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 Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:55 pm
 Motherhood had come as a surprising but welcomed blessing to Coryth, and so in a dry, sandy hillside, in the territory she'd been in at the time, she had dug her temporary den and had made it as comfortable as she could manage. If there was one thing she excelled at, it was digging. In the dim light inside, she rested and doted over her little cubs, admiring the complex markings on each of them. Such little wonders, and to think she had created them.
She had noticed a large amount of brown in the litter, and could guess where that came from. Who knew taking a charming male to see some nice bone-stones could lead to such enormous change? She'd have to track him down and show him what they'd made. Surely he'd be just as pleased as she was.
She tamped down her itching desire to be out and hunting the elusive rocks that were her calling. They could wait until the cubs were a bit older, and could keep up with her on her journeys. Would they follow her, and hunt the bone-stones with her? Such thoughts were exciting. She always longed for willing listeners to teach about her discoveries, and here she just might have a ready-made audience. She could teach them everything!
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:25 pm
 It was quite apparent from her movements that she seamed drawn to her mother by far then any of her siblings. Perhaps it was her warmth. Or the smell that wafted from her; but Nita couldn't get enough of it. And young and weak as she was she grasped onto the ground with her tiny paws and thrust herself forward so she was a close to her mothers chest as she could be. She pressed further against her for comfort, rather afraid of the big world out there- and the big cubs in here.
She admittedly was smaller then the other cubs by and obvious comparison. Perhaps this was another reason she drew comfort from her mother. She was bigger an could protect her from the butting heads and claws of her siblings. She let out a dainty yawn and blinked her green eyes once or twice then drifted off into a light sleep. Head curled under her paws. She's be safe by momma.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:44 pm
 Alone at the far edge of the den, Lithophoro struggled with a root sticking out of the wall. With most of her siblings asleep she was bored something awful, but she'd learned quickly that goading them into action could result in being nipped or clawed. And mama was happy to play sometimes, but always won thanks to her size, and the cub felt somehow cheated by her own smallness. So she viciously attacked the root, which didn't put up any resistance other than to spray her with puffs of sand.
Eventually Lith worked it out from the wall, and gnawed it to shredded ribbons, pleased at her victory over inanimate plantlife. But soon she ran out of material to chew on. Disappointed, she padded around their home, looking for something to do. She checked out the entrance and its bright light, but a warning growl from her mother chased her back inside. She wandered over to her siblings, and poked her nose against Nita's side to see if she could get a reaction.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:54 pm
Nita was lost in the deep fantasy of one of her dreams when she felt something poke at her side. She looked about in her dream, 'Why were momma's bone stones poking her?' They seamed to spring to life as her eyes turned from joy to terror. Where did her mother go? Her paws gave a twitch on the surface of the den. She was running someplace- but it was someplace she couldn't get too. The bone poked at her once then twice more chasing after her.
"Mommmmma...." She hollered out before finally snapping out of her sleep noticing her sister beside her. Oh that was a relief it was only a bad dream.
"I erm...I had a bad dream...I uh..." She quited down embarrassed. "It's It's nothing." She pushed herself up so she was now looking up at her sister. She was still very small.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:12 pm
Coryth rose to her feet at the cry for help, instinct taking over for a brief moment, and she peered at her cub worryingly, searching for signs of scorpions, or other predators that might've snuck in. She almost chuckled as she deflated with relief, realizing it was only a bad dream. Whew, that had given her a scare for a moment. This mothering thing was turning out to be quite a task.
Her thought was confirmed as she noticed what had caused the nightmare in the first place. She nudged Lith aside and gave her a Look. Seriously, imagine her picking on her little sister. Took after her own sister far back east, perhaps. Snuggling up to her smaller daughter, Coryth licked her to comfort her, rumbling softly. "There there little one, it's over now. There's nothing dangerous here. What were you dreaming of?"
Gleeful that she could get such a big response out of her diminuitive sister, Lith bounded around her in circles, poking her with her toes to goad her on, making excited mewls. She normally wouldn't want a fight, but this was her smallest sister, an easy target! But soon her entertainment was brought to a halt as her mother warned her off. Sulking, she lay down and watched Nita be consoled.
It wasn't that she disliked her sister, far from it. She just wanted to play with something that wouldn't kick her butt, like her brothers might. She wriggled towards the entrance to the den, letting her belly get coated in sand. Maybe she could find a bug to beat up on. And then eat. Mama said she shouldn't be eating meat yet, and it did make her tummy hurt, but it was also fun.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:30 pm
Her face was scrunched up in pain until her mother had touched her tenderly and saved her from her hounding sister. Thank god for momma, where would she be without her. She pushed her body as tight as she could to her warm chest. At least her other sister wouldn't be able to dash about her. Not with momma about anyway. She looked up and purred back softly glad she was there to comfort her.
"Well..." She squeaked out keeping a wary eye on Lith. "I was...I was..." she lowered her voice so that the others couldn't hear her and laugh. "I was being chased by bone stones..." She halted again. "Although it wasn't so bad till they started chasing me...I was helping you out. I was finding them for you." She perked up with a triumphant squeak in her voice. She then nodded. "One day I'm gonna help you find ALL the bone stones in the WORLD!" She couldn't hold back her excitement and sprang to her paws with a bounce in her step. "ALL OF THEM!" She cheered, before cowering back in her hiding place again.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:56 pm
It was a delayed reaction Umuthi'johari had as she spiked right up from where she slept after her sister had made such a sudden noise. The young dark cub wobbled back and forth where she sat, eyes blinking slowly as those startled awake often do. She let out a loud yawn, at least loud for a cub of her age, and fell back onto her back and wiggled into the sand of their den, attempting to make herself comfortable again.
Umuthi did not want to wake just yet, as sleep was so inviting, but with all the commotion going on around her she knew well enough, even in her daze, that sleep was going to end soon. She forced her eyes open, as well as her ears (because while one slept no sounds could be heard) in time to partially see and hear her sister explain to her mother something. If Nita was explaining something secretive to her mother, she wanted to know too!
Getting up, a little wobbly in her footing, Umuthi made her way over to her mother and sister and squirmed her way in with another yawn, "What're you talkin' 'bout?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:15 pm
Coryth laughed at the enthusiasm in her daughter Nita's voice, but cut herself short lest she wake the rest of her offspring. The tiny cub had enough passion to match her own, and it was a delight to see her hobbies shared. "I bet you will, too," she murmured, and nuzzled her fur gently. "I've seen a lot of strange bone-stones, but I bet you'll find even stranger ones. Maybe you'll even figure out where they come from."
Hearing another voice, she grinned ruefully to herself, and lumbered up. Oh lord, the troops were awake again. Time to rally her resources. She trotted over to Umuthi and licked her in greeting, teasing her hair with a puff of breath. "We were talking about the stones mama is always digging up. Did you sleep well, sweetheart?"
The noise inside catching her attention, Lith ambled back to her family, crunching happily on an ant she'd discovered roaming in the mouth of the den. She aimed her path to take her behind her mother, as she didn't want to get caught eating insects again when she shouldn't. But she liked the way they wiggled, it made her feel tickly.
She perked up at the talk of bone-stones. Mama was always going on about them, and how they were rocks that looked like living things. And there were plant-stones and bug-stones and shell-stones. She blindly accepted her mother's obsession with them as meaning they must be important, but she still didn't quite understand why. "I'm gonna find 'em too," she piped up, not to be outdone.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:30 pm
Nita ducked her head down as her mother moved convinced that if she stuck behind her tail fluff nobody would see her. She sat there and watched it move until she had the uncontrollable urge to chomp at it. Not hard- but she couldn't help chewing on the wisps that got stuck between her teeth. 'Oh darn there goes my hiding spot.' She noted to herself as she could see Lith stepping on bugs again. She couldn't help but emit an "Ewwwww," between chomps.
Her eyes then narrowed jealousy as if her mother was all hers as Lith spoke. She was still angry from before being woken up from her dream. She let go of her tail and staying a far distance from Lith's paws shook her head and gave her a dirty look, "Not if you keep EATTING bugs like that." She quickly stuck out her tongue and squirreled further under her mother.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:41 pm
Umuthi nodded to her mother as she was licked, and purred, giving her body a nudge in greeting. Her mother liked to talk about her stones so much, she wondered if the stones talked back sometimes, because Umuthi couldn't see herself being able to focus on them for long enough.
"I slept ok. Something kept kicking me though," She complained, noticing Nita hiding behind her mother, and Lith bounding up, crunching something between her teeth. Ewww. She was eating bugs again. Buts were gross, and tasted like moving.
Umuthi quickly ducked underneath her mother, making her way towards Nita and nudging her a hello, before quickly taking off to do the same to Lith.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:00 pm
Scoffing at Nita's remark, Lith crunched louder to tease her. "Yeah, well, maybe I'll find bug-stones. And maybe I'll eat them!" She never let logistics get in the way of a good retort. "Maybe I'll eat all the bug-stones in the world before you find 'em, and then, and then you won't be able to find them!" She bounded boisterously towards Nita to make her point, but stopped short. She didn't want to get on mama's bad side again.
Smacking her teeth, suddenly the taste of the bug changed dramatically and became very foul, like nasty bitterness. Spitting it out, she tried to wipe the taste out of her mouth, sticking her tongue out to keep from tasting any more. "Yeagh. Yeagh, ick, maaamaaa, it's icky!" She scampered over to her mother and rubbed against her, pleading for assistance.
"Someone kept kicking you? That's not good," Coryth said, examining her daughter for signs of bruises or other injuries, but not seeing any. She wasn't even sure if she was being overprotective or not. This was her first litter, after all, and as a Rogue she didn't have the support system of the pride to lean on for guidance. She would just have to do the best she could. "Poor thing, why don't you sleep beside me tonight."
She tried not to grin at Lith's misfortune. The poor thing would have to learn the hard way from lessons like this. "You shouldn't eat bugs then," she stated, and started to groom Umuthi tenderly. She had to admit, motherhood could be enjoyable. She'd spent so long alone among the rocks, having a gaggle of noisy younglings was loads of entertainment. Plus she got to mess with their fur.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:13 pm
"I really doubt that..." She couldn't help but laugh openly at Lith. She really did deserve it being all rude and such like she was. "You can't even eat a NORMAL bug...let alone a bug stone...and anyway momma be mad at you. Those are HER bug stones." She slunk towards Umuthi trying to return her hello from before. But at the same time she was still trying to avoid Lith. Something in her mind told her that she was in for a good pouncing if she got too close to that rowdy cub and being little she wanted to avoid that.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 6:19 pm
"Eating stones would break your teeth!" Umuthi chirped, enjoying her mother's grooming and affections. She was pleased when her mother suggested that she sleep beside her. Mom was much warmer than her siblings and she wouldn't kick her in her sleep.
Umuthi giggled at Lith's expression as she got to a part of the bug that didn't taste right. That served her right for eating the bugs, after all. As Lith came over wanting Coryth's assistance, Umuthi broke free from her mother's grooming and attempted to slink underneath Lith as she had done her mother, but to no avail. Lith was much lower to the ground the Coryth was, and it was proving difficult. At best she would managed to knock Lith over, or have her sister land on top of her. She would deal with those consequences or potential bumps in her plans later, when it was relevant.
"Stone break your teeth. Bugs make tummies hurt and mommies sad." She chirped.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 6:38 pm
Startled at being treated like an obstacle to move around, Lith wriggled and whined, trying to dislodge herself from her sister. "Not gonna break my teeth. 'Ama mama," she mewled, "'Muthi's being mean to me." But no matter how she struggled, she just seemed to stay stuck with her sister under her. It baffled her completely. Sisters were not for walking on! Ground was for walking on!
But then she realized the opportunity this offered, and she gleefully latched on and pushed herself farther on top of the other. "Umuthi's the grooound, I'm walking on Umuthi!" she chirped, and mimed walking motions. "Gonna squish Umuthi like a bug!"
Smiling to herself at their anctics, Coryth watched Lith and Umuthi struggle for a bit, one on top of the other, and felt a pang of nostalgia for her own cubhood. Taking a light hold of Lith's scruff in her teeth, she lifted her free, and plopped her down. Then to prevent any further rowdiness, she went and fetched Nita and curled up around her to give her a bath as well, positioning herself pointedly between Lith and Nita.
In between licks, she scrutinized her cubs. They were getting on in size and health, and should be fit enough for light travel soon. It was about time she told them, but how to do it? How does one break news gently to a cub? Shrugging, she decided to stick to her normal blunt honesty. "You'll probably be meeting your father any day now. He said he'd come back to see me, and you'll get to meet him. Or if he doesn't show, then when you're old enough to go on a journey, we'll head out to find him."
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:26 pm
 Big, brown, teal and full of energy, little Kaito was up and about now. His large golden rod like eye's everywhere, but at his Mom. He wanted to be out exploring the 'world' though he classified the world as just the outside of his den and to be no where else.
"Mooooom...." He whined. his voice a happy medium. He was super easily excited and enjoyed his clambering about, he now found himself at his Mom's tail which was mistakenly left open for capture! He sat a moment, unusually silent, bent his bum into the air lowering his front half before stalking and pouncing the tail.
"Gotcha!"
He 'growled' lightly and began gnawing on her tail tuft.
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