The Captain Britain
Pinta wiped the tears from her face and pouted miserably. It wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t she dance? Her brother was so good at it, and he didn’t even care! All Pinta wanted to do was make her mother happy, but no matter how hard Pinta tried, no matter how hard she practiced, she just kept failing at learning the art. And who cared that she was a natural singer with a beautiful voice? Not Rio, that was for sure. She was such a failure. The leopard sighed, scratching at the bark of the tree she was hiding in.
Kaliforneum
Lume whirled around, nose scenting for his sister’s hiding place. She’d run off in a tantrum, no thanks to their mother, and now he had to cheer everybody up and fix the relationships, a job that he was definitely not good at. This was the sort of thing Pinta did, another skill their mother didn’t appreciate. “Pinta!” He yelled, scowling. He did not have time for this. “Come on out, please?”
The Captain Britain
The female snorted. Of course Lume had come after her. He understand a little what it was like to disappoint their mother. They had that in common. But Lume just got in trouble. It wasn’t like he was a failure as she was. “Go away Lume.” The singer retorted. Of course, if she really hadn’t wanted to be found, she would have stayed silent.
Kaliforneum
His sister’s voice came from above. Of course she was in a tree. The male turned his gaze upwards to scan the tree tops. His sister, with her bright markings, was easy to spot. He trotted towards her and leapt up into the tree adjacent to her, claws and legs straining. He didn’t like climbing trees all that much. “C’mon, Pinta, what’s up?”
The Captain Britain
She glared at him. “You know what’s up. I’m sick of this! All Mother wants me to do is dance and can’t do it!” Pinta dropped her head to her paws, burning gaze now trying to burn a hole in the tree’s branches and leaves. “I’m a failure, and she hates me for it.”
Kaliforneum
“Woah, woah woah!” Lume was shocked. Pinta never said stuff like this! How long had she been bottling those feelings up? “Mama does not hate you. She could never hate you! Or anyone who’s family. That’s not how she is.” It was the truth. She could get mighty angry with her children, but never would she be able to hate them. “But I understand what you mean. When Mama gets disappointed in ya, you feel terrible.” Lume knew from experience. A lot of experience.
The Captain Britain
Pinta grumbled a little. Her brother was right. Rio would never hate her. But sometimes it sure felt like it. “It’s not the same though. You can dance. You and Mother will always be able to share that. Even if you like going off and causing trouble.” She smiled a little bit. If there was one thing Lume was better at than dancing, it was causing trouble. “But me? I’ll never have that with her. It’s our family tradition, and I failed.”
Kaliforneum
The leotah sighed. He wanted to argue, but in a way Pinta was right. Dancing was in their blood, and Rio always stressed how important it was to pass on the tradition. But…there was something vital that his sister was missing. “Look around, Pinta. How many brothers are coming to try and cheer you up? How many sisters are off moping in a tree? It’s just us. You and me. Everybody else is gone. And even though Rio would never mention it, that hurts her. She puts so much love into all of us kids, sometimes too much, and it’s painful when we leave. But you and I? We stayed. We stuck around. You know what’s more important to Mama than tradition? Family. You’re not a failure. In fact, you’re doing quite well.”
The Captain Britain
Pinta sighed. She supposed Lume was right. Rio was always telling them tales of her big family and how much fun they’d all had growing up together. When her siblings left, Pinta had noticed how sad Rio had been. “Alright, alright, you got me there. But I’m getting really tired of all this dancing! I wish she’d just give up on me already.”
Kaliforneum
The made the male burst out in laughter. “Give up? A del Cor, give up? Please, we could out-stubborn and grumpy elephant! Mama will never give up on you! Or me. Or anything I suspect. That’s just how she is. It’s how we all are. It makes us butt heads, but it also makes us stick together, thick and thin.” Lume smiled at his sister. “It’ll just take a while for Rio to realize that she can’t push you anymore. Gods know she hasn’t stopped trying to push me.”
The Captain Britain
Pinta gave her brother a playful sneer. “Yeah, well you deserve some pushing, hotshot. Maybe I should start pushing you myself.” Goodness knows their family would have one less problem if Lume would just settle down and stop with his danger-mongering. Or whatever it was he did when he was out and about.
Kaliforneum
Lume snorted. “Please. You couldn’t push me if you wanted to! My moves are way too good.” He bragged. But then again, he had reason to brag. He’d spent a lot of his life learning how to fight the hard way: by getting beat up. And taken many of those lessons to heart, and now he could hit fast and hard and dance away from those slow, brutish lions. If only Pinta would let him teach her a thing or two. “But if you wanted to push me, I could teach you how.”
The Captain Britain
She groaned, hopping down from the tree. “No, Lume! I don’t wanna be some macho-brawler like you. Mother would flay me and shred my ears!” Pinta protested. Honestly, Lume should just stop asking. The answer was no, and it was always going to be no. “Now come on! I’m starving. I thought I smelled some antelope off west.”
Kaliforneum
The male chuckled, landing lightly and easily on the ground. “Just one or two moves! I’ll be self-defense. Everybody should know self-defense! Just in case you needed to run off an unwanted stranger.” He persisted, stomach growling audibly. Oh yeah, he could go for some antelope.
The Captain Britain
Pinta rolled her eyes. “Yeah sure. What do you use? Your personality?” She teased before breaking off into a sprint. Lume wasn’t the best at heart-to-hearts, but he never failed to cheer Pinta up. She guessed that was the beauty of family.
Kaliforneum
Lume laughed and chased after her, his pace loping and easy. He could catch up to her no problem, but he decided to let her take the lead. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at these emotional touchy-feely things after all.