“Here.” Mia said simply, motioning to the array of strange plants that seemed dotted about the ground. Kihalau widened his eyes, he'd never seen anything quite like it. Mia approached one of the strange-looking things and put her paw on one of it's leaves, pulling it from the plant.
“So, if you kinda, push against these leaves.” Her paws crunched against the leaves and the ground and she ran her paw along it, bright green secretion peeking from the cuts in it's structure. “I know that you can get pastes out of mixing different flowers and things. I don't really know much more though I'm afraid, you'd be better off asking an artisan.” She smiled gently.
Kihalau let out a laugh. “I will, don't worry... But, thank you.” He gave the lioness a sincere glance. “I mean it. I have felt so welcomed here, and it's such a lovely change....” Sheepishly, he cleared his throat and pushed down on the flower of a nearby plant. “It feels wrong to destroy such a beautiful thing.” He admitted. Looking around him, he had to admit that there was an abundance of these plants, dotted about the lands. He couldn't really believe he hadn't seen them before. Though the pridelands were huge, this sea of colour seemed to paint the whole of the dry, hot earth into a rainbow. He could definitely use these with any of his potential work. Inspiration had already began to spring up within him and he wasn't entirely sure that Mia wasn't the cause.
Mia raised her eyebrows gently and gave him a warm smile. She was already rather taken with him, but she held back a moment, she would for a while. She had only just met him and couldn't justify feeling this way about someone else after Mheetu, not when she had only just met them. Perhaps it was because they had faced the same situation and thus she felt an affinity with him. Shrugging internally she looked at him for a moment, until a thick red liquid came squirting out of the flower and leapt up over his pink paws.
“Oops.” Eyes widening, he tried to wipe his paws on the earth, but instead succeeding in dying his paws a darker shade of pink, and eventually red. “Hmm. Well, perhaps this is a new look for me?” He flicked a paw up over his face dramatically, though he felt rather silly.
Mia let out a giggle. “It suits you, it's really quite amazing how these plants can hold such secrets.” Moving closer to one, her nose suddenly became dotted with the red paste. “Oh, gosh!” Trying to wipe it off with her paws she became slowly crosseyed as she assessed the situation. “I guess that was my own fault!”
Kihalau was just admiring the properties of the plant and how they could be used for painting when his new companion managed to dye her nose a bright shade of red. Stifling a hearty laugh he looked at her with mock drama and instinctively reached out to wipe it away with his paw. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the state of his own paws and thus only succeeded in wiping more red on the sandy strip on her nose.
There was a pause. “Well... at least we match now, perhaps we can convince the pride that it's some sort of... war paint, or an artistic movement.”
The pair burst into peals of laughter, a stitch forming in Mia's stomach. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed, and it felt so good. It was as if all the worries and the sadness of the past had burst free from a cage within her. Kihalau felt the same, though the pair said nothing for awhile and instead revelled in the sound of one another's laughter, covered in paint as if they were playful cubs. Kihalaus stomach began to hurt as the laughter wound down into happy occasional chirps.
“Well, at least I know it's good strong stuff!” Kihalau exclaimed with a happy sigh. “We should go and wash this off, I don't know whether it will seep in after a period or time or... something...”
Mia nodded. “Definitely. As much as I would appreciate a makeover, I don't think a red streak on my face would suit me quite so much!” She wondered what on earth the rest of the pride would think if it stuck. Maybe she could convince them that it was an intentional move, as Kihalau suggested, though it was obvious that it was substance investigation gone awry.
“Back to the watering hole?” Kihalau suggested. Now he knew where some of the best ingreidients were, he could research them and ask the artisans what they used. Now, however it was in their best interest to clean themselves up and perhaps head back to the central part of the pride. Kihalau felt a pang of sadness. Maybe he would see Mia soon? At least, he hoped he would.
“Definitely, let's go! I feel as if my face is ticking with the prospect of staying forever pink and red, though pink is a nice colour.” She purred, a subtle compliment towards the males pelt that would perhaps go unnoticed.
Kihalau did notice, and he glowed quietly in response. Throughout their outing today they had shared pain, their past, their quirks and their hopes for the future. In a short time they had begun to know one another, and there was a bond that went beyond their first meeting. They seemed suited. They fit together like two parts of a shell. It all seemed a little too soon to make a move regarding their relationship, but to both of them, there was definitely something there. They would bide their time, and find the right moment. Kihalau winced gently. It was certainly frowned upon to join a pride and then almost immediately court a female within it? At least he believe it was, and anyway, there was still a part of both of them that was still clinging weakly to the cobwebs of the past.
WC: 1023
