Disoriented, Maahes assumed he'd been pushed into one of his pridemates, and didn't think to defend himself from them - the other lion, however, was not on the same page, and racked their claws across his throat. Maahes fell to the ground, dead; the lion who'd shoved him already gone, never to know they'd been the …show more content…
He was hopelessly lost, and simply crawled under a bush to sleep, exhaustion washing over him. Maahes awoke to the sight of another lion's feet, directly in front of his face. He yelped, jerking backward, his spine slamming into the bush's branches - the other lion crowches down, face now exposed to Maahes, the orange-ish fur a stark contrast to the leaves of the bush. The other lion speaks, offering Maahes a place with his pride. Maahes agrees, hoping to escape his past. When asked for his name, Maahes freezes - he doesn't want this other lion (who introduces himself as Homesick) to know where he'd come from, and chooses to call himself "Black Cat" instead, thinking of his supposed "luck" in escaping