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 Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:34 pm
Glancing towards the inside of the den, Kutunza called out for his sister to join him, "Kafara! Aren't you going to wait for daddy? What if he comes soon?" Like usual the older male hadn't given the cubs a time. Kutunza, eager to spend time with his father had woken up early that morning and waited quietly on his own.
Kafara was naturally a quiet little lioness, but she has been most especially quiet that morning. She was content to just stick near the back of the den, talking with whatever hare happened to be around- but no one was really around except their mother. She usually stuck around the den, but most especially when their father was expected. If he didn't show up, she always found a way to entertain them instead. Kafara would have ignored her brother's eager call for her had her mother not nudged her to go out and wait with him. She emerged slowly, blinking through the morning light as her light eyes adjusted.
"It's so early, though," she murmured, "When was the last time he was early?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:58 pm
When Kafara slowly approached, the young cub eagerly raised and made his way to meet her and follow her out towards the opening. Tilting his head, the cub offered a warm nuzzle and smiled brightly. "I'm glad you decided to join me," he said, having happened to disregard her question. Once the two were outside the den, Kutunza returned to his seated position and looked over towards his sister, "So, what do you think he'll have planned for us today?"
Kutunza wasn't as naive as he may have seemed, but it was against the cubs nature to brood over his families' situation. He had both a father and a mother, both of whom loved him and he was thankful for that. In addition to his parents, the cub also had a massive extended family stemming from his eldest sister. Whenever Kutunza couldn't convince his mother or father to go out with him, he'd drag his sister over towards Shiri's den where he'd find someone to occupy his time and keep him busy.
Were Kafara a braver cub, she would have demanded an answer from her brother to make a point but she was not brave and she tried not to worry. Lucky for Abedari, Kafara was extremely non-confrontational and that often meant giving the benefit of the doubt or second chances. She was most concerned with being good and kind and staying out of the way of the more bold of her family members. She smiled at her brother, though, and stood by him rather than sitting right away.
"I don't know, I don't think we're staying very close today, though," she said, her tail swaying anxiously, "Doesn't that worry you?" Kafara glanced around. Memetuka had not objected to the adventure, but the cub almost wished she had. At least they would be with their father, but she wasn't entirely sure how eager she was to go or how interested she was in exploring so far from home.
Kutunza watched his sister intently as she spoke and then glanced out quickly before returning his gaze to her to respond. "Yea.. That is kind of scary, but we'll have dad with us and he'll keep us safe." Unlike many of his neices and nephews, the cub wasn't as excited about exploring something new as he was just seeing his father. Kutunza didn't prefer his father over his mother, in fact, the cub was ridiculously attached to his mother, but he couldn't go without seeing one or the other. When too many days passed between a visit with his father, the cub would pace about the den and constantly badger Meme about when Abedari was coming back again.
As the two waited, Kutunza thought of things the two could talk about to occupy their time. Kafara would probably be happier if they were talking and playing games, Kutunza thought. Digging a couple holes in the dirt outside their den, the cub grabbed ahold of some stones and dropped them inside. Making his way to one side of the holes, Kutunza smiled, "Chani showed me this. It's a game. You take some rocks from your side like this.." The cub grabbed his stones and placed them one by one in each of the holes following. "And the goal is to steal your opponents rocks and put them in the big hole here.." Kutunza motioned towards the larger holes he was still digging.
Kafara was relieved that Kutunza said he was scared too, though she wasn't sure if he was doing it just to make her feel better or if he genuinely felt that way as well. It didn't matter, though. What mattered is that she wasn't alone, and it was much better to be agreed with than argued with. Mnyama had only stopped bothering her because she had been distracted. With that thought, and what Kutunza mentioned about their father being with them, Kafara started to wonder what it would be like without a father. Their father wasn't always around like their neice's and nephew's father, but he was there. Angavu didn't have a mate, she knew that, everybody in the family was so close that it'd be nearly impossible to hide. Or so Kafara thought. There was always a lot going on, there were so many of them, but something like that did not go unnoticed. More family members meant more chaos but it also meant more eyes.
She was distracted, though, when she realized that Kutunza was digging. She watched curiously, wordlessly until he finished and started explaining the game. She watched his examples intently, wondering momentarily how anyone would come up with a game like this. She wasn't super confident but she was usually willing to try games, so she nodded, "Ok.."
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:30 pm
Kutunza continued to explain the rules of the game and waited patiently for his sister to take her turn. "Games like these are always better to explain by showing.." He said happily, trailing off when he saw the absent look on Kafara's face. Cocking his head, the cub looked curiously towards his sister, unsure as to whether or not she really heard the rules that he was explaining. "Kafara?" he asked, his expression quickly changing from one of happiness to one of concern. Something was obviously on her mind and it couldn't be dad, right? Kutunza had tried to be quick to change the subject.
After a short pause, she finally responded and Kutunza's ears perked up again. At first Kutunza shrugged away his sister's pause as her normal behavior. She was always quiet and he was talking after all - she wouldn't want to talk over him. Even after Kafara seemed ready to play the game, however, she still seemed distracted. Reluctantly, Kutunza focused on his sister once again and asked, "Is something wrong?"
Kafara was allowing herself the distraction of the game, trying to figure out how you steal the other players rocks without getting caught or being stopped. You didn't normally just let somebody steal from you, and if you were supposed to stop the other player she wasn't sure this was a good game for her. She was really bad at stopping others from doing.. anything, really. Yesterday had been proof of that, she couldn't even get Mnyama to leave her alone. She paused too long, she realized, when Kutunza stopped to ask if anything was wrong. Her immediate reaction was to shake her head, having moved on from her thoughts about Angavu to the oddities of the game and generally not wanting to cause any trouble.
"N-no!"
It wasn't like Kutunza to pry deeper when he knew that the conversation likely only had one direction to go. By his sister's reaction, however, it seemed as though the pair may have been worse off if he said nothing. Her stuttering words and distant gaze convinced the cub that something was really bothering Kafara. And if something was bothering his sister, he wanted to find out what it was so that he could fix things. Ignoring his turn in the game and setting down a pawful of stones back into one of his holes, the cub looked concerned towards his sister, ears lowered, "You can tell me anything, Kafara.." He said quietly, a bit surprised that his closest relative would want to openly hide things from him. It was hypocritical in a sense when he did something so similar, but the emotions Kutunza hid were so buried beneath the surface, often times even the striped cub didn't know he felt them.
Kafara was reluctant, she wanted the focus to go back onto the game but .. she was actually fairly worried about what her neice had said. Her mind had completely gone from worrying about herself and how she had been harassed about being so shy to what it would be like for Angavu and her cubs. She was happy to have her father around most of the time if not all the time, Angavu did not appear to have anybody ever to fill that role. She didn't know if she was exaggerating the situation or not, she had been told not to tell but was this something to keep secret?
"Kutunza," she said quietly, tilting her head, "What do you think it would like if our father was never around?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:25 am
The question hit Kutunza like a brick. Immedietly the cub's posture lowered and his tail wrapped quickly around his form. While the two cubs didn't see their father everyday, Kutunza was happy with the arrangement. The pair learned a great deal from their mother and were able to visit their neices, nephews and sister whenever they liked (so long as they brought the circus of hares along to keep an eye on them). There was never a slow moment in their ever-growing family and part of what made it perfect was being able to visit their father and spend time with him. Kutunza shook his head as though trying to rid his mind of the idea. As though it took a lot out of him to say, the cub responded quietly, "I would hate it, Kafara... I love dad and I am glad we have both a mom and a dad! I know we don't see him a lot, but that doesn't mean he won't come around!" Kutunza, entirely unaware of the situation with Angava assumed his sister was implying that he wouldn't come around that day.
Kutunza's reaction did not do hiding what he thought this was about any justice, immediately Kafara realized her mistake in wording it as if it would apply to their own situation. She couldn't help but frown as well. Despite their father's unusual nature, she too was glad to have him around- and that was part of her concern for Angavu's babies. Her childish mind could not fill in any scenario in which it would be OK, where everybody would be so happy.. she sighed, and shook her head. She couldn't keep the secret now! Kutunza could not think that Kafara did not appreciate their father- she knew, also, that their mother would be listening in on them. Possibly even the hares. Part of her wondered if Mnyama was awake and listening.
"No, no," she said, lowering her voice and glancing back towards the opening of the den, "I didn't mean.. just.. Kutunza, Angavu said she was going to have cubs. But I've never seen her with any boys! What if she- what if they won't..?"
When Kafara began to whisper, Kutunza also lowered his voice, realising that his reaction had been both sudden and rather loud. Embarassed, the cub took a few steps farther from the opening of the den, hoping that he hadn't caught the attention of everyone inside. It took a moment for what his sister said to register in his mind. He was still a cub himself and Angavu wasn't even an adult! How could she have cubs already? Kafara was right, Kutunza thought hard about when he had spent time with his neice and it was true, he had never seen her spending large amounts of time with any males other than her relatives. "But Anga would tell us if she'd found someone." Kutunza said matter of factly. Kutunza did not fully understand the situation between his parents, but still thought of them as mates. That seemed to be the only way you could have cubs. "You have to have a mate to have cubs, Kafara... and Anga doesn't have one. She must have been joking.."
Kafara's ears turned when Kutunza said that their neice much have been joking, she didn't like the idea of being tricked. But Kutunza was missing one important thing, their parents were not technically mates. She understood enough about cubs to know you did need a boy and a girl, and while she might have been tricked into thinking you have to be in love and have a mate.. her parents' situation certainly did no justice to that story. She shook her head at her brother, still frowning.
"She was being really nice to me, and she couldn't sit right and," she trailed off for a moment, "She wouldn't joke about that, even Mnyama was surprised!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:53 am
Kutunza watched his sister's expression change as he spoke and he frowned. Things were certainly not always as he believed and hoped and he knew this already from various experiences growing up. The striped cub often watched the happy families of other cubs, snuggling up close to both their mother and father - together. He knew his situation was different, but if his sister and he had been born from them, they must have been happy together at least once? How could you have cubs with someone you didn't love? At times Kutunza explained away his doubts by simplying thinking that having his father and mother around was the same - it didn't change anything that they didn't live together - they were still his mother and father.
But it was different and Kutunza didn't want the same thing for Angavu. Feeling his eyes swell up, the cub held back embarassing tears for being the more emotional of the pair. "We have to help her, 'Fara. We have to help her find someone to make her happy and stay with her always. We don't want our new neices and nephews to be without a daddy."
Whatever reaction she was expecting, this certainly wasn't it. Kutunza was just as distressed by the whole situation as she was, only he was dealing with it much more openly and with.. a much better idea than just worrying about whether or not to keep it a secret. Angavu had been kind to her when she told her, she was already trying hard to make it work.. if she didn't have the cub's father around to help her, then she could certainly use some extra help, couldn't she? Kutunza had a very good idea!
"Yeah," she agreed, nodding seriously at the suggestion, "And we can help her, we can play with them sometimes like when daddy comes here with us. We'll help."
Kutunza lifted a paw to wipe his eyes and then nodded with a gentle smile. As difficult as it may have been to open the wounds he tried so hard to keep shut, the striped cub felt a sort of release from the weight on his shoulders. Nodding again, he added, "Of course we'll help. Shiri and everybody else would love to help too."
"Help with what?" Came a deep voice slowly approaching. Abedari had finally made it to the den, wide smile on his maw and various flower crowns sitting atop his head. Alongside him hopped Dubaku, the rogue hare that often accompanied him and Kutulia, Mnyama's more timid sister. As he reached his two cubs, the father knelt down and offered them both affectionate nuzzles. "I am sorry I came later than I had planned. I ran into Tuli and she hoped we might be able to help her find enough flowers to make some crowns. She's been giving them to lions all day - thought it might brighten their days."
Tuli blushed as Abedari explained the situation. It certainly sounded silly now that he explained it that way! The poor hare just thought it might be a nice gesture since she received so many comments on her pretty blue flower she always kept tucked behind her ear.
Taking a few of the flower crowns from his head, Abedari placed one gently atop the heads of both Kafara and Kutunza. "There. You both look great. Before we head off, I'll need one of you to give this to your mom." Abedari handed Kafara a third flower crown decorated with some of the most beautiful flowers of the pridelands.
Kafara sniffed and pressed her head against Kutunza affectionately, nodding against his shoulder. She felt bad for having gotten him so worked up, but she felt better now that she had given up her secret. She didn't have to worry so much now, Kutunza had reminded her of just how large and kind their family was. Angavu would not be totally alone, everybody would help her.. and together, she and Kutunza could try to find someone who might act as a father for the babies. She nearly jumped out of her spotted fur at the sound of their father's voice, and she looked over at him and the pair of hares, speechless. She did not know what to say, but she smiled when the flowers were put on her head- and nodded when handed a third crown to go and deliver to their mother.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:36 pm
Kutunza purred quietly when his sister pressed against him, glad to have come to some solution to the problem. When his father's booming voice suddenly appeared, the cub sat upright, alert and curious as to where it was coming from. He was thrilled to see his father and even more excited to know that Abedari hadn't let them down and he would keep the promise he had made to them. "Woah! Cool dad!" The cub exclaimed at the bold blue crown that now sat on top of his head. They were the same flowers that Tuli wore. "That's a nice idea, Tuli!" Kutunza added, noticing the sheepish hare's bright blush. Making a gesture towards the den, Kutunza grinned. "Lets go bring mom the crown and then hurry to begin our adventure!"
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