Lion Lessons

Shmi stared around at the chaos around her, trying to figure out how it all had happened.  The festival had been going so well and when she had been asked to teach a mini lesson about the lion dance, she had been ecstatic, jumping at the opportunity to share her skills.  They hadn’t warned her when she agreed that she would be teaching kittens.  That was a whole other skill set needed!  Still, even knowing it was for kittens hadn’t deterred her.  She had simply put her best foot forwards and carried on.

She had originally though bringing Kip, Kerr, and Potato would be a good idea.  They would surely be more willing to listen to her so she could use them as examples to teach the other kittens, right?  At least, that had been her hope.  Instead, Kerr had curled up in the back end of their dragon costume and was fast asleep, much to Kip’s dismay as they tried to make the lion jump and dance.  Somehow, Shmi wasn’t sure how, Kip’s jostling of the costume wasn’t waking the other kitten.

The sound of yelling distracted Shmi and she hurried over to break up a fight between Talia and Muddy.  The two kittens were squabble over who was allowed to be the head and who was forced to be the butt.  Shmi held the two at arms length, groaning as she realized this pairing was just not going to work.  Time to separate them, she decided, quickly calling over Bug and Potato.

“Alright Bug, you get to partner with Talia for now.”  Shmi ordered shooing the pair off.  “Potato, that means you’re with Muddy.  And please try to get along…”  She couldn’t help the small plea in her voice as she begged the flowerbun.

Potato snickered in amusement at the chaos but could see poor Shmi looked like she was at her breaking point, so they nodded.  They would behave.  For now…

“Thank you.”  Shmi heaved a sigh of relief, looking around the group.  “Alright everyone, let’s try this again.  Everyone into their costume.  Kip, please try to wake Kerr up.  We need them up and moving!  Muddy, stand still until the music starts!  Talia, stop playing with the mouth like that!  The lion costumes can’t actually eat things, no matter how hard you try!”

Talia pouted but stopped trying to mouth everything with the lion costume.  He reluctantly settled in to wait, wiggling to get the belt more comfortable as Bug took hold of it.

It took some work but Shmi eventually had the kittens in some semblance of order.  Kerr was awake, Muddy wasn’t fighting, and Talia was standing relatively still.  It was the best she was going to get, she could tell.  Taking a deep breath, she set the music, turning it low so she could be heard over it.  “Alright everyone!  Heads big leap forwards!  Tails right behind them!”

The order seemed simple, but somehow it became a giant mess.  Muddy had leapt too far while Potato had only given a tiny jump, causing the mothkitten to stumble and fall to the ground, instantly complaining about his partner.  Kerr was refusing to move at all, trying to curl up again inside the costume.  Talia and Bug had completed the move successfully and it would have been perfect – If Talia hadn’t immediately broken out into a freestyle dance, trying to mimic the lion dance he’d seen earlier, throwing off Bug.

“Guys, guys, come on!  It’s okay!  We’ll get it!”  Shmi tried to calm the group, forcing herself to keep a smile.  It would all be fine, she just had to find a way to get the kittens to cooperate for once in their lives!  Suddenly, an idea occurred to her – Food.  It would certainly help wake Kerr up and might get the others to cooperate more.

Shmi let out a whistle, the group all stopping to look at her.  “Come on guys.  If we work hard and get this right, I’m sure the cooks will get a special treat for some hungry dancers!”  She wheedled the group, hoping her plan would work.

Five kittens and one flowerbun were now looking at her attentively, peering out from under the costume.  Seeing she had their attention, Shmi continued on.  “Oh yes.  There’s always special treats for the dancers afterwards.”  She prayed the cooks would forgive her for throwing them under the bus like this.  “So let’s practice hard and when we’re done, we’ll go visit the kitchens, okay?”

Everyone was nodding eagerly before ducking back under the costumes again.  Shmi breathed a sigh of relief, glad her plan seemed to be working.  “Alright, one more time.  Heads jump!  Tails follow!  Heads right!  Heads up!  Tails shake!”  She began calling instructions to the kittens.

With the entire group more focused, they began doing much better.  Kip and Kerr worked in perfect sync, the twins pulling off perfect moves.  Potato had even set aside their plans for chaos in favor of the promised special treat.  Muddy had toned down his enthusiasm to match Potato’s slower movements.  Talia was excitedly chattering the jaw of the lion costume but following directions.  Bug was focused solely on completing the moves without tripping on their scarf – Which had they refused to remove.

Though there was still a couple mishaps, overall the group was doing quite well, much to Shmi’s relief.  Finally, seeing they were getting tired, she called a break.  “You guys did great!  If we keep practicing, tomorrow we might even be able to put on a show for everyone!”  She beamed around at the group, pleased with their progress.

“FOOD!”  Kerr demanded, throwing the costume off now that a break had been called.

Shmi rolled her eyes in amusement, unsurprised when the call was echoed by the rest of the group.  “Yes yes, I did promise.  Alright, let’s put these costumes away then go see what kind of snacks we can get.”  She told them with a chuckle, helping the group to store the costumes.

She began leading the group towards the kitchens, trying to keep them all in line as they went.  The closer they got to the kitchens though, the more wild and uncontrolled they became, excited by the idea of a special treat.  “Please forgive me…”  Shmi whispered, wincing as the kittens burst into the kitchen, Potato hopping along behind them quickly.  This was not how she had expected the day to end.  She had been asked to teach a lion dance but here she was, trying to corral the chaos the group had unleashed on the kitchen.  Still, she had to admit, it had been fun, seeing the little ones dancing a simplified version of the lion dance.  Maybe she really could get them ready enough to do a small performance…