- Tareq was never over the surprise of how pleasant the lands of the Kusini were. It was like each day held a new little surprise for him, one he looked forward to. Not only that, but he could tell little by little Azima was opening up to him. He was accepting his own feelings for the crimson lion as well, though he loathed to put a label on it just yet.
He'd acquired a tiny little den, room for himself and no more but it suited him just fine. He went there to sleep, spent most of his time in the day familiarizing himself with the lands. He could see why a few members had told him it was boring around the lands, but after living his life however he pleased it seemed a good change. There wasn't a lot of drama in the lands, though Azima had skirted around the prides history in a way which made him think it wasn't always like that, that was a nice change too. He'd kept himself out of trouble, keeping his mischief making to a minimum.
He moved through the grasses at a leisurely pace, humming. His stomach gave a little grumble, but he didn't really feel like hunting. He was searching for the crimson lion, like usual. It didn't take him long to make his way to the river, and he could spy the crimson male from a distance. He grinned, shifting his body lower to the ground as he approached.
Azima frowned as he stared into the icy waters that seemed to match his eyes perfectly. Part of him finally had started to understand his father, and why he spent so many days at the river when his mother was gone on long trips with his oldest brother. These days his father seemed not even capable of that, secluding himself to the large family den that had been void of cubs for a long time. And void of his mother... it hurt his heart thinking about where she might be, what she might be doing in the outside world... it especially hurt when his thoughts turned dark with the worse off possibilities of why his mother hadn't returned to the lands in such a long time.
His black tipped tail gave a flicker and a shudder ran through his body. It was something he did not like to talk of, nor did he like thinking about it. He was sure his siblings felt the same. So he turned his thoughts elsewhere, to the only sort of 'excitement' this land had seen in a while. Tareq. The spotted lion was a constant cause of annoyance for the crimson male, especially when it seemed all that the stranger wanted was to know him, to spend time with him and befriend him... but it had been such a long time since anyone had tried to do such a thing that Azima loathed the other for it. Not to mention the fact that he was surely confusing signals the spotted male was sending, something else he'd built his walls up against.
He had slowly decided that the other was attractive enough, despite the many scars that decorated the other's body. But his constant games, jokes and teasing were very off-putting. Sometimes he was reminded of when he and Keaira were cubs... those reminders hurt too. He felt a lot of guilt because of his twin sister, mixed with resentment... and sometimes even longing. Longing for a special relationship like Haba and Damu had shared. But those days were long gone, now he was stuck alone. But had he completely committed to that?
Tareq's smile slipped slightly the closer he got. He could see the crimson male was deep in thought, and it seemed to be troubling with the way he frowned in such a sulky manner at that water. He sighed and rose from his stalking position. Perhaps now was not the time for games. "Oi, Zima~" He called out, not being able to help the nickname. He knew it pissed off the other just a bit, but he also felt sometimes that Azima liked to be cranky about something.
"You look like crap. What's got such a cranky lion like yourself so down today?" He called out, bringing himself beside the other and sitting down. When the other came to and gave him an irritated glare he just offered up a cheesy grin, head tilting as he waited for an answer.
Azima shot the other male the best glare he could muster, instantly annoyed with Tareq. It was bad enough he was able to find Azima where ever he went, but to top it off he always just... said whatever it was he wanted! "I do not look like crap and I am not down." He snapped, though at least he did not deny the fact that he was cranky.
He just couldn't understand why Tareq was always bothering him... sure he had ideas, but they didn't seem to add up. That and he was not interested. He was done with finding himself his 'perfect other', the one for him clearly did not exist in this world if the lions of his past were any example at all. It was all just one big joke, wasn't it?
Tareq wasn't even his type.
He chuckled at the response. "Typical Azima." was his only remark. For all the other's cries of getting away from him he'd stopped putting in the effort to actually avoid Tareq, and a Tareq saw that as winning the other over. Especially when the crimson lion was in more of his friendlier moods, where he seemed to actually be happy and even charming.
So he sat and kept attempting conversation, letting the day pass lazily. Azima slowly grew out of his crankiness and began to open up more about the thoughts bothering him, even agreed to a hunt with the spotted male.
- - - - -
Azima yawned as his icy eyes lingered on the sun, just touching the horizon. Again he'd let himself get sucked into the comfort of company, and again he'd ended up spending the day with Tareq. It annoyed him, he felt like he was somehow being manipulated.
He also felt like part of him wanted this, this easy life. He didn't like it one bit and yet...
and yet what?
Tareq lounged on his side, practically up against the other as he lazily cleaned a paw. He'd finally decided to bring up his own private thoughts, the thoughts that he rarely wanted to talk about. He figured that today would be good as any other day, and that it was probably owed to the crimson lion that 'put up with him', as Azima might say.
He took a moment to finish grooming, before rolling over so he could see the other. "I wanted to tell you something." He said quietly, though the amused tone was still in his voice.
Azima sighed as his gaze shifted to the other. "What?" He growled out, then tried to scuttle backwards as the other male stood and came much too close.
"I do believe I'm falling for you." It was simple, and despite the constant humorous tone in Tareq's voice he was being honest. He'd let the idea settle in finally, odd as it was since he'd only had eyes for females as long as he'd been alive.
But something about Azima intrigued him, constantly grabbed at his attention. Even his twin seemed no match, though she was a lovely lioness. His complete equal in looks at least, the a personality that Tareq found pleasant and almost as equally amusing... but it still was not the same. That was how he'd decided that he was actually attracted to Azima. Not in the way a friend might be, but something more.
It was just hard to find out to what extent, since Azima was so hell bent on keeping him out of his life, regardless of what a poor job he did of it.
Azima scoffed, trying to shove the shocked look off of his maw in favor of a more annoyed one. A joke? Most likely. Tareq was often saying and doing weird things that didn't make sense... and this definitely did not make sense. "That's not funny Tareq." He growled, and when he'd finally scrambled far enough away he rose to his own feet, turning to move off.
Tareq sighed, this time he was annoyed. He followed after the other. "It's meant to be. I'm serious." He complained, tail flickering. "And if you would just let yourself see that you were interested... just allow yourself.." "I'm not, there's no way." He spoke over the other's words, picking up his pace. "Go away Tareq, I don't want to argue about this with you." His voice sounded worried, nervous.
He slowed, then stopped. Fine, if Azima needed time to let this sink in... if he was going to be such a newborn-cub about it all then what could Tareq do? "You know I'm right." He called after the other, a sour look on his face. But the crimson male did not say anything, he just kept walking.
Tareq sat himself down, sighing deeply. What to do with this one?
END