[PRP] Still best friends [Mawi and Taka.]

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi Mai felt like she was going to pull out her whiskers.

The reasons themselves was not why she wanted to pull them out but just stress added together. She was now the mother of four energetic cubs, and moved up to a higher rank in the pride. The moving up in rank was big, something that she always looked forward to, but it was taking some getting used to. She was slowly starting to enjoy it more however. She loved both of the things. Her cubs were part of her. She loved them so much, all four little bundles, no matter how much they argued at times. She hoped that they could bond like her and Taka...

Speaking of her sister, thats where she was heading now. Her cubs in the safe watch of Aapep and their grandmother, her drum hanging loosely around her neck and her shakers rattling as she stepped each heavy step and a tired but happy smile plastered on her face she was ready to spend some one on one time with her sister.

It was much overdue. After Aapep moved into the pride and she ended up expecting cubs she was keeping herself busy. Tending to herself, Aapep pridal stuff, and now cubs! She missed the time that she spent with her sister, almost craved it. She wanted to hang out with her again, and with the little time that they spent running into eachother she was now on her way to their favorite spot to hang out. Under some trees. Her sleek tan body was making its way toward the spot. She smiled softly as she got closer, even though she couldn't see her she had to call out for her.

"Taka!"  

[Light Atago]

Taka had gravitated towards the spot for ages, beneath these trees. There wasn't anything special about them, really. There was no spectacular view, they weren't the tallest trees she'd ever seen, nor the most shade producing. They might not have been spectacular of their own accord, but they were the most special. She and her sister would meet here, then hang out, romp in the lake, whatever, all the time. So whether consciously or not, Taka started out all of her days here.

Though, lately... So much had happened. She couldn't help but feel a bit estranged. With her own cubs long gone, without a trace, and now her sister being swept up in a whirlwind of activity, cubs, a mate, a promotion... She couldn't help but feel a little lonely. But at the same time, she knew it couldn't be helped, and that things would settle down again, to some peaceful equilibrium. Time was all she needed, and the gold lioness counted it with every rattle of her shakers, eagerly awaiting that equilibrium.

For the time being, though, she could be found in the shade, drum sitting a few feet off, tail lightly flicking at her back leg's shakers, making a "tak" noise with every strike, licking her paw for no apparent reason. Her ear flicked, though, when she heard a voice, a familiar one of her sister, Mawi. A smile quickly spread across her muzzle as she pondered the best way to greet her sibling. She had thought of sneaking up on her, but that was a wasted effort with her shakers on. She decided instead that a tackle would be perfect. Decision in mind, Taka sprung from her sitting position directly at where she'd heard that familiar voice. "Mawi!!"  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi Mai waited a moment, she didn't hear her sister right away, well she didn't hear her sister's voice but as soon as her sister started to head her way she could hear the rattle of her sister's shakers, the sound so distinct to her. Every ones shakers sounded different to her however her sister's stuck out the most to her. She could pick out her sister's shakers in a whole group of others.

She took a moment before she noticed her sister's figure. A grin growing on her face and she was stopped for a moment then noticed her sister heading toward her. She chuckled and picked up her pace then started to trot up to her. "Taka!" She called out again with a laugh, trotting up to her sister and bumping her head into sisters gently in a greeting. "Ah its so good to be out here." She grinned at her sister, right away nipping at the lighter colored ear of her sister before smirking. Her and her sister were so different in colors, and some what in looks, however they were so close in personality, they were perfect for each other. A rare chance of sisters getting along.

She grinned at her sister bumping heads with her again gently. "Its soooo good to get a break!" She giggled some and wormed around. "What have you been up to?" She giggled some then nipped at her ear again and started to lead her sister toward the inside of the trees.  

[Light Atago]

"I know what you mean!" She said. She had a little bit of an idea, what with Hakuna always following her around. Now that he was older, he hung out with her less often. A blessing, though, sometimes she missed the little guy.

Sometimes.

"I haven't been up to much, lately. I had to replace one of my teeth for my drum the other day, though. Man, have you ever had to do that? It wasn't too easy getting one from a kill, but I've managed. It doesn't look too bad, in my opinion, lemme grab it really quick." Taka padded back towards the tree and was back in a flash, drum around her neck. She took it off and spun it around, revealing the replacement. "Can't hardly tell, can you?" She asked, proud of her handiwork.  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi Mai giggled at her sister she was glad at she some what understood. She flicked her hair out of her eyes before smiling at her sister, "don't be surprised if they start to follow you around some times. They love family. Their always following around Kirjava." She giggled softly looking up at her sister. She was pretty sure that Taka knew about Aapep's mom joining the pride too. Kir had been a big help with the cubs, wanting to be there a lot for them. There were plenty of new comers coming in really, she looked forward to meeting them all.

She looked at her sister then nodded making a small face. "Yeah, I've had to do it before." She watched as her sister trotted away then appeared again. She watched the drum, examining it. "Wow, It looks like it always did really." She smiled looking down at her own drum for a moment. "I've broken a few teeth but I mainly break the skin." She made another face before looking up at her sister. "Have you ever got one of your shakers caught on something and snapped it in half? Oh gods it a pain." She giggled softly as she looked down at one of her shakers that were held together by a few teeth. She planned on making a new one soon.

She smiled at Taka, she was glad to be spending time with her sister, it felt like old times. "So, you know what I've been up to." She laughed softly before nodding to her. "What have you been up to?" She asked curiously, she was wondering what her sister had been up to while she was keeping herself busy with various things.  

[Light Atago]

"Oh I know!" She said, sympathizing with her sister. "I can understand why mom didn't keep up a drum when she was in the roguelands, I can't imagine trying to keep one in good condition without the proper supplies and stuff," she said with a nod. "And my shakers are kinda bad too, that way. The shells get stuck really easily." She lifted her front right paw to look at her shaker, it jingled a little, but each little strand did still have a shell, it was in good shape.

Then she hinted at it. In all of Mawi's busy-ness, she must not have noticed when Taka sort of vanished for a little bit. Isithunzi knew, you could never hide anything from your mom. Isi knew that Taka had had a one night stand and gave the cubs to the dad, but... Mawi didn't. "Alright, I'll tell you, but it's big news and you've gotta promise not to tell anyone." She said, glancing left and right to make sure nobody was around to eavesdrop, especially their half siblings. Oh, would news be around the pride or what should Hakuna hear about it... Or Matata, him too, the troublesome pair of twins...

Coast was clear.

"So, a while ago, when your life started to get busy, I kinda bumped into this guy, just beyond the pride... His name was Eyal." She gave a pause to let drama build. As much as this was a secret, she was revelling in telling it. "I kinda had a litter of cubs from him, but he took them all, I was ok with it and everything, but that's what's been up with me recently. It was a while ago, though..." She finished, looking skyward thoughtfully. She turned her rose-colored eyes back to her sister, though, to see the reaction.  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi Mai giggled softly before nodding to her. "Yeah I understand too. Even though some times I wander out there with it, but I wouldn't be able to keep it out there." She shook her head before looking down at her sister's shaker. She always loved how colorful it was. She lifted her paw and gently poked it with a claw, continuing the jingling that her sister's shakers.

Then her attention snapped back to what her sister was saying, she nudged her shoulder softly before chuckling. "Taka, how many secrets have we shared." She grinned at her sister. Her sister knew the most about her, even a little more than Aapep, her own mate, knew. Even though most of those secrets were little childhood ones but still she had never told anyone of those secrets to this day.

He noticed how her sister looked around, she was some what worried about that before she looked up as her sister started talking. She was a little surprised, while she was getting wooed by Aapep her sister had a one night stand. Like her mother. Nothing wrong with it but she was surprised. Her sister had cubs... "Wow." She said in slight disbelief before she shrugged. "Well as long as you are fine and happy thats all that matters." She grinned at her sister before moving forward and nudging her shoulder.  

[Light Atago]

"Yeah, isn't it crazy? But yeah, I'm happy," Taka said with a nod and a smile, it was fairly genuine. She had been less at ease over it back when they had been first born and given away, but... It didn't really bother her anymore, she saw what her mother saw in the lifestyle, but she wasn't sure she wanted to keep it up in the same way Isithunzi did.

Taka rose to her paws. "So sis, with catching up pretty much done, what do you wanna do?" the golden lioness asked, a hint of cub-like mischief entering her face as she said it. She imagined all the pair could do- hang out in the lake, go hang out at the drum circle, whatever!  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi Mai chuckled softly and nodded to her sister. "Just a little bit." She winked before playfully nipping at her sister. Mawi Mai knew herself that she didn't want to have tons of cubs with different males. She was also glad that her sister decided the same. She hoped the cubs were okay. And at the same time she hoped that maybe the cubs would come to visit them one day.

Mawi Mai looked at her sister before flicking her hair out of her eyes a smirk growing across her own face. She stood up, listening to her shakers jingle then the feeling of her drum shifting around her neck. "I'm not sure sis." She grinned bumping her sister. "As long as you don't want to pounce on my tail or play 'mountain' I'm up for anything." She chuckled slightly thinking about two of her cubs favorite 'games'. Ah it was good to be out with her sister.  

[Light Atago]

"Well..." She pondered one of the myriad choices she had before her to do with her sister. "We could race to the lake? That sounds good to me, we can make it up from there?" She offered. They weren't too far from the lake, a couple-minute run at a comfortable pace, though, knowing Taka, she'd give it all she's got. If she got an ok.

"If we do that, I'm going to leave my drum here, though, it'll be safer here than around my neck at turbo-speed," she said with a slight eye-roll. With her luck, she'd have to go find an entirely new gourd if she sprinted with it.  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi looked at her sister with a smile growing on her lips. She hadn't raced her sister to anything in a long time. She chuckled softly before nipping at her sister's ear and worming out of her drum too. "Of course!" She giggled softly before looking at her sister with a nod. "I know the feeling." She laughed slightly before looking at her sister. "Last time I ran with it I ended up breaking it in a few places, It wasn't fun to re-make." She made a small face before the pulled at her sister's ear more roughly.

"Ready?" She grinned softly stretching her limbs out a bit as she waited for her sisters' word to go. She flicked her hair out of her eyes then chuckled softly.  

[Light Atago]

Taka tried to playfully avoid the ear-nibbling, but she was always particularly bad at that- her opponent would always grab ahold of her ear. Her tail, though, was a different matter. She remembered making her mother miss her tail several times in the past.

"Yeah, they're never much fun to remake. I find it pretty hard to find a second gourd that sounds like the original. Hard, but not impossible, luckily." She took the break in ear-nibbling to remove her own drum and put it next to her sister's.

Taka stretched each limb individually in preparation for the great race. She then lined up beside her sister and assumed her special "Taka-race" position, belly low to the ground with all four legs ready to spring. "Winner is the first one to get their paws into the lake, sound good?" She asked. She gave a small pause after her sister's "ready," and followed it up by adding her own words to the countdown. "Get set," she said, "GO!" She exclaimed, allowing herself to burst forward not a moment later.  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi looked at her sister and nodded her head. "And on top of that you see ones that look just like yours all the time, until you need to replace it! It took me forever to find a new gourd." She chuckled softly before she licked her lips she was thinking.

She stretched a little more out before she chuckled staring forward. She was getting herself ready to dash forward just like old times. She hadn't got a chance to act like a cub and goof around in seemingly so long, she was so happy to be here and romp around. She smirked as she heard her sister shout go. And that was her cue. She took off, darting toward the the water. she was laughing the entire time. she couldn't help it, her laughter filled the air, she was so happy.  

[Light Atago]

Taka gave the race her all, catching her sister's contagious laughter between air intakes. She could see the waterline coming up and she tried to kick it up yet more, but found herself at her limit- Taka couldn't really go much faster. She let herself skid to a stop in the waters when her paws hit the sand- letting her orientation go perpendicular from her direction, leaning away from it, and letting the water help to stop her. However, this stunt didn't go entirely smoothly, as she tripped to a stop in the water, emerging sopping wet bangs smoothed quite nicely over her face so her eyes couldn't really be seen.

But she was sopping wet with a smirk. "I was going so fast, I didn't see who won!" she said. Her smile grew to a giddy grin, and between pants, asked, "Did you notice... who won?" Taka took a moment to try to shake her fur out of her eyes and twitched an ear wildly to get water out of it.  

[Yin-Bug]

Mawi Mai was so happy she hasn't been that happy in a while. Before she knew it she was skidding to a stop in front of the water. He paws splashing into it, but she wasn't as far as she sister. But she got splashed for sure. She chuckled a bit as she leaned down and lapped up some of the water trying to cool herself down with out panting like mad. She hated doing that for some reason even though it was a lions natural way of cooling down.

She listen to her sister as she talked before she looked up water dripping from her chin a large grin growing on her maw. "I didn't really notice later." She then chuckled softly as she looked at her. "I guess we don't pay as much attention as we did when we were little." She giggled again before flicking her hahir out of her eyes.