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 Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:26 pm
Auri quickly trotted around a mud puddle, carefully picking her way across the cracks and rocks that lined the messy thing. She did not want to step, fall, stumble, or drop the present she currently held neatly in her mouth.
One, she would look messy if she got dirty. She didn't want to look or feel dirty, not today. Today was going to be a good day.
She hoped.
Two, dropping and dirtying up her present would spell trouble.
And she didn't want trouble, oh no.
Unless, of course, it was for who the gift was for. That kind of trouble would probably be okay, actually.
He deserved it, after leaving her like that...
Auri shook the thoughts from her head, determined to find Sharifu with a smile on her face. He wanted her to come and find him today, so she would. And she would show that she wasn't as mad as he probably thought she was.
She was exceptionally good at hiding that, too.
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:57 pm
Sharifu didn't have a complete plan this time, he was winging it. He knew he had to come up with something or he was in for trouble. He would be lucky if Auri even showed up, now he was decidedly (and privately) taking her seriously. If she didn't show up.. well, he would deal with that if it happened. So far he had gathered a couple flowers, deciding it was a theme worth sticking to, and made sure that he was somewhere reasonably easy to find. The last thing he needed to do now was aggravate the situation by being difficult to find.
"Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, pacing around.
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:09 pm
Auri made her way around a few trees before entering into the forest that she and Sharifu had played a game in only days before. She remembered it well. She had been playing a small game with herself (which was quite boring, actually), when she heard something in the distance. The smile on her face widened. Imagine! Sharifu got stuck in the tree because of his long, gloriously golden mane. She held back a giggle.
It was just too funny; she'd be making fun of him for that for a long time, probably.
She hummed a little song to herself as she weaved through a few trees, taking a small break at the very stream she had found the arrowhead in. She put the rock down before her and took a few sips of the clear, cold water.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:36 pm
Risking his mane, Sharifu had come through the trees very carefully and found a clearing by the stream where he was more safe to move around without risking tangling his mane. It was more difficult to manage, he realized, because not all the trees had low enough branches. But he wasn't going to talk about that. He'd had to go elsewhere for the flowers, though, because he didn't want to seem uninteresting or uncreative. He'd already given her roses, if he couldn't be more creative now he had to at least find some different flowers.
When he heard the sounds of an approaching lion, he lifted his head up and tried to decide by scent if it was her. He was poorly positioned for it, but as far as he could guess it was (though that might also have been wishful thinking). That was as good as actually finding him, if she wanted to avoid him this would be a bad place.
Hesitating a moment, he walked around the trees and the bend between where he'd chosen to sit and the sound. When he spotted Auri, he stopped and smiled. Standing nearby and waiting for her to notice him instead of just stumbling out at her.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:08 pm
The water was cold to the touch and it felt immensely cooling to swallow. She took a few more drinks before she rested back on her paws and closed her eyes for a moment. A crack of a twig made her ears twitch towards the direction, but she didn't look.
After another handful of moments, her eyes opened. Even though he was standing relatively close by, it still took Auri a second to see him. And when she did, she gave a little jump in surprise. He was so quiet, which was unnatural (not that she wasn't, of course, but she just wasn't used to being snuck up on).
"Sharifu!" she called out with a smile, leaping to her feet. She had to admit, her heart began to beat a strange rhythm when she saw him standing there. "You scared me."
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:30 pm
With the help of his tail, Sharifu was able to pull along the flowers with him so they did not get left behind. He waited patiently, watching Auri and waiting for her to notice him. He tried to put himself in plain sight so it wouldn't be so creepy seeming when she did notice him, but he was worrying about more important things too.
"Auri," he called back when she spotted him. And all he did was smile when she said he scared him, waiting for her to come over instead of going over himself. She was supposed to find him, after all!
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 4:02 pm
Auri wondered for a moment why he wasn't coming down towards her, but the she smiled and remembered. She had to find him today. So she picked up the arrowhead and trotted towards him, up the small slope and stopped right in front of him.
"Found ya," she said with a smirk after she put the arrowhead on the ground for him. The leather tied around it had been unwound and lengthened into a hoop, long enough to put over his head for a necklace, or to wrap around a paw or his tail. Whichever he wanted.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:07 am
"You did," he said with a smile, watching her put the arrowhead down in front of him. So, she did mean that part of what she said after all. He turned around and picked up the flowers he had brought along. Then he turned back and set them at Auri's feet with sincere smile, feeling it was a reasonably fair trade.
"I was wondering if you'd show up," he joked.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:09 am
She felt her smile widen and she giggled at the sudden appearance of the flowers. It was so sweet of him!
"Aww, of course I would show up. Especially for flowers," she teased back. "You know I like them that much." Auri gently bent down to sniff the flowers, immensely pleased. The assortment of reds, pinks, yellows were so aesthetically pleasing--she couldn't have picked them out better herself.
"Here, would you like to put this on?" she gestured lightly towards the arrowhead with her nose. "I can help, if you'd like. Over your head or around your tail or something." Her smile softened to a more comfortable tone, no longer teasing.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:43 am
"Of course, I knew you'd like them," he said with a wink. He had made special note of her fondness of flowers for a reason, and this was .. mostly it. He smiled when she gestured more towards the arrowhead, indicating exactly what exactly he was meant to do with it now. He thought momentarily, then nodded.
"I'd like some help with it," he said, leaning down to take a look and decide on the best way to get it around his neck.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:48 am
Auri nodded, though shrugged. "You don't have to put it on now," she said, although she picked up the arrowhead anyway. "Just a thought."
But she picked it up by the leather strap and slipped it over his bent head, giving a giggle when it wouldn't go down all the way because of his rather fluffy mane. She gently nosed it down, 'accidentally' nuzzling him here and there, to push it farther down, more onto his neck instead of just his mane.
"There," she said with a smile, nosing the rock. "You like it?"
She was actually thinking of twisting her flowers into a crown, or even a necklace, to kind of match his. Or a bracelet. Or maybe around her tail...
She'd see what she could do about that, later. Maybe he would bring her more and she can make one of each! No, she wouldn't ask for that. She'd make a necklace, and make it pretty.
That was good.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:44 pm
"Yes I do," he argued easily, happy to accept the gift (finally). He had to put it on now, it was the polite thing and he wanted to. There was no arguing with that logic. He couldn't help but tense a bit when she inadvertently nuzzled against him while helping get the necklace around his neck, but he was smiling when she asked if he liked it and looked back.
"Yes, thank you," Sharifu said sincerely. He couldn't help but hesitate now, for all the planing he'd had to put into the last couple weeks and encounters- and this one- he didn't have the slightest clue how to proceed. Maybe he should have spoken with his mother or something.
But it was too late for that, here he was.
"Auri," he started, then paused a moment trying to decide the best way to proceed, "I didn't really respond to everything you said yesterday, did I?" He could want to show he was sincere, but it seemed the easiest route to go was indirect and a bit, well, silly.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:40 pm
Auri giggled and nodded again, putting thoughts of flower-making out of her mind. "You're welcome," she replied, cocking her head to the side a little and waiting for a reply. When he did it in the form of a question, she blinked prettily and her head tilted a bit more downwards. "Mmhmm? You were actually kind of teasing me about it, though," she joked. "But you didn't have to answer then, anyway." She shrugged. "Why, what about it?"
"No, I didn't want the whole thief thing to ruin something that.. special," he explained with a small grin, giving his first obvious indication of which direction he was going to go. He seriously doubted she was expecting him to reject her now- she had shown up. Now was a good time, the best time- the only time.
"I love you."
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:15 pm
"I love you." Auri could feel her heart hammer at a rapid pace, slow down, pause, and then completely stop. He said...he loved her. When had that happened? How could it have happened so quickly? Did he really? But she couldn't ignore the warm feeling that had consumed her at his words, and that was when she knew that she...felt the same way. "I...I love you, too," she stammered out, glancing at the ground, the flowers, the arrowhead--anywhere but his eyes. She couldn't avoid them completely though, and after she repeated her cycle of glancing around, her green eyes slowly rose to finally meet his.
He waited, watching her carefully, smiling as she stammered and appeared to be avoiding his gaze entirely. There was no point chickening out now, he had to be brave- the hardest part was over, finding the right words. How funny that it turned out to be the simplest and most obvious ones. Meeting her half-way, he leaned down a bit to look her in the eyes instead of forcing her to go the whole way herself.
"So, mates, then?" Sharifu asked with a smile.
She was smiling so hard that her cheeks were hurting; she was so happy. Yes, it had come as a surprise, but it was one that happened to be more than welcome, of course. Auri had met so many male lions, talked with them about many things. But she had never before 'clicked' with one of them as much as she had when she first met Sharifu. And it was like he was her best friend since that moment on, weeks and weeks ago. Auri nodded. "Yes, mates will work." She butted her head against his with a loud purr, closing her eyes and smiling even more--if that was even possible.
Happy, and a bit relieved, he leaned into Auri when she headbutted and agreed with him. After a moment of just being happy, he nuzzled her affectionately and couldn't help but laugh and joke, "Guess you're stuck with me now, aren't you?"
She laughed along, nodding again. "Yeah, I guess I am. And that means you're stuck with me, so if you had other plans, it's far too late for you." She tugged at his ear affectionately and danced away, flirting a little bit. Her tail curled around her bouquet of flowers as she turned around and looked over her shoulder at him. "Well? You coming, or what?"
He laughed at her response, but he couldn't imagine any better lioness to be stuck with. He pulled back against her tugging at his ear, watching her as she danced away and immediately following after her- even before she had to ask. Though her turning around and asked him made him stumble and feign a glare at her for the taunting. He leaped forward a bit, catching up to her side and nudging her much like he had the day before. "You bet."
FIN; Awwww.
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