[PRP] My Eyes Have Seen the Glory

[Asparegus]

AIM RP: Felyn & Ume

It hadn't been too long ago that water was only known as safe surrounded by natural stone walls and thick jungle without. That leaving the safety of the walls meant you couldn't go alone. And how children were so well-protected that they bothered to make friend and enemies, packs and alliaces between one another. But also how everyone had family outside their immediate one. All but Orifiel. The teal cub was the product of a lonely mother who joined the pride of the Unity Walkers for the sake of a friend she cared dearly for.

But also not too long ago, Orifiel had left that safety and broke the trust his mother shared with him. He broke everything he had there. He followed a rogue lion promising adventure but all Ori got was perhaps his own downfall. And in the end, he had been found by cubs, younger than he but still relatively close in age. And he was slowly coming to find that his home was their home too. Once upon a time, Ori had also been near the ocean with a girl older than himself, talking to him in her bawdy accent about her love for the sea. And she had near convinced him that the sea was too great to leave. But perhaps she had convinced him for here he was again.

Combing the shore for he did not know what, he continued to wander, seemingly without a purpose. His thoughts were not on particularly one thing or another because they did not wish to be. They were every which way on every topic they could grab a hold of. But he grabbed a hold of nothing. He stopped to stare down at the water rushing over his feet. But it was a very blank look like that of someone who notices something so insignificant that they don't even care about it. But he kept staring at it as if perhaps by staring, it would turn into a fascination beyond his grasp or comprehension. Because really, it was as though he was staring at his life, insignificant and probably worthless; and waiting, waiting for it to become better, to jump out and prove all his current thoughts and ideas to be falsehoods.

Rani had lead a very uneventful life, at least compared to Ori. She had always assumed that the big adventures that she followed Tau on were the biggest that would ever be, but after talking to Ori, she realized that there was a lot of stuff she had never seen before and adventures she could only dream of. Of course, if adventures led to being sick like Ori was, she didn't think she wanted them. He was so pitiful when they had found him!

The young cub sauntered down the edge of the beach, her little paws picking up sticky sand that washed away in the water, only to be replaced by more as the routine of washing waves swept along. Her eyes watched them, mesmerized, as she made her way down the beach she knew so well. Her father had told her the importance of the ocean and like all her family, she believed in it. She adored the stars, loved their twinkling lights - but at night, the ocean multiplied them upon its shifting surface. That was something worth seeing.

With her head down, she almost didn't look up in time to see Ori. However, from the corner of her eye she spotted a color that didn't belong to any of her brothers or sisters, and her head wipped up with a grin already plastered there. "Ori!" she called happily, picking up her saunter and loping along in a trot.

Perhaps what she didn't know was that he had born sick and although he had come there sick and starving, really it was more so caused from his mentality. His mother wanted him to a warrior but there was also that constant reminder and her constant worry over his health. It was that worry over every scraped knee and scratched paw that made him to believe in the fact that he was limited. Maybe he would have been stronger and made his mother proud despite his disease if it hadn't been made a big deal. But it was too late for that now.

He looked up out of his thoughts to the reddish-brown and blue pelt coming towards him. It was the cub, the little lioness who declared she had read his arrival in the stars. To have faith in someone so.... inanimate was amazing to him when he had first come but slowly he was coming to appreciate the beliefs of the pride. "Hello Hadharani," he replied formally. Where he was from, royalty was royalty even if they weren't to inherit their parent's position and thus they demanded respect. It was a little hard for him to pull away from, his little mind not quite comprehending the rules and culture of the pride.

She stopped before the other, a small frown spreading across her maw at the use of her full name. She shook her head with a sigh, "no, just call me Rani." Only her parents called her Hadharani, and that wasn't even very often. Using the whole thing made it all sound so stuffy and stuck up! Rani didn't wanted to sound stuffy and stuck up. She wanted to sound happy and free!

"Why are you out here all by yourself?" she said with a puzzling look in her eyes. Of course, she never really stopped to think that she too was out here all alone. She had been following the dancing waves, though - which was why her feet were so wet and caked with sand. She didn't think Ori was the type to follow the waves on the shore, though, so it left a question in her mind.

One day Ori had stuck cracked and bleeding paws into salt water via the demands of a hysteric wild dog he had met. It had burned, torturously so. Tears had run down his face. It had been the start of his guilt for leaving his mother. He had still been a cub. He had had no mother to run to and all he could think during that moment was that it was his fault. The angel Orifiel was said to be the angel of the apocalypse. As though his namesake were inflicting one on him, Ori suffered almost daily from his ailment. Learning to be happy and fit in was a slow process. And it often lead to him wandering off on his own.

"It's a nice place to think," he said, "with only the sun and the moon as witnesses." He pointed with a paw to the moon, just barely visible in the sky. "I hope I'm not missing anything...?" Something about it made it feel as though she had come to get him. Well he supposed he was probably wrong but he had already asked the question. And if he was missing something, they'd forgive him, surely. He looked down at the ground shuffling almost nervously and noticed her feet. She had certainly come a ways.  

[Asparegus]

She grinned innocently and let her gaze follow the direction his paw pointed, staring up at the ghostly moon imprinted upon the day-time sky. "That's pretty," she commented, almost in a dazed manner, her tail wavering in a slow motion behind her, "it's a shame that you can't see any stars in the daytime though." It was pretty well known that the little girl had quite the affinity for stars.

"What?" she asked with a blink, shifting her sight away from the moon - it really did make her think of stars! - and instead looking back upon the other boy. "Oh, no, I was just walking out here and after a while I kind of sensed you were alone near where I was. I thought I'd come by to say hi." She giggled softly, squinting her eyes up in a rather cute manner with her smile for just a moment.

Orifiel could always expect an answer like that from her. She almost always mentioned the stars in some shape or form. But the stars were always silent to him. They didn't tell him any secrets or point at the future or past in reflection. No, whenever he tried, the stars only winked back in merriment. Only the moon seemed to understand ...but then again, that could just be his imagination. "Probably for the best that they don't appear during the day."

"Yo-you sensed I was alone?" Why did that make him feel so out of the loop? He used a paw to rub his chin and tried a shy smile. "Uh... hi." He looked around almost expecting her brothers to be lurking nearby. "Your brothers aren't out here, are they?"

She let out a small laugh at his words and nodded. "You're right - they probably wouldn't look very pretty next to the sun. It's too bright for them." She shrugged, as if that was all she needed for explanation, and promptly forgot about it.

"Yes, silly. The wind.." she stopped, then shook her head with a grin, "you don't understand. It's ok, you will one day." Well, that probably did nothing to make him feel less out of the loop, but she put on a bright smile regardless. "No, I don't think so. I think Nili is looking at flowers and Tau is probably off with that girl that daddy says he has to play with."

Yes because that was the answer he needed. Really, it just made him feel worse. Was nature talking to everyone but him? What was it that made it so he couldn't do what everyone else could? Other than the obvious. She sounded like an adult. Wisdom. Another thing he apparently lacked or perhaps he'd be making such generic quotes too. They seemed almost like a completely different breed of lion here. He felt so incomplete compared to them. And they were all happy ...on the inside at least.

"Which means it's just us out here..." It felt just a bit ackward. He had no clue what to say. Really he had never been good at conversation. What did they do for fun? Because he just felt like a boring, disabled youth ...and that was no fun. At all.

She didn't know that he felt left out, she couldn't possibly. Sure, she could sense him if she was close enough to him, especially if the wind brought it to her - but that was just her connection to nature. She figured anyone could become connected to nature if they opened themsevles up - she had just been opened since she was born. Sometimes others had to learn it. If he had asked, she would have explained it all to him.

"Yeah, just us!" she said with a grin on her mug, bright tangerine eyes turning towards the ocean. She stared at it for a moment, as if she were listening to the whisper of waveson the beach, and then she did a bit of a bob. "Oh," she said, snapping back to look at him after said bob, "do you want to come look for seashells with me?" Yeah, Rani's life was pretty simple.  

[Asparegus]

Ori hadn't been a boring, angsty sap his whole life. No, he used to know how to have fun to the point that he got mad at others when they didn't try to have fun with him or were upset at his actions. Everything he did was harmless. Plus he had always gone away from the dens back at the Unity Walkers to have fun. That he still managed to disturb people, well that was their problem. He had always seen himself as innocent in his attempts at fun. But now, he had let himself sink too far into his problems. He needed a grappling hook to get out. But the rope she threw him worked too.

"Yea, sure," he said with a what-the-heck grin. Who knew how interesting that could be but truth be told, when he had last come to the ocean, he hadn't done that sort of thing. So this would be a first. Who knew? Maybe it'd be great and he'd regret never doing it before. "Are we looking for any specific kind?

She giggled softly at his agreement, pleased that he was willing to go along with her. Tau always wanted to go off on adventures and Nili complained a lot - and he just really liked to sit and smell all those flowers! She didn't often have someone willing to go shell-looking with her. "Oh, then this way, ok?" she flashed him a smile and then nudged him lightly with her nose before she started off in the directin she had been heading before she stopped to talk to him.

"Oh, maybe?" she tilted her head with a slight furrow brows as she thought about what kinds of shells they were supposed to be looking for. She wanted to make a necklace ouf ot pretty shells, that was what she wanted! "I don't know. Pretty ones! I want a necklace like Nili's maybe. Something pretty. My mom and dad both where lots of pretty things."

Ori blinked and obediently went where she nudged him. He watched the ground as he stepped. Were they supposed to be on the surface or would they need todig for them? He had seen the necklace Nili had. It was quite a pretty necklace if a bit effeminate in his opinion. But they right now were trying to find one for Rani so pretty was just fine. He heard a screeching and looked out to the ocean, seeing two birds, white with black hoods, fighting each other for a fish. He inhaled sharply as he made contact with somethign sharp and tripped. His mouth formed a large "O" and let out a cry of surprise. Turning around and picking himself up, he inspected what he had just tripped over. It was half-burried but as far as he knew rocks didn't implant themselves in the surf. Using his front paws, he dug it out. It was huge, larger than he expected it to look. It was spiraled but it had a large opening and the top had spikes. It was a conch shell although he didn't know what type it was. The shell was pure white and reminded him of bleached bones but prettier. "Hey Had- I mean, Rani. What's this?"

She had been walking along happily, not paying much attention even to the squawking birds that were making so much noise. She was leading him to a place where she knew there were a lot of seashells. "We just have to - Ori?" she stopped, blinking, and turned around just in time to see him getting up. She giggled softly and walked on over as he called her, peering down at what he had before him. "Oh, oh!" she said with a giggle, pushing at it with a blue-tipped paw, "it's a conch shell! This one is empty, but they're made by these really funny looking sea critters. Once the sea critter dies, they wash up on shore." She tilted her head, looking over at him, "you can hear the ocean in them if you take them away from shore."

Ori blushed nervously at her giggles and shifted his gaze to the shell until she pointed out what it was. How could the sound of the ocean trap itself in there? When the original creature dies does another move it that promptly makes the sound of the ocean when you put it to your ears to try and keep creatures from finding out it lived in there? He wondered what sorts of secrets it must keep. There hd to be a good amount surely. It was large enough to. "Do you want this one?" he asked. It was a little too large for a necklace. But who knew? Maybe she wanted it for something else such as... an ornament for the den. He was definitely new at this.  

[Asparegus]

Rani had never really wondered what made the sound of the ocean inside the shell - she just knew it did and that was enough for her. She wasn't the sort to question what made the sound, she just accepted it like she did so many other things in her life. It was a part of nature, that was how it worked. "Oh, but don't you want it?" she said with a frown, tilting her head, "you found it! And I hear the ocean all the time. What happens if you decide to leave?" The thought made her frown, but she continued on, "you'll need the shell so you can hear the ocean too!"

Ori wrinkled his brow. "But I'm not going anywhere." As far as he knew, this was his new home. Like he was going to risk leaving and being out on his own again. He had barely survived at all as it was. And it was enough to scare him into staying in one place. And fate chose here so here he'd stay. "I... I don't know what I'd do with it. So I figured you'd appreciate it more." He sighed. "But, well, it's too heavy anyways. So I guess we can just leave it here and decide what to do with it when we come back. 'Kay?" But would he take it when they got back? Maybe. He didn't know. Probably depended on how many seashells they found that were good enough for her. "Come on. Let's continue before it gets too dark. Not that I mind the dark but you know, don't want your parents to get worried."

She grinned and flickered her tail softly, "alright. If you are sure, we'll leave it here. It really is big, and I for one wouldn't want to tote it around all day either." She giggled and turned, trodding along again in the direction they had originally been heading. "Oh, but that dark is when the stars come out!" she crooned excitedly, although she was really not supposed to be away from the den at night. The stars were a.. distraction, at best.

"Down here!" she said with a little grin as they reached a dip in the beach, a few mostly-sand covered rocks leading down to water pools. Two small rock faces kept most of the worse current out of the area, leaving a soft bit of waves, but a lot of seashell pile up from not being able to wash past the rocks. There were seashells everywhere among the sand, then the water pools themselves teemed with small creatures. She giggled and leapt into a run, making her way down to the scattered seashells.

Boy did she like the stars. Maybe one day he'd need to go stargazing with her to see just what her love of the stars was all about. But that wasn't what they were doing now. It was all about the shells right now. He hurried after her, his eyes widening at the sight of the pools. He hadn't even known things like them existed. He peered into some of the pools and saw some creatures wearing smaller shells in the pools. He stuck his paw in there and poked one, watching it move away from him. "Rani, this place is so neat! Thanks for showing it to me!" There literally as a huge collection of shells in this little area that he quickly, tongue in cheek, built a mound of them. He laughed successfully and pulled back to admire it. Then, he looked up to see what Rani was doing with herself.

Rani grinned at his words, shrugging her shoulders with an innocent look. "You could have found it by yourself if you had looked, but you're welcome anyway!" She didn't really like to take credit for anything that pertained to nature. He really could have found it if he wanted to. As he looked over to see what she was doing, however, it probably didn't look like much. She had gotten sidetracked from looking at seashells when she found an dead starfish already dried out by the sun. "Look!" she squeaked, picking it up and trotting over to him, setting it down. It was a pretty blue color. At that moment, however, she noticed the giant pile of seashells. Her eyes widened, a gasp on her maw as she looked at him, "those are so pretty Ori!"  

[Asparegus]

Ori bent over, sniffing the starfish cautiously as though it were dangerous even if dead. "It sorta matches your coat," he pointeded out. It would stand out nicely against her brown but work with her blue if she made it into a necklace. Of course, it might be too big for a necklace. He wasn't too sure. Not that he bothered much with jewelry anyway. Drawing his attention back to the mound of seashells, he puffed out his chest proudly and held his head up at her praise. "Why thank you," he replied with a touch of modesty.

"You think so?" she asked calmly, her tail flickering behind her as she tilted her head to look down at the pretty starfish. She really did want to make it into a necklace, and she bet it would look really pretty if she added some of those shells that Ori had found! "You're welcome," she said with a grin as she started to nose around in the pile, pulling out ones that particularly caught her eye.

Sitting back, she grinned at him, tangerine eyes dancing as she did so. "We just need to get these back home and then daddy's monkey friend can help me make it into a necklace!"


"Yes, I do," he said with a confident nod, a smile curling at the corners of his lips. Yes it would, if he had an eye for pretty things ...which he wasn't sure was a good thing or a bad thing.

Ori watched her poke around almost a little disheartedly as his mound was destroyed, even if for good reasons. Not that it had taken long to make. Just the average sort of male pride. He was entitled, right? Even if it was just him being silly. Of course, he knew he'd like it in the end, the necklace that was. Because he would have helped make it even if no one ever knew. Afterall, he had gathered these shells himself into a pointless pile of awesomeness. "Aright," he replied. "You have something to carry them in?" Because sadly he didn't know how to walk and carry them at the time. His mouth wasn't quite as convenient as a pelican's.

She beamed brightly at his words, her smile making her eyes dance as she thought about it. Well, if Ori thought that it would be pretty on her, then it must be true, right? Not that she minded whether or not it was pretty really - he had helped her, and that's all that mattered!

"Uhm," she paused, glancing down at the shells, then grinned as inspiration hit her. "Yeah, hold on, I'll show you!" She got up mid-sentance and began to saunter down to the shore. A few moments later she returned with a tangle of seaweed, the thin scraggly sort that looked something akin to a bird's nest. It'd been tossed and flipped together in the waves so much that it would be impossible to get it back apart. "We can use this!" she said with a small giggle, picking up the seashells one by one and setting them on top, then adding the starfish last of all.

Finally, she brought the edges of the seaweed up, holding them in her maw. "See?" she exclaimed, though it came out more like 'ree' with the bundle in her mouth.

He watched her leave, wondering what she could possibly be looking for along the shore. As far as he knew, there wasn't anything that would wash up from the ocean and work. But of course, he was proven wrong again. He watched her place the stuff in the seaweed and nodded, although feeling sort of useless now because she had it all taken care of with and looked like she could carry it herself. Might as well try to see if he could be. "Want me to carry it?" he asked.  

[Asparegus]

She grinned and set it down before him, tail writhing behind her as she cocked her head at him. "You can if you want to," she said with a laugh, taking a few dancing, twirling steps towards home with her head to the sky. Oh, but she was a free spirit! She laughed again, a melodious, childish laugh, and turned her bright eyes back upon him. "Ready to go?"

Well apparently that must have been the right answer to say because she seemed quite delighted that he had. He watched her dance just a bit away before bending down to pick up the parcel. Orifiel was scarcely ever too happy, really hadn't spent much time doing it. Well ok, he had had fun playing make-believe by himself in the den or chasing a butterfly when Radi was baby-sitting him. But that had been in his innocent days. And it was almost as if his travels had taken that out of him, robbed him of it.

He smiled back at her as well as he could with the bundle in his mouth and nodded. "Eesss," could be barely heard, muffled.

She grinned wide at him then and stepped up at his side, nudging him lightly as she began to walk. She said nothing, but her smile remained plastered in place as they walked along. She was going to have the prettiest necklace ever, and it was all thanks to Ori! A soft giggle escaped her maw as she looked up at him, tangerine eyes dancing excitedly. He really was her best friend.