[ jrp ] Here comes the sun. [ Mauja x Ihsan ]

[noxilicious]

Mauja'gonjwa rolled to his feet sleepily, dragging himself out of the den on two paws before collapsing in a sunny spot on the ground outside. He always felt so sluggish in the morning and today was no different. Letting the sun's warmth seep into his fur and gently warm his small body, he briefly let his stormy grey eyes close. For those few brief seconds, in the morning silence before the full of the pride was awake, all was quiet and all was peaceful. He could pretend that everything was alright. That there were no sick or dying lions just a few dens away. For a few brief seconds, before the illusion was shattered by the soft scrambling of reptilian feet against the sand.

Opening a single lazy eye, Mauja found a lizard had decided to take advantage of the suns warmth as well, perching on a small rock a few paces away. Seeing that it was out of reach, the young leopard decided to let it share his sun and returned to his peaceful basking. It was hard, lving in this pride of illness and death. It was especially hard knowing that he was safe from the disease when his adopted lion siblings were not. If they were to get sick... Or even worse, die... Mauja didn't let his mind finish the thought, sitting up abruptly.

His dark grey eyes flashed angrily. He didn't know what he'd do. The lion cubs that his mother had picked up outside the pride were as much his siblings as those blood related to him. Continuing to worry about this frightening future, Mauja stared off towards the horizon.  

[noxilicious]

Hearing the soft footsteps of another cub leaving the den, Mauja lifted his head off the ground to see who else had woken. It was one of the lion cubs. A pang went through him as he watched her approach. He hoped with every inch of body that his siblings would be immune. Though he knew the chances of that were so slim. Dark eyes regarded the pretty white lion with curious speculation.

She looked far more tired than he did. Not that he blamed her. The transition to life within the cursed pride from the outside world was a difficult one. Feeling smothered by the sick and dying... "Good morning." Her kind greeting brought his mind back to the present. " Morning! " He responded with a grin.

Rolling onto his belly, he stretched out his front paws away from his body, with his chest to the ground and rear end up in the air, sinking his pin p***k claws into the earth. Oh, that felt good. Sitting up, he turned back to face the other cub. " You're Ishan, right?" He would get their names down eventually. "Howd you sleep?" He figured he might as well ask.
 

[noxilicious]

Mauja blushed under his fur upon the confirmation that he had indeed gotten her name wrong. Way to go, idiot. he thought to himself, clenching his jaw tightly for a moment before relaxing again into an easy smile. "Isi it is then." He said with a well mannered nod, as though a deal had been settled between the pair. But he quickly caught on to the last art of her sentence. "Liar." Mauja bounced forward a step. "Liar, liar. Fur on fire." Dancing in place, he stuck out his tongue, proud that he had been observant enough to catch the tired look in her eyes. "You look half asleep even now!" He didn't know for sure, of course. But that was Mauja. He thought everything was some sort of conspiracy in hiding.

He bounced again on his front paws as she attempted to remember his name. So close. Almost there. He was silently cheering for her as she searched for the last part to his name. Part of him wanted her to know it while another part wanted her to forget so he wouldn't feel so bad for saying her name wrong earlier. Mauja. Right? His grin grew even wider when she finally said it. " Yup! Nice memory." Moving forward, he began to strut in a circle around the white cub. "I mean, really, my name is Mauja'gonjwa. But someone my size doesn't need a name that long anyways." His full name sounded far too formal anyway. That was a burden he would have to carry when he was older. But for now, he preferred just Mauja.

Sitting back down in his sunny spot on the rock, he flopped over, rolling onto his back. Paws in the air, he regarded his more serious adopted sibling with curiosity. "Well, if you sleep so well, why are you up this early? Most of the pride is still asleep." Aside from the soft coughing of the sick from the dens on the other side, most of the sleeping dens were still quietly packed with the bodies of sleeping cats. Only the a few guards had left already to go on their morning rounds, and a few hunters hoping to return with a morning meal.

 

[noxilicious]

Mauja heard the relief in her sigh when he had confirmed his name. It made him feel a little better than she had been under pressure to remember the name as well. Her comment about long names being a good thing made him smile on the inside just a bit. ”I dunno.” He said with a shrug, trying not to seem too proud of his name now. ”It seems like a burden. Something I have to live up to.” Expectations scared him. He felt that he would never be good enough to live up to what others wanted him to be. Not that he even wanted to. He wanted to be his own person. Not the copycat image that somebody else had thought up for him.

”I could ask you the same question.” Her reply made him grin. ”Well now, dear sister.” He began with a slow drawl. With a paw, he drew a circle around the rock he was laying on. ”See this? Once the sun rises in the morning, this rock is in full view of the sun. It gets toasty warm.” A shadow cast from one of the nearby dens had already begun to encroach upon one corner. ”But later on, around this time, the shadow begins to take over and the warmth is lost.” He dropped his voice low for dramatic effect before slamming a paw on the rock in an attempted to make startle Isi.

”I like to get up early before the rock isn’t warm anymore.” He didn’t feel like mentioning that the rock’s warmth could often put him to sleep, letting him gain a few more vital hours that he would restlessly lose during the night. The prospect of this disease scared him more than he would ever care to explain. Especially to a girl. Uncomfortable now, he decided to change the subject. ”How do you like life in the pride so far?” His voice was rather soft now, much of the joking gone. It was a honest question and he was legitimately curious.
 

[noxilicious]

The attempt to startle his adopted sibling worked better than he had hoped, and right afterwards, he almost felt guilty. She seemed to be a lot more tired than she was letting on. He stood up, stretching his paws out in front of him again in a stretch. Instead of going back to a sitting position this time however, he rocked to his feet and moved a few steps over. Gesturing with his head towards the rock, he grinned lopsidedly. ”You need it more than I do.” He watched her, waiting, hoping that she wouldn’t turn down the offer. It was obvious that she was exhausted.

Mauja listened to her response to his question, and noted with concern as the playful smile soon fell away. It didn’t quite occur to him that she knew life outside the pride. That her real parents were somewhere out there as well. He knew his way around the pride, and in his small world, that was enough. Even when he saw his mother rarely, she was still there if or when he ever needed her. It helped to have that little bit of reassurance sometimes.

He saw the hesitation in her eyes when she chose not to add on to her first statement and turned it back on him. For a single moment, he wanted to pursue the matter, but he let it slide for the time being. ”It’s great.” He said with a bit of a forced grin on his face. He was quiet for a moment before he let it fall. He may not have been happy, but lying would have been worse. ”It’s hard.” He began slowly, trying to choose his words carefully. ”I’m safe from ever being sick. But that isn’t enough.” How could he explain that it made him so angry that he couldn’t protect his lion siblings. Or that he would slowly watch his friends grow sick and could do nothing to fight it.

How could he explain, when the words he so desperately needed to say would not cross his tongue. That the worry he felt would keep him up for hours each night and the guilt ate away at him when he realized that he was above the fate they would eventually face. ”I’m glad that you like it here.” He said softly. Maybe glad wasn’t the right word. But it seemed to fit at the time.