[PRP] - Tonight, the world begins again. [End!]

[Daffupanda]

-- AIM Rp between Aviva and Mundoo ((Felyn & DFA))

Laying in the center of a very small clearing in the depth of the jungle, one not large enough to fit more than a few lions comfortably, Aviva's eyes were concentrated on the canopy. Stretced out on her back, she seemed quite.. at peace. Birds fluttered overhead, chirping, protected by the support of the branches and the leaves that hid them from sun above.

A smile spread across her face at the sight, her eyes following then the intricate weave of limbs that created the space overhead. She hummed softly to herself as she lay there, gazing up at the world she adored. She was only a little disappointed that she couldn't climb the trees and sit up there with them to sing.

Having taken the cub back to his Den, Mundoo returned to where he'd left Aviva, only to find her gone. It hadn't taken him long to find her scent and follow it though; in fact, it had taken him just a few minutes to find her, which was, all in all, a miracle, taking into account how well she blended into the jungle.

Rather than enter the clearing, he remain outside for a few moments, gazing at her, then he paused and looked down at his feet and the paw she'd ealrier kissed. Soon enough he decided that it was now or never; if he didn't enter the clearing, he was going to run for the hills, because this could NOT be happening again. Lord, or lord.

Fool me once, shame on you, his mind told him, Fool me twice, shame on me. This in mind, Mundoo padded into the clearing and looked down at the lioness, "Huh," he told her as he towered over her, "Hate to tell you; you're not gonna grow wings any time soon," he arched an amused brow at her.

She pouted slightly at this comment, staring up at his paler eyes as he loomed over her and blocked most of her previous sights from view. Her tail flickered, and slowly she rolled back onto her stomach. Glancing towards her back, she gave a little shrug, "you never know. I've seen stranger things happen." Although the smile on her face made it quite obvious she wasn't serious.

Her eyes shifted back up to his, watching him for a long moment in silence. It was still strange to find herself alone with him at times, to still find that it made her heart flutter after all this time and all the things that had happened. She had come back for him, stayed for him, but she couldn't have said why. After what had happened, every reasonable thought in her head had told her to run.. and she had not.

"Did you get him home safely?" she said finally, turning her head away, though her voice came out a little less confident than before. She cleared her throat, took a small breath, and turned her eyes back upon him with quirked eyebrows, as if the answer truly mattered.

"Oh, believe me, THAT I know," he flopped down on the ground then, curnling his tail about his form watching her as she shrugged. Oh, he knew she wasn't being serious; she knew HE wasn't being serious either. It was a strange little game they played, and Mundoo wondered when he was going to stop tiptoeing around the subject he actualy wanted to breach.

"Yeah, got the chit home; his mother's not all .... up there, yah know? Strange gal. Really pleasent, but strange," he shrugged, as if the words he'd uttered were giving the cub a reason for being like he was, "The owl followed all the way. Stayed with him. Didn't say a word while I was around though; either laughed or looked amused. Wonder why the hell."

He knew that look though; that wasn't what she wanted to ask. For a moment, he feared what she had been pondering, but with an uncharacteristic surge of bravery, he coughed into a paw and lay down beside her, "No, really, what did you REALLY wanna ask?"

She laughed at his words, shutting her eyes for a moment. A lioness that wasn't quite all in the head, in this pride? Why did that truly surprise him? "I think, if that's how she acts, then perhaps she fits right in with them all." She loved the trees, she communicated with them and all the rest of the muses, but on some level she was sure she was a bit more grounded than some of the ladies in the lands.

"Well, if the owl has taken him on, then that's his muse. Panu's crabs don't really like to talk to anyone but him, especially Willy. He just snickers and waddles along in his footsteps." She smiled, shrugged, and let the subject drop. Muses worked in weird ways.

As lay down, she shifted, until she could lean against him somewhat. It was innocent, or at least she had meant it to be, but his words startled her. She tensed slightly, opened her mouth, and then shut again. Quickly turning her eyes away, she tried to think of what to say. Finally, after a few hard breaths, she let out a quiet question: "Why did you want me to stay, Mundoo?"  

[Daffupanda]

It wouldn't really stop surprising him; then again, as she laughed, he couldn't hlp but roll his eyes; lord allmighty, WHY did it surprise him INDEED? Then again, he wouldn't really have it any other way, come to think about it. Letting out a sight, the lion waved a single paw, as if attempting to wave the thoughts away with the motion, "She does, she does. Don't think the chit fits, but then again, he's just a cub," hadn't it taken Mundoo weeks before he'd started to hear the muses? In fact, he had a distinct difficulty doing so still. Granted, he could hear them, whispering, taunting, but not as strongly as Misae or Hadithi could. He wondered about that.

"Bloody bird. I kept getting the impression I was amusing the hell out of it. What the heck," he frowned mildly at the irony of the situation; hadn't his former love's muse been a bird too? Odd, how things worked, "Bloody bird," he repeated again.

A pause followed though as she lay against him, and where he'd been looking up at the canopy, the lion blinked and lowered his gaze upon the lioness. He gazed down at her for a very long time, looking almost off-put, as if he didn't know the answer, but was trying to figure it out, "I.... don't know," he told her truthfully; at the time, he hadn't known. Not really, "I just felt... that I didn't want you to go; that it wouldn't..." another pause because his words were clumbsy, awkward. He knew the answer now; he knew what he hadn't known back then, but saying it... explaining it was hard.

His eyes looked haunted.

"Perhaps he's only a little different," she said with a shrug, "after all - not everyone hears the muses the same, nor do they live by them as strongly." She shrugged, eyes watching her paws for the moment. "After all, Kapuki would swear by the ocean, where as someone like myself simply finds joy in the trees." It was the truth - even among this pride, there were variations in the beliefs and the practices.

Her words trailed off as she heard him begin to speak finally, her gaze shifting up to watch his. The look in his eyes was somewhat painful, and it made her heart clench to look upon them. Still, she forced herself to look, refused to let herself turn her eyes away from him. Getting over this hurdle - it would be hard, but it had to be done. They had no choice if they wanted to progress - at least, she thought he wanted to.

"I stayed for you," she said softly, chewing at the inside of her cheek for a moment. She watched his eyes, the haunted gleam that stared back at her. "I won't.. I won't leave, Mundoo." Although the unspoken words hung in the air like she did.

"Diferent isn't all that bad," he should know, after all, shouldn't he? He'd always been diferent, in more ways than one, and never had it bothered him, so much as it'd bothered those that didn't understand him. Thankfuly thought, these lands had given him the chance he'd so yearned for. These lands... this pride, had given him a chance to live and let leave; it'd been a good change.

Glancing up at the trees, he had to admit he found solance in them, but not for the same reasons Aviva did. Or perhaps... they WERE the same reasons, and he just didn't realise it. It was hard to figure out and explain.

Gazing down at her, he knew she was saying the truth; because that night, he'd seen something he hand't noticed when they were younger... hadn't noticed when she'd returned to him, "I know you did," he whispered, and then tentively lowered his head till their foreheads met, "I wanted you to stay for you, too," a pause and he finaly heaved a sigh, as if it'd been repressed inside him for a very, very long time and her words had finally allowed him to release it, "I know you won't."

He did know. Really he did. That's what startled him the most.

"No, different is not so bad at all," she said softly, agreeing with him, for she knew exactly whose differences he meant here. She had never seen him as a bad omen, as a creature to despire or fear, and she was glad that he had found the one place that would not do so either. Life had led him where he needed to be, just as she thought it had led her as well.

"I stayed for us," she said then, staring into his eyes, although it meant she was almost looking cross-eyed with his forhead pressed against hers. Still, she managed to bring her smile back through her nervousness, ears flickering as she heard his sigh. She didn't know what else to say, or ask, but she knew this moment was an important one.

With a gentle purr she shifted, until she could nuzzle her cheek against his instead, eyes half closing as she felt the brush of his fur, slightly roughened by the sea salt dried in it. "I'm sorry that I acted the way I did," she offered finally. She had, actually, acted like a spoiled brat near the end. Broken hearted or not, it was only afterwards that she realized he had been broken hearted too. It was greedy of her, selfish, but he had forgiven that, just as she had forgiven his neglect.

No, no it wasn't, he thought to himself as he let out another sigh, though not nearly as weary as the previous one, not bad at all. Then again, he'd only recently learnt that very little in the world was as BAD as it seemed to be, and that things weren't always what they seemed. In fact, more often than not, things were never what they seemed to be, to a point it was imposible to figure out how things would turn out... unless one lived them out. It was in these lands that others finally looked at him as an individual, rather than a myth. It was... fullfilling.

It had allowed him to open himself up to the posibilities, needless to say.

Her words floated back to him and his eyes opened to stare into her piercing ones; she really was lovely, and the fact she wished to stay.... wanted to stay. For her, for him, for THEM, made her all the more beautiful, to a point Nyoni could have never acieved. And for once, Mundoo was not afraid to voice his thoughts, "You're beautiful," he told her then, "Inside and out," Nyoni had been beautiful too; inside and out, but Aviva was diferent. It was then that he understood what Nyoni had told him; that they simply weren't meant to be, that she was not his one... because he had never felt for Nyoni what he felt at that precise moment, "I love that smile," he told her, "When you smile, the trees around you do, too."

Closing his eyes, he allowed her to nuzzle him, returning the favour, a small rumble rising up in his chest, "You acted like you should have; if you hadn't, I would've never seen what I had. What I already had, and almost lost," a pause as he took his head away from her, bringing their noses together, "I love your smile," he told her again, "I love you; the way you are, and I wouldn't change it for the world."  

[Daffupanda]

She felt the heat rising in her cheeks as he began to speak, though her smile never faded, not once. She watched him, her breath and words caught in her throat, incapable of saying another thing for the moment. She had never expected this, even in this moment, and now that he had surprised her with the words she was finding that her heart was trying to beat faster than her body could handle. It rapped against her chest, made her breath slightly heavier, but still she smiled for him.

"You will never lose me," she said finally, pressing her face against his mane, feeling the warmth of his body against her chest. "I love you the way you are, I always have," she whispered softly, eyes closed, though his face still plastered to her memory, "I smile because I love you. I smile because.. you are with me." She let her words fade, let the silence overcome them for the moment.

It was their moment.