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 Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:47 am
Muni enjoyed a good stroll. It gave him plenty of time to think, which was by far his favorite pastime. It was a lovely morning, bright and sunny with a cool breeze and Muni had cast a simple illusion and taken a mortal form so that he could wander through the mortal lands without bothering anyone. Suramuni did not mind being approached by mortals, as he was happy to banter with everyone. However, it was occasionally nice to take a break.
Muni was the God of Philosophy and he quite enjoyed his domain. It was very pleasant to spend the day thinking and reasoning. However, very few others wished to share in his conversations. It would have been nice to find a partner to share his thoughts with, but as of yet, he had not found one. Perhaps he would find one in his wandering. Anything could happen.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:28 am
 The cubs were being babysat now, and so Tsukiko decided to take this time to spend with herself a little. Not in the sense of a time just for enjoyment, but, since her daughters were born, the lioness hadn't had a chance to really sit down and think, like she typically enjoyed. So she had headed out of the pridelands for a bit more quiet, because there were many cubs around nowadays, and they could be very pleasantly distracting!
So she was out in the rogue lands now, on her own, and had not yet even noticed the god-in-disguise. She was wandering, slowly, and pondering. It happened sometimes that Tsukiko, when unable to find an ideal place to sit or lie and think, she would just walk at a snail's pace and watch the scenery.
It seemed only fitting that the current subject on her mind was happiness, considering it seemed that, at this time, she was happy. "What is happiness?" She asked to no one in particular. "Am I happy?" She tilted her head up at the sky.
(Subject is happiness because I recently did a test on Epicurus 8D )
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:50 pm
Not knowing the mortal lands very well, Suramuni was not aware how close he had gotten to the borders of the Pridelands. He hadn't crossed them, but it was certainly closer than he would have intended. Still, he was distracted by the myriad of thoughts, questions, and ideas that circled in his mind. It would have driven a mortal crazy, but he was quite used to it and found it very pleasant to get lost in his own thoughts.
Muni radiated a mood of quiet humor and was quite lost in his musings. He barely noticed the lioness in time to keep from running into her. I began to apologize, mildly chagrined, when he heard her spoken question. It was an excellent question and one that he'd found himself mulling over before himself.
"Happiness? A wonderful thing, but rather difficult to define, isn't it? Lots of facets to happiness, but not the same for everyone," said Muni, his mind whirling already.
"Excuse me," he apologized, "I didn't meant to interrupt your thoughts, but that is a very intriguing line of thought."
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 6:32 am
If she noticed he had almost ran into her, Tsukiko gave no indication. She was just a very relaxed individual, and didn't even seem surprised when she turned to find a lion. As she would anyone, she offered him smile, though at first she still seemed to be distant. Then she realized he had picked up on what she was thinking about.
"It is, isn't it?" She asked casually. "That makes it very hard to understand happiness, if it is so different to everyone. Would happiness be the feeling of pleasure? But that can be such a passive feeling." She mused. Pleasure didn't really last long. "And I don't mind the interruption at all!" Thinking was sometimes easier when you bounced ideas off someone, even if that someone wasn't always interested.
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:58 am
Fortunately for Tsukiko, Muni was incredibly interested. Suramuni was delighted at the chance for a philosophical discussion and this mortal lioness seemed like she was as interested as he was. At least, that was his impression.
"Ah, very true! Everything is rather relative after all. We define our emotions by similar reactions, but ideas like happiness and sadness are difficult to define. What is true for one individual is not always true for another," mused Muni aloud, his mind already whirling with the possibilities and lines of thought.
"Some might say that happiness is the feeling of pleasure. Others might say it is an emotion brought about by the absence of conflict and despair. Or something else entirely. I think most would agree, however, that it is a very good feeling," he added with a smile.
He sat a polite distance away, his attention fully on their conversation. With a slight feeling of chagrin, Muni remembered that some forms still needed to be met and it would be impolite not to introduce himself.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Muni," he said with a bow and his usual relaxed smile.
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:55 am
"Truly. I think a good feeling is a good enough basis to describe happiness. Several other emotions may be put down as good feelings, however. It might be interesting to try and identify what differentiates them all!" She considered this, and found herself quite enjoying this little chat. It wasn't often that she had someone to talk to this way!
"For example, I suppose love would be a good feeling, though some often attribute it to pain. And it is usually relative to someone or something, while happiness doesn't always need to be." Now, what other emotions might be described as good feelings? "Some others might just be described as... excess of happiness, or happiness that lasts for a shorter amount of time, but with greater intensity." Perhaps joy, euphoria?
Oh, quite right. Tsukiko would have forgotten about introductions had he not brought it up himself, and she offered him a somewhat sheepish smile. "Oh! Forgive me, I should have done the same. I am Tsukiko, it is nice to meet you!"
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:03 am
"The pleasure is all mine, Tsukiko," said Muni with a grin, before he turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.
She made a good argument. One could not just define happiness as a feeling of "good" or "pleasure" because so many other things could be defined the same way. Granted, he was certain that they wouldn't be able to define it no matter how hard they tried, but it was certainly fun to speculate, argue, and discuss.
Muni could spend all day talking about philosophy. He felt such a passion for his domain, which was wonderful.
"Ah, you make an excellent point. I'm not sure if one can just qualify love as an 'emotion' though. Certainly it is an emotion, such as the feeling of being in love, but love seems to be something more as well. And it can be laced with happiness, sadness, pain, even anger. Love is much more complex, at least in my opinion," said Muni, thoughtfully.
"Hmmm. I think happiness is also found with a general sense of well-being or relief. Such as surviving a bad storm or disaster. There would be happiness in the relief that one feels. Of course, there would also most likely be despair and anger. And there are so many different levels of happiness from contentedness to joy, to euphoria, to ecstasy."
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:42 am
"Hmm." She pondered what he said for a few moments. "Yes, you are right. Perhaps calling love an emotion might be simplifying a bit too much." She smiled.
"I suppose for there to be happiness, then, one needs a foil." She tilted her head a bit. "Or at least for one to be able to properly identify it. It would be quite difficult to know what it feels like to be happy, without an alternative." Tsukiko couldn't be more pleased with this discussion. It was a shame this lion was probably a rogue, had he been a pridelander, she might hope to find him to chat more often! "But that also begs the question, can one who has never experienced any shortcomings or disappointments in life – impossible as that may sound – also feel happiness?"
As she said, Tsukiko found it extremely unlikely such a thing would ever happen, or such an individual ever exist. But for the sake or discussion! "What I mean is, unless you know there is such a thing as a bad, unpleasant feeling, you can't really know what a good feeling is either." She paused a bit, before adding. "And vice versa. Both are needed."
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Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:38 pm
Muni was incredibly pleased! It had been quite a long time since he'd had such a stimulating conversation, and with a mortal no less. Not that he thought mortals couldn't carry such a conversation, it just seemed that they were less likely to oblige him in one. The fact that this lioness was willing to converse with, especially since he was disguised as a mortal, was a very pleasant surprise indeed.
"You make a very interesting point. Could someone who has dealt with no hardship understand what happiness is? Hmm. Well, there are many cubs who haven't dealt with any hardship who are very happy. But I think happiness for a cub and for an adult are very different things. So perhaps age should be a factor as well," said Muni, in a state near absolute bliss. To him there was nothing better than discussing his domain. It was so ingrained in him.
In his musings, Muni was distracted and just for a moment let his disguise slip, revealing his immortal self. Realizing his mistake and understanding that it would be rude to don his disguise again, he smiled ruefully at Tsukiki.
"Oops," he said.
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:00 pm
"I suppose cubs are quite happy, indeed. In their way. Yes, age is a factor." She pondered on her own cubs. They were happy enough girls, Tsukiko should hope! Cubs did have some foils to deal with, like the disappointment about not being allowed to play at certain times, or do all they pleased. But no real hardship, ideally.
Because of her own pondering, Tsukiko was even a little slow to realize the change in her conversation partner. "Oops?" She repeated, confused, and looked up. She blinked, then tilted her head. Oh. "Oh. That's very peculiar." She wasn't familiar enough with gods to not be surprised at all, she had never seen such a thing! She was entirely surprised, and gaped for a few moments, before finally asking the first thing that came to mind. "Does that happen to you very often? The wings." Likewise, she had never heard much about gods, and as such it wasn't the first thing to cross her mind, either.
"Not that there's a problem, they're quite nice." She didn't want to offend him! "Just... surprising."
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:09 pm
Suramuni blinked a few times and had to swallow back a chuckle. He had expected some horrified reaction, or perhaps a fawning reaction. He hadn't expected that Tsukiko wouldn't recognize a god.
"Er, yes, actually. The wings are always there. I usually try to hide them. I'm afraid I'm not very good at it. I tend to get distracted and then . . . well, you see."
Muni figured he might as well go ahead and introduce himself properly. Such a grand conversational partner deserved to know the truth. So, standing, he bowed as majestically as he could.
"I am actually a god. The god of Philosophy, to be exact. I often disguise myself as a mortal when I walk through the mortal lands. Simplifies things. I'm apparently dreadfully out of practice," he said, a bit ruefully. "I hope you don't mind. I was just really enjoying our conversation. Where were we, anyways. . . ."
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:24 pm
"Oh! I've never met a god before. How interesting!" She'd have to ponder it later, but she didn't want to make him feel all awkward if she started analyzing him right here and now. "Neat!" She concluded with a short nod.
"God of philosophy? Delightful! No wonder you're so nice to talk to. I suppose it makes sense to disguise yourself sometimes." Yes, she supposed it would definitely call quite a bit of attention to oneself, walking around with wings. "But yes, we were at how cubs experience happiness differently." As interesting as his 'holiness' was, the conversation was still quite appealing to her! "Perhaps they experience a more... Simplified, for lack of a better word, version." Though, if he could think of a better word, by all means! "As we age, we become more complex, I think it might simply be logical our emotions might do the same."
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:32 pm
Muni appreciated her compliment and her simple acceptance of his being a god. How refreshing it was to speak with her! With a smile, he turned his mind back to their conversation.
"Ah, yes! Exactly, I agree. I believe that, as cubs, we do have a simpler version of happiness. Being fed, safe, comfortable, that is what makes us happy. We do become much more complex as we grow, with more wants and needs. Therefore, it takes more to make us happy. Also, we deal with more responsibilities and hardships as adults than we do as cubs. We grow, not only in size and age, but in logic and emotions as well, as you pointed out," he said, nodding.
"There are so many facets to happiness that I never even realized. How fascinating!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:50 pm
She nodded, agreeing completely with what he said. "Yes! And to imagine there is so much more than happiness to ponder! It really is quite a complex world we live in." Tsukiko smiled. At least she, and Muni, would never have a shortage of things to think about. "Perhaps we should meet more often. Discussing with you is quite fun!"
And to think her friends usually found Tsukiko's idea of fun very... not fun. As usual, she didn't mind, but it was certainly quite refreshing to encounter someone with similar interests.
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:46 pm
Suramuni nodded gleefully, "Exactly! There are so many wonderful things to consider, to contemplate, to study, and to learn! Such a wonderful world."
Hearing that she wouldn't mind speaking with him again, Muni puffed up happily until he resembled an over-sized puffball. Nothing made him quite so happy as a good conversation or philosophical debate.
"Absolutely! I would be happy to visit you again and we can find new, wonderful things to discuss! Do you live around here? Are you part of any specific pride?" he asked, politely. Even if he was a god, it was rude to simply intrude into a pride just for a conversation.
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