[PRP - Central] An Attempt at Romance (Hanjari x Ari)

[wooga Paes]

She had dismissed her big brute for the day, because even though Jian was quite good at hiding, Ting Lan knew when she was there and sometimes it was annoying. Good to have someone to count on… but annoying. Besides, now she wasn’t visiting any of the other houses, she was ‘home’ (truly, all of Tianxia was home). The empress had just come back from a brief visit to the North House that morning, and after a nap had decided there were things here she needed to give attention to.

She eventually found one of them out by himself, and she briefly wondered if he was lost, since from what she knew of the pridelands, it was very different from here. Hanjari… Ting Lan briefly felt bad for him, because she imagined she hadn’t quite been giving the lion as much attention as he deserved. Maybe she was a bit too involved in her work. Or maybe, if this lion could be considered part of her work, she wasn't involved enough... Well, she didn't want to think that way. Hanjari shouldn't be work for her, no husband should be. Nor a wife.

So the red lioness made her way over, relaxed after her nap, resolving to try and spend some quality time with him. “Miandui Tiaozhàn.” She greeted, then in an attempt to be cheerful and friendly, added. “I should give you a nickname.”
 

[wooga Paes]

Amusingly enough, since she had known Hanjari for quite a while simply by his common name, even Ting Lan found it a little amusing to call him something different. "Miandui, alright." She was determined to keep her tone of voice and manner of speaking casual, even if it felt odd to her. If it made things easier on the pridelander, that was okay.

Let's start with some chit chat. "Enjoying an afternoon out?" It was quite a nice day, she supposed. Wind had never bothered her, but it did feel nice on the days when there was none, or less, and her fur wasn't getting blown into her eyes if she looked the wrong way. And, though there were clouds in the sky, there was still sun popping out here and there.  

[wooga Paes]

"That's good." She said, and realized the response was almost automatic. She was so accustomed to being polite, sometimes she didn't even think much about her response. But Ting Lan truly thought it was good that Hanjari-- Miandui was beginning to grow used to the lands.

The fact that he sentiment was sincere didn't make this encounter any more entertaining, and she was beginning to worry that at this rate he may grow used to the pride, and fond of the lands, but never of her. Ugh, this was strange. Ting Lan had never had to worry about making friends before, let alone objectively trying to like someone. Maybe her issue was with this being planned, and it having happened so late in her life. As a cub, she would have been more spontaneous and fun, better capable of growing close to Hanjari, even knowing they were supposed to get married one day.

Maybe that was what she should try to do. Learn to like someone a way a cub does. "Want to play a game?" She asked about, because games were the first childish thing she could think of.  

[wooga Paes]

Okay, at least she was getting him to smile. Maybe there was yet hope for the two of them. "Very we-- okay." Lets stop it with the ready answers then. She was actually kind of enjoying this idea, it was kind of like she was already playing a game. At least it was different.

But then Ting Lan came to the realization that there was a problem with this suggestion of a game. "I don't know any games. Do you?" Not that she had never played before. sure, she had played with her siblings. But she hardly thought simply rough-and-tumble was really considered a game. And they had never really done it often. And Ting Lan in particular had been a very busy cub because she was learning about becoming an empress, aside from general education, and occasionally accompanying her parents to affairs so she could learn even more about becoming an empress.

At least Ari would never lack in knowledge of being an empress.  

[wooga Paes]

Ting Lan sometimes forgot about how big the Pridelands were supposed to be. Though she imagined her pride as great, she did recognize that, as far as numbers went, they were lacking. This was one thing she intended to remedy. One day her home would have many, and more would be wishing to join, because why wouldn't they?

"Catching bugs? That's odd." She remembered batting at a few bugs once or twice, but had quickly grown out of that. Tyro was probably more the sort to catch small animals. And sometimes torture them. Even though Hanjari hadn't conclusively stated that was the game he wanted to play, the empress looked to the ground around her paws, attempting to find an insect. She found some sort of dead beetle, and delicately stuck a claw through it, then held it up. "I win." She declared, mostly to see if she got any pleasure out of it.

... Nope, not much pleasure in getting more dead beetles than her opponent, who hadn't even been trying. "I don't know if tag really works with only two." It seemed like it would be too much back-and-forth. "I suppose if we can't find a game we could make one up."  

[wooga Paes]

Perhaps Ting Lan would laugh, too. Because usually when others laughed you laughed, because that seemed almost the polite thing to do. But she didn't outright laugh, so she just offered him a sort of I'm-kind-of-laughing smile. "I take it this isn't how you play the bug catching game." A ridiculous idea popped up in her mind that she would one day be very good at the bug-catching game. But that was just because Ting Lan was naturally competitive.

Most of the time Ting Lan would hate being laughed at, and would probably find it very disrespectful. But her future-husband was probably automatically at the level of intimacy required to be permitted to laugh at her. So long as it wasn't mockery, anyways.  

[wooga Paes]

"It's okay." She said, flicking the beetle off her claw. Having him laugh at her was better than an awkward chat about the weather, but she hoped that fun wouldn't always be at her expense. Still, she offered Hanjari a smile.

Well, yes. It made sense to have more time if they were trying to see who caught the most bugs. She was a little disappointed with her own lack of comprehension, considering Ting Lan was usually quite sharp. Maybe she was feeling slow after her nap. Or, maybe she was actually trying to be funny.

Huh, imagine that! The empress of Tianxia trying to be amusing. "More time does make sense." At his question, she shrugged. "Not much. I was busy." And my siblings aren't usually easy to get along with, and there were no other cubs around at the same time. When she though about it, she had probably played most with her father, and that had probably been his way of getting her to learn some fighting skills early on.