[PRP] The Firefly Lion (Miminiwa and Izo)

[Kimaria]

Izo'raina. That was her name. Ice Queen. It wasn't, however, a very suitable name. She was not cold hearted or unsensitive. She was just, not the most social of creatures. She didn't really know how to be social and she could be quite awkward at times with conversation.

She liked her own company and the company of the fireflies that came into being when the shadows began to fall. Because of that she'd become almost nocturnal, spending a lot of the day sleeping so she could go and play with the glowing insects when the light began to fade.

This wasn't a problem whilst she was young and others hunted for her, but this couldn't last...not when she was growing up and needed to fend for herself. But she didn't like to think about growing up. She wanted to live in her little dream worlds forever.

Sleeping; that was what she was doing now. Lying curled up against a tree, the sun dappled against her fur as she snored lightly.

Miminiwa padded across the lands a bright smile upon his lips that could have possibly rivaled the sun. The young male didn't appear to care that everyone he knew shortened his name to Mimi, clearly a girl name, even as he left his mother's den and heard the bustle of his siblings. Shrugging to himself the pink male quickened his pace looking for something to occupy his time. If he didn't find something he was sure he would end up by the water basking under the warmth of the sun, even though it always looked as though he was illuminated by it'd glow thanks to the yellow that decorated his speckled pelt.

A yawn rolled off his tongue as he shook his head bright eyes looking about him with interest. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, perhaps it was his muse, not that he expected to find it anytime soon. He was still young. He had plenty of time. Shrugging he paused in his step tilting his head back looking to the sky. For a brief second his gaze lingered upon the sun before flickering away to the few clouds that littered the sky. Why was everything always so pretty here? He wondered the smile still decorating his maw.

Lowering his head he continued on his was before his gaze fell upon the mostly white female. Tilting his head his brows knitted together. Was she sleeping? But it was too late to be sleeping! He would just have to remedy that. Without thinking Mimi broke into a run and jumped, aiming to pounce the older female.

The last thing she would have expected was to be pounced whilst she was sleeping.

When she slept she tended to make sure she was tucked away so that no one could find and bother her. However, apparently being against a tree wasn't the best of spots to hide a girl of such vibrant colours.

She woke with a jolt from her dreamless sleep, golden eyes - startlingly warm against the cool shade of her pelt - flared open.

She twisted up onto her paws, panting with fear, backing up against the tree to try and get away from whatever it was that was attacking her...when she realised her attacker was a cub. And what a beautiful cub!

He glowed. He glowed like fireflies.

Her mouth hung open as she gawked wordlessly at the cub before her. The fright placed with deep, unshakeable awe.

Then a second later she realised she'd been staring and glanced away sheepishly. "Um..."

Mimi had noticed that she was staring and simply tilted his head in response. He assumed that it was because he had attacked her, playfully but still. Then again never once did it cross his mind that she was staring at him in awe. After all because of his almost-twin he was used to seeing the bright-almost sunlit pet everyday. It didn't occur to him that it wasn't normal for most. "Hi!" He chimed cheerfully absolutely beaming at the female as he skipped back away then forward towards her. "Names Miminiwa, for now at least." He told her.

"What's yours?" He inquired incredibly curious, perhaps this girl would be his first friend! "Whatcha doing sleepin in the middle of the day?" He asked with a ring of laughter as the thought was very silly to him. Why sleep when you could be playing? "Don'tcha wanna play with everyone? How can ya do that if you sleep in the day?" More questions reigned down innocently, unaware that he might be possibly annoying the other. "I like the blue on your fur." He suddenly stated with one of the most random statements.

Yup, Miminiwa was simply random.

Izo'raina was battling with her thoughts.

She stared at this cub before her in utter, sheer amazement. It was hard not to think of him out of something she had dreamed up on her times alone. He looked formed out of magic, he looked like a firefly in lion form.

Her heart was pounding with sheer excitement and it took all her strength not to blurt out a hundred and one questions. She shifted impatiently as he spoke, knowing that she shouldn't be rude by not listening to him and answering him.

But his glowing fur...

No, no! Listen!

"I'm...Izo'raina." She replied quietly, eyes shimmering. "Um...I..." She paused. What was she supposed to say? That she didn't really play with other lions? That she preferred to be alone? That she preferred to do nothing but watch insects dance their pretty dances above her head?

"I..." Another pause. "I visit friends in the evening...and sleep in the day." Normally, she'd just mumble a couple of excuses and slink off, but his appearance had completely enchanted her. It kept her rooted to the spot when normally she'd be looking for an escape route.

"Y-your fur." She replied in response to his compliment. "You're the most...the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" She covered her mouth with her paws then and wriggled with embarrasment. Then, lowering her head she leaned forwards and whispered. "Are you...a firefly?"

Yes, she'd spent far too much time with her head up in the clouds.

 

[Kimaria]

"Nice to meet ya Izo, if ya don't mind me callin ya that." Mimi replied as he fell silent to listen to her other answers to his million and one questions. "Really? That's cool, but don't ya miss all the fun stuff of the day? Like the sun, and swimming with the fishies and...and..." He trailed off unable to think of another fun daytime activity. "Who do you visit at night? Most people I see are all awake in the mornin and sleepin night." He stated with a firm nod as though he was incredibly proud of his knowledge.

Then she started speaking about his fur which resulted in him blushing, not that it was exactly noticable with the color of his fur but it was still there. "Y'think so? I-I...thanks for the compliment Izo. I think you're pretty spiffy too." He bent his head down and rubbed the back of it with one of his paws as he fixed his gaze to the ground. Suddenly he was so embarrassed.

Firefly? Was he a firefly? Not that he knew of...he didn't have wings and while he looked like he glowed he didn't actually. "Um...er...well..maybe? I have no idea."

She shook her head. "Not my friends." She sat for a moment quietly, listening to everything he had to say before making any further judgements. He was just like she imagined a firefly to be. Bright, chirpy, friendly and warm.

She imagined that the fireflies would speak to her as if she were one of their own, as if she were their protector. She almost liked to fancy that she could be a firefly queen sitting in a little castle built in the branches of a tree that overlooked their pool.

"The fireflies are my friends." She continued in her quiet voice. "They shine like you, golden and beautiful in the night. They're like...like stars you can actually reach out and touch."

She laughed. "Maybe you are a firefly, sent to the land of lions to speak on their behalf. Maybe you're their prince, heir to the throne, come on a quest to prove yourself worthy of being a ruler." That was it...she was off on one now. "I wonder...I wonder if my fireflies would know you."

Mimi's eyes widened at her words. Her friends were fireflies? That was it? How lonely that must be! The glowing bugs couldn't talk so how did she ever have a conversation?! "Fireflies! But...but! How do you talk to them? Do they ever talk back? Are they your muse? Oh...have you not found your muse?" His questions just poure from his lips. Never once did he think that she was strange, no he thought she was simply interesting and fabulous at that. "I like fireflies, I do but doesn't it get lonely y'know talking to them without them talking back to ya?" He couldn't help but ask because while he loved silence from time to time, it wasn't often that there was silence when he was around. He was always talking, he wasn't sure if he could stand only silence.

She shook her head.

"Lonely?" She hadn't even considered that she could be lonely. Yes, she didn't hang out with other lions like she probably ought to, but there was nothing she wanted for companionship in another lion.

The fireflies were quiet and peaceful. They gave her space and didn't probe for answers to how she was feeling or what she was thinking about. They respected her.

"Muse? Um...I don't know about that." She hadn't even given much thought to her muse at all. It was all about the fireflies!

"Fireflies talk. You just...have to know how to hear them." She nodded. "Maybe...if you wanted, you could come and meet them. Just you and no one else. You're a firefly lion so...it only seems right you come and say hello."

"Well I've never really met a firefly personally. I do like to watch 'em though." He told her with a nod as he fell back onto his butt. "You'd like me to meet your friends? I'd love to! It'd be lots and lots of fun, plus it'd be...an honor cause you're my first friend outside of my family." The statement was true and regardless of whether or not she considered him a friend he definitely thought of her as one. Yup, it was decision that he had just decided upon.

"Do you think they'd like me? I mean I dun wanna make your friends mad at you because you brought me and they didn't like me..." His tone fell soft and he hopped to his feet shuffling about just the slightest bit with worry in his posture. He didn't want anyone to be mad at Izo because of him. That wouldn't be very fair would it?

"Friend?" She wasn't sure what she thought about that. She supposed it would be good to have a friend that was of her own species. She just hoped that the fireflies liked him too, that way she knew she could trust him!

Yes, let the fireflies judge!

"Well...you look like a firefly. If you're lucky they might be attracted to you and come land on you. That's a really good thing! The luckiest thing in the world!"

She smiled. "I think they like lions admiring their prettiness. They like me because I compliment them a lot. They fly around my ears and I can hear their wings all buzzy. One day I'm going to be a queen of the fireflies. Maybe...maybe you'll be a king and we can rule and make sure that peace is in their lands forever!"  

[Kimaria]

"Yup, you're my friend. You're okay with that right?" He asked quickly his gaze snapping back to her, panic flickering across his features. What if she didn't want him to be her friend? What would he do then? He already liked her so much! Panic swelled in his heart before it started to fade. Everything would be alright he just knew it. Especially if the fireflies liked him, because then it meant that he'd be able to play with her and her friends all the time! That would be so wonderful! Now he was incredibly excited.

"Well I do hope so, I've never been too close to a firefly before, it'd be great to have one like me." He told her truthfully suddenly beaming with happiness and sunshine all over again. "I think we'd make a good pair. You'd be a good queen of fireflies and I'd hope to make a good king, course I can do that if they don't like me..."

She smiled.

She supposed it'd be okay to tell him he was her friend. After all, she wasn't so unsocial that she didn't care about hurting feelings. "Sure. You can be my friend. Your my first lion friend ever." Somehow, she felt happy knowing that, happier ackowledging that it wasn't just her and the fireflies.

Surely, if the insects saw how much she liked him they wouldn't shun him.

"Don't worry. I'll introduce you and everything will be fine. They you can learn to listen to their words. You'd make a good king!" She chirped, thinking of that castle in the trees.

Maybe...maybe she really was a queen!

"Um...okay. Come meet me here tonight, okay? Just before the sun goes down, and I'll take you to see them, alright? Uh, is it okay if I call you Mimi?"

"Really? That's absolutely fabulous Izo!" He chirped happily so excited to finally have a friend. A friend all his own! "I sure hope so, I do wonder what fireflies are thinking as they glow and fly about and stuff." He hadn't spent a whole lot of time wondering about the glowing bugs but he did often wonder what it was like to be a beacon of light because while he looked like he glowed it wasn't always the case when the lights were out.

"We'd be the best king and queen of the fireflies ever!" He declared standing up straight and tall. "Yup, yup. I'm sure of it." He nodded to confirm this before listening to her words. "Sounds perfect to me Izo, sounds superdy duperdy perfect!" Which it was. He was going to have an adventure! "Yup! Call me Mimi, or whatever else you'd like."

She beamed. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all: socialising, making friends, being woken up when you were really tired. Maybe she had been lonely and she hadn't even realised it. Maybe her dreamworld was more real than even she had imagined and maybe it was time to open the doors and let someone else in.

Maybe Mimi was that one.

So many 'maybes' but nothing set in stone. Nothing that she could predict or say for certain. But who cared about that? She had a friend in a lion and friends in many fireflies.

"Alright then Mimi. I'll meet you later. I'll be sleeping here until then so I won't be going anywhere. If I'm not awake when you get here, wake me!" She purred and settled herself back against the tree.

"Don't be late! Kings should never be late, even future-kings!" She grinned and settled her head on her paws, yawning as she closed her eyes feeling, for once, thoroughly content.

The pink male was absolutely thrilled about his plans for the night. This day had just been perfect so far. He was so glad that he had decided to pounce even though he had no idea of who she was. It felt good having a friend and having plans to do things throughout the day. Now he had something to look forward to. "Mkay Izo, I'll be back right before sunset so we can visit your friends together!" He grinned broadly as he continued speaking. "Should I wake you up the same way I woke you up earlier?" In his mind it was a good way to make sure she knew it was him, at least that's how it came about in his mind.

"I won't be late I promise! If anything I'll be early!" He called to her as he walked backwards before turning around with the intent of skipping off happily. "I'll see you soon!"