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 Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:59 pm
Adanna loped along the banks of the watering hole, her posture casual and confident. The day was warm and the morning was long past, leaving Ada awake and active as ever. Where the lioness got her energy it was hard to say. It did seem, however, that the characteristic was mirrored in her children.
Or at least, it was in the daughter. Jini seemed far more content to lazy on a rock in the sun like his father rather then run around like his mother. He smiled as fish swam in and out of view in the water. Mosi wasn't far away and somehow it didn't seem likely he'd let her drag him off someone far away today. No, it appeared he was enjoying himself rather well.
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:10 pm
Mosi was indeed very much near a perfect emotional, psychological mirror of their mother. She was actively swimming about IN the watering hole, splashing about and having a grand time though neither of her family members would join her. It was a rare mood to find her in, not ready to bolt off on some exploration or another, for that girl truely did seem to need to be in a constant state of motion.
Nukta was off and about hunting, and fully intending to make a trip to Pride Rock as well before the day was done, but unbeknownst to him or the family he had run into a little "snag" in his plan.
The other half of that snag was making her way through the pridelands as the family lounged, moving with a patient gait, though inwardly she felt nervous. She could scent Nukta ahead, however faintly, but was surprised to spot a family of three, rather than her son on the horizon. There, though, playing in the water, was a youth that was near the spitting image of her boys, and it was then that Ausi noticed Jini's markings as well. This must be Nukta's family.... Then the lioness circling the watering hole must be his mate. This was Ausi'Juu's chance to make a good first impression and meet her grandchildren and daughter-in law, all in one fell swoop.
Mosi spotted the stranger after a few minutes of play, and in her hurry to tell her mother and brother of the approaching stranger she took in a mouthful of water and choked a bit, paddling back to shore.
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:15 pm
While Ada wasn't really watching Mosi's swimming as a responsible mother should, she did notice her coming over. She tilted her head as her daughter swallowed water. But...seeing how Mosi wasn't drowning, she didn't think too much of it, "Hey, Mosi...You aren't supposed to drink the water while you swim!" She teased, though under the fire that was Ada's personality lingered the small instictic worry of a mother. So she waited on the bank and watched Mosi come.
Jini looked up and saw the lioness coming as well. She was a little too far away to see distinctly, but he could see her enough to know she was coming this way. His ears perked and he blinked his green eyes in puzzlement. He hadn't seen her before. Well...it wasn't as if he had met all the lions in the pridelands, but still. It was interesting to see someone new, "Mom...someone's coming~!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:31 pm
Well, as in turned out Jini had beaten Mosi to delivering the news. She didn't worry urgently about speaking, and instead focused her attention on breathing, still coughing up a bit of water from her throat, but otherwise fine. She looked up at Adanna like a drowned rat, unable to respond, panting softly for breath before giving her coat a good heavy shake.
The spot slowly became a figure, and the figure slowly became a shape, and finally, the shape became a lioness. She had a black pelt, and bore a bold golden marking on her shoulder that almost seemed to put the sun to shame in color alone. Her eyes were of a deep jasmine, and her markings bore striking resemblance to Nukta. Her bangs were streaked, and she bore similar dark bands around her forepaws.
She spoke in a non-threatening, inquisitive voice as she simply tilted her head a fraction to one side standing before the family.
"Hello... are you relatives of Nukta?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:46 pm
When Mosi was clearly fine Ada's attention shifted without another thought. She wasn't the smothering mother type, after all. She tilted her head to the side slightly, looking at the lioness with curiousity. She looked a lot like Nukta. Yet it didn't really occur to her that it might be a relative of his. Her nose wrinkled slightly in thought and her eyes were critical, but not in an unfriendly way. It was just her way. "Uh...yeah. Who might you be?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:57 pm
Mosi moved away from Adanna's side to settle next to Jini on his little rock perch, letting the sun work on drying her back while she started grooming her foreleg dry, all the while keeping an eye on the stranger. Let mom handle this.
Ausi'Juu didn't seem much bothered by the odd expression, though that was more because she'd learned not to wear her heart so openly on her sleeve and it was not a habit she was prone to loose so easily. Not even in the face of loved ones.
Had she done something to offend, or concern the other already? Perhaps, she wouldn't know unless she asked.
"He's... my son. We've been seperated for quite some time, but I'd heard he made home here with a lioness... are these your children, then?"
Not that it wasn't already obvious, and perhaps that did show by the soft, delighted smile on her dark maw.
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:02 pm
"Really?" Ada looked a little surprised, even though she really shouldn't have been. Her ears perked slightly and while her features smoothened slightly, her eyes were still rather puzzled. It was possible she found it odd that Ausi would come looking for her son so late in life. After all, he had been missing since cubhood. "Yeah...this is Mosi and Jini. I'm Adanna, by the way."
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:05 pm
"It's nice to meet you, Adanna, Mosi, Jini," She smiled.
"Wait. So you mean you're like... our grandmother or something?" Mosi made a grossed out face, as if this realization was extremely weird. To her it WAS, all of a sudden this lioness shows up from no where announcing herself to be family?
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:11 pm
Ada seemed to find it strange as well. The last time Nukta had talked of his family it hadn't been very pleasent. He had plainful memories about it as far as she remembered. Hadn't he not even seen hide nor hair of them since he was a cub? That was an awful long time and to show up now it was rather odd. "Have you...talked to him yet?" Ada asked, her gaze still rather critical, trying to figure out what she thought of the lioness before her.
Jini, on the other hand, didn't seem to upset or alienated by the news. "We have a grandma~!" He said rather joyfully, his light green eyes sparkling at the idea.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:18 pm
"I realize that it might seem strange..." Ausi replied, glancing between the three quietly. "I haven't... We only just arrived here a few days ago, I thought he was here, but found you instead."
"Dad's out hunting..." Mosi replied, staying beside her more excited younger brother.
"I'm hoping to speak with him today, there's much to talk about, and I've missed him terribly." She admitted openly, looking slightly ashamed. She'd been the irresponsible mother who let her cubs wander, after all.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:38 pm
Ada's first impulse towards Nukta's mother was, no matter how irrational, a slight sense of hostility. She felt her insides squirm with anger and scorn towards her. She hadn't forgotten the pain Nukta had told her of and his fears. Instinct almost pleaded her to blame it on Ausi which then instilled her great sense of protectiveness over her mate.
But that shame that came to Ausi's face stopped all of this, if sluggishly. Such a look spoke of regret and self-scolding. Ada didn't know anything about how Ausi felt or how she had handled not having either of her sons come home so long ago, but that one look reminded her that she couldn't be so heartless. It was simply possible she was a worried mother who had fretted these long times away from her son and now suddenly had the hope of seeing him again. Her irrational and unfounded blame on Ausi died and she felt a little more pleasent towards her, "Well...you can stay around if you like. He probably won't be too long." Her critical view vanished and she seemed far more casual now.
Jini knew nothing of his mother's odd feelings nor of his sister's reluctance. He bounded over to the 'new' family member and stood right before her with bright eyes, "So you're really our grandma?" Such are the ways of children, asking questions that everyone else seems to have thought established as a fact already.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:45 pm
Unaware of her narrow "escape" Ausi'Juu nodded just so to show that she'd heard, before collecting herself. If she got this emotional just being around his family...
"It's been so long... We'd thought..."
"So you're really our grandma?"
Ausi'Juu's previous sentence had trailed to a stop, and now there was no sign of her continuing it as she gazed down into the face of her grandson with a slow and sun-filled smile
"I am, little one, and I'm very glad to meet you,"
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:49 pm
Jini almost seem to glow with pleasure at the idea, his ears perked forward attentively. It was strange...wasn't Mosi normally the out going one? Yet here he was, dancing at the idea of a grandmother he had never met before or even heard of. Yet the youths heart was warm and big and despite his mild nature it wasn't all too surprising. After all, his mother seemed to not even notice his actions as strange or anything of the kind. "Does that mean we have a grandda too?" He chirped hopefully.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:54 pm
That question caught Ausi'Juu off guard. She should have expected it. All she could do for a moment was stare at the cub in surprise before forcing another smile, this one, despite her best efforts, sad.
"You do, two, but one is one with the stars already."
Mosi didn't miss the change in demeanour, and moved down from her perch to step in closer to Adanna for a moment, eased by her mother's new found acceptance. "You mean he's dead?"
Ausi's eyes glassed over, but she nodded.
"He passed on shortly after Nukta disappeared."
Her chest felt tight again. She felt the weight of their judgement already and she hadn't even spoken of Daimyn yet.
"So how come we have two?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:10 pm
Jini looked extremely sad at the news. He almost seem to wilt, like a flower, his eyes dimming and his ears falling back. Energy seemed to drain from his posture and his voice settled into a shy, sad murmur as he kept his eyes away from the new family member, "D-dead...?..." He wanted to say it was sad...and he was sorry...or something but he couldn't manage it. He was the kind of person that ached for those lost even if he knew nothing about them.
Ada didn't seem to share this, though. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to mourn someone she never knew. It was the same with her mother, after all. But that didn't mean she didn't understand the sadness Ausi expressed. The comment about them having two, though, did confuse her somewhat. Wrinkling her nose in hard thought she murmured to Mosi, "I think...it means she found another mate." What else could it be? I wasn't as if two males and Ausi could make Nukta, after all. That was just weird.
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