Mimzi had been traveling for what seemed like forever. She loved the feel of the grass on her paws, and she was constantly on the move. There was always new things to see, and new people to meet... and new dangers to narrowly escape. It was a wonderful life, and Mimzi was really living it. As much as she loved it, she was beginning to become fatigued. Mud and gunk was caking her paw pads, and it was becoming quite uncomfortable. A rest wouldn't hurt, she decided, but she would absolutely hate to rest alone. Her red eyes briefly scanned the horizon, and she quickly spotted the pinkish lioness in the distance. With the flick of her tail, and a wide grin on her face, Mimzi started towards her at a gallop. As she got closer she realized that this young lion was very young - probably not even adolescent yet. And worse, she was crying. The grin on Mimzi's face vanished, but she did not slow her gait. She wanted company, tearful or not. And that's what she was going to get.

Mom is so cruel, Piku thought to herself. Grandpa is cruel too. They were ruining here life. She would grow up to be a weird hermit because of them, she was sure. She had met the love of her life, but she was never allowed to see him again. She would never see that handsome leopard ever, ever again... Because of mother and that stupid ratel... She should just leave. Right now. They wouldn't even know until morning, and then what would they do? Go looking for her? They were much too cowardly... and they probably didn't even care about her enough to do that. Of course, little Pikushi took everything and blew it way out of proportion. Her mother and grandfather only wanted to keep her safe from the wild outside world. The world she was completely oblivious would probably tear her to pieces within minutes of her escape.

Pikushi sat upon her favorite large stone.. the very stone where she first saw that handsome pink leopard. She had buried her face in her tear-soaked paws, only revealing her face for a desperate, and rather dramatic gulp of air every once in a while. She was completely unaware that a strange lioness was coming up on her... very quickly.

"Heya! What's, uh... what's wrong?" Mimzi looked at the young lioness with deep concern in her twinkling red eyes.

"Gaah!" Pikushi was startled and nearly took a swipe at the stranger. Once she felt oriented, she blinked at Mimzi, tears still trickling down her pinkish cheeks. "Oh... Who.. who are you?" Pikushi was unused to strangers approaching her like this. Rogue felines usually kept their distance - she figured it was because her mother chased them away... All because she would never let her have a life of her own. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. Hm... Maybe this was her chance to rebel.

"Oh!" Mimzi giggled to herself, remembering that most other felines like 'proper' introductions before engaging in a little conversation. She never really understood that silly little rule of society. "My name's Mimzi. I'm .. Just a rogue, wandering around and stuff." Mimzi winked at the juve, and nosed at her forehead fearlessly. "So, are you gunna tell me why you look so sad?"

"A rogue, huh?" Pikushi asked quietly, eyes glittering with a sense of wonder. "I bet that's really fun..." The young lioness paused, a paw rising to her face to wipe the moisture from her cheek. "Well... I fell in love with this boy, and-"

"OOOH, A BOY!" Mimzi leaned in, wriggling from anticipation. "Go on, go on!"

Pikushi blinked. This stranger was rather odd... And that's saying something, considering her bizarre, twisted, up-side-down family. "Well, I fell in love with him... and he had to leave, and I wanted to go after him.. but.." The tears welled their way to the surface again as she went on with her broken-up story. "But my grandpa and my mom said that I can't go after him because..." She sniffled, reluctant to recall the rest.

Mimzi wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Rules.." She stopped wriggling and stared at Pikushi as if she was a damned prisoner. "That sucks, girl. You know what, though? If you think about it, they really don't have any authority over you. You can do whatever you want... whenever you want. Who's going to stop you? No one, that's who." If there was one thing Mimzi was good at, it was being a bad influence on children. She plopped one great paw on Pikushi's shoulders and brought her into a hug. "So.... tell me more about this boy." Mimzi displayed a mischievous grin and tussled the young girl's hair. "Just how gorgeous is this boy?"

Pikushi's tears quickly came to a halt with the stranger's words. She was totally right. Who cares what mom said... or anyone else for that matter! Pikushi's face turned a bright red color as Mimzi asked to hear more about the boy. She gazed to her paws, idly scraping at the stone with her claws. "Well... he's a leopard. And he's ... really nice. And really cute, too." In all honesty, Pikushi couldn't even recall what Poikilo looked like. She didn't even recall the day she had met him, either. All she remembered was that he had said she had a cute name, and that had sent her swooning for days and months, and if this keeps up... for years.

Mimzi laughed, it was a typical young love story. She figured Pikushi would get over her crush very soon. "Ah, I can't even imagine how cute he must be if you're willing to run away from home to find him! A leopard, though? I don't know... I prefer a big fluffy mane on my men." Mimzi laughed again, and playfully nudged the young lioness. As a result, Pikushi was sent into a mad sputtering fit of giggles. She's never talked about boys like this before, it was a little awkward... and yet somehow incredibly satisfying. "The only boy I've ever met with a mane is my brother... but it's a really sad looking mane." Pikushi nudged Mimzi in return and they shared another round of laughter.

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