In a rare moment away from Yutu, now that he'd found the hare again, Xavier lounged in the shade of an acacia tree. It wasn't really MUCH shade, but it was shade of some sort for the god. They'd managed to wander into an area of the plains where there wasn't a river to be found right away. The grasses had to have been grown from seasonal rains, which he heard the rumbling clouds in the distance for. He flicked his long ears, closing his eyes against the dimming sunlight. Clouds were gathering... He could feel it.
The lioness wandered the savannah, simply enjoying life. She soon spotted something curious on the horizon - A green-ish blob against a tree. It stood out against a skinny acacia, after all! When she got closer, she found a strange creature indeed! It looked like a lion, but the tail was thicker, hair ran from between the ears and down the spine to the base of the tail, while the ears themselves were long and pointed. She simply stood there, staring at the curious creature.
Long ears twitched, before violet eyes slid open. Before him stood a lion... No, wait, lioness. The god shifted, claws sinking into the dirt a little. "Can I help you?" He wasn't too pleased to be interrupted in a nap, especially while he was without his hare companion, Yutu. Where HAD that little hare gotten off to? He'd have to give him a sound beating later for wandering off. Who was this, anyway?
The dust-brown lioness blinked, before her dark ears lifted. "Oh! I've just never seen anybody quite like you!" She went up to him, circling rather close. It seemed she had no sense of personal spce, and had no problem violating it. "What are you? Besides a boy." She stifled a giggle when his tail moved. "And what're you doin' out here?"
Xavier glared at the lioness, already irritated with her presence. "I'm a lion like you." He paused. "Okay, not like you... I'm a God. And I'm resting under this tree, because it's the best shade I can find out here before the rain comes to cool everything down." He got up, standing just slightly taller than her. "And what are YOU doing out here?"
Blue eyes lit up - If possible, as they were already bright with wonder - as he mentioned being a God. "A God... Oh wow! You must be Mkodi!" She looked him over. "I didn't know Mkodi came with bunny ears! It makes you seem so... Non-threatening..." She paused, tilting her head. "Oh, I'm just wanderin' out here. I got run outta my old pride... Dunno WHY, though." As she flicked her tail, the light caught the blue on it.
"I'm not Mkodi, I'm the God of the Cursed! Don't you have anything better to do than bother me?" He started to walk away, ears folding back. It was best to deter the pests, lest they latch on and decide to become a constant. As he climbed his way down into a dry riverbed, he paused as a rock fell past him. Violet eyes turned, and he lay them upon the lioness. "Why are you following me?" He was not happy, and he was not going to tollerate this!
The lioness jumped down to the riverbed, looking up at the god with delight in her eyes. "Nothing's better than following a god! Do you have your own pride of followers? If you don't, I can be your first!' Not that she'd really give him much choice. He hadn't attacked yet, which was a good sign. To her mind, attacking meant driving away. If he attacked, she'd leave and find somewhere else to go.
When he reached the bottom, Xavier looked at the lioness like she was crazy. "I don't have a pride, I don't have followers. I don't NEED followers!" With a huff, he started down the dried river. "Why don't you go bug another god? One that WANTS followers." Smacking a rock, he went trotting down the bed, trying to put distance between them. When the first patterings of rain started to fall, he climbed out of the river bed. And lo, if she wasn't far behind him...
The dust-brown lioness could only tilt her head in curiosity, before following the god. He was just in denial about his not wanting followers! When the rain started to patter down, she slowed to look up at the sky. "Awww, the clouds are crying!" The sound of rocks moving changed her attention, and she was soon struggling back up out of the river bed. When she stood on level ground, she smiled brightly at the god. "See? Nice and devouted!"
He stared at her, ears still back. Finally, he gave a sigh. "Not getting rid of you, am I? What's your name, anyway? If I'm having a follower, I needa know what to call you besides Follower." It didn't seem... Dignified. She had to have a name, after all, everybody did. Unless she had amnesia... Oh, Mkodi, how he hoped she didn't have amnesia!
Her ears twitched, smile faltered... And seemed to crumple in. "I... Don't have a name..." She'd never been named. "An abomination is undeserving of a name... Mkodi frowns upon those that don't meet the ideals of coloring..." She sat down, then pulled her tail close, running her claws through the bright blue tail hair. "Non-natural colors... Colors that aren't browns, golds, reds, oranges, black, grays, or white... Are colors of taint."
Xavier cringed, not liking the sound of that. "That's a pretty crappy thing for someone to tell you. I'll make sure to avoid that family or pride.." He thought about it, looking her over. He was terrible with names.. "The only thing I know about you besides what you look like is that you're pretty determined to be my follower... So... I guess Ni'andama le'maluuni is an okay name..." At her confused look, he said, "It means 'I follow the cursed.' Seems fitting for who you're following... And I suppose with your raising, following ME is fitting, since that tail'd be called a curse by some."
The lioness let her tail go, blinking at the god. A name... He'd given her a name! Her face perked up right away, as she got up and hurried over, hugging the god. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" She had a name, she actually had a name! "I'll be the most devoted and loyal follower EVER in the WORLD!"
His face contorted, before he pushed the lioness off. "If you're going to follow me, then stop TOUCHING me!" He gave her a sour look. "Just... Be careful. Bad things tend to happen to those around me... At least for mortals." Bad things, thankfully, didn't happen to other gods. He looked at the lioness a moment, before turning and walking off. "Follow on paw if you want to... Just... Don't touch."
"Oh, yes sir, of course, sir!" Ni'andama got up, hurrying after the god. She had a name, and she was happy for it. Maybe she'd go catch him some food while they were out... If he got hungry. Did gods get hungry? She admittedly knew nothing about gods. If Mkodi was the only god, though... How was he claiming to be different? She decided she'd figure it out later, when they weren't focused on traveling to... Where ever.
