(This RP is retroactive, and takes place back when she was Rogue and Coryth's offspring were still cubs)
Humming softly to herself, Coryth trotted through the brush with a relaxed air. The ground beneath her was moist from the rains, and green things sprouted everywhere as if the world had just been waiting to wake up, and then had come to life with one great breath. Birds wheeled and sang overhead, searching the mud and water for insects and frogs to feed on, and beneath them, the lioness passed by.
As nice as it was to see things green and vibrant, this was lousy weather for her work. There was no point to try to dig in the ground for bone-stones when your holes would just fill in with water. So she had left her sweet cubs in their temporary den and was now setting out to look for a bit of hunting to do. They normally starved for their craft, sticking to barren places, but today if she was lucky, they would gorge.
Curled up by the stream that had swelled and overrun its banks from the rains, Tingay scratched at his head lazily, and listened to the swaming of insects and other creatures. There were sounds all around him, the sounds of life. And through the strange working processes of his brain, these traversed to his other senses as well. Every chirp of a cricket was a brief flash of color in his eyes.
This was nothing shocking to him; he'd seen the world all his life this way. It had only been after reaching adulthood that he even realized not everyone else had these visions. His family had driven him out, thinking him a seer and therefore cursed. But he didn't see the future or the past. He just saw colors when he heard things. It was perfectly normal to him, wasn't distracting at all, and could even be very pretty.
Changing her pace to move stealthily, Coryth settled in to the grasses to search for signs of prey. As little as she was experienced with hunting, she was blessed in this capacity with a coloring that helped her merge right into this green world. And with it too wet for scents to carry well, she dissapeared completely from view. It was a good thing she did, or her poor cubs might've died from hunger long ago.
It didn't take long for her to take down a careless young ungulate who though the waterways were safe. She washed the everpresent mud and dirt from her feet and face, making sure she was clean, before she tucked into the warm flesh and ate her fill, being careful not to spread too much gore around. When she was satisfied, she hauled the carcass onto her back carefully, and set back for the den, humming again with cheer at her great kill.
Sighing as he lay relaxing on the bank, Tingay suddenly blinked as a new color ran across his vision. Where there had before been the little silver flashes of insects, and the great dark blue pulses of frogs ribbiting, and the wheeling orange streaks of birdcalls overhead, suddenly there was a faint bit of purple, bright and delicate, dancing across his eyes and teasing him with its brightness.
A thrill ran through him, tingling down his spine. He'd seen that color before. Every hue had a distinct meaning to him, once he'd deciphered them, and this one he saw when someone was singing nearby. His ears couldn't pick out the tune from the noise of life around him, but he didn't have to, when it jumped right in front of his face. Leaping to his feet, he followed the light through the grasses, treading slowly and timidly so as not to startle whoever was making the noise.
Coryth paused by a bend in the stream to put the carcass down and stretch her muscles, dipping her feet in the water to wash away a little of the dirt that inevitably caked there. Her occupation was a dusty one, digging in the earth for the bone stones she desired, and the dirt never truly left her body. She'd long ago grown accustomed to it, and barely noticed if she got a mouthful now and then. But it was nice to be cleaner.
Peering over her shoulder on a whim, she caught a flash of purple and searched after it with her eyes, surprised and curious. Some sort of creature sneaking up on her? She was in too good a mood for being chased by an angry male lion for tresspassing to occur to her, so she simply sat on the bank and watched to see if whoever it was would come forward to say hello. Absently she kept humming to herself.
Tingay soon spotted the creature that was making the delightful sound, and doing so gave him pause. It was a lioness, and a big one, and she had a kill with her. This was all kinds of bad news for him. She'd want to defend her meat, and would probably show now hesitation chasing off a little wilddog like him. She wouldn't understand that he didn't care in the slightest about her meat, he just wanted to listen to her hum.
She was still humming, and it was itching at his skin, luring him in closer despite the danger. The purple frolicked in his eyes like sparkly motes all along her green fur, rippling outwards from her throat as the notes came tumbling over each other. Swallowing, Tingay thought to himself that if he'd ever considered a great cat beautiful, it was now. "Keep doing that," he heard himself say with a note of pleading.
When the creature finally came into view, Coryth smiled at it in a friendly manner. It was some sort of canine. She'd met some before, but wasn't entirely sure how to tell which species were which. It was small and therefore not a threat, so that was fine. She didn't even think to ponder why it would be approaching her so readily, though in truth if it wanted her meat, she'd probably offer some freely.
"Hello!" she said in greeting, trying to appear benign, then she blinked in confusion at what he'd said. "Keep doing what, do you mean... oh, the humming!" She laughed. "I wasn't bothering you, was I? If I'm in your territory I apologize, I was just passing through, and I'll be gone soon." A normal lion may not have made such an apology to a lesser carnivore, but Coryth wasn't very socially experienced.
Well, she was a lot friendlier than most of the lion's Tingay had met, though his mind wasn't on that at the moment. With a bit of frustration he noticed she had stopped humming, and he shook his head to try to concentrate on hearing what she was saying rather than seeing it. Her voice was purple as well, lyrical and a paler shade, almost blue, dripping like mist from her skin in a slow tiny trickle.
"No, I have no territory, lioness," he replied, trying to aim for a polite tone. "I also pass through, pass by. I heard you making musical noises, and came to see the cause." When she didn't make any aggressive moves, he stepped forward to approach her. "Could you... could you make more of them?" He tried not to shiver in anticipation. Music was life, was the blood in his veins. He fiercely hoped she would hum again.
Coryth smiled with a bit of relief. Thank goodness she wasn't infringing on territory again, that always ended nastily. She'd been run out of more lands than she could remember, always trying to explain over her shoulder as she fled that she was only interested in the rocks! The rocks! They never believed her, either. Though a wild dog pack wasn't as much a threat as a lion pride, it was still something she didn't want to worry about.
This wilddog seemed excessively interesting in her humming, and not at all in her recent kill, which was curious and a little worrying. Might be a sign of mental disease. But then again, that's probably what other lions thought about her obsession with rocks that looked like bones. Deciding to indulge him, she began humming again, the tune wandering randomly with no set tune but still slightly melodic.
The lion began the music again, and Tingay's fur stood on end as the purple sparkles danced, bright and varied. No two were identical in hue or shape, like a dozen different types of fireflies, cavorting around the green lion's proximity. It was as if her music had lured out strange spirits from other mystical realms unknown, and drawn them close to her, to bask in the power of her harmonies.
Tingay's feet itched to follow along with the lights, but he held himself back nervously. What would the lioness think if he broke into dance? Would she stop humming? The risk of that kept his feet rooted to the ground though they wanted to leap about. His toes couldn't help but tap though, no matter how much he tried to keep them still. Some brighter colored specks clued him in that he was humming too, and he stopped.
Coryth broke off her humming to chuckle at the reaction she was getting. The poor wilddog looked like he wanted to crawl out of his fur, and she thought he wasn't aware of the huge grin he'd broken out into, with his eyes glazed and dreamy. He wasn't looking at her at all oddly enough, but his eyes drifted as if watching something unseen, some specks of dust hanging in the breeze.
What a peculiar creature. Well, the peculiar ones were always the best company, certainly better than the angry ones anyway. Finding herself wanting to entertain him more, she opened her jaws and crooned, like she used to do for her pups, hovering over the high notes like holding onto them longer would keep them from escaping. There were no words; she'd never learned a song with words or a specific tune, only wandering notes.
As the song turned into a full one, throaty and sharp rather than the hinting softness of humming, the color got brighter and more brilliant, and the speckle doubled twice over. Tingay thought he might go blind with the brilliance of it, but he couldn't look away, only stare in rapturous glee. Before he could stop himself, his voice jumped up to join with hers, more purple mixing in to create a beautiful blending of harmonies.
It was too much for him to take, he just had to get up and move. He was bouncing on his paws, and it was so simple to slip into dance, bobbing and weaving, feet following the dancing lights as they set the rhythm and direction. He tossed his head and tried to snap at the sparks, but they kept stealing away from him at the last second. He laughed. He already saw sound as color. Could he taste it as well?
What a fine day this was turning out to be! No digging or bone-stones to be had in this wet greenland of the rainy season, but instead she had a kill to feed her cubs with, and a dance partner to boot! She got to her feet as well and bounced about. She didn't have that much coordination, the wilddog didn't seem to mind. That was nice, having someone who just seemed happy to be with her.
She followed the wilddog on its wayward path, and they weaved an ornate but unbalanced circle round and round for quite some time, singing sometimes in key and sometimes battling each other's voice until the music became jarring noise. But finally the setting sun clued Coryth in, and she sighed. "Thank you for the entertainment, that was very fun. But I need to get going. I have cubs waiting for this meat, back in the den."
It was one of the most thrilling afternoons of his life, dancing and singing with the lioness. Who could've imagined that he would be dancing with a lioness! The glittering lights kept them company for a happy hour of merriment. He never wanted it to stop. Don't let him go back to that musicless existence alone! But all good things had to come to an end eventually, so he wasn't surprised when she stopped.
Tingay stepped back and tried not to sigh. "It was fun," he agreed, and tried to keep most of the sadness out of his voice. At least now he knew there really were people who could just sing and dance carefree, though they may be lions. Not a total loss, then. "Thank you for the dance. Go see to your cubs, lioness. I hope they do well." He turned and loped off at that, not wanting a lingering goodbye. It's not like she was a friend, anyway.
