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 Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:22 pm
 She was on a seemingly impossible mission. Impossible because she couldn't find the lion she was looking for. Afina had specifically told Tarni where Xenon might be, might be being the optimum term, she had already checked three large boulders and a rock pile and had come up empty pawed.
The teal lioness made her hurried way down the beach. Afina had told her that the last place she had seen Xenon was down this way. That he was looking healthy and fit and how much she missed him and how much she had hurt him and herself. Tarni was an ear and a shoulder that Afina could cry on.
"Xenon!" She calls, her shouts fairly quiet. "Xenon, where are you?" She clears her throat hopefully "Please be here..."
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:28 pm
He'd actually moved, he'd gone somewhere where the likelihood of being found was slim to none and yet Afina and her relatives still appeared to have a knack for finding him. It was a considerable point of exasperation and with a weary sigh, the lion lifted his head and turned a bleary eye towards the sound of Tarni's voice. She was lucky he'd even heard it, if the wind had been blowing in another direction she wouldn't have stood a chance...alas, luck was on her side this afternoon and his ears had swivelled to attention.
Now whether or not he wanted to reply was another issue entirely...
Aha, a part of him sincerely wished to feign ignorance but for all he knew, Tarni's trip could have been entirely innocent. She could have come with a message from the pride and his attention could have been required immediately. To punish her for his foul luck around her immediate family would have been inconsiderate and as such, he finally knocked a number of loose rocks from his perch and leant his head over the ridge to inspect the approaching lioness, all in all, if she was raising her voice then something must be up.
"Yes?" he replied, his brow lifting a touch at the odd situation.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:37 pm
Oh thank god she had found him. Her face lifted in a smile. "Xenon..I..I'm sorry to disturb you." She mumbles, her voice as usual quiet though there was a hurry in her tone, an urgency she didn't usually own, after all, there was no need for urgency, she had been brought up sheltered and protected.
"I..I'm sorry I'm in a hurry..i don't want to..be..uhm.. disrespectful so I'm sorry fi I sound all...Rude.." She tapers off blinking her dark teal eyes several times. "Please Afina is in labour." She takes a deep breath "Please, She needs you to come, please?" She looks up at him very hopefully, tears already in her eyes, she wasn't nearly as strong as Afina and she was terrified for her huge sister. "She's so scared..I'v never seen her be so scared..."
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:22 pm
What did her family think he was, a mid-wife? His expression clouded briefly at Tarni's request but given the level of her distress it was probably inappropriate for him to decline in quite so blunt a manner. Why they had elected to ask for him was beyond his comprehension, after all, he had been unceremoniously informed that his existence was neither here nor there and the cubs of said female were not his. This in mind, why hadn't they hauled their asses into the roguelands to hunt down the moron? He might have been an honourable lion but he was not a substitute or surrogate father.
...That just wasn't how it worked, his offer didn't go that far.
"I fail to say how this has anything to do with me," he murmured quietly, shaking his head as he regarded the female. Fortunately for Tarni, he wasn't a heartless individual and after a pause he pulled himself to all fours and padded slowly down from his perch. Given his odd position, it was a bit of a labourious effort, but it wasn't too long before he was down on the sands. It was at this point that he pursed his lips, stared at Afina's quieter sibling one more time and began to stride across the beach. He wasn't in any immediate rush, but nor did he dawdle, he might as well appear, point out they'd gotten the wrong lion and leave again.
"But very well, I'll show my face even if you should be seeking out the male responsible for this," he pointed out coolly. Alas, he appeared to have accepted the fact that the children were not 'his' and had done his best to emotionally detatch himself from that idea.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:37 pm
Tarni was so glad when he came down off his perch that she almost bounced at him, almost, she kept her cool and simply tottered her toes through the sand. She let out a deep sigh of relief when he started walking and the joy was evident on her maw.
"Wait, what?" She raised a brow catching up to Xenon and walking beside him. "Uhm, they are.. Um your cubs Xenon." She rolls her eyes in a very typical way, clearly it was something no matter how mousey the individual, that ran in the family. "She hasn't seen another lion since..well..you know..the thing and then as soon as she moved in to the nursery she banned mother from seeing her and then told father he wasn't allowed in any more.." She shakes her head."My sister is..." She pauses and lowers her ears "I don't want to speak ill of her.." She purses her lips "She's a brat." She giggles for a moment before the worry wiped away the amusement from her face.
"We have to hurry.." She picks up her paws and starts to race for the nursery, her tail flickering around. Afina was such a doofus, why she had pushed Xenon away like she did she didn't know but, maybe they could mend the fences now the cubs were coming? She sure hoped so, Afina was truly hopeless, helpless, and forlorn without Xenon. She had never known her sister to look so lost constantly, she as fairly sure if it wasn't for the cubs in her huge belly she would have just given up without Xenon at her side.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:15 pm
In light of all that had happened, Xenon wasn't as inclined to believe Tarni as he would have been in the past. There was an element of distrust in the male now that he had been subject to such weighted scrutiny. Suffice to say that he would prefer to make his own judgement on whether the children were his or not - if they truly looked like him then he would dispute her proclamation that she didn't know who the father was, if they looked absolutely nothing like him then he would simply refuse them. He wouldn't leave her in her hour of need, that would be inappropriate, but he had no intention of playing house with children that weren't his own - he was under no illusions and he was definitely not an individual so desperate for a family that he would take anything.
Nevertheless he kept this to himself and save for the arched brow, there was no indication that he didn't trust the female. She wasn't entitled to know what ran through his mind, it was safe to say that no one was... he'd learnt his lesson, and he'd learnt it quickly.
"I do believe I am walking more swiftly than you are," he replied smoothly, maintaining his loose lop as he moved forward. He wasn't going to rush himself in the slightest, as urgent as Tarni seemed to think it was, it wasn't a crisis for him. Even when Tarni indicated that Afina had been so strange as to throw out her own family, he didn't seem to be swayed. In the past he might have considered this very peculiar, but having been subject to Afina's rather terbulant emotions and unpredictable nature...well, he could safely say that this was actually fairly normal for her.
So she'd taken a hissy fit with her parents - every child did that.
Fortunately, while Xenon's pace wasn't rushed it was still reasonably quick and it wasn't long before he had reached the nursery dens...however, with no idea of how to navigate the place, he had absolutely no idea where to go from this point on.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:13 am
"This way." Tarni sighed, she knew Afina had been very difficult with Xenon and she felt sorry for the both of them, they were so stubborn. They were suited for each other really, in a weird, weird way. Of course she pondered if Afina was just being desperate or not, after all Xenon had dumpped her flat for not trusting him. It didn't really matter, she knew the truth she knew that Afina cried at night, she knew she regretted her decisions and she knew this because she was the one standing by her very pregnant and emotional sister.
Tarni lead Xenon to a den not too far from the stream, it was a big den, big enough for Xenon to walk comfortably in to, that was for sure. The running water didn't drown out the sounds from within."Afina we're back" She calls striding in to the den without a moments pause. "We?" Afina whispers, she hadn't convinced herself that Xenon would come, she was sure he would stubbornly walk away from her and never come back and she would be left holding the baby...s... Her girth had grown even more since she had last seen him, her belly wide and very uncomfortable, she hadn't slept properly for days despite asistance from her sister. She was tired and her labour was well under way her belly moving in ripples of pain as she paced back and forwards trying to eleviate the pain.
"Xenon, is it you?" She whispers, pausing in her pacing to cringe. "Xenon please say its you." She squeaks stepping towards his form. She needed him so baddly, she wanted him to make it better to stop the pain, though it wasn't the pain form her labour that she wanted him to stop. Her heart ached for him. "Please, come in, please?" She chokes her claws unsheathing from her paws as she experienced another wave of pain.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:14 am
It was probably for the best that the lioness didn't make any more attempts to excuse her sister's behaviour. Evidently, Xenon wasn't swayed by them and appeared to have already reached his own conclusions. At most it would have been safe to assume that the lion had simply showed his face out of politeness, lest he end up with a throbbing headache and yet another act of 'villainy' upon his shoulders. As a rogue that was just what he needed, to be enveloped in further unfounded and unnecessary scandal because certain individuals didn't like him. In a manner of speaking, he was being blackmailed in a very mild way.
Not that either of the sisters were aware of this.
Ducking underneath the entrance of the den, he trailed in and came to a halt a suitable distance away from the pacing lioness. Clearly distressed, it really didn't take a genius to notice that she was in labour and with that in mind, had been subject to it for quite some time. From a distance she looked rather comical as well and her girth could probably have rivaled his own in some respects - ah, but she was truly the definition of a balloon! Alas, now was not the time to laugh at her predicament and instead he fixed a level stare on both Afina and her sister.
"It is me," he stated plainly, though he made no further attempt to bridge the distance. "Generally speaking it is customary to drag your parents in for this sort of thing, not a random stranger off the beach," he pointed out coolly.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:30 am
Tarni shook her head quietly and moved to her sister. "Maybe you should think about lying down Afina." She whispers gently. "You know, in case?" She raises both brows and looks at Xenon for some sort of support, any sort. Xenon was as stubborn as her sister and this was already turning in to a very long labour. Afina was litterally ready to burst but her uncomfortable pacing and some sort of iron will was stopping her from having the cubs.
Afina smiles painfully and moves towards Xenon, she wasn't going to let him sit on the side lines, she wasn't going to let him keep his distance. She wanted him here. "You're not a stranger, you did this to me you arse!" She laughs a slow breathy laugh, she couldn't help it, she wasn't even remotely mad at him for making her pregnant she was in pain and she could have taken a chunk out of him for giving her all this life to carry but she was happy to be having children, happy to be having Xenons children, she had to mend some bridges though. She had to win him back.
Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she approached him and so as not to give him any time to back away she clumbsily leapt at him and buried her nose in his mane "Please forgive me? Please? I'm sorry I trusted my mother, I'm sorry I didn't trust you and I listened to the stupid rumors instead of to what you said. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was pregnant and i swear I havn't seen another male lion, I don't want anyone else, please Xenon I want you, I want you to see our babies be born and help them to grow in to decent creatures not snotty little brats like their mother. Please Xenon.." She trails off and looks up at him begging for forgiveness, tears stainin her cheeks. She closes her eyes for a moment and growls quietly.
"Sorry....I babies.." She lets out a long slow laboured sigh "I told my mother to leave and not come back.." She scrunches up her face again "I don't want her to tell me any more things about you, I refuse to beleive her any more..Please Xenon, please, I need you..I want you..We need you.."
Tarni shakes her head quietly. The truth from her sister, it was strange to listen to and she felt almost like she was intruding upon this moment. She wondered if Xenon would forgive her. She hoped he would, He didn't know how much Afina needed him, no matter how stubborn she was, she needed the male to balance her out. She sits quietly watching Afina carefully, she really wanted to get her sibling to sit down, to lie down, but her words were clearly going unhindered, things needed to be said before Afina would listene to anyone it seemes. Maybe hse would listen to Xenon? maybe? Hopefully...
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:43 am
Females said and did things in desperation, even going to far as to tell lies in the hope that some poor sap would fall for them. Given Afina had been so adamant about his paternal stakes in her pregnancy and the fact that she was so naive, there was still potential for her to have screwed up. As such, he wasn't inclined to believe her on an immediate level, suffice to say that the trust he had placed in the pretty little creature had all but vanished in the last few months - she'd firmly put him in his 'place', which amounted to 'nothing' in the grand scheme of things and after much introspection and internal monologues, he had accepted it.
He hadn't liked it, but he'd accepted it.
However now she was making rather dramatic and emotional apologies, declaring that she had in fact been lying and that she had done X, Y and Z in order to put things right. Frankly, he was at the point where he didn't know what to believe and as the lioness pressed herself against his mane he could do nothing more than heave a deep sigh and regard the female with the same expression of exasperation that he had done from the beginning.
"Lie down, Afina," he instructed after a momentary pause, taking note of the insistance in Tarni's voice. Her sibling genuinely wanted her to rest and prepare, something that Afina was (unsurprisingly) refusing to do. "As it stands, now really is not the time to talk about such things," he continued and nudged the pregnant lioness away from him gently with his paw. "For the sake of your cubs I suggest you do as your sister tells you and I will..." he trailed off for a few moments and sighed yet again.
"I will stay for the time being," he conceded. It wasn't really for her sake so much as her cubs, he knew that if he elected to leave now she would bound after him and that would do no one any good!
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:24 am
Keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Xenon, Afina gave a nod and let him nudge her towards the bedding area her sibling had set up for her. Slowly and carefully the deep blue lioness settled down a look of releif crossing her maw as she lay. "You'll stay?" She whispers "You promise?" She reaches out a paw and places her toes firmly on his holding him to the spot without any real force, if he wanted to pull away he could but she needed him there.
She rolls sideways uncomfortably closing her golden eyes. "Xenon..Don't leave me.." She clears her throat her whole body seizing uncomfortably as she did so. She had been holding on, pacing and feeling the pains for hours but now Xenon was here it would all be alright, it would all work out.
Tarni sighs lightly. She wished she could put them back together properly, she knew they were happy when they were together, no matter how exasperated or annoyed Xenon felt about Afina or how perfectly irritated Afina felt about Xenon. They belonged together she knew, it, they knew it, they were just so bloody stubborn.
"Xenon.." Tarni whispers "Will you uhm..Go that way." She points her paw towards Afinas rolling belly. "Just uhm...move the cubs, she's been very stubborn won't let mother in to help her so it's just you and me." She smiles shyly and cleans her sisters face "I think it's time to push Afina, you've been holding on for too long.." She frowns a little, she had no idea how Afina was holding on, she had been in the grip of labour for hours now the cubs, and she guessed there would be a few, were definately ready to leave her but she held on. Afina was even stubborn with her child birth schedual and that made Tarni giggle for a moment. "He's not going any where, it's time to get on with it they are ready to join the world."
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:32 am
Xenon had done a lot of things in his life, but delivering children was not one of those. Thus, it was with an incredulous expression that he stared at Tarni when she rather abruptly requested that he move round to well...um... pick up the cubs and deposit them beside their mother. All in all he was absolutely astonished by the request and he was fairly certain that in a general sense, very few males had ever been asked to do this sort of thing! Hoo boy, but may the gods give him strength because he was already very close to his limits.
"I -" he trailed off, stared at Tarni a little more and then heaved a sigh, pushing himself to his paws. Peculiar as the request might have seemed, with a limited number of individuals present he really couldn't decline. Nevertheless, this did not prevent him from pulling a disgruntled face as he shuffled into position and fixed his gaze firmly on the wall opposite him. To say the lion was clueless about this sort of thing was an understatement, he had no idea what he was doing or what to expect.
...This was female territory.
"Gods have mercy on my soul, what I wouldn't give to have my boring life back," he mumbled grumpily and sucked in a breath. Well, at the very least he could deal with this and then retreat to his rocks again, once the cubs were out she would probably settle down again and her parents would be able to enter safely. Family orientated as she was, she wouldn't keep those she loved away from her for too long, especially her own parents. Or at least this was how it worked in theory.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:43 am
Tarni had real trouble keeping a straight face as she watched Xenon shuffle in to position. Males, they were so, she didn;t have a word. Big wimps? Well yeah she thought maybe he was a big wimp for looking disgruntled, he was helping to deliver his own cubs, did he expect her to do it? She wasn't a pombuka after all, that was Afinas territory.Afina laughed a gentle breathless laugh as she looked at Xenon, she had to keep ehr eyes on him incase he ran away, she would have to get up and follow him if he went. She was not letting him leave this den again that was for sure, at least not right now any way.
Scrunching her eyes tightly shut the young blue lioness finally took her sisters advice and pushed, her whole body tensed as she bore down and pushed the first little blue male from her body. She moves slightly breathing heavily and licking their first born son, cliping his cord and nudging him until he squeeked. "He looks like you." She whispers, she was already tired and she knew there were more to come Tarni shakes her head and looks at Xenon meaningfully expecting him to move the cub to Afinas side. "Come on Xenon, thats only the first." She whispers cleaning her sisters face gently "Keep going Afina. You've got a way to go yet."
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:51 am
Xenon was definitely not a wimp and if he'd been schooled in child birth he probably wouldn't have been so incredulous at the pair of lionesses and their request. As it was, he'd seen more gore, guts and blood in his time to confirm that childbirth really wasn't that disgusting - perhaps if he hadn't been subject to warfare then his reaction would have been different, but as it stood, he seemed largely unphased by the entire thing. However what was clear was that he was in a bit of a daze and while this wasn't from the shock of being in this position, it seemed to have been brought about by an awareness that he was in a very surreal environment.
...He was helping to birth another male's cubs, from his own ex-mate.
He was fairly certain this made him a laughing stock.
Alas, he was in such a daze that he didn't even seem to register the colour of the tiny cub and instead, he simply leant down, picked the tiny kitten up with his lips and deposited it by Afina's belly. Perhaps when it was over then it would be obvious, but for the time being he remained oblivious to the fact that the tiny cub was rather complimentary of his own coat. Regardless, with the male running on auto-pilot at least both lionesses could be comforted by the fact that he wouldn't wander off and he would do his job efficiently until it was over.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 6:08 am
Tarni smiles at the little cub. "He certainly looks like the two of you Afina. I think Xenon is in shock or something." She whispers trying to keep calm. She hoped she wouldn't be in this situation if she ever had cubs. Afina was so pregnant her belly was like a mountain and Xenon seemed either dazed or confused or maybe both? She clears her throat. "He looks like the both of you, don't you think..Xenon?" She questions before turning her attention back to her sister.Afina laughs quietly able to see the cub better now he was wriggling at her side. He was so sweet. She didn't have much time to admire her first son though because as she watched him another pain shot through her and she gave birth to their second son again, he was complimentary of them both. She wished Xenon would say something, he looked none plussed, couldn't he see his cubs were being born? Why wasn't he more excited?
She licks the second cub quietly, maybe she would have to be happy that he was here at all. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she nudged the little body in to life before resting her head back down and closing her eyes. Two down, how many mroe to go."You're doing great Afina." She coos nudging her sister gently. "You're doing just fine, they are so cute, do you think we wer ethat cute?" She babbles, feeling the strain, Afinas stomach didn't seem to be going down yet, how many more cubs were going to pop out?
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