[PRP] A Push in the Right Direction

[Kimaria]

Charon had been moving quietly through the undergrowth, picking out the tracks of small animals that might have been passing through, when he realised he was being followed. Thankfully his pursuer clearly wanted to be discovered. She'd gotten the wind behind her and was moving with louder and louder steps. He knew who it was long before she called out.

"Uncle Chaaaa~ron!"

Shesha. His half-sister's daughter.

He straightened and turned back to look as her round, dark face poked through the leaves just to his left. Her bright green eyes reminded him so much of his mother's. But only in colour. His mother's eyes never creased up in a smile like that.

"There goes potential prey." He complained, though he put on a slightly jokey tone to ease the words.

"Oops. Sorry. Just wanted to drop by and say hello."

"And convince me to go make amends with your mother, hm?" It wasn't that he didn't want to. It was just that...Nissa was stubborn and just a little bit scary. Family was complicated and it seemed that, with time, it only seemed to be getting worse. Never better. Still, it was nice to have other family members around now. Not just him and his mother, alone.

Shesha smiled, all bright teeth and shining eyes. "Maybe."

 

[Kimaria]

"I dropped by to see her the other day but I don't think she's too happy with me at the moment." Charon responded. Nissa was a scary cat and she'd been through a lot. It had hardened her, made her more stubborn. If he pushed her she'd just dig her claws in all the deeper. Shesha didn't quite seem to understand that, though...

And then another voice! He startled, though more through pleasant surprise. Another voice he recognised and a welcome voice, too. Clearing his throat, he turned to glance across at Imarika as she moved towards them. Her fur all pale gold; like the sun through mist. He felt his expression soften to see her and he took a small step forwards to greet her.

"Hello 'Rika." He returned the greeting. "Long time no see!" It felt like he was always saying that when he saw her. He really should make more effort to keep in touch with his friends. Especially Imarika. "Have you met--"

"--Shesha!" The dark female interrupted. "I'm Shesha, Charon's niece." Or half-niece. Whatever. No need to complicate things. "Nice to meet you! I didn't know my uncle had friends. This is a surprise!"  

[Kimaria]

Charon opened his mouth to continue the conversation when Shesha skipped forwards towards Rika, clearly excited to meet her, and spoke up instead. "Charon should have introduced us sooner." Came the dark lioness' response. "I don't know, it's almost like he's ashamed of us or something." And she eyed him teasingly.

"What? N-no. No. I--"

"I'm only joking!" Shesha replied with a wink, putting her poor stutturing uncle out of his misery. "It's okay." And, as she turned back to look at Rika, the lioness could not help but notice the 'glance' thrown in Charon's direction. She blinked, startled, her eyes going wide. "Oh. Oh." Maybe that's why he'd kept this particular friend away? "I'm sorry, I didn't know! You two are--" She fought for the correct word. "Together?" And she stepped back to look questioningly between them.

Charon's face distorted into one of utter embarrassment.  

[Kimaria]

Whoops, had she gotten the wrong end of the stick? She was sure...or maybe not. She wasn't exactly experienced with this type of thing (aka love) but it seemed to her that thy were close. And the looks. There were looks. Or had been until she'd blurted her assumption out loud. Even she was starting to look a little embarrassed now.

"Oh, oops..."

Though her uncle was looking suspiciously disheartened and embarrassed enough to make her think that there might have been something there - even if they hadn't made the move to acknowledge it yet. Could she give them a little push? Would that be wrong of her? "Well." She began again, pushing through the initial fluster. Shesha was good at persevering where others might have given up. "Perhaps you should think about it, hm? You two could be cute together."

Charon's mouth opened again but seemed to hang there for a moment, his mind whirring but no sound uttering forth. Shesha couldn't help but give a short giggle, curling her tail in amusement. And then, quite suddenly, the young male shook his head, his eyes wide. "Um...uh...well...Shesha." He should his niece a pleading look as if to say: shut up, I'm not ready for this yet.

But Shesha seemed to be deliberately ignoring him. Her idiot relative was too shy for his own good. Didn't he know life was too short to bumble around like this? In her head, she was already planning their first date. Starlit and romantic. She sighed happily and turned her gaze back to Rika. "If he asked you out on a date, Rika, would you say yes?"  

[Kimaria]

Shesha looked both sad and confused, her brow slightly wrinkling as her head canted. For a moment she was quiet and then she shook her head. "I...don't understand. You're alone on...on purpose? But why? Because of your rank?" That didn't make sense.

Just because the Great Lion had not looked her way didn't mean that she didn't deserve to live life to its fullest. To love just as they all should. Everyone deserved love, whether low rank or high. Perhaps it was even more important for those of them who were lower. Shesha was only middle-class herself and Charon was the middle ground between the three of them.

"Rank doesn't matter when it comes to the ways of the heart, Rika!"

Charon even looked sobered now. He was still quiet but he was looking more thoughtful than embarrassed now.  

[Kimaria]

Shesha was looking more and more confused, her ears drooping and her head shaking ever so slightly from side to side. Perhaps she would have felt different in her place. Perhaps it was a bad thing. An impossible thing. But surely slaves found love and surely it wasn't always with lions in their own class. She stepped forwards, opening her mouth again to speak, seemingly determined to see this through--

--only to be interrupted by Charon.

He stepped forwards to block off his niece, forcing his gaze to meet Rika's. His heart was still pounding with fear and nervousness - he didn't do well with these sorts of things - but he had to say something. Did she think that he would never consider being more than just her friend because of her rank? "Imarika." He started, hoping desperately to keep his voice steady. "Your rank would never..." He paused, trying to scrabble for the right words. "What I mean to say is--" Again a pause. Argh! "Rank doesn't matter to me. It never did. If the person was right." Why couldn't he just say that he liked her? Was it really so hard?

His head lowered sheepishly and, in a quiet voice, he asked: "Would a date really be out of question? Because I..." Breathe. "I wouldn't say no."  

[Kimaria]

Shesha, practically glowing, decided that - job done - she probably ought to be stepping back and giving her poor uncle some room. It seemed like her assumptions and blunders had paid off after all, especially judging by Rika's initial response.

It was just so adorable.

Practically bouncing on the tips of her paws, she backed away and perhaps they would not notice that she'd even gone!

Charon certainly hadn't noticed. He was looking at Imarika as if he wasn't quite sure what had happened. One moment they were friends meeting by chance and the next--

--he had never dreamed that someone like Rika would ever look at him in any other way except as a friend (and even that would be lucky!) And, in response to her question he gave a small nod, trying his best to make his smile look less nervous. "Really." He shuffled awkwardly. "Um, but only if your'e sure. I mean...I wouldn't want you to feel...pressured into it or anything."  

[Kimaria]

He blinked, listening to her short stream of words with a whirl of thoughts. Uh oh. This was good but...but so new! What if he messed up? What if he did something really dumb? He hastily pushed those thoughts away and tried to get himself to relax.

She'd said yes.

"Okay, then, um...how about...tomorrow?" Or was that too soon? Maybe he should have said in a few days time, try to get the balance of the timing right. But he had no experience with relationships and he was currently trying desperately to figure out exactly how to best woo a girl. His family were certainly not the best examples of starting and remaining in good, solid relationships and he had very few friends to whom he could ask. And asking would be too embarrassing anyway.

No. He could do this.

He hoped...