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 Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:18 am
The kind golden lioness had spent much time trying to convince her apprehensive son that his father was a good man, however all the golden juvenile could remember were the angered words of her mother, and how many of her tears were shed. Those memories were burnt deep into his skin, and he still felt angry at the father he never truly knew. But for his mothers sake he was trying his very best to get along, and deep down the paranoid cub felt a sense of longing, longing to know his father.
The pair were crouched beside a large rock, obscuring most of Mbaris vision. Ahead on the savannah was a large herd of gazelle, grazing slowly in the midday heat. The slender form of the female was unnoticed for now, hidden behind the rock and the tall dry shubbery.
It was here they had arranged to meet Amari so Mbari could finally learn how to hunt. A smile flew onto the golden lionesses face. If she remembered correctly, Amari wasn't much of a hunter and his efforts were sweet but clumsy. She supressed a giggle. Mbari squeaked, his large topaz gaze cast at the gazelle which seemed so big to him. What if he was crushed? He took his usual place between his mothers front legs and nuzzled at her lovingly. With his mother he felt safe, and he was never seen without her company.
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:28 am
Amari approached with the wind in his face, instantly picking up the scent of his lover and their son. /Their/ son. It was something he was becoming used to now and though he was aware he was not the best father he was trying his hardest.
He wanted to make it up to the both of them, Mbari especially, for it was not his fault that he had been birthed to such a useless oaf of a father.
He moved more stealthily than normal, his paws a little more practised though they did crunch the grass every so often. It was the sounds of his paws that would alert Maawio and son to his presence though the gazelle were still too far away to here it.
"Hello there sunshine." He murmered, moving to buffet the top of his head against hers. Then with shining eyes settled upon his son a rumbling purr emanated from his throat. "And how's my boy doing today?" His voice was kept low so as not to ruin the hunt before it had even begun.
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:46 am
Maawio nuzzled her mate with a smile, her voice low so she did not disturb the gazelle. Mbari retreated to underneath his mothers stomach, his topaz eyes only visable and shining brightly in the sun. He showed no sign of responsing anytime soon, but let out a little squeak.
"He's fine, just his normal sweet and nervous self." She smiled and looked between her paws. "Come out Mbari, it's only you dad." He reminded her of herself, when she was a cub, cautious. Only their situations were very different. Maawio never intended on pushing Mbari into doing anything, and whilst he was nervous like she was, he was more scared than confused.
"Wanna get going?" She smiled. "Wanna start?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:53 am
He looked a little downhearted at his son's nervousness of him but decided not to let it get to him. It was still early and they had their whole lives ahead of them to bond.
"Glad you're both okay." He cleared his throat then and puffed out his chest a little, looking suddenly proud of himself, nodding at Maawio's question. "Now listen up Mbari my boy, your dad isn't much of a hunter and though you'd probably be better off learning from your mother I figured I might as well give it a go atleast once."
He shot his mate a nervous look and continued, "I've been practising and I've had a lesson recently, so I'll talk you through it and hope for the best, kay?" He didn't mention that the lesson had been given to him by a jackal. Obviously that information wasn't important.
"Well, first thing's first. Yah gotta get your hunting position right. I 've just about got it mastered now." He chuckled and lowered himself in the grass, claws pounding gently at the ground beneath him.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:49 am
Mbari was the spitting image of the grandmother that he would never meet, he had her white stomach stripe and her beautiful topaz eyes. However his personality was one that would match his mother, he was gentle, but very scared. He was still curled up underneath his mothers stomach, his large apphrehensive gaze meeting that of his fathers. To hear that his father wasn't much of a hunter didn't have much of an effect on him, Mbari didn't want to hunt, what if he was crushed by the gazelle?!
Maawio gave her son an affectionate lick on his head and tried to coax him out from underneath her stomach. "Don't be silly, it's only your father..." Mbari blinked, looking to the ground, the father that was never there, the missing part of the jigsaw was finally here, after hurting his mother and leaving them. He suddenly frowned, and backed away, still watching, however.
Maawio gave a concerned look towards her golden juvenile, and looked back to Amari with a smile which almost apologised. "Don't worry about him..." She whispered, although herself, she was very worried. Maawio had the tendancy to worry about almost everything, it came from her child-hood. But she was no-where as nervous as she used to be. A certain lion had given her strength. She looked to her mate and smiled.
"Go on Amari..." She purred. "You have the theory right."
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:10 am
Will he never forgive me? Has all this been in vain? His usually optimistic mind was muddled with depressive thoughts. Maybe I shouldn't have come back, they might have been better off without me around to stir things up... And yet as he starde into Maawio's eyes and met her apologetic gaze he knew he'd done the right thing.
He could not give up so easily.
Young hearts could heal and he was sure that in time Mbari would learn to know him as father and be proud of that fact. Asi believed in him, Maawio believed in him and finally he believed in himself. He would do this to prove himself worthy!
He said nothing more and instead moved quietly forwards. He knew how to do it that wasn't the difficult part. It was actually putting theory into practise that he struggled with.
He moved slowly and stealthily, his great bulk lost amongst the grass around him. He could do this! He could do this! Then by a twist of fate the wind that had been hitting him in the face did a turn. The playful eddies swirled around his mane, tugged left and then turned completely, bringing the gazelle his scent.
The animals raised their heads suddenly, huge liquid eyes scanning the grass for the danger their noses could smell.
Amari used his brain - for once and flattened against the ground completely, wincing slightly at the crackle of grass. If the creatures didn't see him then maybe they would think him too far off and return to their grazing. It seemed however that the sound of his body crunching grass along with his scent was too much for the gazelle.
The predator was nearby and they had to run. Run for their lives!
They turned as one, their hooves thundering against the ground and in a second Amari had launched himself at them, running after them in a desperate attempt to keep up. He moved with a clumsy gait, his huge paws thundering against the dry ground. For a moment he caught up with one of the prey, snapping his jaws near it's hind legs in attempt to trip it. When that failed he pulled back to lash out with a paw, knocking it's hind legs out from under it.
For a moment triumph gripped him and he thought himself victorious.
The gazelle flailed on it's side as it tried to get up onto it's legs, eyes focusing only on the lion who was coming at it. With one tremendous kick it lashed out with it's hindlegs, bringing it's hooves to connect sharply with Amari's face. With a strangled whimper Amari struck out blindly with a forepaw only to watch as the antelope regained it's footing and continued it's wild gallop across the savannah, glancing back only to shout out abuse at its attacker.
"......."
With a raging headache and a bruised ego, Amari dared to glance back over his shoulder to the rock where his mate and son had watched the whole event.
It appeared he'd need to pay Auri another visit.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 7:49 am
Mbari looked eager, watching his father try to catch the deer, and although he failed, he looked impressed. At least Amari was brave enough to face the deer! That was more than he had done, as he had remained crouched safely underneath his mothers stomach.
As he saw his father take the blow he winced a little, that had to hurt, and that was exactly what he was afraid of! He moved foward from under his mother to watch the final result and saw the large rusty-orange figure of amari glance back. Mbari said nothing, the scared cub simply backed away and reclined beside the rock. "See Mommy, hunting is dangerous"
Maawio had been watching too, and she could see Amari had improved vastly. His position was much more discreet and he did not possess as much clumsy movement as she had seen before. He had taken a decent shot and although his maw was not stained with blood nor did he return with a kill, she appreciated the effort to demonstrate to their son.
She was extremely worried, and left Mbari for a moment and ran foward a few paces to meet Amari, licking at his face. "Are you alright?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 7:55 am
He moved forward to meet her, eyes closing as she licked at his face. Her scent hung sweetly in his nostrils and for a moment the pain in his skull ebbed. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He chuckled, wincing a little at the sudden action. "Perhaps it knocked some sense into me, eh?" He shook his head gingerly, wincing again as a lance of pain lashed behind his eyes.
"Gazelle are much stronger than they look that's for sure! I dunno how yah manage to make it look so easy dear heart." He returned her nuzzle, the action gentle and slow before turning his eyes to glance at his son who still remained beside the rock.
"S'okay Mbari, just find yourself a huntress for a mate and you'll never have to face those long-legged critters!" He chuckled, winking at Maawio.
Amari had changed in some ways but deep down he was always the flirt he had been as a juvenile.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:40 am
She giggled lightly, nuzzling at his neck and his fluffy orange mane before pulling back and looking into his eyes. "You sure? I don't want you injured!" Her sweet smile was almost always visable, and she showed it again as she shook her head. "I just find it easy, Not that it means I'm any good." She added, humbly.
"Hey!" She said, at his comment to Mbari. "Don't go planting any flirtacious, femme-seeking ideas in his brain just yet!" She whispered. The Amari she knew was deep down very flirtacious, however he had learnt to control such actions, and the worrying mother wouldnt allow him to have such an influence on his son.
Mbari kept quiet, only the brown-tufted tail visable as it swayed behind the rock, swatting at the odd fly that landed on the dry ground. He blinked at his fathers comment, large eyes glimmering as he squinted against the sun. Maybe Amari was right, he should stay away from those deer, they looked mean.
"Mommy!" He called, his squeaky voice catching his mothers attention immediately. "What if I get eated and your not here to protect me?" Mbari had the vocabulary of a young cub, and also lacked social skills which had refused to devolope as he only spoke to his mother. Maawio neared him and gave him a nuzzle. "You won't get eaten, don't worry honey."
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 10:14 am
He chuckled, his heart swelling with affection as he leaned into his mate's touch. They had never been as physically affectionate as they had once been, but that was only because they shared their den with their golden son. Obviously such games could not be enjoyed in the presence of their child.
Perhaps it was time to find a babysitter. >>;;
Maybe it was only because Maawio's scent was sweeter than usual but when he was close to her now he knew that perhaps the time was drawing near, slowly but surely. A female in heat could become target to other lusty males in the area, but Amari would never allow any other male to share Maawio's den, not whilst his lungs drew breath. He loved her since the day he set eyes upon her and that feeling had never faded. Not once.
He had made mistakes but he couldn't keep thinking of them. He had to think of the future now.
"Soon you'll be big enough to protect yourself Mbari! You've grown a lot since you were first born! I doubt you could ride on your mother's back like you used to." He laughed, eyes sparkling as he nudged playfully at Maawio and loped playfully from her to return to his son by the rock.
Life was whole.
"I take it you want to end the lesson for today?" He questioned as he came to a slow halt beside his golden son.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:23 am
Mbari blinked and his golden form shuffled to hide behind the rock again. It was true what his father said, he was growing older by the day, his limbs were growing longer and a few brown tufts had appeared on his head.
Maawio nuzzled him lightly, instantly calmed by her mates scent. Perhaps they could have a nice long affectionate chat whilst Mbari was asleep. There were so many things to talk about, after all... She ran her tongue across his nose breifly, a playful flicker vivid in her eyes for a moment, unusual for the shy lioness.
The adult turned around and ran back to her juvenile, her sapphire gaze staring back at Amari whilst their son attempted to scramble onto his mothers back. Maawio paused. "I'm sorry honey, you're too big! Your fathers right, your a growing boy!" She laughed sweetly as the golden family set to walk to their den.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:42 am
He smiled, the look of pure affection in his eyes. Maawio to him was everything and Mbari too. His heart swelled with a feeling so powerful and warm that he was sure his chest would burst.
Then nuzzling into his mate he laughed quietly as his son was forced to walk alongside them and as he watched the golden child obediently pad by her side he realised how very proud he was.
Mbari had grown up so well and so beautifully, he was a copy of his mother and yet different too. He regreted not being around more but he would make up for that now.
He moved to walk beside Maawio, rubbing his head against her shoulder as they returned to the den. The hunting lesson was over but the day was still promising many other things...
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