[PRP] A Morning Stroll [ Kala'ha'a + Nsundu ]

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Mmmm, it was such a nice morning. Nsundu stretched languidly, yawning as she did so. So far, ruling the pride hadn't been so bad. She'd had to keep an eye out on everyone, do a few lessons with Isithunzi, but after that she was pretty much left to her own devices. But that was expected. Her pride was not extremely large and everyone was used to pretty much looking out for themselves. The Nchi were even smaller since she had yet to see Juke, Muujiza and their family yet, but Nsundu had faith that they would arrive. Perhaps once they got here she would hold an official welcoming the morning ceremony. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. She'd run it by Isi after she went on her morning stroll.

With a flex of her toes, Nsundu set off. It had become a bit of a ritual to wander through her new territory, checking on locations of drum materials and searching for any remaining members. Though she had yet to meet anyone, it was a good chance for her to get out and have a look at the landscape. The pride queen hummed absently to herself as she walked, pausing every so often to investigate a fallen gourd. Hmmm... that one looked like it would make a nice drum. She'd make sure to tell Isi.  

[chirigami]

Blue eyes scanned the skies above, white paws taking the female to parts completely unknown and unknowingly doing so. It had been late in the evening that Kala'ha'a had picked herself up from a comfortable spot in the rogue lands and begun a journey with really no intentions. Originally she had thought perhaps she could find another ideal location in tall grasses somewhere far from the familiar to gaze upon the skies and the clouds. Perhaps other locations held different formations and wonderments. After a while, she had realized... she just felt like moving, getting up and going.

Of course, she had started late and being dark and to territory she was unfamiliar with, she wasn't sure where she was anymore. Kala was a bit worried and weary, now thinking this not to be such a good idea. She had gone past a few jungles she dared not enter - besides they would block the sky after all - and had now come.. well here. As the dawn started to stretch its length across the lands above, a smile and cheer had come back to the white and pink female, ease to her worried heart. Which brought her to once again turning her gaze from in front of her and thus to the above.

Kala's pace slowed down to a full stop, finding it now pointless to keep going really, still just looking up at the few clouds that were scattered.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

As the lioness rounded the trunk of a rather large tree, a white lioness in the distance caught her eye. Brown ears perked as she stared at the figure. However, squint as she might, she couldn't tell who it was. All she could identify was some white and a bit of pink. Wait, was it Vinya? It must be! Who else would be around these parts but Vinya? She was probably looking for stuff to make her jewellery.

Nsundu grinned to herself and took off at a run to go and meet her friend. They could look for instruments together and enjoy each other's company! After all, it had been Nsundu who had dragged the lioness all the way out here. It was only fair to be her constant companion. With a leap she skidded to a halt beside Kala, turning to face her with a wide grin.

"Viiiiinyaaa how's it go—oh. You're not Vinya." Nsundu blinked at the lioness, only just realizing it wasn't her friend. Whoops. "Sorry about that... I could have sworn you were someone else..."  

[chirigami]

"Murr?" Kala herself blinked as she took her attention from the sky to the sound and call of the quickly approaching lioness. Oh! Another lion, her blue eyes widened in joy to only close a little back to their original size. The brown one seemed to be trying to attract the attention of someone else. Sighing, her gaze looked around, trying to see where this other one was. But, found no one else in the vicinity, now that was weird.

Even more weird when the other one came right up to her and kept calling her a name that wasn't. Kala flushed, backing up a step, a little startled from the mistake. "Oh, i-it's alright. Happens all the time, to others I suppose." The white lioness chuckled in reply, "I'm sorry for confusing you ~"  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Nsundu blinked slowly when Kala took a step backwards, assuming that she had taken some sort of offense. "Didn't mean anything by it, you're just white like her and she's a bit quiet too, off by herself a lot..." She trailed off, trying her best to look apologetic. Wait, the other female was sorry? Oooh, maybe she had just startled her. Duh, Nsundu. She really shouldn't have assumed the female took offense. After all, it wasn't like she'd run up and pounced on her or something equally as overfriendly. Not that Nsundu was above it, but lions often didn't take very well to excited physical contact.

"Don't need to apologize, it was my mistake. But now that we're both here, mistake's been corrected, can I ask you what your actual name is? I can't just call you Vinya-look-alike can I?" Nsundu flopped down into a lazy sit, not bothered in the slightest that she was dealing with a new lioness in her pride lands. Some might have considered Kala an intruder, but Nsundu thought of her more as a guest. No harm in making friends with her.  

[chirigami]

"I'm sure you didn't but I am still sorry for confusing you and all ~" Kala chuckled softly, a smile spread across her features in a way to ease the situation. She hadn't picked up that Nsundu had her assumptions over her own reaction, but the white female still felt inclined to ramble on a bit in explanation "With a white pelt and a soft color, I suppose I could be anyone from such a distance ~"

"Though, that name would be a bit of a mouthful and would probably confuse people if they knew your friend as well, the name is Kala'ha'a ~ but you can just call me Kala if you wish." She nodded in greeting, smile still present in her relaxed posture. Her pink tuffed tail swished behind her in a happy motion, also not picking up her situation of being in the lands of a pride. Kala honestly had no idea where the heck she was....  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Nsundu nodded along with what the lioness was saying. White really was a soft colour, and being a solid colour made it easy to mistake you for someone (or something) else. "I've been mistaken for a log once, so I know how it feels. But no harm done." She was a little disappointed that it hadn't been Vinya'nyota that she'd met up with, but meeting up with a new lioness was a suitable alternative. Nsundu would get a little conversation about the world outside her pride, and hopefully this lioness would benefit from it as well.

Oooh, now that was a tricky name. Nsundu frowned slightly as she tried several times to wrap her mouth around it. By the third time she had given up trying at all. "Kala then. I'm not too good with longs names anyways, 'cause I tend to forget them. And you have a nickname all ready for me!" The lioness grinned, apparently quite pleased that it was easy to shorten Kala's name. "'m Nsundu, by the way. From the Nchi'mahadhi pride."  

[chirigami]

Kala blinked for a moment, at the mention of what the brown lioness had been mistaken as and within a few seconds she was giggling. "I've never heard of a fuzzy log before, are they abundant here or something? That's just silly ~" Well, unless the other lion couldn't see well or was young enough to not know any better - not that she did anywho - but the notion was just amusing.

"It is very nice to meet you though, Nsundu ~" Kala replied, face still filled with warmth from her boast of giggles.

"Nchi... Nchi'mah..adhi?" she wrapped her tongue around after, struggling a bit over the name. "And you thought my name was hard," The white lioness' smile strengthened, "it's a lovely name though, so this is their lands?" Kala asked curiously, never having found herself upon pride lands or having encountered anyone who belonged to anything, especially ones she had never heard of before - the ones she knew of being a really short list.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

"I dunno. Apparently I was laying real still and my friend passed by me a bunch of times before he realized it was me." Nsundu really wasn't sure how she had been mistaken for a log, only that Banny had told her why he'd missed her. Perhaps she had been lying really still. Even so, she had never seen a fuzzy log before. It must be a male thing. "I know, silly innit? He was a bit focused in finding his girlfriend, so I cut him some slack." Poor Banny. She hoped he had found what he was looking for.

Nsundu grinned when Kala managed to pronounce the name of her pride. Atta girl. It was a bit of a mouthful, which was why she just shortened it down to the Nchi. Much easier to remember and say. "Yeah, we got up all of this up until the mountain over there." She nodded in the direction of the barely visibly mountain in the distance. "We're a new pride though, so I don't expect too many people know about us."  

[chirigami]

To be mistaken as a log, or at least in excuse. She wondered if her friend had just been trying to make up something or... if something was wrong with him. But then again, she had never seen a fuzzy log and perhaps they existed in areas she wasn't aware of. Kala just smiled listening to the brown female explain how the situation had come about and soon followed her gaze to where Nsundu had directed to.

"Oh neat ~" She expressed, looking down now at the ground at her feet as if they were so much different than anything else she had walked on. Well, they were slightly, they apparently belonged to a collection of other lions and it felt somehow different standing there than just the few minutes prior. "I've never been near pride lands, well probably have but not knowingly. I've met people from prides and such but never got to see where they lived ~" Kala blinked suddenly, looking up at her new acquaintance, "You're leader isn't going to be mad for me being around here, are they?"

She had heard of rogues often being attacked for stepping in bounds of certain prides, hopefully the leader of the Nchi would be sympathetic to lost and aimless lions.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Nsundu nodded along with Kala, knowing what it felt like to live near a pride but not actually in it. "Same thing for me. I used to live near the Pridelands, but I never actually went in very far. Too many lions and too many questions involved if you meet up with someone." Though she had never actually met the border patrol, she was pretty sure one existed. She didn't want to be answering questions as to why she was technically trespassing.

"The leader? Naw, she won't. You're looking at her." The lioness flashed Kala wide grin, unable to help but puff up. This was the first lioness she had met where she got to introduce herself as the leader of an actual pride. It was very exciting, not to mention quite a monumental event for her. She was the queen of these lands and now she got to meet the lions on the border! It was just like how Safuma had come to meet her. Talk about déjà vu.  

[chirigami]

Kala's eyes grew wide with surprise as her mouth fell open, "You.. are?" Her still open mouth pulled to a smile as she stared at the brown lioness in front of her. She had never ever met anyone in charge of a pride, who held so much power and control over a domain. How cool was this, and unexpected. Though Kala hadn't met any other people of power before, she had always expected it to be obvious who they were - like Mufasa or something from the Pride Lands - and not someone that was rather like herself.

"Wow.. wow!" She utterly impressed she bowed deeply, "Your majesty ~ I thank you for not harming me upon your lands ~" She giggled upon raising her head back up. "That's soooo neat. What's it like being in charge? Is it hard? Fun? Stuff?" The white lioness was practically hopping with delight over the news. How cool.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

"Course I am! My mum was before me, and all that jazz. But my pride got disbanded a long time ago 'cause of the plague, which sucked, so I rounded the remaining guys up and brought them back home!" Nsundu puffed up, quite proud of her accomplishments. She had traveled pretty much all over Africa to find members for her pride. Now there were many members, and quite a few youth that were making their way towards their coming of age ceremony. It was terribly exciting, both for herself and her go-to Isithunzi. She could hardly wait to see all the drums in the drum circle!

Nsundu laughed when Kala bowed, thoroughly amused. Wow, she'd never been bowed to before! This was awesome! "Of course not! I like having intelligent lionesses on my lands! They bring good luck!" She really wasn't sure if that was true, but heck, it was true now. "It's really fun actually! We're a really laid-back pride, so we just chill out pretty much. I just make sure nobody is beating anybody up, and that everyone is learning the pride traditions and stuff. Everyone else looks out for themselves. And leading is never hard for girls, Kala. It comes naturally."  

[chirigami]

Kala's blue eyes grew wide just listening to Nsundu's story about her pride, making the whole thing just sound the more exciting and interesting to her. She had never really experienced anything like a pride, just a small family which she had left long ago. "Wow," Was the first thing should could manage to say, "You must have traveled a lot ~ but how did you know who was of your blood? that must have been hard ... well, unless they look a little like you?" She was curious indeed. She could never really imagine trying to find her family or what had happened to them or if her siblings had had cubs of their own.

"But you are right about that," Kala nodded giddy, "My mother ruled our family with an iron paw and she didn't even seem like she was trying ~ father never tried to step over he ideas, he knew not to try and out-speak the General." The white lioness giggled, thinking up fond memories.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Nsundu grinned broadly at the wow, enjoying how much this meeting was stroking her ego. It wasn't often that she found an admirer. The last person who had looked at her like that was Banjoko, but his opinion didn't really count as much as a girl's. Still, the fact that he had been proud of her made her proud of herself. Kala was only adding to her self-confidence (which was quite large enough, according to her daughter, but Nsundu needn't know that).

"Oh I did. Not quite all over Africa, but definitely a long way," the lioness replied, nodding her head as Kala spoke. "And I wasn't really related to anyone. I just drummed some beats on the ground, and whoever know what that was got invited to come along." She demonstrated, tapping her feet on the ground in a soft cha-chacha-cha beat. "My family doesn't really have anything noticeable that you could see in future generations. We've all been pretty solid colours with only a few markings."

"Your mama was a General?" Now Nsundu was interested. The lioness tilted her head, in the hopes of encouraging Kala to say more.