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 Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:23 am
 He had been on his way back home after a 'job' when he felt a familiar tug on his senses. Baba Croix blinked, then landed, wings folding neatly at his side as he sniffed the air. Hmmm...from the direction the tug was coming from...smelled like a lion. Well...time to get this done with. He wanted back home to his mate, and to spend more time getting to know her (very large) family. Letting the illusion of mortality slip over him as he made his way towards the source of the tug. No sense completely frightening the poor male.
From the feel of the tug, it was a rather bad case of uncertainty. Hmmm...perhaps he was young enough that his mane hadn't grown in? Well...he'd find out soon enough.
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:05 pm
 Rêvez felt rather...lost. He had yet to find his Name, and he was already a father with a daughter grown. And she...He hung his head. Agana had been told stories of the pride he grew up in, the pride she SHOULD have grown up in, and yet she hadn't been there at all. And she would not venture to it until he was ready. He felt guilty, he felt like an unfit father. She should have been just-returning from her own Name Quest, greeted happily by he and Chidamari...
But that couldn't be. Chidamari was dead, and he'd had to struggle with raising Agana with no knowledge of HOW, really, and seeking his Name. He sighed, shaking his head as he waited for her to return from hunting, not noticing the god approaching him at all.
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:17 pm
Croix saw the male, absorbed in his own thoughts, and stopped a couple of lion-lengths away, observing. When the other made no sign of noticing him, he cleared his throat. "You look troubled, child." This male was definitely the source of the tug...but he looked old enough to have fathered two litters. Nonetheless, Croix was bound to help him, and help him he would. It helped that Croix looked the part of a wise patriarch.
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:19 pm
Rêvez nearly jumped out of his skin at the other's throat cleared and he spoke, the black-maned lion whirling to face the other with wide eyes. Now THIS was unseemly! "I uh..." Oh hell. His ears went back, and he frowned at the older-looking lion. "Perhaps. And who are you to care?" Call him not exactly trusting.
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:29 am
Baba Croix bowed, inclining his head as he brought a paw to his chest. "I am Baba Croix, father and grandfather to many. And you...look like a father with much on his mind." Felt like one, too. Perhaps he'd recently lost his mate and wasn't sure how to do things without her? Or mayhap he was one of those who waited a while to breed.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:08 pm
The black-maned lion looked the older lion over, tail twitching in nervousness. Who...was this lion, to speak as he did? "Perhaps I do have quite a lot on my mind. Hard to not when one realizes just how much a failure they've been as a father." And he'd failed as a mate to Chidamari...Rêvez would forever miss the female who had showed him how to smile without creeping others out.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:39 am
Ah...that explained it. Croix nodded. "You may think yourself a failure, but that is not always the case. Perhaps you'd be willing to tell me why you think yourself one? It often helps to talk about it and get it off one's chest." Perhaps, if needed, he could work some of his 'magic' on the poor lion.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:43 am
This older male was rather presumptuous. Rêvez snorted and narrowed his eyes. "My daughter should have grown up in the pride of my birth. Instead, I have failed to find my adult name, and she has grown up in the rogue lands. And without a mother, because I could not protect my mate from the illness that took her. My daughter hasn't even met others of her family because they're all in the pride I grew up in." There was a slight annoyed tone to his voice.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:47 am
Croix listened...then nodded. "I see why you think yourself a failure. But let me ask...is your daughter well-cared for? Do you love her? Have you taught her the ways of your pride? And taught her about her mother and her family? Is your daughter happy?" In the end...it came to whether or not the cub was happy. Despite the distress of this father...Croix didn't think he was a horrible father. Not at all.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:52 am
Rêvez blinked, a bit surprised. "Well...yes. I do my best to keep her out of trouble, and though she was sick often as a cub, I cared for her and she's healthy now. I love her very much, and she knows the ways of my birth-pride as well as I do. She knows as much about her mother and my family as I know, and..." Was Agana happy? He thought a moment, and all her smiles came to mind. Her mother's smile. "Yes...I believe she is happy."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:56 am
The god chuckled, smiling kindly. "Then you are no failure as a father." His tail flicked behind him. "In the end, it is whether our cubs are healthy and happy that matters. Sometimes, we may feel we have failed...and then we see them smile at us, see them safe and happy. And then we know that we have succeeded." He looked to Rêvez. "Fatherhood is a heavy burden...but it is a worthwhile one, I think."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:06 am
Rêvez nodded, a bit stunned. The other male...was right, he supposed. He did feel a swell of pride, of satisfaction, whenever his daughter was happy. Whenever she noticed something he'd overlooked. "Yes...I suppose so." A heavy burden, hm? Yes, it was. "Yes...it is one I would accept willingly again, if I had to go back and choose."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:13 am
"I think every good father would. And even some that aren't...good, but did their best." Croix stood, and shook himself. "I wish you well, young one. May you and your daughter retain your happiness, and always find new happiness to add to it." With that, he let the illusion of being mortal fall away, and he took to the skies, a few of his feathers (no magic within them) floating to the ground.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:17 am
Rêvez had not been expecting the other to turn into a god. For once, he found himself staring, wide-eyed, at the retreating figure. And then he looked to the ground. And something in his head clicked. "Fatherhood is a heavy burden..." Carefully, he collected the fallen feathers, and began his way back to the temporary den he and his daughter had slept in.
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