[FIN] A Strange Shadow (Keawheaheulu & Diffudi)

[mouselet]

The moon was high and a fog had begun to rise on the mountain as Diffudi climbed. The low-lying cloud wasn't yet so thick that she couldn't be seen, yet no one had stopped her yet. She had heard some rumor about a pride in the area, but that only made the female more interested in seeing how far up she could go. Controversey was something she was good at.

No one who saw her sillhouette would mistake Diffudi for a lion. She might be larger and more muscular than any cheetah, but she was still slimmer than a leopard. And nowhere in her genetic makeup was the blood of a lion. Not that she had any issues whatsoever in her hybrid heritage, but Diffudi was always intrigued to see how others reacted to her.

Which may or may not have had something to do with how she tended to hover on the edges of prides she had no interest in joining.  

[Andranis]

His skin was, by some miracle, pulling less today on his back and leg, though the gold-haired lion still walked with a limp. It didn't pull, but his leg was still very stiff, much like some of the ice that capped the mountains through much of the year. So, too, was his personality like the ice - Cold and uncaring about what others thought.

As he stepped down off a small ridge onto an easier path, he spied the hybrid and his ears went back, "Oy! What're you doing here?!"  

[mouselet]

Green eyes glittering with mischief turned towards the direction of the voice. Even in the dark, the lion was fairly distinctive with light colored - pinkish? - fur and a yellowish mane. Diffudi's lips curled in a smile at his obvious annoyance. Now the fun could begin.

"Climbing," she answered reasonably, moving closer to better see and here the male. Yes, she was going to play innocent. She might have known the pride was here, yes, but the leotah didn't actually know much about them.

It seemed she'd get to cause some trouble tonight.  

[Andranis]

Keawheaheulu's black ears folded back as he narrowed his eyes. "This is no place for non-lions!" Either this was an exceptionally fat cheetah, or an exceptionally skinny leopard. Either way, he didn't feel it was welcome. The gold-haired pink lion limped over, hackles going up. "Why are you even climbing our mountain, anyway?! If you want a home, go find some other pride to bother!" The Jini were already dealing with problems a plenty, a stranger that wasn't a lion was an unwelcome sight. Or maybe Keawhea was just being a grump.  

[mouselet]

"Oh, it isn't, hmmm?" the leotah replied as her eyes narrowed slightly. She wasn't much fond of those who thought their species - usually pureblooded, usually lions - was superior to all others. But, Diffudi had to admit, that this lion didn't seem to be going down that path...yet.

"Your mountain is here," she answered finally with a slight shrug. "I wanted to climb it. I don't need your home though. If I wanted one," her voice sharpened, "I'd find a more...open...place."  

[Andranis]

His fur ruffled as he started toward the leotah, but a combination of a loose stone, his bad leg, and stepping wrong sent the lion tumbling down into a bush below him instead. A string of curses left the pink maw as he struggled to right himself, leg and back incredibly sore now... Amid other soreness over his whole body. Could this day get any worse?  

[mouselet]

Diffudi's mouth didn't twitch, but her eyes wrinkled up in the corners as she hid laughter at the lion's ungraceful fall. That was not at all something she'd expected of someone who willingly lived on a mountain. She hadn't been lying about preferring a more open place to live. Though she hadn't just meant large, flat spaces. But that was obvious, right?

The leotah took a few steps towards the edge so that she could look down on the pink male.

"You know, maybe you could use a flatter home," she observed.  

[Andranis]

Heulu scowled at the hybrid. "No, you THINK?" He managed to right himself, before picking his way out of the bush. As he took a seat, he retrained his foul expression on the leotah. "I value my family more than I value somewhere flat, though, so... No flat home." Of course, if he knew just how much family he had everywhere, he'd know he could go just about anywhere. As it stood, he wasn't fully aware he had cousins in almost every pride, as well as aunts and uncles... On both sides of his family. He WAS, though, aware of how lucky he was, in that while his mother's brothers and sisters were considered tainted, as were his cousins from them, his mother herself was NOT, and so his own brothers and sisters were also not tainted. He was also very aware that he was one of his few siblings that didn't look strongly like his mother's side of the family.  

[mouselet]

The leotah shook her head as she watched the pink lion. This really was turning out to be quite fun! She could hear the frustration in his voice and knew there had to be some family issues of some kind. No that Diffudi cared what they were. But touching on a sore spot? Score.

"I think that if your family valued you, they'd live in a flatter place," she answered with a mischevious grin. To emphasize the point, she leaped lightly downwards until she stood not too far from the male.  

[Andranis]

The lion made mocking mouth motions of the leotah's words, then glowered. "It's called being part of a pride, and our family has roots within the pride! We are LOYAL to the pride! It's why I came BACK to this mountain, despite how difficult it is!" He turned, starting to hobble back up the mountain. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my den! All this activity's made my skin hurt!" Mountains didn't burn, anyway. That was another reason he didn't leave. Mountains were capped in snow and ice, things that were cold and wet. Wet did not burn, but grass and dried-out swamps DID, two things he was keen on now avoiding. Granted, there were prides that were probably even wetter, or safer from fire in general... But he didn't care to go find them. "My mother is a Jini, her mother was a Jini, HER parents were Jini..." Technically his father was a gypsy, and his parents were rogues, but... He was more concerned with his maternal lineage. "Go on back to your open flat places, now!"  

[mouselet]

Pride, huh? It was clearly the lion's pride that wouldn't let him leave this place and live somewhere that was better for him. Not that she actually cared about his comfort or his pride. But he was right, she did prefer open, flat places.

Letting him mutter his nonsense to himself, Diffudi shook her head at the lion's obstinacy and headed back down to the ground. She really didn't care for mountains and stupid lions were only one reason why.