[PRP] Well, Duh... [End!]

[Kisoni]

-- RP Log between Panu and Maua ((Kisoni and DFA))

There had been some shakes a few weeks ago, the waters of the cove receding further down the beach than normal for a short time, before another wave had come to lick the edges of the trees. Now, however, everything was back to normal. Perhaps Nerida would stop bemoaning the mood of the ocean.

Panu tried not to show his annoyance with that, even though he was alone. The way that this place worked, he knew he likely wouldn't be the minute he actually did or said anything that could be objected to. Instead he continued his wandering down the shore to the borders, meaning to do a check and make certain that all truly had returned to normal in their home. The shakes had knocked a few rocks loose, he saw, and collapsed some of the smaller caves.. but everyone had been accounted for, so that wasn't particularly worrisome. Except for the fact that he couldn't help but wonder if the home cave was stable enough... what if those shakes had been worse?


Maua felt... content. It was an odd sensation, for someone so cynical to find himself suddenly at peace with his surroundings; the revelation had come almost as a shock, and the male knew it'd had a lot to do with the calming words he'd been offered nghts ago. Suddenly, and thanks to that, he'd found himself quite calm and at peace, so much so that his usual bark and snarky replies were missing when others neared him. Instead, the few pridal members were reworded with soft, distracted 'mmm?'s whenever theyspoke to him. It was a strange change, but he found it was unwelcomed.

Unlike Panu, the smaller male had no real... need to be out and about, padding the beach; his mind was not preoccupied with the way the sea had tossed, but was, instead, deeply submerged in his own thoughts. He was wondering how he was going to approach his father with a certain issue he'd been pondering for long time now, and though calm and quite at peace with his own realizations, he was unsure how to kick such an awkward subject out in the open. As such, needless to say, he was paying little to no attention to the beach as he padded along, his eyes set upon the ocean. Now that he'd grown, the fact he was mildly 'different', was further more accentuated; not like he minded though. He found he rather liked how he looked slightly more elegant than other males (to put it mildly).

Panu wasn't even surprised to hear someone behind him not a minute after his thought to rarely being alone. It was kind of odd how that came about, since it was a rather small pride, but happen it did... "Morning," He called distractedly to his brother, eyes focusing on a peculiar flop not too far away. He moved into the trees a little to find that a pool had been left behind by the ocean, and in it a large fish flopping about for all it was worth in water just a little too shallow for its liking. "Huh."

Poking his nose back out through the buses, he spied his brother again, "Maua! you hungry?"  

[Kisoni]

Distracted indeed, forthe very first response Panu got out of his brother was a slow blink and a soft, "Mmmmm?" as he turned his head towards the sound of the other's voice. It was clear he'd been pulled out of the deep pool of his thoughts. The second string of words though, was better received, and the smaller male could not help but lick his maw in response, the action making it clear without words that yes, he was indeed hungry. Wordlessly though, he made his way towards Panu, his head tilting in question, "Got something?"

After a pause, he reached towards the side, his maw closing around a flower which he tugged lose from a vine, placing it quite grace on the tuff of his tail, the movements unconscious. That done, he turned to look around, looking vaguely confused for a moment, as if noticing something missing, "Where's Nerida?" he'd not seen much of the lioness for a rather long stretch of time and had assumed she was with Panu. Then again, the thought that they obviously weren't always together, had not crossed his mind.


"She slept in this morning," Panu replied so nonchalantly that he didn't even seem aware of the implications of that statement. He tucked himself back into the vegetation, looking down at the captive in the pool. With a practiced paw he flipped it out of the water and onto the shore. "Haven't seen much of you about, either, bro."

While Panu was not entirely aware of the implications, Maua was, and he found himself forming a silent 'o' like shape with his mouth, "Well," he said suddenly, "That explains a lot," it wasn't an accusation at all, in fact, the smaller male sounded almost as if he'd solved a small mystery all of his own.

Following his brother, he watch as the larger lion fished their breakfast out of the shallow pool the storms had created, "I've been... thinking," he answered carefuly at first, sitting himself down, no doubt to allow Panu to have the first bites, a sign of respect, "I was... having a bit of a hard time and needed space and time to think. And I was snapping at the others out of irritation," a pause, "More so than usual. So I went away."

He'd come back peaceful though, something his mother at least, had noticed. Not that he'd gone far away... all what he'd done was sleep away from the family cave, on his lonesome.


"I can understand that," Panu chuckled softly. He put the fish out of its misery quickly, savoring a few bites of te tender flesh before allowing his brother at the carcass. It wasn't anything personal just... instinct, really. The laugh continued a moment, though, as he considered that of them all he was the one most inclined to understand the need to get away from people to think. He had, after all, spent quite a long time as a 'runaway'. Panu didn't offer to say anymore than that, instead watching his brother to see if the male would offer any more without prompting.


While his brother ate, Maua merely waited patiently, obviously either used to it, or simply accepting the turn of events. After all, one could not begrudge instinct, and while instinct told Panu to have at the fish first, it told Maua to wait his turn. No sooner was the fish tossed towards him that the smaller male bit into it, effortlessly ripping the flesh from the bone, licking his maw rid of the blood that stained it.

Well aware that he was being watched, Maua ate away in silence, trying to figure out out how to continue talking. It wasn't till he'd finished the meal that he pushed the boned away and turned to look at Panu, "I was jealous, you know, and it took someone to spell it to my face for me to notice," after a moment's thought he grimaced, "That aside I wasn't sure how to go 'Hey, dad! Know what? All that joking about me being different? Turns out it's true!'"


There was a silence as Panu stared at him, trying to assess what it was which Maua meant. They'd grown up together, though they'd fought more often than gotten along, after all, and he was very well used to Maua's irregularities. It was listening them that caused him to pinpoint the one that Maua had never openly admitted to.

Rather than be surprised or shocked, Panu laughed suddenly, "Well, duh."  

[Kisoni]

Stunned silence followed.

For a very long minute, Maua merely stared at him, "D'uh?" another pause followed, almost as if for once in his life, he'd been stunned out of words, "Is that all you have to say?" well if that was the reaction he was going to get from his father... maybe it wouldn't be so difficult after all. After a blink, he lifted a paw, passing his tongue over his digits, no doubt a motion to clear the fog in his mind, "So you knew. Does dad know...?"


"I'd be surprised if the entire family didn't know, Maua," Panu couldn't quite get the light chuckle to leave his voice entirely, though the look he favoured his 'brother' with was certainly a gentle one. "Its not as if I haven't been saying all along that you were more of a sister. It isn't that we weren't all thinking it, I was just the only one tactless enough to say it aloud."

This seemed to be the day for short, pregnant pauses, for Maua found himself hesitating yet again, something he rarely did and seemed almost out of character, what with his tenancy for snide, bitchy remarks whenever anyone so much as looked him the wrong way, "Does that mean I don't have to say s**t about it?" even he knew the answer to that though; he couldn't keep silent about it, and it wasn't as if he were ashamed either. It was how... and who he was, and while he didn't have Panu strength, he obviously had as much pride as his brother.


"mmm..." Here Panu paused as well, ears flicking towards random noises as he thought this over. He doubted Maua would really take his advice, but he could still offer it since it was, in a fashion, asked for. The enormity of Maua asking for his advice didn't go unnoticed, either. "well... That's up to you? I mean.. most of them don't mention it, I think, because they don't want to hurt you and you always seemed rather defensive about the whole thing. Then again, if its already a known factor.. why mention it?" Panu shrugged, "Either way, is our dad really one to bite anyone's head off?"


It wasn't a definite answer; neither a yes, nor a no in any way, and for a moment, one selfish moment, Maua found himself angry with Panu, almost as if he'd expected his brother to give him simple answer. Of course, what he'd been offered was better than such a simple 'answer' as he'd been expecting; he'd been given the chance to turn whichever way he wished to, without having to rely on what anyone said but his own heart.

Thus he already knew the answer, as unspoken as it'd been.

The later words brought a smirk to his maw, and the smaller male found himself chuckling; something he rarely did, "No, he is not. That's my job."

Panu laughed as well, glad to see something of his sister back to her rightful form. "damn straight. Without that tongue about here we might just start feeling good about ourselves," He teased in return, standing to continue his walk from earlier.


Happy to let the situation stand as it was, Maua got up from where he'd sat himself down, "Hmmm..." it was followed by a snort, "I don't know about that. Nerida does a good job herself," Joining his brother in his previous he walking he seemed to hesitate once more before flopping his ears back against his skull, the auds hidding inside the black mane, because he'd yet to admit to the most awkward of tidbits of information.

While it was true he was female at heart (or at least, that's what he though), he 'd never really liked boys, and in turn had found he did like females. Which in turn made me him a sick... sick.... twisted... what was he exactly? Was there even a word for what he was?

Haha.

That was a story and a confession for some other time though.

"She does," Panu replied in a more distant fashion, then shook himself of it, "But there'd a difference between it coming from a sister and a .... ... Neridia."

".... don't tell her you said that. Take it from me," a snort followed the statement, "A Nerida... the hell is wrong with you. Then again, you probably know her as well, if not better than I ever did," after a moment's pause, he couldn't help himself; the small teasing smirk reached his maw, "I never slept with her anyhow."

"Of course you have, we all share a cave," Panu replied immediately before he'd really thought through the statement that Maua had just made. There was a long pause following that, in which Panu's ears slowly sunk back against his skull. He growled, annoyed and embarrassed though not angry, ".... i'd hope not."


Mirth shone within Maua's eyes, specially seeing as how his comment sort of flew right over his brother's head before he finally saw the double meaning, "Hey, I'm not the one that apparently knows her sleeping habits; she had her own pride back then," amused, no doubt, but he still felt the need to reassure his brother.

Talking about other prides though, he suddenly felt the need to ask, "Talking about other prides. Is Sewti staying too?" despite having spent quite some time with the white pelted lioness, he'd never even asked. He'd been too busy dumping his problems on a friendly, listening ear to do so.

"Pervert," Panu teased, only half-meaning it, then nodded as they walked along to the border. "I'm pretty sure she is, yeah. They wanted to settle down in a cove, and I convinced them to give this place a shot. Last I heard from her she seems to like it here."  

[Kisoni]

He didn't seem to take offense in the word at all; if anything, the smaller male's eyes merely narrowed a tad, and rather than voice protest, he turned his head away to hum softly at a bird that was looking at them from a nearby branch. Despite the humming, it was clear he was listening, for his ears twitched at the sound of his brother's voice, "Ah," he mouthed then, "I should invite her to the big cove with all of us next time I see her wandering around at night then. If anything, at least it's warm in there."


"You can try," Panu replied, "Sooty is a law unto herself. Much like you are..." He left the resemblance at that, though there was a subtle inflection there to try and tease Maua's thoughts. Nearing the border now, he turned towards the jungle. "I need to go check on a few caves in this direction. I"ll see you later tonight, k?"

And tease him they did, for where there had been mirth upon his features before, it was swiftly replaced by confusion. Maua knew a cutting, goodbye line when he heard one though, and thus bit his tongue to keep himself from asking further about the subject. A small nod was the answer he got, "I've got to check on mom and dad anyhow," which meant he was going to take Panu's advice and tell them directly what he'd told his older brother, "See you later."

That said, he parted towards where he instinctly knew the den was, now having yet another mystery to solve because he hadn't quite understood what Panu had implied.

--END