[PRP] Hello! [Siri & Dieter]

[Das Tor]

Dieter was still on edge. Oh, he was happy everything seemed to be over, but he'd still come into a pride only to have everything swept up into turmoil. Many times he had reminded himself that it wasn't the Ardhi. That he wasn't a Preventer anymore. He was an outsider, even still, and only now did he dare breath and start truly poking about. Getting his paws beneath him and branching out. Try to make friends. The pride had solved the turmoil itself, folks who had been born and raised there. He intended to keep an eye out for possible unrest, however. Not the normal sort, but the sort that had made his former role as a Preventer in the Ardhi necessary. He was only a hunter in the Mwezi'johari, but that didn't mean he'd keep his head down again.

His spiral of thoughts was interrupted by a flash of pretty brown and green just inside his peripheral vision, and he turned to it, curious. And found himself staring a bit dumbfounded. Oh. Oh she was pretty. Shaking his head and clearing his throat, reminding himself he was of the noble lines of Khushrenada and Wing, he made his way over to the lioness. "Ah...hello. I don't believe we've met before."

...Smooth, Dieter. Very smooth. For a hippo.

Redbud-Tree

 

[Wylde Roses]

Siri Za'Mbele was hunting. Which... of course she was, it was her job, the only job she had ever known or would ever be allowed. It was also something she spent far too much time doing, rarely taking the time to relax or even try to enjoy life. Perhaps it was the weight she had born, knowing her mother's disappointment from her cubhood on, but she could never simply find much to be happy about.

Even being good at her task didn't really bring her much joy. Perhaps some satisfaction, but no true happiness. She wasn't precisely in a good mood when she found her stalking interrupted by someone's attempt at conversation. The antelope she had been watching bounced for the hills as she turned to the male who'd decided this was a good time and place for a chat.

"...Yes?" She asked, flicking an ear back and trying not to look as irritated as she felt. Whoever this guy was, he didn't mean harm, but he definitely needed a lesson in tact. "Probably not, given I don't recognize you," she added flatly, once his words filtered past her focus. "Did you need something? Because if not, I have to find something else to bring in."

Das Tor

 

[Das Tor]

Oh. Oh s**t. Dieter looked extremely sheepish as he realized what his attempt to converse had led to. "I...I'm so sorry. I just thought I might try and get to know others better. I haven't really been branching out much, for as long as I've been here, and..." He coughed and smiled sheepishly at her. "Perhaps I can help? I'm a hunter myself, and a rather good one, and I want to make up for my idiocy in this moment." Maybe show he wasn't as incompetent as his words were coming out. Blessed Wing, what had happened to the diplomat's tongue his parents had taught him?

Redbud-Tree

 

[Wylde Roses]

"Fine," Siri answered, not out of any overt desire to socialize but because she needed the stranger to quiet down so she could work. ... Really. That was the only reason. She certainly wasn't interested in what this bumbling chatterbox had to say. ... No, really. She wasn't. (Why wasn't she as certain about that as she wanted to be?) "Don't hold me back, and I'll consider that enough." As much as he was talking, he couldn't be as good of a hunter as he claimed to be, she was sure of that much if nothing else!

Das Tor

 

[Das Tor]

She reminded him a little of someone, but he couldn't place who. He nodded, however, and let himself slip into hunting mode. He wasn't an exceptional one, but he was still good enough to feed more than just himself. Which, in a pride, was a good thing. He carefully sniffed the air, looking for the scent of something that might be good to replace the prey he'd let get away. After all, he owed her for being such a star-stricken cub at her.

Redbud-Tree

 

[Wylde Roses]

"I suppose," Siri said, tone a bit softer than when she had spoken before, "That I ought to thank you for your help." Even if it was his fault she needed it in the first place, he... hadn't been forced to make it up to her, and he was trying to do so. Maybe he'd earned at least a little courtesy from her. Especially since he did seem like he knew what he was doing, at least passingly so. That was reassuring - she hadn't wanted to have to share her hunt with an amateur.

Das Tor