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((This is an AIM log of an RP between Jua'Mandari (Satsurashi) and Khajag'iah (Ovarian Paint) ))

Jua'Mandari was home! In all her wanderings she’d dreamed of finding the place of her birth again, and now it felt sweeter than ever. The eye of the great lion glowed up above, radiantly, as though in celebration also. Her paws were sore from her long march, but the scent of home was in the air again. Well… perhaps it wasn’t so familiar. It was a new place, but many of the lions were the same.

Jua had crossed miles of land to be here, and since the end of her journey she’d arrived only days ago. Her son had come with her, and she was glad of the company. He was a sweet young male like his father had been. Of all the things Jua missed from her days as a rogue… well, there was no point in thinking of that now.

Jua would be hunting soon tonight, but for now she simply stood outside her new den, taking in the surroundings. The pride that swelled in her made her feel like a cub again.

Jua turned her attention to the male lion when he came toward her. She’d seen him around and knew him for a pride member, but she’d never personally met him before. She couldn’t recall if she’d known him before she left the pride after the war. Now that she was back, the memories sort of blended together… oh well!

“Good evening,” she greeted the higher-class male with the sort of respect she’d been taught as a cub. She was only one rank below him, but it still made a difference. She felt giddily excited - she was joining the hunt! That was actually something she’d never done before! She’d hunted with her former mate and alone, but never with her pride. She stood, her tail swishing joyfully. “Thank you for escorting me! I’m Jua’Mandari if no one told you. And you are?”

Jua nodded as he spoke. She had assumed she would need lessons, after all, things were very different in the pride since she left, with new faces and possibly new hunting techniques, and to make matters more complicated she’d never really been trained as a huntress at all. But she didn’t mind the change. The lessened responsibility of a lower-class job meant more time to just relax… and she did, often.

“Khaj,” she tried out the name, memorizing it, “A pleasure. I will follow your lead then, and I apologize if I am a little rusty. My son and I hunted together, and before that my mate and I, but I’ve never hunted in a bigger group. I may have a lot to learn about it.” She felt relieved when he told her the game they would be hunting tonight would be smaller… she could probably handle that. The last thing she wanted was to botch a major kill for the pride through her own inexperience.

“Lead the way?” She suggested, her way of letting him know she was ready when he was.

“Ah… no. My son is nearly grown now, but he won’t be hunting with me tonight. And my mate didn’t want to come with us when we wanted to rejoin the pride, so he‘s not here…” Jua thought she could probably elaborate a little more, but she felt there was no need. She had informed him of the important parts, and anyway, he didn’t seem to her like the type that would care about her personal history. Her first impression of Khaj was that he seemed very no-nonsense and while not unfriendly, probably not particularly interested in chitchat. Jua did her best not to talk his ear off, but she was the type that couldn’t contain herself sometimes.

“… Do your shoulders ache?” She asked, noticing that he had cracked them for the second time since he’d arrived. At first she’d thought it was stretching.

The thought of injury made Jua a little nervous, but she told herself that if Khaj here wasn’t afraid, why should she be? A very least he was there to watch out for her and make sure she didn’t get harmed while she was learning. Still, she felt a little more uneasy now with the risks in mind! “I will try to be careful,” she told him honestly, and definitely meant it.

Jua followed him when he set off, but she paused when he turned. For a moment, she blinked, confused. Was he… hitting on her, or just paying her a compliment? It had been… well, longer than Jua would care to admit since she’d been flirted with. Her mate had been the last one, actually, and that was a long time ago. So she was flattered to be sure, but wasn’t sure how he meant it. “Oh… thank you?” She started, sounding every bit as awkward as she probably looked right now, and in case he took it the wrong way, she followed it up with, “It’s been a while since someone’s said stuff like that to me, you know?”

Jua chuckled, flattered and feeling a tad shy at the same time. It had been a long time since she’d gotten compliments, and she was enjoying it! “Well, I didn’t run into many when I was traveling, mostly my son and I kept to ourselves. Safer that way.” Well, that was part of the truth. Jua hadn’t exactly been looking to replace her mate quickly after he left, and so even if she had caught the scent of other lions, she hadn’t been at all interested in approaching them… unless they were her long-lost pride.

When Khaj gave her the direction, she was ready… well, sort of. She still paused, waiting for him to take the lead. “Oh, he’s a guard, actually. it’s just as well, being one suits him well. I’d rather hunt than have to fight, though.”

Following Khaj, Jua tried to be quiet as she moved, but it was tricky. As they entered the forest, Jua immediately began scenting for prey when she saw Khaj had begun to. The foresty scents all seemed to blend together, to her, and it took her a moment before she could even pick apart the different prey scents she was taking in.

“I think I smell… rabbit. Too small?” Jua checked with her guide to be sure, but she assumed chasing a rabbit would not be what he had in mind. She sniffed again. “Ummm… I think warthog?” She had a hard time telling, it had been a while since she’d smelled warthog stank. She deferred to Khaj’s judgment on this one.

Jua had been careful to follow silently as Khaj checked out the game, but now it was up to her. She was nervous; she knew these animals could be dangerous, and yet she very much wanted to prove herself. She crouched behind a bush near the edge of the clearing, her back legs tensed to spring, and she took a deep breath. She leapt out of the cover in an explosion of leaves, hitting the ground running. Unfortunately, so had the warthog. Even as an adolescent, the thing could run! The warthog darted between two trees at the opposite end of the clearing, and Jua followed, leaping and running with all her might. She had to dodge trees as kept pursuit, and there were a few times where the prey nearly got away while she clumsily maneuvered through the forest.

However, luck was on her side. As the warthog ran, it didn’t look where it was going and tripped itself on a tree root. Jua was able to catch it just in time, before it could get it feet under it again.