"Where are we going now?"
"To your Aunt."
"Which one?"
"Since when did you start asking questions? You sound like Usu..."
The father scoffed and scooped the cub off the ground into his maw. His maw closed tight around the cub's midsection, the father's choice of carrying his offsprings. After returning home, the family has been wandering about to let the rest of their families to know that they are together, mates, and have a family of their own. Valse was the one Mat took around most of the time to keep an eye on the liar. Usu stuck with his mother, Noyana.
Mat got word that Sara was about herself and so he sought her out. He just hoped that his pesky brother wasn't around to reunion a fresh start to establishing a new relation with his sister.
Matishou did not have to go far to find her.
She was watching it, eyes intent on that blessed, insect ridden peak in the distance. They were with her. In a day, they would be gone, leaving this wretched place and its decrepid morals.
Sarafina gave a low chuckle and finally turned from the sight only to find a rather ... well no, he really wasn't that unexpected. Matishou had always seemed to have an amazing sense of timing, for better or worse. "So the prodgical son returns."
Matishou dropped his son carelessly, just as he usually did and his son was expecting it as he landed just fine. "I don't know what that word means, Sister, but it's a pleasure to see you again too," his voice was a bit sarcastic as it always has, but the tone had became deeper and more of a bass feel. With a scoff, he pushed his son out from under him. "Introduce yourself, whelp."
Valse stumbled out and fell, looking up at the larger feline. With a slight smirk, he raised himself. "Name's Valse, Aunt.... whatever. Dad says you're the smart one, is that true?"
Sarafina smirked. "I'd say so.." She didn't like the way Matishou had treated the boy but she also knew that saying anything about it was only inviting an arguement. At the moment, she simply didn't feel like doing that. "I'd heard tell you and yours were traveling back. I'd thought you'd come sooner." She reached out and cupped a clawed paw around the cub. As she did with her other neices and nephews, he was soon trapped against one of her forelegs with a clawed but careful paw stroking his back.
Valse went wide eyed as he was stroked, this felt very awkward. "This... this feels good..."
Mat gave a slight scoff as he moved closer to her. The way he treated his son was mostly to demand dominance over his insubordinate son. That was correct, his son always acted outside of his parents' orders if he was left unchecked. It was also another reason why Mat was the one to care for him with Noyana had the more subtle one. "I would have, but we ran into a few problems here and there or are you blind to the scars I bare?" He spoke with utter seriousness. The male cupped a paw around his son and took him back from Sara. Valse quickly moved back under his father and further from the female. "Just for the record, sister, this one's a hell of a liar."
"Then he fits in with the rest of the family." She stated bluntly and gave a carefully calculated shrug. The lioness rose to her feet and padded a slow circle around her brother. "Still as obstinate as ever, aren't you? You seem to forget that scars mean nothing to me."
Sara finally settled down again. "Besides, give him to any of the rest of us. we'll beat that out of him."
Mat quickly rose to his feet, keeping his son under him and away from her, at least for the time. His narrowed on her. Forget establishing a better relationship, she had, at least in his mind, threatened his son. "You will not harm my son, Sister, that task is reserved for his parents alone." Valse laughed to himself and floped over under his father. Having his father be protective as he was, it made him muse of how he was treated on a daily basis. But in truth, he was a really caring father. It was strange how he switched from a jackass to overly protective father. "Do what you want, but I won't have anyone but Noyana and I hurting him. Otherwise, things will go back to the way they were. Unlike some of us, at least I tried to change for you all."
Sarafina snorted. She rolled her eyes and smirked. "What is it exactly that you're wanting with me, Matishou? An apology? A tearfelt confession of how much i love you? A whining female begging you to stay?"
THe amusement melted off of her features as fast as it'd come. Her eyes narrowed just slightly, the vile, vicious, and, yes, homocidal anger she'd always had hiding just out of sight beneath the calm exterior she masked it with. In truth, she'd never agreed with the things Tahka had done to Matishou, but nor did she agree with stepping into the fight. Their battles had been between them, ultimately, and she'd refused to take sides when Tahka had asked her to. She wouldn't take Matishou's side, either... and with his attitude, she was far more likely to turn against him than anything else.
"I don't care if you stay, Mat. I don't care if you go. You lable me for something I never did and then want me to feel sorry for you--the very thought of it is.... laughable." The female chuckled, the sound falling like icecubes upon the air. "If you chose to return to stay with us, you will do the only thing I have ever demanded of you: fall. in. line. Stop seeing yourself as important or special, because you are niether. While you are my brother, and I must love you in that regard, I will never treat you with respect until you have earned it--and you have not.... as for your son, I will say and do as I please with him, just as I do with Tahka's cubs. It is good to see one of my brothers, at least, has some sense of honor when it comes to his own offspring."
Valse was busy pawing at his father, a gesture that was taught to him by Mat himself. As his blood boiled ever more by Sara's lecture speech, he was kept calm by his son. In ways, it was a method to keep himself clear of angered thoughts. After all, he did not want to be thrown out again and be prey to their b*****d father yet again.
Mat let out a exhale and sat himself down, this time showing a bit of disinterest. "The only think I want from you, Sara is to be the sister I thought you were. But as you can see, some things don't change." Mat looked down at his son and licked his forehead, causing him to squirm a bit. "Then again, sometimes they do."
"I've always been a part of this family. And I never saw myself important, special perhaps, but never important. As for your respect, I don't care, it is your trust that I want. You can raise my son to be the best hunter in the whole Pride Lands. You could tell him he is the most retarded lion you've ever met, but you won't hurt him, that is one thing I will not tolerate from the family. Do not bring harm to this family because if you like it or not, they are with us now," Mat let out another exhale and looke down at Valse who was looking up at him. "What are you looking at?"
" . . . You're crying again."
"Leave, Mat." Sara closed her eyes rather than roll them as hard as she wanted to. "You do nothing but put words into others' mouths with your own stupidity and assume things of the rest of us. Trust is earned, as is respect, and if you trust none of us you will have no trust yourself."
Valse stepped out from under Mat and made his way to Sarafina, rubbing against her with a slight whimper. "Aunty, Dad doesn't mean it, really, he's... still changing, or so mom says, come on, you have to give him a chance." Valse, like his father, cared about his family and he wouldn't voice his feelings about them unless he felt it appropriate. Actually, Mat never quite admitted that he loved Noyana until after she was pregnant. Valse looked up at Sarafina, leaving his father to look away from the two.
Sarafina's gaze dropped down towards the young boy. She wouldn't blame him for his father's sins, as she'd not blamed Tahka's for their existance, no matter how little she disagreed with either of her brothers having children at their young ages. Still...
"Your father," She said to the cub, though the words were obviously meant for the elder, "Needs to learn to think before he speaks. He needs to learn that others don't appreciate another about who jumps to conclusions and changes his ideals and personality five times in every conversation. I make room for growth, but even I have a limit."
In truth, Matishou may not have seen it, but Sara had changed quite a good deal. As a cub she'd been on the go, forever chasing the wilds of the land and straining against the cage of society. Impulsiveness had been second nature to her, then.. now she had patience. A limited supply of it, true, but enough to keep her from snapping at each little aggitation. She was the protector of the family he'd left behind, the one spot of glue that kept them from ripping each other apart--if only because the pain she promised for disobedience was far more brutal than anything they would have invisioned.
Once more, the female's paw came down heavily upon her nephew's back. It could be noted, however, that she was careful to never scratch him, no matter that her claws did not properly sheath. "If he can follow orders and keep his tongue he and his would be welcome among the family. If not, he can stay with Noyana's and Mjirn's addle headed siblings and their corrupted kingdom."
Mat moved around the two and groomed a bit submissively behind Sara's neck, keeping out of the conversation. Any signs of affection was rare from the male, in fact, he hardly licked Noyana, but when he did, he made sure she knew what he was doing and what he was up to.
Valse sighed and let her. To be honest, he disliked being touched by those he did not know too well. After all, this was the first time he had met the female and he still saw her as one. "My Dad's not very smart, I know my mother teaches him new words some times, but he's always been like that. You know, if he goes out to get dinner, he always brings it back in pieces. My mother says that he doesn't strangle them like most lions because he likes to rip them apart," having Valse tell Sarafina how he hunted made him smirk abit, at least he knew his father quite well, but telling others so casually was weird, even for him. It deserved him a slight push on the head, but the father continued to give his sister some attention.
"Well, Dad talks bad about everyone, except the family," he glanced at his father. "I don't really watch my tongue either considering my example," he smirked. "If it means anything, you are a lot prettier than any female I have met."
Sara snorted, but there was an amused note in that. "And you are a liar." There was no accusation in that, only the mere statement of the fact she'd already been presented with. "But that'll do." The female pated his head and dropped her paw back to the ground.
The show of submission from her brother wasn't lost on her. Sara turned her head enough to watch him for a long moment, pondering this. Slowly she nodded. "We move soon. We're leaving this diseased place to make a home of our own. Those who know their place are free to follow."
Valse smirked as soon as her paw left him, immediately dashing off toward the den his parents had established upon returning here.
Mat smirked as he moved around her sister. "Can I assume that something happened to make us move from our home?" he asked. He glanced back at her and smirked himself, one of pure immaturity. "By the way, he called you ugly."
"I know that he did." Sara shrugged, "As I said, he is a liar. And yes, the fact that this is no longer our home."
"I guess something did happen," he let out a slight sigh. "I guess Noy's family misses out meeting their demon half of their family," Mat shrugged and took a few steps away from her. "I'll beat him later for you, I'll make sure of that. See you around, Sister."
Oh yes... it was good to be home again.
Sara's eyes remained on her brother as he left her. She gave him a nod in return, but nothing more than that. Yes, things were shaping up in a most interesting sort of way.
