[PRP] In the shadows (Arrows and Imara)

[Conrad The Mighty]

It had been a few nights now that Arrows had spent at the den they passed as a pub, trying to void out the memory of her actions (of course after recalling it repeatedly under her breath). According to her friends, she was a paranoid idiot. After blacking out from trying to eat a whole fermented watermelon by herself, she affirmed it was out of shame, she agreed. But Pace had never seen the lionesses before, she wasn't even sure they were pridemates.

This night offered the hope of a new moon and blacked out skies littered with little wishes to accompany it. Of course she had celebrated the occasion with her crew members in the pub, still fresh from her encounter with the watermelon however had left her jaded so she hadn't fully indulged to the point of drunk. It was late now, most of the families and career oriented lions had gone to sleep, leaving the restless, mischievous and heartbroken to guard the dawn.

To be a female on a crew in this pride meant always being able to get the most out of any situation and stay solid in the face of certain failure. No, Arrows ran like a kitten. There was a place very special to Arrows, and although she was not allowed in the vault, she still liked to be right next to all the treasure in her world. It helped her to put things into perspective with the calming sound of the ocean in the near distance.

The brown lioness unstrapped the belt that kept the tortoise shell attached to her leg and laid down into the sand on her back and looked up at the stars to let her mind wander. She didn't even get the lionesses name.

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

Imara was still upset over the whole event with Arrows. She had really thought that Arrows was into females and was enjoying her attention but she'd ran. Her sister had tried to convince her that it was her fault and that she'd scared Arrows away by not being friendly and raising suspicsion. Imara really didn't believe her though. She was putting all the blame on herself. She'd been avoiding the larger groups of the pride since that day. She didn't want to bring down anyone else with her but after a couple of nights she knew she had to go back and do her work in the pub with her sister.

The night was very dark but Imara could still see decently enough to navigate. She was traveling along the beach towards the pub now. She was getting fairly close but she was only just getting to where the vault was. As she was walking past the area where the vault cave was she spotted something dark on the sand. It was very large like a lion and that set off her alarms. Someone was very close to the vault and she wasn't sure who it was or why they were there.

Imara lowered her body to the ground and snuck closer. As she got closer she could tell the lion was laying on it's back and this really weirded her out. She snuck closer and closer until she was just a couple of yard from the lion and then she stopped. Her mischievious nature kicked in from there and she took as deep a breath as she could get and let it out in a loud growl.

Conrad The Mighty

 

[Conrad The Mighty]

Pace's red eyes went from almost to a comfortable lazy half-lid to slinging straight open as she clamored to find her feet. The Stormborn bastards were back! She thought to herself as she looked around, hackles up and ready for war! Adrenaline was pumping so hard while she was looking for the intruders, the dark masked the lionesses features and Arrows looked right over her, looking for the action. But she saw none.

"Whosit!? What?!" She looked harder in the dark and wished it was an invasion in which she just got caught with her pants down. So many different things Arrows wanted to say at once, but instead she stared at the black and white lioness, she just violated her happy place! Now Arrows was just waiting for the infantry to come down on them. It was bad enough she'd have to explain why she was down by the vault in the first place, the company could throw her under the bus.

"Are you crazy?" Arrows whispered finally, still listening.

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

Imara's amusement meter was full and busting as she laid on the sand just watching Arrows flip out. The longer it took Arrows to notice her the more amused she became. She was laughing with her mouth closed to muffle the sound by the time Arrows noticed her. It took her a few more moments to even be able to say anything without cackling loudly but finally she was able to look up at Arrows with tear filled eyes from all the laughing she'd done while trying to be semi quiet.

"No if I was crazy I would have jumped on you but I didn't want to end up with scars." She replied with a playful grin. It had been a surprise to find Arrows here. She'd had no idea who she was scaring but it was the icing on the cake to find out it was her. It made her feel better to get her back for running off a few days ago.

Conrad The Mighty

 

[Conrad The Mighty]

While the hyena was busting up, all Pace could do was crack a small smile, at least she had a cute laugh. Convinced no one was now coming to rescue her,Arrows put her paws through her tuft of hair and rubbed her face then flicked her head, flipping her hair back into it's rightful place to shake herself out from the trauma. When the black and white lion spoke, Arrows replied with a gave a half tilted nod of her head.

"Good answer.." Arrows paused for a moment, lapping up the sight of black and white pelt against a black and white speckled sky. "So which one arrr you?" She finally asked before she put her paw in her mouth any further, she had racked her brain for hours on end trying to remember if she'd gotten a name.

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

Imara grinned at Arrows reply and was surprised to see Arrows looking her over. It made her wonder if her sister had been right and she had been the one to scare Arrows away not her advances. When Arrows asked which one she was Imara couldn't help the mishcievious grin come across her maw. "You would probably remember my caress against your fur better than my name since you never recieved it." Imara replied with a sultry purr. "My name is Imara. I was the one hiding in the bushes."

Conrad The Mighty

 

[Conrad The Mighty]

Well aren't we all hidin gin the bushes in some way? A sheepish smile ran across her face as she nodded, yes she would never forget that caress to say the least. The memory wasn't enough though, Pace needed some proof that this was The Real McCoy infront of her, not just a dream; so she leaned in and slowly took a breath through her nose, smelling up the right shoulder to the neck of the other female. The scent of this lioness was vaguely familiar, but the only things that came to mind to relate it to was emotions, and primal ones at that.

"Imara.." She let the name slip right off of her tongue like silk into the lions ear before she stepped back and started with her ears half pulled back but still sitting proud, "My frie--- err.. Some boys at the pub told me you worked there. Look, I owe you an apology." She paused and looked at Imara, hoping she would like to interject and stop her from actually spilling her dirty grimey guts all over the vault wall.

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

Imara couldn't help but shudder when Arrows leaned in to her and sniffed her shoulder all the way up to her neck. It just sent her fur standing on end in a good way. She'd never shuddered like that before when she was being sniffed by anyone. It felt nice.

She grinned when Arrows spoke her name. She really liked the way she said it she just wanted to purr. When Arrows spoke of the pub and the males that frequent there her ears perked in curiousity. So she had asked around about her. The way she had acted their last meeting that actually surprised her but when she said she owed her an apology her whole expression turned to surprise. "An apology for what?" Imara wanted to hear more on this. She wasn't about to stop her.

Conrad The Mighty

 

[Conrad The Mighty]

Pace wasn't always the luckiest lion. Of course she was going to make her go through with this. Trying to stall a little, Arrows nodded her head, with her jaw clenched tight and looked around. The benefit of being at the vault, was it was highly convienant excuse as a cub to trolip off to the ocean when the older lions spotted her where she wasn't supposed to be. Story of her life.

Beautiful idea. She thought to herself, as she reattached her tortise shell to her leg with the arrow pointing up towards the sky. With a reassuring smile, Arrows tilted her head, nodding to the ocean. Hopefully Imara wasn't getting scared that she was going to take off again.

"Lets go for a walk, it's not safe here." Point of fact, this was the most safe location on the pride, as time as proven. Anxiety was welling up, this was insanely difficult! But as soon as her paw touched the water, Arrows broke the silence she had built up unintentionally.

"My father is Pirato, I'm rather paranoid about being disowned with my secret exposed. You caught me off guard, granted I was being rather forward, but can you blame me?" She chuckled, attempting to make a funny. "Anyway, I took off because I thought there was no way I could be lucky enough to find not one attractive, forward lioness but twins? I made the wrong move, and I feel awful for how I made your sister feel, I was just trying to give her a rouse but when she winked back I thought for sure something was up. You see?" She asked, hoping she wouldn't have to go farther, there wasn't too much farther she could go.

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

Imara did become suspicious that she was going to try and run again but when Arrows motioned for her to follow she was happy to do so. The silence went on between them for what seemed like ever to Imara. She was waiting for Arrows to speak and didn't want to push her so she was keeping quiet. They made it all the way down the beach and to the water before Arrows ever said a word.

Imara was certainly learning new things. She had no idea that Arrows was Pirato's daughter. She didn't blame her at all for being paranoid then. However when she spoke of how Jasiri had made her think something was up Imara giggled. Her sister was great at making everyone uncomfortable. "I appologize for laughing. I just thought it was funny that you got freaked out by Jasiri. She's the master of making everyone nervous. She's not really into females but she doesn't have any issues with others who are. With her past though I'm really surprised she's not into something besides males."

Conrad The Mighty

 

[Conrad The Mighty]

"I was beginning to believe that I was the one making her feel uncomfortable at first, it was the unnatural shift that threw me." Now that Arrows had forced herself to open her mouth and share her conjectures, there seemed to be some sort of trickle down effect, she was sharing more. It worried her. Hopefully this wouldn't become a trend. Feelings and sharing them.

While she was at it, she'd better give her little disclaimer as to what it really meant to be Pirato's daughter. "I don't usually share with those who don't already know who my father is. I don't want to give anyone any more leverage against me than they may already have, you see? Not that I'm ashamed." Shame wasn't a common emotion for pirates to consider, but it was in the nature of a female no matter how she's raised in time.

Finally, the time of talking for her had finished! "Now.." Shifting back into her private stock suave demeanor, her mouth moved more slowly as if it was tired of moving. "Your story?"

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

Imara nodded at Arrows words and couldn't help but grin. "Oh yeah Jasiri can flip the sticks real quick. Sometimes I wonder if she doesn't have a problem in her head. It's an emotional thing too." Imara explained as she thought of her sister. Jasiri was a girl who could go from happy to angry in a split second and sometimes it was at the most unexpected thing.

When Arrows explained how se didn't usually let it be known how she felt towards girls cause of her father Imara could understand but not really relate. Her 'parents' had been ok with everything she did right down to who she was attracted to. After leaving them she had questioned herself several times on why did she leave such a wonderful family to find the broken one she was blood kin to? "I think I understand. You prefer only ones close to you trully know so you dont get burned later."

When Arrows turned the attention to her and asked about her past Imara straightened up a bit. She had to pump herself up to really tell her story. "Well as you know I'm a twin but I didn't grow up with her. We ended up together because the couple who raised me finally told me I wasn't theirs and that they had found me alone as a very small cub. They didn't know why I was left alone and I still don't to this day. I went looking for my family but all I found was my sisters old mate. He actually tried to do physical harm to me at first until he realized I wasn't Jasiri and then he explained to me that he had left my sister after a greusome fight. He told me he had injured her in the fight and he had no idea if she was alive or not." Imara had to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Remembering the past always brought back the emotions to Imara. Her feelings of shock and desperation to find not only her sister but her identical twin sister and not even knowing if she was alive.

"I searched for weeks with no sign of her or even her body but finally I got a lead from a seagull. The seagull told me he had seen a lioness who looked just like me except for the scars on her face and shoulders and had even talked to her. He had sent her in the direction of a pride filled with pirates because she had asked for a place where she could start a new life and be care free. I followed the same directions the seagull gave her and ended up here with her. We actually met after both of us had been accepted into the pride."

Conrad The Mighty

 

[Conrad The Mighty]

Arrows listened as well as she could. Imara's tone mixed with the sound ocean water brought soothing music to her ears and brought her comfort and a moment of serenity. It wasn't the most pleasant story, but that didn't change its' power or truth, it was a slice of Imara's core.

"I see." Empathy resigned on Pace's face, she didn't feel sorry for the lioness and her twin but instead an illogical connection. Now the two understood each other's lives by sharing their pasts and there was a rumbling in the pirate's loins that told her there would be a future (if not for just the immediate).

It's not Arrows' way to look into the future, but instead to live in the moment. And this moment was missing something very important. Usually the pirate-ess wouldn't be so bold as to go through with her physical desires for touch, and she wasn't very well acquainted with how to be tender, but she wanted so badly to sooth Imara.

Pace leaned her head in and gently nudged Imara and shifted her weight so that she was leaning against Imara while they continued to walk. Perhaps this was no longer appropriate for the shoreline's greedy eyes.

"My den isn't too far from the pub, just up the way.." She whispered suggestively.

Izzy Makani

 

[Izzy Makani]

After digging up all the difficult memories in her mind Imara wasn't really paying much attention to the world around. Remembering how much time and effort she placed into finding her family left her feeling somber but remembering how her sisters old mate had treated her when he'd seen her broke her heart. He had been so violent and he had been ready to lay her open just to get her to go away. It was a horrible feeling.

When Arrows told her about her den not being far from the pub Imara nodded. She could feel Arrows body against hers and it was comforting. After a moment of staring at the sand Imara looked at Arrows. "Let's go." She told her and then started up towards the pub where from there she would follow Arrows to her den.

Conrad The Mighty

Fin