[PRP] Courting Trouble (Ebere & Naani)

[MangoMeow]

Sometimes she pondered over life and death. Death was the unifier of all, but why did that mean that she and her brother had to be alone? How was that fair? Her family had done nothing wrong! She would grow enraged at the thought, but that would fizzle out as quickly as it had come. After all, there was no arguing with death. All that was left in its wake was emptiness.

The purple lioness had distanced herself from everyone else, even her brother. Oh, she was sure that he worried, just as she always worried over him, but all she wanted to do right now was be alone. Which seemed to have become a common theme each day she woke up. Perhaps she was meant to always be alone. You wouldn't get hurt then.

Misty pink eyes glanced up from her slumped position, staring blankly at the cloudy sky above her. Naani had perched herself up atop a large boulder, sprawling bonelessly across it as she didn't feel like she had the energy to keep upright. She had nowhere to be, no one looking for her. Which was fine. More time for her to be in her own thoughts. An almost noiseless sigh escaped then and her eyes drifted closed.

Annchen

Ill probably add her pic up top later, when I've got time. >>; Just haven't gotten around to making a smaller version yet.

Edit: Added in her picture. :3

 

[Annchen]

Ebere had kind of, sort of followed Naani here, and now he wasn't sure what to do with himself. He was a perfect distance away from her to be able to claim he just happened to walk through, or perhaps that he had some kind of errand behind this bush. Completely innocent! He studied the long thorns intently, as if to tell himself that this was a perfectly normal thing to do.

Wow, those could really hurt someone, he thought with a painful flasback to that time he managed to get a splinter stuck between his toes as a cub. The Enyi had "fun" with that one before it was out and his swollen paw could start healing.

He better not prod at one of these then. Studying the sharp thorns he noticed that a large insect had somehow been impaled on one of them. The young lion backpedalled in surprise, and then surreptitiously looked around to make sure no one had noticed his undignified behaviour.

Alibi established he carried on doing what he came here to do. His expression softened as he watched Naani. He couldn't see her eyes, or the patch of impossibly soft fur he imagined she'd have behind her ears. And from this distance he could only imagine that patch of head fur in the back of her neck that had an adorable swirl in it...

MangoMeow

Ebere decided to be a dorky stalker... He'll approach her eventually... probably... unless she sees him first

 

[MangoMeow]

She was debating taking a nap at this point. With nothing to do today, she may as well. It was better than being awake, and sometimes she would be able to see her parents in her dreams..... But Naani was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of rustling behind her. Lifting her head and turning it around, she blinked in confusion when she didn't immediately see whatever it was.

That was weird.... She could swear that she'd heard something. A big something too, not just a rabbit or a mouse. Purple ears pulled back in unease, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Or maybe she was finally losing it. Naani sighed, moving her gaze back in front of her and settling her head down on top of her paws. She wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Maybe this is how it started with her father, and she would eventually die of a broken heart too. But no, she couldn't leave her brother that way. She understood better than anyone how it felt to lose someone like that.

Perhaps it was just a big bird that she'd heard. She wanted to be alone though, so just in case, she kept an ear in that direction. She still wasn't entirely convinced that there wasn't someone there, but she also wasn't motivated to get up yet. If it was someone, hopefully they'd get the message and go away.

Annchen

Rofl, stalker boy...

 

[Annchen]

Ebere froze when Naani moved around. He had rehearsed a few clever things to say, but his mind went completely blank as she looked towards his totally-not-a-hidingplace. Yesterday he had also kind of sort of followed her a bit but chickened out before really doing anything. She hadn't seen him, as far as he knew. If she had she would surely have come to talk to him, right? And then they'd remember old times and realise they still had so much in common and they'd look back at that day in years to come and tell their grandcubs...

He shook his head. Ebere had spent most of his time awake (and some of his sleeping time) thinking about Naani, dreaming about Naani, talking about Naani. She was right there, but he continued to day dream out of habit.

Ok, say something clever and charming. Clever and charming. Don't mention dead parents, unless she brings it up, in that case: be shoulder to cry on.

To his absolute horror he realised he'd left the relative safety of the freaky bush and was heading straight towards Naani. Abort! Abort!

"Hello Naani," he squeaked, before forcing his voice down to something that should sound more manly and sexy, "Ahem, uh... want to see something cool?"

Whaat did I just say?

MangoMeow

 

[MangoMeow]

Her ears flicked up as the rustling sound returned, but this time... it was getting closer to her? Whipping her head back around, Naani turned surprised eyes on the lion heading towards her. She recognized him from her cub days, one of the N'anya members that she used to play with. She had been friends with his sister at one point or another. What was his name? Ebere?

Her gaze turned hostile at his continued approach, her fur bristling along her spine. What did he want? Couldn't he see that she wasn't interested in company? She kept silent at his greeting, hoping that perhaps he would get the memo and leave.

When that didn't happen and he kept talking - did he just lower his voice? He was stranger than she remembered - she debated just getting up and leaving. It would certainly solve her problem. Whatever he wanted, it probably wasn't that important anyway. One of the adults would have come instead if it was.

Scoffing, the lioness shook her head, "Not particularly, no." She turned away from him again, eyes sliding closed in rebuff, "Was that you slinking around back there?"

Annchen

 

[Annchen]

Ebere was oblivious to Naani's hostility, completely missing the subtle and not so subtle signs of annoyance. His fantasies usually didn't have her say much, and right now he was mostly stressing over the way he sounded and what he was going to say next. It didn't even register that she hadn't returned his greeting.

When she did speak the lack of enthusiasm was harder to miss. He deflated slightly. Of course she wouldn't want to see something "cool". If only he'd been able to remember all the smooth conversation starters he'd spent an inordinate amount of time thinking up. Want to see something cool? definitely wasn't one of them.

"No," he said automatically, "Yes? Maybe? I wasn't slinking. I was just... over there!"

He waved his paw in the general direction he had come from as if that would explain everything. He wasn't slinking... He wasn't! He was just... passing by. Sort of. Perhaps her choice of words had hit a bit close to home but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone.

MangoMeow

 

[MangoMeow]

Naani let out a quiet snort, unamused over his answer, but fine, perhaps he really had been just passing by. That didn't mean he had to stop and chat. She debated her options then. Get up and leave? Spat at him to go away? Just ignore him? She wasn't sure what was the best option.

Her eyes opened just a tinge, showing glazed over pink eyes. Honestly, she didn't even have the energy to yell at him, chase him off, anything to get her solitude back. What kind of lioness did that make her? Maybe she should have been born a mouse instead. Tilting her head back at him, she scowled as she realized that, despite her not talking for who-knows-how-many-minutes now, he was still standing there. Like he was expecting something.

You shouldn't expect anything. You'll just end up disappointed in the end.

Finally, she decided that she couldn't take it anymore. With a sigh, she sluggishly pushed herself up to her paws, "'Just over there', huh? Well don't let me bother you." If he wouldn't leave, she would leave instead. With a flick of her tail, she plopped herself down from her perch and turned to start walking away.

Annchen

Mean Naani. xP Sorry for the wait!

 

[Annchen]

But, but, but... No! Why would she think she was bothering him? Ebere had trouble coming up with anything smooth and clever enough to say in response, and Naani was rapidly moving away. If he would have asked her to stay and chat the moment she started to leave it might have worked. At this distance it would just seem weird and desperate. Probably. Yeah. 'Come back! I love you!' would most likely not go down well. On one paw, it might work and she might turn around and throw herself into his loving embrace. But. On the other paw, his siblings would never let him live it down if it didn't work. And they would find out somehow. He was pretty sure Naani and Amara still chatted fairly often. Patience. Patience and better things to say. His ear twitched. Ok, ok. Say something!

"Naani," he called, "See you around!"

That wasn't weird, right? Right? Plus it made it more natural to talk to her again later, since he'd told her that he would, sort of. Yeah. Maybe this wasn't such a disaster after all. Maybe she was just playing hard to get? Or had he been too subtle? Gaaah! Looking after her now was a perfectly natural thing to do, right? He blinked and looked away just in case, but kept sneaking peeks.

MangoMeow

One more from you and one more from me should do it.

 

[MangoMeow]

She flicked her right ear and paused to glance back at him, a narrow-eyed look on her face. God, she hoped not. She didn't want to come across Ebere again. He seemed jittery and kept staring at her. Was he sneaking glances at her too? It was a little.... weird. Creepy.

There was a tiny part of her that felt bad for thinking that about him, the part that still existed of her younger self. For all she knew, he could just be trying to be friendly. Maybe he saw her feeling down and wanted to cheer her up? They used to play together as cubs, it makes sense that he would be concerned. Amara probably wouldn't be pleased if she saw how Naani was dismissing him either, but the lioness couldn't find it in herself to care at the moment. All of these thoughts and feelings were buried under the onslaught of loneliness and pessimism that she was drowning in.

Shaking her head, Naani turned and kept walking away. What did it matter anyway? She stuck to herself on most days, so the chances of them running into each other again was low. There was no point in dwelling over it.

By the time she had gotten far enough away to not hear him anymore, her ears and tail had drooped back down to the state they were in before. Already she could feel her mind drifting back onto her previous thoughts. All she wanted to do now was curl up somewhere and take a nap. So that's what she set out to do.

Annchen

 

[Annchen]

She had turned around to look at him. Something in Eberes stomach made a somersault, and his eyes widened. She had turned around to look at him! That had to mean something! Eeeeee! Or whatever the manly version of 'EEeeeeeeeeeeee!' was. Screw it. EEEEEEEeeeeee!!!! She had looked at him! He tried his best to look casual but the tip of his tail twitched like an epileptic snake.

He waited for her to disappear completely, frozen in place, except for his extremely agitated tail. When he was sure she couldn't see him he made a little skip and a jump. After getting that out of his system he started prancing back the way he came, giving the thorny bush another glance on his way past. A sparkle caught his eye. It was another impaled bug, this one a beetle with a shiny turquoise shell that sparkled in impossible colors. As morbid as it was to have found a bush that was apparently some kind of insect graveyard he started to think that the beetle was pretty. Like Naani. Perhaps she would like it?

He ever so carefully managed to get the bug loose, without impaling himself in the process. It wasn't the most impressive gift, but he hoped she'd like it.

-sorry Naani, not The End of this weirdness-

MangoMeow