[FIN] Depressed (Ota & Nyeusi)

[mouselet]

The longer Shangyue stayed in power, the more depressed Nyeusi became. It had been hard enough to lose the King and Queen so quickly. Harder to know they'd been killed. Harder still to watch her family be torn apart.

After the initial bloodshed and violence, things had settled down somewhat, and the black lioness had waited cheerfully for her family to repair the rifts. But...that hadn't happened. Spiralia had disappeared early on. And her grandfather still wasn't talking to her mother or father, though he seemed polite enough when she saw him. Though...also kind of distant.

And the underlying tensions in the pride didn't vanish either.

Nyeusi had been a cheerful and overeager cub, and had remained that way through to adulthood. But now, the weight of the world was bowing her down and the young lioness sat, blue eyes dull, staring out sightlessly. There was no end in sight. The pride, and her family, would be damaged forever...

"Oh Great Lion, why can't everyone just get along?" she moaned aloud to the moon above.  

[mouselet]

Anyone who knew Nyeusi (which was really everyone who cared to in the pride) would have been surprised, if not downright shocked to see her. True, not much was visible in the half-moon's light with her dark fur, but what could be seen was startling. Nyeusi's fur hung lank and ratty on her bones, showing that she'd lost weight. Nor was it groomed, with scruffy bits and cowlicks in random places on her body.

But it was those dead blue eyes that truly spoke volumes of how the young lioness' hope had fled. She gazed fixedly at the moon above, willing the Great Lion to answer her. Somehow.

"Everything started going wrong when the King died...everything King Shangyue's done is wrong..." the words were far quieter than her initial outburst, but not so low as be a murmur.

"So wrong..."  

[mouselet]

Distracted as she was by her grief, Nyeusi could have been forgiven for not hearing Ota's approach or her words. However, the dark female wasn't that far gone, not yet.

"Ota," she replied dully, swerving her head around to look at the white lioness in acknowledgement of her presence.

"Are any of us okay?" she continued in a lifeless tone. "King Shangyue sits on a throne of blood, even if only a few died for it, and that blood flows through the pride and pushes us all farther apart."

This was so clearly wrong, and yet the Priests did nothing to stop the usurper. Some even supported him.  

[mouselet]

The dark lioness turned at the sound of her name, expressionless, but waited to hear what it was that Ota would say. What...she had to be careful now? When saying what everyone knew? The thought was absolutely absurd!

To the surprise of everyone, Nyeusi snorted. Then started chuckling. Her fit developed into full-throated, harsh laughter. It took her a few tries, but finally the black female was able to regain control.

"Be careful who I speak to? Ridiculous! Everyone knows that the Great Lion has turned his back on the pride-!" Nyeusi was gearing up for a long rant about what "everyone knew" when the sense of what she'd just said penetrated.

The younger lioness stopped speaking abruptly and stared off into space again, eyes wide as she contemplated something.  

[mouselet]

The black lioness heard Ota's words and nodded, more focused on her own realization that the white lioness had supported, instead of what the older female had revealed.

"You're right," Nyeusi answered, sounding much more like herself now. Her tone was firm and her words certain as she pushed herself to her feet. Her eyes were still wider than usual, but there was some focus and sanity in them again.

"You're absolutely right. The Great Lion has not turned His back on the pride, but on our King!" The dark lioness turned to the light, her excitement building. "We have to tell everybody! Show the pride!" The more Nyeusi spoke, the more manic her expression became, until she seemed as crazed as before, this time filled with energy instead of despondence.  

[mouselet]

Nyeusi snorted again. "Maybe you can't, but I certainly can!" she retorted. It didn't matter that they were both in the Lower Middle class or that Priests had to be of far higher birth. It was clear to the black lioness that her cousin had no intention of or interest in helping her spread the word throughout the pride. That was fine with Nyeusi. She had something to do, a purpose in life, and she was going to live it!

Without a single backward glance, the darker female strode off into the night, determined to tell the next person she saw all about Shangyue's lack of blessing.