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 Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:35 pm
When it had ended, and a fellow rogue shared some of his meal, Ghipe had learned about the disconnect of memories and the past. Being hungry was nothing but a nightmare, her sore muscles had begun to ease their aching. Life seemed trivial.
But, as with many things, the possibility of being tied down, of not being able to finish her pilgrimage, had made Ghipe panic. She stayed with the rogue for a day and a half, feasted well on his hospitality. When she'd escaped, Ghipe had reveled in her freedom for a few short hours before the sensation of being lost without a purpose began to sink in.
Nothing in the vast expand of beyond that people so quaintly called the rogue-lands was at all what she'd been told.
But no sight, not a single moment, compared to the overwhelming feeling of the ocean.
Ghipe stood, poised on the sandy top of a hill. Brush and wind-blown degree scattered her feet. Overhead, the sky was a churning wash of cold grey. The sun that peaked through in scattered blue holes made the air hot and clammy. Moisture and sand stuck to Ghipe's fur.
The lioness lacked the state of mind to toss a dreadlocks where it had fallen over one of her eyes. Ghipe's gaze remained transfixed while a frothy, whit curl slammed down into the earth.
She was sure she could feel it shake the ground under her toes.
Instinct told her to run. Curiosity asked her to take one more step. Logic said if she did, she would die. Perhaps not because of the ocean, but because her heart would burst out her chest.
"There is no way that is water." Being alone had made Ghipe start talking as if there was always someone there. She'd needed to hear noise, voices, and she'd often fall asleep telling herself a story. As long as no one appeared to remind her of reality, talking to herself seemed perfectly normal.
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:10 pm
 It had been weeks, now, since Hati had left the mountains to take his journey on the very flat (and quite frankly, very boring) rogue lands. The lion had been born after the Jini-msemi had moved from the swamplands to their new home. Such travel had been foreign to his still young paws. Still, the youthful lion made the most of his experiences. He had passed many different faces, now. Different species and different personalities, but none striking enough to make any sort of lasting impression. It was disappointing, really, but there wasn't much Hati could do but continue forward and hope that the next face would be one worth remembering.
The smell of salt clung to the air long before the sight of the ocean met the lion's eyes. And when he met the wide and open expanse, he found himself in a rare position of being lost for words. The ocean was vast and bright, the sky--bright and colorful from the setting sun--making the sight impossible to describe. He was told of the ocean (from a lioness, he believed. A wandering thief who gave up information in return for release after she was caught trying to swipe a perfectly good meal).
He'd stay there for a while, Hati decided. And the lion watched a few sunsets and walked the shores. The heaviness air became unnoticeable and dried salt cakes his paws and mane. He continued to meet many, even found himself wandering into a pride or two, but still no faces seemed to etch into his memory.
Maybe his expectations were just too high.
The tide was high and the ocean was rumbling when Hati saw the brown figure atop the sandy hill. The lion blinked, quirking a brow as he paused in his walking. Something about her seemed familiar, and the lion chalked it up to it being merely the look in her eye. The astonishment at seeing the ocean for the first time. It made him smile, and the moved closer.
"I thought that myself, the first time," he mused, looking at the lioness only briefly before turning his eye back out towards the ocean. He didn't seem to mind if he startled her or not, or that he had made it obvious that he was eavesdropping. "It's quite the thing though, isn't it? The ocean." It was then that Hati turned his bright gaze towards her, giving a half-cocked smile and making no motion to sweep his bang out of his eye. Oh yes, he was letting loose all the charm.
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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:49 pm
If you'd asked her, Ghipe would have said she'd known the lion had been there all along. In truth, her purple eyes had been so fixated on the heaving curl of the wavefront she hadn't known he was there at all.
The lionesses hackles went up and her eyes went wide. Her head jerked to one side, then the other, until she caught sight of the white and red pelt (hard to miss) among the dunes.
"It really is the ocean, then?" Ghipe recovered as quickly as she had startled. Her slightly tangled hair was tossed out of her face and she squinted in his direction. The sun glancing off the water had been hard on her eyes, and she found his image blurry.
The charm, poor fellow, was very much lost on Ghipe in the presence of the ocean. Young though she was, males, family, and living life to the fullest were the last things on her mind. She was just trying to survive from one day to the next.
"Do you live here?" she blurted out, taking another tentative step towards the ocean and then pausing to reconsider. Maybe she could just walk to where the male was standing. That must be a safe location.
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