[B-PRP] Morning afterglow. (Kutu & Nala)

[[Eskimo]]

Dawn crept in as languidly and as beautifully as the sun had set the night before, delicate and consoling like the revelation of his feelings. Droplets of mildew collected in the spaces between the grass blades, sparkling and shimmering in the dim light, reminding him of the way the moon's reflection glittered over the pale lioness he had bonded with. Kutu felt a strange reverie. He lay still, eyes half-lidded as he watched the world around him in a new way, noticing every detail, every life--the smallest insect and the tinniest pebble--everything was connected, everything had purpose. He had never seen it this way before. But there was still much he didn't understand.

As his limbs begged him to stretch, he obliged and set his eyes on the female beside him--Nala.

Nala...Nala... his mind prayed, green eyes tracing every line in her form as if committing them to memory. His claws raked the earth behind her, sinking deep with a kind of desperation. He wanted her to go back with him. Home. His home. But how to convince her? How could she choose to leave her own home and family? He wasn't sure he would be enough. No, he knew he wasn't enough... But she was of his kind, not theirs. If she felt it, too, then maybe that would be enough for her? But then what if the connection he'd felt between the two of them had been one-sided in the end? No, impossible...unless...? Ugh, he was overthinking things as usual. They had only just met. He was acting like a fool. If he kept this up, he'd end up with his father's bad luck of females.

Kutu groaned as he stretched at length on his stomach, shoulders arching and face pressing into the grass.

He wished he could fall back asleep just so that he could stop thinking.  

[Pandorus Sphinx]

Nala could remember what it was like when she was small, the smell of the cool air, the taste of youth still lacing her jaws, it was a place of happiness for the pale lioness- lost within these fragmented memories of the past. As she lay silently beside Kutu, Nala dreamt of this time, combining both memories into one. She would look back at this moment and think of it fondly, even if she woke up alone. To be fair though, the lioness knew the possibility of this being her reality was pretty high, she didn't even know the name of the mysterious Outlander she had spent the night with.

She wouldn't blame him if he had left her after she went to sleep. How could she? Still though, apart of her hoped that when her eyes opened to greet the world he would be right beside her still, entangled in her as much as she was with him. Maybe that's why she refused to wake, maybe the dream kept her tied to one world while she fought to come back to the waking one. Would he be waiting for her? Nala's eyes, clear and blue opened slowly at first, the fog of sleep still swept over her sight until the lioness could focus only on his rusty familiar red, a hue Nala would never be able to forget.

She could still taste it.

Slowly Nala rolled over, her paws extending until she could touch his frame with a single claw. He was real. He was here. Softly she shifted herself to press against him as he lay still, not fulling knowing if he was awake or asleep. Still though, she clung to him with a gentle touch, speaking to him with closed eyes pressed against his fur, buried in it like a blanket.

"Nala. My name is Nala." Her voice was small and soft, and it came from a place of peace.