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Questionable Conversationalist
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 Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:49 pm
So this was the vanish and unvanish place. The black spotted fluffball sat at the edge of Aiko’s den, her pale lilac eyes fixed curiously on the corridors beyond. This was where mother vanished to. And this was where she unvanished from. It was also where that other big one had unvanished from, the one that mother had growled at before. Since then, no others had unvanished into their small world, but Kanie was curious.
There had to be more after all. And if there was more, then she wanted it. But she didn’t know enough yet, she could walk, barely, and understand when mother spoke to them, but that wasn’t enough for exploring the strange unvanish space. Not alone. Kanie looked back at the small black and white mound of her sleeping siblings. She didn’t want them to come either though. She liked alone. It was quieter.
But alone, she wasn’t ready for the vastness of the unvanish place. Not yet. And so she only stepped through the edge of the den, her small still-clumsy and too big little paws carrying her awkwardly the few steps she was prepared to take before she stumbled and fell, sprawling on her stomach a few feet from mother’s den.
Curious still, she looked from one side to the other, not yet making the awkward attempt to rise again to her paws. She was more coordinated than her brothers and sister already, so eager to see the unvanish place, so eager for the more she knew was there that she’d forced herself to find her feet before she’d time to properly find her voice.
She just needed to know was all. She needed to know what the more was, so she could reach it when she finally had the ability to do so. Someday she would. So she needed to know as soon as she could, to better prepare herself for this… ‘more’.
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Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:38 am
Mananakbo was walking through the living quarters of the entertainers after bidding the female who had entertained him the night before a soft good morning. She had kept him well entertained the night before, telling him stories until he finally fell asleep. He'd woken to find her curled against him, and though he would have left without waking her, she'd come awake when he stood up.
As he made his way back to his own den, Mana saw an extra dark shadow on the floor a few feet from Aiko's den. He slowed his pace and sniffed cautiously, but nothing smelled out of the ordinary. As he drew closer, his blue eyes glowing in the dim light, he recognized the shape as feline, but very tiny. A cub in the entertainers' quarters? That was an out-of-the-ordinary discovery.
Mana stopped a few feet from the cub, unsure of its dexterity and unwilling to come within grabbing reach. He was not fond of cubs and had a distinct distaste for them. They were loud and sticky and smelled funny, and most of them couldn't even talk properly. On the other hand, he couldn't very well leave a young cub unguarded in the passage. He wasn't interested in sitting around and guarding the cub though, so maybe he could just figure out where it belonged and take it back there.
"Hey, small one. Who do you belong to?"
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:22 pm
Her paws didn't want to work right. It was ever so frustrating. Mother's paws worked so well. She could move as though it required no effort at all, and her motions were so fluid and smooth...so wonderful to watch. Kanie envied that so very much! She wanted to be able to move like that too!
Another clumsy motion of her not-quite responsive paws sent the black spotted cub sprawling yet again. She was getting nowhere fast, and what she wanted was to see just a bit more of the unvanish place her mother kept coming and going from. Everything was so strange out of the den, lots of smells and sounds and...oh, hello.
Kanie blinked pale eyes up at the big notmother that stood over her. The last notmother her mother had growled at, and been angry and protective. Perhaps notmothers were not safe. She stared at it, wondering what a notmother was, exactly. It wasn't a brother or a sister, and she didn't know. But they came from the unvanish place too. And...it was talking. But she didn't know if she understood. Was she 'small one'? Mother called her 'Kanie' and all of her brothers and sister were her 'little ones'...
Not sure of a desicion, the cub decided to do what mother had done to the last notmother. Laying her somewhat uncoordinated ears flat against her tiny skull, she presented the notmother with a squeaky little snarl.
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Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:27 pm
Mana watched the cub's uncoordinated attempts to move around and wondered how it had gotten as far from its den as it had. Given its gracelessness, the den had to be nearby, but the nearest den was Aiko's. Now that was very interesting indeed. There was no reason for Aiko to have a cub in her den. Nyoka was the only person in the pride with cubs. Well, Nyoka and Dysi, but his cubs were not Mana's lookout.
The likeliest explanation would be that the cub was Aiko's, which would explain a number of other things, but it would not explain who the father was. One thing he could be certain of, Mana thought with some satisfaction, was the cub was definitely not his. He had not had sex with anyone since before he came to the pride, though the temptation was definitely there, particularly with the sensual Aiko. Nevertheless, he had not actually engaged in the act, which meant this was not his cub, and also not his lookout.
If Aiko had cubs and it made her life different or difficult, that was not his problem, he told himself firmly, and unless Nyoka directed him to investigate further, Mana would keep out of the affair. Nyoka's word would send him asking questions, but for now he had a snarling cub to deal with. What joy. He regarded the tiny thing with an expression that clearly conveyed that he was less than impressed with her growling, snarling self.
"Aren't you just adorable?" he remarked dryly.
Unperturbed by the cub's display, Mana spoke on. "You're quite the little spitfire. Just what I don't need right now. I don't suppose you're Aiko's. That would be too easy, wouldn't it? Spirits."
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:46 am
The notmother was still here.
Kanie frowned, puzzled. Mother had snarled at the other notmother, and it had talked and then gone away. This one had talked too, but hadn’t gone away. And she barely understood a word it said, not yet. Mother only said soft loving little words to them. Her siblings could imitate a few of the syllables already, Hikari had even managed to call their mother ‘mama’ the other day, which seemed to delight her for she’d purred loudly and nuzzled them all with great enthusiasm.
But, until she was certain her words would be at least no more clumsy then her paws, Kanie intended to keep her miniscule vocabulary to herself, and try to expand upon it with every opportunity. This notmother had new words for her to remember, but she wasn’t sure of their meaning… what was ‘spitfire’? She knew it was in reference to her, since he’d said ‘you’ in front of it. But what was a ‘spirits’? It sounded kind of like ‘spitfire’. Were they about the same thing?
Now what did she do? She couldn’t talk back, words didn’t work yet. And she wasn’t sure what the questions were that he was asking her anyway, because she wasn’t familiar with that much vocabulary yet! But one thing she didn’t do…she didn’t scramble back into the den. She didn’t even look at it. Her brothers and sister were sleeping in there, if notmothers were dangerous she wouldn’t lead this one to them! Her siblings might talk better than she could, but they couldn’t move as well yet!
Clumsily, awkwardly, the little black leotah inched backwards, away from both the relative safety of mother’s den and the stranger, giving him another squeaky snarl if he came any closer to either.
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:23 am
"Great, you don't talk yet. That's going to make this harder."
At this point, Mana knew he was speaking more to himself than the cub, even though he was nominally addressing the cub. To his way of thinking, baby talk was a useless exercise that made people look and sound like morons, so he continued to address the cub as though it could understand him. The reason he continued to talk to it at all, even knowing he was not getting through, was more a subconscious way of letting anyone who might come across him know that he was not engaging in any sort of foul play.
"You know, I think I'm just going to say that you are Aiko's. If nothing else, you can be her responsibility," Mana decided as he watched the cub scoot away from him.
He was no more intimidated by her squeaky snarls than he had been the first time, and yet he did not yet move in pursuit. He was curious, and tempted to stick his nose into Aiko's den - just briefly - to determine if that really was where the cub belonged. He was supposed to be Nyoka's ears in the pride and keep her abreast of news, but he had never really seen that job as enabling him to snoop in people's private places. And so, despite the fact that his entire body twitched to investigate Aiko's den, he remained where he was.
"I'm not going to eat you, you know," he remarked conversationally, dropping onto his belly so that he was closer to the cub's level. "I'm not hungry. But if you end up in the general area, I can't make you any promises, so if you keep slinking off in that direction I'll have to get up and bring you back. I don't think either one of us will like that, so let's make a deal to avoid it, all right?"
He couldn't bring himself to abandon the cub, but at the same time, he didn't want to spend the rest of his day here, watching it. He sighed, hoping someone would come along and save him.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:41 pm
Kanie eyed the notmother with deep suspicion, inching back another step as it moved. She did not trust it. Mother growled at another like it, why shouldn’t she? Except her squeaking little mewl of a snarl was a great deal less impressive than mother’s. For the moment. Someday that would change. Just as she’d learn to walk properly, with that smooth fluid motion mother possessed. Someday.
She just needed a bit more practice. But for now she was clumsy, and awkward, and uncertain. What the stranger was saying she could hardly understand. She could see and hear it, but most of it was unfamiliar. The words just didn’t hold meaning. Yet.
When he lay down she watched him for a few moments, ready to move if he should start up again. She knew he was still big, but now he didn’t look big. It was confusing. Some of her knew better, but her eyes were insisting that he’d shrunk. Was that meant to make sense?
Regarding him in silence, Kanie shifted to sit down where she was, still wary, but it wasn’t as though sitting and standing made a difference in her movements. She was too little to have it matter yet. She just didn’t know what to do now.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:03 am
Mana blinked when the cub sat down, and then he wondered aloud, "Are you old enough to consciously copy what I'm doing, or is your sitting merely coincidental?"
Again, he didn't expect the cub to reply or anything. He felt reasonably certain that speech was beyond it for the time being. Well and so. He wasn't much of one for talking with young people anyway. He didn't tend to find that they had much of interest to contribute to a conversation, and their grammar and syntax was usually infernally difficult to make sense of.
"If I get up, you'll start scooting away again, won't you?" he mused. "And yet I have no intention of hanging around here until someone comes by to claim you or distract you. I don't suppose you have any suggestions?"
He lowered his chin to his forepaws and regarded the cub, now more or less at its own level. The world looked very different from down here. He cast his gaze on where his face would be if he was standing up and decided that he must look gigantic to the cub. No wonder it wasn't too keen on having him come near it.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 12:43 pm
The notmother was talking again.
The young hybrid cocked her head to one side, watching with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. It certainly didn't look as large now. But it couldn't have shrunken, not really. It couldn't be really. Her eyes were just confused. Or had it shrunk and her head was confused? This was very confusing. And not at all helpful.
Now all Kanie wanted to do was go back into her den. But the last time a notmother had been in the den, mother had been very upset. Now mother wasn't in the den, so no one would be big enough to be upset at the notmother. Which may or may not be dangerous. She wasn't sure how to tell. Certainly it was still large, even if it had somehow gotten shrunk. Somehow.
But now what did she do? She liked it better when the notmother was laying there like that looking shrunk. If she moved away again, would it grow big and tower over her once more? Cautiously, she scooted back a clumsy step, then sat again, her pale eyes still watching the notmother.
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:50 am
Although Mana harbored doubts as to the relative intelligence and experience of this cub, given its tendency to wander away from where it belonged when it was so small and vulnerable, he had to admit that it looked much more intelligent with its head cocked to one side like that. It looked like there might actually be some thought going on inside that fuzzy skull beyond the level of hunger, fear, and whatever else went on in the minds of cubs. He decided there probably wasn't. He also decided that this had gone on long enough.
"This has all been very interesting," he told the cub, "but I have other places to be, and you are not giving me many reasons to believe you can keep yourself out of trouble."
He did wonder why he cared whether the cub kept itself out of trouble, but not seriously. Just because he wasn't fond of cubs didn't mean that he actively wished them harm and misfortune. He just tended to prefer that they be safe and fortunate somewhere away from his general area. At least until they were old enough to hold intelligent conversations. Which meant until they were adolescents at least, and even then the use of the word 'intelligent' could be questioned.
All at once he stood up and outpaced the dark cub, coming up behind it and then bending down to catch the cub in his jaws. He wasn't going to eat it or anything like that. He was just going to relocate it, deposit it in the nearest den - Aiko's. As soon as he felt the small, furry body in his mouth he lifted gently, trying not to do it any damage as he transported it the meter or so to the den.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 4:28 pm
Kanie watched cautiously as it continued speaking. She only understood a few of the words, mother didn't talk to them like that all the time. She did speak though, so Kanie knew what words were, just not what all of them meant. Which was a bit of a problem, but she would work around it. Unless it unshrunk and came after her again.
The hybrid hiss vehemently, her fluffy black baby fur bristling as she tried to scramble out of the way. Of course, it was so much bigger than she was, and much more coordinated. She was caught before she could get anywhere, but the cub protested heatedly, spitting and fumbling attempts to claw at the big thing that had just picked her up without permission.
Unfortunately, the only thing she was any good at was biting, and she couldn't twist around enough to dig her teeth in anywhere. But that didn't keep her from trying as she was brought back to the den where her siblings still slept in a small pile.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:23 am
Mana rolled his eyes at the cub's spirited attempts to evade and then escape him. He had no doubt that this one would grow up to be trouble and made a mental note to do his very best to avoid it until she was old enough to be civilized. He had no objections to wildness, but he didn't want to be the one who had to deal with it when its ideas went awry. And it was definitely going to be the sort who got itself and everyone around it into trouble. Best to steer clear for the foreseeable future.
The trouble with that was that he would have to steer clear of Aiko, too, if this cub turned out to be hers, which seemed likely given the cub's markings. He wasn't too stupid to notice the resemblance between them. Mana liked Aiko. He enjoyed being in her company, and though he wasn't interested in her romantically, the flame-colored cheetah found her physically appealing and mentally stimulating. Of all the people he knew in the pride, she was probably the closest to a friend that he had.
He didn't do much more than stick his head into Aiko's den and drop the cub. Privacy was one of those commodities Mana tried to preserve and respect, which might have seemed odd, given his role in the pride, and so he wasn't going to linger in Aiko's den or poke around. As far as he was concerned, he'd done his part. He'd deposited the cub in the den of someone female who could presumably look after it, or at least see to it that it found its way home. His work was done.
With that, Mana turned and departed, neither lingering nor hurrying. He did hope that the cub didn't crawl right back out, but that wasn't his problem anymore. He continued walking until he reached his own den and flopped down. Cubs. Great.
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Questionable Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:18 am
So now she was back where she started from. Bristling still, and looking as unthreatening as cubs tend to even when trying to be ferocious, Kanie stumbled to her paws as she was plopped back in the den. Whatever this big thing that wasn't mother wanted, she was not pleased. When she was not pleased, she was quite expressive with it. Tiny baby teeth bared in a snarl, the little hybrid snapped at the fire-pelted adult, though lacking coordination her attempts mainly failed.
Wobbling, her ears flopped back in irritation, she tried to persue the one who'd treated her so indignatly and blatantly against her wishes, but to no avail. Now sprawled on her stomach, the cub could do nothing but glare after his retreating back, her tail flicking.
Yes. He had better run away. Run away and count himself lucky that she wasn't yet big enough to catch him. Yet.
((I suppose this is wrapped up then? I'm sorry for taking so long to reply.))
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