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 Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:29 pm
Shani was at home all alone and she wasn't entirely sure how it happened, even though it often did. Every time was a surprise and every time she knew it wouldn't last very long. Someone would come thundering through, looking for one of the other little ones usually. Either way, there was no harm in relaxing while she could so she took a seat out in the sunshine and just took it easy. It was a beautiful day out, it wasn't hard to just sit and enjoy. Not for her, anyway. She was certain the cubs would be out making the most of it in some other way. She'd probably have a couple very muddy cubs to clean up tonight.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:47 pm
Demeter wandered toward the family den panting, she was in a fantastic mood. Her hunting party was returning from a particularly successful hunting expedition and Demeter was looking forward to some time spent with the family.
As she walked toward the den she realized that the area was oddly quiet. "Where is everyone?" She murmured allowed and she noticed that her mother was in the den. Demeter was creeping/not so quietly up behind the brown lioness
.
"Mooom!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:05 pm
Letting her mind wander, Shani wasn't paying nearly enough attention to notice a quiet and calm lioness approaching. She would have been at full attention if a cub came barreling through but it had been a while since Demeter had acted like that. She very nearly jumped right up to her feet when Demeter appeared behind her, shouting. She turned- almost too quickly- and relaxed when she realized what exactly was happening.
"My goodness! What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?" she asked with a laugh.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:13 pm
"Ooh, I wasn't meaning to scare you," the brown lioness chuckled, "I wasn't being that quiet. Where is everyone?" She repeated her initial question, but this time to someone besides herself. Demeter wasn't used to there being so much silence anywhere near the family den, not with Enzi's cubs, her siblings, and Manny's children always popping in.
Thinking of the cubs made Demeter's brow wrinkle, she'd been realizing more and more how nice it was to see the cubs, to see the way her mother interacted with them, and in particular Enzi and Kafara's loving relationship. The brown and blue lioness felt a pang of jealousy whenever her mind veered in that direction. Demeter had her own hang ups though, mostly about the idea of trusting a male.
She padded over and sat beside her mother, "Enjoying the time alone?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:21 pm
"You're quieter than the herd of cubs usually running around here, though," she laughed, nudging Demeter when she came over and sat down beside her, "I'm enjoying it, taking advantage of it, whatever you might call it. I don't know where exactly everybody is off to, I know Habu went off with Oha and Tamu but they wouldn't say where they were going. I think the cubs just like secrets."
She shook her head.
"What have you been up to this afternoon?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:28 pm
Demeter bobbed her head in what could be mistakenly seen as an Aadil fashion when her mother spoke about the cubs. "I remember loving to whisper secrets with Anya..suppose we still do!" she laughed happily.
"just getting back from a long hunting trip, we were successful, one of the older lionesses brought the largest of the kills home to her family," Demeter paused, "I suppose without having cubs of my own I really don't need to bring anything home..maybe for Anya." Her facial expression turned sour and she looked off into the distance.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:32 pm
"I remember."
Shani smiled at Demeter. She did remember well when Anya and Demeter and all of the others were small. They were made hers under such unfortunate circumstances but she loved each of them dearly. She missed Persephone, wished she hadn't felt she needed to go and find Ghali- she missed Ghali, for that matter, but she didn't seem to be returning home. She still worried about Vikasini, hoped she was safe where she was.
"That's nice," she murmured, then listened as Demeter commented and turned sour, "You don't need to bring home much but you're helping with everybody else who really needs it. You've helped us all a lot here, goodness knows we almost have too many running around here sometimes."
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:58 pm
"Mom," she started thinking that while they were alone was as good a time as ever to bring up the subject that was on her mind, "I have been thinking a lot lately about wanting to start a family...well at least have cubs. But.." she didn't know how to bring up the last bit of her topic; Demeter was so angry at Riko and Ghali...so very angry at the fact that he would run and not take care of his children and that her biological mother would just run after him.
"I don't know how to deal with males..not at all," she said finally, "I'm just so afraid they will be like my father. Or afraid that I will be stuck in a bad relationship..what if I just had cubs, would they hate me for not keeping a male around?..and well..you know a lot about lions, right? You have Wahabu."
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:08 pm
Her ears perked at the way Demeter said 'mom'. Suddenly she was very aware that something more was up than.. hunting and sharing issues, or whatever she might have imagined Demeter was worried about with her previous statement. And she was smiling when Demeter expressed an interest in having a family, it was certainly something Shani would encourage for all of her children. It was the hesitation that followed and the concerns that made her frown.
"Demeter, don't be so silly," she murmured at first, nuzzling her- she just seemed like she needed a hug, "I didn't have a male around when I raised you, Enzi and your sisters. Do you think I did a bad job without one? Besides, I don't think your father was so much bad as he was, well, unlucky."
Her opinion had been influenced a great deal by Habu's stories about Riko before all of this happened. He certainly had his share of blame in what happened but he was young and what happened was distorted and complicated.
"I have Habu and I wouldn't change that for anything, but I wouldn't be with him if it wasn't right for us," she said thoughtfully.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:20 pm
The brown lioness nuzzled back feeling foolish, but her feelings felt justified and they were deep seated in the way she thought about males in general.
"No," Demeter nearly stammered the word, "I think that you did such a wonderful job, I wouldn't have changed my cubhood for the world! You are my mother, no matter what." Demeter started to slowly realize what Shani was getting at.
"He was terribly unlucky," Demeter muttered bitterly.
"I...what if I wanted to raise them alone, I wouldn't be terrible for doing so? I mean, we had a lot of good times growing up, we still have a lot of good times. There is a lot of family," Demeter wondered if it would be possible just to have a 'fling' like Manny had had his fling..at least her stepbrother was stepping up to the plate, that was one point for males.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:32 pm
"Then you know that having just a mother can be OK, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to handle doing it all by yourself if that's what you really wanted," she said with a shrug, she might not have been so encouraging of it were they not in a pride or surrounded by a gigantic family that would both always be there to help. There was a couple other issues, though. She thought of Manuku and Tzila, how they were both taking care of their cubs- just not as a couple. And then the state Aadil had returned from the roguelands in when she was pregnant with Enzi and Anya.
"You have to be careful, though," she said, "You shouldn't take cubs away from someone who would want to be a father, think of how Manuku feels. I don't think even if Tzila tried she could stop him. And then if you go looking for, ah, help outside the pride, away from home, you have to be very careful."
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:43 pm
More of the idea was sinking in and Demeter felt that perhaps it would be alright if she spoke to a male about the possibilities of using him for biological purposes to bring her children. Demeter was a well enough aunt, she spent time, refereed games of tag and hide and seek.
"I think I have a lot to think about," She sighed, "I would want to be safe, of course and would have to be explicitly clear about my wishes." She bobbed her head, "And maybe..you know I could find love like You and Wahabu or Enzi and Kafara."
"Thanks..you know for being my mom, and giving mom-advice," She nuzzled the older lioness.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:49 pm
"You're a wonderful lioness, I don't see why you couldn't find love if that was what you wanted," she said, smiling at Demeter as she thanked her, "You can't necessarily rush it, though. It something to think about when you decide what you want. You'd be an excellent mother and you'd have more than enough help around here."
Demeter didn't seem like she'd be rushing into anything, and thinking about it ahead of time was a better sign than it just randomly happening. It had happened that way to her mother, after all. That hadn't gone so well. And so long as Demeter knew what she wanted, there wasn't much Shani could say or do except support her.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:58 pm
Demeter practically blushed at her mother's comments, she wasn't exactly expecting this conversation to go the way it was, she half expected her mother to try and tell her to wait, however Shani had set up Enzi with his ideal mate.
"I wont rush into anything..when have you ever known me to rush?" Demeter was actually pretty prone to rushing things.
"I'm going to go find Anya and tell secrets," Demeter announced, "I want to ask her opinion on some things. I also want to let you get back to basking in the sun alone." She nuzzled her mother yet again and started off toward her and Anya's den.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:03 pm
"Oh, I can think of a few times."
Shani shook her head, staying seated when Demeter announced her intentions to go and discuss things with Anya. She couldn't decide if she would be surprised if she was first to find out what Demeter was thinking or not, but if she was, Anya seemed like the most likely next step.
"OK, tell Anya I said hello," she said, watching as Demeter headed off, "I'm sure I'll see you two later!" And she probably would.
Fin.
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