Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ever since she could remember, it had been her favorite place in the whole wide world. An expression of pure joy danced on her youthful face as she played amongst the wild flowers. As there currently was no company to be had, nor anybody to follow around, Lamya was more than content to entertain herself. The sun shone high and bright in the pale blue sky today, and the little lioness reveled in the way it warmed her back. It wasn't so hot that she couldn't enjoy herself, and so Lamya didn't have any inclination to look for some shade, even though the heat would probably double by noon.

She liked to smell the flowers. There was something wonderfully sweet about them. Most of all, though, she liked to sit as still as she possibly could, point her nose up at the sky and pretend that she was one of them. Her dark frame could easily be spotted from the edge of the meadow; surrounded as she was by colors more vibrant and wild than her fur. Lamya hardly noticed. Her personality more than made up for the darkness of her coat, which she wouldn't have traded for the world anyways. Being sneaky was a piece of cake, when she looked the way that she did. And being sneaky was more important than looking like the flowers, no matter how beautiful she thought they were.

There was no wind today, and she could hear Kijivu getting closer as he moved amongst the flowers and the grass. Her eyes were closed, as she was still pretending to be a flower, and she hadn't the slightest clue what he was, but the subtle change in the noises that surrounded her alerted Lamya to his approach. She smiled. It looked like she'd get company, after all. That was wonderful, because playing the role of a wild flower really wasn't very absorbing. It was plenty of fun, at first, but it didn't take long at all for the game to lose it's attraction- especially when she could never, ever smell as nice.

Lamya was generally really good with faces. She may not have actually spoken to all of them or known most of their names, but she had spent enough time mimicking the expressions and actions of her fellow pride members to recognize them. When she opened her eyes, the little girl was delighted by the site of the male cub that lingered nearby. He was not familiar to her, but she supposed that he resembled some of the others. They were probably his kin.

Without so much as a word the dark colored girl started towards him. Her expression was welcoming and friendly, but she didn't speak. Shadows didn't talk, and so it was important for her to try and be as silent as possible. This often proved very difficult, as Lamya usually couldn't help making noise. Most of the time, her voice seemed to have a mind of its own.

The other cub's friendly greeting and apparently genuine interest in her behavior made her smile. Lamya stopped a couple of feet in front of the little boy, and studied him carefully with an open, friendly expression on her face. He was eating flowers? How wonderfully strange. This was something she had never thought to do before and, thus, she found it to be incredibly intriguing.

"I was pretending to be a flower," Lamya informed him cheerfully. Her words were released in a sudden, swift stream. "But, I am not as pretty or as nice smelling as they are."

"Are you really hungry?" she asked, honestly baffled by his apparent appetite for plant things. When she was hungry, she went in search of her mother. Lamya didn't suspect she'd ever be desperate enough to eat a flower- but, who knew? Maybe they tasted really awesome.

His compliment was unexpected, but Lamya managed to take it in stride. She truly doubted that she could ever look as lovely as a flower, but she instantly liked this other cub for being so kind. After all, it wasn't everyday somebody told her she was pretty- even if he was just being nice.

"You know, I've never seen a black flower before either." The way she said it suggested some kind of epiphany. "I wonder why that is? Do you know?"

Lamya peered expectantly at the other youth, as though he could give her a proper answer to this most pressing of questions, and then blinked at his confusion.

"Were you saving those for later, then?" she gestured carefully at the flowers in front of them. "You looked like you were going to eat them."

His logic made sense. Flowers stood out from their background of choice like the stars in the sky. It seemed likely that they'd enjoy being bright and the attention garnered by their appearances. Flowers didn't mimic or follow, like she did. They had their own, precious approach to life. One that she probably could never hope to embody, but there wasn't really any harm in aspiring to become. Was there?

She was glad when he told her that his flowers weren't for eating, even though the idea wasn't something she could just forget. Lamya made a mental note to try out the vegetation diet, when she was all by herself and nobody could see, of course.

"A painter!" The darkly colored cub gasped in astonishment, pale eyes wide and curious as they considered him. Lamya hadn't the slightest clue what a painter was, but the way he'd leaned in real close and whispered in her ear radiated importance. If he was a painter, than Kijivu must have been something special.

"Can I see?" she asked excitedly and gave a couple eager nods of her head. Maybe it was something she could copy.