Vigo had much to think on. It was quite a revelation that he would continue to avoid being sick. It was extremely sobering to walk amongst the ill with that knowledge, and gave rise to a certain amount of guilt for his selfish tantrum of solitary sulking for the last two months. This pride, these creatures, deserved better than that. It was time he took on a job, learned more about how to do it. He was resolving to learn more about the ranks when he caught sight of someone.
It was just a glance, between the foliage that struggled to thrive along the walkways between the dens. Vigo stopped dead and peered, his heart suddenly beating faster. Another flash of white and black, a glimpse of a turning head, a swing of hips. A memory flashed into his mind of another female, this one paler but quite willing in the game he had used to play. Could it possibly... could he have... his stomach did an abrupt flip-flop. Completely distracted from the revelation that he was immune, he set out to pursue the feminine figure he'd glimpsed.
He wove through the maze of pathways, wracking his brain for who this lioness had reminded him of. Another glimpse of black and white flashed ahead, and he broke into an anxious trot. This one? No. That one? Or that? No, no. Brow furrowed intently, desperate to remember before he caught up to her, he thought hard and fast. Ah! The image of pale beauty rose before his mind's eye. They'd had a very nice time, and she most certainly had known what she was doing! He wiped the momentary blissful grin from his face, scolding himself. No no, he wasn't thinking of her to remember the fun. He was trying to remember her name and whether this female could be...
He rounded a corner too fast and nearly ran over the lioness in question. With a startled yowl, Vigo wrenched his bulk aside and did an inelegant faceplant at the very paws of the one whom he was pursuing. He gave a soft groan, then sat up, spitting grass and dirt. Not the way he'd intended on introducing himself! A soft sound of alarm made him look up into a dark mask the same shape as his own red-brown one.
Tara, meanwhile, had been humming softly to herself as she headed for the cub play area. Today wasn't her day to watch them, but she just adored the sweet little things. One of her favorites had fallen ill, though, and it had been touch and go for a while. She was heading there to spend some quality time with the babe, try and lift the cub's spirits with a quiet game or a funny story. Her planning for the visit was abruptly interrupted by a large brown and black lion nearly colliding with her. She gave a gasp as he ended up muzzle-first into the grassy path. "Oh," she breathed in alarm, which changed to concern as he sat up, spitting foliage and earth. "Are you okay?" she inquired sweetly, as he turned his face up towards her. Something... something was familiar about this male, though she could swear she'd never seen him in her entire life!
As he looked at her, there could be no doubt. Something of a kinship was felt there, a likeness that went beyond her black mask. He drew a breath, uncertain what he was going to say, when it suddenly occurred to him... he'd never learned that particular lioness' name, so long ago now. Mortified, his whiskers slicked back and his pupils widened. "I... I...," he stammered, sitting up slowly, his mind a whirl of thoughts, all jumbling together and preventing him from speaking with anything like coherency.
She examined him with growing worry. What if he'd knocked his head against a hidden rock? Or what if he was having some kind of seizure? "Does anything hurt?" she asked more gently, speaking to him as she would have one of her little cub friends. "I can take you to a healer, if you need it." She was actually just on the edge of sprinting for the play area, where there almost always was a healer or healer's apprentice lingering about. Cubs tended to stumble, accidentally claw, or otherwise get themselves banged up. Having someone nearby to soothe the hurts and examine the injuries was extremely helpful.
But he shook his head, both in rejection of the offer as well as in attempt to get himself straightened out. "I..., no, I'm alright," he finally managed, though he did pause to spit out another few blades of grass, roots still attached. "At least on the outside," he said ruefully, eyes downcast in an attempt to regain control of himself. If he wasn't looking at her, he found himself more able to think in a semblance of normalcy. However, he couldn't keep staring at his paws the whole time. He risked a glance up at her, looking unbelievably sheepish. "I was hurrying to try and catch you," he admitted, dropping his eyes again, fighting the vertigo of feelings that threatened to overwhelm him again.
Tara paused in her concern, not having expected this answer to his predicament. For... her? Why would a stranger (who didn't seem like a stranger?!) be looking for her? She fumbled for a thought that made sense, desperately wishing Rian was with her. He would have been at ease and able to strike up a logical conversation, while also keeping her safe. She shuddered her coat a little and glanced around. There were plenty of others in sight, though, and she tried to settle herself. "I'm sorry, but the visitor's area is that way," she finally said, coming to the only conclusion that made any sense whatsoever to her. "I can show you if you like?" She turned the way she'd indicated, giving a nervous look back to see if he was following.
He shook his head again, this time with a chuckle, assembling his paws in a more orderly manner. "Ah, no, you misunderstand," he smiled, finding himself steadying and feeling more at ease with the laughter. "I am a member of the pride, though a relatively new one." She gave him a curious, inquiring look, and he knew he simply had to plunge on. "You see, I saw you at a distance a few minutes ago, and I realized....," he gulped, taking a swift breath, "that you reminded me of someone I had... met... some years ago." Looking faintly agonized, he rubbed one paw through his chest fur. She continued to give him that puzzled look, and he knew he was going to have to explain further.
"You see, I... was rather... loose," he tried the word out hesitantly, "when I was younger. I spent nights with many a lioness." He looked acutely uncomfortable and ashamed. "It was wrong of me, and I know that now," he continued on bravely, avoiding her eyes as he expounded on his own sins. "I don't know how many I might have left with cubs to tend alone. I regret such things now, and actually came here with the hope of finding a way to atone for those wrongs." He sought her eyes then, surprising himself with the tears that blurred his vision as he gazed at her. "When I saw you, I thought... perhaps... perhaps your mother was one of those females I treated so crassly." There, he'd done it. But what would she do now?
Of course, the first mention of her mother made the image of Elera, her leopardess adoptive mother. She swiftly set that aside though, as it became painfully obvious that this was not the mother he was speaking of. She felt patently bad for the poor male, who was here debasing himself, revealing his sins to her in hopes of... what? Redemption, it seemed! She took a slow breath in and then out, calming herself. Oh, how she wished Rian was here! She licked her whiskers nervously, but knew she owed him a reply of some sort. But what?
"I did not know my mother," she began slowly. "She left us with a leopardess from this pride, who had cubs of her own." Her 'real' mother, though she had been less of one than many of the nannies. She dismissed that line of though, though, and continued speaking. "My adoptive mother has always refused to speak of my mother, though I've never learned why. That is all I know," she concluded apologetically. "Of my father, none can say." Was it even possible to have one's father stumble into the pride and suddenly present himself? She shifted uneasily, taking a step backward, away from the male.
Well, that certainly allowed for the possibility that she was... was his daughter. The very idea left a tight lump in his throat that he could not swallow down. How much he would have missed, were it true! But in this circumstance, how were they to know? He shook his head yet again, this time from a growing sense of futility. He had no way to know, and without knowing he wasn't sure he could remedy his wrongs against her. He lashed his tail a few times, frustrated and unhappy, but thinking it through. He caught sight of her movement, though, and was drawn out of his thoughts by the realization that he was making her uncomfortable.
He calmed himself, taking a step back himself before sitting down. "My apologies for the suddenness," he said sincerely. "Let me try to start over again." He cleared his throat loudly, composed himself, and opened his mouth. "My n ame is Vigo'tamort," he said in an even tone. "I suspect I may in fact be your father, though I see there is no way to prove or disprove it." Resemblance wasn't enough, but he had decided that was moot anyway. "If I am your father, then I beg your forgiveness for not being there for you as you grew." He managed to get through this statement without choking up, and was distantly proud of himself for that.
"I know that I also cannot make up that time lost. And I may not even be the father who left your mother alone." He tipped his shaggy head and shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of helplessness. "However, I can at least offer you my assistance with anything you might need, regardless of parentage or lack thereof." He bowed his head deeply. "If you will accept me, I'd like to, perhaps, be considered a family friend, nothing more. Someone to help when you call, a companion for difficult times, and a safe place should you seek it." He left it at that. He could not be the father he'd missed out on being, but he could be a friend in the here and now.
She considered him and his words silently for a time. She still stood uncertainly, but she no longer sidled as if to escape. It was a fair request. At least he wasn't trying to be the father he could never be to her? She had no father, not really. The closest thing she had was her father-in-law, Sliabh. This new male could never even approach that large male's influence, father or not. But his sentiment made sense, and maybe... just maybe she could learn something about her mother? That lure was what decided her. In all her dreams, she'd only seen the history of the pride, never her own. How dearly she wanted to learn about the female who had given birth to she and her sisters!
"Alright," she finally answered him softly. "Friends."
Hopefully this would be the beginning of a new, happy tale, rather than another unhappiness waiting to occur. Only time, effort, and not a little love would prove.
