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 Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:08 pm
 The scarlet lion's head was spinning. He was trying to understand what had happened. He'd saved Mziwanda from the stampede. Then they'd talked a little and he'd ended up talking to the Head Guard of the pride and joining. The exact methodology of how this had happened was still a bit beyond him. Now they apparently wrapping up the purple lioness' tour of the Mwezi'Johari and her introductions. Was there anyone in the pride that she didn't know? Or anyone she wasn't going to insist on introducing him to as a hero? Really, it wasn't like he had wanted to be viewed that way, he'd just been unable to let someone die if he could prevent it! He still didn't understand how that had ended up making him a Guard in the pride.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:21 pm
The scarlet lion might have been hesitant to consider himself a hero, but there was no doubt in Mziwanda's mind. Not just anyone would even consider jumping into a stampede to save the life of someone they'd never met! It was a heroic thing to do, and the pale purple lioness knew enough stories to know heroism. It all had a nice touch of fate to it--he'd even woken into the right class to become a Guard, just like he ought to be!
Turning her head, she flashed him a smile. "So, what do you think?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:27 pm
Wide green eyes continued to stare blankly as he looked around without truly comprehending most of what he saw. There was just...so much. Even though he'd been here a while, long enough to go through the...initiation or ritual or whatever they called it, he still wasn't accustomed to this. Any of this. Especially the idea of him being a pridemember.
"It's...a lot to get used to," Gairnéad breathed at last, turning his dazed look to the lioness at his side. "I'm still...surprised."
That was one word for it, at least.
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:07 am
"That's alright," Mziwanda assured him. "The Mwezi takes care of its own. Even the slaves--they're not like what most think of when they hear the word! They're just unlucky, so they're protected, and they earn the protection by helping the rest of us." She'd been a little wary of the existence of slaves herself at first, but most of them seemed quite content with their lives--and one of them was even the former King! Choosing to become the lowest of the pride rather than the highest in order to be with the lioness he loved...well, that was a story indeed. Which reminded her... "And males can change their place in the pride, if they take a mate who's in a different rank."
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:21 am
Gairnéad nodded absesntly, his attention only half on what Mziwanda was saying. He'd heard most of it before, since he had had these things explained to him upon joining. However unprecipitated that event had been. But the red lion supposed that the reason why he was so dazed now had more to do with the fact that he was finally realizing that all this was real, that he was here to stay.
What would his family think now?
It had been such a long time since he'd left them to journey on his own...he really couldn't be certain what they'd think. Certainly they'd seemed happy enough as rogues, but he thought that if they found the right pride, they'd be willing to settle.
The question then became whether the Mwezi'Johari was the right pride for him. It wasn't that he was having second thoughts, it was more that it had all happened so fast.
Mziwanda was happy though...didn't that make a difference?
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:09 pm
Glancing over, Mziwanda seemed to notice the dazed look in Gairnéad's eyes for the first time. She'd seen it earlier, but promptly dismissed the faint glaze as the aftereffects of the initiation drug. Something that could make you sleep for weeks could do that, right? But it'd been a while, now...her brow furrowed, and her eyes grew a little worried.
"You feeling alright?" she asked quietly, scooting a little closer so he could her her.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:20 pm
The scarlet lion looked down at Mziwanda as she came close and asked how he was feeling. There was, he had come to realize, something childish about the purple lioness. She had a great desire? No, a great ability to believe in the oldest, least likely stories of selfless heroes who won the paw of the Princess through their bravery after throwing down the Great Evil. The sorts of things that made wonderful stories, but never really happened in real life.
Except that she saw that hero in him.
Gairnéad knew himself well enough to readily admit that he was no hero, that he was flawed, that he was mortal. But the fact that this purple lioness still saw him in that light? That was a priceless gift.
That was why he was in this pride.
"With you beside me, how could I be anything other than good?" he asked, tone light and teasing, to offset the realization of how true it was.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:07 pm
Mziwanda simply didn't have the ability to resist going starry-eyed at those words. Romance was a large part of her motivations in life, a factor in her favorite stories, and what could be more romantic than words like those? It sounded like...Great Lion, it sounded like he liked her. Or maybe more than that. This was amazing. She wasn't sure what she'd done to get the Great Lion's attention, but the Mwezi'Johari was beginning to look like the gateway to the best things happening to her.
Right, there was a question in there, although probably a rhetorical one.
"I hope we never find the answer to that." Completely oblivious to the replacement of 'you' with 'we.'
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:14 pm
He had to laugh at that. Mziwanda's openness and belief - belief in him! - was so childishly naive, Gairnéad felt a powerful urge to protect her and those beliefs. She really was a sweet lioness. The scarlet lion wished that he'd had a sister like her growing up. If he had, well, maybe he wouldn't have been so keen to leave them all.
But if he had had a sister like Mziwanda, he never would have met the purple lioness. Now there was a conundrum.
"Only time will ever tell," he replied, unsure of what to say after that. He had the oddest feeling that if it was possible, her eyes would be shining brighter than the stars in the night sky.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:21 pm
There was silence, for a moment. A long moment, that for Mzi was filled with a curious sort of awestruck, wondering tension. One way or another, it had to give. When it eventually did, it was in a fashion that would surprise few familiar with her--she leaned a little closer to Gairnéad with a brief, shy nuzzle.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:28 pm
Green eyes widened in startlement as he felt the unlooked-for sign of affection. He stiffened in surprise and, for a moment, considered leaning away from that which he had not sought. But another moment passed and Gairnéad reconsidered.
It was just a way for Mziwanda to say "thank you" to him. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
As they stood there together, his tail flicked out and around her rear, just for another little moment. A "thank you" for the "thank you". That's all.
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