There were some nights were Minkah-tzvi's dreams were too much for him.
There were some nights where he could sleep perfectly fine, there were no dreams and if there were they would be general dreams where the world was a little on the silly side and would be a dream that anyone else would have. It was a normal dream a dream that just anyone would have. It wasn't a... Minkah dream. It wasn't a dream filled with violence or generally wrong-doings. It wasn't filled with hate and distrust and everything else that Minkah hated. Everything he tried to avoid in the world and everything that he tried to avoid and pretend didn't exist. Those dreams came in drones. At first there would be one, or two but then they would fill his mind every night, multiple times until the onyx lion could not sleep at night, not until he felt they were gone. Occasionally there would be just one of these dreams and then it would be back to normal but that wasn't always the case.
That wasn't the case this night. He had had a dream the night before and now as he tried to rest for the night he felt like there was more coming to him, it was hard to sleep when you had the burden of knowing you were soon to be haunted by nightmare after nightmare every night. It was a horrible feeling. A feeling that at times tore him a part, at times it was worse than the nightmare at times. But there was something about these dreams that were keeping up him even more than normal. There as an extra weight on his shoulders. There was something that made his stomach twist in knots, and even though it wasn't him he was a little grumpy because of it. The sun had set and he was up, he didn't know what he was going to do but he was wanting to wander, he wanted to move and take his mind off of the drowsiness and take not think about the dreams and how he was feeling.
Tzvi lifted his heavy body off of the den floor, flicking his tail behind him as he lightly shook all of the dirt and the dust off of his dark coat. He wasn't sure if hwe was going to return to this den or even to this area, he was a wanderer and never really was sure of where he was going. He walked slowly, he was in no hurry to get anywhere. He was just... wandering. But he had a bit of an idea of where he was going.
He slowed as he neared the bank of a river, he had been here a few times before in his travelings. It was a mostly quiet river, safe, a lioness had shown him once she was hiding her cubs near it while she was out hunting. He was at first worried about crocodiles but he had trusted the lioness and never ran into a problem. He crouched over the water and began to lap it up. He was quiet not wanting to break the peace of the river, honestly hoping that it would distract him from his thoughts and dreams. Hoping that the quiet would not be broken
---
Unlike those of her brother, Na'an's dreams remained empty. Once, sleep brought nightmares. Memories of the Nergui lurked in her thoughts long after they had left the pride lands, bringing the young lioness to wake with cold blood pumping from an erratic heart. But those times had long past. Those nightmares faded to numbness faded to nothingness and Na'an's sleep became hollow.
Such could be said of much of the lioness' life, these days.
In the dim night, the landscape but a silhouette against the moonlit sky, Na'an's figure was like a ghost, whisping across through the grasses. Silent. Her lithe paws pulled the shimmering dewdrops from the grasses. In the morning the green would be wilted in her steps. It would be hard to say what exactly was on the mind of the seer lioness as she walked. Her thoughts wandered, tracing the events of the past day, to the past week, to the past month. Now, it all seemed to blend together with nothing discernable to take from it all.
Two things could be said for certain. One was of the fact that it had been many nights since she last saw her mother. This, while not surprising, meant that she had little herself to do without the needs of the goddess to fulfill. The thought gave her pause and brought her to the second. The lioness' steps came to a pause and she glanced down to where a stain of blood shone stark against her pale fur. Where the kill had come from was unclear, and that itself was a fact she wasn't proud of. It was practically to be expected that they would kill easily. The fact that Na'an seem to do it mindlessly was one that seemed to plague her more than anything.
Still, the distress brought little change to the lioness's face. Her eyes remained half-lidded, eyes bright and pressed against the horizon. Her mouth pressed at the edges as she lifted her head once more, giving her head a brief shake to rid the plaguing thoughts from her mind as the ghost of a lioness continued to trail through the lands.
The sight of the gleaming river pulled Na'an's glance. At the sight of the familiar lion, her lips pressed even tighter and her shoulders squared.
Her brother.
His sight brought a flood and for a moment she was rendered incapable of movement. Memories of the pride, of the life after, of the ways she had grown apart from him, and the ways they still never seemed too far…
Na'an drifted towards him, eyes never leaving his dark form. Yes, siblings though they were it went without a doubt they were as different as their light and dark pelts. Where Na'an had fallen into routine mayhem, Tzvi had… She blinked, focusing her eyes on him once more as she stopped at the edge of the river, silent. Na'an felt little, she would argue. Little love. Little hate. Less of everything in between. But in the pit of her she felt envy for the lion that her brother had become. For the lion he had become.
---
There was one thing that could be said about the siblings. They were obviously siblings, their markings their eyes, the way their hair fell, their tails. There was obviously more that was shared, they basically pumped the same blood through their veins, they shared parents and they shared a sister that neither of them had seen since they were little. Despite all of the similarities, there were many more things that they didn't have in common. Many, many more traits. Other then their heritage and their parents they had so little in common it was hard to tell that they were related.
Tzvi was a little disappointed when he was no longer with his sister. It was odd to have some one for most of your life and then suddenly they were no longer there living with you and not only that but they had went a completely different path as you did. For a while he felt like it was all that he had, all he had was his sister and now he had no one but himself. He had heard of some of the things that his sister had done, things that he would not do and things that he did not approve of. Normally Tzvi would fight against this. Normally he would go against some one who did the things that he did not like he would go against the things that people did that he found was wrong. But with his sister it was a little different... very different.
While his sister had fewer feelings then he did. Tzvi loved his sister. As he did many others he believed there was good in his sister. He knew there was good some where in there. If he could be good she could be good too. They endured so much together growing up. She always had faith in his sister and he always had faith in here and would always stand up for her he would always have a faith or compassion for her. Even if he hated the things she did or was very disappointed in her.
As he stood above the water, lapping it up slowly enjoying it fall down his throat he could already feel better as he stood on the side. It was refreshing. He was feeling at peace, he felt like there was nothing to worry about, nothing on his mind. Until he picked up a scent.
He knew that scent almost better than anyone else's. His ears flicked and he stopped lapping up the water, taking in the scent thinking about it as he did. He didn't know if this was really happening. It wasn't often he ran into his sister and when he did mixed feelings were guaranteed. His took a few seconds thinking about what he was going to stay to her before looking at her. "Na'an." He greeted softly and simply. At the moment what else was there to say?
---
The all too familiar sound of his voice saying her name made her ache. Na'an would go as far as to say she felt her heart skip a beat. But still, her face remained unchanged. Her head sat tall upon her shoulders and her body remained still, the movement of her chest as she took in each breath hardly visible.
Na'an was all too aware of her brother's path. How he sought to go after those who reminded her all too much of herself. She couldn't help but feel as though the lion must have looked down upon her, though. Like how a mother would scold her cub when it played too roughly with its siblings. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of shame.
But the feeling passed.
"Min," she stated briefly, using the nickname she would call him when they were cubs. Her voice was cold and dull. It sounded hollow. Tired.
Even with her brother, Na'an didn't know how she was supposed to feel. Compassion, perhaps. Before her was the lion that she knew would never leave her side, regardless of the evils she had done. The lives she had taken. Maybe frustration. For before her also stood a lion whose purpose seemed to be to rid the world of those like herself. She couldn't help but follow this path. It was what drew her. It was the only way she knew how to be. The only path in which she found reason.
But there was no way he could understand. The thought gave her brow the slightest twitch. Claws, still red with blood, raked ever so slightly against the ground.
She was conflicted and confused and the feeling made Na'an's jaw clench. Such thoughts, such feeling, they brought such turmoil. Perhaps it was for this reason that it seemed so incompatible to them. But who was she to say.
Bright eyes flicked in brief twitches from side to side, tracing the forms of the familiar figure. This figure who proved to be the only form of stability in her life. This figure who, by living this lifestyle, she seemed to reject. There was no way he could understand…
---
Minkah also knew that her path was different. He was almost reminded of it every time he ran into her, not only then but also when he dreamed, when he dreamed he occasionally would dream of his sister and what she was doing. His sister was one of the few that he never bothered to hunt down. He would normally cringe and get up and wander and if he didn't do that then he would the go back to sleep trying to pretend that he never saw any of that. He was convinced there was goo in her. He was convinced that there was mostly good in everyone. But he was smart now, he knew better than to believe that EVERYONE was good. Hew knew that there was some past helping. He didn't believe that his sister was one of those.
He had faith, and patience that was for sure. Honestly in his mind he knew that there was a chance that her sister would never live a life as he would have liked her to, yet he knew there was nothing he could do about he had to let her choose what she was going to do.
He had to let this frustration out of his thoughts he couldn't dwell on it. Instead he was trying to think of ways to have a nice encounter with his sister. His tail flicked behind him as he shifted his weight and say on his haunches as he looked at his sister. Although most of the time he tried to put on a smile when he was with his sister. At the moment there was just too much frustration. He wasn't mad but he wasn't that happy either. He had been starting to have the dreams again and of course because of that he wasn't in to great of a mood. He wasn't going to let that affect his encouter this his sister.
"It is nice to see you this night Na'a." He said simply. her name was short but he too had a nickname that he had always called her when he was younger. Na'a was still simple. "what brings you out on anight like this." He asked simple a small smile was on his face.
---
So this was how this interaction was going to go. While Na'an didn't often know how to feel, or what to say, she could more than often know what he was supposed to do. The lioness was more than capable of putting on a face. She knew how to manipulate her face and her words to make things run smoothly. And she and her brother could have a confrontation. They could butt heads and face their issues. They could argue, they could bicker.
Or they could put it past them and talk. One may call it a civil conversation. Na'an viewed it more as running. But there once was a day where all of their conversations were like this. All of their conversations were casual and light-hearted. Maybe for the memory, then…
"Wandering paws seem to have a mind of their own," she said softly. Her voice was almost a whisper, but carried in the silence of the night. "I have come to the point where I stop questioning where the path ahead of me may lead." Her eyes flicked upwards, tracing the now visible stars while thinking of what to say. "You know how it is."
Her gaze dropped back to him and her tail twitched. She looked over his expression, his stance, all of it in excruciating detail. After all this time, Na'an had grown to know her brother as well as he knew her.
And she wasn't going to put on a mask to have a conversation with her brother. No, he meant too much for that. Her eyes narrowed, mouth pressing tight. "Dreams again, Min?"
---
Minkah looked at his sister. As he stared at her almost blank face, a face that had grown into that over time. He couldn't help but to try to think what was going through her mind. She knew that there was a lot going through his own mind. Part of him wanted to rush up to her and smack her around and ask her why she did most of what she as doing. Tell her that she knew that she could do much better than he was doing. But he was her brother and he knew that he couldn't. He knew that he couldn't do that to her even if it was just because he had the hope to at least some what close to each other. Even if the close for now was the awkward but mutual respect they seemed to have.
He shifted his feet and crunched the grass under them as he thought about it. He looked up at the sky as she did thinking about her words. Wandering was interesting, it always proved to provide a lonely lion with company of all sorts. Hyenas, leopards other lions, so many things that one could run into through out the day. Other beings that would come into his life and then would leave the next moment. They were only there for a short amount of time before they moved on. Oddly enough wandering lead him into his sister which seemed to be a creature that came and went, but was always there with him.
"I do." His voice was rough, another difference between him and his sister. His voice was deep, rough and at times almost gravely, but just mostly deep. He looked at the lioness, looked her into the much too similar eyes and before he could speak again her next comment danced her way to his ears.
The words made his hairs stand up , he could feel it on his neck, his mane become more jagged in shape instead of nicely pressed down on his body. He found his claws digging into the soft stand beneath him, almost always soft. The soft from constant exposure to water, no chance to dry up. No break. He almost felt like that soft sand when it came to his dreams. It was bad enough trying to escape from them was hard enough, depriving him of sleep but now in his time of trying to find peace he now found his sister instead and even though at first it brought him a eerie peace it now put him on edge.
He wasn't even sure if she did it on purpose but he tried to calm himself, allowing his fur to fall back into place. He looked up at her and then he nodded. "Yes." He tried to keep his tone even and calm. "No matter how badly I want them to go, they always come back."
