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It was that time of the week again. That deplorable time he always tried to stay away from just as long as possible. His most hated of necessities was now upon him, giving him no more room to put it off. The hunger gnawed at his stomach relentlessly, getting to the point where he could no longer nap thanks to the insistence of it. Without naps, he really had nothing left to do with his time. His favorite past time was once again, momentarily, robbed from him. The male was starving. There were no others choices left open to him now;

A hunt would have to begin.

Gods did he hate the hunt. Killing an innocent animal just because he needed to eat seemed so wrong. Why did he deserve to live while that animal deserved to die? What made his life more important? Claws? Fangs? Being of a slightly larger stature? None of it seemed particularly justifying in his mind.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t eat anything but meat. He had tried. Grass was only good for digestion and plants were down-right disgusting. Berries were nice, but he had discovered not all them were actually meant to be eaten. A week wearing a puffy, inflamed face taught him that rather disagreeable lesson. No, he could not escape his genes. It was written in his soul that he just had to eat other creatures to survive. Smaller animals that were not blessed with sharp teeth.

One such animal, while he was so deep in his brooding, plowed right into him.

The antelope, frantic to get away from him and whatever it was that had chased it into him, kicked and squealed until it got off his body, leaping away and easily vanishing. Mito, a little bemused, gave his body a shake, small puncture wounds from the creature’s hooves hidden within his mane while a few dotted his front legs. Nothing he wouldn’t survive.

Curious, he moved the opposite direction of the antelope, looking for the source of its fright. Soon enough, he found a female lion. A huntress, he assumed. Smiling faintly, he sat down a few feet from her, keeping his distance in case she was not friendly. He had never seen a lioness quite like her before. Perhaps she wasn’t from around the rogue lands.

“Hello,” the mammoth male offered softly.

“Mwezi…?” bemused, the large animal took a moment to scan the area. When had he wandered out of the rogue lines? There really needed to be some kind of clearly visible line distinguishing which patch of ground sat within what territory. How was he supposed to know when he was closing in on someone else’s home without proper notation? Not that he was really one to do a lot of exploring, but still. There were lions out there that would benefit greatly from such an easy way to see where one was.

“No,” he offered soon after the scan, his eyes coming to rest once more on the pretty female, “I’m not from around here, actually. I’m just passing through… inadvertently, I might add.” He chuckled softly, tail beating the dirt as he waited to see what more she had to say. So that was why she looked different from the other female lions he had seen.

She was part of this pride? Or maybe she was just uncommonly pretty. Either way, he was impressed.

“I was clobbered by an antelope just now and was curious to find out what had caused it to come running into me in such a panic. I guess it must have been you chasing it, right?” he asked lightly, grinning. It hadn’t yet occurred to him that she had missed the catch and probably didn’t want to talk about those things.

“Oh! Excuse my manners,” he hummed, bowing his head, “my name is Mito! And you are?”

“Ah,” the male responded lightly, dropping the concern almost instantly. He was always ready to shrug off worry, and if she said that he was alright than what more did he have to think it about? This female hardly had any reason to lie to him, and, to be honest, she didn’t seem like the kind to create trouble for fun. Something about her face told him that. Then again, he could be staring into the eyes of notorious murderer and still try to find the good in them.

A bit of a personality flaw, despite however well-intentioned.

“Well I’m glad- I’d hate to be stepping on any toes. Especially yours- they seem a bit smaller than mine and it might hurt you,” he chuckled mildly, watching her move a bit closer.

Listening to her confession, Mito could only feel a little guilty. “My apologies,” he replied shortly after she finished, “if I had known I would have tried to direct it back to you, instead of letting it dance on my chest and dart off. “Providing for a whole pride? Sounds like a very important task. I barely tolerate looking after myself- you must be well respected where you come from.”

He was impressed. Hunting for not only herself, but others. That was definitely a more justifiable means of taking life. Much better than the selfish inclination to satiate one’s own hunger.

“It’s true,” he replied, “I’m nothing but a chubby nomad. You’re lucky to have a place to call home, Ivie, do you enjoy it?”

“Are you now?” the male replied, giving her a gentle, though intent-full nudge to see if she would fall over with a small amount of force. Since they were now so close to each other, it was easy enough to do. A soft chuckle escaped him; there really wasn’t any doubt in his mind that she wasn’t as strong, if not stronger, than she claimed to be. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have been out on her own. Plus, the whole ‘hunting for the whole pride’ thing still had him impressed.

At mention of a partner, the male smiled, “well, if you ever happen to be hunting near the boarders of your pride again, look me up! I’d be happy to help you hunt for your pride members. I don’t like hunting for me, but somehow it feels better when I get to help someone else do it.” He wasn’t about to lie about such things, grinning at his own odd thoughts.

“I’m glad you found something that makes you so happy! And, on that note, I’m sorry being a rogue was so hard for you. I don’t mind it so much, but then, I don’t really do enough to fully know if it’s good or bad to be a rogue. I guess I’ll find out at some point though, right?”

When she poked him, he let out a soft coo, like it had been enough to make him giggle like a small cub would. “I would hate to see myself naked. I’d probably look like my head was two times too big for my body or something.”

Compliment coming from no where, Mito felt his ears start to burn from a blush that had worked over his entire face.

“Thanks,” he chuckled, “you’re pretty cute yourself, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

Mito chuckled. “I hate to travel,” he said lightly, “I’m mostly in one spot all the time. In fact, this is the furthest I’ve been from my den in a very long time.” He smiled at that, looking up at the sky. Suddenly he found himself wondering if perhaps he had wandered too far from his home. Would he be able to find his way back?

Eh, there was no need to be worried. Even if it took a while, he would eventually figure out which way he needed to go to get himself home.

He was having too much fun to really worry about it.

“I suppose I might like it more with friends too,” he replied thoughtfully, “I certainly don’t think I could hate it any less at this point. And friends are great. I have very few, but those I do hold dear to me I would do anything for.” He watched the female, aware that there was a good chance she would end up being a friend of his as well. Maybe even a good one.

He was blissfully unaware of the workings of her mind at that moment though, being male, it wasn’t that his mind wasn’t around the same kind of thing. He was just enjoying the conversation and mild flirting.

Plus, he was kind of an idiot.

Watching her, the mammoth male blinked, his smiling broadening into a wide grin. “Well, that sounds great,” he replied lightly, “what did you have in mind?” So he would get to have a new friend.

Fantastic.

“Oh?” Mito inquired as she started to speak, tilting his head to one side with ears perked forward. It was only a few seconds later when her allusion struck, the intention behind her slightly ambiguous words hitting him like a ton of bricks. A smile crept over his expression. “Oh!” he said again with quite a different inflection to the simple word. It hung in the air in full realization of what she wanted him.

Mito wasn’t the brightest, true enough, but this wasn’t the kind of situation that required intellectual prowess. No, this was the kind of situation he was much better equipped to deal with.

“I see. Well…. I’m thankful for the offer,” he replied with a grin, “and I might just have to take you up on it. I agree. This place is pretty lonely too.” His eyes remained on her face, though she had only glanced in his direction after making the offer. He wondered how soon this offer was set for. Perhaps asking her to lead the way would be a little inappropriate.

He didn’t know where she stood on the subject.

For him, the ‘act’ wasn’t anything that needed to be second-guessed or fretted about. It was just a way for two lions to get to know each other on a more… intimate level. There didn’t always have to be a motive behind the actions. What was wrong with a little bit of fun? If she had no problem with it, and he certainly didn’t, then they weren’t doing anything wrong.

Even if, under the amorphous code of conduct most animals lived by, it was only supposed to be for making babies. A nice lion he was indeed, but not without his faults. Not that he considered it a fault, really, but in the eyes of the general public it could be seen as such.

“So…” he offered awkwardly, a little confused. He didn’t know where to go from there.