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 Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 5:25 pm
Amali had left the Pridelands after an extended visit with his family there, most of which he spent whining to anybody who would listen. He was disappointed when nobody had any help to offer him in finding his new name, even when he learned about his mother's name quest from his grandfather. Grandpa Habu had been willing to help her but seemed unconvinced about helping him, it was frustrating.
Still looking for something to do and something that might help, he had wandered towards the Kusini'mwezi. He had more family in that direction- stranger, crazier family. His hope that someone, somewhere would be willing to put him out of his misery and just suggest something was what took him closer and closer to an unfamiliar pride's lands.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:03 pm
Prior to having children, Rakt-may had often wandered out into the rogue lands - which had something to do with her having children in the first place - fascinated by what could be found beyond the borders of the Kusini'mwezi. Though she was content with her home, and would never truly leave it, the little tastes of 'adventure' had been thrilling, and she'd missed them over the past year while being a mother had become her priority. Her cubs were grown now, though, and she found herself falling back into old habits.
She stepped away from the borders with an excited flutter in her stomach, and soon was no longer within sight of the pride's lands. What would she see this time? How much had changed? She was eager to find out.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:39 pm
He wasn't terribly surprised when he failed to find his aunt and uncle but he was a little disappointed. They were harder family members to keep track of, being rogues and so odd.. but he was starting to think that's what he needed. Something strange and unpredictable. And since he didn't have any help with that from predictably unpredictable relatives, he would have to figure out something himself- and his decided way to do that was not to give up and go back to the Pridelands. He would go back to wandering at random, even if it felt like starting back at the beginning.
Still not fully committed to his new plan, when he spotted a strange lioness nearby he decided it was OK to make a detour and headed towards her curiously. She didn't look familiar, which often happened so near familiar prides. No, he didn't see nearly enough red.
"Hello!"
Provoking strangers was one thing he hadn't really tried yet.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 1:33 pm
As luck would have it, it didn't take long for something - or more appropriately, someone - interesting to find her. Though she tended towards some amount of shyness around others, she did still like to meet them, as long as they were nice. If they weren't...well, that was obviously a bad thing. He'd said 'Hello,' though, and hadn't taken an aggressive stance, so she was willing to believe that all was well. She got a little closer before returning his greeting, as she disliked raising her voice.
"Hello," she finally echoed, the word accompanied by a tentative smile.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:01 pm
She didn't seem very shy, though she didn't seem to want to shout. Neither was really a bad thing, it was more hopeful for a positive conversation anyway. Amali put on his best smile and tried to think quickly of what to say next.
"Are you from the Kusini?" he asked, deciding to go with the obvious question- and he was genuinely curious. He didn't really go into the pride's territory itself, just knew of them from their connections to the Pridelands. And his uncle.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:27 pm
Rakt-may blinked in surprise when he asked if she was from the Kusini. It followed, she supposed, since they weren't that far from the border, but she hadn't expected it to be the first - err, second, if 'hello' counted - thing out of his mouth.
"Ah, yes, I am." Her voice had a quiet, slightly breathy quality. "Were you looking for us?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:42 pm
OK, he was definitely no good at small talk. He must have misjudged exactly where he was with respect to the pride because she looked surprised- and that either meant he was much closer or much farther from it than he expected. Either way, her answer was yes.
"No, not really," he said with a shrug, knowing he was making less sense the more he said, "Well, I knew the pride is around here somewhere but I've never really run into anyone from it."
Tikiti didn't count, he was a rogue now.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:57 pm
That made two of them who needed help in the small talk department. Rakt was more of an observer than a speaker, and did best when there was someone to lead the conversation and give her things to respond to. Creating conversations, rather than simply participating, could be challenging.
She was silent for a touch longer than most would have been, trying to decide what to say and how. "Just passing by? Are you...going somewhere in particular, or are you a rogue?"
The lioness attached no negative connotation to the word. Most of the rogues she'd met had been just like everyone else, only without a home. Sometimes she felt sorry for them.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:08 pm
Amali hesitated a bit too long as well, hoping for her to speak up- and thankfully, she did say something before he was forced to continue on. And she had something much easier to reply to. Being from a pride that was a short distance away wasn't necessarily much to talk about but he was far away from his home.
And that's really what he wanted to talk about. Everything he did now was in hopes of finding his name.
"Just passing by," he said, straightening up a bit, clearly proud of his homeland, "I'm from the Jini-msemi swamplands."
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:24 pm
The red lioness tilted her head, considering the male. That was a little bit of a mouthful, but he said it with obvious pride. If he wasn't a rogue, and was so fond of his home, what was he doing out here? "It sounds familiar, like I've heard it before, but I confess, I...don't know anything about it."
Hopefully that would suffice as an invitation for him to speak more about these 'Swamplands' and what he was doing in rogue territory, because she was curious!
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:39 pm
He couldn't help but tilt his head in response to her tilting her's, smiling when she said it sounded familiar. It wasn't hard to imagine, there were so many of them- surely enough had wandered through here that they were known in many places. Even just a little. The Pridelands was certainly aware of them, his own family was so big in both prides.
"I'm here on a quest," he said, trying to make it sound important- but losing confidence as soon as he said it and continuing in a more subdued tone, "When you're an adolescent, you get sent out to the roguelands to find your real name."
He shook his head to fluff up his mane a bit.
"Obviously it's taken me a while," he said, continuing on with an introduction now that his story had drawn names to attention, "For now, I'm Amali. What's your name?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:17 pm
Rakt didn't seem to notice when her mirrored her gesture, and even tilted her head just a little more when he explained that he was out in the rogue lands to look for his real name. That was...one of the stranger customs she'd heard of, she had to admit. It was also a time-consuming one, apparently, as he was clearly not an adolescent any longer. He had a full mane and looked quite grown-up!
"I'm Rakt-may," she answered, before venturing a question. "How is Amali not your real name? I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
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Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:14 pm
"Amali is the name I was given as a cub, if I want to be considered an adult by the spirits and my pride, I can't keep it," he said, sounding somewhat tired- this had been his focus for a very long time now, "I forget what exactly it means but it was intended to be like my grandfather, that doesn't really make it my name."
He didn't see how this was creating more questions more than it was answering them, he truly believed every word he said. He didn't wonder why it couldn't be his name, it just wasn't. And finding his real name was seeming more and more impossible.
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:56 am
"Oh, so it's a...a rite of passage?" A little like having your first successful hunt, she supposed, but much more formal and serious. It was hard to imagine sending adolescents out into the unknown by themselves, but then again, it wasn't uncommon for lions that age to leave their families of their own accod anyway.
"Just how does one find their real name?" She couldn't imagine being anything other than Rakt-may. It was just who she was!
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:20 pm
Amali nodded when she found the appropriate name for his quest, he'd heard that term a few times- perhaps he should have put more effort into remembering it if he was going to be explaining it to people. That was much simpler.
"I don't think there is an answer to that," he said with a small frown, "It's different for everybody, you just know when you've found it or something. And every story you hear is about as helpful. My mother met her father for the first time on her name quest, she got her name from him. And I have a cousin who got lost in a storm and wound up back at the swamp, he figured the rain brought him home for a reason and took a name from that."
He would have loved for there to be an easy answer.
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