It was a boring afternoon, and Tiombe let out a long yawn. It was pleasant enough weather, but without anything to do, it may as well have been cloudy, stormy, or what have you. She thought about hunting, but that seemed boring. Booooring boring boring. Ever since she split apart from her siblings and parents, she'd been out on her own, not that she minded. Well, not that she minded much. It was rather disheartening to at least not have one creature to talk to.

Letting out another yawn, she rolled over on the boulder she'd been resting upon, allowing the hot African sun to warm up her green belly.


Damn, damn, damn, damn. He had to admit to himself, finally, his sister was gone. They had been traveling together all their lives, turned away by their parents not long after they'd been weaned. Nkosazana; she'd always known what to do. But he'd lost track of her in a hyena ambush, and hadn't seen her since. At first he tried to believe she was safe, if awfully far away, but even that sort of hope began to wane without being able to see her. Now he was lost, alone, and didn't know the first thing about anything about this strange place, save that he was pretty sure it was populated with hyenas. He shot across the grass, looking entirely out of place, a blue streak parting golden grass. It was a wide, empty plain, save for... a lion? He skidded to a halt, digging dirt up in the process. Maybe she knew a way out of here.... maybe she knew where Nko had gone? Or maybe she could at least be someone to talk to, for however brief a time. He was lonely.


She lay there, staring off into space, wondering how to waste away yet another long boring afternoon when she saw the flash of blue among the grass she was staring out at.

...what in the world?

She flipped back over so that she could look rightside-up at the strange... creature? Yes indeed, that was a creature, and it was heading straight towards her!

"WOAH THERE!" she sputtered out, seeing him run full force, then slam on the proverbial brakes. Backing down from off her rock, she circled back around to the strange blue creature. What kind of a cat was this? "Who..what... huh?"

Confused, she stared at him for a moment, before getting her thoughts together, and summing it up in one brief sentence. "What the HELL is going on?"


Runi had encountered lions before. Mostly from a distance. Nko always said not to trust lions, but even though he didn't know much, he was not about to expect to come across a more trustworthy species in a place like this. Already he had begun to place great hope on the wisdom this lioness (even if she was only a lion) was sure to possess.

"OhI'msorryIjustsawyouthereandIthoughyouwould-" He started panting, lifting a paw for a moment as he gasped in much-needed air. Several seconds later, he picked up his train of thought. "D'you know where I am?"


She stared at him blankly. What the hell kind of a language was this? Was he being chased, w-why was he talking so fast?

Tilting her head, she furrowed her brows. "Where are you? Uh... well, you're HERE, of course!"

Satisfied with her answer (as she didn't DARE admit that she didn't know the name of the location they were currently standing in), she then decided to circle around the blue and silver cat, examining him with great curiosity.

"And now that you know where you are, why don't you tell me what exactly YOU are?"


"Well, I was 'here' before, but not this here, another 'here'. And then when I leave every 'here', they're not 'here', they're 'there'. I wish every place wasn't called 'here' and 'there', it's confusing!" It didn't cross his mind that the lion could be circling him in a dangerous way. He looked deep in thought for a moment. "This 'here' needs a new name."

"A leopard!" he grinned in response to her question, as though it were the most obvious fact in the world. "And you're a lion. I've seen lions before. You're all big and sometimes you guys roar really loud."


Tiombe laughed at his silly phrasing, then paused to glance off in space as she tried to register what he said in her mind. "Here... yes, Here is used quite too often, I do agree."

She clucked her tongue (or at least, she THOUGHT she was clucking her tongue, as she'd seen the pompous bird do once before in a tree she typically slept beneath), and continued her circle, finishing up directly in front of him.

"A leopard, huh? So then you're NOT a runty lion. Weird." Her head tilted and she drew closer, her nose nearly touching his. "So you mean, you can't roar or nothing, if lions can?"


He followed her with his whole head, a silly grin on his face the whole time. She was funny! He flicked his tail into view. It had thick fur the whole way down, rather than just a tuft at the tip. "Nope! Well, I suppose I can roar, but it's never very loud. I'm a good growler though. And I can hunt pretty well. But you did get me thinking, I guess I am glad I'm not a lion. Have you seen how hairy lions get? Well you must have, you are one. Big ol' manes look like they weigh half as much as they do! I've got enough fur, thanks."

"But uh -" he quicky added, "you're not all that hairy yourself, don't worry. I think it's because you're a girl. It's a good look!"


"Well, if you can roar, then I guess you're alright." she summized, frowning and wrinkling her nose at the next thing he said. "And not ALL lions are big hairballs, like you said we are!"

Taking the time to spin in a circle, she paused to make a dramatic pose, "I don't have nearly as much hair as boy lions do," she agreed to his additional comment, "So that makes us much much prettier."

She straightened up, and then leaned over to brush out a twig that had caught itself in the leopard's mane. "Tell me, you, are leopards named like lions are? My name's Tiombe. You can call me.. Tiombe!"


"Tiombe! I will." Runi already felt more comfortable around this completely unfamiliar lioness than he had been the whole time he was alone. He missed the company of someone else. And Tiombe was really nice, for a lion. "No, you sure don't! You could almost pass as a leopard, if it wasn't for your silly tail."

"My name's Runihura, but you can call me Runi. Or just Ru - but only if you're mad at me. That's what my sister yelled when she's mad at me..." his face grew dark at the thought of Nko. "I uh. I'm a little thirsty. Are there any watering holes in this 'here'?"


She thought about whapping him upside the head with her "silly" tail, but decided against it. Who knew what these blue leopard creatures could do, if they were mad. It certainly sounded like Ru's sister had quite the temper on her, judging from the leopard's expression.

"Water... hmmm." She glanced around, trying to remember the direction of the nearest waterhole. "..well... I.. WAIT! I know where one is!"

She spun back around, and then nodded her head in the direction. "Don't worry, Ru! Just stick with me, and we'll be a-ok!"