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 Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 6:29 pm
The house hunting, however, was taking longer than Intombi had originally thought. She'd never had to do this before. Her mother's den had been there from the moment she was born, and she'd never really been in a den in the Pridelands before. She'd never one much of anything with dens, for that matter, except sleep. Even as a cub, she spent larger and larger portions of the day out and about, and only returned for rest. So she'd never imagined it'd be this complicated to find one. After all, it was just a place to sleep. Her long search seemed to be coming to an end, though, when she came across one that looked to be perfect. At least, from the outside. Without hesitation, the young lioness strutted right in to inspect the place.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 6:42 pm
However, he was not without dreams, even though it was still early in the evening. It was not just any dream though, after so long of being plagued by visions he recognized this for what it was. In his dreams swirled the image of two cubs, a small girl of yellow so close to his own with brown that matched his mane and a small boy with white fur and purple markings.. in some parts of the vision, they were together, in some they were not. Flashes of other lions came in and out, but these were the only two he could make out clearly.
Dreaming, he didn't notice Intombi enter.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:16 pm
Intombi recognized the yellow fluffball immediately. Habu! She could've squeeled with excitement at seeing him again if he had been awake. Instead, she quietly padded over to his side and stared down at him, pleased to see him sleeping. In their last meeting, he'd been so tired, she'd been worried. Actually, she'd been worried /since/ then for the poor guy's health, so it was a releif to see him looking so peaceful. She gave him a once over, searching for any injury out of curiosity, and then noticed the white feather sitting on his nose. She cocked her head a little to the side, smirking wide. It looked a bit silly, but cute at the same time. She'd have to ask about it when he woke up. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she had already made the decision that she was staying there until he did wake up. She really liked talking to Habu, and she'd been thinking about him lately... it was just so lucky to have found him like this! She couldn't just leave now, right?
Sitting back into a comfortable position, the lioness got busy with what she did best: grooming. She started with her little toe markings and moved her way to her legs and then to her pink hair tuft. That tuft took quite a bit of grooming and 'brushing', after all, and if she was going to be there for a little while waiting, might as well take advantage of it. After all, she'd just have to do it later if she didn't do it now. In truth, she'd end up doing it again later either way, but hey, it was at least something to do. Every once in a while, she paused, mid-lick, to stare at Habu for a couple of seconds, making sure he was still breathing. She wasn't sure why he wouldn't be breathing, but she did it anyway, and then quickly went back to grooming.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:39 pm
The vision of the two cubs, while not as intense or jumbled as most of his past visions, was much more alarming than any of the others- especially since he could get clear views of it this time. They looked so distinctly familiar, so very much like him, like his family- and that by itself was reason for Habu to wonder. Twitching a bit in his sleep took the feather farther and farther down his snout, and just as it reached his nose and tickled at it gently- he sneezed. Rather startled, the feather flying off his nose entirely now, he woke up- but the surprise of the sneeze was nothing compared to seeing Intombi at his side.
Was he still dreaming?
At first, he only stared, then he found his voice, "Intombi?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:52 pm
Intombi was a little startled by the sneeze; she jumped a bit, but quickly recovered from it. She hadn't expected him to wake so soon, seeing as he had looked so peaceful before. Must've been that feather. She smiled warmly as he opened his eyes, taking just one more second to fix her hair tuft. The jump had disheveled it a bit, after all. "Hmm?" She looked at him expectantly, as if he had wanted something when he said her name. It hadn't occured to her that he might be surprised to have gone to sleep alone and have woke up with company. Since having made that decision to wait for him to wake up, she hadn't even considered that it'd be weird for her to just hang out at his den while he was completely unaware. Even if she had stopped to think about it, she wouldn't have thought he didn't want her there, so she would've stayed anyway, and still been in this position.
"Glad to see you were sleeping. I didn't wake you, right?" She suspected the feather, but figured it was safe to ask anyway. Just in case an apology was in order.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:00 pm
Habu opened his mouth when it didn't seem like Intombi was going to say anything but rather wait for him to say something, but he soon closed it. Why was Intombi here? This certainly wasn't a dream, at least he was pretty sure. It'd been hard to distinguish before sometimes, but now that he was getting more sleep it was much more obvious. What a strange coincidence that Intombi turned up here, in his new little den. Of course, not much would surprise Habu now- though he had to admit he could have been dreaming. She wasn't unwelcome, anyway.
"No, you didn't wake me- I- sneezed?" he replied, and glanced over to where the feather had landed. He'd have to be more careful, "I guess I move around quite a bit when I dream.."
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:14 pm
Intombi smiled wider when she was reassured she wasn't the cause of his waking. She had figured the sneeze, but you can never be too safe. "Yes I heard." She crinkled up her nose a little, as if she were about to giggle, but nothing came out. Instead, she simply stared at him. "I... didn't notice you moving. But I was grooming, so, I dunno. Maybe you do." Even though she had stopped here or there to check on Habu, she hadn't noticed him moving around. She hadn't even heard him moving, for that matter. Sometimes, she just got so into the grooming that pretty much everything faded out. The sneeze had only caught her because it had been far louder than shuffling around in sleep. She half wished she had been watching him more closely so that she could tell him if he moved around. For some reaosn, she felt that would help him out next time he was sleeping soundly like that. Nothing she could do about it now, though.
"Did you sleep well, Habu?" She stared at him expectantly. "You were so sad looking last time I saw you, I was worried. It's great to see that you've gotten at least some sleep. You look better, y'know." She nodded enthusiastically. Maybe it wasn't best to say so much to someone who was just waking up, but she'd been sitting there so long, she couldn't help it. Now that he was awake, she just wanted to chat away.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:36 pm
Habu offered a sheepish smile to Intombi when she said she'd heard his sneeze. That pretty much went without saying. He momentarily wondered if that was how he'd always wake up when he used the feather to help him sleep, it would get pretty itchy he thought. When asked if he slept well, he nodded brightly- he was feeling much better, because he was getting more sleep and worrying less. Though he was rather lonely being all by himself so suddenly..
"I've been sleeping much better," he replied, then added without thinking, "Still get some visions though.."
He trailed off, thinking about the cubs he'd seen. So familiar, so similar to him and almost like.. his mother. It didn't make much sense to him- who were they exactly? He knew the nature of his visions, they could be pretty near any time- past, present, future.. a souring thought struck him suddenly as he wondered if his mother had, perhaps, started another family.. just like his dad..
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:44 pm
At first, Intombi didn't catch that he had said the word 'visions'. She had finished his sentence for him in her mind, and placed in 'nightmares' instead. "Oh, that's great, Habu. I'm really glad. Sorry about the -" Suddenly, it hit her that her fluffy yellow friend hadn't said nightmares. Visions? Now surely, he hadn't meant that. Intombi knew what a vision was, sure, and she knew what a seer was, but she'd yet to meet one (as far as she knew), and didn't really think they were real. Habu had been so kind as to fill her in on gods a while back, so she believed they existed, but seers? An ordinary lion having visions? That was a little too far fetched, even for the naive Intombi. She paused for a few moments, cocking a brow, wondering if he had been trying to play a little trick on her. Not a mean trick, of course. Intombi didn't think for a second that Habu would do anything mean. More of a jokester trick, the kind Intombi herself was prone to on occasion.
"Visions, Habu?" She looked skeptical, but then something occurred to her. Maybe there were some crazy lions out there who thought that their vivid nightmares were actually visions. Habu had mentioned nightmares... maybe he was going a little insane from all the stress he'd been under lately. But he had said he was sleeping better! She was starting to get worried, but didn't say anything. If he was really going crazy, she wouldn't abandon him; she'd find him help. But where?
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:42 pm
At first, Habu didn't even realize what word he used. His mind was still on the idea of his mother leaving him and his father only to go off and have another mortal family. If she'd done that, what was it about them that hadn't been good enough? It was an unsettling idea, and he didn't want to think about it. He glanced back to Intombi just in time for her to pause and consider his word choice. All he could do was blink in confusion about her random-seeming pause until she suddenly said "visions". Then it hit him.
"V-visions?" he repeated, clearing his throat quietly and chuckling sheepishly, "Did I say that?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:21 am
Intombi nodded, staring at him as if he were crazy now. "Yeees..." She reached out a paw to touch his. "You were just tired, right?" She was hoping that was the case, because if he really was crazy, it'd be tough to find help. She wouldn't even know where to begin. Her brother had been a bit on the crazy side, but she'd never tried to track down any help for him. Neither had mother, come to think of it. So, who do you get to help a crazy lion? Maybe one of those gods Habu had been talking about.
"You don't have.. 'visions', do you?" She cocked a brow, curious as to what he had to say. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought that visions might just be possible. If those god things were possible, then couldn't visions be? But then again, Habu was just a normal, yellow lion. A very awesome yellow lion, sure, but a normal one. He wasn't a god. All of this thinking was starting to confuse Intombi, since she really didn't understand what she was thinking about. She'd share her thoughts with Habu if she wasn't currently worried he was insane.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:20 pm
Habu stared at Intombi as she looked at him with a plain "you're crazy" look in her eyes, and a gentle, reassuring touch of the paw. Clearly she knew what a vision was, to some extent, and thought he was crazy for saying that he had them. This was going to be a fun explanation. With a strangled growl of frustration, he let his head fall back to the ground and covered his eyes momentarily.
Then he realized this wouldn't be helping.
"Fine, fine," he said, uncovering his eyes and lifting his head up once again, "Yes, I have visions. That's what was keeping me awake for so long, it wasn't nightmares. Well, not only nightmares. I don't know why, but I couldn't make it stop, make it calm down.."
He braced himself for another gentle, patronizing look or reassuring pat. This would take some explaining.
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:15 pm
Intombi drew back her paw as he covered her eyes, slightly more concerned than she was before. What pray tell was he hiding from? She was releived that he popped back up so quickly, but suddenly back to concerned when he started explaining. She wasn't at all sure how to take it. He sounded very serious... so it couldn't be a joke, right? Besides, why would he take a joke this far? She lost her worried, caring look and simply sat there, wiggling her nose every few seconds, thinking. "So you couldn't sleep... because you were seeing visions." Her voice was still coated with doubt, though she was trying to hide it as best she could. If he really was crazy, she didn't want to hurt his feelings by acting like he was. She was sure crazy lions didn't realize they were crazy, and would be quite offended if they were told they were. She, a sane lioness (at least as far as she knew), would be offended.
"How long have you been having these... visions?" She made eye contact for the first time in several moments, trying her best not to make him think she was doubting his sanity. Really, for all she knew, he could have visions. Nightmarish visions, even, that kept him from sleeping. Somehow that just didn't sit well with her, though. She needed a little more convincing, a little explaining.
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:32 pm
Habu was not blind or stupid, he found it rather easy to see that Intombi doubted his story, maybe even thought he was crazy for it. At least, that's what he'd think if he doubted a story like this. With that in mind, he paused a long time now before answering any of her questions. He didn't want her to think he was crazy, his sanity was very real and it was important to him that she not think he was loopy. She'd been ok with the discussion about gods, was it really that much of a stretch to say that his mother just happened to be a goddess?
"All my life," he said finally, "But it's normal for someone like me, I'm not crazy."
He paused, knowing that trying to deny insanity was probably not a step in the right direction.
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:45 pm
The fact that he was speaking so level-headedly was making it hard for Intombi to doubt his sanity. As long as she didn't focus on the topic matter, she could very easily believe he was perfectly sane and didn't need any help with his mental health. As so as she got ready to speak, though, she had to think about the visions again, and was once again in the shadow of doubt. She was starting to feel slightly bad about it, too. Friends were supposed to stick up for their friends, not think they were crazy. It was just such a difficult topic for her. Sure, she was naive, and she was always quick to please, but this time... magical things in general didn't sit well with her. She had come to believe that gods existed, but she really didn't know the extent of their powers, and it was still a slightly new concept for her. So this whole vision thing was foriegn.
After he answered, she waited a few moments, just looking at him. "Normal for... someone like you?" She could've turned it into a joke had the mood not been so serious, and had she not really wanted an answer. Now, however, she was not only curious, but she was slightly confused and still a tad concerned. "All your life..." She trailed off, as if talking to herself. If he really did see visions, and he'd seem them all his life... what had he seen? It must be terrifying, especially for a younger cub.
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