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 Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:10 pm
AIM Log - Felyn & Kisoni
Zuri, Kizuka, & Kebwa Indigo eyes swept up to the sky, tracing over the curling edges of clouds, the hues of white that stuck out so brightly against the blue backdrop. Impatient paws danced against the earth beneath them, the brown tuft at the end of a tri-toned tail flickering behind a color-splattered figure of a young female.
"Mom," came the impatient voice, indigo eyes sweeping back to glance over a pale blue shoulder, standing out against the brown frame around them, "hurry up." There was a distinct whine to the tone, although it died down by the end of her words. She shifted to turn to face the den, where her mother still lingered, taking more time than young Zuri wished for her to. Any time alone with either of her parents was eagerly taken, and she meant to make the most of every minute possible. "Patience," Kizuka growled with a light hearted chuckle. The growl wasn't intentional, but the cub would know that--this set had been raised with the ruined, husky rumble of a voice the drought had left their mother with.
When she was ready, and not a moment before, the splotched lioness slipped from the family den. One lap at her shoulder sent the last bit of fur into place, and then she headed off on one of the cliff-face trails that littered the pride's home dens. She didn't bother explaining that patience was among the hunting lessons being given--there were many things about these lessons that Zuri would be shown, not told. If the girl couldn't grasp it on her own... well.. Kizuka would see how it went.
Traditionaly the mistweavers moved by night, but tradition was many seasons in the past, now. Daylight was a better time to teach her children, anyway. If they could hide themselves in the bright of day, then Kizuka would not worry about them out in the natural mask of night. "Have you been practicing like I told you? Mice and such?"Zuri's face formed a frown slightly at her mother's word, her tail shaking lightly behind her as her ears drooped. Patience? She wasn't being impatient, just a little jumpy! She was eager to get to hunting, to learning, to figuring this out - who could blame her for wanting her mother to be a little quicker about it? With a little sniff, she fell into line behind her mother, careful to go at a pace that her mother would deem reasonably patient. She wasn't being impatient. She wasn't.
"Of course," she said without thinking too much about the question before she even answered, picking her head up from where she had been staring at the path to instead eye the splotchy patterns along her mother's legs. She had practiced a pawful of times, to tell the truth, although probably not as much as her mother wished. As always, her voice gave away very little, especially being that what she said was mostly the truth.
She did a little skip, her tail lashing as she picked her way along the trail, moving a bit closer to her mother. "Where are we going to hunt?" she asked calmly, trying to sound as patient as possible, though she was simply curious.Being mated to the master of lies himself, Kizuka was no fool--and was not easily fooled. She picked up the slight nuances of lying in her voice, but... she'd seen at least one of those attempts, and decided to say nothing. So what if there was something the cub was hiding, she had at least had tried.
"well, we have to see what we can find first," Kizuka replied. "in times of plenty you can choose what you want, but in times such as these you take what you can get. So, we're going up to the lake and we'll see what you can find." Kizuka turned her head to smile down at her daughter.Zuri was used to her lies being found out by her father quite often, if not always - after all, it was hard to fool the master - and her mother seemed to catch them quite regularly given her relationship with their dad. She supposed it was hard to pull the hood over her eyes, but other than her parents, she was used to getting away clean.
She nodded slowly, listening to what her mother said. Well, that only made sense. The lake seemed to be growing life back the quickest, being so close to a water source, so she guessed that would be the most likely place to look for something to hunt. "The lake sounds good," she said softly, glancing up at her mother with those brilliant indigo eyes, her smile returned upon her own splotched face.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:12 pm
"Mhmm." Kizuka smiled. She loved having time alone with her children, though she had to admit that raising one was quite different from raising an entire litter. And a huge litter it had been. The lioness tried, but... well. Mistakes were always made, no matter the parent. She could only hope that her children enjoyed their time with her as much as she enjoyed time with them.
After pulling herself up a few difficult boulders, the lioness waited for Zuri to find her own way up. She would help, but only if the cub was unable to do it herself after a few tries. "Today may be long Zuri, so be prepared. We're not coming back until we've successfully caught something larger than a hare."
Zuri paused as her mother pulled herself up the boulders, eyeing them with a tilt of her head, chewing at the inside of her cheek as she prepared herself. They certainly were.. big. With a deep breath, she put out her paws and began to struggle her way up, finding the first to be difficult but not so hard. She paused before she attempted the second one, struggling up that one halfway before she flopped back down onto the first. For a moment, she thought about growling in frustration, but she didn't want her mother to say something else to her about being patient. She could be patient, really she could. With another deep breath, she attempted the boulder again, scrambling on top, and then going up the third with equally as much trouble but completing the task none-the-less.
She reached where her mother stood, looking quite pleased with herself, though she didn't speak in any attempt to gloat. She simply flickered her tail and offered her mother a smile. She did enjoy time with her mother, her father too, and she'd take advantage of any amount of time she had alone with them.
"What if it's.. a really big hare?" she said slowly, her smile sliding to a lop-sided grin as she watched her mother, waiting for her to take the lead again.
"Hmm..." Kizuka chuckled, "We'll see." She took a swipe at Zuri's ear with her tongue, a wordless gesture of approval as well as of affection, before she went back to leading the girl up the cliff face. It was a long process, full of advice on climbing and the pointing out of bad places and how to spot them. Eventually, though, the pair found themselves at the top and took a short break.
The elder looked back out across their valley, noting how much of it was still bleak and dry. The drought was over, but its ravages were still seen--especially near the outskirts. Her daughtere wouldn't likely think anything of it, of course, but... well. She'd see. One day. The patch of emerald that was their home, directly below them, was a wonderful sight indeed. Kizuka gave a contented sigh.
"Do you see it, Zuri?" She asked as softly as her broken voice would allow. "The beauty of it... the majesty... but its so frail; so easily broken."
Zuri was glad when she and her mother finally reached the top, taking a deep breath as she sat for a moment at her mother's side. She was slightly out of breath, but that was to be expected. It was a hard climb for a cub, and she had exerted herself. She felt pride at doing it, however, and glad that she had been able to do it with her mother.
Her ears perked at her mother's words and she pushed herself up to shuffle a bit closer, peering over the edge at the little spot of green and then out at the darker lands that still hadn't grown back life. It had been that way as long as she could remember. Her mom said things were changing, everyone was speaking of change, but she was born in the midst of it all so it seemed a bit less impressive to her perhaps. "I see it," she said softly, though she watched mostly because her mother asked her to, not because she wanted to herself.
Kizuka opened her mouth to say more, and then shook herself and laughed. Here she was waxing poetic with a cub who probably didn't understand or care. ... that would come with age, the lioness decided, and not telling.
She tore herself from the sight before she could have a relapse, and faced the jungle beyond. "Alright, Zuri, this is your show now. You're going to have to find something to hunt, and track it. You're the lead Huntress."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:13 pm
Zuri's ears drooped slightly as her mother turned towards the jungle and began to talk. She had expected her mother to show her a little something more than this. "You aren't going to help me at all?" she asked quietly, staring at the jungle that stretched out before her. Mice in caves were one thing, but big animals in the entire jungle were a whole different story. She had no idea how to even begin tracking them down or anything.
"Nope!" Kizuka replied cheerily. Seeing the look of desolation on her daughter's face, however, she softened. "Just give it a shot and see what you can work out, Zuri. I'm not going to abandon you out here."
Kizuka chuckled, then turned back to the jungle. What she saw there, however, caused her to put a hand out to stop the girl. The lioness's eyes narrowed at the path of destruction torn through the jungle.
It was a large path, and obvious, at least to one who had been raised to look for such things. Twigs were broken, foliage flattened, some earth churned up.. and the path lead... right over the cliff, not a few paces away from where they'd come up. Whatever it had been had taken quite a fall.
"Stay here," she ordered, then headed over to the end of the trail and looked over into the mists below.
"Alrigh-" she had begun to say, pushing herself forward a few steps before her mother put a paw out and stopped her. She hesitated, narrowing her eyes upon what her mother was studying. At first, she saw nothing, and then what her mother had noticed became all too obvious to her. The path, it looked frantic, like it had been done by something running or confused. She cursed herself in her head for not seeing it earlier, for not being as observant as her mother. She supposed she'd learn, but she wanted to learn quicker.
"Yes momma," she said quietly, obediently, and sat her rump down where she was. She watched her mother move to the cliff and followed her movements with anxious eyes. She shifted her paws, brushing lightly against the earth beneath her, tail raking behind her. She was trying to be patient, but she wanted to see what her mother was seeing.
It took a good while to pick it out. White on equally white rocks, surrounded by white-ish mists.... only the blood stood out. Kizuka frowned. All that she could tell from this height was that it was, or had been, a lion.
The lioness moved from the spot to return to her cub. "Follow me." At the moment she wouldn't explain, thinking it somewhat obvious that she didn't want to leave her cub up here when something had run that lion off the cliff. She wasn't certain she wanted her daughter witnessing this yet, either, but... well. lions weren't immortal... or at least, mortal lions weren't-- Kizuka put a cap on the strange thoughts as she began the much swifter climb down.
About halfway through the path, she deviated from it. "Don't follow too closely, and take your time. The rocks are wet," She called curtly to her daughter, even as she made a rather reckless journey over the obstacles.
In time, she reached the broken mass of lion laying halfway down the cliff.
Somehow he wasn't that hurt, at least not in an obvious manner. Bloody, from scrapes and bites, and cuts... but there was nothing notebly grotesque in the carnage--no obvious bone breaks or crushed forms within the mass. That was a blessing.
Kizuka sniffed the surrounding area, but didn't find any scent other than the lions, and then ventured closer. He, for it was male, appeared to be breathing.
"Zuri, go get your father, but be careful," she intoned, looking down at her young daughter.
It had taken a little while for Zuri to follow her mother down all the rocks to whatever it was she had seen below. Unsurprisingly, her mother arrived before her, especially since Zuri took her mother's warning to heart - she had slipped more than once climbing rocks and she didn't particularly want to slip from so high up. When she finally stumbled out to see what her mother was seeing, her eyes widened and she stood rooted in place. It was some time before she even realized that her mother had spoken to her.
Finally, she hook her head as if to clear a cloud from around it, and nodded at the words that were dimly echoing in her mind. "Yes mama," she said softly, though she was a bit irritated at having to climb back up the rocks she had just gone down. She just hoped her daddy was somewhere close, so she didn't have to walk all over just to find him. With a deep sigh, she started to tackle the rocks again, leaving her mother behind.
Well, at least her mother trusted her enough to send her out to get him by herself, that was something.
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