[SRP] Secrets [Deepali/Utpala]

[Bronze Coffee]

She knew, the first time she coughed that she had the illness that swamped the pride. It wasn't bad. It was in the first stages, but she.. Wouldn't tell Mel that. Deepali wasn't going to tell anyone that. There was no need to get everyone worried over her when there were many more worse off. For all she knew, she could honestly live a full and complete life with just the first stage.

Slowly the dark female emerged from the den early in the morning and started to stretch herself out. She dug her front claws into the dirt, feeling it shift beneath her toes and feet and couldn't help but have a little smile on her face. As she stretched out her back legs, she gazed around the pride that she could see and just sighed.

In the distance she could hear a few of the early rising cubs giggling and probably cutting up. She head a few whispers of good morning as she wandered, heading out to greet the rest of the pride, to see what was happening, if anything of interest was going to be going down today. Probably not. She honestly hadn't been paying much attention to what has been going on in the pride. It just… life was too short, honestly, to pay attention to politics. Sure, it affected her, but she was sort of a space cadet anyway, so focusing on the negative things wasn't a thing she wanted to do.

We have enough to be sad about.

And so she would keep quiet about her discovery until it became too bad for her to tend to herself. It was a good thing she was going to see an Apothecary friend of hers.  

[Bronze Coffee]

He had known Deepali for a little bit now. She sometimes helped him with the sick, having shown signs of being immune to it. In all honesty, he harbored something of a brotherly affection toward her. Not that anyone without eyes couldn't see that. The masked girl was something to smile about, never seeming depressed, never without a laugh and a smile ready. Sometimes she even came with jokes.

Utpala really enjoyed the company. Sometimes being an Apothecary in this pride was really hard. Dealing with sick cubs, pregnant mothers, elderly... It tugged at his heart strings more often than not. Some days he felt everything he did was completely futile. Then, there were days like today, when it seemed a once sick cub was on the mend. That the disease was growing weaker as the bloodlines expanded.

He tossed his head, moving white mane out of his face as he chuckled, leaving the den of said cub. She wasn't going to be hunting any time soon, but he'd gotten her to smile.

He was greeted with a familiar sight.

"How do you always know where I am?"  

[Bronze Coffee]

"What, you don't realize I'm a huntress?" Deepali's cheeks puffed as she said it, taking mock offense. She rolled her dark brown eyes and just gave the male a grin.

"Honestly, it looks like your day improved. I thought for sure that you'd found out your twin was sick or something." She came to a stop, headbutting him lightly. He was immune. A true immune lion. He was safe to show affection toward, right? She prayed to whatever gods she could that Utpala wouldn't get sick because of her.

She licked her muzzle a bit worriedly and then looked him square in the eyes. "I... need to talk to you about something serious. But you can't tell Mel about it. Please?"

Deepali had never asked Utpala anything. So this would be a test on both of them.  

[Bronze Coffee]

The laugh came as Deepali puffed up like an angry bird. Honestly he would call her Chickadee if she kept it up. Longer than her actual name, bit it fit. Utpala's eyes lit up with mirth and he hummed.

"Oh, yes. My day brightened drastically. No, as far as I know he's fine. This little cub with the disease, however, is making a steady trek down the healing path. I think she's going to end up being an old lioness by the time the gods say it's time to take her." The white maned male settled on his haunches.

Then a shift in attitude and air around Deepali got him worried and he looked at her seriously.

"A secret, Deepali, from Mel?" Mel was her mate. She'd been with Mel as long as he could remember! So this was.. Well, serious. "...You have my word."  

[Bronze Coffee]

"I..." She started and found herself unable to really speak the words at the tip of her tongue. Deepali frowned hard and cleared her throat to start over. "I... I uh.." What a great way to make this seem like something huge. Admittedly, to her, it was. She thought she'd been one of the lucky ones, that she would live and die of old age. She supposed this is what she got for counting her chickens before they hatched.

Instead, she took a deep breath and then started coughing hard. The fit lasted for several minutes. By the time it ended there were tears coming from the corners of her eyes and she was on her belly, out of breath and light headed.

"Gods," she whispered, shaking her head, trying to get her bearings again.  

[Bronze Coffee]

Utpala's stomach sank as he waited and listened to her. She started, then seemed hesitant about that she was going to say. His stomach was in knots. His tail flicked behind him in a worried way and then he frowned.

"Just take you time," he whispered.

Then the coughing fit happened and he knew what it was she was trying to say. "You've got yourself quite the cold," he whispered to her, moving towards her. Slowly he pushed his head against hers and let his ears flatten down.

"I'll give you something for it, hm? I want you to come see me again in a few days. Hopefully by then your cold will die down and you'll continue as normal. Right now, I can't let you go out and hunt."

He prayed this is all it was. It had to be just a cold. He rooted around in the bag he kept around his neck and gave her a paste wrapped in a leaf. "This'll help with the cough and any aches. You have to eat it, though."  

[Bronze Coffee]

Deepali's ears were flat against her head a she slowly got herself sitting up instead of laying. Ugh. Her head was starting to hurt. She nuzzled back against the other, but no purr of comfort came out. Instead, she averted her eyes as he gave her the medication that would treat her showing symptoms but not the underlying cause. There was no cure.

"Yeah," she whispered. "That's what I was trying to tell you. ...A cold..." She silently thanked him with a look.

Then the leaf was unfolded and the edible paste appeared and the look on her face was priceless. "Really? This grossness?" The look she got was enough to make her eat it, licking at the thick paste which made her want to gag. But, like a trooper, she swallowed it down and shuddered, almost every bit of fur on her standing on end, bristling. "Ugh.."  

[Bronze Coffee]

When she looked like she wasn't going to eat it, Utpala pinned her with a look and snorted. Then she ate it and he seemed a lot happier about that and perked up.

"It might be the grossest thing you'll ever eat, but it'll do the trick." He didn't sound too confident about it. "Either way. Remember, if you don't come find me, I'll come find you. ...Then Mel will figure it out and I won't be held responsible for the conversation that takes place. It'll be out of my paws, Deepali. I'm serious."

Utpala pinned her with a serious look, almost glaring at her.  

[Bronze Coffee]

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you loud and clear,” she said, still trying to get the vile taste out of her mouth. Ugh. She would rather eat nothing but innards for a week than eat that again. Even the scent of it was heavy on her tongue.

“Thank you, Utpala. I mean it… From the bottom of my heart.” She moved over and nuzzled up against him as her tail slowly swayed. Still no purr, but she wasn't exactly feeling that great. Could she really be blamed?

With that, she turned around and headed back towards her den. She needed to rest. Maybe a nap, even though she'd just woken up. Coughing took a lot out of a lion.  

[Bronze Coffee]

The Apothecary watched the lioness go and was instantly filled with worry for his friend. His ears pressed back against his head and he watched as she slowly made her way through the pride.

Oh, this… wasn't going to be fun. He was glad she came to him though. Any other Apothecary would have told Mel to keep an eye on her and then Mel would end up worrying himself sick. He was a very attentive mate, he knew. He'd looked after that girl since she was an adolescent.

“...I hope you're a lucky one, my friend,” he whispered to himself.