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 Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:32 pm
"Good day to get away," he commented, glancing over at his mate as they walked along, "Everybody is visiting." 
"Have you recovered from the shock of Manny's girls?" she asked, glancing over, "It's funny that he and Enzi both ended up with one of those girls. Related on two sides, just like they are to our bunch." She shook her head.
"But, I suppose we already had a bunch of similar relatives between us, too," she added.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:50 pm
Truth be told, Wembembe was not the most active of gods. Once he'd found out that he had family in the Pridelands and that it was a generally fight-free zone, he'd taken to hanging out there whenever the opportunity arose. Of course, being in god form meant that he had to answer prayers some days, but today was not one of those days.
The yellow lion was currently sprawled out on his back, paws tucked to his chest and head tilted back in complete and utter relaxation. Some may say that the Firekin had the best sun, but Wembembe would have had to politely disagree. Here in the Pridelands you could lay her and just bask without worrying that someone coming along and trying to slit your throat.
Now that was awesome.
At the sound of approaching voices, Wembembe cracked open one eye and tipped his head backwards to study his visitors. Hrm. "You look awful silly upside down," the god commented idly.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:16 pm
"Yeah, yeah," Habu muttered, grinning over at Shani and then looking out to where they were going. It was time to decide where they might direct their walk, though a walk around the waterhole seemed most likely. Until he spotted a familiar shade of yellow in the grass. Only a small handful of his many offspring were dominantly yellow or he might have thought it was them. He raised a brow, glanced to Shani, and led them closer in. When the god opened an eye, Habu just knew who he was looking at. It helped that he was a seer.
"Wembembe?" he asked, tilting his head. He had never met his half brother but he knew he had siblings, his mother had told him about them and told them about him. But they just seemed to miss their chance to meet up and now it was harder to find his mother for some reason.
Shani knew Wahabu's family history, just as he knew hers. It was something they had bonded over, something they shared. She had never had the change to meet his mother but she knew stories about her, about her family. She knew the names- or she recognized them when they were spoken. She looked from the yellow god to Wahabu and then back again, smiling at him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:39 pm
He knew his name? Yaaaaaay!
Wembembe grinned broadly as he rolled onto his stomach, flicking his wings twice before tucking them back against his body. It was definitely one of the upsides of having dragonfly wings. They were comfortable to lie on and they didn't mind getting a little squashed. From what he understood about feather wings they got awfully miffed if you squished or ruffled them too much.
"Yeah, that's me," the god replied, pushing off with his front feet so he could sit up. "Wait, wait don't tell me though." He held out a paw as he put on his best thinking face. Yellow fur, similar markings on the feet, faded mane colour.... Oh! Oh! He knew this one!
"Wahabu!" Wembembe announced, his grin widening in a silent 'am I right?' "Aaaand...." Ooh, who was this? The god frowned a little as he racked his brain for the name of the female. He should know this.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:07 pm
Habu watched Wembembe get himself up off the ground and then, very dramatically, search for his name. He could tell immediately that he liked him.
"That's right," he agreed, then followed the god's gaze over to Shani, smiling. His maternal family hadn't met Shani or their family yet, it was exciting. He didn't even think about the attack or the questions it had raised. He was happy to be introducing her.
"Shani," he said when Wembembe paused, "I don't know that any of you found out about her yet."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Wembembe," Shani said politely, still smiling at him. It was nice to be meeting more of Habu's family, she'd really only known his kids. He was a handsome little god- and he had very interesting wings. Shani had never met any gods but any she had heard stories about had had feathered wings. Particularly Habu's mother and Tetemeko's mother.
"What brings you to the Pridelands today?" she asked.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:42 pm
Woo! Score one for Wembembe. He could tell immediately that they were getting off on the right foot. His mother ought to be very proud of him, remembering the name of a mortal. Truthfully, it was hard to forget the name of your half brother, but the god thought he deserved a little credit nonetheless. Not everyone had a memory like an impenetrable fortress.
He gave a small sigh of relief when Wahabu finally named his female companion and continued on to say that he hadn't told any of them about it. Phew. For a moment there he thought he was going to have to make up a name for Shani just to save face. The lioness was lucky. It was doubtful she would have appreciated any kind of name Wembembe made up for her.
"I don't feel so bad not knowing your name then, Shani. It's nice to meet you too! You two are uh..." He waggled his eyebrows in a kind of wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more kind of manner. Smooth, Wembembe, very smooth. At Shani's question he grinned unabashedly and simply said, "Sunbathing. The weather's nice over here and nobody's been praying to learn more, so I figured I'd take a little rest. You don't need anything, do you? 'Cause I make special exceptions for family and all."
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:18 pm
Wahabu smiled, even when Wembembe asked a personal question in a rather insensitive, awkward manner. If he hadn't had kids and already dealt with a wide variety of attitudes towards these sorts of things, he might have been put off or embarrassed.. but he really could only shake his head.
"We are mates," he said, drawing attention back to himself, "You may know about the first fourteen nieces and nephews you have and now there are four more." Habu was a proud father (and grandfather but an unknowing great-grandfather) and he was happy to inform his family of the existence of the latest litter, especially since it answered the very specific suggestion Wembembe had made.
While Shani also had many cubs and had dealt with similar situations, she was a little more awkward and embarrassed about the way Wembembe said that but shook it off. She smiled when Habu mentioned their four cubs, nudging him in response to his clever timing and jumping at the subject change when Wembembe explained what he was doing in the Pridelands.
"No, I don't think we need anything," she responded, smiling again, "You're always welcome to come visit us, though I don't know how restful it would be. I'm sure all the kids would be very interested in talking to you."
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:57 pm
"Mates? Gotcha!" The god seemed completely oblivious to potential embarrassment he had caused for either party, though that was probably because he didn't consider such things secret business. Mortals seemed to go about mating and having cubs all the time that it seemed like a perfectly normal conversation topic. Had he known that it was so hush-hush he would have tried to keep it on the down low.
As it stood, however, he was happily out of the loop, which meant that every comment he made about Wahabu and Shani was probably going to be a little odd. Aah the joys of youth. Wembembe couldn't help but whistle at the number of cubs, though he was quietly dreading having to remember that many names. Hopefully they would be forgiving of their uncle. "You certainly have been busy! In a good way, of course. The kids like talking to gods?"
Kids were always his favourite. They seemed to like learning things. Adults, on the other hand, always seemed to think they knew everything, which was stupid. Only Wembembe knew everything.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:15 pm
"Shani also has six more," Habu added at the reaction to the number, always happy to brag about the size of their families, "And a good handful of the twenty of them have cubs of their own." He knew the numbers, he lived with them on a daily basis but saying it almost surprised him.
"I don't know their opinion on gods but they'd be excited to meet an uncle," he said brightly.
Shani nodded along as Habu described just how many kids were actually running around their own dens, beaming the entire time. She was a very proud mother and grandmother.
"I'm sure they'd love to meet all of you," she added, "Including your parents." Shani had thought of Habu's mother before he had, recalling the issue leading up to his attack and how he had been wondering about her whereabouts since. She had an idea of how the answer might change the mood of the conversation but this was a good opportunity.
"Right," Habu said suddenly, reminded of his worries but doing an admirable job of hiding them and looking hopeful, "I've been looking for mama, where has she been?" He assumed that the family had stuck together, of course. His mother wouldn't let her family dissolve, it was unfortunate how things went for her mortal family but god family had to be different. He knew why she had left, having immortal family fixed that.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:35 pm
"That's… that's a lot of cubs!" Wembembe sputtered, trying to imagine what twenty couples worth of cubs looked like. It could probably fill up an entire watering hole! Wow. Secretly, he was clad he would never have to meet that many cubs at one time (or at least, that was what he hoped). How was he supposed to teach so many? Of course he was the god of teaching, but that wouldn't save him in the face of such adversity!
He was so awestruck by his mental picture that he almost missed the question about his mother. Giving his head a shake to clear it, he hesitated a minute before he started to answer. "I…. Hrm." How to put this. Was honesty really the best policy? Well, Wahabu certainly deserved to know the truth, since it was his mother too. He just hoped he wouldn't offend his half-brother too much with what he was about to say.
"She's uh… not here. I dunno, she's just been gone. Business, I thought, but it's been a while…" The yellow god gave a sort of one-shoulder shrug. "I'm guessing you haven't seen her either."
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:08 pm
"Gone?" Shani repeated when Wembembe shrugged, looking at Wahabu. She hadn't met the goddess herself but she was sure Habu had known her, and from his descriptions and stories, this didn't sound right. As a mother herself, she knew she wouldn't ever be able to disappear without a word- on her young ones or the older ones. She'd also lost her mother after a short trip away from the pride. What optimism she had developed in her time with Wahabu barely fought off the knowledge that sometimes bad things just happened.
"We haven't," she answered, looking back at Wembembe with a shake of her head.
Habu looked over to Shani when she looked at him but he was quicker to turn back to Wembembe, shaking his head. He didn't like to be pessimistic but he wasn't unrealistic and he knew there had already been trouble for him with his mother's name involved.
"That's not like her," he commented, frowning, "There was someone here looking for her but it was just a lion." It had been just a lion, hadn't it? He knew gods could disguise themselves, his mother had for much of his youth. A lion couldn't do much to a god, he didn't think so anyway. How long had it been exactly? He couldn't recall.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:07 pm
"Weird, man," Wembembe agreed, quietly glad that they seemed as bothered by her disappearance as he was. As a child of a goddess – and a god himself – there was a definite line between work and family. If his mother was gone on work he didn't interfere, as he knew she wouldn't interfere whenever he was called. It was a tough call, deciding if he should go and search for her or leave her be, wherever she was. He had no desire to interrupt something private, after all.
The god tipped his head when Wahabu brought up a lion, a small frown forming on his face. "A lion? What did he look like?" It was probably a stupid question, since his mother knew many mortals, but perhaps it was someone he'd seen.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:07 pm
Shani frowned at the mention of the lion that had come looking for Mtima, remembering how that interaction had ended. She was still grateful that Tete and Enzi had come along in the end, and tried to remind Habu he didn't have to hesitate to fight back if necessary. She glanced back and forth between the brothers, settling her eyes on Habu as he explained.
"Red," Habu answered firstly, pausing to think about how exactly to describe the attacker, "Odd dark markings but certainly not a friendly lion. He seemed sincerely upset at first but it was a trick." He hesitated again. It wasn't happy admitting that something tricky had happened, that lion had certainly had bad intentions. He'd have an easier time thinking it had been just about him if his mother had shown up or wasn't missing.
"He attacked me, but that doesn't mean he really was looking for her," he said finally, "Or that it would really be something to worry about." He tried to think of a situation where his mother would lose to a violent mortal and there weren't many scenarios when she could just fly away if she had to.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:10 pm
The yellow god's ears twitched when Wahabu began his tale, listening intently. His ears quickly flicked backwards, however, when his half brother went on to say that the lion had tricked him. While tricking mortals may have been standard god procedure – after all, one couldn't appear as a god all the time – there was a definite difference between tricking someone to save your identity and tricking them to attack them. The latter definite wasn't cool.
"Naw, I suppose not. Still, it's weird that he was coming looking for you. Maybe he was hoping to… I dunno, cause her to come out or make her come to your rescue." Wembembe made a face as he dragged his claws through the dirt in a somewhat thoughtful gesture. "It's weird though. You certainly made it out alive though, which is good. Did he say anything weird to you?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:31 am
"I was saved when my nephew and son arrived," he said offhandedly, fully crediting Tetemeko and Enzi for how well he had come out of the fight. He hadn't been doing very well, he wasn't really a fighter except when hunting. And that was a necessity for a mortal lion, especially one in a pride and with a large family.
"I wouldn't trust much of what he said, but he knew mom's name, that she was the goddess of souls, my name and that I was her son," he said with a shrug, not entirely sure how a random mortal would get all of that information. Not counting the pride here, those who knew her as the mortal lioness that was mated to Kizamaji.. then his dad, his own family.. there wasn't really anybody who would know that.
Shani couldn't help but smile when Habu referred to Tete and Enzi as his nephew and son. They were really neither except through her and hearing it aloud like that was very happy. She blinked when Wembembe mentioned trying to lure Mtima out, looking at Habu- particularly to his ear, which still had a tear in it. She didn't say anything until Habu finished explaining what the lion had known, having a thought of her own. When Habu went quiet, she spoke up.
"The feathers," she said, "He took your feathers, why would you want to take those unless you knew.. unless you wanted to use them..?"
Was there actually a reason the feathers had been taken?
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