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 Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:32 pm
Laying along a large, sturdy branch in one of few trees in the area, Maua looked very out of place. She didn't look quite like she should have been able to get to where she was- or that she should be so comfortable resting there. Dozing off in the shade, the goddess was oblivious to how strange she might look to any passersby. If her bright colors in the comparatively dull tree didn't give her away, the fact that her long braid was dangling down off her branch would.
It was a lovely, peaceful afternoon.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:41 pm
And who didn't absolutely adore lovely, peaceful afternoons! Mkia was walking, well moving, no - journeying? She wasn't sure, but she was on her way, still. She'd been sent out quite a bit ago to find her true name, and still hadn't found it! But, the young adult wasn't going to give up, in fact, the lioness was determined that soon she would find the perfect name.
Sometimes the lioness enjoyed speaking aloud and trying out new names. She kept her eyes peeled but talked to herself as she moved.
"Muh-key-uuunnn. Mkia'un?" She snorted, "that's a little lame. Besides, they need to be different."
The golden braid caught her attention, before the pastel colored lioness attached to it, in one of the few trees around.
"Wow!" she exclaimed excited and stopped her journeying to stare.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:45 pm
Not immediately picking up on the approaching stranger, Maua stirred when her braid caught the attention of the passing young lady. She looked almost like she might fall right out of the tree, in fact. One paw off the branch, though, and her eyes fluttered open.
"Huh?"
Someone was there! She blinked a few times and leaned over to look down from the tree, trying to find a good angle to see the full figure of the stranger that found her.
"Oh!"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:48 pm
More comfortable in mud, and among dead trees, Mkia was taken by surprise looking up at the lioness.
"Sorry if I woke you, but, how did you even get up there?" She'd never seen lions climb trees, jump logs - or catch frogs, but never climb a tree. Mkia tilted her head, bright blue eyes taking the stranger in. "That's a long way to jump."
She snorted again, thinking she sounded an awful lot like a child, but there was so much beyond the swamps that was so different than home.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:54 pm
"How did I get up here?"
She almost sounded uncertain herself but she was smiling like she knew the answer. And, of course, she did. Maua had no issues with revealing her nature to strangers but sometimes it was fun not to. Stretching out her toes, she pushed herself up to her feet and, very carefully, leaped down to stand level with the stranger. Her landing was much softer than one might expect.
"Not so bad, I guess," she said, looking up from her feet to smile at Mkia.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:59 pm
Mkia was perplexed, Maua did not even know how she got there?
"I'm Mkia.." and under her breath she mumbled, "I think," Mkia smiled happily, it wasn't like she had found mean or strange -- strangers in the past, but there was something almost infectious about Maua's happy demeanor that made Mkia want to smile and to know more.
"Not so bad, indeed."
"You have beautiful fur, and that long hair, does it ever stick in anything? Where I'm from, the swamps, that would never stay clean."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:03 pm
"You think you're Mkia?"
She was distracted, momentarily, by this strange idea from the compliments and questions her hair got from the brown lioness. Maua seemed to have an easy time finding very strange strangers lately.
"Thank you, maybe-Mkia," she said, smiling, "I'm definitely Maua."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:06 pm
"Umm, where I'm from everyone has a name from birth, and then as they grow they chose a new name - it's a rite of passage sort of." She nodded hearing her mother's voice in her head explaining it. "In order to go back home, I need a new name. But, I'm rather fond of Mkia."
"Maua is a nice name too," she bobbed her head slightly, " it's nice to meet you."
"Did you climb?" She thought back to the tree.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:13 pm
"Oooooh!" she exclaimed, "That is very interesting, I don't know if I could pick a different, better name for myself. Maua is perfect, though I suppose I have many names."
She felt silly declaring the name she chose to be the best for her knowing that not everybody who cared about her existence and her domain knew which name she preferred. She would answer to many names, Maua was simply her preferred name. Perhaps that was the name Mkia was looking for.
"Sort of," she answered, looking back up the tree, "I'm not a terrible climber but I think that's a bit high."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:20 pm
Mkia liked being Mkia, just because it was a baby's name didn't mean it did not fit her, she liked it, it meant tail - like her blue tail. For some reason she thought there was a key to things in that tail, a way to figure out who she was - or where she was going.
"My mom's name was Lala..now she's Baridi'ini, and I have siblings with short names - baby names. My pride is all I know..but I'm sure there is something great out there for me. Oh, pardon me, I'm rambling. Trying to find something."
However the lioness got up that tree, she wasn't giving it up at all! The more Maua avoided the question, the more curiosity burned in Mkia.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone climb that high. Swamp lions like mud, and paws firmly in it from my experience."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:35 pm
"Lala," Maua repeated thoughtfully, considering the name and what it became, "Baridi'ini." She could see how Lala was more of a child's name, but that didn't mean it was only for a child. She rather liked the simple names, it was why she liked Maua. And why she used names like that when given the opportunity to name something. Kumea and Mila being the most recent examples.
"Some might be able to make it," she said, looking back up the tree, "Maybe not a swamp lion that likes to stay on the ground. I have magic on my side, though."
Her explanation was given very matter-of-factly, like it was no big deal.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:39 pm
Mkia listened as Maua seemed to be testing out her mother's names. She liked Lala better, she knew her mother's other life's name was longer but she could only ever remember it as Lala - the way her father said it when he was being playful with her.
"Oh, well magic that certainly explains it," she laughed, and then noticed how Maua didn't quite sound like she was kidding. "Like the spirits...or like the gods?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:43 pm
Still thinking about names, Maua's half of the conversation was very absent-minded now. No immediate suggestions for a new name for Mkia came to mind, unfortunately.. but there was no way for her to know what kind of name she would end up with, she just met the swamp lioness.
"Gods," she said, "Definitely gods."
When she finally decided to give up thinking about name-changes, she looked back at Mkia with more obvious attention.
"I don't have wings but I'm not stuck on the ground," she said, beaming.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:51 pm
Don't have wings but not stuck on the ground.
"You're not kidding, are you?!" She exclaimed the excitement clearly in her voice. It did explain a lot, like the very long hair - not many mortals seemed to have such things, although all were different; it also explained the beautiful flowers. Mortals came in all shapes and sizes, but she'd heard rumors that gods were different - she'd never actually met one..until now.
"What're you the god of? There's a goddess of the Swamps, and.." Well, she'd never really heard many other domains spoken about.
"Am, I keeping you from..god-ly duties?" it sounded queer rolling off of her tongue.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:56 pm
Maua giggled as the realization struck Mkia, she could almost see her mind reviewing everything she had seen and heard so far, putting it all together.
"I'm the goddess of Spring," she said, "And I wouldn't put a nap very high on my priority list, sometimes I doze off listening to the birds sing. You're not being a bother."
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