[PRP] Mirage? [Kimanda and Kitambi]

[soutou]

It had been a very long journey. Kimanda, though he enjoys traveling above all else, did not enjoy actually having to find something. Namely, a prideland. The cheetah had not been clever enough to ask Nsundu for the location of her tribe when they parted and when Kimanda decided he wanted to visit the young lioness, he was hard pressed to find his way. Needless to say, this irked him greatly. He had to ask strangers which way to go (tragic!). He had never gotten lost so many times in his life and he had to leave his traveling mate behind for a while. Which also irritated him.

But he was finally here.

So it was okay now. He could show Nsundu how much he improved his rhythm even though he was just a cheetah. Excellent. This was most excellent...except...where was everyone? Kimanda huffed and looked around, ears sweeping back. Of course. He'd finally gotten here, and everyone was out, weren't they? (Hopefully he'd run into someone that actually knew who Nsundu was.) "Nsundu? Anyone?"  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel the beating of your heart, accept it and know it well. You cannot be one with Rhythm if you don't make it yours. Breathe in. Breathe—who was calling for her mother?

Kitambi opened her brown eyes slowly, spotting the form of a very skinny cat approaching from the south. Who was this? He didn't look familiar, and she knew all of the members of her pride to be. Perhaps he was a friend of her mother's. The cub stood up and sauntered over, sizing Kimanda up as she approached. He needed to eat something. Nobody should be that skinny.

"She's not here now, stranger, but I can answer for her."

To those who knew her, Kitambi's dark expression added to her monotone were fairly normal. She was a very somber cub. To outsiders it might have been a tad alarming, especially if you met her mother shortly after. But Kitambi didn't think about any of that. She was just being herself.  

[soutou]

Kimanda turned when he heard a voice. Hm. That was too young to be Nsundu, maybe it was another pride member. He turned, opening his mouth to explain when he realize said pride member was small. Very small. A cub kind of small, actually. A cub? Kimanda's whiskers twitched as he watched carefully. He didn't like this...at all. He did not like cubs. They were small and troublesome. They were wily and did nasty things and they were very, very clingy. Kimanda shivered at the very thought of having to tote a small child around on his travels. Wait. Didn't they usually come in more than one?

"...no you can't," he finally replied, frowning. She was just a baby. He wanted the real day. He wanted to show Nsundu what he could do and this kid wouldn't understand the significance. She probably couldn't even relay messages properly. His ears stayed flattened and he swished his tail before sitting. At least cubs don't attack. "Can't you just tell me where they are?  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

...

Kitambi stared pokerfaced back at the strange feline, refusing to change her expression for such a stupid comment. Of course she could answer for her mother. She was the heir. Obviously this feline was oblivious of where he was, and needed some reeducating. Sigh. This was almost as bothersome as her sister's frequent surprise attacks.

"No," she replied simply, mimicking what the cheetah was doing and sitting down in front of him. "You can talk to me, or talk to no one. I don't care." There was no way this cat was going to see her mother if he acted like this. He probably had only heard her name and didn't even really know her.  

[soutou]

Kimanda groaned inwardly. This was exactly why he didn't like the younglings. See? See! This little brown cub was up to no good! She was messing with his head, and quite frankly, if Kimanda didn't play along, he knew he wouldn't get to see his favorite lioness. Sneaky, nasty cub. The cheetah grumbled to himself, tail swishing with his discontentment. "Well, why do you get to decide?" he asked finally. It was a fair question. Well, he thought so anyways. Since when did a cub get to call the shots?

His ears finally perked forward a little. "I'm Kimanda, by the by. I'm Nsundu's friend." Maybe that's why the cub wouldn't let him see the brown lioness; she didn't know who he was. Should he ask who she was? Or would that make her mad? Children were weird when it came to talking with strange adults. Though, this one seemed mighty bold. May as well give it a shot, anyways. It wasn't like she could chase him off. "Who are you, anyways?"  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

"Because I live here, and you don't." A fair question received a fair answer. Or, in Kitambi's mind, a stupid question got a plain answer. Of course she called the shots here. She was the heir. Apparently, he didn't know that, and now he was sulking. Sigh. How old was he anyways? He was acting like a baby. Though, now that she looked at him, he probably was. He didn't even have a mane yet.

Her ears twitched when the male said that he was Nsundu's friend. Hmmm... did she believe him or did she try and call his bluff? Perhaps she would do a little bit of both. She would tell him her name, and then make him prove that he knew her mother. Sounded like a plan. "Kitambi. I'm her daughter." The cub's tail flicked idly. "Prove to me you know my mother. What colour is she?"  

[soutou]

Kimanda's ears flicked back. "Nsundu never said anything about babies!" he cried, leaping to his feet. This cub was trying to make a fool out of him! "She's brown," he said, "really, really dark brown.' Hah! See! He did know Nsundu, you silly cub! The cheetah snorted and shook his head defiantly. Try to trick him again, why don't you?

Of course, she was still the one who actually knew where the lioness was. Kimanda deflated a little, ears flicking again. So did that mean she was still winning? Yes. Yes it did. Ug. "So, are you going to allow me to see her now, or what? I have something to show her." And he did, too. No way the cub would be able to appreciate his much improved Rhythm. Besides, he had worked so hard on that, he wasn't about to show it to just anybody. (Though, on second thought, maybe he could impress the little twerp with it.)  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Sigh. Kitambi had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Of course, if this strange skinny lion hadn't seen her mother in a while then he wouldn't have heard about the cubs. It wasn't that strange that her mother had had cubs if Kimanda really thought about it. She was trying to increase the member size of her pride, and there was really only one way to do it without going out recruiting again. It was kind of a no-brainer, really.

"Alright, you're good, she's brown. And she's actually busy right now." Kitambi dragged her claws through the dirt idly, unable to help the amused sparkle in her eyes. Had she been more expressive, the smirk might have been visible on her mouth instead. Still, she couldn't help but feeling as though she had outwitted this adult. "Whatever you need to show her, you can show me, especially if it's Rhythm."  

[soutou]

"...busy?" Kimanda sighed. That was no good. How could he show Nsundu all he practiced if she wasn't here? What could be so important that she couldn't come see him anyways? The cheetah huffed indignantly. He'd have to settle for Kitambi then, wouldn't he? Oh well. As long as she didn't try to attack his mind, or anything. "...are you any good at Rhythm?" He didn't mean to be offensive, it just never occurred to him that it might be.

She was just a baby, after all. He didn't know how young cubs got taught Rhythm. Though, being Nsundu's brat, he should have expected it. Wait... "Do you have any siblings?" he asked curiously. Wasn't a bad guess. Lions usually had more than one, didn't they? "Are you the oldest?" That would explain why she thought she was in charge...  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

Kitambi stared at the cheetah, before raising an eyebrow. Was she good at Rhythm? How could she not be good at Rhythm? Her mother was the pride leader, for one, and she had grown up with Rhythm as the centre of her life for another. Just because Kimanda had learned of Rhythm late in his life didn't mean that everyone did the same. Perhaps this cheetah was just inexperienced. Kitambi would give him the benefit of the doubt. This time.

"Of course," the cub responded levelly, though she still managed to come off as though she were schooling Kimanda. "I'm the eldest daughter of Nsundu, which would make me heir to this pride. If I wasn't good at Rhythm then I would never be able to become my mother's successor, would I?" Kitambi felt a twinge of guilt at the sibling question, but she chose not to answer it, not directly anyways. "I might. You might see them around, you might not. It doesn't matter though. You came here to show something to my mother? So show me."  

[soutou]

Kimanda didn't think of all those things, being an adult and all. He was allowed to overlook small details like that. He didn't get the whole pride concept either, being a rogue for most of his life. Nearly all his life, really. And lions were weird things too. "...I guess that makes sense," Kimanda consented, because indeed, it did. Stupid cub, making sense.

"Fine," he grumbled, still not thrilled with the idea of a cub watching him. Mainly, he was pretty sure she'd tell him he was awful and kick him out and he'd never even get to see Nsunudu. "Here goes." And so the cheetah started to dance, if you could call it that, and use his Rhythm, exactly how he had been practicing.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

He guessed that made sense? Of course it made sense. This guy must be really inexperienced. Either that, or he had lived underground all his life. For someone who supposedly knew her mother and was familiar with Rhythm, he was a bit slow on the uptake. Ah well, if she was going to be pride leader she had to be able to handle these kinds of situations. Perhaps her mother was testing her ability to be a teacher. Yes, that was it. She couldn't be perfect at it if she didn't practice. Right then, she would try and teach this poor cheetah a little bit about life.

Kitambi sat quietly in the beginning, allowing Kimanda to get his dance going. Once you got into the Rhythm the dancing became easier. It was always a little bit awkward at the beginning. The cub remained silent for a little while longer, before began tapping her toes along with his beat. Finally, she decided to speak, "Loosen up a bit, you're dancing like a stiff tree." Of course everyone knows that stiff trees don't dance at all, they just stand still in the wind. Hopefully Kimanda would get the comparison.  

[soutou]

It was a very good thing Kimanda couldn't read minds, or that Kitambi didn't always speak her mind. Otherwise, Kimanda might have been horribly offended. Instead, he just flicked an ear and tilted his head a little as he listened. She might be a cub, but her suggestion was pretty good. So, with a bit more effort, Kimanda tried to let himself go a little. It was hard, but he just needed to trust his Rhythm, right? That was the whole point of this.

Kitambi practically told him he wasn't dancing. And that just wouldn't do if he wanted to show Nsundu what he could do, wouldn't do indeed. The cheetah snorted at himself and buckled down. It was time to get serious about this. Relax, loose, relax, go with the flow, follow the Rhythm.  

[Chibi Sheepcat]

While it may have been good for Kimanda, Waseme was a different story. Kitambi's sister found her lack of words just as offensive as if she had insulted her outright. The heiress simply preferred to keep her thoughts to herself even if it angered her sister. Not all of her thoughts were as negative as what she thought of Kimanda, but it was generally in Kitambi's best interest to keep her thoughts to herself. There weren't any aggressive members of the Nchi'mahadhi pride, but one day she might meet somebody who was. That, or she might hurt someone's feelings. Kimanda, however, was just a cheetah, and if he came looking for her mother than he could take a little guff.

Oooh, was he getting serious? Kitambi continued to tap her toes, watching the cheetah dance. Yes, that was much better. He wasn't half as good as any of Isi's kids, but he was good for a beginner. "Not bad. You'd benefit from hanging around here for a little while. Isi can teach you better Rhythm, and then you'll be a better dancer. Your Rhythm is all over the place now. Plus, if you hang around you might get to see Nsundu." In truth, Kitambi just wanted to know how this cheetah knew her mother. Whether or not he succeeded in dancing was neither here nor there.  

[soutou]

Kimanda stopped then. All over the place? The cheetah frowned, ears flicking back. Well...at least it wasn't just plain bad. That was some sort of validation for all his practicing, wasn't it? He practiced every day! He better be getting better at this! He snorted and sat, giving Kitambi a most serious of look. "Of course I'll stay," he responded, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He wasn't going to just quit, not now! He swished his tail and shook his head.

"...well, thanks for the advice." No use pissing Nsundu's daughter off. She was Nsundu's daughter, after all. It would come back to bite him. "I'm going to go look for Nsundu now." He could look for Isi, whoever that was, later.