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 Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:57 pm
Mtima'safi had come and gone once again, this time bringing much more dramatic news than the last time. Things had been very busy lately, and everyone was getting bigger and fuzzier. And with what Mtima said, Wahabu was sure it was only going to get busier. Up to six more lions dropping by. Six more lions he felt obligated to tell Intombi about, where she and him shared eight cubs, a home and a shaky friendship at the moment. If he was going to do that, though, he would have to find her first. Moving slowly, he headed back from where he'd been talking to his mother and towards the den. It was a logical first place to start, she wasn't there when Mtima first showed up but might have returned since then.
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:03 pm
Now, however, there was time for thought. As ditzy and naive as Intombi was, living with Habu and their children had actually taught her several things. At the beginning, she had truely believed that simply by going back to his den everything would be set right. Their relationship would go back to the way it had been before she had gotten pregnant. Things had been so great back then, living here with Habu and Riko. She had sort of started to think of Riko as a younger brother, or at least as close to one as she could get. Having next to no relationship with her own brother, it had been natural for somebody else to take up the spot. She had also gotten very close to Habu. Then she had gone and gotten pregnant. It was something she had always thought she'd do, but she had never ever dreamed it'd ever be anything like what it had been. Things hadn't gone back to the way they had been at all. For a majority of their cubs' childhood, Intombi had ignored the tension in this relationship. She'd shrugged it off as if nothing were wrong and focused herself with the raising of eight cubs. It was finally time to stop ignoring it, though.
Stretched out at the mouth of his, no their den, the tan lioness waited for Habu to come back from where it was he had gone off to. None of the kids were home at the time. They were all out and about doing their own thing, and so the parents could have some much needed alone time. She wasn't at all sure what to say to him, she just knew something had to be said. She wanted what they had had before this back. Or at least, she wanted something like it.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:47 am
Habu had a great deal on his fuzzy little mind as he dragged his feet home, his pace seeming to get slower and slower as he got closer and closer. Intombi, he had to talk to Intombi- but he'd needed to talk to her since she and the cubs had moved in with him and when it actually came down to it, it wasn't something he was real eager to do. He liked clinging to the little fantasy that they were a family, a proper family.. but he knew that he had to overlook a lot of things for that to be his 'reality'. It wasn't fair to him, it wasn't fair to Intombi, though they had done their very best for their cubs.
When the den came into plain view, it was hard to miss the grooming brown lioness at the mouth of the den. He was already going so slow that when he really saw her, the only speed left to go to was a complete stop. So he stood and stared for a couple of seconds before he finally mustered up the nerve to just jog forward. No more putting it off, they didn't often get time alone with eight cubs wandering around.
"Intombi," he called.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:37 pm
Intombi knew she had to talk to her... her... her Habu. (What was he, anyway? Her mate? Her friend?) She just didn't really know how to go about it. She felt like something deep and meaningful needed to be said, but love and expression of deep emotions had never been the lioness's strong point. It was actually one of her weakest points. Either way, something needed to be said, be done. She knew she wanted Habu in her life, and she knew she wanted him in it the way he had been before. Or at least, close to it.
At the sound of his voice, a flutter went through her. She stopped grooming mid-lick, her rough tongue still attatched to her toes. Her eyes looked up and out at the large yellow figure coming her way. "Habu." She smiled up at him, flicked her tail. It was a little uncanny that he had the habit of showing up when she was thinking about it, but she let it slide. "Have a nice walk?" She assumed that's what he had been doing.
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:29 pm
"Yes," he answered brightly, though his tone was much harder to keep up than usual. Usually he didn't have trouble just being happy, but he was starting to think too much. He had too much he had to talk to Intombi about. Sighing, Habu took a seat across Intombi and curled his tail around his toes idly.
Finally he took a deep breath.
"We have to talk, Intombi."
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 8:43 pm
Intombi put on a warm smile, as always. Despite the heavy mood that was quickly rolling over the pair, she managed to keep a happy expression on her face. If there was anything she truely disliked, it was unhappiness. The only way for her to get through such a serious conversation that needed to be had was for her to grin and bare it - literally. As Habu sat in front of her, she put her paw down, crossing it over the other. She, too, curled her tail up and around her body, so the black tuft was layed lazily beneath her shoulder. Even though the move had been made almost without thought, every little hair was perfectly in place. It was a skill she had developed overtime as to cut down grooming time.
The lioness studied her male for a few moments, then nodded. His tone was too serious for her to play around and ask abou what. There was still a possibility of trying to get out of it, to avoid the serious and emotionally chared talk that could lay ahead, but she quicky put down that thought. She knew something was wrong. Habu knew something was wrong. Things that were wrong needed to be fixed, right? So that's what they had to do. Fix it. She looked up into his eyes for a moment, but quickly broke it, looked back down at her paws. "We do."
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:13 pm
Habu hesitated again, watching Intombi's paws cross and her tail curl around her. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. And she was happy and fun, or she used to be, before Habu messed up and everything suddenly became very strange. But he was attached to her, and now that was all he let himself feel.
"Well, the cubs are almost all grown up now," he said, trying to just spit it out already, "Soon they'll be able to start going out on their own. I mean, I know you were before their age but it's definitely getting to their time. They can take care of themselves now, they don't.. they don't need us both anymore. Y- you don't have to stay anymore, if you don't want."
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:46 pm
Intombi smiled a little as Habu said their cubs were grown now. It was true, they were all passed the age she had been when she had left her mother's home. She was excited for her little ones, but at the same time there was a slight saddness deep down, one that she didn't fully understand. Intombi had never been attatched to her own mom. Sure, she loved her, but she wasn't attatched. She had imagined herself as the same kind of mom her mom would be. This wasn't the time for thinking about that, though. She could hammer out her feelings on her children leaving later. Right now, she had Habu front and center.
As the fluffy yellow male finished his thoughts, Intombi listened intently. So intently, that she stared at him for a few moments after he had stopped talking. It took those few moments for her to understand what was going on. Habu didn't think she wanted to stay. Well, why would she be here, then? Did he not want her to stay? Intombi's eyes narrowed for a moment, but then evened out again. She knew she was getting huffy, and fast. She didn't want to be like this, but for some reason, something was breaking her usual happy mood. "Do you not want me to stay anymore?" She couldn't help but lose the warm glow in her eyes. There was more attitude in that one question than there was in anything Intombi usually said in an entire month.
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Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:29 am
Habu drooped a bit when she answered, easily catching the attitude from the change in her expression, the change in her eyes. And where she was usually so laid back, it wasn't hard to tell when something was really wrong. He knew what he said could be taken badly, but he did not expect it where he was working under the theory that Intombi was stuck. And his only other consideration was that perhaps she hoped, for some reason, that they could go back to how it was before. Habu was not sure that would be so easy. Especially if he was messing up this now.
"N-no- that's not it," he said, and paused as he tried to think of what to say, "I just thought.. you know, you came to stay because of the cubs. Now that they can take care of themselves you don't have to anymore."
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:45 pm
It was kind of true she had come back because she needed help with the babies. Then again, she had also left because of them. If she had never gotten pregnant, she'd never have left. Something inside her said not to say that to Habu, though. She supposed it might make her sound like she regretted having the litter. Sure, plenty of bad had happened, but even more good had happend, too. Saying anything about it, though, might just add more tension to the already tense situation.
She huffed at the male and looked away, flicked her tail in annoyance. Her desire to have this conversation was quickly disappearing. Habu was making it sound like she had used him this whole time. Sure, they hadn't exactly had the picture perfect family, but that didn't mean she was here only because of the kids. "If I only needed you to take care of our kids, I could've just dumped them on you and left." Her voice was flat now, almost compeltely void of her usual cheer and floaty tone. She hadn't really thought much before speaking, and even in her bad mood she regretted it as soon as she had said it. She hadn't meant to sound so heartless. "I came back because I needed and wanted you." She stared hard at the pink bands on her toes.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:59 pm
Intombi had done very little to indicate that she really wanted to stay with or without cubs, though Habu was the one who assumed having cubs had completely ruined their shot at living together happily, to be normal good friends. Habu wasn't entirely sure how easy it would be to just go back, to just pretend they- well, he- didn't feel anything.
He was partly surprised to hear that Intombi could have just dumped the cubs on him. He'd never even thought about that scenario, where he assumed she went off to raise them on her own, had wanted them, and only came because she needed help. Help, not a way out. However, he was too smart to actually fight back on that particular topic. Or he was confused. He wasn't expecting this.
"B-but-"
He paused, trying to think of what there was to say.
"So, you want to stay?" he asked dumbly.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:28 pm
Seeing as Intombi had wanted cubs since she was a youngster, it really wasn't logical for her to have dumped them on Habu. She never would've done that even if she hadn't wanted to live with Habu again, though... she couldn't put it past herself to enlist his help. She had done it, after all. But that wasn't the only reason she had come back, and it never had been. The day she strolled back up to his den, she had two things on her mind: she wanted her happiness back, and she needed help with their cubs. Though, since that awkward first day, she hadn't ever really talked to Habu about any of this. She'd just... ignored it.
Suddenly, she stared at the male's two-tone eyes just as hard as she had examined her pink toe marks. "Yes." She took a moment, stared at him a little longer. "You... want me to stay, too, right?" Her voice had lost all of the hardness again. It was softer now and a bit scared. She was beginning to even confuse herself with her mood swinging.
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:42 am
Bad question. A very bad, bad question- and a very bad tone to ask it in. Habu was still very uncertain about everything, uncertain of Intombi's actual desires, if she could differentiate between what she wanted and needed and if she only seemed to love him because he knew that he loved her. He didn't want to force anything on her. And, of course, at the same time he didn't want to scare her away with the information he'd just learned if there was something genuine to her affection and wanting to stay here with him.
He looked around, foolishly hesitating in answering her. None of the cubs were around, it was a very rare occasion for the two of them. If they didn't talk now it might be more difficult. Or he was making excuses, the cubs were getting older they would be hanging around less and less. Except for the ones that had taken up jobs as mummy's shadow. Mostly thinking Nalaisa.
"Of course I do," he said finally, looking back at Intombi- but not at her eyes, at her toes. He lost his confidence, his resolve to get through this so easily. It wasn't easy, he was moronic to think it could be.
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:00 am
Intombi felt a rush of cool run over her tingling skin. She didn't really know what she had expected Habu to say. She didn't know how she expected this conversation to end. She didn't know what she expected to happen to them. She just knew that she liked that he wanted her there. And she also knew she wanted to be there. She didn't understand why this wasn't enough to just make everything normal again. Hadn't that been the way it was before the cubs? Habu wanted her there and she wanted to be there, and everything was good.
What Intombi hardly understood at all was if she loved him. She didn't really understand what that was. She knew she loved her babies, and raising them had taught her what it meant to really love a family member or a child. It hadn't taught her to love a mate. She was happy with Habu. The happiest time in her life had been when she had moved into his den. Sure, things had been a bit on the rocks lately, but there was the obvious stress of raising a litter of eight. She also wanted Habu to be happy. Obviously, when she left, she hadn't been thinking about that. Now, however, she was. And she wanted to share that happiness. What that all meant, the lioness was unsure of. The most apparent thing in her mind was that if she left she'd go back to being sad, and she didn't want that. She managed to keep her gaze on that yellow face a little longer. Softly, and without the crazy mood swings she had gone through all of a few seconds ago, she said, "I want to stay. If you'll let me." She added the last part more for courtesy, since she pretty well knew he would let her.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:28 pm
"But-" he started almost immediately when he finished his little admission, cut off by his old fear and Intombi's saying she wished to stay. He smiled at her, he couldn't help it- it was nice that she wanted to be around, but he wasn't sure it was going to remain that way. If Intombi insisted on staying, then he couldn't delay long in telling her about the other cubs. And while he wanted very much to cling to her presence worry-free for a little longer, he couldn't risk making it worse by keeping it a secret from her.
"You might not want to stay," Habu said finally, sighing and preparing himself to tell her. He believed his mother, certainly, she was one of the lions he trusted most (against all odds) .. but actually telling someone, especially Intombi, made it more real. Perhaps it was because the consequences were more immediate.
"I have more cubs," he said, very quickly, and added on before she could get a chance to think the worst (and it could be worse), "Older than ours- not younger, b-before you came to stay-"
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