Sunniva stretched her lithe body and yawned. She hadn't meant to fall asleep so long, but she had found a nice patch of sun and had decided to rest. Usually, her band travelled at night, so the warmth and her sleepiness had won her over. She blinked her eyes to rouse herself further and looked around. They had split up to scout out the area, and to disguise themselves as ordinary rogues. They had wandered very close to a pride's border and were investigating whether or not it was worth trying to raid. As far as Sunniva could tell, the pride was huge, and anything more than sneaking a thing or two from an unsuspecting traveller would likely mean doom. So she waited around, ready for the others to return.

She sat, her thoughts wandering. How were her kids doing back home? They were old enough to go reaving now, too. She kneaded her paws contentedly into the ground. Perhaps they'd go out together someday.

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Vestip had to get away for a while. He loved his family, his pride as well...There was just an itch he had to scratch now and again. It's something that's gotten him into a lot of trouble in the past, but he figured he could easily say no to some roaming female. He just wanted to see different faces. The white lion enjoyed the sun that shone on him from the clear skies above.

This was so familiar, yet so new to him. He hadn't been this far outside of his pride in a good long time. Vestip sped up his walking, finding joy running in the heat on the terrain he hadn't touched. A laugh escaped him as he felt his muscles burning from being used, finally. He was kicking up dust behind him, but the male with the bright red mane couldn't care less if someone saw him. Quickly jumping with powerful back legs, he grabbed hold of a barely green tree to spectate around him. There seemed to be someone up ahead of him.

Jumping down and landing silently, he got close enough until he was crawling on his belly in tall grasses to see who was ahead.


The brown lioness suddenly heard a noise, and without thinking, she hit the ground. It sounded like it was some distance away, but until she could figure out who or what it was, she wasn't going to take any chances. She may have been disguised as a regular rogue, but who knew if the lions of this pride took to rogues? What if it wasn't lions at all, but some moody beast that could easily harm a lone lioness, like an elephant?

She let a moment pass before popping her head up over the grass. Of course, if it was a lone lion, she could probably overpower them... she was trained to do such things, after all, and she was pretty confident in her abilities. But, she didn't see anyone at all. Were they hiding in the grass too? She growled low, unsheathing her claws in preparation for a fight.

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So he'd stumbled upon a female. That entertained Vestip greatly. His head poked up after he heard the growls, but he'd lost sight of her. She blended so well! He squinted hard and looked around before sighing. He shouldn't let his guard down, he knew, but at the same time Vestip couldn't help it.

"Hello? I saw you... I'm Vestip." He figured if she was going to attack, might as well surprise her by being friendly. It could buy him seconds he needed to flee. "I'm not going to attack you. I just wanted to say hi."


All Sunniva heard was "Hello? I saw you..." before she let out a bellow and jumped out from the grass, forepaws first, ready to attack the source of the voice. She realized much too late that he was speaking in a friendly manner to her and couldn't change course. She sheathed in claws just in time to crash into him.

"Oof... I'm so sorry!" Sunniva attempted to scramble back her paws with little success, immediately going from trained reaver to the friendly, fumbling lioness she actually was. "I thought you were going to murder me or something, I'm so so very sorry!"

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Vestip very nearly had a heart attack at the jumping female who nearly attacked him. He watched as she fumbled and then let out a big breath he knew he was holding. The red maned male looked at her and then offered a sheepish sort of look.

"I probably deserved it. I didn't mean to startle you! I suppose I went about it wrong since I was crouched." Honestly Vestip would say it had been a while, but he didn't really want her to know how old he was. Some females didn't care for older males. He wans't greying yet, so that was a good sign. He'd probably go white with how red his mane was.

"So, don't feel bad! Perfectly normal response. However, I'm Vestip, and I have no plans on hurting someone unless I'm attacked first."


Sunniva finally got her paws under her and let out a relieved sigh. "Well, I'm a rogue so I guess I'm on edge more than usual. Do you live in the pride that is nearby?" She asked cheerfully, and it was genuine. Menacing wasn't in the lioness's vocabulary, reaver or not.

Besides, Vestip was... good looking, to put it simply. His vivid white and red fur was new to Sunniva, in an appealing way. She was used to seeing darker males, so seeing one such vivid and wonderful colours was pleasing to her eye.

"I'm Sunniva," she said, adding a bit of a purr to her words. "Nice to meet you, Vestip."

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"Sunniva... That's a nice name. Sounds very strong.." He laughed and tilted his head as he watched the brown female. She was beautiful in her own way. Somehow, he was doubting she was a rogue. She didn't seem as dirty or suffering as those living by themselves, but if that's how she wanted to present herself, well, Vestip wasn't going to shame her.

"I do live in a pride nearby. I quite like the pridal life, but I've been a rogue for so long before I found home. Sometimes I just get this itch to travel." He settled closer to her, sitting his haunches on the dead grass without really minding.

"So have you happened to find your mate out here?"


The lioness absorbed the flattery like a sponge. Ah, the joy of being complimented by an attractive male! The last time that happened, she had ended up with cubs, but she adored them and didn't mind at all. Besides, showing a certain... interest in males tended to get her farther than some of her reaving counterparts.

"Oh really? That's why I'm out here, an itch to travel..." she lied smoothly, before stretching out beside him, letting her shoulder and side brush him ever so slightly. "And a curiousity about pride lions."

Then she giggled, unable to help herself. "I don't have a mate."

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Curious about pride lions? She was good. Vestip purred as he spoke next. "No mate? That can be a dangerous thing." The grin on the lion's face couldn't get any bigger. It had been so long since he charmed anyone other than his loving mate. She didn't need to know about her though.

"What can I do to scratch your itch, Sunniva?" He moved closer to her still, letting himself slowly lean into her. Oh yes, her fake stretching and touching him sent a bit of a thrill through him. Maybe this was what he wanted? Guilt wasn't anywhere to be found. No one would know if things happened with a rogue female. He must have been to old now to give anyone cubs.


"Oh, can it? I didn't realize that," she said, giving him a slight side eye, but smiling all the while. Oh, not only was he attractive, but he was not hard to woo, either! Males were so silly, weren't they?

"Let's see... how about you show me what pride males are like, hmm? I'm so curious..." She took a chance to approach and nestle her head under his chin. If her band asked where she was, she could say she was getting information out of a local. Yes, a brilliant plan. Perhaps Vestip would be interested in talking after other 'activities'.

"We can go somewhere private and you can show me what you know..." She drew away, but not far, to wait for him to make a move.

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A deep chuckle left him as she was very open to his flirting. She nestled herself against him and he couldn't help the purr that came from him, slowly leaning in to nuzzle her. Then she drew away and he got up immediately before starting to follow her.

Vestip had always been easy to woo. It was really hard for him to stay completely loyal. At least this one would be more harmless than the others.

"I'll follow you."