Lorne was feeling pretty damn excited. There was a play tonight and he was in it! Okay, so he didn’t have the biggest part in the world, but he was still in it and he was pretty damn excited for that. He hadn’t been in a lot of the shows in the pride, at least not the big ones. This time, he had been tasked with the role of a zebra, which was a bit funny considering he had spots on his body instead of stripes. But that was where costumes came in! And he knew his costumer, Hamaji, wouldn’t let him down.

He would be looking like a zebra in no time. And, to his credit, his faith had been pretty well founded.

He stood inside one of the many caves the lined the cliffside of their home, waiting patiently while Hamaji worked. The large black lion with his orange mane had always looked a little out of place, to Lorne, but had never felt it. He was as much a member of the pride as anyone else, and he seemed to love his job getting others ready for the show.

“I’m sure you’re going to look great,” offer luhta. She was a small, white and green maned wolf with a gentle look in her eyes and a smile always spread across her muzzle. She was Lorne’s best friend, and he was happy to have her there in his newest home. After their old pride had disbanded, he hadn’t known what to do with himself, but the Suka’Fumo had welcome him and he now couldn’t see himself anywhere else. He just hoped he would start getting better parts soon- parts where he could sing and show everyone his skills!

“I hope so,” he hummed back to the little lady, grinning down at her with a smug confidence that didn’t seem to fit the minor role he had been given. Luhta often thought the only reason he didn’t get better roles was because the other players knew he was prone to egoism, and they didn’t want to feed into his attitude too much, too quickly. They were slowly giving him larger parts, showing him failure and letting him find a place within the pride, rather than let him feel at the front of it.

Not a bad plan, she thought cheerfully.

“These furs are beautiful and should cover most of your body,” said Hamaji with a smile, using his teeth to carefully toss the large fur over Lorne’s broad body. He grunted under the weight of the skin, but was eager to look over his shoulder to examine it. The zebra patterns on the pelt were strong and very visible- the zebra they had come from must have been very beautiful indeed. Not like some of those younger zebra who were still growing into their stripes. This looked clean, adult. He would have to thank the hunters for bringing such good pelts.

“That looks great!” Said another voice, the young lioness Lonyo moving in to join them. She was a fair pink color with lime green spots, looking a lot like a pastel dream or something peaceful. Her personality, though, was anything but- she was wild and free and loved to create. She was an artisan by trade, but she often came to join Hamaji and spruce up his pelt with inks and designs.

“You’re not going to cover up these markings, are you?” Asked Lorne, mortified that she might use him as a canvas.

“No not at all!” She hummed, grinning up at him with a dangerously eager look in her eyes, “I’m going to cover YOU up instead!”

“What?” Asked Luhta as Lorne stared on in bewilderment.

“These pelts are lovely,” said Hamaji, “but small on a full grown lion like Lorne. I thought adding to them with some paint might be the best way to lengthen the look of them without patching together too many mismatched furs.”

“What does that mean?” Luhta insisted on clarity, and would not be told something in an even remotely vague manner.

“It means,” huffed Lonyo, moving over to some paints that had been previously set up inside the den, “I’m going to draw more stripe on your legs so you look more like a zebra and not just like some lion wearing a pelt on his back! I’ll even do a bit of your face if you like.”

Lorne broke into a large smile, looking from one lion to the other, “that’s a brilliant idea! But... This stuff is going to wash out, isn’t it? A lot of these dyes on furs are permanent, and I don’t want to have zebra markings on my legs forever...”

“Oh, don’t you worry about,” Lonyo said, dismissing the concern easily enough, “these aren’t permanent dyes. A few washes and you’ll be right back to normal.” She had already taken a wad of fur into her mouth, using it as a brush to apply the dyes in stripes on his legs.

Luhta watched her, annoyed once more. “And what does a few washes mean? How many are we talking? How long is this going to stay on his fur? He’s white, if you haven’t noticed!”

“We tests it on the furs here first, as well as on my own fur,” Hamaji offered as a means to calm the maned wolf, “just a couple days and two good washes, and all the dye faded from both them and me. We tested it on white fur, too, so don’t you worry- these colors aren’t going to stay on him for a long time, I promise.”

“As long as you’re sure!”

“Like I would just do whatever I wanted and leave you to suffer for it!” remarked Lonyo bitterly after placing the fur wad down for a moment to consider her work.

“We never said that,” Lorne said in an even tempted, his concerns washed away and his mood improved once more, “I look forward to see what I look like when this is all done. No one will even recognize me!”

They all agreed to that, at least, and Lonyo went back to her work while Hamaji finished fitting the felt on the lion’s back. By the time all was said and done, they were all staring at one well disguised lion.

He was thrilled, and more excited for his part in the play that night than ever. Luhta knew the other members of the players would like what they saw, too.

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