Ranyshia had found himself walking closer and closer to the borders of the pride, his eyes on the horizon more often than not. He had never thought of himself as an obsessive sort, but he felt entranced. The female hadn’t been that special, he thought to himself with a scoff, but he had never felt a pull like he had felt with her. None of the pride members had attracted his attentions before, and he had been in the pride for such a long time. There was something…entrancing about her.
He huffed to himself, cursing his foolish mind as he walked further into the rogue lands, though still close enough that he could return to the pride should he need to.
Hilal was looking for his father, still. He really wished he had taken one of the females with him, and then he wouldn’t have gotten quite this lost. He was sure Tsu would have had them there and back within a week, but he was sure it was going on at least two weeks he had been in the rogue lands now. He just wanted to talk to his father, damn it.
He spotted the striped male in the distance and huffed, realising that it was, once again, not his father, but he decided to approach anyway. “Hello!” He greeted, relatively cheerfully. “You don’t know a lion named Obadias do you?” Well, it never hurt to ask.
Ranyshia blinked at the arrival of the other male and he shook his head slowly. “No. I know no one by that name,” he admitted, looking confused. “Why?”
“Oh, he’s my dad,” Hilal laughed. “I’m just trying to find him. He travels with my mothers, a blue lioness and a green leopard. You’d know if you’d seen them. They’re an odd trio!” He grinned. He did love his family. Of course, at this point, he was unaware that the fairytale family that he’d grown up with was partially shattered.
“Mothers?” Ranyshia repeated, noticing the pluralisation of the word. “Do you mean mother?”
Hilal cocked his head to the side. “No, I do not. Mothers. My father has a harem, as do I, though we obviously live separately else I would not be looking for him. I reside in a pride, but the pride does not welcome hybrids or other species, so father unfortunately cannot reside in there with me, since Mother Mihika is a leopard and father would never leave her behind.” Hilal realised he was rambling, but to be honest, he was excited that this male was not trying to attack him. Hilal wasn’t setting the bar of experiences high, he just wanted someone who was not attempting to murder him.
Ranyshia was bemused. “A harem? As in multiple females? Why would anyone want that?” He scoffed, but found his mind drifting back to a certain female in his memory. Something in his expression must have changed because the stranger across from him grinned, a cheeky, all-knowing grin that Ranyshia really wanted to smoosh into the dirt.
“Looks like you know exactly why someone would want females in their lives,” Hilal said with a laugh. The look on the male’s face was a little lovestruck, and Hilal was incredibly amused, considering his grumpy disposition.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ranyshia denied, his face set in annoyance.
“Oh I think you know exactly,” Hilal taunted, but with amusement, not out of malicious intent. “You’ve been bitten by the love bug! What’s her name? C’moooon, you can tell me. I won’t know her. Hell, I don’t even know where I am, let alone be able to find her to tell your love-struck secret.” At least this would amuse him while he got his bearings and figured out where he would go next to try and find Obadias. Surely the darker male had to be around here…somewhere.
“I would really like you to stop talking now,” Ranyshia said bluntly.
Hilal laughed. “Oh I’m sure you would. Fine, fine, you don’t have to tell me about her, but I recognise that look, man. You’ve got it bad.”
“Impossible!” Ranyshia snapped.
“Oh yeah? Tell that to your eyes,” Hilal said. “They’re pining for someone. You telling me that someone isn’t a girl?” He paused. “Well, I mean it could be a guy –“
“It’s a girl!” Ranyshia defended, before groaning, realising he had just admitted what he was attempting to hide from the nosy stranger.
Hilal roared with laughter. “Got you!” He bounced on his paws a little. “C’mon man, just give me a name.”
Ranyshia grumbled, realising he could just walk away but finding himself reluctant to do so, despite his annoyance. He didn’t have anyone in the pride he could discuss this with. He wouldn’t ever have to see this stranger ever again…maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk about it.
“Rayn,” he grumbled.
“Rayn?” Hilal repeated, testing out the name. “That’s a pretty name. Is she in your pride?”
“No, she is from another pride. We only met once, on the border of my pride,” Ranyshia admitted.
“Woah, and you’re already hooked? She must be something special, man,” Hilal replied with a smile. “So have you guys planend to meet up again?”
“No.”
“NO?” Hilal was startled. “But…if you guys are in different prides, how is it going to work out?”
“It’s not,” Ranyshia pointed out bluntly.
“Aww man,” Hilal said with a disappointed look on his face. “That sucks. Sorry I brought it up. I mean, you could always go out into the rogue lands, go on a big adventure to chase her down and be all romantic and stuff, but that’s the stuff of sonnets, not real life,” he laughed. “Well, at least you have a good story out of it.” He felt a bit guilty having brought up the man’s obvious infatuation that was clearly never going to work out.
Ranyshia rolled his eyes at the male. “See, I told you it was nothing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do,” he said, somewhat snidely as he left the male behind, walking back towards the pride. The male’s words rang in his mind though. He couldn’t leave his pride and chase after her. That was ridiculous. They had shared one night together… He couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that…would he?
-fin-