Ever since Khanyo, his half-brother, had started spending time with Helle, the ex-stormborn lioness, Neze had noticed a change in their dynamic. Ever since they were cubs, he and Khanyo would make a point to spar with each other, every morning, and throughout the day to keep their fighting skills sharp. But now? Well, now Khanyo was spending more time with Helle, and since Neze usually stuck close to Khanyo, that in turn meant Neze was spending more time with Helle. It wasn't a bad thing? She could fight, and the three of them often sparred together, but lately Khanyo had been wanting to spend more and more time alone with Helle. And that bothered Neze. To make matters somewhat worse, Helle had often invited her friend Jord, another ex-stormborn, to their outings to hang out with them. Neze was now familiar with this other lioness, but they had only hung out together when Khanyo and Helle were also around. The problem with today? Well, they had all agreed to meet out on the hunting grounds to share a meal together.... but it seemed only he and Jord had actually shown up. Neze cleared his throat as he stared back in the direction of the pride's sparring grounds and taking all measures to avoid meeting Jord's eyes. What could be holding his brother and Helle up this long?
Now this was somewhat awkward, but not at all unexpected to the lioness Jord. She and Helle had been planning this for days now, and though it had taken some convincing to get Khanyo to agree, he had eventually seen their side of it. The truth was, Jord liked Neze. She liked him a lot, but she only ever saw him when he was hanging around his brother and he tended to take a back seat in any conversation and allowed Khanyo to handle most of the talking. That was a problem, because Jord wanted to know more about him, not Khanyo. When he cleared his throat, she was hopeful he would say something, but when he kept staring off into the distance, she decided she would need to take matters into her own paws. "It's getting a bit late this morning," she said to break the silence between them, and to her surprise he flinched at the sound of her voice. Perhaps she had unintentionally startled him? "We could start without them?" It was a risk. She had given him an out that he could definitely take.
Her voice had indeed startled him, but he quickly got himself back under control. Where was his brother? Somewhat begrudgingly the dark maned lion turned his head to face Jord. He was annoyed and his mouth got away from him before he could stop it. "They'll be here!" he snapped, intending to convey his conviction on the matter, but instead realizing his mistake a little too late. s**t. His ears flattened against the sides of his skull, and he looked away from her once again. He knew better than to snap at lionesses, after all he had been brought up in the Bonelands pride, where one respected their mother and her pride sisters. Even the umholi, the male leaders of the pride, knew better than that. He hung his head, feeling somewhat disgraced with himself. "I'm sorry," he sighed. He should probably just leave and save himself any further embarrassment.
She was somewhat shocked at his reaction. Shocked and a little offended actually. He was cute, but she wasn't going to let him get away with yelling at her like that. When he got up to walk away from her, she growled and stood to step in front of him. "You're sorry?" she questioned. When he seemed to be too stunned to respond she took a step forward, forcing him backward. "At least look me in the eye when you apologize," Jord told him sternly, her brows furrowing together in her sudden fury. How dare he snap at her and try to walk away as if nothing happened!
When she stepped forward, he stepped back, completely stunned by her sudden forward ferocity. It was easy to see that he had offended her, and he was kicking himself for it to be sure. Well, she wanted an apology, so he would give her his sincerest of efforts. Neze fixed his gaze on hers, and with a steady, deliberate voice he tried again, "I am sorry. I did not mean to offend you." He would not cower at her anger, but he understood that he was in the wrong, and he had no issue with admitting that.
A chill went down Jord's spine as he transfixed his steady, calm gaze onto hers. His voice too was firm, but not unapologetic. It was, quite honestly, the most honest thing she had ever heard a male utter to her. It was, well quite frankly, it was a chilling experience that quelled her temper almost as quickly as it had flared up. "It's... it's okay, Neze. I forgive you," she told him quietly, unable to tear her eyes away from his. His gaze did not waver, and that too seemed to send another chill down her spine. To be fair, it was because of her that they were in this mess to begin with. It was she who had come up with the idea for Helle and Khanyo to stay away today. He had been so honest and open with her, well, she felt bad for tricking him into being alone with her today. Her gaze fell from his briefly as she pondered over this, and she shifted her weight uncomfortably. This whole thing had not gone as she had thought it would, but perhaps it was her turn to be honest with him? She swallowed uncertainly as she lifted her eyes back to his, and she was surprised to find him waiting patiently for her to speak. "Neze, I'm sorry, too", she told him. When he gave her a perplexed look she continued, though hesitantly. She didn't know how he'd take this next part. "I asked Helle and Khanyo not to come this morning..." she trailed off, unsure of how to further explain it to him.
Confusion swept over his features as her words slowly took root in his brain. She asked them not to come? "Why?" was his response, though his voice had become deep, and it held an uncertain edge to it. He tried to understand why she would do such a thing, and he couldn't quite come up with an answer. And why hadn't she told him that in the first place? It could have saved them from waiting around all morning. Irritation slowly clouded his features the longer he thought about it. "If you didn't want to meet up this morning then you should have told me too."
That was a good question, and she was hoping he would have figured it out on his own, but she didn't seem to be that lucky. Jord saw the irritation cross his features and his words stung at her. She nearly turned around to leave him, to run away from how badly this whole thing had gone, but her paws seemed rooted in place. "I did want to meet up," she told him quietly, her ears flattening in a defeated manner. "I wanted to spend time with you, to get to know you," she went on, her gaze dropping to her paws. She didn't know how much worse she could make this for herself, so she decided to be completely honest with him in this moment. "You're always around Khanyo, and you're always so quiet. I just... I just wanted to be alone with you so we could talk."
That was a lot to digest for the mercenary, and his brows knitted together once more in confusion. She wanted to be alone? With him? The dark male was honestly taken aback by this, but he could see that she was sincere in what she said, despite having tricked him in the first place. "I see," was his simple, if not dumbfounded response. Was he really that quiet when Khanyo was around? This lioness seemed to think so, so perhaps he was. Neze cleared his throat a little bit, feeling awkward now that he knew her true intentions with this morning. He thought about it and couldn't quite see a reason to not indulge her request. "Okay," he told her as he drew in a deep breath meant to calm himself. "Let's start without them." He'd never done anything like this before, so he was a little uncertain of the whole thing. What would they even talk about? What if he messed up? What if she decided he was boring? There were too many factors that honestly seemed a little too scary to him. There was a reason why he let Khanyo do all the talking most of the time. His brother was simply better at it than he was.
She waited for him to reject her, to say that this was stupid and that she wasn't worth his time, but Neze surprised her. Jord lifted her eyes to his again, hopeful that she would find some sort of warmth there. What she found instead was worry and uncertainty, and she cocked her head at him as she studied his perplexed expression. Was he nervous? "We can catch breakfast first?" she offered, hoping to break the ice a little more. When he nodded stiffly at her she smiled softly. For such a talented fighter, it was a little funny to see Neze so nervous about being alone with her. "Come on, I'll lead the hunt," she told him as she turned towards the hunting grounds. To her pleasant surprise, he was quick to fall into step behind her. He really was a quiet one, but that wasn't so bad, she decided.
((Word Count: 1,654))