|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 7:15 pm
 
Others it had the most open-minded lioness Kabiro knew speaking ill of an entire group of predators.
"If they really wanted to live with mortals, they'd look like them," Ava said.
You'd get angry they were disguising themselves if they did that. Things better thought than said Kabiro had the sense to keep that way. He and Ava had too much in common to risk petty grievances over what they didn't. They both appreciated the simple things -- sunshine, the wind, an occasional walk to enjoy both.
"Isn't that, what's the name, Yue up there?" Ava asked.
Kabiro followed her gaze and snorted. "It's Hari," and he was right. He didn't stand a chance at telling them apart side-by-side. With Fefe in the picture? Yeah, that was Hari.
Ava chortled. "Is she giving him hunting lessons?" 
As an adolescence, Hari was a terrible hunter.
As an adult, he was, still, a terrible hunter.
His mother Chyou was one of the most adept huntresses in the pride. She foolishly anticipated her children would come predisposed for similar success. But Nature won again. Her brand of nurture stood no chance at all when enablers -- many unwitting -- were all around her son. In the Pridelands, surrounded by family, it was all too easy to get away with foisting your hunting responsibilities on someone else. Hari had never tried to get better.
Chyou was finally putting her paw down. Hari hadn't complained when he heard who his teacher was.
"I just don't see why I'd go after a sick or old one. The bigger, healthier ones would feed me longer."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 8:13 pm
Fefe's patience with children was undeniably large until it came time for hunting. Her own children had been allowed to accompany her to watch. When they learned, they had taken down prey on their own, or with one of their siblings. Nothing made Fefe's hair stand on end more than a botched hunt.
Hari had fumbled more than his fair share.
"And leave a larger wound in your small skull," replied Fefe's impatient, choppy accent.
"Do you like the taste of rotting carass, Hari?" Fefe squinted towards the Pridelands, spotting one blanch coat and a darker figure that better blended in the grass. Her mouth formed a thin line, and she looked along water sources for the small, agile shape of a gazelle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:15 am
"I'd eat it all at once, and be full longer is what I meant," Hari said. Duh, Fefe. That was obviously his intention all along. In his next breath he'd intended to further his cause, but in seeing her eyes roam elsewhere, he turned his head to seek out the creatures of interest.
The gazelle may as well of been invisible, and the other two lions may as well of being glowing. "What do you want?" he blurted.
Both the eavesdroppers seemed alarmed, but only Ava looked surprised. "He's charming."
"He's Hari," Kabiro said quietly. "Afternoon, Hari! Fefe."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:37 am
They may have been in adult bodies, but the children of the Pridelands never seemed to grow up. Fefe's head shook, the horizon of a distant lake moving with the motion.
"Afternoon, Kabiro." Fefe's stocky shape shifted on their high perch. Green tail swaying, she idly dropped over the ridge of their hill and ambled towards the pair. "And Ava."
"Great time for a break," she hollered towards Hari to explain their sudden shift in direction. If she had to force Hari into doing something he didn't want to do, at least Fefe could garner some amusement out of the situation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:22 pm
Kabiro was apt to agree with Fefe's train of thought, keeping in mind he was younger than Hari. Who said there couldn't be exceptions to the rule? "I trust you're --"
"Already? Are you kidding me?" Hari bellowed from above, overlooking the group, now including Fefe, with enough disdain to be sighted even from afar.
"I trust you're doing well," Kabiro carried on. "You look nice today."
Ava's agreement was visual rather than vocal. A nod of the head and a gaze almost too focused. She wanted to look at Hari, up there shouting like an idiot, but you didn't acknowledge cubs when they were having tantrums. It only reinforced their bad behavior.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:39 pm
Fefe would have mistaken Hari as the son of the King with how he bellowed. Like Ava, however, Fefe was apt to ignore the tantrums of children. Hari happened to be an oversized one controlled by his own hormones, but a child never the less.
"Don't flatter, Kabiro." A friendly smile pulled over Fefe's mouth. Her thick, choppy accent corrected him, "I'm disgruntled and in need of a river." Not as much to wash herself, but as to clean Hari's mouth out with.
She jogged the final few steps to the pair, pausing to drop her weight onto her back legs, stretch, and crack her back. "And where are you two going?" Both of Fefe's eyebrows raised. A male and a female walking together meant only one thing to Fefe, and it wasn't friendship.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:17 pm
Try as she might to deny their chemistry, Hari and Fefe had a lot in common. Kabiro had to answer her question twice. "We're just heading to visit Amira," was the first time. The second was after Hari had reached them, at which point Kabiro was mid-explanation how he and Ava were supposed to help Amira's brood with their next hunting lessons.
"And just where are you two going?" Hari inquired, more suggestive than Fefe had been with the jokingly seductive inflection to his tone and wiggling his brows rather than lifting them with that more subtle suspicion.
"We're going to help Amira teach her children to hunt," Kabiro reiterated.
"Besides, I'm old enough to be his grandmother," Ava put in.
Hari glanced sidelong at Fefe and if someone didn't interrupt it was inevitable a joke in very poor taste was on the way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:35 am
Fefe did not look towards Hari. Not so much as an ear flick was spared in his direction.
"Ah, good." The interjection into what would have been Hari's joke was well-timed. Any age-scandal was quickly forgotten. Tone excited, rather than annoyed, she continued, "You can take Hari with you."
This was certain to raise another of the black and white lion's classic fits. "I don't want to hear it," Fefe's voice crackled through. "You'll do better learning from those your own age." Whether she meant Kabiro or Amira's children, Fefe did not specify.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
