"Into your head, into your mind
out of your soul, race through your veins
You can't escape, you can't escape."
The voice singing was sweet and high, a cubs voice just starting to gain refinement. And though it wasn't loud, it had a certain strength behind it that made it easy to hear. The source was a little black and brown cub, sitting in the shade of a tree. She knew her Mama wasn't far.
And her siblings weren't far either. And until she was bigger, she wasn't likely to wander too much farther.
"Into your life, into your dreams,
Out of the dark, sunlight again
You can't explain, you can't explain."
She was grinning as she sang...thumping her tail as best she could in a sort of crude rhythm to her voice. She'd learned a lot when her family passed by the strange music-pride...She was lost in the song, lost in the things she'd learned as a cub traveling, in the things she'd seen...all the information wanting to burst out of her so the world could know what she did. And despite all her normal caution, including putting crunchy leaves in a good sized circle around her, Ekundayo was rather oblivious if company showed up.
Usiku's ears perked in obvious interest. Large for a rogue child, he had wandered from his mother (with her permission, of course, no need to upset her) and had gone to scout the area. He was growing up...a 'big boy' now, and his mother had started to release her stranglehold on his movements. It was no wonder she kept him close, all things considered...she'd lost one of his half-brothers, as well as his sister, to the malicious creatures that roamed these lands...that any other, lion or otherwise, would want to hurt him, seemed an almost foreign concept, but he knew it was true.
Usiku considered himself the man of this tiny family...as he remembered not his absent father, nor the mysterious mate of his mother.
With a little churring sound, he padded forward, dark tail-tip flicking to and fro in an almost gleeful movement, curiosity peaked by the sound of a youthful voice wafting to him over the slight breeze. Not desirous to interrupt the singer, he was very quiet, approaching her...until he came to those leaves, and true to form, crunchy leaves went crunch beneath his paws, and he cringed. Oops.
"Can You feel it, can you feel it,
Rushin' through your hair,
Rushin' through your head,
Can you feel it, can you feel it~"
She let her voice hold the note for a few seconds, mind not registering the crunching sound it heard. Ekun was enjoying her rather new knowledge of what she heard and sang and felt...Though for her, it was quite different from the music-lions she met.
For her...it was giving a voice to that which had no voice.
"Don't let nobody tell you, your life is over,
Be every color that you are,
Into the rush now,
You don't have to know how,
Know it all before you try."
As the last note of the verse faded, the sound she'd heard clicked in her brain. HER LEAVES! Red eyes open wide, she looked about until she spotted a rather dark...blue...cub.
A large one too. She squeaked and moved to run back to her Mama before she realized something...He bore none of the marks the demon-cub had. And demon-boy certainly had no white on him. She calmed. "H-hullo..."
"Hello..." He seemed a bit hesitant, as though he'd intruded on her personal space, and perhaps he had, now that he glanced at the leaves beneath his paws that he was currently shuffling about in. "Uh...sorry if I scared you...I just heard you singing, and it was...well...it was very nice." He complimented, a shy smile on his features.
"Do you live around here?" True, his mother and he wandered, but she had informed him that not everyone did that, some people lived in one place their entire lives, though that seemed a mite boring to him...travelling from place to place was grand fun.
Ekun blinked. He...seemed nice. She untensed a little. "I-it's okay. And thanks..." She liked that others thought her singing was nice. The cub puffed up a bit. "I like singing...It keeps all the stuff in my head from getting jumbled up." She smiled a bit, a shy smile. Ekun was still a little cautious.
At the question, she shook her head. "Mama and my siblings and I are just stayin' here for a little. We travel all around." By his question, it was obvious he didn't live around here. Besides...they hadn't found any territory marks before settling in to rest.
Her answer seemed to please him, eyes lighting up with interest, "Oh? My family travels too! Well...my mamma and I anyway, we aren't sure where the rest of my family is...but we hope to find them soon!" He had to be the optimist to counter his mother's despondency, give her something to live for...and she depended on him.
"My name's Usiku'mgeni! What's yours?" Drawing himself up to his full height, he attempted to appear as manly as physically possible for a youngling of his size. He'd been so very delighted when the ruff of his mane had started to come in along the back of his neck...true proof that he'd be a big strong lion someday.
Ekun giggled a bit, despite herself. "I think lots of creatures travel...especially lions. I've only met some who don't." She blinked. Not knowing where the rest of his family was? That reminded her...she needed to ask Mama why she was the only one who really looked like her. It was something that had the cub thinking quite a bit lately.
"I'm Ekundayo." She untensed completely, not feeling uneasy anymore. He meant no harm, even if he was a lot bigger than her. "You've got more head-fur than my brother...he'd probably be jealous." The thought of 'Rai with a big fluffy mane was still a hard one. Then again...he was still a cub, like her.
Usiku bobbed his head with enthusiasm. "Momma says it means I'm getting big." He flexed his claws with pride. "I want to be a hunter when I grow up, so I can take care of her and my family." Those were the values she had encouraged in him, and thus, he was growing up to be what she considered to be the perfect vision of manhood. "You have lots of brothers and sisters?"
Ekun grinned. "I know how to catch mice and rabbits now! I like helping Mama get food...I wanna try and make up for all the times I made her worry lots." She used to range as far as she could in half a day before wandering back to her Mama...of course, that had ended in her getting scarred and scared of others for a while. The cub shook her head. "Nope. Two sisters and a brother. Not big at all."
"I can catch rabbits...and small...antelope-things." He stated pridefully, having brought down the first of the latter just a few days prior. "Well that's more'n I have...though momma says I have half-siblings somewhere...and right now...my sister is missing." He frowned at that, swatting at one of the dry leaves. "She has been, though...mom says she's gone, like my big brother is gone, and he never came back." That scared him, that he might never see his pretty little sister again...but he wouldn't be kept from her forever, when he got big, he'd find her!
Ekun's ears went back in sympathy. "I'm sure you'll find her again..." She moved closer to him, ignoring the crunch of her leaves. "After all...you're family! Families always find each other in the end!" She purred, so sure of her belief. After all, how else would she know where her family was whenever she did accidentally wander off? "I dunno if I've got more siblings...I haven't asked Mama..."
Her answer caused him to bounce a little bit on his forepaws, and he padded closer, to sit just to the side of her, curling his tail around so that the tuft draped over his front toes. "That's what I tell my momma. She's so sad mosttimes though...I'm not sure if she believes it. I just want her to be happy. Is your momma happy with all of you?" He hoped she was, it was good for parents to be happy, it made for pleasant families.
Ekun nodded. "I used to worry her...but now she's happy." She giggled sheepishly. "I'm the only one of my siblings who went and got hurt...but I'm better now!" She puffed up again. "I may be the younger, but I'm gonna make sure none of my other siblings get hurt!" Her tail twitched behind her excitedly. "I won't let my Mama be sad. I think she's had enough sad...even though she won't say it."
He whuffled softly, closing his eyes for a moment. "I hope you can do it...it's good to make your momma happy. Seems like you have a good mama who takes care of you." Phy had always taken good care of him as well, looked over him and given him the utmost care and attention. "My momma says that's the way it's s'posed to be, looking after your family n'your cubs." Ears pricked as another question dawned on him, "Where're yours? You far from them?"
Ekun nodded. "Mama is the best!" She looked over in the direction of her family. "They're over there. I make sure not to wander too far off now. I'm always close enough for Mama to hear me singing!" She grinned as an idea struck her. "Wanna meet my Mama? I don't think she's ever gotten to meet someone I have..."
A wide smile spread across his maw, and he bobbed his head with enthusasm. "I'd love to meet her. I haven't met many other lions..." And anyone as friendly as Ekun surely had a friendly mamma to match. Perhaps his momma could meet her sometime, they'd likely get along!
"Yay! Follow me!" With a quick turn, the dark cub started towards her family at a rather quick pace. "MAMA! I got someone for ya to meet!" She was grinning the entire time, and if she were a wild dog, she was certain her tail would be wagging virgorously. Of course...being feline didn't stop her tail from swishing back and forth in her excitement.
