Post by Kamau on Dec 7, 2007 19:12:17 GMT -5
This log is actually from April 24, 2007. I just feel like posting it, because I think it's cute, and recent RP has reminded me of this one.
Cast:
Aitan, King of Tyne
Elimnyama, King of Tyne
Kamau, Lord of Tyne (as a cub!)
Setting: Tyne Rock Base
The big king is lying out in the sun at the moment, his eyes half-lidded against the bright sunlight. His gaze is focused lazily and with some air of interest on the leafy expanse of jungle to the south.. That dense crop of green steams slowly in the heat of the mid-afternoon. Elim' twitches his tail slowly backward and forward, and at length he looks away from the jungle and with a yawn turns onto his side. Lazy!
Being the great fighting beast that he is, when Kamau spots something moving about on the ground he has a habit of pouncing first, asking questions later. Sure, it might save him some heartache to identify what he's about to pounce first, but where would the fun in that be? Thus, upon exiting the cavern, he spots what happens to be Elimnyama's tail moving about and instantly begins to sneak up on it. He's not the sneakiest cub around, but at least he doesn't trip over his feet or anything. Once in pouncing distance, he leaps and lets out a loud, "Raaaa!"
Even through the thick fog that is his awareness today, Elim' could hardly be called a lion if he couldn't detect the approach of a fledgingly cub, laziness or no. He gives no response until the boy's tippity-tap footfalls indicate he's launched himself into the air. Then Elim' swings casually about on the rock he's been lying on and snatches Kamau out of the air with one forepaw, thumping the cub down on the soft landing that is his much older brother's chest. "Little whippersnapper," Elim' remarks with a grin, now lying on his back on the cool stone and poking a paw at Kamau.
"Ra-...ayahhh!" Kamau's yell turns into a surprised yelp of sorts as his pounce is interrupted by his brother's big paw. He lands on Elim's chest with an "Oof!" and quickly scrambles until he's in a position where he can pout at Elim. "I was close!" he defends himself, although in all honestly getting pulled out of the sky by his brother was probably way more fun than pouncing on what he now realizes is the king's tail. Only able to hold up his pout for so long, he soon breaks out into a small smile and lets himself sprawl out over Elim's chest.
Elimnyama grins at his brother and then lets out a sigh, taking Kamau's cue to sprawl out over the ground. "Not close enough! We're going to have to teach you what /real/ pouncing is all about, one of these days." A squint-eyed glance is paid to the sky and Elim' shakes his wooly head in a profoundly lethargic manner. "Someday when it's not so bright and hot. So. Besides trying to kill my innocent tail when I'm not looking, what've you been up to, Kam'?"
"You mean it?!" Kamau asks in excitement. "I wanna learn how to pounce real good. Better than Sunny good!" He's a little miffed at being outpounced by a girl. "Nappin'," he then replies, more interested now in examining his brother's paws and then glancing at his own. His feet were big compared to his siblings', but they were nothing compared to his older brothers'. "Elim', how big are Ona an' me gunna get?"
Aitan's normally brilliant (or pale at the very least) coat started out mud spattered from the trek through the jungles and then dried to a thin crust of dust as the lands became drier on his way home. He comes in view of the rock, spotting a group gathered at the base and picks up his energy conserving travelling gait to a brisker pace. He growls out a greeting and gets close enough to recognize Elim and his little brother talking. He makes his way to them and sits, resting his hind legs. He uses the rough pads on his forepaw to dextrously scrape some of the caked dirt off of his chest, but soon loses intrest... there's just too much of it to deal with without a languid swim through a lake or stream. "Brothers..." He nods to them both, grinning at Elim and pulling him into a hug with a forepaw.
"Sunny?" He can't possibly hope to keep all the silly nicknames the cubs dream up for each other straight. 'Baba' and 'Cloud' came rather naturually, but who the heck is 'Sunny'? Elim' chuckles, and the rapid undulations of his chest bounce the cub up and down. "Nappin'.. I see. You and Ona' will probably get pretty big. Maybe not as big as Aitan and me 'cause we're /much/ bigger goofballs than either of you will ever be," he replies with an attempt at mock loftiness. He takes pride in his goofballiness, thanks very much. "No matter how much you grow, I'll /always/ be your big brother. Big and mean and smelly. You can't take that away from me." He ends this pronouncement with a very regal sticking-out-of-the-tongue and a grin at Kamau. It's then that he spots the very distinctive white blur that indicates Aitan's arrival. With a leap of the heart, Elim' rolls back to his stomach although he takes care not to smush the little brother. Elim' then pushes himself to a seated position, grinning back at Aitan when the other king eventually reaches the plateau. "Hey-" Elim' chuckles as he's pulled into a hug and he amiably returns the gesture, adding a macho patting of the back. Then he pulls away and looks at his brother a degree more seriously. "Well.. find anything new out there?"
Kamau giggles and leans in to try and headbutt Elim's side. "Ona an' me are feroucious mighty beasts! ...An Sunny is our not-as-mighty girl-beast." Girls can't be mighty, of course. "Maybe if Mama gave you baths, too, you wouldn' be so smelly!" He giggles again with the mental picture of their mother bathing the giant that is Elim. At least, giant compared to Kamau and his friends. When Aitan arrives, he adds to the macho-ness by... jumping up, scrambling over to Aitan, and rubbing against one of his legs. Not paying much heed to what his big brothers are talking about, he continues with his own trail of thought. "Kale' is real tiny, Ona an me'll be bigger than him right?"
Sudden gravity hits Aitans eyes as he shrugs at Elim's question. "Ahhh... not to much. A lot of rumors and "I heard from a cheetah who heard from a hornbill who heard from..." Yadda Yadda." He sighs and shakes his head, "Pretty much everyone agrees that something's going on in the Forgotten Lands though. I got accurate enough descriptions from a couple animals to know that there's a sight more then a few lions gathering there." He rolls his eyes, "But you know herbivores... all lions look the same to them. Mane and teeth." He wrinkles his nose, "We'll have to keep our noses to the wind and make sure we hear first if something more definative comes up." He ruffles the top of Kamau's hair, thinking. "But enough about my rather boring adventure... finally I'd better get to hear all about YOURS! How do two lions run off to Kivuli and eight come back?" He chuckles. "Well.. including Ukomo and Kale I guess that would make that three leaving and nine back. Nice odds.. we should take forays to Kivuli more often."
Elimnyama grins down at Kamau and lowers his head to nuzzle the boy even as he lends an ear to Aitan's explanation. "There's been more rogues than usual about the borders," he remarks in a light tone of voice so as to not catch Kamau's attention, though his eyes convey little humor as they fix on Aitan. "I told one of them he could hunt on the border only because he claimed to have two lionesses and three cubs with him. The name was Simba, I think. He was very strange, sort of.. rude, almost. Then there's that Maliki.. Kings know where /he's/ gone off to.." Elim' can't help but to allow a slight edge to his voice when speaking of Maliki. The pretentious rogue and the irritable king certainly did not get along. A sigh escapes him at the thought of all the extra patrols they're going to have to do of the borderlands now, if there's to be a /coalition/ of rogues now. "We may consider asking more of the lionesses to do their own patrols, when they're not hunting. There's only so much the two of us can do against a threat like that." No smile surfaces to greet Aitan's playful account of the Kivuli ordeal. "I dunno," he replies evasively, suddenly troubled. He's silent for several moments, eyes on Aitan, until he finally sighs and looks down, bangs falling across his brow. "A lot happened over there.."
Kamau busies himself with brushing the fur on his head forward (not that there's much to brush) while the 'big kids' talk. Even if they did sound interesting, they're using a lot of words. Too many words for Kamau to pay much attention. He does pick up a few snippets, however. "How come you left with Waset?" He asks Elim', having understood Aitan's mention of them going to Kivuli. "Is it because you two are friends, an' you wanted to help her with her cubs?" He hasn't figured out the whole 'father' thing yet.
"I know Ukomo would LOOOOVE to be given the order to do her own patrols." He sighs and shakes his head, "But now I worry.. With Kale and all." He shrugs it off. "I'll tell her.. I'm sure it would make her really happy." He looks closely at Elim as he mentions Kivuli. Kamau's innocent question makes him crack a grin though and he lets out a chuckle, and flicks his gaze to Elim. 'I'll let you answer that one.' His expression says. "It's okay Elim... a lot has happened to both of us in the past moon. You're home now... it's over."
It's immediately understandable to Elim' why Kamau can't really comprehend 'father', given that for all intents and purposes Kamau doesn't have one himself. But surely Tisea's talked to him about Fuadi at some point.. Fuadi would've been a wonderful dad to these kids if he could've. Elim' gazes steadily at Kamau for a few moments, wondering how best to respond. It would be easier to go with the simpler response: 'yeah, to help with her cubs'. But the notion that perhaps their mother hasn't explained Fuadi to this second litter is.. a thorn in the fiercely loyal Elim's side. "We are friends, but we're mates too, Kamau. Waset's cubs are my cubs. I'm their father, just like Fuadi was your father and my father." Sweet lord, if this is going to turn into a 'where do cubs come from' talk, Elim' might have to die of humiliation. He never really discussed such things with Fuadi. That lion, while a caring father, was always a bit too distant for such intimate topics. The one time when it was even hinted at, Fuadi's tacit response melted down to 'just let nature take its course .. trust me, you'll figure it out!'. Attention strays back to Aitan and Elim' smiles ruefully and gives a nod of his shaggy head. "It's alright.. I told Ukomo' the day we came back. /That/ was difficult," he asserts honestly. "But time has passed now.. It doesn't hurt as much.." This enigmatic statement is soon qualified as Elim' looks up, his face sober, and in a very low tone murmurs to Aitan, "I don't know if Uko' told you, but there was a seventh cub that we lost."
"Fuadi..." Kamau looks over to the grasses as he takes a moment to think. He's heard the name before, but he doesn't remember why. He's sure Mama's mentioned it, but then he... fell asleep? Or was it a different lioness that said it? In any case, if Waset's cubs are Elim's cubs, Mama's cubs must also be Fuadi's cubs? "Where'd Fuadi go? An' how come..." he pauses, trying to sort more things out in his head. "But boys can't have cubs!" With all the thinking he's done, he's mostly missed what his brothers are talking about now. He does hear 'seventh' cub, but he isn't so good at counting yet so it doesn't mean much to him.
Humor crinkles the corners of Aitan's eyes as Elim tries to explain one of life's great mysteries... and decidedly most awkward of conversations. He sighs sadly and nods gently to Elim. He would hug him, but his brother isn't much of the... hugging type. Besides Aitan already gave him a hug when he came back. Even between brothers that would probably max out the 'hug limit' for the day. "I'm so sorry Elim. I know Ukomo was worried about Kale.. worried that he wouldn't make it. And we had only one... ya know." He sighs, "You have 6 beautiful, healthy cubs... maybe the Gods send us such a message sometimes to show us to be thankful for all that we have." He shakes his head, "Though that's a rationalization from someone who is trying to find reasons for fate being so cruel." He glances at Elim and decides to field this question from Kamau. He lays down and slides his younger brother a bit closer with a paw. "Fuadi got sick before you were born and... died." He doesn't exactly know if the cub understands death yet... certaintly many cubs become familiar with the concept very quickly. "Even though he never saw you, he still loves you, I'm sure." He raises a claw to the sky above, stars just beginning to wink out in the dusk. "He watches over all of us from up there." He grins and leans close to the cub. "Even though you never knew him... he's still in here." He taps the cub's chest with a paw gently. "And if you listen really hard he'll keep you safe and tell you what to do." Cheesy? Yes... but sometimes that's the easiest way to explain such hard things. He glances at Elim, "And also, Kamau... your little cousin is watching you too. They'll look after you, even though you've never seen them."
"I'm so glad Kale' made it. I'd hardly even heard that Ukomo' was pregnant at all," Elim' admits a little sheepishly, not entirely sure whether this isn't the fault of his own inattentiveness. "You can always have more.. Although after all this, I can't see either of us running out to make more cubs in a hurry." This is accompanied by a sad shake of the head and Elim' settles himself down beside Aitan and focuses his attention on the conversation taking place between him and Kamau. Elim' is not capable of making such speeches. A rather straightforward personage, he has difficulty expanding his imagination to encompass anything but the hard, cold facts. It's Aitan and Ukomo' who are the dreamers. Waset and Elim' are the realists of the family -- but thank the Kings they've got different ways of showing it. Waset's so optimistically realistic, while Elim's far more inclined toward pessimism. Having grown up with Aitan, Elim' finds his speech about stars and heavens quite easy to understand, but he knows he could never formulate anything of the sort himself. He doesn't consider this a character flaw, either, just a difference between him and his brother. With a weak smile he meets Aitan's eyes when reference is made to Kamau's little lost cousin, and this small expression embodies the dull ache his firstborn son's death has left behind.
Kamau lets himself get pulled over to Aitan and looks at his brother while everything gets explained. He knows what 'sick' means, and 'died'... that means gone, right? Like what would've happened to Sunny if she got eaten by a crocodile. Kamau looks up to the sky when Aitan points at the stars, squinting his eyes a little as he does so until his chest gets poked. Then he places one paw on his chest and looks down. He isn't sure what a 'cousin' is, but one of them must be gone too? Or was that the other cub Elim' was talking about? He looks once more up at the sky before lowering onto his haunches and springing over one of Aitan's paws. "I'ma go tell Ona," he informs his big brothers, also intending to work things out on his own for a little while before he asks more questions. Maybe his other brother will have some light to shed as well.
Cast:
Aitan, King of Tyne
Elimnyama, King of Tyne
Kamau, Lord of Tyne (as a cub!)
Setting: Tyne Rock Base
The big king is lying out in the sun at the moment, his eyes half-lidded against the bright sunlight. His gaze is focused lazily and with some air of interest on the leafy expanse of jungle to the south.. That dense crop of green steams slowly in the heat of the mid-afternoon. Elim' twitches his tail slowly backward and forward, and at length he looks away from the jungle and with a yawn turns onto his side. Lazy!
Being the great fighting beast that he is, when Kamau spots something moving about on the ground he has a habit of pouncing first, asking questions later. Sure, it might save him some heartache to identify what he's about to pounce first, but where would the fun in that be? Thus, upon exiting the cavern, he spots what happens to be Elimnyama's tail moving about and instantly begins to sneak up on it. He's not the sneakiest cub around, but at least he doesn't trip over his feet or anything. Once in pouncing distance, he leaps and lets out a loud, "Raaaa!"
Even through the thick fog that is his awareness today, Elim' could hardly be called a lion if he couldn't detect the approach of a fledgingly cub, laziness or no. He gives no response until the boy's tippity-tap footfalls indicate he's launched himself into the air. Then Elim' swings casually about on the rock he's been lying on and snatches Kamau out of the air with one forepaw, thumping the cub down on the soft landing that is his much older brother's chest. "Little whippersnapper," Elim' remarks with a grin, now lying on his back on the cool stone and poking a paw at Kamau.
"Ra-...ayahhh!" Kamau's yell turns into a surprised yelp of sorts as his pounce is interrupted by his brother's big paw. He lands on Elim's chest with an "Oof!" and quickly scrambles until he's in a position where he can pout at Elim. "I was close!" he defends himself, although in all honestly getting pulled out of the sky by his brother was probably way more fun than pouncing on what he now realizes is the king's tail. Only able to hold up his pout for so long, he soon breaks out into a small smile and lets himself sprawl out over Elim's chest.
Elimnyama grins at his brother and then lets out a sigh, taking Kamau's cue to sprawl out over the ground. "Not close enough! We're going to have to teach you what /real/ pouncing is all about, one of these days." A squint-eyed glance is paid to the sky and Elim' shakes his wooly head in a profoundly lethargic manner. "Someday when it's not so bright and hot. So. Besides trying to kill my innocent tail when I'm not looking, what've you been up to, Kam'?"
"You mean it?!" Kamau asks in excitement. "I wanna learn how to pounce real good. Better than Sunny good!" He's a little miffed at being outpounced by a girl. "Nappin'," he then replies, more interested now in examining his brother's paws and then glancing at his own. His feet were big compared to his siblings', but they were nothing compared to his older brothers'. "Elim', how big are Ona an' me gunna get?"
Aitan's normally brilliant (or pale at the very least) coat started out mud spattered from the trek through the jungles and then dried to a thin crust of dust as the lands became drier on his way home. He comes in view of the rock, spotting a group gathered at the base and picks up his energy conserving travelling gait to a brisker pace. He growls out a greeting and gets close enough to recognize Elim and his little brother talking. He makes his way to them and sits, resting his hind legs. He uses the rough pads on his forepaw to dextrously scrape some of the caked dirt off of his chest, but soon loses intrest... there's just too much of it to deal with without a languid swim through a lake or stream. "Brothers..." He nods to them both, grinning at Elim and pulling him into a hug with a forepaw.
"Sunny?" He can't possibly hope to keep all the silly nicknames the cubs dream up for each other straight. 'Baba' and 'Cloud' came rather naturually, but who the heck is 'Sunny'? Elim' chuckles, and the rapid undulations of his chest bounce the cub up and down. "Nappin'.. I see. You and Ona' will probably get pretty big. Maybe not as big as Aitan and me 'cause we're /much/ bigger goofballs than either of you will ever be," he replies with an attempt at mock loftiness. He takes pride in his goofballiness, thanks very much. "No matter how much you grow, I'll /always/ be your big brother. Big and mean and smelly. You can't take that away from me." He ends this pronouncement with a very regal sticking-out-of-the-tongue and a grin at Kamau. It's then that he spots the very distinctive white blur that indicates Aitan's arrival. With a leap of the heart, Elim' rolls back to his stomach although he takes care not to smush the little brother. Elim' then pushes himself to a seated position, grinning back at Aitan when the other king eventually reaches the plateau. "Hey-" Elim' chuckles as he's pulled into a hug and he amiably returns the gesture, adding a macho patting of the back. Then he pulls away and looks at his brother a degree more seriously. "Well.. find anything new out there?"
Kamau giggles and leans in to try and headbutt Elim's side. "Ona an' me are feroucious mighty beasts! ...An Sunny is our not-as-mighty girl-beast." Girls can't be mighty, of course. "Maybe if Mama gave you baths, too, you wouldn' be so smelly!" He giggles again with the mental picture of their mother bathing the giant that is Elim. At least, giant compared to Kamau and his friends. When Aitan arrives, he adds to the macho-ness by... jumping up, scrambling over to Aitan, and rubbing against one of his legs. Not paying much heed to what his big brothers are talking about, he continues with his own trail of thought. "Kale' is real tiny, Ona an me'll be bigger than him right?"
Sudden gravity hits Aitans eyes as he shrugs at Elim's question. "Ahhh... not to much. A lot of rumors and "I heard from a cheetah who heard from a hornbill who heard from..." Yadda Yadda." He sighs and shakes his head, "Pretty much everyone agrees that something's going on in the Forgotten Lands though. I got accurate enough descriptions from a couple animals to know that there's a sight more then a few lions gathering there." He rolls his eyes, "But you know herbivores... all lions look the same to them. Mane and teeth." He wrinkles his nose, "We'll have to keep our noses to the wind and make sure we hear first if something more definative comes up." He ruffles the top of Kamau's hair, thinking. "But enough about my rather boring adventure... finally I'd better get to hear all about YOURS! How do two lions run off to Kivuli and eight come back?" He chuckles. "Well.. including Ukomo and Kale I guess that would make that three leaving and nine back. Nice odds.. we should take forays to Kivuli more often."
Elimnyama grins down at Kamau and lowers his head to nuzzle the boy even as he lends an ear to Aitan's explanation. "There's been more rogues than usual about the borders," he remarks in a light tone of voice so as to not catch Kamau's attention, though his eyes convey little humor as they fix on Aitan. "I told one of them he could hunt on the border only because he claimed to have two lionesses and three cubs with him. The name was Simba, I think. He was very strange, sort of.. rude, almost. Then there's that Maliki.. Kings know where /he's/ gone off to.." Elim' can't help but to allow a slight edge to his voice when speaking of Maliki. The pretentious rogue and the irritable king certainly did not get along. A sigh escapes him at the thought of all the extra patrols they're going to have to do of the borderlands now, if there's to be a /coalition/ of rogues now. "We may consider asking more of the lionesses to do their own patrols, when they're not hunting. There's only so much the two of us can do against a threat like that." No smile surfaces to greet Aitan's playful account of the Kivuli ordeal. "I dunno," he replies evasively, suddenly troubled. He's silent for several moments, eyes on Aitan, until he finally sighs and looks down, bangs falling across his brow. "A lot happened over there.."
Kamau busies himself with brushing the fur on his head forward (not that there's much to brush) while the 'big kids' talk. Even if they did sound interesting, they're using a lot of words. Too many words for Kamau to pay much attention. He does pick up a few snippets, however. "How come you left with Waset?" He asks Elim', having understood Aitan's mention of them going to Kivuli. "Is it because you two are friends, an' you wanted to help her with her cubs?" He hasn't figured out the whole 'father' thing yet.
"I know Ukomo would LOOOOVE to be given the order to do her own patrols." He sighs and shakes his head, "But now I worry.. With Kale and all." He shrugs it off. "I'll tell her.. I'm sure it would make her really happy." He looks closely at Elim as he mentions Kivuli. Kamau's innocent question makes him crack a grin though and he lets out a chuckle, and flicks his gaze to Elim. 'I'll let you answer that one.' His expression says. "It's okay Elim... a lot has happened to both of us in the past moon. You're home now... it's over."
It's immediately understandable to Elim' why Kamau can't really comprehend 'father', given that for all intents and purposes Kamau doesn't have one himself. But surely Tisea's talked to him about Fuadi at some point.. Fuadi would've been a wonderful dad to these kids if he could've. Elim' gazes steadily at Kamau for a few moments, wondering how best to respond. It would be easier to go with the simpler response: 'yeah, to help with her cubs'. But the notion that perhaps their mother hasn't explained Fuadi to this second litter is.. a thorn in the fiercely loyal Elim's side. "We are friends, but we're mates too, Kamau. Waset's cubs are my cubs. I'm their father, just like Fuadi was your father and my father." Sweet lord, if this is going to turn into a 'where do cubs come from' talk, Elim' might have to die of humiliation. He never really discussed such things with Fuadi. That lion, while a caring father, was always a bit too distant for such intimate topics. The one time when it was even hinted at, Fuadi's tacit response melted down to 'just let nature take its course .. trust me, you'll figure it out!'. Attention strays back to Aitan and Elim' smiles ruefully and gives a nod of his shaggy head. "It's alright.. I told Ukomo' the day we came back. /That/ was difficult," he asserts honestly. "But time has passed now.. It doesn't hurt as much.." This enigmatic statement is soon qualified as Elim' looks up, his face sober, and in a very low tone murmurs to Aitan, "I don't know if Uko' told you, but there was a seventh cub that we lost."
"Fuadi..." Kamau looks over to the grasses as he takes a moment to think. He's heard the name before, but he doesn't remember why. He's sure Mama's mentioned it, but then he... fell asleep? Or was it a different lioness that said it? In any case, if Waset's cubs are Elim's cubs, Mama's cubs must also be Fuadi's cubs? "Where'd Fuadi go? An' how come..." he pauses, trying to sort more things out in his head. "But boys can't have cubs!" With all the thinking he's done, he's mostly missed what his brothers are talking about now. He does hear 'seventh' cub, but he isn't so good at counting yet so it doesn't mean much to him.
Humor crinkles the corners of Aitan's eyes as Elim tries to explain one of life's great mysteries... and decidedly most awkward of conversations. He sighs sadly and nods gently to Elim. He would hug him, but his brother isn't much of the... hugging type. Besides Aitan already gave him a hug when he came back. Even between brothers that would probably max out the 'hug limit' for the day. "I'm so sorry Elim. I know Ukomo was worried about Kale.. worried that he wouldn't make it. And we had only one... ya know." He sighs, "You have 6 beautiful, healthy cubs... maybe the Gods send us such a message sometimes to show us to be thankful for all that we have." He shakes his head, "Though that's a rationalization from someone who is trying to find reasons for fate being so cruel." He glances at Elim and decides to field this question from Kamau. He lays down and slides his younger brother a bit closer with a paw. "Fuadi got sick before you were born and... died." He doesn't exactly know if the cub understands death yet... certaintly many cubs become familiar with the concept very quickly. "Even though he never saw you, he still loves you, I'm sure." He raises a claw to the sky above, stars just beginning to wink out in the dusk. "He watches over all of us from up there." He grins and leans close to the cub. "Even though you never knew him... he's still in here." He taps the cub's chest with a paw gently. "And if you listen really hard he'll keep you safe and tell you what to do." Cheesy? Yes... but sometimes that's the easiest way to explain such hard things. He glances at Elim, "And also, Kamau... your little cousin is watching you too. They'll look after you, even though you've never seen them."
"I'm so glad Kale' made it. I'd hardly even heard that Ukomo' was pregnant at all," Elim' admits a little sheepishly, not entirely sure whether this isn't the fault of his own inattentiveness. "You can always have more.. Although after all this, I can't see either of us running out to make more cubs in a hurry." This is accompanied by a sad shake of the head and Elim' settles himself down beside Aitan and focuses his attention on the conversation taking place between him and Kamau. Elim' is not capable of making such speeches. A rather straightforward personage, he has difficulty expanding his imagination to encompass anything but the hard, cold facts. It's Aitan and Ukomo' who are the dreamers. Waset and Elim' are the realists of the family -- but thank the Kings they've got different ways of showing it. Waset's so optimistically realistic, while Elim's far more inclined toward pessimism. Having grown up with Aitan, Elim' finds his speech about stars and heavens quite easy to understand, but he knows he could never formulate anything of the sort himself. He doesn't consider this a character flaw, either, just a difference between him and his brother. With a weak smile he meets Aitan's eyes when reference is made to Kamau's little lost cousin, and this small expression embodies the dull ache his firstborn son's death has left behind.
Kamau lets himself get pulled over to Aitan and looks at his brother while everything gets explained. He knows what 'sick' means, and 'died'... that means gone, right? Like what would've happened to Sunny if she got eaten by a crocodile. Kamau looks up to the sky when Aitan points at the stars, squinting his eyes a little as he does so until his chest gets poked. Then he places one paw on his chest and looks down. He isn't sure what a 'cousin' is, but one of them must be gone too? Or was that the other cub Elim' was talking about? He looks once more up at the sky before lowering onto his haunches and springing over one of Aitan's paws. "I'ma go tell Ona," he informs his big brothers, also intending to work things out on his own for a little while before he asks more questions. Maybe his other brother will have some light to shed as well.