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 Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:22 pm
Well, this was an interesting conundrum indeed. How does one begin to find out about something that they know absolutely nothing about? Mfuto pondered severely, severely enough that the pondering could be seen all over his face, twisted in scrutiny. Where to start? Who to ask? Mfuto hadn't the slightest idea.
For Mfuto, trying to think and reason something through to it's conclusion was often a physically painful experience. His head would begin to ache the harder he tried to push thought through it. He audibly grunted as he tried to conjur a thought up into his empty head.
Finally, though, he let his face unscrew and he looked up to Yua with a gasp and a smile. "Hey! Why doesn't we asks an otter!?" he cried. Why, what a perfect idea! Why hadn't he thought of it before!?
((Yes, I know otters aren't indiginous to Africa. xd ))
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 12:34 pm
Yua considered Mfuto's suggestion with a great deal of admiration. GENIUS!
"Of -course-~!" he agreed, balancing on his hind paws and clapping on curled up front-paw onto the flat 'palm' of the other, before setting both appendages back down. Now, all they had to do, was find an otter.
".. So where do we find an otter?" the male inquired, wondering what intelligence would come out of Mfuto's mouth next. Not that it was something he -should- have been expecting to happen again.
Hell, Yua didn't even know what an otter was, none the less how to find one.
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:57 pm
Mfuto felt all warm and fuzzy inside. It had been a long, long time since he'd felt this clever, and he couldn't be more proud of how impressed Yua seemed to be by him. Getting a little bashful, Mfuto lowered his head and shuffled his paws in the dirt. "Wull... I jus' thought it made sense ter me," he said dismissively, attempting to play down the sheer cleverness of his idea, even as Yua applauded him.
Then Yua asked the question. Drat! Another wrench in the gears! Why, every time Mfuto thought they were really getting somewhere, one of them thought of something that tripped up their plans. Mfuto sighed and considered the matter hard. "Lessee..." he murmured as he thought. "Wull, o'viously a otter ish sumthin' that otts... an' so a otter would be somewheres where otting is done. An' mah daddy always said he wanted ter take me on an otting. An'... an'... he wanted ter take an otting inter th' jungle. So... I guesses a otter would be out otting in th' jungle." He nodded firmly, concluding.
Wait.
The jungle.
The jungle was where he was supposed to go with Uten and Mag before...
He hung his head and shrunk a little.
"Oh."
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Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 11:49 am
Listening to Mfuto's logic, Yua nodded firmly, agreeing that the idea was indeed plausible. Afterall, if an otter didn't ott, then what did?
As Mfuto explained his logic as to why an otter would be in the jungle, the brown male frowned a bit. "I wonder what an 'otting' is..." he mused aloud, unaware that the cub he spoke to had probably misunderstood the word 'outing' for 'otting'. But that wouldn't hinder their progress, right?
"Man.. EVERYTHING is in the jungle, innit?" Yua pointed out. When the calico lion shrunk, however, the shaman frowned, lowering his head a bit, ears flattened back in a sort of 'sad' way. Awww...
".. Somethin' wrong? Dun like the jungle?" he inquired. "I mean.. we could always go look around a river or something first.."
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:41 pm
Mfuto shook his head, also wondering as to what exactly 'otting' was. His father had never really explained it properly. Thinking on it a moment and nursing at his lips with his tongue, he eventually said, "Um... I think it has summin ter do with drinkin' or food, 'cause daddy always saids we'd need a lotsa water fer a propah otting." It was the best he could do.
He saw Yua's expression change and instantly felt badly to have brought the mood down. Mfuto felt that the lives of others, especially the lives of his friends, ought to be a constant state of happiness. In fact, he wasn't exactly sure why they weren't. It was something that perhaps he'd have to discuss with Uten if he ever caught up with him again. Uten was such a good thinker.
Mfuto frowned and shook is head. "Nuh, iss not that I dun like th' jungle or nuttin," Mfuto said, "I's never been ter th' jungle. Iss just... there was some peoples I was aposed ter go t' the jungle with, an' I dun wanna go withouts 'em." He shook his head hard to dismiss it. He didn't want to talk about it anymore.
The river? The calico lion furrowed his brow thinking on it. It was an option he hadn't considered. "Wull, it don't make as much sense as th' jungle," he murmured, "Buuuuuut... we's could try it."
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Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:39 pm
Yua held up a paw to explain why he chose the river. "See, animals need to get a drink during the day... so they'd need to go to a river~ Thus we should go there to see if we can find one." he explained, beaming. Yay for retaining knowledge his father had taught him~
"Thus, we might find an otter there!"
Indeed, he seemed like a good idea to him. "And if not, maybe one of the other animals have seen one!"
Nodnodnod.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:45 pm
Mfuto nodded thoughtfully, listening to what Yua had to say. "Wull, when you's say it that way..." the calico lion murmured, trailing off a bit at the end. It definately made a lot more sense now. Everything did need to drink eventually. He wasn't sure if there were rivers in the jungle, though. He supposed not. Rivers seemed to be a savannah and grassland thing. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He grinned. "Yeahs! Less go to th' river!" He hopped up to his feet eagerly.
Then, as an afterthought, added, "Maybe we's could gets a drink there too. I's awful thirsty." It was true, though he hadn't thought of it until they'd started speaking of rivers.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:28 am
It was the smartest idea that Yua had all day. This was reinforced by Mfuto agreeing with the logic of the shaman's idea, which he nodded at enthusiastically. Yay! The afterthought seemed to bring a similar need to Yua.
Indeed, talking about rivers sure had a way of making a lion out in the middle of the savannah REALLY thirsty. Mrn. Why did that always happen? Tak about food, you get hungry, talk about people, you get lonely. .... ;; Yua really needed to get a travelling buddy. He'd do something about that as soon as the mystery of the ottergraph was solved.
Rising up, the adolescent male considered which way they were to start looking for the river in. Hmm.
Closing his eyes, he lifted a paw and randomly pointed in a direction. "We'll start.. THIS WAY!" after which, he opened his eyes, and started to trot off in the direction he'd pointed it.
He hadn't had any BETTER ideas.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:43 am
Mfuto glanced in the direction in which Yua had pointed and frowned. Well, it sure didn't look very watery that way to him. Then again, nothing of the area looked very watery to Mfuto. He sighed a bit. "Is you suuuuuuuuuuuure?" he asked, but despite his uncertainty he rose and followed Yua off in the randomly selected direction anyway. Mfuto, much like Yua, really didn't have any better idea. In fact, he didn't have any idea. In more ways than one.
As he trotted along at Yua's heels, a stray thought managed to weasel it's way into the juvenile male's addled brain. It's presence momentarily surprised him, but once he got over the notion of actually having a thought, he was able to voice it. "Say, Mistur Yua," he began cautiously, "What does we do if'n th' river tries ter eats you?" It was a very good question given nature's tendancy to try to kill or, failing that, maim or humiliate Yua. Why, Mfuto had already seen it in action.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:53 am
"I just have a good feeling about it." Yua assured, continuing to walk along. For all he knew, he could've gotten both of them lost.. but then again, when you didn't have a specific aim, it was REALLY hard to get lost....
Unless somehow they both wandered to Europe. But that wasn't likely to happen. Well.. maybe if they tried REALLY hard.. but at that very -MOMENT- it wasn't likely to happen. That was better.
The sudden thought piped up from the juvenile caused Yua to pause and look back behind him at Mfuto with a puzzled expression. He had a prettty good point, seeing how they'd met under his lovely display of 'war with nature'. He considered it for a few moments, before shaking his head.
"Rivers like me. They hadn't given me any problems yet, see?" he explained, waving a paw.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:10 pm
Yua's answer satisfied Mfuto. He may not know much about thinking, or ideas, but Mfuto knew an awful lot about feeling. Feelings were what he lived on, and if Yua's feelings said that the river was this way, then doggone it Mfuto believed it. Of course, he knew he ultimately needn't worry too much; there was no way he could get any more lost than he already was. Though if they tried, Mfuto supposed it was technically possible to get loster, but the calico lion wasn't sure he'd be able to tell the difference anyway.
When Yua paused Mfuto kept walking and resultingly ran right into the back of him. He fell back onto his rump and rubbed his head. Yua was still thinking, at this point. Pouting a little at the soreness in his head, Mfuto stared at the older lion and awaited comment. Finally, Yua spoke. Mfuto looked around at all the places at which Yua waved his paw but saw nothing. He blinked, confused, then looked back to the shaman's face pleadingly. "See what?" he asked.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:19 pm
Mfuto fell back, and Yua tumbled forward, showing off his wonderful ability to recover from such tumbles (as they were common...) and popped right back up to his feet before he spoke, acting as if nothing had happened.
Mfuto's inquiry got a bit of a sigh from Yua, who shook his head a bit. "... Well. I mean my point. You can't REALLY see it.. I'm just asking if you understand in a short summed-up way...." he explained.
...
Man.. language was sure confusing.
Patting the younger lion on the shoulder, the brown male nodded firmly. "I mean... don't think too much about it. It doesn't matter if you don't see what I mean."
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:35 pm
Mfuto stared blankly for several moments, silent and confused. He tried desperately to follow Yua's train of thought, but, much like a real train, Mfuto was finding it extraordinarily difficult to catch up with. Straining his brain, he voiced his thoughts aloud as he forced them trhough. "So... so's... yer... yer askin' me... yer askin' me ter see... if I can see... yer askin' me to see... summin' that I can't sees?" He trailed off here. Was that it? That didn't seem right at all, made no sense. Then again, things often didn't make sense to Mfuto that made perfect sense to the rest of the world.
He scratched his mane a bit and felt something funny on his head... like a scab. He didn't think much of it. When Yua finally told him it didn't matter, Mfuto heaved a great sigh of relief and let his paws drop. Well, if it didn't matter he was going to stop thinking about it, and what a welcome relief that would be! He hopped up onto his paws and started following Yua again. Glancing about at the surroundings, the little lion asked, "Is we there yet?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:48 pm
Yeah. Yua had -figured- that if he just gave up on making the poor confused kid understand, all would be well, and all the headache inducing confusion would come to an end. Which it happily did.
However, the one question that ALL travelling kids would've known (Yua had asked it in his own childhood, and even to air when he was travelling alone) came up soon.. and that's when Yua realized that this was going to be a LOOOOOOOONG trip.
"... I'm sorry, Mfuto. We're not. Wait a while before asking again. I'll let you know when we're almost there..." he said, looking over his shoulder at the calico trailing behind him.
NOW.. he got to hope that it wasn't an endless trail of 'arewethereyet?' times five thousand.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:55 pm
Mfuto frowned a bit. So they weren't there yet? Drat. He sighed and kicked the dust a little, dropping his head. "Aww... okays," he said. Well, at least Yua would let him know when they were there. That would be helpful. Why, if Yua didn't let him know, Mfuto might miss the river altogether and walk right into it! That wouldn't be good. Wetness wasn't fun. Unless swimming was involved! Boy, Mfuto sure loved swimming. Why, he thought, on hot days he and his daddy would sometimes go to the lake by... wherever they lived... and splash and splash all day long! Well, it sure wasn't hot today! No sirree! It was rather chilly. Chilly and windy. The wind was starting to get his hair a little tangled. Oh, how he loved his new, longer mane! He marveled at it often and wondered what had made it grow. Perhaps the rain had made it grow, like rain makes grasses and flowers grow.
Yua had just said something to him... something important. But Mfuto just couldn't remember what it was. Oh well. Something else had come to mind that was a bit more pressing at the moment. "Is we there yet?" he asked.
((Welcome to Mfuto's head. xd ))
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