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 Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:06 pm
Finally, finally! It was their first day out of the den and Jani was incredibly excited about the prospect. He had already talked to all the rocks and things inside so much that he thought they were all probably bored of him. And as for his siblings... most of them thought he was crazy and didn't talk to him much at all. But he didn't mind, he had other friends!
Plus, now he could make more friends, out in the wide world. He bounced on his paws and then ran out into the light, grinning happily. "Hello world!" he called out with a cheerful tone to his voice.(( Pretty much for anyone in the Jeraha/Chikalawingu family that wants to jump in~ ))
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:02 pm
 Doto was not as enthusiastic about the bright day out as his siblings seemed to be. Of course, he was already aware that he was very different to most of them. He did not feel the need to impress his father or earn the attention of his doting mother. He certainly did not talk to rocks, and he had no real need to play.
He left the cave slowly, trotting at his own pace as he moved with his siblings, watching as his green brother bounced up and down in a ridiculous show of excitement. Rolling his eyes, Doto moved passed Jani as he greeted the world, making sure to deliver a good shoulder check as he passed.
Leaping fairly gracefully, considering his age, onto a nearby rock, the dark cub sat down and turned his eyes over his family, watching them silently and without any hint of interest.
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:45 pm
 “Doto,” growled Jeraha with the same amount of threatening warning in his voice he would use against a stranger, “be nice to your strange brother.” There. That would learn him. Now that his role as father had been fulfilled for the day, Jeraha kept himself to silence, moving slowly over the grounds towards the pool of water that sat several feet from the den. Nothing too out of the way, but it at least gave the little ones a chance to stretch their legs.
He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to take a nap or not. Did being a father mean staring at the damn cubs ALL the time?
Not that they were unattractive creatures. He was rather proud that half his genes made up such fine looking creatures; he just wasn’t sure about the father thing in general. It seemed so strange to suddenly be a father when not so long ago he had spent his life loathing his and wishing never to have cubs. Now his thoughts were constantly swirling around what he would do if he ended up being no better than his old lion. What if he hurt them?
Sitting down near the water, he looked down at his children, expression lacking. “Go have fun,” he all but ordered them.  Kavu couldn’t be more excited. Spending time with his dear old dad was just about the best thing he could think of to happen in a day. In a year, even. He was going to make sure his dad saw just how cool he was. How much like him he was. It was going to be perfect.
He would impress Jeraha no matter what.
The young cub stayed near his father as they walked, sitting beside him once the much larger animal came to a stop. He was close enough to feel his father’s fur against his leg, glad to find the male sitting put rather than shifting away from him for a change. But now he didn’t know what to do. Play with his siblings? Try to look cool?
As much as he wanted to play, he worried what his father would think of him for it. Then again, Jeraha had told them to do just that. He couldn’t rightly go against the male. So he moved away, reluctantly, and went over to Jani.
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:52 pm
Jani didn't at all protest at the shoulder-check, though, just moved with it so he wasn't knocked over. He'd gotten used to Doto being rough and then ignoring him already. So, it wasn't interesting because it wasn't new.
He was out here to see and meet new things! Head swiveling toward his father, he grinned when Jeraha told them to play and started to bound off on his own. Then he paused for just a moment and glanced back to see Kavu heading toward him.
"You want to play too?" he asked, obviously delighted.
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Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 5:18 pm
Doto scowled at his dad, huffing indignantly at the order. There was no reason to be nice to his strange brother. Or anyone else, for that matter. Being nice was an effort, a falsity, and who should he learn to be something he was not? There was no reward in faking, in lying, and he certainly was not going to allow himself to grow up false. If his decisions made him a lion that was not 'nice', then he did not want to be nice. It was as simple as that.
Still, he was a bit disgruntled as one of his siblings, the white brother named Kavu, move to join Jani in whatever stupid games his crazy imagination might concoct for them. It did not sit well with him that the weird cub was the one the others wanted to play with, while he, the one striving to be himself and, in his mind, was far more normal than all the others, was the one that had to sit alone.
It might have troubled, if he wasn't so annoyed by them when they did ask to play with him.
Tail swatting the ground in his youthful conflicted state, he stared pensively at the two. He was unwilling to venture closer, his red eyes absorbing their slightest movements as he decided he would learn as much about them in their new setting as he had when they were in the cave. It never hurt, knowing every aspect of someone: friend, foe, or family.
There was no telling when certain information, like fears or weaknesses, would come in handy.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:05 pm
Jeraha, noticing his son’s grin, quirked an eyebrow, averting his eyes from the boy promptly and placing them instead on his much less agreeable, and indeed no less annoying, son Doto. The boy was too much like him; dark, brooding, sarcastic- if he wasn’t careful he would end up being Jeraha 2.0.
Which, frankly, wouldn’t be as totally awesome as it sounded.
His eyes then slipped over to Kavu, who seemed to be struggling with what he wanted to do. Jeraha knew the boy longed to win his affection, but as a grumpy adult with little exposure to children, he was unwilling to give the poor little thing what he most wanted- a show of pride. Maybe one day Kavu would do something worthy of praise, but Jeraha wasn’t just going to hand it over to the boy. No, it had to be earned. If the kid truly wanted his love, then he would have no issue with trying to obtain it by any means necessary.
Moving his attention back to who would clearly be the troubled child of the family, Jeraha gave a clearing of his throat for attention. “What’s the matter, Doto?” he asked the boy with a firm, almost lecturing tone, “does playing with your brothers not interest you?”
Kavu, light in spirit since he had convinced himself that play was what his father wanted to see, offered his somewhat peculiar brother a smile. Yes, he too thought Jani was a little on the special, don’t eat the dirt side, but he wasn’t going to hold it against the little guy. Maybe he was just weird because the others didn’t play with him enough.
Maybe a game would make him stop talking to plants and rocks.
“Sure!” replied the boy brightly, tail flailing from side to side as though he held no control over it, “what do you want to play?” He then peered back at Jeraha, who was at that moment speaking to Doto. Damnit, what did that mean cub have that Kavu didn’t? His father should be watching the game they were going to play so he could see how athletic Kavu was.
“Play with us Doto!” he called, if only to steal the boy away from his father.
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:24 pm
Jani could care less if Doto was in a bad mood, or what Kavu's reasons might be for suddenly wanting to play. He was just focused on the moment, the now and right now, he had someone to play with and that was good!
"Hmm...." he mused for a minute or two, thinking Kavu's question over carefully. There were games they'd played back in the cave of course, but most of them had to be played in limited space, or even used features of the cave as elements of the game.
Out here... it was a whole different story!
"Hide and seek?" he suggested finally, ears perking up. They'd played that before, but there weren't many places to hide inside, so it was easy. Out here, it'd be a LOT harder!
Bouncing up and down, he followed Kavu's gaze toward their father and then Doto and called out, "Yea come play!" right after his brother. More players always made this game more fun!
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:07 pm
Doto watched Jeraha impassively as he turned his attention toward the brooding cub. He was not seeking attention from his father, and was not particularly glad to have it unbidden. Rolling his shoulders, he shrugged at the questions. He flattened himself out on the rock, rolling to his side indifferently.
"No," he said in response to his dad, though he did not bother speaking any louder than he was used to. He didn't care if his father heard him or not, "it really doesn't interest me."
It was only moments before Kavu was harping at him, the sharp, grating order to join them in play sending a shudder down Doto's spine. Turning his head slowly toward his brother, he eyed the white cub keenly. Sighing through his teeth, he sneered and returned his chin to his paws, "why?"
Of course, his response went unheeded as Jani joined in. It seemed his entire family was bent on annoying him. Growling, he pushed himself to his paws, squinting at them both. "Fine, I'll play. Whatever. Just don't complain at me if you don't like how I play. You asked."
He pounced from the rock, padding over to them with an expression on his face that displayed his intention to not have an ounce of fun in their company. Not conventionally, anyway.
"What are we playing?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:36 pm
“You are a strange cub,” Jeraha commented absently, watching the young male with an arched eyebrow. As arched as a lion’s was going to get, anyway. He shook his head, dismissing his concerns of the creature. So what if he was a little odd right now? The boy had only been born a short time ago. Perhaps a little been of life experience would train him towards more normal routines. It was a good sign, at least, to see him moving off to play with his brothers.
Even if he didn’t seem all that interested in doing it.
Sighing, the male closed his eyes, getting comfortable against the ground now that he didn’t have to worry about any children hovering under him. Kavu had an annoying habit of pushing himself right between his legs without him even noticing it until he was about to smush the poor thing. Another odd cub, though for an entirely different reason.
How any cub could dote on a father so much was beyond him. Had he been so clingy with his father?
Between the blows to his back and watching his mother kill herself, he couldn’t quite recall a time where he really wanted to be around his father. Maybe it was something to let Kavu partake in, seeing as he never got to experience it. Pushing him away might make Jeraha more like his old man that he ever wanted to be.
Grunting to himself, he drifted off to sleep.
“Hide and seek!” echoed Kavu in delight, “oh! That will be so much fun! Let’s play it, come on!” He laughed, looking over at Doto, “We’re going to play hide and seek! Come play with us, it’s not so much fun with only the two of us!”
He thought for a moment about asking his father to join them in the game, but the large male was never one for such things. Besides, he was already sleeping. Waking him up would make him disgruntled, and Kavu didn’t want to do anything that might make him upset or angry. Chuckling lightly, he disregarded the notion completely, looking once more to his chatting-with-trees brother.
“Who will be it?” he asked casually, thinking it would be between the two of them to decide.. Doto, like Jeraha, didn’t often join in on the games. Kavu didn’t think he liked to play, or maybe he just didn’t like his siblings. Either way, he never jumped to his feet to join in.
Kavu wondered if, should Doto be it, the boy would actually come looking for them.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:58 pm
Jani bounced up and down excitedly, even more-so when Doto decided to come and play. It really wasn't often that he would play, and Jani kept hoping he would learn to have a little more fun. After all, life was boring without play, right?!
Hmm.... who would be it, though, that was a good question. He knew better than to suggest that rock over there, or the tree on the other side of the clearing. They might want to play too, but for one thing, they couldn't move. Well, maybe the rock could, but he didn't know for sure. And for another, his siblings wouldn't agree, anyway.
So he thought for a minute, then scooped up three rocks of vaguely different colors. "How about we let these guys decide!" he suggested enthusiastically. Even if the rocks couldn't play, they could help out!
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:09 pm
Doto watched his brothers with irritation in his eyes, swimming amidst the anger and disinterest. He heard his father's comment, but did not heed it in any way, content to pretend his father never spoke to or about him at all. He was not like Kavu, after all. Though, he did approve of drawing his father's eyes effortlessly when Kavu was trying so desperately for some small recognition.
Hide and seek was not a bad idea. If he was chosen as it, he would certainly not go looking for them. He would pretend to count, and let them run their ways, then go sit down on his rock again, to sun or nap or something of that nature. As boring as it might be, it was still much better than actually going and finding them. All that would accomplish was another game, another round, and more vexation.
Tilting his head, he stared at Jani. For once, he had no idea how to react. He knew what had just happened was ridiculous, idiotic, and annoying, and yet he was struck silent by the moment. Three rocks would help them decide who would be the seeker. That made absolutely no sense.
"Jani," Doto said evenly, his face impassive, "what is wrong with you?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:05 am
Kavu blinked, looking at Jani. Even he couldn’t deny that it was really weird for him to be talking to rocks. Well, talking to them was alright. He had always assumed that it was just some way for him to pass the time. But for him to think that the rocks would be able to talk back… that was just weird.
Maybe he had been dropped on his head when he was just born.
“I don’t think we should ask the rocks about it,” replied the boy after a long pause. He had taken a moment to look back at Jeraha to see if the male had been watching. Sleeping still, Jeraha had no idea what was going on. Relieved, the boy looked back at Jani. Now he didn’t need to be mean, at least.
“Let’s just play between us brothers, okay?”
Frowning, he looked over at Doto. There wasn’t anything he could say to make the boy be a bit nicer. Because, well, he was wondering the very same thing. What was wrong with the cub that made him thing it was perfectly normal to talk to rocks and plants and have them talk back? Maybe he was sick or insane or something. They had a right to know about it.
Saying nothing, his eyes returned to Jani, the cub waiting for an answer. Anything that might shed some light on the situation.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:24 am
Jani blinked and eyed the two of them, pawing at the rocks for a minute or two. "I didn't mean ask them, you guys! That'd be dumb, cause you can't hear 'em," he pointed out with a smile. Obviously, that wouldn't work.
"I meeean, let's each take a rock and see who can bat it the farthest! If the rock likes you, it'll go farther. So we'll know who they pick! It's easy!"
It made perfect sense to him, at least.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:58 pm
"I'm not throwing a rock to see if it likes me," Doto said, with no pretense of being nice. His tone reflected how stupid he found the idea, and how stupid he thought the cub who came up with it was, "and you can't hear them, either. You just think you can, and pretend you can, so you can make up for some weird issue you were born with."
He sneered and batted his tail against the earth, looking from Jani to Kavu and back again. Twitching his nose, he shook his head impatiently. "We could just wrestle to see who's it. The loser is."
Doto had no intention of playing fair if they wrestled, because he had no intention of being it. Of course, he was a large cub, taking after his father in that respect, and was certainly a sizable opponent for his siblings. He was confident he could hold his own, though he had no real practice in the sport.
He had imagined attacking each of the so many times, however, it was almost as if he had more experience than was fathomable.
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