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 Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 3:53 pm
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It had been a rough couple of weeks with the famine that had taken over the pride. Njia had come home to be told that one of her daughters had fallen terribly ill, and every day after that was a trial in itself. Koharu and Haruhi may not be her blood children, but they were her daughters. Njia cared for them deeply, and not for a moment did she doubt her decision to take them in and raise them as her own. The black and purple lioness was just thankful that her and Ciro had made it back in time to make sure their children were fine.
The cubs were growing despite the famine, and Njia felt comfortable leaving them on their own for a couple of hours. They were a rough bunch of rascals, but they were her's and generally well behaved. Their father usually dropped by to check up on them as well, now that he knew where her den was...
Oh, she was going to have to move once those cubs were old enough or she was going to end up with more. Njia's face flushed at the thought. Ciro was trouble, and would always be trouble. There was no secret now that he... got around a little, and she did not know who she felt about it. At one point she wanted him to be her's, but it was a passing fancy. He would make a terrible mate. A great lover, but never mate material. It was in Njia's best interest to keep him at bay except for when the cubs were around.
They were eating meat now, and Njia headed towards where the pride kept their herds coraled. The animals were suffering, and it was likely she would find one already dead. At least it saved the time it would take for her to kill it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:14 pm
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The one thing Ciro was finding more and more with this ever going famine was the lack of intimacy others wanted. Where he usually was a hit in the thrall dens, he found was unwelcomed. There might've been a ban on having litters per the War Lord, but there were always those...precautions one could take. He knew the priestesses had their own concoction of some sort cub control. Maybe he could just get his paws on some....
The Captain sighed. He much rather enjoyed the time out in the world, than staying inland. He was a lion meant to move, meant to explore. However, he was staying for one reason and one reason only. (Well, there were right reasons, but they fell under the same category).
His children.
Never did the male think he would love little fuzzballs as much as he did those eight cubs. Njia had done a wonderful job teaching them, and even in this hardship they still were growing into spritely little felines. Soon, he would send them off on their own viking. He wouldn't join them though, he had enough adolescent vikings to last him a life time.
The blur of black and purple was seen in the distance. Well...well...well.. He found himself chuckling. What was Njia doing out here? She didn't expect to consume all her energy dragging a carcass back to the den, did she? What kind of father to her cubs would he be if he didn't at least help her. Help and Ciro didn't usually mean what most thought it meant.
He approached the female from behind, his paw reaching out to curl around her tail. "Needs some help there?" |
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:28 pm
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She heard his voice just as he felt his paw wrap around the end of her tail. If she hadn't recognized him so quickly she would have jumped out of her own fur. Slowly she turned her head to look back over her shoulder at him. Njia's ears pressed back against her head and she frowned at the dark male. She was not so naive any longer, and she knew that if Ciro swung by her there would surely be some moves made towards her. Ciro couldn't control himself, and to her discredit she could not either.
Her position was precarious and she knew it. Njia's tail twitched, as if to test the grip he had on her. The black and purple lioness just needed to keep him at bay before the situation de-railed like she knew Ciro wanted it to. Clearing her throat, she looked away from. If she couldn't see his handsome face and smug smile, clearly she would not be wooed by him. "I am sure helping me is all that is on your mind," the lioness drawled sarcastically.
"But, sure, can you grab that carcass and carry it back to the den for our cubs?" Ah ha! She had found the ultimate way to keep him off of her, by giving him a task besides flirting. If he had his paws and mouth busy carrying a dead animal around, he wouldn't have the time to run it at her.
Today, surely, she would not be swayed!
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:00 pm
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When he spoke like that it was obvious exactly where his mind was headed. Njia was normally weak to it, but for once she was trying to prove to herself that she could resist him. Her life did not have to revolve around Ciro, and she could have any male in the pride that she wanted! Just because she did not exercise that right meant that she solely wanted Ciro's attention. "It always does, Ciro. That's why we have eight cubs," Njia told the male with a slight arch of her brow.
No whispered words would sway her today, not if she kept her mind focused on the task ahead.
That didn't mean Ciro stopped trying, or that she was unaware of his attempts. Normally she would have found a nice secluded area to indulge herself with him, and as her eyes scanned their surroundings there were certainly good spots to -
No.
She could not let her mind go there. Njia focused on the conversation instead, ignoring the tempting brush of his tail or the closeness of his body to her's. "They are starting to, which is good for me. I can finally get my body back into shape." The cubs were starting to grow more independent, which made her job as mother more difficult. In time, her life would return to normalcy and she could figure out what to do with herself outside of raising cubs.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:11 pm
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She had a point. It wasn't as if what she said was untrue. They had so many children, likely due to the multiple unions neither could cease. "But," he countered, the slick smirk on his maw, "I never have heard you complain about it. Not even once." There was the purr again, not missing the moment her light colored eyes seemed to go off to the side.
Well, at least the answer wasn't a complete no. Not yet at least.
"I think you look perfect, just the way you are." Bearing six cubs, and having two additional to nurse did put the body through something, but Njia was able to keep her form well from it. Some lionesses never bounced back, but the dark lioness was active. She'd look like her pre-children self in no time!
"You know," he left the carcass unattended on the ground, closing any gap that was between the two reavers. "I know a few ways to help make you a bit more nimble. If you just wish to lie down, I can give you a little example."
... |
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:46 pm
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"I can complain about making cubs, but I will never complain about having them. That was, in the end, our decision..." By carelessly spending way too much alone time together. After all, she had practically joined the pride just to spend more time around Ciro. It had been a bit of an impulsive decision, but one she could not regret now. She had eight cubs to raise, after all, and she wanted them to be sound of mind and body.
"Flattery's not going to get you anywhere," she answered with a roll of her eyes. She turned her head to look at him, almost instantly regretting the decision. Sometimes it was difficult to ignore just how handsome the male was. At least she had picked an attractive father for her cubs, but that did not mean she wanted to go around making more. It was just... difficult for her to say no to him. He had her wrapped around his claws, and though Njia struggled and tried to break away from him she always came right back.
The suggestion was very bold, even by Ciro's regularly sly flirtations. Perhaps he had realized that being subtle wasn't working, and so there was no better way to get her attention than to bluntly announce what he wanted her to do. She flushed with embarrassment, shying away from Ciro as he tried to close the gap between them.
This was very bad.
She huffed at him, her mind whirling as he once again managed to break down her barriers. "...You're impossible."
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:57 pm
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Obviously. he found himself snickering to himself. Flattery didn't get him anywhere with Njia most of the time, but at least he tried it.
Even though she shied away, he followed in suit. In his mind, he knew how this would end, and it seemed Njia was realizing that too. She had no claws out, ears were not pinned, everything that would be a warning sign in his mind was not even triggered during this meeting.
"Am I?" He said huskily, voice low, as he mere inches from her face. "You enjoy it, admit it." He went on to say. "And in a time like this, we need to...stay a bit closer. With the famine and all." Sure. The famine...right. |
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:29 pm
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He certainly was insistent, and if Njia had a stronger will against him she would have shoved him off a cliff. But, there was always something about him. Her attraction to Ciro was magnetic - he had been the one to change her entire world, for better or for worse. He was at the center of everything that had happened to Njia. Either she kept trying to fight against that truth or gave into it. She wasn't all that sure she wanted to keep struggling.
"We should be conserving our energy because of the famine," Njia reminded him. Carefully, she ignored the tone of his voice and the way he looked at her. He was impossibly close, enough that she could feel his breath wash over her face. He knew exactly what he was doing. Ciro could play her like a string.
Forcing herself to turn away from him, she headed back down the hill without the carcass. Her tail flicked against the underside of his chin as she moved away, the only hint that he was going to get that she perhaps did not hate his advances. How he acted on that knowledge now would cement how much he got out of his female friend. Leave the food for now and follow his pretty friend, or be a dutiful citizen and help his lover bring it back to his cubs.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:48 pm
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In truth, Njia's words were correct. More energy spent on fruitful activities (even those as pleasurable as an evening with the dark female), meant less they could be spending on things that are more beneficial for the pride.
Cubs were not that way at this time.
When she turned away, the beckoning sign of her tail, lightly touching his underside of his chin was enough to make him follow quickly behind her.
The meat lay forgotten completely behind them.
Ciro was going to say something wity, something that would always seal the deal with the lioness, but there was something that stopped him. A loud, familiar roar, one of anguish paused his thought process on the lioness before him. He froze mid stepped, his head whirling towards the sound.
Ignore it.
Ciro glanced towards Njia, to see if she had heard the distressed call as well. Shaking his head, he ultimately decided. "Why don't you go home. I'll bring dinner back to the children once I find out what happened." He said solemnly. He would make it up to Njia on another day, but with everything going down in the pride, he had to put his rank first over a rendezvous. |
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