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 Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:20 am
Fed and happily distracted from his quest, Amali was perched on a rock he had located in the midst of the grass that seemed to go on forever- one of the few that was large enough for him to lay down on, if he wanted. He didn't know how he was going to spend today yet, he was looking around thoughtfully. All the open space, he general lack of water.. he was used to it now but it was so different from home. Or what he remembered home to be. He was starting to worry he didn't really remember it, he was just barely an adolescent when he was sent off on his quest.
"Hmm," he said, taking another more careful look around him, trying to decide which direction was most likely to lead to water, which was most likely to lead to cover and if there was even a small chance some way would lead to both.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:26 am
 There weren't too many ghosts around today, which was both a pity and a relief as far as Aina'nusu was concerned. She liked the ghosts, liked to follow and see where they led. But apparently nothing very important happened in this area which meant there weren't many ghosts for her to watch. But there was, surprise surprise, a lion here. He was brown and solid and sitting on a rock. So she might as well talk to him. "Hi!" the cheeton called out.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:37 am
Amali was distracted by the horizon so he didn't notice the approaching stranger until it was much too late, he turned his head quickly to where the greeting came from. Normally his surprise might have changed to a smile, especially considering how cheerful she seemed.. but there was something odd about her build and he couldn't place it immediately. Something familiar, too.
"Hi," he called back, putting on a small smile while trying not to keep looking her over curiously. That was all he said, though, he couldn't seem to come up with any small talk to start a conversation or distract from his staring.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:42 am
Encouraged by the response, Aina came right up to the base of the rock the lion was perched on. He was a general brown with some white and yellow, a nice enough build too. And no ghosts to distract her! What a strange concept.
"I'm Aina'nusu, I don't think I've seen you around before!" the cheeton told him. "Are you new around here?"
She'd not been in the area long herself, but didn't think that needed to be mentioned.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:50 am
He was relieved she didn't seem offended by his staring. It was always nice to run into someone cheerful, even if he couldn't figure out what made her seem so odd while being perfectly friendly.
"Nice to meet you," he said, looking down at her from his rock, seemingly too stunned to move from his perch to put himself at a considerate level, "I don't know if I'm new here, am I somewhere specific now?"
The roguelands all looked more or less the same- at least this wide open, flat and grassy area did. If he was somewhere different he had no idea and he wasn't really worried about it unless he accidentally trespassed into a pride's territory.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:54 am
"Not as far as I know," she replied cheerfully. "But even if there's no prides in some places, there's still people who make their homes there and have their territories," the cheeton explained. "So if you go to a local stream or water hole, you'll find a bunch of neighbors getting a drink. And they usually know who belongs and who doesn't."
Not that those people were rude to newcomers or passers-by. They were just fully aware of who were strangers in their lands. Not good, not bad, just fact. Aina had been raised in an environment like that. She'd left because she'd seen just about all the ghosts there and wanted to watch new ones.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:57 am
"Fair enough," Amali nodded, knowing not all rogues actually wandered- though he found that necessary in his own adventure and wasn't sure he'd seen anywhere he would have liked to stay forever yet. But he didn't have to pick somewhere so he didn't have to worry about it.
"You look familiar," he said suddenly, deciding to see if he might gain some insight into her interesting appearance, "I'm sure we haven't met before, though- do you have .. brothers or.. something?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:02 pm
Aina blinked at the aburpt change in subject. It wasn't something she'd expected to hear, especially as this wasn't exactly near where she'd been born and raised. But she supposed a traveler could certainly have run into some of her family.
"Well, yes! I have two brothers and one sister, though I haven't seen any of them in many moons. You've met one of them?" she asked eagerly. Oh, it would be so nice to have news of her family! She hadn't realized how much she missed them, and her mother.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:23 pm
Hmmm. He stayed silent for a few minutes after she answered, using this as an excuse to take another look at her and think about it. The harder he thought about it, the less likely it seemed and the more unique she seemed.
"No, maybe not," he said, "I don't know. There's just something about you, but I suppose black isn't an uncommon color." No color was really rare but black and gray could only be so many shades, his own fur was a plain example of how different brown could be.. so it seemed to him, anyway.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:41 pm
That was...disappointing. Especially after the way he'd gotten her hopes up! Oh well, that was life after all.
"Nope, it's certainly not an uncommon color at all! But, then again, neither is brown," Aina added, nodding towards the lion's own fur. "So maybe it was just your eyes playing tricks on you," she offered.
It never occurred to her that he might be looking at her strangely due to her being a cheeton. She was so accustomed to herself that it seemed odd when others looked at her askance.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:45 pm
"I guess," he said, trailing off there, his tail swaying thoughtfully along the other side of the rock. And now that his effort to figure out what it was about her that seemed to stand out had failed, he didn't know what to say. She had approached him, he had sidetracked them.. now they were just. there.
"Did you need something?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:47 pm
"Not really," she answered. "I just thought you looked lonely there, so I came over to say 'hi'!" the cheeton told him. Then she considered something.
"Though...you never did tell me your name! That's what I need from you!" Aina teased the lion with a grin. It was always nice and polite to introduce yourself after all!
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:03 pm
"Oh."
Fair enough, he supposed. He approached strangers at random every once in a while, he was just rarely put off track by them.. and that was his fault.
"My name is Amali," he said, smiling sheepishly, "What's your name?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:06 pm
"I already told you that it's Aina'nusu!" the cheeton chided him. Amali. Good name, from what she could tell. Then again, it wasn't as if she was a connoisseur of names! But she didn't want to hurt his feelings or anything.
"Silly Amali," she went on, pulling her face out into an exaggerated expression of sadness, "he can't even remember a name I told him not even five minutes ago."
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:10 pm
...
OK, something was way off, even if he couldn't figure it out. She had told him her name, he remembered how that she had said so. He wasn't really doing anything, he wasn't hungry or tired.. why wasn't his brain working?
"Right, sorry," he said, shaking his head, "Guess I'm a little distracted."
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