Glozelle:
Gloz was asleep.
No, really. He was actually, truly, honest to goodness asleep. If he had been awake to see himself, he probably would have marveled at the sight. He just didn't sleep. Or at least not in the conventional sense. Normally he would just have light dozes, ready at a moment's notice to fend off an attacker. But coming to this pride had changed things in him. For once he felt welcome, even if it was just by a much too innocent young female and a pawful of cubs, it was still acceptance. They didn't know him as anything but the lion who had been brought into the pride half-dead in need of healing, or the uncle who had the patience of a saint with his half-brother's cubs. How else could he stand their presence for so long?
No one but his brother and the old teacher knew what he truly was. Traitor, king-killer, a weapon that anyone with a silver enough tongue could use.
Here was different. Here there was no one that would attack him when he was vulnerable, no one that would beat him or mock him.
Here he could sleep.
Lucia:
Yeah, Gloz could sleep. Mostly up until one of his nieces or nephews got it into their mind that there was something important they had to talk to him about.
And to a cub, everything is important.
But of all her siblings, Luci was the most polite, timid, and caring. And when she found her uncle in a deep sleep, she had serious second-thoughts about waking him up. Oh, but she wanted to talk to him, really, really badly...
With a sigh, she walked up to him, deliberately making as much noise as possible. When she was a few steps away, she stopped, big brown eyes peering at him.
"Uncle Gloz? Uncle? Are you awake?"
Glozelle:
The only move Gloz made was a small jerk before one eye snapped open, rounding on his niece. With a bit of a groan, he let his head fall back into its relaxed position and a paw went over his eye. It was dark in the den he had been alloted, something he was very thankful for, but still light enough for him to make out that it was Luci and not some other cub.
"I am now," he mumbled back. There was no surprise in his language, spoken or otherwise, when Luci came over and snuggled close to his belly, wiggling herself under one of his thick legs. She had a habit of doing it, even thought Gloz had a good idea that Caspian wasn't too keen on his cubs cuddling up to his father's b*****d.
Lucia:
Luci snuggled close because she liked Uncle Gloz. Even though Papa didn't seem to like him much and he was a big ball of general grumpiness, she knew he was a big softie on the inside. Or, at least she figured he was. He put up with her brothers after all and didn't complain about anything and mostly just went through daily routines without a word. It made her wonder if he ever smiled or laughed or had any fun like that.
"I met a boy today, Uncle. And he was so mean to me," she replied with a bit of a sniff, snuggling into his fur.
Glozelle:
Much as he wanted to believe otherwise, he still had some sort of affection for his brother's cubs and Luci was so soft-hearted that she needed the most protecting. That she would come to him with her problem rather than her father made him worry, just for a moment, that she felt closer to him than her own father. But then when he thought about it, he figured out why she had come to him.
He was the only one who didn't seem to care enough to do anything about it, really.
Yes, she needed to stand up against her own problems but... No, he shouldn't think about doing things to defend his nieces. They could get attached, or more so in some cases, and it would just hurt them when he finally left.
"Go on."
Lucia:
Luci sighed and snuggled even closer. Her uncle was bit, bulkier than her papa and yet she never felt like he was going to crush her, even when he was big enough that she knew he could. With her papa and uncle around, she didn't think anyone would ever be able to hurt her family.
"I was looking at the temple wall when all of a sudden a boy-cub pounced me. He started calling me an evil gazelle and that my water was some sort of poison. I got mad at him and yelled at him and said he didn't ask if I wanted to play and I definitely didn't wanna be an evil gazelle, but he said that I should be happy that he decided to let me play with him." She paused there to take a breath.
"And then when I said that he should apologize for pouncing me without asking and for spilling my water, he said that he didn't have to 'cause he wasn't sorry. Uncle, why was he so mean?"
Glozelle:
Gloz let out a bit of a yawn and shrugged.
"Your brothers do that, don't they? And you don't come to me or your parents whenever they pounce you and rope you into a game," he replied, watching her with one golden eye. He had a couple of theories about this young male. Either he was the kind of boy that treated all the other cubs as if they were his siblings to the point of randomly pouncing on cubs he doesn't quite know, or he singled Luci out. It seemed a little early on for the boys to be pulling at the little girls' tails to convey that they kind of liked them, but maybe he just didn't know when it was supposed to start. Or maybe this boy was an early-bloomer, so to speak.
Either way, he'd have to keep an eye on him.
Probably.
Lucia:
"But that's different. They're my brothers and they know me. He didn't even know who I was, Uncle! He just pounced me and kept playing his little game. It wasn't nice at all and he didn't even say that he was sorry," she replied, turning about so that she could show him her frown. Luci wasn't pleased at all with the behavior of this Saul boy. He was mean and a little brat and there was nothing she could really do about it because she didn't want anyone to really get hurt.
"What should I do?"
Glozelle:
Gloz yawned again and rubbed one paw against his eyes.
"Well, an obvious answer would be to pounce him the next time you see him, see how he likes it. But then, that doesn't seem like you. Another thing would be to tell your father or brothers, who would probably either give him a stern talking to, or a thrashing. Also doesn't seem like a good idea." He paused there gazing off for a moment as he considered and also to let her wonder a bit at what he might say.
"I suppose the only other option would be to ignore him."
Lucia:
"What? Ignore him? How can I do that?" Luci asked, unsure what he was getting at. She couldn't just ignore this boy. He was pouncing her and making her the bad guy and it was really all too much. How could she just ignore that?
Glozelle:
Gloz sighed a bit and actually drew his niece closer, wrapping his paws slightly in a hug before he let them flop again.
"If he pounces you, wiggle away or don't react at all. If he says things to you, don't say anything back. It will probably annoy him, but there's also a chance he might get tired of doing things that don't receive any attention from you. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He looked down at her then, head tilted a bit though his expression was as neutral as it usually was.
Lucia:
It took Luci a moment to think about it. If she tried getting attention from someone and they just ignored her, how would she feel? Well, she'd probably feel sad and then stop pestering whomever it was. But then, she didn't think Saul could really feel sad, not about something like this, so she thought it was a really good idea. Sure, it would be tough, especially when he pounced her, but she would figure it out.
"Yeah, I think I do! It'll be hard, but I think I can do it!"
Glozelle:
"Good. Now, would you run along now?" Gloz asked, giving her a tired expression. He hadn't been sleeping for very long periods of time due to finally having dreams. And as they were new-ish to him, he was startled away on a semi-frequent basis, almost causing him to feel more tired than he usually was.
Lucia:
"Oh! Yeah, I'm sorry, I'll let you go back to sleep," Luci replied, rolling out from between his front legs and standing up. She smiled down at her uncle before giving his cheek a little nuzzle.
"Thank you Uncle Gloz, for helping me and listening," she added and bounded to the entrance to the den. She was gone from view for a moment before her head ducked back into the entranceway.
"I love you, Uncle Gloz!" And then she was gone.
Glozelle:
Gloz closed his eyes at the nuzzle, but they were open by the time she pulled back. Instead of giving her a verbal acknowledgement, he merely nodded his head to her thanks before flopping it back down to the floor.
His heavy eyelids had dropped when she left his vision the first time, so only his ears caught her words and retreating paw-steps. A sigh left the large male.
"I love you, too, Luci."
The thought of leaving was becoming more and more painful as the days went on.
