Twisted Wonderland Moments

🌧 Rain Rain lend a helping hand (Leona/Mara)

Got this idea during a rainy day, honestly

Leona clicked his tongue in annoyance at seeing the rain pour down harshly from the gray sky. His ears would flick whenever a droplet hit him. If he knew it was going to rain today, especially this hard, then he would never have napped outside.

"Grrr. This is annoying. There's no way I'm sleeping under this rain." He grumbled, relying on leaves and large branches above him to be his only protection. Normally, he could sleep through the rain, but only when he was inside and dry. Being outside, the pitter patter of the rain would ring in his ears, making it hard to sleep without any quiet.

"Leona?"

His ears perked up at a female voice that was familiar to him, and he turned his head around to find Mara. The cheetah beast-woman had her jacket over her head to protect her from the rain.

"Please tell me you were not sleeping in the rain." She asked flatly, shaking the water from her jacket. "Oh? You starting to worry about me, Mara?" He teased, his amusement furthering at her eyes glancing away from him. She wasn't too thrilled to learn she had somehow developed feelings for him and didn't want to let him win by flustering her.

"Maybe I should since you're that careless enough to get yourself sick just for a nap. I bet you wished you had your school jacket to keep you dry." She shot back boldly, feeling proud to see his smug attitude falter and an irrated growl came up.

"Hmph. Nice to see you have some faith in me." He replied sarcastically, finding her roast a blow to his pride. It was much h worse than the weather. "I'll see you at the dorm." He growled before storming into the pouring rain. Mara just shook her head, thinking to go a different way than him but whether she liked it or not, this was the shortest way so she trotted ahead to catch up.

The two made the walk through the rain as the cheetah kept shooting glances at him. His long hair was soaked, adding weight to his head, and they both heard her sandals squish with each step. His nose scrunched at the feeling of the mud coating his feet. "Are you not worried about catching a cold?" She asked him, slightly concerned for his wellbeing as his clothes were getting drenched.

"I've seen heavier rain back home. It's not that bad." He commented without any worry in his voice, side glancing the cheetah. While her head was mostly dry, he noticed her sneakers were muddy and her ankles a little bit. Not to mention, the jacket didn't protect her entire outfit from the rain, with only the upper portion being partially dry.

A mishevious idea came inside his head, and without warning, Leona shook his head, shaking the droplets off his hair. Mara yelped in surprise, running away from him to avoid getting wet further. He roared with laughter, and he erupted more when she shot him a wide eye look. "You jerk!" The cheetah growled, getting her vengeance by shaking her jacket, hurling the amount for droplets that clung to her jacket.

She didn't care if she was getting herself more soaked. The freshmen weren't gonna let that lion her away from it. Leona, however, didn't mind. If anything, it furthered his amusement and made him laugh even harder. It had to be contagious because the first year started laughing, too.

"I hate you! I'm soaked thanks to you!" Mara complained, struggling to hold her laughter. Leona glanced at her, calming down a bit. The way she was laughing was new to him. Usually, she would snicker, but a complete laughter was very rare for him to hear. He kind of like it.

Mara started to put her jacket over her head and shoulders again, but when her eyes made contact with him, she paused as a thought when through her head. Leona stared back at her, frowning a little. He was trying to figure out what she was thinking right now. It looked like it involved him.

After some pondering, Mara cautiously walked up to him and then spread half of her jacket. "What are you doing?" He asked her, staring at her strangely. "Making sure you don't get a cold." She responded firmly, motioning for him to join under it. He glanced at the jacket, finding it more drenched than before. Then again, it would be a headache for him if he caught a cold.

Eyeing her cautiously, Leona moved closer to her, lowering his head to get under the protection of the jacket. When he did that, the side of his face bumped into Mara's, startling her. "My bad." Leona said flatly, but when she turned to look at him, tiny little droplets hung from her eyelashes, falling each time she blinked. Her golden eyes sparkled when the water wrinkled down from her soaking hair and edge of her jacket.

Leona suddenly felt his face get warm, and the words got stuck in his throat. The cheetah stared at him oddly, tilting one of her ears down, which made him even worse as he felt his face more hotter. "What? Are you that surprise that I'm being nice to you?" She teased him, wearing a smile wider than Chenya. "I... whatever. let's go! My tail's getting soaked." He stammered, turning his face away from her. The cheetah giggled amusingly, letting silence come back again with only the pitter patter of the rain.

But something did bug the cheetah as she frowned. 'Why did he look at me like that? Was he that surprised that I'm helping him? Wait. Why did I even help him? I could've easily left him walk back to the dorm on his own. Then again, I bet he would be more difficult if he caught a cold." The thoughts and questions kept going in her head, realizing her feelings were there. Mara wanted to deny them.

"Oi. We're here."

Her train of thought broke when his voice came and it hit her that it stopped raining. They had arrived at the Savannaclaw dorm, and it was a relief for the both of them when the heat hit against their faces, drying off the rain.

"You know, it's a relief that the dorms have their own climate. Otherwise, we will be dealing with rain and snow every time." Mara commented, dreading that idea as she twisted her coat, trying to wring out the water from it as best as possible.

"For once, I agree with you." The housewarden added. One of the few things they can agree on. He was starting to realize they had more common ground than he thought. Side glancing at the cheetah, he watched her pull her ears tightly to squeeze the excess water out. There was nothing more irritating than something getting your ear.

Scanning her up and down, her whole school uniform was soaked, and her hair too. Crewel would've given them an earful if he caught them like wet dogs that had played in the rain. Or, in their case, wet cats.

"Oi." He said, watching her ears perk up once her attention was brought. He held his hand, eyes directed at the dripping piece of clothing in her hands. "Give me your clothes."

"Excuse me?!"

Mara shouted, feeling her face redden  as she looked at him strangely. Leona rolled his eyes at her, though he had to admit he may not have been clear in his intentions. "Look. Give me the coat for now, and once you change, you give me the rest of your clothes, and I'll throw them in the laundry." He explained, fighting the urge to just grab the jacket.

The cheetah looked at him with an unamused look. "By you, you mean Ruggie." She pointed out flatly, knowing that poor hyena was in for another chore by their housewarden.

Leona sighed, feeling his patience drain, and ran his hand through his soaking wet hair. "Listen. We're both wet, and we want to go dry up. You helped me out, so allow me to return the favor. Got it?" He reasoned, his tone indicating he was not in the mood to argue.

Mara stared at his hand, which waited and back to him. Leona wasn't someone to back out of his words. Plus, their walk wasn't that bad. He was actually for once reasonable. Maybe because both of them didn't like getting wet.

After some pondering and second guessing, Mara placed her coat into his hand. A smug little smirk came on his face, satisfied that she accepted his help. "Nice to see you have faith in me." He told her, repeating his words from before but in a more sorta honest tone.

Throwing the coat over his shoulder, he snickered at how the cheetah narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. As he turned and left, Mara's eyes widened when she realized something. "Wait. Did Leona just...help me? That boy is so weird." The cheetah mumble, staring at him oddly before she went to get changed.