Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a sweetness in the air and she felt the need to follow it, her companions however, felt the need to sleep instead. Brown eyes traced the sunny sky, her legs aching to wander, perhaps there would be some items worth trading in the direction of the beautiful scent? Taking another look at her companions, a stiff line formed on her mouth. They would be alright by themselves for a few hours surely?

Continuing to debate, Kakali pushed air through her nose harshly, standing up in the process. Yeah, she knew she’d be reprimanded by the Lio and Vot, but she really didn’t care at the moment. Moving silently over to the pack they had filled with trading items, Kakali gently picked it up, slinging it around her neck. All she had to do was make the trip worth their while and she wouldn’t get in trouble, smirking at her clever idea Kakali started off in the direction of the sweet smell.

Perhaps there would be flowers, or honey, or sweet water nearby to trade? Of course she’d never know for sure, as she quickly found herself faced with a stranger. Stopping suddenly, the little lioness held her breath, stiff as a board. What if they were hostile? Twitching her ears back and forth with anxiety she scolded herself under her breath.

“Kakali, you’ve done it this time. They will kill you if you lose the loot.”

Amare grunted as he continued to work on the meal that he had just gotten for himself. It was a nice enough day, and that had made him hungry, so he really didn’t want any interruptions, or at least anyone trying to steal his meal. He had noticed some new smells in the area that he hadn’t noticed before, which meant there was probably a new group in the area. He grunted a bit, continuing to eat the gazelle that was his current lunch. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go against a group of lions, it would be at least two vs. one after all, which is why he was trying to eat his meal quickly, but also enjoy it.

While he was doing so however, he really couldn’t sniff out if anyone was nearby, so he kept his ears alert for anyone. Unfortunately he was too absorbed in his meal to notice when the lioness was actually near him. He noticed her when he turned his head a bit to look around, and she seemed to stiffen. He wasn’t sure if she was here to try to steal his food, but he wouldn’t let her. “If you’re looking for a meal, you’ll have to look elsewhere.” He practically growled out. He wasn’t sure why she was here, but it was his food!

Knitting her brows together, Kakali gave the lion a disgusted look; she was far from hungry, at least, she thought she was. As a breeze picked up, the sweet scent wafted to her nose again, a scent that after looking at the dead animal she could only describe as blood. Feeling her stomach growl and quake the little bird colored lioness just stood there in disbelief.

“…Errm, I could trade you for a leg?” Making a face halfway between cute and awkward, she started digging through her bag of trade goodies. “I got these weird human items, “ She spoke confidently as she dropped a couple forks to the ground. “Some bones,” digging around some more she pulled out some feathers and a sparkly rock. “Oh! How about this? I could even fasten it to your mane?”

It was a stretch, definitely, but it was all Kakali had. She normally would hunt for herself with her companions, but the hunger had already set in, clouding her judgement completely. “Please, please, pleaaaaase. I didn’t even know I was hungry until I got here.”

Amare looked at the lioness like she was crazy. He seemed to think she was a bit crazy, or at least desperate. He humphed again. “Human stuff? Not sure what I would do with it.” Though the rock did intrigue him. He had seen other lions with decorative things on them. He looked at his meal. Nothing she had said had made him believe that she and her group were going to go and take over the area or that he wouldn’t be able to get any food.

He considered it for a bit. “Fine. One of the front ones.” He replied, pointing at the front ones with one of his paws. “I’ll do it for the rock though. It looks interesting.” He said, smirking a bit. If she didn’t accept it he could always just eat the whole gazelle himself. It’s not as if he needed the rock anyway. He also silently hoped that she would then go away soon.

Kakali’s eyes widened as she picked up one of the forks to show the lion, “Look, see these little pokey things?” She pointed to the end of the fork and its prongs. “You could use it for just about anything, my comrades and I tend to take turns getting junk out of our fur and bugs from our manes.” Grinning she tenderly placed the fork down before looking at the shiny rock the blue lion spoke of.

“This stone is at least worth both of those front legs if you ask me, especially with how it catches the light.” As she spoke, Kakali lightly rolled the stone around so the sun caught it in various ways, causing a sparkle to erupt from it. “It would definitely bring out the color of your mane.” Looking the stone over, she smirked.

“I was told by my companion that this stone will even bring good luck in love and life.” Raising her brows in excitement, she pulled the stone closer to her. “…Definitely worth two front legs.”

He huffed again, turning back to the meal. “I have no real use for any of that. And besides, it’s just a stone that looks kind of nice. Definitely not worth two front legs.” He replied, before taking another big chunk out of the carcass and eating it a bit slowly, perhaps teasing her on purpose. Internally though he was wondering if this really was the best idea. It had been a while since he had even met, let alone talked to, another lion, if she was being slightly annoying.

He didn’t exactly want to scare her off, but he was hungry and he really didn’t need any of what she was trying to barter. The stone was nice looking and she did say that she would help put it on him. It would probably be easy enough to take off too. After a few moments, he replied, a bit gruffly “A leg and a half.”

Kakali could feel her mouth salivating as she watched Amare slowly tear into another piece of meat. Her mind was getting foggy, with each bite he took she felt her stomach twist harder. She wanted that gazelle and she wanted it now! Shifting her weight from side to side, she wanted to argue with him about the legs, it was definitely worth two if not more! However, as she was about to open her mouth to argue again about trading a loud rumbling was heard.

Looking over the stone again, she felt no guilt as she pushed it towards him. If she didn’t eat she wouldn’t be able to continue travelling. Without travel? Well, she really wouldn’t be able to do much of anything with herself, Votla and Lio would leave her behind and she’d surely perish.

“Just let me eat already!”

Amare was having a bit too much fine teasing the lioness, but even he had a limit towards begging. He quickly tore off one of the front legs, throwing it in her direction, not really caring if she was hit with it or not, and quickly moved the stone towards him so that she couldn’t snatch it away from him suddenly. He chuckles a bit before taking another bite. “Fine, there you go.” He couldn’t torture a poor lady for too long now could he? But he did take a bit of delight in it.

He continued on with his meal, ignoring her growling stomach, which just made him hungrier. He thought a bit to himself, wondering if he was missing something, considering she seemed to have some purpose in mind what with all of the “trading” that she was doing. All he had been doing so far was lazing about and getting food when he needed to. So far there really wasn’t much competition in the area and he hadn’t had to fight lately. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing, his muscles were probably getting a bit flabby.

Growling lightly at the lion’s rudeness and the way the leg was given to her, Kakali quickly picked it up. Tearing apart the flesh from bone in an almost feverish manner, she ignore her company, he wasn’t even worth fastening the stone to. Licking her maw and watching him quietly once the flesh was gone, her stomach slowly settled. The leg definitely wouldn’t be enough, but it would help her until she caught her own meal. Backing away a little bit, Kakali picked up the rest of her items from the satchel.

“Bye!” Rolling her eyes, the waxwing colored lioness dashed off, leaving the lion to either continue his lunch or possibly follow after her. The choice would be his own, however, he most certainly would be meeting the entire travelling party if he followed her.

Amare sent a glare in the direction that the lioness had left. So that’s what he got for his generosity eh? Well, at least he got the stone out of it, and he had most of the gazelle to eat, so he was the one who had gained in this interaction. But that was the last time he bargained for something interesting looking that he couldn’t even do anything with. He still had no use for it, and he doubted he could just go up to someone randomly and ask them to tie it around his neck.

He hmphed and went back to his meal, glad that he could take a nice, long nap after all of this.