|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:31 pm
Mkimya wandered back to high grass after an encounter with a cute little hare with questions for her mother weighing on her mind.
They were weird questions, not something a normal fawn would ask. But hey, Mkimya wasn't a normal fawn, and she was too curious and stubborn for her own good.
She pushed through the grass cautiously to see if her mother was awake or not. Her golden eyes wandered over to her sister's sleeping form, then over to her mother's. She stared for a second before deciding to take another step foreward.
The young fawn glanced back out to where she was previously. She looked back to where her mother was and contemplated taking the next step. She silently wondered why she snuck out if it was so hard to get back in without being noticed.
She was still behind the grass, but it was thin enough to see even her color through. She didn't move for a second before finally deciding to push though the grass.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:17 pm
In her mind, blurred figures stood around her, in a circle. Frightened, and lying in the middle of the circle, Chachili looked to her hooves... and found that the ground was closer than usual. She was... a fawn again? No, that couldn't be right...
'Well,' she thought to herself, 'I suppose this is a dream.'
"Chachili," a voice whispered, and Chachili squinted to see who it was through the mist. She couldn't quite see him, exactly, but she could see his hooves... this stranger was a klipspringer, just as she was, but she couldn't see past his face. She struggled to move, to go closer and look... but found she was stuck, paralysed and cemented to the ground.
"What... what is this?" she snapped, and found her voice came out younger, more squeaky, "Let me go, you, you... ghosts!"
Everything around her was white with mist. Where was she? Who were these people? What did they want with her?
"Chachili," the stranger spoke again, and stepped forward, "The time approaches quickly. Soon, your boys will try to contact you. It may be dangerous."
She paused, and bowed her head. Chatter arose among the blurred, unseen strangers circled around her. These voices, however, were silenced as the main head spoke again.
"We wish to tell you more," he said, his voice grave, "But for now, you must awaken. We have consulted you at a wrong time. Your daughter has some questions for you."
Chachili blinked. She didn't want them to go away. Not after they had summoned her like this. And warned her about her boys.
"Wait!" she cried, but her voice was lost in the night. The strangers pulled away, and soon, everything went black.
Who were they? Chachili never found out. Their voices had been familiar, though... if only she had seen their faces!
She awoke with a start, and just in time to see her daughter sneak back into the den.
"And where have you been?" she said softly, quite glad to hear her more mature, adult voice once more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:31 pm
Caught.
"Darn..." She said and sat down. "I was just outside the high grasses..."
She wasn't going to lie. It was her mother after all. Chachili would probably find out if she was lying or not, so she decided not to lie.
The fawn walked closer to her mother and sat. "Mommy, i have some questions I want to ask you..." she said.
She was going to wait until her mother responded. She was probably in trouble now. She hoped she wasn't though.
"But first's first, am I in trouble for leaving?" She asked cutely looking at Chachili with 'puppy' eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:44 pm
"Just outside the high grasses, huh?" Chachili gave her daughter a scowl, and beckoned her to come outside, so as not to awaken Pura, "Just how far outside the high grasses did you go?"
She sighed. Chachili hated letting her fawns leave the safety of the High Grass, it always got on her nerves. She often thought of the many predators that had managed to almost dig their claws into her... she still had that hyena bite under her leg from way back.
"Questions?" she said, walking outside, and suddenly feeling a little scared, "I... I thought you'd have some. Of what kind, I'm not sure..."
They'd warned her about Mkimya's questions. They'd warned Chachili to be careful.
"But first's first, am I in trouble for leaving?"
Chachili gave her daughter a stern look, and then sighed. Those eyes... she was useless against them. Slowly, she shook her head.
"No, not this once."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:53 pm
"Ummm..." Mkimya had gone pretty far. "Far enough to meet a hare?" She said with a smile.
"You knew I had question...?" She asked curiously. She blinked then started again. "Nevermind..."
She took a deep breath and got ready to state her first question. But not before she calmed down. She was glad she wasn't in trouble.
"Mommy, do I have a brother.... named Kukuru...?" She finally asked after some thinking and a few deep breaths. The questions were deep. Very deep.
Mkimya watched her mother for a positive or negative reaction. She silently hoped for a positive reaction from her mother. She didn't want to see her mother upset, but she also wanted to know if she had a brother or not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:07 am
"K...Kukuru?"
Chachili blinked, and her heartbeat quickened. Now, there were many ways to react to this, and she looked through them all.
1 - Denial. Denial in a big way, full of tears, guilt, and hate. To make a big scene, to flat-out say "No" in front of her daughter. The personality switch would be too great.
And Mkimya, who was clever enough to be able to notice changes like these, would know the truth.
2 - Acceptance. Chachili could see it now. "Yes, Mkimya, you have two brothers that I abandoned and gave to a wild-dog family to raise because some crazy voices in my head TOLD ME SO. =D"
Uh. Well, even option number one sounded like a better plan than that one. Option Number Two would convince her daughter that she needed to go to a loony bin and stay there until, say, death.
But then, there was denial in a different way. A subtle way. She paused, and decided to try it out.
"Kukuru? Aaah, yes, I've... I've heard of him before," she nodded, guilt flooding through her, but blocking it back with a smile, "He's... he's..."
She hesitated.
"A cousin."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:19 am
"Why are you stuttering to much if he's only a cousin?" She asked tilting her head to one side.
She was curious. Why would her mother get nervous to say that he was a cousin.
She took a deep breath. "Annnnyways...." she stated. "What are klipspringers best at?" She asked. She started to stare a someting moving along the ground or the den.
She was distracted again. Typical Mkimya though. She just counldn't keep her attention in one place too long.
She blinked and looked to her sister then back to her mom.
"Wait! Before you answer the other question, why does Kukuru think he's a dog-thing?" Mkimya asked almost falling over.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:30 am
Okay. Mkimya was digging into the matter, digging deep into it as far as she could go. Chachili couldn't help but wish that Mkimya'd just let it go.
"Sometimes, one stumbles on words," she said, nodding, "It's been a while since I'd heard that name. That's all."
She said that with a straight face. And it was true. She hadn't heard Kukuru's name mentioned in a long time. The last time had been by a hyena... and my, that had been awkward. She'd played Option Number One then!
"...why does Kukuru think he's a dog-thing?"
She looked away, and her eyes glazed over, darkly.
"I don't know," she said simply, and left it at that. Mkimya would find out the truth sooner or later, but now was not the time.
"What are klipspringers best at?"
Chachili liked this question. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe the pressing for information about Kukuru was gone.
"Klipspringers, Mkimya," she said, nodding and grinning, "Are best at a lot of things. Being sarcastic. Learning from their mistakes. And most of all," she leaned forward, her eyes glimmering, "We're cunning, and fast. How else do we survive out here? Lions eat us, and we eat rock-plants. Yet we flourish, because we were born with these legs to bound fast, and swerve. We are like cheetahs, Mkimya."
She felt proud. She was about to mention fighting as one of her points, but she reasoned that hares were best at that. She'd learnt boxing from her teacher, a hare, once.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:07 pm
"Aright!" Mkimya said accepting the answer. After all, to her, Mommy would never lie.
"Cool!" She stated. "Next time I meet Kibaraka I'll tell him that." Mkimya giggled.
"Oh yeah! One more question!" Mkimya said almost falling over again. She gave up and snuggled up beside Chachili. She would fall at the rate she was going anyhow.
"Okay, Question!" She said after she settled herself down. "Who's my Daddy?"
Sure, it was a weird question, but she needed to ask. Well, she didn't really need to ask, but she was curious about to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:35 pm
Chachili was just about to ask about who on earth this 'Kibaraka' was, but paused as soon as Mkimya asked about another horrible, horrible subject. Her father.
The mother of four put up her nose, and screwed up her eyes in a leer of sorts. Oh, Daddy, huh? That nasty b*****d that ran off and left her to raise four children... twice.
"Your father," she started, "Is not worth your time, Mkimya. However, as my daughter, you have a right to know about him. His name is Jani, he's a no-good rogue. He left quite a while ago, actually... I've known him for quite some time, and he's still an idiot," she paused, and looked lovingly at Mkimya, "It's a wonder that such a loser could help me bear such wonderful children."
He'd been father to Kukuru and Makuu, too, before Pura and Mkimya. She let out a sigh, and decided to stop thinking about Jani. He wasn't worth it.
"I'm not sure where he is now. I don't care, really," she sighed.
She'd gone to him twice. After she'd lost her sons, and that's when he'd taken advantage of her again. Captured her heart that night. She thought that he and she might make a match... but then he'd left, again. For the second time. The scum.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:54 pm
"Was daddy really that bad?" she asked with a small sense of naiveness. "Well, I guess he wasn't that good of a Daddy if he left you alone."
Mkimya giggled and blew on a peice of grass. She got distracted again. Poor girl had a short attention span to say the least, but oh well.
She stopped and yawned. "I'm tired..." She said laying her head down. "And I don't have any more questions...."
She closed her eyes and pressed against her mother for warmth and comfort.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:14 pm
"No..." she paused, "He really wasn't. A good father, that is..."
Or a good mate, she thought, but shook her head. It wasn't time to be sighing. That would just draw her back to 'Option One' from the first section.
But the truth was, she wasn't rabid with hate for her old mate... rather, she thought of him as a loser, and a hopeless guy that she didn't have time for. He'd left her alone... he wasn't suited to be a proper father. She hoped that they'd never have to speak of the wretched bloke ever again.
"No more questions?" her eyes softened, and she pulled to her fawn's side, chewing gently on Mkimya's left ear, "Thank goodness. Where do you find the time to wonder about these things, my beautiful little girl?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:26 pm
"I thought of them when I was... talking to Kukuru and Kibaraka...." She mumbled pausing at 'was' to yawn. She was a bit sleepy. After all, she had just come back from running... And she skipped out on sleeping.
The tired fawn blinked up at her mother. "There's a lot of time to wonder though. There isn't anything better to do..." She said sleepily before closinger her eyes again, though she was still awake.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:30 pm
"Kibaraka?" Chachili asked, though she avoided Kukuru's name on purpose, "Who's this Kibaraka you're speaking of? I've never really... heard of him before. You must make quite a few friends outside the High Grass..."
She narrowed her eyes a little, but she didn't feel like scolding her daughter too much. Friends were good things to have around the place, she'd learnt herself. The more friends you had, the more the savannah seemed to look after you, and the more luck shone on you. Still, she wanted her daughter to be careful. Things were dangerous outside the long grasses in which they lived.
"And how's... Cousin Kukuru?" she averted her gaze, and shuffled uncomfortably as she asked, "Is he doing well?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:36 pm
"Mmmmm... Kibaraka's a cute lil' hare..." She answered her mother with closed eyes. She kept herself awake none the less. She liked talking to Mommy.
"Kukuru was nervous sounding 'cause a white Klipspringer said he was my brother..." she answered.
"He thought I was a dog-thing," she said. "I think he was being silly though, I mean, he must know that we're klipspringers... right?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
