For all his complaining and dislike of males, there was one male Gennadios didn't hate, and that was his hyena friend Vakasa. the two had met a long time ago, when they both had been very young. Vakasa was a bit of a smooth talker, and the two were generally good together. Back then, he had tricked Gennadios into killing a meal for him, and Gennadios had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. It was the start of his dislike for helping males. Funny, then, that he didn't hate the hyena, even though he was such a rude guy. A trickster, even. Despite all that, the hyena had always come back around to see him. With all his tricks and games, he never failed to pay him a visit. That meant he probably didn't hate him, and wasn't just looking to mess with him for the hell of it. In turn, Gennadios had never disallowed the visits, though sometimes he wondered what the other was even bothering for. At first, of course, he hadn't liked the one who had messed with him. Of course he hadn't- who would want someone who had made him feel stupid coming back again and again, poking fun at him and making idle conversation for no reason? However, time was the ultimate winner of the day. As the weeks and months passed, the hate he had felt just kind of... dissolved. There didn't seem to be any reason to hold to his anger, and eventually he just started speaking back to him and allowing the conversations. Somewhere along the line, he stopped thinking him as an enemy, and started considering him a friend.
It got to the point that they both knew they would defend one another from trouble, even if it wasn't really either animal's style. They would ignore their own rules for one another, because they were friends and probably the only two in the world who understood each other. Gennadios was sure no one else really understood him, that was obvious.
Slowly, Gen moved himself up, stretching his paws and getting to his feet when he heard someone moving up to meet him. "It's about time you arrived. I've been waiting for the better of an hour for y-" he cut himself off as he turned, surprised to find that it wasn't Vakasa standing there behind him, but some lioness he had never seen before. She was white and blue, with detailed markings he had never really seen on another creature before. Pretty, some would say, though lions were not really to his fancy. He much preferred his own kind, if he had a choice. but he supposed he would help her if he needed to, and if she was willing to pay him.
He was always willing to work for a perk.
"I'm sorry," he told the female, "I thought you were someone else. I was waiting for a friend of mine. What's your name?" He offered the lioness a smile.
The lioness looked a little awkward, shifting from one paw to the other as she looked down at the ground. He wasn't sure she had seen a leopard before in her life. That was almost cute to see. "Um, my name is Iluka," she told them faintly, "I'm... a little lost, that's all. I was sure I was heading the right way."
"Where were you headed? My name is Gennadios. Maybe I could help you out," the leopard grinned.
"Maybe I could help you out," mimicked a voice from behind the both of them, a hyena heading their way, "don't you believe it! He's a con artist if I ever saw one."
"Very funny, Vakasa," Gen huffed quickly, looking back at the female, "don't pay him any attention- he's the one I was waiting for. Now, what's troubling you? where are you trying to go?"
"Well, that's just it," replied the female, nodding a hello to Vakasa as she replied to Gen, "I don't really know where I'm going.. I'm just kind of walking. but I thought I would find a pride this way. I was sure of it. Now, though, it seems I've been walking a long time and I haven't found anything yet. Maybe I should turn around and start moving in another direction? I'm not sure." She smiled and looked from one male to the other, a nice enough lioness not to feel too skeptic of them.
They looked back at her with fairly neutral intentioned. Though Gennadios liked to get things from ladies, it was awkward with Vakasa there. Vakasa also liked to use others, though he didn't have a gender specification. If they were both after the same target, things tended to get messy. So they had agreed not to look for gifts or perks when they met someone while both together. It was the best way to keep things from getting way too out of hand. The last time they had both tried to play with the same target, they had nearly gotten chased off a cliff.
"Well," the hyena said, "I know there's a pride not too much further ahead of you in the direction you're going, but I don't think it's the kind of place you want to go to, my dear." He wasn't being dishonest, though maybe he was enjoying getting to spoil the mood a little too much. All the same, he was trying to help her. Iluka frowned, tilting her head to one side.
"Really? What kind of a pride is it?" She asked softly. The hyena looked thoughtful, as though trying to figure out the best way to put it.
"They're a bunch of thieves and monsters," he said, "they like to go out and steal females and take them back to their pride, to do all kinds of horrible things to them. the last I heard, they were running pretty low on females, too. They would probably snatch you right up if you went too much further."
"Oh! I had no idea!" yelped the poor lioness.
"I don't think you want to go that way, though Vakasa here is just trying to make you scared. It's a bad pride, but not as terrible as he's making it out to be," Gen laughed, nudging his hyena friend. "Maybe you should head to the east from here, instead," he ventured lightly.
The lioness frowned, looking from the hyena to the leopard. "Um... what kind of pride is to the east, then? If you don't mind me asking... I didn't know I could walk into a bad kind of place... I didn't know there were bad prides..."
Gen felt bad for the female. Maybe he wouldn't have taken anything from her even if Vakasa hadn't shown up. Maybe. He looked at the female, sighing softly. "Well, it's not like the other place. It's called the Navi, from what I hear. It's a pride that likes blue coats like yours, and they live in the trees. They're also very connected and consider everyone in their pride family, to some extent."
The female smiled, as though she liked the idea of that. "It sounds like a nice pride... I wonder if I should check that out." She wasn't sure she imagined the place correctly, but it certainly sounded better than what she was dealing with hearing about that other place. And the rogue lands! She didn't like them much, either. "Thank you both for helping me out- I really didn't think I would meet such nice animals out here."
"It's no trouble," Vakasa replied with a coy smile, "we just hope to see you around. You'll have to come back after you find a place to live and repay us, you know!"
"He means visit," Gennadios offered quickly, giving the male a look, "you'll have to come and visit us when you're settled and happy!" He didn't want her thinking they wanted to scam her on her next visit, even if that was exactly what they wanted to do. Had to make up for being so nice to her without any kind of pay, didn't they? And they would have time to make a nice little plan, too. It was almost too perfect.
"I will!" Iluka smiled, giving them both a friend rub and a lick on the cheek before she started to move away from them. They had both been left a little stunned by the gesture, it seemed, the female looking back over his shoulder at them. "What?" she hummed, her voice a little more playful than it had been, "did you think I was that innocent?" She winked at them and started to move away.
"Did... did she just play us to get information out of us without having to deal with any kind of trouble?" Gennadios asked.
"Yup," replied Vakasa.
"I love females," sighed Gennadios.
"I hope you didn't fall in love with me when I did the same thing to you," the hyena laughed, getting a nudge from the female.
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