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 Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:10 pm
After that last experience with the crocodile goddess, Yggdrasil was a little wary to walk around in his waterbuck form...at least out in the open. Lest someone else decide that he was a tasty treat, he would rather avoid confrontation altogether. Perhaps he would pin it on the actions of his parents, but fighting always seemed to be...stupid.
With a bit of a sigh, he wondered just how his parents were doing. Or his siblings. He would theoretically only cross paths with Survival at the best of times, and never with the others unless he sought them out. Right now...that was just asking for trouble, and so the God of the Woods wandered the open savanna, swimming in his thoughts.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:31 pm
Anika wanted to approach her name quest with a sense of adventure, embracing the independence and the freedom.. but the transition from the busy and social routine of pride life was a challenge. She was convinced that, in reality, nobody could actually enjoy this- it was only a story told to cubs to make them think it would be exciting. Feeling grumpy, she made an effort to put aside her quest for a little while and just walked, looking for something to distract her. She was standing in the dry, grassy savanna, staring out around her with narrowed eyes.
At first, she didn't realize what she was seeing when she spotted Yggdrasil nearby and after a doubletake, her eyes were wide and she was standing straight. She was familiar with gods, it would be impossible not to be in the Swamps. She had never really thought about there being other gods enough to think she might see some out here.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:36 pm
Yggdrasil felt his head grow heavier the more he walked. Birds like to catch a free ride on his horns. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but when more than a couple decided to catch a ride...it became a little cumbersome to keep it up.
"Hey guys, c'mon. Go away, I'll deal with you later when I know where I'm going."
With that, a majority of the small birds left, only a couple stubbornly remaining. With a good shake of his head, he shooed the rest of them off. It was rather annoying, but even with annoying birds, violence certainly wasn't the answer.
He peered over just for a moment, having that feeling of someone watching him. Common enough, but he felt it more being out in the open and away from the woods. He didn't know if she was just looking, or really staring, and so instead of calling out to her he merely mimicked her stare.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:49 pm
Watching with wide eyes, she almost laughed at the birds- only really noticing them when he shook his head to shoo them away. It seemed so silly that birds would choose to perch on a god-- and their comfort and his relatively gentle response was a good sign she was not in any danger being nearby.
Still, she tensed when suddenly he turned and stared back at her. Anika allowed the staring contest to continue for some tense seconds before realizing it was up to her to do something. She was the one who was caught staring, not him.
"S-sorry!" she called, hesitating before walking a bit closer, "I didn't mean to stare like that, you're just so bright and interesting looking and then the birds were on your.. antlers and I- I just- sorry."
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:07 pm
There is no need to apologize," he said as she approached him. He still stood, but he didn't move less he startled her. He...had not always had the best interactions with other mortals. Even if another god had tried to eat him, for the most part they could be more predictable than mortals.
"You did not harm me, and so no apology is needed. I admit, being apart from the woods makes me stick out more than I would normally."
How much should he say? She still seemed young, inexperienced, and yet...a touch fearless to approach him, even with her small hints of hesitation. Other mortals would have otherwise ignored him, or fled. A god with the horns of a preybeast was strange indeed.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:12 pm
"Oh, ok."
Fair enough, but it made her feel uneasy. Just like trying to apologize for staring made her feel better about it, not that it really changed anything or mattered since he was even more apparently kind.
"You live in the woods?" she asked, pausing before opening her mouth and quickly closing it again. She seemed to have some control over herself, but it took a lot of effort not to go on about how there was a goddess who lived in the Swamps where she was from. It didn't really have anything to do with what was going on now.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:28 pm
Yggdrasil nodded. "Yes. I am part of the Woods. Keeping them healthy and alive is what fuels my power. It's a bit in the way that you must eat to keep functioning." His tail swished behind him, and he noticed that a bird had rested onto his horns again. With a sigh, he allowed the bird to stay...as long as it remained only one single bird.
"I'm Yggdrasil, the God of Woods. You could say I am between...jobs at the moment though," he said, cracking his first soft smile between them.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:38 pm
Anika couldn't help but be distracted by the return of the bird, though she tried very hard not to focus her complete attention on it. She looked back directly to Yggdrasil as he offered a full introduction and she smiled back at him.
"I'm Anika and I'm just from the swamps," she said brightly, looking him up and down as she attempted to process the information about what his domain was. It didn't look quite right, where he was so bright and stood out so much.. but at the same time, it did somehow make sense. Maybe just because she wanted it to make sense.
"It's nice to meet you!" she added with a squeak, "I've never really met a god before, though Mama Asali lives in the swamps with us and everything. Why are you way out here, instead of .. where there are more trees?"
She looked around- there really weren't that many trees around.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:04 pm
"Hello, Anika." The swamps, huh? He had an idea as to where that was...it wasn't really a forest, but he knew that there were trees there, and as such had passed through now and then in the past. It was an area that made him nervous, if only because his white coat would stick out that much more than normal. He normally passed those lands with a cloak of invisibility to protect himself.
"I'm passing from one forest to another. Sadly they do not all connect, and at times I have to walk out into the open. I feel a bit exposed, but it is nice to not worry about my antlers tangling in the trees. Where are you off to, alone?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:15 pm
Anika had never really considered how the world was not really divided into clear cut sections, in her mind it had always been very simple. The Swamp was there, the savanna and where mama had come frmo was here.. the woods would have to be somewhere specific, perhaps in between.. she had not yet had the opportunity to realize just how big the world really was, and what kind of variety there was.
"Oh," she murmured, then started when he asked about her reason for being out here alone, "I am on my name quest. Anika is my baby name, I have to find my true name out here somewhere, away from the swamps."
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:30 pm
"That's an interesting concept." He had always assumed that his mother had named him, but perhaps that wasn't the truth. His cub name had been Mto, mainly because it was easier to say.
"I'm sure with your brave heart you'll find your name. The world can be a scary place, but you seem to have your wits around you. I wish you all the luck you'll need for that quest."
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:35 pm
She almost started feeling self-conscious about sharing the information on this very important rite of passage in her pride as he called it interesting and thought about it.. but his kind, encouraging words were reassuring.
"Thank you very much," she said, beaming.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 7:43 pm
"You're welcome." It was a big world, and he wondered if she really knew just how large it was. He himself didn't realize how encompassing it could be until he had struck out on his own. Now he was grateful for the fact that he had lived under the shelter of his mother and the woods when he was growing up.
"I assume that everyone in the pride around your age goes through this?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:02 pm
"Yes, everybody does," she said, "And you can't come back home until you find your name, not everybody comes back. I have two older brothers and two older sisters and only one of them came back from their name quests."
Anika frowned thinking about it. She didn't know her other siblings, she and her littermates had been born after they left, but she knew Vyoga now and she knew it bothered him that the others hadn't come back yet. He had a friend that wasn't back yet, too. She hoped Ubati and Mneme came home, she didn't want to imagine them disappearing into the wide world like the others.
"I'm going to go back home, though," she said, puffing herself up, refusing to acknowledge any reason there might be to not go back, "I will find a name and I will!"
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:15 pm
That could be disheartening. And terrifying at the same time. There may be many reasons as to why they don't return, he only hoped that they were ok ones. "Perhaps one or two of them will have returned after you yourself get back."
He nodded. "You will not just find any name, but your name."
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