「 LOST IN THE DEEP END┊JOINING 」

[aureate]

[align=center][div style="max-width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]Candyfloss, on the other hand (paw?), looks completely and entirely perfect. Though there's some sand all over, it doesn't drown out the glitter sticking in his mane, and the sunshine makes the colors of his fur pop. Splattered patterns of white, gold dancing off pink and purple. Though he spent the same time in grassy plains, his area of the world got hot every summer. Dry and burning, with wildfires springing up and dying, water drying up. His skin is used to the heat, and it doesn't blister so easily these days. Hard paws skip through the sand fast enough to keep him level with Deimos, if not even ahead of him. Even jumping down the slope that leads to the jungle is done with a comfortable ease and low hum that jumps and drops in pitch. He turns back, occasionally, now just in time to see the other lion's mane beginning to curl.

Really now, it's not his fault that he's going to make fun of Deimos for that. If anything, blame the rain. He barks out a laugh and grins, the silver of his piercings glinting harshly with the tip of his head. That's what slows him down long enough for the other to pass him. The lack of a response doesn't bother him, and soon enough he's caught up. This time the pink lion stays mostly behind him, his shoulder level with the other's hip. His expression and attitude remain carefree and happy, like he's got some song playing in his head. Something that nobody else can hear or understand.

Unlike Deimos, his mind stays far away from his past. For good reason, too. His father is dead, killed by another lion. His sister stuck there, his mother — he doesn't know, and he doesn't ask. Doesn't dare to ponder. He had spent too long running away from his past to fall into that trap now. The truth was... he didn't want to know. Candyfloss could only own this moment, wrapped up so thoroughly in the threads of the present that the past couldn't push through. So he owns this instead, and everything he touches. He owns very little and has lost way too much. It'll be alright, though. He's headed somewhere new, with someone interesting. Candy isn't naive or too airheaded: he knows that Deimos isn't really a fan. But he'd needed some kind of company, and an adventure sounded like just the right thing. [color=#a08386]"Well no shit," he snickers, colorful eyes on the other lion's claws. [color=#a08386]"Just where I wanted to be, huh?"