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 Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:01 pm
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Kimondo was in shock, staring at the small group of lions that had been brought to her. The lioness was unremarkable, but the two lions she had in her company were something else entirely. It was no wonder the guards had appeared looking like they had seen a ghost, it looked very much like they had. Two, in fact. The one who looked like Shangyue- and said that was even his name- was the most alarming despite how achingly similar the other looked to her lost best friend.
"Who are you all?" she asked, finding no better place to start.
The entire pride knew that Shangyue was dead but a lion with his name and so strongly resembling him.. that would be a problem if they let him just wander around at will. That was why he had been hurried here, and why there were still guards watching over them.
Buyue was standing nervously between his brother and their travelling companion. He was becoming less and less certain this had been a good idea, especially considering the alarmed and rather harsh welcome they had received so far. He expected it was normal to petition the monarch for permission to visit or join or whatever but this was something else.
And as weird as the looks he got were, everybody was looking at Shanygue funny.
Moyo was standing with a bit of distance between herself and the brothers, thoroughly engrossed in the situation they were in and making no effort to hide the fact that she was looking around and taking in everybody that was around. The heavily pregnant monarch staring at them in disbelief was only barely the most interesting part of the visit so far, she was trying to listen to the whispers from the guards.
((Good luck convincing Kimondo it's OK to let you stay, Shangyue xD And just a reminder, Moyo's official title is a Bard and her excuse for traveling is to get more material for her songs/stories. She's also likely friends with the boys/their family, they're similar in age.)) |
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Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 1:07 pm
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Shangyue seemed as alarmed as Kimondo by the goings-on. Were they about to be killed? Should they have never left home? The lion knew it was too late for regrets now but anxiety pointed out everything they might have done wrong and stole away hope that things might go well. His ears were flat against his head, lost in his mane, and his eyebrows were knitted with concern. Most of the suspicion seemed directed at him– but why?! Buyue was getting odd looks, too, but something about the way he was regarded was different from how they looked at Shangyue. He swallowed hard, a solid lump of dread in his throat, and answered the queen slowly, quietly.
"I'm Shangyue, this is my brother Buyue and our friend and traveling companion Moyo. We're looking for our father, actually. We don't know much about him besides his name is Chunyue and he lives in this pride– or at least he did when he bred with our mother." He looked at Buyue anxiously, wishing his brother would jump in at any time but glad at least that Buyue separated him and the queen.
His ears flicked around nervously but couldn't gather what was being said amongst the guards. He just kept hearing "Shangyue" over and over again, but did not realize it wasn't just him being discussed.
((the poor boy xD And I can always throw Chun in to be like 'oh s**t Giza'kuni ?? ya that sounds abt right')) |
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Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:00 pm
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Moyo took a few curious steps away from Buyue, toward the edge of the little meeting, where there were still guards nearby. There was some chattering but it stopped as soon as Shangyue spoke up, so she turned back to gauge the reactions around the group. Buyue looked nervous and was trying to smile in a friendly manner but he looked as awkward as he felt.
"Chunyue?" Kimondo repeated, clearly recognizing the name. She didn't immediately say anything else, looking back and forth between Shangyue and Buyue intently. They both had full manes, and they looked about the same age as her sister's children.. had Chunyue disappeared at some point, or had their mother passed through here? If he had left, why had nobody noticed?
She had half a mind to send the guards to look for Chunyue to help clear this up, but he could be involved later.
Moyo hummed quietly, looking back and forth between the parties involved before stepping forward to fill in some of the gaps that Shangyue had left in his introduction of their little crew. She'd have to get used to this kind of thing eventually, and it was obvious nobody knew exactly what to say.
"If I may, your grace," she said, hoping to put everybody at ease, "We're from the Kitwana'antara, you may not have heard of us because so few have the opportunity to wander this far, but we mean no harm. I accompanied the brothers to help keep them out of trouble, actually.."
Buyue looked over to Moyo incredulously, wishing he had the nerve to glare at her for declaring herself their chaperone. It probably wasn't far from the truth, she was something of a mother hen the whole damned trip..
"Is there a lion named Chunyue here?" Moyo asked finally, ignoring the look from Buyue.
Kimondo didn't immediately answer, but then nodded.
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Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 10:48 pm
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Shangyue was infinitely grateful to Moyo for her intervention. He merely stood by and nodded dumbly as she spoke. He could have piped up and thrown in 'we're immune!' to try and further their case of proving they meant no harm. But they probably had assumed that anyway... Or they would ask if they wanted to know. Shangyue was very aware of who was in control of the situation.
The lion's personality was usually relaxed and confident enough in most any given situation, but he had never been put through anything quite like this. What normally would have been a glare for Buyue was instead more of a reigned-in-pleading look that his brother speak up on their behalf, too.
While he was glad to find out that their father (and hopefully not some other fellow by the same name– he wasn't clear on naming conventions in the Mwezi'johari) was nearby, the tension surrounding his party's current fate was more pressing.
"If I might ask... is there usually this level of scrutiny for those who cross into your territory?" He dared only sneak glances at the circle of guards. Were they always so suspicious? His thoughts raced, trying to choose any one fatal mistake they made or another, fruitlessly. Why the strange reaction about their father? Was it surprise that they had kin here? Was this Chunyue whom they'd never met guilty of some great crime?
The boy had always felt he was missing some part of himself for not knowing his father or anything about him besides a name, a pride and a rough physical description. He wondered, sometimes, if some of his or his siblings' personality traits were from this unknown lion. The purple was from him, somehow. And the green and the moons. But that didn't give Shangyue much comfort on lonely days growing up and seeing other cubs with their fathers. He might have resented them if he had not felt so sorry for himself in those moments (even those whose fathers succumbed to the disease– at least got to know their fathers personally for a time). So many of those days had been spent waiting to be grown enough to try and find this stranger who was his father. And now that he was an adult, and here, in the same pride... He could only think of himself as so stupid and wish to be back in the Kitwana'antara.
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 12:48 am
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Buyue's ears perked up when Kimondo nodded, and he straightened himself up when his brother finally asked why they were being treated with such hostility. Though.. it wasn't exactly hostility, was it? They were being treated harshly but it was more fearful and confused than aggressive.
"You'll have to forgive us for being so inhospitable," Kimondo said, frowning slightly and looking back at Shangyue with the same curious gaze, "It's a long story. If I may, how did you get your name?"
Moyo and Buyue both turned to look at Shangyue, everything suddenly falling into place in both their minds. Tyfu and Shangyue were both named after family members they had never known, Buyue himself was named similarly to Shangyue and Chunyue both. Whatever their father had told their mother about his family, whatever had inspired her to borrow names from those stories.. they were about to find out that the names were not honorable here.
Considering the looks he was being given and even how much he stood out within his own family, even, Moyo guessed that Shangyue had inherited more than a name from this dishonorable relative.
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:02 am
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Kimondo listened to his explanation about the names, trying to mentally judge if this was something she should truly be worried about. All three of them seemed sincere, and Chunyue hadn't been acting out of the ordinary as far as she knew of.. visitors were usually watched to some extent but it was likely going to be in Shangyue's best interest to have a guard or two keep close by.
But that, unfortunately, demanded an explanation.
"Shangyue was the name of your grandfather," she began with a sigh, "He was the last king before my reign began. He certainly had some good ideas in his time, but there's no denying his manipulative methods and cruelty."
At first, Buyue was relieved when his name wasn't of any interest.. but then Kimondo started her story and he immediately knew where this had to be going. He looked over to Moyo and Shangyue, and then back to the queen. Moyo, for her part, was silent-- but staring intently, taking in every word.
"He was a rightful heir to the throne but there were two generations between him and becoming king," Kimondo continued, "So he killed his grandparents, and his parents. There was some resistance but he took control of the pride for a time. He promised peace, but his paranoia grew steadily and he offered power to those beneath him so they could surveil the pride and intimidate any dissenters. When a proper rebellion started, he responded by sending assassins after the leaders. Only once did he succeed, and it was his own son who died."
She left out that it was Chunyue, another son, that had been one of the successful assassins. That was not entirely relevant to the point she was making. She gave Shangyue a very serious look.
"You have uncles who look less like him than you do," she said, "That's why you're getting looks like we've all seen a ghost. You'll get them wherever you go here. You can't help your appearance, but I recommend going by another name while you're here."
Buyue stared, and then looked at Shangyue. Whatever their father had told their mother, there was no way he could have told the whole story or she would have known better than to use the name. He looked back and forth around the group a few times before sighing loudly.
"I guess this means it's a bad idea to stay," he grumbled.
Moyo sighed, too.
((Buyue is officially convinced this is not the right place to live xDD Trying to watch out for his unlucky brother might be the only reason he decides to bother, rofl))
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:57 am
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Kimondo felt immense pity watching these two estranged sons coming to terms with the information she provided about just one of their questionable antecedents, knowing it had to be hard to hear and that there was worse to come. Chunyue had been forgiven, in a manner, but would carry the label of murderer for a while yet. She did, too, but because she was on the 'right side' of the war, it was not the same.
Buyue and Moyo both looked at Shangyue in surprise. He looked mortified but he persisted. The lioness smiled, a clear sign of her approval, but the brother only stared uncertainly for a moment before turning back to the queen.
"Is Chunyue better than his father?" he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice, "Is there anything good waiting for us here?"
And immediately the queen felt worse, faced with such a direct question. She held onto a smile but it was plainly hiding some troubling thoughts, something that discouraged Buyue but intrigued Moyo.
"Considering where he came from, Chunyue is a fine lion," she said carefully, "He was a b*****d son of the king by a loyal follower, and one of the victims of his manipulation.. but the story is his to tell."
Moyo listened carefully, trying to figure out just how much of what the queen said was sincere. It seemed she believed what she was telling them, but it had ominous potential. What could a cruel king have convinced his b*****d to do for him? The same thought crossed Buyue's mind, and he looked back and forth around the group before settling on his brother, looking extremely reluctant.
"We came all this way," he said, "I still think it's a bad idea but we can't just leave it at that."
Bits and pieces of a story would make Buyue crazy, for his own peace of mind he would need to know more. He had always been nervous to meet his father and any other family they had here, but not his anxiety was for a completely different reason. High expectations for his paternal family and where they came from were already crushed, hopefully that meant things could only improve.
(( xD Naturally. ))
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 1:51 am
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Shangyue tried to read into the meaning of the queen's words, but her regal composure was such that she did not give much away besides what she meant to. He looked back to his brother, to try to see what Buyue's reaction would be (it's always easier to read family than strangers). What he saw was reluctance and anxiety, but he didn't see outright refusal. That was good. Well, good enough. He nodded.
"At least not until we meet him."
Was there hope for their father's redemption? Hopefully, for Chunyue's sake, he'd get word of two of his sons in the pride to meet him and have enough time to come up with some idea of how to explain himself to them. Kimondo had conveniently left out the part of him murdering his half-brother, but that was a kindness she did for the travelers. But then again, it was only delaying the inevitable.
Shangyue nodded once more, but he was beginning to get lost in thought. He would take the queen's advice and go by another name. Remembering his manners, he bowed deeply to her.
"Thank you for allowing us to have this opportunity. While unpleasant, everything you've said has been... necessary... for us to hear before our meeting. And if we wear out our welcome... well... We'll leave if or whenever you ask." Was that good? The lion lacked experience with royalty and the etiquette that went along with it, but he tried his best.
Turning to his brother and Moyo, he asked,
"So... Shall we?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 2:15 am
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Kimondo watched as they prepared to leave and felt a twist in her stomach at what she had left out. Buyue was far from so close as Shangyue, but he would get stares, too. He should be prepared, even if she didn't want to have to explain it. Truthfully, though, there was nobody better. Chunyue, Umepatwa's killer.. he was not the right one to tell him.
"Wait," she said as the trio prepared to take their leave, sighing, "Buyue.."
Moyo and Buyue both turned back to Kimondo in surprise, though Buyue himself looked almost scared now that he was being singled out. Shangyue already got such terrible news, what was left to say?
"The resemblance is not as perfect, but you resemble a relative, too," Kimondo said, her voice starting to sound more sad than reluctant, "Umepatwa was your uncle, another b*****d by the King Shangyue. It's a coincidence, your colors don't come from the King.. but.."
If they could stand side by side, Umepatwa and Buyue would plainly be different lions but without Umepatwa here.. those eyes, the shape of his face.. even his size was about the same, though his build was different..
"He was not borne by a follower," she said simply, knowing Chunyue would fill in the gaps, "And he gave his life starting the rebellion that ended Shangyue's reign."
Moyo looked back and forth between Buyue and Shangyue considering what the Queen said. Shangyue looked like a monster and Buyue like a martyr, separately they would receive many looks but together.. that many more. They were completely innocent lions seeking only to learn about their family and they found all this baggage upon arrival. The storyteller in her was loving it but they were her friends, and she was feeling pretty bad for them.
Buyue looked uncomfortable at the revelation from the Queen. He suddenly couldn't decide if it was worse to look like a hero or a maniac. But he already said he couldn't leave it at this, now he just wanted to run away before Kimondo could say more. She sounded and looked different when talking to him directly, he noticed. He didn't like it.
"Let's go.."
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2018 8:48 am
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