Meeting New People? ... Or Not

[Manda]

Moving to here since we have subforum now 8D

Manda

"Where are we going, dad?" the young cub asked, tripping over his own paws a bit as he followed his father about.

The larger male smiled down at his son and waited patiently for the boy to catch up - padding toward the little stream now that ran through the pride's lands. "I'm just going to show you some interesting places in the pride lands. It's time that you all started exploring a bit, but I don't want you going anywhere dangerous." He paused a moment and let eyes lid.

"So I'm showing you were it's safe to explore and play."

Shakil blinked a bit and then nodded eagerly. The area around the den was getting boring, after all! "Okay! Where're we goin' first...?"

demonstration_evil

"Bui? Bui, for all the demon-hunter's sakes, will you please try to keep up?" Xinavane sighed, trying her best to keep track of her slightly wayward son as she attempted to show him the boarders of the land. The last thing she needed was him wandering off somewhere and getting himself killed. And the last thing she needed was for Bui to be like his father and run off in the midst of something crucial.

"Right. Yes, of course mother." Buibui'sefu told her, running up beside his mother. He couldn't really help the fact that she had much longer strides that he did, but he wasn't about to use that as an excuse! His mother was a hand of justice, and one should never take such a thing lightly.

He glanced ahead, spotting other members of the pride, which made the small boy tilt his head, "Look mother..."

"Hum?" Xinavane turned her head thoughtfully, having been paying more attention to her son than her surroundings. In her head, she chided herself. But she couldn't help but also be proud of Bui's good eyesight. She'd make a General of him yet, "Ah... It's Ka'hmesh and his son I think..." She mentioned, walking forward. Socialising her son would be for the best.

 

[Manda]

Before Ka could answer, though, he glanced up and spotted the lioness - with another cub - coming toward them. Oh ... well, fancy meeting them here! He had seen the other around the pride lands before a time or two but they hadn't actually had much of a chance to meet up and talk. Not since they'd agreed to go hunting that time.

It seemed they had both found some things they'd been looking for. Smiling, the large male called out a greeting. "Hello."

Shakil blinked as his dad's attention was suddenly caught by something and looked over as well. Oh, hey! Another cub... cool.

"Hi!" he called out in turn, bouncing up and down a little and resisting the urge to run ahead. It wouldn't be polite, right?  

[demonstration_evil]

"Ka, it is good to see you again." Xinavane told him, her voice pleasent as she approached her fellow demon-hunter. It had been a while since she had seen him. Not since they had found the pride... she had gotten so busy after that. Her duties as Ardhi, and being a single mother with her three children had made her quite... out of her mind. On occasion. Three very excited children were hard to deal with. Not to say that she didn't love every second of it. Being kept busy made her happy.

Buibui'Sefu was happy to notice another cub beside the large male. His mother could deal with that kind of chatter, and though he did like to listen to what she told him... he did look forward to the idea of getting to know other demon-hunters-to-be like himself.

"Hello." He said with the same cool voice as his mother. Best to be polite when getting to know each other, "I'm Buibui'Sefu. Bui if you like. What's your name?" He didn't want to ask a barage of questions after all... like: What does your father do? What do you want to do? Do you have any siblings? What do they want to be? ...and so on and so forth...  

[Manda]

Ka nodded at that, smiling at the lioness. "It's nice to see you again too..." He glanced at Bui then and tilted head a little. "And it seems that we've both settled in nicely here..."

Shakil glanced up at his father for just a moment and then darted toward the other cub, smiling. He didn't quite pounce on him - the normal sort of greeting between himself and his siblings - but it looked like he might come close. "I'm Shakil," he replied with a little nod.  

[demonstration_evil]

Xinavane glanced down at Bui and smiled a little, giving a short nod, "Ah, yes. You as well it seems. Nice to have the young one's about... I have two others. I'm glad I don't have more... their father chose not to stay with us." She did not seem bitter about that thought, "What about you? Saddled with a few or many?"

Bui was a little taken aback by how close the other cub came to him. But he didn't let it unsettle him too much. His sister's were both forward enough as it was... it wouldn't hurt to ignore some more excitable behaviour. "Nice to meet you. Is your father a demon-hunter?" He asked, already knowing -in his 'superior' way which often led to a scolding about arrogance from his mother- that Shakil's father wouldn't be of the -self proclaimed by Bui- 'upper-crust' of the demon-hunter's society.  

[Manda]

"Gods, seven of them..." Ka replied with a little shake of his head and a rueful look toward the two cubs. "They can be quite a handful, but Farlest and I are pretty good at sharing duties. I was just out showing Shakil some of the interesting sights in these lands today."

Shakil nodded at that, not knowing the other's thoughts. Proudly, he replied, "Yea, he is... he's a Shaitani'Msasi!" Then he glanced over to the adults and asked, "What about your mom? Or your dad..?" Of course, he had no idea the other cub's father was gone.  

[demonstration_evil]

"Seven?" Xinavane's eyes bulged at the very idea. How on earth could he even remember all their names? And she had thought she had her hands full with just the three. "That's quite impressive... And yes, I was doing the same. Bui is quite full of energy."

"Ah, that's good." Bui said with a nod, his respect for the other cub growing with that. A demon hunter was of course, key to the pride and everything that they valued. "My mother is the Ardhi. She kind of... helps keep everything organized. Without her, we'd probably all starve. But my father isn't here. He had... other duties to attend to." He guessed that was a God thing. He couldn't very well stay around in one place. His mother had never been bitter about their father leaving them, and Bui followed suit.  

[Manda]

Ka nodded, laughing softly at her reaction. "Indeed, that was about how we reacted when they just... kept coming," he replied, smiling faintly at the memory of that day. He was glad that Farlest hadn't had any trouble, honestly, what with so many cubs.

"Ooh... well... I'm sorry about that," Shakil said instantly, frowning a bit. He didn't know what he would do if Ka wasn't around. He knew that he would miss him. "The Ardhi sounds really important too though!" he said quickly, turning the focus of the conversation to lighter things.  

[demonstration_evil]

"Honestly that's quite impressive." Xinavane couldn't help but laugh a little, "But it must be nice too, I'd imagine, having so many young ones about who will grow strong for the pride. You must have high hopes for them." Her own hopes for her children were, after all, endless.

"Oh, I'm not. Sorry, I mean. My father has an important job. He couldn't be bothered to just raise cubs all day." Bui shrugged, honestly not blaming his father. His mother didn't fault him, why would Bui? "Ah, yes, my mother is happy to accept such important responsibilities. She doesn't get to fight on the front lines, but as they say... power doesn't always come from how long you claws are." He seemed very proud of her. Or maybe he was just proud in general.  

[Manda]

Ka nodded at that and purred softly. "Yes... already, we've started talking to them about thinking of how they can help the pride when they are older," he replied, ears tilting toward the female.

Shakil blinked, and nodded at that. "I guess that's true too," he admitted with a smile - he'd never thought of it like that before. I mean, he knew the healers and purifiers were important... but hadn't thought much about the other ranks.  

[demonstration_evil]

"Ah, yes, so have I. I think the children, yours and mine, will have a brilliant future together, don't you?" Xinavane smiled, tilting her head slightly, "So far the three of them all want something different... But I'm sure they'll all be very happy."

"Everyone has to eat... and when warriors die, someone has to look after their children." Bui mentioned, shrugging his shoulders, but he cracked a smirk anyway, "I, of course, would far rather fight demons paw-to-paw. But I'm glad to know lions like my mother will stay behind to protect it while we're gone. Don't you think?"  

[Manda]

Ka smiled at that, nodding again. It was pleasant to think of their children growing up here - even if he knew at some point they'd have to go into danger. "Differences are important ... it could be worse if they all wanted the same thing, and got into fights," he pointed out.

Shakil considered that for a moment or two and then nodded slightly. For his own part, he wasn't quite sure what he might want to do when he grew up. Everyone seemed to think he'd make a perfect fighter, but he didn't really like to fight all that much.

"Protectors are good too," he said finally.  

[demonstration_evil]

Xinavane smiled and nodded, "That's true... in a way, I'm glad. They'll certainl be exciting little things, no matter how different their choices are... I'm glad to have them here with me." She chuckled a little, without meaning too, "And here I was worried about being lonely... I suppose that won't happen after all. It's nice to know."

Bui grinned, seeming pleased that Shakil understood what he was getting at. He liked it when other creatures saw things his way... and usually he made sure that they did. His sisters called him bossy. He just thought he was good at persuading people to see his point-of-view.

"What do you want to do? I mean, I know I want to be on the front-lines... do you want to fight too? Or maybe be a purifier? Or a protector... it isn't like there isn't a lot of things worth doing."  

[Manda]

Ka smiled faintly at that, and nodded. It was very nice... not to be alone. After he'd lost Farlest, it had been... wonderful beyond words to find her again - though in a different form.

Shakil hesitated for a moment at that, glancing over toward his father. "I ... don't know, really," he murmured softly. "Dad says that I should be a fighter like him. But..." he trailed off, not sure he wanted to admit to the other that he didn't like to fight.