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 Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:06 pm
"MAMA! MAMA!"
If one didn't know Gzifa extremely well, they would think she was being chased by a lion ten times her size she'd somehow made angry enough to want to rip her throat out. Her tone was frantic enough to those not too familiar in her ways. For those that were, there were a few things wrong with that theory. The first was that Gzifa would not anger anything, especially not a lion, to the point of them chasing her. Second, if she somehow did manage to do that, she wouldn't drag such a lion toward her family. Finally, so far, Gzifa had only used such a voice at times of excitement when she really needed one (or both) of her parents attention. Right away.
"MAMA!" she repeated, even louder. There had yet to be a situation she had moved this fast. No situation had called for it. This one did. She had a lot to do before tomorrow! "MAMA!" The uncontrolled speed resulted in a loss of footing, and Gzifa toppled over, skidding through the dirt and crashing into a small tree, emitting a loud yelp. If that didn't get attention, nothing would.
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:59 pm
Gzifa's timing turned out to be wonderful, because just moments before Ujuzi had been in a discussion between Haveo and Haiji concerning possible locations for the pack to try next. She roamed the grasslands of the territory debating what she should do with herself next... perhaps make sure that her oldest wasn't out causing havoc...
Goodness that child got herself into more messes than all the boys combined. Speaking of noisy children, however? As Ujuzi crested the hill that housed what -used- to be the den she and the pups and Kengee called home-- her second born came tearing across the area. Ujuzi's eyes widened in surprise as Gzifa tripped, skidded, and smacked right into one of the Acacia trees littering this area with a loud shout. It was one of the rare ocassions that Ujuzi raised her voice, when concern overrode her cool composure.
"Gzifa!"
The Mhenge closed the distance swiftly, sliding down the hill's slick vegetated surface and running the last gap towards Gzifa's darker form. She seemed unharmed, and Ujuzi frowned in another rare moment-- this one reprimand.
"You know you shouldn't be running like that unless there's an emergency or you're hunting." Though from her daughter's excited cries anyone would SWEAR that if she wasn't hunting Ujuzi, the prior must certainly be true. The rumors that must've started about their pack by now... "Now where's the fire this time?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:09 pm
"I need to know about the Gods!" Gzifa began. She was speaking louder than she needed to, and earning some stares because of it, but how could she help it? Too much excitement. Without waiting for a response from her mother, she continued. "I met somebody. He's neat! His name is Khima. He got lost just like I was in the rain and he ended up in the same cave as me. He was talking about Gods. And then there was lightning and BOOM!" And she had been absolutely terrified, but she'd leave that part out of the story since her mother might worry that she still had such a petty fear, even if it meant sacraficing the added edition to the tale where Khima had bravely stated he would tell whatever God made the rain to settle down.
If Ujuzi had gotten all of what she said, she was indeed quite the listener. "Mama, he lives somewhere else, but he's too fun to be so far away! I mean, the ones here are okay, but he's..." She paused. "He's different," concluded Gzifa. "So, I'm going to go and look for a God that can help me solve the problem."
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:19 pm
...
...
...
Processing.
Processing...
DING! Analysis complete! Printing results.
"Y-you're going to what?" Ujuzi questioned dubiously, eyes widening again. There'd been no time for her to answer the first statement, though perhaps she would've if not stopped cold in her tracks by Gzifa's next claim.
Ujuzi was not one that particularly believed in gods and fate and-- all of that cliche business about higher beings directing their movements. Particularly since all the gods she'd ever heard about were feline, and that hardly seemed believable or realistic to her. It was a cute bedtime story, but she simply wasn't religious that way. Things existed because they had the right environments to grow within. Flowers were food for the insects, insects food for the birds, birds and prey beast for the predators, and even the predators had enemies in the humans and the weather. Trying to fathom that there might be a diety for each and every aspect of life........... no, it was just impossible and ridiculously ineffecient.
"Gzifa... there... gods don't.... What on Earth put this idea in your head that a 'god'--" Which was said in a tone that was clearly skeptical and not believing. "--could fix that problem? Where does this friend of yours live?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:27 pm
Only a few hours ago, Gzifa had been preaching the same thing. 'You really believe that?' she'd said to Khima. She'd pointed out all the Gods she'd heard about were lions, not wild dogs. But he'd insisted they controlled everything. The plants, the ground, and the lightning.
Gzifa sighed heavily and gazed at the sky, which was pretty when it wasn't raining . Her mother must have been the one she'd bounced her developing sense of logic off of in her younger days. Their personalities differed in many aspects, but their thought process was very much the same.
"I think that too," she whispered, as if it was not something to be heard by anyone else. "But he thinks they are like that... That the there are Gods who take care of everything. I just want to go on an adventure, Mama." With him. But again, leaving that part out.
A sour expression was on her face now. "I don't... I don't know. I just told him to meet me in the same place again and came back here." For those who knew Gzifa, the fact she had remembered where something was was no less than amazing. "Can I go, Mama?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:46 pm
"I..."
Ujuzi didn't often faulter for words, but as she gazed at her daughter, she honestly did not know how she should respond... Kinye was already missing, now Gzifa wanted to go too, in search of gods? With some male that she'd just met?
Not logical. Not logical at all.
There was still too much yet that they didn't know or understand about the world, and Ujuzi for one didn't want to be witness to any suffering that might befall them as a consequence or result. There may have been eleven children, but each pup had been given equal worry, equal love, even if some demanded more attention than others-- such as Poka and Momo. They'd always be their trouble makers, Shui short after with his infatuation with water...
And dare she admit that the idea of letting her children leave so soon hurt more than the worry that ticked in her brain?
"And your brother believes that water can speak, and they're both entitled to their beliefs, but you shouldn't believe everything you hear just because someone says it's so. It's dangerous for lone dogs, Gzifa."
I don't want you going through the things I did at your age.
"If you wish to learn about gods then you're more than welcomed to do so as the pack travels. But I feel that you should stay with the pack until you've gotten some more experience. My answer is no."
Ujuzi usually gave a logical explanation for her larger decisions, both to teach a lesson and provide a new perspective, as well as letting the children (now teenagers) all know that she wasn't just jumping the gun. She had a good reason for her choices be they positive or negative.
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:07 pm
The mistakes she made? Her sister? Her brother?
Can she even SEE me? Gzifa thought. Naturally, her mother could see her, but that isn't what she meant. Did she see Gzifa, or did she just see one of her multiple children? Just clump her in with her sister who ran away? That's what she was doing...
"I'm tired," the younger female stated out of the blue. "I'm going to sleep. Good night, Mama." Turning tail, she swiftly moved off to the usual place one would find Gzifa during naps. She lay down, and waited.
When the stars were above her head and the crickets were chirping, Gzifa quietly rose. Her steps were small at first, silent but quick, increasing in speed as she got further away from the others.
She couldn't tell Mama she was going to against her, not to her face. But leaving anyway? She could do that. And it was different, because she wasn't running away, just taking a trip.
And she'd be back.
Eventually.
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