Post by crescendo on Jul 7, 2011 13:25:20 GMT -5
Old Chestnut Tree
Chaska, m. cougar cub
Shanira, f cougar
Having lost one daughter, Shanira hasn't let her son out of her sight ever since she realised Kachina was gone. What puts even greater strain upon her is the 'extra' cub she's been caring for, Thrash's son Toyo, whose mother seem to have disappeared the same way Thrash did. For a clueless first-time mother, managing two cubs while worrying sick about a third isn't going too well. Shanira is very reluctant to leave the den to hunt and keeps a close watch whenever any of the cubs leave the den. Whenever she does leave, she tells them over and over to not for any reason go outside. She doesn't know what else to do, as she has no idea what happened to Kachina and thus can't protect the remaining cubs against it. The relentless worrying and lack of hunting has left the cougaress stressed and edgy and she does her best not to take it out on the cubs, but it definitely shows in her overprotective manners. Right now, she's flopped on the ground outside the den, her body blocking the entrance to it as she's sprawled over the roots of the trees. It looks like an uncomfortable position, but Shanira seems too lost in thoughts to care.
What is this? Something in the den is poking, prodding, and trying to shove its way out! Poke prod shove, "Maaaaammmaaaaaa, I gotta make a puddle!" Chaska whines noisily, not wanting to 'make a puddle' in the same place he sleeps, knowing it would stink and not be the fun kind of mud puddle he would normally like to play in. His cousin is still sleeping, but.. well.. when nature calls, man, you neeeeed to answer it. And he's been holding for a while.
Shanira is pulled from her contemplations by Chaska's pushing against her, looking over her shoulder at him with vacant eyes before she seems to realise what he wants, her expression at once turning apologizing as she pushes herself to her feet and allows for Chaska to pass under her. Once he's done so, she simply lets her rump hit the ground again, ending up in a very lazy-looking sitting position. "Chaska," she says slowly after a few moments, "do you like living here?"
And lo, the way did open, and lo! The fidgety Puddle Dance moving cub dashes out, and finds a spot he deems worth, before he kicks the dirt, and paws it loose, and then squats. A groan of relief comes -- boys. And then once he's left the spot wet, he begins kicking the dirt back onto it, distracted from this by his mother's question. Huh? ".. Why wouldn't I like livin' here, Momma? it's the on'e place I ever lived." She gets a slight grin from him as, tail curling at the tip slightly, he pads her way and butts his head into her foreleg with a soft purr.
Lowering her head to give Chaska's head a single lick, Shanira then plops down her front end as well, pulling her son in close as she does so. Leaned against a large tree root, she hugs Chaska to her chest with both front legs, occasionally licking his head. "Wouldn't it be fun if you and Toyo could play with other cubs as well? And if you had other grown-ups around to help you learn to climb trees?"
... Well, that last one, kind of ... makes him droop a little. "But I wanted to learn from dad.." he murmurs, softly, though as he's licked and groomed he settles into lightly pawing the fur of her foreleg, 'makin' biscuits' as it were. He frowns, "And if we leave, how will Kachina find us?" He looks up to his mom; he's not been feeling guilty about losing his sister even if he was supposed to be watching her. He's sure she'll come back, probably off doing some stupid sister thing.
"Where we might be going, there will be lots of cougars like daddy who knows how to climb trees better than I do." The question about Kachina brings a shadow to Shanira's face. "That's another reason we might be going away. These other cougars could help us look for Kachina, much better than I can do when I'm taking care of you and your cousin." Her grip on the cub tightens. "I can't look for China and look after you at the same time. I think she is far away and I can't go far away and leave you."
Ears lay back at the tight grip, but Chaska just squeaks, then murmurs, "... You sure? I mean maybe she's just somewhere nearby doing stupid girl stuff.." he says, softly, though he does understand that she's scared of leaving him and his younger cousin behind where they too could vanish. He grimaces some then sighs. ".. Do we gotta go away, mom? I mean, Daddy's here, I know he is. I don't want to leave and he can't find us again.."
Thinking of Kachina and Tantallon and all those who left isn't really helping Shanira's distress and her administered licks become a bit too pressurized. "Daddy will always find us, Chaska, he can go anywhere he wants now. If you want to talk to him, you just have to call for him and he'll be there." Shanira knows of spirits, she just can't sense them herself, but maybe Chaska has inherited that trait from his father. "I don't know if we're going away yet - if Kachina comes back," she says with childish hope, "we might not have to leave at all." This is what she's been over and over in her head until her brain hurt - whether or not she could actually care for three cubs on her own. Two were confusing enough and then she had Tantallon to help out..!
"Ma," Chaska starts, "Ma, ma.." Those licks are getting harder, and though the cub would normally never do so, he suddenly snaps, "Ma!" And curls around to swipe at her face with tiny kitten claws, and kick for her chin, "You're licklin' me too hard, ma, it hurts!" He tries to wiggle away, and then adds, "Kachina will come back, I know it. But.. But if you think we should leave, maybe we could leave some way for her to find us."
Chaska's paws in her face causes Shanira to throw her head back, uttering a surprised noise as she lets go of her cub. Her head comes down almost to ground level, ears planed out to the sides as she considers Chaska's suggestion with a motherly kind of patient disinterest. "How should we do that?" she then asks, almost feeling level with her son regarding the faith he has in his sister's eventual return.
"... I dunno," Chaska admits after a moment of pouty silence. She gets a stubborn stare, and then the grumpy little boy says, "She's just a stupid sister, why do we gotta wait for her anyway?" He does love his sister, but.. he's getting frustrated with his mom. First his dad dies, then his uncle vanishes, then his aunt leaves his cousin behind, and Kachina disappears, and his mom.. His mom just becomes more mom than mom. "... Mom, you're being.. I dunno. But you've changed again, an' it's like, bad."
Shanira gives a huff, the grass in front of her nose rustling. "Maybe if we leave for this place I'm thinking of, there will be better mommies there." It's not the first time the thought has crossed her mind and it is a thought that is unusually rational for her. Well, rational and irrational at the same time, more likely, but she can't help feeling like she's doing a bad job raising the cubs. She even lost on of them! "Perhaps you can find a better mommy there?" she asks with a little out-of-place smile on her face.
".. Nah, you're like, the only mommy I want. But you were lickin' me too hard, it hurt. And you're like.. always grumpy, and you're not all fluffy anymore. And like I'm hungry but I can't find any good mousies anymore, or lizards.."
Smiling again, though this time because she's happy to hear what Chaska's saying, the smile then gives way again as he mentions the lack of food. "I don't want to leave you alone with no one to guard you. Daddy can't protect you now, if something decides to come and snatch you away, like Kachina..." She stretches her neck towards her son, nosing at the air. "I'm hungry too, though," she admits with a sigh.
Ears lay back, and Chaska says, softly, "Momma, you should go get food. I'm big, I can stay in the den and keep the baby inside, so there." Yes, that worked real well with his sister. Of course, Kachina happened when he didn't think there WERE any things to be afraid of. He paws at her nose when she reaches out, though this time, no claws. "We can stay in the hole in the ground and not come out till you say it's safe."
Shanira can't help but think about the loss of Kachina as Chaska offers to guard the den and his cousin. However, she doesn't hold him responsible for it, not at all, that's all on her conscience. The pull of the empty stomachs is great though and she knows that it's just a matter of time before Toyo wakes up and demands food as well. Looking from Chaska to the den behind her and back, her forehead creased with indecision. Eventually she stands up and comes to nudge Chaska towards the den opening. "Will you stay at the very back until I come down to get you again?" she frets.
"Yu-huh, I'll tell Toyo to do it, too. If he doesn't listen to me then it's his fault." Says Chaska. Which, while cruel, is truth, in his eyes. "I'll stay way in the back of the den, until you come and say it's safe, and I'll never come out unless I know it's you. I promise," Chaska says.
Giving him another few licks, Shanira then shakes her head as she follows him down in the den to make sure that he really does what he's told. "No no, you don't come out, I come down and get you," she clarifies, not wanting to leave anything to chance. "Chaska," she then says, pressing her nose to his forehead, "I love you. And I'll return with food."
As his mum gets all sappy, Chaska pffts. "Of course you do, I'm your best son ever, Ma." Chaska says with a smirk.. though then he gives her a lick or two to the face. He doesn't want to have her go without reminding himself of what she tastes like in case she doesn't come back.
Turning to leave for the aboveground again, Shanira stops just before ascending from the den and looks back at her son. "You're the big cat now, Chaska. Take care of Toyo." And with that she leaves the den, however reluctantly, to hopefully hunt down something that will feed the three of them in a satisfying way.
Chaska, m. cougar cub
Shanira, f cougar
Having lost one daughter, Shanira hasn't let her son out of her sight ever since she realised Kachina was gone. What puts even greater strain upon her is the 'extra' cub she's been caring for, Thrash's son Toyo, whose mother seem to have disappeared the same way Thrash did. For a clueless first-time mother, managing two cubs while worrying sick about a third isn't going too well. Shanira is very reluctant to leave the den to hunt and keeps a close watch whenever any of the cubs leave the den. Whenever she does leave, she tells them over and over to not for any reason go outside. She doesn't know what else to do, as she has no idea what happened to Kachina and thus can't protect the remaining cubs against it. The relentless worrying and lack of hunting has left the cougaress stressed and edgy and she does her best not to take it out on the cubs, but it definitely shows in her overprotective manners. Right now, she's flopped on the ground outside the den, her body blocking the entrance to it as she's sprawled over the roots of the trees. It looks like an uncomfortable position, but Shanira seems too lost in thoughts to care.
What is this? Something in the den is poking, prodding, and trying to shove its way out! Poke prod shove, "Maaaaammmaaaaaa, I gotta make a puddle!" Chaska whines noisily, not wanting to 'make a puddle' in the same place he sleeps, knowing it would stink and not be the fun kind of mud puddle he would normally like to play in. His cousin is still sleeping, but.. well.. when nature calls, man, you neeeeed to answer it. And he's been holding for a while.
Shanira is pulled from her contemplations by Chaska's pushing against her, looking over her shoulder at him with vacant eyes before she seems to realise what he wants, her expression at once turning apologizing as she pushes herself to her feet and allows for Chaska to pass under her. Once he's done so, she simply lets her rump hit the ground again, ending up in a very lazy-looking sitting position. "Chaska," she says slowly after a few moments, "do you like living here?"
And lo, the way did open, and lo! The fidgety Puddle Dance moving cub dashes out, and finds a spot he deems worth, before he kicks the dirt, and paws it loose, and then squats. A groan of relief comes -- boys. And then once he's left the spot wet, he begins kicking the dirt back onto it, distracted from this by his mother's question. Huh? ".. Why wouldn't I like livin' here, Momma? it's the on'e place I ever lived." She gets a slight grin from him as, tail curling at the tip slightly, he pads her way and butts his head into her foreleg with a soft purr.
Lowering her head to give Chaska's head a single lick, Shanira then plops down her front end as well, pulling her son in close as she does so. Leaned against a large tree root, she hugs Chaska to her chest with both front legs, occasionally licking his head. "Wouldn't it be fun if you and Toyo could play with other cubs as well? And if you had other grown-ups around to help you learn to climb trees?"
... Well, that last one, kind of ... makes him droop a little. "But I wanted to learn from dad.." he murmurs, softly, though as he's licked and groomed he settles into lightly pawing the fur of her foreleg, 'makin' biscuits' as it were. He frowns, "And if we leave, how will Kachina find us?" He looks up to his mom; he's not been feeling guilty about losing his sister even if he was supposed to be watching her. He's sure she'll come back, probably off doing some stupid sister thing.
"Where we might be going, there will be lots of cougars like daddy who knows how to climb trees better than I do." The question about Kachina brings a shadow to Shanira's face. "That's another reason we might be going away. These other cougars could help us look for Kachina, much better than I can do when I'm taking care of you and your cousin." Her grip on the cub tightens. "I can't look for China and look after you at the same time. I think she is far away and I can't go far away and leave you."
Ears lay back at the tight grip, but Chaska just squeaks, then murmurs, "... You sure? I mean maybe she's just somewhere nearby doing stupid girl stuff.." he says, softly, though he does understand that she's scared of leaving him and his younger cousin behind where they too could vanish. He grimaces some then sighs. ".. Do we gotta go away, mom? I mean, Daddy's here, I know he is. I don't want to leave and he can't find us again.."
Thinking of Kachina and Tantallon and all those who left isn't really helping Shanira's distress and her administered licks become a bit too pressurized. "Daddy will always find us, Chaska, he can go anywhere he wants now. If you want to talk to him, you just have to call for him and he'll be there." Shanira knows of spirits, she just can't sense them herself, but maybe Chaska has inherited that trait from his father. "I don't know if we're going away yet - if Kachina comes back," she says with childish hope, "we might not have to leave at all." This is what she's been over and over in her head until her brain hurt - whether or not she could actually care for three cubs on her own. Two were confusing enough and then she had Tantallon to help out..!
"Ma," Chaska starts, "Ma, ma.." Those licks are getting harder, and though the cub would normally never do so, he suddenly snaps, "Ma!" And curls around to swipe at her face with tiny kitten claws, and kick for her chin, "You're licklin' me too hard, ma, it hurts!" He tries to wiggle away, and then adds, "Kachina will come back, I know it. But.. But if you think we should leave, maybe we could leave some way for her to find us."
Chaska's paws in her face causes Shanira to throw her head back, uttering a surprised noise as she lets go of her cub. Her head comes down almost to ground level, ears planed out to the sides as she considers Chaska's suggestion with a motherly kind of patient disinterest. "How should we do that?" she then asks, almost feeling level with her son regarding the faith he has in his sister's eventual return.
"... I dunno," Chaska admits after a moment of pouty silence. She gets a stubborn stare, and then the grumpy little boy says, "She's just a stupid sister, why do we gotta wait for her anyway?" He does love his sister, but.. he's getting frustrated with his mom. First his dad dies, then his uncle vanishes, then his aunt leaves his cousin behind, and Kachina disappears, and his mom.. His mom just becomes more mom than mom. "... Mom, you're being.. I dunno. But you've changed again, an' it's like, bad."
Shanira gives a huff, the grass in front of her nose rustling. "Maybe if we leave for this place I'm thinking of, there will be better mommies there." It's not the first time the thought has crossed her mind and it is a thought that is unusually rational for her. Well, rational and irrational at the same time, more likely, but she can't help feeling like she's doing a bad job raising the cubs. She even lost on of them! "Perhaps you can find a better mommy there?" she asks with a little out-of-place smile on her face.
".. Nah, you're like, the only mommy I want. But you were lickin' me too hard, it hurt. And you're like.. always grumpy, and you're not all fluffy anymore. And like I'm hungry but I can't find any good mousies anymore, or lizards.."
Smiling again, though this time because she's happy to hear what Chaska's saying, the smile then gives way again as he mentions the lack of food. "I don't want to leave you alone with no one to guard you. Daddy can't protect you now, if something decides to come and snatch you away, like Kachina..." She stretches her neck towards her son, nosing at the air. "I'm hungry too, though," she admits with a sigh.
Ears lay back, and Chaska says, softly, "Momma, you should go get food. I'm big, I can stay in the den and keep the baby inside, so there." Yes, that worked real well with his sister. Of course, Kachina happened when he didn't think there WERE any things to be afraid of. He paws at her nose when she reaches out, though this time, no claws. "We can stay in the hole in the ground and not come out till you say it's safe."
Shanira can't help but think about the loss of Kachina as Chaska offers to guard the den and his cousin. However, she doesn't hold him responsible for it, not at all, that's all on her conscience. The pull of the empty stomachs is great though and she knows that it's just a matter of time before Toyo wakes up and demands food as well. Looking from Chaska to the den behind her and back, her forehead creased with indecision. Eventually she stands up and comes to nudge Chaska towards the den opening. "Will you stay at the very back until I come down to get you again?" she frets.
"Yu-huh, I'll tell Toyo to do it, too. If he doesn't listen to me then it's his fault." Says Chaska. Which, while cruel, is truth, in his eyes. "I'll stay way in the back of the den, until you come and say it's safe, and I'll never come out unless I know it's you. I promise," Chaska says.
Giving him another few licks, Shanira then shakes her head as she follows him down in the den to make sure that he really does what he's told. "No no, you don't come out, I come down and get you," she clarifies, not wanting to leave anything to chance. "Chaska," she then says, pressing her nose to his forehead, "I love you. And I'll return with food."
As his mum gets all sappy, Chaska pffts. "Of course you do, I'm your best son ever, Ma." Chaska says with a smirk.. though then he gives her a lick or two to the face. He doesn't want to have her go without reminding himself of what she tastes like in case she doesn't come back.
Turning to leave for the aboveground again, Shanira stops just before ascending from the den and looks back at her son. "You're the big cat now, Chaska. Take care of Toyo." And with that she leaves the den, however reluctantly, to hopefully hunt down something that will feed the three of them in a satisfying way.