The wind, the footprint, the tree... the Outside!

[tanniyn]

Characters:
Maulisho - adult female cougar (Amaranth)
Kein - male cougar cub (Amaranth)

Location:
Deep Crevice (and immediately outside)

Log:
Time seems to be rushing past. Maulisho still has moments when the thought of her as a mother is both overwhelming and incredulous... and yet she's becoming more and more comfortable in the role. Soon, now, her cubs will all be ready to leave this birthing and nursing area and begin their exploration of the outside world. Idly, as the cougaress glances toward the crevice opening, she wonders about when Ayashe's cubs will be born. The announcement a while back had been exciting--Ayashe was a tribal Sister, the new Matron, and becoming a good friend. More cubs born to the Amaranth tribe meant future generations, and hopefully friends for her own cubs.

The cubs are capable of staying awake for longer periods of time, now, but that has also lead to longer periods of sleeping, rather than waking up for brief periods many times throughout the day and night. Kein was, for once, the first one to settle down the last time the cubs fell asleep. As such, he is also the first one to awaken, stretching and yawning as widely as he's capable of doing before he opens his eyes at all. He is greeted by the sight of one of his sibling's fur, and he lets out a complaining mewl as he extracts himself from the furpile that is him, Pelutho, and Ruut'h. Fur is not the most exciting thing to stare at when one first awakens. Had he had a clear vision of something else, he might have remained lying down for at least a few more minutes.

As has become her normal practice, Maulisho greets her son by the gentle calling of his name: "Kein..." The pleasantries of "good morning" and "hello there" and other greetings can come later; Maul wants her cubs to hear their own names before anything else, knowing that their mother is paying attention to them. "Kein," the cougaress repeats, walking the few pawsteps over to her cubs and leaning down to give her son a loving nuzzle. Maulisho longs for the time to come when she can carry on an extended conversation with her sons and daughter, but there's nothing to be gained by impatience.

The firstborn has learned that each of them are called something different. It's still confusing when he thinks about it. They all look the same. He understands that Mom is called something different--she's huge!--but the rest of them are all too similar to be something different. Nevertheless, when Kein hears Mom's voice speak the word that she always calls him, he looks away from his brother and sister, all thoughts of exacting retribution for piling on him after he fell asleep gone. He responds by calling her the word she goes by. "Mom!" He attempts to make his way to her, only to have his hind leg catch on his sister, causing him to stuble. By the time he rights himself, Mom is already nearby and nuzzling him, and he purrs, licking at his mother's head.

There's something unique and indescribable about a mother and her cubs--absolute protection and absolute dependence. "Did you sleep well?" she murmurs, "And did you dream of doing great and mighty things?" The memory of her firstborn trying to "defend" her from Chesmu is lovingly replayed over and over in her mind. Maulisho snorts in amusement, as it's more likely Kein's dreams consisted of warmth, security, and victory in the cubfights he seems to enjoy with his siblings. "I'm going to take you outside before too much longer, and you'll have plenty of things to investigate." A soft laugh. "And to trip over, of course. I still remember getting used to my own big paws, y'know..." There's not much distinction between her conversation to Kein and her own verbalized thoughts; it's the actual sound of her voice that matters the most right now, no?

The words come a little too quickly for Kein to separate them to define any new concepts, but he understands the first question easily enough. He answers witha nodding of his head, which at least indicated that he heard her speak, before listening to her plans for the day. The word outside stands out from her sentence, although this time it is notable without the word no or don't. He keeps his eyes focused on Mom as she speaks, but as soon as she stops talking, he looks to the opening that leads out of the cave that has been their home since they were born, an area where they were not allowed to go. Kein, too, can remember the male cougar who came to visit them very shortly after they were born, and while it has skewed his vision of the outside, it is not negative, by and large, and a good part of him is curious. After staring at the exit, he look back to Mom, and says, "Go 'side?" As in, that is what you were saying, right? If I wander over there, you're not going to tell me no this time?

"Go outside, yes." Maulisho points toward the crevice opening and says again: "Outside." Hmm. Why not? Now's as good a time as any. The cougaress reaches over with a paw and gives Kein a gentle nudge toward the opening. "Outside." Will he understand? If not, she can always pick him up and carry him out, but it's a lot more interesting--and exciting!--to see him finally comprehend what she's saying. Pelutho and Ruut'h aren't much farther behind, but there's just something about a firstborn that seems to suggest a slightly quicker intellect. Or maybe it's just a greater internal motivation? Whatever the reason, Kein will be the first to see the great Outside, and be the first to have his mind no doubt completely overwhelmed by the surge of sight, scent, and sound. Kein might end up staring in awe at what he sees, but Maulisho will be watching his expression.

Go outside! After his mother nudges him in that direction, Kein hops a couple times, clearly excited about the concept. He has every crack and rock in this cave memorized, and it is high time he found something new to explore. His couple of hops take him marginally closer to the exit out of the cave, and thereafter he settles down, walking more carefully and sniffing the air as he approaches the exit. It would be a woeful happening indeed if the first introduction of the World to all that is Kein involved him inadvertantly tripping and stumbling out into the open. He stops, breifly, in the opening to allow his eyes to adjust to the greater amount of light out there, which blurs what details he can see. There is no timidness to him, though, and as his eyes take longer to adjust that he imagines, he still can't make out much detail when he takes his first couple steps out of the cave. It isn't until Kein is fully out of the cave that he begins to appreciate how /large/ it all is. There's no walls lholding it all in, and even the ground is different, not the solid rock to which he has grown accustomed. And wind! Almost as soon as he begins to realize just how big the world is, a breeze ruffles his fur. Surprised, startled, Kein spins to face against the direction the wind is blowing... And nothing is there.

It takes Maulisho a second to realize that Kein is startled by the wind, and not by the detection of some threat nearby. Granted, they're in the heart of Amaranth territory, but who knows what cub-killing threats might have been waiting outside for this very moment? But once she's satisfied that Kein is baffled simply by the presence of wind, Maulisho decided to turn this apparent mystery into a lesson. Now standing outside next to her son, Maulisho lifts her head to face the wind and sniffsniffs, adopting a look of enjoyment for her son's benefit. "Kein, /smell/!" Sniffsniffsniff. "Smell!" There aren't a whole lot of scent trails on this particular breeze, but the principle is the important thing for now. Sniffsniff!

There's that word that refers to him again, combined with another, less familiar word. He may have eventually understood without Mom acting through what she wants him to do, but with that aid, it goes even quicker. Smell. He lifts his head and sniffs at the moving air, which carries a number of weak scents that are wholly unfamiliar to him. This doesn't make sense. Something is touching him. He can both smell and feel it. He just can't /see/ it. Mom does not seem concerned, though. While it's confusing, it cannot possibly be dangerous, or she would have alerted him to that fact, and he would have acted appropriately. After sniffing at the air, he turns his head to look at his mother.

Honestly, Maulisho isn't sure who has been having more fun over the past several days--her cubs, trying to learn all these news words and concepts, or her, trying to figure out inventive ways of teaching them. For some things, simple demonstration--like in what "smell" means--is easy enough, such as the different between "run" and "walk" and "stand" and "sit" and other obvious visual things. Other words are much more difficult--even the cubs' own names. Now that she's outside, there are plenty of new words to learn. Giving her son an encouraging smile, she waits for a particularly strong gust of breeze before saying "Wind!" Getting an idea, she purses her lips and blows a quick burst of air, ruffling her son's backfur. "That's /wind/," she repeats.

Kein understand the single word well enough. Wind. Still, he expects it to be some sort of animal, as even such imposing things as Walls do not just rudely touch someone with no warning. Until his mother blows onto his back, creating a sensation very similar to Wind, at which point his eyes shine with understanding. The wrong understanding, but understanding all the same. He does not envision air currents resulting in the wind blowing across his fur. Rather, he's thinking that it much be a HUGE animal to be creating the Wind that he feels even though the animal is nowhere in sight. No longer confused, he mimics her use of th word. "Win'." His enunciation is lacking, but at least he seems less concerned about the fact that there is something he can't see touching him.

On to some more of the basics! "That's the /sun/." Maulisho points to the bright spot of yellowish-white light in the sky, squinting to emphasize she's staring at the bight light, rather than at the sky in general or at a cloud or something. "Sun." Once the three cubs are old enough to come outside for good, she'll show them the sunrise and sunset, the moon and stars, and even clouds and rain. The Outside is going to completely redefine their current understanding of "reality" in the crevice. Hmm. What else for now? Oh! -- she'll show Kein not just a new word, but a new concept to wrap his small mind around. Maulisho makes an exaggerated planting of her paw in the soft dirt, then lifts it up to show her son a newly-formed pawprint. Imagine that!

Kein watches Mom as she squints up at the sky, following her gaze to the bright light up there. Sun. He looks back to Mom, but before he can repeat the word, she lifts her paw to show him the pawprint. His eyes open wide and he dips his head to sniff at it. It smells a lot like Mom, but there are other scents too. After peering at the pawprint she made, he sets his own foot on the ground and then lifts it. There is a pawprint there, but it's much fainter. They don't leave pawprints on the ground in the cave. This is new! He sniffs at his own faint pawprint as well.

Now for something /really/ amazing -- the first notion of 'tracking'. Maulisho takes several steps away from Kein, making sure to leave distinct pawprints in the dirt. She looks back, waiting to see if the small boy understands what's happening. It's a pretty simple concept, actually. When something moves, it leaves a trail on the ground that can be used to follow where the creature has gone. Some trails are obviously a lot more difficult ot follow than others, but it's the concept that Maulisho's going after right now--will Kein understand?

While Kein is sniffing at his own pawprint, Mom begins to move away. Brave though the firstborn is, this world is still much too large for him to tackle on his own, and at the sight of movement, of Mom leaving, he looks up to make sure she won't get far away. Luckily, she turns back to look at him soon after beginning to move, and he looks between her and the footprints she left, much more casually than the first, though still deliberate. Again, he has to try it himself, and he begins walking for just a few steps, then he turns back to look at the pawprints his small paws leave. Upon seeing them, he again hops a couple times, excited about the ability to influence something so large and seemingly unmoveable as the very ground. He doesn't make any large leaps of logic, isn't thinking about the days when he will have to hunt in the slightest, but he does recognize his ability to leave a trail, faint though it is. "Mom! Look!" He did it too!

"That's great, Kein!" Maulisho can't help but have a wide smile firmly fixed on her muzzle. What is it about a cub discovering something for the first time that's so exciting and joyous to her, the mother? "Now watch this..." If the fact that dirt can be manipulated into a pawprint isn't amazing enough, what about the fact that a cougar can directly manipulate it? Extending her claws, Maulisho proceeds to draw random squiggles and lines in the dirt. "Use your claws, like this." Kein'll learn that claws don't work so well trying to scratch on rock (or water, for that matter), but dirt provides the perfect canvas for claw-pictures.

Kein smiles widely at his mother's praise. That praise alone is enough to make him feel as though he has just accomplished the greatest thing in the world, even if it was just as small as recognizing that he leaves a trail when he walks. When she tells him to watch, he takes several excited steps closer to her, and is easily capable of seeing the lines that her claws leave in the dirt. Thus far, Kein has learned that his tiny claws and teeth do very little against fur and skin. Mom's claws are much larger and make clear lines on the ground, though. Streching his right forepaw out, he unsheaths his claws and rakes his paw back, leaving fairly straight lines in the dirt.

But what can one do with simple lines drawn in the dirt? Maulisho does her best to attempt a crude representation of a cougar face--probably distorted enough that Kein won't understand what she's trying to portray, but hey--just the simple act of drawing for her son is worth it. If Kein's reaction is anything to go by, he's enjoying this as well. "Your claws are one of the most important parts of you, Kein." It'll take him quite a long time to discover all the common uses for them, but at least she can go ahead and emphasize their cruciality early on. Maybe after they're done drawing Maul can show Kein how to use his claws for climbing.

Kein perks his ears to listen to his mom as he peers at the drawing she made. He's not sure what it is, but he begins linking lines of his own together as she finishes speaking. He lacks the fine motor coordination to draw anything of any meaning, but it does take him long to form some crude and slightly wobbly shapes. Only after he finish a few lines does he get an idea, at which point he looks up at his mom suddenly and asks, "Ow?" The first few times one of his siblings nipped at him, it didn't hurt, but it was really disconcerting. He has since realized that being clawwed and nipped at doesn't hurt much, but then, he and his siblings don't leave marks on one another like the marks he is leaving on the ground.

A chuff of laughter is Maulisho's response--yes, "ow" is one purpose of claws. "That's right; your claws can be used to protect yourself again others." Siblings included! "Now follow me... I want to show you something else claws can be used for." Their destination? A nearby tree. It's decent-sized and should be large enough for her to climb, but with enough low-lying branches that Kein won't have to climb too far before being able to rest--assuming he's able to climb at all right now.

Kein lowers his ears slightly as his mother confirms that his claws can hurt. It seems to the small cub that it might be a good idea not to hurt something so large as the ground, but his mother is amused, so it can't be all bad. his interest in clawing pictures into the ground gone, he follows his mother without hesitation. As they walk towards the tree, Kein turns his attention to looking around, as he was largely ignoring his surroundings in the interest of interacting with his mother. There's simply so much /space/ out here. He could easily hide from his siblings and not wake up with a faceful of fur, with this much room!

[tanniyn]

"Claws can be used for scratching, like I showed you a moment ago"--and she demonstrates again by scratching a long furrow down the bark of the tree trunk--"and also for grabbing." Here, Maulisho sinks her claws deep into the trunk with both forepaws and begins to pull herself up. "See?" She lets herself back down on the ground, retracts her claws, and shows how normal paws simply slide down the bark without providing any grip. "Claws are /very/ useful when trying to climb up things, whether a tree or a hill or something else that's otherwise slippery."

Kein sits by the base of the tree to listen to his mom talk. He understands enough to piece together the meaning of everything, but even so, when Mom begins to pull herself up the tree, he jumps up. "Whoa!" Of course, coming from the young cub's mouth, the word sounds much more like "oh" than like what it is meant to be. Forget about finding some distance place to lie down. Climbing these large things growing from the ground outside would provide him not only with his own personal bed, but it would also allow him to be the best hider in the world.

It's time for the full demonstration. After a brief hesitation, Maulisho extends her claws and climbs up the tree to the first branch big enough to support her weight, where she crouches down and looks down at her son. "See? A tree can become a great place to rest, to hide, or even to get a better view of where you are. Because I'm higher, I can see farther around." Now for the moment of truth. "Can you come up and join me? It'll be hard, but you can do it!" ... Hopefully.

Kein is amazed by how easily his mother lifts herself up the tree. Almost as soom as the word "come" leaves his mother's mouth, Kein lifts himself onto his hind legs to place his forelegs against the tree. He flexes his claws and digs them into the tree, getting a feel for how strongly he has to dig in before his claws won't simply slip down. That determined, he releases the tree and places his paws up further to dig in, which he does before he lifts his hindlegs off of the ground, scrambling to dig his back claws into the bark to keep him up. Once he's up there, it takes him a moment to work up the will to release one of his forelegs to begin climbing his way up the tree, not at all used to the feeling of climbing trees. This is weird, but his desire for accomplishment is so strong that he works as hard as he can on making his way up the tree.

"That's it! You're getting the hang of it!" Maulisho's voice from above on the branch is both encouraging and energetic. "Come on now.. keep coming!" The cougaress prepares herself to leap down and provide a rescue should the need arise, but she's hoping that her firstborn will be able to make it all the way; it's not /that/ far, after all. Well... at least not to her. It'll definitely be quite the challenge for the little guy. But hey, it's bragging rights if he succeeds, no?

Kein slips a couple of times, but he always manages to catch himself and make up the distance. He cannot make it up tot he branch where Mom is, though. The longer he climbs, the further away the distance seems, so while he'd like to prove that he can make it all the way up to her, when he slips the third time, he finally admits defeat to himself, settling on a smaller branch further down from his mother and relaxing the muscles tense from climbing up a tree for his first time. Once he's fairly certain that he is secure on the branch, he looks back up to Mom.

Is she disappointed that Kein didn't make it all the way up to her? Is she disappointed that he didn't try harder? Not at all! Instead of showering praise down on him, Maulisho instead climbs down the short distance to where Kein is perched, stretches out next to him, and gives him a warm nuzzle. "I'm proud of you, son. That wasn't an easy climb, but you made it anyway." Smiling, the cougaress lifts her head to gaze out toward the horizon. "Look how far you can see now!"

Kein purrs softly and licks at his mother's muzzle. As large as the world is, he feels MUCH larger from up here, and he looks around again. In every direction, land stretches out as far as he can see. If Walls exist out here, they are so far away that even up here, he cannot see any of them. It is the most notable thing about the world outside fo the cave. That and how bright everything is, which just serves to make it seem that much larger. "Big." Part of him, of course, wants to find where the end is, after having spent the previous parts of his life exploring every since corner of his world.

That's the understatement of the ages. There's so much that Kein doesn't know--so much that he doesn't even /know/ that he doesn't know--and so much that Maulisho can't wait to show him. Show /all/ of her cubs, of course. Right now their world consists of their home, Outside, and cougars. How can she really explain much about other living creatures, or of complicated subjects like love and morality and sadness and all these other deep conversations? They just need time, is all. "/Really/ big, Kein.. really big." Another amused chuff. Time for another lesson! "Outside is /big/, compared to"--here she points at the crevice--"the Inside, which is /small/... just like I'm"--she taps her chest with a paw--"big compared to you!" She moves her paw forward to ruffle Kein's headfur. "You're small, but you won't be small forever. You'll be as big as me one day." Assuming he survives that long, but Maul forbids herself to dwell on such a morbid topic.

Kein knows the difference between big and small, but before today, his siblings and his mother were the only references he had for those two terms. He and his siblings are small, Mom is big. But compared to all the world, Mom is not very big either. Still purring, he says, "Me... big." He likes that idea, if only for reasons such as being able to climb as effortlessly as Mom did. He doesn't consider himself too disadvantaged by being small, though. Being big will bring with it perks, but for now, there are enough things that he can do, even being small.

"Yes, dear one.. you'll be big one day. Big, strong, courageous, loving..." Maulisho trails off, thinking of the father she never knew. Was he like that? Could it even be possible, seeing that he left her mother after impregnating her? "Do you want to sleep up here, or do you want to go back Inside?" While the view from up here might be impressive, she's not sure how Kein feels about actually /sleeping/ up here. She, of course, is quite used to it, but for a young cub just getting used to heights... hence her question.

Maybe one day Kein could actually make a tree into his bed. For now, though? The idea still doesn't sit too well with him. It will one day be a great basis for escaping fur piles and ambushing his siblings, but if he were to sleep up here today, he'd probably fall as a result of carelessly rolling over, and /that/ idea scares him. Looking in the direction of the crevice, he answers, "There." Where Pelutho and Ruut'h still are, and he doubts Mom would leave them there alone, which gives the idea of sleeping in this tree the added drawback of doing it all by himself. It's just a little too early for that.

She'd already been more or less expecting that answer, and so with a quick "okay" she allows herself to slide off the branch, landing gracefully on the ground below. Nothing new for her, but... hopefully it's quite a shock and unexpected new thought for Kein to process. Yes, it /is/ possible to fall from a height and still be okay! Experience and practice play a large role, to be sure, but Kein just needs confidence right now. "Come on, Kein, and we'll go back Inside." She doesn't start toward the crevice just yet; no.. she's there as living proof that one /can/ drop down from heights and survive. She doesn't even appear hurt!

The young cub is forever impressed by his mother's abilities. Kein is not so quick to leave the branch, though. First, he attempts to place his paws on the stump of the tree, but he soon finds it's a lot more difficult to climb down than it was to climb up. On his second attempt, he slips from the branch, and immediately claws at it as even the brief sensation of falling is unpleasant. Fighting back a pathetic mewl, insistant on doing this on his own, he hangs there for just a moment before taking a deep breath and letting go. He lands on his feet, but immediately stumbles and rolls over on his side. Amazingly, that was completely painless, and when he realizes how easy it could have been, he can't help but laugh.

"See? That wasn't /that/ hard, was it?" There's a definite note of mischievousness in Maulisho's voice. Unless she's mistaken, she's /pretty/ sure that Kein's now discovered a new avenue of having fun... and once the other two siblings have discovered the same? The mental image of all three cubs racing up the tree trunk to drop off the branches is rather amusing, though she's pretty sure they'll find other fun uses for trees as well. Hide-and-go-seek, perhaps? Tag? Who can spy something in the far distance? The possibilities are endless. But for now, it's been enough for one day. Heading to the crevice, Maulisho calls to her son: "Let's go back Inside.. there will be plenty more times to come out here and explore."

Though Kein has not been awake long, the excitement of having been Outside and the activity involved with climbing the tree have him issuing no complaints at the idea of going back into the cave and goingback to sleep. This time, of course, /he'll/ be on top of the fur pile, provided that Pelutho and Ruut'h aren't awake yet. He trots after his mother, his head held high as he does. No doubt, as soon as his energy is back, he'll want to be right back out here, and possibly showing his siblings everything that Mom showed him.