[PRP] Starry Night (Red xSunkissed)

[SilverLutz]

Menkar stretched as he paused in the mouth of his family's den. He glanced over his shoulder to look at his parents and his many siblings, all of whom were sleeping. He didn't blame them, of course. They'd had a fun time romping on the beach today, watching their father swim in the sea. They were still too small to follow him but it was fun to watch. Some of his siblings were itching to go in, but Menkar wasn't terribly interested. He preferred being dry.

He headed out into the darkness, his eyes using what little light got through the treetops from the moon and stars to find his way to the small pond where he liked to get a drink. He'd been allowed out on his own now for a few moons and he was excited to notice a tiny bit of growth on his neck of his incoming mane. Cetus had warned his children to enjoy youth while it lasted, but Menkar wanted to be a grown up now. You could do so much more! He already had his gypsy name picked out, too! He was ready to start growing up.  

[CaliWolfe]

Sunkissed- er, Jyoti, was having the same problem. She thought of herself as being a big grown up already and truth be told was a tad insulted that she was still being treated as a cub by most of the pride. Sure, she wasn't as tall as them, and yeah, she was still pretty gulible like cubs were expected to be. But gosh dang it, soon she'd be big and strong and then they'd have to start treating her like an adult! Or would even her being as big as them not stop them from trying to shelter her like a baby? Ugh, that'd be horrible.

She was roaming around with no real destination in mind, trying to avoid the eyes of the bigger pride members in case they would attempt to pester her into going back home. She wasn't running away, more like 'adventuring further then necessary.' Yeeeaah. She fully intended to go home once she was through 'exploring' but until then Jyoti consider herself free to go wherever.

Pushing through a pile of bushes the yellow cub shook her head to clear the leaves away that were sticking to her fur. She was almost a bit shocked when she peered ahead in the darkness and spotted another cub. Curiously she tilted her head and debated whether to approach the other or not. But that internal debate lasted only a few seconds.

"Hello!" She chirped loudly. "What'cha doing out here?"

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Menkar didn't notice the approach of the other cub even though she wasn't masking her paw steps. He had become enthralled with his reflection and the night sky that had a decent opening thanks to the pond. He admired his starry coat for a moment before looking up from the water to the sky itself. The stars were numerous and bright tonight and it made a little grin cross his features. He loved those stars and not just because he was a red version of them.

The sudden greeting made him jump a bit and he turned to look at the yellow cub that made her appearance. She stood out in the darkness of the jungle but not in a bad way. Just a bright, cheerful way. He smiled a bit, reminded of his mother, who was also yellow.

"Hey," he said, tossing his dark tuft out of his eyes as if it were a full mane. "Oh, just getting a drink. Looking at the stars. Fun grown up stuff." That's what grown ups did, right? That's what he thought anyway.

"I'm Red," he added, his tail flicking in delight at using his gypsy name. "What's your name?"

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

Jyoti moved away from the bush and moved closer to the pond. "Cool." She said while her eyes scanned the area. Red was a gypsy name wasn't it? She hoped it was because if it wasn't it was an awfully strange name to give to a cub. Not that she had anything against strange names! It was just... Unusual.

"I'm Sunkissed." She purred, liking the sound of it as it rolled off her tongue. She stopped talking for a moment to admire the male's sparkling coat. It was nice to look at. That and Jyoti liked sparkly things, so naturally he was something of a fascination for her. By comparison she felt her own coat was rather bright, but not harsh to stare at. She liked her bright coloring, it reflected her happy nature.

"Your fur is nice, do you groom it often?" She asked in hopes of keeping the conversation going.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Menkar's ears perked up a bit as the female gave her name. Sunkissed...it made sense with her coloration, and with all the yellow and the 'sun' in her name it reminded him of his mother. Sunkissed personality was much different, though. His mother wasn't the most charming of lionesses when she didn't want to be, but this girl seemed like a lot of fun.

"Oh, thanks," he said as he glanced at his back. "My mom does a lot. She's yellow and her name is Sunshine," he added, feeling like he should share the information. "I have some yellow siblings too. You could almost fit in with us," he added with a tiny grin.

"Do you like to swim?" he asked after a moment, looking at the pond. His dad had come from the Bahari and had grown up with the sea, but he had also told Menkar that cubs weren't allowed in the ocean. In small ponds like this he could practice, though, because he wanted to be as good as his dad was at swimming.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

Sunshine. She'd do well to remember that name. In case she came across the lioness at a later date or it popped in during a conversation at some point. She honestly doubted it would, but it was still a good thing to remember others names!

"I haven't really gone swimming before." Sunkissed admitted, gazing at the water long-fully. Then a silly grin spread across her face and the young lioness dipped her paw in the pond playfully. "Shouldn't be too hard though. Whatya say? Want to go for a dip?" She grinned at Red.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

The starry cub waited to see how Sunshine would react to the water and when she grinned at him he grinned right back. "Heck yeah! It's really easy. It's like walking," he said as he splashed in, eager to paddle around the pond. He waded out until his paws didn't touch the silty bottom, then pushed off and paddled away.

"It's so fun!" he said as he turned in a slow circle to face the other cub. "And when you get really good you can swim under water! My dad said not to try it without him here though, because it's kind of hard," he added, not wanting his new friend to drown.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

"Ooh." Sunkissed sounded nervous at that. She jumped back to her peppy self in a manner of seconds though, "That just means no underwater diving for me!" She declared, and as if that was reason enough, she trotted forward into the water.

Her swimming was far from graceful. As soon as her toes no longer felt the sandy ground Sunkissed began doing an awkward doggy-paddle motion in an attempt to stay afloat. Luckily for her, her head seemed rather... uh, weightless? light? In any case it didn't bob under the water and as a result she wasn't drowning, which made her grin all the more.

"Look at me!" She laughed triumphantly. She made slow but gradual movements as she turned and swam around in a circle, "This is pretty cool!"

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Menkar grinned as he watched Sunkissed swim around. "Hey, you're really good at that!" he said as he swam a little closer in case she needed help getting back to the shallow end. "Just keep paddling. You can kind of use your tail to steer, too!"

He swam away and showed her, holding his tail one way to turn left and the other to turn right. "Makes it a lot faster than just using your paws."

The swimming lessons went fairly well with only a little bit of mild frantic splashing. Menkar prescribed more lessons for the yellow female before she could tackle the sea...not that he himself was allowed out that far just yet. Practice made perfect, though, and he promised he'd do his best to help her learn so she could surf the waves like he wanted to.

CaliWolfe

Last from me, wrapping it so it can count for a breeding X3

 

[CaliWolfe]

Jyoti grinned happily as she bid the red cub goodbye. She hummed as she walked away with a bounce in her step. The yellow female was full of energy! Eager and ecstatic to get to take more swimming lessons later in the week. She would bet all her siblings would be jealous she was going to take lessons from a swimming pro! Heck, if Red was as good a teacher as he seemed she was confident that her siblings would soon be begging that she teach them cool swimming techniques!

Returning home Sunkissed made sure to keep extra quiet where she walked, so as to not wake anyone. Yet after all was said and done, even if she did slip out and wake up someone and get in trouble it didn't bother her. She was pretty glad that she had met Red tonight and that he was going to teach her to be a swimming champion!

SilverLutz

Last from me! I'm so sorry for forgetting about this!