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 Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:35 am
Venturing a little ways away from the den (he never did wander too far away) he started to play one his more favored games when he was alone... Stalk the Buttefly. He crouched low to the ground, bright red eyes scanning the distance for any sign of flying bug creatures. Shaji had little patience, so it was fortunate that a butterfly flapped its wings only a few meters ahead of him. With a delighted grin Shaji crept forward, anxiously watching the butterfly for any signs that the little creature would suddenly start flying away from him. Closer and closer he came to it, and the thing didn't seem disturbed (it must've been one of Shaji's "victims" before). Finally... he leaped up into the air, paws reaching out to capture the butterfly.
The butterfly, fortunately, flew a little to the side, and Shaji missed completely. For a moment it stared at him, seeming to laugh, and then began to fly away. Shaji, a little upset that he had missed, gave chase, leaping and bounding after it. Always in this game the butterfly won, mainly because Shaji really did not have the heart to capture it, and mainly because Shaji just wasn't good enough. He'd probably never be really successful in anything, but no one could blame him for not trying.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:52 am
At the same time the juvenile was trying to capture the butterfly, Nunda was also watching it, as if mesmerized by it's loopy flight trails. However, the juvenile was beginning to bother him, as he constantly made the butterfly change directions. Enough was enough!
"Leave it alone!" he called, and began to pad through the grass towards him. Once the adult was close to Shaji, he examined him, giving him a 'How old are you, five?' look. "Why're you chasing the poor thing? I'm trying to examine this species of salamis temora and here you come, trying to smash the th-" Nunda stopped mid-sentence, glancing at the familiar marking on the juvenile's back. He then glanced at his own shoulder marking, before looking at Shaji suspiciously.
"Who is your father?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:22 am
Shaji was in mid-leap when some random lion yelled at him, and unable to beat back through the shock he ended up landing face first in the ground. His face was full of dirt, which his father would hate, and that worried him. But that could be dealt with in the future, and what he needed to worry about right now was the fact that someone was upset at him. Correcting himself, he sat up, turning bright (teary too) red eyes to the adult lion. Unlike Nunda, Shaji did not seem to see the marking that connected them together. It was doubtful he even realized that he had such a marking on his back. "U-umm... I'm sorry?"
He was begging his apology was good enough, but as Nunda continued to speak he felt like his apology was rendered to nothing. "I-I was playing. I swear I wasn't going to hurt it! Wait... I wasn't playing with this... salami tempy thing? It was a butterfly. But I wasn't going to hurt it, promise!" He was beginning to feel the tears filling his eyes, Shaji truly worried that this lion would hate him for playing around like a child. Shaji was a juvenile, not a cub anymore! Maybe there were more adult games he should be playing?
"My daddy?" This was an odd question, and Shaji stared at him in confusion, expressing his feeling that this was unusual. "Well, his name's Ezeoha." Why would this lion want to know that?
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:40 am
Nunda froze as he heard the words he dreaded to hear. He suddenly flopped onto his haunches, feeling a headache coming on. "Oh, gods no...." he muttered, rubbing his forehead with a paw.
Tiredly, he looked at Shaji, who was on the verge of tears. "E-er, don't cry, it wasn't anything serious.." he started to say, giving the juvenile a pat on the head. He recalled something of this before; he was chasing a butterfly around when Ezzy had scolded him for doing so, when he should've been chasing females. Of course, Ezeoha comforted him, which was probably the only thing Nunda -liked- about him.
"Er, listen, what's your name? I'm Nunda'kilinda, but you can just call me Nunda," he started, feeling the pain subsiding in his head. How could he tell this cub he'd just met that they were brothers? "Do you.. h.. have any other siblings?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:51 am
Shaji suddenly wondered what he had done wrong as Nunda sat down and seemed to have a sudden head ache. Should he apologize again for doing something wrong? But then this older lion was comforting him, and he resisted the urge to make a fool out of himself. Smiling shakily, he grinned up at Nunda as he was pat on the head. "I-if you say so. I won't cry if you don't want me to." He was a people pleaser, and at this instant it was painfully obvious.
"I'm Uzalishaji, and you can just call me Shaji." This was more familiar ground for him. Introducing themselves was the first step to becoming friends, and he had done this tons of times before. Maybe Nunda would forgive him for taunting and playing with the butterfly. They could become the best of friends! Nunda could teach him to hunt and could wrestle with him... A new friend that wasn't one of his siblings. "I have four other siblings. I have my brother, Kuruta, and my sisters Shetani, Sineri, and Aiko. We all live with daddy."
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:02 pm
Nunda's jaw nearly dropped -- FOUR!?! He had 5 other siblings now?! What the -hell- was his father thinking? Nothing, most likely.
"F-f-f-four, huh?" he managed to choke out. He had to tell this kid now, or else he'd never be able to get it out of his head. "Er, listen, Shaji, I don't know quite how to put this, but..." Nunda held his breath for a moment, before releasing it in a deep sigh. "We... we're brothers." His head was swimming with thoughts; why did his father leave him and Chinara?! Who was this kid and who was his mother?! Where was Ezeoha when China had gotten sick, and why had he not come back?
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:12 pm
"Yeah, there's six of us altogether, me, my siblings, and my dad." He frowned, thinking about the missing member of his family. Shaji knew that there was supposed to be a mother, but he also did not know where his mother was. Ezeoha preferred not to talk about it, and Shaji wasn't nosy enough to outright ask him where his mother was. He trusted his dad to tell him what happened to his mother when the time was right. If that happened to be never... then that was just that.
He had almost missed it, Nunda telling him that they were brothers. It took him a few moments to gulp this down, and finally when he managed to comprehend this he turned his eyes up to his... brother. They were wide, and for a second it seemed as if Shaji really did not understand what this meant. "We're... brothers?" He stumbled over these words, overwhelmed with surprise and oddly... happiness. But what next came out of his mouth he could not control, it had recently been on his thoughts... and had just exploded out of him. "Do you know mommy? Where's mommy?" Oh, he hoped, he prayed that he would finally meet the missing member of his family.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:21 pm
The male felt a sinking feeling in his heart; he had no clue who or where his brother's mother was. "Er.. I... I only know my mother, Shaji... But I don't know how she's doing.." Nunda lowered his head, his mane hiding his face. "She's been sick lately, and I.. I want to make her feel better."
At this point, the sadness that had slowly started to fill up began bubbling into hate. Hate and disgust towards Ezeoha. How could he leave them, after he promised Chinara? And she'd remained so chipper, as if she thought he'd return. Unsheathing his claws and scraping them through the dirt, Nunda quickly turned away, beginning to growl low. He hated the lion whom he'd called his father.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:33 pm
"We don't have... the same mother?" Somehow this seemed to be part of the requirement for being brothers. But, they had the same father, and maybe that was enough to be brothers. It was sad, though, to hear about Nunda's mother. Immediately he wanted to help him and his mother out. He wanted to be another son for Chinara, if that would make her better. "I'll help you! Maybe your mother can be mine too! Maybe we could make her better together?" He didn't imagine that Chinara was suffering from an emotional illness rather then a physical. He couldn't imagine her not... getting better.
Shaji viewed his father in a completely different manner then Nunda. His father was his life, and sure he was a little weird at times but he took good care of the family. Ezeoha loved them all, and it was so clear that he did by everything he did for them. Naturally Shaji thought that Nunda felt the same about Ezeoha. Never would be believe that Nunda hated his father. That just wasn't the way families functioned.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:50 pm
Nunda perked his ears up a bit, before turning to Shaji. With a soft, shaky smile, he shook his head. "I don't think you could help... not even I know what's wrong with her..." He said the last part quietly, so that Shaji wouldn't think he was a bad son, not knowing what ailed his mother.
The male finally gave another sigh, flopping down onto the ground. "I don't know about you, Shaji, but I'm not the biggest fan of Eze-... dad.." He struggled to spit the horrible word out. "He left my mom and I when I was young..." An image flashed into his mind: He was only a juvenile, and had woken up to find his father gone, leaving his mother and him to fend for themselves.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 1:10 pm
"If we worked together, though... I think we could do it." He padded up to stand next to Nunda, and as Nunda lied down Shaji lied down next to him, even managing to snuggle close to his newfound brother. This was the affection his father had shared with him, an affection that he shared freely with all of his siblings. It was something that he wanted desperately to share with Nunda.
"You're not?" This obviously surprised Shaji, and the young juvenile tilted his head curiously to the side. "I love dad. My mom disappeared not long after I was born, but daddy stayed to take care of me and my siblings. He loves us lots... and I know that he loves you and your mom too. Maybe he left because he had ... me and my siblings, and didn't want your mom to be burdened by us?" That was rather insightful of Shaji, which was in fact completely surprising. Shaji was dense most of the time. Why Ezeoha left, though, could very well be found out today...
Because Ezeoha was here. He had noticed quite a while ago that one of his children had gone missing, and suddenly feeling rather concerned over his missing son he had been driven out of the den. Luckily, it didn't take long for him to find Shaji... but it was a surprise to see his son with his eldest. Oh, no, Ezeoha did not forget about Nunda'kilinda and Chinara'fola. Nunda was his first son, and Chinara had been one of his first friends and the first lioness who had chosen to be with him.
"Nunda?" Oh, yes, Ezeoha was surprised, stopping a few feet from his two sons, simply to examine how much Nunda had changed in the months they had been apart. Questions swarmed his mind. Why was his son here? How was Chinara? Did his first child still love him, even after he had left? These questions could only be answered by... conversing with a child he had 'abandoned' long ago.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:46 am
"Perhaps.." Nunda said quietly. He wanted to tell Shaji so badly just how cruel his father had been to China, but when he remembered the male was just a juvenile, he quickly shook his head to rid himself of the thought.
As the lion turned to see who had called his name is surprise, his eyes widened. Ezeoha... right there... in the flesh!? If he had been a cub, he would've either run off or embrace his father, but Nunda was an adult now. And he had ways of dealing with these sorts of situations. All thoughts of Shaji's presence immediately faded from his mind. The male quickly flattened his ears to his skull, growling loudly.
"Murderer.." he snarled, taking a few steps towards Ezeoha. "Chinara is dying because of you!! She still thinks you're coming back one day, but I guess you're not, are you?!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:01 pm
His eyes widened at that one word 'Murderer', knowing exactly who Nunda was talking about. He turned his head to his father, becoming frightened of the anger that was leaking through Nunda's voice. Just before the lion had been so nice to him, and they had even snuggled a little. They had acted like brothers, and now that wasn't the case. A brother would never say such things to their father. Whatever attachment he had to his brother was slowly beginning to break, and not wanting it to break, he fled to his father's side. He crawled in between Ezeoha's legs, seeking the comfort of a lion who was obviously more calm and level-headed in this situation. His daddy wasn't a murderer, he was certain of that. Nunda was just wrong... and even more wrong to accuse him of such.
He had not expected this reaction, and in fact had been hoping for some happy reunion. This anger that Nunda was displaying was something he wasn't prepared for. Raising his paw, he pet his younger son's head, not in the mood to give Shaji the comfort he really needed because he did have Nunda to deal with. In front of these accusations... he knew better then to lie. "I am no murderer, and I'm appalled that any child of mine would use such vile language in front of a youth." But concern began to leak into his voice as Chinara was mentioned. "Dying?" He obviously hadn't been expecting this. He had left because Chinara did not deserve to have an added five cubs into her life. It had been better to just leave to tell her that he had had an affair and had five cubs because of it. She was better off without him... she had to be.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:12 pm
"Yes, dying!" he roared at his father, tears welling up in his eyes. "She might even be dead as we speak, and it's your fault!"
Nunda's rage and sorrow mixed as he bared his teeth and his tears flowed down his cheeks. "You're not considered a father, Ezeoha. You're a traitor, that's exactly what you are! You think China's just a lioness whom you can toy with, and she's damn well not, and you know that!" he yelled, claws sinking into the ground. He then glowered at Shaji, looking a bit surprised. "I'm not surprised you think your dad is perfect and loving and kind, but he'll end up hurting you, too!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:31 pm
The words made Ezeoha visibly flinch, never before having contemplated that his leaving would be such a big impact on China's life. Nunda was nearly an adolescent when he had left, he hadn't been worried about his son. Nunda would have been there for his mother... she would've survived and have found happiness with someone else. That was the result he had imagined. It was a shocker that what he believed isn't how things went. "I never toyed with her! I know she's no toy! I would never, ever treat anyone like that, and how dare you imply that I would!" He could not ignore the tears on Nunda's face... of how much his departure had hurt the family he had left behind. He had thought leaving them would lessen any burden he could've put on them. It was so obvious that he was wrong... and he now regretted leaving. He truly did.
"Shaji, go back to the den. Sineri was looking for you to play with." He said this to save his son the trauma, to keep his child from hearing such nasty words. He wanted absolutely nothing to taint Shaji's mind, especially something like this.
Shaji pressed his head into his father's leg, tears welling up in his eyes and falling freely down his golden cheeks. "Daddy would never hurt me! He is perfect and loving and kind!" Shaji nearly screamed this at his older brother, completely distraught. It was the most violent the juvenile had ever sounded in his life, and it was likely that he would never be so outspoken as he was now in defense of his father. He pressed closer to Ezeoha, showing no intention of leaving. "I wanna stay with you. I wanna tell Nunda that you didn't do anything bad."
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