"Am I interrupting something?" The stately, yet diminutive, primate asked. Icarus merely rose from his position so that he was sitting. "Kind of. What troubles you now, Miriam?" Icarus asked, an edge to his tone as he spoke. Miriam placed her hands on her hips, in exactly the way that a known complainer would be expected to do, as she spoke. "Your daughter and her koala-eating friends, that's who." Miriam answered, and Icarus noted now more than ever that her voice the exact voice one would expect from an ornery old lady who would never stop complaining. He was still reeling from the dream he had been jarred from, and the last thing he wanted was to hear at this moment was some primate complaining about his daughter. Especially because she mentioned something that should have been common knowledge in the Jungle by now.
"Miriam, I know macaques have a hard time with following the law, but I made it quite clear some months ago that eating koalas was against the law from then on. My daughter and her friends no longer partake in koala meat, but anyways, if you have nothing further to discuss-" Icarus was interrupted, and his patience diminished fast with the primates in front of him. "Oh, I have much to discuss with you. This is the fifth time this month Lana and her friends have used my troop for their little 'monkeball' games!" She said, and Icarus rolled his violet eyes. "Well, did Lana win this time?" He said, and the disinterest was quite heavy in his voice. Miriam narrowed her eyes, but her nephew spoke up. "Icarus, we need you to listen to us. We don't feel safe in this Jungle. The only one who can stop her is you." He pleaded, but Icarus simply bent down to his level.
"Well, Mordecai, I might have considered that. But, see, it's hard for me to hold up my end of the deal when you macaques fragrantly break my law on a regular basis." And there it was; Icarus had laid out the source of his cavalier attitude towards the diminutive primates in front of him. Miriam was quick to respond, before Mordecai could stop her. "So that's what this is about? How you feel about the past?!" She said, and at that Icarus now stood his full height, which made him look absolutely, possitively massive to the cub-sized monkeys. "Normally, I'd say that it wasn't personal. But in this case, I can't help but take it personally when the laws that I set forth(that all of the other animals, including the hyenas)voted on and agreed to, are just ignored. What was it that you called the law against stealing food from other frugivores? Hmm… something like 'Only a meshugenah would actually enforce that'?" Mordecai became visibly uncomfortable, especially since he knew exactly how much truth was in Icarus' words. That is, all of it.
"So, we might have not always agreed on what needs to be done. The point is, my troop is being threatened by your daughter, her friends and those two rogues." Icarus had to laugh, if only at the hypocritical outrage being presented to him. "Yeah, that's the thing about this game called 'life'. Things get difficult when you break the rules, and-" Icarus stopped cold as what Miriam said firmly sunk into his mind. "Wait, 'rogues'? Plural…" He mused, and the old macaque explained. "Yes, rogues. That Malka boy from the Goldlands, and Julia's boyfriend." Icarus' eyes dimmed for a second, as he knew exactly who she was talking about.
As he took off in the direction that he was sure the monkeys came from, Icarus' could only think one thing: Keep your cool. Don't let your anger rule you.
Despite not participating in the hunt for obvious reasons, the expectant mother took the first bite of the wild horse that they brought down, as is customary for any hunt. "So, have you thought of any names yet?" Jai asked the question on everyone's minds, but only she had the temerity to voice it given the circumstances. "Well, you see…" Kyabe trailed off, not able to focus on his thoughts as he noticed Lana gazing at him with those entrancing eyes of hers. Seriously, how can anyone focus on a conversation with her around? Kyabe mentally blanched, due to losing his answer. Julia cut in at that moment. "To be honest, little guy, we haven't even figured out how we're going to tell the rest of the Pride, let alone the names of the cubs." At that, Lana seemed to form a few ideas. "What about Kura for a girl, and Vituo for a boy?" Malka raised his eyebrows, as that had given him some ideas. "Hmm… those names sound awesome. But I was thinking more along the lines of Lekan for a boy, or Taraji for a girl." To that, David tilted his head inquisitively. "Well, you certainly sound hopeful for a cub, that much is certain." He snarked at the meaning of both of Malka's cub names. "And shouldn't I be? If they end up anything like me, then they'd have much to be hopeful for." As he said the word 'hopeful', he managed to sneak a tender rub against Lana's side. Although she didn't jerk away from him, Malka swore he heard a low growl being emitted. However, he also knew that it wasn't from anyone that he could currently see.
"Ooh, ooh! I have an idea for a cub name." Jai said, diverting Malka's attention back to the group. "I was thinking something cool, like Kanai." Jai had mentioned only one name, and the sub-adults wondered if he even understood what that name actually meant. "And? What about for a girl's name?" To Lana's question, Jai simply rolled his eyes. "Lana, you and I both know that can be a boy or a girl's name. Duh." Jai taunted, to which Lana narrowed her eyes. "Oh, well, I always thought you were more original. Or at least less narcissistic." Jai drew a blank at that last word. "I don't know what that means, but it sounds like you're just jealous that I'm gonna be King while you're gonna just be a Wanderer." Jai taunted as he stuck his tongue, totally oblivious to just how stereotypically childish he was being. "Wow. Why don't you start saying 'nyah nyah' while you're at it." Malka teased, to which Jai rolled his violet eyes. "Oh, you've checked back in? I thought you were too busy staring at Lana's butt to care about anything we were saying." Jai said, and couldn't hold his laughter at the embarrassed look on Malka's face as Lana realized that she had been unintentionally giving the boys a nice view as she was taking a cut of the meat. Even Julia couldn't help but laugh at the way Malka, David and Akato had been staring, but she felt a little relieved that Kyabe was at least discreet if he too had also been looking.
"Yeah, Malka. At least close your mouth and be a little more subtle." David joined in, to which Julia chimed in with a tease of her own. "Says the lion whose staring at his own cousin and having perverted thoughts while doing so." To that, Jai loosed a disgusted expression. "Yeah, David! That's disgusting! Eeww!" Jai said, to which David had to double-take. "…You know Julia and I aren't actually your cousins, right?" He asked, not completely sure if that was ever actually explained to the cub. The confusion on his face said it all. "Well, in that case, I'll just explain it. Dad was an orphaned cub, and he was taken in by your grandfather. Since he and Icarus were raised pretty much as brothers, they decided to swear an oath of brotherhood so that the day they were kicked out of their birth Pride they would form their own coalition. They are related in Spirit, but not by blood." Kyabe was secretly happy that Jai lead the conversation to this point, for David's explanation provided him with some answers that his own parents had failed to inform him of.
"A decision that this lion clearly will never respect, from what I see." The sub-adults nearly jumped out of their skins, for the voice that spoke was not anyone present. When they turned to face the source, it was none other than Icarus. And he stared right at Kyabe, vicious anger in his eyes at the offending lion.