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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:22 pm
Kitambi was mad. Scratch that, Kitambi was still mad.
Of all the bizarre and unkind things to do to her, Mtembei had to try and set her up to be life mated to her sister or a lion who was old enough to be her grandfather. (Not that that said much these days at the rate cubs were being produced, but we digress). He could have totally picked a different land to tell her they were no longer mates! The rogue lands, for instance, where there were fewer old lions and even fewer sisters of hers. The only thing that could have been worse was if she'd been life mated to Sen.
Still, she had every right to be angry, despite the fact that she didn't like losing her temper. It made her seem undignified and if she was going to be the new pride queen she had to keep her cool. Especially with her sister. Just thinking about the whole idea made her fume, tail flicking angrily despite the fact that she was stretched out comfortably underneath her favourite tree. When she got her paws on that stupid mama's boy he was in for it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:29 pm
Oh, no he wasn't.
Because Mtembei was smart enough to stand out of reach and just raise his voice from that distance so she could hear him. It was a flawless family technique passed down from Daimyn to Banji, Banji to Mtembei. Sure, it looked like they were just being cowards. But no. It was definitely a family tradition to not let women kill you.
Mtembei wasn't as much a smooth talker as either of them, though. Uhh... "KI...tam...bi...?"
Sound like a prepubescent little boy. Good strategy.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:41 pm
Flawless family technique indeed.
At first Kitambi was tempted to just ignore him. Let him stand there all day and squirm. The thought of him standing so close and yet so far, however, only made her tail flick more. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she just jumped him and gave him a double bitchslap like she'd done her sister. No, she had to face this one head on. Or something like that. But she wasn't going to look at him.
"... What?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:46 pm
What...?
"Uh..." Well damn. He'd prepared himself for everything but that. Any volume of yelling, any insult she might have, any threat she might issue. He'd expected it all. This? Not a clue. There was still time for her to do all that other stuff, and now he was so thrown off he wouldn't remember how to deal with if it did happen.
One of his sisters told him once there was one way to never start a conversation with an angry woman. Mtembei, of course, started it with that same line.
"I know you must be angry right now, but..."
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:42 pm
Well that was an intelligent response. Kitambi resisted the urge to voice her irritation, instead focusing her attention on the lake that was visible in the distance. Focus on the lake and not on the lion who was hovering just out of reach. The lake was calm. She should be as calm as the lake. Just thinking calming thoughts. Breathe in. Breathe out. Crap, was he talking again?
Kitambi's lip curled slightly at Mtembei's start. Of course she was angry. It was nice of him to point out the obvious. Her eyes narrowed and for a moment she glanced sideways at him. Deciding that was not the best course of action she instead chose to stare very pointedly at a little seedling near her paws. "But what?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:49 pm
"I--"
Eeek!
Mtembei went completely still when she looked at him like that. Up[ until then he'd always told everyone--and mostly, himself--that any thing he'd heard about being afraid of crazed, angry women was just nonsense. Forget afraid. He'd always been terrified of them. But this? This was the first time he was so terrified he couldn't deny it.
"I...uh... I just... think we should talk. About something. Uh, this. "
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:56 pm
Kitambi's eye twitched.
"The last time you said that we should talk it ended rather badly, if my memory serves me correctly," she replied in a voice that she hoped was more neutral and less 'I'm going to box your ears.' "But if this time you think it will be better do continue." This time her gaze didn't leave Mtembei. She was only somewhat interested in what he had to say, not that she thought he was going to make amends for the disasters of their last conversation. But if he wasn't going to talk about that then he should at least say goodbye. No doubt he was going to run back to his mother the moment he was sure she wouldn't hunt him down.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:05 pm
It took a lot not to tremble but somehow Mtembei managed. He swallowed hard and took a shaky breath in only because his lungs screamed for air since their caretaker was too stupid to remember to breath on his own.
"It's that..."
Don't make this worse.
"Well, I mean..."
Shutupshutupshutup.
"...I'm... What I'm saying."
...Oh, what the hell?
Mtembei closed his eyes tight. His right opened, just enough to look at her, and he said like a small child who'd just got caught stealing cookies, "It's that I really love you."
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:18 pm
Kitambi was also resisting an urge, but it was definitely not to tremble. For the second time in a very short period she was glad she had spent so much time learning how to keep her expression completely blank. There were times, in the past, that she had thought badly of the hiding of her motions, believing they had stopped her from loosening up. These days, however, her old tricks were more useful to her than anything else. She was sure her stillness was making Mtembei squirm.
She said nothing while he sputtered, waiting with a mixture of dislike and curiousity for him to spit out what he had to say. When he finally did, however, she wasn't entirely sure what to do. Kitambi had expected a great many things from him, usually along the lines of "I'm leaving" or "I need to visit my mother again." But she most certainly hadn't expected this. And she didn't have the faintest clue what to say.
Finally, after she managed to gather her wits, she sputtered, "D'you mean it? Like this isn't another dream from Mkodi?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:24 pm
Oh, wow. He hadn't been brutally murdered as expected. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. Buuut... Mtembei didn't get the concept of not pushing your luck.
"Yeah, I..." Deeeeep breath. "Forget Mkodi. And fate. All that stuff. It doesn't matter to me anymore and it shouldn't matter to you. Just..." Damn he was bad at this. "Say yes and I'll take care of you, and everything."
Really, really bad at this.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:31 pm
Forget Mkodi and forget fate? But fate was what had brought them together in the first place! Kitambi nearly kicked herself for even thinking such a thought. It was sheer coincidence that brought them together, which somehow became known as fate. This fate was then the reason that she'd travelled with him to see his mother and he'd come back with her to meet hers. Or had somewhere along the way he'd decided that fate didn't matter anymore? Had she decided fate didn't matter anymore?
When she really thought about it, it wasn't that she disliked him. Not really, anyways. Sure he was like a big baby and a coward, but she would have probably hated someone who was as stubborn as prideful as herself. And he wasn't mean or nasty or in it just for the cubs. So why not? Perhaps there was more to him than what she'd seen so far.
The corners of her mouth twitched upward in a strange half-smile, as Kitambi finally reached her conclusion. "Alright. Yes. But I'll hold you to that."
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