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 Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:33 am
"And as I peer into destiny and pluck your fate from the enigma that is the seer-rock, what shall we discover?" Aryiola spoke in her 'fortune-teller' voice. Mysterious, magical and enigmatic. She smiled as she circled the jewel sat on the dusty ground of the savannah, her eyes never leaving it as she moved.
"Shall we discover life? Death? Great change? If you are afraid to know. If you do not think you wish to hear, I ask of you, go now before I begin. For once it starts it cannot stop. I will tell you what I see."
She stopped her circling and turned to face the jewel directly, lowering her gaze so that her head hovered close to the ground. "You stay. You hunger for knowledge. Now, I will unlock your past." She closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, then opened them again. She peered into the depths of the jewel - clear as glass and yet full of images that only she could see. She wavered on her paws - trance-like - and all around her the world faded out.
A lizard sat perched not too far away. He was clearly trying to get some peace and quiet, sunbathing, but the lioness was talking and disturbing him. He lay on his rock, watching her with one large, round eye. Clearly he didn't realise the lioness was trying to read his future to practise her talents and further strengthen them. Poor lizard.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:59 am
Black ears pricked as the powerfully built adolescent lion vigorously shook his growing golden mane out of his eyes. The ears searched the air for familiar sounds, while the deep sapphire eyes swept the land for familiar shapes. Now, who would he find today that would get their a** kicked by his well-honed skills?
Well-honed was... understating it, really. His skills were honest, of course, but they were more than that. He had such absolutely control, such undeniable mastery over them that he was nothing short of... well, amazing. With an ego, to boot, but that was another story entirely.
A light entered his eyes as they landed on a gray form not too far away, prowling about what appeared to be a jewel on the ground. Aryiola. Well that was perfect, really, because there was little that he was more fond of than his sister.
Well. Winning and his sister. He had to make that clear.
He turned and made his way toward her. Given that he was the male of the two of them, and the fact that he was larger than her - and had more muscle and strength than she - he had always felt that it was his responsibility to ensure that no harm ever befell Aryiola. And she was such a pretty girl - evil bastards who hurt pretty girls like his sister deserved to die.
"It can't understand you, you know," He smirked as he neared, placing himself on the ground as he watched her fall into a strange little trance
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:05 am
Was that an image she saw? Flickering behind the many-faceted jewel? She leaned closer, so close that her nose almost touched the precious object. The seer-rock, in truth was just a rock, no more magical than a worm, yet to Aryiola it was everything. It symbolised what she was. It made her seer-magic even more impressive. Props were everything to making a good impression, Ary had come to realise.
Yes, there was something there! The surface of the rock grew a shade darker and in it she saw the face...the face of some creature...but it wasn't sharp.. It was misty and distorted by the surfaces. Odd, really, the jewel was usually like peering into a scene that was painted perfectly before her.
And then her brother's voice interrupted and her head snapped up suddenly. She realised then, much to her embarrassment and annoyance, that the image in the jewel was simply her brother's reflection. She curled a lip and turned to face him, pressing a paw protectively over the seer-rock.
"I know that, stupid." She replied, flicking her tail. "But that doesn't mean I still can't peer into its future. Its good practise, you know." She narrowed her eyes, then sat after a moment. "So what did you think of my act? Pretty good, wasn't it?" She purred and puffed out her chest a little. Yes, though she didn't say it she did love her brother dearly.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:25 am
He smiled a self-satisfied smile as realization dawned on her face, and for a moment he considered rubbing it in her face. Then he decided against it. He'd have plenty of chances later on. And of course, she was only one who merited the second thought. If she were anyone else - Seron, even - he wouldn't have hesitated. He wasn't about to let her know that.
"Oh it was..." He shrugged, and nodded. "Yea, it was okay." Just okay. Granted, he never truly praised anyone for anything. Doing so would be akin to admitting that they had done wonderfully, and he simply couldn't have them getting the idea that they were good at anything into their heads. If they thought they were good, then soon, they would think they were the best.
Well, he couldn't very well help them cultivate such lies within their little heads, now could he?
"What you practicing for, anyhow?" He added suspiciously, turning his head so he could shoot her a sideways stare to emphasize his point.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:33 am
"Okay? Just okay?" She gave him a look, one brow arched. "Is that all the praise you'll give your little sister?" She made a pout-face, but the expression quickly dissolved into a laugh and she shook the uncontrollable smile from her face to tame it a little. "I'd say I was pretty awesome. I totally rule with this whole future-telling thing."
She stood, suddenly, and moved up alongside him, nudging her shoulder somewhat roughly against his. "Come on, Dia, use your brain. You do have one, right? I mean, why do you practise fighting and stuff? To be better, right? To be the best! That's why I practise. To be the best. The best seer that ever lived." She nodded sharply. "Then Aunt Shisi will know she can rely on me. I won't be thought of as a little kid anymore. Even Mother will have to admit that I'm not a baby and stop fussing so much!" She gave an exasperated sigh, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't Mother get on your nerves, Dia? Treating us like babies, as if we're still little cubs. It's like she's stuck in time, seeing us as little balls of fur instead of young lions and lionesses." It clearly bothered her. Aryiola wanted to be grown-up and her mother was clearly preventing that.
She waved a paw at the lizard who was watching them sleepily. "Anyway, since there wasn't any lions or lionesses around, I figured a lizard would do. I mean, even prey has a future, right? Even if it is just getting eaten by us." She smirked.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:56 am
He blinked at her. "Have we not met, sis?" He said, his voice laced with incredulity, both at her question and the fact that she thought she "ruled" in fortune-telling. No, no, that simply could not happen. His mind whirred as he flashbacks from the past months of their lives came to him. He had to find where he had gone wrong. When had she started to think that she could possibly best him in, well... anything?
He certainly hoped it wasn't contagious.
Perhaps he might be convinced to allow his sister to consider herself better when it came to being a seer - he knew for a fact that his neglect of his skills from cubhood meant that they were not as finely tuned as his physical abilities - but that had to be kept on the down-low. He couldn't let everybody else thinking that they could do the same.
"I don't need to practice to be better," He clarified, sounding important. "I already am better. My practice makes me the best." At least she had part of that right. But she was right, practice did make perfect. He knew that firsthand, and now that shehad reminded him, perhaps it was time to take a closer look at his more abstract skills. Well, skill, really. The seer-ing. If that was what it was called.
"Oh, Mother, well, I don't know," He began. Ainra was perhaps the one creature on earth that Dia was even remotely afraid of. He generally held respect for others, not fear. He was too great for fear. But with his mother, it was different. He wasn't afraid of her. Now, that was hardly possible. His mother was the most gentle creature on earth. No, it was something else. He was afraid of letting her down. The fact that he cared deeply what she thought, and all the love and worry she showered upon them, meant that the very thought of disappointing her or not living up to her expectations made him nearly freeze inside. "Ye-maybe." He ended, nodding in an attempt to cover up his lame conclusion.
Eager to focus on something else, his eyes followed Aryiola's gesture toward the dozing lizard, and he frowned skeptically. "Well, if you're just going to eat it... then there's not much to tell, is there?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:08 am
She smiled softly, moving to rest her chin across his back, over those wings. Wings that were painted miniatures of their father's own. Ainra had never directly spoken about their father, but whenever she did mention him in passing, it was said with slight reluctance. Aryiola couldn't understand why her mother could be ashamed about mating a God, but clearly she was on a different wavelength to her mother. She didn't understand that Ainra would have preferred her children to be born into a true family, of two lions who loved one another...
...Rather than a fling born of Ainra's desire to help her sister.
Even still, Ainra loved her children more than anything else in the world and as time had passed, her shame of the event was swallowed up by the love of the gift it had given her. Love born from such a union could hardly be considered a shameful one or a mistake, not when it had given Ainra so much joy.
Even still, father wasn't mentioned very much at all and only when it was brought up by someone else - not Ainra herself.
"I know you are, Dia. Everyone can see that. You have natural talent. A born fighter. That's why we're so useful and loved. You with your strength and me with my seer powers." She purred. "We have good blood, I think, to make us so strong and wonderful."
She smiled, rolling her eyes. "Oh Dia, don't tell me your'e turning into a Mummy's boy. To think it!" She chuckled, but it was good-natured. "Just don't let onto Mother, else she'll cling to you and never let go."
She gave her brother an odd look. "Eat it? Well...I wasn't going to eat it, but maybe I should." She eyed the lizard who seemed less than scared of them. "Maybe that's why I couldn't see its future. It has no future past today." She moved towards it, allowing her shadow to cast over its scaled body. The lizard lifted its head and flicked its tongue lazily into the air.
"It's not even running! Where's the fun in that?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:16 am
He smiled at the gesture, turning his head part ways so he could still see her. Not one of the perks of being larger, being used as a head rest, he supposed, but that was a small price to pay for all the benefits of his size. Although, to be fair, he wasn't always sure what those were either.
His smile widened at her words. Well, she was right, of course - he did have natural talent. More so than anyone else they knew could ever hope for. The thought brought a joyous fizz into his being. Ah, to be young and talented and the best.
He considered what Aryiola had said. "You're right, I guess," He said with a nod. They were useful, and they did have good blood. That was certainly true. He paused another moment. And maybe he could let Ary just remain the better seer. He was more grounded in his thoughts and his values than she, and he knew that he and his seer powers did not particularly agree. At least, not nearly as much as he agreed with his physical powers. Brawn over brains was the way he ranked things, but it wouldn't have surprised him if it was the other way around for his sister.
He wrinkled nose and shook his head. "It's not that," he protested. "I mean, I don't enjoy the clingyness, I just... see her point, that's all."
He shrugged, following her over to the lizard. "Maybe it just knows that it's faster than you are," he suggested, regarding the the creature with a frown. He chuckled to himself. No, that wasn't it. Lizards weren't faster than lions. And if this one thought it was, well then he'd prove it wrong once an dfor all.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:54 am
"Well, of course I'm right. I'm female, silly kitten." She smiled prettily and shifted her chin from his back, moving forwards to look at him again.
"It's better than having a mother who doesn't care. I'll give you that, but even still..." She paused, then continued. "And nothing I say changes anything. I tell her that I'm practically an adult but she just stares at me with those glossy eyes. She sees a cub, not a young adult." Maybe she'd hide behind her brother and let him take the full force of Mother's clingy-ness. Yes, that almost sounded like a good plan.
Then she returned hergaze to the lizard. Maybe her brother was right. Maybe it thought it could run faster than her. Well, maybe she should show it a thing or two. "Let's put it to the test then, yes?" She threw her brother a cocky smile then puleld herself into prime pouncing position. Then, in a second, she was flying forwards.
Ah ha!
But alas, Dia was right. Her paws met nothing but the sun-warmed rock where the lizard had been lying. Blinking, she lifted her eyes to see the lizard a good six strides away, peering at her from the grass. If she didn't know better, he was looking annoyed.
"Hey, you. Dinner! Get back here!" She flicked her eyes back to her brother, embarrased. "Alright Mister Lizard Expert, you were right."
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:29 am
He shot her a bemused sideways glance. As if. Still, he kept quiet and decided to take the comment as it came. There would be plenty of time to get her back for it later. He didn't need to be a seer to know that.
"It's family," He reasoned patiently, knowing that anything he said wouldn't change his sister's mind. She was fed up with their mother's clingyness, and a few rational words weren't going to fix that. "Who knows, maybe someday when you have kids, you'll be just like her." He grinned and shrugged once again.
His smiled faded to an amused smile as Aryiola turned her attention back to the lizard. "Go ahead," He said with a nod, wondering just how she would fare. He was going to be right, of course. That much was obvious, but it didn't hurt to watch and see just how close she came to actually catching the thing. After all, it would only help to prove his point - well, points. First, about the lizard, and second, that he was always right. It didn't help that his sister seemed to be under the impression that she was the one with all the answers. Obviously, that had to change.
A deep chuckle rose from his throat as she landed, her paws clutching at the smooth rock. "Of course I'm right, Ary," he said, rolling his eyes in mock exasperation. "I'm, well... me." He sidled up to her and nudged her good-naturedly. "So much for being female, hm?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:18 pm
"Oh be quiet, Dia. You're ego is going to get so big that you won't be able to move from its heaviness!" She stuck her tongue out at him then cast an annoyed glare back at the lizard. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Lizard meat is tough. It doesn't sit well with my stomach."
She padded back towards him, touching her paw against the jewel lying on the sand. It sent a tingle through her at the contact - though it was all in her mind.
"What were you saying before? Oh, that's right. Family." She knocked against him. "Don't say such silly things, Dia. Do you really think I'm the type of lioness to want to be lumbered with cubs? No thank you. I have an important role in this journey of ours and I'm not going to be burdened. No way. I'd sooner throw my seer-rock into the abyss." She glanced back at the jewel lovingly.
"What about you, Dia? Yearning for the days of fatherhood? I don't think you're up for the challenge, either, dear brother of mine."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:41 pm
He shook his head patiently. "No, no, Ary," he corrected. "I grow with my ego, see. I was genetically programmed to be able to support it - it deserves that much at least, my dear friend."
A look of amusement stole over his face. "Oh, I don't know." He said. "Things change, minds change, personalities change... So you can never be sure. But no worries, sis, I'll be here to help you out with those pesky babies once they get here. And you mock you from afar, of course, but that's another story altogether."
He shot her a sideways glance at the thought of fatherhood. No, she was right, he wasn't ready for the challenge of having cubs. He chuckled inwardly at the thought. At this point, he would more likely take the cubs and have a grand old time romping about in the sunlight than actually teaching them anything, or indeed helping to raise them well in any way. But perhaps in the future, he had always considered the option of having children. When he was older, perhaps, and more mature than he was know. He didn't have a problem admitting that his mind didn't still lean toward the days of cubhood and fun.
"But you see, Ary, it's different for me. Even if I did have cubs, there's no saying that I have to help raise them. I'm not the one who gets stuck with them in pregnancy." Not that he would ever do anything like that. It was difficult growing up without a father, even if they had a close-knit family to make up for it. It just wasn't quite the same, and there was no way he could ever do that to any cubs of his. That he knew about, that was.
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:04 am
"Well isn't that a relief! I wouldn't want to have to haul you everywhere because your poor little legs had given in under the weight." She clucked her tongue and shook her head a little, though the smile did not leave her face.
"You won't get a chance to mock me, dearest, for there never will be any little monsters born of me. I don't need to be able to see my own future to do that." She chided gently and rolled her eyes. "Isn' it grand to be born a male, then, my Dia? Having that option to up and leave and not be burdened by such troublesome little creatures." She flicked her tail. "Can you imagine what mother would say if she heard us talking about this? She'd have a fit!"
"What would I say if I heard you talking about what, darling?" Aryiola had appeared having realised that two of her beautiful, treasured children were gone. She couldn't have them running off and getting into trouble or danger! Did they really think she wouldn't come to look for them? Mummy would always come to help them!
She sidled up to the pair and paused, glancing between them with her brilliant green orbs.
"Well?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:46 pm
"That's what you think," He told her, making a mental note to attempt to peer into his sister's future and search for any lions that looked suspiciously like her. "Of course it is," He added. "But it was just a consideration. I wouldn't actually do it."
He blinked as Ainra's familiar voice drifted toward them. Of course, mother had come to find them. And of course, she had managed to show up at the wrong time. Granted, he was glad she hadn't appeared moments earlier, but it still left them stuck with having to explain. Sometimes he wished that if she insisted on doing the former, then at least she wouldn't do the latter. Ary was right, it was difficult enough that she was constantly around.
"Oh, nothing, mother," He ... "We were just wondering what would happen if, uh, Ary's nonexistent babies, uhm. Fell into the, uh. The," he glanced around for inspiration. "River."
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:41 am
A little flicker of panic wriggled its way into her chest, momentarily freezing her head. She turned her head slowly, watching as her mother padded into view, wondering just how much the lioness had heard.
A few words from Ainra had her easing back into comfort again. Yes, clearly she hadn't heard enough to put two and two together. Or, that was until Dia opened his big mouth.
"Dia!" She blurted, her face heating with embarrasment. She flapped a paw at him, intending to clout him across the shoulder. What an idiot! He couldn't go saying things like that! "Ignore him, Mother, he's losing it."
"Fell into the...?" She paused, watching Ary flustering about, waving her paws at her sandy-pelted brother. "Aryiola, don't hit your brother! You better apologise to him right now, Missy. You don't treat family like that." She moved across to Dia, intending to groom the straggle of mane from his face.
"What game is this, then? Imaginary games with imaginary cubs? If any cubs fell into the river - real or not - we'd help them out. Of course we would. We take care of one another. There is nothing greater than family. Remember that, kittens. When the world looks miserable and dark, there will always be sunshine here."
She glanced into Ary's scowling face. "And dearest, take that wretched scowl off of your face. If the wind changes, it'll stay like that, don't you know?"
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