Unaka Caregiver
Unaka
But she is a clear and focused antagonist to the group, showing clear and unbridged hostility towards them.
Her pissed off manor and passive aggressive tone upsets many members but Unaka is not only under Kurhula Ndlobu’s protection but That’s herself. Thato is firm that she is never to be touched. They have work together and have a relationship that works more of a battle of hearts.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
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Unaka’s parents are high ranking Tommy Breakers in North Sibini with blood relation to Judge, Yibanathi Longweaver. One of the few Judges in all of Sedibeng.
Though Unaka is not of a great house, simply knowing a Judge immediately raises the value. Their names are powerful by association.
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Unaka was what one would call. ‘a sulking little shit’. An issue for the family which consisted of two older brothers, a year apart and an even older sister, a rising Tommy Breaker academic on track to becoming a young inquisitor. It made her the black sheep of the family.
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Rebel Phase
She never thought she'd match her sister, the apple in her family's eye. It led to her trying everything to garner attention, from throwing tantrums to stealing and bullying. Which was when her and Yonelani became close.
Yonelani Bishop a fellow Lehare of the same age. And a fellow black sheep of the family considered not smart enough to be a Judge. Considered to be too scatter brained to be useful for family elevation.
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Unaka’s acts of rebellion would escalate slowly at first but eventually they spilled over into the criminal.
Stealing from the family, smuggling and stealing from other families.
A lot of it had been absorbed by the family until it threatened to destroy the careers of the family. It produced a crazy new side that shocked and stunned her.
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She was caught, tried and sentenced.
A year of prison. Being a Lehare, a career choice that leads to the most success is being a Tommy Breaker proved to be extremely dangerous for her. On multiple occasions, she found herself facing death, spending a year in the criminal population was a living nightmare would be an understatement.
Prison Life
There were multiple occasions where she’d needed to run or even fight for her life. Her best hiding place was working under prison contract for Kurhu Cables, a young group who needed to build roads to do it.
There she met a perfect woman. A buff Chui lunatic. Not confrontational but competitive as all hell. Unaka used what detective skills she’d learned to get cosy with the boss in the little time available to her.
It was working!
It started slow, asking the boss directly for toilet breaks, using what moments she could to volunteer. Feeding the others and being a representative; gifting the business leader what she could.
Not being a person who judged others, Kurhula took to it, conversing daily. It was then, out of the blue, that Yonelani came back into the equation; to the extent of visiting her in prison daily.
She, without explaining how, secured an early release.
It was surprising, but Unaka had no reason to be suspicious.
The true surprise came from her family who’d not visited or written, nor visiting upon her release. It was worse when Yonelani said they’d left her clothes and goods with Yonelani, at one of the Judge’s guest houses. It hit her that there was nowhere to go.
It took a week for her to get out of bed, let alone start her life. The entire time Yonelani was there, helping as best she could, even taking a break from her own work to personally look after her, until finally Unaka calmed and Yonelani made a request.
Could she meet Kurhula?
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Working At Kurhu Cables
A job had opened up, by a random act of cruelty and now Kurhula Cables was looking for a number cruncher. Unaka had always been good with numbers. Not understanding the bigger game being played, she happily accepted, genuinely enjoying the prospect of meeting Kurhula.
There was little to no number-crunching... only hard labour, helping with the lifting and transporting of goods with the CabuCabu. Managing the movement of goods from West Moon Sibini to North Sibini, or where ever goods were needed. She wasn’t above the level of a worker, prison or otherwise, but it didn't matter, the travelling, the long hours, the crowd management was something she really could do well but, the whole time, she never met her crush.
Instead she met the extremely dangerous CabuCabu tribal leader and business partner Deliwe, something far less desirable. She was worked like a dog, humiliated and preyed on.
One day, it stopped. She was promoted! Never so much as touching cables, instead overseeing shipments, being trained on production.
Assualt
One night when alone, she was cornered and assaulted by a drunk Deliwe. Halfway in, she managed to fight Deliwe throwing the CabuCabu grand leader out a window. Thankfully or sadly, depending on how one looked at it.
Deliwe’s webbing saved her. Determined to quit, Unaka left abandoning her job, only to be cornered by a harsh cold Yonelani who sent her right back to apologize.
Sometime later, she came home to a discover a corpse smuggler she’d met in prison had trashed the place looking for her and punched Yonelani in the face. Yonelani pretended to be unable to retaliate, to Unaka, this woman was far more terrifying than Deliwe Kuvuka, at least Deliwe wasn’t a killer.
She ran away from the situation, running back to Deliwe and fieldwork back to discover something had changed. There seemed to be a whole new respect from the CabuCabu Builder. It would have been amazing were it not for The CabuCabu's distorted definition of “respect”.
Every day, she was invited to the tribal leader’s home for ‘training sessions’, where at some point they'd drink and spar leaving her fighting for her life.
Beaten into the family.
She never won once, often needing to be carried home. She got better at defending herself, lasting longer with every session. But it wouldn't save her, the woman would only get more ferocious, but at the same time, more friendly accommodating to the point of carrying Unaka home on her back. Yonelani always stayed up late, talking to Deliwe about Unaka's general performance, forming her own relationship with Deliwe. Unaka and Yonelani met Deliwe's family, organising construction deals while trying to try to stay unmolested.
It was the end of her second year when she met Thato Ndlovu-Sana. A daughter in The Ndlovu-Sana family and someone Deliwe listened to with a gusto she'd never seen. They fought each other too and, it was then she discovered what the process of crowning really was.
The cruelty each creature could show each other and then simply move on from. In the world of those 'important people', it was her, Unaka, who was the strange one.
A house cat playing with hyenas.
Thato and Yonelani made it clear she had to get over herself. Thato giving her a book before disappearing, The Perfect Punch written by Kurhula herself.
A glowing endorsement, especially after finding out that Thato had gotten Unaka’s crush Khurhula to bow to her. Thato had all parties bowing to her. Who, or what Thato was, was something she could not decipher. Even the clever Yonelani couldn't crack Thato's value. Something Yonelani took seriously. The limping and being carried stopped, she could take a punch and after a month and eventually a year, she didn't need to.
She’d yet to beat Deliwe but losing stopped being pedestrian. Instead, earning a sting. When as a part of a family unit, she joined Deliwe’s tribe’s West to East CabuCabu Tournaments where she finally met her crush.
The Meet Cute Failure
The moment had come and before she knew it, passed. They greeted at a gala after the fight that had knocked her out of the tournament, she'd done so well in and before she knew it, the woman of her dreams said well done and simply walked off. It never crossed her mind that the rich noble, the new Matriarch, would forget big old 'her'. It was ridiculous.
Not since the rejection from her family had she been so defeated. She was blasted to pieces.
Yonelani and, surprisingly Deliwe consoled her as she wept washing her tears off in alcohol. To her surprise, she found herself drinking her problems away, right next to 'her'.
Kurhula was drunk because of the pressures of being a Matriarch. She was hated by the same members of the family who'd once barely paid attention to her. Unaka decided to fall into it, pretending they’d never met.
Unaka was able to make her laugh, talk, brag and think. To her utter surprise, she was smooth and clever, better than anything she'd hoped. Talking, comparing mothers, works, love and purpose.
Unaka had once had a dream of leading, having people look up to her, her parents proud, and Khurhula dragged that deeply hidden ambitions out of her. Khurhula had a few 'skills' of her own.
Extortion
Unaka kissed, then challenged to fight. To her surprise. She didn't lose immediately, putting up a fight and avoiding being crushed by a borderline invulnerable and overpowered opponent with a lifetime of fight experience.Fighting multiple arms had taught her how to face fewer but more efficient ones. Was she facing her soulmate? Yes, how could there be a doubt?
Before she knew it, they were together all the time. Working, fighting and planning but most importantly, living together. It was then that a stranger, a leader of a gang showed up. The woman, Aviwe, was the leader of the prison smuggler who'd come looking for her before and she was eager to extort. Fearful, Unaka listened and let herself be used, stock was stolen; there were kidnappings, ransoms, body snatching.
She was beaten down, abused and tormented; pushed to the brink of sanity and beyond when she losing it fought and killed the woman she'd gone to prison with. Yonelani wanted to pretend none of it happened, but Unaka wanted to confess.
The Choice
And so she did, stepping into a Tommy Breaker situation on her own violation for the first time in years. There, she confessed to everything.
The reaction was surprising, Thato appeared almost out of nowhere, ‘helping’ in the Tommy Breaker investigation. It was alarming that there was an investigation at all. Afterall she was literally confessing right before the Tommy Breakers. It didn't matter, or at least, it should not have mattered. But it did, their attitudes had changed and she'd been dragged by the largest Chui, she'd ever seen and she was put in an interrogation room with thick walls and no windows. Thato stood before her, along with Deliwe, who looked more upset Unaka had ever seen her. Unaka’s best friend Yonelani was dragged in screaming but upon seeing the situation she immediately apologized for her 'rudeness', realizing she'd somehow underestimated the value of Thato. Her value to the Tommy Breakers and, potentially, all of Sibini, if not the whole Jongiwe tree.
She wasn’t a king or grandiose. She wasn't a hammer but a surgical knife.
Yonelani claimed innocence, trying to argue Unaka's case but eventually bowed out, begging forgiveness. It left Unaka in front of former Matriarchs of the Ndlobu and the Ndlovu-Sana.
Back to jail wasn’t an option. They wouldn’t let her live that long. She’d die by the hands of the Lehare in order to ensure their people were not exiled as a whole.
Every race not of the Ufele is always was one vote from eviction. It could take one incident, significant enough to make the Chui hierarchy doubt that race's value. That could balloon quickly to eviction.
Death was the easiest way to sweep the problem away.
But that wasn’t why she was there, the collected nobility were offering little old her money, business opportunity, work. She'd become rich, a leader.
On one condition...
She’d give up on the young Matriarch. Say goodbye, or die.
To her surprise, she chose death.
Because even though she was manipulative and selfish. She had no doubt in her mind, she was the best thing in the Matriarch’s life because neither Thato, Deliwe or Indile could match her and she'd fight all of them. Because she loved Khurhula just that much.
It would have been touching, if Thato believed her. She read Unaka’s every fear back at her as though she were reading her mind.
Love or Death
Unaka stood her ground and a giant of a woman appeared in front of her, muscles made of rippling, steel.
Still, Unaka stood.
Babalwa was told to fall back. Unaka's opponent would be Thato.
It couldn't be that bad.
Unaka, relieved, put up her fists. She was dismantled, never imagining someone could research her so completely. it were as though Unaka were standing still. Unaka was humiliated, she was weak, a child standing in the way of progress. Kurhula's and all of North Sibini's.
Did Unaka mention death? That she'd rather die? Really? She knew fear, but the looming existential horror of death? One would never be able to choose death without understanding it. Thato would make her understand. And now they’d all see out how she really felt when, upon the brink, running away was the only hope.
To Thato's surprise, Unaka stood. Between the gushing blood; her consciousness dipping in and out; broken arms; a bloody mouth screaming her case as she was hammered.
A hand fell on Thato's shoulder.
Then another and another.
Unaka watched with only one functioning eye, every woman there pulling Thato off. Her attacker more emotional than she was.
Unaka collapsed.
She woke at home, surrounded by Tommy Breakers. The story was set. A corpse smuggler called Aviwe had attacked her as retaliation for Unaka’s case of self-defence, which meant life in prison.
Unaka was safe.
Just Say Yes
Only she didn't feel safe. She was terrified and angry, but that wasn't enough, she was absolutely furious. Wanting out, to blow off all of them. She saw that Kurhula was there. but that just made her fearful and angry.Kurhula had been weeping the whole way through. Looking up, Unaka saw a cold Thato shaking her head.
It was hard to believe Kurhula had no idea. How oblivious could she be? The amount of oblivious that could let her, a genius Matriarch, fall for Unaka's charms when no one else would...
Twice.
No matter how monstrous the others were. She was a rose surrounded by poison thorns that would never ever, let go. Kurhula was a matriarch, chosen to lead, who was Unaka?
Her own person. That's who she was!
But before another thought could form, Kurhula was proposing. There were stares, harsh looks, cold eyes against the fire in her own.
She'd say yes.
Kurhula would dedicate herself to make Unaka happy and safe, if she'd let her. And yes, she would.
Someone she loved would let her be free. What would that even be like? She didn't know. But Kurhula would support her and prop her up, carrying her on her shoulders. She had the power, Unaka, the control, it was the one thing she had and she’d never let go.
Relationships
Entry for WorldEmber 2019
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