Girls really weren't any fun. Yesterday had been fun, there was no doubt about it. Exploring caves and looking for bats and glowing mushrooms was fun in its own right, but it wasn't what he wanted to do originally, and that bothered him. So the next morning, Koda did a quick headcount of his sleeping siblings before he slipped off, this time he was more careful in assuring that he'd explore on his own. He'd jump behind rocks and wait, watching the path behind him for any movement before pressing on. It took longer to get any distance between him, but at least he was assured that he was alone this time.
The cub smirked as he tipped his head back to view the mountain peaks. They were far away, he'd not get there today, he didn't really want to get to the tops by himself anyway, but it'd be fun still to see how far up he could get before it was time to go home.
The great black male was a shadow when his wings were hidden, as they were today. It wasn't often that he chose to shed the one true mark of his god-hood, but when he did it was usually with reason and consideration. Not so, today.
Perhaps time with Muhali was rubbing off on him. That seemed.. logical. As logical as Irrationality could ever get, he supposed. The god snickered faintly, multi-hued paws making tracks in the dirt he didn't bother to wipe away for once. He wasn't used to being alone, anymore, and he rather wanted the tiny goddess to follow him.. when she was ready.
Seeing the pride she had built so long ago had been a strange thing. At once, he was wonderfully at home there, and yet... irrationality and denial, while similar and normally intertwined, was not precisely the same thing. One did not always mean the other, no matter how often they related, and there was little in the way of denial there. As such, he'd found his feet itching to wander and had taken his leave long before the goddess.
Now he wandered, a gargantuan black lion among the lands of the tiny and tattooed. He wondered how long it would be until he was noticed.
Nekoda was busy solving a puzzle of his own. Short, stubby legs stretched and skittered around on the rocky climb upwards. For all the effort he was putting out, he was getting hardly any results. Some climbs he'd jump and find his back end scrambling to push himself up, others he found himself bridged over a gap that was a bit larger than he thought it was.
Denial was right to have come there, for once he'd managed to get about six feet up, the cub found himself quite stuck bridged over a crack that was only barely shorter than he was. It was nothing! He could do this. He'd show them... maybe.
Nekoda huffed, shoulders shaking from the strain. Okay, maybe if he...jumped? No, not enough grip... No he wasn't in trouble! This was easy, he just needed to think.
It was then, and sadly only then, that he noticed the larger lion not too far off. His eyes widened. That...was one huge a** lion. Maybe he was from the top of the mountain! Or the bottom. "Uh oh...." Today was most definitely not a good day to be eaten...or smote...or whatever they did.
Ukata's ear twitched at a gasp from not too far off. He had excellent hearing, of course, Gods usually did. For that, he turned slightly to see whom was about (surely they'd caught sight of him) and stopped dead to see a little cub what had bridged himself over a small ravine.
A snort of surprised laughter registered from the male, and he found his lips twitching at the sight. That was adorable, in its own way, he thought, and so he strolled leisurely up to where the cub was sitting. "What's wrong?" As if he couldn't very well see for himself.
"Nothing!" Koda responded with a wide grin, both ears perking upwards. "I'm fine! This is...uh..." He looked at his position over the crack. No this wasn't nothing... but he couldn't let the big...thing think he was stuck. Stuck meant easy prey.
"I'm...doing stretches. Yup. It's good for your back. I call this the bridge." He nodded.
"Stretches?" Ukata nodded, "Yes, I can see that. How many of these do you do a day?"
"I just made it up!" He started making little motions, almost like he was doing pushups, "Yup! I'm fit as they come. Best of the best!"
"Ah yes, I can see the muscle there. You must be the strongest lion of your clan, young thing." Ukata replied with a slow smirk being drawn across his face. This one was a wretched liar, but he tried.. just as he tried to be of his domain. Well, well.. little mortal playing at denial. This might be a fun game.
"I'm getting there." He flicked his tail around. By then his limbs were getting terribly sore... there had to be a way to get out of this without embarassing himself. That wouldn't do. This guy thought he was tough! And look how big he was.
The cub huffed and pushed himself backwards with his front paws. The result was him flailing his paws around in the air while his hind paws scrambled to keep their grip. Unfortunately, gravity won over and he fell forward once more. Back to square one.
"And now what do we call thatmove?" Denial put a look on his face as if he was highly impressed. Unwilling to let this go, he settled down into a lounging position beside the ravine, merely looking at the cub rather than moving a paw to help.
"Uhh...that was..." He looked like he was going to try that again, it almost worked! "I call that the landing eagle."
"Ahh... such an accurate name. Only.. I don't think I've seen an eagle flail like that. At least, an adult.. now the fledglings..." Ukata grinned, showing off rows of white, sharp teeth in his dark face.
The look made Koda give a loud gulp. He had really big teeth... and a really big mouth. "Well....it's not perfected yet." He pushed back again, once more flailing around in the air, and once more finding himself stuck over the crack. "....I meant to do that."
"mhmm.. I'm sure you did.." Good enough, Ukata thought. If he had had fingers and a mustache, Ukata would have been twirling it. "I'm sure you did." He hadn't had some fun with a mortal in quite some time, Ukata thought it might be about time to take another 'minion.' This one would do, at least for practice.
Denial wasn't a flashy thing, of course; it was subtle, a tiny nudge of thought here, a n** there. When done properly, the victim shouldn't have any idea anything was done. This child just needed a few nudges, which Denial happily gave, down the path of truly believing his own bullshit.
The male rose and leaned in to take the cub by the scruff, picking him up out of the situation he'd gotten himself into. With that contact, he tried to lay his web of power over Koda's mind. Oh yes, he'd believe his own bullshit. Believe himself invincible, incorruptible, incapable of being wrong. Let him think, if he chose, that only his needs were what mattered, and kindness only something he deigned to give. This would be amusing indeed.
"HEY!" Koda protested as he was scooped up, his paws reaching out for the ledge he'd just been removed from. "I had it under control! What're you doing! I don't taste good I swear!" He continued to squirm and protest, more eagerly than he would have a few moments prior- but dammit he had it under control!
Ukata chuckled, a deep rumble in his throat that vibrated onto the cub in his mouth. He dropped him down on the ground, on the other side of the ravine and smirked, "of course you did."
With that, the god was gone. Of course he hadn't actually left, but to a mortal's eyes he would have vanished. An illusion of invisibility was very, very useful in these situations, he'd found, and before the cub could test the spot he'd been, Ukata flung himself into the sky and circled up and above the land. He'd have to keep an eye on this one.
Koda's mouth parted to protest once more, but found it going slack and simply hanging as the massive male vanished. He was gone!? Was it a spirit. The fur raised off the back of his neck. A shadow passed over the sun but he hadn't looked up in time to notice it.
He glanced between the sky and the ground twice before he scrambled himself down and made a wild dash back to the den, "MAMA MAMA!"
