Afya had charged straight forward into her relationship with Kione, from the briefest official dating period to the quickest marriage and now... far more cubs than any single lioness could handle. Fortunately for her children, Afya was the last one to back down from a challenge. Some of her brood were proving to be just that. "Femi, get down here this instant young lady!" She stared up into the branches of a sparse tree to see two pink eyes glowering down at her. Afya could charge right up the branch after her daughter if she thought it could burden both their weights.
She would have called her mate for back up, but Afya was the back up. Her daughter was stubborn and challenging, though she had no idea why Femi was so insistent on going against the grain. She should have been impressed that Femi woke up early enough to try and hide on her, but Afya was mostly annoyed. The day was going to slip away at this point, and it was supposed to be a big one. Afya had been starting to introduce the cubs to hunting. The last thing she would have were all of her children being unproductive members of this pride. They all had skills to refine, and when they were young was the best time.
"I'm not going, mom!" A little voice shrieked from among the branches. Her limbs wrapped tight around a branch that was just thick enough to carry her weight. Claws scratched against the bark, cementing her into place. It would take a force of nature to move her, Femi was sure of it!
"You are, or you are not having any play dates with the other cubs." There weren't many other young families in the pride... it made it easier to punish her children when she knew all the fun activities they would try to get into.
"I don't care!" Femi had seen it, her day written in stone. It all started with some stupid hunting trip, so if she could just avoid doing that then the day would be her's! It would be her fate to control, not some ridiculous dream that wouldn't go away. Even when she was awake, it was there. When she slept, there was definitely no way to avoid it. She stuck her tongue out at fate! Femi was her own master and she was not hunting today.
"Fine," Afya growled, for a moment losing her temper with her disobedient daughter. "Afya, talk some sense into your sister before I knock the tree down." Her gaze lowered to her miniature - yes, perhaps it was self-centered of her to name her child after herself, but none had dared to voice that opinion yet. She had intended to take just the two girls on a little excursion, but at this rate she would be better off dragging Miniya along instead. That one needed a confidence boost like no other.
Her more outgoing sisters would surely help her, if she could ever get one out of the tree so they could do something today.
Z o m b i k ii