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 Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:23 am
It was a gorgeous night, but not for the stars that danced brightly above or the harmony of the cicadas in the grass. It wasn't even for the fact that this land was bright and green and living. No, the night was gorgeous for the fact that she could now see a future where there had once been blackness.
Certainly the feeling of fresh, cool grass under paw was a blessing as well--it had been so long since she had know this that the sensation was almost completely foreign now. And yet, the memory rushed back to her as soon as she'd stepped from Ushaufu's back onto the grasslands of a blossoming savannah. Where she was, the lioness wasn't certain, but she was with Ushaufu--her lover, how it was to think--and there was water and life and food. The thought of the last made her stomach grumble, for no matter how she'd longed to fill herself with the cool liquid, she hadn't. It would do no one good to flounder herself, no matter a voice that told her it was best to use such resources while she had them.
Instead, Kizuka had removed herself from the edge of the small watering hole and gone to rest upon a hill, under a grizzly baobab tree to wait for Ushaufu to return. He'd dropped her there with "orders" to rest until he returned with food. For once she'd been perfectly content to wait about while another did work, for in this case it made sense. Though it was a lionesses place to hunt for the males, she doubted her strength in this case. There really was only one way to get it back, of course.
Kizuka licked her paws languidly, taking time to work a little more on her appearance now that she had a chance. There was a small embarassment that he would come back to find her so wasted away, but she had done the best that should could. It simply wasn't practical to beat her own brow for a problem she had no way of solving. Yet... Kizuka shook her head. It was best not to think about it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:53 am
Actualy, no, take that back; he was content and acomplished, and for once in his life, he felt both proud and strangely enough... he felt he belonged. The feeling was foreign, but not unwelcomed, thought the god as he dragged the corpse of the the kill he'd managed to take down. Not everything new was threatening, as he'd found out only just recently; since a little while back, Deception was more open to things than he'd been as a cub, however, it'd not tainted his essense.
He was, and would always be Deception; it took patience and understanding to put up with him, and he still reeled in the fact this one lioness was able to do what many others had failed to in comparism. Only his sister and his adoptive brother, alongside Varg, had even been able to put up with him; in the case of his sister, she'd always overlapped his power, and in the case of his 'brother'... well, it'd been easily proved that Deception was very close to Denial within the past few months.
Keeping his wings tucked out of sight, Ushaufu moved his kill nearer to the spot he knew he'd left Kizuka at; it wouldn't pay off to have someone spot his wings, he figured, and besides... Deception was his game anyhow. He enjoyed hidding the fact he was a god; decieving others was an enoyable passtime.
His now larger bulk allowed him to move the corpse without mayor problem, and he soon enough reached the hill top his mate rested upon, "Hopefully this'll do for you, and will leave enough for the cub," obviously he knew Kimaji was no longer a cub, however... that lioness would always remain cub-like within his mind. Not only due to the way she acted and her ideals, but due to something else Ushaufu wasn't quite able to put his paw on. He'd later come to understand this as 'parenthood' of some sort; he'd since silently adopted the smaller lioness, to the point of keeping her sattisfied food-wise at the cost of him not eatting. No more of that however; he'd be able to huntand bring back food while Kizuka recovered.
Allowing himself to lay down by the smaller female, the god arched a brow, "So, you were telling me about another one; a sickly lioness. I'm interested," of course he was; he'd been keen to find out the gender of this 'new one' at first, secretly quite sattisfied it'd been a female, and thus no risk to his general ego, "If she's as sickly as all that, we could always bring her some back," he motioned towards the kill before setting his head over Kizuka's back, allowing her to eat.
Had be not been too ocupied with the idea of finaly being together with Kizuka, he'd have noticed the fact his wings were once more visible, despite him not having dropped his disguise at all.
Meanwhile, not far away, Audilifu HAD in fact noticed the reach of her powers were dimming as she neared a distant spot; despite the fact she'd been travelling for a while since she'd left Denial and Irrationality, she'd noticed that the tug of Deception had weakened to a general... equal-ness of sort. No longer did his powers overlap hers, but at the same time, hers no longer overlapped his; they seemed to cancel eachother out instead, "Well," she murmured the the clouds as she flew along, "This should be interesting, at least."
What she hadn't noticed was that she too, had grown in that short span of time; it was barely a noticeable change though. Her wings had become larger, the mane that fell over her eyes and along the back of her neck and the horn that protuded from her forehead longer... she'd, after all, not paused to stare at herself in the mirror of a pond.
Had she noticed though, Truth would have decided things would be only more interesting. This in mind, she allowed herself to land, her wings tucking themself over her back as she walked towards the hilltop; what she found there, once the moonlight was strong enough to allow the goddess to see, made her smile, "Told you so," the words were directed to the female that ate, as her brother rested by her side. The smile only widened as her brother's eyes snapped towards her.
"I didn't feel you nearby."
"I didn't overlap your realm."
There was a silent understand after these words and for the first time in his sister's presence, Ushaufu clsed his eyes and purred. The sound was probably not audiable to the pink lioness, but due to their position, it was clear Kizuka at least felt it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:38 pm
Kizuka's head rose when Ushaufu returned. The smell of the still-warm corpse he carried with him was more than welcome and she'd almost risen to help him when she realize he likely didn't want her to. Having spent so much time around him made it a little easier to read his moods, and... well he'd always been fairly independent, or else insistent on helping the girls. Especially Kimaji, her mind prodded with a note of happiness for that. It had occurred to her before that he was very good to her daughter, but before tonight the possible why of it hadn't been to prominent. Now... Kizuka eyed her mate with a speculative eye. Did he feel as she thought he might?
Well, there was no better way to know that to ask, but bringing that up tonight would be asking far too much if he didn't. Either way, there was hot food about and no reason to let it get colder. With a sweet nuzzle of gratitude, she leaned forward to dig into the meat offered her.
Regardless of her hunger, Kizuka attempted to pace herself.. as well as limit herself. As with the water, it wouldn't do to strain her body with this. There was, after all, no reason to gorge and flounder herself. She did, however eat with a rather single mindedness towards the food. It could be noted that in all of this the lioness made certain to stay away from the more tender areas of the beast; those were undoubtedly being reserved for her daughter.
When the worst of the hunger pains had abetted, Kizuka's ear swiveled to Ushaufu's words. She nodded a little, licking the blood from her maw, and responded with a husky voice more akin to her original than the gravel it had long since become. "We should probably take back as much as we can.. No need to waste the poor creatures life, either." Though she'd always believed as much, the hunger she'd faced these last few months only emphasized that point.
Still nibbling on the carcass every so often, Kizuka considered the female she'd welcomed into "her" cave. "Momo is... well Odd isn't exactly the term. I'm surprised at her strength, to have survived what had to be quite a trip in the desert, no matter how badly it tolled on her. Still, there seems to be something worse to her than her body... she's blacked out things, whether it was due to the desert or something else I've no clue." Kizuka shrugged lightly. Just as she bent to take another nibble on the carcass again an familiar voice sounded and they were no longer alone.
The lioness raised her head to greet the goddess, giving her a slight nod. Her... sister-in-law, in a weird sort of fashion. That was an odd thought, more so than Mo'onasai could ever be. Or, for that matter, their conversation which she didn't at all understand. So, she said nothing but waited for the siblings to catch up. Ushaufu's purr where he had previously seemed to have a high disregard for his sibling was somewhat surprising, though.
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:01 am
Ears had flickered to listen to talk about this 'Momo' character, the god suddenly deciding that it was almost natural for others to not voice their pasts; everyone had tiny (sometimes large actualy) secrets they wished to keep away from prying eyes and ears. He did not judge this unknown female, nor did he condem her, "We all have secrets," it was breathed only for Kizuka to hear before his head lifted from her back, "Dili," it was said cordially as a greating, now that both his powers and hers cancelled eachother, he didn't seem to feel the need to run off for the provervial hills.
Thank god too; he was rather tired of running, actualy. He'd spent the good portion of the last few months 'running', even if it was from something invisible that only he could feel. It was bound to get tiresome after a while, "I smell Uka on you," a pause as his nose wrinkled, "Someone else too; rather a wild scent. Who the hell are you asociating with lately anyhow?" slowly turning his head towards his mate, he allowed his tongue to pass over her ears, grooming her as a means to keep both her and himself calm.
The gods knew they both needed it; specialy when tiptoeing around someone like Dili.
Truth smiled before allowing herself to sit, a few meters away from the couple, as if to give them their required space. She was well aware that newly formed couples tended to be dangerously jelous, and overstepping boundaries was not something she thought would be wise; that aside she wanted to stay on this particular female's good side, for some reason or another, "Right; Denial said he'd visit you later, and the other scent you catch on me..." she allowed herself to grin at this point, "Would be Irrationality."
There came a pause of Ushaufu's tongue before he rolled his eyes, "Figures," resuming his grooming of Kizuka's neck, the god turned only one eye towards his sister, "She's female?"
"Irrationality? Yes; her name's Muhali," the fact that 'Muhali' was female had startled the male; that much had not gone unnoticed, and Audilifu allowed herself a soft chuckle, "She's rather pleasent company, so long you don't engage debate with her," this said she turned towards Kizuka, "I see you went after him; I'm not sure if that was the best choice, or the worst one. Heaven only knows how you're able to put up with him. You must have the patience of a saint..." it was at this point however, that Truth's voice trailed off into a hushed whisper, her purple eyes blinking once, twice before she tilted her head.
Suddenly, confussion had seeped into her otherwise soft, happy features; though her power was more or less cancelled by that of her brother's they both still have basic instincs; she could more or less see the truth in others, while her brother could see deception in others. Audilifu suddenly decided that what she'd just seen was not something she liked and her eyes narrowed before she caught herself and smiled awkwardly, a paw raising as she coughed into it, "So!" the fact she was avoiding something... the fact she'd seen something was clearly noticeable, "You both going back? To that jungle I mean..."
Ushaufu's eyes narrowed, his tongue pausing before he turned to his sister, "What," it wasn't a question, it was almost an order, however, Truth merely smiles and waved her paw, as if to dismiss something, however, Deception was not to be fooled. It was near imposible to decieve The Deciever.
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:10 am
"Secrets, yes, and those I wouldn't pry into; I only repeat what information she offered herself," Kizuka responded is a similar whisper. It was true, Momo had admitted, sans prompting, to not having a good recollection of why she'd been in the jungle at all. Of course, that could have been deception now that he himself brought it up... but Kizuka prefered to think that it wasn't. And, if it was, she'd rather not know. The poor thing certainly wasn't a friend, persay, but she still needed the help, regardless of what had pushed her into the jungle. ... At least, she certainly didn't seem the kind that would have gone on a homocidal rage or other such potentially damaging thing. Kizuka frowned a little, then shoved those thoughts away: there was no sense in worrying over something that had absolutly no founding to it.
The grooming helped to ease her thoughts, and Kizuka settled further into Ushaufu's side without hesitation. That she was allowed to do that sent yet another thrill into her, and she nearly laughed at her adolescent reactions. His mouth was so close to her ear, though, it wasn't hard to keep out of their conversation. Who was Uka?
That question, and the next, was easily cleared up if she was following their speech correctly. She'd long since noted Ushaufu's tendency to refer to himself by his 'domain,' as they termed it, and had in fact begun to use the terminology herself. Dili was Truth, through and through, and therefore by context alone Uka must be Denial as Irrationality was Muhali. It was amusing that he'd assumed that domain was male, though, and somewhat typically masculine of him. Somehow that thought garnished a purr from his female, and Kizuka offered the world a blissfully content expression.
"Yes, I went after him," She replied presently to Dili's statement of fact. For once Kizuka allowed a comment that could have been considered goading to slip past unscolded, if not unchecked. Instead of bristling, she continued smoothly, "It was the only choice I could make. I'm certain if you could find Love she'd likely agree with me." Rather proud of herself for that line, she offered Dili a smile only to be greeted by a strange statement and slight glare from the Goddess. Kizuka's own brows rose, but before she could ask yet another somewhat challenging remark was issued.
Fortunatly, Ushaufu came to Umande'mfuni's defense before she could. Though the lionness bristled, she remained where she was against Deception's side and chose not to retort to that particular statement or attitude towards the land that was her own. Despite that Kizuka had herself considered giving it up and moving on, she hadn't and she still held a deep rooted love and loyalty towards the land. Unlike Ushaufu, it couldn't defend itself, either, from attacks--verbal of otherwise.
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:40 am
Secrets Ushaufu could understand; he was almost a living lie, and secrets were not too far off from lies, in a sense, thus he merely nodded slightly at his mate, no words coming forth, but rather, the action brief before he focussed his attention Dili. The goddess seemed content with regarding them, but she looked troubled, almost as if suddenly uncomfortable with being there; Ushaufu could tell due to the way she seemed to be frowning. The gesture fell short of an actual frown, and at the same time, the way his sister's expressions worked, Deception knew that it was. Not allowing himself to dwell on just why his sister would be acting thus way, the god turned to groom Kizuka's pelt again.
For some reason beyond him, doing this was helping him relax himself down. He figured it had to do with the contact, however, it was all rather new to him, and so he stored the information into the darker chambers of his mind, intent on asking the female about such feats later, once they were alone.
Truth's eyes seemed to cloud even further at the mention of Love; her ears pinned back for a moment as she bit her lip. As soon as the strangely haunted expresion came however, it was gone, and only a small darkening of her otherwise brightly purple eyes remain, "Love, huh?" there was a pause during which the goddess lifted her paw, running her tongue between her digits in an attempt to sort out her own thoughts. It was unlike her to act like this, but that single word had sparked her earlier premonition into a flame, and had added a second worry she'd been denying for a very long time.
Denial; how ironic.
"Love's not eternal thought," the words were said softly as she placed her paw upon the floor again; the same haunted expression seemed to remain about the pink goddess' form as she watched both lions before her. It was a warning of sorts, almost as if she were trying to hint at something that she didn't quite wish to voice out completely. Thus the words remain cryptic in a way. The messague was there though, and she figured that it was enough for them to ponder on later, "Just like your jungle isn't eternal either," another pause as she lifted her gaze to the stars, almost as if no longer talking about them, but herself suddenly, "Things change; they always change. Not always for the better either," turning her gaze towards her brother and Kizuka, she seemed worried, "Are you ready to accept change?"
As smart as Deception was, there was something about his sister's words he could not seem to phantom; he'd stopped grooming his mate and was by then tilting his head awkwardly at her, as if trying to make sense of it. It'd not be till later... much, much later that her words would actualy strike home and he'd understand their meaning.
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:51 am
Kizuka eyed the female warily, suddenly a little scared of what Dili was hinting at. The female made her nervous, ina strange fashion, and she suddenly wasn't terribly keen on spending more time in her presence than absolutly necessary. Not even the feeling of Ush's careful grooming or the satisfaction of an unusually full stomach could ease the sudden chill that sapped Kizuka's bones. And yet, she managed to ignore it, turning her maw down to her paws once more.
Love wasn't eternal? Oh, how Kizuka wished to argue that. Even as she began to shape the words to do so, however, she stopped. Something, she didn't know what, blocked the path her thoughts needed to travel to come up with a logical arguement. That something didn't seem inclined to be moved, and the dread sense of forboding associated with this block allowed Kizuka's normally stubborn nature to slide on not having her curiosity fulfilled. Instead, she did much as Dili had and began to clean her paws with a fasticious amount of attention.
"Change is inevitable," She finally said, in a voice almost too soft to be heard. "there is nothing you can do that will stop it, and so one must learn to move with it or drown in its tide." Kizuka looked up, once more towards the Goddess and shrugged. "I'll take my chances with the current."
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:04 am
"Ah," it wasn't really a response, and specially not a response eloquent enough to have come out of Truth herself, alas, it was all the lioness offered the couple before her eyes narrowed slightly. It was clear that some train of thought was bothering her, and it became it more clear when she opened her maw to say something, only to close it again swiftly. Now, Ushaufu might've been slightly distracted, but his own red eyes narrowed as he gazed at his sister; she'd hesitated. Audilifu never hesitated, and though he wished to ask just what was in her mind, the fact she was not all too willing to voice made Deception wary, "At any rate," came Audilifu's voice, an edge to it her brother could recognise as wistfulness, "I think I've interrupted you enough," a wink came about her features, it was brief though, and held no true force within it, "I'll intrude no further."
The male narrowed his eyes further, his tongue slipping out of his maw briefly to lick at his mate's neck; the movement was done for his benefit and hers. It relaxed him, and he was hoping it'd sooth the bicolored female too, for he was, after all, well aware of the way his sister affected his mate. He couldn't blame her however - it was hard o handle truth; lies were always easier to handle than the slightly flamboyant female, whom seemed to know more than anyone else just by looking into someone's eyes. Thus, nodding at the goddess, he seemed to both dismiss her and allow her the moment to pad off whilst she could; it seemed to be what she wanted, and tell truth, he wanted time alone to ponder her words.
Again the female smiled; she'd seen that look within her brother's eyes... the look that voiced the fact her words had been assimilated and would be processed later, whilst alone, "I hope you really are open to change," this said, she turned away from them, her wings slowly opening, though she did not flap them as she padded away into the darkness, "Change is inevitable, and at times... never expected - specially where love between worlds is concerned," hoping this was hint enough, yet not leading enough to frighten them, the goddess offered them a sad smile and padded away. Her form was clearly visible for Ushaufu as she opened her wings in the distance launched herself into the skies, vanishing into the clouds.
Still grooming his mate's neck, the god clicked his tongue over his fangs, "Are we really prepared for change, you think?" he was trying to figure out his sister's words, offering them to his mate for discussion, now that they were alone and probably more comfortable.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:18 am
Kizuka watched, from the corner of her eye, as the other female departed. She couldn't deny that she was glad of truth's departure--and it was odd to think that that goddess was now a part of her family, in a way. Her mind attempted to reaffirm the fact that the dislike wasn't personal but.... well, perhaps it was. She really hadn't spent enough time with Dili to know her, but not even she was so patient as to be able to withstand one such as her so long. In the end, Kizuka attempted to force it out of her mind when Ushaufu asked that question of her.
Was she prepared?
The Storm King knew how Kizuka hated change. Her entire life had been nothing but change, and while it was inevitable there was more than a little part of her that wanted to just find a place to settle and simple "be" for time, without change. But to get there, she reasoned, a lot would have to change. The most welcome change of all, other than the one that had just happened, was the anticipated return of the rains. Was she prepared for change?
Even this newly formed understanding between them had a lot further to go. They may have acknowledged their feelings, and in that truth found an accord between them for showing it whereas they had danced upon the subject for months before, but there was still a good distance to go. Relationships were never easy--a fact she knew quite well--and there would be bumpy roads ahead as they got used to one another... and inevitably changed with one another.
Whether or not they were prepared for it, it wouldn't matter, it would come.. and thus it was probably better to assume that they were and keep on living than worry over what couldn't be stopped.
"I think we are," she said finally from where she'd long since tucked her head against his chest as she thought. Lifting her head and shoulders once more, she drug her nech and cheek against him in an affectionate sort of gesture. Suddenly she was very much aware that there were things she certainly wanted to change between them and found herself giving his neck a more than affectionate sort of n**. "We're a good team, you and I; as we've proven before. I think there are changes that would be good for us."
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:08 pm
Despite Kizuka's words of comfort, something troubled Deception; something lurking at the back of his mind. He couldn't quite put his paw on it either, and thus, used to denial, the god shoved the small worm of a feeling to the back of his mind, offering his mate a small smile, used to deceive others; it'd worked countless times, though Ushaufu knew, if someone could tell when he wasn't being entirely honest, it was this lioness before him.
The single thought should have been somewhat disturbing for someone so used to deception... for someone that lived from it, and yet the god found himself not only not minding, but enjoying the thought, "There are some that would be bad for us too," his voice rumbled as he smirked, final standing up and away from her body, stretching himself out to the very tip of his tail; something about his sister always caused him to tense up and thus her departure was appreciated to the point his muscles could finally relax. It probably had to do with the fact their realms were so different and far apart. There was, and would always be tension between them, he figured, "I figure, if a mortal deems herself ready, it's only right I do too," the words were teasing, for despite their status, he'd long ago deemed the female his equal. Something no other had managed to accomplish, at least withing deception's eyes.
Mere seconds followed before he turned his blood red gaze off into the distance, "We should go; do you want to walk?" he figured she would; Kizuka was used to relieving stress through walking. He'd never told her, but those days after her cub's father had left, he'd watched her from the shadows. She'd padded around in circles, murmuring to herself; in fact, Ushaufu had been quite sure at the time, that she'd have carve circles and lines into the ground for all the walking she'd done as she hissed. He'd been secretly fascinated, and secretly happy of this departure, for after all, he'd held no links with the adult male, but seeing what he'd though was his toy in such distress had bothered him. He'd taken to watching her, even when she though he wasn't there. There'd come a time he'd been unable to, of course, his own body and mind coming between such a 'foul' act, however, he'd picked up on certain behaviors of hers during such a time, "We can fly when you get tired, but I have an inkling of a feeling that you rather have all four paws on the ground," he turned, starting to walk away, only to turn to look her over the shoulder, offering her one of his rarer smiles; somewhere between roguish and perhaps a bit teasing, yet never meant to harm, "Besides, I learnt that walking was good for thinking... from a friend I watched in distress, long ago."
And this, was no lie. Because even then, way back then, she'd been a friend.
((one more from you, Kissy?))
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:20 am
"A walk would do me good," she agreed and stood to follow him. After giving a good stretch of her withered body, the lioness turned to stroll at the side of her mate. Walking was indeed good therapy for her, a habit long since made firm by years of wandering as she had done. Her side brushed his in an affectionate gesture. "Mm.. Said friend is wise."
The smirk on her lips was playful as was the glance in her eyes. She hadn't known he'd watched those times that now seemed so long ago, but the knowledge didn't make her uneasy. Rather, it seemed to add a little more joy to her heart and step. "Oh." Kizuka paused, turning to look back at the corpse they'd left a few steps behind. Already she could see the beady eyes out in the dark that spoke of the scavengers waiting on the lion to leave--surely had she been alone they'd have already chased her from the meat. "Well hunt on the way there," She ventured, intending fully to help or do it herself this time about. The scraps they'd left weren't worth it, in the long run, and were very cold by this time.
That in mind, the lioness turned herself back to walking by his side... which was exactly where she wanted to be right now. The rest of the world just seemed to fade a little, and for a time she was happy.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:25 am
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