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 Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 3:40 pm
When your grandmother asked you to meet her somewhere, only the coldhearted could say no.
When your grandmother was a Goddess who asked you to meet her somewhere, only a fool would say no.
Nishan had no direct reason to fear Mwokoti, and really, fear probably wasn't a fitting term for his feelings toward her. Never one good with words, Nishan; he thanked his father for that quirk. Certainly it hadn't been from his smooth talking female parent. His interest in the pride was deeper than any his siblings had, that he knew of. With that curiosity came knowledge, and with that knowledge he knew of Mwokoti and Ukali's battle against the Goddess forever imprisoned in the mountains. Hopefully.
That was enough to raise some uncertainty of her. Her almost constant leave of the pride she supposedly "guarded", so he was told, didn't help matters. When she was around, she took an unsettling interest in him. Emotional distance, slowly but surely, followed each of their encounters. She made him uneasy. If he'd thought about it, he should have trusted her more, because he shared with her one thing he didn't with anyone else: Hari. Neither of them trusted her at all. He just didn't think about it.
Mwokoti's efforts to accomplish the opposite proved futile; impossible, even, to juggle between her domain and keeping an eye on the mountains, on Hari, and attempting to find Ohahira who had been freed from the Firekin much to her distress. Her grandson was not going to end up like his mother, of that she was certain. She would do what she had to do, he would follow his uncle's paw prints, in terms of living a happy life. No matter what. Shame she'd have to make him wait so long for her on a day like this...
"It's hot," Nishan scowled. Stating the obvious was a pet peeve of his yet he couldn't help but complain at the blazing sun lingering over them. The pride borders lacked much shade to sooth his irritation and his impatient blazed to the same degree as his body. Too. Hot. "She's late again."
The male rose and paced around once. Twice. Four more times. He sat down and looked to his brother. "Should we just leave? Maybe she's not coming."
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Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:04 pm
Thibiti had never really thought much about his goddess grandmother. He had met her of course, but their meetings resulted in very little. You see, Mwokoti was more interested in Nishan than she was in him. It didn't particularly bother him. He had more than enough siblings around to play with and keep him entertained. The approval or interest in a grandmother who he rarely saw didn't matter too much. Lionesses always picked a favourite. That was why they had mates and all that stuff. However, there was one time when Thibiti minded his grandmother's interest in Nishan, and that was when his elder brother dragged him out too. It was very, very bothersome.
The young lion lay sprawled out on the ground, trying to absorb any coldness from the ground by sheer power of will. So far his talents in the Force were close to nothing. "Of course it's hot, the sun is out," he replied lazily, opening a single green eye to stare at his brother. "And she's always late. We should just come late every day." It was hard to tell why Mwokoti liked Nishan the best. In terms of looks, it was Yahya who looked more like Mwokoti than any of them. He even had her wing markings. The rest of them generally looked like their father, with the exception of Li who did have their mother's fur colour. Maybe she just liked him best because he had multicoloured toes. Thibiti didn't pretend to understand the inner workings of a goddess. That was way too hard.
"If we leave, how mad do you think she'll be?" Thibiti started down at his claws in what he thought was a contemplative look.
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:14 pm
"I don't know..."
Was Mwokoti really capable of anger? He did muse over it before today. She seemed like such a calm lioness, like she'd lived so long nothing could bother her anymore. It was only one of his theories, of course, and he had many of them. Her interest in him had driven him to learn more of her. There just wasn't much information out there. Yue hadn't known much, Hari had laughed at him.
Personally, he wouldn't call it favoritism she had for him, when he really thought about it. She didn't treat him like a favored child would be treated with gifts and praise and that sort of thing. She mostly just... bothered him, to put it bluntly. Every time she was around she pestered him about what he'd been doing. Both their parents combined didn't question him that much. He'd never said so because he assumed his siblings who did or might care wouldn't take claiming to not be her favorite from the mouth of who supposedly was her favorite well.
Speaking of, she'd told him to bring one of his siblings with him which struck him as an even stranger request than the initial one. He did good and listened. Again. Bitty just happened to be the first he came across. There were worse choices for partners, though. In most things.
Nishan wouldn't be surprised if whatever his grandmother wanted from him, one of his more bothersome kin like Chyou would have been better suited for. If he was Mwokoti's most adored, he was Lady Luck's least.
"What do you think she could do? I mean, aren't all her powers suppose to help us? Do you really think she could... smite us, or something?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 12:05 pm
There were always worse choices for partners. Thibiti considered himself a fairly good choice to make. Not that his siblings were all bad, but he was one of the more easy-going ones. Gods forbid Nishan took one of his sisters. The whole pride would know about this whole god-talking business before sundown. At least he could keep a secret. Sometimes. Whenever it was beneficial to him.
"Who knows? It's very possible. Nobody's ever seen her angry, so she could have some sort of secret god power for smiting lions who make her angry. You never know." Forget the fact that she probably couldn't and didn't get angry, but Bitty was never one to consider options that involved didn't. Anything was possible in the world if you waited long enough for it to happen. He was sure that one day in the distant future – or perhaps even as early as today – Mwokoti would get angry and smite someone. He just didn't want to be the one getting smote. "She might cut all your mane off so you'll never be a boy. That would suck."
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:43 pm
Nishan just sort of stared at him for a while.
And finally, "If she wanted to demale me, she'd need to cut off a more essential body part than my mane." Which, by the way, would just grow back. Figures Bitty would take into account the option of Mwokoti trying to 'demale' him, but not the proper way to do it. The brighter brother rolled his eyes and decided waiting stretched out on the ground didn't take up any less time than waiting pacing back and forth, and only the later was tiring.
Since he had one of them alone...
"Bitty, what do you think about mom?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 1:32 pm
Thibiti gave his brother The Stare at his response. "Dude, I didn't even go there and you had to like… go there." He made a face. Nishan always came up with stuff like that; things that nobody in their right mind would even consider. They could just laugh at what he had to say and get on with it. He supposed his brother was just special like that. Still, the thought alone made him wash his face several times with one paw. Cleanse the disturbing imagery.
He paused while licking his washing paw at the question, turning to stare at his brother. "What do you mean what do I think of her? She's just… mom. She can be nice, I guess, but like only nice for her. Why, should I think something about her?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 1:52 pm
Nishan scoffed at him and promptly smacked him upside the head with a paw. His own expression didn't vary much from that of his sibling, but his disgust was for a different reason. Just what was he implying? "Logic should have led you there!" he barked back. Not that he'd ever admit it but he suddenly felt slightly embarrassed about the issue, and was glad it changed.
Then again, this one was worse. There was much more to risk here than feeling like a fool to the resident hobo lion. "Well..." He was hesitating, but you wouldn't know it. It sounded more as if he'd trailed off in thought. Talented in the art of bullshitting was he, just like mom. "No, not really."
Not quite as skilled in finishing. Probably got that from dad. Hari had said something to that effect about him once.
"I've just been... doing that deep thinking kind of thing." Anything that had to do with thinking was something that should be easy to avoid discussing with Bitty of all lions. "Why are you grooming that much? You look like that crazy lady Lakisa."
Yeah. Masculinity insult. Burn.
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:01 pm
Ow! Why did he have to hit him like that? He wasn't his mother or Lakisa (the two were basically the same anyways, so he saw no need to really distinguish their roles). "Logic should have led you there," Bitty mimicked, his nose scrunching. "You just wanted to take it to the next level! Has nothing to do with logic." Urg, now he needed to wash more. These mental images were disgusting. He was never going to talk about stuff like this with Nishan again.
"Well, if you didn't have anything to say about her, why did you bring her up?" His brother was having a small moment of intuition, though his interest on the topic seemed to be waning. Face-washing was much more important to him, especially since all Nishan could talk about was logic leading you to think about manly bits. Honestly. No wonder he didn't have a girlfriend yet.
At Nishan's question he scowled darkly. "I'm trying to cleanse myself. Your logic is ruining my mind." Whatever was left of it, at the very least.
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:11 pm
"Well on the bright side, you'll forget about all of this by tomorrow." Obviously, Nishan was not suggesting that an event of epic proportion would happen the following day that would cause the memories to be set aside or overwritten in favor of fresh ones. He was just accusing his brother of being dumb. And, well, he was. Psh. "So I wouldn't worry too much about it."
He paused. Normally not one for these types of attacks, but when it was your brother every thing was fair game. He said all too casually, "You know what homophobia really means, right?" Having a serious conversation with Bitty was one of those 'compliment sandwhich' sort of deals; except, instead of an insult, compliment, then an insult, it was a bunch of insults with a serious question thrown in every once in a while.
Serious question... go!
"Do you really think there's somebody trapped in that mountain?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:05 pm
Bitty rolled his eyes. "I won't forget about it if you keep reminding me. Maybe it would be better if Mwokoti did de-male you. The lionesses always make jokes about your brain being down there so it might help you." Two could play at the 'ur stupid' game, and while he wasn't as witty as his brother he was a little more creative. Sometimes. Whenever he actually felt like paying attention. Insulting his brother was only fun when Nishan started it anyways.
He blinked at Nishan's question not entirely sure what his brother was getting at this time. "Why should I care what it really means? Because if your logic is leading you down the same path it did the last time I don't want to hear anything of it. You can keep those thoughts to yourself." Nishan really was one of the thinker types, as far as Bitty was concerned, and being a thinker was generally a Bad Thing. It made you consider all sorts of weird options that nobody else bothered to think about.
"Yeah, I don't see why there's not. Something's there, whether it's a lion or a god or just a bad case of greenery rot that's killing all the plants. You going to tell me now that there's nothing up there?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:14 pm
Nishan shook his head back and forth a single time. "That isn't what I said." And not what he meant, either. Of all things Mwokoti had presented herself to him as, a liar was not one. But who was to say the Goddess hadn't escaped? Maybe wasn't trapped at all? Hari went up there all the time, and she made sure to when she was sure no one was looking. It took craft to hide when you were as bright as him.
The first time had only been an accident. In the middle of the night, he'd only wanted a drink. He never wanted to know this. Now that he did he wanted to know what "this" was. Why was becoming a scary word for him. Why she would go up there when it was forbidden? Why she would do it so secretly? "You've heard those stories about her, haven't you? About her being controlled in the first pride to hurt them?" It was more unlikely he hadn't. Lakisa wasn't exactly quiet about her disdain for their mother. "You don't think she'd do something like that again?"
...Wait.
"The girls have been saying that? Which girls?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:20 pm
Thibiti simply shrugged. Pride history wasn't something he paid a lot of attention to. It was something that he had learned at one point in his life, but it wasn't something he was particularly interested in. Mwokoti and the mountain and the whole thing about betrayers and death. It was safe to say that lots of bad things had happened in the pride before he was born and they could happen again if someone wanted to go dig a pissed off somebody out of the mountains. Since Bitty wasn't a very good digger and he didn't know anybody who was, he figured he was fairly safe for the time being.
"Her?" He repeated, frowning as he tapped his claws against the ground. Hmm… the story did ring a bell. Controlled lioness, pride hurting, hrmmmm~ Nishan was mean making him think hard about all this. He didn't worry about it and now his brother was making a fuss about it. Maybe he should just pretend he understood and go along with it. "Well… she could I guess. There'd have to be a reason or something, you know like a motive. You don't just do stuff for the sake of doing it, especially if you could get caught."
He grinned at Nishan's final questions. "I'm not telling you that."
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:29 pm
Nishan claimed to be logical but really he had only asked the question expecting a sort of immediate default reply, if you will, that consisted of him being insulted because of course Hari would never do such a horrible thing unless under the influence of something. Was this Bitty's way of being comforting? Did there really have to be a motive? Nishan didn't think so or he'd have agreed. Besides, if she was still being controlled, then what?
It was something, he decided, he'd need to speak with Mwokoti about and hope that she would do a better job of easing the blossoming fears than his stupid brother was capable of. Chyou really might have been better to bring along. "Oh..."
The lioness gossiping stopped bothering him then for two reasons. Mostly, he didn't believe Bitty. Liar and lazy went hand in hand. His mind was also consumed with the other thing they'd been speaking of. How did you bring up to your grandmother you thought her daughter, your mother, was being controlled by something stuck in a mountain?
"Ah, is that her?"
The distance of the spec in the sky neared them as quickly as any bird. Mwokoti landed with moments and folded her wings back, offering a smile that managed to be sincere and still lack much feeling behind it. She looked pretty tired, Nishan noted. Maybe that was why?
"Thibiti, Nishan."
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:27 pm
Nishan would have probably felt a lot better if he knew that Bitty was just making things up so he didn't look dumb. In truth, he didn’t have the slightest clue who his brother was talking about, but the question had appeared to be one he should agree to. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't have an opinion on the matter. He did have opinions on some things like 'what not to talk about with your brother', however he found that it was often easier to just agree with whatever somebody else's opinion seemed to be. Nishan was asking in a tone that he thought meant 'please agree with me' and so Bitty had done so. That was just the way he was.
He was very glad for the interruption, and hefted himself off the ground into a somewhat lazy sit. Mwokoti was a goddess after all, and it was better to be a little respectful than get swatted at. Nishan had to have obtained his grumpiness from somewhere, and Bitty had a sneaking suspicion that it was from Mwokoti. Nonetheless, he smiled – albeit rather languidly – and replied, "Morning Mwokoti."
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 7:00 pm
Mwokoti knew little of the family outside of Yue, Hari and to an extent the male in front of her with the mismatched toes. Concerning their relationships with each other she was even more in the dark. It didn't strike her as odd that Nishan would choose Bitty to bring to his impending doom. (Not that she would call it that.) "You look well, Thibiti."
That was about all she usually offered him. Same as always, she looked at Nishan. Buuut... something different was going to happen today. Today, she only glanced at him, and once again spoke to Thibiti, "I'm assigning you a task for your brother. I trust you can assist me with it."
"...Huh?" Nishan didn't at all like where this was going.
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