Dio was not a naughty child. At least she told herself that over and over again as she snuck away quietly (or so she thought) from the pile her family slumbered in. She stole away from the den about ten yards to where the trees were clearer and she could get a look at the night sky overhead. The moon was absent tonight and not a cloud to be seen to obstruct her view of the stars. The way they twinkled captivated her, mesmerized her. Her pace, quick at first to make a clean get away, began to slow until she seemed to drift under power not her own. Her head tilted upwards and teal eyes intimately fixated on the stars. Hardly blinking, lovingly looking on them.

@Caligula_{CODE | BACKGROUND | ART BY MUULAND}

The stars had always had their special draw to Caligula. It had been through the stars that he had met Aquila and had the family that he had now. The stars had always been there for him the way that nothing and no one else had. There was a special connection that he had with them. So it wasn't all that surprising that his children should inherit that as well.

Caligula followed after the girl as she moved away from the den. He didn't believe that she would actively come to some harm in the Brook but he also couldn't help but to want to keep an eye on her.

A smile tugged at Caligula's lips as he watched the girl's attention get drawn to the sky. "Which one are you looking at, sweetling?" The bronze male asked as he came to lay down near the child. He wouldn't be surprised if she had found herself a favorite star as he had one of his own.

@Diomedeidae

It took but a second of her father laying down for Dio to begin to climb all over him. She attempted to scale onto his shoulder and lay there, stretch out and drop her limbs down either side of him. A swatch of blue and bronze draped down over @Caligula, as a last touch her head would lay along his neck and settle beside his so they could look up together at the same patch of sky. Those two right there. They're realllllly close. She pointed out a pair of stars that, to the perspective of the lions on the planet, looked like they were nestled up against each other (Epsilon Lyrae)._{CODE | BACKGROUND | ART BY MUULAND}

Caligula laid still and allowed himself to be climbed upon. He waited until his daughter had settled down and pointed out the stars which had drawn her attention. "Epsilon Lyrae." The names were given easily. "They are part of Lyra, a lyre, an instrument made out of a turtle shell and was known to charm even the rocks when played. It is also called Aquila Cadens, Falling Eagle, for an eagle is said to be carrying the lyre with wings folded." Caligula could easily talk about the stars for the rest of time. They were the stories he knew the best.

"Your father and I met just like this, looking at the stars. I had been looking for Canopus. It is said Canopus brings good luck to the first one that can spot it." Caligula hummed softly as he sought out the bright spot in the sky to show off to the girl. "See that really bright one over there? That is Canopus." He said as he incline his head in the direction of his favored star. "There are seven lucky stars in total." Though the girl was still too young yet to be trying to seek them all out already.

@Diomedeidae

Against the cold she snuggled in a bit closer to her father's bronze fur. She happily nestled against him, rubbing her cheek against him. Aquila like daddy? Dio was brighter whilst she recognized the name. She inhaled softly, a light excited gasp leaving her lips as she looked rapidly back and forth between @Caligula's face and the stars they were gazing upon.

Canopus. Had to start somewhere. Even if it was just one of the seven, and even if her excited child's brain might drop the knowledge somewhere, it was a start into her father's beloved stars and something they could share together. How are stars lucky?

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"Yep, Aquila like daddy." He said with a smile. "Aquila means eagle. There is even a group of stars called Aquila. You should ask daddy about them." The suggestion was mostly teasing. Caligula didn't really expect Aquila to remember every story about the stars that he had ever been told. After all it was one thing that Caligula could go on about endlessly.

The bronze male smiled as the name of his favorite star was repeated back. It charmed him that the girl had taken an interest in the stars. Just because it was his thing didn't mean that he felt that his children should take to them as well. So because the girl seemed to find an interest on his own he was more than willing to nurture it.

"Well, take me and daddy for example. We would have never had what we have if it wasn't for the stars. I found love and I have you and your brothers because of the stars. If that isn't lucky then I don't know what is." It had started out as just some silly superstition but it had played out that he got to really know Aquila over that week of spending time together and gazing at the stars. Caligula had learned that it was possible to actually have a mutually beneficial relationship, a relationship that didn't come out as seeming one-sided in the emotional department.

@Diomedeidae

Is there a you star up there? If there were stars for Daddy Aquila then surely there had to be some for Daddy Caligula yes? In her mind that was the only real possibility- the two most important people in her life had stars up there for them. Blissfully small that her world was she didn't realize this wasn't the case, and that it would be impossible for everyone to have such things as that.

She listened with attention and focus. Enamored and in love with the love story of her parents, as parsed down as it was for her young mind. And I'm lucky to have you all too! She laughed joyfully, snuggling her head down on Caligula and letting loose a big yawn of bright kitten teeth. Will the stars bring me love?

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"If you ask Daddy he would say the sun is for me." The biggest and brightest star of all. "There aren't any stars up there named for me. Not everyone has stars named for them. Daddy was lucky, he didn't even know he had stars up there." At least Caligula assumed that Aquila didn't know much about the stars before Caligula had started reciting the stories to him. It sounded good though. Something easy for Dio to understand.

Caligula practically purred as he was being snuggled against. He couldn't reach the girl to return the physical affection and so he had to show it a different way. "I think that they can if you want them to. When you get older I can tell you all of the lucky stars and where to find them. You need to know all of them and call upon them for a whole week to be able to find love. So you have to really want it to work for it to happen." Okay, so maybe it wouldn't always work but he wasn't about the dampen the girl's spirit. After all belief is what led to great things.

@Diomedeidae

None for Daddy @Caligula? He didn't look that upset but Dio wasn't sure she was okay with that. Her little lips pursed and she suddenly seemed to look very intensely up at the sky. Caligula's voice a muffled background sound, gently filling the space as she searched for the perfect star for her Daddy Caligula. If no one gave him one before she would now. Simple as that.

And perhaps to the relief of her parents, any further thought or conversation of falling in love with someone was forgotten. Whisked away by this new thought and new mission. "There!" She exclaimed, jutting a paw into the sky at what seemed like a random star. "I name that one Caligula." Apparently damn whoever had named that star before. She staked a new claim for her father on it.

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Caligula chuckled softly when the girl was so determined for him to have his own star. She even went so far as to pick one out just for him. And it would seem it was not just any star since the girl had taken her time to search the sky rather than point to the first one that she spotted.

"And which one is going to be yours?" He asked, curious as to what star the girl would pick out for herself. "None of your siblings have stars named after them either. Only Daddy has stars, a whole group of them called a constellation." Did that mean that now the girl would look to find stars for her entire family now? After all Caligula was only trying to allow her to know that it wasn't common to have stars named for them.

@Diomedeidae