It was a rainy day - not terribly surprising, given where they lived, but still notable since it came with the dark and gloom of a bad storm. It left Maikoa feeling particularly dour as she made her way towards Foxglove's den, but she hoped that maybe he was in a good mood because of it. Odd ball that he was, he tended to enjoy weather like this.
Nestled in her teeth was her net with a few of the goods she had gotten from this last jaunt outside the borders. Some beautiful polished stones, a neat little bowl-like thing, dyed pastes that could be used for decoration - she was sure that he'd find these interesting!
And hey, if he came out of this with some new ideas for his crafting, all the better! Not that that was the only reason she was visiting him - of course not! - but it would be nice to have some new things beyond carved statues to trade with.
Of course, she started to wonder if she needn't have worried, as she got close enough to hear the cheerful humming and banging from inside the den. He was busy at work, from the sounds of it. Probably the storm's doing, honestly, but she wasn't complaining. She wondered idly if that was his "muse", as many of their pride mates had one, but she'd never asked and he had never deigned to tell her one way or the other. Oh well, maybe someday he'd come clean about it. To be frank, she thought the "muse" thing was kind of... weird, but what could you do? It's not like it was hurting her, and it made her pride happy, so whatever.
The lioness was trying to be careful as she made her way down the slope, but she slipped as she neared the base and slid down with a muffled yelp. Luckily for her, a red and whit form shot out of the entrance and caught her right before she hit the ground.
Heart pounding in her chest, Maikoa let out a shaky sigh and then glanced down, "Thank, Digi. That was a close one!"
”You should be more careful.” It was said quietly but sternly, black eyes looking up at her with a hard gleam. They looked like little bits of shiny coal, cold and borderline blank. The lion pulled his sister into the safety of his den, before turning and meandering back to his newest work with slumped shoulders.
Digitalis normally preferred the solitude and silence that came from being so far away, but he made an exception for Maikoa — or Angel, as he still preferred to call her. Although the pride no longer utilized their Kizi names, he still preferred using them. It was like having a nickname and a secret name, all in one. What wasn’t there to like? Besides, he liked being called Foxglove still. Digitalis was such a wordy name, and he still felt like a small child whenever it was used around him. He was no such thing now! He was an adult!
His mind was wandering again, though he barely acknowledged it in favor of muttering quietly to himself as he picked up the hard rock he had been using as a tool previously. It wasn’t uncommon to see him talking to himself. Most of his thoughts were bare for everyone to see because of it, and it was largely why he was encouraged to build a den further away with the rest of the Dreamers. He didn’t know it, but he had inherited that trait from his father.
Shaking his head, Fox leaned down and started examining the polished stone in front of him. What had he been working on? He couldn’t remember now. His ears flicked back at the sound of thunder behind him. Right, right! He remembered now!
Maikoa sighed as she dropped her belongings down against the wall, making sure to keep the sound soft and almost unheard but for the tiny thump. A quick glance back at Fox confirmed her suspicions that he had completely forgotten about her coming in with him in the short time he’d had walked away. This also wasn’t uncommon from him — his attention span wasn’t the best when it came to anything beyond his art — so she took it in stride.
Instead, she chose to act as if her fall from before hadn’t happened, moving around the opening and shaking herself of the rain. Some of the water still clung to her fur, but it was enough to keep from dripping everywhere, and that was good enough for her. Then, turning around, she cleared her throat and walked over to see what he was working on.
It looked like another statue, she thought with a sigh. Maybe she should try introducing him to new mediums. That said, this was a rather intimidating one. The stone stood at almost half her height, and already she could see the beginnings of what had to be a lion roaring. She tilted her head, noticing the jagged spikes seeming to erupt around it. They looked kind of like... lightning?
Huh. This was going to be an interesting one, she decided.
Shaking her head, Maikoa turned to look at her brother. He was frowning down at the rock in his paw, a slightly blank look in his eye. The lioness grimaced at that, before lifting a paw gently to push his arm down. “Perhaps its time for a break, Fox.” ’Because you’ve zoned out and forgotten where you’re going with this anyway,’ she thought with a huff.
Instead, she turned him around and bounced back to her net. She ignored the annoyed look on his face and, throwing the net open, reached in to pull out a huge cloth cloak. She’d gotten it from one of the snow-fairing prides, it’s black fur almost silky to the touch, and figured it would make a nice gift for her brother.
Fox has been ready to snap at her, not at all happy with being pulled away when he was trying to... to... to think, but his thoughts were cut short as something soft and fluffy fell across atop his head. She’d dumped something on him, and he let out a cuff at the amused giggle she let out at the sight of him.
Pulling the fabric away from his head, he stared down at the black cloak, unsure of what to do with it.
Finally, Angel let out an impatient grunt and, snatching it back, she whipped it around his shoulders and stepped back to look him over. Fox, himself, just stared uncertainly back at her. Did.... did it look okay? Now he wished he had something to show him what he looked like. Or did he? Maybe he did, he wondered as he looked around them. He never remembered the things he owned. Or were they Angel’s things? He wasn’t sure.
Maikoa just grinned happily back at him, “Oh, it looks great on you!” Nudging him towards the entrance, she pointed down at the water reflecting on the ground. They were getting a bit sprayed, but neither were too concerned about that.
Digi blinked down at himself, idly noting that yes, he had something to see himself with. Clever, clever sister!
Then, he squinted down at his reflection. He assumed she was right, because honestly, he didn’t what actually looked “good”, but he had to admit that he liked how dark it made him look. Certainly better than the vibrant red. His coat gave him a headache to look at sometimes. Plus it blocked some of the rain from him.
After a moment more of observing himself, he let out a happy sound and then turned back to Maikoa.
“I like it.”
She let out a snort at his answer, “Well, good! Because it’s yours.” And she was ecstatic that he was in a good enough mood to accept it. She’d actually gotten this two trips ago, but he hadn’t been in any mood to receive it then.
Foxglove turned his head back and forth as he looked around at it, then, giving himself a shake, he trotted back into his workspace. Maybe it would keep some of the debris off of him too; that would be nice. His tail twitched once, twice, and then his eyes unfocused again before shooting back to his work.
Right. Right. He wasn’t done. What was he doing, again?
Thunder boomed outside.
... Oh! He remembered now!
She had only turned away for a moment to roll her net back up, and when she’d turned back around, ready to keep talking, she froze as she saw him right back at his workspace, muttered quietly to himself.
Maikoa let out a sigh. At least he was still wearing the cloak.
In fact, her eyebrows raised as she saw him adjust it very carefully and pause to nuzzle it absentmindedly, and slowly, a soft smile grew over her face. Well, at least he was clearly appreciating it. Maybe she’d go into more detail about it later, if he cared to know.
Shaking her head, she turned and moved to get herself settled. It was time to rest after this last outing.