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 Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:09 pm
To say she was excited was an understatement.
Omoa was thrilled to be going back. This was not to say that she didn't love her family and pride; quite the opposite. She adored her family and wished she didn't have to leave them, but she needed to keep her promise to her best friend. Ithemba, who lived in the rogue lands. The very first friend she had when she was little, and the only one that she had left.
But they had made a promise, and she had plans to keep it, no matter what.
So she had said her good-byes to her family (not tearfully, mind, because she hoped to return one day soon) and was off on her way. She trotted past unknown areas, unfamiliar to her. She slept under stars that had been different in the past. She drank from different waters.
However. There was one thing that Omoa recognized instantly.
She came across them in a rather innocent way; she had been walking through the forest and had smelled mud. Her childhood memories had been called forth and she couldn't help the smile that had appeared on her face. And as she walked towards the smell, she had frozen in her steps.
For there, at the top of the pile of mud, in front of a great tree, were two small figures. Time and weather had worn away the fine details that had once been there, years ago. But the shapes and the small hint of smiles on both of the lion cubs faces were still there. Omoa stepped closer to them both, smiling and curious to inspect them closer.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:22 pm
It was high noon, bright orange sun smiling in the sky with its dancing waves of heat visible among the various grasses of the savanna.
Ithemba, now an adolescent, was quite used to the tormenting heat of the sun. Well, not used to--she had just grown a tolerance for it. Having such a dark coat, it was sometimes very difficult for her to be outside for long periods of time. Luckily, her favorite tree was always on her side.
Lying at the base of the huge tree's trunk, Ithemba was relaxing in the shade, eyes closed and the tip of her tail flicking at flies occasionally. Life at her home was still pretty much the same; father who ignored her for the most part, evil "aunt", mostly mean brothers, and a kind but timid mother. Ithemba had grown a tolerance for everything. She was able to spend more and more time outside by herself. She still played with clay, taking as much time as she wanted in making her sculptures...But she never made them in the same place that she used to.
That place was now a special place.
On the other side of the trunk of the tree was that special place. The clay had long since dried up, unable to be used to make much of anything anymore. But Ithemba kept the area clean, making sure that her figures were well taken care of; hers and...Omoa's.
Ithemba sighed silently, eyes opening a bit. She still missed her good friend. If only she didn't feel the responsibility to stay with her family...She would've gone out to find her. She missed Omoa very much. Even then, she could almost smell her...
Ithemba's eyes opened fully and her lips parted. Heart lurching, she scrambled onto her stomach and pushed herself from the ground. Then she moved her body around the wide trunk of the tree, which was not so vast as it once had been in her cub eyes, and saw a familiar green pelt.
"...M..." Ithemba started, scarcely believing her own two eyes. "...Moa?" she called quietly, the old locked-away nickname coming out of her mouth.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:30 pm
The scent of Ithemba didn't register in Omoa's nose until the other lioness revealed herself from behind the tree. And then all of her memories came rushing back. Though she could only just stand there and blink in shock and surprise. Shock that Ithie would actually be here, at this time, at this place, to meet her best friend again. Surprise that she wasn't crying yet.
"Ithie!" Omoa exclaimed and happily ran over to her best friend. She had grown so much! She was bigger than Omoa (then again, that was expected and the little lioness had gotten used to it by now) and had grown into her black and white coat beautifully. She looked stunning. And so grown up.
Her heart was pounding in her chest and her stomach was tied up in knots. But she nuzzled Ithemba's cheek and neck in a joyous reunion. "What are you doing here? How have you been? How's your family? Oh, you must tell me everything! And I have so many stories to tell you!" She couldn't stop talking; she had so much to tell her friend. They had years to catch up on and it only seemed like time was against them. For even thought it was high noon, Omoa knew that Ithemba wouldn't be 'allowed' to stay out all night with her.
Even though she, in turn, would not sleep too far away from their tree and special place.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:44 pm
Ithemba's busy head was hardly registering the flurry of nuzzling and nudging she was receiving. So much was happening so fast.
Omoa was here!
Soon, Ithemba was nuzzling her friend back, completely and utterly happy to see her again.
Not a day had gone by without Ithemba thinking about Omoa at least one time. She would always wonder where she was at that time, how it was to live by the sea, what her family was like...But now that Omoa was finally there, none of those random thoughts mattered. The two friends were reunited after so long and things would be just like they used to be. They'd stay up late (as late as they could, anyway), make things out of clay, talk and talk and talk...
Ithemba grinned, unable to hold back her joy. She still couldn't believe Omoa was really there. But no, she was. And there was much to talk about.
"I've been good!" Ithemba answered, laughing at the questions bubbling from Omoa's mouth. "You...You look so different." she said, finally noticing just how much her friend had grown. Ithemba was still quite a bit bigger, but it was still easy to see how much Omoa had changed. She looked so mature. Ithemba smiled, tail lashing behind her in her excitement.
It was so good to see her again!
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:14 pm
Omoa laughed, and danced in place.
"Good! I look different; you look different! You've grown so much. You're still bigger than me," she joked, "but everyone is. I love this part of your coat; it's so pretty." She pointed out her friends beautiful accents on her fur in amazement.
Oh, but she had so much to tell Ithie!
"I have so much to tell you!" she said aloud. "My new family is amazing; my father took us to the ocean pride but we had to leave, and then we met up with my mother's sister and her family, and then we made our own pride! It's the Simbafutaji pride, and my father is one of the leaders." She beamed proudly at Ithemba, and sat down after a moment. "We still live near the ocean, though. You should come and visit; it's such a pretty sight! Especially with sunsets and sunrises, and the light is on the water..."
She trailed off and laughed at herself. "Look at me, I'm being so silly. Talking a mile a minute and just going from there. Do you want to go talk by the stream, or stay here by the tree, or something? I'm sure we can find some comfortable spots."
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:59 am
Ithemba was silent all throughout her friend's talking, always the slower one when it came to speech. Sometimes she envied how many words came out of Omoa's mouth at any one time. Ithemba was always slower in that department, always thinking more about her words before saying them. But Ithemba learned over time that that was sometimes a good quality. It meant she was a good listener. And she enjoyed that trait about herself. Of course, she'd never admit that, and rarely did even to herself.
"Your father is a leader?" Ithemba said slowly, a smile coming to her face. She remembered back when Omoa had first left, talking of how her new father was taking her to the ocean, far-far away. Ithemba had been sad and thought he was a cruel male, separating two best friends. But he was a leader? Maybe he wasn't bad. After all, Omoa was nice. Surely he was a good lion.
"You're not silly." Ithema replied in her own quiet way, still smiling. Her ears perked up at Omoa's suggestion. "Ah," she exclaimed almost silently. "We can look for another spot." She was hesitant to move, making sure that Omoa was going to follow her. There were many places they could sit to talk. The problem was picking one.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:22 am
Omoa nodded. "Yes! Jethro is such a good leader, too. So is my mother and aunt; they're all really good leaders. And I'm supposed to become the healer, under our other one. She says I have to be an apprentice, or whatever," she paused, thinking about it. Whenever Omoa returned to the pride, she would pick up her healer duties again and truly become an apprentice. But she had missed Ithemba. "But I came here instead. Daddy said I could leave to come visit you, so I did." Her smile widened into a full-blown grin of happiness. "It was fun on the journey, and it didn't take me very long to get here. I ran."
In truth, she did run. She hadn't wanted to stop for any long amount of time. Or short. She only rested when she needed to. Drank, ate, and slept when she needed to. And when she wasn't doing that, she was traveling. Omoa's sense of direction had been a complete help in this travel, and she had found her old home in no time at all.
She made a face at her friend to prove that she was, in fact, very silly, but followed Ithie anyway. "Are you thirsty? I kind of am; I'm doing all the talking. You should tell me about what you've been up to all this time," she teased her friend gently.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:01 pm
Despite her silence making it seem like she wasn't paying attention, Ithemba never missed a beat.
"Ah, thirsty..." she said softly, mind working as it thought of places to drink. "Yes, the watering hole up ahead. It's not too far." she explained, smiling. She shifted her direction, eyes set forward on the slight, blue line in the distance that was the watering hole. She had taken many drinks there by herself. She'd never imagined drinking there with her best friend, Omoa, especially since they'd been away from each other for so long. It was all so great! There was absolutely nothing that could happen to make anything bad right then. It was the perfect day. And Ithemba was very happy.
"Well, I've..." Ithemba drawled, blinking slowly as she walked, her pace swift. She thought about everything she had done in the days and weeks without Omoa. She had grown into adolescence without her. How much had happened? A lot. But in truth, it was all pretty much the same. Nothing really outstanding had happened. But she hated to appear boring in the eyes of her friend; the one she looked up to...
"...Umm...My brothers have been nicer lately?" she offered, wincing at herself. She felt like a true failure.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:25 pm
Omoa giggled. "I had almost forgotten where everything was," she explained in hopes that it would excuse her clumsiness in offering the change of scenery. "It's coming back slowly. I still remembered where our old tree was, after all. Can't believe our statues are still here, either. You'd think that the rains and winds would all have taken them away." She gave a fond smile to the things she spoke of and followed Ithie to the watering hole.
Her shorter legs kept a double-timed pace to keep up with her friend's; she didn't mind so much. Gave her extra exercise! She grinned at her reply.
"That's good! From your stories when you were little, I was afraid that they'd never grow up and be nice." Omoa stuck her tongue out. "That's good to hear that they matured enough to treat you better. How are your parents? Met any other friends? Or...boys?" She wiggled her eyebrows. This is what girls did: they talked about boys.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:53 pm
The black lioness smiled, nodding her head as she walked. The blue splotch that was the watering hole was growing larger and larger with every step. Ithemba could smell it already. How nice it would be to lie down and have a cool drink with her friend!
"Yes, they've matured a bit, as well as I." she added in a murmur, trying not to sound like she was praising herself. Ithemba always tried to remain quiet when it came to her own traits. She was raised in such an environment where, if she had gone to anyone to show off what a great sculpture she had made, she would be scolded for showing off and praising herself too highly. Thus, Ithemba grew up a rather humble girl. Whether that was a good or bad thing wasn't clear.
When the subject of boys came up, Ithemba became extremely flustered. She was completely unused to such topics and her mind immediately shied away from the idea of males and boyfriends and mates. She was too young for that!
...Wasn't she?
Choking a bit at the unexpectedness of her friends question, Ithemba tried desperately to regain her composure. When she did, she cleared her throat softly and peeked at her friend through her black bangs. "...Um,' she began very quietly, trying to sound casual. "No, no boys. You?" she offered. The sooner the focus was taken off of her, the better. It was very difficult for Ithemba to have so much attention on her. She wasn't used to it. Not at all.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:28 pm
Omoa really had forgotten how shy and not talkative Ithemba really was. Perhaps that was a good thing, but all things considered, she had missed the time not spent with her friend. If she had stayed, then she would know what Ithie meant when she said something the exact opposite, or if that irony was really true.
"I'm glad; I know you hated your brothers when they would pick on you. Hopefully they've realized how good you are and that you don't deserve to be picked on at all!" She grinned up at the larger girl innocently.
"Well," Omoa sighed, thinking about it. She hadn't really met any boys her own age, just older ones. But those had been more interested in joining the pride. Actually. She had just met one older male. "No, not really for me, either." Her grin was crooked. "But I bet there are some cute ones around here somewhere. We just have to look and we'll find 'em."
Finally, they reached the water. The green lioness happily padded up to the shore and started talking deep gulps of the cooling liquid. As strange as it sounded, water tasted different every time she visited a new--or old--watering hole. Maybe it was just her.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:39 am
Males? Around there? Well, Ithemba surely hadn't seen any other than her family members...But maybe Omoa was very good at finding things? Yes, of course she was...She was an explorer.
Ithemba eyed the shining water and watched it ripple as Omoa drank. Water always looked so inviting. But it felt strange to the adolescent's fur. Though she liked to drink and dip her paws in, she found that she didn't like to be submerged in it. Did that make her weird? Did other lions feel the same way? Though Ithemba harbored such questions, she would never, ever dare to ask, for fear of looking like a fool. Ithemba hated looking like a fool. It made her feel weak and stupid. She felt like that enough throughout the day without doing much of anything, let alone having to feel that way by asking a question that may seem stupid.
Sighing, Ithemba sat in front of the water hole and gazed down at her black and white reflection. The sunlight bounced off the water and made the adolescent appear sparkling and shining; beautiful. Yellow eyes narrowing slightly, Ithemba stared long and hard at her reflection. Reflections were illusions most of the time...She wasn't beautiful. She glanced at Omoa briefly. Her green-furred friend was very pretty. She was the perfect lioness, capable in all things, small framed, always smiling, always happy...Everything Ithemba felt she wasn't.
But with those feelings in her mind and heart, she dearly liked and respected Omoa. She was her only friend. She was very grateful to have such a great lioness someone to consider an actual friend. But would she have to leave again? Ithemba ground her teeth, staring down at the water.
She smiled suddenly, trying to appear casual. "How long will you be...Wanting to stay, Moa?" Ithemba asked, her tone quiet and inviting. "You're welcome to stay nearby if you want."
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 11:20 am
Once she had gotten her fill, Omoa stayed near the water's surface and peered down underneath, curious to see if there was anything worth going after in there. She only saw rocks and the dirty bottom of the pool. Nothing worth exploring. The lioness gave a sigh but smiled up at her best friend.
"Stay? Oh, I was hoping to stay much longer this time," she replied. "If that's alright, and if I can find a place nearby," she added quickly. "I don't want to intrude on your family at all." True. Also because that she had never even met Ithemba's family and didn't really want to make it too awkward.
"I love the pride, back where 'home' is," she continued, gazing back at the water. "But I knew that I wanted to come back here, if only to see you again. I missed you so much! And I knew that my parents could take care of the little ones on their own. They don't need me so much any more." She smiled, knowing that it was not true, and that her family had said she was always welcome to return home.
Because she had left with the intention of only going back if she found a mate, and had the idea of starting a family.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:56 pm
Stay longer? That was great! Ithemba let a natural smile glide onto her face and her tail swayed happily. There really was a lot to catch up on. And new things to talk about. Maybe the two of them would go and play with clay again? No, maybe Omoa wouldn't like that...Maybe she was too mature...
Ithemba suddenly felt downhearted again and pawed at the water. But no, she couldn't let herself get down over silly things. Her good friend had returned after a long absence. There was a lot to talk about and do. Maybe the two of them would go exploring, have adventures, and...And...Whatever else friends did! Omoa must've had tons of stories. Ithemba wanted to hear all about her pride.
Feeling happier again, Ithemba got to her feet and flashed a grin at Omoa. "Let's go look for a place you can stay, okay?" she offered, eyes shining happily. All the pessimistic thoughts would be forgotten. None of that mattered right then. All that mattered was that her best friend Omoa had returned.
And they were going to spend as much time as they could together.
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