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 Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:50 am
Takatifu'moja, a little cub with a name to match the size of her heart and curiosity, had managed to wander away from her father, her abu-Nafasi. It was a lucky break, her father usually didn't let her out of his sight. But he had fallen asleep and she had wandered away. It had been a good bit of time since the great shaking and since the goddess brought her to her abu-Nafasi.
Tifu wandered about, making sure to be careful. She didn't want to get hurt, because that would upset her abu-Nafasi and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So she was careful as she climbed over a log and careful as she perched on a rock near an itty-bitty pond, her violet eyes watching the water ripple with the afternoon breeze at her back. She could feel the Goddess' touch in that breeze and she smiled as she leaned into it a bit. So much like a mother's touch. A touch she missed. Abu-Nafasi was a good father, but he could never fill the void left behind in the passing of her mother. She wanted to hate the priest, but she couldn't hate anyone.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:29 pm
He didn’t know this, of course, resting comfortably under the impression she was a tree branch away.
Ears flicking, Aberforth heard something approach. It was faint, hardly something anyone else would have minded, but still more than enough to stir him from his decidedly light slumber. Raising his head, pale green eyes revealed themselves from under white lids, a yawn stretching his mouth wide. There was a cub near to him. Nothing threatening, but still, she was there. Blinking, he watched her, tilting his head to one side. She seemed to be enjoying the wind very much. Where were her parents?
“Are you lost, little one?” he asked softly, half a mane fluffing up in a surge of the breeze. As it wrapped about his neck from the back, it almost looked normal. A lion’s comb-over, sadly, and nothing more. He shook his head, getting the stray hairs back in place.
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:28 am
Tifu blinked at the sound of a voice and opened her eyes, turning to look at the big lion that was watching her. He was big and different-looking and... big. But that didn't scare her, just made her curious. He had asked if she was lost, that's right. She smiled cheerily and shook her head.
"Nope, I'm not lost. I just wandered away from my abu-Nafasi for a little while. My name's Takatifu'moya! What's yours?" she asked, her ears perked forward and tail swaying back and forth in a rather happy manner.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 3:00 pm
“My name is Aberforth,” the male replied, finding it so much easier to talk to things that were smaller than him. With the exception of avians, of course. Knowing them to be closely linked to lions made it difficult for him to socialize with them without inwardly worrying that they would go back to their larger companions and speak horrors of his personality.
He didn’t like other lions thinking ill of him, or thinking of him at all, really.
Cubs, however, were so innocent and full of fun that he didn’t mind socializing with them. He actually felt more like the young than those he was supposed to be with. Smiling at the creature, he arched an eyebrow.
“Is Abu-Nafasi your father?” he asked, not quite sure of the term.
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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:34 pm
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Aberforth," Tifu said very politely and bowed her head, as she had learned to do when she was still among the priestesses of her old pride. Old habits die hard.
"Yup, abu-Nafasi is the papa the goddess gave to me when my old pride took my momma away," she replied, more offhandedly than anything, but a hint of sadness was still in her voice. She couldn't hide the fact that she still missed her mother, even though she knew she would always be with her.
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:54 am
Quite surprised, Aberforth watched the display of respect, hardly thinking such a young creature capable of such things. Most cubs couldn’t manage a sincere hello, much less show an elder any meaningful civility. He was rather impressed by the small lady’s manners, unable to recall if he had been the same when he was younger.
Sucked not remembering everything about his past as any normal lion might have.
“Oh…” hummed the somewhat small white male, feeling a little awkward now. So her mother had been taken away from her. That had probably been hard. He couldn’t remember what became of his parents. “I’m sorry,” he replied, “I shouldn’t have asked. It was a thoughtless question. So why have you wandered away from him? Exploring the land?”
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:40 am
Tifu sighed and shrugged, shaking her little head in an action so much older.
"It's okay. Mama knew we wouldn't be together very long. I just wish it had been a little longer," she replied and looked back up at the lion, smiling.
"So don't worry abo-" she began and reached out a paw to pat his in comfort, when an almost physical force hit her senses when they touched, blinding her for a moment as her eyes changed from violet to white before she saw.
She saw a younger Aberforth... and a fuzzy pink bird... and they were speaking to one another, and-
And just like that it was over and she was back seeing normally. She hopped back with a frightened squeak and stared up at him, the measure of her fright reflected in her eyes as she cowered back from him.
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:50 am
“Still seems sad,” the male replied faintly, though he couldn’t exactly relate. After all, he hand Uchungu had run away from his home when he was younger and he hadn’t seen his family since that day. He didn’t even know if his mother was alive now or not. Since the earthquake, anything might have happened.
Maybe he needed to check in on that some time.
“Oh!” yelped Aberforth, “oh no! Are you alright? I’m not going to hurt you,” he said promptly, thinking she was upset because he was somehow threatening. His eyes had not been on her when she had her vision, so he hadn’t noticed the change. The male had been more nervous than anything else, eyeing the sky in an attempt to keep himself calm. When she yelped, though, his eyes were right back on her.
He saw her terrified expression, his only thought that she was frightening of him.
“What happened?” he asked in a soft voice, lowering himself against the ground, “I thought things were going so well! You don’t have to be frightened of me… I’m not going to hurt you!”
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:37 am
"I, I don't know!" Tifu squeaked out, clearly terrified at what had just happened. She knew very well that stuff like that wasn't normal, and it had never happened to her before.
"I saw... I saw you, and a pink bird and, and, and I shouldn't have seen that, and..." she shivered and looked up at him, scared. At that singular moment, she really missed her abu-Nafasi and really wanted his paws around her. Of course... would she do that again, if she touched her papa? She hoped to the Goddess that she wouldn't.
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:21 pm
“Saw a bird?” Aberforth blinked, taking a quick look around the area. How on earth could she have known about Uchungu, having never seen her before? She wasn’t in the sky, probably still off hunting on her own. Then, a thought struck him that made him quite aware of what had happened. And, thankfully, much more comfortable.
“It’s okay,” he offered softly, “you don’t have to be frightened. I understand now! It’s okay, it’s not bad! You had a sight. I mean, that is, you’re a seer, I think. I guess I can’t say for sure since I wasn’t in your mind, but I think I almost remember meeting a seer in before. Someone in my pride… I think they’re one. It means you get to sometimes see things from the past and from the future.” He frowned, tilting his head to one side. How to make a little cub feel better about something when he couldn’t relate to it? Maybe knowing a seer and understanding the art were two different things entirely.
Sighing, he stayed low, watching her with concern. “It’s okay,” he said lightly, “I promise you what you saw isn’t a bad thing. It’s… it’s really special. Not many lions can do it.”
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:47 pm
Tifu blinked and it dawned on her.
"So... this is what the priest did?" she asked, more herself that Aberforth. She was a seer? That... would be a strange thing to deal with. Had her mother been a seer, too? Was that why she knew things sometimes? Like that they wouldn't always be together or sometimes when a priestess would come to tell her something but she already knew what it was.
"I'm special? Do... Do you think I could meet the seer you know, so that I know?" she asked, tilting her head a bit. It sounded like this lion was a part of a pride. Maybe she and abu-Nafasi could go with him to his pridelands, see what it was like there and then maybe live there. She loved her papa, but she needed to be around other cubs, too.
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:02 pm
“The Priest? Maybe…” He didn’t know anything about that.
Aberforth felt his spirits drop a little. “Well I… I haven’t been able to find him around the pridelands. He was the only seer I really talked to and… I think he passed on a little while ago while I was away. I don’t know for sure… I just have a feeling.” He frowned. No one would talk to him about who had been lost in the quake, so he could only speculate. Most of the creatures he couldn’t recall anyway, so to him it was like they weren’t missing, but there was one he had known and grown quite fond of. The male had been something of a role model for him.
But only from afar.
“I wish I could take you to him,” he continued, “maybe I can ask around to find out if any of the other pride members are seers. Then you could meet one of them, okay?” He smiled at the small creature, wanting her to feel better about things.
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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:33 pm
"Oh..." was all Tifu could say to that. Aberforth seemed saddened at the thought that the seer he spoke of had possibly died. She guessed she knew how he felt. She missed the Goddess' priestesses. And to her, it was that she would probably never see them again.
"Well, that sounds like a good idea. What's your pride like?" she asked tilting her head, hoping it was better than the one she had been in. She wondered if abu-Nafasi had been in a pride. In truth, she didn't know anything about her papa before they had met. And in truth, she didn't care much.
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:44 pm
“My pride is very nice,” Aberforth said thoughtfully, “everyone in it has bonded companions. Our bird friends, like the one you saw in your vision. My dearest friend is named Uchungu, and she helped raise me when I was a cub growing up. I don’t really remember a lot about the pride now, unfortunately,” he said with a sigh.
“When the earthquake hit I got hit in the head with a big rock and lost my memory, leaving me to wander around in a daze for a really long time. Now that I’m back, I still don’t remember everything about the land or this place. But it’s alright, I think. Because I’m getting to learn it all over again. Maybe one day you can come in and learn things with me. You and your father.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 7:42 am
Tifu nodded. She knew about the earthquake, though the Goddess had made it so that she slept safely through it. She did know, though, that it had happened, and that her mother had gone to the Goddess because the priest said it would save the pride. She didn't know what had happened to her abu-Nafasi, he was uncomfortable when she asked that one time.
"That sounds really nice! I donno if abu-Nafasi likes birds, but I do, and it'd be nice to learn what I can do," she replied cheerfully, grinning a bit. She was such a happy child, even in all the sadness she had so far experienced in her short past.
"What kind of bird is Uch... Uchun... Uchu? She was really pink!"
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