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 Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:19 pm
With a smile, she remembered exactly where she was, just like she did every morning that she woke in the land of the Unity Walkers. Gazing out of the den into the familiar landscape, she noted the lack of lions out and about at this time of the morning - it couldn't be much past sunrise. She wanted to go out today, get out of the den for a little while, see the lands - if a few lions saw her, what could that matter? They couldn't know. With a sneaky grin stretching across her little mug, she glanced to her kind companion, still asleep in the comfort of his own home.
Slinking over, she leaned to poke softly at his ear with her pale paw, then sat back on her haunches. With a little chuckle, she lifted her tail and drug the tip of it slowly across his nose, back and forth.
"Wake up, sleepyhead."
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:45 pm
The sensation of something brushing over his nose received the same reply anything else would have from the sort-of-sleeping male, whom lifted one chocolate-colored paw to bat at the tuff of fur that was threatening to wrangle a sneeze from the hunter. Once batted away from whatever moment of time it would get, he crinkled his nose, still attempting to sleep, before the process started again.
"It's too early to go out on patrol for the Ivy King, Uzuulu..." he snorted sleepily, again attempting to swat the salmon tassel away from his nose, leaning back away from it to yawn, complete with the 'fake roar' sound that tend to come from the deepest of them, before slowly opening his almost-blind looking eyes.
Nitesh blinked them a few times at the sudden sun that he'd, for some reason, not expected to be there otherwise, his eyes watering a bit, turning Raylan's form into a colorful blur. At least, colorful in comparison to most others he'd seen in his experience.
Once he'd realized what had actually been happening moments previous, he chuckled a bit, a quiet one as he wasn't awake enough to muster anything else, before he forced himself up into a sitting position. "Alright, alright... I'm up." he said, feigning 'irritation' at having been woken up, though it wasn't like him to actually get 'irritated' at being woken.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:59 am
As he began to resist her, she couldn't help the smile that slowly spread across her maw. It wasn't the sad one that lingered there, just too solemn to be true, the one that made her look more pitiful than anything could have. No, it was a true, happy smile that lit up her eyes and made them dance like stars. Being here was a relief, and as the days past, she slowly began to show signs of a being normal; she laughed, and she smiled. She knew, for the first time, what safety felt like. She couldn't explain that to Nitesh though; he might think she was silly.
"I want to go out," she said, with that beautiful smile still lingering on her maw. It wasn't a command by any means, but she had learned to leave off all her 'if you want tos' and 'if its okays' with Nitesh. It only made him tell her not to. "I think it'd be ok if I we just went somewhere else for a little bit, don't you?" She had been thinking about it, and she was pretty sure that if a lion in here saw her, it really wouldn't be the end of the world. Besides, she couldn't stay in this den forever, could she?
"So, let's go somewhere fun, Nitesh," she said with a smile, pulling her bodice up and standing nearer the den entrance. Behind her, the sun splashed against her hide warmly, but shadowed most of her front in a result, and left a halo of light around her frame. It was quite the pretty effect, especially since those bright eyes still shown somewhat through the shadow. "I think you deserve it, too, after being so nice and watching out for me the past few days."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:28 am
It wasn't his talent to know everything about anybody, but it was easy enough for him to tell that over the previous time he'd spent with Raylan, he was starting to like her smile more and more. There was less of a 'forced' feeling to it. But maybe Nitesh was just crazy and imagining it all up. He had a talent for imagining stuff.
The chocolate lion stared, entranced by those beautiful tangerine eyes for a moment, before his brain yelled at him to stop gawking and respond to her request. "I think that'd be just fine." he replied, wondering if he'd made her felt like she needed to stay cooped up. He certainly wasn't possessive of her, he just hadn't wanted her to get into any awkward situations. But she was adjusting well, so he paid no mind to that concern.
Somewhere fun... he pondered to himself, rising up to follow after her, looking at her as the sun caught her body to make a sort of 'angelic' effect with her fur. Nitesh's brain seemed to fumble with his words for a moment (but then again, he always had some problems first thing in the morning, Raylan wasn't much of a help towards it, either).
Stepping past Raylan and out into the sun, he continued to ponder over somewhere 'fun' to take her, though he was sure any part of the pride would be interesting to her, whom had spent much time sitting in his den. The only place he could think of that stuck out in particular was...
"How about the Waterfall?" he inquired, remembering when his father had taken him there as a small child. He'd enjoyed it enough to show it to his siblings, not to mention water was -always- fun to play in.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:06 am
If Raylan had realized how her mind was evolving slowly, if she had begun to realize the effect that Nitesh was having on her, she probably would have stumbled and stuttered nearly as much as Nitesh did. Being that she was rather oblivious to what it felt like to have a friend, or someone you generally care about, she had no idea what kind of decision she had made when she resigned to hide here with him.
She didn't really think Nitesh had kept her cooped up in here. She had spent the first few days hiding from other lions purposefully, not wanting to be found out, but as she grew more comfortable and more confident, she found her urge to explore growing stronger. It wasn't Nitesh's fault, he had only done what she had asked of him.
"A waterfall?" she said rather suddenly, a touch of a gasp lingering in her tones. As she slunk along at his side, she tried to picture the idea of a waterfall. Her mother had told her about one, a long long time ago, but she hadn't believe they really existed. "You really have a waterfall here?" She had a small tone of disbelief lingering in her words. She moved a bit closer to him as they walked, her ebony bodice dark in contrast to his chocolate. She didn't do it to tease him, but because being close to him made her feel safe; without the comfort of the den surrounding her, being out in the open made her heart jump a little.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:16 pm
"Yes. My father first showed me it when I was a small child." he explained, recalling with a sort of 'sparkly eyed' expression the day he'd first wandered from the safety of his first home and attempted a futile escape his father had captured him from. However, it had made for a good time for play amongst other things.
Nitesh looked down at the dark female walking at his side, his heart skipping a beat for a moment, knowing quite well that the -moment- any member of his family saw him in the company of such a lovely lady they'd be all over them inquiring as to what their connection was. Wouldn't do to just tell them he'd picked her up in the jungle and brought her back so she'd have a place to stay. But then again, anything else would get a suspicious and unbelieving eyebrow-quirk accompanied by a 'Uhhhhuuuuuuhhhhh'.
Not that it really mattered to him.
The chocolate male continued to walk along the same path that he'd first brought Raylan into the pridal-area on, breaking off in another direction, though, to cut through the trees. "There are many flowers and butterflies of various sorts here. I wish I could tell you what they all were called.." he mused, his pale eyes glancing down to look at her again, having looked away to glance up into the trees, before he continued on. "But I like the waterfall best. It's beautiful, but no matter what you'll probably end up getting wet unless you stay far off from it. I hope you don't mind." he warned.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:02 am
At the mention of his father, she couldn't really help the small frown that creased her maw. Any talk of fathers or parents reminded her of Nyek and there were no good memories there for her to recall when that happened. He had never shown her anything beautiful or fun, and he had never been anything other than cruel and abusive to her. The most she got out of him was a yell about her incompetence at being female and a good smack from his paw that typically sent her sailing across the room. She had learned that avoiding her father was the best idea of all.
As he glanced down at her, the frown that had temporarily been in place melted and the smile crept back up onto her features. It was hard not to smile around Nitesh - he was so genuinely kind, and soft-hearted. If her mother had known where she was and likewise seen her with Nitesh, and staying with him of all things, she probably would have wondered what in the world Raylan had gotten up to after running away. This certainly would have caused a lot of problems. At the thought, her ears sank against her head in slight embarrassment - but she laughed under her breath, regardless, and continued on.
"Whenever dad wasn't home, Dhiki and I always tried to find water to play in - there wasn't a whole lot where we lived though," she said, completely oblivious to the fact that she had mentioned something closer to her past than anything she had ever said to him, too wrapped up in the thought of having fun to really notice. "I don't mind getting wet at all," she said with a smile, her tangerine eyes glimmering slightly from both son and excitement as she looked up to lock them again on his paler ones. "I don't think flowers could even begin to compare to that sort of beauty, especially if the image in my mind is accurate," she said, flickering her tail and pulling her eyes away from his to look ahead again. Staring into his eyes made her stomach feel odd sometimes, but she could never really pinpoint a reason. She figured she just wasn't used to be around lions.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:15 am
Dhiki. Sounded like the name of a sibling by the way she used it. But Nitesh wasn't going to ask about such things. Not until she was ready to tell him of her own accord, at least. But that wasn't to say he hadn't noticed the previous look of disturbance on her expression. He'd probably said something again without knowing it. Nitesh had come to learn that sometimes stuff made her make those faces.
But he'd gotten a little snippet of pre-Nitesh life from her! Woo for him!
"Really? Water is one thing that I'd have to try and -avoid- here." He would have asked her if she'd come from a desert or something like that, but the topic of deserts brought back the slight wound in his poor family, and he wasn't ready to do such a thing at that point in time. It effected him too, in it's own way.
Just one day finding out he had a third brother and suddenly having cousins that were older than even him to play with.
Not they they played much.
Soon, he brushed aside some of the hanging greenery in order to show the opening to the waterfall and the river that ran from it, offering for Raylan to go first.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:42 pm
In a way, she was really glad that Nitesh never pried at her past. She knew that she would eventually have to tell him, let him hear her sad tale, but right now the wounds were still fresh. If she opened up too much about them, they may burst right open and leave her vulnerable again. This place was good for healing the heart and right now she didn't want to shatter hers by bringing up the poisonous blot on her past. Likewise, she didn't want to tell him for fear that knowledge could be his downfall. If her father did ever come to try and find her, well, if Nitesh ever admitted to seeing her, Nyekundu could do extremely cruel things for information. The thought of sweet Nitesh meeting his downfall on her behalf made her shiver slightly.
"Then I think we're from two different worlds," she said with a little smile as she pushed the thoughts of her father far back into her mind. A small glimmer started in the depths of her eyes now that they were on a topic that really didn't connect too much to her nightmarish past. She gave a little laugh and swung her eyes forward, then stopped with a little gasp from her maw.
With eyes and mouth wide in awe, she stepped forward with one hesitant little paw. Then, after realizing that she was still standing beside him and that she did indeed have a voice, she said, "Gods, but that is beautiful Nitesh." Her voice barely came out in a whisper, but she managed to propel her body forward in a lazy, slinky walk - trying to see everything at once and barely computing anything at all. She hadn't ever seen something quite so pretty in her lifetime.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:09 pm
The awe that the sight received was more than pleasing of an answer for Nitesh. Afterall, he'd wanted to take her somewhere special, and the beauty of this very place still astounded him to that very day. Though, there was something about today that made it seem a -bit- more special to him. He couldn't exactly put his inner or outer paw on just what it was yet, though. Nitesh didn't know.
"I thought you'd like it...." he said thoughtfully in response once he realized he hadn't said anything in response to the joyful lioness, watching her for a bit, before looking away to admire the flora a bit, looking at each flower that grew about the area, almost as if searching for a certain kind or color in particular.
Which was the truth if he were to think about it for a minute.
However, he said nothing as he rose, allowing Raylan to enjoy the new sight of her life to look over all the flowers, pausing to stare at one in particular, tilting his head to consider it a bit, before turning his head to look back at the lioness in his company, then at it again, reaching out with a paw, considering plucking it for a moment. Looking at another flower in particular, he reconsidered, debating between the two for a good time, before simply plucking both.
Now.. how would he work with this...
The two flowers and some vine later, Nitesh had made a rather fetching headdress (if he said so himself) and was admiring it. Hmmm... would she like it? He thought about this hard while looking between it and Raylan. Hmm, hmm, hmm....
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:56 pm
It took the young adult some time to get over the initial awe that the waterfall's majesty had instilled in her, and an even while longer to finally push her elegant bodice into a motion. Once she began, however, she found that fluidity had returned in full to her precious form and she made her way slowly to sit at the waterfall's edge, just out of reach of the swirling mist produced from the churning river. As she sat there, her mind got lost in the depths of the falling water and the sprouting mist, her body relaxed almost to the point of nostalgia. She let her body relax, and finally just ended up into a comfortable laying position similar to the statue of the great sphinx. However, her version looked much more comfortable and a lot less rigid.
She stayed there like that for a good many minutes, her eyes lazily taking in the scenery of the view before her and her mind rolling back over memories and thoughts without the heavy burden of her emotions attached to them. The scene seemed to give her a chance to think, and the calming side effects that it produced helped her with the emotions that usually made her heart and mind heavy with grief and fear. It was for that reason that she spent a long while like this, aware of nothing but her thoughts and vaguely seeing the tranquil scene before her. It was almost like a dream, being at peace for the first time since she could recall. However, she suddenly realized that Nitesh was not beside her.
Glancing around in confusion, and sudden worry (though she could hardly put a name to that jumbled emotion), she found him lingering a couple of yards away and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion until they came down into a deep V on her forehead. She could pick out some sort of vibrant color against his chocolate fur, but other than that, she couldn't really see what he was doing.
"Nitesh, what are you doing?" she asked, pushing herself up slightly from her comfortable position in an attempt to see what he was fiddling with. "What have you got there, silly?" Oh, but if she knew, she would have blushed from head to toe - not that you could see with all that thick black fur in the way, of course.
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:10 pm
Nitesh suddenly puffed up a bit at the surprised of Raylan suddenly speaking up, turning to look at her over his shoulder and laughing a bit, but not really holding up what he'd made (his craftsmanship being a bit lacking...). "I'm.. um..." he sort of blushed and looked away. "looking at the flowers.." he mumbled awkwardly, pondering just how strange it was for a full grown male to admit such things.
It was something that'd been hard to admit to be honest with himself. But, it wasn't like he could have come up with anything better. Well, now he could, but it wouldn't work now.
He followed this confession by standing up, turning from where he was to go sit by her side, though he had to admit he was tempted to go and produce his little flower-tiara he'd made for her, but he kept it to himself for now. Maybe he'd admit he was playing with the flowers later and produce it then.
But he only had so much of an ego.
Laying down by the side of the water, he stared at the waterfall in a sort of spaced-out manner for a while, before looking to the dark female he had in his company, smiling a bit, almost suspiciously.
Oh yes, he was going there. Reaching out with a paw, he dipped it into the water, before swatting it to splash her playfully.
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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:52 pm
At this suddenly suspicious demeanor of Nitesh, Raylan's eyes narrowed slightly and a deep 'V' shape furrowed her forehead. She was rather unaccustomed to Nitesh acting as if he was hiding something, which is certainly what it seemed like he was doing, but she simply nodded at his words and let it go for now. Maybe it was something that was none of her business, something he was looking for or something he usually did - odd, but highly possible. Even so, as he admitted to 'looking at the flowers', she couldn't stop the smile that began to spread across her face.
He was such a big softy sometimes.
She idly watched him cross over closer to the water, unaccustomed to the slight pang in her chest that she couldn't quite identify. Maybe she had wanted him to come and sit by her. No, of course not, what kind of ridiculous notion was she entertaining? She shook her head, trying to wash the odd thoughts away, and glanced up at him just in time to have a few good sized droplets splashed directly onto the soft brown fur of her face.
Shocked, she jumped both from the surprise and the surprising coolness of the water, then simply stared at him for a few moments with a rather unreadable look plastered on her face. She smirked quite suddenly, then, and lowered her body into a pouncing stance. In a matter of a few seconds, she sprung off of her heels at his direction, aiming to pounce right on him - and roll them both into the water if she wasn't careful.
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:58 pm
There was a moment where Nitesh sort of felt uneasy that she wasn't saying anything, peering over to her for a moment, smiling a bit, then looking back in the water. It was almost like an awkward flashback moment for him, looking at how different he was everytime he saw himself. As well as how small he'd been when he'd stood in that water, looking at a tiny-tuff of mane and little chubby body that was so new and awkward in the world.
It seemed that all that was the same to him was his eyes, which looked back at him, as pale and curious as ever. Perhaps his little curse. Though curiousity wasn't a -bad- thing.
However, his -unobservance- on the other paw, which kicked in for him to turn -just- as Raylan pounced upon him, causing him to get a face full of lioness and a good tumble onto his back, though not into the water. Landing with an 'oomph', both of his eyes winced shut, out of instinct and not being used to being tackled down as he'd been in the current moment. However, he opened one slowly to look at her, smiling meekly, before touching his nose lightly to hers; a meaningless gesture in his mind.
"Silly!" he teased, leaning back and grinning, chuckling in the meanwhile. "Scared me for a minute there!"
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Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:59 pm
She grinned at the way his eyes winced shut after they had tumbled a little ways, silently pleased with the way she had surprised him. She hadn't been able to play in such a manner as a cub, at least not while her father was home, lest she make too much noise and anger him. That left quite a few little spurts of energy and a bit of playfulness that she needed to work out of her system.
As he leaned her nose against his, her heart gave an odd little thump that she didn't quite recognize. All the same, she laughed and flicked at his ear. Then, however, she realized that she was still on top of him in a very awkward position, and immediately shrunk back and sat down at his feet - her eyes steady and calm, but her heart racing. That was quite the odd situation, and she honestly hoped he didn't take it the wrong way. Still, being close to him had felt warm, comforting. It was an odd group of sensations that she hadn't worked out quite well.
Deciding it was best to be forgotten, she simply smirked in his direction, "Scared you? How did little 'ol me scare such a tough warrior against the king of ivy, hm?" her eyes glittered with her taunt, tail flickering behind her.
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