It was hard to survive outside of the circus after he hopped off the train. He had regretted gathering most of the random assortment of supplies when he jumped too. The food was useful, for the day it lasted, but the balloons, the random trinkets to try and trade like they had behind the big top, meant nothing to the animals out here, worried more that he was a danger to them. It was harder still in the hot and humid jungles, and Sparky had gone north almost by instinct, slipping between towns and over roads, over mountains then down through valleys. Rumors from various animals kept directing him around, telling him of a refuge, a safe place for all to relax and recover in when injured... certainly they could help a fool who couldn't survive on his own too.

When the snow leopard finally found the Tree of Life, they were curious of the goofball before them, virtually no concept of the life he came from. His story was enough to gain him access though, and they were amused by most of his antics when he wasn't supposed to be learning to hunt, or how to find shelter in the mountains. Except for Surak, he was a near perpetual grump, easy to make the butt of jokes until he became the teacher. But there was also the lioness who wasn't queen.

Nirmala was an angel the second he laid eyes on her. He didn't even remember that he compared her eyes to the purest of blue skies when they met. Smitten was an understatement. She had put him in check quickly though, and he did his best to respect it. The queen had also noted he wasn't disabled, or even injured. He was going to have to leave at some point to maintain their "Circle of Life." Sparky understood the practicality of it well enough, and when the hunger was just starting to tug at his being, Nirmala noted he had an unduly high failure rate, and seemed to understand, warning that sparing prey wouldn't buy him much longer there.

It didn't matter to the snow leopard, and he took advantage of the time. He had tried to offer some of the shinier trinkets to her as well, but they held no value, despite their prettiness. One morning though, Sparky noticed the flower in her ear wilted and needing replacement. By the time she laid down to rest for the day it was gone entirely, needing replacement. While the night pride slept, Sparky struggled to try and inflate and twist some of the balloons into various shapes, finally succeeding after a few hours of thumbless struggles. As the dark furred lions arose from their slumber, yawns tinged with unintended roars, a fluffy white head poked up from the grass a hill over with a bright orange and green thing in his muzzle apparent even from the distance. Eyes turned to Nirmala, silent jokes about her white shadow exchanged in knowing smirks.

Nirmala stretched and let out a groggy sigh... it was too early for this. But he was still respectful enough to stay away while they slept, waiting patiently. She would put him back in his place softly, tell him to stop bringing his human things around and to get rid of them sooner rather than later to embrace his new life better. As she approached though, what he carried with him became more apparent, very different, but similar enough to look like one of her flowers.

When Sparky was close enough he opened his mouth first, offering the balloon before she could speak. "I know it's still a human thing... but it'll eventually wilt away like a regular flower, just a little longer. Please, I know I'm going to be forced out eventually, but I can't stay unaffectionate while I'm lucky enough to be here. And while you don't need it, you could use a new flower for that ear..."



So I had a person favorite some of my pieces, and I'm a nosy little shit... so I went and snooped around. Turns out they are an artist, and save for the pieces from my gallery that were faved, there wasn't much balloon/pooltoy stuff in their gallery, or their favorites. Well when I saw  WandaLioness was open and was told that she wanted to do more squeaky stuff, I couldn't help but give her some work. Nirmala has grown as a crush for me for a while now, and I had to take advantage of a great feral artist to draw up my boy shooting his shot with her in his own, goofy way. A similar trick worked with my real life wife, why not try it with wiafus. Be funn if the voice actor or animators saw this piece (Not an invitation to make that happen though). Go check out her work over hear and show some love at the source! Please... for Nirmala.