[PRP] I look up to the sky (Elvis & Phailin)

[Princess_Feylin]

There was an undeniable thrill to racing across the swamp at night when it was only lit by the moon and stars. Having feline eyes put Elvis at more of an advantage than some fully diurnal creature would have been, but his vision was still relegated to shades of grey for the most part and so it was easier for traps to catch him unawares. So far Elvis had never missed any clues that warned him off sinking peat or deceptive pools that pretended to be shallower than they were and the confidence of youth told him he never would.

He was beginning to tire as he neared the end of his nocturnal run. It wasn't something he did often. Only when he could manage to stay awake past his parents and sneak away from them. Most days he used up all his energy by bedtime and was more than happy to fall asleep right away, and even when he didn't sometimes it was impossible to get away from his family. It wasn't like they wouldn't discover he'd been out in the morning, when he was covered in mud even though he'd been bathed the night before. The thrill of sneaking out outweighed the trouble it got him in.

The fact that he didn't run often meant that he was not as fit and in shape as he liked to think and occasionally he overestimated his stamina. Tonight was one of those nights. He had dropped into a weary trot several minutes ago and turned toward home. His blue striped points were mostly covered by mud at this point, but the majority of his coat was white still, if speckled with more mud. He didn't notice.  

[KasaiLoki]

There was one thing that Phailin loved about being the only girl of a litter: she was able to sneak away from her mother more easily as she scolded her brother. When around her, Phailin was a little princess, but she could act like a little devil when she wasn’t before her parent. Sometimes she would get her brothers in trouble on purpose, just to be able to sneak off. That is what she did this morning. Even though the sun was barely out, the young green lioness made a noise, saying that her brother had bit her. Sure enough, when her mother went to the brother, she took the moment to slip away. She’d get caught one day, but she’d worry about that later.

It had been a few days after the queen’s games. Phailin had come in third for the frog catching, but she was still happy nonetheless. She was a rather clumsy lioness, so when she was able to catch at least one of the slippery creatures, she was excited.

Padding through the mud, light blue eyes settled on the form of a familiar lion. Wasn’t that the male she had competed against in the frog catching contest. White pelt in the swamps was something that would hardly be able to miss, so it had to be him. She followed him for a few moments, glancing about how muddy his pelt was. Had he been rolling around in the muck all morning?  

[Princess_Feylin]

Elvis didn't notice right away when a female cub fell in behind him, but eventually it became impossible, even for someone as self-absorbed as he was, to fail to notice additional squelching that wasn't his. At that point he sneaked a glance behind him, hoping very hard it wasn't one of his siblings come after him to take him back to the den in disgrace. Not that Elvis would ever go anywhere or do anything in disgrace - he was too wonderful for that - but that would probably be the idea behind the walk.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was a minty green girl following him. He didn't recognize her, but that didn't phase him. Elvis was awful with names and faces, and had no difficulty informing someone that he didn't remember them. He did expect to be recognized himself, but that's because he was destined for greatness. He had already shown himself to be pretty great in the queen's games, and that was just cub stuff. Now that he was older he was on the lookout for more cool things to do.

"You don't have to be shy," he said, completely misinterpreting the other cub's silence. "I won't bite."  

[KasaiLoki]

“Shy?” Phailin said out loud. “I’m not shy?”

She guessed that since she was being quiet, and sneaky, the male thought her as it. She’d have to change that! She wanted others to remember her positively, and her being known as the ‘shy’ one wouldn’t fly with her.

“I would hope you wouldn’t bite! That wouldn’t be very nice,” she said with a giggle, and tone quite airy.

“I saw you at the games. You won the frog catching competition, didn’t you?” She asked, even though she knew the answer. “I’m Phailin!” She stood short against the growing male. He was obviously a bit older than she was. Would he be going out on his quest soon? She wondered as the male introduced himself.

Finally she spoke again. “I would haaaatttee to have your fur here. Betcha your mommy gives you baths every second of the day.” Having the white fur must have been torture living in the swamps. Phailin liked her light green coat. She could blend in slightly when new grasses decided to creep into the swamplands.
 

[Princess_Feylin]

"You're not saying much," Elvis pointed out. "I thought that meant you were shy. And maybe because you were shy you might think I would do not-nice things like bite."

Giggling. Elvis barely managed not to make a face at the girl-cub's giggling. His sisters weren't giggly, thank goodness. He thought giggling was about the dumbest of all the girly things girls did. She didn't seem to be shy, at any rate. He'd never met anyone who was shy who talked like that.

"That was me!" he agreed. "It was really a good competition, wasn't it?"

Well, he thought it had been. He'd won every event he competed in. Especially the race. He was very proud of that. His memory had edited out the fact that he'd tied in frog-catching to make it seem that he'd been the only winner, but no such editing had been necessary with the race.

Being polite for once, Elvis nodded and said, "Nice to meet you, Phailin."

When she abruptly changed the subject from his victories in the queen's games to the difficulties of keeping his coat clean, Elvis probably should have stopped himself from making faces, but he didn't. It was just such a silly girly thing to think about. Keeping coats clean. Really.

"Yeah, well. She tries. But I'm really fast, and she can't always catch me. I won the races that day, too," he said, trying to turn the topic to something more interesting.  

[KasaiLoki]

“Maaaayyyybeee I didn’t want to scare you! My brothers get scared when I talk to them all of the sudden from out of nowhere. You should see them jump so high from getting scared,” Phailin laughed at the thought as the image appeared in her head.

Hah! So it was him! Phailin never would forget a face. Though, it was kind of hard not to, since he was the only white cub really present in that competition. “I liked it. I didn’t do too well there. I’m not the best frog catcher,” she admitted. “But one day I will be! When I’m not this little at least.” She smiled. The small green cub was always willing to work on things that would make her better. Even though frog-catching wasn’t a necessity, she would work hard to perfect it.

She hadn’t participated in the race, so she didn’t ask him much about that.

Phailin smiled at his greeting, though she noticed he still hadn’t given his name. With a frown, she would insist on a name from him later.

The young lioness grinned at the look she gave him, making a slight gasping noise as he said he had also won the race. “I bet I could beat you in a race!” she challenged. It was a likely loss, for he had the longer legs, and likely more stamina, but she wanted to try. “I didn’t race that day…so I could have beat you!”  

[Princess_Feylin]

"Your brothers sound kind of scaredy," Elvis said as he giggled in a completely unmanly way. He didn't mention that he would never be so easily startled. That went without saying. Because he was manly. At least that was he he imagined himself.

"It'll probably be harder to catch frogs when you're bigger," he pointed out in what he thought was a perfectly helpful and reasonable fashion. "You'll probably squish them. But I guess that would make them easier to catch."

Her suggestion that she could beat him in a race was laughable, and he did laugh. "No. You totally couldn't. But it's cute that you think you could."