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 Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 2:46 pm
Bari was searching. Her nose told her that over this way--no, not that way, more in this direction--that there was a pretty plant to find. She hadn't really been doing her job as of late and now she was bent on finding the prettiest of flowers for her grandmother. The young lioness had offered to help decorate the older female's new lazing spot in return for her own privacy (which was a big thing since Bari's own spot wasn't too far away from her grandmother's). So far, she had found a few decent-looking flowers/plants, some nice-looking rocks, and had put together some other decorations. It was looking good so far, which was all that mattered.
Still not finding the plant, the lioness huffed and rolled her eyes at herself. She'd find it; all she had to do was be patient. So Bari closed her eyes, sat down in front of the bush she was searching, and took a deep breath. All the scents from the swamplands infiltrated her nostrils, and she slowly sorted through them all. There was her own scent, and her mother's, father's, and other relatives as well. They were nearby. She shifted those off to the side. Then she tackled the natural ones, the earthy scents. There was a flower she had just passed. The bush she was sitting in front of. And there, right in the back, was the small plant she had been searching for.
Bari grinned and opened her eyes.
Kato for that was his name now though he had a habit of forgetting was exploring. Since he and Atla.. no that wasn't her name now... his twin arrived. The pride was so different to what they had been use to back in the Kusuni lands but he liked it here. It was different but not in a bad way. He adored it.
He let out a soft sigh and sniffed at the different smells, it was so strange. It was so nice. He stopped to turn and sniff at the near by leaves, how strange it was. It was so... so, he wasn't sure how to explain it. He seemed to fall in love with the lands and it was strange because surely he should have felt this about his birth lands?
He continued to walk when he noticed that there was a female near a bush, that or there was a very strange looking and smelling bush.
"Hello?" He spoke softly as he walked towards her, he didn't want to frighten her or anything.
Her ear twisted back and her head followed; there was a male there, one she hadn't met before. Bari smiled politely at him. "Hello!" she greeted in return. "How are you today?" His coat was a nice tan, with white and strange red markings. She hadn't thought there would be anyone like that here, but then again, she hadn't met everyone in the pride yet.
She had just been about to dive into the bush and seek out the plant whose smell had been teasing her for the past few minutes. Then she had heard his voice, and had calmly retreated out of the green to meet him.
"I'm Bari, by the way," she added, wrinkling her nose at herself and the lack of manners she displayed. Hopefully he wouldn't take it the wrong way.
He smiled at her as she said hello back. Well at least she was friendly!
"I am well thank you, how are you?" He spoke softly still, he generally always spoke softly. He was a happy guy and generally rather friendly. He smiled as she introduced herself, not realizing that she had forgotten to introduce herself.
"I am Alta... oh I mean Kato. This name change is rather confusing." He smiled awkwardly. He couldn't even remember what his twin had renamed herself. He would have to seek her out and find out what she had renamed herself.
"I am fine! Just being tested by this silly little plant," she giggled, nodding towards the bush in question. "I've been smelling it all morning and I couldn't find it until now. I'm going to pick it and give it to my grandmother. She's got her own little spot not too far away where she relaxes, see, and I offered to help decorate it. I know she loves flowers, and this one is so special that I'm pretty sure she'd like it as well." There she went again. Babbling.
Bari laughed and nodded. "Oh, I know. It took me a while to find my name, too, but it gets better the more you use it, trust me." She had once been known as Bamba to her family, before her naming quest had revealed to her the true name she was meant to take on as her own: Magebari-gura.
Kato listened, he didn't know much about flowers but it did look nice.
"It does look pretty but I don't know much about flowers to be honest. I guess I always let my sister deal with pretty things. She would probably know about flowers." Then again he wasn't sure if she would. He should know though, he and his sister were nearly always together.
"I hope it gets easier, I rather like my new name but it's just remembering it. I can't remember Atla's new name at all." He chuckled a little. This was clearly not good, how come he couldn't remember her new name? Probably because he wasn't listening when she told him what it was.
Bari laughed and nodded. "It is a girly thing, to know a lot about flowers, to be sure, though I have met some males who happen to like some 'girly' things. It's alright. Is she here too, your sister?" Perhaps they could meet and become friends as well, and they could share flower knowledge. The lioness would love that, to have a girl friend to talk with. One that wasn't related to her.
"Yeah, it only takes a little bit. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine. It's always hard for the first week or so, but then you start getting used to it. If it helps," she lowered her voice to a loud whisper, "you can talk to yourself in the third person, saying your name. That's what I did for a little while, and I heard it helped. And it did. Because then I became used to hearing that name and only that name for myself."
Strange, to be sure, but surely not all that bad if it worked in the end.
Kato chuckled. "True, I don't know many males who knows much about flowers. Oh yes my sister is here, we dont go far without each other." He smiled, he adored his sister they were really quite close and oh how he missed her when they weren't together!
Her idea was a rather strange one but maybe it could work? He would also needed to learn his and his sisters name. Maybe they should make some sort of deal so they always had to talk to each other and always using their names. Yes that seemed like a good plan!
"It's not that bad a plan. I might talk about it with my sister it could work if we are constantly using our new names!" He smiled thankful for the idea.
Oh, well that was good. It was always handy to have someone you knew really well around you all the time, especially when coming back to a place or entering a new one. If not for her family, Bari wasn't so sure that she would have adapted to the Swamplands so well. After all, her grandmother and mother were always so helpful and both had kind of jump-started her daily adventures anyway.
"Good! I'm glad I could help a bit. Let me know how it goes; I'll help and call you both by only your new names, too," she offered as well, adding "Kato" onto the end with a grin.
"So when did you and your sister return to the pride? Couldn't have been that long ago, right?"
"Thanks!" He smiled, it was nice that someone could help.
"Return? Oh no we didn't return to the pride. We travelled here from the pride we were born in. We didn't know what we had come to till we were here and well it just seemed like home so we stopped and decided to seek out someway of staying here... which is when we changed our names."
She smiled, and then frowned in understanding.
"Oh, I see. Well, welcome to the pride then! I'm glad that you decided to stay and call it home as well." The swamplands, though very swampy and wet and humid and bountiful in green things, was very much a 'home' to Bari as well. Her once-home in the rogue lands (out in the middle of nowhere, too) had been a bit dry for her taste, to be honest, and she rather liked the wetness of this land. As dirty as the water could be, it also washed away everything else, and Bari liked that.
Kato smiled,
"Thanks! Have you always lived here?" He was curious she just seemed at ease and really at home here so there was no harm in asking, he was sure she always lived here though. She just seemed to fit in. He hoped one day he would look at ease and feel perfectly at ease in the swamps. The slimey wet feeling sometimes caught him off guard and he had slipped on a few wet logs a couple of times.
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Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 2:49 pm
"No, not always," she answered. Her tail swished back and forth on the ground and she shifted her weight to face him better. "My family and I used to live in the rogue lands. Our ancestors--two brothers who had left the swamplands--had taken mates and started families there, and after they died, we were still there. But then came the day that we had decided it was time to venture back to our home and see if we couldn't find a true 'home' here. And we did, for the most part." Bari grinned. "It was quite a change, but just in scenery. We had upheld most of the swamplands traditions in our own family circle, so that wasn't a big change for us."
Oh, it took some getting used to, this slippery place. It had just taken Bari a lot quicker to accept this new environment than her relatives.
Kato listened and smiled at least she was getting use to the pride lands in the same way he was. Though he did wonder if someone who had lived here all their life had trouble with the slippery logs and the different climate the swamps seemed to have.
"So was that your father? Or... grandfather?" He was curious as he was sure that she was somehow related to them, though it could be further down the line then that but he was curious all the same.
"He was my great-grandfather, actually. Mzimu-maume," she giggled. "My grandmother is his daughter, and my dad is her son. I'm actually not really sure where my mother came from, but she isn't directly related to the two lions who left the pride all that long ago. I also have two brothers, one from my litter and the other is a good bit younger than us.
"Then," she continued, happy to be sharing her family history, "there's also the descendants of the other brother. His name was Ghali'mwangaza. I'm not sure what either name means, so don't ask me that. He had twin sons and a daughter. She had a son after returning from her name quest, and he found a mate. They have a little girl." Her family really wasn't as big as she thought it had been, but it sure was an awful lot of names to remember.
Kato listened intently. He loved to hear stories of familys and so he found it interesting. He couldn't help but smirk a little when she mentioned twins as he was an identical clone of his twin sister.
"Wow your family is quite something, mine is rather large but I don't know everyones names. My fathers side goes on and on and on and on..."
She laughed. "Oh, I know the feeling," she told him. "At least mine isn't quite as large as yours. I have no idea about anyone past my great grandfather and his brother. That knowledge might as well be lost to us, for I was never told anything about it."
Bari smiled. "But at least you know a good bit of your history? That's better than nothing, after all." As long as he knew most of the lions involved with his family, then that was good. She didn't know Kato and his sister were twins.
He nodded. "I know a fair bit about them but to be honest me and my sister spent a lot of time wandering not really listening to our family history. I know the blood line apparently links in with a few rather large royal families in various prides but I'm not overly sure who, Atla might know though." He chuckled a little. Atla was the leader out of the two of them and he generally just followed and did what she did. He was rather lazy in that aspect but he had decided that the new pride meant a new start and he would sort himself out!
Bari smiled openly. "Oh, that's interesting! I have no idea if we're from a royal line, but that's really cool to know! I'll have to meet your sister. I bet she's just as interesting as you are," the lioness added. Surely, as well, it wouldn't hurt to meet another female. And if she was like her brother at all, well, they were sure to be friends easily.
Suddenly remembering her flower, she leaned into the bushes for a moment and located it. The plant was indeed a very pretty one, and she gently broke it off towards the bottom of the stem and backed up out of the brush she had dove into to find it. Then she smiled at Kato with it in her mouth before dropping it gently to the ground. "This is the flower that has been taunting me all day," she announced with a giggle. "I finally got it."
Kato nodded, it was interesting but he hadn't really paid any attention to it which meant well, he really should have listened! He would have a good story to tell then wouldn't he? He would ask his sister she might know.
"It's a pretty flower!" He chuckled, he leant down to smell it and then chuckled a little. It did smell nice.
"I am sure it will be a nice present. It smells lovely! Though I don't know much about flowers.." He smiled though, it really was a nice flower, she had chosen well!
Well, that's what sisters were for, weren't they? To remember everything that their brothers and uncles and fathers could never remember, or didn't want to remember. Of course. Good thing for Bari was that she liked to remember things, so it was never a bother for her to do so.
"Thank you! I think it'll look nice in her area, too. There's a pretty stone that matches it, so I thought I would put the two together and have a pretty little thing come out of it." The flower itself had pretty blue petals, with a yellow pollen-filled center. The rock she spoke of was a light purple that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and in the moonlight. That's how she found it, underwater, while the moon's rays had made it glimmer for her. Then she had come back the next day, when it was sunny outside, and had dug it up and cleaned it off.
He smiled. "I am sure she will find the flower amazing!" He nodded. He was also sure that the rock she spoke of would be amazing as well. She seemed to have good taste in picking pretty things if the flower was anything to go by.
"Well thank you," she said in return, still smiling. Then Bari glanced at the sun and frowned. "Oh, I suppose it's time for me to go. I have to go put the flower up before Grandmother gets there and beats me to her surprise. It was a pleasure meeting you, Kato." Bari stood and picked up the flower gently in her teeth after she said farewell.
Kato nodded, "It was lovely to meet you, I hope to see you again sometime!" He smiled and turned to leave. It was so nice meeting someone new.
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