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 Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:17 pm
"...Unity Walkers, huh?"
"That's correct."
"..." Sen was the quietest Mwokoti had heard her in a while, which meant something offensive was about to come out of her mouth. Sure enough, "Pssh. This place is as lame as the Pridesquad, only not as big." You never saw a lion alone in the Pridelands, just because of how many of them there were. "They'll be thankful to us for getting them out of here!"
"Hasana will be happy to return to her original lands, but the Unity Walkers is a nice place."
"What kind of name is Hasana, anyhow?"
"I wouldn't advise you to insult your followers names, Sen."
"Yeah, yeah. --Hey! Is that her?" Sen was almost shaking she was so excited! She'd never met Hasana before, but she recognized her right away. She really did look like a zebra! "Who's that old guy with her? HEY! HASANA! IT'S US! WHO'S THAT OLD GUY WITH YOU?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:50 pm
Waiting for a goddess.
Triv wasn't sure he believed it. He'd grown up believing in gods, but after everything he'd seen... Well, it was a stretch of the imagination to say the least. And even if they did exist he wasn't sure how much trust he could put in one. When gods failed mortals were the ones who suffered. But he couldn't deny Hasana anything, and she seemed to think it was awful important, and he supposed that would have to be enough.
He wished she'd filled him in a bit more though. It was aggravating sitting around waiting for who knew what.
So distracted he was with his own inner debate that he didn't see the others coming until he heard them. Apparently goddesses didn't come on bolts of lightning, they came with yelling.
"Old? Hasana, is this your goddess," he whispered to her disbelievingly.
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:54 pm
Hasana knew two gods personally. The God of Life, whom Banji still would not believe existed. She had yet to see him again since cubhood, but he was still out there, she knew. Gods did not die, and if they did, surely the God of Life was an exception any rules of death.
Mwokoti she knew through Nishan, given she was his mom. Sure, Nishan didn't know it, Hasana did. Not because Mwokoti had told her, but because she'd seen it. Images. In her head. It was strange, she knew. Which is why she hadn't told anyone they were starting to happen again. "Not the one yelling, but the one next to her." Who was the one yelling?
The duo reached them, Sen (who was running) long before Mwokoti (who wasn't). "Hasana," the Goddess politely greeded. The mortal lioness nodded to extend the same manners.
"Nice to see you, Mwokoti. This is my mate, Triv." And it was taking a lot not to laugh at him being called 'old'.
"I'm Sen!" the future pride leader cut in. "Nice to meet you both!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:12 pm
"Hmm?"
Ahhah, there was another one, he'd missed her in light of so much yelling. A rather rediculous thing to do, considering the goddess was yellow and bore big, feathered wings.
It was hard to deny a legend when faced with it, but he wasn't quite ready to let his guard down.
He bobbed his head politely at the two, studying them both. The louder one was a young female, younger then his own daughters eve, and mainly white. The goddess was yellow and grey, and bore a strange item on her neck that glowed ever so faintly in the bright sun.
"Hello," he finaly said.
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:16 pm
Far be it by Sen to take notice of how someone else was feeling. If she had known how uneasy Triv was, she probably still wouldn't have cared all that much. Maybe not at all. On the other hand, Mwokoti could sense, and she did care. She also understood. Many mortals feared the face of Gods, and they should. Most were not like her.
"I'm here to invite you to my pride!" Along with not being very empathetic, Sen also wasn't one to dance around a subject. Why should she? She'd come all the way to this lame pride for this.
"The Mtaishi'Miele is being established again," Mwokoti offered, sending a look of dissaproval to her young follower. "I'd like if you would return, with your family of course."
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:21 pm
Triv blinked.
That was unexpected. He hadn't known what he was meeting the goddess for, but he certainly hadn't guessed it was about a pride. Let alone one aparently belonging to a child.
"What is the Mtaishi'Miele?"
He looked over to Hasana again. Clearly this had something to do with her, and she was no doubt the only one who'd be able to explain the situation to his liking.
It sounded like there were things he still did not know about her.
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:29 pm
Gently, the Goddess offered, "We'll give you some time to speak of it.", which didn't settle too well with Sen. The adolescent was all but pouting. What was there to even talk about?! Ugh! This waiting stuff really sucked! Grudgingly, she tagged along behind Mwokoti as she had done so many times before, and the both of them were soon too far away to hear anything said amongst the couple.
"The Mtaishi is where Banji and I were born." Hasana obviously didn't care about the risk of ease-dropping, as she'd began talking before they'd even moved to leave. "It was destroyed by another Goddess. Mwokoti and another God allied with the pride defeated her for good, but it was destroyed by then. I never... I never thought it would be alive again."
The thought of it was insane, yet it made her so happy she was almost crying. Would Banji return, too? Wouldn't that be something! "I...I wanna go, Triv! I know it's nice here, but I... But it's nice there, too!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:38 pm
Triv watched the two retire, face blank as he listened to Hasana's explanation.
So, she had a pride when she was young. Not exactly a surprise, it would be more amazing to have had her survive alone from birth. And he could understand her not wanting to talk about it with such a tragic past.
But...
"Hasana... What kind of pride attracts that much trouble? That much attention from gods does no bode well... What if another comes bearing a grudge and puts our family in danger?"
He looked back at the goddess again, adding, "She failed to protect your pride once, can she guarantee she'll not fail again?"
A brief look of sadness flitted across his face, "I can understand wanting to return to your home but...”
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:42 pm
Hasana didn't understand being angry. She especially didn't understand being angry at Triv. The Tara incident had weighed down on them both, yet even then, she hadn't been mad at him.
"You leave her alone!" she snapped. "She did the best she could protecting that many of us! No one could have known that was going to happen. Besides, who's too say someone isn't going to come after this place? This isn't exactly a fierce pride. Don't you think it's a little too perfect here?" She sure did.
Fail again...? Hasana thought about. There really was no gurantee or proof of it, but, "I believe in Mwokoti that she will protect all of us. Not all of the God's are bad, Triv. She exists to help mortals, you know."
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:21 pm
Triv listened quietly to Hasana, absorbing the anger. He did deserve it, and couldn't expect her to just take his criticism easily but he needed to be sure this was right. The family had already been through so much, and the new cubs were still so little. Moving them all from the safety and familiarity of their pride to one with no guarantee of safety worried him. Sure, he had no particular ties to his current pride, but the lands were safe and his children had grown up there. It was too perfect, but that was better at the moment then dangerous.
"I just don't know. What could the pride have done to raise the goddess’s wrath like that? I have heard that gods breathe plots and revenge like air and don't care who they get involved."
He frowned slightly, "The road to hell is paved in good intentions Hasana. What possible motive could she have for protecting an entire pride, especially one that draws so much negative attention from other gods?"
He sighed deeply, regretting being this curt with her. It wasn't because of her that he was so distrustful, she probably would not have the answers he was looking for anyway, after all she had only been a cub... And it was important to her.
"I need to talk to your goddess."
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:06 am
"Mwokoti is a good God," Hasana repeated. "But not all of them are. Some of them do only live to make things bad, and the Goddess that attacked us long ago was one of them." The lioness preached like she knew all about the Gods, but she didn't. She was still unaware of the concept of 'domains', and could only seperate the different kinds of Gods by 'good' and 'bad'.
Talk to Mwokoti? That was probably a good idea, Hasana decided. She wasn't getting threw his thick skull, so maybe the Goddess herself, the one they were rambling about, could. "Fine, go ahead. I'll wait here."
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:21 am
Individual gods were not well known to Triv, but over the years he had heard rumors and stories from all over of their exploits and their natures. Every land had a different god, every land had different evil and different good, and he had heard of many of them. Unfortunately, the stories varied so widely it was hard to actually pin a real face on the mysterious beings, and he'd never even tried. As far as he was concerned they were no problem of his.
It was a little unfortunate to think that now they were.
With a nod at his mate Triv stood and headed over to where the goddess had retreated. This Mwokoti, whoever she was, offered something that made Hasana truly happy, and that was rare enough in itself. But to trust the lives of his family to a strange, small pride run by a child... It wasn't going to be a decision he made without at least considering all of the repercussions.
The thoughts slammed together in his head, good and bad, as he neared the two strangers, the young one and the goddess. His life was growing too weird.
"Mwokoti, may I speak with you?" he asked, as politely as he could manage in his distracted state, looking then to Sen, trying to get across the point that it was a private conversation. Not that he was sure she'd get the message, between being young and excited, and filled with expectations of leadership, there was a good chance she wouldn't care what he wanted. Hah, it'd been too long since he'd had to deal with teenage girls.
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:31 am
"Hey, Buddy, I'm the pride owner here." He best learn it, too! Regardless of if he was coming with his family or not. Or she'd have to... She couldn't really attack him because Mwokoti had stressed the pride was a peaceful one, but. But she'd do something, just you wait!
"Sen," the Goddess spoke. The future 'queen' was none too happy to be shoved off to the side. Talk about a blow to your pride. She announced she would listen, but only because she wanted to speak with Hasana. It was important she spoke with her followers and kissed cubs and all that politically correct stuff.
Mwokoti rolled her eyes again. In hundreds of years she hadn't moved them in a circle as many times as the timespan of her knowing Sen. That girl was just... "Please, go on. I am listening."
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:54 am
Triv resisted the urge to smile at the girl. Troublemaker. How long had it been since his own girls were like that? Probably too long, as if there weren't enough uncomfortable reminders of how old he was.
"Ah," he nodded again, and then tried to think of what exactly he wanted to say.... problem was....
Problem was there was no way he was going to be able to say it politely. He wasn't the best speaker ever; things usually took awhile to arrange themselves in his head without trying to censor them.
So, that was it then, with a level voice and a calm head, he said, "I'm going to be frank, and I can't say I'm particularly sorry about it."
"My family is the only thing I have left, and they matter to me more then my life. I have seen things go terribly wrong in their lives, and I did not protect them as well as I should have. I don't intend to make the same mistake again."
He looked the goddess in the eye, thinking his next words. But he'd already committed himself to them, so it didn't matter, did it? Whether he said it aloud or not, he already meant it.
"If any harm were to come to them, I would not forgive it. You are the one who is bringing this pride together, promising happiness to Hasana and no doubt others as well, and I'm holding you to it. If anything happens to them while under your protection I will personally see to it that you regret breaking such promises. I may only be a mortal but this is a promise I do intend to keep.
"I will do everything I can to keep them safe, and that is the only thing I care about. If Hasana wants to go, I will follow, but I'm doing it for my own reasons. I hope you understand this."
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:09 pm
The Goddess listened quietly, a feat Sen would have never been able to accomplish. Had she been closer she'd have interupted Triv a good eight times by now. Probably mauled him, too, for hurling insults around.
They were true, and Mwokoti understood what the mortal said. "I, too, have family I was unable to protect once, as you know. Your words are ones of distrust for me because of that; should I distrust you now for the same failures you have admitted to?" She spread her wings out and Sen bounded over. That was the only indicator Mwokoti gave to say it was time to go.
"There is nothing you could do to harm a Goddess, as a mortal, even a Goddess like me, who was created by Her simply to serve your kind. Even so, I will heed what you say and your family will be safe with me. Gather your sons and daughters and prepare. In two days I will come back to this place for you."
"Yeah, two days!" Sen cut in. Her tone was a bit harsh considering. She just wanted to make sure this guy knew not to mess with her. He had a big mouth if he was talking to Mwokoti all by himself. Only she could do that! "So be ready!" Her lungs filled with air and expelled it. "BYE, HASANA! SEE YOU SOON! I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET ALL THOSE KIDS OF YOURS!"
As Mwokoti soared along and Sen ran below her, Hasana came to stand beside Triv and smiled. "It'll be great. I promise."
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