|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:47 pm
 
Still, so many youngsters meant bushes and grass trampled everywhere and dirt tracked all over the place, and that simply wouldn't do. Having so many children required a level of discipline instilled in each one, and keeping the den tidy was but one part of that.
It was late into the morning by the time she was done, and her pattering had finally woken Akai. The young lion blinked his sleepily, looking over at the several siblings that still lay sprawled out across the den in deep sleep, enjoying the lazy morning. So he wasn't the last one. Perhaps he should keep it that way. Almost reluctantly, he hauled himself to his feet and ducked into a long, lazy stretch.
When he emerged into the sunlight, he saw Mzuza sitting pretty on a nearby sunning rock, looking as clean as ever. Indeed, he couldn't remember a time when he had seen his mother look anything less than pristine. Perhaps she had been a little more unkempt in Akai's youth, when the cubs were little and still required full-time assistance, but it had all passed by in a blur and he couldn't quite remember.
When she saw him, her crimson eyes took in his disheveled coat and his obvious bed-head, and she gave her son a look, patient but mildly disapproving. "Akai, what have you done to yourself?"
"Uhm, heh, I woke up, Ma," he said sheepishly, his laugh soft and transitory as he looked down at his paws.
"Oh, excuses," his mother replied, waving him over and promptly smoothing out his growing mane with a motherly paw. "You remember you have to look sharp to visit your aunt Illuae today. She's just had a litter, you know. We should go congratulate her."
"Oh, but Ma... I wanted to--" Well, a lot of things, really. He had wanted to go see his friends, wanted to go find his older brothers and maybe ask Kam to let him tag along on a scouting trip, or maybe even ask Musabari to teach him a little bit about hunting strategy. The golden lion was working toward becoming a historian for the pride, but Musabari knew a lot about everything, and Akai doubted that a little hunting technique would stump his brother. "No, I... I remember," he concluded, seeing the look on his mother's face. "It'll be fun to see aunt Illuae and her cubs."
Mzuza smiled then, wondering how Akai had ever turned into such a good boy, and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. "Well, then, let's go, and we can maybe still make it back in time for you to go wherever you need to go, see whoever you need to see."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:13 pm
Illuae rested in sweet serenity, looking happily over her brood with heavy-lidded golden eyes. Although new to this, quite new in fact, she felt like this was the role she was born to play. Although maintaining the dignified, lady-like demeanor of a lioness who had been raised as a princess, being and maintaining the image of royalty was somehow no longer as important as being mom. Of course, she would instill in her cubs the manners and grace her own mother had passed on to her. Such was the life she was born into, and now had brought more into the world who would experience the same, if she had anything to do with it. Dumac must have left their den early that morning, for she woke without her mate at her side. She frowned sadly for a moment before her eyes glittered with joy at the sound of a cub lazily yawning. Aanabi's eyes blinked open to meet his mother's loving gaze, and he purred as he received an affectionate lick to the head. His brother and sisters were sound asleep, and daddy appeared to be gone already. No worries, though. Mama was here. He smiled up at his mother, getting clumsily to his paws to give her a loving morning chest-rub. He had some assistance getting up, and cooed happily as Mama nuzzled his cheek affectionately. "Why don't we go outside?" Illuae offered quietly, hoping not to disturb the den. Aanabi gurgled with excitement, then gave a swift nod of his head. Getting ahead of himself, he tried to lunge toward the den entrance, but fell promptly on his bum. Illuae giggled quietly, then picked up the youngster by the scruff and headed squinting into the morning daylight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:00 pm
"You know, you ought to go learn from your brothers sometime," Mzuza was saying as she and Akai made the walk to her sister's den. There were many things any of the nine children from her first litter could teach their younger siblings, and her motherly instincts dictated that she tell the latter time and again to take advantage of having older and more experienced siblings to guide their way through life.
She was unspeakably proud of the way all of them had turned out, and especially so of Musabari, who seemed determined to follow as closely in his grandfather's footsteps as he possibly could. But she knew, too, that her golden-pelted son had quite a large chip on his shoulder when it came to his father, and although she had to accept the fact that perhaps he had yet to forgive Rei for abandoning them briefly in their lives, she didn't want that bitterness to transfer to her younger children.
"But, Ma... I already do," Akai replied patiently. He could have mentioned that he had wanted to do exactly that before she had roped him into this visit, but a moment's thought told him it would be unwise to argue with his mother. Instead, he changed the subject and said, "Do you think aunt Illuae will be awake, Ma? What if she's too tired from all the cubs?"
To which his mother just laughed and replied, "Oh, don't be silly, Akai. Only you and your brothers are lazy enough to sleep half the morning away. Don't you worry, she'll be up." As if to prove her right, they rounded the corner and there Illuae was, holding one of the new cubs and emerging out into the sunlight.
"Just don't try any of your pebble 'magic' with him, Ma," Akai warned good-naturedly, smiling at Mzuza's sideways glance. Most of his siblings and their father seemed happy to go along with Mzuza's long-term belief that she could move the pebble she wore around her neck with just her mind (though she had yet to prove it), but ever since Akai had realized it wasn't going to happen, he had taken it upon himself to gently remind his mother every now and then that she was living a bit of a pipe dream. Not that she agreed. "He's too young, yet, to realize it's not true."
The copper lioness opened her mouth indignantly to reply, but by then, they had drawn close to her sister and it was too late to begin any sort of lecture on the merits and absolute truthfulness of her claim to telekinetic magic. One of these days, she would show him!
"Illuae!" She said instead, beaming at her sister. "Akai and I came to congratulate you on your precious cubs. I would have brought the whole brood, but he was the only one I could wrestle out of bed."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
