Motoni

Motoni is a cheetah character from The Lion King MUCK and member of the Na'Go'Zi. She arrived in the NGZ after leaving her mother and developed ties to the pride, eventually joining. She would later form the Hekima, a wisdom council open to all females from the greater region where grievances and concerns could be aired for discussion, resolution, and planning. When the NGZ faced a flood in during the 2019 rainy season, it was the Hekima who planned for and oversaw the response, looking out not only for pride members, but all resident animals affected by the flood.

History
Motoni was born in a scrubland far to the north of the NGZ. She was raised in a litter of five by her mother, Moto wa Nyasi. Motoni was the first of the cubs to open her eyes, and she's never shut them since. Although cautious, she was more daring than her siblings, wandering farther and getting closer to anything than they dared to, all because she had to see, she had to know. Her mother taught her how to survive in low resource environments, and raised her to seek one out for her own home one day, a place no one would bother to fight her for, but where she could eek out a living and raise her own cubs. She taught her about other environments out there, other animals, and made sure to take her cubs to see as many as she could and to describe the ones they didn't see. Moto wa Nyasi sugar-coated nothing. She wanted her offspring to be prepared for the world. Motoni came into adolescence with an excellent practical knowledge tailored to a world of survival.

When it was time to leave her mother, she had no qualms about it. She understood it was coming. What she did not anticipate is the talk that she and her sister, but not her brothers, would receive. her mother taught her a culture passed down from mother to daughter for generations in her family. She-cheetahs avoid males except when they want cubs because males are reckless and stupid. They name their after words having to do with fire so that they'll know if they're maternally related and can avoid mating with eachother. They teach their cubs every dialect their own mothers, grand-mothers, great grand-mothers and so-forth taught them, because they must wander far and find new lands to avoid near relations. She would have to leave their brothers before the boys got too aggressive. She learned that was one of eight cubs, not one of five. One came out wrong. Two just didn't make it. She learned their names. She learned to expect the same for her own cubs. Many cheetahs do not make it. She learned that the test of readiness to have cubs was to take down a wildebeest, an annual rite for cheetah mothers when the migration passes through.

Months went by before one day, she had a conversation with her sister, "Our brothers have always been dumb but, is it just me, or are our brothers getting dumber?" "Yep." "Time to part ways then?" "Yep." "You go north, I'll go south, they can go east or west." "Sounds like a plan." It was a pragmatic farewell to her sister, and a total ghosting of her brothers. Motoni set out south, first arriving in Uzima valley. It was there she learned not all male lions would kill cheetahs, a bold contradiction to her upbringing. She was cautious, but she wanted to see if the males there would chase her off, certain she could outrun and outmaneuver them. They were not aggressive. She drew closer. She eventually spoke with them. She met another female cheetah, Bikira, leader of the Hutolewa, and Taya, a hyena who also defied everything she'd ever learned. Her upbringing prepared her for a world of survival and hostility, not one of bounty and friendship. Motoni was out of her league... but she had to know.

She found herself in the neighboring Na'Go'Zi Lands, where she met a lioness named Tamani, a lioness who had experienced survival in a way others Motoni encountered had not. They became fast friends and eventually took eachother as sister-in-spirit. Despite being younger, Motoni took on the role of big sister, and began living in Tamani's hollow with her. It was this relationship that caused Kubwini to give Motoni permission to stay. At the time, the she-cheetah was only looking for a large territory to roam, and even had her eye set on expanding it by making allies in neighboring lands. Tamani had no idea her new friend was her designated keeper. The cheetah worked to make herself useful to the pride as a hunter, messenger, and courier... but also as the only individual Tamani trusted, the lioness's protector, and the one who would report to her estranged family about how she was doing. She joined the Na'Go'Zi, then created the Hekima with Tamani and Morowa as its founding members, in part to give Tamani something to do and a sense of power and control over her life, but also to make herself useful and to satisfy her need to safeguard against the dangers she was raised to fear and ward off. Motoni grew more attached than she meant to or thought possible, engaging in a relationship that would force her to ignore instinct and her mother's teachings, a relationship that would become costly to her because of this.

The Bora hyena clan noticed that their neighbors had what seemed like an excellent and hard-working pet. She was busy burying food caches. Under Wakatili's rule as Matriarch, they decided to take Motoni for their own use, knowing a cheetah wouldn't fight a hyena. During one of Motoni's hunts, one on which she took Tamani, the Bora struck. She wanted to run, she knew she should run, but a lioness wouldn't be able to run away. She couldn't bring herself to abandon Tamani, so she surrendered. What followed was a period of captivity under the Bora, one where Tamani resister, and Motoni did not. The she-cheetah planned to gain their trust, wait for them to let their guard down, and make a break for it, but Tamani's rapidly deteriorating mental state under the pressure forced her to alter her plans. To make matters worse, Kubwini made it clear he wouldn't let the Bora keep Motoni in exchange for Tamani, even if the she-cheetah urged that course of action. It was loyal, symbolic, and stupid. She could survive the Bora, but Tamani couldn't. Motoni had to think of some other way to set Tamani free, something the Bora and Na'Go'Zi would agree to. She saw that Wakatili's sister, Tamaa, had ambition, and she played it. She managed to communicate with the Na'Go'Zi and Tamaa, allowing Tamaa to make Kubwini an offer. Wakatili was under the impression they'd trade the lioness for the cheetah, she and Tamaa brought Tamani with them to meet Kubwini. Set free, Tamani immediately ran away, but Kubwini could not afford to go after her. He had to dispatch with Wakatili, as per his true agreement with Tamaa, an agreement made Lion King to future Hyena Queen. Though beaten by Kubwini the meerkat Kasears and left for dead... Wakatili disappeared.

Motoni returned home only to find that Tamani had gone missing. When she returned, her little sister wasn't how she'd remembered. She came back with a rogue lioness, Imani, whose behaviors and philosophies were intolerable to the she-cheetah. She came to resent Imani for effectively brainwashing Tamani and destroying the innocence and good will that had made the young lioness an object of attraction to Motoni. Even so, she argued for Imani's right to stay in the NGZ because of Tamani's dependence on her, and because of Motoni's belief that reforming Imani would prove to Tamani and the world that Tamani could also be reformed. Tamani left on a journey of self-discovery, leaving Motoni and Morowa to serve as Imani's keepers, a job Motoni often neglected, not only out of resentment, but out of a sheer lack of ability to do anything to help Imani beyond the occasional rousing speech. During this time, she grew closer to Kubwini, which distressed her greatly. The way he cared for her and doted on her should have been good... it was good... but it wasn't right. She'd had a sister, and she could understand her attraction to Tamani, but her proximity to Kubwini left her confused and frustrated. Combined with all the stress of dealing with Tamani, Imani, and the Bora, Motoni began to lash out angrily at Kubwini and started trashing the hollow. This only came to a stop when she finally understood what Kubwini was to her... a dad. Cheetahs don't have dads. They have fathers they never meet. She didn't even know her own father's name. But now she knew what name to call Kubwini, and how to describe the way she felt about him. She became his adoptive daughter, though she insists on the term daughter-in-spirit to this day. Nominally, it's a need for clarity and acknowledgement that her mother raised her, not Kubwini, and that's a partial truth, but it's also a measure of distance, a protective barrier that Motoni compulsively erects. The dangers of a pridal life are not the ones her mother prepared her for, but relationships are risky, and her upbringing has taught her to account for and deal with those risks.

While continuing her flood preparations, Motoni met her future mate, Utundu, through Bikira. She instantly knew he was the one. She also explained to him that his mother was not coming back. He had thought she was. Motoni is emotionally perceptive, but also emotionally insensitive. She easily sees how others feel, but doesn't hesitate to point out a harsh truth. For some reason, this did not sour Utundu on the she-cheetah. She went on to teach him many harsh truths, including the fact that he was probably not an only cub as he remembered, but more likely his siblings had passed away when he was too young to remember, leading Motoni to believe he might have been his mother's first litter. His lack of common sense and basic cheetah education was hardly a deal-breaker for her. As she described him, he was "handsome and just so dumb," everything she thought a mate ought to be. She became smitten with him in an illogical fashion, and went out of her way to meet up with him. During this time, she also befriended Busara, Wakatili's former mate, and the father of Tamaa's cubs. The male hyena was pragmatic and a stoic, making him a voice of reason she could more safely talk to than her pride, knowing he wouldn't react emotionally, or often at all. Utundu and Busara are Motoni's primary confidantes.

Not long after Tamani's return, the great flood Morowa had predicted occurred. With no system for head counts or accounting for the whereabouts of pride members and residents... Imani was overlooked, left alone, imprisoned, in the hollow. It was then that Motoni realized how badly she had failed this lioness. With Tamani and Imani's help, Motoni followed the Hekima plan and aided a number of herds to the high ground, the other herds following Sumi and Nelliel, their King absent during the flood. Food caches grew short, the tempers of soaked animals began to flare. The Bora were among them as allies... an alliance Motoni had yet to convey to Tamani because there had never been a good time to do it. Now she would have to. Tamani felt betrayed and pounced Motoni. The lioness wanted to leave the pride. The she-cheetah got in her way, unwilling to allow her sister to run off yet again. This lead to a decidedly one-sided fight where Tamani, by her own admission, tried to kill Motoni. The two fell down the river bank, and Tamani broke away so she wouldn't pull Motoni in. The she-cheetah jumped in anyway. Just as she had failed her instincts with the Bora and didn't run, she failed her instincts once more and lept without thinking. She pushed Tamani toward the shore and almost made it out herself when a pile of debris struck her. Fortunately, she washed up on a sharp oxbow downstream, alive, but not unharmed.

The flood ended, but Motoni was left with a neurological injury, her right side twitching, ticcing, and uncoordinated with the left. She had become a cheetah who could not run. She called off her plans to have cubs with Utundu, and doubled down on her role as leader of the Hekima and advisor to Kubwini, feeling she had nothing else to offer. She was no longer a part of the pride by choice, but because she was certain she couldn't survive without them. This eventually led her to seek out Sherehe and a combination of ingredients that would set her on a dangerous journey inward. The she-cheetah died, briefly, but as she told it, "I didn't die, I came back." She was back. Motoni wenye Hekima. She knew who she was. She no longer felt like half a cheetah. Over time, the tremors and ill-coordination began to heal. Whether it was Sherehe's concoction or a function of time is debatable, but Motoni is convinced Sherehe was the one who helped her chase the setting sun and catch it. She had grown into an adult she-cheetah, and more importantly, her fire had returned.

Motoni began again to address regional concerns, prepare for the return of Wakatili, solidify alliances, and plan her family with Utundu.

Parents

 * Moto wa Nyasi (mother)
 * Mvua (father, completely unknown to Motoni)
 * Kubwini (father-in-spirit)

Mate

 * Utundu

Siblings

 * Wati (sister)
 * Joto (brother)
 * Kuchoma (brother)
 * Chati (brother)

Home
Kioo Cavern, the Na'Go'Zi Lands