sunkissed

sunkissed asks you why you wrestle with lionesses so much. you tell them it's...good exercise…yeah. that.

you watch a bit disturbedly as sunkissed rolls around, gnawing on a smooth piece of rock and slobbering all over.

sunkissed was brought to the pride as a cub. she was unsure to why she was there; it was really random, honestly. but no matter.. she should get to know the others in her cave, right?
she wriggled around, looking for other cubs. when she didn't find any, she let out a loud huff. another lioness came by; this one was very muscular, and mean looking. she tilted her head slightly in confusion, and then the lioness tucked her into her chest, and laid down.
"you're nest is all messy," she complained, wrinkling her nose. sunkissed noticed how instead of light and gentle, her voice was very deep, almost like a male lion. that was weird.. but she shrugged it off. no matter! "do you not clean?"
"i like it this way," the cub mrowed, looking around with comfort. the broodmother sighed, slightly annoyed.
time passed on, and as it did, blackwater told her who she was. sunkissed found out a lot about the other lioness. about how she transitioned, about how she's rude to keep up a front, and much more. which is why she felt comfortable enough to pop up with a soft "mama!" towards her.
and when sunkissed met meteor.. it wasn't a very good meeting. meteor snapped at her, snarled, growled.. it seemed like the other lioness just didn't like it here when she first arrived!
luckily for sunkissed, she knew how to work around lions with a rough attitude. i mean, she had a rude ass lioness as a mother who smacked at other lions, even at her own queen.
"it's a mess in here," growled meteor, glaring around. "do you not know how to clean?"
"i like it this way," the lioness sniffed, kicking aside a rock. "it's comforting. reminds me of when i was a cub."
the patches lion rolled her eyes, making a big fuss but didn't bother to clean. what was the point? clearly sunkissed had the intent of keeping it this way, of probably even trashing it again if anylion cleaned it. she was stubborn.
soon, the two became close. and with closeness, became feelings. meteor was angry for a while and distanced herself from her best friend; she couldn't handle the feelings, and didn't understand them. why would she have them?!

while meteor avoided her, sunkissed worked on her studies as being the next healer of the pride. basil protected her, helped her, throughout the entirety of it. she grew close with him, as well as aurea and snowdrop. she was included in almost everything they did; it brought her joy, but she couldn't help but to miss meteor.
sunkissed was the one who approached her with a small smile, nudging her. "meteor? i, uhm. it's been a while."
meteor would look up at her; the lioness was always taller than her. she tried not to smile as she spoke, "i missed you, too."
"where have you been?" she sat down, talking with the other happily. though sunkissed appeared a little hesitant, a little sad.
"..around." meteor shrugged. she didn't want to admit that she convinced nakira to switch her cave for a while. she was almost embarrassed? though she felt the steady anger when she felt her cheeks flush.. and also hope? what?
sunkissed frowned. "are you avoiding me? did i do something wrong?" when the other didn't answer, she said, "i get it if i did. i just want to know, so i can apologi-"
"you made me like you!" meteor eventually cut her off, not wanting to hear the ramblings of the soft lioness beating herself up. when nothing was said, she spoke softly, "i don't understand why i like you. i just do. and i like you, y'know.. the way nightsuns and blackwater like each other. the way fern and mars like each other.."
"i like you too," blurted sunkissed. "the way my mothers do, too. the way lillith and oddyseus did, too." when meteor gave her a questing look, she smiled. "i'll tell you about them later. fern and mars know much more than i do.." she looked down to their paws, as her tail curled closer to her body. "do you.. want to be like how they are? together?" she asked in a much smaller voice.
meteor snorted, rolling her eyes. god, this lion was stupid. she leaned over, licking her cheek. "of course i do. idiot." it was said with no bite as sunkissed look down with happiness, eyes soft as she leaned down to rest her chin on her head.
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