I Can Haz Mane Plz - Win-A-Date with Rehema

This took forever to post, I know, but the winners of the "Win-A-Date with Rehema" contest are finally here!!! In fact, this took me so long to get done, Rehema got a little mischievious and went out with more than just 3 girls. Naughty boy.

The eighth and final winner is 's Rinja (the one and only).


Story time:
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Rehema cringed as he walked closer to the meeting place. I hope she doesn't go all fangirl crazy on me, like she did last time..., he thought. He sighed, knowing she would. They best he could do was brace himself and --

"HEYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!"

--too late.

Rehema closed his eyes and barely had the time to brace for impact. Body slamming into him was a white, two-tone-mohawked lioness. They crashed together and rolled over until she was on top. She jumped to her feet and danced on her tiptoes, looking like something between a frisky cub and an insane hyena.

"Hi, Rinja," Rehema said, trying to pull himself together - emotionally and physically. He started to get up.

"Well, hi yourself, Mister Man!" Rinja purred. She threw herself on Rehema's back as he was trying to stand, pushing him down all over again. He propped himself up half-way in time for Rinja to grab a fistful of his thick mane in each paw and pull it around her neck and over her head. "Look at me!" she shouted to no one in particular. "I'm fabulous!" Then she looked up at Rehema, tucking her forehead under his chin and pushing more of her mohawk mane - and Rehema's mane - into her face. "I can haz mane, pleeze?"

Rehema put a paw over her back in hopes it would calm her down. As he did, he could feel her practically vibrating underneath his paw pads. Is that her breathing or her pulse? "Calm down, missy girl," he said, "and you can have anything you want." He bit his tongue afterwards. "Why did I say that?" he muttered.

Rinja let his mane go and rolled onto her back, still draped over Rehema's body like a fuzzy snake. "Oh, really?" she asked, looking up at him with large, round eyes that glinted with a hint of devilish mischief. "You want me to be calm? I can be perfectly calm." She leaned further back and let her head tip up, closing her eyes. To Rehema's surprise, the vibrating under his paw (which was on Rinja's belly now) had already started to slow down. "How's that?" Rinja whispered, cracking an eyelid.

Rehema whispered back, starting to stroke Rinja's belly, "That's better. I'd hate for you to wear yourself out too early." He grinned at her. Maybe she was on the wild and crazy side, and even a little intimidating, but it was a new feeling for him. He decided he liked it.

Rinja sat up, propping herself up on her elbows. "Oh? Is it going to be that kind of a date, then?" She flashed her eyebrows at him and pulled back her lips in a full-toothed grin.

Rehema shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Rinja, at the moment, I'm actually very afraid to tell you 'no.'" He started to smile again, but Rinja looked more hurt than amused. She rolled over and cuddled up beside him, letting out a breath.

"I'm not always like this, you know?" she said. She rubbed up against him. "Don't be afraid to tell me anything," she whispered near his ear. She smiled gently at him, the first time Rehema could remember that she'd done that. "No secrets, m'kay?"

Rehema smiled back at her and held her chin in one of his paws. "At least not for tonight."

Rinja sighed and let the full weight of her chin rest in Rehema's paw. Her eyes dropped half-closed.

After a moment, Rehema raised an eyebrow. "What are you looking at?"

Rinja used a claw to inticate the scars on Rehema's nose and then the two scars on her nose. "It's like looking in a mirror," she crooned.

Rehema chuckled and then sighed. "You need to work on your pick-up lines."

Rinja took her chin off his paw and snuggled into his mane, using a paw to wrap part of it around her neck. She poked at his nose. "And you have all night to teach me."

Rehema nuzzled her head. "It will be my pleasure."

_{Rehema © *Nala15. Rinja © Rinjapine. Art © *Nala15.}