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 Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:01 pm
 Muscardini stretched luxuriously. He and Gliri had been in this place for several weeks, and she seemed oddly happy here. Her happiness gratified Muscar, but it also mystified him. The den they lived in was no safer than others they'd inhabited and they were no closer to resources of a superior nature than they had been before. True, their den had a back entrance which he knew appealed to his sister, and there were any number of trees for her to climb and conceal herself in as well as a nice stream nearby which actually contained fish as well as clean water, but they had enjoyed all of those things before. No, she was inexplicably happy, and even though he was glad of it, Muscar was also suspicious.
"Gliri," he said, turning to his sister who looked so like him that they might be twins. Indeed, having been born in the same litter it could probably be said of them that they were twins, but he had never thought of Gliri as his twin. His sister, always, as well as his favorite person, but never his twin.
"Do you want to go swimming? It's hot enough out that my paw pads feel scorched." The stream was deep enough for them to swim, though not deep enough that there was much danger of either of them drowning. The current wasn't strong enough for that. The worst danger it presented was that one of them might slip and hurt themselves, and that wasn't very likely.
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:37 pm
 Gliri looked ruefully at her tail. She had just finished grooming herself from nose to tail. Naturally her brother would want to go swimming. And yet she couldn't very well deny him that pleasure, particularly since she enjoyed it so much herself. She wasn't graceful in the water, but she could keep her head above the surface, and that was sufficient. And besides, he was definitely right about the day being hot enough to blister. It was why they'd agreed he wouldn't go out hunting, but would stay with her. He could stay with her just as well at the stream, and a change of scenery would be welcome.
"All right, let's go," she agreed, getting to her feet gracefully.
She'd been making more of an effort to insert grace into her movements for the last week or so. She tried to be surreptitious about it, but she suspected her brother had noticed something. He had no other company excepting herself, after all, and so he would notice little changes in her behavior like that. So far he hadn't asked her about it, though, and she was grateful for his respect for her privacy. Still, she knew she'd have to come up with something to tell him at some point. He deserved an explanation.
But maybe she could put it off for a while. She still wasn't sure what she wanted to say to Muscar except that she wanted to stay here. She'd made a friend she didn't want to lose. She closed her eyes and smiled a secret smile thinking of it. She, Gliri the mouse, had made a friend whose company she loved almost as she did her brother's, though differently.
"I'll race you," she said with a flashing smile as she took off running.
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:45 pm
There it was again, Muscar noticed. That little smile Gliri had been giving lately when she didn't think he was watching. Something made her smile like that, and Muscar didn't know what it was. It bothered him, this ignorance, because it meant she was keeping secrets from him, and he couldn't imagine what secrets she might have. They were basically each other's only companions, and told each other everything. There was no conceivable way anything could happen to her that he didn't know about.
Muscar realized he was brooding, and then his grin was quick and brilliant as he watched his sister take off at a run. There were times when he felt guilty, like he didn't provide well enough for their small family, since they didn't eat every day and rarely as much as they would like, but her figure was still supple and lithe. She did not look like a lioness who had struggled to grow up, forced to rely on a brother who was no great hunter, in spite of half a lifetime of practice. She was strong and beautiful, and he was proud to be her brother.
That didn't mean he was going to allow her to have more than a hint of a head start. Gliri could easily outrun him in a sprint, though he could outdistance her over time, and so he could ill afford to give her too much time to run. The distance to the stream was short, and at the speeds Gliri ran very short indeed. Muscar leaped into action, covering more than half his body length again with that first leap before falling into a pounding racing stride as he trailed his sister.
"You'll not beat me," he called to her as he closed the distance between them. He was running faster because he was pushing himself as hard as he could and she was not, but it might not make any difference. They were close enough to the stream that he could catch up to her and still lose because she would have reached the stream first.
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:58 pm
Muscar's footsteps behind her were a familiar sound for Gliri and she knew that if she pushed herself just a little harder she could speed away from him and beat him to the stream with time to spare. She'd seen the brooding look he gave her before he accepted her challenge to race, and though she felt guilty for manipulating him she knew she wasn't ready to deal with that yet.
She ran faster, hoping to tire her brother sufficiently that he would be too winded to ask her anything at first, and then distracted by the water once they reached it. Even as she ran her mind was in the process of spinning a tale, this time of a lion who loved the sea. Gliri had never seen the sea, but she'd heard of it from other rogues she and her brother had come across in their travels. They said it was the largest body of water imaginable and that it tasted salty, like blood, but with less flavor and more bitterness.
The stream came into view and she pushed herself just a little harder so that she charged down the bank and into the water. Its cold came as a shock to her at first and she gasped involuntarily, but she quickly became accustomed to the chill around her paws and schooled her expression so that it would be all smiles and friendliness. She thought she might invite her brother to jump in and join her, and maybe not tell him that the water was very, very cold. As she stood there, with the current tugging at her legs, she drank of the cool liquid with her eyes closed in happy memory.
"Come on," she urged Muscar as he drew close enough. "The water feels wonderful, a welcome relief from today's heat."
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 2:15 pm
Muscar watched as his sister sped away from him, leaving him behind with enough ease that he probably should have been shamed, except he couldn't be shamed by Gliri. His sister didn't have it in her to deliberately cause him harm or embarrassment, and she would never do anything to make him suffer. He knew he would never win this race, but he hoped by pushing himself harder he could at least decrease the time between their respective finishes.
It was interesting how their different personalities had caused them to develop different skills and strengths. Actually, he sometimes wondered if it wasn't Gliri's personality which had caused both of them to develop their skills and strengths. She was the one who wouldn't hunt, which meant he had to hunt if anyone was going to. She was the one who constantly fled, and so he had been forced to learn to track her down. He didn't resent her for it. Her talent for storytelling brought him so much pleasure he couldn't possibly resent her. And besides. He loved her.
There she was, standing in the water wearing another one of her secret smiles as she drank. She hadn't seen him yet, evidently. When she did notice him, she was all smiles, the kind of smiles she gave him though. Not the secret smile he'd discovered recently. Not the one which bothered him so much. At her salutation and enthusiastic insistence that he join her Muscar became instantly wary. She seemed to be smiling just a little too hard, and it couldn't just be to conceal her secret smile. She didn't know he'd seen it, he was certain.
"I don't trust you," he said as he reached the bank. "That water looks very cold indeed."
He dipped one paw in very carefully and was not much surprised to learn that the water was every bit as cold as he had imagined. It did, however, feel delightful against the heat of the day. He waded in anyway, taking care to splash his sister as much as possible while he walked.
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 3:49 pm
"You're absolutely no fun," Gliri chided her brother as he made his cautious way into the water. She put on a pouting expression which would fool no one. A gifted storyteller and a not-too-bad singer, Gliri was, but an actress she was not.
When he got close enough to splash her with his approach Gliri squealed and retaliated, using her forepaws to send great sprays of water toward her brother. For now she overpowered his tromping with her dedicated splashing, but he would soon win out. He was larger and capable of displacing more water than she could ever hope to.
In the mean time, they were both getting very wet indeed and Gliri laughed to see her brother becoming sodden. His mane, not yet as thick and luxurious as a fully grown lion's might become, plastered itself to the rest of him or hung in stringy clumps, depending on where it was located. He looked perfectly ridiculous, though she imagined she didn't look much better. She had less mane to look soggy, but otherwise her fur was just as wet.
To escape her brother's onslaught Gliri ducked into the water, submerging herself past her shoulders and slunk away, though his purposeful flailing continued to stir up water that struck her in waves or droplets, depending on the vigor of his movements. Muscar could splash around all he liked, but she'd had enough of that. Her retreat took her to the far side of the stream, where she heaved herself onto the shore and lay very still for some seconds, enjoying the feeling of the hot sun on her wet fur. Her eyes closed in pleasure.
"Good idea, favorite brother."
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:02 am
Muscar laughed. "You mean because I refuse to be taken in by your deceitful tricks? I'm terribly sorry to have foiled your nefarious plans. Watch me spoil them further."
And then he began to deliberately splash her with large, clumsy motions that displaced enough water that she was forced to retreat. This was a victorious moment for him, and he announced it to the world with a mock-roar. The fact that Gliri had been forced out of the water meant he won.
"The stream is mine!" he declared. A part of him hoped she would charge in and challenge him for possession of it, but he could tell from the way she lay, already very still and relaxed, that she would not be moving until they decided to return to the den. Just the same, he couldn't help adding the extra goad: "And there's nothing anyone can do about it."
Hearing Gliri's praise made Muscar swell with pride, almost visibly. True, it had only been an acknowledgment of an inarguably good idea, but it had been his inarguably good idea. He liked to make his sister happy. She constantly told him that she was content, but content and happy were not the same thing. It was true that lately she'd seemed more content than usual, edging in on happiness, but he knew that wasn't because of something he'd done and she wasn't talking about it, and so he felt that he had been somehow challenged and wanted to also make his sister happy.
It was juvenile, but Gliri was basically his only companion and she meant the world to him. He wanted to make sure that he occupied the same position in her life. It was unsettling to think that maybe there was something or someone else who was winning her favor and good humor.
"Gliri," he began. "Is everything all right?"
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 1:20 pm
"Yes. That's exactly what I meant," Gliri said from the relative safety of the shore. He could probably still splash her there, but it would take more effort.
She lay with her eyes closed, enjoying the perfect temperature created by her damp fur and the warm sun. If she'd had the physiology for it, she would have been purring. As it was, her expression was one of utter contentment. Not even the tip of her tail moved to spoil her enjoyment of this moment. Certainly none of Muscardini's efforts to cajole her back into the water would have any effect. She was fine where she was, and although she'd have to ford the stream to get back to their den, that could wait until they were ready to leave. She'd had enough of being splashed at for the time being.
"Congratulations," she sighed as she rolled over to let her other side toast a little. "Does this mean I have some sort of authority, being the sister of the lion who owns the stream?"
Her eyes flew open when Muscardini asked if everything was all right. She knew he would have noticed that she was different. She was not in the habit of hiding things from him and she was not very good at it. Until now she'd never had anything to hide from him, and she wasn't even sure why she was hiding it from him. He would probably be pleased that she'd made a friend. She would be happy for him if he ever came back to the den and announced that there was someone he'd like her to meet.
Actually, she wondered how that would go. What if he did fall in love and find a mate, but the lioness resented Gliri for always being around and always being so needy? That would be awful. Gliri would want to be part of her brother's new family. Maybe it wouldn't be as large as Shazidi's, with ten members, but it might be nice to have a large family to come home to. Or stay home with, in Gliri's case.
"Everything's fine, Muscar," she answered, pretending she didn't know why he had asked. She simply wasn't ready to tell him about Shazidi yet.
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 2:28 pm
"Authority?" Muscar asked in mock-indignation. "What authority could you possibly have? You won't even get into the water. While you're on shore you have no authority whatsoever, even as my sister."
He trailed off when he realized that Gliri wasn't really even listening to him, and was again in her own little world, her eyes closed to his world and her expression relaxed in a smile. He wanted to believe that smile was because she was enjoying the day and his presence, but the thought had been planted in his mind that there was something else. Maybe someone one else. Without even knowing them, or knowing for sure they existed, he was jealous of this other.
"Is it?" he pressed. She didn't seem to know what he was talking about, and he didn't like the idea of forcing her to tell him anything, but he was dying to know. It had been gnawing at him for days, leaving his stomach constantly sore and aching, as though he'd not been fed. He hunted more in an effort to assuage it, but he knew nothing short of information would have the desired effect.
"You seem different lately. Happier. Not that you really seemed unhappy before, but now you seem happier. I'm wondering what's changed." He stood in the stream still with the water up to his ribs, unconsciously blocking the most direct route back to their den with his body. He closed some of the distance between them by moving toward the shallows and the bank where she lay.
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 3:49 pm
"Too bad," Gliri replied with a tongue-curling yawn. "But it's probably for the best. I don't think I'd make a very good authority figure. It would be too much pressure, and it's too hot for that."
It was too late, she supposed, to close her eyes and pretend to have fallen asleep. She had never been one of those who could fall asleep easily or quickly. Perhaps she had been as a cub, but her memory didn't reach that far back. It wasn't something she cared to spend time and effort recalling. That past was far too distant to have much of an effect on her current existence.
"Yes," Gliri told her brother with as much finality as she could muster.
Unfortunately, he seemed to ignore the finality in her tone and pressed on. She wondered if he had consciously positioned himself in the middle of the stream to prevent her from simply walking away and returning to the den. She was actually tempted to push past him. She didn't think he'd pursue her, but he didn't deserve to be treated like that, and he'd remain curious anyway.
"I am happy, Muscar. I like where we're living. I feel safe here." Her stomach twisted at the half-truth. She wasn't in the habit of lying to Muscar any more than she was in the habit of hiding things from him. After all, hiding things was basically lying by omission. She was still doing that, actually, and it made her feel guilty.
"Why does it bother you that I should be happy?" she asked, knowing that it was unfair of her to turn the tables on him like that.
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 4:14 pm
Muscar felt sick to his stomach suddenly. Maybe he could have waited to have this conversation, or simply not brought it up. Did it really matter if Gliri was happy because of him or because of something else? She was clearly not happy now that he'd brought the matter up. He didn't know why she should be unhappy about being asked, but he felt guilty for asking, and he didn't like that.
"It doesn't bother me," he protested. It did, of course, but now that she asked why he was bothered by it, it was difficult to admit that he was jealous. And afraid. Clearly she'd found something which made her happier than he did, and he didn't know what he'd do if she decided to leave him for that person. He loved and needed her, and didn't think he could do without her.
"It's just..." He didn't know how to justify himself without sounding completely juvenile. "My life more or less revolves around you, and I'm uneasy thinking that there are things you're not sharing with me. It's not as if I'd be unhappy to learn that your world doesn't revolve around me. I just...want to know what I'm missing while I'm out hunting."
He knew he was casting her in a somewhat villainous role, but there were times when he felt she almost filled that role. She was keeping secrets from him, and he didn't like it. He truly didn't. The nasty, manipulative part of his mind that he didn't know existed pointed out that Gliri would tell him what he wanted to know if he made her feel guilty enough, and she'd still forgive him for the guilt. She always forgave him for everything eventually.
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 4:31 pm
Gliri sat up and looked at Muscar, standing in the water and dripping and she felt a renewed surge of guilt. When he began to explain himself, which she hadn't expected, she found that he somehow managed to reverse their positions so that she was the one who was behaving badly in this relationship. She agreed that he had the right of it. She'd been keeping secrets from him and she deserved to feel guilty.
Maybe it would be better just to tell him. He said he wouldn't be unhappy to learn that she'd found something which made her happy. And it wasn't as if he didn't make her happy. He just made her happy in a different way than Shazidi did. Her heart didn't tend to speed up in anticipation of seeing him, for one thing. She was usually pleased to see him, but she didn't look forward to it the same way she did with Shazidi. She couldn't even think how to articulate it, since she'd been unconsciously shying away from words like "love" and "attraction." That would have been too much of a disloyalty to her brother, she felt.
"Remember that day I told you I got lost but one of our neighbors helped me find my way back?" Her voice was very soft and at the same time tight with discomfort. She had the feeling this was going to end badly.
"Well. I've seen him since then. I meet him near his family's den and he keeps me company while you're out hunting. He's really nice. I think you'd like him if you met him." Her shoulders twitched the way they did when she felt like a predator was watching her. The fact that Muscar was her brother and dripping didn't make him look any less dangerous in this moment. She was terrified that he'd be angry and tell her to get gone.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 10:30 am
Muscar recognized Gliri's position. It was what he would have described as cowering if she'd used it with anyone else. Seeing her sitting hunched like that before him made him cold, in spite of the burning hot sun shining down on his back. It was as though the icy stream was leeching all of his body heat from him. He felt hurt and angry and guilty all at once and the feelings fed into and off of one another creating a leaden lump in his gut which sickened him. He wondered if it showed in his posture and expression.
"So...You've been sneaking away from the den to visit with a strange lion, and this has been going on for weeks?" He was in a state to be unhappy, but he wasn't stupid and a part of his mind was occupied making sure that his words came out in such a way that he wouldn't sound juvenile as much as he would sound like a concerned brother.
"I can't believe you would do that. Even assuming he is as nice as you seem to think he is, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. What if something happened to you en route to meeting him? Or what if he isn't as good as you think, and his family decided to abscond with you? What do you think I would do then? I'd be out of my mind with worry." He'd also pursue her to the ends of the earth, but that hardly needed to be said. She knew that much, he hoped, without him having to remind her of the depth of his devotion to her.
"I just worry about you. We're not a well socialized pair of siblings, but of the two of us I have to say that your judgment when it comes to strangers is probably less accurate than mine is. It's possible that you may have misjudged him. I'm only looking out for you, you know." He probably shouldn't keep saying that. The repetition made it seem like he was trying to convince himself, rather than her, of the veracity of his words, and he knew that his points were valid, even if they were really being used to cover his real problems with his sister going a-foraying.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 10:52 am
"I'm sorry, Muscar," Gliri said miserably. She wasn't really sorry that she'd been seeing Shazidi, but she was very sorry her brother was reacting this way to the news. It wasn't at all what she'd anticipated from him. Perhaps the innate sense which had been telling her to keep her association hidden from Muscardini had been correct, and she should have actually lied to him. But that hadn't felt right to her either. Gods, what a miserable path to be forced to walk.
"I didn't think you would take it this way, but now that you mention it, I can see why you would be concerned. I swear, though, that Shazidi means me no harm. He's truly sweet and gentle. In a way he's a lot like you. I feel very safe when I'm with him." It didn't occur to Gliri that her brother might have a fear of being replaced in her affections and that she was saying exactly the wrong thing to try to persuade him to see things her way.
"I don't think he'd let anything happen to me," she continued, blithely unaware of how uncomfortable her revelations would make her brother. Now that she'd decided to talk about Shazidi it was a relief to do so. She'd not been able to voice her thoughts about him before. "He walks me most of the way back to the den whenever I come see him, and I think he would be happy to meet me at a location closer to our home, but I didn't think you'd appreciate having him come so close."
She was looking less hunched now. "I really don't mean to worry you, but I think it's a good thing that I've met him. And as for his family absconding with me, I don't think it likely. I've not met them, but from what he says they're huge. I don't think they need any more members, though they're apparently very friendly. I do hope to meet them someday. Maybe you could come with me, if it would make you feel better about it."
She didn't think Shazidi would object to meeting her brother, but she didn't want to just spring Muscar on him. Particularly not if her brother was going to act like this. She'd rather give him some time to get used to the idea before taking him to meet her friend, and maybe some more time after that to get used to Shazidi himself before meeting the family. She shook her head. She was getting ahead of herself. She still had to get through this, first.
"I promise, Muscar, I'm being very careful and nothing bad will happen to me. You know I love you too much to leave you." She stepped into the stream a little and licked his ear affectionately to emphasize the point.
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 7:35 pm
Gliri's contrition seemed genuine to her brother and he was perfectly willing to accept it as such, but when she began to describe her new acquaintance, giving him a name to go with the stellar traits she seemed to think this Shazidi possessed, he began to grow increasingly agitated. So this lion was like him, and she felt safe with him. He began to feel truly threatened by this unknown lion and he wished he had some sort of authority to forbid Gliri from ever seeing him again, but all he could do was express his disapproval, and he doubted she'd heed that. She seemed to want to bring the two of them together and have them become friends or something like that. Not bloody likely.
"I would be interested in meeting him," Muscardini allowed. Preferably without Gliri around so that he could set this interloper straight and warn him away from his sister. But he did want to get a measure of the lion who had so impressed his sister. He probably ought to be flattered that Shazidi's similarity to himself put him in good stead with Gliri and had been used in a complimentary way, but it really just made him feel threatened. What if she fell in love with this lion and left him?
As though she'd read his mind, Gliri offered him reassurance that she loved him too much to leave him, but he was not reassured. After all, what did he do for Gliri? Provide food and protection. Anyone else could do that, really. But who could fill the place Gliri occupied in his life? He didn't think anyone could. He shivered and wasn't sure if was the chill of the water or the thought of being abandoned by the person he loved most in the world.
"I love you too much to lose you," he reminded her softly. "But you know that. Should we head back? The sun's beginning to get low over the horizon?"
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