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 Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:30 am
 Nanu and her siblings had been taken for a walk around the pride by their mother. While it had seemed interesting at first, Nanu had had her good share of the fun, noise and confusion long ago. After exhausting all her focus and energy on silly games and exploration, the cub had thrown a fit and fiercely refused to participate in any further interaction of any kind. She moved at the tail of the small group and her siblings knew better than to disturb one her bizarre pouts.
She hadn’t been walking for long when she finally decided to raise her head a take a look around. There were many adults in the area and the young girl didn’t recognize any of them. In her current mood, however, none of them were particularly interesting or appealing to Nanu and the cub continued to ignore everyone around her. That was… until she saw him. Nanu’s body froze but her head moved from left to right and then in small circles as she followed the markings of one particular adult that had caught her eye. His blue mane, his soft sandy coat, his shiny adornments… even his bright orange beads called to her. Everything about him held her attention and she quickly took in everything about the lion’s appearance. It just wasn’t enough. With slow deliberate steps, she changed course and moved closer to the blue-maned adult as if pulled by an invisible force.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:48 am
It was one of those rare days that Kiume didn't have any duties to perform. Usually he was out and about wandering the border of the pride making sure that no unwanted guests could get close to their temple. He took his job very seriously but today was a day of relaxation. Even though he was a newcomer to the pride, Kiume had grown incredibly fond of this place and everything about it. It was exactly what his wandering heart needed to settle down.
The lion was pacing around back and forth feeling the soft sand between his toes. There wasn't much going on around him except some socialization and soft chatter which was fine by him but he wasn't exactly the social type anyway. Pausing mid-step, Kiume looked up and noticed a young lioness walking his direction. She didn't look familiar so she was probably looking for someone else. Not thinking anything of it, he continued to pace back and forth; it felt strange not having to patrol.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:08 am
He paused when he turned to look at her, his electrifying yellow gaze causing a little shiver of excitement to run all the way down her spine. The cub’s ears pulled back when the adult turned away, feeling somewhat dismissed by the gesture.
Now, “shy” was a word that could never be applied to the young girl but even Nanu could feel a certain… reluctance in approaching the male with her usual ease. She barely acknowledge it and even less understood it so it was with bouncing trot that she moved closer to the adult lion, giving him one of her usual wide grins.
“Hello!” she greeted cheerfully. “I’m Nanu! What are you doing?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:40 am
Enveloped in his thoughts, Kiume was surprised when he heard the voice greeting him and realized that it was the young lioness that he had seen before. "Hello there." Thankfully he only seemed to turn into a clutz when he was around older females and younger lions didn't seem to get to him as much. "Nice to meet you Nanu. I'm Kiume." Pausing once more, he wasn't sure how to respond to her next question because he wasn't even sure what he was doing exactly...
"I'm just pacing around trying to busy myself because I don't have to patrol today. What are you up to?" Looking around, he wondered if the lioness's parents were around or if she was just running around by herself. Though, the pride lands were safe and heavily guarded so it wasn't really concerning to see children by themselves around by themselves.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:38 am
Oh, he’d given her his name in return! Nanu was simply thrilled that a – probably busy - adult was actually paying her attention.
“Ki-u-me. I like it!” she enjoyed the feeling of separating each syllable and how it changed the shape of her mouth to slowly pronounce each one. The cub giggled, happily.
“I was with mom and my sisters and my brothers but I’m tired of them.” She said with her typical blunt honesty though her mood had suddenly brightened. “Are you Guardian then? My daddy is a Hunter and mom is a Nanny so maybe you don’t know them.” She showed absoultely no reluctance in sharing her family history with a complete stranger.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:25 pm
The cub's cheerful demeanor was rather refreshing for him and it was a definite change of pace. Kiume took his duties rather seriously even though there hadn't been a threat to the pride in some time. Though he thoroughly enjoyed patrolling and making sure everybody was safe. "Thanks." Smiling gently at her, Kiume (at one point) knew what it was like to want to escape your siblings. "Interesting. Exploring now?" Grinning at her, Kiume recalled exploring a lot when he was younger.
He nodded in response to her question. "Yeah, I'm a guardian. I don't believe I know your parents personally but I've probably seen them around the pride." With the pride being so tight knit, it was easy to know which couples had children or not.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:59 am
"Just looking for for someone interesting to talk to." Exploring? No, not really. She had simply been instantly captivated by an adult she’d never seen before but even Nanu couldn’t say that quite as bluntly. Her eyes traveled to Kiume’s shoulder again following his markings from there to his flank, then back to the lion’s shoulder and then down his leg. She found them fascinating.
“My dad’s name is Raha and he’s yellow.” She said very seriously so there wouldn’t be any mistake. “That’s my mom there, the light colored lioness. Her name is Fatia. And theose are my siblings. I don’t look much like them but I don’t mind. Do you look like your parents?”
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Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 2:30 pm
"Oh I see." She seemed like an inquisitive little cub so he decided to humor her instead of turning her back to her parents. As she described her parents to him he couldn't help but chuckle softly considering she just described over half of the pride. The older bloodlines tended to look very similar and ... desert like. Kiume didn't look much different though and he wouldn't be surprised if he had some DW blood somewhere in him.
Nodding in response to her comments, Kiume was starting to feel rather fond of this little cub. He was actually very fond of young children even though it didn't seem like it. "Hopefully I get the chance to meet them someday." He shook his head at her question. "From what I remember, no. I was definitely the odd one out in my family. Besides the teal, I don't look anything like them so I get what you mean. You get along with your siblings?"
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 1:40 pm
“Really?” Nanu’s smile grew wider when the cub realized she had something in common with the adult. “I do! I have three brothers and two sisters! Anya, Mawari, Dakarai, Jahi and… and… I’m missing one.”
She whirled around to look at the shapes that were moving further away. Pretty soon she’d have to follow after them or risk getting lost (and later, scolded).
“And Tarik!” she said with a somewhat smug expression, remembering the missing name. “I also have five older siblings, they’re almost adults now! My big sister Nailah is Nanny so I see her a lot! I like all of them! So… your family isn’t here with you?” she asked the last question tentatively, hoping they were simply from outside the pride. Not that she regretted asking it but it would be terribly if they had died already.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 3:33 pm
"Ooh. From such a large family." Chuckling as she forgot one of her sibling's names, Kiume had always wanted a large family.. "Too many to keep track of?" Grinning widely, he couldn't help but tease her slightly and then he was even more surprised when she said that her parents had had more than one litter. Of course he couldn't help but realize that he had failed to meet any females and wasn't any closer to having a family than when he came here.
"It's good that you're close with your big sister. Stay close with her." Nodding, Kiume had wished that he had stayed in touch with his family so it was the best advice that he could give her. "No, my family isn't here, well at least in this pride. I came here alone. They're probably out wandering somewhere but last I heard my father had passed away." He wasn't particularly close to his father but when he had heard the news he needed a few days to mourn.
"I don't really know where they are now... because we were wandering rogues. Maybe someday I'll stumble upon them again." Shrugging, Kiume didn't think too much about his parents or his siblings but sometimes he did miss them.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 3:49 pm
“That’s a little sad. Even when they’re annoying, I like all my brothers and sister and I wouldn’t want them to go away.” She was quite serious now and she moved to sit next to the adult’s large paw, leaning against his legs as she looked up to meet the yellow gaze. “But you’re not alone now. You’ll make many friends here. I can be your friend, too.”
She looked around and noticed her mother had stopped. Could she be looking for a missing cub? Had one of the others noticed her absence?
“I think I’m gonna have to go…” she said quietly. Shame, she wanted to talk to Kiume for a little longer!
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 4:29 pm
Kiume nodded and knew that she was a good cub. She already realized the value of family at such a young age so he wasn't worried about her. He flashed a genuine smile at the cub after her next statement. "I know. I love it here and everybody has been very friendly towards me. And I would like it very much if we were friends." She had been very nice to him and he really enjoyed her company as short as their interaction was.
Noticing her looking at her mother, the lion pat her gently on the head fondly and gave her a little nudge towards the group. Kiume nodded and responded, "Yes, it would probably be best for you to return before you are missed. It has been a pleasure Nanu. I hope that we get the chance to speak again." Bowing slightly, Kiume turned to head back to his den since it had been a rather long day. Though he couldn't help but glance back to make sure that Nanu had headed back to her mother.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 4:53 pm
Nanu looked down at the light touch as if she was suddenly unable to stand the gaze of the adult. Her heart beat racing, she took a few steps making unintelligible sounds that could be possibly (maybe…) be consistent with a little shy farewell. Of course, being Nanu, that didn’t last long.
“It was pleasure to meet you, Ki-u-me!” the cub said with a little smile when she regained her composure and turned quickly to run for her family, her still beating rather rapidly.- FIN! -
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