( done for the October cdc prompt of "moonlight" !! )

Despite the fact that Wowood loved reading, and one of his favorite books in his collection was about the constellations slowly rotating in the sky, he had never actually done much stargazing before. Maybe it was because he constantly had something going on, or because usually he was so exhausted by the time the stars were up in the sky that he just never had the overwhelming desire to force himself to stay up in order to trace the constellations with his paws. However, things had changed recently with the addition of the unpleasant nightmares that plagued his sleep as of late. The nightmaresade it so that he often couldn't make it all the way through the night just sleeping calmly, so it was far easier for him to stay up and use his constellation knowledge for some fun. He had been reminded of the activity when he had been getting rid of some of his books and Torren had come over, asking if he had any books on space or constellations or anything of the sort. Of course, Worm didn't know the deeper reasons behind the questioning – that Torren had spent time with Kiira stargazing, and wanted more knowledge in order to impress her – but it didn't matter, because his question had still put the thought in Worm's mind. And, given the fact that Wormwood already wasn't getting any sleep as it were, the guardian angel had decided that it was time for some stargazing to help him relax, and perhaps get some actual restful sleep.

So, the winged lion found himself laying in one of the fields within their swampland, the sky thankfully uncovered between the usually too thick clumps of tall trees. His wings were folded beneath him as he laid on his back, his one blue eye focused on the night sky above him. He could already feel his one eye drooping from his lack of sleep as of late, but he steadfastly ignored it, sticking one of his paws up to trace along one of the clumps of stars that were glimmering down at him. He rumbled softly to himself as he found the designs of stars in the sky, not expecting anybody else to be around to hear him as he spoke, "There's the big dipper, and there's the little dipper, and Orion is all the way over there... It's a shame that there's not more in the sky right now. Still, very pretty..." He knew that several of the members of Tanglewood were nocturnal, and probably could've come upon him, but he wasn't really too worried about it, since it wasn't as if he was doing anything wrong. Just staring up at the stars and struggling against falling asleep the best that he possibly could. He was struggling for all intents and purposes, but the massive moon in the sky was showering light upon the entire field he was in, and it was sort of helpful in keeping him awake since the entire place was beautiful and breathtaking.

Y u g e n. n.
On nights his mind grew prone to wandering, the youthful wildcat took to exploring.  Tanglewood presented an interesting environment, especially during the night, to traverse.  Under the stars the world hardly grew silent; Torren recounted a few stray owl hoots, interrupting the ever-present cricket chorus.  As the nights grew colder, the prince expected them to grow only moderately quieter.

A surprise caught him as he padded into the fields, spotting not one, but two beneath the illuminated sky.  Quickly, he noted the break in trees revealed the vibrant heavens above.  The open grass compared almost equally to the rhythmic tides of the sea, but Torren felt, for stargazing — as he deduced Wormwood to be actively conducting in the moment — the shore shone too mystically under starlight to lose against the peaceful field.

A concerned thought occurred to him as he began walking towards the two.  Kiira always seemed so sleep-deprived; a likely sufferer of insomnia.  Torren Liked Wormwood, finding the lion ever friendly and eager to talk with — he would not wish insomnia upon the guardsman.  Whether or not the feline’s thoughts rang accurately, he opted against directly inquiring about the other’s ability, or lack thereof, to sleep.  Considering his recent acquisition of constellation books came from Wormwood, the lion may simply enjoying the same pastime he did.

As he approached, he caught the tell-end of the unfamiliar feline’s words.  Before speaking, he bowed his head briefly, in a polite greeting to both.  “Personally, I find the stories behind the constellations more intriguing.” Myths, legends and folktales from all over the globe offered different stories to the patterns they traced in the night sky.  Torren supposed his passion for history drew him to the studies of astronomy lore, before truly attempting to simply learn the placement of the stars — a situation he planned to remedy, thanks to Wormwood.

“Though I have started to read your books.”

It seemed as though Wormwood wasn't going to have his nice peaceful alone time for very long, but he found that he didn't mind that much. He always enjoyed the company of others, and although he had been pretty thoroughly embarrassed after his first encounter with Indie, he found that she had made a fairly decent first impression on him, making him enjoy her company. In addition to that, he had pretty much always enjoyed Torren's company, ever since the young prince had joined and Worm had felt a sort of kinship towards him, since the boy reminded him so thoroughly of himself when he was young. Hell, Torren had even been part of the reason that Worm had decided to come out and stargaze to keep himself awake, so he found a small smile gracing his face as he slowly sat up, carefully folding his wings against his back before he stretched out, his jaws opening wide and his claws slipping put for a moment before disappearing back within his paws. He almost yawned, but he quickly held it back, not wanting to worry Indie nor Torren with thoughts about his many sleepless nights as of late. That would ruin the fun, and probably lead to more unpleasant questions that Worm wasn't quite ready to answer yet, or simply couldn't answer, due to a lack of his own answers to his internal questions.

Once he was upright and less prone to just collapsing in exhaustion, Wormwood decided to address Indie first, since she had been the first one to approach him. Chuckling a little at her words, he rumbled as his tail flicked from side to side, the little tuft at the top disturbing the grass behind him, "It is me. Figured I would just go out for a bit of late night stargazing. Everything is nice and bright right now... and I know most of them, yes. The stars were one of the first things I went and studied when I was searching for things to read in order to hone my abilities. I always found them so pretty, but I never knew what they were, so first I found out about them scientifically, and then I found out about all of the constellations." The thought of a younger him, sitting in the lands between the pride and Tanglewood, reading his books in his own little closed off area, brought a little smile to his face. Those had always been... interesting days. His attention was then pulled over to Torren, who had padded over and looked very fascinated with what Worm was doing. The lion blinked over at the young prince for a moment before hearing his comment, his face rising into a smile and his wings raising up a bit in happiness as he spoke, "Ah, I know some of the stories behind the constellations. Not all of them, though. I've still got a few more to read about at some point... I'm glad to hear that you've been reading the books I gave you, though. I've found all of the aspects of the stars very fascinating so far... what do you think?"

When Crowley came over and stared wistfully up into the sky for a moment, before finally talking about both the names and the stories of the stars as well as the science behind them, Wormwood found his wings shifting and twitching upon his back, as if something was wrong. He shook it off, as well as the strange feeling of familiarity that came with Crowley's skeptical words. Now wasn't the time for his... strange angelic dream problem. The whole reason he had come out here was to get away from that. He then said as he shifted and stretched out, his voice coming out in a deep rumble as he looked up at the sky, the stars twinkling brightly above, "I know the science behind all of the stars up in the sky. I've read many books about it, but... I still prefer to think of the names and stories attached to them. Even if they're just myths and nonsense... I always have enjoyed a good story. It's why I still have so many books." He chuckled softly before turning to rest his chin against the Earth beneath him again, before he heard Indie. He blinked at the female for a moment before laughed and saying as his tail flicked slowly behind him, "Only? I mean, I guess in the grand scheme of things that's not that far, but I can tell you that I haven't traveled a hundred million miles yet, and I highly doubt that I'm going to, even with wings."