[PRP] Relatives [Uuni, Roka, Sema & Abasi]

[Kaelyndra]

Ugh.

Mortals were supposed to be easy to find. Where the hell was she? Usually, she had to wait a few minutes, or find a high vantage point and that was all it took. With their small feet and need for sleep, they hardly made much daily distance.

The grass here was sparse. The dirt had gone dry, and there was a thick coat of dust in the air. Already, Uuni could feel grains of sand, pulled by the wind, embedding into her skin.

She planted herself on a slight, sloping hill and tried a different tactic.

"ROKA!" Gods ******** it all. This was taking entirely too much effort. "Damnit, mortal, where the hell are you?"  

[Hopefolly]

Roka had lost track of how long she'd been loitering in this hellish land. She'd breached the border of the desert, found a place that was liveable, and just hadn't left yet. There was water, (some) food, and shade to keep her needs satisfied. All except one: entertainment.

Roka was so very bored that the shouting didn't make her cringe like it usually would. She'd found a plant with leaves big enough for a lioness her side to nap under and was still there when she replied oh-so-gracefully.

"WHAAAAAAT?"  

[Kaelyndra]

Oh, good. There she was.

Dropping back down onto all fours, Uuni set off in the direction of the sound. Roka was lazier than she was, still shaded by her leaves.

"Enjoying yourself?"

It was a rhetorical question. Uuni scowled at the leaves.

"I'm going to the desert. You coming?" The goddess had a moment of not remembering just how long the desert took to get to if you walked by paw. Try as she might, she had not perfected the art of teleporting mortals from one location to another.

Walking.

Oh, yeah, there was that important bit of information. "One of your relatives is there."  

[Hopefolly]

Roka crawled out from under the plant and did it with style. Not just anyone could look composed dragging themselves through the dirt. "Oh yeah? Which one?"

The time they'd spent together with her family had been sooo great thus far, what with her grandmother nearly maiming them both. It had to be either her or Ava the Valiant Uuni was referring to, no?
 

[Kaelyndra]

"Uhhhh," Uuni answered, intelligently. Roka did look composed dragging herself through the dirt, okay. It wasn't her fault.

Damn, what was her name again? She'd been the easiest to find. Check the Firekin lands, no one there--oh s**t, someone there. They had so many damn relatives. "Your mother's sister, I think."

"If I had known how many damn grandchildren--" Then, she gave Roka a hard stare. "You haven't popped any out since I was last here, have you?"  

[Hopefolly]

"That's not very specific. My mother has four sisters." And one brother. Roka knew their names, the way they looked, and some of their quirks. She still did a double take if she saw any lion resembled the descriptions she'd been provided. Tanana had taught them these things second only to walking and talking.

--Wait.

"How do you know she has a sister?" Roka wasn't going to answer that question about her lack of children. So she hadn't found the right guy yet.

Shut up.

"And how do you know where she is? And why are you looking for her?"  

[Kaelyndra]

Groan.

What was the tally up to now? Uuni didn't even want to think about it. This was like the blood pact that never ended. It wasn't even any fun. There was no demented lion getting their just desserts as their ideas backfired on them. No, there was nothing but a desperate grandmother who had to stay alive until she knew her children were safe.

"Roka, love, what don't I know?" Uuni answered. The goddess flicked her tail and began to walk. Roka could either come with her or not, but the desert wasn't going to come to them.

"Because I--"

Uuni stopped, and slowly turned. The goddess had gone quiet as she took one good, unwavering look at Roka. Standing before her was a boring mortal, with more questions than answers, who may as well have been a confused child lost in the world. Mwokoti was right. All mortals were stupid.

"Because finding all your ******** relatives was part of the deal. Are you coming to the desert or not?"  

[Hopefolly]

One of Roka's sisters had joked if you stacked their relatives on top of each other, you could reach the moon. Roka was inclined to think you could not only accomplish that, but have them coil around the glowing orb in the sky and touch the sand of a beach back down here. They had no concept of how infinite space or their bloodline was.

Silly lions. They'd reach Saturn easy.

Roka didn't budge, at first. "I'm going, you pompous harridan." Go she did, catching up to Uuni and keeping at her side. Ava was right: All Gods were assholes. "What deal? What are you talking about?" Roka looked suspicious and intrigued when it probably should have just been the more accusatory one. "Deal with who?"  

[Kaelyndra]

Uuni couldn't help herself. The words 'pompous' and 'harridan' made a smile stretch across her muzzle that would make most cubs look sad. It probably didn't hurt that when she started walking, Roka was right there with her.

Unfortunately for Roka, a goddess in good spirits meant an a*****e indeed. Uuni gave the brown lioness a characteristic wink.

"The furrowed eyebrows are a good look for you."

Though Roka would never realize it, the fact that it was the only comment Uuni decided to make before she moved on was a large statement to how much she actually cared about what she was doing. Oh, sure, she complained, and yes, the entire thing absolutely sucked, but it was becoming a little pet project. Could she complete it? Was it possible for that many lions to be happy?

Was Roka happy? That was a question she hadn't asked. Healthy. Safe. Ohahira had been both of those, too, but that wasn't good enough. It was hard, really, to tell if a mortal was happy. Happy was a stupid word.

"Your guardian angel's looking out for you," she practically hummed out. Screw the consequences, she was in a good mood. Maybe she should 'walk' more often.

Nah.

That grin was wide as she flicked her eyes to the right to catch Roka's. "Your grandma. She had a wish before she died." Well, dies.  

[Hopefolly]

Roka had grown physically as much as she was going to. All that was left to do was mature in spirit and mind. To start, she didn't roll her eyes at Uuni's flirtatious commentary. Baby steps.

"My grandmother?" If Uuni really did appreciate the 'furrowed eyebrow look', she was going to love the expression that got stuck on Roka's face after she heard that. "On which side? What's she like?"

Tanana had never mentioned a grandmother.  

[Kaelyndra]

"Your mom's side." Which reminded her, Roka's mom had been one of the most difficult to find so far. It wasn't as though she did not have a unique description.

What made a lioness like that so difficult to locate? Unless, she was not the type that wanted to be found. No one was talking about her, there was no scandal surrounding her name. Uuni hated it when they were hard to find like that.

"Where is your mother, anyway?"

What luck would it be if Roka just knew. Luck she didn't have, that's what.

The goddess came to a complete stop, and squinted off into the distance. No. Was she hallucinating already? They weren't even in the desert yet!

Yet, she could not deny, there was definitely a cream, black, and white globby patch headed in their direction (or it looked like their direction). However, they were still quite the distance off, whoever they were.

Besides, there were a lot of creme, black, and white lions in the world.  

[Hopefolly]

"I don't know." Roka really didn't. No promises she'd tell Uuni if she were to find out. Her mother was so terrified by these Gods it seemed cruel to lead one to her. Moral dilemma: Was it more execrable an act to deny granny her dying wish?

At risk of sounding like a certain someone, the heat out here sucked. Roka griped about it and the loss of her comfy shade. She should have thought to complain until Uuni carried that leaf with them and held it over her. How did anyone live out here full-time?

Those lions up ahead handled the torrid weather much better than she.

"Do you see that?" Roka asked this pain in the a** Goddess.

"Do you see that?" Sehka-Sema asked his beloved brother.

The Dawnwalkers were falling apart at the seams. A long time coming, in Sema's (never spoken aloud) opinion. He was petrified of the change and wouldn't have found the courage to explore as he wanted to by his lonesome. Without encouragement from an exceptionally beautiful and gracious Goddess (which he kept to himself) and his brother's willingness to venture out with him, he didn't know where he'd be.  

[Kaelyndra]

"See what?"

The facetious tone in Uuni's voice could have been swum through. Of course she saw it. Was she blind, Roka? No? No. She was not blind.

The goddess tilted her head at the figures in the distance, and then resumed walking. Keep her horns out, or go quietly?

"Don't freak out," was all she said to Roka before she cast an illusion over herself. They were far enough away that the lions would likely pass the brief change in color off to a trick of distance.

To Roka, and anyone else around, it would now look like she was very much alone.

"Yeah."

There was definitely something out there. And while he may have agreed to go with Sema, Abasi was ultimately no brave soul. A knight in shining armor, maybe, but there were no dragons to slay, and no women to save.

"Do you suppose it's friendly or agressive?" Whatever it was. Abasi didn't exactly have eagle eyes, and he had not yet convinced himself it was a lion.  

[Hopefolly]

Roka was a mere autodidact of the Gods and their many surprises. No one told her they could turn invisible!

"Don't ********. Seriously? Seriously?" Roka looked like a fool turning around in a circle. "Harridan!" she spat. How long before Uuno appeared in the distance to terrorize the two blobs out there?

Roka made quick work of lessening the distance between her and them and, yes, those were definitely lions.

Lions not as eager to meet her half way. Sema had boldly started forward until he was certain that the thing up ahead was charging them. Only one? He could have sworn --

Still, just one might be trouble. They weren't exactly trained warriors.

He frowned at his brother. "Abasi?"  

[Kaelyndra]

Though Roka could not see it, Uuni was making nearly perfect circles with her eyes. So much for not freaking out.

The goddess was about to open her mouth to tell Roka to keep her trap shut, when the rogue lioness went absolutely insane. There was no other word to describe the brown lioness' sudden urge to break into a sprint and charge their opponents.

s**t. What kind of an idiot charged two, grown lions she didn't know?

"Ro--" Uuni started, silencing herself. Ah, s**t. s**t.

It was exactly the word that was rolling around inside Abasi's brain. Or, close to it. The white lion had gone for the much wordier option of: what do I do?

"I was hoping for friendly," Abasi had whispered out, his ears going flat. They couldn't just stand there and get attacked.

"Let's trip it." It? Was it a lioness? It didn't look like it had a full mane. "If we can pin whoever it is. . . " Well, he hadn't thought much past that, but there wouldn't be any claws in their back. That seemed like a good starting place.

"If we fail, we can split and run in opposite directions, yeah?" Abasi swallowed the lump in his throat.

Hopefolly