AIM Log
Chick, chick, chick.
The sound of beads and shells echoed as a tan and red brown lioness walked, she was pacing trying to think of where to go next. Her goal was to find the lion that Kinagiri, a seer she bumped into, had foreseen in her future, there was a problem though, the lion to be here mate was supposed to be found near water, and thus far she hadn't seen a large body of water in days. She'd traded away four pieces of her jewelry for information and still there was nothing, no one had a good lead on where she should go.
Chick, chick, chick, the beads clanged rhythmically. The lioness' biological clock was practically ticking along with the beads, she was sure that if she didn't find her mystery man soon, she never would.
Shambe felt his fur crusted, taught up in little knots from the mixture of the mud and the sun. He'd spent a good part of the day digging up bits of shell and metal from the grunge along the bank of the lake. Keeping them wet was no use, so he'd dragged them a few hundred feet inland to a small rock shelf to dry out. He was pleased with the haul, he'd found a few little silver trinkets that would suit Cashile well, perhaps even a piece big enough to make a copy of his snake. A bit selfish maybe, but he didn't want to give up the one the little goddess had touched, it had an odd warmth to it. He had pulled his cape off, leaving it tossed haphazardly beside the pile.
Yaya sighed and stopped her pacing finally starting to walk in one direction, it was no use dwelling it was better to continue forward, not look past. She needed to start thinking about the future, there was a lion out there, somewhere for her. It was odd for Yaya to be so focused, she was flakey and lost things easily, there were many bracelets left behind over the years because she couldn't remember setting them down.
She came upon the handsome cheetah abruptly, too focused on her thoughts to notice she was coming close to the male.
"Hello," she called, "Perhaps I could ask you for some directions." she watched, he had somethings, and there was a piece of a red pelt of some kind near him.
Shambe turned only his eyes, observing her with a bit of a frown. She seemed harmless enough, but looked well fed and decorated, potentially a pride trap. He glanced in the other direction, inhaling deeply into the wind. No sign of anything, but lions were sneaky if brutish. Still, he would have liked to ask her about those bracelets. Still standing, he looked to her and then back to his mess of things, pushing them around with his paw.
"Directions to where? There's lots of places, I don't know all of them," he said with a hint of sarcasm, all wrapped up in his usual honey.
"What're you pushing around, there?" She was intrigued by the shiny bits and pieces.
She wasn't a pride trap in the least, she was a happy go lucky, hippy-dippy sort of lioness that was searching for true love. Because a crazy pair of seers told her that it was going to happen. The tan lioness was trying her best to force it to happen, she was convinced that she just had to try and keep her attention on just one thing. Which was quite hard.
"I am looking for a large body of water..any large body of water. I'm supposed to be meeting someone there."
"Bits and pieces," he told her with a feigned apathy, "I found them near the la-" He paused, seeing a chance for a bit of bargaining advantage, "Little stream, no consequence really." So there was someone there waiting for, if he understood, but she didn't know which? That seemed a bit useless, but then, he really couldn't evaluate the decisions of lesser beings. "There's bodies of water in all directions," he explained with a laugh, "Pick a direction and sooner or later you'll hit water."
"A small stream, that doesn't help me," she frowned watching him, he was matted with a lot of mud and dirt, it seemed he had been in the water recently. "Would you mind showing me to the stream? I could use a drink to continue on my way." She was fairly parched, and this guy seemed a bit shifty. He was handsome for a cheetah, she liked his patterns, and he was well decorated.
"Ya could be a bit nicer," she added, "I'm just not sure where I'm going, I know there's water everywhere, that's what makes my quest so hard. I've traded away a lot of my jewelry to try and find the right pond or lake. Any information deserves a reward."
Crap. He had thought she would just dismiss it. Well there had to be a stream feeding into the lake, north maybe from the way the little waves had been moving. But it was a big lake, she would smell it if she didn't see it. Now she was talking about rewards, as if he were so easily bribed. Well he was, but that wasn't the point, he had some dignity about it. "I don't remember where it was," he said, a bit of a save, "But I uh, I think there's a lake to the west."
Her emerald eyes fixed on him, he couldn't remember? He didn't appear to be damp, but obviously from the mud he'd been in a body of water recently. Yaya wasn't exactly bright, and her trust was generally an absolute, she trusted the words of strangers before. However this one seemed to be different, he was speaking too fast and giving information easily. Lies? She wasn't going to question, the thought that if he pried he could be dangerous crossed her mind.
She shifted her feet in place and the beads around her feet jingled."The west?" she thought about that and decided to follow his directions, "I suppose I could head that way, like you said there's water in all direction it's just a matter of where."
"West, probably," he assured her, "It's a big lake, I saw it on my way in." Hopefully she wouldn't see the tracks where he'd been digging things out. Then again he assumed she was looking for another lion, and the pull of the tide had blurred his tracks to a much bigger diameter. "I hear it's a popular spot, maybe you'll find who you're looking for there," he suggested, and let him relax. She was pretty, he could acknowledge that, and her jewelry was lovely, but she was still a lion. His last few run ins hadn't gone well.
"Thank you for telling me, maybe he'll be there waiting," whoever 'he' was had no idea that she actually existed, he was going about his life as usual trying to keep himself together. She shimmied one of the beaded bracelets off, the shells were shiny and intact, the beads themselves were shined and had no chips or wear. "Would you take this? If he's there, you've done a very great deed." she nudged it toward him. Although he seemed shift and like a liar, he gave her information, and it was only fair.
"If nothing else, it'll add to your bits and pieces."
Shambe blinked, a little confused by the kindness. Not that he would question it, he did love gifts. "Thank you," he said with a bit of hesitation, reaching for it with a quick paw. He examined it, pleased by the way it shone. "I, hope you find what you're looking for," he told her after a moment, feeling a little guilty for not telling her the truth initially. It was one of those nasty reflexes he'd need to find his way to fixing before he made it back to the Kuroi, he didn't want his daughter learning the same.
Feeling that she'd repaid him for the information, and trusting a cheetah that she never eve knew his name she started walking at a fast pace towards the west. There was fate at work here, she was sure, and she was going to find the love of her life...if only he knew that she was coming and could stay in one place to wait for her.
