Auri hadn't been flower-picking in a while. So this morning, she had decided to change her plans and she trotted to a small cluster of bushes a ways off, in search of the pretty flowers she once knew to grow in these lands. It was going to be hard, though. Since she'd been here it hadn't been often that she had seen flowers at all. But she would look. Auri was determined.
The lioness reached the bushes but only found weeds growing there; true flowers were bigger and with brighter petals. She eyed her surroundings and spotted a small forest; not even a forest. It was a little cluster of trees that stretched for about...oh, maybe a hundred feet. There were probably some pretty things in there. So that's where she headed, unaware that her mate was looking for her.
Sharifu had been out, looking to catch something for Auri, when he was approached by an almost familiar lion. He was a relative of one his sister Neema's friends. He had some unsettling news, another friend of Neema's had returned to the Pridelands without her friends. They had been kidnapped by a group of males, along with a couple of other lionesses from the Pridelands. Tetemeko, the familiar lion, was off to find and inform any family members he could think of- the stripe on Sharifu's face giving him away as a relative of Neema. They were going to go look for the girls, try to rescue them.. and of course, Sharifu had to go with them. He couldn't go without telling Auri where he was going first, though. So he was searching for her. He had started at the den and paced in anxious circles as he tried to review their conversation earlier in the day about what plans they had. He couldn't think of anything in particular, so he looked around for any pawprints or indications of which way Auri had gone. It took some doing but he eventually got going in the right direction. He was able to spot Auri just as she was heading for the trees, so he picked up the pace. Finally.
"Auri," he called.
"Hm?" Auri turned around, a few flowers (she found them, finally!) being held delicately in her mouth, at the sound of someone calling her name. Ah, her mate. She smiled and stepped forward to greet him, coming out of the trees. "Sharifu," she greeted, dropping the flowers to the ground and out of the way. She gave him a nuzzle, but felt something was wrong. It was his face. His expression wasn't normal.
"What's wrong?" She frowned in worry. Usually something bad or worrisome didn't affect him like this--she was the worrywart, mostly--but obviously something had happened. And it scared her.
Sharifu nuzzled Auri, a bit longer than normal perhaps. He knew he was going to go and help look for the girls, there was no question in his mind about that.. but he didn't have to like leaving Auri, and he already knew he wouldn't let her go. He didn't necessarily have a say in what she did or did not do, she made her own decisions but they were trying to have cubs. The uncertainty of a current pregnancy would be enough for him to ask her to stay here.
"Neema was kidnapped," he said, frowning, "Several lionesses were abducted just outside the pride borders by a group of males."
Auri gasped and her frowned increased. "What? When?" What horrible news! Relatives of theirs (okay, so not blood relatives of hers, but still by marriage) had been kidnapped? Probably injured? It was an absolutely horrid thing to think about; she couldn't imagine the kind of lions who would do such a thing. Although, since it had been a group of males, she feared the worse for her relatives.
"Who's going after them?"
"I don't know when exactly, one of the girls got away and was able to say kind of what they looked like and which direction they went," he explained, "A relative of one of the other girls is going around gathering up anybody who is going. I'm going to go with them." He didn't pause to be surprised she knew that someone would be going after them, it was evident. What he did worry about was her reaction to him going. It was sudden but life had no regard for the plans you made.. He sighed, sitting down. It was good to sit down.
All this news was coming so fast--she barely had a minute to think about it, but she needed less than that to think and say her answer.
"Alright. I'm coming with you."
She knew the instant those words came out of her mouth, Sharifu would argue against it. Why? Because, he would claim, that it was 'too dangerous.' Among other things, of course. And so what if she was pregnant? They didn't know for sure. If she wasn't, and they needed an extra lion but she hadn't gone with, what then? If she was, then that was okay too. But if they needed her help, she was not going to stay home because of the possibility of more cubs growing inside her. If they were there, they weren't very old. Which meant they could still survive no matter what she went through.
Well, he had seen that coming a mile away.
"I knew you'd say that," he muttered, glancing down to her feet before looking back up to her eyes and arguing, "I want you to stay here, Auri. We might be having more cubs, they'd be better off here where you aren't running after an unknown group of aggressive lions and there's plenty of food and protection." It was a valid argument in his opinion, Sharifu didn't fully understand pregnancy. He knew enough about it, certainly, but there were certain things he, as a male, just couldn't know or understand. He would feel better if she, if they were all here. Safe and sound.
Ah ha. Exactly one point of the argument she knew he would make, and try to guilt her into agreeing with. It wasn't going to work this time.
"Nope. If you don't let me go with, I'll track you." She smirked. "And you know I'm a good hunter, so that would be a bit futile to try and stop me in any way. I want to help. They may not be my blood kin, but they became kin anyway the day we became mates. I know you wouldn't abandon any of my family in a time like this, so i won't do the same for yours. I'm not asking you to let me come with, love. I'm telling you."
The pregnancy, if it was even there, would depend on how long it took, exactly, to get the girls back. If it took a few months, then that could be a problem. WIth cubs, she couldn't help much at all and would only be a burden to the rest of the group. But she could still fight for the time being, and that's all that mattered. "If it turns out that I am pregnant, then the minute it gets too dangerous I will come home," she allowed. Auri knew it was hard enough to listen to her side, so she offered the bargain.
Sharifu frowned at her declaration, he expected nothing less but he had hoped she would relent. It was an unsettling circumstance to be in, trying to force her would only make her more stubborn and asking her without good reasons would be useless. But he wanted her to stay here, to be safe and sound and away from whatever maniacs were lurking near the borders.
"You're telling me, I'm asking you," he said finally, seeming to ignore her bargain, "Auri, they abducted lionesses. A whole group of them, not just one or two out on their own. I don't know their motivation but if it was all males and they took all females.. well, it's just probably safer for males." He didn't like any of this situation and he didn't want to think about what he would do if something happened to Auri.
"Then I'll be perfectly safe in a whole group of males," she replied calmly. "If we meet them, and there's a fight, I'll run home. I'll come get reinforcements, if that's what it takes." Auri took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment. What if she didn't go? What if she couldn't be there to help? Especially if Sharifu got hurt? What if Sharifu got hurt?
She opened her eyes. "I don't want to stay here, praying that you'll come back safe. I'm not going to do that. I want to be there if you get hurt so I can take care of you there, not here, when you come back. Please don't make me wait like that."
It was extremely hard to argue with Auri, she wasn't wrong to worry exactly. They worried about the same things, but it just seemed more dangerous to take her along. Sharifu would worry whether or not she came with them, they were chasing after lions who had abducted a whole group of lionesses, they obviously couldn't assume they were friendly or would just give back what they had taken. Taking Auri along would just give him more to worry about, his sister was one thing but his mate was another. She was just better off staying here.
"Auri, we might not be close enough to home for that to be reasonable," he responded carefully, looking worried, "Home might be too far to just run to, and if there is a fight I do not want you anywhere near it. You'll worry if you stay here but I won't, and at least one of us will be perfectly safe. I don't want anything to happen to you."
They did worry about the same things. Which made arguing, in general, more of a chore and ended up raising both their tempers. It didn't happen often, of course, but when it did...it was over something worth arguing.
"And I don't want anything to happen to you! What if I am pregnant? Right now? We just don't know it yet. And if something happens to you, and I give birth later, what happens then? The cubs will grow up without a father?" Low blow, but she had to say it.
"I just...I don't like waiting. I don't want to wait for something bad to happen. To you, to us, to anyone. I.." She didn't know really what to argue for anymore. She had said her points, and he had said his.
[As Auri turned to tactics that were somehow both more personal and less personal, Sharifu's frown deepened. She was using the pregnancy thing again, and he didn't like imagining it but it was better than the alternative. He considered changing tactics as well, trying desperately to think of a way to make her angry at him. He couldn't think of anything that wouldn't leave her following after them, and he didn't want that either.
"At least you would be safe," he argued, though there was more hesitation on the topic of cubs, "I will come back, I promise, but I need you to stay here. I'm asking you to stay here." He had returned back to an original argument, it was hard to deny Auri something she wanted but it was for her own good, for his own good. They couldn't both leave.
"You can do something else, you don't have to wait," he suggested lamely, desperately, "Try to help Mivu find a girl, keep an eye on Marini- goodness knows she needs it sometimes-"
She gave him a look, that one that's like: "Really? You just suggested that?"
"Even if I do help Mivu find a girl, or keep an eye on Marini (which is hard enough as it is, thank you), I'd still be waiting. When they go home to their den, I would be alone in ours. You can't make me promise to not follow you, either."
She turned up her nose a bit and almost dared him to say otherwise. Auri knew that they were both being more logical now, of course, but that didn't mean she had to like it.
Sharifu knew he wasn't really helping his cause a great deal, but he had to keep trying.
"Get them to stay with you, I'm sure Marini would do it without even being asked," he responded, narrowing his eyes a bit at the look he got back. She was challenging him, and she was right that he couldn't make her stay here, even if she agreed not to go with them she still might go after them. If he tried to say she had no choice, she definitely would follow them. If he let her pick, she almost certainly would come with them. But arguing was being counter-productive, he was being overprotective. It wouldn't be an easy situation, but if she wasn't going to relent, he couldn't keep arguing with her.
"Look," he said finally, but then he paused, "Fine, if you want to come then I'm not going to stop you."
Someone had to give in first, they didn't have time for a battle of wills. He had a hard time saying no to Auri. He was really just giving her the choice so she could choose to stay home but it wasn't really like he had any authority over her. She knew what he wanted, she knew what she wanted. She would have to decide and Sharifu would just have to deal with it- and he knew that.
"Wait, what?" she blinked and frowned at him a bit in confusion. Auri had begun to come to terms to staying here, looking after their grown cubs (silly things) while he went off to hopefully save their relatives from big bad kidnappers. And now he was saying that she could come with? After that whole argument about wanting her to specifically not?
Men say women are confusing, but really, it's the other way around.
"Why are you saying that now, when you obviously want me to stay?"
"Because I can't force you to stay, Auri," he responded, not at all sounding very happy, "You won't stay here because I want you to because you don't want to. And if you're going to come, I don't want it to be a secret and have you wandering on your own just so you could follow after us. And we don't have time for a staring contest." His ears turned back and his frown returned. He didn't like leaving Auri behind much more than he liked the idea of taking her along. He wasn't terribly concerned about his own safety-- except that it mattered to Auri, and she was right to say they might be expecting cubs. He would be worried whether or not she came along, this would just mean more worry. Nevermind the possibility that males might get hurt but left, if that did happen with a female around.. she might not be left behind after a fight. But Auri was convinced she could get away and Sharifu would fight to the death to make sure she did, if it came to that..
But he couldn't vocalize those concerns directly to her. She wasn't weak, of body or will, though. She might take it as more of a challenge than valid concern.
She quickly lowered her eyes, forfeiting the 'staring contest.' Now that she had been given permission, Auri wasn't sure it was worth it to take it. Not when he looked so...frowny about it. But she frowned inwardly at that. This was what she had been fighting for, after all. She wanted to go. She saw the logic in staying, but fought for the logic in going. That's what was going to happen.
"I do promise to be careful," she said again, quietly, nuzzling his head with her nose. "Thank you for letting me come too."
Sharifu sighed, biting his lip as he held back every argument he'd already spouted at Auri when she said she was going to come along. He leaned back against her when she nuzzled him, but he didn't move quite so much as he normally might have. Auri would be with him, he would make sure that she stayed safe if it killed him. He wasn't sure the others who came along with understand, they might get a look, but they certainly wouldn't try to stop her like he had.
"Remember," he said finally, leaning back to look Auri in the eyes, "You promised to come right back if you are pregnant, and to stay out of a fight." He wasn't sure how to safely manage either escape, but they would worry about that when the time came. She hadn't really promised, but she had said. He was making her promise now. This time he wasn't waiting for her to say anything. He stood up.
"Let's go meet up with the others."
