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 Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:32 pm
Mtima was lazing around the den in the afternoon sun, alone. Everyone else had gone off to do their own thing for the day, so she'd taken the time to herself closer to home. It was a beautiful day, and for that she was grateful. Her wings were hidden from mortal view, as per usual, if only now because she could not be certain when to expect the others to return.
With a small smile on her maw, she rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes. Now was a good time to doze off, she thought. Nice and peaceful.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:45 pm
 Accompanied by the rhythmic patterings of her large, beaten paws as she walked along a slightly worn path, a pair of inquisitive green eyes sparkled in the bright sunlight of the afternoon. Her gait, however, was rather curious. For she didn't walk in a long, even stride as many other lions did, but hers today was more of a scamper... a curious skipping as she traced the faint footprints of another that she had found on the path, faintly trying to whistle an unfamiliar tune as she went.
Her smile was crooked and her brow furrowed as she stared nearly crosseyed at the prints before her. Left paw, right paw, left, right; the routine was nearly military now, but she still staggered and swayed as she progressed, which must have looked extremely abnormal for she was not a juvenile as her behavior often gave way, but a fully grown adult.
She continued blowing air through her pursed lips until the footprints caused her to halt abruptly when there were no longer footprints, but instead there was a rather large yellow blob in the dirt before her. She skidded and slid in the loose dirt, not touching the creature before her directly but a very slight spray of dirt was sent in the direction of the dozing--or dead creature.
Kia leaned over the corpse in the dirt, her brows raised and her nostrils flared. This creature was wanting of an investigation--in Kia's mind at least.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:56 pm
In her half-sleeping state, Mtima had started to dream. The dream was of nothing in particular, but was enough to keep the smile on her face. It was forgotten when the signs that she was not alone were too much to ignore, and her eyes snapped open and her mind snapped out of sleep. The dirt thrown at her reached her nose first, causing a slight irritation that lead to a sneeze.
She lifted her head, looking in the direction of the stranger. This lioness was a good soul, she could see that without a doubt in her mind- especially at this distance from her.
"Hello there," she greeted her politely, "I'm Mtima'safi, what's your name?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:05 pm
Interrupted from her peeking by the sharp sound of a sneeze, Kia stepped backwards once, recoiling slightly in the sound. One of her brows rose again, slightly surprised when the creature turned to speak to her in such a sweet manner rather than complaining about being disturbed. This was encouraging, this lioness--and it was indeed a lioness judging by the shape of its face and the tone of its voice-- would probably be the nice sort and that sort was exactly the type that Kia was always keen on meeting
a grin slowly sliding onto her blank features, Kia nodded, looking down at her companion, rocking back and forth slightly on the fronts of her paws. It had been a while since she met somebody new.
"A pleasure to meet you Mtima'safi" she said with a curt half-bow "I am Kia." She took a moment to think, supposing she should say something else.
"...and you are very yellow" she nodded, her brows raised and the grin still on her face, her last remark was intended as a complement, but Kia hadn't quite mastered the art of intelligent communication.
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Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:11 pm
Mtima smiled at Kia's introduction, returning the half-bow in the form of a polite nodding of her head. She didn't seem to mind the yellow comment, either. She was quite fond of her colors, it was part of who she was.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kia," she replied, standing up and shaking some of the dust from her fur calmly. Then she took a moment to get a better look at Kia, to return the compliment, "You're very.."
She caught sight of the strange mark on the lioness' forehead, and raised an eyebrow. The goddess wasted no effort being tactful as she leaned over a bit to get a good look at it through the fur on Kia's head. She didn't finish her sentence.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 11:21 am
"Orange? Brown?" Kia laughed, stirring up possible answers to finish Mtima's open ended sentence. "Pleasant, beautiful, charming?" she chuckled, how full of herself she must have appeared.
Distracted by coming up with words to do herself justice she hardly noticed the other lioness's eyes tracing her forehead, but as soon as she did she obliged the other by pushing back the tuft of hair blocking her mark to reveal the long image of a tufted feather.
Kia glowed, loving the chance to show off her one mark that was a little less than natural.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:09 pm
Mtima didn't finish the sentence, even when given suggestions by Kia. She certainly wouldn't disagree with any of the wonderful adjectives, but she was distracted. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as Kia revealed the feather, and then shot from the lioness' forehead, to her body, then toes, then tail and back to her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, shaking her head. The goddess had no intention of being rude, but she was so surprised to see someone looking so.. familiar. She was a bit paler in color than what Mtima would have thought, but Kia looked like she'd have fit well into a pride that had not too long ago disappeared.
"Who are your parents, Kia?" she asked curiously, "Are they members of a pride, or were they?" She might not know any members by name, but perhaps the lioness had heard stories from them, or whatever parent the feather came from.
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:15 pm
Kia blinked, surprised at the question but glad to answer it non-the-less. The images of her father and mother were pulled to the front of her mind as if she was pulling treasure from dirt. Thier images shown like gold in her fondest memories of the mother who she hadn't seen since she was a juvenile. She remembered her mark, the feather that was now spread to her daughter's forehead. Her memory then traced back to the moment not so long ago when she had first met her father. His orange coat and his green eyes, the eyes that were the seed to Kia's own.
"My mother's name is Amoret and my father's is Danzi" she smiled warmly in recollection of thier smiling faces "I never recalled my mother being in a pride, but father told me that he's often at the pridelands... I imagine he belongs there"
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:48 pm
Mtima could see the surprise in Kia's eyes, but her focus was more on the answer to the questions she asked- she was at least pleased to see the smile on the other lioness's face. It meant she did know her parents. When she named her parents and their pride affiliations, the goddess hesitated.
"Which gave you the beautiful feather on your forehead?" she continued to question, the a small smile came to her face when she realized that Kia said her father was often in the Pridelands. This lioness also had a connection to this pride, then.
What an interesting visitor.
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:14 pm
"The feather is Amoret's, my mother's" she said with a nod "The splotches on my ears are also from her" Kia's eyes rested on the other lioness's face, trying to pick up any traces of expression that could mean she knew her mother, or her father even. She couldn't come up with any other reason for this other lionness to be asking her of her roots for she had never encountered somebody with such an interest before.... that is unless she had stumbled across a region in which it was polite to ask of others' roots.... what an unnerving idea
Kia's expression shifted to some degree when this thought crossed her mind and caused her to bite on her bottom lip nervously, but tried to remain cheerful. She was sure that if she had been rude by not returning the questioning she would suffer for it shortly anyways... might as well build up a brick wall now.
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 5:29 pm
Mtima was silent for a moment after Kia revealed her mother as the source of the feather, and the marks on her ears. She took a couple seconds of the silence to admire the ears, then finally put her eyes back on Kia's face. It was obvious the goddess was making the lioness nervous.
"Brown, maybe?" she murmured curiously, tilting her head. Her expression turned to a smile, "I'm sorry for all the questions, Kia. I don't mean to pry. My pride, long before I came here.. the feather was an important mark." Mtima's words were slow and thoughtful, but not without some reassuring cheeriness. She was obviously implying that perhaps Amoret was a member of the same pride as her.
It was, of course, a bit of a stretch on the truth. Mtima imagined it'd be easier on Kia to think of her as a member, not a deity, of the pride.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:20 pm
Kia's expression read slight confusion, but she nodded anyhow and answered to what she thought was the appropriate answer "Yes, mother is brown... a few shades darker than me and not quite as orange" she smiled slighty "and your questions are no trouble at all I assure you"
What Mtima had said still rested uneasily in her mind however, but it was more of an uneasy sort of curiosity that was bound to gnaw at Kia's sanity until she was forced to inquire about it. If curiosity was ever to kill a cat, its first target would be Kia, and Kia was rather severely wondering what could be so important about a feather. She nibbled her bottom lip until the questions pounding at her throat wouldn't remain masked any longer.
"Your pride? An important mark? The feather?" Kia stated quickly with the gleam of a child's enthusiasm in her green eyes "Do you know my mother? Do tell me more Miss Mtima'safi" Kia leaned forward slightly, an overly enthusiastic grin painted across her bright features
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Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:41 pm
Mtima watched Kia's expression change to confused, still sure that she must seem quite odd to the orange lioness. When she admitted that her mother was infact brown, her eyes shone brightly. It was indeed what she was thinking off, and it made her feel nostalgic just to look at Kia. She was happy here, with little exception (mostly over worry for her daughter) but she had fond memories of watching the pride.
"Yes, my pride," she paused, glancing from the feather to Kia's eyes, "Our pride. The feather symbolizes freedom, and usually marks a good soul. It wasn't the only mark important in the pride, there was the cross and mis-matched eye color." With these marks listed, Mtima lifted her chin and turned her head slowly- letting Kia get a look at her blue eye, and then her golden eye with half a cross over it. It was proof that she was from the same pride. Though Mtima didn't know it, they were marks Kia's mother did bear and proved that she wasn't making it up either.
"Perhaps I know your mother," the goddess continued, making a more daring statement that she herself knew was not likely, "Perhaps we are of some relation."
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Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:21 pm
Kia nodded slowly as the other lionness talked, at first the words that came from the lionness's mouth would have appeared as gibberish to the other, judging solely by the blank expression on Kia's face, but as time continued onward it slowly became apparant that Kia was simply in awe of what was being told to her.
Kia's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in some surprise, at first when the other spoke of the tribe as 'her tribe' and then 'thier tribe' she supposed that this lionness, though ordinary looking apart from a bright yellow color, was of importance to the mysterious tribe that she had been aluding to, perhaps she was even the queen. Kia glowed inwardly at being in the presence of somebody of such importance and sat, continuing to listen in silence.
She smiled, the feather symbolizing freedom, it was sheer irony that the mark on her forehead meant what it did to her companion for freedom, the ability to roam at will, was the only thing that Kia had ever asked for in her life thus far. As for the second half of the definition, Kia was not so prided in thinking of herself as owning a good soul but smiled giddily in thinking that others could perhaps think that connection to be true as well.
However difficult it was for Kia to keep her mouth shut as it was, whenever the yellow female turned her head and revealed her other eye her jaws parted entirely open and Kia was at a loss to her shock and was overcome with more of her trademark giddy joy.
"Those are my mother's!" she exclaimed, staring straight at the other's eyes, not caring at the moment whether it was rude or not "Except I must say that her golden eye was a tad more orange in color than yours..." Kia continued her study of the other's face before her expression was lit up once more and she spoke again, but more in a hushed tone of surprise the resemblences that she had overlooked before
"... my mother also had a cross over her golden eye.... though I suppose it looked rather much like a regular old x to my own personal knowledge" Kia smiled warmly, her own thoughts passing over the ideas.... what if they were related after all. She was meeting with more family and she had only known of her father mother and brother. Her heart leapt with joy at the prospect but did not speak another word of it at the present time, only glowed in her own hopes for satisfaction in the idea
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Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:48 pm
Mtima enjoyed watching Kia's face change, for the young lioness was quite expressive- hiding nothing that she felt, it seemed. It was an excellent quality to have, the goddess thought and though her head was tilted to show off the half-cross over her eye she beamed at Kia. However when Kia suddenly exclaimed that the traits she showed off were her mothers, her eyes widened and her head turned to look directly at Kia. Her expression was surprise and curiosity. She quickly covered it, smiling brightly at Kia.
"All three traits," Mtima commented quietly, extrapolating from Kia's comment of the cross being an x, "And both halves of the cross?"
It seemed, by Kia's description, her mother was more important than Mtima had first expected- more important than Kia would have realized. It was rare that all the traits were present.
"Well then," she smiled fondly at Kia, "That is interesting, it's not too common to have mis-matched eyes, a full cross and a feather. Sounds like we might be related." It was as good as true, she decided. Pridal connections were enough, and it seemed impossible to have all the traits by mere coinsidence.
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