Post by crescendo on Jun 23, 2011 19:35:18 GMT -5
Gnarled Hollow
Shanira, f. cougar
Chaska, m. cougar cub
After a few weeks with the cubs, Shanira feels a tad more settled into her role as a mother. Sure, it's still really confusing, but at least she's figured out what most of the noises mean. What's even more confusing is the fact that she's suddenly all alone in raising the two babies. The loss of her mate and father or her cubs has left the cougaress somewhat dazed and while she does her best to care for the cubs, her natural whimsicality has turned into a slightly erratic behaviour. She hunts when she remembers too, sometimes wanders a little too far away from the den and has taken to pacing back and forth in the medium sized shelter - not that there's too much space to pace and she might've bowled a cub over once or twice. She never abandons her little family though. Now she's lying at the entrance of the den, just out of the sunlight, her head resting on one of the thick roots of the chestnut tree. Her head is raised, but her ears are leveled out to the sides and her attention seems to be elsewhere.
Chaska has noticed the change in his mom's behaviour -- being sent tumbling a few times by the pacing cougress was enough to bring his attention to it! -- and the fact that daddy hasn't... isn't.. coming back, is disrupting him, too. He misses his daddy. And Unca Frash has become even more distant, disappearing altogether, too. Since mom went to have her quiet time, he's been sitting in the corner of the den, head on paws, ears back, and thinking. Not really sleeping, just.. trying to think. As a stray beetle pops from the earth and starts to scuttle past, he watches it dully.
Shanira thinks both cubs are sleeping, but she has yet to check. The den behind her is silent and she has no reason to think something is going on. Silence has been the most common thing since Thrash went away and didn't come back and she's sort of grown used to it by now. One ear twitches as a fly lands on it, the minor disturbance managing to pull Shanira out of her thoughts. Letting her eyes roam the forest scene outside, she then sighs as there is no movement and no sound except for twittering birds and the noise of the water somewhere nearby. No scent of Tantallon or Thrash or anyone else of interest. The sound of the stream makes Shanira realise that she's thirsty and she's almost about to simply get up and go, but somehow her thoughts reach back to the cubs before she's gotten to her feet. Turning her head, she finds Kachina sleeping alone. While she doesn't get worried, since she would notice if Chaska had snuck past her, she still feels a little sting of motherliness as she turns her head further to locate the boy cub. When she sees him on his own in the corner, she gives a soft call to him, turning around properly and coming back into the den, walking over and pressing her nose against the top of his head. "What are you thinking of, Chaska?" she mumbles before giving his head a lick.
"Daddy was supposed to show me how ta climb da tree," Chaska says abruptly, after a moment of silence, in which he doesn't seem to really respond to his mother's nuzzling. "But now he's gone. How'm I supposed to learn to climb da tre now? I try an' try but I can't get no higher. An' what's the point even anyway, if daddy can't see me none." He says, developing a very pouty look on his face. Stupid daddy, going away. "And Kachina is always sleepin' when I'm awake, so I dun' got nobody to play with neither."
Shanira's ears turn back at Chaska's words, that strangely empty feeling in her chest coming on stronger as he speaks. How is she supposed to care for her babies when she's feeling like this? At least with Tant around, she had someone to be confused with and figure stuff out together. Now she's just... alone. If she was worried before, there are hardly words for what she is now. "Daddy can always see you," she says tentatively - she's heard that the dead will always watch over the living, but she doesn't know if it's really true. "And uncle Trash too." She nods, as if to convince both Chaska and herself. Lying down, she nuzzles Chaska's side, trying hesitantly to get that pout off his face. "You can learn to climb trees and Daddy will be proud. Maybe that squirrel that Thrash met can teach you to climb trees. Or maybe I can," she adds almost as an afterthought. "Yes, I can teach both you and your sister to climb trees, right?"
Ears cast back, and Chaska sighs. He knows his mom is trying, but at the same time, it's.. just.. "But it was gonna be me and daddy's thing," he says, mournfully, before he drags himself closer, and curls into his mom's side, laying his chin on her hip, and pressing paws to her side. "Daddy's stupid for going away." he says, softly, but.. he doesn't really feel that either. And then, oh, then, worst yet.. "... Unca Frash isn't comin' back neither is he, Momma." He says, softly, closing his eyes. "I'm never gonna be stupid like Daddy and Unca Frash. If I makes a promise, I'm gonna keep it."
As Chaska moves closer, Shanira shifts slightly to make the new position comfortable for both of them. She keeps her head raised to be able to see him, listening to the sad words of the young one. "Uncle Trash... I don't think he's coming back." Thrash was gone spiritually long before physically, that much Shanira had picked up on when the male cougar was still around. No, he wasn't coming back, what else could she say? "Your father was not stupid, Chaska," she then feels the need to point out. "He did everything he could for you, defending you from bad things and... everything. Thrash wasn't stupid either." No matter how much of an annoyance he could be. "That's right though, you should always keep your promises. If you do that, you'll do well in life." At least she hopes so. She really does.
With a sigh, turning his face into his mum's fur, the still somewhat spottycub mumbles softly, "I know Daddy wuz just protectin' me an' Kachini an' you, but.. But I wish he didn't have to go away like that. It ain't no fair a'tall." He huffs a sigh. Chaska then turns to roll, back, then side, to face his momma now, watching her, face troubled. ".. You aren't gonna go away, areya? You been actin' weird alot lately momma." He says, softly, before he reaches a paw out for her face. "Please don' go'way? I don' wanna be all 'lone."
One part of Shanira - the part that's not a mother - starts feeling like she'd rather be elsewhere right now, but the mother in her is prevalent and as Chaska reaches out, she lowers her head to meet his paw with her cheek. She hasn't been thinking of her own behaviour from the point of view of the cubs, she hasn't really been considering her own actions at all and Chaska wording his worries definitely makes her feel guilty on top of her grief. Hooking a paw around her son and pulling him closer, she wraps her front legs around him and cuddles him close. "I'm not going away, Chaska. I promise. I'm not going away." She reaches a paw out to touch the sleeping Kachina, feeling the rise and fall of the girl cub's chest. "Mommy's just a little sad right now, but I won't go away like Daddy and uncle Thrash. I'll be here and take care of you and teach you how to climb trees and make Daddy proud. And you'll grow up and be big and proud like him."
Smiling a little better, Chaska says, "Good, c'os I like you lots, Momma." He smiles at his momma, before he shifts around, and moves to climb up her shoulder, and plop onto her back, sprawling out a bit, laying his head against the top of her head, his tail curling slightly about her shoulders. "Momma, you're my bestest friend, right? Like daddy was, right?" he smiles.
Shifting again as Chaska starts climbing onto her, Shanira finally smiles a bit. "Of course I am. I'm your Momma and your best friend and I'll always be around for you." She looks up, but can't really see anything other than the dirt and roots in the den roof. "I'll be it double up, for Daddy too," she says, nodding and feeling her head bump against Chaska's. "There's one thing you have to help me with though, Chaska," she then says, turning her muzzle towards the roof to try and get a glimpse of the cub on her back. "You've got to help me take care of your sister. You'll be the big guy in the family now and that's an important role to have. Will you do that for me?"
An unsure face comes across Chaska, and he mumbles, "But she's a sister. Why do I gotta take care of her?" with a grimace of disgust. SISTERS. Still. He siiighs, and then nods. "Yeah, I guess I can help take care of her," he says, far louder, before he climbs a little more to cross his paws against his mom's temple, and peer down at her curiously. "I gotta be the big cat here, right? Well.. uhm.. does that mean she gotta do what I say if I tell'er to?" He asks, as an idea dawns in his head. because this COULD be fun.
Shanira closes one eye as her son's paws get in her face. "Well..." she says, pausing to contemplate because she hadn't even thought of that. "I guess she has to sometimes. If it's for her own good? But not all the time, because that would be unfair." She nods again. "And you have to listen to her too, because it's important to listen to others. You have to listen and keep your promises and learn to climb trees and then both Daddy and I will be proud of you." She twists her neck to be able to lick Chaska, reaching one of his legs and figuring that'll do fine.
"Aw, I gotta listen to her, too? But what if she tells me to like, eat a bug?" As if said thing had never crossed his mind to tell her either, nope, never. Really. .. Okay, maybe. Chaska squeaks as his leg is licked, and he reaches a paw to swat at Shanira's nose, mumbling, "Maaaaaa, I'm the big cat now, I don't gotta take baths!"
"Well, you will have to use your brains to figure out if it's for your own good or not..! Eating a bug usually isn't," Shanira informs him, if there was any doubts about this. When Chaska starts complaining about being licked, Shanira simply tips a little to the side to cause him to slide off her back, once again gathering him in close in order to lick him properly. "Even big cats have to take baths," she announces very matter-of-factly, paws placed firmly on Chaska to keep him in place.
Sliiidethump. Chaska lands with a hoof, and then, seeing the Mommy Express, yelps: "NOooooo! MAaaa, I don't wanna baaaath!" But, yoink! he's scooped up and gathered to her, paws pinning him down. Baths, augh! "But do I gottaaaa? I'm just gonna go out an' get all dirty again, I promise!" He flails a little, but, well, Mom is stronger, Mom usually knows best, Mom is usually going to win. He humphs!
Pausing momentarily in her cleaning, Shanira looks down at Chaska with a serious face. "My mother always told me that a clean cougar is a good cougar and I definitely think you're a good cougar." This is explanation enough for her and therefor it should be for her son as well, she reasons as she continues her licking. Chaska's struggles makes her smile slightly and she mixes in the occasional nuzzle in the bathtime. For all she might space out and wander off, the cubs are an anchor point in her life, possibly the only one she has now, and even though she might be halfway clueless as to how to take care of them, she'll do her very best.
"Ahhh! But maaaaa you're makin' my cool fur look all spikey and clean and it took me like forever to make it just the right kinda dirty and--" Yeah, Chaska keeps protesting. But he doesn't involve teeth or claws in his protesting, so he can't be too angry about it. He half rolls and tries to set forepaws and backfeet to stiff protrustions against his mum's mouth, ears back. Gahhhh! Moms, are nothing, but spit, sometimes. He sighs though, eventually just deciding to accept his fate. "Moms might like to be clean, but I like to play in the dirt." He humphs.
Shanira patiently holds up for a moment when she gets her face full of paws, even playfully nipping at them before she resolutely pushes her muzzle into Chaska's chest and starts licking his underside as he stops flailing. "You can play in the dirt all you want, but I'll always be here to clean you off. I'll always find the pretty boy underneath, because that's what mothers do." She smiles almost proudly, feeling very important in her role as mother just then.
"I'm not pretty, pretty is for girls." Announces Chaska firmly, before he sighs, waiting impatiently for this path nonsense to be over. "I'm .. Uhm.. I'm hansom, yeah. I'm Hansom like Uncle Thrash, an' stuff. So there." he snorts, before he rolls. As soon as she lets him go, he'd scramble out of mouth reach, and go to hide behind her butt, peering briefly her way like she'd betrayed him, before ducking down and trying to scruff all his fur out again.
"Of course you're handsome. We'll leave the pretty for Kachina then." Shanira is definitely feeling loads better, just after this brief interaction with her son. Once she's done cleaning him, she gives him a playful swat on the hindquarters as he escapes from her care. Letting her head come down to rest on the trampled earth ground of the den, her eyes rest on the snoozing Kachina as she feels Chaska moving about behind her. She does have a lot of work ahead of her, but she's also got her little family and that isn't very bad.
Once he's satisfied that he's appropriately ruffled up, Chaska starts stalking his mom's tail for revenge; Shanira's going to have her paws full with this little boy that's for darn sure. He stalks.. then pounces for the tip of her tail, trying to pin it down and attack it with his tongue and teeth-- HAH, turn about is fair play so there!
As Chaska attacks her tail, Shanira gives a start and tries to twitch it away from him with a surprised exclamation at the feeling of his baby teeth. She remains lying down, but flicks her tail for the little one to chase - at least until the small but sharp teeth come to be too much.
"Grrrawr!" Says Chaska most angrilly! Except he's not really angry, he's just squeaking and making noise to show he's brave. But, well, after a few attempts at tail catch and release, he comes to the inevitable yawn, and plods over to lay against his mom for a warm soft place. "... Daddy's still here.." he mumbles softly, "I can still smell him sorta. So maybe he's just.. invisdable or something."
Once playtime comes to its natural end, Shanira is more than happy to be a pillow for a while. Curling around Chaska, she pulls his sister closer as well. At Chaska's words, she feel a slight pinch in her chest and sniffs at the air. "Yeah, you're right... Daddy will always be here. You know," she says, putting her head down close to her babies, "your father grew up in this forest. Many moons ago, when he was just a cub like you. Can you imagine that, Daddy being as small as you? And he grew up here, with the wolves."
"... Daddy was small as me? Nah, never. Couldnta' been," Chaska says, sleepy eyes opening wide in thought, before they fall slightly closed again, listening to the most comforting thing he knows; the sound of his mother's breath and heartbeat. "You're pullin' my tail, mommy. An' livin' with tha woofs? Never never."
Pressing her nose gently to Chaska's cheek, Shanira then shakes her head. "I'm not playing you, not at all. Daddy was tiny and lived with the wolves and then he came to the mountains and then I came there too. And then we set out with Thrash and his lady friends and came here and then," she gave him a light bump, "you came and we were so proud. We still are, a little more proud every day."
"Well, pff, of course you're proud of me, I'm the big cat here now," Says Chaska with a lazy, yet amused grin, as he nuzzles in against his mum, and closes his eyes, starting to rumble a soft purr-like sound at her as he doses. "I'm the best biggest cat ever.." he says, though he's interrupted by a yawn, before falling asleep.
Shanira, f. cougar
Chaska, m. cougar cub
After a few weeks with the cubs, Shanira feels a tad more settled into her role as a mother. Sure, it's still really confusing, but at least she's figured out what most of the noises mean. What's even more confusing is the fact that she's suddenly all alone in raising the two babies. The loss of her mate and father or her cubs has left the cougaress somewhat dazed and while she does her best to care for the cubs, her natural whimsicality has turned into a slightly erratic behaviour. She hunts when she remembers too, sometimes wanders a little too far away from the den and has taken to pacing back and forth in the medium sized shelter - not that there's too much space to pace and she might've bowled a cub over once or twice. She never abandons her little family though. Now she's lying at the entrance of the den, just out of the sunlight, her head resting on one of the thick roots of the chestnut tree. Her head is raised, but her ears are leveled out to the sides and her attention seems to be elsewhere.
Chaska has noticed the change in his mom's behaviour -- being sent tumbling a few times by the pacing cougress was enough to bring his attention to it! -- and the fact that daddy hasn't... isn't.. coming back, is disrupting him, too. He misses his daddy. And Unca Frash has become even more distant, disappearing altogether, too. Since mom went to have her quiet time, he's been sitting in the corner of the den, head on paws, ears back, and thinking. Not really sleeping, just.. trying to think. As a stray beetle pops from the earth and starts to scuttle past, he watches it dully.
Shanira thinks both cubs are sleeping, but she has yet to check. The den behind her is silent and she has no reason to think something is going on. Silence has been the most common thing since Thrash went away and didn't come back and she's sort of grown used to it by now. One ear twitches as a fly lands on it, the minor disturbance managing to pull Shanira out of her thoughts. Letting her eyes roam the forest scene outside, she then sighs as there is no movement and no sound except for twittering birds and the noise of the water somewhere nearby. No scent of Tantallon or Thrash or anyone else of interest. The sound of the stream makes Shanira realise that she's thirsty and she's almost about to simply get up and go, but somehow her thoughts reach back to the cubs before she's gotten to her feet. Turning her head, she finds Kachina sleeping alone. While she doesn't get worried, since she would notice if Chaska had snuck past her, she still feels a little sting of motherliness as she turns her head further to locate the boy cub. When she sees him on his own in the corner, she gives a soft call to him, turning around properly and coming back into the den, walking over and pressing her nose against the top of his head. "What are you thinking of, Chaska?" she mumbles before giving his head a lick.
"Daddy was supposed to show me how ta climb da tree," Chaska says abruptly, after a moment of silence, in which he doesn't seem to really respond to his mother's nuzzling. "But now he's gone. How'm I supposed to learn to climb da tre now? I try an' try but I can't get no higher. An' what's the point even anyway, if daddy can't see me none." He says, developing a very pouty look on his face. Stupid daddy, going away. "And Kachina is always sleepin' when I'm awake, so I dun' got nobody to play with neither."
Shanira's ears turn back at Chaska's words, that strangely empty feeling in her chest coming on stronger as he speaks. How is she supposed to care for her babies when she's feeling like this? At least with Tant around, she had someone to be confused with and figure stuff out together. Now she's just... alone. If she was worried before, there are hardly words for what she is now. "Daddy can always see you," she says tentatively - she's heard that the dead will always watch over the living, but she doesn't know if it's really true. "And uncle Trash too." She nods, as if to convince both Chaska and herself. Lying down, she nuzzles Chaska's side, trying hesitantly to get that pout off his face. "You can learn to climb trees and Daddy will be proud. Maybe that squirrel that Thrash met can teach you to climb trees. Or maybe I can," she adds almost as an afterthought. "Yes, I can teach both you and your sister to climb trees, right?"
Ears cast back, and Chaska sighs. He knows his mom is trying, but at the same time, it's.. just.. "But it was gonna be me and daddy's thing," he says, mournfully, before he drags himself closer, and curls into his mom's side, laying his chin on her hip, and pressing paws to her side. "Daddy's stupid for going away." he says, softly, but.. he doesn't really feel that either. And then, oh, then, worst yet.. "... Unca Frash isn't comin' back neither is he, Momma." He says, softly, closing his eyes. "I'm never gonna be stupid like Daddy and Unca Frash. If I makes a promise, I'm gonna keep it."
As Chaska moves closer, Shanira shifts slightly to make the new position comfortable for both of them. She keeps her head raised to be able to see him, listening to the sad words of the young one. "Uncle Trash... I don't think he's coming back." Thrash was gone spiritually long before physically, that much Shanira had picked up on when the male cougar was still around. No, he wasn't coming back, what else could she say? "Your father was not stupid, Chaska," she then feels the need to point out. "He did everything he could for you, defending you from bad things and... everything. Thrash wasn't stupid either." No matter how much of an annoyance he could be. "That's right though, you should always keep your promises. If you do that, you'll do well in life." At least she hopes so. She really does.
With a sigh, turning his face into his mum's fur, the still somewhat spottycub mumbles softly, "I know Daddy wuz just protectin' me an' Kachini an' you, but.. But I wish he didn't have to go away like that. It ain't no fair a'tall." He huffs a sigh. Chaska then turns to roll, back, then side, to face his momma now, watching her, face troubled. ".. You aren't gonna go away, areya? You been actin' weird alot lately momma." He says, softly, before he reaches a paw out for her face. "Please don' go'way? I don' wanna be all 'lone."
One part of Shanira - the part that's not a mother - starts feeling like she'd rather be elsewhere right now, but the mother in her is prevalent and as Chaska reaches out, she lowers her head to meet his paw with her cheek. She hasn't been thinking of her own behaviour from the point of view of the cubs, she hasn't really been considering her own actions at all and Chaska wording his worries definitely makes her feel guilty on top of her grief. Hooking a paw around her son and pulling him closer, she wraps her front legs around him and cuddles him close. "I'm not going away, Chaska. I promise. I'm not going away." She reaches a paw out to touch the sleeping Kachina, feeling the rise and fall of the girl cub's chest. "Mommy's just a little sad right now, but I won't go away like Daddy and uncle Thrash. I'll be here and take care of you and teach you how to climb trees and make Daddy proud. And you'll grow up and be big and proud like him."
Smiling a little better, Chaska says, "Good, c'os I like you lots, Momma." He smiles at his momma, before he shifts around, and moves to climb up her shoulder, and plop onto her back, sprawling out a bit, laying his head against the top of her head, his tail curling slightly about her shoulders. "Momma, you're my bestest friend, right? Like daddy was, right?" he smiles.
Shifting again as Chaska starts climbing onto her, Shanira finally smiles a bit. "Of course I am. I'm your Momma and your best friend and I'll always be around for you." She looks up, but can't really see anything other than the dirt and roots in the den roof. "I'll be it double up, for Daddy too," she says, nodding and feeling her head bump against Chaska's. "There's one thing you have to help me with though, Chaska," she then says, turning her muzzle towards the roof to try and get a glimpse of the cub on her back. "You've got to help me take care of your sister. You'll be the big guy in the family now and that's an important role to have. Will you do that for me?"
An unsure face comes across Chaska, and he mumbles, "But she's a sister. Why do I gotta take care of her?" with a grimace of disgust. SISTERS. Still. He siiighs, and then nods. "Yeah, I guess I can help take care of her," he says, far louder, before he climbs a little more to cross his paws against his mom's temple, and peer down at her curiously. "I gotta be the big cat here, right? Well.. uhm.. does that mean she gotta do what I say if I tell'er to?" He asks, as an idea dawns in his head. because this COULD be fun.
Shanira closes one eye as her son's paws get in her face. "Well..." she says, pausing to contemplate because she hadn't even thought of that. "I guess she has to sometimes. If it's for her own good? But not all the time, because that would be unfair." She nods again. "And you have to listen to her too, because it's important to listen to others. You have to listen and keep your promises and learn to climb trees and then both Daddy and I will be proud of you." She twists her neck to be able to lick Chaska, reaching one of his legs and figuring that'll do fine.
"Aw, I gotta listen to her, too? But what if she tells me to like, eat a bug?" As if said thing had never crossed his mind to tell her either, nope, never. Really. .. Okay, maybe. Chaska squeaks as his leg is licked, and he reaches a paw to swat at Shanira's nose, mumbling, "Maaaaaa, I'm the big cat now, I don't gotta take baths!"
"Well, you will have to use your brains to figure out if it's for your own good or not..! Eating a bug usually isn't," Shanira informs him, if there was any doubts about this. When Chaska starts complaining about being licked, Shanira simply tips a little to the side to cause him to slide off her back, once again gathering him in close in order to lick him properly. "Even big cats have to take baths," she announces very matter-of-factly, paws placed firmly on Chaska to keep him in place.
Sliiidethump. Chaska lands with a hoof, and then, seeing the Mommy Express, yelps: "NOooooo! MAaaa, I don't wanna baaaath!" But, yoink! he's scooped up and gathered to her, paws pinning him down. Baths, augh! "But do I gottaaaa? I'm just gonna go out an' get all dirty again, I promise!" He flails a little, but, well, Mom is stronger, Mom usually knows best, Mom is usually going to win. He humphs!
Pausing momentarily in her cleaning, Shanira looks down at Chaska with a serious face. "My mother always told me that a clean cougar is a good cougar and I definitely think you're a good cougar." This is explanation enough for her and therefor it should be for her son as well, she reasons as she continues her licking. Chaska's struggles makes her smile slightly and she mixes in the occasional nuzzle in the bathtime. For all she might space out and wander off, the cubs are an anchor point in her life, possibly the only one she has now, and even though she might be halfway clueless as to how to take care of them, she'll do her very best.
"Ahhh! But maaaaa you're makin' my cool fur look all spikey and clean and it took me like forever to make it just the right kinda dirty and--" Yeah, Chaska keeps protesting. But he doesn't involve teeth or claws in his protesting, so he can't be too angry about it. He half rolls and tries to set forepaws and backfeet to stiff protrustions against his mum's mouth, ears back. Gahhhh! Moms, are nothing, but spit, sometimes. He sighs though, eventually just deciding to accept his fate. "Moms might like to be clean, but I like to play in the dirt." He humphs.
Shanira patiently holds up for a moment when she gets her face full of paws, even playfully nipping at them before she resolutely pushes her muzzle into Chaska's chest and starts licking his underside as he stops flailing. "You can play in the dirt all you want, but I'll always be here to clean you off. I'll always find the pretty boy underneath, because that's what mothers do." She smiles almost proudly, feeling very important in her role as mother just then.
"I'm not pretty, pretty is for girls." Announces Chaska firmly, before he sighs, waiting impatiently for this path nonsense to be over. "I'm .. Uhm.. I'm hansom, yeah. I'm Hansom like Uncle Thrash, an' stuff. So there." he snorts, before he rolls. As soon as she lets him go, he'd scramble out of mouth reach, and go to hide behind her butt, peering briefly her way like she'd betrayed him, before ducking down and trying to scruff all his fur out again.
"Of course you're handsome. We'll leave the pretty for Kachina then." Shanira is definitely feeling loads better, just after this brief interaction with her son. Once she's done cleaning him, she gives him a playful swat on the hindquarters as he escapes from her care. Letting her head come down to rest on the trampled earth ground of the den, her eyes rest on the snoozing Kachina as she feels Chaska moving about behind her. She does have a lot of work ahead of her, but she's also got her little family and that isn't very bad.
Once he's satisfied that he's appropriately ruffled up, Chaska starts stalking his mom's tail for revenge; Shanira's going to have her paws full with this little boy that's for darn sure. He stalks.. then pounces for the tip of her tail, trying to pin it down and attack it with his tongue and teeth-- HAH, turn about is fair play so there!
As Chaska attacks her tail, Shanira gives a start and tries to twitch it away from him with a surprised exclamation at the feeling of his baby teeth. She remains lying down, but flicks her tail for the little one to chase - at least until the small but sharp teeth come to be too much.
"Grrrawr!" Says Chaska most angrilly! Except he's not really angry, he's just squeaking and making noise to show he's brave. But, well, after a few attempts at tail catch and release, he comes to the inevitable yawn, and plods over to lay against his mom for a warm soft place. "... Daddy's still here.." he mumbles softly, "I can still smell him sorta. So maybe he's just.. invisdable or something."
Once playtime comes to its natural end, Shanira is more than happy to be a pillow for a while. Curling around Chaska, she pulls his sister closer as well. At Chaska's words, she feel a slight pinch in her chest and sniffs at the air. "Yeah, you're right... Daddy will always be here. You know," she says, putting her head down close to her babies, "your father grew up in this forest. Many moons ago, when he was just a cub like you. Can you imagine that, Daddy being as small as you? And he grew up here, with the wolves."
"... Daddy was small as me? Nah, never. Couldnta' been," Chaska says, sleepy eyes opening wide in thought, before they fall slightly closed again, listening to the most comforting thing he knows; the sound of his mother's breath and heartbeat. "You're pullin' my tail, mommy. An' livin' with tha woofs? Never never."
Pressing her nose gently to Chaska's cheek, Shanira then shakes her head. "I'm not playing you, not at all. Daddy was tiny and lived with the wolves and then he came to the mountains and then I came there too. And then we set out with Thrash and his lady friends and came here and then," she gave him a light bump, "you came and we were so proud. We still are, a little more proud every day."
"Well, pff, of course you're proud of me, I'm the big cat here now," Says Chaska with a lazy, yet amused grin, as he nuzzles in against his mum, and closes his eyes, starting to rumble a soft purr-like sound at her as he doses. "I'm the best biggest cat ever.." he says, though he's interrupted by a yawn, before falling asleep.