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 Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:13 pm
It was the same. Always the same. The world was filled with circles and though you might fight hard to break free, everything had to come to an end. The seasons would pass, but they would come again. The rains would go and return. Creatures were born and creatures died.
Some things could not be changed.
Amari lowered his head to drink, to see - once again - the grizzled face of the lion he had become. The hair around his muzzle was all but grey, strands of that silver mottled through his mane. His face looked slightly sunken and his eyes...his eyes looked tired.
"Come on, snap out of it." He ordered himself. "This is not who you were. Don't let this be what you become. A miserable old fool with nothing to look forward to..." He slaked his thirst and then sat back, joints creaking. The day was young yet and he'd be damned if he just snoozed it all away.
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:22 pm
Amali had been away from home for so long, he was starting to think he'd never be able to find it when he had to again.. of course, that was just him being dramatic. He knew where home was and he knew what he had to do to get there, but it wasn't exactly working out as he expected. He'd given wandering the roguelands a fair chance and decided, partly because he was so hungry, to visit his family in the Pridelands. He had a vague idea of where to go, thanks to visits when he was small, but he wasn't entirely sure.. but as he was wandering inward, he couldn't mistake the familiar form of his grandfather when he saw it nearby.
"Hey!" he called, kicking off into a run to get to the water's edge and Amari that much faster, "Heeey!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:31 pm
Who was that? Amari's head perked up and the ear that twisted backwards was followed by his head. Apparently someone was coming to say hello? Squinting a little to help focus the rapidly approaching figure, he recognised who it was a moment later.
His grandson!
"Amali?" He'd seen Ruka a couple of days prior and had hoped that the others might stop by to say hello. Ruka hadn't been certain whether they would or not, but he was glad to see that her concern had been unwarranted. With a smile, he shifted his body a little so that he would be facing the youngster as he arrived.
"I was wondering when you would be turning up." He continued warmly. "It's good to see you again, though it's rather scary to see how fast you're all growing up."
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:38 pm
Having trouble coming to a stop, and a little overexcited, Amali very nearly bowled right into his grandfather- luckily he managed to stumble to a stop just in time.
"Grandpa!"
It was so nice to see someone familiar. He hadn't exactly made many friends out in the roguelands, it was hard to when everybody wandered and nobody really seemed all that concerned about making friends. But whatever, Amali had friends and family at home. He just needed a name.
"It's good to see you, too!" he said, beaming at Amari, "It gets lonely out in the roguelands."
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:53 pm
Amari could not help but grin at the young male's enthusiasm and chuckled loudly as a collision was just barely avoided. "Yes, I dare say it does, particularly if you're not used to it. Myself? I remember quite enjoying the freedom, but I was born to it and...it was a difficult way to live." In fact, by the time he was an adolescent, he had settled here in these lands, though he had wandered from time to time.
"Your sister stopped by to say hello a couple of days back. She wasn't sure whether you'd be heading this way or not."
He smiled. "So, how does your name quest go?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:02 pm
"Bleeeeh," Amali stuck his tongue out when Amari explained how he had rather enjoyed the freedom of being a rogue. Amali wasn't really liking it at all, and it wasn't terribly hard to see why just looking at him. He was thin and a bit scruffy- he just wasn't very good at hunting by himself and he couldn't seem to grasp grooming in the absence of water and mud. Everything was so dry outside the swamp.
"My sister? Which one?" he asked, suddenly snapping out of his childish mindset, "I haven't really figured anything out yet, it's really hard finding a name, I don't know how you're supposed to figure it out."
If his sister had been here but left so quick.. did that mean she'd already found her name and headed for home? His stomach twisted jealously. He wanted to go home-- and he had wanted to be first.
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:12 pm
Amari laughed. He was glad, really, to see that his grandchildren were so intent on trying to find their names to enable them to go home to the place they were born. It meant that their pride was a good one. That they cared about where they were born.
"Ruka." He replied. "When I last spoke to her she hadn't found her adult name yet, but I think she was fast on the track." He continued, smiling a little. Perhaps their desperation to find their adult names was also being done in a competitive spirit? He supposed that that was only natural. "She told me that she had found some friends out in the rogue lands and that they had helped her along her way to unlocking her new name." He patted his grandson on the shoulder. "Perhaps this is something you cannot do alone? After all, those who know us best are our friends and family. The travelling is supposed to highlight your strengths and weaknesses, I would have thought? Those things are hard to see by yourself."
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:46 pm
Amali didn't look very pleased as Amari explained that Ruka had been by and seemed to be well on her way. The fact she had managed to make friends, too, made him feel even worse. He just couldn't do it.
"Maybe," he muttered, looking down at the ground by the time Amari finished offering him some advice but looking back up, "But it's not that easy, I don't know what I'm doing wrong but everybody is more interested in what they're doing than really chatting or making friends. It's not like when you're around home and you know you'll see them again."
Maybe he'd just have to find his name here, where his family was. Mom had done something like that, hadn't she? He wasn't really sure on that, though.
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:57 pm
Amari nodded. He could understand that, though in truth, being in this pride made him feel a little isolated, too. Old age seemed to have kept him from mingling like he had used to and he'd been holding back for years now.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Amali." He replied. "Perhaps try a more relaxed and casual approach. Maybe your name will come to you." He wished he could offer an answer to exactly how one went about finding themselves, but he had no idea really what his grandchildren were going through. It was a lot of pressure, he thought, to put on youngsters. It had taken years to find himself...well, maybe he'd never really found out exactly who he was deep down.
"You'll find it in time, whether alone or with a friend. I know you will." He thought. "Perhaps I can help a little. Your father wasn't born in the pride so he didn't have to go on a name quest as you do, but he did change his name. He was never much one for adventures or grandeur, but he did find some part of him that he'd not known was there before. Sometimes it's not what we do that shapes us, but what we don't do."
Okay, was this helping or just confusing matters? He had no idea...
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:07 pm
He looked back up as Amari tried to offer him some helpful advice.. and it wasn't exactly anything ground-breaking and it wasn't even very clear.. but it was nice to hear. He was being encouraging and that was really something Amali needed.. but the fact it wasn't even really that easy to advise him clearly meant maybe it wasn't so strange or bad that he was so lost in trying to do this, too.
"I don't know what that means," he said, though not sounding disappointed, "But maybe I will figure it out." There was another long silence before Amali side and decidedly perked up. He wasn't here to sulk.. not just to sulk, anyway. He knew some of his family here would listen to him whine, his paternal grandfather was already doing a good job of that.. but he was here to cheer up, too.
"Besides Ruka, what else is new here? Have mom and dad been around lately?"
Was there a chance they might be around here, or would they have stayed in the swamp waiting for them to come back?
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:40 am
Amari was incredibly thankful that he had just been allowed to stick with the name that his mother had given him. It was a simple name but it was a name all the same.
"New? Here? Nothing much, I'm afraid. The days come and go but the grass stays green and the herds continue to graze. It would bore me to death if I had been younger. Fortunately, a quiet, simple life suits these poor old bones of mine."
He blinked, thinking. "Not recently. I imagine they might take a trip out once you're all back; safe and sound. A visit might be nice, though. I don't think I have it in me to make any trips out myself any more." He missed it, though. The open expanses. The unknown terrain. New faces. Solitude. Strangely, he missed being out there with no one for company but himself. A couple of days of thinking time had always been something he'd enjoyed. Pride life was rather hectic at times; lions coming and going al the time.
"Perhaps you could mention it to them once you arrive home? You could come again, too, and you can all reintroduce yourselves to me." He laughed good-naturedly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:28 pm
Hmmm. The Pridelands was a pretty quiet, boring place.. but Amali liked it. It was a nice, reliable place to come and see family and that was hard to hate, even if it seemed dull. The swamps weren't always so dull but their excitement wasn't always that great, either. He was starting to wonder what he'd been missing at home while out on his name quest but he wasn't able to find out until he got himself a name- and that thought only added to his frustration.
"I'll tell them," he said, frowning a bit when Amari said he wasn't fit to make anymore trips that far. He didn't like to think about him being old.
"More incentive to think of- eh- find my name faster," he said, "But we already talked about that."
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:23 pm
"I would be grateful." Amari smiled thankfully and stood slowly, shaking the dust from his mane. "Now, how about, we go across to the hunting grounds and see if any of the females were lucky in their attempts this morning. One good thing about being old is that you don't get glared at for being lazy." He laughed. "And you could probably do with a good bite to eat before you head back out into rogue lands, am I right?"
He reached up a paw and patted his grandson on the shoulder. "Chin up, yes? Everything will work out. It always does."
And with a crooked grin, he sauntered back across the lands, pausing only to ensure that the younger male was following. Amari would certainly make the most of each and every visit he had from his family. Life, after all, was really far too short.
/fin?
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