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 Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 3:31 pm
The sun hung low in the sky, bathing the Kusini lands in various shades of red and orange. It was a hot evening, the air dry with the lack of rain for so long. It was the perfect weather to make any lion fall into a deep slumber during the hottest part of the day, and that was exactly what had happened to Damu. The young lion had passed out in the shade of a large boulder, his muscles sore from the recent growth spurt he'd experience. And what a growth spurt it had been. He was resembling his older brother more and more with each passing day, and with his genetics, there was no way Damu could have ended up a small lion.
He had awoken only a few moments ago, and now the large mocha lion meandered his way through the tall golden grass, his earthy eyes searching the flat land around him. He wanted to find Haba...he hadn't seen her in a few days, and it was beginning to wear on him. He'd been feeling different lately. The whispers that floated on the winds had been getting stronger..but lately there had been no wind to blame it on. His head prickled, as if dozens of pins and needles were being pierced roughly into his skull. Something just felt wrong, and he was so restless. His nap that afternoon had been the first good sleep he'd gotten in weeks. A sleep that, for once, didn't plague him with horrible nightmares.
Lifting his head, he let out a bleating roar, a call for his twin. He had no idea where she was, and he was getting awfully close to the forest. His head kept hurting more and more as he walked closer. But he would still call for her, nonetheless, until at least someone answered him.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 4:25 pm
With the days so hot, they had eventually driven the paler lion into the depths of the forest. With the sun glaring so hotly down upon the lands in the midst of summer, the ancient trees offered ample protection from both heat and light. The great boughs linked high above the ground to form a wild canopy, mingled with vines and various assortments of foliage. Though it had rumors to be haunted, Njozi had long since figured out which section the myth referred to explicitly, and knew by sight which trees not to pass. Not that he was afraid, of course, he just didn't want to find out if those horrible myths happened to be truthful.
As it were, he was lingering close by when Damu released the beckoning call. Though there was no way to determine whether or not it was meant for anyone in particular, Njozi decided to answer it regardless. He knew, before he ever saw him, to whom it belonged - the likeness between Taabu and Damu didn't stop at appearance. Their voices would become very similar once Damu had grown, and it was only the youth of the sound that told him the difference now.
"Damu, is something wrong?" he called once he had broken away from the tree line and had the mocha form in sight. Now that Damu had had his growth spurt, he was nearly the same size as Njozi. Though he was still slightly larger than his younger uncle, it was due to being a little older and closer to the final growth spurt that he would receive.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 4:55 pm
Damu secretly loved the fact that he resembled his older brother so much. Though he had never had much interaction with the older lion, Damu had always idolized him from afar. Perhaps it was because Taabu looked so similar to himself, which made him look similar to Haba, that he felt that much closer to him. It would only delight him further to know that even his voice was now beginning to transform into that of the larger mocha lion.
So concerned with listening for his twin's voice between his echoing roars, Damu was shocked to hear a different voice return it. Tossing his charcoal bit of mane to the side, his earth-colored eyes raised along with his head, ears swiveling on top of his skull. His eyes passed over golden grass easily enough, yet when the shadows of the trees entered his vision, a sharp jolt shocked through his head, making him stumble just slightly.
The other lion was still some distance away, but he was easily recognizable not only by his coloring, but by his size. It was one of his nephews, though it was still odd for him to have nieces and nephews that were older than him. Inhaling deeply, he put a name to the pale lion: Njozi. He hadn't really...interacted very much at all with him, as he'd been absent for so long. In fact, he only knew him by the scent of his parents. He had the smallest bit of resentment for his nephew, as he'd been chosen to travel with Syeira and Taabu. Damu still couldn't understand why he'd been left behind, since he was every bit as strong and large as Taabu or Njozi.
Head lowering sullenly, his murky eyes hardened and his brow lowered. He gave a short, echoing reply of "No" before flicking his tail and turning his large body in the opposite direction.
No, he wasn't anti-social at all.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:23 pm
Njozi had never really resented the fact that Damu looked more like his own father than he did, but the resemblance was always a little awkward for him. It was almost like looking at his father, but much younger, and with splashes of crimson streaked over his eyes. Not to mention, it was like speaking to a much moodier version of his father. Njozi, on the other hand, thought he looked a good deal more like his mother with all that sexy whiteness plastered on his body. He had that precious cream color that both Taabu and Damu shared - but it was so much more attractive against his paler fur in his opinion. Not that he would mention that to Damu - it might make him go bonkers. Well, he assumed so, his Bibi said small things could make him go bonkers. 'Course, she had never actually used that exact term.
"Are you sure?" Njozi said, following after Damu without second thought to how irritated he might make him. After all, Njozi was still slightly larger, and had been trained to deal with him anyway. By now, he was extremely confident that he could take whatever Damu could dish out. Of course, Bibi had said he should have a little while yet before he started getting really violent. "Because if you need help with something, I'm perfectly capable," he continued on, completely unaware of the resentment that Damu held towards him.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:02 pm
Damu had always felt relieved to look more like his own mother than his father. He had always felt more of a bond with his mother. Uumi was prone to moodiness, and with Damu's own mood swings, it just wasn't the best combination. Not to mention, he'd never spent much time around Uumi. Azima had always been a glutton with their father, stealing him away from everyone else. Being around Uumi meant being around his bight red brother, and that really would make the mocha lion go insane.
His hackles raised and his head lowered, Damu currently resembled a very angry vulture. His paws thumped hard against the grass below him, trying to stomp away as fast as possible. His eyes rolled skyward as he heard Njozi following him. It wasn't that he actually disliked Njozi, it was just that...he really wanted Haba.
There was the faintest hint of a growl in his voice as he glanced back over his shoulder. "I'm very sure," he said, his voice low. "I'm simply looking for something, something of which you will be no aid with, and with which you have no knowledge." Which was mostly true. He was seeking a present for Haba, something just as special as the shell dangling against his chest. And nobody knew his twin better than him.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:55 pm
Njozi himself had never spent very much time around his Babu, other than a few general times when the Pridelander prince had been around when he was visiting his Bibi, but he understood perfectly the way that Uumi could be a little too grumpy. The times he had seen his younger uncle had shown him that the attitude seemed to be slightly hereditary - and if he didn't know better, he would have said that Damu had gotten at least a touch of it. Of course, it really all could be contributed to his insanity, but Njozi was just guessing.
As Damu lowered his head and began to trudge on so angrily, Njozi honestly couldn't help the little smirk that spread across his maw. Of course, taunting the crazy boy probably really wasn't what Syeira had had in mind for a Usare'Wasii, but he wasn't exactly completely loopy yet, right? Njozi could still have a little bit of fun with him until that point, couldn't he? With no one around to tell him no, he just kept right on.
The growl, to any other, might have told them to back off - but Njozi was just as big and just as capable of whatever his younger uncle would do and it only urged him on a little more. "How do you know that, hm? I know the Kusini like the back of my paw, inside and out, every little piece of it," he said rather bluntly, not really bragging exactly, but said more as a fact, "I can probably help you find something here more easily than anyone else can." He was sort of helping, right?
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:58 am
There had always been something about males of his species that just...bothered Damu. He felt much more comfortable around the females persuasion, as seen with his interaction between his mother and sister, as opposed to his father and brother. The only exception had always been Taabu, and that was because of the visual similarity. Perhaps Damu's natural, baser instincts were more prominent. The instincts that naturally made every male lion puff up and chase any opponents off. This was no more apparent now as the mocha lion tried to hurry in the opposite direction of his nephew. His claws slid out of their sheaths, ripping narrow cuts in the earth beneath his paws. The fur along his spine slowly rose, and a throaty growl pulsated in the back of his throat. Didn't Njozi know when to call it quits?
"I told you I didn't need any help," he snapped, his brows lowered heavily over his eyes. There was an edge to his voice that wasn't there before, something that whispered of something much beyond the normal moody Damu.
He took a few shaky steps away from Njozi before stopping and shaking his head roughly. He really needed to talk to Haba about how sick he was feeling lately. There had been a few periods of time where everything had gone black for a few moments, and he'd wake up without a single memory of what had just happened, and usually some distance from where he'd been before.
Haba. He really did need to find something for her. Letting out a huge sigh, he turned his head over his shoulder and gave a very begrudging look to his nephew. "I'm looking for something for Haba."
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:03 pm
Njozi himself was pretty fond of those of the female persuasion, though it happened to be for a completely different reason than Damu. Where as Damu sought them out for comfort, Njozi sought them out for flirting. However, that could all be put up to the hormones you find in adolescents. He had, at least, toned it down a little now that he had found one particular lioness that seemed to take up most of his attention. He did, however, find company in nearly any gender or species - as seen here with his grumpy younger uncle.
As Damu snapped at him, he nearly paused in his steps. How was he supposed to protect Damu if the git kept trying to drive him away? He was really going to have to talk to Bibi about this. Hell, if he was supposed to take care of Damu, the least she could do was tell him to not be so grumpy when he's going nuts. Crazy was enough - did he have to put up with moodiness too? With a frown, he shook his head, dismissing the thoughts. Bibi had said he had to do this, no matter what.
"Something for Haba?" he said with a grin, recollecting the twin that used to accompany his uncle wherever he went. With a smirk, he tossed his black tuft from his eyes, glancing off in the general direction of the river. "You mean, something pretty?" he glanced down, seeing the seashell necklace securely hanging from around Damu's neck, "like that?" Well - he had no idea why Damu hadn't asked him about this in the first place. Njozi was good at finding pretty things, ever since a little cub. He had a collection of oddities back at the den from his travels, pushed up into a corner and covered with leaves.
(My muse ran away D: )
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:35 pm
Sadly, moodiness went hand in hand with Damu's 'illness'. If he hadn't been plagued by such a disease, he might have lived a rather content life, with only a handful of snappish moments (as surly teenagers are so prone to). It could have easily been intensified by his father's temper, but only by a minuscule amount. However, if the young lion had been able to turn it off so easily, he would have done so long ago. Truth be told, he didn't like how snappish he was, and how it seemed like it wasn't even him being grumpy most of the time, but something else inside his head. His words, sometimes, didn't even seem to belong to him.
Settling down on his rump in the golden grass, Damu faced his nephew, a stormy expression still on his face. Yet it wasn't quite as lethal. He raised a paw, touching the delicate shell against his chest tenderly. He cherished the little object more than anything else in the entire world. Nodding reluctantly, he shifted his mocha eyes to the ground. "Yes. Something very pretty. Something...rare and unique, I guess." He shrugged his muscular shoulders. He didn't want to give Haba something just anyone could go around and find - it had to be special, something no one else would think to give her.
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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:24 pm
Njozi wondered idly, as he stared down at his younger uncle, whether his Bibi knew the full extent of Damu’s problem. Of course, she had always said that she grew up with her brother and saw his problems first hand, but they hadn’t spent as much time together now that they were grown. From the little amount of time Njozi could recall being near Damu before he left, he remember a more peaceful cub than the adolescent grouching away before him. Forgive Njozi for attempting to think, but he wondered if perhaps the illness only got worse with age. If that was so, the worst was yet to come, and Bibi needed to be informed. He would have to talk to her later and figure out whether or not she realized that it seemed to be a progressive disease.
As he realized these thoughts were passing through his head, a small frown formed on his pale little mug. Since when had Damu become an object to protect, a thing to study? He felt a bit of sympathy towards the younger uncle whom he had been assigned to protect so diligently. Shouldn’t at least someone see him as an actual living being instead of a job, or a problem? He assumed Bibi loved him, but she spent so much time trying to protect him that he wasn’t sure if it was the same. He had never spent a lot of time around him either, so he always saw him as a responsibility. Poor Damu, didn’t he have one friend other than Haba? He supposed that was just another downfall of the disease.
“Very pretty,” he said quietly, turning his eyes in a few different directions before settling on the horizon that led directly to the river. “I can show you a place down by the river where all of the stones have turned into little gems.” He frowned slightly, trying to kick start the exact location in his memory – he had seen so much of the land recently during his rounds. “I think it has something to do with it being so close to the spring that feeds the river, maybe it brings them up from underground,” he said quietly, the deep thought on the subject obviously mastering his slightly slow brain process.
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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:40 pm
Damu stared at his nephew blankly as the slightly older lion seemed lost in thought. His tail twitched irritably behind him, and he was beginning to wonder just why exactly he'd asked for Njozi's help. He'd never spent time around the other male, and they'd never been particularly close. Why start now? He had no need for companions, other than Haba. He could do without all the others: those that abandoned him, those he detested, and those that generally just invaded his personal space (and Damu's idea of personal space was a handful of miles).
Just as he was about to get to his paws and stalk off, an irritated grumble on his tongue, Njozi spoke. The river. Of course. Why hadn't he simply thought of that himself? Damu had spent a fair amount of time traipsing up and down the rivers as a cub, and he knew the vague direction of the area his nephew spoke of. There the rocks were shiny and glimmered with small, semi-precious stones. Most were tiny, but if you looked hard enough, you could find nicely sized ones. Clambering up on his large paws, Damu turned his head in the direction of the river.
If Damu wasn't being an absolute grouch, then he was normally being a complete arse. He rolled his earth-toned eyes. "Of course it does. The water close to the surface is what forms them in the first place, idiot," he said in a perfect monotone, a slightly mocking tone lingering in his voice. Tossing his charcoal tuft to the side, Damu turned his sleek body around and started stalking off in the direction of the river without pausing for Njozi.
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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:37 pm
Njozi stared after Damu irritably for a moment, eyes narrowed onto the mocha form that was beginning to slink off in the distance. All of a sudden, Njozi wasn’t sure that his months away from his family had been worth this. Sure, he understood his Bibi’s need to protect the family, but at that particular moment all he really wanted to do was shove Damu’s head into the ground. He couldn’t fathom spending his life trying to protect the git, especially with such an attitude problem. Of course, he had been prepared for this all along, but it was much easier to say that you could do it when you weren’t faced with the little arsehead in person.
Dismissing the insults, Njozi caught up to his younger uncle in a few quick bounds, and began to walk at his side despite the moodiness with which Damu had just handled the conversation. He was trying to help, and whether Damu appreciated it or not, he was going to do it for his Bibi. Besides, he couldn’t very well protect a lion that he didn’t know at all, could he? Of course, Njozi didn’t see any cozy family bonding any time in the near future.
As they walked along in a silence that Njozi as entirely thankful for, he began to hear the little noises of rushing water. With a soft smirk, he perked up his ears and began to shift the direction slightly. Where Damu knew the general direction they were heading in, Njozi knew it exactly, and it would be much easier to head straight to it rather than meandering their way up the lazily twisting and turning river.
“I think it’s just up here,” he said calmly, eyes drifting over the lands as the sound grew steadily louder.
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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:15 pm
Damu knew that he could be difficult deep down. But he also knew that him being difficult often times drove whoever happened to be around him completely bonkers, especially when everything that slid off his tongue was laced with sarcasm and snarkiness. If he'd been aware of the fact that Njozi was supposed to be protecting him, he would've told his nephew to not even bother with it. But perhaps it was a good thing that Damu didn't know - he would only then want to cause trouble for his guardian, complete with much taunting and teasing and making everything as difficult as possible.
The young lion grumbled underneath his breath as the pale form of the other male appeared beside his. In all truth, they made quite the admirable duo: both large and muscular, prime examples of a healthy male lion. It was a shame, really, that there would be no family bonding time between uncle and nephew. No romps around the Kusini lands, hunting down prey of both the eating and flirting kind. No. That sort of thing would never be seen between these two, or any other that Damu happened to run into for that matter.
A storm brewing in his head, the tan lion didn't hear the trickle of water: the thunder inside his skull was much too loud. Yet as soon as Njozi mentioned it, he raised his head just slightly, ears swiveling forward. For once, he didn't contest his nephew's opinion and simply nodded, altering the path his large paws were taking.
The swish of the tall grass was pleasant against his fur as they drew closer and closer. The earth became softer as they neared the banks, and the vegetation grew greener and longer, dotted now and then by thick cattail reeds. Damu scrunched his claws into the sandier ground as the water came into site, its surface glittering in the afternoon sunlight. The water was clear, and one could see straight down into its shallow depths to the sparkling treasures that were hidden beneath it. Seeming almost normal for once, Damu sauntered to the edge of the river and stuck his nose very close to its babbling surface, peering with narrowed eyes into the depths. He had to find the most absolute perfect stones.
He worked in absolute silence, easing his paws into the water just enough to scoot the silt towards the bank. He seemed entertained for the time being, and not once harsh word leaked past his lips, nor even the faintest bit of moodiness. All in all, he seemed rather...docile and emotionless. But it didn't take him long to collect a small, wet pile of glimmering amethyst, blue agate, and opals. Settling down on his haunches in front of his pile, he nosed it gently. He spoke softly, more to himself than to his reluctant companion. "These are only formed when the water near the surface touches sandstone. They dissolve the minerals all around them and make these." He touched his treasures again, a vague hint of a smile in his eyes. Yet the moment soon passed, and Damu cleared his throat, lifting his head to look at his nephew. "Thank you," he said, somewhat reluctantly and perhaps a little shyly, but this time, and for the first time, it held no harshness. The mocha lion got slowly to his feet, and to avoid the semi-awkwardness he felt, began tugging thick reeds from the riverbanks. Wrapping the gems in these would have to suffice until he could find someone to string them on.
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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:16 pm
Njozi had sat calmly once his uncle strutted towards the river, curling his tail slowly around his paws. He idly watched Damu for a few minutes before turning his attention back onto the horizon and tree line in turn, glancing around in several different directions. It wasn’t like he expected something to come popping out of nowhere all of a sudden, but it did give him something to do when he was a little unsure of his place in a situation. Not to mention, if Bibi came by at the moment, it would look like was being a very good guardian, whether Damu knew it or not.
“Really?” Njozi said with a small blink as he pushed himself up to his feet, coming closer to peer at the pretty little gems that Damu had gathered from the river. “I didn’t know any of that, actually,” Njozi admitted, a lopsided smile stretched over his maw. He didn’t know anything about the stones and gems except that they had always been there. He shifted back away from Damu as soon as he had gotten his glance, not wanting to push on the male’s personal space and have him perhaps go a little loopy. His mood swings were enough right now.
As he began to drag up the reeds, Njozi shifted to find a few of the bigger ones and aid his uncle. He tugged what he felt like was needed and slowly drug them back to Damu with his teeth, laying them down with a little frown. It was an awkward situation now. He had helped Damu, and he supposed that was all that was really necessary of him at the moment. With a little shift of his paws, he glanced in the direction he had come from, and then back to Damu calmly.
“I’m glad I could help you, Damu, but I think I should probably be heading home now,” he said quietly, tell flickering. He knew Damu wanted to spend as little time with him as possible, and to tell the truth, Njozi didn’t want to stay around the moody lion much longer anyway. “I’ll see you around, I suppose,” he said with a little smile, then turned slowly on his heels and began to saunter off in the direction of his mother and father’s den.
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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:36 pm
Damu was thankful that Njozi kept his distance. The one ones he let in his personal space were his twin and his mother. Beyond that, everyone else ran the risk of a very unhappy, very large lion. Yet he grudgingly nodded his thanks when Njozi helped him with the reeds. He had the perfect idea of how to present these to Haba. He planned to venture into just the beginning of the forest to find a simple, sturdy vine through which he would string the gems. Then, he planned to find some small flower to wrap around the top of the small reed bag he was creating. Surely just the borders of the forest would be fine and wouldn't make his head hurt so terribly much. He just hoped he wouldn't have to go deeper into the forest.
Laying on his belly, the reeds between his paws, Damu meticulously laid them out before piling the gems in the middle. Piece by piece, he folded the reeds upwards into an almost turnip-shaped bag, and tied it off with a narrow strip of grass. He shook as he rose, scattered sand from his belly all around him. Leaning his head down, he grasped the small bag in his jaws with the utmost delicacy. His mouth being constricted, all he could manage was another nod towards Njozi for his help. It wasn't that he didn't like the pale lion, it was that he just didn't like...anybody, and disliked being around everybody in general.
Tail flicking at his back paws, Damu sauntered off down the river to look for Haba. He wanted to taunt her with the idea of a gift before giving it to her.
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