Post by Therdde on Aug 11, 2009 14:57:21 GMT -5
Characters:
Amber-Kai - Elder Female Cougar
Kein - Male Cougar
Maul - Female Cougar Cub
- Wind-Blown Lowlands -
Thirst satiated, Amber-Kai has moved back south, away from the river and once more into the grassy lands at the base of the mountain. The hunting is.. easier.. with plenty of wind-blown cover, not to mention the inviting shade from the blazing summer's sun. The ancient cougaress rests quietly in a small dip in the land, hidden by the tall and waving grasses all around her, and only paying scant attention to anything going on around her. There is very little in this world that would dare take on a cougar, aged or not, and Amber-Kai is drawing the probability from her long years of experience that she's not going to be bothered by anything dangerous.
His pace is slow. It has been ever since they set out. It is going to be a very long walk for his very young daughter, and he is certain that he will end up carrying her for much, if not all, of the way back. Kain also knows she doesn't like being carried by him, though, so he'll continue to walk slow to avoid wearing her out for as long as possible. All the while, he follows Amber-Kai's scent silently, not trying to force conversation. His daughter has seemed to do nothing but get more and more upset ever since he told her about her... Well, about Amber.
Upset, yes. She is very upset. She couldn't hide it no matter how hard she tried. She is not particularly vocal in being upset, though. Even her expression shows little of the fact that she is upset, other than a frown. She still doesn't know why she is going to meet Amber. She only feels that she must do it, just once. At the very least, once. She owes it to... Well, if it is only one meeting, than she owes it to Nayeli, to see her feelings for Amber put to rest. And if it is more than once? Who will she be doing it for then, herself or Amber?
It would be inaccurate to say that Amber-Kai has not given thought to the most unusual encounter she recently had with the male cougar claiming to be her grandson. It would also be inaccurate to say that Amber-Kai has given much validity to such claims. The possibility that such a name could have been given to the male for punishing her for her past actions is feasible, though unlikely. The possibility that either of her first daughters survived is /not/ feasible, however, and just the thought sickens her. It has mostly been a matter of personal choice to keep her line of quiet thought on... other topics.
The old female's scent grows gradually stronger, though Kein cannot see her. It is only once he is certain he could see her, were she standing up, that he stops walking and calls out, "Amber!" He doesn't use her title. Neither does he bother to add any dramatic statement, such as, 'Show yourself!' He knows she is there. She has to know he knows, and him calling has to make it clear what he wants.
Maul stops walking when her father does. She does not hesitate in sitting down. This is much further than she has ever traveled before in a single day. She lowers her ears when Kein shouts. Even if the shouting is not directed at her, hearing that raised voice is never pleasant. She, of course, has less of a chance of seeing Amber, even if the elder cougaress does stand. She can't see any further than her father beside her, what with the long grass.
Young males, thinking they own the world. Amber-Kai snorts in derision; does he really think that she's just going to jump up and come running simply because he yells her name? She's not trespassing in his territory, nor does she have any overwhelming desire to interact with him right now. If he just /has/ to come speak with her, then he can come speak with her. She's not planning on running away. Nor is she planning, on the other paw, to make herself any easier to find. Her scent should be quite enough for such a talented and brash young male.
Kein's tail twitches in irritation as Amber makes no effort to show herself. If only she knew that he would kill her, slowly and painfully, if his daughter only wished it. If only /he/ knew his daughter has no idea that she sat by, willingly, as her mate killed her children. She doesn't, and he doesn't, which makes this more difficult, and more dangerous, than it ought to be. "If you wish to spend any time here in peace, I suggest you show yourself." He has the 'don't make me come get you' tone mastered, and he sees no problems with using it on his grandmother.
The look Kein gets from his daughter would surely get her in trouble if he actually saw it, since it is none too kind. Why does she feel a need to defend Amber? She doesn't know, any more than she knows the reason behind most things she feels. She looks away after only a moment, though, and begins walking forward again before calling out, "Amber?" Maul can't call her great-grandmother, and can't call her mother. Amber is as good as it gets, and even with that, her tone is filled with uncertainty.
Another half-amused, half-mocking laugh. What is this.. a threat now? She's still not doing anything to mask her presence, whether scent or sound, but she is quite determined not to get up simply because it's demanded of her. This young upstart needs to learn a few lessons on seniority, for sure! The younger voice causes a raised eyebrow, but nothing more. A cub, but... so what?
Can he stop his daughter from visiting with Amber just because Amber insists on being rude? /Should/ he? Kein reaches out to stop Maul, but then holds himself back. No doubt, Maul would understand no better now than she understood why she didn't get her marking immediately several weeks ago, so instead of preventing her from getting what she wants, Kein simply trails after his daughter. So help him, though, if Amber should upset Maul more than the girl is already upset...
This is the direction Kein was walking when he was leading her to Amber, so this is the direction she continues to walk. She keeps walking just until she spots a glimpse of fur through the grass, at which point she calls out, a little softer, "Mom?" Amber is not Mommy, not anymore. *Nayeli* is Mommy. Amber is... old. A lot older than Maul remembers her being, but still clearly Amber, even just from the small glimpse she has.
Her throat seizes up. Her eyes widen. It's not a pleased reaction by any stretch of the imagination, and as she turns to see a young and small cougaress approach her, there's no doubt in her mind that she's looking at her own daughter. The impossibility of this scene washes over her, but how can she deny what her own eyes are staring at? What her own ears have heard? Her daughter just called for her, and even after all this time there's no mistaking that voice. "Maulisho?" she asks, voice barely a creaking whisper. "How.. is this possible?"
Kein bristles simply at the fact that Maul calls this cougaress 'Mom'. He has to bite back a growl, and he cannot avoid baring his teeth. He knew when he agreed to bring Maul here that he may have to deal with anger like this, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. It doesn't make it any easier for him to just sit back, but he manages.
Maul shakes her head. Not Maulisho, just like Amber is not Mommy. "I'm Maul. *Maul*." The same, but different. Those differences hurt... but then, were she exactly the same, she would probably hurt a lot more than she occasionally does now, and hopefully, in time, she will grow into the differences. In time, she may no longer feel the need to avoid cougars like Kein and Kasim. She may understand why she feels the way she does. Or, it may never happen.
"Maulisho.. is.. is your sister.. alive? Still alive?" Amber-Kai can barely manage the words, yet she manages to force out every one of them. The impossible is happening right before her old eyes, and the thought that both of her daughters somehow could have not only survived what she knows happened but also remain so young... this /must/ be some sort of trickery! But aside from the surreal feeling of this encounter, there doesn't seem to be anything unusual that would suggest a hallucination or anything else... unnatural.
Of course. All of her sisters are still alive. Amber isn't asking Maul, though. She's asking Maulisho, and Maulisho knows the answer. In the same ghost-like, ethereal voice she has used before, when remembering things, she says, "You know the answer to that. Your mate didn't lie about everything... or else you never looked for us because you just didn't want us." It's more a question than a statement, and towards the end of her speaking, the pleading in her tone makes that clear.
Quite literally faced with a ghost from her past, Amber-Kai is at a complete loss for words. Can she look her daughter in the face and tell her that no, she never /did/ look for Maulisho and her sister because no, she never /did/ want them? It wasn't so much that as it was that she /couldn't/ want them. They /had/ to be.. removed.. from her life, so that she could obtain the Kai honorific and become mates with that one male. Her former ties had to be removed, including her daughters from her first mate. She simply had no choice, but how can she explain such a thing to her daughter, pleading even now to hear words reaffirming her love and reassuring that it really /wasn't/ her intent to have them killed? "I'm.. sorry, Maulisho. I had.." No choice? What kind of excuse is that? "..to do it." The young girl simply wouldn't understand. The Kai honorific isn't something easily explained in a matter of a few moments.
It would have been so much nicer to hear a lie. That her mother's potential mate had gone to her and told her they were killed in some horrible accident, or otherwise even that he'd told her the truth, or rather a lesser lie, that both of them had died, and she'd sent him away. Or that she knew Maul had lived, and *had* spent all that time looking, and had only now come to find her daughter. Ever since her talk with that bird, she has spent plenty of time thinking about what she might want to hear Amber say, but what she *does* say is far from being on that list. She doesn't take her eyes off of Amber, and even though she is supposed to be strong, she doesn't try to hide the silent tears that manage to fall. "I'm *not* Maulisho. Maulisho wanted you to find her. She missed you. She loved you." *Maul*, however, has a family, one she won't give up for the mother she used to want, once upon a time.
How does one respond to such a series of declarations? How does a /mother/ respond to such? It would have been so much better if Maulisho /had/ died along with her sister, to prevent just this: what Amber-Kai was always afraid could have happened. Her second mate had assured her that it hadn't, but evidently he was wrong... "Where is she? Where is m'daughter?" The surreal encounter with this cub isn't ignored, but the much younger female's denials of being Maulisho must mean that her /real/ daughter, despite the unbelievable similarities between the two, must be somewhere else--perhaps up on the mountain? Amber-Kai holds no joy in the thought of being reunited, but neither can she pass by such an opportunity. If nothing else, the least she can do is apologize.
If Maul seemed to be struggling, he would step in. If Amber seemed to be inclined to violence, he would step in. Neither is true, though, and so Kein continues to hold himself back. It is not because he does not want to support his daughter, but rather because he doubts that support would be appreciated.
"She..." She died, obviously, but... how? That's one of those memories that has eluded Maul, and even now, thinking about it without actually remembering it, it hurts. Whatever happened, it was a very painful death. A very traumatic death. "She lived a long time, and is still living in her children-" And in one granddaughter, in particular. "-but her body gave in some time ago." The trauma didn't kill her spirit, though. It tried, which accounts for the pain she still feels, but it didn't succeed.
So she never will have the chance to apologize to her daughter. Would it even seem genuine, given that Maulisho was never supposed to have lived in the first place? Amber-Kai can't even begin to fathom what an awful life it must have been for the girl--for /her/ /daughter/--having to cope with the realization of what had happened. And, of course, it begs the question of whether or not her /other/ daughter is still alive. "And I must know... is her sister still alive, too?" How could her mate have lied to her at all? Everything the Kai honorific embodies... betrayed by such failure?
She wants a straight answer, but does she deserve it? Maul stares at Amber for a short while, then, suddenly, her shoulders slump. Her voice is a little softer when she speaks again. Is it mourning for the cub that didn't live, or sympathy that she doesn't want to feel creeping through, sympathy for a mother who lost her daughter? "She didn't escape. She died that day."
Perhaps not the reaction that the young girl was expecting--or perhaps hoping for: Amber-Kai looks and sounds greatly relieved. "She was saved from a life of pain, then." Unlike Maulisho. And rather abruptly, Amber-Kai turns away, beginning to hobble off. "Leave me now; I need to.. I need time alone." To do what? Mourn? Repent? Reflect? Maybe all of the above. As the elder cougaress starts to limp off, it's as though her shuffling is even more labored, as if evidencing a new burden she's carrying. Figuratively, of course, but still obvious enough.
She wanted so much more than this. She wanted Avalikia to be right, wanted to believe, once she got here, that she would know that Amber hadn't just allowed one of her daughters to be killed and the other to be run off. She didn't get that, though, and for a moment, she's not sure what to do. She doesn't have a lot of time, though, and so, after a moment, Maul takes a step forward. "She never hated you... and it was for the best that she lived here, and not there. Don't be upset that she survived." That's all. Just because Maulisho didn't dislike her mother doesn't mean Maul has to like her, and after speaking, the cub turns around. It's taking all of her will power to remain strong, right now. She doesn't want to keep dragging this out.
Amber-Kai - Elder Female Cougar
Kein - Male Cougar
Maul - Female Cougar Cub
- Wind-Blown Lowlands -
Thirst satiated, Amber-Kai has moved back south, away from the river and once more into the grassy lands at the base of the mountain. The hunting is.. easier.. with plenty of wind-blown cover, not to mention the inviting shade from the blazing summer's sun. The ancient cougaress rests quietly in a small dip in the land, hidden by the tall and waving grasses all around her, and only paying scant attention to anything going on around her. There is very little in this world that would dare take on a cougar, aged or not, and Amber-Kai is drawing the probability from her long years of experience that she's not going to be bothered by anything dangerous.
His pace is slow. It has been ever since they set out. It is going to be a very long walk for his very young daughter, and he is certain that he will end up carrying her for much, if not all, of the way back. Kain also knows she doesn't like being carried by him, though, so he'll continue to walk slow to avoid wearing her out for as long as possible. All the while, he follows Amber-Kai's scent silently, not trying to force conversation. His daughter has seemed to do nothing but get more and more upset ever since he told her about her... Well, about Amber.
Upset, yes. She is very upset. She couldn't hide it no matter how hard she tried. She is not particularly vocal in being upset, though. Even her expression shows little of the fact that she is upset, other than a frown. She still doesn't know why she is going to meet Amber. She only feels that she must do it, just once. At the very least, once. She owes it to... Well, if it is only one meeting, than she owes it to Nayeli, to see her feelings for Amber put to rest. And if it is more than once? Who will she be doing it for then, herself or Amber?
It would be inaccurate to say that Amber-Kai has not given thought to the most unusual encounter she recently had with the male cougar claiming to be her grandson. It would also be inaccurate to say that Amber-Kai has given much validity to such claims. The possibility that such a name could have been given to the male for punishing her for her past actions is feasible, though unlikely. The possibility that either of her first daughters survived is /not/ feasible, however, and just the thought sickens her. It has mostly been a matter of personal choice to keep her line of quiet thought on... other topics.
The old female's scent grows gradually stronger, though Kein cannot see her. It is only once he is certain he could see her, were she standing up, that he stops walking and calls out, "Amber!" He doesn't use her title. Neither does he bother to add any dramatic statement, such as, 'Show yourself!' He knows she is there. She has to know he knows, and him calling has to make it clear what he wants.
Maul stops walking when her father does. She does not hesitate in sitting down. This is much further than she has ever traveled before in a single day. She lowers her ears when Kein shouts. Even if the shouting is not directed at her, hearing that raised voice is never pleasant. She, of course, has less of a chance of seeing Amber, even if the elder cougaress does stand. She can't see any further than her father beside her, what with the long grass.
Young males, thinking they own the world. Amber-Kai snorts in derision; does he really think that she's just going to jump up and come running simply because he yells her name? She's not trespassing in his territory, nor does she have any overwhelming desire to interact with him right now. If he just /has/ to come speak with her, then he can come speak with her. She's not planning on running away. Nor is she planning, on the other paw, to make herself any easier to find. Her scent should be quite enough for such a talented and brash young male.
Kein's tail twitches in irritation as Amber makes no effort to show herself. If only she knew that he would kill her, slowly and painfully, if his daughter only wished it. If only /he/ knew his daughter has no idea that she sat by, willingly, as her mate killed her children. She doesn't, and he doesn't, which makes this more difficult, and more dangerous, than it ought to be. "If you wish to spend any time here in peace, I suggest you show yourself." He has the 'don't make me come get you' tone mastered, and he sees no problems with using it on his grandmother.
The look Kein gets from his daughter would surely get her in trouble if he actually saw it, since it is none too kind. Why does she feel a need to defend Amber? She doesn't know, any more than she knows the reason behind most things she feels. She looks away after only a moment, though, and begins walking forward again before calling out, "Amber?" Maul can't call her great-grandmother, and can't call her mother. Amber is as good as it gets, and even with that, her tone is filled with uncertainty.
Another half-amused, half-mocking laugh. What is this.. a threat now? She's still not doing anything to mask her presence, whether scent or sound, but she is quite determined not to get up simply because it's demanded of her. This young upstart needs to learn a few lessons on seniority, for sure! The younger voice causes a raised eyebrow, but nothing more. A cub, but... so what?
Can he stop his daughter from visiting with Amber just because Amber insists on being rude? /Should/ he? Kein reaches out to stop Maul, but then holds himself back. No doubt, Maul would understand no better now than she understood why she didn't get her marking immediately several weeks ago, so instead of preventing her from getting what she wants, Kein simply trails after his daughter. So help him, though, if Amber should upset Maul more than the girl is already upset...
This is the direction Kein was walking when he was leading her to Amber, so this is the direction she continues to walk. She keeps walking just until she spots a glimpse of fur through the grass, at which point she calls out, a little softer, "Mom?" Amber is not Mommy, not anymore. *Nayeli* is Mommy. Amber is... old. A lot older than Maul remembers her being, but still clearly Amber, even just from the small glimpse she has.
Her throat seizes up. Her eyes widen. It's not a pleased reaction by any stretch of the imagination, and as she turns to see a young and small cougaress approach her, there's no doubt in her mind that she's looking at her own daughter. The impossibility of this scene washes over her, but how can she deny what her own eyes are staring at? What her own ears have heard? Her daughter just called for her, and even after all this time there's no mistaking that voice. "Maulisho?" she asks, voice barely a creaking whisper. "How.. is this possible?"
Kein bristles simply at the fact that Maul calls this cougaress 'Mom'. He has to bite back a growl, and he cannot avoid baring his teeth. He knew when he agreed to bring Maul here that he may have to deal with anger like this, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. It doesn't make it any easier for him to just sit back, but he manages.
Maul shakes her head. Not Maulisho, just like Amber is not Mommy. "I'm Maul. *Maul*." The same, but different. Those differences hurt... but then, were she exactly the same, she would probably hurt a lot more than she occasionally does now, and hopefully, in time, she will grow into the differences. In time, she may no longer feel the need to avoid cougars like Kein and Kasim. She may understand why she feels the way she does. Or, it may never happen.
"Maulisho.. is.. is your sister.. alive? Still alive?" Amber-Kai can barely manage the words, yet she manages to force out every one of them. The impossible is happening right before her old eyes, and the thought that both of her daughters somehow could have not only survived what she knows happened but also remain so young... this /must/ be some sort of trickery! But aside from the surreal feeling of this encounter, there doesn't seem to be anything unusual that would suggest a hallucination or anything else... unnatural.
Of course. All of her sisters are still alive. Amber isn't asking Maul, though. She's asking Maulisho, and Maulisho knows the answer. In the same ghost-like, ethereal voice she has used before, when remembering things, she says, "You know the answer to that. Your mate didn't lie about everything... or else you never looked for us because you just didn't want us." It's more a question than a statement, and towards the end of her speaking, the pleading in her tone makes that clear.
Quite literally faced with a ghost from her past, Amber-Kai is at a complete loss for words. Can she look her daughter in the face and tell her that no, she never /did/ look for Maulisho and her sister because no, she never /did/ want them? It wasn't so much that as it was that she /couldn't/ want them. They /had/ to be.. removed.. from her life, so that she could obtain the Kai honorific and become mates with that one male. Her former ties had to be removed, including her daughters from her first mate. She simply had no choice, but how can she explain such a thing to her daughter, pleading even now to hear words reaffirming her love and reassuring that it really /wasn't/ her intent to have them killed? "I'm.. sorry, Maulisho. I had.." No choice? What kind of excuse is that? "..to do it." The young girl simply wouldn't understand. The Kai honorific isn't something easily explained in a matter of a few moments.
It would have been so much nicer to hear a lie. That her mother's potential mate had gone to her and told her they were killed in some horrible accident, or otherwise even that he'd told her the truth, or rather a lesser lie, that both of them had died, and she'd sent him away. Or that she knew Maul had lived, and *had* spent all that time looking, and had only now come to find her daughter. Ever since her talk with that bird, she has spent plenty of time thinking about what she might want to hear Amber say, but what she *does* say is far from being on that list. She doesn't take her eyes off of Amber, and even though she is supposed to be strong, she doesn't try to hide the silent tears that manage to fall. "I'm *not* Maulisho. Maulisho wanted you to find her. She missed you. She loved you." *Maul*, however, has a family, one she won't give up for the mother she used to want, once upon a time.
How does one respond to such a series of declarations? How does a /mother/ respond to such? It would have been so much better if Maulisho /had/ died along with her sister, to prevent just this: what Amber-Kai was always afraid could have happened. Her second mate had assured her that it hadn't, but evidently he was wrong... "Where is she? Where is m'daughter?" The surreal encounter with this cub isn't ignored, but the much younger female's denials of being Maulisho must mean that her /real/ daughter, despite the unbelievable similarities between the two, must be somewhere else--perhaps up on the mountain? Amber-Kai holds no joy in the thought of being reunited, but neither can she pass by such an opportunity. If nothing else, the least she can do is apologize.
If Maul seemed to be struggling, he would step in. If Amber seemed to be inclined to violence, he would step in. Neither is true, though, and so Kein continues to hold himself back. It is not because he does not want to support his daughter, but rather because he doubts that support would be appreciated.
"She..." She died, obviously, but... how? That's one of those memories that has eluded Maul, and even now, thinking about it without actually remembering it, it hurts. Whatever happened, it was a very painful death. A very traumatic death. "She lived a long time, and is still living in her children-" And in one granddaughter, in particular. "-but her body gave in some time ago." The trauma didn't kill her spirit, though. It tried, which accounts for the pain she still feels, but it didn't succeed.
So she never will have the chance to apologize to her daughter. Would it even seem genuine, given that Maulisho was never supposed to have lived in the first place? Amber-Kai can't even begin to fathom what an awful life it must have been for the girl--for /her/ /daughter/--having to cope with the realization of what had happened. And, of course, it begs the question of whether or not her /other/ daughter is still alive. "And I must know... is her sister still alive, too?" How could her mate have lied to her at all? Everything the Kai honorific embodies... betrayed by such failure?
She wants a straight answer, but does she deserve it? Maul stares at Amber for a short while, then, suddenly, her shoulders slump. Her voice is a little softer when she speaks again. Is it mourning for the cub that didn't live, or sympathy that she doesn't want to feel creeping through, sympathy for a mother who lost her daughter? "She didn't escape. She died that day."
Perhaps not the reaction that the young girl was expecting--or perhaps hoping for: Amber-Kai looks and sounds greatly relieved. "She was saved from a life of pain, then." Unlike Maulisho. And rather abruptly, Amber-Kai turns away, beginning to hobble off. "Leave me now; I need to.. I need time alone." To do what? Mourn? Repent? Reflect? Maybe all of the above. As the elder cougaress starts to limp off, it's as though her shuffling is even more labored, as if evidencing a new burden she's carrying. Figuratively, of course, but still obvious enough.
She wanted so much more than this. She wanted Avalikia to be right, wanted to believe, once she got here, that she would know that Amber hadn't just allowed one of her daughters to be killed and the other to be run off. She didn't get that, though, and for a moment, she's not sure what to do. She doesn't have a lot of time, though, and so, after a moment, Maul takes a step forward. "She never hated you... and it was for the best that she lived here, and not there. Don't be upset that she survived." That's all. Just because Maulisho didn't dislike her mother doesn't mean Maul has to like her, and after speaking, the cub turns around. It's taking all of her will power to remain strong, right now. She doesn't want to keep dragging this out.