Pyke lay in a rather sad heap. He didn’t mean to be sad, if anything he was trying to be happy. He had found out that Weyard was pregnant. His former mate had settled with someone else and though he knew it was his fault that she had found someone else it still hurt. The yellow maned male lay in a quiet heap the sun dancing along his pelt. He knew he should get up there were things he was supposed to be doing, but he just couldn’t find the motivation.
Pleco was looking for his dad and he had dragged his cousin along with him. Looking to his much brighter cousin he gave an exasperated sigh “There he is Gidja. I knew he’d be moping somewhere.” The cheery pink maned male galloped up to his father and tackled him, he was the same size as his dad, he wasn’t a cub though he acted like one most of the time. “Dad, I know you’re sad but come on, you can’t just lay around like a furry lump.” He grumbles chewing an ear playfully.
Having been dragged in to this little family cheer up, Gidja trotted after his cousin, they were about the same age and had grown up together in the pride. Uncle Pyke had always been good to him and when he heard, from the ever chatty Pleco that his mother was pregnant, he had assumed that his uncle was about to be a father again. That of course was an incorrect assumption. Pyke and Weyard had, had some sort of argument and had gone their separate ways. He didn’t know the details. He really didn’t want to know, it wasn’t of any interest to him. Still when he had heard that his uncle was in a unhappy mope, Gidja had done the one thing he knew how to do really well. He had gone hunting.
He now carried his prize and aid it down before Pyke “I fetched you something to eat, thought you might be hungry.” All of his family knew that when he fetched food it was a form of flattery. He enjoyed treating his family to his hunting skills and he had caught something particularly delicious to try and cheer his uncle up. A duck. He didn’t capture birds very often, though he very much enjoyed showing his skills, birds provided very little payload for the effort they took to capture. Still this was a special occasion so he had taken the time and effort to bring something special to his lamenting uncle.
“OOMPH” Pyke exclaimed as his forever boisterous son landed on him without a moment’s hesitation. “Pleco, Pleco get off.” He grunts trying to rid himself of his adult son without much success. “You’re too big to do that anymore Pleco, you’re not a cub.” He sniffs attempting to ignore the persistent chew at his ear.
The young male stopped chewing on his father’s ear, but continued to lay across his back. “Oh Dad, look, Gidja fetched you something yummy. We want you to be happy again.” He tightens his grip around his dad in a hug. He wasn’t going anywhere until his father came with them. He could be determined when he wanted to be.
Although he oldest male remained dormant he looked up at Gidja and smiled gratefully. He actually couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten a meal and duck was a pretty special treat. “Thank You Gidja” He sighs rolling his shoulders again, he clearly wasn’t going to be able to move his son that easily “What is it you want me to do?” He huffs, knowing he wasn’t getting rid of Pleco at least until he did something.
Gidja nods, stoic as ever and shakes his head. “No problem, you should sit up and eat it, they go bad pretty quickly.” He sniffs and raises a brow at his pink maned cousin “He won’t be able to eat it if you stay like that.” He rumbles flickering his tail. “Your son is worried about you uncle Pyke. He seems to think we should all go hunting together and..” He pauses and rolls his eyes, raising his front paws he puts quotations in the air “attract some tail” He chuckles, he had never said anything like that in his whole life. He wasn’t interested, obviously in attracting anything. He just wanted to hunt, but the thought of hunting something special excited him and if it brought his uncle out of the doldrums at the same time, it was a winwin.
Pleco sighs and rolls off his father’s back “Sit up and eat we are gunna go and hunt a giraffe.” He grins broadly, he knew that dangling a giraffe in front of Gidja had tempted him along, but he hoped that he would be able to tempt his dad too at such an exciting prospect. He knew Gidja wanted to help his dad too but Pleco was worried about him, genuinely worried, he wanted his father to smile again.
Having been freed of the weight of his adult son, Pyke sat up and looked at the duck. It was a shame to waste it. He carefully started to pull the feathers from the bird piling the feathers to one side. Feathers were useful in decoration. Maybe he could speak to Weyard and give her a feather, apologise. No, he had to stop thinking that way. He gave a sigh as the birds flesh became visible and he took a mouthful, chewed and swallowed before he truly heard what his son was proposing.
“A giraffe?” Pyke raised a brow, sure, he had heard of lions bringing down the massive beasts but they usually went in large teams. Shaking his head the blond maned, he let a laugh roll over his lips. Maybe he would get kicked hard enough and all of his worries would disappear? “Alright. Yeh, let’s do it.” The attracting tail part was of no interest to him but maybe a really big hunt would distract him.
Gidja allowed a grin to lift his lips and he stretched out his paws. “Finish your duck and we will go. I’v been watching a little herd for a few days now since Pleco suggested it. Let’s go and bring home a really big one.”
Pleco smiles at his dad hope fully and head-butts him “It’ll be great dad, let’s go and have an adventure.”
Pyke gave a little sigh and nodded “Yeh, let’s go and start a new chapter.2 He smiled half-heartedly and returned to eating the duck. Who knew what would happen but at least it would distract him from his other thoughts at least for a short time.
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