[PRP] Once Upon a Name (Pas x Teh) FIN

[mouselet]

He actually laughed at that remark. Which felt good...how long had it been since he'd last laughed? But still, it was pretty funny, the idea of Teh leading him astray.

"How could you lead me astray...unless if I've corrupted your ability to find things?" Pas teased before settling down to consider the rest of what the lioness had said.

"I don't honestly know how we'll find it," he admitted. "But it just seems silly that there would be a certain place that I'd have to go. If there was, don't you think they'd send all Pilgrims there?" After all, a place where people received their names would be sacred to the Spirits and even if the pride gave them no help in getting there, the Jini-msemi would presumably have told them about that kind of place!  

[Krysin]

"Who knows, maybe with all the time I've spent with you my abilities have been tampered with," she responded with a small grin. This side of Pas was the one she found to be far more charming and attractive. She loved hearing his laugh, and certainly didn't mind his teasing so long as it meant he was in a better mood. Teh was beginning to feel a little better, and settled down next to Pas, her shoulder just lightly touching his own.

"I always thought the places would be an inspiration of sorts, and in that way bring about your name. It's kind of silly to think that since it worked for me, it'd work for you too." There was no singular place they could go to find their names - if that was the case, things would be all too easy for them. All the pilgrims would have to do is find that one place, receive their name, and wander back home. Pilgrimages would certainly be... shorter. "So, since it won't work for you, how else do we go about getting you a name?"  

[mouselet]

The lion laughed aloud again as Teh teased him back. This was what really made him appreciate her presence, and not just because she stuck with him. Because he really did love her, and she loved him, and that was never more evident than when they could just laugh with each other.

"I don't know, maybe we should let me lead and go get nice and lost?" he joked. It was the best he could come up with, but Pas said it more to keep the entertaining conversation going than because he thought of it as a real answer.  

[Krysin]

It was Teh's turn to laugh, the sound soft and amused. She rolled over onto her back and looked up at him, not even minding that her pelt was covered in dirt. "Sure," she agreed suddenly. Teh didn't see the harm in letting Pas lead, especially since she was still convinced he couldn't get lost with her here. "As long as I keep my eye on you, we can get nice and lost together." In her mind, she could easily find their way back to familiar grounds no matter how far Pas led them astray.

But, maybe she was underestimating Pas.

"I might have to tie our tails together to make sure you don't wander off... but I'm not against the idea," she continued with a rather cheeky grin.  

[mouselet]

He grinned back at her, glad that she was responding so well. But at the proposal of tail-tying, then the white lion put on an exaggerated frown.

"Tie our tails? How absolutely barbaric of you, Susi'mimiteh! I am appalled, simply appalled that a well-bred lioness like you could come up with such a thing!"

Of course, they wouldn't really tie their tails together....right? It sounded distinctly uncomfortable, somewhat painful, and well, weird. After all, your tail was the back of your body, and so having their tails tied together meant they'd be facing opposite directions, which would make it very difficult to go anywhere at all.

Or maybe he was just overthinking this whole thing.  

[Krysin]

Teh laughed and rolled back onto her stomach, and from there she moved to lean over Pas' back, using her weight to pin him to the ground. He could always shrug her off, but she didn't think he would even want to! "I'd make sure your tail got a good kink in it!" she retaliated. If Pas thought it was barbaric of her, then so be it! She actually had no intention to follow through with the idea, except if Pas started to show a habit of disappearing out of her sight. Then she really would tie their tails together to keep him from getting lost.

Thinking of him getting lost again was... distressing, and surely with more travelling in their future the possibility was high. If achievable, she wanted to have his name sooner rather than later. That thought alone had started a dark train of thought, and as she leaned against him now she thought of how exactly she could keep him from becoming lost again. "Hey, Pas... what if I... found your name for you?" It was a gentle and more subtle way of saying what she actually had on her mind.  

[mouselet]

He was shaking his head and looking for a good comeback line when Teh suddenly changed the direction and the mood of the conversation. He had to replay her words in his mind in order to make sure he'd heard her right. She...wanted to...find his name for him?

She wanted to name him? The concept was utterly foreign to anything he'd previously known about the quest. But that didn't mean he should reject the idea immediately. However...

"Is that even allowed?" he asked the lioness. He didn't know of any rules against it - there were, to the best of his knowledge, only two rules to the pilgrimage. One - that you weren't allowed to return without your name. Two - that you couldn't leave with anybody else. Beyond that, he hadn't heard anything else.  

[Krysin]

"It isn't... disallowed?" Teh answered tentatively. There were no explicit rules stating that their name couldn't be given to them by someone else. It probably wasn't... generally accepted, but who had to actually tell anyone how Pas came by his new name? Just in case it wasn't accepted, they could keep it a secret between them, and be able to return home without another care in the world. As if to smooth the idea over, she nuzzled her face into his mane. She was only considering this because she loved him, and felt like they were running out of other options.

"If you let me do it, we can head on home. We can be done with this quest, and go home, and you know, move on with the rest of our lives." They could go back home together, and not be stuck out in the roguelands for seasons on end.  

[mouselet]

Pas opened his mouth to protest but then stopped and really thought about it. What she said made a lot of sense and would solve almost all of their problems. It went against his grain to do it though...

"Okay," the lion answered at last. "If you can find me a name that I feel comfortable with, I'll accept it and we can go home." He didn't want to be stuck with a name that didn't fit, even if it was from Teh. So with that condition, he thought her idea would work.  

[Krysin]

Pas had accepted the idea, and so Teh climbed off of the lion to instead sit down in front of him. She stared at him for a few minutes, looking over his bright white fur and yellow mane, trying to conjure up the perfect name. Now that she had to do it, she was finding it... difficult. What name suited him more than Pas? But, Pas was a clearly cub name, and undeserving of a lion who was going to return home an adult. So, Teh set her mind to the little task.

"Verloren," she announced, already convinced that it sounded right. She looked to Pas now, hoping that he would accept the name she was trying to bestow on him. There was always the chance he didn't like it, and she'd have to think of something else she thought would be just as suitable. But... she thought Verloren sounded rather cool. "All the young lionesses will be fawning over someone with a name like that," she added for good measure.  

[mouselet]

"Verloren," the white lion repeated, rolling the name around in his mouth and his mind. It wasn't anything like Pas, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, he was forced to concluded that it was one more example of how lucky he was to have found a traveling partner in the lioness who had offered this to him.

"I think it is my name," the blonde-maned lion admitted, feeling it settle in to his being.

Verloren looked over at Susi'mimiteh with a crooked grin. "But I don't want all the young lionesses fawning over me," he chided her. "Just one. Think my odds are good?"  

[Krysin]

Teh looked relieved when Verloren accepted the name that she had given to him. In fact, the lion seemed to rather like it, and as she thought on it for a few more minutes, it really did seem to be right for him. She was just happy that he now had his name, and together, they could finally go home! "I think your odds are pretty good," Teh replied coyly, stepping up to Verloren to nuzzle him fondly. In fact, the odds had already played out into his favor. He had Teh's heart long before he had his name.

(--fin--)