"Daughter."
"Mother."
Calypso hated the smug look on her mother's face. Kat didn't even deserve to be called that, but here Calypso was, trapped in this routine of doing her mother's bidding. How she found her was a mystery, but it was most likely because Kat knew where to be when Calypso needed her. Her mother's visions were honed in on things of interest - gems, trinkets, anything of those sorts seemed to attract her mother's sight. Until she had looked into the pouch she had stolen from some unfortunate lion, Calypso had genuinely believed her mother had sent her off for good.
But, no, it was just another deceit. It was even more shameful now that Calypso didn't fight against Kat's visions. "Did you know what would happen?" she asked the red lioness sourly.
Kat stood like a vision, her body adorned in gold, with deep rubies to compliment her coat. In comparison, Calypso was scrawny and lean. There was a beautiful lioness there, hidden underneath the dirt and grime. But she didn't compare to Kat, she knew she didn't.
"What happened?" Kat asked with a smile that wasn't sincere. The red lioness wasn't hard to understand once her weakness was known. For jewelry, Kat would do many things. She was a firm believer in her own visions, in her own power, so much so that perhaps her belief in her seer abilities is what made most of the things she saw come true. But, her abilities were not fool proof. She only saw where Calypso needed to be in order to come across a rare treasure.
It had never been any guarantee that Calypso would get it.
"I met a lion, and I downed him." Calypso grumbled unhappily as she undid the pouch from around her neck.
"Downed him? Baby girl, I didn't think you were capable of murder. I certainly never raised you that way -"
"Mother." No, Kat hadn't raised her to be a murder. She had raised her to be something else entirely, and she wasn't sure it was just as a common thief. "I blinded him, and probably gave him a bad limp. I don't know."
"Ah. But you have it, yes?" There was no point in beating around the bush. Calypso possessed something that Kat deeply desired. It was a rare gem, imbued with the affection a lion felt towards who was supposed to receive it. Kat would treasure it, and wear it as a testament to her beauty. She had always desired these things, ever since she was young. It was perhaps why she didn't belong in her home pride. The Pridelands had been forgiving, and it was easy to get away with things in such a large pride. But it had never suited her.
Kat had left those lands to follow a vision, and it had twisted her life into something more thrilling. Her cubs had been a burden, but she was finally starting to see that having them was paying off. All that work in raising them for this fine little necklace her daughter was about to grace her with now. There was simply no other reason for Calypso to come back, after all.
"Of course I do. Gods, you sent me all the way out there for this piece of s**t?" Calypso flung the necklace onto the ground and ignored the look of scorn her mother gave her. It was a beautiful piece, even covered in dirt, and flawless underneath the grit. Even Calypso thought it was pretty, but it was never something she would wear. She wasn't her mother, and somehow avoiding that sort of shallow beauty was her only way of combating their similarities.
Daintly, Kat picked the necklace off of the ground and settled it around her neck. She used the back of the paw to wipe off the dirt, and then held it gently to admire its beauty. She had already seen it once in her vision, but these trinkets were almost always better when viewed in person. "I hardly knew you would get this for me, sweetie. It's a lovely present, you have to be my favorite child out of them all..."
"You say that to all your children. The ones who even bother to visit you now." What a hag. It was no wonder the family had dispersed with Kat as the head of it.
"Don't be spiteful when I'm praising you. Anyways, aren't you going to give me the pouch as well? I can always use something to hold my treasures." Kat gestured to her daughter, and with a coy smile then held out her paw to receive the pouch from her daughter.
But, surprisingly she did not feel the weight of the bag in her paw immediately. She eyed her child with a curious arch of her brow. "Calypso," she urged impatiently.
"No. This is mine." For some reason Calypso couldn't part with it. It was her first victory in the roguelands by herself. She had handled someone who was completely aggravating, and had come out of it unscathed. It was her true prize, a reminder of her mother's manipulation, and the dangers that awaited her out in the savannah. It was no jewel, but it was something that was definitively her's, and she would not let her mother have it.
"Fine," Kat said, easily persuaded not to mess with her daughter's temper. After all, Calypso had just admitted to blinding some poor fool. "I see nothing else for you," she concluded with another small smile.
"Good. I don't want to see you."
Kat let that roll off her shoulders, because she knew she would see her daughter again. She didn't need her abilities as a seer to know that. They were blood, and even if they didn't get along, they were connected. Calypso was her child, her daughter... and her tool. She suspected there were great things in store for her offspring. It was the inkling of a suspicion that she couldn't pinpoint to her seer abilities. Maybe it was just faith in her daughter's skills.
"You're welcome," Calypso sourly told the red lioness as she turned around to walk right back the way she had came.
"Thank you," Kat purred sweetly. She sat there for a few hours, watching as her daughter disappeared off into the distance.