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 Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:19 pm
 He was miserable. Utterly miserable. And no amount of work seemed to be able to change that. No amount of confining himself to hours alone on patrol. No amount of pretending that everything was alright. He'd never been much of a smiling lion but his face had often been kept stoic and serious. Recently, his face had been downright sad and there was a darkness that veiled his eyes. A darkness that hadn't lifted since he'd parted ways with Kalanu.
Poa had always been a workaholoic. He'd done his duty, patrolled the borders, kept his clan safe. He had never wanted more than that. Never.
Until Kalanu.
And then his world had been turned upside down and his heart felt as if it were shrivelling in his chest.
His siblings had tried to speak with him. Tried to get him to open up. But they wouldn't understand what he was going through. No one would. They didn't face the choice that he did. Females got to stay when they wedded their loved one. Males didn't; forcing them to choose between Clan or love.
And he had chosen his Clan. His fellow Shadows.
He should have been happy but he was not. He felt broken.
The sky was dark with rain that morning and, for once, Poa had decided to stay in the clan, giving up his duty for some extra sleep curled up in a hollow in some undergrowth. The plants were thick enough that he was sure, if it did rain, that he'd be kept mostly dry. But he didn't want to move. He just wanted to sleep. Sleep gave him respite from the pain in his heart.
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:05 am
 If there was one advantage to getting old, it was that the younger generations insisted on pulling more weight so that their elders could take it easier. While she stubbornly ignored the signs of aging and carried herself as the strong, confident lioness she'd always been there was simply no denying the flowing sands of time. She grew more tired, she couldn't run as long as she once had, and more and more the prey evaded her claws. Hunts simply took longer now and afterwards, she was just more tired. While she never said a word of complaint about it, her children had picked up on it and had insisted on taking on additional duties. Kohana, for one, was hunting nearly daily. She imagined that her eldest son rather enjoyed his task. However, he remained broody and almost stand-offish.
Howi, her unfortunate son, was born without sight and found very little use within the clan. He couldn't patrol and he certainly couldn't hunt but the youth hardly let it get to him. He was never without a smile on his maw and complements on his tongue. Poa, however, was another story. More and more her young son walked with his nose nearly to the ground, his paws heavy, and his eyes distant. His siblings might have picked up on it, but they'd not said a word of it. Rehema prided herself on her powers of observation and the downtrodden behavior hadn't gone without notice.
That morning she sought him out. There were a few regular spots that he frequented and with the rainclouds brewing over-head her search was narrowed down to covered areas. After nearly a half sun's mark the lioness came across the young Subiani- so much like his father in appearance.
"Poa, love." She said quietly, announcing herself just a few feet away. "Mind if I join you?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:43 am
His ears turned towards her and then he lifted his head, blinking his bright pink eyes - his mother's eyes - across at her. The Subiani family were an assorted bunch and though each of them were individual from the others there was one thing they had in common: their love for family. It was something deeply rooted in him. An unconditional love that Poa had always had. A loyalty. A want to defend and be close to. He'd never realised that an unrelated lion or lioness could become like family, too.
"Hi, Mum." He replied, trying his best to shove away the misery and at least offer her some semblance of a smile. He got his paws beneath him and rose, shaking his fur lightly to rid it of leaves and twigs. "Of course I don't mind. Is everything okay?"
Maybe if someone else had a problem he could focus on that instead of his own. That sounded like a fine idea to him.
(short post is short, sorry hon!)
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:13 am
Try as he might, Poa was unable to hide the tension behind an empty smile. Rehema knew her sons and daughters far too well. Each had their own quirks and mannerisms that defined their personalities, their spirits, and their individual outlook on the world. Poa was no different. To a mother's trained eyes, his fraternization was all too clear. The smile never truly met his eyes and there was still a gravity to his movements that hadn't been there just days ago.
She stepped beside the young lion and took a moment to groom out some of the dirt and twigs that had refused to budge even with the shake of his mane. Nearly all of her sons protested her fussing but it was within her right. Only little blind Howi asked for such attentions anymore. The pride of being a full grown male was lost completely on him and while it was strange, Rehema couldn't bring herself to discourage it either. She was, and always would be, a mother at heart.
Once Poa was sufficiently cleaned up she settled back on her haunches and turned to regard him. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. Is something troubling you?"Kimaria No worries hon :3 :noogies:
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:48 am
A small purr rumbled from his throat, comforted by his mother's closeness and then - quite suddenly - distressed by it. He adored his family and the thought of leaving them was a physical hurt. He loved them so dearly and yet...and yet...
He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, not surprised that his mother had picked up on his mood. She knew everything. It was impossible to fool her. "I'm..." He paused and then hung his head. There was no point trying to deny it. "Yes. Something is. I don't know what to do about it." He sighed, long and low and then forced himself to meet her eyes. The eyes to which she had passed onto him. Pink as an evening sky.
"There's this...this girl and...well, I sort of like her and she sort of likes me." He sucked in a short breath and continued, afraid if he stopped to think he might not be able to finish. "She asked me to...to be her mate but...I can't, mum. I just can't. How can I leave home? Except...except I can't be happy without her and I can't be happy if I'm away from my family. What am I supposed to do?"
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