Maikoa let out a sigh as she trekked away from her pride's border once more, more frustrated than pleased about leaving this time. Her brother had been having one of his fits before she'd left, where he had been fully engrossed in his art and snapped and yelled at anyone who got too close. She had been hoping that she could have a nice conversation with him, get to show him the trinkets she'd procured for him from her last outing, but with how he was acting... She would be lucky to get a single word from him. He never wanted to interact with anyone when he was like this.
So she'd chosen to make another journey out. A short one, hopefully, to maybe see if their swamp neighbors were interested in trading with her. She generally tried to steer clear of this area as she wasn't a big fan of the muck and grime that came from living there, but the merchant in her argued that a buyer was a buyer, and she shouldn't avoid a good sale because of a bit of mud.
.... That didn't mean she liked it though.
Pulling her netted bag closer to herself, the lioness grunted as she yanked her paw from the sludge with a grumpy expression. Ugh, this sucked! How could anyone live here? It seemed like such a miserable place. The sooner she found the locals, the better!
As she fell into a pattern of step-grunt-step-grunt, Maikoa's thoughts started to trail to the way things had become in her pride. It certainly wasn't bad -- everyone seemed much happier now despite the tension between them and their seafaring neighbors -- though she wasn't entirely certain how she felt about their change in customs. She tended to prefer having more order and stability in her life.
Ah, well.... At least no one was trying to drug anyone anymore.
So into her thoughts, she hadn't noticed someone approaching until the curious nose poked right up into her face.
The concept of personal space was something that Meera really only applied in sketchy situations. So if she deemed someone safe, they were fair game. It was probably a good thing that she came off as approachable and innocent, or she would have ended up with a few scrapes and bruises for her actions.
As it as, when she'd seen the lioness hauling her way through the swamp, she hadn't been intimidated or seen any reason not to view her as a friendly. So she'd walked closer to investigate and introduce herself. Seeing the bag on her shoulder, the cheeton tilted her head in curiosity and then sloshed her way over to sniff at it. It looked like it held a bunch of random objects.
Huh, interesting!
The lioness smelled familiar too and it took a second for the scent to click in her head. A Kizi! Definitely a friendly, then!
With a cheerful hop closer, Meera shoved her face right up next to the newcomer. "Hello!"
Maikoa let out a shrill yell, stumbling backwards in the water and almost falling over. Luckily for her, she had managed to catch herself before falling and stood the, breathing heavily, as she stared at the strange female. When she did nothing more than just smile cheekily at her, the lioness let out a sigh. Oh great, that kind of person. Not to say that the happy-go-lucky sort weren't nice, of course not, but god if they didn't seem overly excitable at times.
Still, she'd been wanting to find someone -- and find someone, she had.
Giving a shaky, uncertain smile back, Maikoa spoke, "Uh... Hello. Are you one of the locals?"
"Mmmm, nope!" Meera shook her head emphatically as she said that, tail swishing with her almost in tandem. She giggled, "I'm a traveler, like you!" And then she twisted herself around to show off the satchel tied around her. The objects in it clinked around as she moved, showing that it obviously held a variety of interesting things.
She turned herself back around, continuing, "I was on my way back to visit the Kizi and Bahari, but with everything so... tense... I decided to head here instead." She pouted, "I was looking forward to seeing the beach in this season, but I guess I'll have to wait."
The cheeton shrugged, "Oh well, I guess. I got to meet some of the people living here! They're really nice."
Maikoa's ears perked up at she showed her satchel, interest clearly peeked, but the other female moved on before she could ask about it. Perhaps another traveler willing to trade something with her? She enjoyed running into others like her -- they had a good chance of having something interesting to show from their travels.
As she mentioned the locals, Maikoa gave a noncommittal shrug. They were nice enough, the ones she had come across, despite their questionable lifestyle.
Clearing her throat, she tried to move back to the previous topic, "A fellow wanderer, huh?" She gave a soft smile, "It's true that things are a little shaky back home right now, but it should all right itself soon. I highly suggest returning when it does."
Then she threw a coy look at Meera's satchel, "Any chance you might be interested in some trading? I do quite a bit of traveling, myself. You might find something you're interested in."
Meera tilted her head at the question. Most of her items were gifts from others or objects she had procured, herself, but she supposed that if there was something cool in the Kizi's bag, then it might not be a bad idea. The gifts were off limits, but the random knick-knacks should be fine, she thought.
So she shrugged and said, "I don't know. What do you have?"
Maikoa slung her tail around her, excited that she wasn't immediately balking at the idea. "Let's find somewhere less.... muddy, and then we can discuss it more. In the meantime, you mentioned the locals? I've been trying to find them. Do you know where they are?"
She smiled brightly at that, "Oh, sure!" A paw was flung forward before she started trotting off, "I think I saw a couple off in this direction."