ABIDEMI RAYAN - genderqueer - african lion - tags - profile

what did it feel like, knowing that the sands of time were already pouring against you? what would you do? how would you act with the knowledge that a power-hungry monster was somewhere, anywhere, searching for you in order to devour your soul as if it was a decadent feast? probably wander the world endlessly, never staying in one place for too long where you could (or would, inevitably) be found. you would walk until your legs fell off, and then crawl. drag yourself until your body couldn't take another step.

but that wasn't what abidemi did. he was... different, you see, but not in a stereotypical sense. he didn't have fantastical powers or anything, not like his denmates. his two older brothers had the power to change their bodies, altering them in ways that wasn't physically possible. an extra limb here, a different species there. his sisters spoke to people who weren't there. spirits? he hoped so. the thought of them conversing with beings were were once alive, but were no longer, comforted him. they were mortal, just like them. just like him.

they didn't make it, his family. his mother was torn apart by their births. the first thing that abidemi experienced was his paws stepping in the lifeblood of what remained of their matriarch. after that, it was luck. if a lioness in their pride pitied them enough, she would suckle them, until she, too, broke under the weight of their power, and subsequently her children. once they were old and strong enough to go pick out their own meal, nothing stood in their way. his brothers could take down great swaths of buffalo and gorged themselves on their corpses. his sisters slaughtered man - the forbidden creature - and stole their cattle, sacrificing them to their gods in their names. blood dyed their claws, but not abidemi. he was different, after all.

their father found them not long after. it was hard to ignore a cult growing in the middle of the wilderness. drawn by their power, he picked them off one by one, starting with abidemi's sisters. he had to go after them first with their head games. in the middle of the night, he took them from their dens, tore off the treasures that they adorned themselves with, and killed them. truly, he overwhelmed their brains until they melted out of their ears and noses, but "kill" sounds... clean. his brothers at least tried to fight back. they changed into fantastic beasts and went to war, but it was useless. he tore them apart, chopping them down as if they were trees, then devoured them. not metaphorically. he consumed them, tearing apart their flesh and restoring the energy that he had just spent killing them. it happened so fast that all abidemi remembered about the ordeal was his confusion. a lion was already menacing enough, but to see his father's mane, dyed blue, turned purple from the fresh and stinking blood made his stomach curl.

abidemi survived solely because he didn't have what killed his siblings. hey were extraordinary, and he just wasn't. his lack of powers made it easy for him to blend in with the other creatures that he hooked up with. the lion prides that he joined didn't think of him as anything else but a lost and destitute adolescent in search of a home. but he knew differently. deep down inside, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his father found him, just like he did with everyone else.

that was why he was at the clan's borders, not by choice, but out of desperation. once the first few tufts of his mane began to sprout from his neck, his stomach turned at the idea that he would be next. he also had heard a few passing whispers about the elysium. a secluded group, they protected the innocent, and were enamored by "balance", whatever that meant. they had him at "protect the innocent". abidemi had done nothing wrong ever in his life. his brothers' and sisters' deaths were at least justified. their insatiable hunger for power was what led to their inevitable downfall. then again, that could be blamed on their tainted blood. abidemi heard tell that their father was always searching for the next surplus of power to keep him alive, like a bloodthirsty battery. but abidemi had no such urges. for now.

abidemi's body shivered against the cold. his thin, tawny pelt was used to the warmth brought by a constant sun, and his paws were softened by the grass of the savanna. but there was no sun in the mountainside. there were only clouds, and the cold, and rocks. lots and lots of rocks, sharp too. his paw pads had been cut, healed, cut, then rehealed so many times that he had lost feeling in them a while ago, but he trudged on. the fear of meeting his father again chilled his blood far worse than the freezing temperature ever could.

"h-hello?" he called out, teeth chattering. his voice echoed across the great expanse of emptiness, and for a moment, he thought that nobody would ever come. why would they? he was a lion, and a pretty weak one at that, far from where he was supposed to be. if they weren't suspicious, then they should have.

but abidemi was determined as much as he was fearful. keeping his tail still, he straightened himself, and called out once more, hoping that his voice would be carried by the wind and to anyone who was nearby. "excuse me? is anyone there?"

ABIDEMI RAYAN - genderqueer - african lion - tags - profile

it was a perplexing thing, wanting to gain someone's attention, only to regret it once his call was answered. abidemi nearly jumped when the young serval appeared, his heart soaring into his throat while his hackles raised instinctively. did he intend on fighting him, if he proved to be hostile? not necessarily. he didn't have many scars, what few scrapes decorated his pelt were through his own... accidents. but he would try reasoning with him. his mind was a blur as he thought of ways to perhaps charm the stranger, maybe even pity him enough to leave him alone? it certainly used to work on the loners. giving them his food worked a few times enough, so perhaps it would work again?

but then the serval smiled, and it seemed genuine. then he began to speak, and that sounded genuine, too. abidemi's heart sunk just as fast as it had risen, but not out of disappointment. it was more from shame, seeing as how he was believing him to be a threat and preparing to treat him as such. that wouldn't do at all. if this person belonged to the group that he was hoping would accept him, then he had to admit, their welcome wagon was beginning to work on him.

"hello, there," abidemi replied with a brisk dip of his head. it happened so fast, his head swam a bit. he winced, then flicked his tail and went on, "sir. hello, vid-eo-games, sir. mister games. i'm abidemi. just abidemi. pleasure to make your acquaintance."

he stuck out his paw, meaning for videogames to shake it, only to pull it back. why on earth did he just do that? his foot was bigger than the serval's head, and doing that most likely made him feel inferior! stupid, stupid! abidemi chastised. why not call him shorty next?

"f-forgive me, sir, mister games, sir, i'm not myself," abidemi said, flattening his ears. "i'm not from around here, you see. i'm a mighty long way from where i'm used to, but i just couldn't stay where i was. i was wondering, actually, if you knew of a place that i'm trying to find? the elysium. someone told me that they live around these parts. if you could show me the way to their camp, i would be most grateful, many thanks."

Nemhain was far from a weak creature. Such a thing was self evident, considering the fenghuang's status as a persona. By nature, personas were not meant to be weak. They were manifestations of power from a person's very soul, plucked from the darkness and shadows that they lingered in until the day that they were needed. I'd someone's soul and personality was weak, then they would never have a persona, which made it quite obvious why there were no soft personas. Despite this, some fools sought to destroy the power that personas had, mostly because they were frightened by it. They were weak souled bastards who thought that if they destroyed a persona, then they could be considered strong. Nem had never thought much of these people, figuring they were nothing but cowards too weak to have anything to do except pick and feast upon the strong. She would think much the same of Abidemi's father, should she ever meet him. Perhaps he had done the right thing, destroying Abidemi's siblings for the good of the world, but to go after one such as Abidemi, who had no strength of his own? It was supreme cowardice, at least in the eyes of Nemhain. At least when she fought others that were above or below her level of supreme power, she was doing it for the good of others. For the good of Rin in particular, but also for the good of all of Elysium as a whole. She fought beasts such as the gods not for their power, and not for the fame, but to protect others that she cared for, and that Rin cared for.

The sounds of several voices were what attracted Nemhain to the mountains that day, her ears picking up soft, nervous ramblings as she flew overhead, on the lookout for the beast that she could remember from Rin's memories. Curiosity piqued, the fenghuang found herself swooping downward, landing on the cold earth in a wave of feathers and shadow as she slowly stood back up to her full height. She towered over everyone there, including Abidemi. From the tone of the other male's voice that she had heard from above, she could certainly tell that he was the jumpy type, and no doubt the type to be terrified by a nine foot tall bird encroaching on his space. As such, Nem stayed back, settling down beside Rin and offering the magna a nod of greeting. She could feel the other's antsy suspicion clear as day running through her veins, washing like a cool chill through her feathers. Rin was rattled to the bone after that whole beast incident that had ended in the deaths of that pair of mother and child. Nemhain couldn't say that she blamed her, but the persona also hoped that not too much progress on recovery had been lost because of it. A sigh left her before she focused her dark gaze on Abidemi, chirping deeply in greeting to the male as she stretched large, multicolored wings, "Greetings, Sir Abidemi. Just as the others have said, the land you stand on is that of Elysium... are you perhaps interested in joining our group? Or simply curious about the stories you have heard?"

ABIDEMI RAYAN - genderqueer - african lion - tags - profile

it wasn't like abidemi to faint, and he had no intention of doing it too much; but then again, he had never seen such a strange host of creatures before. granted, if he had given them the chance to explain themselves and believed that they were benevolent, then his tongue wouldn't be lolling outside of his mouth, tasting the dirt. but he had been caught up in the moment, something that if he intended on shedding his past and becoming a member of their group, he desperately needed to work on.

thankfully, the feeling began to ebb away like the retreating tide. abidemi blinked, much of his body still frozen, but extremities twitching as he stretched the aches away. he flicked his tailtip toward videogames to signal that he was relatively okay, though still shaken up a bit. "i... i'm sorry," he murmured, slightly raising his head. "you must forgive me, i'm - well, i - i can't quite explain myself. i am interested in joining the elysium, your group, i-i just didn't expect that... well, that this was it." he lowered his head once more, eyes downcast. "i apologize for my theatrics, and wouldn't blame you if you don't wish for me to join your ranks."