Well. This was kinda disappointing. Ohitekah had joined up with the BEST pride a few turns of the moon ago, and had been put in with the BEST clan, made some of the BEST friends...but he still felt like an outsider. Sure the lions his age knew better, but there were all these CUBS underfoot now, and they would just staaaaare. He tried to be nice, be cool (he WAS cool) but...it was uncomfy. Especially when they'd ask why he was so plain. Heck, even the newborns had more tattoos than him!
That wasn't to say he hadn't TRIED to get tattoos, he had! He'd asked for the BEST marks to go with him OBVIOUSLY best life...but they'd told him he had to be specific,talk about his past, and think about what that meant to him and how it'd look painted through his fur. He didn't wanna have to think, all he wanted was to look good and not get kids confused! It just stunk...
So today he'd gone wandering in the area between the places each clan lived in. "What does my life mean? What does my life mean? WHAT does my life mean?...What does my LIFE mean?" He repeted aloud to himself, occasionally doing funny voices or being overly dramatic...Man. Why couldn't someone just show up and TELL him these things?!
Inoke was also out wandering today - oddly enough ... also in an attempt to escape the recent explosion of cubs. I mean, sure, she liked cubs well enough. But. A lot of how they acted reminded her of how she used to be -all the time-. And she was trying to get away from that attitude! She needed to be responsible and mature. Not running around playing hide and seek in the grass with the little ones. Right? Even if it did sound really fun, an adult shouldn't do those kinds of things.
Hmph'ing to herself, Inoke stomped a paw against the ground and then blinked - hearing a voice up ahead. What was even stranger ... the voice kept repeating the same thing over and over again. "What in the world...?" she murmured to herself, poking her head around a tree.
Oh, there was a male there... and he was handsome! Uhm. But no ... no, she shouldn't think like that. Not anymore. If she was going to think about males, she should think about finding a mate to settle down with. And one didn't choose a mate on looks alone! Not at all. Still, she couldn't help stepping forward a little and watching him as he paced back and forth.
It was...quite a bit of time before Ohi noticed the lady watching him. Looking up at the sky, or down at the dirt, he continued to pace aimlessly around. His tirade of ''What does my life mean?' continued on and on, until finally he came to a stop, eyes closed, puffed his chest and sang, "Whaaaaaat does my LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE....meeeeeeeaaaaaan?"
Grinning stupidly, he opened his eyes...and lookied directly at Inoke. Oh. Uhm. Well.
She obviously would have heard his bellowing 'song' even if she had just arrived...not good. He looked around for a moment, perhaps for a place to hide...but HEY! He KNEW this lady! She'd goined around when he had! A different (and therefore not-as-good) clan had claimed her but still. He looked closer. Were those TATTOOS down her back?! NO FAIR! They'd joined together, why did SHE get hers FIRST. "H-Hey!" He took a step towards her. Of course once he'd called out to her he realized he had no clue how to phrase what he wanted to ask.
Inoke couldn't help a little giggle when the large male suddenly started -singing- the phrase he'd been repeating this whole time. She didn't really know why he was saying it over and over in the first place. Did ... he think someone or something was going to answer the question for him? Well, stranger things had happened. Maybe he was calling on the gods. In a .... really odd way.
Blinking when he suddenly called out to her, Inoke moved a bit closer, a little glide to her step. It was instinctive for her... automatic. Though had she realized she was doing it, she would have likely stopped. "Hi. What are you doing?"
Ohi didn't seem entire sure how to act or what to do when the lady didn't run away immediately. He smiled, then frowned, then puffed his cheeks up like a fish of some sort. Eventually he settled for blurting, "What do your tattoos mean? Mine will be BETTER." ...Ever an elegant lion, Ohi.
"...I mean, how come you got them so fast? I saw you when I joined, you haven't been here any longer than ME. And I'm in the BEST clan, so...I should have mine by now! But I can't think of what I want them to be, I just know I want them to be GREAT. Yours don't look half bad..." He circled to the side a bit to better see. "Yeah these are nice. Who did these? Did you have to tell them anything? Maybe the other clans have pretty good tattoo-makers too..."
Inoke blinked at the sudden barrage of questions. Oh wow ... he was ... kind of rude, wasn't he. But rather than being insulted by his posturing, there was some part of her... that actually found it kind of cute. "Well, uhm... I don't remember her name, but it was one of the older lionesses from my clan who did my tattooes," she replied, trying to figure out how to answer all of those questions.
"All that she really asked was why I joined the Ela'wadiyi, and what I'd been doing before. She ... told me later, that my tattooes represented my journey in life so far." Tilting her head a little, she eyed the male. "By the way, I'm Inoke. Why d'you think your clan is the best one?"
Well that made WAY more sense than what HIS tattoo-maker had said! He joined the Ela because he'd wanted to, because it was afterall the best pride he'd ever come across...because he'd had nowhere else to go, really. Before that he'd been wandering from place to place doing this and that...he couldn't remember his home before he'd started wandering or his family, but that hadn't bothered him. He didn't want to tell the tattooist THAT! How many other lions had that same story or close to it? That wasn't anything special...the pride would be flooded with the same story-marks over and over.
He blinked. She was what? OH. Inoke was her name. He probably should introduce himself. He puffed up again and tossed some loose hair over and out of his face. "I'm Ohitekah. and my clan is the best because that's the one I got put in, of course!"
Inoke laughed softly and flicked her tail a bit. "Well, I suppose that's as good a reason as any ..." she replied. He was funny! He definitely had an ego ... that was for sure. But still. Funny.
"How come you don't have any tattooes?" she asked then. "Wait wait... let me guess. It has to do with the meaning of your life?" She was teasing him, really ... but she wondered if he'd even get that.
Ohi frowned when she asked about HIS tattoos...obviously his clan was the best in all ways but one, and that was tattoos. Then she went on a bit..he nodded, quite seriously. "My tattooist wants to know what I think my life means. I don't know that, I'm still living it! They can't expect me to know that stuff before I'm really old. I mean, I know where Iv'e been and stuff, but that's not who I AM or anything. I don't know how to explain to them what I want." He looked slightly bereft at that.
"I'm just tired of cubs looking at me and wondering if I'm an outsider. I'm the BEST hunter in the BEST clan of the BEST pride...I just don't have my tattoos yet!" He sat back on his butt with a grumpy kind of grumble. "...What clan are you in by the way? I know it's not mine, but you seem nice, so it's gotta be one of the better ones."
"Mantis," she answered at that. "I don't know much about the other clans or anything since I've only been here for a little while. But surely if you're the BEST at everything, then they should realize you need really nice tatooes, hmm?" More teasing, this ... though she figured by this point that he would probably take anything she said seriously. But it was kind of cute. ..... Agh. What had she told herself about that!
"What DO you want for tattooes? Do you have a design in mind?"
"...I guess that could be it. I do want really nice tattoos...but I think I'd settle on some lesser ones just to have them at this point. I dunno about the mantis clan, but the Shadow clan has a ton of cubs running around. I'm sick of being plain!" He sighed and tilted his head to the one side.
"Well I think they'd look good in white. Like my mane. You know we like that color, white!" By 'we' he meant the Ela...just his luck to have a color they favored already on him! "But I'm not sure what just yet. Something special, maybe some squiggles and dots, and like...Hmm. I guess it'd be hard to do a 'shadow' in white, wouldn't it?" He looked at the female a minute and then leaned forward. "What do YOU think would look good on me?"
Inoke made a bit of a face at that. "It seems like there are cubs EVERYWHERE right now! I don't know what happened, but it's like every mated pair in the pride is having them right now. They're cute, but ... it gets to be too much, right?" Especially when she wanted to play with them all the time. Instead of doing responsible adult things!
"White would be nice," she replied with a little nod. "Maybe something around your feet, or going up your legs. I think mine just ended up on my back because the tattooes make a trail. Kind of."
Belatedly Ohi realized that Inoke might have been the mother of some of those cubs. That would be a shame, if she was taken...er...Oh PHEW! No cubs! "Oh I KNOW! It's like...even the babies have more markings than me. I wouldn't mind them if I had my marks though. Kids are kinda cute and fun to play with." Ohi had no problem with playing along, nope. It was fun to have fun after all.
"You think? I was thinking maybe going DOWN my legs from my back...But maybe. I dunno. Just so it makes me look good, like a GREAT HUNTER...which I am, of course." His ego took a moment to preen itself, and he got to his feet. "You hungry? I can hunt you something if you'd like! I need to make friends with people in other clans too." Maybe if he found some really good ones he could bring them to HIS clan!
Inoke purred softly at that, and then realized what she was doing and stopped. No... bad Inoke, none of those sorts of thoughts. Not right now, thank you very much. "What kind of tattooes would show that you're a good hunter? Dead animals?"
"Oh, but if you want to hunt something, I'd be happy to help... you don't have to be doing all the work yourself!"
Ohi grinned tothily at Inoke's purr. Obviously the lady had taste, and he was super on his game today. He hadn't even had to TRY to be charming! "Well maybe not that, but...maybe something like WOOSH! or POOOOW! Y'know...strong, fierce markings!" He really had no clue how to explain it himself. "Maybe some claw marks even! But in paint of course." He didn't want scars o course. REAL men were tough enough to not get scars, because they won all their fights. Right?
"Oh no...Well you could I guess, but I wouldn't want you to feel bad if I made a better kill. Besides, it's a guy's job to bring ladies food." ...Maybe in other species, but not Lions. Of course Ohi's braggadocious nature wouldn't let him live that claim down now...even though on second thought it HAD sounded kinda rude.
"Oh really? I always thought it was the other way around..." Tilting her head a little, she smiled at him. "But now... you've shown me the truth. Perhaps I could simply find somewhere to hide, and watch your great prowess!"
Ohi smiled. "Oh, so you agree! Good then...just you wait here, Pretty Inoke, and I'll bring you something nice!" He stood and trotted away quickly, head high. The thought that she might have been teasing him didn't even enter his head. She din't need to HIDE though, but if she wanted to that was fine. He'd show her he really was a good hunter, the BEST even. And maybe if he could do that, he'd be able to figure out what to tell his tattoo-maker! Thathe was a better hunter than girls even, and that he was generally cool. Yeah, that just might work!
