Roleplay - 20th January

Returning the nose kisses and showering of adoration grooming towards her beloved, Josephine rolled onto her side and snuggled up against Lancaster’s soft pelt. Being so close to the one she loved felt wonderful, but she couldn’t just fall away into a cloud of dreams and forget her responsibility. Alone on the periphery of the foraging party they all would be vulnerable to ground predators if they weren’t careful.
With the pups still playing out the corner of her eye, Josephine nuzzled Lancaster under his chin wanting more of his attention. He was going to make a fantastic father she just knew he would.
Swatting Root Beer away with his paw, Pippin snarled playfully and forced the other young male into the hole. Now it was his turn to sneak up on Root Beer in revenge for the surprise.

Yipping with excitement, Root Beer took his assigned game role seriously with wide eyes. Pippin wasn’t going to surprise him, not today he was too smart for that. Waiting patiently for what felt like ages, Root Beer clambered out of the hole and looked around. Where had Pippin gone?
Concerned for being alone, he dashed over to Merry still asleep in the shade and jumped on him.

Shrieking in fear from being pounced upon, Merry bolted upright and frowned grumpily at Root Beer. Maybe he’d sleep nearer Josephine next time to avoid any more rude awakenings.

Concerned for the whereabouts of his young playmate, Root Beer called out in short, sharp contact calls hoping to be heard.

Having been distracted, Pippin scurried after a large shiny beetle away from the protective cover of the shade. Maybe if he could catch it this would make him victorious and the winner of the hole game.


With the arrival of two further males into the vicinity of the group, Kir Royale hung his head. Seven individuals now had attempted to make contact with the family group maybe it was indeed the right choice to wait a while.
Scent marking his sentry post, he slinked off into the grass to bide his time on the periphery of the foraging party.

Charlie blinked at the dominant male, but realized what he had to to do and laid on his back in submission.

For Linues, however, it took the fat and lazy lump some time to figure it out before he copied Charlie.

ooc: What's the plan with the permanent DM? I would want Lucky and Lumina to have 1 litter, but for a plot I had in my mind they'd need to have 2 litters... but he could always be overthrown shortly after mating. But who is going to take over?

Lucky sighs and scent marks Charlie first, as he senses his meanings of submission. He also scent marks Linus, accepting them as new members of the Willows clan. He feels weird doing this, as he was never before in his life but a mere rover, but he thinks he likes it... It's an interesting way to live, but he's still having doubts he's cut out for it. Instead of returning to be sentry, he pads over to Lumina. He wants to see if he still has his roverish charms he's used for many years.

ooc: I was thinking of having Tank take over at some point in the future. A while back, I had planned him to become a dominant male of a mob. I'm kinda conflicted about bringing Maylene back as that would jeopardize Tank's plot. Tank will probably grow ambitious some day and go through a rebellious phase. =P

Charlie immediately leaps up and goes to meet the rest of the group while Linus yawns and waddles over to a shady patch to relax.

ooc: Hey, Petal, can you please hold off on posting more? We're waiting for a sight member to get caught up in all the mobs.

OOC: Ok, my bad x)

Ooc: I would have liked to have been DM but I can pass instead of making a queue. You both have plots involving the spot so it makes sense. I'll have a think what to do with Kir now as Willows have just gained lots of new members.

ooc: We could make it interesting by having Tank and your male jostle for the DM spot. They could swap dominance. I was thinking of having Tank get injured somehow and that disadvantage could be used against him by resulting in his deposal. I know it's getting difficult to find an opening to introduce Kir Royale. Maybe you could have him approach in your next post or while the Willows are foraging. =3

ooc: I thought about having him hear Pippin and retrieve him back to L&J on the edge of the group. I think he will enjoy being a supportive aid to Tank and respect him like a brother more than a rival so maybe that would help your plot to have KR as a placeholder dominant.

ooc: That sounds fine with me, LM. =3

Lumina was forging, unaware Lucky was approaching and had intentions of wanting to mate. Since he was the DM, and she was the DF, she would have to mate with him eventually to produce more pups for the mob.

Ashtail relaxes and stretches out her slender form before going back to sentry.

Saja was back to forging, eagerly wanting to find something for her skinny sister. She had to be starving!

Golden Sun notices the mob and deciding to approach, he walks over, and once he was near, he got into an submissive state.

Damien decides to forge, he, Evyenne and Olivia had to regain their lost weight.

Evyenne forges as well, eager to be able to eat without fear.

Olivia would forge herself but she feels too tired to do so from hunger so she instead lies down. She watches her sister dig for some food which no doubt she would give to herself, which she feels very thankful for.

Lucky churrs softly to Lumina, keeping his distance until he's assured she feels the same. He doesn't want to come across as creepy or blunt, so he waits.

Chloe rests for a little while, her belly is momentarily full and the young Willows female in contempt. She's unaware of the dominant drama and closes her eyes, hoping to take a midday nap before the hype will pick up again.

Tuck digs up a scorpion and brings it over to Clover. He's more concerned with his childhood friend filling her belly than he is with his. That's just selfless Tuck, always putting others before himself. He's always been that way and will never change, but something stirs within him when it comes to Clover, but he's never been able to put a paw on it...

The fur along the back of Lancaster's neck and torso bristles and he emits an agitated hiss as Golden Sun enters the center of his vision. The manifestation of multiple meerkats has gotten him nervous. With little ones in the process of growing in Josephine's womb at this very moment, he's feeling overprotective of his beloved and is in a bit of an anxious state. This first time father is determined to do what ever he can to ensure the survival of his offspring, even going as far as repelling strange meerkats from his growing family, not knowing what they could truly be capable of. For Lancaster to be convinced newcomers can be trusted, they'll have to prove their worth in order to earn the permission to hang around him and his mate.

Tank had witnessed his brother's hostile behavior and raises his right brow suspiciously. Lancaster is usually very hospitable and amiable towards newcomers. His overprotectiveness of Josephine has become... over zealous. Something peculiar must be transpiring here. Tank narrows his eyes suspiciously, having been struck with a hunch. Le gasp! Could it be that.... Then he shakes his head in denial. Nah, he doesn't believe his brother would dare put a female through such a tremendously stressful experience. But he can't help but to suspect they're harboring a potentially illicit secret.  

ooc: Tank will guess Lancaster and Josephine are expecting, but will keep their illicit secrect concealed, until Josephine begins showing her pregnancy of course. Cause then everyone will know at that point. =P

ooc: Sounds a great idea Yosh could lead to some nice character development between Tank and Lancaster.

Clover glances at Tuck.  She's not sure what to do about the situation.  She smiles... He should be the one to eat, he's worse off than she is... They'll split the scorpion and call it even.

Lancaster's hiss doesn't go unheard. Lumina looks up, confused. Its then she sees Golden Sun. She's rather confused. The male was in a submissive state, so why was Lancaster being so hostile? The thought soon goes away as she gives Lancaster a warning growl. He has no right to decide if this male was hostile or not, that was Lucky's job and no one else's. (I figured she thinks Lancaster is trying to take Lucky's job. XD)

Ashtail was watching Golden Sun and like Lumina, was also a bit confused at Lancaster's behavior. He was usually so nice, why suddenly so aggressive? She hears Lumina and looks at Lancaster, hoping he wasn't intending to take Lucky's place. But that wasn't the case, thankfully, at least... the mob won't know the real reason for Lancaster's behavior for a long while.

Saja notices Golden Sun and tilted her head. He looked friendly...? She looked up at her father, wondering why her uncle was acting so unusual, he was one of the kindest males he's ever known! ...Aside her father, too, of course.

Golden Sun hears Lancaster and flinches slightly, but remains submissive however. The scarred male doesn't want to blow this chance of finally getting a new home.

Tuck smiles and splits it, although he makes sure Clover's half is slightly bigger than his own. He has the remainder of the day to get as much food as he can stomach into his digestive system. He wants the first meal his friend and he have shared in over four months to be special. He's just glad she's alive, he's alive, and they have been reunited. He wolfs down his first sizable meal in a long while, licking his chops as he finishes it off.

Lancaster's growl snaps Lucky's attention away from bedding his first female in a long while. He can tell it is a male. Well, its his job now. He curses under his breath as he makes his way over to Golden Sun, scent marking a few dottings of shuberry as he goes. He quickly scent marks the male, making him a full fledged Willows member. He peeps a warm welcome before returning to Lumina, sight set again directly on the task at hand. He begins to lightly groom her, friendly at first, but is hinting the idea- they both know it needs to be done for the sake of the next generation.

Noticing multiple Willow individuals to be giving him looks of suspicion and appearing to be vexed by his peculiar behavior, the fur along the back of Lancaster's neck and torso flattens and a sense of forebode permeates his system, thinking he may have just given the mob a hint as to why he's acting zealously over protective of Josephine. He bows his head apologetically at Golden Sun, sorry for acting so hostile towards him. This mob has endured many misfortunes over the past couple of months and he's still in the process of recuperating from the psychologically traumatic tribulations.

Tank has a hunch as to why his brother is acting hostile but remains silent, not wanting to cause more drama for the mob. He doesn't hesitate to approach Golden Sun and greets him with a hospitable peep.

With the sudden change to Lancaster’s relaxed mood, Josephine shot back into reality and reassuringly nuzzled her beloved’s cheek as he gazed off into the grass. All would be fine for the meantime; it would be several weeks before their secret became too noticeable to hide then they’d be more of a reason to distrust any specific individuals.
Glancing past the stranger Golden Sun, Josephine’s eyes settled on the large, familiar male who wore a distinct expression in her direction. Only second to Lancaster himself, Tank was one of the Willows who she trusted wholeheartedly. He wasn’t stupid either, one smart kat like him would quickly suss out his brother’s change in behaviour. However important keeping their potential new pups a secret from Lumina and some of the other subordinate individuals was, she hesitated that maybe Lancaster could share the secret with ‘Uncle’ Tank.

With the appearance of Lucky accepting Golden Sun into the group, Josephine relaxed partially and resumed her duty before she was romantically distracted.
Padding over to a distressed looking Root Beer, Josephine nuzzled him before turning to Merry still playing ignorant to the other pup. Assuring herself that two of the pups were fine she glanced around for the third…
Pippin? The one given half the chance to do something he shouldn’t be doing had done exactly that. He couldn’t be missing; he had to still be nearby…

Desperate and now drowned in guilt and beginning to show her familiar signs of worrying, Josephine chattered nervously and began to issue gentle contact calls hoping that Pippin would hear them and pop out of his hiding place.


Also worried about his playmate, Root Beer stood onto his hind legs and balanced up against Josephine’s slim leg and peeped a series of his only tiny calls.

Rolling his eyes at the disturbance of the peace, Merry didn’t do much but pad around the warm sand away from Root Beer but still within a close proximity to his trusted adult.

Having lost his shiny beetle that he was following, Pippin dropped onto the hot exposed ground in a sulk. Now he’d never be able to beat Root Beer at the hole game. Even now he imagined his young friend snuggled in the depression and not even willing to be chased out of it. Fiddlesticks and Grasshoppers…

Still close to the group, Kir Royale observed yet another individual approach the group. 3 adults, 2 juveniles and a pup what honest chance did he have now? By the looks of it the males of the group had been wary about the last stranger and right now even one usually so positive he was feeling disheartened.
Prepared to give up for the day and return to a disused bolt hole, Kir Royale padding through the grass with his head hung low. Tomorrow there was still a chance and if not there was the whole Kalahari to explore he just couldn’t dwell on the unlucky coincidence of so many other individuals in the area.

Stopping briefly to look over his shoulder, the sound of worried contact calls caught his attention. Alerted by the noise he pressed cautiously forward sticking to the shadows. Unexpectedly bundled and crashing into his foot, young Pippin wore a determined frown and swatted at the newly made obstacle that was Kir Royale.  Surprised by the energetic and feisty little fellow whose striking pale facial stripe gave him quite a distinctive look, the older male picked him up by the scruff trying to avoid his little paws. Even inexperienced with pups of his own, Kir Royale couldn’t turn away from the echoes of Josephine’s calls. He had to approach the group now and risk getting refused and chased away by the natal guardian males.

ooc: XD sorry I wrote loads.

((OOC: Wow LM, that was a long, long post. XD))

It only took Lumina a few seconds to understand what Lucky was getting at. She, too, wanted to start reproducing. She began to return the grooming, strengthening the mood between herself and Lucky no doubt. Before she could lead him off however, Josephine's calls briefly snap her out of it. Oh for goodness sake... What now? She looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She shook her head. Oh, whatever it was, it can wait. For now, she wants to get this done. She touches Lucky's shoulder and began to lead him off toward some bushes so they could do this in peace.

Ashtail is more focused on her sentry duty, not even noticing Pippin was missing.

Saja finds a scorpion which she manages to disarm and brings it to Olivia.

Golden Sun is revealed once he's accepted. He accepts Lancaster's apology with a nod and a soft chirp. He understands. Plus, he kind of did look intimidating with his scars... But sadly he didn't get them willingly.

Charlie notices Golden Sun being accepted and chirps at him in a friendly manner.

Linus yawned and blinked in the daylight, yet settled back down for another nap.

Molly smiles at Golden Sun once he was accepted. He looked nice. Hearing Josephine, she looked toward the female, confused. Was something wrong?

Damien looks at Josephine as well, she sounded distressed. He rose to his hind legs, looking about.

Evyenne was in a hole she had dug, not hearing Josephine at all.

Olivia smiles thankfully at her sister and began to devour the scorpion, thankful to finally have some food in her skinny stomach. It'll take a while for her to be back to her proper weight but this was a good start.

Lancaster exchanges a worried facial expression with Josephine. He had noticed Pippin vanished a moment after regaining his composure from his beloved's relaxing touch. Emitting a series of frantic peeps, Lancaster assists his beloved in the search for Pippin. He's merely a pup. He couldn't have ventured too far from the group, could he? A sense of guilt permeates his system. He should've been focusing on helping Josephine supervise the pups, not smothering her with relentless affection. Lancaster enters a patch of vegetation, thinking Pippin may have decided to play a mischievous game of hide and seek.

Utterly focused on nursing his emaciated daughter Olivia back to health, Tank hadn't heard Josephine's report of the disappearance of Pippin and is digging vigorously, searching for something nourishing to give to his daughter.