Mud was awful, Aminah decided as she attempted to clean some of the caked substance off of her tail. She'd had Rama in her cave the other night after the rain and had gotten him cleaned up, at the expense of her den floor and her own coat.
This was the second time in recent memory she'd had to spend more than an hour just grooming herself because of all of the mud from rains that had come and gone inconveniently. She didn't remember it raining nearly this much or being as muddy during and after storms back before she'd left her family. When Aminah was young, she'd never have to spend this kind of time and energy on her coat.
That was the price of a beautiful white and blue coat, the lioness decided after a bit, shaking her head. But honestly, this was such dull work, and she rather hoped for some company. Anything to get her mind off of it.
While Aminah hated getting muddy, the young goddess of messengers despised it. So she did everything possible to avoid it, from flying instead of walking to roosting in trees instead of sleeping on the ground to even taking the form of a lizard, so that her body was much easier to clean of the muck before taking wing again.
While not as into herself as the handsome god of egotism had been, she certainly liked to primp and preen. Hence why her devoted secretary bird Hermes was always around to straighten her hair after a long flight.
Speaking of long flights, the pair had been traveling the land, catching her up on the world that she had missed since her past life. She didn't carry much knowledge from the time before, only the prides that were, their rules for appearance, and the other gods. And this information she was already finding to be out-dated.
And Messengers hated out-dated gossip.
They landed on a large, mostly clean rock, not far from the older lioness' den. Well, Tari was on a rock. Hermes, however, had landed on the ground, doing a short hop-dance as he did so and and proceeded to get the offending substance all over his talons.
"Hermie, you've gone and gotten your beautiful claws all dirty!" Tari gasped in shock and annoyance. "You're totally cleaning those up on your own."
"It's no bother to me, babe. There's a watering hole not far from here, so when we pass it, I'll wash them off," her friend cooed back, soothing her disgruntled attitude.
Aminah, shaking her head, wandered outside of her den. She'd gotten most of the thicker stuff off, now was just a matter of heading for water to clean the rest.
However, upon exitting the little den, she was surprised to see a pair of new creatures conversing. One was a bird of sorts - not one she'd ever seen or eaten before, at least not in recent member - and the other...well, she looked like a goddess. At least, if what Li and Rama had looked like was any indication.
Heading over, she called a greeting up to the two. "Hello there."
Both Tari and Hermes looked up at the sound of another's voice, the bird of prey stepping closer to his goddess in a slightly protective manner. They were both still young, Tari being not much smaller than the god of Peace but much more so than Rama, but Hermes would give his life to aid in her protection. In his world, she came first.
Tari knew this, at least to some degree, and so she carefully snaked her tail around and rested the fluff against her friend's side.
The goddess watched the lioness curiously, intrigued over her neat mane. She hadn't run into too many mortals that trimmed their manes like the gods sometimes did. Her own was naturally long for a female and curly and wavy. She gave the adult a sweet smile and tilted her head a bit to one side, almost like a bird, her two sets of wings folded primly at her back and ankles.
"Like, hi there. My name's Tarishi and this is Hermes." Introductions were the most appropriate thing for first impressions
"Good to meet you. I'm Aminah." the older female said with a slight nod and took a seat by the base of the rock. "What kind of bird are you, Hermes? I've never seen any like you before." the lioness commented. For she had no reason to question the goddess - if she was one, which wasn't really Aminah's business, and was merely curious about her friend.
They were an interesting pair, that was for sure. The white female was pretty sure she'd never come across a curly haired lioness before. Above all else, however, they were company, and she'd quite wanted that. "Where might you two be bound?"
"I'm a preying bird, a Secretary." Hermes' sharp beak clacked lightly as he spoke, but the words were neutral enough. The way his beak hooked just made it do that.
"Which means he totally doesn't eat seeds or fruit or bugs like other birds," Tari added with a grin and flipped her mane a bit. She considered this Aminah for a slow moment. Being a gossip, she was thankfully blessed with a good eye for others. She had to be, so that she could find out news to spread about those she met, if she wanted to.
She seemed a nice enough lioness. Only, she didn't seem surprised by Tari's appearance.
"We're, like, totally exploring the lands. I've been away a long time, I think." Her head tilted in the opposite direction, ever so slightly. "I take it you're acquainted with gods?"
"Well, it's good to have a praying sort along with a goddess, wouldn't you say?" she said, voice calm but a smile tugged at her lips at the pun.
"I am." Aminah admitted, "I have come across a few. Is there some sort of godly doctrine that states you must always be traveling the lands? Each one I've met was always going somewhere. Well, except Rama, but then again, he might have and just not be telling me."
Tari laughed at that one, a bubbly, girlish laugh.
"Oh, I like, totally never thought of it that way! Hermie, you totally are a praying bird!" she managed between her giggles and despite the pun being at his expense, the lanky bird of prey smiled and chuckled a bit as well.
Once her laughter had rolled out and left her in broken giggles, Tari shrugged a bit at the question.
"Sometimes, I guess. But I'm Messengers, so it's, like, my duty to wander about teaching the ways and carrying word and all that, you know?" It was something of a rhetorical question, but it was one of several catch-phrases that was locked in her vocabulary.
Aminah smiled a little at the goddess's antics. She was definitely a young one, with vocabulary like that. "Sounds like a much less deadly job than what Li has." she agreed, nodding some. The female was pretty sure mentioning she'd met Li to another goddess would probably not do him any harm. Maybe it'd get him some friends. "Speaking of which - have you met many other gods yet?"
"Mmm, not really. I've met Egotism, but so far he's really it. I'm starting to wonder if they're all really spread out or if there aren't many anymore or if they're just avoiding me." Tari ended with a small pout on that one. It wasn't a pleasing thought to be avoided by her fellow gods. She might be young and somewhat troublesome, but that didn't mean she was completely unlikable. Rama seemed to enjoy her company, short as it was and Hermie rarely left her side. Right, they were probably just spread out.
"Li, that sounds familiar, but I don't remember anyone by that name exactly. Who is he?" she asked, latching on to the prospect of another god to talk to and "update" her memory.
"Oh no, some are just shy." Aminah assured the little goddess. "Rama certainly isn't but I know Li Wei is, at least a bit."
"Li is the god of peace, as I remember. He's very sweet - you should meet him. He could use friends and I'm sure the two of you would have plenty to talk about. Even if you just ended up discussing the trials and tribulations of having to travel a lot and having long hair."
