[PRP] An Unintentional Wingman [Nchekwube x Aphelios]

[oo Ded]

Nchekwube closed his eyes and tipped his head back, relishing the feeling of the breeze through his mane. It was a brisk evening, but comfortably so. The air felt fresh and inviting, like a cool drink of water on a hot day. He had spent a majority of the day in the catacombs. It wasn't a hard day of work—mostly organizing and refreshing himself after not having been down in a couple weeks. He found that during the period of time when new members were acquainting themselves with the pride, he spent more time with the living than with the dead. There were new faces to see and he felt some sort of responsibility to get to know them all outside of the brief glimpse he got when they first met. After all, that first meeting could often feel rather… Strange? Obtrusive? Nche didn't want to make a reputation with the newcomers as the odd seer who could see into your soul but not really care to know you.

So he had made a few rounds, introduced himself, chit-chatted here and there. There were a few faces still on his checklist, but not too many. Humming quietly to himself, he squinted thoughtfully. Who to visit next…
 

[Epine de Rose]

Obtrusive was one word for it, the young lioness had certainly felt unsettled by the stare she'd received and though the seer may have not meant anything by it, it had certainly left an impression on her. So much so that the brightly coloured lioness had taken it upon herself to accept her friend's advice and simply seek him out to speak to him.

...Really, her only intention was to set the record straight.

Whatever that look had been it had given her the impression that he may not be entirely impressed with her and she wasn't sure why. With Seers largely unknown in her former home she had little exposure to the wonders of mysticism and as a result this was largely lost on her.

Fortunately he hadn't made himself difficult to find on this occasion and no sooner had she set out to find him than she did. Rather than be socially awkward though, she afforded a quick moment to clear her throat and channel some measure of confidence as she closed the gap between them with little invitation.

"I fear we may have gotten off on the wrong paw...?" she offered.

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

The pink lioness was closing the distance between them almost as soon as he noticed her presence in the first place. Had he not been seeking out her company (or one line hers, at the very least) in the first place, he might have been taken aback by her forwardness. As it stood, though, Nchekwube maintained his ground and just offered a lopsided smile in greeting.

As she spoke he replied with, first, a cough. "Ah… ehm… You're probably right, huh?"

Things certainly had been different ever since his abilities had made themselves known. Not only for the obvious changes and implications in the pride dynamics, but in the simple interactions of how his packmates looked at him day in and day out. He had used his power enough at this point to where It didn't randomly trigger like it once had, but he still found interactions with others to be… well. Awkward at times. Part of him was disappointed with the barrier that had seemed to be put up between himself and those around him, but… but he supposed it was a necessity.

"Aph… Aphelios, right?" He sat, doing his best to make his posture as unassuming and unthreatening as possible. It wasn't difficult. Despite his position, Nchekwube seemed to still have an air of gentle youth. "I… uh… I apologize. For any sort of…" he gave a wave of the a paw, as though he were trying to coax his own words out. "Strangeness from our first meeting. I acknowledge that it isn't the most… comfortable thing."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

She couldn't help but raise a brow, given her status she had never been taught how to mask her emotions and when he seemed to offer an apology where she thought she may have had to, it was accurate to assume she was a touch confused.

"Do you... Make a habit of staring that way at others during this ceremony?" she asked cautiously and tilted her head to the side. Perhaps it was a rite of passage, one that required that everyone peer into this particular lion's eyes awkwardly for several moments before he gave 'the sign' and they were free to go. Suffice to say that this had not been one of the rituals they had warned them off, if anything their instructions had been quite... vague.

"Did I miss something during the induction period where weird looks are a thing?" she added curiously.

"I haven't practised any of those, I might have to if it's a cultural aspect of the pride," she confessed.

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

Nchekwube squinted towards the sky at her questions and statements. They were completely reasonable, of course. After speaking to others who had come from outside the pride, their traditions were… different.

"It's…" he started, before trailing off to find the right words. "Complicated. And no, fortunately for you, it's not common practice to stare awkwardly at others. That one is solely my burden to bear." He rubbed the back of his head with a paw and offered an uncomfortable chuckle.

"To be completely transparent…" He continued to search the sky for his words before looking back to her. Well, not at her. More like at her feet. Nche felt as though direct eye contact with others seemed to make them sometimes uncomfortable, so he tended to avoid it here and there.

"Well. I'm sure that at this point you've met a fair number of our pridemates. They have a tendency to be a bit…" A breath in, then a sigh. "Some can be less welcoming than others, let's say. Our history has been blotted with misfortune that many have traced to outsiders, so when it came to opening our arms to them, many were… Trepidatious. So when we found that I had the ability to discern those that might have bad intentions from those with good…"

He looked up to her, then. "Well. It's made the process of accepting outsiders more easily accepted by many. Unfortunately it can come off as a bit… impersonal? …Too personal?" Nche took in a breath, held it, then sighed again. "To be honest it's still fairly new to all of us."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Her brow remained raised at his explanation, a sliver of relief did slip on to her features momentarily though. So he was some sort of mind-reader? She'd see plays upon such abilities before, they had been done by street urchins but the last time she'd spoken to anyone they had advised her they were all simply asking 'leading questions'.

...Nche hadn't spoken a single word to her.

"So, you read our minds?" she figured it would be more sensible to merely ask the silly question and have him correct it, than to make an invalid assumption. If he could read their minds then her's certainly would have been deserving of a rather grim or awkward expression, at the time she hadn't been entirely sold on the idea of this place but her friend had been adamant.

"And yes I had noticed... They're not really keen on what they see as new or uh," she looked down towards herself. "Bright?"

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

"…sortof? But also… not really?" Nche gave a lighthearted chuckle and shook out his mane.

"It's like… Uhm… If I get into a certain mindset and if I look into someone's eyes, I get this… like…" You'd think that from the number of times that he'd explained his abilities, he'd be better at it by this point. But alas. "It's not like I see anything. Or hear anything. I just get this… feeling? Understanding? Of what they're like. Like I can see their true nature. So no, I don't know your thoughts, or anything. Ancestors forbid I know the thoughts of everyone around me. Just a feeling, is all."

As the lioness inspected her own pelt, he gave another lopsided smile. "Ah… I apologize for that. We hope that one day they'll come around to it. Hopefully with time their prejudice will chance."

His head tilted to one side, then. "Hopefully you've been able to meet some welcoming faces around here, though? Made some friends?"

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"I came with a friend so that helps," she replied with a wry smile. She still didn't quite understand what he meant, she wasn't even sure she ever would, but so long as he couldn't read their inner most thoughts that would suit her just fine. Truth be told, if the pride were prepared to trust this lion's instincts then who was she to judge?

...It had to make sense to someone.

"And the uh, Chieftain and his friends?" she offered. She didn't know them terribly well, but they had all been quite welcoming to her. Granted the Chieftain had been jolly one moment and then in the days following she had noticed he'd become a bit strange. She couldn't quite put her paw on it but she had thought he was meant to be one of the more socially capable ones.

"I'm sure I'll get more as time goes on, I know what it's like to come from somewhere where colour is important so I'll let everyone have their own time to warm to me, you know?"

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

He seemed to perk at the mention of the Chieftain and his friends. "I'm glad to hear that Onyeisi Itiri is able to socialize and make more friends. He's a kind soul that deserves a break after having a hectic world dropped onto him just as he was appointed."

Thinking back onto the events of the past few years, it seemed as though it all happened lifetimes ago. Things seemed much calmer, now, and everyone seemed settled in to the new norm. But that period of time between Itiri's Trial and everything that immediately followed…

Yeah. The guy deserved a break.

As she spoke, Nche nodded his head in reply. "I'm sure you will." He tilted his head to the side. "I'll have to ask you about where you came from, sometime. We seem to have such a varied group, now. All from different places. Strange to think that not long ago everyone that lived here was born here."

Another smile, then. "But if you ever need anything, from anything pressing or just… well, just to talk, I promise I'm less awkward than our first meeting might have insinuated." He chuckled. "And, of course I've found that Onyeisi Itiri always seems to have open ears and wise words."

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Eh, well to your credit your face is quite normal now," she offered with a wry smile. He certainly wasn't looking at her the same as he had done before, if anything he was so much more natural and easy-going. Perhaps it was just as he had said, it was simply awkward as a ritual and she would be best to forget about it... It wasn't as if he'd said she couldn't enter after all!

"And perhaps your Onyeisi may wish to see a healer then," she added with a shake of her head. "His tongue seems broken and he forgets his words quite often," she pointed out. Admittedly the lioness was unaware this was an effect she seemed to have on him exclusively, but as it always happened even when he was in company around her, she didn't know any better!

"Eh, I would not be familiar enough with him to suggest such things though," she added thoughtfully and eyed Nche. "Perhaps you would suggest it? If he is normally filled with wisdom then something may be amiss," she added. She didn't appear to imply it was urgent, but it was genuinely odd if he was supposed to be a wise being.

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

He gave a genuine laugh, then. "Considering all the circumstances, I guess normal is the best I could ask for, huh? So I'll take that as a compliment."

His ears pinned as she spoke of Itiri. Nchwkeube's expression became puzzled. The Onyeisi often seemed to be a well-spoken lion. Had he been acting strange, lately? When they had seen each other last he seemed pretty normal by his standards—given, that was under rather formal conditions, so maybe he was making something? The thought that something could be amiss troubled him. Itiri, whether he knew it or not, had been there for Nchekwube when he was going through his life changes and provided a form of comfort. He hoped that, if there was something amiss, he could do something to help.

"I'd be happy to bring it up. On the down-low, of course. I'll try not to make it seem as though we're gossiping." He chuckled again. There was enough drama and gossip around these parts. "But… mmm… Yes, I'll check in on him sometime soon. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Hopefully he's alright…" his voice trailed off as he fell into thought. Had anything happened recently that might have troubled him? Was there something wrong in the pride that he should have known about?

Troubling…

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

And this was the moment in which he seemed most real, was this the Nche that was supposed to be there rather than the awkward one? This would certainly have been her preference over the original!

"He seems physically healthy, he has no coughs and he isn't wasting away," she reassured him. If he was high enough up the ladder then he would be privy to any troubling conversations surely? They could fix the ongoing issues with the Onyeisi and all would be well, or at least that's how she saw it going in her head.

Nevertheless, she hadn't intended to take up the entire of the Amusu's day and given she had promised a particularly boisterous lioness that she would accompany her for lunch it was probably in her best interests not to be late.

"Ah, but I had really only come over to make sure I hadn't caused significant offence before I located my companion. Failure to show up will result in a very dramatic show of disappointment on her part and I'm not so certain the pride is ready for that soap opera," she conceded gently. She'd have to rely on Nche to take a look at the pride's ruler and see to it that he was tended to appropriately.

oo DeD

 

[oo Ded]

Nchekwube chuckled. "Ah, I'd probably have to agree with you. Some of our pridemates have such a pretense towards the dramatic, we don't want to go fueling the fire, hm?" He nodded to her as she departed. "I'll be sure to check in with our Onyeisi. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention. It's been my pleasure, Aphelios!"

He rose, then, his mind still turning with the possibilities of what might be wrong with Itiri. Should he check up on him now? Should he think on it some more?

Hmmmm….


[Fin!]

Epine de Rose