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 Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 1:39 am
He nodded, smiling. She had no idea how nice. He knew that the bond that existed between Mchawi and him was something special. The understood each other so well that things left unspoken made sense to both of them. They were a dream team, and he knew he would never find a connection like that with anyone else.
"I don't have so much experience with younger siblings," he said thoughtfully. "I'd imagine they would be a lot of fun, though. Especially when they were little." He added in agreement, allowing a wistful smile to spread across his face as glanced back to his clay and attempted to copy Omoa's actions.
Cut, shape, smooth. He paused and drew back to study his progress from afar. It looked alright to him - it wasn't going to be as well-formed as Omoa's, but considering it was his first experience with clay, he supposed he had something to be at least slightly proud of. He leaned in to straighten the back some more.
"How long do you think you'll be around here, then? Before going back?" He asked, shifting his deep blue eyes back to the little lioness.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 10:56 am
She nodded happily, claw still outstretched and shaving away the excess clay she didn't want anymore. "Oh, younger siblings are so much fun," Omoa agreed. "You can teach them so many things and they try so hard to remember it all, just to impress you and make you proud. And they'll look up to you like no other, simply because you're their older brother--or sister, in my case--and they love you for it."
Oh, how she wished she could be there while the three little cubs grew up! She knew that when she returned, they would be so much bigger and so much smarter. It was enough to make her cry with pride, but she held it all back.
To distract herself once more, Omoa peered over at his statue. "Looking good for your first one," she approved with an encouraging smile. "You've got the basic shapes down, and now you get to go in and add as much detail as you want. Eyes, whiskers, spots or stripes, any kind of design." She giggled. "It's overwhelming, I know, at how many choices you have, but you just do whatever you want to do."
She paused a moment at his query and took her paw away from her figure before she ruined it by absent-minded carving. "I'm..not sure, actually. I never planned for how long I would stay with Ithie. I just wanted to see her so badly that I didn't plan that far ahead." She laughed at herself. "Silly of me, right? Oh well. I'll talk to her and maybe I can figure out when, exactly. It's not like I want to go back anytime soon anyway, but I probably should. My family might begin to worry."
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:59 pm
He chuckled, nodding thoughtfully. Little cubs who looked up to him just for being older? That sounded like an ego boost he would enjoy. It was a little too late for wishful thinking though. His chances of having - or getting to meet - any younger siblings was a simple zero. He wasn't going to revisit that part of his life, that part that involved... well, family. Other than Mchawi, of course. But maybe someday, there'd be little cubs anyway. Children. He doubted it, but he could keep dreaming. It wasn't as though he particularly liked cubs, though. Little nuisances, all of them. Even if they admired him.
"Kind of breaks your heart, though, doesn't it," he said finally. "That they'll grow up and start families of their own. It's hard to let them go, I'd think, if you watch them grow up."
He smiled, gazing down at his statue. Not bad. But his mind turned blank at the thought of adding details. Designs, details... Sometimes, he wondered when he could let his mind take a rest. It was enough to worry about, minding everything he did and said to make the best impression on Omoa - the second lioness of the day, no less - and having to come up with ways to make the little statue pretty... it wasn't pushing it, but he had woken up hoping that the day could go by at least mindlessly, now that Mchawi wasn't around and there was no scheming to do.
Still. He took a moment shape the face and add eyes and ears to the roughly-shaped head.
"Nah," he said in reply, lifting his eyes away from the statue once more so he could look at Omoa while talking. "Sometimes it's good to just forget the plans. Life's good when it's impulsive. It's more fun that way - more free.
"But it's good, you know," he added quickly. "I think I might be around a while longer anyway. It'd be good to know I might run into someone I know around here." He grinned.
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Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 12:17 pm
Omoa, of course, absolutely adored cubs. And they adored her, simply because she was older but she acted their age anyway. Both she and cubs had that in common: childlike innocence. She didn't know, however, that since she just met Msiba that that innocence would soon be gone.
"Yes, I know," she laughed sadly. "They grow up so fast, too, and then they just go off on their own, living their own lives but hopefully still visiting you sometimes. I'll have to remind my younger sisters and brother to always visit me, no matter what," she giggled happily. That was definitely a thing she would require for them to know. Once she went back home, that is. And she doubted she'd ever really leave the Simbafutaji again, except to maybe visit Ithie if the other lioness didn't like the pride as much as her friend. Oh well, she couldn't help that. But she'd cross that bridge when the time came.
Her deft claw had moved on from the head of her own statue to the back, where she was doing a few designs she had seen on some other lions. Her encounters of new creatures had greatly helped her imagination in decorating her statues, and she was all the more thankful because of it.
"If you'd rather not do too much decorating, a nice and simple statue is never a bad thing," Omoa smiled at him. "Sometimes it is daunting to have to come up with a design or markings or whatnot for a specific statue, especially since you have such an open canvas. Too many decisions, too little time."
She laughed. "Really? Well that's good, then." It would be fun to meet up with Msiba again, some day. Perhaps even soon, because...
Well, who wouldn't want to see the handsome lion again? She blushed at the thought.
"Well, I'll be sure to stay for a little longer then," Omoa stammered, dropping her gaze from his, "and maybe we'll even meet up again."
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 3:35 am
"I'm sure they will," he said with a laugh. "I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to come visit you. If for nothing else but so that their cubs might pick up some of your talent from you."
He thought for a moment, turning his attention back to the statue. By now, it looked enough like a lion that he could imagine designs in its clay pelt and the mane the draped roughly around its head and shoulders. "Well..." he mused, gazing at it for a while more, then using a claw, he shaped the head and expression, as well as added a design. It was simple enough, nothing so elaborate, but as he looked down at it, he could almost feel a familiarity with the statue. Machafuko, the brother whose memory Msiba had done his best to push to the bottom of his existence since the lion's death.
Swallowing, he set the statue down a glanced away, focusing once again on Omoa. Pushing away the nostalgia that threatened to surface, he forced a smile back onto his face.
"That's good to hear," he said genuinely, nodding. "We should meet up again. Soon, I think. Maybe in a couple nights or something?" He added, ears perking up hopefully to fit the part. "There's this," he turned his head slightly, eyes quickly taking in everything around him for inspiration. "This tree that I'd like to show you. It has gorgeous white flowers, see, and the moonlight does wonders to them. They're like nothing I've ever seen," he said softly, thoughtfully.
It wasn't exactly a lie, either. There was a tree with white flowers that he had seen, somewhere nearby, he was sure. But he would have to find it again to make it truth.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 10:34 am
She giggled and blushed again. "Oh, I'm sure they can learn much more interesting things than talking to me, but thank you," she replied. He was being nice; it would be rude of her to shoot down anything he complimented her on. Besides, that wasn't how she did things anyway. Her way was to thank them, then turn it around so she didn't sound all that 'good' or 'amazing' as they had previously said. There were just as many lions (and other creatures) out there that had just as much talent as she. So she didn't think it fair for her to be the only one praised for her skills when the others couldn't talk about theirs right now.
Omoa glanced back at him, puzzled when he took his statue down. "Is something wrong? Would you like me to help?" Her own statue was looking good; better than she had anticipated. The pelt now had a furry look to it, along with a few patterns she came up with. It looked a bit like the scales of a fish, the design on the lion's front paws. The tail had some on the end, too, leading up the limb from the tuft of hair on the very tip.
But she smiled in delight at his suggestion. She had not seen this tree he mentioned. "I'd love to! I haven't seen one of those before, but then again, I don't go wandering around at night. A girl has to get some beauty sleep, you know," she winked gaily. Most of the time, flowers tended to be bright, happy and girly colors (cue the stereotypical pink and red ones), along with some yellows and oranges here and there. But white? The green lioness couldn't say she had seen any of those before, at least.
"There. Done, finally!" A last touch of claw had shaped the eyes, mouth, and smile on her statue, and now it was complete. Omoa leaned back and tilted her head to one side to look at it from that angle. "Not the best, but still a grinning cat. I'll leave it out here to harden." She gently moved the figure from the base she had been working on and scooted it over into a nice patch of sunshine to dry.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 3:11 am
"I, uh... no, it's nothing," he assured her with a small shake of his head. "It's just, I accidentally..." He cleared his throat. Maybe Mach could help him out after all. For a brief moment, he thought he felt the beginnings of a wave of guilt creeping toward him. Then he quashed the feeling determinedly. No, there was no point in guilt. Death was death, and that was all it was. It meant that Mach was no longer around, and whether or not Msiba used his dead brother's memory to his own advantage didn't factor into it. And Mach would have understood. He knew how Msiba functioned.
"It just reminded me of my brother, is all." He said finally, narrowing his eyes with emotion. He took a breath and scooped the statue up again. "He, uh. He died, a little while ago. I thought I was alright with it, but I guess... Some things just creep up on you, I guess."
A small smile spread back across his face as he nodded understandingly. "I get it. You girls swear by that beauty sleep," he agreed. "But you know, that's what my sister used to say. Until one day, I brought her to see this tree by day. And she just fell in love with it completely. She couldn't wait to see it at night, with the dark backdrop and the moonlight through the petals. If she was a romantice, she might have fallen for someone under that tree by now." He said, smiling fondly at the false memory.
His eyes shifted toward Omoa's finished statue. Apparently not her best, but still far better than his miniature version of Mach. He raised his brow appreciatively. "That's nice," he said with a nod. "Really nice."
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 2:19 pm
Her smile softened and Omoa nodded understandingly. "Well, I'm sure he wouldn't be upset with you at all for using him as a model for a statue. I probably have done a few that look like my mother, but I wouldn't know. I just don't remember what she looks like well enough."
The lioness hushed and started to imagine exactly how pretty this tree was. Now she was quite curious to see, and, of course, to see Msiba again. He was so sweet and understanding, listening to all her ramblings and stories...she would love to see him again.
Soon, too.
"It sounds beautiful. I would love to see the flowers," she answered. She thought for a moment. "When would be a good time for you? Ithemba will probably need a few more days, at least, before I can see her again. Will you still be here?" He had mentioned before that he hadn't planned on going, but things can change in an instant. She only hoped that if they did change, it would do so for the better.
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Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:13 am
"I think he would have understood," he said softly in agreement. The smile that had started to fade twitched on his face once again. His eyes locked on hers and searched deep, as if to say that finding a kindred spirit within her on a matter like this was good fortune he had never thought to have.
He nodded. "I'll be here," he said, determination creeping into his gentle voice. "Stampeding wildebeest couldn't drag me away." A pensive look flickered across his face as he considered the timing. The next night would be no good, obviously.
"In a couple nights, maybe?" He said finally. "We could meet right here when night falls completely and I can bring you to it."
And it would be good. He was hoping his memory and his ability to pluck knowledge out of thin air hadn't failed him this time. It was easy to lose trust - so easy, in fact, that it could happen in the blink of an eye. Gaining back lost trust was not easy. Especially not for what he had in mind.
In any case, the extra time would give him an opportunity to find this tree. Or at least one like it. And if not, a chance to come up with a plausible story.
Yep. His grand scheme was in motion.
/fin?
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