milliways_bar | (no subject)

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In one of the more shadowed corners of the bar something stirs, tawny-gold fur catching the light.

It is a Lion, head coming up off his forepaws, solemn golden eyes watching the patrons as they pass by.

Aslan has been here for quite some time.

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"And so you did not, child. But it does you credit--should you live up to it."

The growl has faded, some, and now the golden gaze is assessing.

"Shall you put forth the effort?"

Oats looks almost guilty for a moment, then thinks fleetingly of the phoenix.

A faint, shy smile.

"I-- I think I will. I try."

"It is all that can be asked of you."

But the voice is warmer, now, and the golden eyes are almost kind.

"And I think you will do well enough."

Funny how that sounds so compelling coming from someone else's ... Lion.

"Ah ... thank you. Yes."

He's at a slight loss for other words.

Um.

"... Do you come here very often? I've, um. Never seen you before."

"I am not always easily seen."

He is not, after all, a tame lion.

"It is also true that you may not have been looking."

Oats looks sheepish.

"I'm, ah ... not always very observant, it's true."

"Should you keep that in mind, there is great likelihood you would improve."

Aslan's laugh is warm and rumbling, and it fills the room.

"Though again, I am not always so easily seen."

Oats surprises himself by how nearly he laughs in return; it's that wonderful.

"I was learning to listen, once. Only ... it didn't go so well. I think I, er, probably stopped."

Not so easily seen ...

Well, it's hard to hide a lion.

But it might be another thing, Oats thinks, for a Lion to hide himself.

"Perhaps you should begin again, child."

His eyes are kind, though still filled an odd kind of brightness.

He may not be referring only to the listening.

"Perhaps I should."

It doesn't seem like a wholly impossible idea.

About the listening, at least.

"Though I'm not sure where to start."

The faint growl is back in his voice, rumbling low under the surface warmth.

"That is, in itself, the beginning."

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