[PRP] Eternally Yours (Eternal/Maple)

[belloblossom]

Eternal was a cat of whimsy, of mystery and... of very little common sense. In all honestly, it was a miracle that he'd survived as long as he had. Well past two winters and by the way the air was getting colder, he could, at the very least, predict his third was coming upon him sooner than later. He'd managed to get through the dark seasons with ease, so long as he kept away from the roads that Twolegs populated with their Thunder Beast. He had learned that the hard way, after witnessing one of his brief companions get crushed under the foul-smelling beasts with their glimmering coats that shone under the sun in the day, and whose eyes glowed a painfully bright yellow (or sometimes red, or green even) in the night.

Despite his reservations and concerns about these beasts, when he had discovered the Twoleg Ruins in the outer wilds, far away from the Pond that he could typically be found around, he found a scared fascination as he realized what he'd come across. There was a Twoleg Den, but of more interest to him, there was a Thunder Beast with hollow eyes - and it looked like it had been dead a long time. A wound on its side left something that could be considered a shelter, but Eternal was too horrified at the thought to get any closer the first day he found it. Or the second. Or for many days after too.

In fact, it wasn't until the sixth day, that Eternal worked up the nerve to approach the dead Beast. After becoming certain that it wasn't going to roar to life and devour him, he hopped up and started to look around. Or he would have begun to look around, had he not hopped directly onto a bright orange, furry stranger. With a yowl of surprise, Eternal reared back and rolled out of the Thunder Beast with a wide eyes. He fell on his paws - barely and scrambled upright.

"Oh goodness, I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" He mewed hurriedly, but then after a split second added. "Though it might be your fault, really, for sleeping in the belly of a Thunder Beast anyway. They're notoriously dangerous, I'm sure you know." @AlicornPlayhouse

 

[AlicornPlayhouse]

Maple, for as long as she had known, had lived alone. She knew that once in her life she had a mother, obviously, and perhaps a father too, but memories of them had long since faded. Most cats her age had no issue recalling these memories, but there wasn't much for her to recall. She had hunted for herself when she could walk, she had fought for herself when she could scratch. Maple envied the simpler life of cats around her some days, but she couldn't deny that her upbringing is why she now stood alive as clan cats invaded the areas around them.

Hunting had become harder, when prey would move and she tried to follow she found herself hounded for crossing borders she didn't know existed. She was stuck. Were the prey and warmth to run the wrong way, it was lost from her. But, Maple was resourceful, and where most would shun the thought of living amongst ruin and sleeping in the belly of a beast, she found comfort. Warmth and security, confident in the idea that no cat would dare bother her were she to lay inside a corpse.

That was, until she was napping in the monster, and she felt a weight fall onto her. Maples head snapped up at the sound of a cat crying out, pushing her front paws up against the weirdly squishy ground. "Wh-?!" She blinked rapidly, staring up towards the culprit.. a black and white tom, with the most interesting of patterns she must say. "It's.. fine- Hold on, my fault?" She mrrowed, seeming more confused than angry. "What are you doing jumping into the belly, then, do YOU know they're dangerous?" Maple accused, eyeing the cat up and down slightly suspiciously. You had to be cautious if you were living the life of a loner, right? "I've been sleeping here for quite a while, thanks, it seems a lot less dangerous than freezing to death outside if you ask me."

 

[AlicornPlayhouse]

@belloblossom forgot to tag sorry (<3 )

 

[belloblossom]

Eternal shuffled his paws at the scolding words of the she-cat. He did know that it was dangerous, but... he couldn't have helped himself. He kept coming back to this place, getting braver, well not braver, but more curious, every day. He had to find out eventually what was in the belly of the beast. He looked at his paws for a long moment, unable to meet the cat's eye, when she mentioned the note of freezing.

"Oh, is that what you were worried about?" He asked, looking up with a smile. "That's an easy fix, even in this weather. Here, move over - two bodies produce more warmth than just the one." He mewed and hopped back into the belly next to the she-cat, taking care not to land on her this time. "There, if you lay back down, I can lay around you. You'll be plenty warm then and you won't freeze. In exchange, tell me about this beast. How did you come by it? I've been watching this place for a while, but I haven't seen you here. Have you always been here?" He eyed the she-cat back. "And how is it that you look to pretty? My fur never seems to cooperate with my tongue." He asked innocently. @AlicornPlayhouse

 

[AlicornPlayhouse]

Maple had felt uneasy, as most cats would expect a lone feline to be when jumped onto. Though, she had slowly begun to relax as the dark colored tom displayed no signs of aggression at all. Much less, actually, as he avoided her eyes and shuffled around. She was finding no reason now to be afraid of him, or keep her guard up. She doubted this was all some act to get her to be vulnerable- that would be quite a pawful of effort just for a seat in an old rotting corpse, right?

Well, it seems she WAS right in that, but putting her guard down definitely was not the correct move on her part. "Two bodies?" Maple repeated, not quite understanding what he meant at first as she watched him. That was, until he hopped up onto the seat again and she shrunk away, her ears flattening back for just a moment. Maple stared at him for just a second too long as she registered his next few sentences, her head perking up with what seemed to be a shocked expression. "I- Well.." How did he expect her to respond to this! Why was he watching her like that, like this was some completely regular request!
"I'll tell you all about this thing, and how I get my pelt to tame." She finally began to respond coherently, though she still felt her ears were hot with some form of embarrassment. "And I may entertain your first offer, but." She paused, squinting towards him ever so slightly as she leaned her head forward. "I would really prefer your name first, if that's alright with you?"
@belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

"My name is Eternal." Said Eternal. "It means forever."

He stared at her, blinking slowly as he tried to comprehend why she looked suddenly so... puffy. Had he bothered her? He had resolved his nerves, but what if hers were still on the fritz? Had he jumped to conclusions - he thought she'd said she was cold...

"What's your name? It's bound to be memorable, because you already stand out in my mind. The first cat I've met in the belly of a beast - what a story this will be to laugh about and remember, at least, provided you don't turn sour and chase me out." He looked at her dubiously. "You... won't chase me out, will you? I should like to think we're nearly friends already. I've told you my name, and I'm in a close proximity to you, and you'll tell me your name and then... well I think that's how friends go about things."

He tilted his head to one side. "I've never actually had this exchange with another loner. I tend to get, hm, distracted? But you're distracting enough that you've got my attention. All of it. Oh, that was a compliment, or it was supposed to be." He tilted his head in the other direction. "May I lay down, now that I've told you my name?" He asked and started to gently knead his claws into the soft cushion beneath. Clearly, he was getting ready to lay down, regardless of this orange she-cat's answer. @AlicornPlayhouse

 

[AlicornPlayhouse]

"Eternal." Maple checked him over once more, nodding. Yes, yes, Eternal did seem oddly fitting. He did look.. almost mysterious, maybe that was due to his strikingly contrasting markings, who can say.

Maple couldn't help but let herself relax at his rambling, trying to fight the amused purr threatening to surface. Why, he sure did have a lot to say! She wanted to interject at certain points, but out of pure curiosity for how long he could go on for, she remained somewhat quiet. That was, until he exclaimed they were nearly friends and her own head tilted to the side. "Oh? Friends... Well, that's a first." She mewed, almost too soft to really be considered a response. Maple seemed more to be speaking to herself than the other cat.

She quickly shook away the odd feeling in her chest at the comment, she didn't have much time to ponder as Eternal began to settle in. Making her best effort to move to the side to give him ample room, she nodded. "No, I don't think I'll be chasing you out of here." She reassured while somewhat nervously settling back to lay down herself. She may still be tense, just a bit, but she was trying to tell her fight or flight response that the scare was just that, a scare. "Well, distracting and memorable as I may be, my name surely isn't.. It's just Maple. You know, because I kind of look like their leaves? Or, they looked like me in the season I was born." She explained, almost disappointed she didn't have a cool name to share like he did. Eternal.. she was just a tree. "I can say the same about other loners, at least, I think you're the first I've talked to in ages!"

@belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Eternal stared at the she-cat with a keen interest, one that he'd never quite experienced with another cat before. He would see cats and then get distracted, but her eyes were as bright and as deep as the sun - not that he'd recommend staring up at the sun. He'd had some unpleasant experiences with such - the moon was much more manageable. Wait, she was talking again.

He purred with relief when she told him that she wouldn't be chasing him out. Or, rather, that she didn't think that she would be just yet. Just yet... and Just Maple?
"I'd argue that Just Maple is more memorable than most names. Tell me, with two names, do you prefer Just or Maple? I want to be sure I do not offend, for friends should not offend one another if they can help it." He explained. "I haven't seen a maple tree, but if they look anything like you, those trees ought to be flattered to be compared to you." He added with a small, shy smile. "Well, I'm certainly happy to be talking to you, at any rate, Just Maple." He said - he couldn't stop saying her name. It just seemed to fit her. She looked like a cat who was honorable - indeed, like her name, a cat that stood by the rules of justice in the world. He couldn't keep his eyes off her.

"Will you tell me about yourself? Or if you'd like, I can tell you about myself, though my story is not, hm," He stopped to consider what his life had been life up to now. "It's not extraordinary, but I can still talk about myself, or about what I've seen today, or about the rainbows you can see through a dragonfly's wings.... I can talk about anything, if it would put you at ease." He quickly added. "And so that you might get to know me better, to be better friends." Eternal, though he didn't know it, had been named by his mother because he was eternally talking. His mother, a kittypet who belonged to a poet, knew many words, yet had spoken very little. She had thought Nuisance or Ongoing or Chatterbox would be too cruel for a kitten. At the time that Eternal had asked about his name, she told her son it had been because she loved him for all eternity and wanted to ensure that when he found a she-cat, that he might love and care for her in a similar way.

Now, Eternal found himself staring openly with admiration at this she-cat, finding himself wondering if she was the cat that his mother had meant. She hadn't chased him off, and she seemed friendly enough. Eternal felt an immediate kinship with her - but he didn't know how to flirt, or how to well, talk to cats like cats typically talk when they were in love. He didn't know what love was, either, but he knew that he would like to spend as much time with Just Maple as he could and he would give her as many words as she wanted to keep her in his presence. @AlicornPlayhouse

 

[AlicornPlayhouse]

Maple found herself in just a moment of contemplation as the other cat watched her intently, unable to pull her own eyes away from him for a second of time. Was this what it felt like, to be truly studied? Watched and deconstructed. Her every word felt important. She was aware suddenly of the way her ears moved whenever the breeze hit them or how her paws sat ever so slightly to the side of her. Every movement felt important because he was watching them. Or, Maple thought so anyhow.

Maple snickered at the confusion with her name, tilting her head to the side, her paw lifting slowly. "Oh, no, no. You see-.." She stopped herself short, allowing the other to continue while she thought. Maple. Her name was Maple, but by whos decree? Surely she didn't care what they had thought. She knew surely there was no glorious reason behind her name, her parents had not loved Maple trees, met beneath one, or bore her around one. No, they simply saw a maple leaf one too many moons after her birth and, finally, settled on calling her that. "Maple is alright, but Just is also fine, or both if you'd prefer." Maple- Just Maple, finally answered.
Her amused expression didn't waver, but was now joined by a rather noticeable smile. She didn't want to be so vulnerable so quickly, but he was endearing! He talked on and on, but she was absolutely invested in the words. Littered every now and again with compliments towards her, something Maple hadn't experienced in quite some time. And, more importantly, she found herself wanting to respond to a cat for the first time. "Maple trees aren't all too exceptional, but they are quite sturdy." She nodded firmly, beaming with a moment of visible pride before it washed away.

"Tell you about myself?" Maple echoed again, mulling over the question as he continued to speak on. "I will. But, only if after you tell me about the rainbows in dragonfly wings." Her eyes had widened a bit at the statement, genuinely curious to hear about that- but more so amazed. A cat had payed enough attention to see all of that? Such a tiny, unnoticeable detail.. Maybe a cat like that could care enough about the rainbows in wings could find it to care about an unnoticeable cat like herself. "I'm sure they aren't as eye-catching as your pelt."[/'b] Maple didn't quite know where that came from, but she felt compelled to say it. She had been staring at the marking on his forehead for a while now, enamored with the way the stark white seemed to make his pelt melt into a dark inviting blue. Something one could drown themselves in, yet somehow it was inviting enough. A dark abyss that had completely taken her attention.
And, she was staring again. "Well, anyhow!" Quickly Maple moved on from the words that surprised even herself. "I don't exactly stick in one spot. I left to be on my own when I was young.. Ever since I've been a wanderer. I found myself here not too long ago after a nasty fight with some crows over.. Ah, well, it's embarrassing saying it out loud but if I had to guess it sort of resembled a half chewed mouse?" She was running out of anything more interesting to share. "I'm sorry, Eternal, I've just been surviving. I can't say I've had much time to gather up stories between all of that, certainly not ones about rainbows or wings alike." No, she had survived, but not lived. Eternal, though, she believed truly had.
@belloblossom