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The outlands. A barren wasteland of nothing but misery and loss, but it was his home. Siyo'Jini may not have been born an outlander, but he had certainly been raised in the harsh environment, honed by the constant feeling of hunger and want, and knowing that all he had to do to get it was to take it from those who had too much. Muuaji had been saying as much ever since he had taken over as warlord, but Siyo'Jini had to find that resolve within himself before he could fully commit to that ideal. He had been thinking a lot lately, 'brooding' as Thunzi had called it, but he was tired of thinking. He wanted to act. Action felt better than words. Ripping his claws and fangs into the flesh of those that had more than their fair share and taking a chunk of that back home for the outlands was all he wanted to do. He had told Thunzi as much, and to his surprise, his friend had not disagreed with his newfound resolve. The outlands were their home, the lions and lionesses that lived here were kin, and it was up to them to bring home precious resources.

Thunzi was pleased that his friend was no longer brooding over something that couldn't be changed. It had been difficult to see Siyo'Jini in such a state, as the black pelted lion had always been the stronger of the pair. At least now he seemed much like how he used to be, only with newfound purpose in his stride, and honestly Thunzi couldn't disagree with his logic. There was no point in trying to act like a pridelander, the outlands were simply too far gone, so they had to resort to taking what they could from neighboring prides. It made sense. Almost as much sense as sneaking up on a larger, stronger opponent and waiting for the right moment to strike. Such as he was doing with Siyo'Jini right now. His friend was off to do some training, and to Thunzi that just sounded like a good excuse to tussle. So, with silent paws, he waited until just the right moment, before leaping out from his hiding spot to pounce on the larger lion.

Luckily enough, Siyo'Jini was more or less ready for his friend's sneak attack. He had smelled him on the wind not many paces back, and he was not surprised Thunzi had chosen to engage him in combat training in that way as he had done many times before. So, when he felt the sudden rush of an incoming attack, Siyo was able to side-step and counter with a heavy cuff of his paw onto the shoulder of his attacker, sending Thunzi off-balance. "Is that a challenge?" Siyo snarled as he raised his lips into a blood-curdling grin. He'd give his fellow outlander one chance to change his mind, as the large black pelted lion turned and squared his shoulders in preparation for their spar.

Damn! Thunzi thought, as he was knocked off his balance and stumbled a few paces before regaining his footing. A growl escaped his throat as he saw Siyo squaring up for their spar as he realized he had lost his only chance at getting the upper paw on his friend. "Ha! Shut up!" Thunzi snarled back, a glimmer of amusement touching his eyes as he circled to the opposite direction of Siyo'Jini. Whelp, he was in for it now, might as well get the fight started. With a rush, Thunzi dashed forward, attempting to throw his larger opponent off-guard with speed.

Siyo'Jini was ready for this tactic. He knew Thunzi didn't think himself to be particularly strong, so his best course of action would have been to catch his opponent off-guard and quickly. Instead of attempting to dodge whatever Thunzi was going to throw at him, Siyo countered with a shoulder check and threw his body into grappling the pale lion. In a head-on challenge, Siyo knew himself to be stronger, so he sunk his claws into Thunzi's flesh to keep him within striking distance.

Painful as it was to have claws digging into his hide, Thunzi did not waver or attempt to break their grapple. That would only do more damage to him. So, instead he snarled and sank his teeth into Siyo'Jini's forelimb, causing his friend to rethink his close combat strategy. The two stayed locked in place for a few moments, neither willing to admit defeat despite each having a hold of one another's flesh. Eventually, the struggle came to a standstill once Siyo'Jini managed to wrestle the both of them to the ground, with no further way of continuing forward without doing severe damage to one another. Had this not been a spar between friends, Thunzi could see this sort of situation turning into a bloody mess, so he was the first to relinquish his hold on his fellow outlander's flesh.

Siyo'Jini was a little impressed Thunzi had managed to hang on for so long without losing his cool or panicking. The pale lion had always been the smaller of the two, but now it seemed Thunzi was finally growing into his mane, so to speak. "It's a draw, then," Siyo admitted as he loosened his claws and the hold on Thunzi's hide while Thunzi released his bite on his foreleg. There was no use in further harming one another for little gain, especially when this was just meant to be a friendly spar. Siyo stood and shook his mane, a shower of dust escaping into the air as he did so.

Thunzi huffed, but there really was no point in continuing. Calling it at a draw was probably the smartest thing they could have done. "Yeah, that's fine," he agreed as he gathered his paws up from under him and pushed to stand up once again. "Damn, I'm hungry now," Thunzi grumbled as his stomach growled at him angrily.

Siyo snorted in response. "Yeah. Ain't much to eat though," he rumbled as he took a glance around. The pride had been surviving off of slim pickings lately, which made Siyo'Jini all the more confident in his desire to take resources from surrounding areas. If he had to fight every single pride single-handedly, he'd do it if it meant ensuring his friends and pridemates had enough to eat. "Come on," he grumbled. "Lets go see if the hunter caught anything today."

"You know they haven't," Thunzi retorted, his tail twitching in agitation. "We might as well try to find something on our own." Maybe a field mouse was hiding nearby, he thought dourly.

An unpleasant, serious look crossed Siyo's maw as he took in those words spoken by his friend. He knew they were most likely true, but it was a hard lump to swallow. Things would change. Siyo'Jini would make them change. This was the only home he knew, and he couldn't bare to see his pride struggle daily to the simplest of things. It just... wasn't right.

"I know that look," Thunzi paused. "Stop brooding. There's nothing to do about it now." He gave Siyo a hard look when his friend didn't budge from his spot.

"No. At least, not yet," Siyo muttered, mostly to himself. He'd make things change, even if it meant taking over as warlord to make a difference, but he kept that thought buried deep in his chest. "Fine. Let's go look for something to eat ourselves," he finally agreed with another shake of his mane.

((Word Count: 1,255))