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 Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:46 pm
"So then I said, "Hey, wanna see my cave?", and he totally bought it. But I forgot how insane my family genes are. I've had six of the little brats and Hari wasn't going for having more kids with Yue so I could sneak them in her litter again. Besides, she'd probably have six more. Those six and then another six? I don't think even Yue is that stupid."
Sen and Nsundu were the image of best friends if there ever was one. Her new litter entertained her every once in a while. But at the end of they day they only served their purpose and nothing more; amuse her until Nsundu was ready. Sometimes, they didn't even do that. Strength in numbers? Damn, was that ever true. The herd of little whiny things overwhelmed her sometimes.
Her silver lining was Waseme was official queen now. This left Sen with the freedom of a bird minus the ability to fly--which sucked because that would have been awesome--and she used her spare time carelessly. Mostly with Nsundu in her pride, doing absolutely nothing of value. Gossip, nap, hunt, more gossip. That was her schedule. Just how she wanted it.
Almost.
Sen was anxious to strike out again. She could wait, impatiently, until Kitambi returned, too.
"This time, there were four girls and two boys. The one male is super whiny. Always wailing for attention. I'm glad I was never like that." She raised a paw and struck the drum in front of her. Still didn't see the point of these stupid things. Wow, they made noise. Hurrah. "Actually, they're all pretty much brats. Must take after Mr. Caveman. How is Jun doing here? I haven't seen her too much since I gave her to you. Something didn't eat her did it?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:01 pm
"Wanna see my cave? And he fell for it? Man. You must have really turned on the charms," Nsundu replied with a laugh, tapping her claws idly against the ground. Ever since Waseme had taken Sen's place as pride queen, she had seen more and more of her friend. Not that that was a bad thing, since nobody in her pride was quite like Sen, but she wished she could do more than just hang around and gossip. She was itching to go travelling again, especially with Sen, however there was one slight problem. Kitambi wasn't back yet. Without her eldest daughter to lead the pride in her place, she was s.o.l. It was a very unfortunate predicament.
"I've heard the males always want lots and lots of attention." She gave a sage nod. Binafsi had told her that boys always loved to be with their mothers, while girls were a little more independent. "Girls are nicer. I had three boys in my last litter, but Binafsi loves them so she took care of them." It was safe to say that Nsundu's children either a) raised themselves or b) were raised by other nice pride members. Such was her way of life.
At the mention of her daughter, Nsundu gave another nod. "She's doing very well. Finished her drum quest just recently. Pretty little drum too." She liked Jun. The young lioness was turning into the version of Sen who believed in her pride teachings. It was nice. "And of course something didn't eat her. Nothing gets close enough to eat anything. How is Waseme doing?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:18 pm
Appreciation of the drum was not all Nsundu have Sen didn't. There was a lot gender bias sprinkled on her personality Sen never quite understood. Probably because of her own upbringing. The pridelands didn't even follow the king owns all rule last she'd heard. Word of mouth told her twins were running the show not too long ago. She wasn't sure what was going on there now. Maybe it should be the first place they visit.
Males? Yeah, they were more whiny, when she thought about. Besides that there wasn't any difference between them and females to her. Not counting that she wouldn't lure another female into a cave for, you know.
Ahem.
"That's good." It was painfully obvious Sen didn't care about Jun's drum quest, though. She'd probably have lost interest in Jun herself if Nsundu had said she hadn't gotten eaten first. "She's doing good. She seems really happy to be in charge. So like, she's happy, the pride is happy, and Yue's happy because there's less for him to do and he be lazy and useless again. Plus, it means when Kitambi gets back we can take off. I was thinking maybe we could check the Pridelands first. I've got a lot of family back there. They're pretty boring but we should still go, because I heard there was a big rebellion and I wanna see the damage. It's probably going to take years for them to repair it."
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:39 pm
Nsundu had long grown used to the fact that Sen didn't really care about the things she did in her pride. The feeling, however, was mutual, since the drum-beating lioness thought that wearing flowers around ones neck and fearing not only a mountain but a lake was rather foolish as well. They had agreed to disagree a long time ago, but that didn't stop their pride's friendship. Besides, being able to pass freely between the lands widened the gene pool.
"Happy is good." It was fairly obvious that Nsundu didn't really mind what Waseme was doing. She did care – in her own way – but she didn't seem very interested. If she was happy, that was all Nsundu needed to know. If she was unhappy, well, somebody should fix that. Preferably soon. But back to the conversation about what they were going to do. "Pridelands sounds very good. I didn't know there was a big rebellion there though. I hope Safuma's doing alright." She frowned a little at the mention of her friend, and then turned to gaze absently in the direction of the pride borders. "Kitambi should be home soon… must be almost grown up by now too…"
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:10 pm
Sen snorted and thumped against the drum more violently. Not near enough to break it. She had no respect for her own things (back when she had them) or anyone but Nsundu's. Actually, her respect for the drum was the same as her respect for it's purpose, but Nsundu's stuff she didn't want to go breaking. Didn't mean she couldn't pound on the thing a little. Nsundu would probably think she was playing and be happy. The Nchi got high off the sound of beating on stuff that made noise with your paw.
"Yeah," she agreed absently, only half-listening, slightly distracted by her above thoughts. At Safuma's name she scowled, then snorted, loudly and purely out of disgust. "Psh, forget all those spoiled clustermorons. I'm sure they're still living the life. We'll see when we get there." Thump. Thump. Thump. "Yeah, she looks it," said the former queen of the neighboring pride casually after catching sight of the pending queen of this one in the distance. "Looks like she's bringing back a boy. Let's trade some cubs later?"
Surely that guy couldn't be related to her too.
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:22 pm
"Safuma was nice though," Nsundu protested, wrinkling her nose at her friend's response. "She was pretty cool about the whole thing. Can't be blamed for where you were born." Still, Sen was right. They would see how everyone was when they got there. If they ever got there. Come on Kitambi, move those paws a little faster. She and Sen had a tight schedule.
"A boy?" It was Nsundu's turn to scowl. True, the pride did need some more unmated males, but she didn't expect one to come home with Kitambi. That was almost like expecting Waseme to actually find a mate. Kitambi just wasn't the type of girl that attracted boys. Now Nsundu and Sen on the other hand. All they had to do was suggest for some male to come and see their cave and they had all the bases covered. "Totally, but I don't want any of the whiny males. That's not cool." Girls could be traded, but trading boys was like offering your neighbour some dirt for their dead antelope. Sure you could eat the dirt, but it wouldn't sustain you. Or something like that.
Kitambi kept her pace at a determined march, eyes straying to Mtembei every now and then to make sure her mate was following her. It was be totally like him to chicken out the moment he caught sight of her mother, however she was not letting him get away. If she had to trek halfway to Japan to find his mother then he would have to follow her back to meet Nsundu. It was only fair.
Mtembei's luck seemed to increase as they neared the pride. Kitambi was sure that the white body lying close to her mother was Sen, which meant Mtembei was about to meet her mother and her… well, who knew what to call Sen. Her mother's lesbian-only-not black girlfriend. Yeah. That. Bracelets jingling, Kitambi picked up the pace a little, more eager to be home than she was to introduce Mtembei to her parents. Nevertheless, she still called, "I'm back!"
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:34 pm
Normally Sen couldn't sustain the impulse to argue her side of things until the other party gave up, agreed with her or died of old age. With Nsundu all things could, and a lot of times were, different. If the topic of prideland royalty, something she felt strongly about, was going to start a tiff? Best just to drop it and leave it untouched. For now. She knew it would come up again when they made it to the location itself.
Her paw struck the drum. She'd lost count of how many times. Nsundu had lost track of something else. Surroundings. Didn't she notice them coming? Trying not to snicker she beat against the drum in what was almost a melody, even going so far as to hum a bit. "No, Nsundu, I know she'll be bringing one for a fact. The music, it tells me. With this I can see the future."
And then the, "I'm back!" from Kitambi had Sen on the ground, taking rofl to a literal level. Ahh, youth (of a not-very-young lioness with ten children).
Mtembei was following Kitambi closely. He had no intention of taking off--something Banji would do--but that didn't mean he had to be happy about this. Go meet her mother? Bah. It only made sense to when she was actually in the pride, a queen no less, but...
He didn't wanna, okay?
"Oh, are we here?"
Grumblegrumble.
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:54 pm
"I can see she's bringing one." Nsundu rolled her eyes to the silent 'duh' that followed. "I just can't believe it even if I'm seeing it." Speaking of which, that male looked really familiar. The lioness narrowed her eyes as she studied him, trying to remember where exactly she had met him. It was safe to say that if she remembered him he was either a) a nice guy or b) a guy she'd tried to get rid of slowly and painfully. The only nice guy she knew off the top of her head was Banjoko, but it was always possible this guy was one of the nice guys. She'd just have to wait and see.
Kitambi spared Sen the barest of glances, before she focused her attention on her mother. Unlike Nsundu, she saw no particular reason to like the white lioness. She didn't understand their pride's beliefs, she didn't respect them, and she could be, at times, extremely obnoxious. All in all, a little too much like her sister for her tastes. However, Kitambi had little choice in who her mother associated with, and she was glad that it was Sen and not some other crazy lioness who only had a good time by sleeping around.
"Yeah. Mom, Sen, there's somebody you should meet. This is Mtembei. Mtembei, this is Nsundu and Sen. He's my mate." Unlike Mtembei, Kitambi wasted no time on pleasantries. She didn't need to grovel at her mother's feet to make herself feel better. Or so she told herself.
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:04 pm
Sen couldn't believe he could be seeing that and willingly come with her. Yeah, she wasn't as bad as Waseme, but still. Kitambi was right. She could be obnoxious. She was not as tactless as to point out to Nsundu that her children, were uh...
Put bluntly, they were what Sen called 'practice girls'. Banji had a lot of them she'd heard. Judging by his kids the leopard had (seriously, when did that whole being able to have kids with leopads craze start?), and the leopard herself, he still 'practiced' on the attractive. Come to think of...
They looked a lot alike...
Sen eyed Mtembei suspiciously. Just because she didn't particularly enjoy Kitambi either (the tightwad) didn't change the facts. She was Nsundu's daughter. If this was some playboy she didn't want him around. That totally wasn't cool when it was a guy. (Maybe she was more sexist than she thought.)
"Nice to--" Mtembei froze. Oh s**t. Oh s**t! It was that crazy b***h from the Pridelands! His breath caught in his throat. All he could do was stand there and wait. Wait for her to... do nothing? Maybe in a second.
Still nothing?
Did she get amnesia? It was pretty popular these days.
"--meet you," he finished, in a squeak.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:06 pm
Indeed, it was hard to believe that any male had come onto Kitambi. It wasn't that she was all that bad looking – Waseme was much, much worse – but she wasn't the warm and fuzzy type. Nor was she oozing femininity and 'come hither' looks. Mtembei's sudden interest in her had been quite surprising, but she had decided to attribute that to fate. You weren't supposed to suspect fate, were you? She didn't think so.
Nsundu stared at Mtembei for a long moment, unable to stop her eyebrows from creeping upwards. Kitambi had a mate? This wasn't a joke? No, Kitambi's face was completely straight. But then again, Kitambi's face was always that emotionless so maybe she was joking. Or maybe not. She seemed serious, not that that was weird either. Having children with poker faces was so hard. Nsundu could never tell when they were joking!
When neither of them yelled "surprise! We're just kidding" the pride Queen decided that they were, in fact, quite serious. It was rather depressing. "Welcome to the family um… Mtembei was it? How nice that Kitambi found a mate!" She kicked Sen during that statement, hoping to get her back-up. After all, what did you say to your grown up daughter who'd managed what you'd never been interested in? Good job? Speaking of which, this male looked really familiar. Frowning, Nsundu asked, "Have we met before?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:42 pm
"He looks like--ow!" Why did she have to go kicking her over this? Did she really have to agree to it? Kitambi didn't care what she thought. Besides it wasn't like it was Waseme. If Waseme had brought a boy home Sen could have been realistic about being so amazed by it. She'd always felt it was better to act obnoxious than play pretend. "...Super," she managed. Good enough, hopefully.
Mtembei was going to drop dead of a heart attack before his father stopped having children. She didn't remember him. She didn't remember leaving that scar on his nose. Mtembei remembered, thankyouverymuch. He made up stories about it--he'd gotten it during an epic battle protecting a cub usually. It was the only thing he lied about and didn't try to keep from lying about.
The other lies? Those just blurted themselves. He felt bad afterwards.
"Uh..." Don't lie. Don't lie. don't lie.
"No, I don't think so. You might have met someone in my family who looks like me."
"He probably reminds you of Hasana and her horde of kids," Sen pointed out. Nsundu hadn't ever met Banji so Hasana was a better comparison. Mtembei didn't show any recognition of the name, though. She guessed she must have been wrong and they weren't related.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 4:44 pm
While it was true that Kitambi probably (read: definitely) didn't need Sen's support, Nsundu always liked a little backup, especially when it came to things like mates. Her mother hadn't had one, she hadn't had one, Sen didn't have one, so Kitambi was really breaking family tradition. Now if only Waseme would get one then they would make a nice little set. Not to mention Binafsi would be proud. And she would. Sort of. In her own way.
She accepted Mtembei's answer with a small shrug, and then nodded at Sen's wise words. "Yeah, he does kinda look like Hasana. All stripey and stuff." He didn't seem to know the name, but that meant very little. Rumour had it that their were cubs who didn't look like their parents in the least, so far all she knew this male's father and mother could be green and blue with pink stripes. She had never paid much attention to genetics anyways, if Kitambi and Waseme were any proof.
Kitambi allowed the lionesses their talk time, before she cleared her throat. "He can stay here though, right? Like, make him an official pride member sort of deal?" All Nsundu had to do was wave one of her brown paws and he was a member. She just had to wave them before Mtembei decided to take off.
"I don't see why not. But first he has to answer a skill-testing question." Nsundu paused dramatically, and then looked at Sen.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:46 pm
Sen was back to the occasional smacking of the abused drum. She didn't understand what the difference between hitting it and hitting it in tune was. Not that anyone would expect anything else from someone with the rhythm of a stereotyped Jewish person. "Yeah, he could be anybodys kid these days though. Hell, he could be me my brother." Except he wasn't, because no way would Mom ever run off and have kids with anyone but Dad. She knew the kind of cubs they made, being one of them.
She was only half-listening to Kitambi when she started speaking to her mother again. Her attention was better spent giving Mtembei the eye. It was too easy to freak this guy out. It's like he thought they'd attack him if he took too long to blink. Nsundu and Kitambi sounded a lot alike to her, so by Sen logic, it was only natural she'd half-listen to both of their voices.
Her eyes met Nsundu's and she heaved a sigh, backing away from the drum.
"Alright, alright, I'll sleep with him first. Give him a test drive. Can't be any worse than the last guy."
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 7:01 pm
"That would be like… ten kinds of weird if he was your brother." Nsundu made a face at the very thought. Her daughter hooking up with Sen's brother? No way. That would almost be like incest. Only not quite, since they weren't really related and didn't act related in the slightest. But it would still be awkward. Sister with Mom and Brother with Daughter. Yeah, definitely awkward.
But sending Sen to sleep with her daughter's mate wasn't awkward in the slightest. Nsundu laughed even as a scowl flickered briefly across Kitambi's poker face. "An excellent skill testing question. What do you say to this, Mtembei, son of…I dunno, The Lioness That We Do Not Know." Nsundu didn't particularly care what answer he gave, but bothering him was half the fun. Besides, she couldn't give looks quite as well as Sen.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 7:12 pm
In the history of their world, worlds before and worlds after, no one had stared quite like Mtembei stared just then. Physics wouldn't allow his attached jaw to hit the ground, but from the looks of it, it might just become detatched.
The most horrifying of horrors was that she was serious, and he knew it. If she wasn't, she did a damn good job of making it seem like it. Mtembei stood there like a deer in the headlights.
No, he had to brave.
By squeaking like a mouse and running behind Kitambi.
Sen snorted and returned to her drum, giving it a good smack.
"Gay."
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