Takatifu'moja:
Tifu lay stretched out in the shade of a decent size tree, resting for a bit after the traveling they had been doing. She had just finished off a hare she had caught. Hunting was such a difficult affair. Generally she didn't have many visions with preybeasts, but it was always a worry. Seeing things from creatures like herself could be bad enough. She didn't want to imagine the horrors through her prey's eyes.
She let her eyes fall to slits, keeping an eye out. She didn't think they would, but, well, she really didn't want to risk the older males leaving without her. Just a... subconscious worry from her cubhood.
Kisulisuli:
Suli had kept relitively silent through the beginning leg of the trip. Maji had done most of the talking, which was all well and good- he had more of an interesting story than Suli did anyway. Maji had traveled quite a while after falling under the claws of a firekin. A large golden male had found him and helped him on his way to recovery. He had traveled to a pride in the far north and spent much of the past year there in recovery and teaching the art of the written language. He went on to describe the pride and the lands there.
It seemed Maji had accepted his new lot in life as a simple vagabond. While he'd been saddened to hear of the fall of their pride, but it hadn't come as a suprise. Masika had no experience. She laid claim to her rite soley because of her bloodline.
He pulled away from a small tree. He'd clawed the bark, stretching his back and working his claws to comfortable points once more. Maji had requested a day of rest every six days of their journey. While Suli was eager to continue on, he couldn't complain.
Takatifu'moja:
"Your friend Maji is a... surprise," Tifu commented, loud enough for Suli to hear though she didn't turn her head. The males were so different and yet she could tell they were close. She had enjoyed listening to Maji tell of his journeys, though mostly the pleasant parts of them. The pride he spoke of intrigued her, but not enough to seek it out on her own. For now, she was happy traveling with Maji and Suli. At least in her mind she saw them as being her friends, or at least growing in that direction. She'd never really had friends. She had run into friendly creatures, but never more than once and the meetings were merely ones in passing.
"It's interesting how different you two are from one another."
Kisulisuli:
"A suprise?" He lifted an eyebrow as he trudged back over. While Maji had insisted that Kisulisuli cleaned up, he still looked like a wild rogue fresh out of a whirlwind- true to his name.
"Heh, he's not done a suprising thing in his life before this. He's a boring old guy that got his a** kicked off a throne."
He laid down with a heavy thud on the ground. After a short yawn, he continued, "Eh.... we led different lives. I grew up during constant invasions and strife, he grew up playing with his food."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu smiled and shook her head a bit, though it lay on her crossed paws.
"I meant he was a surprise in that he was so different. One might think you wouldn't et along," she explained, though her smiled faded a bit as he explained why they were different. She sighed as she watched the savannah stretched out before her.
"That you survived I suppose is a testament to you. I can imagine others might break under those circumstances." She opened her eyes a bit more and turned her head to glance at Suli.
"Do you think there are prides out there that never have to deal with things like that? No invasions or rebellions or... things like that?"
Kisulisuli:
He shrugged slowly. "My dad wasn't really there for us. When Masika showed up, he took her side. I dunno if he thought he'd get elevated in status as a result or... maybe he found her attractive and wanted to impress her." He never knew. Nor did he want to know. His mother had been a wonderful, strong lioness. Why Enki had turned the way he had was anyone's guess. "You could say that he's a bit of a father figure to me."
He snorted. "They ditched, they didn't break. They're deserters."
He shrugged again. The pride that Maji mentioned seemed nice enough but he knew the old lion well enough to know he might have distorted things to keep him from worrying about him. "Maybe. I dunno."
Takatifu'moja:
"I'm sorry for that," Tifu found that was all she could really say in response. She couldn't imagine having a father like Suli's. Hers hadn't been the most ideal, in fact he hated it when she called him father, or even anything close. When she got older, she sometimes wondered if it was because he had lost his mate and cubs and that she was no replacement.
"It would be nice. To live in a place where you were safe and everyone worked in harmony to keep the pride going. No war or corruption. Just... living," she mused aloud. Suli would probably stamp it down, it was a rather unrealistic dream, but, well, some dreams were.
Kisulisuli:
He snorted. "Pride life isn't ever 'just living'. There's always something. You have to watch the boarders, cut off intruders, make sure the herds are consistant enough to sustain the pride, the water's flowing, the land is doing well, on and on. That's just the basic stuff."
He rolled onto his back and stretched his paws out towards the sky. "Maji can tell you about the internal stuff. It's never just living."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu snorted.
"That's not what I meant. I meant... doing the work that needs to be done to keep pride going, but no..." She sat up then and actually turned to look at Suli.
"Death and war, not when it's unnecessary." She stopped there, shaking her head. She didn't know how to explain herself. She wanted a place where there was peace and happiness, where cubs were taught to never hold greed or over-ambition in their hearts, where nobody had to die for no reason.
She knew she was dreaming, it was unrealistic. The ideal was just that, ideal. Realistically, it wasn't really an obtainable goal. If you ever got there, no doubt you would find something higher to aspire to. Her gaze traveled up to the sky, wondering what it would be like.
"I know it's unrealistic to hope so, but... It would be nice."
Kisulisuli:
"I guess. Might be boring though." He leaned up to watch the clouds, his eyes distant. A place where death and war didn't happen. The valley had been just that- only with a drought. The rogues hadn't been malicious, but they would have drained the lifeblood of the pride like a plague of leeches.
He closed his eyes and sighed. "Hope what you want. Don't expect anything to come of it though."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu smiled a bit up at the sky when he warned her about expectations.
"I suppose the only way one can really accomplish something is by doing it oneself," she replied her light violet eyes alight with the hope that rarely left them, combined with a bit of determination. Maybe someday she would.
Wanting to get off the subject, though, she looked around a bit and tilted her head to one side.
"Does Maji always go off to be on his own for a time?" It was a nosey question, but she wanted to learn more about Suli's friend. She noticed it was Maji that went off to be alone, not Suli and couldn't help but wonder why. Of the two, it would seem the opposite, as she still didn't think Suli really cared very much for her company. He tolerated it, she supposed, but... Well, it didn't matter much anyways. Her inner worry of being left behind would have made her go with one male or the other anyways.
Kisulisuli:
He blew raspberries and rolled his head to one side. Maji wasn't exactly out of sight, he kept close but he was sitting still as a statue, his head lifted enough to allow him to watch the clouds pass over the sky.
"He does that. Calls it meditation. To me it's pretty much sitting in one place for a long, boring a** time."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu smiled again in amusement.
"I didn't know that's what he was doing. My mother tried to teach me that, but I wasn't very good at it. It was rather calming and deep, though, from what I remember. But what cub wants to learn how to sit still when there was so much else they could be learning to do, huh?" And she had learned a lot in the time she had spent with her mother and the priestesses. Not hunting or anything really practical outside of the pride, but she had had her father for that.
She just wished she had been allowed just a little more time.
Kisulisuli:
He shrugged and turned his head. "He says it lets him think. Lets him listen for the voice of the gods for guidence. A load of crap if you ask me. He can sit there until his old bones dry up for the buzzards. But I'm glad enough for the chance to rest."
Takatifu'moja:
"Do the gods speak to him, too?" Tifu asked curiously.
"Well, that's not really what I meant, the gods only talk to me when I meet them, but do they talk to him when he meditates?" Was she overly curious? Maybe a little, but that's just her way. She liked to know things, to better understand what was going on. She had faith in her goddess, but she liked to be able to know the world and those she surrounded herself with on her own, too.
Kisulisuli:
"Hell if I know." He sighed and shook his head. "I mean... I don't think he can see the future or any of that nonsense, I think he's trying to be philosophical. All his life he's been weird. He figured out how to make fire, he burnt plants and arranged shiny rocks to adjust light in caves. Made little ponds to catch fish... I think he's part monkey if you ask me. Then again-" He flexed his claws, "He never did like getting his paws dirty with real work."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu raised a paw and looked down at it, briefly wondering if she could see the future. She could see the past and present, but the future? She wasn't sure she wanted to consider that.
"That all sounds really useful, though," she replied, letting her paw fall and returning her attention to Suli.
"And what would you call real work?" There wasn't any challenge or scorn in her tone, simply curiosity. Though they didn't much see eye to eye, she liked talking to Suli, some of the time.
Kisulisuli:
He flexed his claws, sheithing and unsheething them slowly. "We're lions for crying out loud... we hunt, we kill our food, we protect our boarders with our claws, not by trying to make little...focus groups to talk about how tension between us and our enemies makes us -feel-. We roar, we throw our claws at eachother, the one with the less blood on him wins."
Takatifu'moja:
"Is that really the only way to resolve a conflict?" Tifu asked, watching him as his claws flexed. For a moment, she was just a little scared of Suli. She wasn't that much smaller than him, but his frame was definitely larger, more powerful and she was sure he knew what he would be doing in a fight. She was almost certain she would never be on the other end of those claws, but still, it was a scary thought, if just a little.
Kisulisuli:
"Do you know where he got those scars on him?" He rolled over and stared at her dully.
"Our pride had a rivalry with another clan- the firekin. Massive red lions. Massive meaning twice our size at least. We were a peaceful pride. For that- we lost our royalty, most of our members, our princess -though I wish they'd have kept her-, and our way of life. When they came back- they nearly killed him. You don't get peace by picking flowers and talking. You have to have bigger claws and bigger teeth to make sure no one takes your peace away."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu's ears drooped and she looked away. She had figured there were some that needed force to resolve, but she hadn't been aware of what they had been through. She felt sorry for them and their entire pride and hearing about all of that made her feel horrible for questioning it. There had to be some conflicts that could be resolved without bloodshed, right? She tried to think of some in her past and with her own imagination... but she was coming up empty.
"I'm sorry." She didn't know what more to say.
Kisulisuli:
"Not your fault." He shrugged. "Everyone's got problems, how many times have I told you that? One guy's story's no better or worse than another's. That's just how things are. I'm sure you'll find your happy little sunshine meadow."
Takatifu'moja:
"I guess I need you to keep reminding me," Tifu replied with a little half-hearted smile. It was... nice of him to say that last comment, though if it was sarcastic that would be a different case, but she didn't want to take it that way.
"What would make you happy, Suli?" It was an innocent question, and yet she regretted asking it almost immediately after she finished. It was too personal, TOO nosey.
Kisulisuli:
He rolled his eyes. She did need someone to keep her head out of the clouds so to speak. She -did- need someone to remind her- though it might mean raining on her rainbows and sunshine on occassion.
The second question startled him. He flinched and slowly looked back up to the sky. "....that's easy. A family."
Takatifu'moja:
Tifu glanced at Suli, her smile sad. It WAS too personal, but that he answered made a part of her feel that he trusted her, if just a little bit.
"I'm sure you'll have a real family, someday," she replied, wondering herself what it would have been like. If her mother hadn't been taken, she never would have met her father, so it always would have been one-sided.
"But... Until you have one for real, you have Maji. And I bet I'm more bothersome than any little sister. If that helps at all," she added, tilting her head a bit to one side.
Kisulisuli:
He shrugged. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. It was hard to say. He wasn't the sort to hold his breath for anything. Especially for something so far-fetched. Some lions went their whole lives without a pride, a family, or an easy day. He didn't want to hink himself so special that he could beat the odds. it just didn't happen all the time.
He winced again. Sister... right.
"Actually...you're just like one of them."
Takatifu'moja:
She watched him shrug and wince. How was it that she couldn't keep her mouth from saying the wrong things? Should she ask about his sister or let it go?
"I... hope not in too badly of a way..." Tifu said carefully, though she suspected anything she could have said would have just made it worse. If talking about his sister would make things worse in the first place. She suppressed a sigh.
Kisulisuli:
"It's fine." He scratched at his chest. "Look...I'm not so good at this lovey-touchy stuff. Honestly, it's kind of....yeah it's not my thing."
He rolled over and stretched his back out then leaned forward into his shouldres. "Look I'm gonna find us something else to eat. We're going to ened our energy to go on tomorrow. There's a river not too far down, crossing won't be fun."
Takatifu'moja:
"Do you want help? Two hunters are generally better than one," Tifu asked, jumping on the change in subject once more. She'd never crossed a difficult river before, usually she and her father would travel along the river until they came to an easy spot to cross. This would just one more little bit of adventure to add onto the journey.
Kisulisuli:
"....I...guess?" He glanced over towards Maji. The older lion had flopped over for a nap. Typical.
"...yeah why not." He shrugged and jerked his chin over his shoulder. "Let's get stomping then... this could take all day."
