her tail behind her, smiling. They just seemed content to keep each other company, Avya dozing, Poro sitting nearby. They spoke now and then, and neither gave the impression that they wanted the other to go. Indeed, they both seemed the opposite.
They liked the company.
“You know, you’re the first creature I’ve met that hasn’t automatically commented on my fur,” the cheetah said lazily, making to lie down beside the lioness now, batting at her head lazily, Avya turned away and Poro playfully nipped at the lioness’s ear, batting her on the head now, rather than in her general direction.
“What’s wrong with your fur?” Avya asked, rolling onto her back to avoid the biting and batting. Poro pulled her paws away, sighing thoughtfully.
“You haven’t noticed? There’s a waterfall drawn on my flank that looks pretty real. I’ve had people try and drink from it before, you know? Like, literally, one really thirsty gal actually licked my fur before she realized she wasn’t drinking from a tiny waterfall, but rather just cleaning my fur. You really didn’t notice?”
“I haven’t had my eyes open,” she said, which was a fair point. She had mostly been dozing, and in the crash she hadn’t really gotten a look at Poromoko’s flank. She made to look now, though, rolling her body enough and shifting to get a look at it. She hummed thoughtfully when she saw the markings, now thinking that they were, in fact, a bit strange. She shrugged though, shaking her head. “That is pretty weird, I guess.”
“You should see my son, he’s got a beach on him.”
“Really? You have a son?”
“That’s the surprising part?” Poro laughed, shaking her head. She liked this lioness, she decided, and she unshyly moved to nuzzle against her, laying curled beside her comfortably. Avya had no opinion on the action, one way or the other, and let her stay where she was. She chuckled softly.
“Well you don’t seem like the type who would have kids, I guess. Or a ton of them, maybe.” She grinned coyly at that, and Poromoko couldn’t help but laugh. She knew exactly what Avya meant, and shook her head, not offended in the slightest. She was surprised, herself, that she didn’t have more cubs running around.
“Just the one. He’s all grown up now, too, and off on his own,” she spoke a bit sadly, and Avya watched her, frowning softly. She hadn’t meant to bring the whole good vibe of the nap down. Rubbing the cheetah with her head encouragingly, she laid down so that she was now curled against the cheetah, who was nestled against her. Poro smiled, offering a soft chirp of a purr. “You’re sweet.”
“I pretend to be, sometimes.”
Really, Avya liked others. It might not have been the reason that kept her from fighting, but it certainly played into it. She never had a reason to be angry with others, unless they actually had time to talk and have something legitimate come up. Yes, she could have been mad at Poromoko from the start of this conversation, when she plowed into the large, hard to miss lioness, but then she would have missed this whole encounter, or it certainly wouldn’t have been as nice.
And what was the point of that?
Of course, a few weeks wandering the rogue lands, a few too many encounters with creatures who did not think as she, or her new friend Poromoko, did would change her attitude rather quickly. But for now, she was content to fall to sleep, the cheetah sleeping next to her, to part ways come morning.
(Word Count: 1,123 in Word)
