[LOG] Take These (Gintare & Pirato)

[Princess_Feylin]

Tare

It had begun when the cubs opened their eyes. She'd known whose they were before that, the markings and colors making their sire unmistakable. It was irritating, though typically cubs did follow pregnancies and pregnancies could follow sex, so she was able to be more philosophical about it than she had been about her first litter. Until the cubs had opened their eyes.

Two of the cubs had bright red eyes like their father and two had her amber eyes, but there was a girl cub whose eyes were light greyish blue. The girl looked so like Jakyra with her eyes open that Gintare actually felt a stab of guilt like she had not felt in seasons. Not since Jak was first taken in fact.

She could not keep the cubs, she knew. Not with one somehow looking so much like Jakyra. It would drive her mad. Those eyes also looked painfully like Arindam's, and she was even more hurt by that reminder than she was by the reminder of Jakyra - one of his cubs. She had to get rid of them.

The decision made, she picked up the blue-eyed girl in her mouth so she wouldn't have to look at her and set off toward the sea.

Pirato

Days had passed quite nicely lately. Almost too nicely, and that had given Pirato a sense of anxiety that he couldnt quite put his paw on. He knew though that something was amiss.. He stared at the ocean, watching it snarl and fight over the sand as the storm was rolling in. He saw the black clouds not far off, and the waves almost seemed as though they were fleeing the intimidating things.

His ruby eyes were troubled, and he sighed. Taking a paw to rub his nose he stood. Stretching out so that his muscles were loose once more, he started heading off in the direction of the main denlands.

It would be best to not be caught in the storm.. and if they happened to just stay black clouds without fulfilling the thread of rain then he would still be home when it grew dark.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Tare

The weather was growing nasty by the time Gintare could smell the saltwater in the air, but at least it wasn't raining or storming yet. She could tell that it would be doing so soon, and hoped that she would be able to dispose of the cubs and find a place to take shelter before that happened. It didn't seem likely though, given how slowly she was forced to travel for the cubs to keep pace.

Tare hadn't even named the cubs. As soon as she had realized that she couldn't keep them, she had begun to harden her heart against them. She would protect them along the way to their father's home, but she would not risk her life for them, and she would not risk her heart. It would be as if she was caring for someone else's cubs.

The sky was still overcast and grey, though darkening rapidly, when Gintare lifted the last cub over a particularly high root and onto the beach. She wasn't sure why she had chosen to come all the way to the beach with a storm brewing, for surely that could onl be dangerous, but that was where she had been when she met the cubs' father, and she didn't know where else to find him.

She stood uncertainly on the sand, surrounded by cubs, and looked around, trying not to think about the impending storm.

Pirato

He hadnt made it a few steps before the wild winds blew a scent to his nose. Pausing in his steps, he turned his eyes to look in the direction of the scent. He knitted his brows, and then started off in the direction of the scent. He knew her. He had been with her once, and it had been quite an experience. But.. there was something else. He really didnt know what, because the storm was giving him so many scents so quickly. All he knew was that Gintare was here. He smiled, and picked up the pace.

"Gintare?" He called, hoping to catch sight of her.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Tare

Tare was so angry at herself for the relief she felt when she heard a male voice call her name. There was no reason anyone else in the area would know her name, and so it could only be Pirato, the father of this litter of cubs. Her knees went weak with relief.

"Here," she called back, looking around with wide eyes. The wind was playing havoc with her hearing and she was unused to the sounds of the sea, so it was difficult for her to tell the direction the voice had come from.

"I'm here," she said, hoping he wasn't too far away. She would like him to find her soon and then find her a place to weather the storm. Oh, yes, and agree to take his cubs off her paws.

Pirato

He heard her call out to him. With a determined look, the male leapt over a few dunes and she came into view. He looked at her dark brown, almost chocolately colored self. She was so pretty, that had been one of the reasons he had liked her so. He wondered if maybe she had come back for him.. The thought made him smile..That was... Until he saw a cub clutched in her jaws. It almost looked just like Gintare and he found himself looking confused.

"..What be goin on, love?" He asked.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Tare

Gintare put down the blue-eyed girl and absently yanked a white cub back toward her when he started wandering toward the water. She didn't have much in the way of maternal instincts, but even a lioness like her would feel some inclination to stop cubs from wandering off into a storm.

"Is there someplace we can go to talk?" she asked Pirato. "Somewhere we won't get rained on? I don't like the look of the sky."

She had also never been anywhere near the sea during a storm and she couldn't help but be afraid of how dangerous it could be. She wanted to get away from the water.

Pirato

"Uh, aye, lets go." He said, turning and motioning for her to follow. He didnt really want to acknowledge the cubs.. He remembered what had happened with Kyouko and it was something similar to this. No he would just ignore that part. Without offering help with the cubs, he motioned her to follow and began heading in the direction of a large den. One he liked to claim as his own.

When they made it there, he shook off to release all the sand that had been blown on him and he looked at Tare and the cubs. There was no mistaking a few of the colors and he gulped.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Tare

After managing to get all five cubs into the den Gintare settled down with her back to a wall, placing herself so that she could watch the weather. She didn't feel as secure in this place as she had expected to feel upon being out of the elements. It was, she decided, a good thing that she did not intend to make her home near the sea. Not that she had any plans to make a permanent home anywhere, really.

"It's like this," she began, suddenly struck by inspiration for how she might get Pirato to take the cubs. She had seen his expression when he noticed them and had not been surprised by it. On the other hand, she wasn't going to let his reluctance to keep the cubs cause her to be stuck with them.

"Not too long after we met I fell in with a lion. He's...more or less perfect, but he's also a very jealous sort. When these cubs were born and obviously weren't his, he said he would give me three weeks to find another home for them before he took matters into his own paws."

She paused before continuing:

"He was raised in a traditional pride. He would kill them. I can't keep them, and I can't leave him. Please. You know they're yours. It took me nearly the full three weeks to find you. I haven't time to find anyone else."

Pirato

He heard her story, and he half wondered if he should believe it. She was fiesty, and stubborn. Both traits that could have lied to him just then. But he didn't know what it proved to say that she was lying. After all, looking at the cubs, and a few were inmistakeable..and the ones that werent? Well even they had something to remind him of himself. Dammit. When was he going to learn to keep it put up? He should have learned after his first litter.

"Wait..What..What do you want me to do with them?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the cubs that were staring at him with wide gleaming eyes.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Tare

"Take them," Gintare said, hoping that the exasperation in her voice would come across as desperation instead of frustration. He wasn't very bright, was he?

"There are others in your pride who can look after them, aren't there?"

Most prides did have something like a child care system she knew, though the majority of her experience with prides was with the Ukuucha'Wafalme, where there was no communal cub watching, but instead cubs were cared for by their mother and the other banu in their father's den. She didn't think that Pirato was likely to belong to such a pride though.

She looked outside at the weather. It didn't actually seem to be worsening. She decided that it would be faster simply to depart and leave him with the cubs. Unencumbered she could cover more ground than he, even in unfamiliar territory and inclement weather. With a sudden burst of energy she darted out of the den.

"I don't care what you tell them about me, or if you tell them about me at all," Tare told Pirato before racing away through the rain.