[prp] after watch (Yoru x Kgwedi)

[KasaiLoki]

The land was flourishing. Love was definitely in the air, as many cubs were being born during all the moon phases. A small smile was brought to her maw as she thought of her friend's news as they too were expecting. She was excited to say the least to see his little ones. She had already claimed herself as the designated aunt.

Kgwedi was coming off her patrol at the borders. The Mwezi lands had recently starting accepting rogues again, so Kgwedi found her job more interesting. She would lead the newcomers to the Kimondo (who also appeared to be expecting cubs too), before heading back to her patrol. Today, she had brought two rogues from the borders to meet the monarch. They seemed nice enough, but it was up to the Great Lion to decide who they were going to be. She chuckled lightly at the thought of the skittish star pelted male. He would definitely be an amusing member, that was for sure.

The dark coated female headed towards the waterhole. It was her daily stop before heading back to her den to rest.

belloblossom

 

[belloblossom]

Yoru had been woken by another dreadful dream. Sometimes they were the same vision over and over again and at other times it was different. He wished he could bring up his visions to someone-anyone, but they couldn't understand. What if they thought he was being blasphemous and scorned him? Would he be brought in front of the High Priestess or Queen to be exiled for something he couldn't help? The thought of having to leave his family, his pride... everything he knew and loved!... It shook him to his very core.

So, he hadn't told anyone. He let his family write it off as him sulking about the marriage of his twin, rather than violent nightmares of Kimondo aiding two other Lords in killing the tyrant king. He always felt so hopelessly lost in his dream-visions and when he woke up, he was no better. He always felt exhausted and had to slink off to somewhere where he could process what he had seen away from others. It was incredibly tedious, but if it was what he had to do to stay in the pride, he would do it.

He awoke midday, groggy and uncertain, but with flashes of the vision clouding his mind. Slipping from his den, Yoru had headed towards the waterhole, looking dazed. He blinked away the sunlight and was almost certain he drifted past another lion on his way there, but it wouldn't stick until he reached his destination.

When he finally reached the body of water, he slumped to the ground and let out an irritated growl. He couldn't look at the Great Lion with the sun still out, he thought and pressed his ears back.
"Why me?" He asked, wondering who could possibly hear and answer him. "Why do I have to be the one with these visions and not someone more... more."

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

belloblossom

When Kgwedi had reached the waterhole, there were not many others around. Midday meant naps for most, to stay away from the burning sun. It was the dark pelted female's intention after all, once she quenched her thirst. Bowing her head to the water, she lapped the slightly muddied liquid. The sound of another approaching did not bother her, but the words he had mentioned definitely confused her.

Visions? She frowned slightly. She had heard of some others having these 'visions' but they just sounded as if they were dreams. Dark eyes glanced to the male, now on the ground. She tilted her head. Whatever visions this male was having seemed to have put him in an offsetting mood. She Kgwedi shook her head. Maybe he needed to talk about them? Didn't talking about things like this seem to help situations?

"You okay over there?" Kgwedi asked the wing-marked male who appeared in distress. She raised her head, slowly padding to the male. Worst case scenario, he would tell her to go away.


 

[belloblossom]

Yoru raised his head abruptly at the voice of another and found a purple lioness staring at him with something like concern in her eyes. Getting hurriedly to his paws, he then fumbled with his front paws, uncertainty setting in. Was he okay? No, of course not. And it would be imposing to suddenly tell all of his woes to a stranger. He must have seen her pelt around, for she didn't smell new or like a rogue, anyway, but he couldn't recall her name.

"Um... Not exactly." He said. "But it's nothing you should worry about." He smiled at the other and approached after a moment's hesitation. "I'm sorry if I caused you any bother; my name's Yoru, I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you yet." He said, bowing his head to the other lioness. His mother often stressed how important manners were and he hoped that a head bow was just as accepted as a larger one.

KasaiLoki

Sorry for the wait!
Feel free to have her press for details. He'll crumble sooner or later about his "woes", haha.

 

[KasaiLoki]

belloblossom

Kgwedi tilted her head at the male spoke. A frown was placed on her maw, he wasn’t okay? Yet he was trying to hide it? That was never a good idea. She placed that thought in the back of her mind as he introduced himself. Yoru was it? Being more of a night owl, unless you were on a patrol with starry-ish lion, one may no have met her before.

“Nice to meet you, Yoru,” she restated his name, not only to let him know she had heard it, but to also keep it in her memory for later. She hadn’t met any other wing like markings within the pride, so putting a name to his pelt would be easy for her. “I’m Kgwedi.” Kgwedi had not been born in the pride, but she had been around long enough to have integrated into it. Her mind wandered back to the reason she had come up to the male to begin with.

“You sure you don’t want to talk about whatever is nagging at you? Sometimes having someone just listen to you can make a world of difference.” The female offered. Sometimes, a total stranger was less likely to judge you then family members. Both she and Yoru were apart of the same pride, there should be some level of trust between the felines.
 

[belloblossom]

Yoru's ears lay back as he tried to decide whether it would be too strange to bolt. Yet, when she said his name, it sparked something within the lion. He was happy that someone had called his name, someone who wasn't family. His ears perked up at the sound of it and he gave a hesitant smile. Maybe the company wouldn't be too terrible.

But... Then she asked him again whether he wanted to talk. It would be so good to actually talk to someone for once. He doubted she would understand, but she was offering to listen and that was more than anyone had done. So, after a moment of thought, he nodded.

"Yes... alright. You're probably right." He replied and then took a deep breath as well as a few steps forward. "Well, you see, I have... I have vision!" He blurted and then hung his head. "Great Lion, I don't mean to, but they come whenever they please, whether it's at night or the day, no matter whether the eye of the Great Lion is looking upon me full force or when he's looking elsewhere. They just come and they're always so vivid." He closed his eyes, as though he could shut them out. "And they're always about the pride. I've seen the tyrant king, Shangyue, rule. I've seen him die by the claws of my aunt. I've seen my mother and aunt planting flowers by the watering hole and I've seen lions I who I don't know, but I know were the Kings and Queens of our past." He sat down and put his weight onto his front paws, sighing heavily.

"I'm not crazy. I'm not blasphemous. I just see things of the past and I don't know how I can tell anyone." Yet, he told this lioness, simply because she'd cared enough to ask. So now, he looked up and met her gaze, feeling terribly vulnerable and hoping that she wouldn't react badly. It was a leap of faith he was taking here and he was dreading what might happen if it went badly.

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

belloblossom

Kgwedi was glad when the male opted to talk. When you bottled up everything inside, it could only lead to chaos when it actually erupted. She listened intently on his words. A vision? She had heard of others having said occurrences. Kgwedi, however, never was one to have them.

She was about to ask him if what he saw were something that had not happened yet, but he had already answered it. Visions were a strange thing. She had talked to a rogue on the border once who mentioned about dreaming in red. Another would see shadow forms that would speak to them. In all reality, those who experienced this could be deemed crazy, but Kgwedi had an open mind. Even if she thought this male was mad, she would never express it to him.

The dark lioness shifted on her paws. "Well, I don't think you're crazy," she started. "So, if anything ever gets to stressful to talk, you are always welcome to find me." Kgwedi was normally patrolling the Northern and Eastern borders of the pride.

Kgwedi was interested in learning a little bit more however. "Have you always had these visions?"  

[belloblossom]

Yoru shuffled his paws when he watched the lioness and when she finally said that she didn't think he was crazy, he sighed in relief. Well,
that was one lioness at least and one he didn't even know that well. Maybe,
it wasn't such a bad thing to have these visions, so long as the majority of the pride didn't loathe them for it.

"Thank you." He told her. "I don't think you may realize how much that means to me." He gave her a shy smile and then flicked his tail a little when she asked him how long he'd had his visions. He tilted his head slightly in thought.

"The first I had... I think that must've been a little after my mane grew in, so sometime out of adolescence." He answered. "They started coming more frequently after that, to the point where I could have them whether I was awake or asleep, which was rather terrifying. Don't hunt and have visions if you can help it, that's what I learned." He remembered the frustration of having the vision of one of his ancestors hunting, only to see the zebra he had been stalking running off into the distance when he came out of it.

A pause and then tentatively he asked,
"I can tell you about the sort of things I see, but they're a little intense. Still, if you're interested...?" He offered.

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

belloblossom

Kgwedi was listening intently to Yoru speak. Having these visions right from being a child (adolescence were just growing children) could not have been easy. She shook her head. The dark lioness could only imagine what the other went through. The others she had spoken with had similar comments regarding visions, but she really couldn't relate.

Knowing that it was better to express one self then bottling up everything inside, Kgwedi nodded. She was curious to know what an 'intense' vision was like. Besides, Yoru seemed to calm down a little in their interaction.

"I think I have time for that." She smiled to the male. She was off patrol, and would not need to be back for the rounds for a couple of hours. She didn't mind listening to the other.  

[belloblossom]

Yoru gave a half-smile and then nodded.
"If you're sure." He told her, before glancing out over the water, his eyes distant as he remembered. "The first vision I had was very likely the most startling. Partially because it was my first vision, naturally and partially because I had already heard the story."

He turned his eyes to Kgwedi.
"It was when the tyrant king, Shangyue, was killed. I had heard stories of it from my mother, Hodari, the queen's sister. She told me that her sister had been the one to make the final blow, but... She didn't tell me the specifics, maybe she didn't know them herself..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "It was over quick, once she reached his throat anyway. It was as though he just gave up."

Yoru shook his head, opened his eyes and went on.
"I've seen worse battles, thanks to these visions, but it's that one that haunts me the most. It took me a while to look at Aunt Kimondo after that, even more so Liuhe and Yueyun. And I couldn't tell them why, either. I wonder if they even noticed..." He raised his eyes to Kgwedi's again. "Other dreams were about my family, or their ancestors. My mother and Aunt Kimondo planted these flowers, I saw them doing it." With a sweep of his tail, he gestured to the white moon flowers that had since taken seed and grown all over the watering hole's edges. "As you can imagine, coming here and seeing the flowers for myself, paired with the vision, that was a little unsettling, beautiful as the moon flowers are."

"Thank you for letting me talk about this to you, Kgwedi." He said suddenly. "I realize we're, essentially, strangers, despite being in one pride. Still, I want you to know how much this means to me." He paused. "Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

belloblossom

She understood what he said about his first vision. If you never experienced something like that before, everything could be quite scary.

Shangyue...She hadn't really been around the pride at the time of his reign. Maybe she had just gotten there? Regardless, she heard the stories. And the elaboration of Yoru's vision just seemed set in stone those stories. But his visions didn't seem all bad. The dreams he mentioned about his mother and aunt planting flowers. Those were not bad. In fact, Kgwedi would believe those could be used to see that not everything he saw could be a stressor. Having the visions was one thing, but not everyone had them. That made the winged lion quite unique.

She flashed a smile to the male again. "It's my pleasure." Other than Nteo and Inzi, Kgwedi normally did not talk with others. Sure she would talk to the new rogues coming into the pride.

"Oh, I don't expect anything," she said with a smile. She didn't stop the male to get something out of the situation. She just wanted to make sure he was okay. "I enjoyed your company, and that's all I could ask for."  

[belloblossom]

Yoru found himself smiling back at the other lioness, his expression coming with more ease than it had for a long while and he inclined his head to her. Her words were kind and while he still felt the need to repay her in kind, to hunt for her perhaps, he would accept her words with grace and maybe...

"I'm happy to hear that." He paused and then asked. "Perhaps, if you find yourself available again, we might meet up again? We don't have to talk about my visions unless you'd like to again, granted, but..." His smile reached his eyes. "I would very much like to see you again, Kgwedi."

KasaiLoki

You want to wrap up this RP in your next post?

 

[KasaiLoki]

belloblossom

I think one more post from you, then it's good. : )

Kgwedi flashed Yoru as smile.

"Sounds good." As a guard, Kgwedi found herself normally patrolling in the late afternoon. Some days she would wind up on the morning shift. Neither really bothered her, but she like was rather fond of the later shifts. "Maybe we can meet up before my shift tomorrow?" She offered. She would be able to head back to the dens to sleep, and then be refreshed for the morning.

"Likewise, Yoru." The smile never left her maw. "Tomorrow, then?" She inquired.  

[belloblossom]

Yoru smiled right back at the lioness and blinked in surprise when she suggested they meet again tomorrow. It was so soon, had she really enjoyed his company so much. Unaware that he was practically beaming at her, he nodded enthusiastically.

"That sounds wonderful." He ought to get back to the pride too, but he wanted to enjoy this feeling of peace for a while longer. He would stay at the watering hole a few moments more. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kgwedi." He told the lioness. Even seeing her leave back in the direction of the pride, he could hardly wait for them to meet again the following day.

Thank the Great Lion that he had finally found someone who understood him.

KasaiLoki

Fin!