Sphinx- Bold
Krysin - Normal

The realization that she could not bring Taj back home to her family den had come too late. The pair had made it back to the border of the Pridelands, their mission a failure but hope still a close companion. Taj had decided to come back with her, and she did not know how she had merited such trust from the male. Belkane had simply behaved the way she always had, bull-headed and strict to her own developing ideals. She had intimidated plenty of others her age away simply from her bossy demeanor. The fact that Taj was walking by her side was astounding if she allowed herself to be so.

First, she needed to find a place to stow the male away. She very well could not bring him back to her parents' den - there was hardly enough room for all of her siblings, let alone some strange male. Her parents would think the worst, especially her mother, though she doubted the new councilwoman would even be home by dark. Her mother's absence was not something that bothered Belkane, though it made her feel more responsible for her siblings. It was why she took Msako's disappearance so hard.

She didn't really want to go home either and explain that to her mother and father. "So..." her ear flicked back to him, hesitation an uncanny character inhabiting the tone of her voice. She was trying her best to not make it an awkward conversation, but there was little avoiding it. Yes, she wanted him to come back to the Pridelands with her... but also she couldn't just let him come spend the night in her parents' den with her. "It just occurred to me that I do not know where we should stay."

The evening brought a dullness with it that Taj could not escape, it left his mind in a haze and thoughts strung out in fragments, broken up into parts of a history he wasn't completely proud of sharing, still, when Belkane spoke he listened, brought back by the lull of her voice. A voice that was becoming familiar to him in a way he wasn't sure he knew how to respond to. It felt a lot like family, but without all the heartache of being a failure. Something about this settled the embers in his belly long enough for his mind to relax, even if only for a moment.

"Oh-" ah, there it was, an issue he could actually solve. Taj wasn't use to communal sleeping, back home he shared a den with no one and lived away from his siblings. It had been that way for as long as he was able to fend for himself, so when the topic was brought up a laugh escaped him. "You're pretty cute when you're flustered." He admitted with a wide grin. "I take it you share a den with your whole family?" Taj had never slept beside anyone before, well, not outside of his mother at least.

But he wasn't about to tell her that.

It wasn't an odd thing to him, his mother had longed for him to join the rest of his siblings when he was still just a growing youth, but he never felt welcomed by his father and avoided the situation all together. "We can find a place outside, it's really not an issue-" wait, we? What made him think she was going to join him? His flushed face quickly turned as his red eyes struggled to find the ground. "I mean, I meant-" ah s**t, back to this? He was now the flustered one, embarrassed by his own embarrassment. "What I meant was-" his paused for a moment before continuing. "I can sleep outside and you can go home and be warm. I can always just... find you in the morning."


The flat expression she leveled on Taj was the farthest look from 'cute' that she could manage. She took no offense to the playful jab, but she would be damned if she did not refute it. Belkane was a robust lioness with the typical Pridelander beauty, more rounded features and a generally bulkier build. Her family had been a part of the pride for generations, and if she wanted to she could trace the bloodline back to the old Kings. "I am not flustered," she counted with a small 'hmph' sound. She was also not cute, but she did not want to dive into that sort of conversation.

"But, yeah, I still live with my parents and siblings. We're starting to get a little too big for the den, since I have... a lot of siblings." She could not emphasize 'a lot' more. It was no wonder that the siblings were starting to stretch their legs and drift off for periods of time. They were getting to the age where they strived for independence - Belkane was just not ready to let them all go just yet.

The gold lioness snickered as Taj himself became flustered and embarrassed over a slip of words. It gave her the perfect opportunity to get back at him. With a smirk on her face her red eyes glinted at him mischievously, "Now who's being cute?" It was starting to turn dark, but she did not need to see in order to know that the older male was blushing. He couldn't even keep eye contact with her, and so she simply stared him down. Eventually, he would have to look at her. "You did not misspeak, though. I don't feel like going back home empty handed. I am just not used to sleeping... out underneath the stars." It was definitely more comfortable to sleep in a den, but resting elsewhere was a sacrifice she was willing to make to keep her pride intact.

It was hard to say where he fell in terms of confidence, when she spoke he listened, when she was upset he wanted to fix it even when he knew it wasn't something his simple words could mend, still, this left the Outlander feeling extremely small in the presence of someone who was easily half his size. This complex emotion left his eyes settled on her while his head ran off in every direction, searching for answers to questions that had never been asked. Still, he did try and would keep trying to allow himself to relax more, despite her smile that made his head rush and chest tighten. Maybe Bel didn't think she was cute, maybe she couldn't see that part of herself, or maybe it was embarrassing to address so forwardly, wherever the case was Taj found it hard to ignore. "I get that-" while he didn't have much to offer in terms of being able to relate to a family that lived closely, he could pretend he did.. for now at least.

"I've spent a lot of time sleeping alone and without the comfort of a den. I bet I could find us a safe place." As the lioness teased him in return he looked away, flustered and blushing against the night, the darkness easily kept his embarrassment a secret, but if she looked close enough it was easy to see just how awkward he really was. Still, he kept trying. He would keep trying. Confidence was a beast he had never been able to tame, but maybe that needed to change. Maybe Taj needed to change. Slowly the lion turned as he looked off, searching the landscape for a place to make camp for the night.

"If we can find a tree to rest under it would make the morning far less uncomfortable."

At her confession a smile escaped him, this was interesting. "Really? I love the stars, they become like... this heavy blanket I rely on sometimes to sleep soundly. I'll count them or trace them until my eyes can't stay open. It helps me sleep." Maybe he was rambling but something in this admission made him feel a little less worried. "Come on, this way." He knew where they could spend the night.

"It's just... it feels like they're watching me," she confessed, her voice small. It did not suit her, to speak so quietly, but she did so in case her words could actually be heard by anyone but Taj. "The Great Kings of Old are up there in those stars, and I have to wonder what they think of us down here. What they think of me." Her red eyes shifted up to the sky above her, watching as the stars brightened. Did every star hold a King? Every constellation some great ruler of the past that so much time had passed a name could not be remembered?

"How could you sleep with so many eyes on you?" The dark acted like a shield for Taj. His embarrassment had slipped underneath Belkane's radar while her own vulnerability seemed visible from miles away. She was not afraid of baring herself to him, but it was not an action she so often took. Belkane easily hid herself behind confidence and determination. The softer sides of her were released only when she had no need for either of the above.

She followed after him, and once she caught up to Taj she matched the darker lion's pace. Belkane was close to him, though it was unclear if it was intentional or not. To her, it was just easier to talk to him this way. "If you put me up a tree, I will be cross," she joked with him, trying to lighten up the heavy mood she had brought down upon herself. For such a young lioness, she seemed to burden herself with more than she needed to. Belkane liked to tell herself it was why she had such broad shoulders, so she could carry more weight upon them than any other.