Wanting to be Closer to You [Vtla Gogv]

[Cajanic]

Vtla liked being around cubs and keeping an eye on them. For a long time, he had assumed it was the one thing he loved more than anything else in the world. However, things were starting to change. Sure, he still loved looking after cubs, but he found he would rather spend his time with a certain female than any of the little ones. That was very peculiar, especially since it seemed like she was only just starting to warm up to him. Maybe that was what made her so interesting- she was always herself around him. Not nice for the sake of it. That kind of honesty was hard to find. Of course, he was himself around her, too, but he lucked out in being a generally simple-minded lion. The more complex ones had the harder time being honest.

They smiled but didn't mean it. When Gogv smiled, it felt like he had accomplished something truly amazing, and he absolutely loved it.

Ha. Love. Now that was probably the right word for how he was feeling. In retrospect, it probably wasn't as difficult to comprehend as he imagined. He loved her, and it was a much more personal thing than spending time with cubs he had no real connection to besides a general enjoyment caring for them.

So he found himself moving towards familiar lands, where he knew she might be roaming. Nearer to her clan than he normally wandered, but it was worth it for the chance to spend some time with her.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Brooding on her own again, as usual, Gogv perched on a rock outcropping and did a spectacular impression of the Agony of Adolescence. She wasn't an adolescent anymore, but emotionally she was not all that well developed, and sometimes she acted like a teenager, or even a child. Today she was berating herself for her attraction to a silly, sweet male from another clan. More than that, she was berating herself for deliberately making herself scarce during the Sky Festival, when the clans actually came together on purpose, so that there was no way for them to converse in a normal setting.

It was perverse and childish, to prefer trying to run into him accidentally-on-purpose, she chided herself. An adult would simply seek him out, or his family, if they were being really grown-up, and tell him...what? That she was a nicer lioness around him, and she liked being that person, even though she had not even known she could be like that until she met him? That he made her irrationally happy? Flattering sentiments all, to be sure, but she didn't really bring anything to this except prickliness and mood swings and awkwardness.

If he had any kind of intellect, he would run in the other direction when he saw her. Unless, of course, she saw him first. Perching made that sort of thing a lot easier. She held still in her gargoyle pose as she recognized his form and gait. It took an effort not to grin like a fool.  

[Cajanic]

Vtla stopped his wandering when he got the impression he was being watched, his ears perking as he looked around. Finally, his gaze found the lioness lurking nearby, the male's expression brightening without hesitation as he quickly recognized her.

"Gogv!" He all but hummed as he drew himself closer to her, "I was looking for you! I thought I might be able to find you if I came this way, and I'm glad I was right!" He chuckled lightly, sitting down not far from her. His large tail wrapped around his feet, the male sitting comfortably and with a smile on his face. This was what he had wanted- any day when he got to see her usually ended up being a good one.

"How are you doing? I feel like I miss you more and more whenever we're not spending time together. I'm sorry if that's silly to admit." He chuckled lightly,shaking his mighty mane.

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

"Your talents are wasted looking after cubs," she observed. "If you can find people just by feeling like they might be in a certain place."

She hopped down from her perch so that she'd be on the same level he was, but instantly regretted the decision when he asked how she was doing and told her completely unbelievable things about wanting to spend time with her. No one wanted to spend time with her. She was a grouchy, bad-tempered lioness who constantly said the wrong thing a the wrong time.

"Er..." she tried to come up with some way to respond to that. A few ridiculously flowery phrases she thought might have actually lowered her intelligence came to mind, but she dismissed them. He'd probably think she was teasing him if she said anything that saccharine aloud.

"Actually I've kind of had a problem lately because I think I might be obsessed with you. In the least creepy way possible. Or, well, I think it's pretty weird but that's because it's me and I'm really not used to thinking about someone else all the time unless I'm thinking how much I wish they weren't around and with you it's kind of the opposite and this is really a problem and..." she paused for breath and then realized that she had just had to pause for breath.

"I feel kind of like an idiot now." She glowered at him, daring him to say something nice, and hoping that he would at the same time.  

[Cajanic]

Vtla laughed. He supposed that talent would be very useful. "I think it's only a passing talent, though," he hummed lightly, "or perhaps only one that applies to you." He did seem to have a lot of his thoughts and actions trained towards her- perhaps she was giving him special abilities, too. All the more reason to spend more time with her. All his time with her, in fact.

If she would allow it.

Listening to her, he all but lit up with delight, though he knew she did not look as happy to admit what he was hearing. Still, he was thrilled. "I'm happy to hear you say that," he chuckled lightly, moving himself closer to her and venturing a light bump of his forehead against hers. Backing up again, he smiled at her.

"but I don't think it's a problem, or that you're an idiot! It's a wonderful thing when two lions want to be with one another, isn't it? I think you make my life more complete, and I hope I do the same for you. And since we both seem to have the same desire to be near one another all the time... we should just make that happen, right?"

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

"You're happy to hear that I might be losing my mind?" Gogv demanded, her eyes wide. "Because I think it's absolutely terrifying."

The head bump did not reassure her. Instead it sent an electric thrill down her spine that would have been pleasant if she wasn't so thoroughly freaked out by what her reaction heralded. Maybe it had been a mistake to come out here. Probably it had. But she'd wanted to see him.

"It's nice, I guess," she allowed. "But I'm not that lion. I mean, I don't do lovey-dovey stuff. I don't even do nice."

"Ask anyone in my clan. I'm that lioness no one wants to go hunting with because I never say anything nice. Members of my family can tell you that I went through my whole childhood without smiling. In fact, they would probably be surprised to learn that I even know how to smile." In fact she really only smiled because of Vtla, but telling him that would not convince him he was making a mistake in wanting to be with her.

"You are making a huge mistake if you think your life would be improved by having more of me in it."  

[Cajanic]

Vtla looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, that's not something that you should be concerned about," he commented, "the lovey-dovey thing, I mean. I have more than enough of that side for the both of us. Besides! You never did any of that stuff before and I want to be around you- so I don't think you have to change anything. Even if the feelings confuse you a little bit, it's not scary and it doesn't mean everything is going to dive into unknown waters!"

He frowned, wondering if he could get his thoughts across properly.

"If you don't feel like saying nice things or to smile, you don't have to, but if you DO want to, I won't tell anyone," he chuckled, "you can be whatever you want to be. I like you as the lioness I've already come to know, not who you might be if we got closer." He shook his mane, watching her with a more serious expression on his face when she said it was a mistake.

"But that can't be true," he remarked, "because it's already better. So there's no way it's a mistake."

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Gogv regarded Vtla carefully. She knew with an unshakable conviction that he meant it when he said he didn't need her to be obviously affectionate, but she knew with the same kind of conviction that kind of behavior was expected from a wife. The two conflicting opinions clashed confusingly for her. She really, really wanted to just take Vtla at his word, though, and accept that he was all right with the fact that she was no tender blossom.

"It's...not about the telling people. Frankly, nobody would believe you if you did. They might believe that I had hit you over the head and you subsequently hallucinated that I was a nice person, but that's about as close as it would come." She couldn't resist a half-smirk at the thought. Being generally disliked really didn't bother her at all, except when it came to Vtla.

What would people think of a lion who genuinely wanted to be with her. Would they question his mental faculties? Would they think she had bullied him into it? Would they pity him? She couldn't bring herself to ask any of these questions because she guessed he would tell her that those were things for him to worry about, not her.

Her half-smirk remained as she asked slyly, "You haven't suffered a recent blow to the head, have you? You're not asking this because you're confused?"

Cajanic

 

[Cajanic]

Princess_Feylin

Vtla chuckled at the thought. "No, no hit to the head, no matter how much sense it might make- just a genuine desire to be around you." He shook his mane again, if only because it helped him clear his head while he was trying to think. While he was happy as a clam and couldn't think of a downside to things, she was clearly concerned. He wanted to be able to comfort her. That was something males did when the female wasn't happy, right? Then again, even if it was another male he would want to make sure he was ok. It was just kind of something he did.

He took another thoughtful pause as he gathered his thoughts, wanting to make sure he had his ideas in order before he let them pop out. Otherwise, he imagined he wouldn't make any sense.

Again.

"I think you worry too much about how other people are going to react. If it's something you want, and it's something I want, then that should be enough and everyone else can make of it what they will, you know? If they ask if you're beating me upside the head, I'll be sure to correct them, but I won't let their comments keep me from being near the lioness I've fallen in love with. You don't have to act like any particular kind of mate, and you never will, I promise."  

[Princess_Feylin]

"Well, if there's no brain trauma involved..." she hesitated. This was kind of a momentous thing she was saying, and as such she found it nerve-wracking. This was someone's life she could be ruining. Obviously she meant Vtla's life could be ruined. Not hers.

"And you're sure. Like absolutely, completely positive..."

She wasn't actually drawing this out to torment him, though he would have been forgiven for thinking that she was. It was the kind of thing she would have enjoyed doing to anyone else. She really was just terrified that she was going to ruin his life and he'd be stuck with her. Or maybe, if things went badly, she could fake her own death and leave him free to find someone better.

That was a comforting enough thought that she was able to muster the courage to say, "I'm in."

Cajanic

Woo. Finally got her there.