Beti - Das Tor
&
Shupavu - NovaCracker
Beti yawned and stretched, shaking herself out. She'd managed to catch a nice fat bird for breakfast, had a good night's sleep, and was ready to face another day. Perhaps this time...find her grandparents. She REALLY wanted to find them, dammit. Before she headed out though, there was one thing she needed to do. Her forms. While she wasn't FOND of fighting, she still kept up with her practice forms. Her mother would be upset otherwise, and it kept her in shape and ready...just in case she met someone UNfriendly. And so, after making sure there was little trace of her presence there the night before, she started through a set of forms that helped her focus and wake up after a meal.
Shupavu was... Tousled.
Out. Banished. By his pride. Completely. No hope of return... Shupavu wouldn't admit his pride's wound, but he would grumble and skulk a bit... Though seeing a female figure practice made him tense. His neice? Another guard who would beat him further? Shupavu tensed, slowing to prowl, to try not to garner attention. No, no, no....
Beti finished her forms, smiling. Ah...there. That felt better. All limber and awake! The adolescent shook herself, the trinkets on her neck and ear tinkling with the motion, then turned to head off. And blinked at the movement in the plant life. Hm? "Hello? Is that you Shupavu?" She laughed softly. "You needn't worry, I was about to head back into the rogue lands."
Shupavu jumped slightly, blinking before getting an idea. She needn't-- okay, time to do this.
"I'll escort you." He grunted, firmly.
Beti raised a brow. Escort her? Wasn't...he a guard for the pride? Why would he leave it? He seemed so adamant about creatures not leaving their homes..."Why? I'm quite capable of defending myself. And doesn't your pride need you, Shupavu?" She was rather confused.
"It's fine. I insist." He frowned, raising a brow. Did she dare....
ARGUE?!
Beti sighed. "Fine." She moved closer, then looked worried. "Shupavu? Are you alright? You look like you got into a fight. Wait...did you tick someone off, and need some time away? If that's the case, all you had to do was say something." Sometimes, disagreements were best resolved after some space and time.
"I'm fine." The male tensed, motioning with a paw. "Let's go."
NOPE. His pride was VALUABLE.
Beti rolled her eyes. Geez. Males. She shook herself, then started towards the rogue lands with steady steps. "You realize eventually I'll be returning home, right? After I find my adult name." Not that she knew how long that would take. She...wasn't sure if her quest would end with her grandparents, or continue past them. She really didn't. She could hope that it ended with them but...well, it'd taken her father quite a while to find HIS name. And there were some members who'd spent their entire adolescence and a good chunk of adulthood looking...
Shupavu grunted, following.
"You are an adult. Thus your name is adult, obviously." He grunted, as if it made perfect sense. Weird female....
Beti laughed, a sound that was cheerful and had no mocking tone to it. "I'm not quite an adult yet. I've still got some growing to do. As for names...well, it's a bit complicated. Where I was born and grew up, you've got two names. The first is the one your mother gives you as a cub. That's your childhood name, the one that helps protect you from bad spirits. But...it's a small one, and it can't protect a lion forever. So when manes start filling out and we start matching our paw sizes, we're sent out into the world to find that...encounter or experience that will reveal our adult name to us. That's the one we bear for the rest of our lives, secure in the protection it gives us against malicious spirits."
"What if it brings them?" Shupavu frowned, walking, albeit slowly.
Beti blinked, tilting her head to one side. "Hmm...well...I suppose I'll have to deal with that if it comes." She looked to him and smiled. "I don't think that'll happen, though. It's yet to happen in the pride." At least...not that she'd heard of. Perhaps it had and no one had told her? Hmmm...she'd have to ask someday, when she returned home.
Shupavu kneaded a bit, walking.
"You never know. Gods are fickle, and spirits are equally worthless."
"Perhaps...but one never knows anything if they do not try. Even visions of the future are not set in stone." The Jini-msemi had enough seers among them to know. "Even a horrible vision of destruction can be avoided if you but step forward. So...I shall step forward, and seek my name and see where it leads me. Perhaps I will find a home outside the Jini-msemi with my grandparents. Perhaps I will find my adult name with them. Perhaps I will simply find family, and another direction to follow." She took a deep breath, enjoying the morning sun.
Shupavu snorted.
"And the gods will abandon creation, take the spirits, and let us all die." The male snarled. "They only care for themselves."
Beti sighed, giving him a sad smile. "So? Then we must make our own way, our own fate. Instead of grumbling about them...just move on. I'm sorry you've had bad experiences with them...but I've never had anything but good experiences. The Jini-msemi...we've been watched over by two gods. First Mama Bwawa, then Mama Asali. They have kept us safe, and have even stepped in to save us before." She knew the tale of Mama Asali turning the murderer of her father's birth parents into a toad and gobbling him up. It was...a rather popular story, and a dramatic one!
"It's only a matrter of time before they run." Shupavu grumbled, fur raising.
"The gods don't deserve anything from us."
Beti sighed. "I believe...this is where we agree to disagree. Because while I agree that there are gods that will leave the first chance they get...others do not abandon their followers." He'd learn. Hopefully. He seemed nice, under all his toughness.
"If yoiu insist." Shupavu shrugged, wincing. That bite HURT...
She noticed his wince, worry crossing her face again. The disagreement he'd had must have been a bad one..."I insist more because you ought to relax, instead of get yourself riled up."
"I'll be fine." Shupavu frowned again, walking.
The pale lioness frowned, then sighed. "If you say so. But I'd still rather you didn't get yourself riled up." She moved next to him and gave him a quick lick on the cheek before continuing to lead the way.
Shupavu blinked, padding after. Odd female. But a way out.
