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 Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:38 pm
The den felt so… empty now. There were normally nine bodies in there, all snuggled together, warm and safe. But now… now the cubs---teenagers, actually---were slowly starting to leave. Even the orphan than Thili had taken in, Hadaya, was starting to grow in a mane, a sure sign that he too would be ready to go on his Seeking soon. It felt like only last week that Thili had first found that little golden brown cub nestled in the grass, deeply afraid of being attacked. Thili didn’t want them to leave. They were his kids, damnit, even if they weren’t of his blood, and he didn’t want to lose them. But… but, the black lion understood that it was important for them to live their own lives. And, besides, it was a tradition of the pride. Even if the pride was new, there were still traditions to follow.
The moonlight glittered over the water, full and silver, as the waves moved in and out. Whenever he was starting to feel alone, Thili always walked along the shore. It was comforting, listening to the ocean’s breathing. And it was breathing, moving in and out, as steady as anyone’s breath. Sure, sometimes it was faster or slower than normal, but that was natural too. Like right now, everything was slow and steady, as the waves tossed up foam on the sands. This had to be his second favorite place in the entire world… of course, his favorite place was wherever Senatla happened to be. And his cubs, of course. Although, they really weren’t cubs any more.
They were already grown up----when had that happened? It felt like only yesterday that little Sewelo had bravely ‘attacked’ Thili, in an attempt to protect his mother----and now the black and white leopon had the fluff of a mane growing around his ruff. Thili hadn’t even gotten settled in yet, it felt like, and the cubs were already leaving. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to Kamaria yet… well, that could come later. Hopefully before he had a litter of cubs with Senny; the existing family had to be taken care of before any more members could be added.
Speaking of family… Thili briefly shook himself off, remembering a rumor about a new lioness who had just given birth. He ought to do something nice, like bring her some food. It wasn’t easy, being a single mother.
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Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 6:33 am
Her thought moved to Udo, whom had grown so big since the pair had met and began to travel together. He was a teen now and Siti was nervous about the new prospects that can with adolescence, but Siti did not wish to dwell on it just now. She checked over her children once more and smile at the group. Three sons; two older, one younger, and four daughter. She was so fortunate, her life had turned around so completely over the last few months.
She decided that she would take a walk and have a moment to enjoy the beauty of the Simbafutaji lands. She headed out of the cave and made her way to the beach, stepping onto the soft sand and enjoying the feeling of it between her toes. Siti was quiet certain that she was in love with the ocean, it was simply so calming and it relaxed her so.
Siti moved quiet across the sands watching the waves roll in slowly. She was so entranced that she almost did not notice she was walking towards someone. When she noticed the male however she froze at seeing his dark fur in the night, memories of Barakillian and how she received the scars on her face raced across her mind. She took a minute to calm herself by reminding herself where she was and that no one here would try to hurt her.
Once calm she called to him, "Hello, over there."
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Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:16 pm
Thili looked over his shoulder quickly, shocked that he had been so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize someone else was approaching. That was a bit embarrassing for one who fancied himself to be a pretty good hunter. Oh well… he smiled in a friendly way at the stranger. Oh! She must be the new lioness, or so he suspected. She had the same harried look of a new mother and one only recently arrived. But, there was something familiar about her, something he couldn’t quite put his claw on… it didn’t matter, but it still niggled at the back of his mind. Her fur pattern in particular struck him as oddly familiar.
“Good evening to you too, miss,” he said in a perfectly friendly tone of voice. “Have you come to look at the ocean too? It’s always so relaxing out here. It reminds me a bit of where I grew up.” Although, admittedly, he hadn’t grown up anywhere near the sea. His memory of his cubhood was of a verdant place, full of trees and birds and life. That was the main thing, all of the life all around. And, of course, friends, although one of his best friends had left early on…
Waitaminute… Thili paused for a moment, his mind going into overdrive. Similar pelt? Check. Female? Check. The scars were new, but… “…Siti?” he said softly, after thoroughly scouring his mind for his old friend’s name. “Is that you? It’s Thili.” He tried to keep the rising hope out of his voice and pretty much failed.
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:50 pm
As Siti came closer to the male, she was sure he reminded her of someone but she was still a ways off. As she spoke his voice did not sound familiar to her but it was friendly and polite.
"Yes, I've found that the ocean seems to be one of my favorite places in these lands. I love it just as much as I love the the trees. However, I have traveled around a lot since I was young, so I can not say it reminds me of where I grew up."
Siti was close enough now to see that there was white in the beautiful black coat and now Siti was sure she had seen the male before but she could not place a time of a face to him. She was surprised when he spoke her name, but she knew it was possible one of the other member of the pride could have told him. He asked if it was her and then Siti heard him say something she never expected.
'Thili,' she thought. She had not seen him since before her mother died. And she quickly close the distance between the two circling him and giving him a quick sniff. His marking were unforgettable.
"Thili ... I can't believe it. I thought I would never see you again."
Siti was so excited she wanted to pounce on her old friend, but she was not a cub anymore and figured that would be rather inappropriate.
"My and wow, your all grown up, and I haven't seen you since we were little. I can't believe I find you here so far from where we meet."
Siti stopped to catch her breath and give Thili a chance to talk.
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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:23 pm
While Siti was at least pretending to be a mature adult with no desire to pounce on her old playmate, Thili had no such delusions. As boisterous and playful as ever, he batted his paws at his old friend, challenging her to a game of wrestle. Hey, it had always been their favorite game when they were cubs! Although, as Thili recalled, Siti had won her fair few of matches due to her superior climbing abilities; she’d always been able to skitter out of Thili’s reach and then tackle him from above.
“I can’t believe it’s really you! After your mom…” he trailed off there and some of his enthusiasm abandoned him, sobered by the memory of the lioness’s death. He shook his head quickly to dislodge the unpleasant memories. “I thought you had died. That’s what I was always told!” But, wow… here she was, looking alive and well! And so much had happened in their time apart! Memories jostled for attention in Thili’s mind, each and every one trying to be seen first. The scars on Siti’s face were new… very new, actually, now that he was close enough to see the pink flesh.
“What happened? Where did you go? I was always told you had died!” he repeated, as if forgetting he had already said just that. “When did you get here? I’ve been living here for a few weeks now…”
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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 4:03 pm
Siti quickly gave into Thili's playfulness, having missed her old friend so dearly. She batted her paws right back at him and pounce around enthusiastically. She remembered sneaking off to play with Thili, away from her siblings, who did not understand her desire to always climb. She remembered pouncing of her friend from above, almost always the victor in their games. She even remember the simple down time after having played all day long.
Siti did not lose her enthusiasm at the mention of her mom and continued her playful batting at her friend. She did however stop when he said he thought she was dead. She had not realized others would think that. She knew her mother was dead and she assumed the same for her siblings, although she was not certain, but never herself. She guessed it was because she was alive and she knew it.
Siti was a little overwhelmed by the bombardment of question and was not sure which to answer first. The all seemed to meld in her mind, along with the answers to the question which had raced to the forefront of her mind.
Siti sighed in plopped down in the sand rolling onto her side. "Mom said there was a storm coming and that we need to leave to get away from the storm. She took my siblings and I out into the rogue lands but we did not go far enough and the storm came. I do not remember much, but I remember taking shelter in a tree and waking far from where I'd been. I looked for mom for a few days and when I found her she was cold and unmoving. After that I searched for my siblings, but I never found them. By then I was half starved and I was taking in by a heard of gazelle. After that I spent my life with them moving to herd of bigger prey animals as I grew. As a teen I lived with elephants and after that I was on my own."
Siti hoped her explaination was not to much, it was interesting, but not exactly the happiest explaination. She took a moment to catch her breath before going onto her next explanation.
"I only just arrived a few days ago. A very nice lioness called Sen gave me a den and got me settled in. In the late afternoon, I brought my first litter into the world. I havent left the den much, since their eyes haven't opened yet, but right now my adopted sons are with them and they are safe."
Siti smiled at Thili happy to have her friend back, "What has happened with you?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:26 pm
Compared to Siti’s tumultuous life, Thili’s seemed rather… well… boring. What did he have to talk about? Oh, well, he went off on a crazy mission to find a goddess, failed, found Senny instead, fell in love, got depressed, and then came back. It sounded horribly uninteresting compared to living with elephants! But, since he was, by nature, a truthful sort, Thili felt he had to answer anyway. He developed a sudden interest in his paws, watching as his claws burrowed into the sand softly. “Yeah, we… umm… found your mother… so we just sort of assumed you and your siblings had…” he started softly before cutting himself off. It didn’t really matter that he thought Siti was dead; the important thing was that she was clearly alive.
But, there were even more interesting things than elephants! Thili’s eyes positively lit up at the mention of Sen’s name. In truth, it took his bouncing brain cells a moment to connect the ‘Sen’ mentioned by Siti with his Sen, but… well, there could only be so many Sens in one place, right? Besides, settling in a pregnant lioness sounded like something the red lioness would do…
Woah, hold up! Siti had cubs now?! She had given birth?! Once again the brain cells in Thili’s mind went wild, trying to process all of this. What topic should he tackle first? The cubs or Sen or… or something else? Oh, waitaminute! That meant that Siti was the lioness he had heard about earlier! Wow. Old friends were coming out of the trees like… like old friends coming out of trees! Any moment now, and he half expected to see Kayin slinking around.
“Oh… umm… things have been good for me,” he said, unsure how to make his life sound interesting. “My cubs… well, not really cubs any more. They’re just about ready to leave on their Seeking quest.” He drew himself up with pride at that. Technically, the hybrids weren’t of his blood, but he had still played a part in their upbringing. That was good enough for him. “Senatla is actually my… ah… mate,” he said, stumbling over the word just a little. He smiled in a way that would have been called sheepish, if only he was a sheep.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 12:01 am
Siti had not really wished to talk about her mother. She had mostly put the tragedy behind her and she wished to keep it that way. Not to mention she was the mother of seven now, her two adopted sons and her five new cubs she just recently. Siti was thinking of her own cubs when she swore Thili mentioned cubs.
When she heard him say they were'nt really cubs anymore, she knew she had heard right. She listened to him speak about them and wondered what a seeking quest was. She was so busy she had not really had too much about the pride explained to her. Then when he mention Sen being his mate, Siti gave a large grin and congradulated him. 'Cub and a mate', she thought, she had one of the two.
"How old are your cubs," she asked, "and whats a seeking quest. "
Siti was almost to impatient to talk wait for the answer, she just wanted to catch up with her old friend, but at the same time she did not wish them to have less to talk about. However, she would not want to miss out on information that is important to the pride.
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:05 pm
Yeah. Some males might have felt a bit of resentment over their mate having a higher status in the pride… Senny was one of the three leaders, one of the trio who made the majority of decisions. While she was off doing important things, like greeting newcomers, Thili was off hunting or playing with the cubs. Of course, every night, Senny’d tell the cubs stories about living as a rogue. But, honestly, the black lion didn’t care; he was damned proud of his mate and his children.
“They’re almost adults now,” he admitted, once again a bit sheepish about calling them ‘cubs’. “The boys have almost gotten full manes. And the girls get more beautiful by the day.” Or… well… the boys had as much of a mane as they would get, Thili suspected. Being hybrids would probably pull back some of the mane. Such a pity… “A Seeking quest is… well, it’s what it sounds like. When they become adolescents, they must leave the pride and travel for a while. The goal is to find out something new for their chosen job. A Crafter might be asked to learn about hyena crafts, or a fighter might want to learn how leopards fight. Once they have this information, the adolescents are accepted as adults. If they fail… well, they can always come back. They just won’t be considered adults until they try again and succeed.”
It worried him, his boys and girls going out into the world… he’d seen that world, had lived in it for a long time. Being a rogue was tough. Being a lone hybrid, he suspected, would be even worse… he frowned slightly, thinking about all the trouble his cubs might face out in the world.
“How many cubs do you have?” he asked, brightening up once more. This was no time to get gloomy; this was a happy reunion! “Including your adopted sons,” he added, because he considered them to be every bit as much Siti’s cubs as the ones she had recently given birth to.
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 5:51 pm
Siti understood calling his them cubs, she herself still thought of Udo as the small cub she had come across a little while back. Now however he has grown quite a bit and his mane was coming in and she Siti was excited for him.
However her face fell when she heard Thili's explanation of a seekign quest. To her that meant that Udo would be leaving her again soon and it worried her because she was unsure he was ready to be out on his own again. She was also worried about him getting loss or not coming back.
Siti mood was rather somber now and it was evident as she answered Thili's question. "I have seven; four girls and three boys. Udo is the oldest, an adolescent. Korrin is the second, I believe he is only a juvenile. He is rather small and has not really grown any, but is larger than my cubs for sure. Then my cubs that have just been born are Kitandiko, Tendaji, Halona, Nyeupe'almasi, and Lilavati."
Siti cheered up a little talking about her family, but not completely. "What about you. How many do you have? Have you any adopted cubs as well?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:30 am
Thili frowned a bit as, suddenly, Siti looked as depressed as a walrus without a bucket. It didn’t take him long to understand the problem, since he himself was having the same doubts. “Don’t worry; if he’s not ready to leave yet, he doesn’t have to leave. They can always come back if they realize that they aren’t ready for it yet,” he said reassuringly, just as his mate had told him not so long ago. Hearing about Siti’s cubs was wonderful; it was a comfort to know that his old friend had found such a joy in her life. She surely deserved it.
“Seven. I have seven cubs.” There was something wonderful about being able to say that, having cubs. Even if none of them were really his. Hmm… was there a good way to explain that? “There’s Asphamet, Kijani, Motsu, Sare’nafsi, Sewelo, and Khozama. Four boys and two girls. I technically am not their father… they’re all hybrids, you see, but they’re still my children. I’ve never met their actual father. And Hadaya was a recent adoption as well. He’s settling in nicely, though. He’s always worrying about trying to find the perfect path in life.” Yes, he was very proud of his children; having a paw in their upbringing was his proudest moment in life.
“Senatla and I hope to have a litter of our own one day. We both love raising cubs and the den just feels so empty without them.” Not that he felt these biological children would be any better than his adopted children, of course.
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:18 am
Siti could feel herself relax as Thili explained that Udo need not leave if she did not feel ready and happy to hear he would be able to return if felt he needed and try again later. It made her smile. She was happy she had found the perfect pride for her.
Siti was surprised at Thili's large family. Seven cub was a lot of work, but at the same time it was a lot of love as well. She was happy Thili had a good life, even if his children so far were not his blood. Siti did not think that a mother or father needed to be related by blood or even species. She herself had had lots of parents completely unrelated to her.
"Hadaya?" Siti perked up at the mention of the name of the cub she had met in the rogue lands some time back when she was still searching for a pride and wishing to have cubs but not actively trying. "I met a cub name Hadaya. He was sweet although a bit clumsy. We hunted together but it was well it just was and in the end he ran off."
Siti smiled at the thought of Thili have more cubs with his mate. The pair both seemed like good parents and Siti could imagine them continuing to adopt cubs even when they could not have anymore of there own.
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:10 pm
Now it was Thili’s turn to be surprised as Siti claimed to have met a cub named Hadaya. Now that was unexpected but wonderful all the same… It was good to know that Hadaya had met some nice lions out in the world. So far, Thili hadn’t asked his adopted son too much about his life before joining the pride; if Hadaya wanted to talk about it, he reasoned, the tawny lion would tell him about it. It would simply be rude to poke before he was ready to talk. “Yes, that sounds like our Hadaya alright. Very… skittish. Always worried about getting something wrong…” he sighed at that, hoping that his boy would eventually get over his low self-esteem. He was always so convinced that everything he touched would turn out horrible.
“Well, when Senny and I do have cubs, you’ll have to meet them,” he continued on, smiling again. Heh. Funny. When Thili and Siti were little cubs, Thili’s parents had always told him what a nice girl she was and how wonderful their friendship was. Back then, the black lion hadn’t thought about it much, but looking at it through the lens of maturity… well, they took on a different tone. Not that he had ever considered her anything more than a friend, of course. They had both been far too young at the time.
“Umm…” he hesitated, wondering if there was a polite way to ask about Siti’s mate. So far she hadn’t really said anything about a father to her cubs, which made him a little curious, even if it was none of his business.
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:52 pm
"Hadaya is a sweetheart and I seem to attrack cubs that are a bit skittish." Siti laughed slightly. It was true though, when she found Udo he was terrified of the dark and he was frightened and Korrin had been frighten of just about everything, but he seemed to be less afraid these days. Being a big brother would do that to a cub though.
Siti was excited for the prospect of meeting Sen and Thili's cubs, she thought that they would have very beautiful cubs and she was happy to known Thili's cubs since he had been friends when they were little. It would somehow make the cubs a bit more special in her heart, like family in a way. "I absolutely cannot wait to meet them. Hopefully you will be blessed with a litter sooner than you know."
Siti could tell that Thili wanted to ask her a question, but he hestitated and Siti wondered why. Her features soften slightly as she looked to her friend. "What is it Thili? You can say it, don't worry. It's okay."
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:32 pm
‘Blessed a little sooner than he knew’? Was it Thili’s imagination or was there a bit of… knowingness in that statement? Had Senny confided in his old friend in some way? No… of course not! That was absurd! They had only just met! Why would they start confiding secrets in each other already? Despite the lack of logic of it all, the words still sent a little dart of hope into his heart. “Oh, I hope so… at least, I think I do… I would love to have cubs, but I wonder if it might be too soon. The leopons have only just left, most of them. I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to replace them. Of course, Hadaya is still here. I hope he stays long enough to meet his new little siblings…”
Thili shifted uncomfortably; even as a cub, he had been awkward when someone else’s full attention was on him, a little nervous about making some sort of mistake that would make them hate him forever. “Um… I was just wondering… about your cubs’ father…” not that he fancied himself for that position. He was very much in love with Senny. Not that there was anything wrong with Siti, of course. Oh dear… he was messing this up, wasn’t he?
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