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 Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:27 pm
Leboya had sat and watched over her daughter patiently over the little 'rut' in their venturing towards the ocean. Certainly, of all things to learn about her violent daughter, having Marty come to her and tell her that she'd given birth to five children and that she didn't want them had been a surprise.
But Leboya had done her best as a mother to make sure the dark lioness would do at least the minimum for her grandchildren - give them a chance to live. She'd hoped that over the weeks it had taken the five of them to ween that the girl would have grown attached to her youth.
However, such hadn't happened and instead Leboya had been left with the five younglings who were young enough that they would barely recall their mother. Darling little things, but Leboya certainly didn't have the energy to mother all five of them as well as Lesedi and Tipwa.
So she'd done the only thing she could: brought her grandchildren into the den to sit and wait with them until her daughter returned, pulling her palest grandson to her and licking over his tuft of fur to his protesting paw-batting and whines.
...
.....
Oh how sad it was to have to wait on the potential mother of her grandchildren to come home to wait and see how easily the situation would be resolved.
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:54 pm
... Calling it a little rut was putting things pretty lightly, actually.
Funny, really, the way things worked. Lesedi Tau had never really imagined herself in the role of a mother (or in the role of anything remotely social) and yet, by a ridiculous fluke of mother nature, it seemed she was about to get herself stuck in that very role, and with five cubs? REALLY?!
Needless to say, it wasn't the kind of thing she'd been expecting upon her return that afternoon, limping back to where she last recalled her Mother lingering, fur still damp and dripping beads of water from her tail tuft.
It was just the way she did things-- the way she coped from day to day. Water was a precious commodity away from the ocean shore, and whenever she managed to find a watering hole, flinging herself straight into it and taking a good soak was the first order of business. Call it a stress reliever, but she was a fish to the core.
... Or maybe an octopus.
But hey, she'd only allowed herself the briefest of breaks that afternoon, too, lasting little more than an hour or so, before it was time to wander back and see the state of things. Marty had been unusually absent as of late-- which was saying something, seeing as the lioness had barely been there in the first place-- and she w--
......
..............
......
... Okay, she definitely smelled her mother within that den she'd stopped in front of, but her ears were picking up on something very strange that just didn't compute with that thought at all.
"... Mother?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:00 pm
The sound of her daughter's CONFUSED sounding return had brought a slight sigh of 'Well, it's now or never' from Leboya, who gently lifted the boy she'd been cleaning by the tuft of his neck, earning a few more mewls of 'Noooo!' from him before she set him amongst his siblings, making sure they were arranged in a decently warm formation before she rose to move to the mouth of the den to meet her daughter's puzzled expression.
"Lesedi...."
....
.....
AWKWARD SILENCE. What was she supposed to do? Just come out and say that her sister had abandoned her five children and that her mother now wanted her to take care of them? Uhhh, perhaps something similar to such, but with less harshness.
Ha ha.
"Come inside, I need to introduce you to the children your sister has entrusted to me."
And as if on cue, there went a little mew from the little white-and-purple jellyboy, wondering where the hell the BIG body of warmth had went! COME BACK!! IS COLD!
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:10 pm
Oh, so you are there...
Relief was the first thing to trigger in Lesedi's brain when her mother's voice affirmed that, yes, she was indeed there-- but then she realized how strangely serious the lioness looked, and a creeping suspicion of OH GOD SOMETHING IS WRONG struck her just a split second before it all hit the fan.
... Children?
Just... yeah, no-- WHAT?!
She gaped for a moment: gaped like a fish, mouth opening, then closing, then opening again. Her muscles all stiffened. Her face glazed over with something not quite energetic enough to be shock. She just... gave the stiffest, most uncertain nod of her life and slunk off on Leboya's heels, ducking into the little den that had produced those odd cries which were actually...
.......
...............
Ohgod, she could even see them.
Was it possible for a lion to blanch through their fur? Because the appropriate shock feelings were sure there and sure strong enough for it.
"M-Marty... these are......... they're really hers?..."
Well, at least it explained that odd vanishing act lately?...
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:17 pm
Given that Lesedi was probably already white underneath her fur, said 'blanching' was probably something that wouldn't have actually been needed, in all actuality. But either way, Lesedi's reaction to her niece and little bundle of nephews was expected.
However, before answering her daughter, the jellyfish lioness had settled down next to the coalition of sleeping bodies to share her larger body's heat with their small forms. Certainly anything a good mother was capable of, even if they came with oddities. Hmph.
"They are but they aren't.." Leboya answered to Lesedi's inquiry, nosing the little fussy boy as he stretched out his paws, complete with his claws, and let out another mewl while his siblings slept on. Hmm, such a naughty child, but there was hope for all of them.
"I would rather if they believed their mother was you, Lesedi."
YEP, none of this beating around the bush, bullshit. If she, as mother, was going to ask her daughter to take up such a burden, then she had to make sure she did it flat out and let Lesedi know what it was she was expecting.
"Your sister has done all that she wishes for them and has now left them in my care. I think it would be better that none of them ever know that their mother abandoned them."
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:30 pm
The sight of them all was nearly enough to break her brain from the get-go, so incredibly unused to lions that tiny that she couldn't help but stare. No, the last time she'd been around cubs was when she'd been one herself... and back then they'd been peers.
Now she was in a completely different position, th-- ... the mother.
Mother.
MOTHER?!
"I-I... Mother?..." It was really hard to say if she was addressing her own mother or just repeating the term in stupefaction, saucer-wide eyes turning more particularly on the one woken cub who looked disturbingly familiar. White and purple. And covered in those marks just like...
... Just like her. Oh god.
"..............." If she'd tried to respond to it at all, it came out as just a choked squeakish... thing, but something had still compelled her to tentatively take up a spot next to Leboya and lay herself down for more... uh... staring. And shaking. Was she going to wake up from this bizarre dream tomorrow morning and believe it had never happened?
"I-I don't know..." Well at least her voice worked now, head hung guiltily and actually wincing at that latest mewl. "I don't know any of this..."
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:37 pm
Leboya sighed deeply at her daughter's confusion at the very sad situation they had on their paws, but soon answered her second-eldest grandson's (Only after Akasha's boy) plea for attentions by picking him up by the scruff of the neck...
...
And setting him between Lesedi's front paws.
"Lesedi, when I was young like you are now, I met a rogue male who in passing was a wonderful man, but we knew we couldn't stay together. I ended up having four children by him. Four beautiful children. Three who looked like their father, and a little girl who looked like me.
And I was terrified. I was a mother who was out on her own, no pride, no friends I could lean on, nothing."
Oooh, story time was interesting, but was also related to the situation that was in their little paws and terrifying the mind of her poor daughter. And she couldn't blame her! Raising her niece and nephews? Well, it wasn't as though Leboya would be leaving her alone with it.
"These five have been weened, you'll be in the borders of a pride with other lionesses to help you, I'm here to help you, and these little guys will respond better with someone who is genetically closer to them as their mother..."
MEWWWLLL. Yep, there went Lesedi's 'clone' demanding an explanation for this bullshit. Ha ha. Noisy booger.
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:00 pm
She really should've been listening a little more closely to her mother's story than she did, but...
But the fact that now she was touching the thing had sadly grabbed her full attention and, at best, poor strained Lesedi could only turn one ear to the story as she just layed there in the most awkward position of her life, genuinely concerned that, if she moved her paws too fast or pulled away from the little crying thing, she'd manage to break it.
Were cubs fragile like that? She couldn't even remember...
Aaand there was the mewling again, which got a wince of inexplicable frustration and concern and CONFUSION. Why was it doing that? What was she supposed to do to make it 'better', as a maternal figure was supposed to do (if she was even that)?
".............." Again with the failed speech. She had opened her mouth and just closed it again, seeming to debate on something before--
O SHI--
What compelled her to try imitating what she'd seen Leboya do other with nosing the boy, she didn't know-- but she'd shoved her face clumsily right up against his itty bitter body and tried to rub against it without breaking him into a million pieces.
Did it even have a name?
Did ANY of them have names?...
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:08 pm
Leboya watched her daughter as she clumsily managed her efforts with her nephew, the boy seeming so confused as to why he was trapped in the middle of nowhere befo-
OSNAPS!!
Lesedi's sudden attempt to be 'maternal' earned a squeak of surprise from the little body that soon followed it up with a pathetic attempt at leaning back against the nose that was touching it and making a pathetic rumbly squeak-purr sound.
Awww, baby approved!
"You can be a little more contacting with them, Lesedi. They won't break as easily as you would think, sweetheart.." Leboya said with a sort of smile that read plainly 'I KNOW BECAUSE I SURE AS HELL USED TO THINK IT WOULD, HA HA HA'.
And she'd had four of them to treat like class at that!
As for names.. well...
....
....
Nope, Marty hadn't named them and Leboya hadn't thought to.
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:23 pm
Oh no, she'd really done it and broken him!
... O-or not?
Okay, maybe she was just being a little too cautious and that squeak wasn't due to pain, though it still took every shred of self restraint in her NOT to pull back and release the tiny creature to avoid causing even MORE damage. But not it-- no, he was trying to lean back against her nose with that itty-bitty face...
She could smell his breath too, which was odd. Baby's breath had a very different scent from that of an adult a-- ... that was purring. Tiny and squeaky still, but unmistakable as anything else. Had she pleased him? Was he actually content having a giant FACE shoved up in front of him?
"A-Are you certain?..." She realized a few seconds later what a silly and needless question it was, too. Her mother had suffered TWO litters successfully; of course she knew what she was talking about!
Which prompted her to tentatively try the 'more contacting' with a bit of cheek rubbing, using her paws as a cradle to avoid shoving the poor cub flat on his back (and thus SMOOSH HIM) and return the purr with a slightly forced one of her own.
"And are they called anything?..........."
Well, aside from CUBS, she meant. But she'd already half-suspected Marty not caring enough to name them, so it was really just a matter of whether or not Leboya had done it.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:49 am
Well Leboya had never broken any of HER children, so she was good and fine and wonderful by THAT standard as well, watching Lesedi as she awkwardly 'mothered' the boy who seemed more than happy to be getting himself some affection that wasn't from Leboya.
As Leboya had been at least giving the kids some culturing in affections while Marty simply 'put up' with them as it had been labelled so the little litter wouldn't turn out completely emotionless and unable to adapt to society.
Ha ha.
Well, no matter, they would be finely adjusted little children. Just as Lesedi was adjusting to her new 'children', smiling contently at the scene.
"No. Martirae didn't name them, and I felt that the task of naming children was better left to the mother." Leboya answered to Lesedi's inquiry, moving to half-curl around the litter (It was bigger than either of her litters had been, surprisingly) that wasn't being doted on currently.
Little darlings.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:45 am
Again with that word-- the 'M' one-- and still Lesedi's brain was struggling terribly to come to terms with it. Mother this. Mother that. Mother the five babies of her sister that weren't her sister's but her own all of a sudden, because she had children now... real squirming, moving, mewling fussing children.
One couldn't really blame her for the mental choke-and-die she was suffering.
"So... no names then..." Muttered more for her own clarification than anything else, and still she was baffled. The mother had to name them then. She needed to name them. How did people (welll, lions) come up with names in the first place, anyway?
Immediately she had turned her full attention back to the cub in her paws (the lookalike, so damn eerie, that resemblance) and sighed, ears flattening back from the concentration of her own thinking. No one deserved the fate of being nameless (somewhere Eshe sneezed), but--
"... Co... lo... rata."
Just sounding out the syllables. Not that she knew what such a thing meant, but it 'sounded' pretty to her ears, repeating it again as she touched noses with the little thing to look at him-- eye to eye. "... Colorata?"
Did it fit?
Did he like it?
Was there even a way to tell?
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:50 am
'Co..lo...rata'...
..
Was that him? That was him right? He wasn't sure. He'd seen a lot of strange sounds aimed about, but this one seemed to be aimed right at him, eye contact and everything from 'mom'. That's what she'd been labelled by the other lioness right? 'Mother'?
She seemed to like him well enough, an-
He tested his little tongue by running it up the front of Lesedi's nose, before pausing and doing it again, lick-lick-lick, purr purr =ACHOO!=.
Oh goodness, sneezy little thing too!
Leboya sighed lightly at the interaction between the mother and child, laying her head down on her paws to watch with a sort of interest.
Mmm.. grandchildren were interesting.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:08 pm
Ohae, approval!
Or at least, that was all she could translate the licking and squeaky failpurr into, rather ironically having to will away the urge to sneeze for several seconds before he did it instead... right in her face. Mmm, baby snot on the muzzle! Talk about an appropriate welcome to motherhood!
She'd suffered much worse in her time though and merely shrugged it off with a weak (albeit slightly forced) smile before just going ahead and starting to, once again VERY awkwardly, clean at his face with her tongue.
Ha, babies even tasted different in the fur from bigger adults. How weird.
"... Colorata." She'd keep repeating it until she felt the newly named cub understood it, clumsily grooming behind one ear, up the mane, even the neck a bit. "That's who you are. You're Colorata..." Then, a little pause, glancing back to the heap her mother guarded.
"I-I'll need to figure the others out when they're awake, won't I?..."
Clueless mother was clueless-- but hey, resigned to her fate!
Leboya's plan had worked as well as anyone could expect it too!
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:28 pm
Ohae, there was that word again!
Colorata squeaked and squirmed as he was groomed, making a sort of whining 'Do not waannnt!' noise at the attentions, like any good child would have at being cleaned up, but ultimately settling into the crook of his 'mother's' legs and resting his head on top of one of the limbs.
....
....
Tired tired... zzzzzz....
Leboya chuckled a bit at the scene in front of her before looking to the cubs she had curled herself around, before moving and... yes, taking the motions to move the little huddle of children to her daughter's side to sleep and get use to the other lioness's warm body.
Because the sooner they adapted, the better.
"Perhaps that can wait until we've all slept..."
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