[PRP] Stargazing (Adina x Nyota)

[RuIerr]

The nights always seem longer when you're unable to sleep.

And unable to sleep she was, Adina simply couldn't get comfortable on the large rock she had stretched out upon. It seemed smaller than usual. At least, if it really was the same rock she attempted to return to each night. Before her pride's disbandment, Adina was never one to enjoy routine. During her pre-Ukuucha'wafalme years she had been wild and crazy, wreaking havoc everywhere she went with her sister Lemya. While in the pride, she had settled down quite some bit, but still bored of easily of days that ran the same. Now that she was alone and admittedly defenseless, she relished in the comfort of a routine.

Now, unsure as to whether or not she had actually been able to follow that routine, Adina stretched out her paws, body extending way past the bounds of the rock, unfit for holding a lioness. She carefully maneuvered to lying on her back, understanding completely that if this were daylight she wouldn't be able to pull this off, as she knew she appeared rather silly. But it was night time. And during the night time she liked to lie on her back and stare, unblinking, up at the night sky. She had always been fascinated by the sky. Her favorite activity, back in the pride, was to listen to the descriptions the eager cubs gave her of the stars, the vast expanse of darkness extending across everything, broken only by those twinkling lights. It was nice to entertain the notion that she could see, sometimes. And the cubs had always done that for her. She smiled sadly at the memory. If only she could find that joy again.

 

[belloblossom]

It wasn't uncommon to see lions in the rogue lands. After all, there were prides that disbanded and lions that were, as Nyota was, simply born into the life. He could manage as a rogue, in fact, he liked it. There were no rules that he had to abide by, nor did he have to spend all his waking hours when the sun was up. The sun may be a star, but he took little joy in staring at it. He wasn't sure from whom he heard that the sun was a star, but he believed it all the same. With the night sky so large and expansive, he assumed most things others told him about it to be true, for he was certain there was a lot of information that not only he could know. Perhaps there were hundreds of felines and canines alike, who took the same fascination with the stars as he did. Alas, he did not seem to come into the presence of many of them, but onward he searched.

What he came upon that night, between stopping to look at the marvelous sky above, was a lioness. She was stretched out on her back that was perhaps the width of her shoulders and only half as long as the rest of her. She seemed to be sustaining herself upon it fairly well, for all her squirming, but what had caught his attention was that her eyes were so fixated on the night sky above. Careful not to spook her as he moved forward, he spoke as he approached.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? No, beautiful doesn't even begin to describe such a starry night." He sat beside her rock, perhaps a foot away and he tilted his head back to see the wonders of the sky above. "So many constellations are present tonight. Here, let me point them out. There are five especially bright stars just to the right there and if you look closely, they make an angular arch. That is the Gazelle's Horn Constellation. And then, over here is the Spider's Web, with sort of a spiral outward." He glanced over to the lioness, "Have you found any constellations of your own? I'm sure we could find them tonight. Oh, but before I go on," He smiled at the lioness, "I'm Nyota, Kuruku Nyota. What's your name, miss?"

Ruler of Everything

 

[RuIerr]

Hearing another approach, Adina's ears twitched. She sensed the soft moving through the grasses of the other, and thus wasn't surprised in the least when she heard the voice of a lion. It was difficult to scare her these days. Sure, out in the rogue lands she was slightly terrified of being approached by someone malicious, as she really had no way to defend herself. But after the pride's disbandment she had to come to terms with her uselessness and realize that her fate is her fate, and it remains ever-unchanging.

At the speech of the other lion, Adina smiled sadly, glancing towards his voice. She rolled over to her stomach and carefully lowered herself onto the ground, sitting, facing where she believed the other lion to be. "Once upon a time, I loved the sky. But I have not been able to appreciate it for many, many moods. Quite a tragedy, I believe." She spoke softly, not quite conveying the sadness she often felt, but not sounding happy in the slightest. She bowed her head at Nyota's introduction, smiling at his address of her. "My name is Adina," she stated with a flick of her tail. "How do you know so much about the night sky?" In her experience, not many wandered the lands at night for fun - it was often out of necessity, such as the case with the weak and defenseless, or simply out of being unable to sleep. But this male, this Nyota, he called himself, seemed to relish in the night life. And it piqued Adina's curiosity - perhaps not being able to sleep tonight wouldn't be so terrible after all.

belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Was it just him, or did the words of the lioness seem sorrowful? At first, the naive star-watcher did not comprehend her meaning, but after peering more closely at the eyes of the other, he was able to pick out the scars around her face and the way that her yellow gaze did not hold anything behind them. The only thing they were full of was the truth of the lioness' tragedy: She was blind.

When she smiled, some of the sadness of her first words seemed to lessen. Nyota wanted to keep her smiling, for he couldn't stand the sorrows of others, for there was so much beauty in the world, even if some couldn't see it. He chose not to answer her question directly at first, in hopes that she would smile again at the tale of his life.

"My eyes opened under the night sky." Said he to Adina, "The first thing I saw was a shooting star, Adina, and it was the most beautiful thing. I couldn't fully comprehend its glory, but I was determined from the start to find out all I could about the splendor of the night and its stars." He gave a brief chuckle, "And perhaps my interest in the stars was meant to be, for there happens to be a marking of a shooting star upon my hindquarters." He was not a strong believer in gods, though he had heard tales of them occasionally walking among the lands, but he had certainly never come across any.

Ruler of Everything

 

[RuIerr]

As Nyota spoke, Adina found a smile blooming across her face. The way the male spoke was poetic. Beautiful. As if the night sky were a woman he'd fallen deeply in love with at first sight. She could imagine the way his eyes lit up as he spoke of the night and it was working to bring a light to her own life. Her smile softened a bit, mind wandering the the strange workings of the gods. It did seem rather fateful that Nyota was born under such circumstances, with such a peculiar marking, only to grow to love the night sky so. Although Adina had never been one to worship openly, she'd always known that the gods worked in mysterious ways. And this male was proof of that.

Even so slowly, Adina adjusted her sitting position, ears flicking in the direction of his voice. She wanted to at least look like she was cognizant of where Nyota was sitting. "It seems that the gods meant for you to turn out this way," she spoke, her smile softening further as her next thoughts formed. "I've heard, I know... what a shooting star is, but in the years that I could admire the stars, I never quite did catch one. What... do you mind, what do they look like?" Adina's head cocked involuntarily as her eyes stared blankly at Nyota, not quite betraying the hope she felt in the description she imagined would follow.

belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Nyota wasn't sure what to say to her mention of the gods and humoring her with a smile would be no good, since she was unable to see it anyway. Instead he simply remained quiet, until she asked him what a shooting star looked like. He couldn't surpress the grin that spread across his face if he had wanted to, and he launched into what he hoped was a vivid description for the lioness.

"They're so beautiful, Adina, despite seeming like such fragile things. They're made of fire, a special sort that is only made for stars, and it doesn't frighten you like the yellow and orange flames we have on the ground. No, star-fire is kinder to the eye. You instinctually know that it won't hurt you, and that the stars will always be your companion, whether you can see them or not." He let out a soft sigh as he remembered other sightings of shooting stars. "They're not-quite white-silver maybe-and they're very small. They last less than a few seconds, just a small streak of silver in the sky, but they're so rare and so magical that they stay within your memory forever."

The leopard tilted his head to look at Adina, pausing to take a breath and then deciding to ask her something for a change.
"Adina, might you stay with me tonight? I could tell you all about the stars, if you would like. While I love the stars so, they aren't much for conversation I'm afraid." His ears perked up hopefully, for he hadn't had company in quite some time and while he wouldn't admit it to such a lovely lioness, he was prone to loneliness more often than most.

Ruler of Everything

 

[RuIerr]

Adina couldn't help herself; Nyota's obvious passion for the night sky initiated a broad smile spreading itself across her face once more. The intimate detail with which he wove the imagery of the stars was clearly indicative of his passion, if his discussing it earlier wasn't a clear enough sign. "I had no idea stars were made out of fire," she said, glancing on, unseeing. 'You learn something new everyday, I suppose.' At Nyota's description of shooting stars, Adina nodded. She imagined they looked like a sliver of light, the way the light looked peering into crevices in a dark cave, only with the colors reversed.

Adina's ears flicked as she heard the slow intake of a breath, typically the indicator that a favor was about to be asked. The lioness quirked a brow involuntarily, shifting her face to direction it more towards the male once more. At his inquiry, Adina laughed jovially. "Nyota, I truly don't believe you have any idea how much you have done for me, describing the stars in such an acutely perfect manner. Nor do you understand how lonely I happen to be out here." She laughed once more, a bright smile fixed upon her face. "I'd love for you to stay with me - even if you don't dazzle me with tales of the stars, you seem like a wonderful companion." Truth be told, Adina was lonely - she was slowly getting used to the complete lack of social interaction, but it was a continual struggle. Nothing sounded better on this night than having someone by her side to talk to, even if just this once.

belloblossom

Feel free to wrap it up, if you want! <3

 

[belloblossom]

Nyota was happy to see the lioness smiling and was happier still to hear that she had appreciated his vivid description of the stars above. He was filled from ear to tail tip with a warmth in having found a friend, such that he truly meant it when he replied,

"It is my pleasure, Adina." He said with a purr in his voice. How fortunate, he thought, that he had found a kindred spirit. He felt so content with at her sides that he wanted to impress her. He went on to talk with her about the stars, making a point to describe everything in vivid detail. He spoke of the moon and its phases, of how he could figure out where he was on the world based on the patterns of the stars above and how he always knew he was someplace new when he didn't recognize any of the constellations.

He joked about how he counted stars instead of antelopes in order to go to sleep and about how he dreamed that he could fly among the skies. He spoke to her all night and when they day came, they did not immediately part ways, either. For now, they were friends and friends had a habit of sticking together, at least for a little while.

Ruler of Everything

Finally wrapping this up! Sorry for the wait!