[PRP] Welcome (Hantan'gang, Saskiranel, Hashiel)

[mouselet]

The lioness was looking forward to see the leopard who'd fathered her children again. She hadn't expected to be anticipating this as much as she was, and she nuzzled the juvenile at her side. It was good, she decided, to see someone different every now and then. The Kitwana'antara was not the largest pride around and, thanks to the disease, the members didn't change with any great frequency.

It would be good to see Hantan'gang again. He was different. Thank the Goddess he didn't live here full time.




Hashiel made a face as his mom insisted on nuzzling him. Out in the open! Where anyone could see! He wasn't a cub anymore, why did she have to treat him like one? His mane was coming in, damnit!

Well, he wasn't totally certain why Mom insisted on him being out here, near the border. At least today he wasn't feeling too bad, which always helped. He hadn't exactly had anything better to do, so here he was. Waiting. With his mom. For only the Goddess knew what.  

[Annchen]

Hantan's ears and nose moved constantly, and his body language betrayed how uncomfortable he felt right now. Running away was not an option, however. He had come to see Saskiranel and that's what he intended to do. It had been surprisingly easy for Hantan to find the way to her pride, and the guard he had encountered at the border had been friendly if a bit reserved when he asked to see him. He had been told to wait, and he was pretty sure he was being watched. He could scent many different individuals and scent markings from the pride living here, but it was difficult to pinpoint the individual or individuals watching him from the sidelines.

When the lioness approached, she didn't try to hide. Hantan recognised her colouration and her way of moving at once, but there was someone with her. Not the guard he had met. Someone smaller. Hantan's mouth went completely dry and he started to second guess his decision not to make a run for it.  

[mouselet]

A smile touched the lioness' lips as the leopard finally came into sight. Ah, he hadn't changed at all in the months since they'd parted. That was good. Sometimes things changed too fast for her, such as those in the final stages of the disease. As he came near, she left Hashiel and crossed the remainder of the distance between them.

"Welcome, Hantan'gang," she greeted him, with a quick nuzzle. "It's good to see you again." The brown lioness nodded behind her where the juvenile was sitting in confusion. "This is Hashiel, your youngest son. Hashiel, come here," she went on in a slightly harsher tone. "Come meet your father."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, Hashiel was getting kind of weirded out by how friendly Mom was being with a complete and total stranger. Who they'd been sitting and waiting for. Then he thought the leopard's name sounded familiar. Hantan'gang. Where had he heard that before-

-oh Goddess. His FATHER!? This guy was his father? Okay, he knew he and his siblings were half-lion but he'd never really thought about the other half of the equation before.

The juvenile came up, as Saskiranel had asked, but he hid behind his mother, suddenly shy in front of the stranger.  

[Annchen]

Hantan was still a bit tense, but it felt more natural than he thought it would to see Saskiranel again. It was starting to feel like it did before, when they had travelled together for a while. The same, but also very different. Hearing the words 'your youngest son' made his insides twitch in the weirdest way. Wow. Son. Sons then, since there was a youngest one. He watched the young hybrid, noting the traits he shared with him and those that came from the lioness. Pale colours, green eyes.

"It's good to see you to," Hantan said, and he found he meant it, "And you too Hashiel. You look a bit like your grandma."

Hantan hadn't thought much about his mother lately, and he wondered what she would think if she saw her grandchildren. If she knew about hybrids she had never shared it with Hantan, so it was hard to really know. He smiled and relaxed a bit more as he watched Hashiel hide behind his mother. This must be much stranger to him than it was to the adult leopard (and the situation was weirding Hantan out a little).  

[mouselet]

Saskiranel was fighting hard not to roll her eyes at the two males. It was easy to see how they were related, she decided. Neither one of them wanted anything to do with this meeting and it was far from a confrontation! The lioness swiftly stepped around behind Hashiel and pushed him up next to his father.

"He's not usually this shy," she told Hantan. "He and Shulinav - nearly twins, they are - tend to get into a lot of trouble together. Shogahamaki is their older brother and Ukwamukela their big sister. You should take some time with each of them while you're here," the brown lioness advised.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The juvenile tried to dig in and avoid being pushed closer to the stranger-father-leopard-person, but his mother was much stronger than he and there was no chance of stopping her. He was also a bit stunned by the remark about a grandmother. Mom had never once mentioned her parents and he had to think for a moment what "grandmother" even meant. Other cubs had them, but in this pride there sure weren't many.

"I do?" he asked, speaking up for the first time in a breathy voice.  

[Annchen]

Hantan liked the idea of meeting all his cubs. He grinned as Saskiranel told him about the trouble the boys got into. Having a nearly identical brother as a partner in crime would lend itself to some serious mischief... He had managed to get himself into some seriously sticky situations when he was younger, and there was only one of him. He had to ask Saskiranel about it later, but he didn't want to embarrass Hashiel by doing it with him present.

"Yeah," Hantan said and moved a little closer to be able to get a better feel for his son's scent, and also allow him to smell him properly, "She's a brave strong leopard, your grandmother. Brave strong mother and brave strong grandmother, you can't go wrong with that."

He cast an almost shy glance at the lioness. He admired her strength, but he had never really told her so. It took both mental and physical strength to travel in the roguelands in search of cures for her people, and to bring four cubs to the world alone. He knew she had plenty of support from her pride, but still. If there was anything his own mother had taught him it was to respect the strength of females.  

[mouselet]

Okay, now it looked like things were going better now. Especially since Hashiel was no longer trying to merge with Sas' leg. Not to mention the compliments Hantan was throwing her way with his words and the even deeper ones she saw in his eyes. No wonder she'd enjoyed the leopard's company. There was a man who had no fear of letting a woman know how much he appreciated her.

Still, there would be time to...renew their acquaintance...later. Right now she really just wanted the two males to get comfortable with each other so that, in the future, she wouldn't be necessary as an intermediary.

"A father who knows the right things to say is also a help," was her dry addition to the conversation. It was true, since Hantan was here now. She doubted he'd stay for too long, but at least he'd come and there was hope for him to return again in the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hashiel was smiling now, as his father went on. He wondered why he'd been so afraid of the mysterious someone who wasn't a lion but was his father. But his dad was a good dad! At least, he hadn't done anyhting bad yet that the juvenile knew of. Which was good! Unless if he had done bad stuff that the kid didn't know of, which would be bad. But he didn't seem like that kind of person, which was good!

And he could probably drive himself crazy thinking like that. "What was she like?" he asked, trying to distract himself from his own train of thought. "My grandmother, that is?"  

[Annchen]

Father. The word made something twitch inside him, but he was pretty sure he could get used to it. Being a father. He smiled as he met Saskiranel's gaze. This hadn't been in his plan (honestly, he hadn't really had much of a plan) but he was glad it had happened.

"My mother," Hantan said, "She's called Estrilde and she didn't live in a pride like you when she had me. She had her own territory that she defended from other leopards and animals."

His mother had told him about prides, of course, but Hantan had never really considered it as an option for himself. He had always assumed he'd win a territory of his own at some point, and later he'd discovered that he kind of liked wandering. And now... He still didn't want to join a pride, but he knew he wanted to stay close to this one. It would become a place to go back to now and then. It wasn't the place that was important, but the people in it.

"She taught me to live like a leopard," he continued, "Climb trees, hunt, ambush prey from up a tree... That's great fun, by the way."

He wondered if he could teach his kids some of the things his mother had taught him. Why not? He had met lionesses who could climb trees, and Hashiel and his siblings should have a much better starting point since they were half leopard.  

[mouselet]

Sas smiled. Now it seemed things were going just fine, so there was no longer any need for her to oversee the boys. She'd only come out this far to make certain that Hantan wasn't attacked and to ease the initial meeting.

"Seems like you have everything well in paw," the lioness told the leopard. "Just make certain Hashiel's back in the den by sunset." She gave them each an affectionate nuzzle before heading back to the pride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hashiel endured his mother's ministrations, but boy was he glad when she decided to leave them and go back to the pride! As if this wasn't awkward enough, he didn't want his mom to hear and see every bit of it.

"There's leopards here," he told Hantan, "but none of them ever showed me anything like that!" It sounded like fun though, especially ambushing something from up a tree. It was also neat to hear about his grandmother. He wondered what she had died of. Growing up in the Kitwana'antara, he was well acquainted with mortality and the only cats that lived to be grandparents were usually immune. Or not lions. That happened too. Although his grandmother was not a lion so he supposed she might actually be alive...but if that was so, why wasn't she here?  

[Annchen]

"I'll see you then," he mumbled, returning her nuzzle and trying not to think about the trip back. Hantan was not entirely comfortable getting too deep into pride territory, and not because of the disease. Large groups of creatures were a bit intimidating, that was all. He supposed he could find a border guard and send Hashiel home that way, but... He would like to talk some more to Saskiranel later, and he would like to make sure his son got home safe and sound.

"Right," he said and grinned at his son when they were alone, "Should we try to find a tree?"

Now was not the time for worrying about later. That was another thing he'd picked up from his mother. Now was now, and if you worried too much about other things that antelope would end up wandering away before you decided to try to hunt it.  

[mouselet]

"Bye Mom!" Hashiel called out as Saskiranel left before turning his attention back to his father. This sounded like a lot of fun indeed, and he absolutely couldn't wait to learn!

"Yeah, I think there's a few trees over there!" the leopon told Hantan excitedly, jumping out to lead the way.  

[Annchen]

Hantan let his son lead the way towards the trees in the distance. He was excited about their day together, but the nervous butterflies from before was gone. The leopard looked completely relaxed, and a grin stretched across his face. What had he worried about, really? Being a father wasn't half bad.

-End-