[LOG][PRP] Diplomatic Traveling [Boneka x Oresteia]

[- Mynsed -]

The trip was a normal one. A trek to another pride in hopes to improve relations. Though, this time, her assistant was left behind. Emas was watching her cubs, though they were surely bullying the opossum. It made her nervous, being away so long from her children. She wanted to go home. But... disappointing the Malenga was not an option.

She held back a sigh and looked over at her companion. "We should stop for the night," Boneka pointed out, though she hardly wanted to stop. The sooner the mission was done, the better. She needed patience.  

[- Mynsed -]

This was her first major trip out since the flood, her mind had been so preoccupied with dealing with her mourning and trying her best to rebuild her life that her work had been pushed to the side. She couldn't lie, she was nervous as all hell for this trip. This is why she had requested that another ambassador join her on the journey, someone there to back her up just in case her rusty skills in negotiating had popped up.

Unfortunately who was chosen to accompany her wasn't her first choice, that was for certain! Teia had never personally worked with or met with Boneka before. To top it off she was not blind to the fact that the lioness was a new mother, and her mind was often straying far from their task at hand. She couldn't blame her, she was the same way when she had her first litter. She would have preferred not to ask any lioness to have to leave their new-born cubs back home, but it couldn't be helped. There was no other ambassadors available to spare to tag along on this adventure but Boneka.

Sigh. Oh well, a distracted partner was still better than having no partner at all.

One of her ears flicked at the soft sound of Boneka's voice. Pursing her lips together Teia glanced around. The sun was indeed setting but there was no reason for the two not to be able to push themselves a least a few more hours. Unless..."Are you tired, Boneka?" She asked as her head slowly turned around to her. "We can rest if you really need to, but otherwise I don't see why we don't try to push forward and rest when we get to the pride?"  

[- Mynsed -]

"Not at all, Breia. We can keep going," Boneka murmured, pleased. She didn't know who was the senior of the two, her or the lioness. The Malenga had approached them both about becoming diplomats, leaving no clue to who had senority. Not that she minded; she preferred to focus on her puppets. Of course, she would give this trip her full attention; she would not fail Shauku.

Her mind idly went back to those at home. She couldn't quite remember the father of her cubs, only vaguely. He was bright. His name, however... she didn't even know what it sounded like. Could not remember. Which was strange, she was fantastic with names! "Leia, do you have cubs of your own?" she asked, head tilting. It was a personal question but they were both adults and from the same pride. Surely this information was free to share.

She wanted to ask other things, of course. But didn't know how. Girly questions, about love. No, it was usually best to talk about business. And safe questions.  

[- Mynsed -]

Teia's eyebrows rose at the mispronunciation of her name. Oh she had been warned well before of Boneka's particular reputation to ah...casually forget names, but never would she expect the lioness to make such a wildly off the mark guess with such confidence.

She couldn't honestly tell if it was out of sheer blissful ignorance or if her partner had a grand talent for faking it until you make it. If so, she had to commend her. It was certainly a skill that would come in handy in their line of work.

Either way, Teia didn't have the heart to correct her.

The question ripped her from her own musings violently. Stumbling forward Teia let out a high-pitched squeak before she caught herself. Stopping in her tracks she excused herself a moment to catch her breath. Children. Of all the things that she could have brought up she had to bring up that topic! Her heart twisted in her chest at the mere mention, an morbid reminder of the gaping wound that had yet to close.

"Uh...I-" She stammered. Biting her lower lip her eyes trailed down to the ground. "No, no I do not." Anymore that is. Both of her beloved boys had been some of the youngest victims of the flooding that had ravaged the pride just a short time ago.

She had to change the subject. She had to change the subject now!

"Wh-what about yours, hm? Tell me a little about them if you don't mind. Or just how you're liking motherhood?"  

[- Mynsed -]

She was embarrassed. Boneka stared at the reaction, attempting to figure it out. Did she feel that lionesses should have cubs by a certain age? Was it the act of making the cubs that had her uncomfortable? Or the idea of actually having cubs? Perhaps the expectation made her nervous. "I'm sorry," Boneka began swiftly. "I didn't mean to pressure you. There are plenty of lionesses these days that opt to not have children," she added before nodding to reassure her that this was true.

The question made her grin. She loved her cubs very much, had always loved children even before becoming a mother. "They are darlings," she told her proudly. "I have two from my first litter, Titella and Titere. They're adults now," Boneka explained. "And then I have three boys and two girls from my second litter," Boneka said. She didn't say their names, however; the cubs were new to this world and she couldn't quite remember all their names. So she went on to a different subject. "My oldest son left our pride for another. He is quite grown up. They really do grow too fast," Boneka murmured. She didn't really mind it. Once they were out of their cub years, Boneka gave them more and more independence. They no longer needed to be coddled as adults, after all  

[- Mynsed -]

"N-no! It's not that." She murmured softly. With a tight frown Teia's head lowered. Oh good gods above she was just digging herself deeper and deeper inside this hole, wasn't she? She should shut up, like really shut up. "Just bad experiences with children in the past." AND YET SHE DOESN'T LEARN.

Why. Why was she like this? Honestly she had no clue, but really wished that her mouth would listen to her brain for once.

A sigh of relief escaped her once Boneka got to talking about her own children. If there was one thing she remembered from motherhood is that the quickest way to get a new mother to change subjects was to get her to gush about her offspring, it was simply a biological weakness to have a overabundance of pride for your children. "You have adult children as well? My word, someone works fast then." Teia teased with a half grin.

Teia's body relaxed as the conversation changed into something much more lighthearted. Craning her head back she flashed a knowing smirk at Boneka. "That they do, far too quickly in my opinion. So are you and your mate planning on trying for more soon?"  

[- Mynsed -]

"Bad experiences?" Boneka asked, in bewilderment. How did children ever lead to bad experiences? Sure, there could be frustrating and trying times but never had Boneka experienced anything bad.

"Ah, yes. Titella-dido and Titere-dido. My twins. My other five are still young cubs, however," Boneka said with a warm, fond smile. She did miss them. Maybe she could find something to bring them back. Oresteia's next question had her blinking.

"Oh no. I don't have a mate. I don't remember the fathers of my children but... no, I haven't had another love since my first love," She told Teia with a sigh.  

[- Mynsed -]

"Mmmhm." Teia mumbled out as she gave a clipped nod of her head. Beyond that she refused to go into deeper detail about her experiences and why she had those certain feelings to begin with. It was a deeply personal matter and one she certainly didn't feel like sharing with a co-worker she had just met.

With a light chuckle she replied, "My goodness someone got busy and kept themselves busy!" Pursing her lips into a coy grin Teia glanced back at the other lioness, flashing her a knowing look. "I'm honestly just inspired by your ability to keep all those hungry little mouths fed!" She joked, trying to lighten the mood the best that she could.

Oh? How interesting. She would have surely thought that a woman with that many children would be settled down happily with a husband that she couldn't keep her paws off of. Ah well, who was she to judge? "I'm sorry for assuming then! Being a single mother is a very hard and brave task for anyone to take on."

Her eyebrows lifted into her hairline as she slowed down a smidge so that the two could walk side-by-side. "So, who was this charming man who managed to steal your heart and leave that much of a lasting impression?" She purred out. Teia might have been private in her own matters but she definitely was a gossiping hen with all other things! It was after all the best way to keep up-to-date with the latest news.  

[- Mynsed -]

Boneka gave a small smile. "I have a lot of help from my assistant, to be honest. Emas does more with raising the cubs than I do," Boneka admitted, speaking fondly of the opossum. "So I suppose I'm sort of cheating at being a single mother," she said with a laugh, shaking her head.

She was quite enjoying the gossip with the other lionness. If Boneka had caught onto the earlier discomfort, it was long forgotten now. The starry lionness tilted her head to give Teia a sideglance and a grin. "We were just cubs. I haven't seen him since," she told her with a sigh. It wasn't necessarily a secret. There was no reason not to tell her companion.

"His name was Ziya. I... well, I didn't quite have a family, growing up. Though the Malenga took great care of me and placed me with another mother to be raised with their cubs. Of course, I was a stubborn thing and refused that place as my home and instead, stalked Emas and his father to learn how to make puppets," Boneka explained. She smiled fondly up at the sky. "I met Ziya by accident. But we immediately hit it off and became close. We had promised ourselves to each other, even though we didn't know quite what it meant as cubs," Boneka laughed. It was ridiculous but it was a fond memory.

A frown marred her expression as she tried to recall what happened afterwards. She... could never remember that part and when she did try to pull up a memory, a sharp pain and tunneled vision was accompanied. And so, she shrugged the attempt away. "I suppose we drifted apart. I have no idea where he went," Boneka said honestly. The starry lionness was sharp in many things... but quite dense in connecting the dots. Never in her mind had her precious Ziya been Hlaziya, the Malenga's son that she had smacked and could not stand to be in the company of.  

[- Mynsed -]

Teia's fluffy ears flicked forward as she silently listened as the duo continued to walk. She could honestly admit that she was a sucker for romances, and happy endings, even if her own had been painfully ripped away from her only a short time ago. She had always been teased for being a hopeless romantic and no where did that show better than when she was listening to grand tales of seemingly true love at it's best! All she could do was stand awkwardly staring, completely enraptured by her companion's previous cubhood experience.

A beaming smile broke out across her face once Boneka was done. Oh, ho. She had a inkling of a feeling that, that kind of instant connection was simply something meant to fizzle out. No, she guess - no felt - that there was a much deeper hand at work regarding this fascinating tale of love. "My mother use to tell me of a story when I was just a wee cub, probably not much older than your own," She chuckled at her own self-insult. Ah, what a way to date herself.
"It's quite fitting for you since you are a puppet-master, I think. She always said that throughout the great web of fate there were very specific red lines of thread. These threads were different from the normal time, death, and birth webs of fate. They were reserved for only a special, and quite lucky, group of lions." Pursing her lips into a dreamy grin, her eyes closed. In her mind she the visualization of this grand nest of different webs all representing different events in time, with the rare red string weaved throughout it standing out amongst the group, blossomed in her mind.

With a soft sigh her head tilted to one side as her toes ticked along the ground as they walked, almost as if she was itching to reach out and try to grab one of the strings she was imagining. "See, they connected two souls together in a fated and unbreakable bond. If the two souls grew apart? Well that was just more tension built up to spring load them to reel back to each other." Finally opening her eyes once more Teia's focused rose to meet Boneka's. "Call me a sucker for a good fairy tale, but I believe that you two might be connected by that string. How exciting is that!?"
 

[- Mynsed -]

Boneka listened intently to the tale, amazed by the grandeur. It was... a ridiculous tale. There was no way that such a thing could exist. But it was fantasiful and it did sound marvelous. And so, Boneka kept her opinions to herself, listening to her recite the tale.

"reel back to each other," she murmured after a moment before grinning at the other. "I do hope that's true. I would love to meet my precious Ziya once more," Boneka said with a sigh before shaking her head. "I think I hear a stream. Let's go drink before continuing, yes?"

Her thoughts were still pulled and enticed by the possibility. That sounded... marvelous. She hoped that it was true, even though logic told her otherwise.

Pollack