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 Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:39 pm
"I'd like that, yes." With this new information that she may get to see a sister in the near future, she settled in for the long haul by sitting back and wrapping her tail gently around her. It'd been such a long time since anyone had told her a story. She used to love them as a kid. Though this was more of a history than a story, it held all the same interest.
"Manuku." She nodded her understanding. She wondered how old exactly was the oldest of her half siblings, but didn't ask. Obviously he was old enough to have a grandbaby already. She followed her father's gaze down to Hamamu and waited expectantly while the little girl went through the motions of collecting thoughts... loudly. "Brown?" She had always thought the brown came from her mother, and after seeing Mtima and now Habu, the idea had been cemented. However, a half brother was brown. Perhaps there was brown somewhere in Habu's line? The blue, she assumed, came from Habu. She nodded once, quickly, to tell them she understood the Manuku part of the story. "I see." She then smiled softly at the cub. "I'm glad you like your grandpa so much, baby spirit."
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:54 pm
"Brown, blue and funny?" he repeated, grinning down at Hamamu, "I suppose that does just about sum up your grandpa." He shook his head and looked up to Jini again, knowing that he was about to give her way too much information to be properly absorbed. But hopefully she would stay long enough to meet some of them and learn better herself.
"Manuku has four daughters, Lebue, Mawingu, Biskuti and Fyulisi. Lisi is Hamamu's mother and Biski has a son just a bit younger than Hamamu, Mkate," he said, deciding throwing in the names was OK but thinking he might regret it.. but all of the names he just said were lions she had a high probability of meeting today, especially since he had Hamamu with him right now.
"After Manuku came Kikimu, who does not live here, she and her mate Anju are off adventuring in the roguelands. Kiki is the only cub of mine other than your lot that decidedly lives far away," he said, smiling, "Jasiri'maji was probably the first of all of you to have cubs, he met up with a lioness from the swamps on her name quest, in fact, and they had six cubs. His daughter, Acha'macheleo, is living here with us now since she was evicted from the pride for having cubs with someone whose parents offended the spirits."
If there was one other pride he knew anything about, it was the swamps thanks to the family he had there.
"Acha has six cubs, all nearing the age they can start hunting," he said.
Hamamu beamed back up at great-grandpa when he smiled down at her, nodding very confidently when he repeated her major descriptors of her grandpa. That was exactly what he was like, brown, blue and funny. Or maybe silly was a better word. But Habu was talking about everybody else so she couldn't really say anything else. She listened intently, not knowing much more than the lions that were still in the Pridelands. She grinned when he mentioned her mama and her, and aunt Biski and Mkate. But otherwise she listened.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:44 pm
Jini nodded vigorously... then stopped. Goodness, this was a lot of names. She stared wide-eyed as Habu plowed on through the list. She tried desperately to construct a mental family tree. She got as far as Habu -> Manuku (who was her half brother and was brown and funny) -> daughters. The daughters' names were jumbling up, so she didn't try to keep up with them. Lisi to Hamamu. She could remember those two much easier, as she was enjoying the company of the young cub, and it was easy to find an association between her and another. Okay, so. Manuku to Lisi to Hamamu but there were three other children in there and one of them had another baby. Gracious! Just with Manuku, this was already getting complicated.
When her father switched gears away from the brown, blue funny lion, Jini struggled to keep up. Kiki didn't live here. Just like her siblings. She sat up a little at the mention of Acha'macheleo and swamp relatives. She couldn't remember the half sibling who had had swamp cubs, but she didn't let that stop her from thinking this one out. Had she met any of them? Or had she been gone too long. How had they offended the spirits? Why would they do such a thing? Those poor cubs wouldn't know the joys of the swamp! "Evicted?" Her eyes widened even more, if possible. "Does Acha miss her old home?" Now that Jini was set to go back, she couldn't imagine being barred from return.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:12 pm
"Well, she moved here with six very small cubs, she wasn't in a very good situation to be trying to travel far so her attitude may have been affected by that," he said thoughtfully, "I can't say I know for sure if she does or does not miss it but they all seem perfectly content here, too." He certainly hoped that Acha and the little ones were happy here, they all tried to include them and make them feel at home, at least. He paused for a moment before continuing.
"The last from that litter are Mabwitibwi, Benua'kifua, Nalaisa, Kimbizi and Kanelo," he said, saying each name slowly so that they might be easier to take in, "They are all living around here, though none of them have any cubs."
Hamamu made a face as Habu finished up his list of her full aunts and uncles, getting bored of sitting quietly now and wanting to take part again.
"Then there's great-grandma Shani," she cut in, trying her very best to use the same knowledgeable tone that Habu used, "And Tamu, Akisukari, Oha and Habibu! And Enzi and Anya and Demeter and Uzumaki, right?"
She looked up to Habu, smiling. Had she done a good job?
"Ooooh! And Enzi has Barafu, Ezrand and Dagan," she said suddenly, looking back to Jini, "But don't play any games with Barafu! He likes to cheat because- because- uh- he likes to cheat." She didn't know the reason, she just was familiar with how her mother like to taunt her cousin.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:25 pm
Jini tried to think backwards from the sad story of Acha. She couldn't possibly imagine leaving her home by force, and having to travel with six cubs. She wondered if the father had helped with the move, or if he wasn't part of the picture. As she thought it, Jini suddenly realized she was being too judgmental. Her own father hadn't been around when she was a youngster, but here he was talking to her, and he seemed so nice and caring... She wouldn't think bad of absentee fathers again.
Following back her train of thought, she managed to remember that they had originally started with her half siblings. There were a great deal of them. Her father must have a lot of relatives. She could only imagine what would happen when all of his children had their own children - he'd never get any sleep! As she was pondering the consequences of so many cubs, the little grey one in front of her started. The names that she was throwing out didn't make much sense at all. She, at first, tried to follow along with her, but then gave up hope and simply smiled. "I see. I'll be sure not to play any games with him. Nobody likes a cheat." She nodded firmly. Looking up at Habu, she added, "I didn't realize there were so many."
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:37 pm
Habu wasn't too surprised when Hamamu jumped in and he looked down at her with interest as she listed the others, smiling. One glance at Jini told him she wasn't quite taking it all in.
"There are twenty-four of you between my mate and I, not counting grandchildren and beyond," he said, "Enzi, Anya, Demeter and Uzumaki are four of six cubs she raised before we were together, though they are as good as family as anybody else, of course. Their mother, and Tamu, Akisukari, Habibu and Oha's mother, is not the same as Manuku and the other's mother. It's been rather complicated around here."
It was almost an unfortunate detail, a possible window for embarrassment and bad judgments but it was a fact that would no doubt become apparent when she met everybody. And it wasn't like it was possible to keep a secret. The twenty-four he counted as his own had five different mothers and two fathers, it would have been impossible to deny any one of those parents even if he and Shani were the active ones.
"Good!" Hamamu said very seriously when Jini said she would remember not to play any games with Barafu, nodding again and looking up at Habu as he made an effort to explain the situation. She was .. aware of it on some level, she knew great-grandma Shani was different somehow but that was partly because she was the only one she ever really called a name with the whole grandma thing. Unless she was trying to talk about all of her grandparents at once, which just got plain confusing.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:17 pm
Jini nodded in confirmation of Hamamu's instructions. Apparently, it was very important NOT to play with one of her relatives. The name had already escaped her, lost in the sea of the other names she had just learned, but she was pretty sure if she ever ran into him... Hamamu would be all to quick to remind her that she shouldn't be playing with him.
"Twenty-four?" There was obvious amazement in her voice. She chuckled lightly. To think she had thought six was a lot, twenty-four put it to shame several times over. She was also a little surprised to learn that Habu had had three mates and three litters between them, but it wasn't as surprising as he might've thought. She wasn't sure why, but she easily accepted this idea and moved on with it. "You must be proud." She said it warmly and meant it. With so many children and so many grandchildren beneath them, he must feel proud of what he'd accomplished in life. And most certainly feel loved.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:46 pm
"Twenty-four," he repeated with a small smile and a nod, "Shani's six, my fourteen and our four." And all the many, many others after them. He was very proud of each and every one of them, even Manny with all his dramatics- though everybody seemed to enjoy giving Manny a hard time about all of it. He was doing well dealing with it, perhaps he ought to be reminded that Acha's bunch were his brother's grandchildren.
"I am very proud," he said, "And I'm very glad you're here, I just hope you don't get too overwhelmed when you actually have to try to put faces to whatever names you remember. But since very few are small now, it won't be nearly as many at once as it could have been."
Hamamu's eyes wandered as she thought about if there was anything else she could say, anybody else to warn great-aunt Jini about.. but nobody came to mind. Until suddenly she spotted a familiar shape heading their way.
"Mama's coming!" she squeaked excitedly, hopping up to her feet and looking between the approaching figure and great-grandpa.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:12 am
Jini was happy to here that not only was Habu proud of all of his proginey, but he was glad that she was here. She was glad to be here, too. She was liking the Pridelands more and more every moment she spent here. It was so bright and cheery. Perhaps her situation made it seem like a happier place. She was here, seeing family she'd never seen before, and already she felt a bond with them. Even the ones she had yet to meet. It was like, despite the distance she had from them growing up, she still felt like there was that sibling bond. Perhaps not as strong or tight as with her littermates, but it was still there.
"Well, I'm proud to be a member of such a large family." She smiled at her father. At Hamamu's excitement, Jini turned her head to try and find this mother figure she'd already heard about. "Oh?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:45 am
Habu smiled back at Jini, genuinely delighted to have her here and to find her so accepting. He was distracted, though, when Hamamu suddenly announced that her mother was on her way.
"Looks like you'll get to meet Lisi now," he said, looking out to the approaching pale figure and then back to Jini and getting to his feet, "Let's go meet her and then we'll go see if we can find Kinya."
Once Habu was on his feet, Hamamu wasted no more time trying to be patient and went scrambling out ahead of him to meet her mother.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:57 am
Jini stood up excitedly, not even trying to hide the anticipation on her face. This was going to be a good stay, and she most certainly wanted to come back for a visit. Maybe a relative of hers might one day visit her home in the swamps? That was a while off still, but the idea that she could have someone come visit her was exciting.
"Sounds like a plan!" With a bounce in her step, she followed her father and grand-niece off to meet... her niece? She wasn't quite sure anymore of who was who, but it didn't matter. She was off to see family, and that's what counted most.
aww fin <3
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