[Fin] If Living Is Without You (Lory/Tili)

[MoonRazor]

Today, Tili was on her own. Increasingly since they had arrived back at the Aka'mleli, the bright lioness and Pisha had found themselves able to spend time apart from one another without having an argument hanging between them. They had grown somewhat more independent of each other, with each becoming more and more comfortable with their surroundings every day. Though there were moments when Tili yearned for the inseparable companionship she had shared with her bonded while traveling home, she had come to realize that their independence signified none other than a growing strength within each of them, and for that, she was grateful. The young lioness had needed all the courage and strength she had had to grow accustomed to being in her childhood home again.

But where Pisha's presence had decreased somewhat, Lory's presence had grown. The lanky lion had long since become such a fixture in Tili's life that she wondered what would happen if they were ever to be separated again. Lory had promised her that he wasn't going anywhere, but even childish Tili knew that there were never any guarantees in life. Things could be here one day and gone the next - she should know. If nothing else, the earthquake had taught her that much, clued her in to the fleeting nature of everything that was and ever would be. So what if Lory had promised? Exigent circumstances could always come calling, and... then what? If Lory left, if Fai left, what would she have left? She would have Pisha, and ordinarily, that would have been enough, but... lately, Tili had been feeling otherwise. No, life wouldn't be quite the same without Lory and Fai, and like she had told him before, she didn't think she could stand losing him a second time.

And so, the bright lion's musings took her. A frown furrowed her brow as her mind wandered lightyears away and her body quite unwittingly met a new obstacle - a tree. Just a run-of-the-mill tree, but for whatever reason, Tili was suddenly overcome with the inexplicable urge to climb it. Lions didn't ordinarily climb trees, and Tili was no climber, but to hell with all that. She was climbing - as if it would make up for the dreadful possibilities she was coming up with in her head. Lory dying, Lory disappearing, Lory getting eaten by a vulture... and then... Fai dying, Fai disappearing, Fai getting eaten by a vulture... and Lory falling off a cliff, Lory starving to death, Lory... well, whatever Lory was doing, she was climbing away from it. Up, up, up she went along the length of the tree trunk and away from the horrible fates that may befall mortal souls below.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Time seemed to pass by so quickly, it had been months since he had moved in to Tili's den, now their den, he thought of it as theirs now to, it was the home of their little family and with that home came comfort, familiarity and oddly enough open-ness. Lordah had slowly but ever so surely found himself nudging closer to Tili when they slept, he often woke in the night and checked she was still there though her breathing told him she was he had to see her in the shadows and make sure she was indeed still with him that the past few months hadn't just been a dream.

In that time he had never smiled so much, when she was there he was smiling, he noticed less when Fai was away on her hunt because he knew she would come back to him and he knew that Tili would be there when she wasn't and if no one was there, someone would come back soon enough and he wouldn't be alone. He had even grown to appreciate Tilis bonded. Pisha could be a real grump, but he liked the vultures company.

He was musing over these things when he found himself in on Tili's trail. He caught her scent, so recent so fresh, so very familiar to him and instead of backing away and leaving her to what ever adventure she was on, he picked up his paws and followed her trail, his lips curling further up in to a broad smile the closer he got to the bright pink lioness who made home, home.  

[MoonRazor]

Ever higher, the pink lioness climbed, though her progress was almost painfully slow and she had only made it half way up the tree after innumerable moments of the same repetitive motion. Grab the trunk, shuffle up the tree... grab the trunk, shuffle up the tree. Even as the realization of what she was doing struck her momentarily, she was pushing it away again to focus more on the symbolic act of fleeing that she had decided to put herself through.

The steady rhythm slowly took over, and the images of untimely and fateful deaths that could potentially befall her Lory faded from her consciousness, until all that remained was the motion: grab the trunk, shuffle up the tree. There was a strange kind of solace to be found in that lonely climb upward, a sort of refuge that came with the weirdness of the entire situation. Because here she was, climbing up a tree.

Well, she was... uh... on a tree. Tili paused, claws suddenly digging deep into the bark. Her hind legs scrabbled for a better foothold as she peered slowly, cautiously over her shoulder and down at the ground below. The ground that seemed dangerously far away from her at the moment... The young lioness swallowed, glancing the other way, up toward the top of the tree. It stretched out for what seemed like miles. Oh... crap. Her tail lashed out anxiously, and she tightened her hold as she sought a comfortable and stable way to sink the claws of her hind paws into the bark as well.

Now this was a pretty situation...  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Trotting around the bend the slender lion looked at the situation before him. There was a tree, a big tree and there was his Tili, half way, more than half way up that tree. His smile quickly fell from his face and his very serious frown furrowed across his brow.

Licking his lips he carefully padded up to the large tree, the fur on the back of his neck lifting. "Tili." He whispers, his claws slipping from their sheaths. He was so afraid if he spoke too loudly he would scare her and she would fall.

"Tili, stay still and I will get you down." He flickers his tail his stomach tying in large bunching knots. What if she fell? He had to get her out of this tree.

But just how was he going to so that? Swallowing hard he sits slowly and puts his claws to the tree. "Stay still I am coming up to get you!"  

[MoonRazor]

She had been on the verge of taking a deep breath, letting go, and praying that Hestia or some other higher power would be kind enough to look after her when she heard Lory's familiar voice come floating up to her in a soft whisper. Her head spun as she turned her head, baby blue eyes frantically searching the ground as if to visually confirm that he was there, that she hadn't simply been going a little bit crazy from the adrenaline.

And oh! there he was. Big, strong Lory, who she could always count on to be there when she needed his help. Lory, who she had always put all her faith in. Lory, who was always there. And here he was now. His whispers calmed the hairs that were standing on end on her withers, though she could tell from his tone that he was nearly as panicked as she was. That didn't matter nearly as much as the immediate calm that his mere presence had managed to infuse her with, though.

"But... what if you get stuck up here too?" She wondered aloud, watching as he reached to claw the tree. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in him - she always did, and she hoped that had become a given within their family - but it was a very real concern. If she had gotten herself trapped, wasn't it conceivable that he might too? "What if I..." She loosened the hold of one of her hind paws, and carefully shifted it downward to grab ahold of the trunk slightly further down. Then the other paw, and... She paused, wondering if this had been the best idea, after all.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

"STAY!" His tail lashed and his eyes went very large, those odd coloured orbs concentrating on the pink butt that looked very precariously perched in the center of the tree. If she fell she would break something! Without another thought he unsheathed all of his claws and taking just one step backwards launched himself at the tree taking a large chunk of it in one stride.

Keeping his odd eyed gaze on her he clambers up the trunk, his slender body making it quite easy to scale the trunk.

Within a few moments he touches her rump with his nose. "Hey Tili, I see your tail is still attached." He whispers taking a deep breath , he towers around her his long legs straddling on either side of her body. He looks down at her and licks her head on the way past before stepping over her and gripping tightly to the tree just above her.

"Climb on." He whispers holding on to the trunk, hoping she would be able to shuffle up to his neck. "Come on, I'll get you down, I promise."  

[MoonRazor]

Oh, yes, Tili had realized her mistake. She paused to think things through, but before she could shift again, Lory had appeared behind her, and she heard his familiar voice again, commenting that her tail was still attached. For a moment, she forgot her troubles and a smile crossed her face. "Yes, it is," she agreed. And if her tail was still attached... well that had to mean that everything was and would continue to be just fine.

And then, he was all around her, encircling her with his lanky frame. It lasted mere moments, marked by the gentle lick atop her head, but in those brief moments, she felt overwhelmingly... safe. They shared a closeness that seemed altogether unfamiliar, because she knew Lory wasn't the most touchy-feely of lions, and yet, it all felt so right as if, strangely enough, they both belonged here in this tree, so together.

Then he was gone and above her. It didn't take much encouraging for her to start scrabbling her way upward, hoping she wouldn't hang on too tightly with her claws. She paused at his rump to nudge his tail with her own nose. "Yours too," she said with a small laugh, before clambering up, reaching with her paws until she found herself clinging tightly to him. "What now?" She hoped he had thought this through.  

[Syrius Lionwing]

"Just hold on tight" He whispers, glancing back at Tili, glad she was finally in his grasp so he could rescue her. Who knew what she was doing going up the tree in the first place. Reaching out he grips a branch and settles himself side ways before turning tail completely and running down the trunk of the tree, his sharp claws keeping him attached to the trunk. Taking a leap as soon as he was close enough to the ground the large slender lion lopes to a stop, his chest heaving slightly he lowers slowly to his belly and wriggles himself out fron under Tili before turning to face her his brow furrowed.

"Are you okay?" He whispers starting to nuzzle across her whols body checking for any cuts or scrapes from the tree hardly noticing that every time he stepped he left a pad of blood in his wake.

"You can't do that again Tili, I couldn't live without you!" He grumbles, touching her rars and licking her head again, his odd eyes pulling back and holding hers. "Are you okay?" He takes a deep breath. "I can't live without you." He whispers again his brow furrowed in a concerned manner. "I just can't so please, take care of yourself, I love you too much to lose you...I love you.." he said the words without thinking his ears flattening and vanishing in to his mane, his odd eyes looking worried. "I thought you were going to fall and die and I'd lose you..I don't want to lose you Tili! I don't want to." He licks his lips, his mouth as dry as a bone. "I love you to much for you to leave me.." He squeeks his voice getting rougher and dryer, how much had he just said of his true feelings for the sweet loving pink lioness?

"I love you." He sighs lifting his head slowly, his odd coloured eyes fixed steadily on her.  

[MoonRazor]

She had been all prepared to jump up and laugh the whole encounter off and chalk it up to another grand adventure when she spotted the concern that still lingered on Lory's face. "Oh, well, I'm fine, Lory. See? No blood or anything." She was quick to reassure, though she found herself leaning into the light touches that he was using to check her over.

For almost as long as Tili could remember, she had been the little one that needed mothering, but also the most resistant to any extensive fussing. That hadn't changed now. The attention he was giving her suddenly triggered that slight rebellion that had always lingered inside her, that sudden urge to change the subject and refocus the attention onto anybody but herself.

"Uh, look, you're bleeding!" She said suddenly, mildly horrified at the idea that saving her had hurt him. Grabbing his paw, she inspected it, hoping it wasn't much more than a surface wound. The lioness was just about to announce that Lory would probably survive with a little bit of cleaning when he spoke again, and his next words caught her off guard.

Love? She was once again prepared to laugh it off, take it as a joke of some sort when she realized how serious he was being, how... genuine. She found it a little odd that Lory was saying these things to her - after all, weren't there plenty of lionesses more... qualified for his love? - but... oh, there was a sort of giddy happiness that was beginning to flood through her. It was like a huge breath of relief, a burden being lifted from her shoulders. So he did love her. So he really wasn't going to leave her again.

A small smile inched across her face as she shifted closer, close enough to nuzzle into his mane and lightly lick his cheek. "Hm." She mumbled as she took a breath, breathing in his familiar, comforting scent. "I had a sneaking suspicion that you might."  

[Syrius Lionwing]

The big lanky male took a deep breath when she attached herself to his chest. He held it for a moment before letting his body relax. It was still odd for him to be touched by someone that wasn't his bonded, it felt strange but wonderful. he wanted to protect her to look after her and make sure that her adventures didn't go to far but he wanted her to laugh and smile and enjoy life the way she wanted too. There had to be a good in-between.

He let her words sink in slowly and he pulled slightly away. The tug to just wrap himself around her like a big protecting pillow made him pause but her reply, it made him feel foolish. He'd just unloaded his feelings on her and she'd already known? "You knew?" He looks at her feeling deflated, his odd coloured eyes looking distressed.

He was sure that she hadn't seen any of his glances or his want to be around her. Of course her response also made him wonder, just how long had she known, and did she return the favours? Would she want the love of a lanky, standoffish male, she had plenty of admirers, he had seen other males speaking to her and felt the pang of jealousy. He had been trying, trying to be closer to her and here he was pulling away from her in the one moment he had managed to finally tell her.

Taking another step backwards he flattens his ears in to his mane. "I should go and...wash my paws." He clears his throat, almost tripping over his tail trying to scramble to his paws. "They need a wash." he mumbles turning his gaze down to look at his scraped paws.  

[MoonRazor]

Tili didn't know much about what it was like to live without wearing her emotions on her sleeve, but she had slowly grown accustomed to the fact that Lory much was like that. It was easier - far easier - to make him feel uncomfortable in his own skin than it was her, and she had come to understand that situations like these that did little to faze her could do plenty to him. And she hadn't meant for him to take it that way. It wasn't a bad thing that she had known - though, had she really?

The lioness peered up at him with the same little smile. "You're always there for me," she began, wishing he would just hug her again like he had just moments ago. She missed that warm, intimate touch. That space between his forelegs seemed at that moment like the safest place on earth, and what she wouldn't give to just cuddle up there again to watch the world pass by. "You're a little bit different around me, you do all the right things. And you save me from trees... so if not that kind of love, then another kind. But it's love all the same."

But it wasn't another kind of love. He had just said that. It was love, like real love. The kind she'd heard about as a cub and dreamed of finding. The kind that made birds sing and bells ring and... who knew what else it could do. It was that special kind of love.

Yet, for all her efforts, he was pulling away again, and somehow, it didn't surprise her. It didn't frustrate her. It didn't do anything except trigger that feeling of acceptance that she tended to have around him. Lory was a flawed creature, but so was she - equally, if not more so - and whatever it was that could be improved, she didn't really care about. There was a certain delight to be found in the disorder of their lives that seemed more perfect to Tili than any perfection ever could.

And she watched him back away for a moment and gaze down at his paws, and she sighed. "Look, before you do that, I... just want to let you know that... You make me smile when I'm down and when the sun's hidden behind clouds. You make our den light up like nothing else could. You make me feel happy. Like I used to feel before everything changed. Every time I think of home, I see the valley... and then I see your face, because you're the one who makes me feel more at ease than anyone else, even Pisha.

"So what I'm saying is..." She moved closer and gently lifted his head with her nose, drawing back so she could peer into his bi-colored eyes with her baby blues. "There's no one else I'd rather have to make sure that my tail is still attached to my butt. Even if it's for the rest of my life."  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Lor'dah stopped in his scrabbling, his chin lifting, he met her eyes and smiles crookedly, a nervous twitch to his lips. He laughed lightly. The times of old, they always made him feel so much more comfortable, so much more in there here and now, so much happier.

Taking a deep breath he reaches a paw out, tentatively, he holds back nervously before pulling her in to his chest wrapping his silky mane around her shoulders. "You make me smile. I don't remember smiling as much as I do now." He nuzzles the top of her head a slight shiver running down his spine, it felt right to hold Tili in his arms, but it was also a bit uncomfortable.

Pushing past that feeling he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath "I'm jealous when other males speak to you." It was something he never saw himself admitting to her, he was especially jealous of those she had travelled with to get herself back home. "I..I don't want to feel that way..I want..I want.." His brow furrows and he takes a long deep breath. "I want to be your mate Tili..if..if you'll have me.." He trails off still holding on to the bright pink lioness, if she ejected him he would have to walk away and leave their den and he would be happy as long as she was happy. He would just always love her even if it was from afar.  

[MoonRazor]

She let herself sink into the embrace, breathing out slowly, as if savoring every moment. And she was, indeed, committing everything to memory. All the scratches left on the trees, the blue skies floating overhead, the beauty of the entire situation. Someday, she knew, this would be a story worth telling.

"Lory, you mean more to me than a thousand Chewys ever could," she said with a smile. She didn't mean to belittle what Chewa meant to her - she could never do that, because the stoic gray lion meant the world and more to her - but she knew that Lory had been well aware of the feelings she had once harbored for her travelling companion of old, and all she wanted was for Lory to understand that there was nothing for him to worry about. "I know that neither of us is perfect," she added. "But that's what makes it exciting, isn't it? That's what makes things special." And she knew they had between them something worth holding on to.

They both knew that Tili was prone to some rash actions, to diving in headfirst before thinking things through, but Lory wasn't. And this was a big step - perhaps one of the most important steps either one of them would ever take... Briefly she wondered where all the singing birds and clanging bells were. Disappointingly absent, but somehow... none of that seemed to matter in the face of what she was about to say next.

"So yes, Lory, of course I will. I would be a fool not to."  

[Syrius Lionwing]

Closing his eyes Lory, as he would probably be forever known held Tili tightly against his chest. "I promise I'll never let you go. I'll always protect you Tili, Always." He sighs.

From the top of the same tree that the bright pink lioness had managed to get herself stuck in, a slate blue bird sat looking down on the blissful scene. "It's about time." She sighs spreading her steely wings and launching herself back in to the sky, leaving the lovers bound together.