[Solo PRP] You may say that I'm a dreamer [Caide/Aylin]

[Bronze Coffee]

Caideiseach wasn’t expecting to see the ghostly female when he was trying to get water. She was so pale and just staring at, what he assumed, was her own reflection in the water. Was she captivated by herself? The pale male didn’t know, but something told him he should probably at least say hello, see if she needed anything.

Tangerine eyes stared at her back, taking in the gradients and the markings on her before settling next to her.

“...Are you okay?”  

[Bronze Coffee]

Aylin hadn’t been paying a lick of attention to the actual water. She got stuck on watching the reflection of the birds flying in the sky and watching the clouds move. The pale female smiled to herself as she found everything so peaceful. This pride was a good thing. She’d stayed close to here for years, and after this last year of finding it getting harder and harder to hunt, she figured joining would work best for her. More bodies to help her hunt.

Hearing someone talk to her, her head swiveled around to stare at the white male. “Oh. Yes, I’m quite alright. Just enjoying the day,” she said with her usual smile on her lips. A bit guarded, honestly.  

[Bronze Coffee]

Caideiseach tilted his head and nodded at that. “Alright. I’m so sorry if I’ve disturbed you.” His smile switched to a very dad like smile. “My name is Caideiseach. Caide is what others call me.” With a nod of his head, the gray maned male shuffled forward and licked at the surface of the water, disturbing the smooth liquid with ripples.  

[Bronze Coffee]

“Oh no disturbance was had today,” Aylin said with a flighty laugh. He seemed very concerned with the peace of others. That was a nice change. Her golden eyes looked into tangerine before turning to look at a bird that was circling above Caide.

“It seems like you have a visitor. But before you’re whisked off, my name is Aylin.” She giggled to herself as she thought about it. A bird whisking someone off for an adventure. That seemed like a grand way to make an exit after just meeting. No one could be upset at anyone if adventure sought after them. Her tail flicked as he drank and her eyes eventually drifted over his form. He seemed large and very gentle. In a way he reminded her of her dad, but not as...dad-like.  

[Bronze Coffee]

The male laughed and shook his head as he looked up to see his son’s bird circling for his attention. With a quick shake of his head, the bird flew off.

“Sorry. That’s my son’s friend. He’s deaf and the bird is how talks to me and others. They have their own form of language or something. I’m not quite sure how it works, but.” He sighed, the smile only getting bigger. “His mother was completely deaf. I figured out how to talk to her. We were really happy in our old pride. At least… I thought we were.” Caide didn’t know why he was telling a female he’d just met that, but chalk it up to actually wanting to talk.  

[Bronze Coffee]

“Well I think that’s nice. You managed to connect with his mom and now him. That’s a lovely thing. There are some dad’s out there that won’t even look at their kids.” She’d seen many of that in her years in the rogue lands. Many families split up because the dad constantly wandered or had a side chick or something like that. Maybe it was another reason she felt so drawn to this pride. It just seemed like a better life style choice for her. Aylin’s smile grew more wide as she looked at the older male. He wasn’t much older than her, probably.  

[Bronze Coffee]

Caide's head canted to the other side before he nodded. "I suppose you can put it like that. I just want all of my children to be able to live full lives. The bird, her name is Xai, helps him hunt, meet others, and just... do anything a normal lion could do with full hearing. She is his ears." It was really nice talking to someone about his children. Well, one child in this case, but still.  

[Bronze Coffee]

"Well, that's wonderful. I want to hear more about you though," came her almost absentminded reply. "Your children, aye, I'm sure they're nice, but what are you like? What do you do all day, Caideiseach? Before I joined, I would watch the clouds.... On rainy days I would count how many times the lightening flashed in the sky before I was soothed off to sleep."  

[Bronze Coffee]

"More about me?"

Caideiseach seemed to look confused about that. "Why me? I'm just... me. I was born elsewhere, moved around prides a lot. I've had two litters... One here, and one in another pride. Both times my mates have left..." It was almost like he was doing something wrong. Caide felt like he was an attentive mate. He took care of the kids, he hunted, he still did his duties in the pride.

"I don't know why, but I guess it's something bigger calling them away from me." The male clicked his tongue a little. "...I really like watching things and trying to figure out how certain things work. I've currently been watching this.... herd of meerkats. I don't know if that's what you call a group of meerkats, but either way. They're fascinating to watch."

Was this boring to her?  

[Bronze Coffee]

The way Caide was going on about his life made Aylin tune in completely. Her eyes focused on him in a way that'd only happened one other time. The father of her litter had her focus like this. It'd been such a long time.

Meerkats?

"No, I don't know what you'd call them either. I've never really seen one! They're always either heading inside or peeking out when they spot me and dive again. You're lucky." He seemed so close to animals here. Maybe it was just him. She doubted the whole pride had the same understanding with small prey beasts. Not that she'd eat a meerkat, but if you were a hungry adolescent or a cub fending for yourself you might enjoy them as a snack.

She didn't even notice when Caide started walking off. Aylin just followed him without fuss, talking with him. She had a feeling they'd be talking like this for hours.