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Description
Yejide had done her best to fit in, to blend into the world around her and the pride she lived in. She didn’t make a habit of being in the spot light, of showing off or looking too different. So when she caught sight of Radeyah she was taken aback, she was beautiful and different and everything that Yejide was afraid of. She hadn’t noticed that she was gawking until it was far too late, and upon snapping her maw shut and lowering her gaze a rush of red flushed onto her cheeks.

Now it was awkward and now she was starting to shake, social anxiety was a hell of a thing and it was running rampant through Yejide’s mind. Her mind ran through a thousand things to say, but her mouth couldn’t seem to obey. She was already turning into a fool and it had only been a few minutes. “I...I wasn’t, I didn’t, you um, I uh. Sorry.” Yejide finally stammered before backing away a little, scared of the ridicule she knew would follow after her current display.

Radeyah was feeling rather worried, with everyone talking about war… Her mother was a warrior did that mean she will have to fight? Young lioness felt small fear rising in her chest as she was making her way, away from her trainings and her mind was buzzing with all those questions she had. She did not bother warriors or other shadows with them; chimera knew well that she can ask her mother once she is back home and her mother would come home after her long duties in the pride.

Radeyah was rather rushing but then she saw how someone was staring at her… It felt weird but Rad just stopped and gazed at the lioness, it was rather awkward few seconds of her life… All Radeyah did was smile softly as other lioness talked. ”Hey… It’s fine. I understand… I am weird looking thing.” Lioness chuckled referring to the fact that she looked like two lionesses were smashed into one.

And as usual everything was already off on the wrong paw, but the strange lioness seemed to be graceful enough to offer Yejide some polite kindness. Her laughter somehow managed to bring a smile to Yejide’s maw, small and wobbly one but it was there, and it changed the way she said her next words. “I wouldn’t, weird isn’t, you aren’t, I think you’re, that you’re actually really, really pretty.” She was still shaking, and her cheeks were still slightly lit with crimson, more words pounded against her throat but her tongue couldn’t seem to obey and put them into words.

Gently Yejide lifted her gaze again, to look at Radeyah’s eyes, and her breath was taken away for a moment. She really was everything Yejide was so utterly afraid of, there was no way on Nekhbet’s wide earth that this chimera lioness could be invisible. “You’re just, I’m so, uh, um, gosh. I’m sorry. I’m Yejide, I’m a um, a uh, I am a shadow, a hunter shadow. Its um, it’s nice to, it’s a pleasure, its...” Yejide rambled on for a moment before her voice seemed to drift away on the next breeze, if there was a way to have a normal ass conversation this was not it.

Radeyah did not really expect lioness to act this way as chimera lioness approached her. In fact, no one ever acted this way near her and it made Radeyah feel rather nervous and awkward near her but she still smiled softly. As Rad was called pretty, female could not help but blush, it was annoying reaction of her brain which made her take a small step back, lioness was not used to being called pretty or someone looking at her the way this lioness did.

But Yejide talked again and Radeyah could only blush even more from her words… “I am Radeyah… Feel free to short this name any way you like, it’s too long even for me…” Female tried to ease this awkwardness with simple talk. “I am not pretty, and I am warrior shadow, unless they decide I am not good enough so then I will she shadow of a hunter, just like you…” Rad blushed slightly from Yejide’s ramblings and scolded herself right away. “It’s pleasure to meet you too Yejide.”

Yejide took Radeyah’s movements to mean she was uncomfortable and her gaze lowered, the young lioness shuffled her paws in the dirt. Yejide took being an awkward teenager to a whole new level, even though she was heading into adulthood she just seemed unable to grow out of being awkward around others. Maybe that was her social anxiety, maybe it was something else, Yejide wasn’t ready to confront those personal demons. She waited for Radeyah to tell her to piss off, or that she was being weird, things she always expected from her conversation attempts with others yet never seemed to actually happen.

The chimera lioness gave her name and Yejide repeated it mentally to solidify it, forgetting it would be worse than normal given how much Radeyah stood out from the crowd. “Oh right, people um, shorten, nicknames are, uh.” Yejide half exclaimed before quieting herself down, having honestly forgotten that nicknames were a thing. They weren’t something she’d ever really experienced, anyone who talked to her and used her name always used it in full, usually in reference to its meaning and the implications of it. The teen cleared her throat, “I wouldn’t, uh um, I wouldn’t know what to, to shorten it, to.” she spoke sort of clearly, better than before at least. Probably not making a good first impression however.

Yet the conversation continued, Radeyah was a warrior shadow, her opposite really, and Yejide hated to admit it but she couldn’t imagine such an eye-catching lioness battling it out with the other warriors. Although that was a personal bias, part of her brain was sure that Radeyah would be a capable fighter, Yejide herself could have been a capable fighter but the teen couldn’t bear the idea of that. Fighting wasn’t really her forte, nor was having that many eyes on her, being a hunter meant being mostly unseen, being a warrior meant sparring and going to battle. Things Yejide was worried about on top of her general anxieties over being observed and judged. “Well maybe, um, maybe pretty is the wrong word? Interesting? Different? You um, you stand out. I don’t, I’m sc...I prefer to be invisible.” Yejide found herself admitting as her thoughts trailed away from her mouth, almost unaware that she’d spoken at all until her maw snapped shut again. Which only left her blushing, she really couldn’t handle having a normal conversation.

Radeyah was not known for communicating with others, she was more of one everyone chose avoiding and then whispering about behind her back, her mother used to tell her stories about their time as rogues… How hard and difficult it was, and that now she must ignore all the ones who whisper… who talk and insult because Radeyah was better than that, lioness knew that she was different… very different but she never counted herself as special or blessed, to her it was almost like a curse… like small stain in her family history and she needed to make sure she is worth staying with the pride, this is why she chose to stay away from others most of the time, unless it was training then she never missed a chance to spar or to learn new moves from others, it was how it went but Yejide seemed to go against it… In her awkward yet somewhat cute way.

Radeyah attempted to snap out of her thoughts and she just smiled as lioness listened to Yejide. “Yes… Other’s use nicknames… From Radeyah? Rad, Ade or something like that it is not hard… like from your name Yejide… Yej or maybe Ide… Eji? You never did that?” Lioness asked rather curiously, it was interesting for her to learn more about her, she seemed to be more than it meets the eye.

As lioness started to name what Radeyah was in her eyes, she hummed silently before licking her lips but still softly smiling to her. “Nah… you ever heard that ones who look most interesting are blunt and boring outside? I never really asked this about myself… I am too afraid to hear the answer.” Lioness tried to joke and even smiled, hoping that it might be icebreaker in their conversation. “Invisible? But well you look quite beautiful in your coat… Nothing I would call invisible… that I see on you…” Radeyah said and raised her eyes to meet her gaze. “Sometimes it is easier to be invisible but don’t be afraid… not all lions bite, for sure I don’t.”

A moment of quiet fell away when Radeyah smiled, with Yejide attempting to smile back, she knew how to mirror others in conversation, at least a little. To bluff your way into feeling comfortable. The chimera lioness explained nicknames and Yejide listened fully, it was a concept she’d at least come in contact with but not one she’d ever had the pleasure of actually putting into practice. She ended with a question and Yejide’s ears went form entirely pulled forwards to folded back in an instant, “Uh, oh, no. I um, its not, I’ve never.” Yejide mumbled along and fought against telling Radeyah anything too personal, like the fact that her father couldn’t even call her by name. “My name is, it’s usually said on its own, in um, in full. Because uh, um, because of what it means.” Her voice tried to fade away as her gaze drifted to the dirt, hiding the worry of what was to come next. No one had ever given her a nickname, once they knew her name most adults had looked at her differently. Often thinking of its meaning and origin, looking at the differences between her and Wekesa and the fact that her name wasn’t of the same origin as his, or that of the rest of the pride.

The topic shifted back to how different Radeyah was from a typical lioness, the joke did manage to make Yejide smile more. “I think, I think I’ve heard that before. I feel like, that the, the answer maybe, um, maybe isn’t as important as who would be asking.” Yejide tossed in her two cents, from her life of strange stares and quiet judgement. The answers to such questions often never came, instead it was always who was asking the question, and what they meant by it, that mattered more. Radeyah brought out Yejide’s insecurities, put them into the sunlight and it made the young lioness nervous, mostly because of Radeyah’s sheer confidence and kind tone. “Thank, thank you. I just, I don’t, the staring bothers me.” She wanted to explain, but wasn’t sure how to speak it, how to even construct it, in a way that could be easily understood. Her smile had faded but a lopsided smirk seemed to take its place as Radeyah kept talking, “Yeah, I um, thanks for, being this nice.”

This was harder than she imagined as chimera lioness decided to start talking with this other lioness, it at first seemed to be okay, but now she felt rather guilty for saying something and that made Radeyah smile rather sadly and dip her head down before she took a rather deep breath, she needed to decide what to do now but Yejide talked more and lioness raised her head, small smile covering her face. “Uhm sorry about your name I did not know… That it has a deeper meaning… I personally have no idea what my name means, if it means anything.” She said trying to cheer her up a little and by that move this conversation forward, it sounded like a great idea just now she needed to actually girl up and do it.

Radeyah sighed as she heard what bothers her. “Lions will always stare… That is something which is rather hard to deal with because you always think of the worse, that they talk you down mainly, but not always, some lions are better than they look… sadly some are worse so you just grow to ignore all the stares… because like in my case I can’t hide, even if I would want to, I simply can’t hide.” She whispered and dipper her head slowly as she took deep breath, trying to gather herself, she opened up a little too much but inside she was tired of always pretending it’s okay that they stare while inside she felt the pain and the suffering but still outside like always she was smiling widely.

“You… You don’t have to thank me… It’s fine… Like really it is okay.” She chuckled and took a deep breath before she smiled widely. “Come on… Yejide let’s take a walk, if I know right out training won’t start soon so we have some time.” Lioness chuckled and started to walk but stopped and gazed back at the lioness, waiting till she would follow her.

Yejide was listening carefully for whatever came next, but it seemed that Radeyah had never heard of the meaning before, it gave her an opening and Yejide decided it was better that she only knew the name for what it was. “I didn’t choose it um, so I didn’t know, uh, I didn’t know what it meant for a long time either.” Yejide mumbled as she tried to move away from the topic, “That’s um, it’s uh, weird isn’t it? That we don’t, that no one really, that your name is chosen for you?” hoping to have successfully navigated away from the conversation about meaning, Yeijde instead posed a question about the strangeness that was naming in general. It had always been a bizarre thing to the young lioness, especially given her name’s meaning and the minor ridicule she received for it, that you had your name chosen for you instead of picking one yourself.

As the chimera spoke Yejide’s ears fell back, pulling her hazel eyes away from Radeyah and onto the dirt, she didn’t want to stare. Suddenly she felt incredibly rude for even starting the conversation, for staring at her and thinking she stood out so much. “I um, I’m uh, I know how, how that feels. Sorry for, I’m sorry, sorry for pointing that, pointing it out.” Yejide mumbled along, making a real effort not to look up at Radeyah, she didn’t want to make the chimera any more uncomfortable. Unsure of what to say next Yejide just stayed silent, trying to stop the mental scolding that always seemed to arise when situations like this presented themselves. Now wasn’t the time to fall into her anxieties, that would come later, when she was alone and trying to sleep.

The quiet laughter that came next threatened to make Yejide pull her eyes back up, but she stubbornly held them low. “Sorry, I um, I just, I...” Before Yejide could think of what to even say Radeyah was suggesting they go for a walk, and that was enough to cause Yejide’s gaze to dart up to her heterochromatic eyes before it fell back to her paws. The smile that the suggestion caused remained however. “Yeah, I’d, I would, it would. A walk would be nice.” Yejide answered as she slowly began to follow Radeyah’s steps, she didn’t care where they were walking, just that the conversation had been rescued. That she was maybe making a new friend, suddenly going from no friends to two was a jump, but Yejide found herself liking it. So without much hesitation she returned her head back into a normal position and walked up beside Radeyah, ready to go where ever until training forced them back to their ranks and jobs.

Description
Yejide had done her best to fit in, to blend into the world around her and the pride she lived in. She didn’t make a habit of being in the spot light, of showing off or looking too different. So when she caught sight of Radeyah she was taken aback, she was beautiful and different and everything that Yejide was afraid of. She hadn’t noticed that she was gawking until it was far too late, and upon snapping her maw shut and lowering her gaze a rush of red flushed onto her cheeks.

Now it was awkward and now she was starting to shake, social anxiety was a hell of a thing and it was running rampant through Yejide’s mind. Her mind ran through a thousand things to say, but her mouth couldn’t seem to obey. She was already turning into a fool and it had only been a few minutes. “I...I wasn’t, I didn’t, you um, I uh. Sorry.” Yejide finally stammered before backing away a little, scared of the ridicule she knew would follow after her current display.

Radeyah was feeling rather worried, with everyone talking about war… Her mother was a warrior did that mean she will have to fight? Young lioness felt small fear rising in her chest as she was making her way, away from her trainings and her mind was buzzing with all those questions she had. She did not bother warriors or other shadows with them; chimera knew well that she can ask her mother once she is back home and her mother would come home after her long duties in the pride.

Radeyah was rather rushing but then she saw how someone was staring at her… It felt weird but Rad just stopped and gazed at the lioness, it was rather awkward few seconds of her life… All Radeyah did was smile softly as other lioness talked. ”Hey… It’s fine. I understand… I am weird looking thing.” Lioness chuckled referring to the fact that she looked like two lionesses were smashed into one.

And as usual everything was already off on the wrong paw, but the strange lioness seemed to be graceful enough to offer Yejide some polite kindness. Her laughter somehow managed to bring a smile to Yejide’s maw, small and wobbly one but it was there, and it changed the way she said her next words. “I wouldn’t, weird isn’t, you aren’t, I think you’re, that you’re actually really, really pretty.” She was still shaking, and her cheeks were still slightly lit with crimson, more words pounded against her throat but her tongue couldn’t seem to obey and put them into words.

Gently Yejide lifted her gaze again, to look at Radeyah’s eyes, and her breath was taken away for a moment. She really was everything Yejide was so utterly afraid of, there was no way on Nekhbet’s wide earth that this chimera lioness could be invisible. “You’re just, I’m so, uh, um, gosh. I’m sorry. I’m Yejide, I’m a um, a uh, I am a shadow, a hunter shadow. Its um, it’s nice to, it’s a pleasure, its...” Yejide rambled on for a moment before her voice seemed to drift away on the next breeze, if there was a way to have a normal ass conversation this was not it.

Radeyah did not really expect lioness to act this way as chimera lioness approached her. In fact, no one ever acted this way near her and it made Radeyah feel rather nervous and awkward near her but she still smiled softly. As Rad was called pretty, female could not help but blush, it was annoying reaction of her brain which made her take a small step back, lioness was not used to being called pretty or someone looking at her the way this lioness did.

But Yejide talked again and Radeyah could only blush even more from her words… “I am Radeyah… Feel free to short this name any way you like, it’s too long even for me…” Female tried to ease this awkwardness with simple talk. “I am not pretty, and I am warrior shadow, unless they decide I am not good enough so then I will she shadow of a hunter, just like you…” Rad blushed slightly from Yejide’s ramblings and scolded herself right away. “It’s pleasure to meet you too Yejide.”

Yejide took Radeyah’s movements to mean she was uncomfortable and her gaze lowered, the young lioness shuffled her paws in the dirt. Yejide took being an awkward teenager to a whole new level, even though she was heading into adulthood she just seemed unable to grow out of being awkward around others. Maybe that was her social anxiety, maybe it was something else, Yejide wasn’t ready to confront those personal demons. She waited for Radeyah to tell her to piss off, or that she was being weird, things she always expected from her conversation attempts with others yet never seemed to actually happen.

The chimera lioness gave her name and Yejide repeated it mentally to solidify it, forgetting it would be worse than normal given how much Radeyah stood out from the crowd. “Oh right, people um, shorten, nicknames are, uh.” Yejide half exclaimed before quieting herself down, having honestly forgotten that nicknames were a thing. They weren’t something she’d ever really experienced, anyone who talked to her and used her name always used it in full, usually in reference to its meaning and the implications of it. The teen cleared her throat, “I wouldn’t, uh um, I wouldn’t know what to, to shorten it, to.” she spoke sort of clearly, better than before at least. Probably not making a good first impression however.

Yet the conversation continued, Radeyah was a warrior shadow, her opposite really, and Yejide hated to admit it but she couldn’t imagine such an eye-catching lioness battling it out with the other warriors. Although that was a personal bias, part of her brain was sure that Radeyah would be a capable fighter, Yejide herself could have been a capable fighter but the teen couldn’t bear the idea of that. Fighting wasn’t really her forte, nor was having that many eyes on her, being a hunter meant being mostly unseen, being a warrior meant sparring and going to battle. Things Yejide was worried about on top of her general anxieties over being observed and judged. “Well maybe, um, maybe pretty is the wrong word? Interesting? Different? You um, you stand out. I don’t, I’m sc...I prefer to be invisible.” Yejide found herself admitting as her thoughts trailed away from her mouth, almost unaware that she’d spoken at all until her maw snapped shut again. Which only left her blushing, she really couldn’t handle having a normal conversation.

Radeyah was not known for communicating with others, she was more of one everyone chose avoiding and then whispering about behind her back, her mother used to tell her stories about their time as rogues… How hard and difficult it was, and that now she must ignore all the ones who whisper… who talk and insult because Radeyah was better than that, lioness knew that she was different… very different but she never counted herself as special or blessed, to her it was almost like a curse… like small stain in her family history and she needed to make sure she is worth staying with the pride, this is why she chose to stay away from others most of the time, unless it was training then she never missed a chance to spar or to learn new moves from others, it was how it went but Yejide seemed to go against it… In her awkward yet somewhat cute way.

Radeyah attempted to snap out of her thoughts and she just smiled as lioness listened to Yejide. “Yes… Other’s use nicknames… From Radeyah? Rad, Ade or something like that it is not hard… like from your name Yejide… Yej or maybe Ide… Eji? You never did that?” Lioness asked rather curiously, it was interesting for her to learn more about her, she seemed to be more than it meets the eye.

As lioness started to name what Radeyah was in her eyes, she hummed silently before licking her lips but still softly smiling to her. “Nah… you ever heard that ones who look most interesting are blunt and boring outside? I never really asked this about myself… I am too afraid to hear the answer.” Lioness tried to joke and even smiled, hoping that it might be icebreaker in their conversation. “Invisible? But well you look quite beautiful in your coat… Nothing I would call invisible… that I see on you…” Radeyah said and raised her eyes to meet her gaze. “Sometimes it is easier to be invisible but don’t be afraid… not all lions bite, for sure I don’t.”

A moment of quiet fell away when Radeyah smiled, with Yejide attempting to smile back, she knew how to mirror others in conversation, at least a little. To bluff your way into feeling comfortable. The chimera lioness explained nicknames and Yejide listened fully, it was a concept she’d at least come in contact with but not one she’d ever had the pleasure of actually putting into practice. She ended with a question and Yejide’s ears went form entirely pulled forwards to folded back in an instant, “Uh, oh, no. I um, its not, I’ve never.” Yejide mumbled along and fought against telling Radeyah anything too personal, like the fact that her father couldn’t even call her by name. “My name is, it’s usually said on its own, in um, in full. Because uh, um, because of what it means.” Her voice tried to fade away as her gaze drifted to the dirt, hiding the worry of what was to come next. No one had ever given her a nickname, once they knew her name most adults had looked at her differently. Often thinking of its meaning and origin, looking at the differences between her and Wekesa and the fact that her name wasn’t of the same origin as his, or that of the rest of the pride.

The topic shifted back to how different Radeyah was from a typical lioness, the joke did manage to make Yejide smile more. “I think, I think I’ve heard that before. I feel like, that the, the answer maybe, um, maybe isn’t as important as who would be asking.” Yejide tossed in her two cents, from her life of strange stares and quiet judgement. The answers to such questions often never came, instead it was always who was asking the question, and what they meant by it, that mattered more. Radeyah brought out Yejide’s insecurities, put them into the sunlight and it made the young lioness nervous, mostly because of Radeyah’s sheer confidence and kind tone. “Thank, thank you. I just, I don’t, the staring bothers me.” She wanted to explain, but wasn’t sure how to speak it, how to even construct it, in a way that could be easily understood. Her smile had faded but a lopsided smirk seemed to take its place as Radeyah kept talking, “Yeah, I um, thanks for, being this nice.”

This was harder than she imagined as chimera lioness decided to start talking with this other lioness, it at first seemed to be okay, but now she felt rather guilty for saying something and that made Radeyah smile rather sadly and dip her head down before she took a rather deep breath, she needed to decide what to do now but Yejide talked more and lioness raised her head, small smile covering her face. “Uhm sorry about your name I did not know… That it has a deeper meaning… I personally have no idea what my name means, if it means anything.” She said trying to cheer her up a little and by that move this conversation forward, it sounded like a great idea just now she needed to actually girl up and do it.

Radeyah sighed as she heard what bothers her. “Lions will always stare… That is something which is rather hard to deal with because you always think of the worse, that they talk you down mainly, but not always, some lions are better than they look… sadly some are worse so you just grow to ignore all the stares… because like in my case I can’t hide, even if I would want to, I simply can’t hide.” She whispered and dipper her head slowly as she took deep breath, trying to gather herself, she opened up a little too much but inside she was tired of always pretending it’s okay that they stare while inside she felt the pain and the suffering but still outside like always she was smiling widely.

“You… You don’t have to thank me… It’s fine… Like really it is okay.” She chuckled and took a deep breath before she smiled widely. “Come on… Yejide let’s take a walk, if I know right out training won’t start soon so we have some time.” Lioness chuckled and started to walk but stopped and gazed back at the lioness, waiting till she would follow her.

Yejide was listening carefully for whatever came next, but it seemed that Radeyah had never heard of the meaning before, it gave her an opening and Yejide decided it was better that she only knew the name for what it was. “I didn’t choose it um, so I didn’t know, uh, I didn’t know what it meant for a long time either.” Yejide mumbled as she tried to move away from the topic, “That’s um, it’s uh, weird isn’t it? That we don’t, that no one really, that your name is chosen for you?” hoping to have successfully navigated away from the conversation about meaning, Yeijde instead posed a question about the strangeness that was naming in general. It had always been a bizarre thing to the young lioness, especially given her name’s meaning and the minor ridicule she received for it, that you had your name chosen for you instead of picking one yourself.

As the chimera spoke Yejide’s ears fell back, pulling her hazel eyes away from Radeyah and onto the dirt, she didn’t want to stare. Suddenly she felt incredibly rude for even starting the conversation, for staring at her and thinking she stood out so much. “I um, I’m uh, I know how, how that feels. Sorry for, I’m sorry, sorry for pointing that, pointing it out.” Yejide mumbled along, making a real effort not to look up at Radeyah, she didn’t want to make the chimera any more uncomfortable. Unsure of what to say next Yejide just stayed silent, trying to stop the mental scolding that always seemed to arise when situations like this presented themselves. Now wasn’t the time to fall into her anxieties, that would come later, when she was alone and trying to sleep.

The quiet laughter that came next threatened to make Yejide pull her eyes back up, but she stubbornly held them low. “Sorry, I um, I just, I...” Before Yejide could think of what to even say Radeyah was suggesting they go for a walk, and that was enough to cause Yejide’s gaze to dart up to her heterochromatic eyes before it fell back to her paws. The smile that the suggestion caused remained however. “Yeah, I’d, I would, it would. A walk would be nice.” Yejide answered as she slowly began to follow Radeyah’s steps, she didn’t care where they were walking, just that the conversation had been rescued. That she was maybe making a new friend, suddenly going from no friends to two was a jump, but Yejide found herself liking it. So without much hesitation she returned her head back into a normal position and walked up beside Radeyah, ready to go where ever until training forced them back to their ranks and jobs.