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 Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:27 am
Sciuri Sciuri had been in something of a funk for the past several days, and she had not been inclined to share the reason for her dark mood with any of her family, which was unlike her, to say the least. Not that she was a girl whose every thought had to be broadcast to anyone within hearing range, but having lived with a large family for her entire life, Iuri knew the importance of airing grievances quickly, before they became major issues. Now, however, she was moping around and clearly dwelling on something which made her unhappy, and apparently not confiding in anyone. Most of her time lately had been spent in the annexed portion of the den which had been her Aunt Gliri's before she set out to find her lost love. That story had been told jointly by Sciuri's father and aunt before Gliri left, with her aunt very obviously leaving some parts out, though whether to spare her nieces and nephew's innocent young ears or to cast their father in a better light was not obvious. The solitude of her aunt's annex appealed to Sciuri, and provided the perfect space for brooding. Lipi Lipi had noticed her daughter's brooding but she didn't know why. Frowning deeply, the female had decided to get to the bottom her daughter's funk. Stepping out of the den, she stretched out and sighed heavily. It was just so hot lately, she never felt like getting out of the den in the first place, eyes narrowing a bit against the morning sun. "Sciuri, are you out here already?" Her voice was thick from sleep. The small lioness loved sleeping in the summer, as most of her children found out the hard way. Sure, she hunted, but usually when it was dark and cool at night. But she managed to get game enough, with her mate's help, for the whole family. Seeing her daughter was not out of the den, she figured where she might be so she went over to where Gliri had slept before. And there she was of course. Frowning, Lipi walked over to her and licked the top of her head gently before nosing it. "Morning."
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:55 am
Sciuri "Is it?" Sciuri asked without opening her eyes to confirm her mother's assertion. The question might have been asking whether it was morning, or whether the morning was a good one. Either way, she didn't seem to be particularly interested in the response she got. Ordinarily Sciuri wasn't a thoughtless lioness, though she could be self-centered, as people who came from loving families with parents who were more than willing to pay attention to any and all of their cubs tended to be. In any other sort of mood, Iuri probably would have considered that her indifferent response to her mother's greeting would have been a cause for concern. Either that or a cause for getting thwacked for being rude, depending on her mother's mood. With her father it would definitely have been concern, and with Gliri it definitely would have been a thwack, but her mother could go either way. And Sciuri didn't care which way she went. It didn't even cross her mind. Lipi Lipi did neither, actually. She just snorted and shrugs. "I don't know. It's just day..." The female then proceeded to groom her daughter after laying down with her between her front legs. She would never get too big for this, because Lipi would do it no matter her age or size. It was how she connected with her cubs. "Why are you being a grumpy butt and hiding away back here?" She had a feeling it was because she missed her aunt, and Lipi didn't know what to do about that. Gliri had chosen to leave on her own, and she didn't know where she would be to even attempt to go to visit her. Of course the cubs grew up close to their aunt, despite her obvious uncomfortableness around them, they still loved her all the same. It made her think of the day her cubs would need to get booted from the den. Something she was looking forward too and not at the same time. A part of her was scared that after the cubs left, her and Muscar would have nothing in common or holding them together anymore, and she'd grown rather fond of the male. He'd somehow managed to become a silent rock on which she stood upon. Lipi hoped he felt the same, but they didn't talk of their feelings very often.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:36 pm
Sciuri "A grumpy butt?" Sciuri asked, horrified by the childish title. The fact that she wasn't all that old - only a juvenile, really - didn't register for her. Iuri thought of herself as a fairly mature, worldly little lioness, courtesy of the stories she'd been told for all her life. She couldn't wait to get out there and start living them, or so she'd thought until she'd given it a try and come home disappointed. "Don't you ever just get into a bad mood?" Iuri asked. "Like when things don't go the way you expected them to go, or at least hoped they'd go?" Yes, she was being intentionally vague. She didn't really want to go into too many details about Ruzanski with her mother, since that would mean admitting to sneaking out of the den after dark on numerous occasions, and also to encouraging Aylin to do it at least once, and...well, there were all sorts of pitfalls there. Better just to keep it vague. "I don't think you can do anything about it anyway. I sure can't." Lipi "Ah, already waking up in irrational moods, hm? Must be a boy you've been sneaking off to see." Oh yes, she knew her daughter had been sneaking off. What cub didn't though? "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I did it too, and I'm sure your dad and aunt must have." She continued to groom her daughter, working on her back down as she shifted ,back legs sticking out instead of being curled up under her. "Well, I didn't do it for a boy, but to see what was out there. Then I wandered away and never came home." It wasn't exciting how she left her home. None of her life really had been, she admitted. It was a very average, dull life which suited this lioness just fine. Who needed all the excitement of adventure when you were tiny and easily mistaken for an adolescent lioness? She often got treated that way, too. "Try inviting him over when it's day light. Your dad is going to find out eventually."
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:47 pm
Sciuri "What?" Sciuri asked, scrambling to her feet and turning around to look at her mother with a shocked expression which might have come as much from her mother's supposition itself as the accuracy of her supposition. "A boy?" Then she giggled as her mom's words all sank in. "I don't think Dad snuck off to see boys." As for the rest of what her mom said, it was frustratingly close to the mark. She really had set off looking for adventure at first, but then she'd met Ru and thought maybe the two of them might go adventuring together, and bring Aylin along - just for short trips. She had no intention of simply wandering off one day without saying goodbye to her family. She was too fond of all of them. "I can't," Iuri said with a heavy sigh, realizing that it was fairly pointless to maintain the pretense that there wasn't a boy involved. "It's not really like that. I can't even find him to ask him. I really would if I could. I don't like keeping secrets from you guys." Well, that wasn't quite true, but something she'd learned from hearing Gliri's story was that it was better not to lie about these things, particularly not to her dad, who didn't seem to take them very well. Lipi Lipi nodded and watched her cubs reactions. It was comical, really, but she struggled not to laugh. Eventually she cleared her throat and motioned her daughter over again. "Dad could have snuck off to meet up with some of his male cub friends. I don't know, I've never asked really." It made her pause and think a minute. Did she know much about Muscar? She liked to think she did. At least there was the whole learning as they went. "I don't like you keeping it from us either, but I knew you'd either have troubles with him or tell me when you wanted him to be more than friends with you. In which case he'd still have to answer to your father." Fathers. They were so fickle about their little girls growing up and getting mates weren't they? She didn't have to worry about that with Aylin. She seemed to be a little home body.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:01 pm
Sciuri "And left Aunt Gliri alone?" Sciuri snorted. She loved her aunt, but she didn't get the feeling that the shy, easily frightened lioness would relish waking up in the dark of the night all by her lonesome. Come to think of it, Iuri didn't think she would enjoy that too much, either, if she'd thought she'd be waking up with someone beside her. "Maybe I could ask him sometime." She would have liked to hear about her dad as a cub, actually. Most of the stories Gliri had told them were about other people. Maybe she hadn't thought their lives were interesting enough to describe, but Iuri would have liked to know. Family history was important, too, right? "Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? He's gone, and I don't know where to look for him, and I'm not old enough to go looking on my own anyway. But I really hate not knowing if he's gone because he's hurt or sick and can't come back, or because I did something wrong and he won't come back, or because maybe he just forgot we were supposed to meet up again." Lipi Lipi watched her daughter with her expression still calm and understanding, if not a bit amused. The smaller lioness stood up and shook her pelt before motioning Sciuri to follow her. "Come come. Let's go look together. You have a nose, know his scent. Track him. It'll be good hunting practice for you anyway." Just because she was little didn't mean that she couldn't go looking for him. It just meant she had to get mom to go with her so nothing would happen to her. Muscar could watch the other kids while these two were gone. "I was young myself, once. If my mom offered to go looking for the boy I liked, I would have taken it. Though my sister.." She stopped and pasued, looking to the side. Oops.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:55 pm
Sciuri "Mom?" Sciuri asked, looking at her mum in mild startlement. "Are you all right?" It wasn't usual that her mum would break off in the middle of a sentence, and Iuri wanted to know whether she had done so because something was the matter, or if it waas something else, something unrelated. She was trying very hard not to fixate on the few words Lipi had spoken before falling silent, the ones about a sister. Iuri hadn't known her mum had a sister, and wondered if anyone in the family had known. "We could look for him later. It's already been a pretty long time. The trail's probably cold." She didn't want to go after him only to find that he hadn't wanted to be found. That would be worse, almost, than if he'd been hurt or simply forgotten they were supposed to meet up again. "Besides, isn't Dad the best tracker in the family, from all the times he's had to go after Aunt Gliri?" It didn't occur to her that might be an insulting way to put it. In her mind, Iuri wasn't exactly rejecting her mum's offer. She was simply asking for clarification. And also she still wanted to know about this sister her mum had mentioned. Lipi Lipi was already slipping into an unsual silence. Her brows knitted before she shook her head. No, it hadn't been what her daughter was saying now, it's just she hadn't thought of her twin a really, really long time. It was a huge sore spot with her, one that would never close up. Unlike most twins, Lipi and her sister had never gotten along. "Yeah... Dad is better.. I'm sorry. I..." She shook her head and looked to the side. Her children had never seen her anything but confident.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Sciuri "It's okay, Mom," Sciuri said. "I didn't hear anything. I really don't feel like going looking for him though. He said he'd come back, and he hasn't, and that's all there is to it. I'm not going to waste any more of my time thinking or worrying about him." She wasn't sure she'd be able to hold herself to that, but she really would like to. Her feelings were hurt by his absence, and she didn't like feeling that way. More than anything else she just wanted to forget she'd ever met him, and definitely forget she'd told Aylin about him, since now she felt stupid. She'd never even been able to introduce the two of them. Maybe Aylin would think she was lying, which was a horrible thought. "Do you mind if I go back to sleep a bit? I've been pretty tired lately." Lipi Lipi shook her head and gave a small smile before licking her head again. "No... Go right head.. I think I need to be alone anyway.. Don't worry.... It's... not you.." She hugged her daughter closer to her to reassure her incase she had any doubts. "I just.... am getting lost in my own head lately." And they weren't happy thoughts. She was growing bitter and that was going to make her irritable. "Tell your brother and sisters.... to leave this part of the den alone for today, hm? I need.... some time to think.. alone for myself..." Her ears were drooping and she was starting to lay down again.
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