Dysi moved around the somewhat rocky terrain with an ease that hinted at grace, which was ruined when he tripped near the bottom of the hill, quickly passing the move off as an on-purpose slide. Of course, no one was really watching him, as they were milling around, doing their own duties or just being good members and minding their own business. Scanning the surroundings, Dysi was looking for something. Or rather, someone. Actually, two someones. His daughters.

They had left the den earlier in the morning, assuring him that they would be back soon and since he had figured they couldn't do much harm to themselves in the pride, had let them go. Now he couldn't find them. He huffed to himself. He needed a nanny for those brats, he thought with a fond exhaustion. He did love his girls though, and smiled to himself as he set off at a walk again, this time towards the stream. Perhaps they were bathing? Yeah right, but he could try at least. Better than sulking about and letting Nyoka find out he'd lost them.




There was something like the smell of melting grass in the air, and Matope's face looked pretty unpleasant as she slowly tramped her way to the stream ahead. Large brown paws made prints in the earth beneath her, pressing into dirt or crunching helpless grass.

She was on a job.

Go get rid of these, they said.

Make sure they're good and gone, they told her.

Hmph, she'd make sure. She always did. That's what she did, she made sure--well, she did her job, that was all. That was what she meant. Shrugging her bulking shoulders, the lioness hovered a searching look to the line of water in the near distance. Her mouth was dry from remaining open--she was holding onto several large sticks, not to mention some dead leaves. Well, someone wanted a space cleaned up, they asked her to help. If they asked her to help, then Matope would help. That was all.

Doing her best to ignore the dryness of her mouth, the lioness continued on to the stream, eager to release her the load she carried into the water. She was so focused, she didn't even sense anyone nearby...




Dysi did not usually travel too far around the lands, since Nyoka tended to like to keep him close when he was visiting, and the other times, Dysi was far away on his own travels. It's not that he disliked the people in the pride, he knew several of them well, but he was usually busy with other things that he didn't have the time to meet the 'common folk'. It was curious though, watching all the people doing their own jobs, without anyone obviously watching over them. They all worked well together, he discovered. How odd. Pride mentality was so odd.

Spotting the stream, he fastened his pace, opening his mouth to tell off his daughters but saw no one except that odd lioness which had taken up a place in the pride. He paused. Well, he had never spoken to her before, but had seen her in passing many times. She seemed...alright, though he wouldn't trust his daughters with her. Personal reasons, that was. Lower ranks may take offense to high ranks and well, Dysi wouldn't put his daughters in harm.

Though, he was curious. What did one of her rank do all day? She was...carrying sticks. Well. That seemed useless.
“Hello,” he called out, deciding to extend an olive branch, no pun intended, to her since they were both in the same area. He had met lions before, so he was not certain what to expect with her.




Matope was just coming up to the edge of the stream when a voice startled her practically out of her wits. Of course, when Matope was startled, there was no extreme reaction as one might think--she just tensed her muscles and jerked her head to stare over her shoulder, seeming caught off guard. Well, obviously she had been.

What was that, a leopard? A boy leopard? Wait, that was that one leopard...well, he was a leopard. Ughhh, why couldn't she remember his name?

Orange eyes registering who exactly was in front of her, Matope's muscles relaxed (though it was hard to tell, bulky thing as she was), and she bent her head down a little. Her vocal chords strummed as she attempted to speak, but she choked them back quickly, realizing she had a bunch of large sticks in her mouth. Pupils thinning in her surprise and maybe even embarrassment, the lioness turned away from the leopard and released her cargo into the waters.

As she spat and rinsed her mouth in the water, the tip of the lioness's tail coiled upwards, claws stretching into the earth. She thought as she rinsed, ears folding back to listen to the leopard beside her. What was she supposed to do...? He said 'hello'...

Finally rising, standing quite a bit taller than the leopard before her, the lioness stared awkwardly down at the male, maw stretched in a strange frown.

"Uh..." she said quietly. Unfortunately, that was all.




Dysi watched her in as she simply stared at him for a moment, then quickly turned back to her duties. For a moment, he thought she was going to simply ignore his presecene all together, since he had not notice her tense or that she had attempted to speak. He stood where he was, perhaps a little awkwardly, wondering what he was going to do now if she ignored him. He shifted lightly on his feet, staring down at the ground.

He blinked, when she turned back towards him. Well. He stared up at her, a little daunted by how large the size difference was. He felt suddenly small and well, he was already a slender leopard, so it was a little disturbing.

Dysi peered at her, when she spoke something quietly, but it didn't sound like a greeting. Perhaps it was her way of saying hello? He tried to reason with himself.

“Am I disturbing you?” He asked, faintly worried. Perhaps he had distrupted her duties. “I can leave, if my presence is bothering you?” He went to step back. Grunt or not, she deserved some basic respect and she obviously didn't have anything to say to him.




Oh, hell...no, no, what?

Confusion of etiquette was swarming through Matope's mind like a distrupted hive of angry killer bees. She didn't know what to do, what to say, how to act--anything. She was completely dumbfounded. It wasn't like that normally with the others--the ones who told her what to do. But when it came to this leopard, this male whom she had never spoken to before but had seen, she pretty much lost her mind. And slowly, Matope was trying to pull apart the problem so that she could find a solution. But of course, with Matope, finding solutions was not exactly her strong suit...let alone finding the problem.

"Ssss..." the lioness hissed softly through her teeth, eyes like a deer in headlights. She was trying to apologize for her rather uncouth response to his greeting before. Somehow, she was failing miserably. The lioness blinked a bit and shook her head, seeming shocked, or perhaps disgusted, by her own behavior.

"More like a wildebeest than a lion, wouldn't you say~? I wonder if her brain's the same size?" the memory of a mocking voice echoed through her mind.

Matope's eyes hardened. She met the leopard's gaze.

"No, you're not botherin' me..." she answered. "Just...tryin' to do a job. But no," she turned back to her duty, shuffling any remaining sticks into the water so that the area was clean. She stared at the ripples in the water.

"it's all right."




Dysi looked startled when she almost seem to hiss at him, but she did not seem threatening towards him, so he did not make a defensive response, and instead stared confused at her as she seemed to draw herself up and met his gaze firmly. Her eyes were hard and he seemed to mimic her pose, stiffening his posture. She was large, and strong, much stronger than he was. He could take her down easily, he knew, so it was best to be cautious.

Her words were a surprise, having not heard her speak before and he peered at her, as she turned back to her duties. “I'm glad to hear I'm not disturbing you,” he admitted gently, trying to see what she was doing. Once realising that she was cleaning up the branches he smiled a little. “Ah! You are the one who clean up the pride, yes?”

He tilted his head to the side, having never really thought of who cleaned up the pride, only that it usually remained spotless and neat. She had the bulk for it though, so it made sense.




"Yeah..." Matope returned quietly, one eyebrow tense in the focus of her work. She didn't seem very enthusiastic about her job as the leopard was, however.

He was a weird guy....Kind of...girly, almost. She'd seen him around before, though. He always hung out with the top dogs, so-to-speak. Now that she thought about it...he was obviously upper-class. Shouldn't she be treating him...well, shouldn't she....Well damn it, what the hell was she supposed to do? That was the problem--she just didn't know.

Ah. Wait. She had found the problem.

...Oh, yeah, the solution...Shoot...

Once the last of the sticks were gone, Matope turned and let her eyes wander around the area they were in. If she spotted anything messy or out of place, she'd fix it up on her way back. That was her job, after all. She didn't always work with clean-up, but today she did. For now she did. Tomorrow it might be to help bring food to the pride. And the next day it might be to drag another body to the river. Who knew? It wasn't like it mattered.

"Sometimes." the lioness finished her answer, sort of out-of-the-blue.




Dysi frowned lightly. Well. She didn't seem to be very talkative, that much was blatantly obvious, but she had not yelled at him, or straight-out ignored him, so he supposed that was a good thing. He shifted on his feet, glancing back towards the dens. If he had one of his daughters with him, he would have felt a little more at ease talking with the reluctant lion, but he didn't, so it was left up to him to fill in the silences she seemed to favour.

“Say, what is your name?” He asked, rather suddenly, realising that although he had seen her a few times, he had never stopped to ask her name. That was a little sad, he realised, feeling annoyed at himself. It wasn't like he truly thought he was better than the grunts, they had their importance to the pride just as he did, but he rarely associated with them when he was around the place.

He felt kind of stuck-up, when he thought about it, and shook his head. “I am Dysini'mbus, but call me Dysi, it's far easier to pronounce.” He shot her a smile, even though he didn't know if it would have any effect on her.




Matope ceased her area-observing and placed her gaze on the leopard, seeming surprised both by his question and his introduction. A fly landed on her ear then quickly flew away, leaving Matope's ear twitching in its wake. That seemed to snap her back to reality.

"Matope." she said strangely, as if she had never said her own name before. She mulled over his full name a bit, then his shorter one. She wondered, was she supposed to call a higher-up by a cond...conden...shorter name? She didn't know. But if he gave permission, maybe it was okay. It had to be okay, right?

Huh, maybe it didn't matter. She didn't take direct orders from him, anyway. She just didn't want to make trouble...

Shrugging her broad shoulders, the lioness cleared her throat, looking like she was getting prepared for something. Though she stood before the leopard, Matope's eyes were occupied anywhere else but on his face.

"Nice talkin' to ya, Dddd--" she hesitated, still wondering about the whole nickname thing. "Dysi," she decided. "But I better be headin' back." Whether or not the white leopard was going in the same direction as her didn't really matter. Matope had to be getting back. Her job was done, and she needed to let the others know she had completed her task. That way, they'd know she was available for another one. That was the routine. Some days were laid-back, others were full. But it was all right.

While most jobs involved Matope doing something alone, today had been strange. A leopard had appeared out of no where. Matope liked her routine, and she didn't like disruptions. They made her feel funny.

The lioness began to walk away, body pointed in the direction of the heart of the pride.

Dysi, huh? Hmp...weird guy.




Dysi blinked at the retreating back of the Lioness. She didnt' seem to like him much, he decided, she seemed rather eager to leave his presence. Still, he called out to her, “Nice to meet you, Matope!” Her name sounded unfamiliar on his tongue and he stumbled a little over pronunciation. He did not follow her though, and instead glanced at the stream before him. He should have rushed back to his den, but he didn't and instead stifled a slight yawn and decided to be lazy for a moment.

Walking to the edge of the stream, he lowered his head to lap at the water lightly, quenching some non-existent thirst. It was good drinking water, even if a few unsavoury things had been thrown into it a time or two. “Matope,” he repeated to himself, trying to get the pronunciation right, like she had said it. It had seemed a little awkward on her tongue as wlel, so perhaps she was not spoken to much.

Odd lion, he decided, taking a relaxing pose by the river, still repeating her name over and over again to himself.