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It had been a good day. Productive, even, from Kurys's standpoint. He had managed to wake up before the sun quite reached its zenith and then he had gone on a successful hunt that had ended with him bringing down a gazelle. True, the gazelle had not been quite an adult, but it had been more than large enough to give him a struggle when he tried to bring it down. As a lone hunter, Kurys was only mediocre, but he was getting better. At any rate, he'd brought down a gazelle after only a few hours' stalking, and now he was getting ready to feast.

Daffyd was hungry, as usual. He was a large lion and it took a lot of meat to sustain him, even though he was also a relatively lazy lion and didn't do a whole hell of a lot to burn calories. This wouldn't be such a problem if he were a better hunter, but he had grown up with his mother and sisters doing all the hunting for him, and so he really didn't know the first thing about hunting. Well, he might have known the first thing. Maybe even the first two or three things, but he really wasn't much of a hunter, so when he smelled a fresh kill somewhere nearby Daffyd put on his charming face and went to investigate.

"Good evening," Kurys called, lifting his head from his kill.

Sukurys had heard the approach of the other lion a little bit before he smelled it. His mouth and nose were somewhat covered in blood from the process of ripping out his gazelle's throat and entrails, and that meant that everything he smelled held more than a hint of the smell of viscera. Really, the viscera pretty much overwhelmed any other smell. Nevertheless, Kurys was not taken completely by surprise when he saw another lion draw up nearby wearing an expression Kurys could only describe as worrisome. It was worrisome because the other lion obviously intended for it to be pleasant and easy-going, which generally did not bode well for whatever lion encountered such an expression.

"Hello, friend," Daffyd greeted the blue lion with the fresh meat.

Daffyd did not think that he would ordinarily count this lion as his friend, but the fact that he had meat and Daffyd was hungry meant that for the time being at least Daffyd was willing to play nice. Once his hunger was sated, well, that might be another story, or if the blue lion refused to share his kill.

"It looks as though you've enjoyed a successful hunt today," he observed. "But one lion couldn't possibly eat all that meat in one sitting, and if you leave it overnight you're sure to attract all kinds of nuisances like hyenas and badgers and...stuff."

So that's what the big lion was after. Food. Kurys took a moment to think about it before coming to the conclusion that for the most part the brown lion was correct. He, Kurys, would not be able to eat all the meat on the carcass before he went to sleep for the evening and it probably would attract scavengers, although Kurys had not intended to hang around the carcass to sleep anyway, and so it wasn't likely that he would be bothered by the scavengers.

"If you're hungry, you may share my kill," Kurys said. He wasn't being naive. It was perfectly obvious to him that he was dealing with a lion who was accustomed to getting his way and capable of violence when thwarted. Kurys was not in the mood for violence.

"Well, since you're offering," Daffyd said, "of course I'll help you out. After all, it's such a waste when good food goes to worthless creatures who are too lazy to do their own hunting."

If Daffyd was aware of the irony of him casting aspersions on people who did not do their own hunting and instead ate from the kills of other people, he gave no sign of it. Probably because he really was completely unaware of the fact that such a statement also applied to him. He was special. It was his right to be fed by others.

"My name's Daffyd, by the way. What's yours?"

"Yes," Kurys agreed, ducking his head and taking a moment to tear a piece of flank from the corpse so that Daffyd wouldn't be able to see him grinning. Even if Daffyd was oblivious to the irony and humor in his statement, Kurys was not. "It's such a waste."

He spent a few moments chewing on the chunk of flesh he'd ripped off the gazelle and watching Daffyd. He didn't like to jump to hasty conclusions about people, but he could hardly help it with Daffyd. There didn't seem to be any more depth to the yellow-eyed lion than one would find in a day-old puddle.

"I'm Sukurys," he said, not actually saying that it was a pleasure to meet Daffyd because he suspected that it wouldn't be in the long run. "Please help yourself."

Daffyd didn't need to be asked twice. As soon as the invitation left Kurys's mouth the brown lion fell upon the gazelle, taking an entire leg in his mouth and bracing himself against the body of the fallen beast to tear it off entirely. After that he crunched and chomped happily for a long time without saying anything and being pleased that his dinner companion wasn't one of those annoying people who had to fill every silence with words that Daffyd would have to pretend to take an interest in because he was benefiting from Sukurys's hunting that evening. After he devoured the meat on the leg he went back for something softer and more succulent, figuring that if Sukurys had wanted that part, he would have eaten it first.

Sukurys watched Daffyd eat more than half of the gazelle he had done nothing to help bring down without saying anything. It irked him to be taken advantage of in this fashion, but there didn't seem to be a lot he could do about it at this point, and he still wouldn't have been able to eat the entire gazelle by himself, so there was every likelihood somebody else would have eaten it anyway. They just wouldn't have eaten it before his eyes and taken all the best parts for themselves. That was what irritated Kurys the most.

"Well, I'm full," he said when he couldn't stand to watch Daffyd gorge anymore. A part of him hoped the other lion would be sick later on. "Time for me to go to bed. Good fortune on your travels, Daffyd."

Daffyd was still gnawing on a long thighbone when Sukurys pushed himself to his feet and made his farewells. It seemed like a brilliant stroke of good fortune that he had met up with such a naive and easy-going lion who didn't mind Daffyd eating more than half of his kill. And he didn't talk much, either. Daffyd thought he could maybe even get along with this fellow.

"You don't have to go," he argued, but it seemed like Sukurys was determined to spend the night elsewhere, which left Daffyd the choice of following him so that he could continue to mooch off of him in the future or finishing his meal now. Hunger won out. He could always track Sukurys down in the morning, after all.