The hunter for the Simbafutaji had seem a dark lioness hunting around his pride lands for some time now. It seemed she was staying there, at least for a few weeks, and he wanted to see what she was like. It was unusual for anyone to stay too long, unless they decided to live in the lands with the other members of the pride. This lioness, with her angry glares and less than friendly body language, didn’t exactly seem like the type to move in to a pride as simple, peaceful and nice as this one. Or maybe he was judging a book by it’s cover. Or would be, if he knew what a book was.
Ulozi, on the other hand, had barely taken notice of the other lion who came to her chosen hunting area sometimes. He was a lion of medium size, and not much threat, as far as she had been able to tell. So she paid him no mind, not pegging him as the kind who would attack her or try to drive her off. She would just continue to hunt until the food grew scarce or she grew tired of the taste, then she would resume her wandering. She wasn’t looking for anything, just padding around the rogue lands without a purpose or direction. It was a nice way to live, watching and learning about others, having her brand of fun when she wanted to.
Nothing ever tied her down.
Hadaya drew closer to her now, spotting her over a ridge of grass nearby. She was crouched low and he had almost missed her save for the face that her fur did not blend in to the surroundings at all. Maybe at night she would be impossible to see, as dark as her fur was, but in the daylight she stuck out quite a bit. And she had that strange… dangerous looking skull marking on her leg… Hadaya tried not to be intimidated before he even spoke to her, just because she looked so angry. He knew many lions who looked harsher than they really were. And likewise, he knew a lot of lions who were nicer than they looked. So maybe he was getting in over his head…
No, he couldn’t think like that. He didn’t want to psyche himself out before he got over to her.
Of course, now he was asking himself just why he had to go and say hello at all. What if she was mean? Or what if she just didn’t want to say hi to him? Could she not just want to be left alone, and that was why she did not join the pride or get too near to the pride lands themselves? Maybe he was not paying enough attention to the signs here. After all, if she wanted some company she was probably more than capable of seeking it out. Still, Hadaya padded over the ridge and down into the valley toward her. She was still crouching in the grass, presumably unaware of his approach.
Except he was upwind, and she totally smelled him.
She tensed, expecting that this would be the day that the wussy looking lion finally gathered his balls enough to drive her out for his pride. She knew there was one around here, and she was maybe cutting in on their food. It wasn’t like the damn place was running out of food anyway, the greedy jerks. She didn’t look at him, pretending to be hunting a zebra in the distance as he drew closer to her. She lashed out in a flash, though, once he was within a running strike range, launching herself sideways and thundering over to him before he had a chance to yelp or turn and run. Both of which, she would learn later, he tried to do. She landed on him heavily, digging her claws into his side and pinning him to the floor.
“You’re going to attack me while I’m hunting? Not a smart idea, big guy! I could smell you coming from a mile away! What are you, an idiot?!”
“Yes! I mean, no! I’m not attacking you!” Hadaya eeped, trying to throw her from on top of him. He hauled himself to his feet, limping backwards, keeping low. His ears were flopped back, his eyes wide as he scooted backwards on his haunches. He was not here for a fight, and would really rather they avoided one if they could. While he knew how to defend himself he did not like putting it into practice and was not exactly good at it. So he would just prefer talking to fighting.
“You’re not?”
“No, of course not! You were downwind of me, I thought you would smell me and know I wasn’t trying anything! I wasn’t even hunting you, couldn’t you tell? I was going to call out to you but you looked like you were hunting and I didn’t want to interrupt! Ow…”
He whimpered, looking at his bleeding side.
Ulozi watched him, a bit baffled. She had never met a softy before. Most of the lions she knew were tough and mean, and would not bother giving a wound like that any attention. She watched him and felt oddly compelled to comfort him. Mostly because he looked so pitiful, it appealed to a side of her she rarely got to explore. She was not like her parents, and she cared more about the creatures she spent her days watching than they did. She loved learning about others through watching them, critically appraising them, and it was easy for her to see that this lion was not exactly a brute. In fact, he seemed like a big push over, with the face he was making.
She scoffed and shook her head.
“Oh, you’re fine. I barely got you.”
“Yeah, but it still hurts… and you didn’t need to, I was just going to say hi, and see if you wanted to look around the pride lands. I was wondering if you were shy…”
“I’m not shy.”
“I can see that.”
“I mean, not just about fighting. I don’t want to live here, I’m just passing by. The meat just tastes different, is all. I like it. Anyway, why don’t you sit down and I’ll catch us something. If you want to talk we might as well talk.” Ulozi made to walk off and Hadaya watched her in confusion.
“You just attacked me…”
“Because I thought you were coming for a fight. Since you’re not, then we might as well do what you wanted to do. Unless you’re so busy pouting you don’t want to talk to me any more?”
“Oh, n-no, I do. I just. Uhm.”
She rolled her eyes and bounded off to go about hunting them something to eat, leaving Hadaya staring after her and wondering just what he was getting himself into. He had no idea.
(Word Count in Word: 1,155)
