Nav'hian's large body lumbered across the savanna, his shoulders slumped and his fur unkept from days of travelling. Around his neck hung a antelope skin bag, carrying an assortment of strange objects. A...companion had made it for him, and he had taken to carrying it with him everywhere.
His unkept appearance was from a fight with a female who had resisted his advances, but another male had stepped in, saving her from his wrath. He was without a female still, and the idea was getting to him. What if he never found a female to take home? What if he was doomed to wander this earth by himself, never seeing his pride again? He snarled to himself, the expression dangerous. He would return home. One way or another, he would go home.
He raised his head, spying a herd of antelope in the distance, his scowl thunderous. He wasn't hungry, but he wanted to attack something, so he slipped into a crouch as he approached the herd. He was normally not a violent male, but things were reaching boiling point for him now and it would not end well for someone, or something.
Boma'burudi was almost always at the boiling point anymore, her last litter had reached adulthood and she was feeling yet again unfulfilled, all of the flings she experienced had left her feeling empty and with cubs to leave on someone else. The only thing saving her from herself was the fact that she'd run into a very old friend, Mtima'safi, in the god haven who seemed to be in a complete state of bliss, and seeing the old friend helped to ease the loneliness, if only for a little while.
The siamese colored lioness rustled her feathers as she walked along the savanna, they clanged together, echoing like the sounds of swords striking one another. The sound carried through the air, not knowing that she may disturb a hunting expedition she clanged them together loudly and watched as a part of the herd ran from the noise.
Nav'hian snarled when the herd he had crept up suddenly scattered, ruining his attempt to hunt them. Of course, lack of hungry made it easier to bear them running away, still, he bolted from his hiding spot, racing after them even though he would not catch them. His heart pounded heavily in his chest as his body became more sleek, the excess fur that covered his form revealing he was actually a a slightly smaller lion then first glance. Really, he was mostly fluff, and that's what made up the majority of his bulk.
He swiped at the heels of a antelope as he ran, but it did not trip, so he was left without prey when he finally drew to a stop. He huffed, his fur returning to it's former fluffy glory, making him look large and threatening to most.
“Damn it,” he swore to himself.
The earth toned lioness' laughter could be heard loud and clear as she saw the male attempt to catch an antelope and fail. Mortals generally amused her her, they had to hunt to eat, she did not have to consume flesh to survive, she lived purely on belief. What little belief there was in her domain was another matter.
"You'll have to run faster than that!" She jeered in a mockingly playful ton as she covered the distance between herself and the lion. She wasn't easily intimidated, she after all was immortal and it was just as easy to walk away as it was to take to the air.
"Perhaps if you asked them politely!"
Nav'hian tensed when he heard laughter, in somewhere other than his mind. The voice in his head had been mocking him too, when the other creature had begun to laugh at him, this meant he was even more on edge. He glanced up, a snarl on his features. “I didn't ask your opinion!” He growled, before really taking in her appearance. His eyes widened in amazement when he spotted wings.
Wings? WINGS? She looked like a lioness, yes, but those feathery appendages made it obvious she could not simply be a lioness.
“What are you?” He demanded, his body tensed in case she was agressive. He knew how to fight, and figured he could take her on, though he didn't know what, exactly, she was.
"I don't think I care for your tone," She growled back, mortals were not only amusing they were ignorant and that added to her opinion of them greatly. The only thing she'd found mortals good for was soothing her loneliness for a time before dying of old age. She pulled her powers together and shifted some of the minerals near his feet.
"I am Boma'burudi, Goddess of Minerals," she answered him while tucking her gold and silver wings behind her, "Who...or what are you?"
Nav'hian would have snapped back at her, when she growled at him, but he was not keen to annoy her. She was a foreign creature to him, and he didn't dare anger her until he knew exactly what she was. It was just stupidly dangerous otherwise.
He froze, at her words. Goddess? That wasn't possible, was it? He had heard rumours of gods, of course he had, but never met them. He thought they were simply myths. He replied, though he didn't really hear himself, still stunned at the news. Goddess, really?
“I am Nav'hian of the Ukuucha'Wafalme pride,” he said, the full introduction given. He eyed her, almost suspiciously.
"I've never heard of the Ukuu-whatevers," Boma answered her eyes narrowed at Nav'hian, "Tell me about them?" Her rough tone gave way to a tone of mild interest.
"Do they all look like you?" She gave him once over, he wasn't her type she liked them scrawny and on the timid-vulnerable side. She sat down and her wings scrapped against one another with a long scratching noise. "What are you doing so far away from home, it's dangerous for mortals to be wandering about on their own."
“We're a pride of lions, though we take in other species as well, far from here. The pride promotes brotherhood and the protection of our females and cubs,” it was a simplified description, but he didn't want to get into all the details of the harems, and the names for their ranks and all that. He was far too curious about her to let himself be sidetracked.
“No,” he denied her question, “we're all different, though yes, there are large males.” He assumed that was what she meant, but she may have been referring to pelt colour, so it didn't matter. He continued to eye her, not stepping towards her, but not retreating either. “It is not dangerous if you are not stupid,” he scoffed. “I am out collecting new members for my pride, so I am wandering. What are you doing here? Shouldn't a Goddess, such as yourself, have a home somewhere?” He wondered where all the gods and godesses lived. Was it somewhere only immortals could go to?
"Your females?" She spoke out loud, she did not like the sound of that. Boma'burudi was a very empowered female, she owned her sexual identity and wasn't about to allow a man to claim her as -his-.
"You're confusing yourself, all mortals are ignorant. It's alright I forgive you in your failed logic," she replied snarkily, she was having fun with this one. "Gods don't have a specific place that they congregate...so much power in one place leads to a lot of ego trips. We keep to ourselves, some go about their buisness with mortals, others stay away. I have no where to be, I am a free agent, here upon this earth."
She paused for a moment, "There is a place, the God's haven, where it always snows and the gates into heaven sit, but not many stay there. And no mortal goes and ever returns."
Nav'hian was not ashamed of his pride, or their mentality and lifted his chin proudly. “Yes, my females. Males within the pride may lay claim to as many as three females, more if they hold high ranking positions.” He seemed to realise her dislike of this idea and added, “they are well taken care of, of course, and are not harmed.” Unless they misbehaved, he thought, knowing better than to mention that in front of this dangerous female.
He scoffed. Ignorant? No, not all mortals were so, but many were. “You simply haven't met the right mortals, if you think we are all ignorant.” He listened to her speak of the gods though, curious about them. Perhaps he could return this information to the pride, and they would reward him for it. He hoped so, he needed to do something for them to forgive his absence, after all.
“So you are rogues,” he said simply. “Do they take prides, as well?” He hadn't heard of a pride with a god as a member. They would be a fortutious pride, if they had gods within their lands. He was amazed to hear of the gods haven though. “Ah, I look forward to seeing it one day, many years from now,” he said, pointedly. He didn't intend to die soon, no matter how interesting the god's haven would be to see.
She laughed, "If you own them, where are they now? That seems a bit strange that you would leave them alone, wont someone take them?" He talked of females as if they were property so she would do the same. If a female wasn't intelligent enough to know she wasn't property it wasn't her problem, as long as they were not her children. "Or perhaps you're not important enough to have females?"
"I have met many mortals over many lifetimes and you all act the same, allow me to reassure you of this," Boma'burudi blinked her gold and silver eyes at him boredly.
"Some gods join prides, others do not. We need the belief of mortals to survive, some of us our worshiped to the point of extravagance. We butt heads too much to all stay together." Boma recalled her last death, another god had sealed her beneath the earth.
He scowled suddenly, trying to ignore the flash of hurt which flowed through him and was unconsciously shown in his eyes before rage covered it up. Not important enough? That was similar to something he had said to him long ago and that was still too fresh a wound to be poked fun at. “I can have any female I want without the pride.” Lie. Sure, he knew the Sultan from the god ol' days as a cub, but that meant nothing now. “I am out collecting females for the pride now,” he tilted his jaw. He had yet to collect one though. He was still without a female to call his own, and he hated it.
He sneered, “So if all mortals act the same, do gods as well? Are you just like every other wing-wearing immortal who thinks their better than the mortals?” Well, he was not in a good mood now. Soemthing about this female pushed his buttons in all the wrong ways.
He smirked lightly, at her comment. “So you need those ignorant mortals to worship you, so you can exsist? Does that mean if I don't believe in you, you'll go away?” A lovely thought, but he was still curious over her, so it was phrased more as a question then a snarling statement it could have been,
"Collecting," She scoffed, "So you're not important enough to have one of your own..no one shared theirs?"
"We are all different individuals..mortals on the other hand do not live long enough to develop personality, you all die too soon." She did not laugh this time, she loved her children and knew that one day they would die and she would be left on this earth without them, the thought of that never brought a smile to her face. She stood in a defensive posture at his last question. "Can you stop believing in the sun? The moon? The Earth beneath your feet?"
This was a point she enjoyed making, gods were not going to just disappear, the belief in them was too deeply ingrained into society. "We will not poof disappear, I could be a pain in your hide until the day you die, and you'd just be another speck of dust."
He scowled. “We do not 'share', you earn females, you can not expect to be simply given them for doing nothing. It is an honor to have females, and I will earn it.” He was sure of that, no matter how often the voice in his head told him otherwise.
He laughed. “You're right. We mortals die. We are born, we live our lives, we grow old and we die. It's just the way things are. What about you? We serve our purpose on this earth. And you? How many days have you sat around, doing nothing, just to pass the time?” He looked at her, a slight snarl on his face. “We have little time, we make each second worth it. You have had so many seconds, I bet you wouldn't even know what's worth it anymore.”
He shook his head, uncaring that his wish of her disappearing from lack of belief would not come to pass. “I'm wasting my time here, my precious time. So, go away,” he sneered. “I don't believe in you anymore.” He turned his back on her, and began to move away. She had a choice, let him leave or follow him. He didn't care what she did, he was just sick of this same conversation, of her belittling him and his kind.
She laughed at him listening, she didn't care much of what he had to say, she'd left the mortal world and only came to them for amusement anymore. She'd left three litters of cubs to their own devices because she couldn't handle the thought of them, she didn't have to take crap from those that were not her kin.
"I'm sorry for wasting your precious, precious time, perhaps that's a lesson in this. Go and earn your mortal females." She inhaled and on exhalation she poofed out of existence, whether it would boost his ego or not she didn't care, she was teleporting away from this scenario, it wasn't worth a moment of her time.
