Welcome to Gaia! ::

Vtla was near the border of his pride, looking around and pretty much just making sure no cubs had wandered just a little too far from home. It seemed as though he was always looking for cubs, or playing with cubs, or making sure they were looked after correctly. Which was probably correct, given that his job was to do all of those things regularly. And he didn't mind, either. A life full of cubs helped keep him from thinking about his own desire to have babies, and how it might never come to pass.

He wasn't really a hit with the ladies of his clan, so it seemed unlikely he would ever manage to find a mate of his own. Was it because he was a larger lion? But he wasn't scary! He was a giant toy for cubs to bounce on!

Sighing softly, he took a moment from his searching to sit down and think. It was a little gloomy, if he had to admit, to think that he wouldn't find love no matter how hard he tried. Maybe he didn't need to be given up so soon- maybe there was a mantis lady out there for him somewhere.

Just needed to get off his sorry butt and find her. Or make a complete fool out of himself with his whole clan searching.

Vtla turned his head when he heard someone call to him, offering the bright female an equally warm smile. “Hello! I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before- are you from one of the other clans?” It was true the clans didn’t mingle with one another too much, so it was possible there would be lions in the rank that he had not seen before. But he wasn’t so sure he would have missed seeing a red lioness like her before. Surely she would have stood out to him, even just in passing. In any case, he knew the lions had group meetings every now and again, and he hadn’t seen her at ones of those, either.

He smiled still, getting to his feet and making his way towards her. He didn’t get too close, just in case, but he wanted a better look.

“Welcome to the Ela! I’m Vtla- I’m a pride member here.” He smiled lightly, “are you thinking of joining up?”

"You're not imposing," the male hummed, "I'm happy to talk! It's nice meeting friendly travelers- your pride sounds very interesting. We're not near the water here, so I don't hear a lot about the ocean. When I was in the rogue lands, though, I saw it once. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Water as far as the eye can see." He remembered it fondly. Though his new home was more land than water, he loved it. The ocean had been nice to watch, but he had never been overly in love with it or anything.

But he could see how others would want to be near it all the time. It was a wonder, to be sure.

"I was actually just looking to see if any cubs had gotten lost along the borders," he added after a moment, "I'm a nanny, you see, so it's my job to make sure nothing happens to the mantis clan's little ones." He wondered if other prides had clans like this one- maybe he needed to explain. "There are several different clans in this pride, all existing together in one home, but separately, too. I think it's probably because of how big this land is, but I'm not really sure. Anyway, I'm a member of the mantis clan, which I think I already said."