Welcome to Gaia! ::

Calypso had always suffered from an independent streak. Most of her family had moved back to the Pridelands, but here she was just outside of them, refusing to meet up with the rest of her family in favor of doing things on her own time. They had never been the most conventional, or warm-hearted of families. Her father was a grump, and her mother valued materialistic items. Add to that fact that her mother was a seer, and often disappeared to track down her visions, growing up had been a unique experience for Calypso. The lioness had gotten both of the worst traits from her parents.

She was generally sour towards strangers, and the best way to impress her was by giving her something pretty or valuable. The black lioness did not place that much emphasis on emotional ties. She did love her family, but loving her family also got her companionship and protection. The lioness thought that she did not need it, then, from anyone else. Her scruffy and dark figure roamed through the rogue lands, kicking up piles of dust in her wake. She was vaguely hungry, but had no inclination to act upon that hunger.

A family reunion was long overdue, but it definitely didn't seem like Calypso was in any hurry to get on it. Stepping up onto a large boulder, the lioness scanned her surroundings, making sure that there was nothing around to bother her. But, then she saw something, and suspiciously she began to make her way towards the figure. Calypso might as well familiarize herself with whomever was in the area.

As she began to draw nearer, it was clear that the figure she had spotted at a distance was a lion. A pink one, which she thought was rather unfortunate for him. Then again, he seemed to blend more with the environment than Calypso did herself, her black pelt startling against the golden and green hues of her surroundings. She wasn't exactly a subtle lioness - if she had half a mind to be, she would, but Calypso didn't usually care for hiding her feelings, especially since so few of them could be considered positive.

For a moment, she considered turning away from the lion and going back the way she came, but he had already called out to her. Besides, she was the one who had approached him first - she may as well spend a few minutes of her time to feel out this rogue. Calypso could handle herself, and the lion hardly looked like he could pose a threat to a butterfly. Even his voice was overwhelmingly friendly.

But, just in case, she kept a healthy distance from him. If he charged at her, she would be gone far quicker than he could catch her. "Hello," she replied, her voice naturally rough. "What brings you so close to the Pridelands? Are you from there?" She was, but she hadn't been home in quite some time. Who knew what kind of lions were being bred, born, and raised there now.

That wasn't unusual. The Pridelands were known for accepting all lions who wanted a home. They likely wouldn't care that this rogue was staying in the lands for a while. Lions tended to move in and out of the lands, which meant the pride was constantly changing. New and old blood flowed and mixed and mingled. It was healthy for the pride, in the long run, though she imagined it could make running things... difficult. Her experience with the Pridelands had been short. Calypso had been born in the Outlands, but when the pride began to crumble her mother had led them back to her home - the Pridelands. It had served them well enough as a place to raise rowdy children.

"I've been out here," she gestured to the lands around her, flipping her hair tuft back out of her eyes. This was about the extent of her friendliness. Curiosity had gotten her this far, and she wasn't quite willing to ditch Facio's company yet. She wasn't opposed to company, she just usually ended up loathing the company she found herself in. It was unlikely that she would linger too long - she never did quite trust strangers. "I don't run into many lions out here, which is just fine. The most you see are those seeking a home in the Pridelands, or those seeking adventure and leaving them."

Calypso regarded Facio with a hint of suspicion, not because his niceties weren't convincing, but she never felt comfortable with people trying to poke around and into her personal history. It wouldn't hurt to tell him, but she was very aware of what she was saying to him so that she didn't give him too much information. She had no real idea what this rogue was like, and while he appeared harmless, there was no reason not to display some caution. "My family lives there now," she glanced quickly over her shoulder, as if she could see Pride Rock in the distance back behind her, though they were a little too far away for her to see it clearly.

"I might just be sentimental enough to linger. I do visit them from time to time but... it's always been a little nauseating." Calypso didn't like being smothered, and the Pridelands were a very open community. Everyone seemed to want to talk to anyone, and privacy was a hard thing to come by. Calypso liked her business to remain her own, and so she lived nearby, outside of the protection of the Pridelands, but also away from overeager lions seeking out friendship or more.

"Perhaps I'll move on some time, but for now I'm fine where I'm at." Tired of being asked questions, she instead turned them on to Facio. "So, if you do not intend to stay in the Pridelands, what has even brought you here to begin with?"

Calypso laughed, the sound itself was short and rough, but there was an amused glint in her red eyes. "If you had met me beforehand, I would have spared you the trouble of even wandering into the pride, if you wanted to avoid those sort of lions." Perhaps he was like-minded to her, in that she found the Pridelands to be stifling and even boring. There was no excitement there, no grand adventure. There was just lions sitting around and talking about the weather, or gossip about all the adolescents who seemed to be getting knocked up lately.

The dark lioness was rather glad that she was not there now, and that she had this lion telling her that things had not changed. "Most lions come to the Pridelands for peace - you're not going to get experience of the world from there. That is something you'll have to go out and experience for yourself." Most lions who settled and remained in the Pridelands were escaping and forgetting their pasts and looking forward to a far brighter future. That was the charm of her mother's homeland. There was genuine happiness that could be found there - the only problem for Calypso was that she did not want it. The lands to her, at the moment, were just too dull and uninteresting.

"I think you may have me a little mistaken for someone who has seen a lot of this world. I wouldn't be so foolish to claim that I have." She had wandered the rogue lands, yes, but she had never quite found her own calling. Calypso had never been compelled to join any pride, and normally avoided pridal territories altogether. The only home she could ever picture herself settling down in was the Pridelands, just because she had so many connections there. But then again, it was also the one place she didn't quite feel like settling down in. It was an interesting mix of desire and loathing she felt for those lands.

"But, from my experience, follow the sunset. I've had more interesting encounters that way." She gestured to her left with a dark paw. It wasn't a concrete direction, nor was there any solid evidence that it would give Facio anything that he was looking for. But, it was the only advice she had to give. Calypso had yet to encounter much of the world herself, though the lioness intended to change that one day. It just didn't seem like today was that day. "I don't know what it is about that direction, but I'm sure you'll at least find something promising... Just, don't blame me if you take my advice and it does you no good." Not that she would particularly care - it wasn't like he could do anything to her if she led him astray accidentally.

Calypso didn't even bother to say farewell to the lion. Instead, she watched as he turned away to head off in the direction she had indicated to him. The dark lioness didn't move until he was far enough away that she felt comfortable turning her back to him. Their conversation had been fairly open, but that did not mean she trusted a lion she had just met and given directions to. There were strange lions that roamed the rogue lands, and Calypso had met enough of them that she knew how to protect herself.

She wasn't a warrior, but she could still take care of herself. Her gaze swept back to the direction of the Pridelands, and for a moment she considered the possibility of going home and settling down, but in the end shook her head, and headed off in the opposite direction of Facio.