The sunrise out over the water was a spectacular sight, and Xavier stood on the cliff enjoying it. The sea lapped at the rocks below, doing their dance and singing their song. As he looked down, Xavier pondered just how the water felt now. It had been a while since he'd last been in it, after all. Long ears flicked forward for a moment, before going back, and he turned to leave. It was then that violet eyes fell upon a darker purple pelt. "Oh... Morning..."
Kumbuko padded up next to the god, staring down at the water and horizon. "Morning..." There was silence between them, as they stood there. After a moment, she glanced at the god. "You're not as touchy as Ni'andama and Najisi... Why's that...?" Not that she could complain... But then again, Ni'andama had been right - The dust-brown lioness had no painful past for Kumbuko to See, only happy ones. If there had been anything bad, Ni'andama had managed to NOT notice it.
Xavier shrugged, looking back out at the horizon. "I don't like touching... Bad things tend to 'appen to others around me, so I just try to avoid it. It's easier for me, and for them..." Not that it stopped Ni'andama or Najisi. Especially Najisi... That cub would get him another rebirth if he wasn't careful. "What about you? I don't see you touching a lot of others... You don't seem as clingy as Ni'andama, anyway."
The purple lioness gave a short laugh. "It's a curse, if you will... See, I'm a Seer... I See things..." She looked down at the water, watching it crash on the rocks. It was rather hypnotic to watch. "I don't like touching others, because it triggers my visions... That's why I do my damndest to NOT touch you... I'd be overhwelmed..." She looked up at him, something like sorrow reflecting in her green eyes. "Gods are reborn, right? I imagine with a domain like yours... You have to remember it all. Or most of it."
He let out a puff of breath, ears laying back. "Oui..." He paused. "Er... Yes..." He was slipping again... "A lot of lives... And none ending well." He looked to the sky, watching a cloud as it changed from the dark shades of night to the bright shades of day. "My last one... Was in a pride on the edge of the sea like this.. It was a very... 'Appy place... But then the God of Hate attacked, and in defending the pride I called 'ome and the family I'd formed there, I got killed... I've seen it as a side-effect of being bound to my brother, Athrun... I can only assume 'e's been reborn rather recently, too..."
She nodded, one ear flicking. "I can only imagine..." She let out a bit of a sigh, then returned her gaze to the water below. "I have to wonder, though... Your accent's changed since the day Ni'andama dragged me into the group... Is that from your past life, or one of them? It's a funny accent, one I've never heard before..." It sounded like nothing she'd EVER heard in Africa. Did he even realize he was DOING it?
His ears lifted a moment, as surprise passed over his face, before going back down and his expression going sour again. "I'd 'o- HHOPED... To be rid of that accent... It's from three lives ago, when I decided to live in the jungles to the west. 'Umans from the north decided to come to Africa, these ones came with a strange language... Talked to a dog, it said it was called French... It actually sounds much better when it's not just an accent." The accent was very broken, as the change from one language to another created... Well, fun little problems.
Kumbuko's ears pricked, as she tilted her head. "Humans? French...? I'm not sure what those even are..." Well, besides the obvious statement that French was a language. She let out a sigh, frowning. "Maybe Mother would have known..." She looked up at the sky, wondering... How WAS her mother doing in the after life? Tail flicking, her gaze returned to the god. "What other... Languages... Do you know?" It wasn't often one got to have such an in-depth talk with a god. She may as well gain whatever information she could.. "What does French SOUND like, too..."
Xavier tilted his head, flicking one long ear with a bit of a grunt. "I could not tell you about your mother, if she's passed on to the next world... Gods do not pass through the gates into Mkodi's realm, as we do not die forever." Unless they traded places with a mortal, then they'd... Well... Die forever once they died. He didn't want to go about doing that, himself. "'Umans are... 'Ave you seen gorillas?" At the confused look, he tried again. "Baby baboons?" There it was, recognition. "They are like baby baboons, tall and lanky. The 'air only grows on the scalp, arms, legs, part of the face..." He demonstrated with a forepaw, using his toes much like a human used fingers. "There is no other 'air." Not that he'd ever seen, anyway. "Their teeth are flat, not sharp like ours. They clothe their 'airless bodies in what looks like the skins of other animals, but it is made from just the 'air of animals. Got a good look at it once, it was woven tightly together. And very colorful."
The purple lioness listened with fascination, amazed at his words. Humans sounded... Fascinating. She wondered what it was like to meet them. Then again, that wasn't something she'd necissarily want to do. What would THEIR painful pasts be like? "Can we talk to them? I wonder what stories they have, what their prides are like..." She smiled, thinking in a fantasy manner of life. "What other languages do they speak, too...?"
The god let out a snort. "Trying to talk to 'umans is like trying to talk to a rock or a tree. They can't understand us, or our languages. They are a world apart. It is as if Mkodi created them different from us. Not the same. Speaking a world apart on purpose." He shook his head. "As for other languages... I do not know. I only know of the one." Maybe there were lions who understood other languages, who knew. He'd have to go out one day to find out. "We seem to be focusing on my past... What about you?"
Kumbuko let out a short laugh. "Lot of past to talk about there... I was born in a small pride, with small growth..." Though from what she'd observed in travel so far, not a lot of prides were experiencing a lot of growth. Maybe they were in hard times and didn't know it. "My mother was killed by my older half-brother, simply because he had mommy issues and couldn't get over the idea that she'd have other cubs. I was raised by the family I had around me... My paternal grandmother, great-grandfather, my father, an uncle, two aunts, my older half-sibblings that were in the pride from my mother's side... I've grown up surrounded by others, and suddenly.. Here I am, my only relative in this new little group of lions... We're almost a pride, too..." As much as a god, two lionesses, a cub, and two hares could be, anyway. "While I was wandering prideless, the only company I had was Brahma, my hare companion... I think his insanity protects me from seeing his past and what could have caused that insanity..."
"Toujours espoir pour le demain. Le demain peut être meilleur qu'hier." When the lioness gave him a confused look, the god's eyebrow went up. "Always 'ope for tomorrow. Tomorrow may be better than yesterday." When the sun reached a pinacle in the sky, he turned away from the cliffs. "We should go back to the others. Before Ni'andama comes looking." Mkodi only knew... That lioness would likely jump on him in joy at finding him. That wasn't safe here.
Kumbuko could only nod, following the god. The way his untranslated words sounded rang in her head, almost musical to her. Then again, it was a language she didn't know. She enjoyed how absolutely different it was. It made her think of a place far and removed from the lands they walked on, and she wanted to know more of the words.
