TASK: Study the constellations.


One of her fondest memories as a child was watching the stars. It's funny, really, because so many details around it were blurred; where she was, who she was with - whether it was the father she'd been taken from or the mother who'd taken her - or even how old she was at the time. But what she did remember was being really happy, really entranced by how pretty the sky looked at night when it was lit up by all those shining little orbs. She'd never really been given any stories as to what they meant - if they did mean anything - or what their purpose was - if they had one - but that didn't really matter in the long run. After all, not everything existed because it had a purpose; or at least that's what Tosca was inclined to believe. The night is quiet and there is not a cloud in sight - it was the perfect opportunity to stargaze, even if she didn't currently have any company to enjoy the view with.

And so, after getting comfy under her little nook, that's exactly what she did.

ooc: I hope you don't mind him joining in?


Vasilis was in the mood to relax, after a weak of healing - gathering food - herbs - scenting his new home. He needed some well-deserved rest. Aching bones felt even achier as he made his way to the gorge, a place he had yet to venture but yet heard about. His eyes cast to the sky - it was a perfectly clear night, the stars brimming and chanting as they danced across the darn navy ebony-colored heavens.

Going to a place he felt was perfect to rest and skywatch, he found himself no longer alone. A breath bubbles in his chest - whoops. He accidentally slipped into her space, perhaps too close but not close enough to step on the other lion. He dipped his head and quickly apologized for nearly walking right into her. "Sorry the stars held my attention.." he tells her with a chuff. "Can I join you under them tonight?" he asked the unknown face before him.

But would they allow it? Would he be allowed to watch the stars under such a perfectly empty sky filled with only the moon and stars above?

@Tosca

It took all of Tosca's self-preservation to not squeak and jump out of her skin when Vasilis suddenly loomed above her. In fact, she still startled visibly, but offered a forgiving smile and nod when the man swiftly apologised. As a clumsy girl, she could relate. It is only once the male asked to join her that she processed the scent he carried. The Lagoon. Inwardly cursing, stomach churning, all Tosca could do was muster up another nod and smile - this one a little more tentative. Fuck - what if he recognised her scent? What if he recognised Camelia's scent on her? What if he was about to freak out over what they had done; in harmless fun, sure, but Tosca knew that some (most) pride lions could be really sensitive over their borders. Not wanting the man to suspect that anything was troubling her, the girl tilted her head back up to the sky. "Do you look at the stars a lot?" The question, of course, was directed at the golden-pelted man beside her, even if her pink gaze was fixed firmly on the magnificent velvet sprawl above their heads.

She jumped, whoops. He felt bad for that. He gave a sheepish expression before looking forward back at the stars. "I do, The lagoon offers a lot of open space to view them. But from this advantage point, it's a lot different." he tells her. He took a breath, easing into the rocks below on the cliffside as he turned to her. Oddly enough Vasilis had missed the chance of finding her at the lagoon because by the time he was on that side of the island the scents were too dead to really NOTE who they were from, just that they had gotten too close to his liking. "Do you?" he pointed his nose up "Star gaze I mean?" he smiled.

@Tosca

And there he went - mentioning the Lagoon. If she'd been more ballsy - aka stupid - she would have flashed him a little cheeky smile and an 'I know'. But, instead, she would act ignorant. Besides, she'd only been within its borders for a matter of minutes, so it wasn't like it had been a lengthy stay. If only she could read minds; if she'd known that @Vasilis was unable to connect her to the trespass, she would've been able to relax a little more. "It sounds beautiful," the young lioness would respond, deciding quietly to herself that it was the sort of place that she wouldn't mind making a permanent home. Maybe in the future; for now, she was more than happy in her current nomadic situation - she couldn't imagine not living with her father and the rest of their little family. When the question was flipped back on her, Tosca would shrug her shoulders with a little smile. "Sometimes. My Pa and I like to look at the stars together." She and her mother would, too - during happier times. "Do you think they mean anything? Do you know what they actually are?" This guy seemed to know a fair bit more about them than she did, after all.

He shrugged, he sorta knew that there could be three plausible things about the stars but he was not sure which was fact and which was fiction. He leaned back letting his body ease and float into his laying position. His eyes skimmed the heavens above as he thought. "Welll...." he started. "My mother.." he frowned a moment to himself clearing his throat "Believed that there are souls that when they do great deeds, such as saving someone - doing an act of selfless behavior and the like. That ...when they die doing it they go to those stars.." he slowly told her. His eyes floated to each bobble of light and speckle.

The other was a bit odder to tell of. "The second..my grandfather, used to tell tales of those who 'deserved' a spot to be remembered in the heavens. Regardless of if you did them in the good or the bad, that the gods would allow you a 'seat' to burn forever so that everyone could see your soul." he paused to look back down to her. "The last is that they are worlds like our own...worlds that hit their last breath and died. But as they died the world exploded into the light so bright that other worlds would see it. But because each world is many many years and years away from each other - that they resemble speckles on a bird egg. And after so many eons, those speckles disappear without so much as notice because then another spring up behind it elsewhere..." he looked back up in total silence then.

@Tosca

The idea of souls freaked Tosca out a little bit; her Ma had, on occasion, told her stories about ancestors that watched over them in the sky. After mulling it all over, she wasn't quite sure what to believe; if any of it at all. "What do you think happens to lions that commit horrible deeds?" A brow would arch in deep thought, lips drawn close together. "I think I would agree more with the last theory. After all, what's to say there aren't lots of different worlds; maybe just like ours, maybe drastically different. But I don't think we're the only ones out there. I dunno, it's just a feeling I have." With a small smile she would squint up at the velvety blackness, studying each constellation clearly. "I wonder if any souls are watching and judging us right now. All of us."

Trespassers probably didn't get the chance to be reborn as stars.

Hmm that was a good question, he placed his paw on his chin, tapping it lightly as he thinks. He would assume that all great lions got to go up there and become a star but what would be deemed as horrible deeds? Killing a lot of others would probably not grant them the chance to be born as a star, that much he knew to some degree from his parents telling him. "Chmm, aftí eínai mia kalí erótisi" (Hmm, that is a good question) he whispered as his toes rubbed his chin again. He looked down as he smiled slightly. "If the issue was horrible - let's say they murder a whole group of lions..creatures..babes and the like...I'd imagine there's a location for such souls. But perhaps not in the stars but maybe wandering spirits?" he looked up thinking aloud.

"But I'd also imagine if someone kills another in the act of mercy, then perhaps they'd still be allowed to become a star as long as their other deeds are justifying good." he nods hard. " Damned souls, the very bad ones, from what my parents and their parents told me - the very very bad ones don't get a chance to be reborn, instead they are sent to a place below us - deep underground where they are locked to be guarded by a strong guardian of the dead.".

"oh yes. My grandfather used to tell me of lands that were outside the reach of our woodlands. That he had once found a place surrounded by ankle-deep water - the entire land was like this. He then had a dream of a land so cold one would parish to their death without the proper warmth to their body. So I am sure there are other worlds out there." he combed his eye to Orion, his eyes counting the stars within it. One, two, there four, five. Five bright stars. He would look to her as she asked if the stars were looking down at them in question or proudness. Vasilis takes a breath - he was about to answer her when he then looks up to see a small light flash quickly " AHH LOOK" he pointed with his nose. A shooting star how wonderful to witness!

"I think that was your answer. I am sure they are watching us, either if they are judging us or not, they are watching." he tells @Tosca with a half-smile that barely reached his eyes - but his eyes melted down, giving a longing look, to say the least. He believed they were all up there, discussing the mortals and how to embark on their history. He was sure some of them sent them tales in dreams, or like the shooting star just now, a message to state they were there even if they couldn't 'see' them or 'hear' them any more.

TASK COMPLETED: Study the constellations.

The ethics of it all would go over Tosca's head a little, but even so - for the sake of being polite - the freckled brunette would listen attentively to the words of the High Sovereign. It was still interesting, even if it went a little deep for her tastes; all these theories as to where they went after they passed. It was not something that she liked to think about too much. After all, she was still only a kid in some ways. Still.... it was inevitable. Something they'd all have to face one day. She would smile and nod along with the words of @Vasilis, expression brightening as her line of sight followed the King's gesture to catch sight of the shooting star. "Oh wow!" She beamed, inclined to agree with what the man said next; yes, perhaps it was some sort of sign. Pink gaze combed over the constellations, heart fluttering at the excitement of it all. "I hope so." With a little sigh she'd focus back on the male, tail flicking out behind her. "Have you seen a wandering spirit before?"